Court roundup: E.C. man accused of arson and Gary man acquitted in drug case
An East Chicago man was found not guilty Thursday of breaking into his ex-girlfriend's Gary apartment and setting the stove on fire. Two TVs, a soundbar and Amazon packages were also taken.
It was the second trial for Anthony Gibbs, 32. He was charged with arson and burglary.
He was found guilty at the first trial.
However, the court of appeals overturned it, when it emerged late in the first trial that the detective had a cell phone video recording of hospital surveillance footage from across the street after prosecutors insisted the original footage had been purged.
On Thursday, jurors asked his ex-girlfriend Mokeiva Carter more than 40 written questions — an unusually high number, signaling doubt for the overall case.
Gary Police responded early on March 22, 2021, to the 500 block of Hayes Street.
Deputy Prosecutor Jacquelyn Altpeter, trying the case with co-counsel Keith Anderson told jurors in opening statements that Cobb was the 'suspect since day one' and that Carter discovered a Roku account had been switched to Gibbs' sister after the TV went missing.
Defense lawyer John Cantrell said there was a '45-second gap' in Methodist Hospitals Northlake's footage.
The case was before Judge Salvador Vasquez.
Jurors also acquitted a Gary man Tuesday after police found 17 grams of crack in a car during a traffic stop after he ran from the cops.
Deangelo Lewis, 34, the driver, was found not guilty of possession of cocaine.
A Lake County Sheriff's Deputy pulled over a Dodge Charger on Maryland Street in Gary on Oct. 11, 2023.
Lewis ran because he had a warrant. He was arrested near 11th and Delaware Street. Another man and woman were in the car. They are not named in the charging affidavit.
Defense lawyer Kirk Marrie said Wednesday that jurors may have thought it was 'unfair' to pin the drugs on his client when three people were in the car.
Deputy Prosecutor Kasey Dafoe was assigned. The case was before Judge Samuel Cappas.Gary man sentenced to over 5 years for having gun as a felon
A federal judge sentenced a Gary man Tuesday to 68 months in prison for having a gun as a felon.
Antawan Smith, 35, pleaded guilty in February to being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He will also serve 12 months on supervised release.
Gary Police arrested Smith after 10 p.m. Feb. 26, 2024 on the 4100 block of W. 23rd Place after women called police to report Smith had pulled a gun during an argument.
Smith was convicted in 2013 of a murder in Cook County, court records state.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Toth prosecuted. Defense lawyer Brian Woodward represented Smith. The case was before Judge Philip Simon in the U.S. District Court in Hammond.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Former federal inmate pardoned by Trump tapped as Bureau of Prisons deputy director
A former federal inmate who was pardoned by President Donald Trump in his first term for drug trafficking crimes more than two decades ago has been tapped as deputy director of the federal Bureau of Prisons, according to bureau spokesperson Kristie Breshears. Joshua J. Smith, a Tennessee businessman who founded an inmate advocacy and rehabilitation nonprofit foundation, the Fourth Purpose, will be second in command in the bureau. The BOP has never had a formerly incarcerated inmate work as an employee at any level, according to a senior bureau official. 'Josh brings to this role something our agency has never had before at this level, a perspective shaped by lived experience, proven innovation and national impact,' Director William K. Marshall III said in a memo to staff Thursday. 'His firsthand understanding of our facilities — of the tension, the risk and the importance of trust — makes him uniquely positioned to advocate for the resources and reforms front-line staff need to do their jobs safely and effectively,' added Marshall, a former prison commissioner in West Virginia whom Trump selected as BOP director in April. Smith declined to comment when reached by phone Thursday. Trump granted a full pardon to Smith, who had been convicted of conspiracy to possess drugs with intent to distribute. Indictments were filed in 1997 for marijuana- and cocaine-related charges, and the court docket shows he pleaded guilty. The court recommended he go to the Federal Correctional Institution Manchester in Kentucky and boot camp for a 60-month sentence. He was also set to have five years supervised release, substance abuse treatment and a $12,500 fine. The bureau, in recent years, has been roiled by accusations of cronyism and corruption, widespread staffing shortages, and violence and misconduct in prisons. Its leadership must manage a massive $8 billion-plus budget, more than 143,000 federal inmates across 122 prisons, and a workforce of more than 35,000 as the Justice Department's largest employer. In deciding to pardon Smith, the White House said in 2021 that, after his release from prison in 2003, he 'dedicated his life to his faith and to his community,' founded Fourth Purpose and 'mentored incarcerated individuals and taught business classes to those in prison — including at the prison where he was incarcerated.' Smith's pardon request was supported by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican. According to his online biography, Smith said he was raised by a single mother in government housing, was convicted of 10 felonies by the time he was 16 and entered prison at 21. While in prison, he said, he learned about Christianity and God and was mentored by white-collar criminals. He said he started a multimillion-dollar company that hired ex-offenders before becoming more active in prison reform. 