Kentucky
Pair in same-sex SCOTUS ruling start fund for LGBT Catholics
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky couple involved in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage has started a scholarship to help Catholic LGBT students at the University of Louisville.
The Courier Journal reports the scholarship by Greg Bourke and Michael DeLeon will be given out annually, starting this May. Preference will be given to LGBT students who are Catholic or graduated from a Catholic high school.
The two are longtime members of the Our Lady of Lourdes parish community in Louisville and got married in Canada in 2004. They later filed a lawsuit that, along with lawsuits by other couples, launched the Supreme Court case.
Bourke says "You know you think about what kind of legacy you want to leave ... this is something, I think, that will live on."
Ohio
Death penalty lawyers urge delay of all executions
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A veteran public defender says Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine should delay all currently scheduled executions while the state comes up with a new lethal injection system.
David Stebbins is a Columbus-based federal defense attorney. He calls DeWine's Thursday decision to postpone three executions commendable but said more must be done.
DeWine, a Republican, ordered the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to create a new injection process after a federal judge's scathing critique in January of the current method. He's now delayed four executions in total since that order.
Stebbins says there's no guarantee that any system the state comes up with will be ready in time for the next scheduled execution in September.
Ohio has 23 executions scheduled over the next four years.
Tennessee
Man sentenced to life without parole in relatives' deaths
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee judge has sentenced a 22-year-old man to life without parole in the deaths of three family members in 2015.
News outlets report Sullivan County Criminal Court Judge Jim Goodwin sentenced Robert Seth Denton on Thursday to two life sentences without the possibility of parole plus five years. He was convicted in January of three counts of first-degree murder as well as reckless aggravated assault, aggravated assault causing fear and felony reckless endangerment.
Denton was found guilty of killing his mother, Toshya Millhorn; his stepfather, James Millhorn; and his grandmother, Lena Marie Rose. Six children witnessed the shootings.
Defense lawyer Ricky Curtis said he will seek a new trial.
Missouri
Man sentenced to 8 years in cattle investment fraud scheme
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A 43-year-old man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison without parole for operating a $4.7 million investment fraud scheme involving cattle.
Cameron Hager, of Clinton, was sentenced Tuesday and ordered to pay $3.2 million in restitution to the victims of his crime. Hager pleaded guilty in June to wire fraud and money laundering.
Hager operated 5A Holdings. He admitted that from July 2015 to September 2017 he solicited victims to invest in a "cattle fund" that would buy herds of cattle to be sold later at a substantial profit. He said he never intended to buy any cattle.
Hager received $4.7 million dollars from 92 investors. The total loss was $3.2 million. Prosecutors say he used the money for personal expenses like mortgage payments and vehicles.
Alabama
Man gets life in prison in adoptive parents' deaths
DECATUR, Ala. (AP) - An Alabama man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the shooting deaths of his adoptive parents nearly three years ago.
News outlets reported 26-year-old Andrew Kyle Hulsey pleaded guilty in court in Decatur on Wednesday to capital murder.
Morgan County prosecutors say Hulsey admitting killing 37-year-old Sandra Hulsey and 43-year-old William Jeremy Hulsey, the pastor of Aldridge Grove Church of Christ in Moulton.
Priceville police were called to the Hulsey home April 21, 2016. In a 911 call that night, Andrew Hulsey said he killed his parents in self-defense.
Andrew Hulsey had been scheduled for trial later this month and prosecutors had planned to seek a death sentence. District Attorney Scott Anderson said he met with surviving family members before agreeing to the plea agreement.
North Carolina
In deceit proposal: Feds say man wed stranger to stay in U.S.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Prosecutors say a couple was panhandling along a North Carolina road when a foreigner pulled over with a proposal for the woman: Marry him so he could stay in the country, and they'd receive $12,000 along with payments for a house and car.
Citing court records, The News & Observer reports that 31-year-old Melissa Anne Godshall accepted the offer from 44-year-old Levan Lomtatidze, a native of the country of Georgia. Her boyfriend, 46-year-old Robert Kennerly, served as a witness during the marriage ceremony.
The U.S. attorney's office says all three are now indicted on charges involving marriage fraud. News reports didn't include comments in their defense.
North Carolina
Chief justice says her elevation brings 'hope and promise'
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina's first African-American female chief justice says she believes her elevation to the post brings "a lot of hope and promise" to the state and for young people to become whoever they want.
The court system says more than 1,000 people watched in person or in overflow rooms to see the public swearing-in of Cheri Beasley on Thursday at the Supreme Court.
Gov. Roy Cooper chose Beasley to fill the seat vacated by Chief Justice Mark Martin. Beasley - an associate justice since 2012 - was officially sworn-in on March 1 in a private ceremony.
Thursday's attendees included Henry Frye, who 20 years ago became the state's first black chief justice. Beasley says she'd follow Frye's philosophy of treating the world's problems as opportunities to do what's right and good.
Published: Mon, Mar 11, 2019
