Monthly Archives: July 2008

Defendant who spit in deputies eye launches tirade at sentencing

July 17, 20085:05 p.m.

Note to defendants: If you want a judge to give you less than the maximum prison time, don’t call her a b****.

Michael Gaines, 50, didn’t heed that advice while facing Judge Rebecca Pilshaw today. Gaines, who is HIV-positive, was convicted last month by a jury of spitting in a deputy’s eye while in the county jail.

Prosecutor Kevin O’Connor had recommended 10 years, a hefty sentence, but not the max. Gaines lost his temper and swore at the judge, prompting Sedgwick County Sheriff’s deputies to remove him from the courtroom. Gaines continued to yell at O’Connor, calling him “a maggot who was stillborn at birth.”

Pilshaw borrowed Judge Eric Yost’s courtroom, where he does first appearances from the jail via closed-circuit television. Pilshaw concluded the sentencing via video, giving Gaines the maximum of 164 months (more than 13 years).

O’Connor’s argument had been that Gaines couldn’t control his temper.

Updates: Video[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/5v9Jxz-9vU8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Also, Judge Pilshaw blogged about her account of the sentencing.

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Judge: Number of jail beds don’t impact court decisions

July 17, 20084:10 p.m.

Whether or not the county builds new jail space into its budget, business in the criminal courts division will go on as usual.

Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Yost, chief of the criminal courts division, said jail space doesn’t figure into decisions on sentencing or bail. We asked Yost if County Manager Bill Buchanan’s recommendation to not put a $54 million jail expansion into next year’s budget would affect the courts.

“We are all well aware of the problem, of course,” Yost said, “but we need to do what we think is appropriate with each case, and hope there is a place to house those who get incarcerated.”

Bond is set by the severity of the crimes and the risk that a defendant will flee.

“Thus, most low-level felony cases and misdemeanors will be able to bond out easily anyway,” Yost said. “Defendants in the more serious cases probably won’t.”

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Secretary for fake Indian tribe in Wichita pleads guilty

July 17, 200812:39 p.m.

Eduviges del Carmen Zamora was in this country as a legal resident when she went to work selling memberships in a fake Indian tribe to illegal aliens in Wichita.

Zamora pleaded guilty this morning to having knowledge of a felony that she didn’t report to authorities. The felony in this case is mail fraud.

She worked as a secretary in the Wichita home office of the unrecognized Kaweah Indian tribe, one of the most fascinating cases to be going through the justice system here.

Prosecutors say illegal immigrants in nearly a dozen states spent some $200 each for memberships in the fake Kaweah Indian tribe with the hopes that it would give them the proper papers to stay in the country. Malcom Webber is charged as the leader under the alias of “Grand Chief Thunderbird the IV.” Trial is set for Webber, who was 69 when he was charged last September, and the other defendants later this year.

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Here come the judges’ evaluations for district court in Wichita

July 16, 200810:42 a.m.

Updated:

I’m not spending much time at the courthouse this week, because I’m deep in data, wading through our biennial evaluation of Sedgwick County District Court judges.

They were published today.  The online presentation includes an interactive comparison of the survey.

Many of you are on the edge of your seats, I know, to find out how your judges have performed the past two years, according to the lawyers who appear before them. We also have lawyers rank the judicial candidates, so this has become a strong tool for people before they enter the voting booths. As many know, judicial candidates have their own gag order, so they can’t really campaign. This project is a pretty good barometer of what those in the legal community think.

This year we had 311 lawyers participate, compared to 246 in our initial effort in 2006. That’s a 26.4 percent increase. Can you tell I’m working with data all week?

The Eagle and the Wichita Bar Association partner together every two years to evaluate judicial performance. Lawyers log into the WBA Web site and fill out the survey anonymously.

The results will appear in Sunday’s Eagle and on Kansas.com – and I’m hustling to make deadline.

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Live coverage of McCullough murder trial here

July 10, 20083:51 p.m.

I’ve been filing live updates from Cherish’s McCullough’s trial on charges of first-degree murder in a convenience store stabbing last summer.

You can follow updates in the feed in the left hand margin of this page, or by following this page on Twitter.com.

What’s this Twitter thing? It allows you to keep track of your friends, and they keep track of you, very short messages (140 characters or less), including our coverage of notable trials.

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Air Force widow from Wellington bilked VA for more than $82,000 in veterans benefits

July 8, 20083:12 p.m.

