Three arrested in Blount County murders

District Attorney Pamela Casey

Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey announced capital murder charges in the deaths of 43-year-old Gary "Sambo" Hazelrig and 36-year-old Rasha Breann Sherrer.  The two victims were found shot to death at a residence on Deaverstown Road in Cleveland, Alabama on Sept. 15.   Monday, investigators arrested 20 year old William Lane Bosner, 32 year old Michael Cody Dooley, 18 year old and Paul Mason Trull,  and charged all three with nine charges each, including four counts of capital murder.  Bosner lived about a third of a mile from where the murders were committed on the same road.  Investigators said that robbery was the original motive for the crime and an amount of methamphetamine ice was taken from the murder scene along with a 4-wheeler, television and a guitar.  Court records show that both victims were shot multiple times and that the suspects wore masks and gloves during the crime.  Casey said this was Blount County's first double homicide in nearly four decades.

Child death murder trial begins in Gadsden

Narsheum Temar Smith                Brandy Nicole Lee

Jury selection began Tuesday in Etowah county in capital murder case against a man and woman charged in the beating death of the woman’s 2-year-old son.  23 year old Brandy Nicole Lee,  and 35 year old  Narsheun Temar Smith,  are charged with capital murder of a child under 14 in the 2011 death of Trevaughn Lee Blount. Prosecutors do not plan to seek the death penalty for either defendant, and both have been free on bond since April. The cases against the two defendants were consolidated earlier this year.  During a motion hearing Tuesday morning before Etowah County Circuit Judge David Kimberly, attorneys Scott Stewart and Vincent Pentecost, representing Lee, asked for a continuance after prosecutors notified them of some additional witnesses they wanted to call in the case.  Etowah County Deputy District Attorney Marcus Reid said in preparing the case, prosecutors looked at the list of witnesses each defendant’s attorney’s planned to call to testify, and interviewed some of those witnesses. Reid said they found witnesses who said they’d seen defendant Lee thump her son in the head, slap him on the back of the head, push him down and hit him in the chest prior to the injuries he sustained in August 2011 that claimed his life. Reid said as the staff talked to one witness, it would lead to another. Prosecutors were told that Lee had confessed to an inmate at the Etowah County Detention Center that she had killed her son. Interviewing that inmate led them to another who also heard a confession from Lee. Testimony in the case is set to begin today.

Pair arrested for hindering prosecution

Etowah county authorities have arrested two Etowah County residents for hindering the prosecution of a sexual abuse case..

59 year old Don Gary Harcrow,  and  46 year old Sedana Epperson Harcrow,  both of Attalla, are each charged with one felony count of first-degree hindering prosecution.

The Harcrows allegedly had knowledge and failed to report the sexual abuse of a minor. They also allegedly placed the victim in danger in locations near the abuser.

Both were booked into the Etowah County Detention Center and later released on $2,500 bond.

Arson Indictment

A 52 year old Sylacauga man has been indicted for arson in the first degree stemming from an incident May 10.

Frank Shelly Barsh,  is accused of setting fire to various items in his home in Sylavon Courts in Sylacauga. According to Talladega County District Attorney Steve Giddens, the first degree charge stems from the fact Barsh should have reasonably thought there was someone else inside the building when he set the fires.

Although Barsh lived in the unit he set fire to, it is actually the property of the Sylacauga Housing Authority, Giddens said.

Arson in the first degree is a class A felony in Alabama, punishable upon conviction by 10 to 99 years or life in prison.

Gadsden decides not to renew jail contract with Etowah County

The city of Gadsden agreed Tuesday to send inmates to Attalla and Boaz instead of renewing a contract with the Etowah County Commission to house prisoners at the Etowah County Detention Center. Council members estimate the change, which will go into effect Thursday with the start of the new fiscal year, will save the city $400,000 to $500,000.  Gadsden inmates currently are housed at the Etowah Detention Center, but the City Council and the County Commission reached an agreement this year when discussing a contract for the upcoming year.  Under the previous contract, the city had to guarantee 40 beds at the jail, and the cost was expected to increase to about $857,000.  The County Commission also gave the city a deadline of Oct. 1 to reach an agreement.  Female prisoners will be sent to the Boaz municipal jail, and male prisoners will be sent to the Attalla municipal jail.  Gadsden will pay Attalla $600 per day for 12 prisoners, with an additional $45 per day for each prisoner above 12. Gadsden will receive a credit of $50 per prisoner per day if the number of prisoners is under 12 on a given day.  The agreement with Boaz is for $500 per day for 10 prisoners, with an additional $50 per day for each prisoner above 12. Gadsden also will receive a credit of $50 per prisoner per day if the number of prisoners is under 10.  Tuesday’s agreements with Boaz and Attalla were memorandums of understanding and will serve as a tentative agreement until a more formal contract for prisoner housing is drawn up. The city also approved its Fiscal Year 2016 budget, which passed despite a dissenting vote from Councilman Thomas Worthy.

While the budget includes a 2.5 percent raise for full-time city employees and a 50-cents-per-hour increase for part-time employees, it also includes an increase in the cost of retirees’ health insurance. Worthy voiced his concerns about that at last week’s meeting.

Jury selected in murder trial in death of Wellborn teacher

Jovon Gaston

A Calhoun County  jury was seated Monday to hear the case of a Jacksonville man charged with capital murder in the 2011 killing of a Wellborn school teacher.

Four women and 10 men, including two alternates, were selected over eight hours of questioning and deliberation between the state and the defense.

26 year old Jovon Gaston,  is charged in the 2011 death and kidnapping of Wellborn Elementary teacher Kevin Thompson. Gaston is one of three arrested in connection to the Thompson case.

26 year old Nicholas Smith,  was sentenced to death in 2013 for the killing. 31 year old Tyrone Thompson, is currently seeking money to hire a mental health expert after Calhoun County Circuit Judge Debra Jones found him competent to stand trialThe three men allegedly kidnapped the victim and drove him to ATMs, forcing him to withdraw money at gunpoint, according to prosecutors in Smith’s case. Following the robbery, the victim was taken to a secluded section of U.S. 278 near Piedmont. His body was found near the highway early on the morning of April 23, 2011, stabbed to death.