A Kanawha County judge let a witness in a murder case out of jail today after she promised to come to court.

Jazmin Mitchell, 19, had been in jail since her arrest June 3 in Beckley, said assistant Kanawha prosecutor Maryclaire Akers.

Mitchell was supposed to come to court last month to serve as a witness in prosecutors' case against Tremaine Jackson, 23, of Charleston, who faces a murder charge in the death of Bryan Rogers, 29.

Jackson allegedly shot Rogers, who was of the Ripley area, to death last December on Charleston's West Side over a heroin theft.

Mitchell had a relationship with Jackson, and they have a child together, Akers said Thursday.

The court issued what's called a "writ of body attachment," for Mitchell, Akers said. The writ "operates as a warrant and then the person is arrested and held in jail until a hearing," the prosecutor said.

Kanawha Circuit Judge Charles King asked Mitchell, who doesn't have a criminal record, if she promises to show up for court, and she said she did, Akers said.

The Charleston Police Department wants residents of the West Side to be nosy.

"The key is to keep calling," said Charleston Chief of Police Brent Webster. "That's the key."

Webster and nine other members of the Charleston Police Department held a West Side Community Meeting at Stonewall Jackson Middle School, Thursday evening.

During the meeting the officers heard compliments and complaints and updated about 40 people in attendance on police activity in the area.

Sgt. James "Tyke" Hunt, gave an update on some of the more recent issues on the West Side.

Hunt said that while investigators have an idea of the identity of the man who was killed in a fire on the West Side this week, they don't have enough evidence to release a name.

Police are waiting on dental tests to come back before they release that information.

Right now, detectives don't believe it was a homicide, but they are still investigating.

Hunt also gave an update on whether Boondocks Bar and Grill will be able to keep its liquor license.

Hunt said it "doesn't look good" for Boondocks Bar and Grill getting its liquor license back. The bar had its license suspended in May after a man was killed on the property.

Webster addressed the difficulty in combating violent crime.

"We do what we can to prevent it," Webster said. "Most of the violent crimes are impulsive."

Charleston police recently lost one of the tools that it uses to combat violent crime, he said, when the Legislature passed a bill allowing people to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

"It's a game changer," Webster said. "Before, we could use that suspicion to stop people."

Webster said that the department is figuring out how they can legally handle suspicious situations involving firearms.

They encouraged people to call if someone has a firearm and looks suspicious.

"I still don't believe you can be drunk out of your mind with a weapon," Webster said.

Sgt. Paul Perdue encouraged people to organize neighborhood watch groups on the West Side.

He said that there are currently six active neighborhood watch groups in the area and gave the people in attendance a form that they could use to create a group.

"The West Side is getting really strong with groups spreading out and that's really positive," Perdue said.

The officers also took complaints from the audience. One woman talked about how landlords weren't being vigilant about who they rented property to, as long as the tenants paid the rent. She mentioned a house that had burned twice on Stuart Street.

There were more compliments to the department than complaints, as citizens thanked the officers for their work.

"The West Side gets a bad rap," Webster said. "There's issues - there's a lot of issues - but it's not every night."

Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.

WELCH, W.Va. (AP) - An attorney says her client fatally shot two Iaeger men in self-defense and then burned their bodies because he was panicking and had been drinking.

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports that 43-year-old Donald S. Bailey, of Crumpler, is on trial for first-degree murder in connection with the October 2014 deaths of 21-year-old Brandon Church and 46-year-old Clinton Mullins.

Authorities found their bodies in a burned vehicle while responding to a report of a wreck and vehicle fire in McDowell County.

Defense attorney Lacy Wright said during opening statements Wednesday that Mullins had earlier pointed a gun at Bailey after hours of drinking. She says the two men were harassing Bailey's teenage daughters and Bailey shot the men because he felt threatened.

Bailey's wife and another man are accused of helping Bailey burn the bodies. Their trials have not yet started.

Cabell County prosecutors are again asking the state Supreme Court to rule on whether Steward Butler, the former Marshall football player who allegedly attacked two men when he saw them kiss, can be charged with a hate crime.

In December, Lauren Plymale, Cabell County assistant prosecutor, and Raymond Nolan, Butler's defense attorney, sent a certified question to the state Supreme Court, asking if the state's hate crimes law - since it includes protection based on sex - could be interpreted to include protection based on sexual orientation. The state argued that Butler would not have attacked if one or both of the men had been a woman.

In February, the court, in a split decision, said it was declining to review the question.

Last month, Cabell Circuit Judge Paul Farrell ruled that Butler could not be charged with a hate crime. The judge noted that the West Virginia Supreme Court has said lower courts should look to the intent of a law when interpreting it, and said it certainly seems that lawmakers intend for sexual orientation to be left out of the state hate crimes law, since they have had numerous opportunities to add it.

The order was entered on May 13, and the hate crimes charges against Butler were to be dismissed in 60 days, unless the state appealed.

Cabell prosecutors' notice of appeal was filed on Thursday.

The prosecutors argue that the court should consider the appeal because:

n The case was the first time a court considered whether West Virginia's hate crimes law protects a person's civil rights based on sexual orientation, and lower courts need guidance.

n Other jurisdictions with hate crimes laws listing sex, but not specifically sexual orientation, have found that their laws cover sexual orientation.

n The "legislative history of the statute is unclear," and even a ruling that sexual orientation is not included in the law would send a message to state lawmakers that the law is deficient.

n It was "plain error" for the Farrell to dismiss the charges.

Butler is still facing two counts of battery. His trial is set for 9 a.m. Aug. 16.

In April 2015, he allegedly punched two men and shouted homophobic slurs at them after he saw them kiss on the streets of Huntington.

He was indicted the following month on two felony civil rights violations and two counts of battery. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, 304-348-5163 or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.

Dr. Iraj Derakhshan, the Charleston neurologist whose medical license was revoked earlier this year after an investigation into his opioid-prescribing practices, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

According to the filing, Derakhshan has $366,000 in assets and $595,772 in liabilities. Filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy will allow an appointed trustee to liquidate Derakhshan's assets to help repay his debts.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Derakhshan's Quarrier Street office on Feb. 9. Investigators were looking for the medical records of 64 patients who had died from overdoses between 2010 and 2015 while under his care, a federal agent wrote in an application for a search warrant, which was unsealed later in February.

An investigation into Derakhshan's prescription history determined that the doctor wrote more than 14,000 original and/or refill prescriptions for controlled substances from July 1, 2013, to Feb. 12, 2014, including 3,100 controlled substances, the Gazette-Mail has previously reported.

In April, Derakshan pleaded guilty to a federal record-keeping violation, admitting he dispensed a dose of a powerful painkiller to a patient and never reported it. The doctor will be sentenced on July 8, and faces up to four years in prison.

After viewing more than 100 exhibits and hearing four days worth of testimony, jurors began deliberations late Friday in the case against Miguel Quinones.

Quinones faces charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the 2013 death of Kareem Hunter, who was beaten inside a Marmet apartment and then tied up and stuffed into the trunk of a Cadillac. His body was found more than a month after he was reported missing, buried in a shallow grave in Raleigh County.

Prosecutors claim that Quinones - jealous that his girlfriend might still be romantically involved with Hunter and nervous that Hunter might have been planning to rob him - attacked Hunter with a rubber mallet inside a Marmet apartment on Sept. 23, 2013.

Jurors will decide Quinones' fate without ever hearing from him - as he decided Friday that he would not take the stand to testify on his own behalf.

Kanawha Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit planned to have jurors deliberate until 8 p.m. Friday.

Quinones' attorneys argue that their client wasn't present during Hunter's killing. Quinones only helped clean up the bloody apartment in the days following the slaying, according to his lawyers.

"The defendant helped clean up evidence," Assistant Kanawha Prosecutor Jennifer Gordon said Friday in closing arguments. "Why? Do you believe it was out of the goodness of his heart? No, it was because he was the one implicated and the one who committed the murder."

Two people already have pleaded guilty for their roles in Hunter's death. Deveron Patterson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole. The deal he made with prosecutors required that a judge grant him mercy, meaning he can go before a parole board after serving at least 15 years of his sentence.

Kelsey Legg was sentenced to spend between six and eight years in prison after she pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact to murder.

Legg was originally the only person charged in Hunter's death. Police filed a murder charge against her before locating Hunter's body. Prosecutors allowed her to plead guilty to the lesser charges after she told police that she watched Patterson and Quinones kill Hunter.

