Knoxville, TENNESSEE

RANT OF THE DAY

Another murder trial eagerly followed by a tabloid press. We aren't talking about the National Inquirer, either.

September 3, 2008 - The trial has started for Eric McLean on first-degree murder charges for killing an 18-year-old former student of his wife. Jurors were informed they could be sequestered for the duration of the trial that is being carried live by truTV.

Eric McLean has since divorced his wife, who was 29 at the time, which makes this headline, "Love-triangle slaying: Judge won't issue gag order" distasteful. (from the Knoxville News-Sentinel, a Scripps newspaper)

It wasn't a triangle and no love was involved. It's the story of a sexual predator in the classroom,. But that would be a less-thrilling headline and McClean wouldn't have - less than 10 days after after point-blank shooting the boy to death - appeared on NBC's "Today" show.

Frankly, the National Inquirer has become more legitimate than our former mainstream media that have become low end, tabloid thrill-seekers. What kind of people celebrate a murder like this when an 18-year-old boy who delivered pizzas is dead?

The wife, Erin McLean, has since been involved in at least two other scandals involving teenage boys and has been on the run from her estranged husband's divorce attorney with the children, ages 11 and 8, since last summer.

TT - Entry for McLean

Bruceton Mills, WEST VIRGINIA

Sentenced for the murder of his girlfriend and her 4-year-old son.

Apr 17, 2007 - James DeGasperin, 35, a health and physical education teacher at Bruceton School, was arrested, charged with killing his girlfriend, Lori Casteel and Collin Casteel, and her 4-year-old son.

Police found the bodies of the woman and her son several hundred yards from the house. The victims, who were not identified pending notification of next of kin, died of "substantial blunt force trauma to the head."

The Register-Herald: The court complaint said DeGasperin bludgeoned his live-in girlfriend and her son to death with a baseball bat.

According to court documents, a witness, Terry Knotts, told Preston County Lt. Joe Stiles that DeGasperin admitted to killing Casteel and asked “Knotts to help him dispose of the body.” It was Knotts who told police that DeGasperin had used a baseball bat. Police said the woman was living with DeGasperin.
Full Name: James Louis DeGasperin

PRELIMINARY: Apr 25 - At a preliminary, a friend testified that DeGasperin called him to help hide the body. Trooper Joe Portato testified that when he showed up at the house, DeGasperin looked at him and said, "I'm a really good guy, I just snapped."

The case is now headed to the grand jury. An autopsy revealed that Casteel was also six months pregnant. Prosecutors say DeGasperin will not be charged with the third murder until his is indicted.

Update Apr 27 - A grand jury will decide on the charges against DeGasperin. The next one is to be convened in June. In the meantime, an autopsy revealed that Collin, age 4, also was shot in the chest.

GRAND JURY CONVENED August 28: special session of the grand jury convened Tuesday morning to indict a Preston County man.

INDICTED August 30 - James Louis DeGasperin was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder. The third charge is only the second time someone in West Virginia has been charged under West Virginia's Unborn Victims of Violence Act that was passed in 2005.

CONVICTED and SENTENCED August 27 - After being convicted by a jury on three counts of second-degree murder and two counts of concealing Collin and Lori Casteel's bodies, DeGasperin was sentenced to 30 years in prson on each murder count and 1 to 5 years on each count of concealment.

He will serve each of those sentences consecutively and will be given credit for time he has already served.

Cumberland, MARYLAND

Middle school teacher arrested for murder. How do you explain that to middle schoolers?

August 21, 2008 - Cory Yantz, 38, has been charged with first degree murder after his wife was found dead in the kitchen of their Fayette Street apartment. Yantz is a teacher at Washington Middle School.

Yantz is alleged to have stabbed Tonya Jean Yantz, 34, according to C3I. Cumberland Police responded to the home at 3:12 p.m. for a report of a woman who had been stabbed and found Tonya Yantz dead in the kitchen.
Full Name: Cory Francis Yantz
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C3I = Combined County Criminal Investigation Unit, a cooperative unit between several Allegany County law enforcement agencies. Second story of the day involving C3I. Mountain Leathers, 24, a teacher at Mountain Ridge High School was arrested in Frostburg. TT entry.

