Woman hit by car ID’d as of Lonoke
Police on Monday identified Jamie Hicks, 37, of Lonoke as the woman who was fatally struck by a vehicle in Cabot on Saturday night.
Hicks was walking south on Kerr Station Road about 10:15 p.m. when the southbound vehicle struck her near Candlewood Circle, police said. She was taken to North Metro Medical Center in Jacksonville, where she was pronounced dead a short time later.
Cabot police spokesman Sgt. Keith Graham said Monday that the vehicle’s driver was a 16-year-old boy who lives in Cabot.
No citations had been issued or charges filed Monday, Graham said. He said police were still investigating the crash.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Morrilton gunfire leaves man dead
A man was fatally shot in a Morrilton subdivision Monday afternoon, police said.
Police found the 28-yearold man after receiving several calls about a shooting in the North Hills subdivision at 3:05 p.m., Police Chief Sonny Stover said in a news release.
Conway County Coroner Jason McCoy said the man, whom he declined to name, was pronounced dead at the scene. One person, who also wasn’t named, was taken into custody, the release said.
The nearby Morrilton High School and Junior High School were placed on lockdown as a precaution after the shooting, the release said. No students, or faculty or staff members were injured, it said.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Dad pleads guilty
in baby’s death
DE QUEEN - Authorities said a man charged in the beating death of his newborn son has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Vonderrick Smith entered the plea Monday in De Queen. The Texarkana Gazette reported that Smith was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Smith was charged in the February 2011 death of his son, 1-month-old Kason Smith. Authorities said the baby suffered multiple internal injuries and died at a Dallas hospital.
An autopsy found that Kason died of blunt-force trauma and had ruptured blood vessels behind his eyes.
Prosecutor Bryan Chesshir said the baby’s relatives supported the plea deal. Smith’s attorney, Darrell F. Brown Jr., was not immediately available for comment.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Dad charged after baby found alone
CONWAY - A Conway man was charged with endangering a minor after his 13-month-old son was found home alone reportedly while the man was at a bar in Little Rock.
Police said Monday that the child’s mother told authorities Friday night that she believed the boy was at home without anyone watching him.
Police entered the residence of 47-year-old Joseph Garland Torian and found the 13-month-old alone and crying in his crib.
The Log Cabin Democrat reported that the child’s grandparents arrived at the home to care for the boy. Police located Torian, who has since been released from the Faulkner County jail.
Police said Torian also told officers that he left the baby alone when the child was 7 months old so he could go to a bar.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Man gets 3 years over porn cartoons
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A southwest Missouri man will spend three years in prison for possessing cartoons showing child pornography.
A federal judge sentenced 36-year-old Christjan Bee of Monett on Monday to three years without parole, followed by five years of supervised probation.
Bee pleaded guilty in October to possession of an obscene image of the sexual abuse of children.
The Joplin Globe reported Bee’s wife called police in August 2011 after finding what she believed to be child pornography on her husband’s computer.
The U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release that comics found on the computer found several images of minors engaged in sexual activity.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Oklahoma to look at killing by police
PRYOR, Okla. - The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said an off-duty police officer shot and killed a man who had been handcuffed by officers at a motel in Pryor.
Bureau spokesman Jessica Brown said the Salina officer reported that he was returning fire when he shot Will Perneau shortly after 2 a.m.
Tuesday. Brown said it’s not clear whether Perneau was still handcuffed or armed when he was shot by the officer who was with an onduty county deputy.
The officers’ names were not released. The Mayes County sheriff’s office asked the bureau to investigate.
Brown said the officer and deputy went to the motel after finding drugs in a vehicle that was stopped for a traffic violation and a man in the vehicle said he was meeting others at the motel.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS New judge named
in body dumping
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A new judge will hear the case of a Springfield man accused of dumping the body of a southwest Missouri teenager into Truman Lake.
Associate Hickory County Judge James Andrew Hackett was appointed Monday to preside over the trial of 48-year-old Anthony Balbirnie. Balbirnie is accused of dumping the weighteddown body of 15-year-old Khighla Parks into the lake last September.
The Springfield News-Leader reported that Hackett replaces Judge Mark Pilley of Benton County. No reason for the change has been released.
A hearing scheduled in the case Monday was postponed.
Park’s death was ruled a homicide, but the cause of her death has not been determined. She was last seen with Balbirnie at a home in Buffalo on Sept. 21.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 01/30/2013