GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) - A jailer at the Leflore County jail was arrested and charged with introducing contraband after money and marijuana was found in his mashed potatoes. Robert Earl Hannon, 37, a Corrections Corp. of America jailer, was arrested over the weekend.

"They caught him when someone brought his lunch to him," Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks said. "They found $200 and two ounces of marijuana inside his mashed potatoes."

Hannon was released on a $15,000 bond Tuesday.

Hannon was arrested by agents from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics following an investigation into how contraband is entering the facility, Banks said.

Banks said that the lunch was brought to Hannon at the jail by a woman, according to the Greenwood Commonwealth. Efforts to identify the woman are continuing.

Investigators became suspicious when Hannon made a statement that he didn't eat potatoes but had a large portion delivered to him at the jail, Banks said.

HOUSTON, TEXAS – Alfred Alaniz, a Houston police officer accused of taking a $200 bribe, was indicted Thursday and charged with felony bribery.

His attorney, Burt Springer, had requested an examining trial, but Thursday’s indictment voided the request. During an examining trial, an alternative to the closed-door grand jury process, evidence is presented in open court.

Assistant District Attorney Traci Bennett, who is prosecuting the case, said an examining trial can only occur before an indictment is handed down.

Alaniz, 53, will appear in court next on March 15. He was relieved of duty with pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

HPD officials said they received complaints that Alaniz, a 20-year accident investigator, was accepting money from motorists in exchange for not writing citations. HPD set up a sting operation in which an undercover officer deliberately exceeded the speed limit on a freeway Alaniz was patrolling Jan. 19.

Alaniz took $200 from the officer in exchange for not writing a citation, police said.

At least four officers, Alaniz among them, were paid more than $100,000 in overtime in 2006. They were among at least 71 officers paid more than $50,000 in overtime last year, the Chronicle has reported. Many of the officers doubled their base salaries.

EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA – A parent of a middle school student has accused retired Easton Police Chief Stephen A. Mazzeo of assaulting her child while working as a police officer for the Easton Area School District.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli on Thursday said his office has initiated an investigation based on information received from the Forks Township Police Department.

‘’There was a woman who made a complaint to the police saying her son was assaulted at school, and the police referred it to our office,'’ Morganelli said. ‘’There was a physical confrontation between Steve Mazzeo and a student. What the nature of it was, I’m not certain.'’

Mazzeo said he’s aware of the investigation. He declined to comment further.

He is continuing to work for the district, however , as a police officer and assistant security coordinator during the investigation.

School officials and Forks Police Chief Greg Dorney could not be reached for comment late Thursday afternoon.

Morganelli said the investigation was assigned to a detective and the report should be completed within one or two weeks. The incident occurred at least two weeks ago.

Mazzeo joined Easton Area School District’s security force July 1. He was an Easton City police officer for 26 years, serving the last 11/2 years as police chief.

Mayor Phil Mitman promoted to him chief in January 2004 but then forced him to retire in September 2005 after rank-and-file police officers rebelled against Mazzeo’s leadership.

Several members of the community, including City Council President Sandra Vulcano, criticized the mayor for removing Mazzeo.

BATESVILLE, ARKANSAS - A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging a Batesville man with various violations of federal criminal laws involving the distribution of child pornography and child exploitation.

Bruce Leldon Chunn, 53, is charged with transporting and shipping child pornography in interstate commerce by means of a computer to persuade a minor to engage in sexual activity and traveling over state lines for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, according to the U.S. Attorney for Western Tennessee.

The indictment resulted from investigations conducted by member agencies of the Memphis Crimes Against Children Task Force, specifically the FBI, Shelby Co. Sheriff’s Dept., and Memphis Police Department. The indictment follows the filing of a criminal complaint and arrest of Chunn on Saturday, January 20.

According to U.S. Attorney David Kustoff, Chunn is employed as an officer with the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

DEMING, NEW MEXICO — Village trustees in Columbus fired embattled police chief Paul Armijo Wednesday less than 11 months after he was appointed to the job.

