Man in custody in police officer’s death
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police have arrested a man wanted for questioning in the fatal shooting of a Kentucky police officer.
Kentucky State Police spokesman Jody Sims says 55-year-old John Russell Hall of Pikeville was taken into custody Thursday morning without incident.
Sims’ statement said police obtained an arrest warrant charging Hall with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, but they also wanted to question him about the killing of Pikeville Police Officer Scotty Hamilton.
The officer was gunned down Tuesday night while patrolling the Hurricane Creek area with a state trooper.
Police said they came upon a suspicious vehicle, spoke with occupants, and then began canvassing the area for other possible suspects when gunfire erupted. The trooper later found the officer with a fatal gunshot wound.
Judge postpones trial of secret ‘leaker’
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A federal judge has postponed the trial of a woman charged with leaking U.S. secrets to a news outlet.
Former National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner is now scheduled to stand trial Oct. 15. Her trial was to start next week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Epps ordered the change Thursday.
The delay allows more time for pretrial motions. Also pending is a ruling by the judge on whether Winner’s confession to FBI agents can be used as evidence.
Winner worked for the national security contractor Pluribus International at Fort Gordon in Georgia when she was charged last June with mailing a classified U.S. report to an unidentified news organization.
High court takes up suicide texting appeal
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts’ highest court has agreed to hear the appeal of a young woman convicted of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself.
The Supreme Judicial Court will weigh in on the case of Michelle Carter, who was sentenced to 15 months in jail for the 2014 death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III. Carter was 17 when Roy died.
A judge said Carter caused Roy’s death when she told him to “get back in” his truck as it was filling with carbon monoxide.