Cumberland and Frostburg are a little over 11 miles apart.

Sea Cliff, NEW JERSEY

July 25, 2008 - Grady Hampton, 22, a teacher's aide, was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder in the Dec. 18 shooting of Kareem Sapp, 19, who was shot as he moved clothes in his car out of the way for Hampton's girlfriend to sit.

Hampton was a teacher's aide at SCO Family of Services in Sea Cliff, where he worked with developmentally disabled children. SCO is one of the largest not-for-profit child and family services agencies in New York State. He was ordered held without bail.

Tulsa, OKLAHOMA

Arrested hours before her funeral.

June 27, 2008 - John Kastner, 50, an English teacher at Webster High School, told authorities that intruders killed his wife early Wednesday morning. He was arrested hours before her funeral.

Lori Kastner, 44, was a former attorney for the Oklahoma Supreme Court. She was shot several times in the head. Kastner was shot in the hand in what he said was a struggle with the intruder.

John Kastner told police Wednesday that the intruder apparently was looking for an acquaintance of his 19-year-old daughter, who was not home at the time. Two other children, age 9 and 15, were in the home at the time of the shooting.

John Kastner recently voluntarily resigned as the school's co-athletic director, a district spokeswoman said Wednesday, but other coaches would not comment about why he resigned.

June 27 - Homicide probe 'intensive' (Tulsa World)
June 27 - Husband arrested hours before murdered wife's funeral (KJHR2)
June 27 - Wife's slaying was part of a cover-up, police say (The Oklahoman)

A high school teacher allegedly shot his sleeping wife twice in the head to cover up his lies and delusions involving claims that he was a member of the Israeli Special Forces and had access to millions from a phony charitable corporation associated with the Israeli military, according to an arrest affidavit filed today.
. . .
The court affidavit says she quit her job last month to go to work for John Kastner’s fictional nonprofit organization.

Kastner told police he woke up about 4 a.m. Wednesday to find an intruder holding his gun, which he said he had left on a table next to a plastic bag containing $5,000. Police discovered he bought the gun 8 days before she was shot, and that he “test fired” the weapon at 3 a.m. the previous day, to see whether any neighbors heard the shot and reported it.

PLANNED INSANITY DEFENSE? June 28 - Suspect made big promises (Tulsa World)
He had pledged to fund several causes, including an endowment fund, at Webster High School. Recently he had offered lots of cash, including one in May as he "brazenly announced at Webster's annual athletic banquet a pledge to award football coach Jim Harper $100,000 if he wins at least five football games in the fall. " There was also a promised donation of $80,000 to $90,000 from Kastner for new football equipment and a promise of $75,000 to $100,000 to pay for driver's education.

Kastner left a voice mail message for a Tulsa World education reporter on Monday, saying he wanted to report instances of "cheating" on student attendance and graduation rates, as well as "illegal athletes" on sports teams.

June 28 - 'Pyramid of lies' alleged
He told his family he was a member of the Israeli special forces. He had access to millions of dollars from an Israeli charitable organization and a private plane chartered by the group. He told police the murderer had taken a bag containing $5,000 from the dining room table, as well as the family's passports, a gold ring and a watch that was in the bag. He also kept a journal.

PRELIMINARY HEARING SCHEDULED - July 28 - A preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 25.

Principal recounts odd behavior of Tulsa colleague

Taft, CALIFORNIA

Taft College teacher in jail on second-degree murder charge.

June 11, 2008 - A judge has refused to reduce the bail of James Wyatt, 60, a Taft College teacher accused of tying up his long-time girlfriend who later died from suffocation.

Opposing a reduction in the bail for $1 million to $100,000, Kern County prosecutor David Wilson argued that noting that Wyatt and his co-defendant, Justin Mark Ennis, 21, disagree significantly about what happened that day. The co-defendant Wyatt had prior arrests related to similar behavior.