Armijo, who was tapped as chief in March 2006, was put on paid administrative leave Jan. 24 by Mayor Eddie Espinoza.

Armijo was arrested Jan. 30 on two charges of larceny of a firearm. He posted bail the next day.

The district attorney alleged that Armijo purchased six weapons — Springfield Armory XD .40-caliber pistols valued at more than $500 each — with a village purchase voucher, but only four weapons were at the Columbus Police Department. Two weapons were found when a search warrant was executed.

Armijo’s employment was terminated Wednesday on an unanimous vote of the trustees after a short personnel session, part of which included Armijo and his attorney, Raul Loya.

Trustees appointed Ernie Sera as department head until further notice. Sera has been acting chief since Armijo was placed on leave.

No preliminary hearing for Armijo has been scheduled in Magistrate Court.

BARBOUR COUNTY, ALABAMA – A former deputy with the Barbour County Sheriff’s Department was arrested Monday on a charge of criminal mischief second degree for damaging his patrol car.

William John (Bill) Camarata, 56, faces a criminal mischief second degree charge after he reportedly cut wires in his patrol car according to department officials. If convicted of the misdemeanor charge he could spend up to one year in the Barbour County Jail.

Chief Deputy Eddie Ingram said Wednesday that Camarata was terminated earlier this month from his job for “undisclosed reasons”. When sheriff deputies went to his house the following day to retrieve the squad car-an older Ford and not one of the new Dodge Chargers recently purchased by the department-they found the electronic wiring to the siren, blue lights, switch boxes and other electronic equipment has been “maliciously cut,” according to the release.

Damage was estimated at $700.

Ingram said Camarata was arrested late Monday morning after a “thorough investigation.”

“We will not tolerate this kind of conduct,” Ingram said in the press release. “Everyone associated with the sheriff’s department knows how bad we’re hurting for equipment and money, and to do something like this is just totally uncalled for. Seven hundred dollars many not seem like a lot of money to most agencies, but to us it is.”

Barbour County Sheriff Leroy Upshaw was out of town and not available for comment Wednesday, but in a statement expressed disappointment in Camarata.

“I expect more out of my deputies,” Upshaw said.

“I want Barbour County to have the most professional personnel and to be the best trained department in the state-and we will.”

BARTOW COUNTY, GEORIGA – The Kennesaw officer who sought the arrest of a Bartow County couple in regard to them recording his vehicle with a camera and radar gun dropped his complaint Wednesday in Bartow magistrate court.

Officer Richard Perrone alleged that Lee and Teresa Sipple stalked him after they purchased $1,200 in video surveillance and radar equipment that allegedly tracked Perrone speeding past their home, which lies at the end of a steep hill, up to 17 miles over the speed limit.

The Sipples have e-mailed Perrone several times in regard to the matter.

Before the proceedings, Perrone and the Sipples’ attorney, Edward McAfee, requested a meeting in chambers with Chief Magistrate Thomas Mosley, and then Perrone wanted to meet in private with the Sipples, who turned him down as they looked at their two-and-a-half-year-old son who they say serves as the basis for their actions.

According to the Sipples’ attorney, Perrone wanted to meet to request that the couple stop e-mailing him, but only a superior court judge can enforce restrictions of this nature.

Perrone told the couple in front of Mosley, “I would like to withdraw my warrant application for arrest.”

DALLAS, TEXAS – The extraordinary number of DNA-based exonerations in Dallas County has led to a unique partnership between prosecutors and advocates for those who may be wrongly convicted.

District Attorney Craig Watkins has agreed to allow the Innocence Project of Texas to review whether DNA tests should be done in any of the cases of 354 people convicted of rapes, murders and other felonies as far back as 1970.

Most of those requests already have been denied by trial court judges on the recommendation of former District Attorney Bill Hill. Mr. Watkins, who succeeded Mr. Hill on Jan. 1, wants to ensure that those decisions were correct, his first assistant said.

“It’s just simply the right thing to do,” Terri Moore said this week.

