Prosecutor

CHAMBERSBURG, PA. -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a man charged with criminal homicide in the Feb. 1 shooting death of a Chambersburg man whose body was found in a stolen vehicle in Harrisburg, Pa. The notice of aggravating circumstances was filed Tuesday in Franklin County Court against Juwan R. Johnson, 24, of no fixed address, Assistant District Attorney Jeremiah Zook said. Johnson is charged with criminal homicide, robbery and theft in the death of 24-year-old Gregory Street.

Six months after investigators searched the Halfway home of then-Maryland Del. Robert A. McKee following a telephoned tip alleging they might find child pornography, the case is in the hands of prosecutors, Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore said. No charges had been filed in the case, which was turned over to the U.S. Attorney's office and the Washington County State's Attorney's office, Mullendore said last week. "On a federal level, things go at a very slow pace," Mullendore said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A West Virginia State Police trooper has sued a Berkeley County assistant prosecuting attorney, claiming the lawyer caused more than $15,000 in damage to the Inwood, W.Va., property that he leased to him in 2006. Trooper Joseph M. Walker has asked for a $15,488 judgment, plus interest and attorney fees, from Gregory V. Smith in a complaint filed in Berkeley County Circuit Court by attorney Barry P. Beck. In response, Smith said the trooper's allegations were not supportable and amounted to little more than harassment and public embarrassment.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- During his time on the stand Wednesday in Franklin County Court, Willie H. Brown testified that he never had been arrested in his life, a statement Public Defender Michael Toms offered him the chance to correct. "Yes, sir," Brown said when asked if it was accurate. "What about that arrest for criminal homicide in Florida?" asked Assistant District Attorney Lauren Sulcove on cross-examination. Brown, on trial for charges that he sexually molested several girls at his Hackberry Drive home in Chambersburg, denied he had been arrested and testified that the 1994 killing was "self-defense.

HAGERSTOWN - Prosecutors on Friday filed a notice of intention to seek the death penalty if Douglas Wayne Pryor is convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the December 2007 shooting death of a Smithsburg police officer. The notice was filed in Washington County Circuit Court after prosecutors consulted with the family of slain Smithsburg Police Officer Christopher Shane Nicholson, Washington County State's Attorney Charles Strong said Friday afternoon. Nicholson's family supported the motion, Strong said.

ANNAPOLIS - A Washington County prosecutor advocated in Annapolis on Wednesday for a new charge and penalties for people who drive dangerously while trying to flee. Assistant State's Attorney John Dunlap spoke in favor of a bill to include certain dangerous driving as "conduct that creates a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another. " Dangerous driving would be reckless endangerment if it's "to avoid or attempt to avoid being detained by a law enforcement officer engaged in the performance of an official duty while the officer is on foot" or "when being pursued on foot by an individual acting in defense of a person or property.

ELLICOTT CITY, MD. -- Prosecutors were disappointed with the sentence, and they felt the death penalty would have been an appropriate punishment for Brandon T. Morris, Washington County State's Attorney Charles Strong said Monday afternoon. "There is going to be an ongoing concern about the safety in the prisons with this individual who is violent," Strong told reporters gathered outside the Howard County Circuit Courthouse. Tracey Wroten, slain correctional officer Jeffery Wroten's former wife and mother of his four daughters, said she completely supported the decision by prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. - Prosecutors on Tuesday tried to convince a judge that the man who talked with a correctional officer about "Star Wars" before shooting him in the face with the officer's own gun deserves the death penalty. Brandon T. Morris was convicted Friday of first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder during a robbery and first-degree felony murder during an escape in the death of Roxbury Correctional Institution Officer Jeffery A. Wroten. The verdict handed Morris by a Howard County Circuit Court jury means he could be sentenced to death.

ELLICOTT CITY, MD. ? Prosecutors on Tuesday tried to convince a judge that the man who talked with a correctional officer about "Star Wars" before shooting him in the face with the officer's own gun deserves the death penalty. Brandon T. Morris was convicted Friday of first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder during a robbery and first-degree felony murder during an escape in the death of Roxbury Correctional Institution Officer Jeffery A. Wroten. The verdict handed Morris by a Howard County Circuit Court jury means he could be sentenced to death.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. ? The murder of Donald "Dee" Redman in the early-morning hours of Oct. 27, 2005, was an "execution based on disrespect" in the illicit business of crack cocaine distribution in Martinsburg, jurors in the trial of the man accused of killing Redman were told Tuesday, said Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney Pamela J. Games-Neely. "There are no choir boys in this case," Games-Neely told the jury of five women and seven men selected Tuesday morning to decide the state's case against John J. Grant.