As part of their deals with prosecutors, both Legg and Patterson had to agree to testify against Quinones at trial. Patterson testified on Tuesday and backed prosecutors' claims that he helped Quinones kill Hunter.

Prosecutors never called Legg to the stand to testify. First Assistant Prosecutor Don Morris told a reporter he shouldn't comment about the case during the trial.

Defense attorneys had planned to call Legg as a witness on Friday morning, Robert Dunlap, who represents Quinones, said Thursday afternoon, right before court adjourned. He never said why he changed his mind about calling Legg.

Dunlap told jurors in opening statements Tuesday that Legg and Patterson had wrongly implicated Quinones in the killing to put the blame on someone else so that they would receive lighter sentences.

On Friday, Shawnique Hudson, Quinones' girlfriend and the mother of his child, took the stand, despite having sat through every day of the trial. She was supposed to have been sequestered and kept out of the courtroom as she had been named as a possible witness for the defense.

Hudson told jurors that Quinones had never been out of her sight for six hours in September 2013 - the amount of time he would have needed to kill Hunter.

Hudson, who is Patterson's cousin, told jurors that Patterson would often borrow Quinones' car, including the Cadillac, in which Hunter's DNA was found.

She became emotional when asked about whether she would lie to protect Quinones. She said she wouldn't, "Not about this," she said, tearing up, "because Hunter was my friend.

"Deveron Patterson is my family, but you know what, my family is lying," Quinones' lawyer Dunlap said, summarizing Hudson's testimony during his closing arguments.

Although Dunlap said that his client wasn't present during Hunter's death, jurors were never told where he was instead.

Hudson, during cross examination, realized she had mixed up the dates she thought they were in New York together.

Among some of the evidence jurors took with them to review are dozens of cell phone records.

Law enforcement officers testified earlier this week about evidence of Quinones' cell phone being in Marmet at the time of Hunter's beating. Cell phone towers then tracked Quinones' phone to Beckley and to Old Turnpike Road, where Hunter's body was found, on the day of the killing.

Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.

A Kentucky teenager charged with murder in the death of longtime coal company executive Ben Hatfield has been returned to West Virginia by police.

Brandon Lee Fitzpatrick, 18, of Louisa, Kentucky, is in the Southwestern Regional Jail in Holden, according to the state Regional Jail Authority's website.

Police say Fitzpatrick and Anthony Arriaga, 20, of Lima, Ohio, came across Hatfield's luxury SUV at a Mingo County cemetery, where he was tending family graves, and decided to rob him.

Arriaga allegedly walked up behind Hatfield and shot at him twice, hitting him once in the back. Hatfield covered 50 to 60 yards after he was shot, police say, and died at the edge of the Tug Fork River.

Fitzpatrick allegedly fled the scene in a vehicle. Arriaga was supposed to steal Hatfield's SUV and meet up with Fitzpatrick, police say. Instead, Arriaga panicked and ran over a bank and straight into the river.

Arriaga was arrested in Ohio hours after Hatfield's death. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for June 22 in Mingo County.

Fitzpatrick was arrested by police in Elsmere, Kentucky, on charges unrelated to Hatfield's death. He waived his right to fight extradition to West Virginia on June 3, and was brought back to the regional jail in Logan County on Friday, where he is being held without bond.

After Hatfield's death, Arriaga and Fitzpatrick eventually met up in Wayne at the home of Ricky Peterson, 20, police say. Peterson allegedly lied to police when they were investigating Hatfield's shooting. He faces charges of being an accessory to murder after the fact, obstructing/resisting an officer and providing false information to police.

A man was in intensive care at a local hospital after he was stabbed in downtown Charleston early Saturday, police said.

Aaron Chapman, 28, was stabbed on Capitol Street. Kanawha County Metro 911 dispatchers received the call around 2:30 a.m.

Chapman walked to Vino's Bar and Grill on Kanawha Boulevard, where paramedics met him, according to Lt. Steve Cooper, chief of detectives for the Charleston Police Department.

Cooper said Chapman, who was too drunk to give a statement to police, was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. Dispatchers said someone else called 911 on his behalf.

Logan County Clerk John Turner acknowledges that some mishaps did occur during last month's primary election, but said none of them would be enough to overturn a close loss by a circuit judge.

Circuit Judge Douglas Witten filed a petition last week with the clerk of the state House of Delegates in an attempt to overturn the election results. Witten, who was appointed to the bench last year, lost his bid to keep the seat by 59 votes to Joshua Butcher.

Witten claims in his petition that - among other reasons - irregularities at several precincts around the county cost him the election. He claims those irregularities would give him 4,351 votes, compared to 4,330 for Butcher.

Turner, however, said Friday that he has spoken with officials with the Secretary of State's office and that they informed him none of the issues Witten bases his petition on should lead to votes being thrown out.

Witten's petition states that 10 more ballots were cast on May 10 at the Bulwark precinct than the number of voters who signed the poll books.

"He claimed there were 'phantom voters' and that's just not true," said Turner. "Sometimes older folks get to talking and forget to sign."

Forgetting to sign a poll book is an easy mistake to make, said Turner. When someone comes to vote, they sign their name next to a bar code with their registration number. That number is then torn out of the book and is what's attached and saved to their ballot.

"It's happened before and we just have to call those people and confirm they voted," Turner said, adding his office, at the direction of the Secretary of State's office, has confirmed the names of those voters.

Witten also argues that votes cast at a precinct in Sharples shouldn't be valid because poll workers didn't taken an oath before working the election.

Turner said that the poll workers actually did sign their oath, but that the paperwork must have been misplaced.

"I asked the Secretary of State about it and they asked me did [the poll workers] show up and I said yes. They are good people, I know them," Turner said, adding he had the poll workers sign another oath.

Turner said he assumes he will have to give a deposition in Witten's proceeding.

"I'm ready. We followed the code," said Turner. "I've been clerk for 10 years, I have a great staff. Nobody's perfect."

Witten also claims in his petition that, at a precinct in Lane, votes were compromised because Douglas Butcher's wife, Jamie Butcher, stood within 300 feet of the polling place entrance and intimidated and influenced voters.

Turner said neither he nor the Secretary of State's office received any complaints about Jamie Butcher, or any complaints at all from the Lane precinct. Jamie Butcher said last week that Witten's claims aren't true.

Witten "challenged those precincts because that's where he got beat pretty good," Turner said.

On Election Day, May 10, Turner said he received very few complaints. Early that morning, he said, he was notified about a campaign sign being too close to the Whitman precinct. At 4:30 p.m., he was told about signs being too close to the Mitchell Heights voting precinct.

None of those signs belonged to Butcher, according to Turner. The clerk didn't want to say whether any of the signs belonged to Witten. All of the signs in question were removed, he said.

Last month, Witten demanded a recount of the votes. Logan County commissioners conducted it May 27, which still resulted in Butcher taking the election. Three representatives from the Secretary of State's office were present for the recount, according to Turner.

Turner said he first notified the Secretary of State's office when a private investigator came to his office, said Witten had hired him and wanted to see the county's absentee ballots.

A state official told Turner that Witten had to have a court order to obtain the documents. Logan County's other circuit judge, Eric O'Briant, then provided Witten with a court order for the absentee ballots.

As part of the procedure to contest the election, Butcher will respond and, after time for discovery, the petition will be ruled on by a panel of three people - one chosen by Witten, one by Butcher and one by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. The governor, who is from Logan County, appointed Witten to the bench last year after former circuit judge Roger Perry retired.

According to Butcher's attorney, Witten has already chosen his member of the panel: John Counts, who served as treasurer of Witten's campaign.

Before considering issues he raises at individual precincts, Witten's petition argues that the election results should be discredited because voters were wrongly influenced by an attack on a state Senate candidate in the days before the election.

"Election Day voting was influenced in its entirety by the dissemination of materially false information regarding an allegedly politically motivated assault on a candidate for the Democratic nomination for West Virginia State Senate," according to Witten's petition.

Richard Ojeda, who was running for the seat held by Sen. Art Kirkendoll, D-Logan, was beaten at a cookout two days before the May 10 election. Ojeda was knocked unconscious and his face was fractured in eight places. He said he believed the attack came because he had spoken out against corruption in Logan County, and he defeated Kirkendoll - who was a county commissioner for 30 years before moving to the Senate.

Information "was deliberately and falsely disseminated and published throughout Logan County for the purpose of influencing the opinion of County voters in a manner contrary to a candidate named Art Kirkendall [sic], a man with whom Judge William Douglas Witten was identified," Witten's petition states.

Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.

The following crimes were reported to the Charleston Police Department between June 2 and 8:

East District:

Farnsworth Drive 1500 block, grand larceny auto, June 2, 9:45 a.m.

Washington Street East 1500 block, shoplifting, June 2, 3:57 p.m.

Charleston Town Center, petit larceny, June 2, 6:30 p.m.

Franklin Avenue 1600 block, breaking and entering auto, June 3, midnight.

Lee Street East 200 block, shoplifting, June 3, 3:28 p.m.

Lee Street East 400 block, shoplifting, June 3, 5:30 p.m.

Virginia Street East 1500 block, breaking and entering auto, June 3, 6 p.m.

Elizabeth Street 300 block, petit larceny, June 3, 6:30 p.m.

Lee Street East 200 block, shoplifting, June 3, 7:15 p.m.

Kanawha Boulevard East, petit larceny, June 3, 9:30 p.m.

Elizabeth Street 400 block, wanton endangerment, June 4, 3:15 a.m.

Kanawha Boulevard East 100 block, grand larceny, June 4, 3:30 a.m.

Nancy Street 500 block, malicious wounding, June 4, 4:15 a.m.

Washington Street East 1400 block, petit larceny, June 4, 11:30 a.m.

Lee Street East 400 block, shoplifting, June 4, 2 p.m.

Washington Street East 1300 block, shoplifting, June 4, 9 p.m.

Capitol Street 100 block, brandishing, June 5, 1:30 a.m.

Elizabeth Street 500 block, petit larceny, June 5, 9:50 p.m.

Court Street/Smith Street, malicious wounding, June 5, 10:30 p.m.

Kanawha Boulevard 100 block, grand larceny auto, June 6, 8:34 a.m.

Washington Street East 1500 block, robbery, June 6, 12:22 p.m.

Lee Street East 500 block, grand larceny auto, June 6, 4 p.m.

Lee Street East 200 block, shoplifting, June 6, 7:30 p.m.

Elizabeth Street and Lee Street East, petit larceny, June 7, 10 a.m.

Association Drive 800 block, petit larceny, June 7, 3:45 p.m.

MacCorkle Avenue 6500 block, shoplifting, June 7, 7:30 p.m.

Slack Street 600 block, petit larceny, June 8, midnight.

Washington Street East 1500 block, robbery, June 8, 2:20 p.m.

Lee Street East 400 block, shoplifting, June 8, 2:30 p.m.

Lee Street East 400 block, shoplifting, June 8, 7 p.m.

South District:

Noyes Avenue Southeast 4200 block, petit larceny, June 2, 11:42 a.m.

49th Street 600 block, breaking and entering, June 2, 6 p.m.

Kanawha Mall, breaking and entering auto, June 2, 7 p.m.

Venable Avenue Southeast 4600 block, breaking and entering, June 2, 9 p.m.

MacCorkle Avenue 5700 block, shoplifting, June 3, 9:45 a.m.

Kanawha Avenue 3400 block, breaking and entering, June 3, 10:33 a.m.

South Park Drive 600 block, petit larceny, June 3, 4 p.m.

MacCorkle Avenue Southeast 1400 block, grand larceny, June 3, 4 p.m.

Fledderjohn Road 1100 block, petit larceny, June 3, 6:03 p.m.

Chatwood Road 10 block, petit larceny, June 3, 8 p.m.

MacCorkle Avenue 5700 block, petit larceny, June 3, 11:20 p.m.

Fledderjohn Road 1300 block, shoplifting, June 4, 4 p.m.

Bedford Road 1400 block, grand larceny, June 4, 4:59 p.m.

Presidential Drive 2000 block, breaking and entering, June 4, 8:09 p.m.

Virginia Avenue Southeast 3600 block, burglary, June 5, noon.

Venable Avenue, 4100 block, petit larceny, June 5, 11:45 p.m.

Chesterfield Avenue 5200 block, grand larceny auto, June 6, 9:30 a.m.

South Park Road 900 block, petit larceny, June 6, 10 a.m.

MacCorkle Avenue 4100 block, petit larceny, June 6, 9 p.m.

MacCorkle Avenue Southeast 5700 block, shoplifting, June 7, 2:12 p.m.

Oakwood Road 800 block, brandishing, June 7, 4:53 p.m.

RHL Boulevard 200 block, shoplifting, June 7, 4:57 p.m.

Gordon Drive 800 block, burglary, June 8, 4:06 a.m.

Parkwood Road 1900 block, burglary, June 8, 9:50 a.m.

West District:

Bigley Avenue 700 block, breaking and entering auto, June 2, 10:23 a.m.

Garrison Avenue 60 block, burglary, June 2, 11:30 a.m.

Claire Street 1700 block, burglary, June 2, noon.

Somerset Drive 900 block, breaking and entering auto, June 2, 2 p.m.

Beech Avenue 1200 block, breaking and entering, June 2, 2:30 p.m.

Tennessee Avenue 200 block, petit larceny, June 2, 5 p.m.

Edgewood Drive 1100 block, grand larceny auto, June 2, 7:30 p.m.

Crescent Road 1300 block, breaking and entering, June 3, 4 a.m.

Crescent Road 1400 block, breaking and entering, June 3, 4 a.m.

Falcon Drive 2300 block, domestic assault, June 3, 3 p.m.

Central Avenue 900 block, burglary, June 3, 3:30 p.m.

Pennsylvania Avenue 800 block, breaking and entering auto, June 3, 6 p.m.

Crescent Road 700 block, domestic assault, June 3, 11 p.m.

Tennessee Avenue 600 block, breaking and entering, June 3, 11:30 p.m.

Pennsylvania Avenue 800 block, petit larceny, June 4, midnight.

Margaret Street 400 block, burglary, June 4, 3:30 a.m.

Buchanan Street 200 block, wanton endangerment, June 4, 4:30 a.m.

Ohio Avenue 400 block, burglary, June 4, 9:40 a.m.

Washington Street West 800 block, robbery, June 4, 1:38 p.m.

Chandler Drive 1600 block, battery, June 4, 8 p.m.

Chandler Drive 1700 block, child neglect, June 5, 2:03 a.m.

Ohio Avenue 500 block, breaking and entering auto, June 5, 2:30 a.m.

Baker Lane 200 block, breaking and entering, June 5, 7 p.m.

Helen Avenue 700 block, breaking and entering auto, June 5, 8:30 p.m.

Greendale Drive 800 block, burglary, June 5, 9:30 p.m.

Zable Drive 2300 block, breaking and entering auto, June 6, 12:01 a.m.

McVey Way 100 block, wanton endangerment, June 6, 3:11 a.m.

6th Street 1200 block, breaking and entering auto, June 6, 3:30 a.m.

Hanna Drive 800 block, petit larceny, June 6, 8:10 a.m.

7th Avenue 2800 block, grand larceny auto, June 6, 10:06 a.m.

Bigley Avenue 1500 block, domestic battery, June 6, 11:19 a.m.

5th Avenue 2400 block, burglary, June 6, 4:30 p.m.

5th Avenue 2400 block, breaking and entering, June 6, 5:30 p.m.

Whitney Street 1600 block, breaking and entering, June 6, 7 p.m.

Randolph Street 700 block, petit larceny, June 7, 9 a.m.

Nancy Street 400 block, grand larceny auto, June 7, 3 p.m.

Sugar Creek Drive 1800 block, domestic assault, June 8, 1:52 a.m.

Adams Street 600 block, burglary, June 8, 8:30 p.m.

Marriages

The following people applied for marriage licenses in Kanawha County between May 26 and June 9:

Marshall Mency Roy II, 33, and Amber Michelle Curry, 36, both of St. Albans.

David Carlos Sproles, 31, and Amanda Danielle Austin, 28, both of Charleston.

James Leslie Powers, 44, and Shaquinta Yvette Hill, 34, both of Dunbar.

Jonathan Michael Simpkins, 26, of Charleston and Michell Louise Witt, 26, of South Charleston.

Perry John Keller, 54, of South Charleston and Alanna Jo Slack, 42, of Charleston.

Jeremy Lee Igo, 35, and Jennifer Lynn Merrill, 33, both of Elkview.

Jonathan Lee Wood, 32, and Sara Beth Johnson, 33, both of Belle.

Shawn Roberto Hawkins II, 33, and Nicole Constance Smith, 31, both of Cross Lanes.

