Friday, May 13, 2011
EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...3-14-'11
- Logan County Sheriff's Deputies say they responded to a call of a domestic dispute Monday at the home of Katrina and Jim Goldie in Omar where Jim Goldie allegedly had set his home and Katrina on fire as a result of a dispute. Katrina Goldie was transported to a Pittsburgh burn center where she died Thursday. Jim Goldie is currently in critical condition at Cabell Huntington Hospital after receiving severe burns. Authorities are still investigating the incident.
- Michael Fannin, a man accused of shaking four-month-old Emma Beatty to death in Huntington, appeared in court Friday morning. Fannin, who was babysitting, says he didn't shake baby Emma, but he accidentally dropped her on the floor. Three doctors who treated Emma say the only explanation for her traumatic head injuries would be being violently shaken. Magistrate Dan Goheen found enough probable cause to send the case to grand jury. Fannin is being held in the Western Regional Jail on a $1 million cash-only bond.
- An April 2010 Sierra Club lawsuit, filed in conjunction with the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and Coal River Mountain Watch against five Massey owned mines has been settled. The suit alleged Elk Run Coal Co., Inc., Independence Coal Co., Inc., Marfork Coal Co., Inc., Peerless Eagle Coal Co. and Power Mountain Coal Co. all discharged pollutants greater than West Virginia permit limits, violating the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. Massey has agreed to spend $400,000 in the next four years for the West Virginia Land Trust to work under West Virginia University’s College of Law Land Use and Sustainable Development Clinic. The funds will go toward developing a preservation project to protect the land around streams.
- Joshua Thomas Rose, 21, of Scott Depot, was arrested Thursday evening and charged with first-degree robbery in connection with the robberies of a 7-Eleven on Teays Valley Road in Scott Depot and an Exxon station in Eleanor. Police say Rose made off with about $450 in cash and cigarettes from the 7-Eleven and about $1,230 in money and cigarettes from the Exxon station.
- Kelly Chapman was arrested in November 2008 after he shot Nastasha Folden, who was five months pregnant, in the stomach. Folden survived, but her unborn baby died. Chapman, who was 16 years old at the time, was charged with murder and sentenced to life without mercy in July 2009. Judge Duke Bloom said he would re-visit the sentence when Chapman turned 18. Friday, Judge Bloom ruled that Chapman's sentence will stand. Chapman will be transferred from a youth detention center to the Mount Olive Correctional Complex.
- Vicki Mae Hawks, 34, of Hardy County, has been arrested and charged with murder after allegedly killing her newborn baby and trying to hide the body. State Police troopers went to a house on Jenkins Run Road near Moorefield Thursday after a family member called authorities and told them there was a dead baby at the house. Trooper First Class C.T. Kessell says the baby's body was found hidden in a trash bag outside. Police believe the body had been in the bag about 10 days.
- Sabrina Smith, a woman accused of trying to kill her 6-year-old daughter in Beckley, appeared in Raleigh Circuit Court Friday and waived her right to challenge extradition to Tennessee. She is charged in Union County, Tennessee with two counts of child neglect and one count of child abuse. Smith's 6 year old daughter, who weighed less than 20 pounds, was unresponsive when her mother took her to Raleigh General Hospital in early September. Smith and her roommate, Amanda Wills, were arrested in October. The Tennessee charges stem from when Smith lived in Tennessee prior to moving to West Virginia. Smith is still facing charges of child neglect and attempted murder for the treatment of her daughter while they lived in Beckley. Sabrina's husband, Hugh Smith is also facing charges in Tennessee. He is currently jailed there under $200,000 bond.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 10:56 PM 
