Court

A Waynesboro, Pa., man pleaded guilty Friday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to three counts of first-degree murder in the 2012 shootings of his estranged wife, her boyfriend and the boyfriend's mother, and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole. Kevin Mathew Cleeves, 36, formerly of 601 W. Main St., pleaded guilty to the July 27, 2012, shooting deaths of his estranged wife, Brandi N. Killingsworth Cleeves, 25, in the driveway of her boyfriend's home on Pa. 997. In the same incident, he shot and killed Brandi Cleeves' boyfriend, Vincent Luke Santucci Jr., 28; and Santucci's mother, Rosemary Holma, 55. The three-hour sentencing hearing took place amid tight security, with a half dozen or more uniformed deputies in the courtroom at any one time.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A Martinsburg man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Friday to distributing crack cocaine, according to U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Johnston's office. Danny Lee Pence, 21, of 751 Mount Olive Drive, pleaded guilty to distributing 1.36 grams of crack cocaine in Martinsburg on Oct. 6, 2004, according to Johnston's office. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 17.

Troop 62 is sponsored by the Chewsville Lions Club.

Boy Scout Troop 412 conducted its first Court of Honor on Dec. 17. Troop 412 is a newly formed troop at Paramount Baptist Church in Hagerstown. The troop was chartered in September by the Mason-Dixon Council, Boy Scouts of America.

Court Appointed Special Advocates of Washington County will be conducting a Spring 2013 training program, scheduled to begin Wednesday, Feb. 20, and Saturday, Feb. 23, in separate, but concurrent eight-week training sessions. Training sessions will conclude Wednesday, April 10, and Saturday, April 13, respectively. Wednesday sessions will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday sessions will be between 9 and 11:30 a.m. Training sessions will be at the Washington County Health Department —Behavioral Health Services Unit, 13114 Pennsylvania Ave., Hagerstown.

Tiffany Stoner, 11, of Chambersburg, Pa., shoots from the top of the key Monday as she gets some practice in at Donald "Mike" Waters Memorial Park on South Second Street in Chambersburg.

Jeffrey Scott Shifler, a former officer with the Hagerstown Police Department and currently an officer with the Boonsboro Police Department, appeared in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Friday on charges in connection with threatening phone calls he allegedly made and hate mail he allegedly sent dating to 2004 involving Hagerstown City officials, office buildings, schools and low-income housing complexes, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S....

The case of a Brunswick, Md., man accused of child sex abuse was in Washington County Circuit Court Thursday as attorneys offered different opinions of the procedure for obtaining and sharing investigative documents. Circuit Judge John H. McDowell said he would look into the matter before making a decision in the case of Jeffrey B. Mallery. Charges against Mallery, 39, of 417 Brunswick St., include sex abuse of a minor and sex abuse of a minor as a continuing course of conduct, according to court records.

West Virginia teachers not satisfied with the pay raise they received in the last legislative session say they might go to court over the matter. If that happens, they must first figure out how to deal with a court decision and a state law that are in conflict. Teachers won a 3.5 percent increase, but many want a three-year pact that would give them 6 percent increases in the first two years and 3 percent in the third year. To that end, some are relying on a 17-year-old law that says that when salaries in fast-growing areas of the state aren't keeping pace with the cost of living, the state Board of Education must craft a plan to deal with the imbalance.

Four men who were charged with solicitation for prostitution in the first block of North Prospect Street in mid-June appeared before Washington County District Court Judge Noel Spence Wednesday. Conrad Chester, 25, of 221 Seminary St., Charles Town, W.Va., was given probation before judgment, a $100 fine and one year unsupervised probation. William Holmes Grove, 43, of 819 Concord St., was given probation before judgment, a $100 fine and one year unsupervised probation.

A Waynesboro, Pa., man pleaded guilty Friday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to three counts of first-degree murder in the 2012 shootings of his estranged wife, her boyfriend and the boyfriend's mother, and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole. Kevin Mathew Cleeves, 36, formerly of 601 W. Main St., pleaded guilty to the July 27, 2012, shooting deaths of his estranged wife, Brandi N. Killingsworth Cleeves, 25, in the driveway of her boyfriend's home on Pa. 997. In the same incident, he shot and killed Brandi Cleeves' boyfriend, Vincent Luke Santucci Jr., 28; and Santucci's mother, Rosemary Holma, 55. The three-hour sentencing hearing took place amid tight security, with a half dozen or more uniformed deputies in the courtroom at any one time.