Alfonzo Lester Kearney, 44, and Elana Suzanne Smith, 29, both of Dunbar.

Jonathan Tyler Storage, 28, and Michelle Rae Johnson, 32, both of Charleston.

Michael Edward Modaff, 46, and Carolyn Renea Page, 47, both of Charleston.

Larry Robert Miller II, 45, and Tara Elizabeth Ryan, 35, both of Charleston.

Joseph Lee Good, 23, of Pratt and Natalee Erin Haynes, 20, of Nitro.

Thomas Robert O'Neil, 21, of Charleston and Ashley Lea Davis, 22, of Morgantown.

Luke John Prudich, 22, of Charleston and Alexandria Nichole Ice, 22, of Cross Lanes.

Andrew Benjamin Kirby, 21, and Kasey Danielle Lovejoy, 21, both of St. Albans.

Seth Laramy Hanning, 21, and Jessica Jill Smith, 20, both of Charleston.

Jason Scott Fling, 36, and Sovonne Lyric Kiser, 20, both of Dunbar.

Mehari Endale Mengistu, 39, of Cincinnati, and Desta Teshome Belay,30, of Charleston.

Michael Scott Taylor, 25, and Kacie Breeanne Wheeler, 20, both of South Charleston.

Woodrow Franklin Fuller II, 45, and Jessica Lynn Simpson, 38, both of Nitro.

Mitchell Lee Boggess, 55, and Kimberly Ann Gamber, 45, both of Charleston.

Philip Casey Pinson, 40, and Sheila Lynn McCuskey-Moore, 39, both of St. Albans.

Joshua Eugene Randolph, 33, and Allyson Blair Carney, 26, both of South Charleston.

Jacob Anthony Wolfe, 19, of Pinch and Casey Nicole Smith, 19, of Charleston.

Justin Lee Childs, 26, and Brianna Devon Neff, 24, both of South Charleston.

Adam Wesley Milam, 25, and Chelsie Marie Hall, 20, both of Charleston.

Christopher Gene Davis, 24, and Macey Elizabeth Dean, 23, both of Charleston.

Steven Allen Adams, 33, and Jessica Beth Wintz, 29, both of Charleston.

Robert Kent Runnion, 70, of Elkview and Barbara Sue Runnion, 66, of Clendenin.

Paul Gregory Keeling II, 26, of Kenna and Brook Ladawn Burdette, 20, of South Charleston.

Alex Jimmy Wriston, 27, of Mount Hope and Sarah Elizabeth Lamaster, 26, of Charleston.

Justin Phillip Young, 26, and Amanda Leigh Hischar, 24, both of Cross Lanes.

Mark Allan Williams, 52, of Charleston and Jeannie Lynn Johnson, 49, of Nitro.

Arnold Lee Baines, 52, and Melissa Ione Stanley, 50, both of South Charleston.

Cory Allen Hutchison, 24, and Kayla Elizabeth Presley, 24, both of St. Albans.

Danny Douglas Carpenter, 69, and Sandra Lea Jenkins, 53, both of Charleston.

Casey Grant Box, 21, and Brandy Marie McNeely, 19, both of South Charleston.

Brandon Dale Bayes, 22, and Danielle Darlene Nichole Hines, 21, both of Charleston.

Arthur Lee Beabout, 34, and Kelli Ann Ward, 46, both of Dunbar.

Matthew Tyler Crouch, 25, and Laura Elizabeth Killion, 25, both of Charleston.

Brad Warren Hatcher, 46, and Jessica Ann Childress, 38, both of Charleston.

Joshua Rodger Hill, 22, and Cassandra Jo Thompson, 36, both of Charleston.

Logan Michael Scott, 22, of Gauley Bridge and Eriel Shea Holstine, 23, of Charleston.

Aaron Kinder Lowe, 19, of Ashford and Brittany Leigh ONeal, 18, of Charleston.

Harvey Odell Booker, 51, and Kayla Anne Midkiff, 27, both of Charleston.

Sergio Silva-Ramirez, 54, of Dunbar and Karla Kaleen Hickey, 50, of Charleston.

James Lynn Sullivan, 46, and Tonia Jo Bradshaw, 38, both of Charleston.

The following people applied for marriage licenses in Putnam County from May 26 to June 9:

Scott W. Sisk, 44, and Katherine N. Myers, 34, both of Hurricane.

Brandon A. Vannoy, 22, and Danielle N. Smith, 20, both of Leon.

Kenneth L. Norris, 61, of Muncie, and Bonnie L. Larch, 58, of Hurricane.

Douglas W. Cadle, 58, of Hurricane, and Laura M. Doss, 54, of Poca.

Jerry G. Nutter, 53, and Beverly G. Boswell, 52, both of Scott Depot.

Elliston M. Sauer, 38, and Charmin L. Carroll, 41, both of Hometown.

Jacob D. Hunt, 21, of Hurricane, and Faith M. Sylvester, 20, of Winfield.

Matthew C. Lilly, 29, of Winfield, and Kellie Ann Lewis, 26, of Scott Depot.

Teddy C. Sowards, 20, and Amy M. Lovejoy, 22, both of Hurricane.

Matthew A. Peaslee, 32, and Melissa F. Harper, 34, both of Fraziers Bottom.

Joshua C. Craigo, 32, of Ona, and Samantha J. Parkins, 22, of Liberty.

Michael E. Hamrick, 37, and Angela K. Crone, 35, both of Winfield.

Zachary D. Sallade, 24, of Milton, and Rachel O. Namey, 22, of Scott Depot.

Donald E. Eplin Jr., 20, and Stephinie D. Lewis, 26, both of Buffalo.

Jacob S. Whittington, 22, of Poca, and Alyssa H. Blizzard, 22, of Liberty.

Jason R. Benton, 40, and Sherra M. Bailey, 39, of Scott Depot.

Michael A. Justice, 24, and

Divorces

The following people filed for divorce in Kanawha County between June 2 and 9:

Kathy Jean Pauley from Delbert Thurman Pauley Jr.

Samantha Renee Ramsey from Adam Scott Ramsey

Susan Gail Burdette from David Lee Burdette

Jason William Page from Mary Elizabeth Page

Don David McNealy from Jessica Bell McNealy

Katherine L. Wysocki from Travis L. Wysocki

Samantha Jo Ashford from Douglas Allan Ashford

Megan B. Dustin from Randy A. Dustin Jr.

Rachel Dawn Wolfe from Tristin Lane Wolfe

Melisa Dawn Belcher from Anthony David Belcher

Roger R. Skeens Jr. from Brandy M. Skeens

Shannon Hartley from Richard Hartley

Laura Beth Harper from Justin Earl Harper

Angel Nicole Doniff from Andrew Nicholas Stanley

Michael Patrick Smith from Melanie Nichole O'Dell

Travis Lee Wysocki from Katherine Lynn Wysocki

Renee Fields from Steven Edward Hurley

The following people filed for divorce in Putnam County between May 26 and June 9:

Ashley P. Manning from Jason M. Manning.

Megan A. Richardson from Seth A. Richardson

Bret McCallister from Cindy McCallister

Joseph E. Clark from Medina J. Clark

Kevin Young from Cassandra Young

Vicky L. Rader from Charles M. Rader

Kevin R. Erwin from Marcia R. Erwin

Sarah M. Krause from Daniel A. Krause

Sandra J. Hall from Ryan C. Hall

Stacy Aglubat from Arthur Aglubat

Kris A. Scarbro from Aaron D. Scarbro

Cynthia L. Shelton from William A. Shelton II

Juliett D. Akers from Roger Akers

Rayna L. Burnell from Donald B. Burnell

Robert P. Thompson from Cassandra J. Thompson

Candy McVay from Lawrence McVay

Troie M. Suttle from Paul E. Suttle

Randi L. Dalton from James Dalton

Christina M. Alford from Michael S. Alford

Jilyan P. Stone from Michael T. Stone

Rebecca L. Gossan from Jeffrey A. Gossan

Elizabeth Myers from Jeremy Myers

Lisa A. Young from Samuel Young.

Property transfers

The following property transfers of $50,000 or more were recorded in Kanawha County between June 2 and 9:

Denise A. Davenport to Tommie E. and Rebecca K. Taylor. Parcels, Elk District, $148,000.

Wells Fargo Bank N.A. to Jessica Treadway. Lot, Poca District, $90,000.

VB LLC to Stoneridge Development LLC. Tracts, Jefferson District, $70,000.