Wyatt’s next hearing is scheduled for June 17.
Full Name: James Arthur Wyatt

May 22 - Suspects' stories differ on tied-up woman's demise

Taft College teacher James Arthur Wyatt gave a harrowing account to police about how his longtime girlfriend was tied up and suffocated to death, but police noted that Wyatt didn’t seem upset or troubled by what happened to her.

Wyatt dated the victim for off and on for 18 years and she lived with him for the past four years. Wyatt used to date Ennis’ mother and Ennis has become a friend. [ TT -The newspaper didn't put "friend" in quotes, but the relationship is distinctly weird. The story reads like a first-person account of the evening. And the reporter wasn't there.]
---------------------- OPINION ----------------------
TT - The trial promises to be as surreal as the trial and conviction of Vincent Brothers, the Bakersfield vice-principal who murdered his wife, Joanie Harper, age 39, their three children, (Marques, age 4; Lyndsey, age 2; Marshall, age 6 weeks) and his mother-in-law, Ernestine Harper, 70. That story never made national headlines.

In Bakersfield, the news with teachers isn't good even when they're sentenced. But that is, we suspect, due to the attitude of local papers.

Links in opinion area are internal.

Pine Knot, KENTUCKY

Time to check those yearbooks.

May 2, 2008 - Troy L. Baird, 31, is on trial for the murder of one woman and the knife attack on four others at a house he allegedly frequented to fuel a cocaine habit.

He was arrested in January 2007 after an argument over drugs. Baird said he had been at the Crabtree residence several times that day to purchase cocaine. He had “done a couple quarters of coke around 5:30 p.m.” that day, but left his parents house to go get more several hours later. At that time, he returned to that house asking for drugs on credit.

Baird told the officer had never been inside the jail and had only once been inside a police car during an educational event at Pine Knot Middle School. He added he was a certified teacher and his five-year struggle with cocaine addiction began after he and his wife divorced.

A principal of Troy Baird’s, as well as a close friend of his grandparents, testified to Troy Baird’s character and “truthfulness and veracity” as the defense closed its case around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
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TT - Kentucky educator records are online and there is a Troy Lee Baird licensed to teach. We do not know if this is the same individual.

Pasadena, CALIFORNIA

Love triangle murder. Skateboard getaway. Remember when school used to be reading, writing and arithmetic? Now it's a case for Forensic Files.

April 4, 2008 - Brandon Landreth, 30, a history teacher at John Muir High School, was arrested and being being held as the prime suspect in the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old man at a hillside home in Arcadia earlier this week. He was booked on suspicion of murder.

Authorities would not say what led them to Landreth, nor would they discuss a possible motive for the slaying of Justo Cesar Morales, who was found shot in his parents' Canyon Road home in northern Arcadia on Sunday.

Sargeant Dean Caputo of the Arcadia Police department said that Landreth apparently "held a grudge against Mr. Morales who had dated his ex-wife." Landreth is being held on $2.05 million bail. He will be arraigned April 17.
Full Name: Brandon Michael Landreth

ABC7 news report is bizarre.

"Mr. Morales was dating a woman apparently a couple of years ago. She was separated from her husband; her husband apparently carried this grudge. He drove up to the location where Mr. Morales lives, on Sunday -- actually rode up on a skateboard from his car -- shot Mr. Morales a number of times in the doorway of his home, and then rode a skateboard back to his car and drove off," said Arcadia Police Sgt. Dean Caputo.

TT - Location is always school. Landreth reportedly lives in Monrovia.

Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Inmate Information entry

NOT GUILTY PLEA April 17 - At his arraignment Ladreth pleaded not guilty. Court documents state that Landreth had confessed to his ex-wife that he shot Morales, according to police and court documents. Another witness who came forward, a friend of Landreth's, said the suspect also confessed to him that he killed Morales, Caputo said. That witness described details of the shooting scene that were known only to investigators.

An eyewitness saw a silver Volkswagon at the time of the murder. That is also the color and make of Landreth's car.

