Category: Court News

KINGMAN – A Kingman teenager who pleaded guilty in a tragic traffic accident is scheduled to be sentenced to prison on April 15, two days after the first anniversary of the deaths of Tatum Meins, 17 and Sherene “Siri” Walema, 15. Brady Shuffler, 17, is expected to be taken into custody at the end of the hearing to begin serving an extended period of incarceration under terms of the plea agreement convicting him of two counts each of manslaughter and aggravated assault. The big question is how much prison time will be ordered. Broad punishment discretion is provided within the…

LITTLEFIELD – The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) is closing a 2018 double homicide investigation because the man believed to be responsible has been dead for more than nine months. The bodies of Jerry and Susan McFalls, both 62, were recovered from a shallow grave in the Virgin River Gorge on Oct. 15, 2018. The couple was reported missing in Jan., 2018 when they could not be located in their home though their phones, guns, money, medications and identifications were located on the property. MCSO spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said extensive investigation led to the identification of a neighbor as the McFalls’…

LAKE HAVASU CITY – Lake Havasu City police are trying to determine why an elderly local resident led police on a dangerous pursuit last weekend. Authorities said a 2011 Chevrolet Equinox disregarded traffic control devices as it sped past officers who were blocking an intersection for the Lake Havasu Triathlon at 9:00 a.m. Sunday, March 17. Sergeant Kyle Ridgway said three bicyclists were nearly struck before a traffic stop was conducted in the 200 block of London Bridge Road. “The driver of the vehicle then intentionally accelerated and struck the officer’s vehicle before fleeing the traffic stop,” Ridgway said. He…

KINGMAN – A Lake Havasu City man’s future with his young son is uncertain following his Friday sentencing at the Law and Justice Center in Kingman. A residential “nanny-cam” captured an incident during which Fabrizzio Dransfield, 31, slammed his one-year-old son to a couch in the 1700 block of Willow Ave. on Dec. 22, 2023. The violence reportedly occurred when Dransfield was frustrated the baby boy would not stop crying. Dransfield is convicted of aggravated assault in a plea deal dismissing a child abuse count. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen imposed a six-month county jail sentence, crediting Dransfield…

GOLDEN VALLEY – The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) reports the arrest of a teenage suspect in a hit-and-run pedestrian fatality in Golden Valley. Investigation began Jan. 2 after a Golden Valley man was killed where struck by a vehicle whose driver fled the scene of the accident at Chino Drive and Adobe Rd. The sheriff’s office identified the decedent as James McDaniel, 69. “Through the course of the investigation, the suspect was identified as Dehaven William Shaffer III, 19, of Golden Valley,” said MCSO public information officer Anita Mortensen. “While seeking out Shaffer for questioning, detectives observed Shaffer’s vehicle…

KINGMAN – A local judge has removed himself from the Brady Shuffler case, bringing indefinite sentencing delay for a Kingman community that had been focused on criminal chapter closure. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle’s case recusal occurred during a Thursday emergency hearing at the Law and Justice Center in Kingman. Carlisle’s exit brings postponement of the highly anticipated prison sentencing hearing that had been scheduled Monday. Judge Carlisle said he discovered possible conflicts while reading material submitted in advance of the hearing. “The Court advises Counsel that based on some of the letters in the mitigation packet; this…