Brandon E. Pinney to James Eric and Kimberly A. Jarrett. Lot, Elk District, $150,000.

Dwayne E. and Lou Ann S. Cyrus to Michael J. and Stephanie Olivia Evanchick. Lot, Washington District, $455,000.

Hendrix Hauling LLC to State Street Properties LLC. Lot, Charleston, $175,000.

Thomas G. Juzwik to Scott R. Hardy. Condominium, Charleston, $65,000.

Gaylen L. and Elizabeth Borland Nix to Allmon Construction Management Company. Lot, Charleston, $310,000.

Harley A. Taylor Jr. to Sandra H. Hall and Mark C. Kelley. Lots, South Charleston, $155,000.

Rebecca L. Stanley to Waleed Smeedy. Lot, Union District, $121,000.

Sandra L. Blake to Timothy C. Dunlap II. Lot, Jefferson District, $118,000.

JDI Assett Management LLC to Anthony L. Coler. Lot, Chesapeake, $117,500.

James B. and Danielle M. Clark to H. Adam and Danielle N. Ubert. Lot, Charleston, $555,000.

Teresa L. Underhill to Andrew J. and Kasey B. Gentilin. Lot, Charleston, $555,000.

Jackie L. II and Lori M. Linville to James Richard McGowan Jr. Parcels, Poca District, $229,400.

Lindsay M. Bach to Chelsea M. Knotts. Lot, Charleston, $75,000.

Patrick S. Amburgey and Mindy M. Smith to Mark T. Nguyen and Nguyen Nguyen. Lot, Washington District, $453,500.

Desmond Raymond and Jessica Raymond to John W. Jr. and Melissa K. McGehee. Lot, Washington District, $506,500.

Barbara Ellen Miller to Clarence Allen Barefield II. Lot, Cabin Creek District, $138,900.

Lori A. Phillips to Jason R. Young. Lot, Jefferson District, $164,500.

Golden & Amos PLLC to Fifth Third Mortgage Company. Lot, St. Albans, $112,320.

James Lawrence, Patricia Carr, Linda Coleman, Kay Arnold, Charles Miller Jr., Owen Miller and Cheryl Schartman to Geraldine and Robert Gardner. Lot, Charleston, $83,000.

Carl H. and Magdalena Lubbe to Janie Pierce Hopkins. Lot, Charleston, $161,000.

Jonathan E. Casto and Joseph M. Casto to Nancy L. Sanger and Gary E. Edens. Lot, Union District, $55,000.

The Kidd Family Irrevocable Trust to Niki Davis. Lot, Glasgow, $57,000.

Melissa Kay and Jack David Beckner II to Chelsea Afton Carson. Lot, Charleston, $65,000.

William T. and Wilma O. Ellis to Bruce Daniel Jr. and Kristy H. Lucas. Lot, Charleston, $750,000.

David D. and Lisa A. Walls to Derek Salvatore. Lot, Jefferson District, $155,000.

Martha G. Keene to William H. and Joyoce Y. Gillispie. Lot, Jefferson District, $57,000.

Thomas L. Thomas to Andrea K. and John A. Nelson. Lot, Elk District, $149,900.

Justin H. and Stephanie A. Thaxton to Regina S. Reynolds. Lot, Washington District, $255,000.

Deborah L. Stevens to Clinton J. and Sarah E. Reed. Lot, Charleston, $125,000.

JDI Asset Management LLC to Kirk D. Ballard. Lot, Belle, $67,000.

Pamela B. Waybright to Brian Frederick Lee and Erika Rae Bragg. Lot, South Charleston, $170,000.

Lea Ann Halstead to Christopher D. and Jessica Lynn Adams. Lot, Washington District, $650,000.

Steven E. Daniel to Jamie J. Lewis and Jami Witt-Lewis. Lot, Washington District, $223,500.

Toby A. and Linda B. McCallister to Danny J. and Darlene J. Cline. Lot, Union District, $123,500.

Mary Lane, Bill Becher, Marilyn Lynch and Rose McBride, as Trustees of St. Johns United Methodist Church of South Charleston to Community Development Outreach Ministries Inc. Lot, South Charleston, $50,000.

Timothy L. Young, Russell W. Young, Linda Betts Field, Gail Betts Rowley and Margaret Betts Roach to Julia Skeens. Lot, Jefferson District, $87,000.

Justin A. Carte to Damanvir Garcha. Lot, Charleston, $84,625.

Joseph and Kari Park to James F. and Helen A. Kautz. Lot, Elk District, $195,000.

Pamela A. Redman, Kristina D. Gold and Marjorie M. Butcher to William Christopher Moyers. Lot, Dunbar, $104,000.

Charles Casey Forbes to Michael G. and Amanda L. Stencel. Lot, Charleston, $177,000.

Marguerite L. Price to Jane A. Foster. Lot, St. Albans, $107,500.

Carolyn J. Hudson to Susan B. Keller. Lot, Dunbar, $78,500.

Scotty J. and Sonya R. Beard to Matthew A. Myers. Lot, Loudon District, $292,500.

Brady A. Campbell to Kirstie Meadows. Lot, Charleston, $163,000.

Bonnie M. Jarrett to Melody Jarrett. Lot, South Charleston, $117,000.

Ronald J. and Maureen P. Pompei to Larry J. and Charlene M. Barie. Lot, St. Albans, $126,500.

Karen Lynn Heath to Henrietta J. Gladwell. Lot, St. Albans, $97,500.

AMH Development LLC to Galen E. Flowers and Lisa M. Young. Lot, Jefferson District, $139,000.

Jerry F. and Carol A. Westfall to Angela D. Cable. Lot, Union District, $118,500.

Kanawha Capital Company Inc. to Brian A. Lee. Lot, Nitro, $105,000.

Jeffrey W. and Angela M. Boss to Justin H. and Stephanie A. Thaxton. Lot, Charleston, $302,000.

James Lawrence Ledbetter to Putnam Property Management LLC. Lot, Union District, $113,000.

Wayne Eugene and Judith B. Hatcher to Dixie L. Holstein. Lot, Dunbar, $122,900.

Christopher R. and Ashley L. Schumaker to Anne M. and Raleigh Bitner II. Lot, St. Albans, $185,500.

Teddy A. and Angela D. Atkins to David L. Shuman Jr. and David L. Shuman Sr. Lot, Charleston, $278,500.

Bethel J. Spradling to Tameka Hensley and Santo Pansera. Lot, Charleston, $90,000.

The following property transfers of $75,000 or more were recorded in Putnam County between May 26 to June 9:

Michael E. and Charlotte C. Simpson to Nancy N. Parsons. Lot, Scott, $212,500.

Brenda L. Hudson to Amanda M. and Kenneth D. Canipe. Lot, Scott, $167,500.

Stephen Cullen to Benjamin A. and Erica L. Burdette. Lot, Scott, $241,000.

Anthony A. and Patricia A. Street to Adam S. Greathouse and Holly L. Turley. Lot, Scott, $253,000.

Stephen Z. and Donna R. Bell to Jared Davis. Lot, Scott, $115,000.

Sharon L. Wiles and Regina D. Watkins to Leslie P. and Kami Wiles. Lot, Poca, $85,000.

Paul and Kimberly Schwartz and Patrick L. Hill Jr. to Ethan R. Martin. Lot, Eleanor, $179,000.

Tully Coffey to Heather Lawrence. Lot, Eleanor, $165,000.

Bryon M. Thomas to Cory W. and Lindsey R. Rueckert. Lot, Poca, $140,000.

David and Amanda Herring to Timothy and Judith Walker. Lot, Hurricane, $229,000.

William A. Preston to Gary D. and Deborah A. Daniels. Lot, Buffalo, $310,000.

William R. and Ida L. York to Brian M. and Janessa A. Noel. Lot, Hurricane, $209,900.

Alison and Abraham Likens to Tyler and Elizabeth Yocom. Lot, Curry, $211,000.

Douglas B. and Sandra K. Smith to Melissa K. Smith. Lot, Teays Valley, $275,000.

Design Development Inc. to Linda F. Holliday. Lot, Scott, $250,000.

Staci Clutters to David W. Comstock III. Lot, Winfield, $95,000.

Thomas Wikel to Daniel A. Rule. Parcels, Poca, $140,000.

William H. and Cheryl D. Belcher to Benjamin L. and Danae R. Gilmore. Lot, Curry, $225,000.

Robert L. Steele to Christopher and Sheila Absure. Lot, Scott, $93,000.

