BEAVER, W.Va.—West Virginia authorities say they have charged three Southern Region Jail inmates with first-degree murder in the beating death of a fourth inmate.
“There was evidence that he had been beaten pretty severely,” Boothe told Bluefield Daily Telegraph.
An investigation led to the arrest on Monday of 21-year-old Dallas Allen Lauschin of Princeton, 33-year-old Thomas Antwan Jones of Princeton, and 41-year-old Anthony Lee Johnson of Oceana.
Whittaker was in jail on DUI (driving under the influence of intoxicants) charges. “He was picked up on Feb. 15,” Boothe said.
All of the men had been incarcerated on misdemeanor charges and there’s no indication they knew each other outside jail.
Jones was booked on a home confinement violation on Jan. 7, Johnson entered jail on petty larceny and third-degree shoplifting charge on Jan. 3, and Lauschin was charged on a family court capias on Dec. 11.
One of the suspects was near to finishing his sentence, according to Boothe.
Man Gets 12 Years for Death of Friend Killed in Robbery
LAKELAND, Fla.—A Florida man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the death of his friend, who was shot by a security guard during an attempted robbery.Authorities say Rose, then 18, and two other teens attempted to rob the guard in a Lakeland apartment laundry room in March 2016. The guard shot 15-year-old Stephen Brenor, who later died.
Rose and the other teen were charged under Florida’s felony murder law. It holds defendants legally responsible when someone dies during the commission of a violent crime, even if the person who dies is involved in the crime.
Missouri Bill on Minimum Prison Sentences Heads to Senate
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.—Judges could ignore mandatory minimum sentencing laws for some nonviolent offenders under a bill passed Feb. 21 by Missouri’s Republican-led House, a move that’s part of a broader push to revamp the state’s criminal justice system.But the sponsor, Republican Rep. Cody Smith, told colleagues on the House floor that it could reduce the state’s prison population and would give judges the flexibility to differentiate between “the folks we’re scared of and the folks we’re mad at.”
“There’s a tremendous appetite for criminal justice reform in our state and in our nation right now,” said Smith, who also leads the House Budget Committee. “This is one tool in the toolbox, and an important step in the right direction.”
In recent years, Missouri has had the eighth-highest incarceration rate among the states. But Department of Corrections officials have cited an overhaul of the state’s criminal laws that took effect in 2017 as the cause of a recent drop in the prison population. As a result, Gov. Mike Parson and the corrections director now plan to close a prison.
Rep. Shane Roden, a Cedar Hill Republican and reserve deputy sheriff, said changing sentencing laws will, in practice, mean overcrowding at local jails because he predicted it would lead to an uptick in parole violations.
“While it may sound like we’re doing a good thing by lowering the requirement, and there are some good things behind this, we’ve just shifted the burden,” Roden said on the House floor.
Kansas City Democratic Rep. Brandon Ellington pushed lawmakers to go further to allow for a possible earlier release for first-time felony offenders and older inmates.
But Ellington—a member of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, which is backing a number of criminal justice bills—said even though his proposal was shot down, he noticed more interest among new Republican lawmakers.
The bill now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader Caleb Rowden said the shift in public interest from tough-on-crime to smart-on-crime policy has eased the way for Republican support.
“It’s not on the top of everybody’s list, but I think everybody understands the importance,” Rowden said of support in the Senate.
Other pending bills on criminal justice include expunging records for low-level marijuana crimes.