Carol Holt’s husband, Steve Holt, died 13 years after being discharged from the Air Force. As his widow, she was entitled to benefits from the Veterans Administration.

But Holt shouldn’t have kept collecting money after she remarried, prosecutors say, or for children who didn’t belong to the veteran. The 54-year-old Wellington woman pleaded guilty Monday after being charged with “purloining” $82,256 from the VA. Carol Holt remarried in 1998, four years after her husband died from a service-related illness. But the government said she kept collecting money to which she wasn’t entitled.

In 2002, prosecutors say Carol Holt filed a marital status form for the VA, but she neglected to say that she’d been married to someone else the past four years. Last year, she filled out a child support form saying that the VA funds from her deceased husband were being used to support two of his children. But they weren’t really his children.

Holt faces sentencing Sept. 29 before U.S. District Judge Monti Belot.

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Deputies plan benefit for widow of their colleague killed in motorcycle accident

July 8, 20083:10 p.m.

Colleagues of Clarence “Butch” Pugh, a former Sedgwick County sheriffs’ detention deputy killed in a motorcycle accident last month, are planning a benefit Friday to raise money to help bring his wife home to Wichita.

A dinner, silent auction, car show and karaoke contest are scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Friday at Signatures Lounge, 1621 S. Woodlawn.

The aim is to raise $25,000 to bring Debi Pugh back home from a hospital in Billings, Mont., where she is recovering after suffering multiple broken bones and having her left leg amputated. Butch and Debi Pugh had taken their new Honda Goldwings on vacation to Yellowstone Park. A driver of a pickup truck fell asleep at the wheel June 20, crossed the center line and hit the couple, killing Butch Pugh, and injuring Debi Pugh. Butch was 53.

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At trial, public may finally see controversial video of convenience-store stabbing

July 3, 20085:52 p.m.

Cherish McCullough was 19 when she was booked and charged with first-degree murder. Her case could soon swirl with controversy over a community’s value of human life.

McCullough has pleaded not guilty of stabbing 27-year-old LaShanda Callaway after an argument in a convenience store at 2601 N. Hillside. At her trial, which begins next week, the public is expected to see for the first time a security video of the stabbing that raised concerns beyond the crime itself.

Soon after Callaway’s death on June 24, 2007, Wichita police chief Norman Williams told Eagle columnist Mark McCormick that the video showed people continuing to shop, some even snapping cell-phone pictures of the fallen woman.

Jury selection is expected to start Monday. Richard Ney will represent McCullough for the defense. C.J. Rieg is prosecuting.

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No comments allowed on courts news stories; but here, talk amongst yourselves

July 3, 20082:19 p.m.

I’ve gotten some e-mails the past couple of days from people who wanted to comment on the story about three illegal immigrants convicted of counterfeiting. But they didn’t find a place to leave a comment on those stories.

An explanation: The Eagle has policies of not allowing comments on certain stories containing sensitive issues. These include stories that name defendants or children in peril. This evolved from past stories, where we’ve actually had members of families of both defendants and victims get in online shouting matches. Not pretty.

Those like me who are old enough to remember the “Dragnet” television show will remember the term “to protect the innocent.” That’s what we’re trying to do with those stories, since a commenter might post libelous claims about someone who’s innocent. If you post a comment on this forum, you assume legal responsibility for what you say.

Most of my stories on Wichita courts do not allow comments. But they are allowed on this blog. Blogs are meant to be a conversation. Just be civil. If it gets out of hand, I can see my bosses limiting comments here, too. And we’d like to keep this an open forum.

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Police: Accused forger presents stolen check to its owner for cashing

July 2, 200811:06 a.m.

Fay Britton may have an answer to the question “Just how small is Wichita?” Britton is charged with writing a forged check and then presenting it to the person from whom it was stolen.

Police say Britton walked into the Braum’s at 4211 West Central last Friday and gave a check to the clerk for $12.51. The name on the check: Francisca B. Romero.

Romero happened to be working behind the counter at Braum’s last Friday. She recognized the check as one of her own and called police. Police learned the bank had mistakenly sent Romero’s checks to Britton’s home. The two women live in the same block of the same street with one numeral separating their addresses.

Britton made her first court appearance Tuesday afternoon. Sedgwick County District Judge Eric Yost set a preliminary hearing for July 15.

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