A woman was escorted from Washington County District Court on Thursday following an outburst at a preliminary hearing for a man charged with killing her son. “That was my son ... I hope you rot in hell,” Dolores Thornton yelled during testimony in the hearing for Antonio Gardner, 26, of Washington, D.C., charged with second-degree murder in the March 29 stabbing death of 17-year-old Shakur Thornton of Hagerstown. Thornton's mother was taken from the courtroom without further incident.

Motorists charged with driving under the influence are entitled to have the state provide downloadable data that shows the working history of the breath machine used on them, according to a West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals opinion filed Monday. “Any citizen arrested for DUI that submits to the breath machine shall now have meaningful access to their biggest accuser, the breath machine,” said defense attorney Harley O. Wagner, who successfully argued for the right to obtain the evidence.

You gotta love it, baby! Former West Virginia University basketball standout, NBA player and professional broadcaster Rodney "Hot Rod" Hundley is coming to Martinsburg as part of the Chocolate Fest and Book Faire on Saturday, April 27. Hundley's appearance highlights the two-day event, which kicks off Saturday at The Arts Center, 300 W. King, and highlights chocolate and books. Tickets cost $50. It's been years since Hundley has made his way back to Martinsburg. Back then, he said, he had made a stop in the Eastern Panhandle.

A Hagerstown man charged in a fatal vehicle crash in October 2012 that killed his brother and left another man paralyzed applied for court-appointed legal counsel Monday in Berkeley County Magistrate Court. Timothy Lee Kegarise, 33, of Hagerstown, is charged with single felony counts of driving under the influence with death and destruction of property, and one misdemeanor count of DUI with injury, according to magistrate court documents. Kegarise's brother, Thomas L. Kegarise, also of Hagerstown, died in the Oct. 11 crash on Hedgesville Road (W.Va.

The case against a former West Virginia State Police trooper who had been accused of soliciting two teenage girls for sexual relations and nude photos in 2011 has been resolved, Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney Pamela Games-Neely's office confirmed Tuesday. John Anthony Donohue, 26, of Plattsburgh, N.Y., pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of providing false information to police, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court documents. Donohue, who was fined $100 and ordered to pay $160.80 in court costs, paid the penalty last month by money order, according to court records.

A New York City man charged with trying to smuggle 805 cartons of cigarettes through Maryland forfeited the $30,000 worth of smokes and received a $5,000 fine after pleading guilty Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court to transporting unstamped cigarettes. In addition to the forfeiture and fine, Judge Donald E. Beachley placed Henry Avigail Badia, 34, on probation before judgment and a year's supervised probation. Under probation before judgment, Badia, who had no criminal record, could have his record cleared if he successfully completes probation.

National Rifle Association President David Keene is unhappy about the gun-control measures passed Wednesday in by the House of Delegates in Maryland. “I'm a Maryland resident, so I'm not very enthused by the way Gov. (Martin) O'Malley has gone about all this. The so-called assault weapons ban he's tried to impose in Maryland and he's now gotten through the legislature is something I don't think will stand up to constitutional challenge,” Keene said in an interview with The Herald-Mail.

U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II said in a recent news release that 18 people had their supervised release revoked for violating terms and conditions imposed by the U.S. District Court, including seven in the Martinsburg Division before Judge Gina M. Groh. Those who had their release revoked following hearings in the Martinsburg court were: • Antonio Dwayne Hendricks, 33, of Martinsburg, W.Va., was sentenced to 14 months in prison to be followed by 38 months of supervised release for failure to report for drug testing, associating with a person engaged in criminal activity; positive drug test for the use of cocaine and marijuana, frequenting places where illegal substances were being used, failure to be truthful with the probation officer, failure to comply with treatment schedule as directed, possession of marijuana and cocaine, excessive use of alcohol and submitting an untruthful monthly report form to the probation office, according to the news release.

The Rev. Rob Apgar-Taylor, pastor of Veritas United Church of Christ, lives in Hagerstown with his husband, but despite the state of Maryland voting to legalize same-sex marriage in November, he and his spouse still do not have access to any federal benefits, and he has to file his taxes as a single man due to the 1996 Federal Defense of Marriage Act. “What people don't realize is there are almost 1,100 tax benefits that aren't granted to same-sex...