NO BAIL Investigators wanted an increase in bail, citing items found in his car when he was stopped three days after the murder. The items included camping gear, a backpack full of clothing and other articles, and $9,000 in cash Landreth had withdrawn from his bank. The judge ordered him held without bail.

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NO CONTEST PLEA Jan 31, 2001 -

On Jan. 14, Landreth pleaded no contest to the charges of murder in the first degree and committing a crime with a deadly weapon. The Risdons agreed to the no-contest plea, which came with a minimum prison sentence of 32½ years without the possibility of parole.

A sentencing and restitution hearing is scheduled for Feb. 22 at the Pasadena Courthouse.

San Jose, CALIFORNIA

It must have been a memoral football team that year.

April 1, 2008 - A former assistant football coach at Bellarmine College Preparatory School was arrested as a suspect in connection with a murder in Los Gatos.

Esequiel “Paul” Garcia, 29, was arrested, along with three other men. All three face faces charges of murder and conspiracy in the death of Mark Achilli who was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds outside his Los Gatos home.

KCBS’s Matt Bigler reports Bellarmine officials refused to comment on Garcia’s dismissal other than to distance themselves by noting the 29-year-old was a contract employee and not a full faculty member. Garcia graduated from Bellarmine in 1996, and was an assistant football coach there.

Tucson, ARIZONA

Former teacher acquitted on sex charges, now accused of murder.

March 26, 2008 - Netzahualcoyotl Ramos, 34, is being held on a charge of first-degree murder of two men in a drug deal that went bad. He is being held on a $1 million bond.

Ramos, along with Vincent A. Valenzuela, 21, were arrested on first-degree murder charges and identified as the shooters in an incident that began as a drug deal involving crack cocaine and marijuana, court documents show

Last September, Ramos was acquitted on six counts of sexual conduct with a 13-year-old student.
Full Name: Netzahualcoyotl G. Ramos

Staten Island, NEW YORK

March 21, 2008 - Janet Redmond-Mercereau, 38, a Tottenville High School teacher, was indicted by Richmond County grand jury of killing her husband, a New York fire marshal, with three gunshots to the head while he slept. He was murdered in December.

She was charged with second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence. She claims she didn't hear gunfire because she was wearing earplugs and was sleeping in another room with one of her children.

According to the indictment, the defendant tampered with evidence found at the scene. Prosecutors alleged that she wiped traces of evidence off the Smith and Wesson pistol, removed shell casings and washed her clothing in an attempt to conceal the alleged crime. Then waited two hours to call police. She entered a plea of not guilty.

BAIL DENIED April 15 - Justice Leonard P. Rienzi denied defense attorney request for $1 million bail and house arrest. Justice Rienzi followed Justice Stephen J. Rooney's bail denial last month and remanded (sent back to custody) Redmond-Mercereau on charges of second-degree murder, three counts of tampering with evidence, and two counts of weapon possession. She is due back in court on May 30.

HEARING October 31 - At a hearing, a retired detective testified that detectives questioned Redmond-Mercereau despite being notified by her attorney that he was her lawyer and instructing detectives not to question the widow.

The retired detective's admissions yesterday could throw a monkey wrench into the prosecutors' case should a judge rule that any statements made by police or Mrs. Redmond-Mercereau outside of her attorney's presence are inadmissible during a trial.

Her lawyers want her statements to police thrown out. The trial is set to start in early December.

Dearborn, MICHIGAN

Manslaughter? Sounds more like murder. Oh, wait. It's Dearborn.

Jan 22, 2007 - Retired schoolteacher
Mohammed Hussein El-Aftal, 68, was arrested and faces first-degree murder, felony firearm and disinterment/mutilation charges in the 2001 murder of his son-in-law.

He was arraigned and charged with killing his son-in-law and hiding the body for 5 years. The body was found by Dearborn police in an undisclosed Detroit location. The next day El-Aftal and his son were arrested.

The son, who is considered a witness in the case, was ordered to post a $200,000 bond stay in the state, relinquish travel documents and wear a tether.

