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01/13/2005: Memphis News: The Week in Review
[As noted last time, the online edition of the Memphis Commercial Appeal requires either free registration or BugMeNot.]
1/7/05: LeBonheur Children's Medical Center, the Mid-South's only comprehensive children's medical center, is looking to expand its facilities. Their hope is to expand either in the Medical Center area or in facilities closer to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.
Producer and new Memphian David Gest is contemplating raising money for the Memphis City Schools. These plans come after Gest's somewhat controversial concert and VIP benefit dinner raising money to provide Christmas meals last year.
Wounded Marine returns home to Memphis in high spirits.
The second biggest week of the year for Memphis tourism: Fans come to Memphis to celebrate Elvis's 70th birthday.
1/9/05: Shelby Countians face double tax whammy: rate increase and possibility of increased appraisals.
1/11/05: Owners of the Wolfchase Galleria shopping center are attempting to reduce their property's assessed valuation. If successful, this could represent a significant impact on Memphis/Shelby County revenues, as not only would future tax revenues from the Galleria be reduced, but the county would have to give the owners refunds on taxes paid retroactive to 2001.
Memphis area woman becomes proud owner of 302 Gap credit cards, proving once again that to err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
1/12/05: The owner of the NBA Memphis Grizzlies basketball team is looking for some local investment partners. Owner Michael Heisley denies rumors that he is looking to divest a majority interest in the team.
Client who killed his lawyer gets 6 years after jury convicts on lesser offense. Judge insists on max sentence to send message that "it's not ok to execute your lawyer."
Memphis city mayor pushing for consolidation of city, county schools.
1/13/05: School board to mayor: Convince us. Board claims not to be opposed to consolidation on principle, but claim that Mayor Herenton hasn't made the case for consolidation yet.
Meanwhile in the schools: City students make progress, while middle schoolers lose ground. County students, of course, excel.
Len on 01.13.05 @ 07:26 PM CST
Replies: 2 comments
on Thursday, January 13th, 2005 at 11:37 PM CST, mike hollihan said
That murderer may be out of prison in just a few months, too! The jury hearing his case didn't convict on the capital murder charge, but came back on their own with a manslaughter charge. The *max* the judge could give him was just six years. So, with time served and good behavior, he's served most of his sentence already.
I have yet to hear *why* the jury changed the charge, though. Have you?
on Friday, January 14th, 2005 at 5:46 AM CST, Len Cleavelin said
"I have yet to hear *why* the jury changed the charge, though. Have you?"
Um.... "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers..."? Sort of an application of the "he needed killin'" defense.
:-)
I've not bothered following that case (I don't as a general rule follow legal news; that story caught my eye because of the judge's comment that he wanted to send the message into the community that it isn't OK to execute one's lawyer"). Generally, a conviction for manslaughter vice murder requires some showing of a mental state modifying intent; offhand I'd speculate that the jury took the guy's extreme dissatisfaction with his lawyer into account, and decided that he didn't act in the willful, premeditated manner required for a conviction for murder.