Mark L. Barnhill and Lola R. Weir to Daniel D. Jones and Patricia A. Wilson. Acres, Poca, $190,600.

Monte W. and Kimberly C. Dyer to Robert J. Price. Lot, Teays Valley, $309,900.

Mark and Charlotte Billotti to Julie Clark. Lot, Hurricane, $120,000.

Audrey J. Schmidt to Gary and Melinda Hutchison. Lot, Scott, $236,000.

Gary and Melinda Hutchison to Christopher and Tiffany Schirtzinger. Lot, Scott, $300,000.

Bankruptcies

The bankruptcies listed below are limited to those filed by residents or companies in the Gazette-Mail's circulation area. Chapter 7 designates the liquidation of non-exempt property; Chapter 11 calls for business reorganization; Chapter 13 establishes a schedule of payments to creditors. The following bankruptcies were filed between June 3 and 10:

Clifford Leon and Julia Michelle Ball, Madison, Chapter 7. Assets: $118,724, Liabilities: $219,987.

Carol Sue Haid, Charleston, Chapter 7. Assets: $183,940, Liabilities: $232,491.

Henry Armin III and Debra Dawn Jaeger, Marlinton, Chapter 7. Assets: $77,625, Liabilities: $506,929.

Brent Nicholas Monday, Cross Lanes, Chapter 7. Assets: $4,800, Liabilities: $12,753.

Iraj Derakhshan, Charleston, Chapter 7. Assets: $366,000, Liabilities: $595,772.

James Michael and Clarissa Lynn Tackett, Varney, Chapter 7. Assets: $106,200, Liabilities: $156,460.

Charity Elisha Caldwell, Fayetteville, Chapter 7. Assets: $179,951, Liabilities: $240,164.

Aleesha Dawn Gray, Charleston, Chapter 7. Assets: $23,343, Liabilities: $62,475.

Dianna Carol Peterson, Charleston, Chapter 7. Assets: $209,866, Liabilities: $314,018.

Peggy Marie Bailey, Kermit, Chapter 7. Assets: $10,900, Liabilities: $56,625.

Pamela Ellen Johnson, Beckley, Chapter 7. Assets: $73,850, Liabilities: $150,449.

Mathew Aaron Underwood, Beckley, Chapter 7. Assets: $74,701, Liabilities: $153,530.

Thomas Michael Sykes, Alderson, Chapter 7. Assets: $52,425, Liabilities: $177,962.

Michelle Ann Crook, Shady Spring, Chapter 7. Assets: $22,025, Liabilities: $46,687.

Melody Rae Canterbury, Lester, Chapter 7. Assets: $104,196, Liabilities: $38,645.
Christopher Scott and Sheila Elaine Meadows, Shady Spring, Chapter 7. Assets: $333,413, Liabilities: $337,593.

Robert Ernest Eskins Jr., Coal City, Chapter 7. Assets: $210, Liabilities: $87,604.

Steve Elton II and Robin Alesia Fields, Rupert, Chapter 7. Assets: $159,141, Liabilities: $189,839.

Roddy Lee and Kimberly Sue Johnson, Pratt, Chapter 13. Assets: $149,664, Liabilities: $339,782.

Lisa Dawn and John Wade Adkins, Fayetteville, Chapter 13. Assets: Unknown, Liabilities: Unknown.

Justin Edward and Sandra G. Woody, Chapmanville, Chapter 13. Assets: $179,900, Liabilities: $203,714.

Adrienne Ann Galloway, Charleston, Chapter 13. Assets: $88,092, Liabilities: $187,251.

The parents of a man who killed himself at a Tucker County facility earlier this year filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility on Friday.

Rick and Kathy Harris, of Louisiana, allege that staff at Q&A Associates, a young adult transitional living program, knew Evan Harris was exhibiting signs of a crisis and made no efforts to prevent his death. They also allege that Q&A Associates staff members were willfully attempting to isolate the 23-year-old man from his parents to prevent them from learning of his deteriorating condition.

Within a month last winter, Harris and another young man died of self-inflicted injuries at Q&A Associates, a Davis business that promises to teach young adults life skills. While Q&A markets itself as appropriate for the mentally ill, it is not required to be licensed by the state because it does not provide behavioral health services.

On Dec. 21, 2015, staff members found a 19-year-old man dead in a barn. Afterward, Q&A Associates’ founder, Angie Shockley, told the Gazette-Mail she viewed the death as accidental, but did not deny it was self-inflicted. She said the man showed no signs of being suicidal.

She also said Q&A Associates did not plan to increase monitoring of clients and that she was not worried about another death occurring because the risk of death comes with the territory of working with an at-risk population.

On Jan. 24, Evan Harris was found dead in the same barn. The state medical examiner has ruled his death a suicide, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also says Harris was missing for hours before he was found and that there was “little or no effort” to locate him prior to the discovery.

After Harris’ death, Shockley did not return calls from the Gazette-Mail. She asked an employee to call and say, “Out of respect and duty to our families and clients, we have no comment at this time.”

Audrey Peavey, admissions and marketing director for Q&A, said the business had no comment on the allegations in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit names Q&A Associates, Q&A staff members Angie Shockley, Keith Bishop, Matthew Shockley and Sandy Schmiedeknecht, as well as Tammy Robbins as defendants. Robbins was an educational consultant who “falsely represented that [Q&A] could offer all of the services that Evan M. Harris needed,” the lawsuit states.

Throughout the complaint, David Sims, a Vienna lawyer representing the parents, argues that Harris’ death was preventable.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia on Friday. It alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence in performing assessments on Harris, negligent supervision of program participants, negligent hiring of staff, negligent training of staff, negligent staffing levels, negligent program design, negligent program assessments, negligent misrepresentation of fact, intentional misrepresentation of fact, and violations of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act.

Harris’ parents have said he had a low IQ and was extremely impressionable and that the first suicide likely influenced him. Harris, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, had struggled all his life and was devastated by a relationship that had recently ended.

After Harris’ death, his parents told the Gazette-Mail they only found out after he died that he had began cutting himself again. Self-injury is associated with suicide. The parents also criticized Q&A staff for failing to tell them the first death was a self-inflicted injury. They said the business should have made changes after the first incident to prevent future deaths.

According to the lawsuit, as early as Dec. 24, 2015, Keith Bishop received reports that Harris was cutting himself and expressing suicidal ideation.

The parents have also learned of other signs Harris’ condition was worsening. According to the lawsuit, he left the facility multiple times and was struggling with a desire to drink alcohol. He was also purging and refusing to take his psychiatric medications, do chores and eat with house mates, the lawsuit alleges.

“They are still struggling like it happened yesterday,” Sims said. “They are extremely distraught, as any parent would be, and that level of distraught has gotten worse since we obtained additional information from Q&A Associates about the condition of their son which was never reported to them.”

When Kathy Harris resisted the staff members’ suggestion to turn off her son’s cell phone, they told her she was hindering his progress, the lawsuit states.

The “Defendants were making certain that Evan M. Harris was isolated and his ability to communicate that to his parents was restricted so that they would not learn that their son was in danger of harming himself,” the lawsuit states.

Harris’ parents — who were paying $9,500 a month in tuition to Q&A — have said Q&A staff had access to Harris’ 24-page psychological evaluation.

“Instead of meeting the psychological needs of Evan M. Harris, as outlined in the psychological evaluation, officers and staff members watched Evan M. Harris deteriorate physically and emotionally, while assuring his parents that Evan M. Harris was ‘doing great,’” the lawsuit states.

They also criticize the industry that markets itself to troubled youth.

“Q&A Associates, Inc. has structured itself to avoid being regulated in the State of West Virginia, much like others in the troubled teen and young adult industry,” the lawsuit says. “In reality, the troubled teen industry is itself troubled because of the lack of regulations of entities like Q&A Associates, Inc.”

Shockley served as the director of Alldredge Academy, in Davis, a private school that billed itself as a “children’s wilderness” program, from 2003 to 2006. A 14-year-old boy in that program killed himself in 2001. The day before the boy died, he had sliced his arm from wrist to elbow with a knife that Alldredge officials then returned to him.

Like Q&A, Alldredge was not subject to state regulations. After the student’s 2001 suicide, DHHR officials ordered Alldredge to close, and Alldredge officials argued that the state had no jurisdiction.

Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom ruled that Alldredge could stay open but had to be overseen by the DHHR. Alldredge eventually closed at the end of 2008, with officials at the school blaming the economic recession. Q&A opened in October 2010.

