MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A group of jurors in a recent Shelby County death penalty case say they engaged in “deep soul-searching” that may have forever altered some of them.
Forty-three-year-old Calvin Rogers, along with another person, was charged in the Sept. 17, 2010, robbery and murder of a 21-year-old New Yorker. Victim Ameer Althaibani had gotten engaged and traveled to Memphis to spend time with relatives before he was to return home for his wedding.
Althaibani and his two cousins had taken the wrong exit off the interstate and stopped at a gas station in Binghamton when they were confronted by Rogers and his cousin, Scott Lee.
Prosecutors said Lee fired the fatal shot, but they argued that Rogers also fired at the vehicle. Under state law, Rogers could be considered criminally responsible for the death even if he didn’t fire a shot.
Jury foreman Dominic Desiderio told The Commercial Appeal (https://bit.ly/1fODqzD) that after closing arguments, the jury deliberated only about an hour and a half before one of the jurors began to shake and insist she didn’t understand what was going on.
She was sent home and Commercial Appeal business reporter Tom Bailey, an alternate, was picked to serve in her place.
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HUMBOLDT, Tenn. (AP) - State officials are investigating the sudden death of a Humboldt man police officers were struggling to apprehend.
The Jackson Sun reports (https://bit.ly/1hg1z7L) a news release from the Humboldt Police Department says two officers saw 45-year-old Eddie Ray Epperson running in the streets on Thursday night.
According to police, Epperson was almost struck by a car and appeared to be intoxicated. Police say Epperson became aggressive when the officers caught up with him, shoving one of them. Police say Epperson became suddenly unresponsive when the officers tried to get him under control.
Epperson was taken by ambulance to Humboldt General Hospital where he died at 1 p.m. Friday.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is involved at the request of District Attorney Garry Brown. The officers’ names were not released.
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GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A 16-year-old Greene County boy who was one of four teens leading police on a 10-hour chase Thursday has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his father.
Multiple media outlets reported the charges, which include accessory after the fact to murder for the three other teenagers. All four are also charged with theft.
Police said the teens took at least eight guns from Tennessee, but they were unarmed when they finally were arrested in South Carolina. Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster has said one of the suspects told deputies they threw the pistols into a creek.
Along with the 16-year-old boy, police arrested a 16-year-old girl and two 15-year-old boys. Greene County deputies have said the father was 36 years old and was found shot to death in his home around 11 p.m. Wednesday.
The Associated Press is not identifying the suspects because they are juveniles. The AP also is not identifying the victim in order to protect the identities of the juveniles.
Police said the teens were in South Carolina because they were on their way to Myrtle Beach when a trooper spotted them in a van that belonged to the victim at about 5:30 a.m. on Thursday. That started a chase that ended in a wreck and the suspects running into the woods, according to the police account.
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BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee’s Commissioner for Veterans Affairs says the department is widening its focus to address needs like unemployment, education and suicide prevention.
The Kingsport Times-News reports (https://bit.ly/QP7uWx) the remarks from Commissioner Many-Bears Grinder came Friday during a veterans job fair in Blountville.
Grinder said it was unacceptable that unemployment for Tennessee veterans last year was 6.9 percent.
She also wants more veterans to attend college. Grinder said 35 percent of Tennessee veterans have at least some college. She said legislation passed this year allowing veterans to pay in-state tuition should help move that number up.
And Grinder said she is concerned that in 2012, nearly 200 veterans committed suicide and another 2,400 were in Tennessee prisons and county jails.
She said veteran treatment courts are a step in the right direction.
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