Plea reduces
murder charge
BENTONVILLE - Uris Magana-Galdamez on Thursday admitted his role in the 2006 murder of Derrick Jefferson.
Magana-Galdamez, 21, had been charged with accomplice to capital murder, but that was reduced to accomplice to first-degree murder under a plea agreement reached with Magana-Galdamez’s attorneys Kent McLemore and Marianne Hudson.
Magana-Galdamez also pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery.
He was sentenced to 35 years in prison on each of count. The sentences will be served concurrently.
Magana-Galdamez will serve slightly more than 24 years before he is eligible for parole.
Circuit Judge David Clinger also ordered Magana-Galdamez to pay $870 in court costs. He will receive 1,398 days of credit for time served while awaiting trial.
Jefferson’s body was found on Dec. 30, 2006, in a driveway at 4265 N. 40th St.
in Springdale. The teen had been shot once in the head.
Erickson Dimas-Martinez, the triggerman, already has been tried and sentenced to death.
- BENTON COUNTY DAILY RECORD
Bowlin deemed to run unopposed
The Crawford County Election Commission on Thursday decided to delete any votes cast in Tuesday’s election for William Robert Taylor in Mulberry’s Ward 3 alderman race.
Taylor, who was running against Betty Bowlin, discovered that he did not live in Ward 3 and asked that his name be removed from the ballot.
Crawford County Circuit Court Judge Gary Cottrell issued an order Monday that any votes for Taylor be “redacted from public view” and that Bowlin be deemed to have run unopposed.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Comments sought on bat illness
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comment on a draft plan for combating white-nose syndrome, a fungal illness that threatens bats.
White-nose syndrome has killed more than a million bats in the Northeast and has spread to at least 11 states since it was first identified in caves near Albany, N.Y., according to a news release issued by Fish and Wildlife. The illness has not been found in Arkansas, but its discovery in neighboring states has led to cave closures in Devils Den State Park and the Buffalo National River.
The syndrome’s name is derived from the presence of white fungus around the muzzles, ears and wing membranes of affected bats, according to the draft plan.
The proposed plan can be found on fws.gov/WhiteNoseSyndrome, andcomments will be taken until Dec. 26. Comments can be submitted via e-mail to [email protected] or by mail to WNS National Coordinator, New York Field Office, 3817 Luker Road, Cortland, N.Y., 13045-9348, or by fax to (607) 753-9334.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Rogers man held
in reported rape
ROGERS - A Rogers man was being held Thursday in the Benton County jail in the reported rape of a 13-year-old girl, according to police documents.
Armando Ray Trillo, 36, was arrested Wednesday, and bond was set at $30,000.
The girl’s mother reported the incident to Rogers police Tuesday, according to a probable-cause affidavit from the Benton County prosecuting attorney’s office.
Rogers police detective Keith Eoff took the girl to the Children’s Advocacy Center for a forensic examination.
The girl told investigators that Trillo touched her “downstairs,” according to the affidavit, and touched her “private spot.”
The affidavit states the girl identified the area Trillo is accused of touching on an anatomical drawing.
She also told investigators that Trillo unlocked the door and entered while she was in the bathroom, according to the affidavit.
The girl told investigators the incidents have occurred since she was 10 years old, according to the affidavit.
She also said she would start crying and that would get Trillo to stop.
Trillo denied the allegations.
- ROGERS MORNING NEWS Chamber orchestra to perform Mozart The Academy of St.
Martin in the Fields, a worldclass chamber orchestra making its Arkansas debut this week as part of a tour the United States, will perform an all-Mozart concert at 8 p.m. today in Baum Walker Hall of the Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. in Fayetteville.
The program will include Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K.414, with Jonathan Biss as soloist, directing from the keyboard; Divertimento in D major, K.136;
and Symphony No. 29 in A major, K.201, with Kenneth Sillito, the orchestra’s artistic director and concertmaster, directing from his chair in the first violin section.
Ticket information is available by calling (479) 443-5600 or online at waltonartscenter.org.
A review of Thursday night’s concert at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, with a slightly different program, is available at arkansasonline.com.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 10/29/2010