It was just another day in court for Barry Disney, assistant DA in Sedgwick County (Wichita), Kansas, who was attending a probation violation hearing with a probation officer. Then the violator, 20-year-old Charles Jefferson, slipped away and Disney and the probation officer notified security and began a search. After a hide-and-seek chase, they finally cornered the escapee in a courthouse office and tackled him. “Brad (the probation officer) took him low and I took him high,” said Disney, who pulled Jefferson’s shirt over his head and held him down until court security officers arrived. One of the officers handed Disney his handcuffs so that Disney could make his career-first “cuffing.” Back at the office, DA Nola Foulston praised Disney and added, “We’re a full-service office.”
Two veteran Virginia prosecutors have been honored as “longtime champions of justice” by a coalition of victims’ rights organizations. A Washington Post story reported that Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert F. Horan, Jr., an NDAA vice president; and Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul B. Ebert, were praised for decades of work prosecuting criminals including convicted Washington, DC, area snipers John Allen Muhammed and Lee Boyd Malvo. Carroll Ann Ellis, director of the Fairfax Police Department’s Victim Rights Section, declared, “These men have been here forever,” adding, “Victims really lay their hopes and dreams at the feet of our prosecutors.”
| Two veteran Virginia prosecutors have been honored as “longtime champions of justice” by a coalition of victims’ rights organizations. |
Mathias H. (Mat) Heck, Jr., prosecuting attorney of Montgomery County (Dayton), Ohio, and an NDAA vice president, has been elected to the board of the National Children’s Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting communities seeking to improve their response to child abuse by supporting the development, growth and continuation of child advocacy centers. Heck is a founding partner of CARE House, the children’s advocacy center in Dayton.
The call-up of National Guard and reserve units for duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and other anti-terrorism assignments reached into the ranks of prosecutors. Among the latest to receive the call was John Coughlin, whose situation seems unique. After winning an election, a recount, an appeal and a court challenge to become Hillsborough County attorney in New Hampshire, Coughlin decided that he had to resign because of his service call. He’s among 520 New Hampshire National Guard members who were ordered to active duty for up to 18 months. Coughlin, a former Marine captain, is a member of the judge advocate general’s staff in the Guard’s 197th Field Artillery unit, based in Manchester, NH. Hillsborough County Commissioner Rona Charbonneau said she was surprised to learn about Coughlin’s departure. “I felt bad for him,” she said. “He’s married with a family. The uncertainty over there is terrible. It’s a tough situation.” Coughlin was more stoic about his situation, and declared, “If you talk to 500 soldiers you’ll get 500 stories. This is a disruption in their lives. Solders have dedicated themselves to this commitment. They all leave family and jobs behind.”
Late word from Kit C. Dean Crane, Henry County, Indiana, prosecuting attorney, the first chief prosecutor in his state to be called to active duty with the army reserves during the Mideast crisis: In an e-mail to his colleagues in Indiana, Major Crane said he was in Kuwait briefly before deployment to Baghdad and reported all he could see so far was sand “and a few camels.”
The Mississippi state legislature memorialized Boyce Holleman, former DA of the Second Circuit and one of Southern Mississippi’s best-known public figures, who died last year at 79. Holleman, who served five terms as DA, also served as a state legislator. An Associated Press story described him as “a master story teller, bridge player, actor, lawyer and all-around Coast character.” He served as a navy pilot during World War II, was shot down in the South Pacific, surviving severe burn injuries, and returned to duty. He was also an accomplished actor, with numerous credits in theater, TV and film, including roles in two TV series: I’ll Fly Away and In the Heat of the Night.