El-Aftal remains in jail. A preliminary is scheduled for Feb 2. Police say the motive was unclear, but likely was the result of a domestic dispute.
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PRELIMINARY Feb 2 - El-Aftal will stand trial. His son testified today his father told him he shot and killed his brother-in-law Walid Alyoussef in the family's garage in 2001 while he was at work. Another son remains a person of interest in the case.

Following up on a tip, police said they followed Mohammad El-Astal on Jan. 18 and watched him throw away a small bag with two guns and clips from a handgun in a trash bin behind a dollar store on Warren in Detroit.

Later that day, the body's remains were found in two large garbage bags at a BP gas station on Seven Mile Road near Interstate 75. Two other bags were not recovered.

An arraignment is scheduled for Feb 16.
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SENTENCED March 15, 2008 - Mohammed El-Astal pleaded guilty Feb. 25 to lesser charges of manslaughter and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. He was sentenced March 11 to 11 to 15 years in prison.

San Diego, CALIFORNIA

School employee to get 75 years for murdering his estranged wife.

March 13, 2008 - Curtis Allen Brown, 44, a locker room attendant and baseball coach for San Diego Schools, pleaded guilty to to first-degree murder and the use of a revolver in the death of his estranged wife.

Brown also admitted that he had a robbery conviction from 1991. [TT - Those background checks are great, aren't they?]

Brown was out of jail for beating his wife when he kidnapped her at gunpoint and shot her four or five times. She had a restraining order out on him. He shot himself after he killed his wife. Officers shot him three times. He was arraigned in the hospital.

In return for the guilty pleas, prosecutors dismissed special circumstance allegations of murder during a burglary and murder during a kidnapping that could have led to the death penalty. He will be sentenced to 75 years to life in prison on April 11.

Murder

Death and

On Feb 28, Wesley Earnest, assistant principal at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, was arrested for the murder of his estranged wife. There was a typed suicide note and she was shot in the back of the head. Go figure.

March 5 - Jeffrey Duggar, 38, a teacher at Sopchoppy Education Center, was arrested for second-degree murder for the death of a 15-month-old boy in his care. The child was beaten so badly that he bled from his eyes and brain.

March 4 - Hannah Webb, 25, was charged with dumping her newborn, 10-pound baby in a trashbag. The body was found at a waste disposal plant in California where Webb happened to be visiting friends. Webb was a sixth grade teacher in Oregon. They can only charge her for improper disposal of fetal remains because they couldn't determine if the child was dead or alive when the little girl was tossed into the trash.

Mar 2 - Police finally captured Aaron Raigoza, 34, a teacher in Los Angeles. He was wanted in connection with the shooting death of his estranged wife. After nearly a month, they found him in Yucca valley.

Sopchoppy, FLORIDA

Arrested on charges of second-degree murder of 15-month-old boy.

March 6, 2008 -
Jeffrey Duggar, 38, a teacher at Sopchoppy Education Center, was arrested on charges of second-degree murder in connection with the death of a 15-month-old boy. The mother was a student of Duggar's about 11 years ago at Wakulla High School. She has two other children.

Duggar picked up the boy on Christmas Eve. When his mother called to get him the next day, Duggar said they were in Georgia. On New Years' Eve, Duggar called 911 to report that he had rolled over on James and that the boy had stopped breathing. After the boy died, he was found with bruises that appeared to be weeks old. Duggar said the boy had fallen in a bathtub and down stairs.
An autopsy concluded the toddler died from blunt-force trauma. The sheriff's office says Jeffrey Duggar beat the boy so badly in December, he bled from his eyes and brain.

Duggar is an exceptional student education teacher for grades six through 12 at Sopchoppy Education Center. ESE students can include students with learning disabilities to those who are gifted, The school also has programs for students with disciplinary problems and adults seeking their GED.

Duggar was charged earlier with witness tampering in a case where another teacher was accused of having sex with a student. Those charges were dropped. TT entry.
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Wakulla County Sheriff's Office Press Release (undated)

Reminder: Location is always for school.

INDICTED May 6 - The grand jury indicted Duggar on a first-degree murder charge.

