Prosecutor

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - A case involving the former director of the Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management who is charged with receiving more than $3,600 in fraudulently obtained money might be resolved through a plea agreement, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Special prosecutor Dan James said he has been talking with Darrell Penwell's attorney and there could be a deal worked out where Penwell could enter a plea to a lesser misdemeanor charge. Under the possible deal, Penwell would pay back the full amount of money, James said.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. ? Prosecutors spent the first day of Pov Srun's trial in Franklin County Court trying to link two rapes committed in Pennsylvania with two similar crimes for which the former Hagerstown man was convicted in Maryland. The jury of eight men and four women heard testimony from 15 witnesses Monday, including the two Pennsylvania victims and two victims from Maryland. Each woman testified to being attacked as they got into their vehicles by a man who in three cases obscured his face with pieces of duct tape.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney Pamela J. Games-Neely today is expected to meet with the State Police trooper investigating the death of a 23-year-old man on Friday night to review the status of the investigation. Douglas "Scott" Funk II, 23, of 244 Dinner Belle Court, died Friday night at City Hospital. Police have said he was injured in a fight involving his younger brother and another man, Christopher M. Speikers, who was later charged with malicious assault.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Martinsburg attorney Norwood Bentley III is the Berkeley County Commission's choice to be the county's first Director of Legal Services, a position that could become the government's highest paid job. The unanimous vote to hire Bentley, 59, came with the condition that his salary, expected to range from $90,000 to $147,200, would be negotiated and standard pre-employment requirements, including background checks and drug...

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Jurors seated in the trial of Thomas A. Dawson were told Wednesday that they would hear "ugly details" about the death of the man's stepmother, who he allegedly attacked with a claw hammer in August 2006. In opening statements, Berkeley County Prosecutor Pamela J. Games-Neely said Jeannette K. Dawson, of 345 Blair St. in the Berkeley Village subdivision, was struck in the head 15 times with a hammer in a bedroom attack on the morning of Aug. 30, 2006. "The entire back of her head was gone," Games-Neely told the eight men and six women (including two alternates)

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - The trial for a 22-year-old man accused of killing his stepmother last year might be delayed because the findings of a mental evaluation have yet to be shared with the state. Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney Pamela J. Games-Neely filed a motion Friday to continue the trial of Thomas A. Dawson, and she said Monday that she still had not received a copy of a physician's report. Jeannette Dawson, 41, of 345 Blair St., Berkeley Village subdivision, was found dead at her home Aug. 30, 2006, after firefighters responded to a report of a fire.

HAGERSTOWN - The passage of more than 30 years won't make a difference in how well the state can prosecute Merle W. Unger Jr. for the Dec. 13, 1975, murder of Hagerstown Police Officer Donald Kline, a state's attorney said Wednesday. Transcripts of previous testimony can be used if witnesses are no longer available or cannot recall events that happened in 1975, Deputy State's Attorney Joseph Michael said. The state's attorney's office and Maryland Attorney General's Office will appeal in the Special Court of Appeals the ruling made Friday by Washington County Circuit Judge Donald E. Beachley that Unger is entitled to a new trial, Michael said Tuesday.

HAGERSTOWN - Christopher Michael Ridenour dated his alleged victim for three weeks before he forced her to have sex with him in June, Washington County Assistant State's Attorney Gina Cirincion told jurors Monday on the first day of his trial. Ridenour, 34, of 10701 Bower Ave. in Halfway, is charged with first-degree rape, second-degree rape and first-degree assault, among other charges, in the June 14, 2006, incident. First-degree rape carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. - Gina Marie Groh, an assistant prosecuting attorney in Jefferson and Berkeley counties since 1998, has been appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin to the new judgeship for the Eastern Panhandle's 23rd Judicial Circuit. Manchin announced the 42-year-old attorney's appointment Friday in conjunction with filling two vacancies in the 4th and 9th circuits. "After a very thorough selection process and careful consideration, I am pleased to announce the appointment of three individuals who will be outstanding additions to the quality pool of jurists we're fortunate to have leading West Virginia's legal system," Manchin said in a press release.

WASHINGTON COUNTY - Washington County State's Attorney Charles P. Strong Jr. and his opponent, private attorney Jerry Joyce, have stood on opposite sides of the courtroom for years. And in their race for the same job, the lawyers agree on little. Strong, 59, a Republican incumbent, and Joyce, 58, a Democrat, will face off Nov. 7 in the general election. The state's attorney job pays $100,350 a year. Strong was appointed to the position in 2004 when M. Kenneth Long Jr. was appointed to a judgeship in Washington County District Court.