The case of the kidnapping and death of former Newton County (Indiana) Prosecuting Attorney John W. Barce in 2001 was closed earlier this summer when Lloyd Lichti was sentenced to 73 years in prison for the crime. Barce’s body was found on a farm field about six weeks after he was reported missing. Prosecutors Jerry Bean and Tim Kern argued at trial that Lichti held a grudge against Barce, who had handled the estate of Lichti’s father in 1980. The estate was left entirely to Lichti’s stepmother, leaving Lichti and his two brothers with no interest in the estate. Lichti believed he was owed $40,000 from the estate and apparently tried to collect it from his stepmother, but was told by Barce in a letter that he was owed nothing. The prosecutors said that Lichti had abducted Barce from a hotel restaurant. While they could not say with certainty what caused Barce’s death, they pointed out that Barce had suffered two previous heart attacks and was required to take daily blood pressure medicine. Barce was the father of two current Indiana prosecutors: Ed Barce, who holds his father’s former post in Newton County, and Jud Barce, prosecuting attorney of Benton County.
Former Gibson County (Indiana) Prosecuting Attorney George Ankenbrand has retired from prosecution after more than 35 years in the field. He joined the Gibson County office in the 1960s as deputy prosecutor, was elected prosecuting attorney in 1970 and served eight full terms until deciding not to seek re-election in 2002. He did not retire, however, at that point, but worked as a part-time child support deputy for an additional 15 months after his successor, Robert Krieg, took office in 2003.
Mary K. White, first assistant Gloucester County (New Jersey) prosecutor, has been nominated by Gov. James E. McGreevey to a state superior court judgeship. White, who served as acting prosecutor for several months when the position was vacant, was chief of the grand jury unit from 1997 to 2002 and has received several awards for her achievements in fighting domestic violence.
More than seven years after Fort Bend County (Texas) Assistant DA Gil Epstein was shot to death, his killer, Bridger Cotton, was executed March 3 for the crime. Epstein and a friend had just finished playing basketball and were walking toward their cars when Cotton and a colleague confronted them at gunpoint. Witnesses testified that Cotton, who had a criminal record including a guilty plea to attempted murder, shot Epstein. Cotton’s first trial ended in a hung jury after one juror refused to join deliberations. A jury at the second trial convicted Cotton of capital murder in less than an hour.
When Mose Floyd, an assistant state attorney in Jacksonville, Florida, gives one of his motivational speeches at a church or school, which he does frequently, his young audiences pay attention. Not only because Floyd is a prosecutor, but because of his background and life experience. Currently felony division chief, Floyd brings a unique and inspirational personal history to his job. A product of both segregated and integrated schools, where teachers spotted his potential and encouraged him to try for a scholarship, he was graduated in the top 10 percent of his high school class and went on to attend and graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, earn a master’s degree from the University of Southern California and a law degree from Georgetown University. He also served 22 years in the Marine Corps, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. His message to minority students is, “If I could do it, you can do it, and education is the key to a successful career and life.”
Joel Rosen, a Philadelphia assistant DA and the lead prosecutor in the Einhorn case, the most spectacular Philadelphia murder case in recent years, has left the DA’s office for private practice. Rosen obtained a first-degree murder conviction of Ira Einhorn in 2002, ending a 25-year saga that began with discovery of the battered body of Einhorn’s girlfriend in a trunk in Einhorn’s apartment in 1977.
Two Washington state prosecutors have been appointed to judgeships by Governor Locke. Carrie Runge, formerly chief deputy prosecuting attorney for Benton County, where she managed the felony caseload, has been named to the Benton-Franklin Counties Superior Court. Margaret Sowards, formerly senior deputy prosecuting attorney for Kittitas County, has been named to the Kittitas County Superior Court.
Bad guys would be wise not to tangle with the new assistant commonwealth’s attorney of Culpeper County, Virginia: Ginene Hatter-Perez. In addition to her experience in prosecution, she’s a world-class expert in the martial art tae kwon do, having spent three years on the U.S. competition team and winning medals in the 1989 World Games and the 1991 World Collegiate Games.
DEATHS: Theadore E. (Tad) Ripley, Jr., a deputy prosecuting attorney for Clallam County, Oregon, was killed earlier this year in an automobile accident. An all-round athlete as well as a skilled attorney, Ripley played baseball and basketball, was a marathon runner and mountain hiker and won a national badminton championship when he was 13.
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