'Today is a day of redemption that I attribute to God's grace,' Smith said after he was pardoned, adding that 'there are a lot of Josh Smiths in prisons across our country, and I am going to help as many as possible find a new purpose.' Smith's pardon was one of 74 that Trump granted on his last day in office during his first term, when he also pardoned former chief strategist and longtime ally Steve Bannon, who was indicted on wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges, and hip-hop star Lil Wayne, who pleaded guilty to weapons charges. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Army vet killed in crash was well-known in Tacoma motorcycle community
When a biker in Pierce County purchased a new motorcycle, they'd often find a little fish hook drawn on its mirror. Rodger Smith, who went by Dean and also was known as 'Fish Hook,' was the usual culprit. 'As soon as you went outside on the bike and looked in your mirror you realized Fish Hook was there,' Ryan Eaton, who considered Smith his best friend, told The News Tribune. 'And there were places you would go and see little fish hooks.' Eaton said seeing little fish hooks now is hard to take after Smith was killed over a week ago in a crash. Smith and his wife were riding their motorcycles on 152nd Street East in South Hill when the driver of a Jeep Cherokee reportedly struck him. Before the crash, the driver's vehicle reportedly went out of control when it exited a right-hand corner, crossed the center line and hit Smith head-on, according to charging documents. Smith was ejected from his bike and died upon impact, documents show. Pierce County prosecutors charged Christy Lynn Carter, 42, with vehicular homicide. Prosecutors say Carter was driving drunk at the time, with her recorded her blood-alcohol level allegedly at 0.15 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08. She was released from the Pierce County Jail on May 28 on a $100,000 bond, records show. The Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office identified the victim as Rodger Smith of Puyallup. He died from multiple blunt force injuries and his manner of death was listed as an accident, according to a news release. Eaton met Smith through mutual friends that he rode motorcycles with over a decade ago. Smith was part of a local motorcycle club in Tacoma and a proud U.S. Army combat veteran. 'He was the kind of guy to try to make everything fun,' Eaton told The News Tribune on Thursday. 'He always tried to put a positive twist on things, and try to get everybody to laugh.' Eaton said he learned of Smith's death after a mutual friend called him to say people had been posting on Facebook about the crash. 'Then I saw the video, the raw video from the scene, and I immediately recognized the bike, because that bike spent several months with me. I just got that bike put back together, had the engine done up, and just got it running right,' Eaton said. 'It was his favorite bike.' The next day, Eaton rode out to the accident scene because felt he needed to go there. 'That's kind of how I had to originally accept what had happened, by actually being there and seeing the large area that this accident scene covered,' he said. Tributes have poured in through Facebook from people who knew Smith. Eaton said his friend was well known, and anytime Smith showed up at an event, there was always someone who knew him there. Smith also always made it a priority to check up on the soldiers that he served with, Eaton said. He would go to reunions with them, making sure they were OK as they had seen stuff 'that none of us want to think about seeing.' 'That's the ultimate sacrifice, to leave your country and lose your life for your country. But to survive it, come home and be taken out this way — it just doesn't seem right,' Eaton said. A celebration of life is scheduled for June 21 when people will be riding to Eatonville for a gathering. There will be a service at the Tahoma National Cemetery on June 25. Eaton said he expected 'quite a few people' to show up at both events.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
DC park will close after all for WorldPride weekend