Chesapeake, VIRGINIA

Arrested for 1st Degree Murder

Feb 28, 2008 - Wesley Earnest, assistant principal at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, has been arrested and charged with murdering his wife, Jocelyn. He faces charges of charged him with 1st Degree Murder and Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony.

Dr. Earnest's estranged wife, Jocelyn Branham Earnest, 38, was found dead in her home in Forest on Dec. 20, 2007.

Investigators with the Bedford County Sheriff's Department say the scene was set up to look like a suicide. There was a typed suicide note, which is now being analyzed at the state crime lab. They also say the bullet entered Mrs. Earnest through the back of her head.

Bottom photo Bedford County Sheriff’s Office.

Earnest and his wife were going through a bitter divorce and reportedly had taken out restraining orders against each other. Earnest has been suspended without pay.

He was a geometry and computer teacher at Jefferson Forest High School from 1993 to 1997. He was also an assistant principal at Heritage High School until 2005
Full Name: Wesley Brian Earnest

Online memorial for Jocelyn Branham Earnest

Documents- from The Virginia-Pilot
Case information (PDF)
Warrant of arrest (PDF)
Letter sent home with students

PRELIMINARY HEARING April 21 - At the preliminary hearing, prosecutors said the victim knew she was going to die, and she named her killer in a journal.

In an August 2005 entry, she wrote "If you read this he killed me, because I would never kill myself. He being my cheating husband Wesley Earnest." Investigators say Jocelyn wrote several entries where she feared her husband might try to hurt or kill her.

Prosecutors introduced a suicide note that was found next to Jocelyn at the crime scene. They call it a "homicide note," and say fingerprints link that note to Wesley.

Prosecutors say Wesley's partial fingerprints were also found on the .357 revolver used to kill Jocelyn. Investigators say they found the case for the murder weapon at the home of Wesley's girlfriend, Shameka Wright, who lives in Rustburg.

In a twist, the woman who found Jocelyn dead testified that she was in a romantic relationship with Jocelyn before her death. A grand jury will hear the case in May.

INDICTED May 7 - A Bedford County grand jury indicted Wesley Earnest Tuesday on charges of murder and use of a firearm in the slaying of his estranged wife. Earnest's trial has tentatively been scheduled to start July 29.

BOND May 30 - Earnest was granted bond of $200,000 cash bond or a $400,000 real estate bond, Judge James Updike ordered.

TRIAL SCHEDULED July 25, 2008 - Earnest's trial was scheduled to begin Monday, but no pre-trial motions have been filed or heard yet. It is expected to be delayed.

Huntington Park, CALIFORNIA

POLICE MANHUNT FOR TEACHER for Murder
Captured.

Feb 5, 2008 - Police are searching for Aaron Raigoza, 34, a teacher at City of Angels independent study school in Huntington Park, in connection with the shooting death of his wife who also worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District. She was a payroll technician for the Los Angeles Unified School District. They have two children.

He was last seen driving away from the scene of the shooting in Monterey Park. She had obtained three restraining orders against her husband. A Nov. 29 property declaration records show that the couple owned $17,000 worth of "pistol guns."

The school where Raigoza works has almost 100 teachers at 30 locations throughout Los Angeles. Students are not required to attend classes. Instead, they complete all assignments at home. Each teacher works with about 30 students, meeting with them for an hour or two each week to review assignments, make new ones and give tests, according to the district's website.
Full Name: Aaron Leonel Raigoza

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. J. Leslie at (323) 890-5586 or Det. E. Brown at (323) 890-5636 at the sheriff's homicide bureau in Compton.

CHARGED Feb 14 - Raigoza was charged Wednesday with capital murder, but police have not been able to locate him.

CAPTURED Mar 2 - Aaron Raigoza was captured in Yucca Valley. He appeared in court Friday. The victim's sister said two days after Acosta's death, her family received two letters in the mail allegedly from Raigoza confessing to the murder and saying Acosta "deserved it."

