15-year-old student faces gun charge
Authorities said Monday that a 15-year-old Concord School District student faces charges after he was arrested Friday carrying a weapon on a school bus.
Cleburne County sheriff’s deputies arrested the student after receiving a report that the student was carrying a handgun on the bus on the way home from school, Sheriff Marty Moss said in a news release. Deputies found the student was carrying a .25-caliber handgun on the bus, the release said.
The student, whom police did not name, was taken to the White River Juvenile Detention Facility in Batesville and will be charged with possessing a firearm on school property, a Class D felony.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Ex-lawmaker Berry has heart surgery
Former U.S. Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas is recovering at a Little Rock hospital after undergoing heart surgery.
Berry’s son Mitch said the former lawmaker from east Arkansas had bypass surgery Monday at UAMS Medical Center. Berry’s daughter - Ann Coggin - wrote on the CaringBridge website that Berry, 70, was admitted the hospital Saturday after experiencing chest pain.
Berry represented east Arkansas’ 1st District for seven terms. He underwent surgery in 2011 to remove a brain tumor and later was diagnosed with lymphoma.
His family has said his cancer has been in remission since 2011.
Berry did not run for re-election in 2010, citing health concerns.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
16-year-old jailed in slaying in PB
PINE BLUFF - Authorities say a 16-year-old boy is in custody in a fatal shooting in Pine Bluff.
Lt. Denise Richardson said 22-year-old William Roby Jr. was shot to death Sunday. Richardson told KTHV-TV, Channel 11, in Little Rock that Roby was friends with the 16-year-old and that the shooting happened after an argument.
The 16-year-old is being held at a youthful-offender lockup in Pine Bluff. His name wasn’t released because of his age.
Authorities say the teen was accompanied by his parents when he surrendered to police Monday.
Richardson said police have not yet recovered the weapon used in the killing.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wife guilty in fall that killed spouse
TULSA - Jurors convicted a 21-year-old woman of second-degree murder Monday for pushing her husband out of their 25thfloor apartment in downtown Tulsa, rejecting her claims that she acted in self-defense.
The jury deliberated for about three hours before finding Amber Hilberling guilty and recommending she serve 25 years in prison for pushing Joshua Hilberling, 23, to his death in 2011.
Prosecutors had argued that she shoved her husband after becoming enraged because he was going to leave her, but her attorneys said it was a tragic accident and blamed the “unusually thin” windows in their apartment.
Her sentencing is scheduled for next month.
The Tulsa World reported that Hilberling appeared stunned as the verdict was read, and her family and attorneys declined immediate comment. Assistant District Attorney Michelle Keely said the case was a reminder that domestic abuse happens in all communities.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSCollision with car kills motorcyclist
CUSHING, Okla. - The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said a motorcyclist was killed when he was struck by a car trying to turn left onto a highway in Payne County.
Authorities said 41-yearold Jeremy Mezzell of Stillwater was driving on Oklahoma 33 near Cushing when he was struck by a car that tried to turn left onto Oklahoma 108.
The Highway Patrol said Mezzell was thrown about 25 feet in the collision and was pronounced dead at the scene from head and internal injuries.
Authorities said the driver of the car wasn’t injured.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
1987-case suspect ruled fit for trial
STIGLER, Okla. - A judge in eastern Oklahoma said a man charged in a 25-year-old killing is mentally competent to stand trial.
Clifford Eagle was arrested last year after he walked into a Montana police station and reportedly confessed to killing former Haskell County Commissioner Leo Reasnor.
Eagle was charged in Reasnor’s shooting death and extradited to Oklahoma. The Oklahoman reported that a judge Monday found Eagle mentally fit to stand trial.
Reasnor was found dead inside his pickup June 25, 1987. Authorities said he’d been shot in the head.
Since his arrest, Eagle has said the confession was coerced and that he wasn’t involved in Reasnor’s death.
Eagle’s arraignment is set for April 8.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 03/20/2013