The National Park Service said Friday it would temporarily close the park at the center of Washington's historic LGBTQ neighborhood ahead of the city's annual Pride weekend, moving forward with plans that local officials believed had been scrapped. The temporary closure of Dupont Circle Park came at the request of the U.S. Park Police (USPP), the Park Service said in an order uploaded Friday to its website approving the installation of anti-scale fencing around the park's perimeter through 6 p.m. EDT Sunday. 'Less restrictive measures will not suffice due to the security-based assessment of the USPP that this park area needs to be kept clear,' the Park Service said. In a letter dated June 4, Park Police Maj. Frank Hilsher wrote to Kevin Griess, superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks, that the agency's closure request 'is based solely on several previous years of assaultive, destructive and disorderly behavior exhibited in Dupont Circle during the DC Pride weekend.' 'The USPP maintains that a physical barrier effecting a full closure of Dupont Circle is necessary,' Hilsher wrote, to 'secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presences.' An earlier letter sent in April to Park Police Chief Jessica M.E. Taylor from Pamela A. Smith, chief of Washington's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), recommended that tall no-climb fences be temporarily installed around the park. 'Over the years, Dupont Circle Park has been a popular location for Pride attendees to congregate, despite not being a sanctioned Pride event,' Smith wrote in the letter. 'In the past five years, the Metropolitan Police Department and the United States Park Police have taken proactive steps, including increased police presence and enhanced lighting around the park.' 'However, significant challenges persisted, including unpermitted large gathering with sound equipment, illegal vending and grilling, alcohol use, multiple physical altercation, and vandalism of the historic fountain and statue,' she added. Smith withdrew the MPD's request to temporarily close the park earlier this week 'after hearing from community leaders and residents,' she wrote in a June 3 letter to Taylor. In the same letter, Smith pointed to specific disruptions that influenced her initial request, including a 2019 arrest in Dupont Circle Park after parkgoers heard gunshots and vandalism during Pride weekend in 2023 that resulted in roughly $175,000 in damage to the park's more than 100-year-old fountain. The park's closure is another obstacle for those in charge of WorldPride, an international LGBTQ Pride celebration taking place this year in Washington. The Capital Pride Alliance, the organizers of WorldPride D.C., have hit several snags related to Trump administration policies that disproportionately affect LGBTQ people. DC hosts WorldPride: What to know about weekend bash In April, the group issued a travel advisory for transgender visitors from abroad, citing President Trump's executive order recognizing only two sexes, male and female, and a new State Department policy barring trans, nonbinary and intersex Americans from updating the sex designations on their passports. The same month, the Capital Pride Alliance announced it was moving WorldPride events from the Kennedy Center to 'ensure our entire LGBTQ+ community will be welcome' following Trump's takeover of the cultural institution in February. In posts on Truth Social, Trump said drag performances at the Kennedy Center 'will stop' under his leadership and called drag, an art form that is deeply rooted in LGBTQ culture and history, 'anti-American propaganda.' The White House has also declined to issue a proclamation for Pride Month. In an emailed statement, the Capital Pride Alliance said it 'is frustrated and disappointed in the National Park Service's decision – again – to close Dupont Circle during the culmination of WorldPride this weekend.' 'This beloved landmark is central to the community that WorldPride intends to celebrate and honor. It's much more than a park, for generations it's been a gathering place for DC's LGBTQ+ community, hosting first amendment assemblies and memorial services for those we lost to the AIDS epidemic and following tragic events like the Pulse nightclub shooting,' the group said. 'This sudden move was made overnight without consultation with the Capital Pride Alliance or other local officials.' No official WorldPride activities were planned in Dupont Circle Park, the Capital Pride Alliance said, 'thus no events will be impacted.' D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), representing the Dupont Circle neighborhood, said she is 'extremely disappointed and frustrated' that the park will not remain open for Pride weekend. 'This closure is disheartening to me and so many in our community who wanted to celebrate World Pride at this iconic symbol of our city's historic LGBTQ+ community,' Pinto wrote Friday in a post on the social platform X. 'I wish I had better news to share.' 'World Pride will continue this weekend and it will be a time of celebration and commitment to uplift our LGBTQ+ neighbors,' she added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
