National Roundup

West Virginia
Man pleads guilty in scheme that defrauded Toyota of $4.3M
ST. ALBANS, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia man has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a scheme that defrauded Toyota of more than $4.3 million.

Stanley Clark admitted to fraudulently administering repurchasing transactions at Love Lexus Toyota in St. Albans, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported, citing an information filed in federal court. He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing.

From March 2008 to December 2015, Toyota offered a buyback program for some Tacoma trucks that rusted abnormally quickly. Dealerships would get a full refund, but private owners would get 150% of what they paid.

Clark, who was working as the head of a third-party vendor assigned to administer the buyback program, admitted to using a dealership in Kentucky to buy the trucks, fraudulently obtain titles for them and then send them to Toyota for a 150% refund, the information said.

As part of the plea, Clark agreed to pay back at least half of the $4.3 million, the information said.

Louisiana
Once declared dead, man appeals execution
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Lawyers for a man who had been declared legally dead before he was found, arrested and convicted in the slaying of a 12-year-old girl are set to ask an appeals court to overturn his federal conviction and death sentence.

Thomas Steven Sanders went missing after he left his Mississippi family in 1987 and had been declared legally dead in 1994.

But he was found alive and arrested in Gulfport, Mississippi, as the result of an investigation into the 2010 death of a woman in Arizona — and the kidnapping and killing of her daughter in Louisiana.

A federal jury in Louisiana convicted him and sentenced him to death for the kidnapping and killing of the girl, 12-year-old Lexis Roberts.

Defense attorneys argued Monday before three judges of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a prosecutor improperly suggested to jurors that Sanders might have sexually abused the girl.
Sanders’ mental competency is another issue they plan to raise.

Prosecutors have said Sanders shot the girl’s mother, Suellen Roberts, on a trip that all three took to a wildlife park in Arizona, and then drove Lexis Roberts to Louisiana, where he shot her four times and cut her throat.

Georgia
Conviction overturned for couple accused of killing baby
COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — The Georgia Supreme Court has granted a new trial to a couple serving life in prison for murder in the death of their newborn daughter. The justices unanimously agreed that they received ineffective legal counsel.

Albert and Ashley Debelbot had their convictions overturned Friday, the Ledger-Enquirer reported. Their daughter, McKenzy, was born in 2008 at Fort Benning’s Martin Army Community Hospital in Columbus.

The parents took the baby back to the hospital days after the birth when they discovered a lump on her head. She later died, and an autopsy by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined that the cause was blunt force trauma.

The Debelbot’s trial lawyers failed to call expert medical witnesses during the trial. Their new defense attorneys say experts would be able to show that the baby was born with a brain deformation.

Their appeal also noted that a trial prosecutor told the jury that “reasonable doubt” does not require the state to prove defendants guilty with 100% certainty.

“It does not mean to a mathematical certainty,” Assistant District Attorney Sadhana Dailey said. “Which means we don’t have to prove that 90%. You don’t have to be 90% sure. You don’t have to be 80% sure. You don’t have to be 51% sure.”

The high court said in its decision that the explanation was a “gross misstatement of the law,” and the failure of the Debelbot’s lawyers to object to that point proved the couple were denied effective counsel.

“We admonish lawyers not to confuse jurors by attempting to quantify a standard of proof that is not susceptible to quantification,” the court stated.

The case was expected to be sent back to Muscogee Superior Court. The Debelbots remain in prison.

Indiana
Hog farm opposition signs painted with obscenities
DENVER, Ind. (AP) — A dispute over a large hog farm in northern Indiana is getting nasty.

Yard signs opposing the Miami County farm were removed and then returned with obscenities painted on them, the Kokomo Tribune reported.

“The fact of the matter is we just don’t know who did it yet,” Sheriff Tim Hunter said. “It could have been an adult or it could have been kids who did it. We aren’t really sure yet.”

The farm in Denver will house more than 4,600 animals and create a lot of manure in the town located some 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of Indianapolis, the newspaper reported.

Sherri Gasaway, who lives nearby, is leading a lawsuit against the project. She and about 30 other residents have formed an opposition group.

“I don’t know if they’re trying to intimidate us or what, but we’re in this for the long haul. We have a neighborhood out here with 18 homes that this CAFO is going to impact,” Gasaway said, referring to the hog farm, a confined animal feeding operation.

A hearing at the Indiana Office of Environmental Adjudication is set for March 18.

Nebraska
Man takes plea deal in slaying near campus
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man accused of shooting to death a Lincoln resident near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus has taken a plea deal.

Lancaster County District Court records say Michael Dewey, 22, pleaded no contest Friday to manslaughter and a weapons crime. Prosecutors had lowered the homicide charge from second-degree murder and dropped two other charges in return for Dewey’s pleas.

His trial had been scheduled to begin Monday. His sentencing is set for March 30.

Dewey killed 47-year-old Desmond Fowler on May 16, police have said. Court documents say Dewey and another man were in the area in a failed attempt to buy drugs. Fowler began yelling at the other man and ran after them as they drove off. Dewey fired several shots at Fowler when the vehicle stopped for a red light west of the campus, police said.