Since taking office, Mr. Watkins has seen DNA evidence clear two men convicted of rape. Those exonerations pushed Dallas County’s total to 12, higher than any other U.S. county and all but two states, according to the national Innocence Project in New York.

More than 190 people have been cleared nationwide through genetic testing since the first post-conviction DNA exoneration in 1989. A 13th exoneration in Dallas County is expected over the next several weeks.

“When you hear 13 people, that’s sobering,” Ms. Moore said. “And you have to say maybe it didn’t happen on my watch, but it has happened. I am this criminal justice system, and I have to do my part in it.”
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Attorneys with the two innocence projects began calling for a thorough review of DNA applications in Dallas County last fall but had not persuaded Mr. Hill to act. Mr. Watkins, on the other hand, almost immediately began promising some kind of review.

Over the last month, he and Ms. Moore met with leaders of the Innocence Project of Texas and agreed to allow volunteer lawyers and law students access to a broad array of documents upon which to base recommendations about testing.

The students would come primarily from Texas Wesleyan University’s School of Law in Fort Worth. Their selection would be approved by the district attorney’s office, they would be trained by experienced screeners from the Innocence Project and they would have their work supervised by experienced lawyers.

Organizers are working to line up participants and hope to start the screening process in the next two months. The work is expected to take several months to complete, said Jeff Blackburn, who heads the Innocence Project of Texas.

Ms. Moore said the office is prepared to request testing in any case for which it is recommended. If the cost of testing becomes an issue, she said, private laboratories might be approached about providing a bulk rate to the county.

Barry Scheck, co-director of the national Innocence Project, said he had “no doubt” that if biological evidence is available and tests are performed, more wrongful convictions will be discovered.

“There just always are,” he said.

A radical change

Mr. Scheck and Mr. Blackburn pronounced Mr. Watkins’ decision a sea change for Dallas County.

“I think it’s an unprecedented level of cooperation and unprecedented sensitivity to the possibility that mistakes have been made,” said Mr. Scheck, one of the national pioneers in using DNA technology to free wrongly convicted people.

Mr. Blackburn said he hopes the Dallas project can serve as an example to other prosecutors, many of whom have offered stiff opposition since a state law allowing convicted people to apply for DNA testing was passed in 2001.

“I think Mr. Watkins is blazing a trail in Texas,” he said, “and showing what a DA who cares ultimately about justice rather than the getting of convictions should do and can do.”

Mr. Watkins, a former Dallas defense attorney who is the first black district attorney in Texas, has questioned whether his predecessors operated in an even-handed manner.

He said in an interview last month that the number of DNA exonerations left him wondering how many other people may have been wrongly convicted.

Ms. Moore said there was a concern that the approach to post-conviction DNA applications practiced under Mr. Hill was not as objective as it should have been.

“I don’t know why it hasn’t happened before,” she said, “other than we fall into the them-vs.-us.”

Records provided by the district attorney’s office list 434 applications for DNA tests that have been submitted since April 2001. The applications were submitted by 354 people who have been convicted, some of whom had multiple cases or made more than one request for testing, the district clerk’s electronic records database shows.

Judges granted tests to 32 applicants, the district attorney’s office said. Of that group, 12 people were exonerated by testing, nine had their guilt affirmed, five had inconclusive results and the remaining six are pending.

The district attorney’s appellate section, which handles post-conviction applications, declined to identify cases in which prosecutors opposed DNA testing.

But several lawyers familiar with Mr. Hill’s approach said his prosecutors routinely opposed testing, especially in the first years after the testing law took effect.

Vickers Cunningham, a felony trial judge until late 2005, when he resigned to run for district attorney, said prosecutors were overwhelmed by the number of applications they were being asked to review.

“The process had just begun and there were no rules, and they were just being cautious,” he said.

Mr. Cunningham said he supported Mr. Watkins’ decision to take another look at the DNA applications. But he said most of the requests presented to him were “no-brainers” that did not meet the requirements set out by the law.

John Rolater, who was deputy chief of Mr. Hill’s appellate section, declined to comment on what he described as the inner workings of the office. He is now head of the appellate section in the Collin County district attorney’s office.

