National Roundup

New Hampshire
Petition would seek reduced sentence for Pamela Smart
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Advocates for Pamela Smart, who’s serving a life sentence for plotting with her teenage lover to kill her husband, say they are planning to file a petition seeking a reduced sentence.

Dr. Eleanor Pam, a legal advocate for Smart, tells WMUR-TV the new petition could reach the desk of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu in a few months. Smart’s mother is involved in preparing the petition.

Smart was a media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton when she seduced 16-year-old William Flynn in 1990. He claimed she threatened to break up with him if he didn’t kill her husband; she has denied planning the murder.

The petition will request the possibility of parole with the consideration that Flynn and three other teens convicted in the case have been paroled.

Florida
Man accused of killing former roommate who came to say bye
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A 24-year-old man faces a first-degree murder charge after investigators say he stabbed his former roommate who had stopped by his Florida home to say goodbye.

An arrest report says 21-year-old Brooke Preston stopped by Randy Herman Jr.’s house near West Palm Beach Saturday morning before leaving for Pennsylvania, where she grew up.

Authorities say Preston was stabbed multiple times.

The Palm Beach Post reports Herman called 911 and told a dispatcher, “someone’s been murdered.”

Investigators say Herman cried during questioning. He’s being held without bond.

In February 2015, Herman’s 53-year-old father Randy Herman Sr. was accused of killing his 50-year-old girlfriend Gail Monahan in Hanover Township, Pennsylvania. Two months later, he was found dead inside a truck as law enforcement closed in on him in Marshall County, Alabama.

Illinois
Man pleads guilty in freight train gun thefts
CHICAGO (AP) — A man has pleaded guilty to charges related to the theft of more than 100 guns from a freight train on Chicago’s South Side.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports court records show Andrew Shelton pleaded guilty Friday to illegal possession of a firearm and possession of a stolen firearm. His plea declaration indicates he could face up to 11 years in prison.

Prosecutors say Shelton and his friends were searching trains for shoes and clothing to steal. Instead, in April 2015, they found 318 guns from a Ruger factory in New Hampshire.
The crew took about 110 guns and tried to sell them.

Three of Shelton’s co-defendants are awaiting trial. A fourth is serving a 63-month prison sentence.

Authorities have tied at least one of the stolen guns to a Chicago shooting.


New Jersey
Doctor accused of hacking female classmates

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey prosecutors have accused a Philadelphia doctor of hacking into the emails, cellphones and social media accounts of several women who were high school classmates.

Burlington County prosecutors have charged 29-year-old Peter Grossman of Philadelphia with impersonation and identity theft, computer theft and invasion of privacy.

Authorities say the 2005 graduate of Delran High School gained access to several password-protected accounts and made digital copies of more than 2,000 photographs. Investigators have identified 12 of the 25 women in the photos.

Grossman formerly worked at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Grossman was released following a court appearance and it’s not known if he has a lawyer who can comment on the charges.

Texas
Vet charged in murder-for-hire plot kills herself
HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities have confirmed that a Houston veterinarian charged with attempting to orchestrate the murder of her ex-husband has leapt to her death the day before she was scheduled to appear in court.

The Harris County district attorney’s office says 48-year-old Valerie Busick McDaniel jumped Monday from her seventh-floor condo.

A court hearing was scheduled for Tuesday for McDaniel, who was charged earlier this month with solicitation of capital murder. She had earlier posted bail.

Authorities say McDaniel and her boyfriend hired an undercover police officer posing as a hit man to kill their former partners.

Her boyfriend, 39-year-old Leon Philip Jacob, is facing charges that include solicitation of capital murder and remains in the Harris County jail.

Online jail records do not indicate an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Nebraska
Man gets 20-60 years in prison for killing wife
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — A man has been given 20 to 60 years in prison for killing his wife on their farm in western Nebraska.

The Nebraska attorney general’s office said 62-year-old Emerson Craig was sentenced Monday in Lincoln County District Court in North Platte. He’d pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the April 26, 2014, slaying of 52-year-old Heidi Craig.

Emerson Craig had called authorities to the farm near Maxwell and said his wife had been crushed under a hay bale, which he said he had moved using a truck. Officials say autopsy results showed she had actually died of blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation.

Investigators say Craig had obtained a life insurance policy on his wife that would pay double if her death were a result of an accident.

Missouri
Pastor accused of sex with teen
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis church pastor is accused of sexual misconduct with a teenager.

St. Louis prosecutors on Monday charged 59-year-old Ronald P. Ewing of Jennings with three counts of second-degree statutory rape.

Without identifying where Ewing serves as pastor, court documents obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch allege that he met the 16-year-old through church and had sex with that person last November and December at three St. Louis hotels.

A judge has set Ewing's bond at $75,000 cash.