Killer receives life sentence
FORT SMITH - James Aaron Miller was sentenced to life in prison without parole after a Sebastian County Circuit Court jury deliberated his fate for more than three hours Friday night.
Miller, 35, of Fort Smith was sentenced to death in his first trial in 2008 but an error in the penalty phase forced a retrial of his sentence. The trial lasted all week.
“You have received the mercy of this jury, for which you should be thankful,” Circuit Judge James O. Cox told Miller after passing sentence.
Miller was convicted of three capital murder charges in 2008 for the 2006 strangulation deaths of his 28-year-old girlfriend Bridgette Barr and her children 5-year-old Sydney and 2-year-old Garrett.
Since his capital murder convictions were affirmed on appeal, jurors had the choice of sentencing Miller to death again or to life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors argued to jurors that Miller deserved the death penalty for the brutal slaying of the three people, but his attorneys argued that Miller was mentally retarded, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and from brain damage, and did not deserve to be executed.
Jurors ruled that Miller was not mentally retarded but recommended he be sentenced to life in prison anyway.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Explosive device
found on patient
LIBERTY, Mo. - Staff at Liberty Hospital called authorities this week after they found a small explosive device in clothing worn by an emergency room patient.
Liberty police were called to the hospital Thursday after staff members found the explosive device and drugs in the patient’s clothing. The 19-year-old Holt man had been involved in a rollover car accident near Kearney.
Officers said the device was cylinder-shaped and about 6-inches long. It was covered in yellow tape and had a small fuse.
Members of the Kansas City Police Department’s bomb and arson unit, along with federal agents used a robotic device to move the explosive to a field where it was detonated.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tulsa police cars
now have video
TULSA - This week, a handful of Tulsa Police Department vehicles hit the streets with digital video equipment that records encounters between officers and the public.
“This does represent a significant cultural change for the department,” officer Richard Meulenberg said.
About 10 patrol cars used for traffic enforcement in the Mingo Valley Division began using the Panasonic Arbitrator 360 equipment this week as part of a pilot program, Meulenberg said.
The plan is to have 575 such units placed in Tulsa Police Department vehicles over the next couple of years, Cpl. Dan Ward said.
Ultimately, the equipment is expected to beinstalled in any Tulsa police vehicle “that has the capacity to make a traffic stop,” Ward said.
Each car will have two cameras - one that records exterior shots and one that records what happens inside the vehicle. The cameras are triggered when a car’s emergency lights are activated or when an officer activates them manually by pushing a button.
The new cameras stem from a class-action lawsuit against the city that was settled last year after 16 years in Tulsa federal court.
The final court documents filed last summer called for the city to pay $4.16 million to Insight Public Sector Inc. for the purchase, installation and maintenance of video cameras for police patrol and traffic vehicles.
While the lawsuit - which alleged racial discrimination within the Tulsa Police Department - was unpopular among many in the department who disputed the claims, the new technology is being welcomed.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oklahoma man, 36, missing
HITCHITA, Okla. - Authorities in eastern Oklahoma are looking for a missing man and fear that foul play could be involved in his disappearance.
Chris Shelton, 36, of Hitchita was last seen leaving a friend’s house at Haskell, in Muskogee County, according to authorities.
His abandoned truck was found in Okmulgee County, with the key in the ignition and the doors unlocked.
Muskogee County sheriff’s investigator Faye Banks said there’s been no communication with Shelton since Feb. 15, and friends said that’s unlike him.
He is described as a white, 5-foot-7, 175 pounds, with brown hair, blue eyes and a goatee. Authorities said he has a surgical scar on one of his shoulders.
Officials said anyone with information on Shelton should contact the Muskogee County sheriff’s office.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSArea code needed
for all 918 calls
TULSA - All telephone calls placed in the 918 area code region of northeast Oklahoma will require punching in three more digits beginning next Saturday.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission set Saturday as the day to begin requiring callers to specify the area code, even if the call is a local call, so the telephone system can deal with addition of a new area code that will cover the same geographic area.
Officials said they plan to begin assigning a new 539 area code to some new numbers in what is now the 918 region as soon as April 1. That means telephones in the same town could end up with different area codes.
Meanwhile, no local calls in the 918 area will go through, beginning Saturday, unless the caller starts with 918.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 18 on 02/27/2011