Niagara Gazette

COURTS: Carter defense gets some time
Lawyers for accused killer Darnell Carter asked for additional time on Thursday to determine their next move in his case.
COURTS: Career criminal gets a chance
career criminal looking to turn his life around got that chance in Niagara County Court on Thursday.
Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza told Kenneth Longmire she would personally supervise his rehabilitation efforts.
COURTS: Pair rescued from gorge are freed from jail
A woman from England and a U.S. man, formerly living in Canada, have been sentenced to time served for their guilty pleas to charges stemming from an attempt to enter the states that left them stranded on the Niagara Gorge ice bridge.
COURTS: Warme makes new push
Suspended Falls police officer Ryan Warme is now asking a U.S. District Court judge for two separate trials on a federal indictment that charges him with multiple sex crime-related civil rights violations as well as gun and drug counts.
COURTS: Molson ID'd by witness in Wood shooting
It took Bernadette Bishop two attempts to finger the triggerman in the murder of Deion Wood and she was terrified when she did.
“That’s him, that’s him,” she told Falls Detective Patricia McCune. “But I’m the only witness. I’m afraid they’re gonna kill me.”
COURTS: Shepherd pleads guilty in death of wife
After months of back and forth with the Erie County district attorney’s office, Stephen Shepherd pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree manslaughter for killing his wife in May.
Shepherd was found by police in Catskill State Park on May 21, the day after his wife Constance’s body was discovered by people moving into their former Town of Tonawanda home.
COURTS: City will rep Rotella
A federal lawsuit filed by the brother of former Mayor Vince Anello will be able to move forward now that a former councilman has decided to let the city represent him in the case.
Lewis “Babe” Rotella said he has opted to let the Corporation Counsel represent him, even though he no longer serves on the City Council.
COURTS: Suspect in violent attacks freed
A Falls landlord and handyman, accused in two violent assaults, one reaching back more than two years, was freed from police custody after being arraigned in City Court this week.
COURTS: Matteo Anello suit still alive
The federal lawsuit filed against the city by the brother of former Mayor Vince Anello is in limbo while lawyers figure out who will represent the defendants in the case.
Matteo Anello is seeking unspecified damages for what he claims were his false arrest and imprisonment and malicious prosecution after an incident at an Oct. 22, 2007, City Council meeting.
COURTS: Johnson found guilty
A Niagara County Court jury took just over four hours to find Robert Johnson guilty on murder and weapon possession charges in the slaying of his wife.
The jury of eight women and four men began deliberating at 3:30 p.m. and returned with a verdict about 7:30 p.m.
COURTS: Workplace shooter given probation
For William Rosati, Aug. 22, 2008, was a really bad day.
He went on a shooting spree inside his workplace and then climbed onto a frontloader and smashed the roof and ripped the gutters off the building.
COURTS: Mixed ruling for Warme
In a pair of decisions, a U.S. Magistrate judge has recommended to deny a move by attorneys for suspended Falls police officer Ryan Warme to have several counts of a federal corruption indictment against him dismissed, but has sent his request for two separate trials to a U.S. District Court judge for a ruling.
COURTS: Judge frees recurring domestic violence suspect
A domestic violence suspect, who has repeatedly violated an order or protection issued by a State Supreme Court justice, was released without bail by City Court Judge Robert Merino on Thursday.
TOWN OF NIAGARA: Coleman case will wait
Jaquinda Coleman’s lawyer says he’s not sure police and prosecutors have much of a case against his client.
So after a brief appearance in Town of Niagara Court Thursday night, Paul Barr said he’s going to take a closer look at the case.
WOOD SHOOTING: Murder suspect expected back soon
The second suspect in the murder of a Falls man may be on his way back to town soon.
During a brief hearing in Niagara County Court in Lockport on Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Claudette Caldwell said Phillip “Country” Holloway could be in front of Judge Matthew J. Murphy III by the first week in October.
COURTS: Hamilton trial will be delayed
The man accused of shooting two Niagara Falls police officers and his estranged girlfriend will get a new trial date after his defense team told a Niagara County Court judge they need more time to prepare.
COURTS: Hearing delayed by transport mistake
A pretrial hearing in Niagara County Court for accused killer Darrius “D” Molson was delayed on Wednesday after the defendant was transported to the wrong court.
COURTS: Hedges yields to inspectors in housing matter
A Falls woman accused of running an illegal bed and breakfast at her Fourth Street home has been given 45 days to correct multiple housing code violations on her property.
An attorney for Eva Hedges told City Court Judge Robert Merino on Monday that his client is prepared to make the changes and has already begun some of them.
COURTS: Jury set for Johnson murder case
Opening statements are set for later this morning in the murder trial of a man accused of killing his wife in what prosecutors have called one of the most brutal homicides in recent memory.

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