Judge: Ex-clown fit for trial, date is set
FORT SMITH - A federal judge has set a trial date for a Fort Smith man who worked as a clown and faces child pornography charges.
The trial for 48-yearold Thomas Harold Morgan was to have been held in August, but it was postponed so he could undergo a mental evaluation. Morgan is now to be tried Oct. 28.
U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III signed an order Tuesday that said Morgan has no condition that would impair his ability to understand the charges or participate in his defense. The psychiatric report is under seal.
Morgan faces five counts of receiving child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. He’s been in custody since his June 2012 arrest.
Morgan was a children’s entertainer, working under the name “Sondance the Clown.” - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PB man charged with capital murder
PINE BLUFF - A 22-year-old man was arrested in the Tuesday morning killing of George Haney, 47, of Pine Bluff after a brief standoff with police.
Police said Marcus Halton of Pine Bluff surrendered to authorities after initially refusing to leave a residence Thursday. He was booked at the Jefferson County jail on a capital-murder charge and was held without bail.
A motive in the shooting has not been released.
Haney was shot to death in his truck at 11th Avenue and Spruce Street on the west side of the city about 9:30 a.m.
Tuesday, Pine Bluff police said. They said Haney’s truck traveled through the intersection before crashing into a tree at 1020 S. Hazel St.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEBase a port in storm for Florida aircraft
Little Rock Air Force Base will store a number of aircraft and personnel from another base in Florida while Tropical Storm Karen passes over the Gulf of Mexico.
“Evacuations of aircraft during inclement weather are part of established safety measures and contingency procedures,” said Little Rock Air Force Base spokesman 2nd Lt.
Amanda Porter.
Between 10 and 20 aircraft and about 350 personnel arrived Thursday from Hurlburt Field, Fla., to the Jacksonville base. Moving the planes to Arkansas ensures the units’ readiness to respond to contingencies “at a moment’s notice” if needed, Porter said.
Tropical Storm Karen is forecast to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast today, according to the National Hurricane Center.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Suspect charged in deadly stabbing
ANDERSON, Mo. - A southwest Missouri man has been charged with fatally stabbing another man.
Boyd W. Marcum, 30, was arraigned Wednesday.
He pleaded innocent to one count of seconddegree murder in the death of Kevin Anderson, 29.
Anderson police chief Donavon Pierson said officers found Anderson lying on a porch Monday night bleeding from a stab wound to the chest. The Joplin Globe reported that Anderson died before he could be taken to a hospital.
Marcum was spotted walking in the area about 20 minutes after emergency workers arrived. Pierson said that when Marcum was taken into custody, he had the pocketknife that authorities said they think was used in the stabbing.
Pierson said Marcum is from Neosho but had been staying at a friend’s home where the stabbing happened.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSWoman sentenced in husband’s slaying
SALLISAW, Okla. - An Arizona woman has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for her role in the shooting death of her husband in eastern Oklahoma.
The Times Record reported that Raelynne Simonin, 25, was sentenced Thursday after pleading no contest Sept.
10 to being an accessory to first-degree murder.
Simonin is one of four people charged in the July 2011 shooting death of Jack “Vince” Purselley, 38, of Gans. Police said he was shot as he sat in a recliner in his living room.
One co-defendant is serving a 20-year sentence after pleading guilty in the case; sentencing is pending for a second co-defendant who was convicted, and the third is expected to enter a plea deal.
Purselley and Simonin moved to Oklahoma a few months before the shooting.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 10/05/2013