ARRAIGNMENT CONTINUED Mar 20 - Raigoza appeared in court Thursday but did not enter a plea. The arraignment was continued until April 24.

Las Vegas, NEVADA

The long-awaited murder trial of John M. Watson has been postponed again. Scheduling conflicts have pushed the trial date to April 21.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Watson who is accused of killing his wife. Her body has never been found. He was a retired Ontario, California teacher. He was first charged in Dec 2006. He has a colorful history.

See TT- Link for Watson.

Ridgeland, MISSISSIPI

Carla might have anger management issues.
Updated for indictment.
Updated - trial finally scheduled. (Jan 2008)

Dec 7, 2006 - Carla A. Hughes, 27, a language arts teacher at Chastain Middle School, was initially charged with accessory after the fact in the slaying of 27-year-old Avis Marie Banks.

Banks' body was found Nov. 29 behind her car at her home with multiple gunshot and stab wounds. She was five months pregnant.

Police are investigating a second teacher -- Keyon Pittman, another teacher who was Banks fiance. Police will not discuss Hughes' arrest.

CHARGES UPGRADED Dec 9 - Charges have been upgraded to two counts of capital murder. Pittmann, another teacher, who lived with the victim cannot be found. He is not considered a suspect.

Update Dec 23 - Police still want to interview Pittman.

PRELIMINARY HEARING Jan 2, 2007 - A preliminary hearing was held. Aa cousin of Carla Hughes brought them the murder weapon. Police awaiting tests. Pittman pleaded fifth.

INDICTED Feb 28 - Hughes has been indicted by the grand jury on two counts of murder. In the course of a preliminary hearing in January, investigators said they had made a connection between Hughes and the murder weapon, also finding blood on her shoes. District Attorney David Clark says he plans to seek the death penalty.

Delta Democrat Times: Hughes has been held without bond since her arrest.

TRIAL SCHEDULED Jan 8, 2008 - Hughes trial has been scheduled for June 16. District Attorney Michael Guest requested more time to prepare for the trial, and Hughes' attorney, state Sen. Johnnie Walls of Greenville, asked that the trial be scheduled around the legislative session.
Also see Clarion-Ledger story.
Official Mississippi state Senator Johnnie Walls website.

Jackson, MISSISSIPPI

JUDGE ORDERED RETRIAL. Second trial jury found her not guilty.

Jan 1, 2007 - WLBT-3 will follow as "High Profile Cases Head to Court" including court for two Jackson Public School teachers.

First, there is the preliminary hearing for Carla Hughes. (Our entry for Hughes) scheduled for Jan 2nd.

Then, jury selection begins for is Elicia Hughes, 28. (No relation) She is the school teacher who was arrested for the 2004 murder of her husband, Brian Hughes. He was shot several [turns out to be 6] times inside the couple's home in Jackson.

TRIAL (Jan 3) Trial begins for Elicia Hughes. Hughes remains on administrative leave from her teaching post at a Jackson elementary school.

UPDATE: (Jan 5) Husband was insured for $250,000.

UPDATE: (Jan 8) Brian Hughes was a philandering husband and lawyer speculates which might have lead someone else to shoot him.

GUILTY VERDICT (Jan 10) Jury found Hughes guilty. Circuit Judge Winston Kidd sentenced Hughes, 35, a former Jackson Public Schools teacher, to life in prison. The Hughes had two children, ages 3 and 4, at the time of the murder.

RETRIAL ORDERED (Feb 22) - A circuit judge has ordered a retrial on the grounds that one of the reasons the state gave for striking a potential juror was not race neutral. Prosecutors in the Hinds County District Attorney's office had to explain why they used all their strikes to remove potential African-American jurors from Hughes' murder trial.

TRIAL DATE SCHEDULED (Apr 15) - A new date has been set for the re-trial of Hughes. The trial is scheduled for Nov 5.

RETRIAL - Nov 4 - The retrial is set to begin Tuesday.

NOT GUILTY VERDICT Nov 16 - The jury found Hughes not guilty.

Jan 2, 2008 - SleazeTV running tapes of the trial.