Napa, CALIFORNIA

Miss McWilliams won't be in this week, kids, because.... ah... well...

Sept 8, 2007 - Roxanne McWilliams, 49, a third-grade teacher at Pueblo Vista Elementary School, was arrested for attempted murder for shooting her boyfriend. Several times.
He managed to call police. He is in critical but stable condition.

LAWSUITS Nov 29 - The victim has filed a lawsuit against McWilliams.

James Talley has filed a civil lawsuit against Roxanne McWilliams for personal injuries he suffered when she shot him on Sept. 8, three times in the back while he was sleeping and twice more after he crawled to the bathroom floor of the home the couple shared on Redwood Road in North Napa.

McWilliams also faces felony criminal charges for the incident.

After three weeks in the intensive care unit at Queen of the Valley Medical Center, Talley, 50, has recovered from the gunshot wounds. Three bullets, however, still remain lodged in his upper chest and back. He must undergo more surgeries.

She filed a cross complaint, alleging abuse. He's wanted on domestic violence warrants in Texas. A preliminary is scheduled for Monday to determine if there is enough evidence to go to trial.

PRELIMINARY HEARING Dec 6 - At the end of the two-day preliminary hearing, Napa County Superior Court Judge Stephen Kroyer found there was sufficient evidence to try McWilliams. “The evidence is clear that the defendant willfully and premeditated intended to kill Mr. Talley that night,” Kroyer said.

Kroyer also bound McWilliams over for other felony counts of assault with a firearm and special allegations of intentional discharge of a firearm and causing great bodily harm.

She will be arraigned on Dec. 20.

ARRAIGNMENT Dec 20 - McWilliams pleaded not guilty. McWilliams, police said, admitted to police she leaving the house after the shooting, ditching the gun under a lawn mower at a nearby school and returning to the house where she was taken into custody.

At her preliminary hearing the court found her to answer to willful and premeditated attempted murder with special enhancements of assault with a firearm and intentional discharge or a firearm, causing great bodily harm. She is free on $250,000 bail and is now living with relatives.

A trial is scheduled for April 7. It is expected to last two to three weeks.

PLEA & SENTENCING October 9, 2008 - McWilliams pleaded no contest to one count of assault with a firearm (and two sentencing enhancements) and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Prosecutors say the plea and sentencing was appropriate given the domestic violence allegations.

The intended victim and live-in boyfriend JamesTalley has sued McWilliams in civil court for causing his injuries. McWilliams counter-sued, saying Talley was abusive to her. The civil matter has been delayed until after the criminal proceedings wrap up.

See "Schoolteacher sentenced to 8 years for shooting boyfriend"

Flint, MICHIGAN

Dec 27, 2007 - William L. Harshman, 50, a psychology professor a Mott Community College, was arrested and faces two counts of assault with intent to murder plus one count of first-degree home invasion.

He is accused of breaking into a home on Christmas Eve and stabbing two people. Police say he had a hit list of eight people he wanted to kill. Harshman allegedly called a former student about 30 minutes before the attack and told her he was standing in front of a house where he was going to kill three people. He is being held without bond.

He is due back in court on Jan. 4.

Christmas Eve stabbings part of 'hit list'
Psychologist suspected in Flint double stabbing

Coffeeville, ALABAMA

Arrested in 2006 for soliciting a student to murder her husband.
GUILTY of two counts of enticing a minor for immoral purposes.
Sentenced to three years in prison and 5 years probation. Solicitation of murder charge still pending.

Oct 18, 2007 - Sharon Rutherford, 30, a ninth grade English teacher, is scheduled to stand trial Oct 22 for solicitation of murder and two counts of enticing a child to enter a room or vehicle for immoral purposes.

Ruthorford allegedly had a sexual relationship with a student and convinced him to kill her husband, James Rutherford in April 2006. She was also indicted for making advances to two other students in her classroom.
Full Name: Sharon Linton Rutherford

BACKGROUND: Rutherford was charged with having sex with four students and allegedly involving one in a plot to kill her husband. Two of the victims are under age 16.