Sims surmises there are other facilities in West Virginia avoiding regulation by the state by using outside agencies for medical and mental health services, similar to Q&A.

“You learn, about them, like the Alldredge Academy, after someone dies,” he said.

Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, 304-348-5163, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) - The former executive director of Berkeley Senior Services is suing the group over claims she was fired for speaking out against alleged wrongdoing by the former board president.

The Journal reports Linda Holtzapple filed the lawsuit in Berkeley County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit says Holtzapple was fired Jan. 29 after pointing out wrongdoing and waste by Eddie Edmonds. Edmonds resigned in February and became the agency's interim director.

The suit claims Edmonds used his board position to get his company a contract providing IT services to Berkeley Senior Services.

It says Holtzapple sent a staff-wide email about her office controlling IT expenses and then described the issue to regional and state officials.

The board voted to terminate her Jan. 25.

Edmonds says the lawsuit had no merit.

The courtroom stayed quiet Monday after a judge announced that Miguel Quinones had been found not guilty of first-degree murder.

"I think everyone was just in shock," said Linda Hunter. Her son, Kareem Hunter, 28, died after being beaten in a Marmet apartment.

Quinones, 37, remained calm after hearing he had been acquitted of Hunter's murder, said his lawyer, Robert Dunlap.

"In private, he was so moved. He couldn't even articulate," Dunlap said.

Quinones, who has always maintained his innocence, had spent the last 2 1/2 years behind bars awaiting trial for Hunter's murder. By 4:30 p.m. Monday, he had been released from South Central Regional Jail.

Police believed Quinones was the main force behind Hunter's killing. Prosecutors never offered him a deal, as they did his two co-defendants, Deveron Patterson and Kelsey Legg.

During Quinones' trial, his lawyer told jurors that Patterson and Legg had placed the blame on his client so they would receive lighter sentences. Patterson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole; Legg received six to eight years in prison for being an accessory to murder.

Last Friday, jurors deliberated for about three hours before being sent home for the weekend. After returning to the courthouse at about 9 a.m. Monday, jurors spent about two hours deliberating before telling Kanawha Circuit Judge Joanna Tabit that they could not come to an agreement.

Tabit gave jurors an "Allen Charge," an instruction meant to encourage a deadlocked jury to continue deliberating by re-examining their views of the case.

It was just before 2 p.m. Monday, when jurors announced they had reached a verdict.

Linda Hunter didn't want to talk much Monday afternoon. She said she was not OK.

During the six-day trial, jurors viewed more than 100 exhibits and heard four days' worth of testimony.

Prosecutors spent a considerable amount of time trying to convince jurors that cellphone records tied Quinones to the slaying.

Police testified about evidence that showed Quinones' cellphone was in Marmet at the scene of the bloody beating. Cellphone towers then traced Quinones' phone to Beckley and to Old Turnpike Road on the day that Hunter died. Hunter's body was later found on that road.

Dunlap believes jurors realized that once police focused in on Quinones as the killer, they didn't consider any other suspects.

"They had the cellphones of other suspects and they admitted they never checked those logs," said Dunlap. "Had they checked those logs, it may have taken their investigation in a whole other direction."

Prosecutors told jurors that Quinones - jealous that his girlfriend might still be romantically involved with Hunter and nervous that Hunter might have been planning to rob him - attacked Hunter with a rubber mallet inside Legg's apartment in Marmet.

Dunlap, though, argued his client wasn't there when Hunter was killed, and only helped clean up Legg's bloody Marmet apartment in the days after the slaying.

Matthew Legg, Kelsey's brother, testified that he saw Quinones at his sister's apartment the night Hunter was killed.

Another man who took the stand during the trial that had seen Patterson and another man in Raleigh County, near where Hunter's body was found, said he couldn't be sure that Quinones was the man Patterson was with.

Duct tape was tied around Hunter's mouth, hands and feet, and he was stuffed into the trunk of a car, driven to Raleigh County and buried in a shallow grave.

Patterson testified that he had helped Quinones kill Hunter. Prosecutors revealed during the trial that it was Patterson who told police where to find Hunter's body - which wasn't found until more than a month after his death.

Legg was originally charged with murder before Hunter's body was found. She was never called to testify during the trial, as she had agreed to do as part of her plea deal.

Kanawha first assistant prosecutor Don Morris wouldn't say during the trial why prosecutors decided not to call Legg to the stand, and he couldn't be reached for comment Monday afternoon. Assistant prosecutor Jennifer Gordon didn't want to comment after the verdict on Monday.

Quinones was arrested on a parole violation before being charged in Hunter's death. Quinones was convicted 16 years ago of second-degree murder in Fayette County. In 2000, a jury found him guilty of killing Christopher Reardon, a Beckley bar owner. He was released from prison over that incident in 2011, but remained on probation.

After Hunter's death, Quinones was found in 2014 by police hiding in his girlfriend's attic.

Quinones' case was delayed a number of times since he was indicted on the murder charge in early 2014, mainly because of his requests for new attorneys.

Dunlap and an attorney who works with him, Amy Osgood, who also represented Quinones at trial, marked the ninth and 10th attorneys Quinones was appointed.

The week before his trial began, Quinones tried again to change lawyers. A frustrated Tabit gave Quinones an ultimatum: He would either remain with Dunlap and Osgood or represent himself at trial.

"He had a large number of attorneys because he felt like, whoever represents him had to believe in his innocence or it wasn't going to work. He just wanted to make sure his trial was fair and that he had a chance," Dunlap said Monday.

Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.

A Kanawha County judge on Monday postponed the sentencing hearing of Steven Craig Coleman, who allegedly gave a woman a dose of heroin that killed her last year.

Coleman's hearing is now scheduled for July 18 at 11 a.m. in the courtroom of Kanawha Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.

Prosecutors had originally charged Coleman with murder for the death of Melody Ann Oxley on Feb. 14, 2015.

Coleman pleaded guilty to a felony drug charge and a involuntary manslaughter misdemeanor in April. As part of his plea deal, prosecutors dropped the murder charge against him.

Coleman faces a maximum one-year sentence for the manslaughter charge and a one- to three-year sentence for an attempt to deliver a controlled substance.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., plans to testify against prescription drug wholesalers that shipped hundreds of millions of pain pills to West Virginia over the past decade.

Manchin's name tops a "witness list" of 40 individuals who've agreed to testify against the drug companies when the state case goes to trial in Boone County. A special assistant attorney general filed the list in circuit court last week.

The lawsuit alleges that the drug wholesalers helped fuel West Virginia's prescription drug problem by shipping an excessive number of painkillers to the Mountain State.

"I'll do anything to raise the profile of this thing that's been so damaging and so horrific to our state and country," Manchin said. "If people are harmed, I'm going to speak out and do something."

The West Virginia Attorney General's Office, the state Department of Health and Human Resources and the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety are suing the prescription drug distributor.

DHHR Secretary Karen Bowling and DMAPS Secretary Joe Thornton have agreed to testify against the drug companies, as well.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, whose office also is representing the state agencies, is not listed as a potential witness.

"Why would you be unwilling to testify?" Manchin asked. "Why is a politician afraid to go to court and testify against things that are killing people?"

Asked why Morrisey wasn't scheduled as a witness against the drug companies, the attorney general's spokesman issued a statement saying Manchin, the state's former governor, managed state agencies "at a time when there was a tremendous number of pills flowing into the state."

"To the contrary, Attorney General Morrisey has never had oversight responsibilities for those agencies," said Curtis Johnson, Morrisey's press secretary. "The Office of Attorney General is in a representative role regarding those agencies' specific claims."

In January, Morrisey announced that he would recuse himself from the case, following a state Lawyer Disciplinary Board investigation into his past ties to the drug companies. Before taking office, Morrisey lobbied for a Washington, D.C., trade group - the Health Care Distribution Management Association - that represents most of the drug wholesalers named in West Virginia's lawsuit.

Morrisey's lobbying work generated $250,000 for his Washington, D.C., law firm, King & Spalding, according to federal lobbying disclosure forms.

The disciplinary board concluded that Morrisey did not violate any lawyer ethics rules, but the board suggested he step aside from the drug company lawsuit to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Morrisey assigned the case to Chief Operating Officer Anthony Martin and Deputy Attorney General Vaughn Sizemore.

Morrisey, who inherited the 2012 lawsuit from then-Attorney General Darrell McGraw, is running for re-election this year against Democrat Doug Reynolds.

