Year: 2020

MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave County will conduct its first jury trial this week since suspending them in mid-March to protect staff and the public from the COVID-19 pandemic. Jury selection begins Tuesday for the two-day trial of Sunday Kunkushi. Most who enter any court facility in Mohave County will be required to wear face coverings except when speaking or testifying. Center for Disease Control social distancing and crowd size recommendations are also implemented. Presiding Judge Chuck Gurtler has said that the county has been a national pioneer in use of teleconferencing to conduct Grand Jury procedings. And now some summoned as…

LAKE HAVASU CITY – A prosecutor and a local judge blame the coronavirus pandemic, in part, for a plea agreement they agreed was an imperfect resolution of a Lake Havasu City child homicide case. The comments came during a Friday sentencing hearing in Kingman for 24-year-old Andrew Lamorie. Lamorie pleaded guilty to second degree murder in the blunt force trauma and starvation death of 27-month-old Gabriella Lamorie. Mohave County Judge Billy Sipe expressed reluctance to approve the deal, complaining it “handcuffed” him to impose no more than a 16-year prison term, which he did. Judge Sipe told attorneys he believes child homicide…