The state/region in brief

Plane crash linked

to engine failure

CONWAY - A plane piloted by a Mississippi man crashed at Conway Municipal Airport earlier this month after the aircraft lost engine power, a preliminary report found.

Robert Allen III, 65, of Oxford, Miss., died of injuries he suffered in the crash Nov. 6. He was the only person aboard the single-engine Cessna.

The preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board said the plane struck terrain “following a loss of engine power after departure” from the airport.

“The airplane was returning to the airport when it struck trees and the airport property,” the report added.

The plane sustained substantial damage to its fuselage and wings, the board noted.

The report said the plane was en route to Oxford.

  • ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Ex-UCA official’s court date Monday

CONWAY - Jack Gillean, the University of Central Arkansas’ former chief of staff, did not appear in Faulkner County Circuit Court as the prosecuting attorney’s office expected Thursday.

Gillean, 55, is scheduled to be arraigned on felony charges Monday. The prosecuting attorney’s office had earlier thought the arraignment was set for Thursday.

Gillean is charged with three felony counts of commercial burglary, one felony count of fraudulent insurance acts and one misdemeanor count of issuing a false statement. He is free on bail.

Gillean, a former deputy attorney general for the state, resigned from UCA on June 15.

  • ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEConviction upheld

in beating death

LITTLE ROCK - The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a murder conviction and life sentence for a Jacksonville beating death, rejecting the argument that a statement given to police turned jurors against the man accused of the crime even though they weren’t told what he said.

In a unanimous decision, justices noted Alonzo Watson was convicted on witness testimony, not interviews he gave to police after Daniel Harris was found dead in a warehouse district Sept. 3, 2010.

An ex-girlfriend testified at Watson’s trial that he confessed to her while wearing a blood-spattered shirt about an hour after Harris was last seen alive but that he changed his story after she became upset. A man who gave Watson a ride the night of the killing said he heard him talk about killing someone, and when the two shared a jail cell later Watson said he’d beaten a man with a rock in a drunken rage.

Prosecutors said Harris was struck 26 times with a piece of steel-reinforced concrete.

Watson met with police twice. Before the trial, a judge rejected Watson’s attempt to suppress his initial statement, but prosecutors opted later tonot present it to jurors.

They agreed before trial not to bring up the second statement in court.

In arguing against Watson’s appeal, prosecutors said he had no valid argument because his statement was never introduced as evidence.

“When an appellant’s statement was not used at trial, he cannot demonstrate prejudice,” Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson wrote for the court.

Watson told police he and Harris were confronted by two other men.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Infant found dead in Tulsa apartment

TULSA - Authorities said a 9-month-old boy was found dead at a west Tulsa apartment complex.

Tulsa television KJRH reported that police were called to Sandy Park Apartments on Thursday morning. Police said the baby’s father went to the child’s room and found the baby unresponsive on the floor.

Tulsa police Cpl. Phil Snow said the medical examiner will determine a cause of death for the boy.

Police said three other children and three adults are living in the apartment.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Teen sentenced

to attend church

MUSKOGEE, Okla. - A 17-year-old from Muskogee has been sentenced to attend church for 10 years as part of his probation for a manslaughter conviction.

Tyler Alred was sentenced Tuesday in Muskogee County District Court after pleading guilty in August to first-degree manslaughter in the December 2011 auto accident that killed 16-year-old John Luke Dum.

Alred cried while apologizing to Dum’s family in court and hugged Dum’s father as both began to sob.

Authorities said Alred registered 0.06 and 0.07 blood-alcohol content after the crash. The legal limit is 0.08 - but Alred’s amount is considered under state law to be driving under the influence of alcohol because he’s a minor.

Defense attorney Donn Baker said the church requirement is unusual - but he won’t challenge it and that Alred currently attends church regularly.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASU scraps plan

for Army center

JONESBORO - Arkansas State University has backed away from its plan to buy a former U.S. Army Reserve Center for use as a math and sciences facility.

Chancellor Tim Hudson said financial factors caused the university to withdraw its application. The school estimated that it would cost $1 million to $2 million to renovate the building for use as Arkansas State’s Math and Science Academy.

The property was declared surplus as a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act recommendations. ASU submitted an application for the property in 2007.

Mayor Harold Perrin told The Jonesboro Sun that the city will pursue its previous plan to convert the reserve center into a major police precinct.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 11/16/2012

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