Morrisey has made fighting prescription drug abuse a platform of his campaign.

Manchin said he hopes Morrisey will "sign on later" and testify against the drug companies.

"This really baffles me," Manchin said. "There's been a lot of advertising about everything he'd like to do [to curb drug abuse]. Now's the time to do something about it. Just do it."

Johnson responded that Morrisey's office is "leading the prosecution of the case and has done as much or more than anyone in the state to fight substance abuse."

"Attorney General Morrisey just released sweeping guidelines that will dramatically reduce the flow of opioids into the state, and has advanced many substance abuse initiatives to fight this epidemic," Johnson said in an email.

Other state officials who've agreed to testify against the drug companies include Public Health Commissioner Rahul Gupta, and DHHR administrators and statisticians.

West Virginia has the highest drug overdose death rate in the nation, with prescription drugs causing the bulk of those deaths. Overdose deaths increased last year.

"We've got 600 people dying a year [in West Virginia]," Manchin said. "If that's not an epidemic, I don't know what the hell is."

A large number of prosecutors, law enforcement officers and prison officials also are scheduled to testify.

Prosecutors and judges have lamented that prescription drug-related crimes consume 90 percent of their criminal court dockets, according to the state's lawsuit.

Also, about 35 percent of babies are born drug-addicted in West Virginia, one of the highest rates in the nation.

To that end, four neonatal doctors from hospitals across the state have agreed to testify in the upcoming trial. At least one former addict, a woman who lives in Boone County and now works as a drug counselor, also will take the stand.

In a revised complaint filed last year, the state's lawyers disclosed that 11 prescription drug distributors shipped nearly 60 million oxycodone pills and 140.6 million hydrocodone pills - both are powerful and addictive painkillers - to West Virginia between 2007 and 2012. The updated lawsuit included pill counts for each wholesaler. The pain-pill numbers were culled from a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration database.

For more than a year, the drug wholesalers sought to keep secret court documents that included information about pill shipments to specific pharmacies in Southern West Virginia.

Last month, a Boone County judge issued an order to unseal some of the court records, after the Charleston Gazette-Mail challenged the drug companies' efforts to keep the shipment numbers under wraps.

The court records showed that some drug wholesalers were shipping excessive quantities of painkillers to notorious "pill mill" pharmacies that filled prescriptions for pain clinics that federal authorities have since shut down.

"We were targeted," Manchin said. "We were easy prey."

The trial is expected to start in early January.

Two weeks ago, Manchin introduced a bill to tax prescription opioids. The tax would raise more than $1.5 billion a year, and the new revenue would go to drug treatment facilities. No Republican senators have agreed to support the bill, Manchin said.

"It would be strictly used to fund treatment," he said. "There are tobacco taxes, alcohol taxes. You tell me anything that's more devastating than opiates and addiction."

Reach Eric Eyre at ericeyre@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4869 or follow @ericeyre on Twitter.

Sitting in the front row of the courtroom on Monday, Bruce Basham covered his eyes with a tissue and sobbed.

Basham had just looked into the eyes of the man who killed his daughter and listened to him talk about killing her in blatant disregard.

"She was a sweet girl," Marlon Dewayne "Ice" Dixon said before he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in federal prison for killing 21-year-old Branda Mae Delight Basham.

Dixon, 39, spared himself the possibility of the death penalty when he pleaded guilty last November to tampering with a witness or informant by killing.

"Every time I dealt with her it was a hug and a kiss on the cheek - the same every day until the Feds came and busted in my house. I was only dealing with four people," Dixon said Monday.

Basham was shot three times on July 12, 2014. Her body was found close to the railroad tracks near Breece and Madison streets on Charleston's West Side. Dixon was arrested about a week later.

Basham was working as a police informant. Dixon sold drugs to her several times.

"I saw her with my own eyes talking to the Feds," Dixon said Monday, adding that he asked her why she told police about him.

"She told me she had to do it. ... She told me, 'You are the only one they wanted,'" Dixon recalled in the courtroom. "And that was the end of that."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Hanks, of West Virginia's Southern District, stood up after Dixon finished speaking and announced he felt sick to his stomach.

"This case represents the worst nightmare of any family. Our District, our nation is eaten up by opiate addiction," Hanks said. The Bashams "could be any family in this District. They are good people and loved Branda as deep and complete as any parent loves their child."

The charges a federal grand jury returned against Dixon last October made him eligible for the death penalty or life in prison. The federal Department of Justice makes the determination whether to pursue the death penalty.

West Virginia abolished capital punishment at the state level in 1965, but the federal government can still ask for it.

"He deserves this life sentence, your honor," Hanks said. "Justice demands it."

U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston, who began serving on the federal bench in 2006, said Monday that Dixon's case marked the first life sentence he had handed down.

"Life imprisonment is a just punishment," the judge said. He also ordered Dixon to pay nearly $8,000 in restitution.

Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.

Patricia Miller was stone-faced, staring up at the mother of the woman she stabbed to death two years ago on Charleston's East End.

"She took my daughter," said Cathy Meadows, standing at the front of the courtroom on Monday, crying. Victoria Summers, 29, who was Meadows' daughter, was killed Oct. 16, 2014 at 529 Nancy Street.

Miller pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Monday, the day her trial was set to begin in Kanawha County Circuit Court. She was sentenced to spend 25 years in prison.

Kanawha Circuit Judge James Stucky accepted a deal Miller made with prosecutors, which stipulated that he hand down the 25-year sentence. If Stucky had refused the deal, Miller would have been allowed to back out of her guilty plea.

Miller had faced a charge of first-degree murder, which carries a possible sentence of life in prison.

"She had two boys, 10 and five. It is so hard on them," Summers' mother said, before the judge accepted the deal.

As she spoke, Meadows held tightly to her other daughter, Patricia Ross.

"They don't have their mother," Meadows said of her grandsons. "I just want her to live with that and sleep with that, every day."

Miller stabbed Summers with a steak knife and Summers "didn't have a knife," Miller said on Monday.

"I don't want to make any excuses for my actions, but I want to especially apologize to the family," said Miller. "It's not only changed their life, it's changed my life and also my family's, and I'm truly sorry."

Assistant Kanawha prosecutor Maryclaire Akers said that the two had argued earlier that day and then had another argument later in the day, which led to the stabbing.

Police have said that the two argued over the lease at the apartment, which had Miller's name on it. Summers and her boyfriend had also been staying there, though, and didn't want to leave.

Miller had been drinking the day of the stabbing.

Her lawyer, John Sullivan, asked Stucky last week to throw out a statement Miller made to police right after the incident. Sullivan argued his client was too intoxicated to have consented to providing police with the statement.

Stucky, though, agreed with Charleston police detectives that Miller knew what she was doing.

Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.

Two new circuit judges will take the oath of office this week in Southern West Virginia.

Mark Wills and Jennifer Dent both won elections last month for full terms on the circuit bench beginning in January. After they won the elections, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin appointed them to fill the current judicial vacancies until their full terms start.

Wills' swearing-in ceremony is set for 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Mercer County Courthouse in Princeton. Wills has practiced law for 35 years. He also has served in the state Senate and House of Delegates.

Dent will be sworn in at 2 p.m. Friday at the Greenbrier County Courthouse in Lewisburg. She has been an assistant prosecutor for more than 20 years in Greenbrier, Monroe and Summers counties.

She will replace Jim Rowe, who resigned abruptly earlier this year after the election filing deadline had passed. Many Greenbrier County political observers expected Rowe to run for re-election, and some said he kept his plans secret to discourage others from entering the race to replace him. Rowe will swear in Dent at Friday's ceremony.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A suspect has pleaded not guilty in the fatal shooting of a former coal chief executive at a southern West Virginia cemetery.

Media outlets report 18-year-old Brandon Fitzpatrick of Louisa, Kentucky, entered the plea to first-degree murder and conspiracy charges at his arraignment Monday in Mingo County Circuit Court. He was ordered held without bond.

Another suspect, 20-year-old Anthony Arriaga of Delphos, Ohio, was arraigned May 26 on a first-degree murder charge.

The body of 59-year-old Bennett Hatfield was found May 25 at a cemetery where he had been visiting his wife's grave. His SUV was found nearby. Authorities believe Arriaga and Fitzpatrick plotted to steal Hatfield's SUV and sell its parts.

Hatfield resigned in 2015 as president and CEO of Patriot Coal.