Officials released few details but said the husband, a gym teacher who taught at the same school last year, was unharmed.

School officials were first alerted in 2004 to concerns about the teacher by an unsigned letter accusing Sharon Linton Rutherford of sleeping with students. The school investigated but found no evidence. Then on April 5, one of the students told Principal Janice Richardson that he had slept with the teacher. She was arrested April 11, 2006 and was later indicted.

GUILTY VERDICT Oct 25 - A jury found Rutherford guilty on two counts of enticing a minor for immoral purposes.

Soon after Rutherford's arrest in April 2006, authorities dropped rape and sexual abuse charges against her when they determined that the two boys mentioned in those charges were older than Alabama's age of consent, 16. The remaining enticement charges involved boys who were 14 and 15 at the time.

The solicitation charge is still pending against Rutherford.

She will be sentenced Dec 10.

SENTENCED Dec 10 - Rutherford was sentenced to 3 years in prison and 5 years' probation.

Cedric Cummings [who can be seen on the video is black] is one of Rutherford's former students. He's now 21 and explained why their affair ended.

"We were going together or whatever. Then after a long period of time she wanted me to kill her husband. I didn't wanna murder the man or nothing like that. I didn't wanna kill nobody so we just separated after that. Then, she got with 8 more of my friends."

Rutherford is facing more time for reportedly trying to get a student to kill her husband. The solicitation for murder charge is expected to be settled in March.

Her husband filed for divorce and has joint custody of their two children.

Fitchburg, MASSACHUSETTS

Sentenced to 18 *** months for trying to hire a hitman to kill her husband.




GUILTY PLEA: August 17, 2007 -
A one-time “teacher of the year” at Notre Dame Academy,
Caroline M. Kotoski, 43, pleaded guilty to a charge of solicitation to commit murder. She was soliciting the murder of her husband from an undercover state trooper. A transcript of the conversation was entered into evidence.

The murder of her estranged husband, William Kotoski Jr., was to look like an accident or the result of a robbery, she told the undercover state police officer, who was posing as a hit man named “Harry,” during their Sept. 9, 2004, meeting in the parking lot of a supermarket on Gold Star Boulevard.

She also made it quite clear that her two children were not to be present when the killing occurred.

“How come you don’t want this to look like a suicide?” asked the man Ms. Kotoski would soon learn was actually Peter LeDuc, a state trooper assigned to the office of then Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte.

“No life insurance,” said Ms. Kotoski.

No date given for sentencing.

SEE " "Trial set for wife accused of plotting death of husband" (August 2006) where the defense stated in court filings that he intends to raise a defense of lack of criminal responsibility based on a “mental disease or defect” Ms. Kotoski was suffering from “at the time of the alleged crime.” She solicited the murder a few days before she was scheduled to be deposed in the couple’s pending divorce case. It was caught on audio and videotape.

August 19 - From the Telegram and Gazette, a story about the husband learning of the intended hit. Wife was sentenced to 18 months of a 2-1/2 year sentence.

SENTENCED: August 24 - Kotoski was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in Framingham State Prison with twelve months suspended = six months***. She was also sentenced to ten years' probation.
Under conditions of the sentence, Ms. Kotoski is to undergo drug and alcohol substance abuse evaluation and treatment, to continue her mental health treatment and to avoid contact with Mr. Kotoski.

The sentence had been recommended by both the prosecution and the defense. Mental health experts who evaluated Ms. Kotoski for both sides agreed she suffered from a major mental illness when she offered the state trooper $15,000 to kill Mr. Kotoski.

*** NOTICE - As a poster pointed out, math isn't our strong suit. She'll be in the slammer for 18 months. And we would be scared to have Caroline as a teacher in case we annoyed her.