Latest news with #ReportforAmericaStatehouseNewsInitiative
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Arkansas death row inmate dies in prison of unknown causes
Arkansas death row inmate Latavious Johnson died of unknown causes at the Varner SuperMax prison on Friday afternoon, according to the state's department of corrections. He was in his 40s. The Arkansas Department of Corrections did not provide Johnson's cause of death and declined to comment further. Johnson had received a life sentence for the murder of his father, Johnnie Johnson, in 2000. Johnson was sentenced to death for the 2012 murder of a prison guard, Barbara Ester. Johnson had fatally stabbed Ester with a shank three times and punctured her heart, court records show. She had been investigating whether he had obtained a pair of unauthorized gym shoes in the prison. Johnson expressed remorse for his actions in a statement his lawyers provided to police, court records show. 'I should have just gave the shoes up, just said to hell with it, asked someone to send me some money and order me some more,' Johnson told a police investigator in an interview after the killing, according to court records. 'It's too late for all that now.' A corrections facility in Pine Bluff, Arkansas is named after Ester. ___ Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Arkansas death row inmate dies in prison of unknown causes
Arkansas death row inmate Latavious Johnson died of unknown causes at the Varner SuperMax prison on Friday afternoon, according to the state's department of corrections. He was in his 40s. The Arkansas Department of Corrections did not provide Johnson's cause of death and did not immediately respond to request for comment. Johnson had received a life sentence for the murder of his father, Johnnie Johnson, in 2000. Johnson was sentenced to death for the 2012 murder of a prison guard, Barbara Ester. Johnson had fatally stabbed Ester with a shank three times and punctured her heart, court records show. She had been investigating whether he had obtained a pair of unauthorized gym shoes in the prison. Johnson expressed remorse for his actions in a statement his lawyers provided to police, court records show. 'I should have just gave the shoes up, just said to hell with it, asked someone to send me some money and order me some more,' Johnson told a police investigator in an interview after the killing, according to court records. 'It's too late for all that now.' A corrections facility in Pine Bluff, Arkansas is named after Ester. ___ Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
Woman accused in Super Bowl reporter's death gets 25 years in unrelated case
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A woman facing a second-degree murder charge for the death of a Super Bowl television reporter has been sentenced to 25 years in an unrelated case on Thursday. Danette Colbert, 48, had previously been given a suspended sentence by an Orleans Parish judge last year after being convicted of theft and fraud charges. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office successfully argued in court that Colbert, who has multiple prior felony convictions involving fraud, was a habitual offender and deserved a harsher sentence. Colbert had been on probation when police arrested her for allegedly stealing the cellphone and bank cards of a reporter found dead in his hotel room on Feb. 5. He was in town to cover Super Bowl LIX weekend in New Orleans. Adan Manzano, a 27-year-old reporter and television anchor based in Kansas City, Missouri, suffocated while lying face down on a pillow. Alcohol and the depressant Xanax were later found in his system. Colbert was captured on security footage leaving Manzano's hotel room in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, police said. Colbert and another person still face second-degree murder charges in Jefferson Parish, bordering New Orleans. 'The evidence was overwhelming that this woman was a serial fraudster and took advantage of multiple tourists and innocent people over many years in the French Quarter,' Murrill said in an emailed statement. Colbert's attorney Jerome Matthews did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stavros Panagoulopoulos, the lawyer representing Colbert in the second-degree murder case, declined to comment. ___ Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Toronto Star
16-05-2025
- Toronto Star
Woman accused in Super Bowl reporter's death gets 25 years in unrelated case
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A woman facing a second-degree murder charge for the death of a Super Bowl television reporter has been sentenced to 25 years in an unrelated case on Thursday. Danette Colbert, 48, had previously been given a suspended sentence by an Orleans Parish judge last year after being convicted of theft and fraud charges. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office successfully argued in court that Colbert, who has multiple prior felony convictions involving fraud, was a habitual offender and deserved a harsher sentence. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Colbert had been on probation when police arrested her for allegedly stealing the cellphone and bank cards of a reporter found dead in his hotel room on Feb. 5. He was in town to cover Super Bowl LIX weekend in New Orleans. Adan Manzano, a 27-year-old reporter and television anchor based in Kansas City, Missouri, suffocated while lying face down on a pillow. Alcohol and the depressant Xanax were later found in his system. Colbert was captured on security footage leaving Manzano's hotel room in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, police said. Colbert and another person still face second-degree murder charges in Jefferson Parish, bordering New Orleans. 'The evidence was overwhelming that this woman was a serial fraudster and took advantage of multiple tourists and innocent people over many years in the French Quarter,' Murrill said in an emailed statement. Colbert's attorney Jerome Matthews did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stavros Panagoulopoulos, the lawyer representing Colbert in the second-degree murder case, declined to comment. ___ Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Hamilton Spectator
16-05-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
Woman accused in Super Bowl reporter's death gets 25 years in unrelated case
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A woman facing a second-degree murder charge for the death of a Super Bowl television reporter has been sentenced to 25 years in an unrelated case on Thursday. Danette Colbert, 48, had previously been given a suspended sentence by an Orleans Parish judge last year after being convicted of theft and fraud charges. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office successfully argued in court that Colbert, who has multiple prior felony convictions involving fraud, was a habitual offender and deserved a harsher sentence. Colbert had been on probation when police arrested her for allegedly stealing the cellphone and bank cards of a reporter found dead in his hotel room on Feb. 5. He was in town to cover Super Bowl LIX weekend in New Orleans. Adan Manzano, a 27-year-old reporter and television anchor based in Kansas City, Missouri, suffocated while lying face down on a pillow. Alcohol and the depressant Xanax were later found in his system. Colbert was captured on security footage leaving Manzano's hotel room in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, police said. Colbert and another person still face second-degree murder charges in Jefferson Parish, bordering New Orleans. 'The evidence was overwhelming that this woman was a serial fraudster and took advantage of multiple tourists and innocent people over many years in the French Quarter,' Murrill said in an emailed statement. Colbert's attorney Jerome Matthews did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stavros Panagoulopoulos, the lawyer representing Colbert in the second-degree murder case, declined to comment. ___ Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