Welcomed by victims

The head of a Dallas victims’ rights group also voiced support for Mr. Watkins’ decision and said she assumes that most crime victims would also welcome it.

“They want justice, and they want the right person to receive punishment,” said Kristianne Hinkamp, executive director of Victims Outreach.

Fred Moss, a former federal prosecutor who teaches law at Southern Methodist University, called Mr. Watkins’ decision laudable but not without risk.

“The law-and-order types might see it as an attack on the police and the prosecutors and maybe the judges and the juries that are necessary to cause these wrongful convictions,” Mr. Moss said.

“I think it might not make him terribly popular with some of the DAs that work for him and maybe some of his fellow DAs across the state and across the country.”

ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA – Last month’s death of an off-duty Orange County deputy involved drinking and driving, Florida Highway Patrol said today.

Autopsy results show Matt Long had a 0.199 percent blood alcohol level, more than twice the state legal definition of intoxication, FHP said.

Long, 39, died about 2 a.m. on Jan. 18 while riding his high-performance sport bike on Interstate 4.

“We hope that everybody learns from his bad decision that alcohol and driving absolutely do not mix,” said sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Mark Strobridge.

How fast Long was going when he struck the rear of a truck on I-4 awaits a crash reconstruction by FHP. A former Marine sniper, Long joined the Sheriff’s Office two years ago after working as a deputy since the late 1990s in Flagler County.

RHODE ISLAND – A state trooper who was found guilty last fall of beating a handcuffed man in the back of a South Kingstown police cruiser has been fired.

Jeffrey L. Clark is appealing his criminal conviction — and he’s been granted bail after serving just two weeks of a year-long prison sentence.

But even if he wins the appeal, Clark won’t get his job back.

Clark was fired in November by a state police reenlistment panel, which voted 2 to 1 against allowing him to remain on the force, said Maj. Steven O’Donnell. Unlike municipal police departments, troopers undergo a reenlistment procedure every three years, and there is no appeal of the decision. Clark was fired nearly 12 years to the day that he joined the force, O’Donnell said.

However, under the Rhode Island Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, the state is obliged to continue paying Clark’s medical, dental and life insurance until he exhausts all of his criminal appeals. The state has been paying these costs since Clark was suspended in February 2005, at an annual cost of $6,523.

The conviction stemmed from a September night in 2004, when Clark returned to his home at 254 Laurel Lane in South Kingstown and became enraged by a neighbor’s barking dog. He got into a fight with another man, William Skwirz Jr., who was next door celebrating his stepbrother’s return from Iraq.

The South Kingstown police came and arrested Skwirz. When one local officer brought the handcuffed man to Clark for identification, Clark got into the back seat of the cruiser and started beating the prisoner, yelling at him about disrespecting the state police. The officer drove off, but stopped at Clark’s request, and the off-duty trooper punched Skwirz in the head again, opening a deep gash in his head, according to court testimony. The police took Skwirz to South County Hospital to be treated; prosecutors said the 22-year-old man was left with permanent scars.

Clark then convinced several South Kingstown officers to help him cover up the assault; three were later disciplined.

A jury convicted Clark of felony assault last June, and a Superior Court judge sentenced him to a year in prison, with six more years suspended with probation. Clark entered the ACI on Nov. 14 and was moved to the high security prison, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Ann Fortin.

But he was released on Nov. 30 when a judge agreed to bail, pending Clark’s appeal to the Supreme Court, his lawyer Kevin Bristow said yesterday.

Bristow declined to discuss the basis of the appeal. He said Clark is back at home and has found another job.

SLOCOMB, ALABAMA – Slocomb’s former city magistrate pled guilty to first-degree theft of property in a Geneva courtroom.

Last June, Patsy Barron was arrested for allegedly stealing around $10,000 dollars in traffic ticket fine money paid to the city.

Prior to being appointed magistrate, the 38-year-old served as a Slocomb Police dispatcher.

Following her guilty plea, Barron was sentenced to five years in prison.

That sentence has been put on hold pending the outcome of a probation hearing.