Category: Court News

KINGMAN – A Bullhead City man wept openly last week when he entered a plea agreement that could send him to the Arizona Department of Corrections. Cory Charles Hess, 42, conceded that he smoked marijuana and violated probation from a 2017 case for being armed when he threatened children who had thrown rocks in his neighborhood. Hess also pleaded guilty to arson of an occupied structure for setting on fire a home at 5630 on South Pearl Street in Mohave Valley on March 5. “I burnt somebody’s house down. I’m guilty of that,” Hess told the Court. “I just want…

KINGMAN – A man who threatened Bullhead City police officers with a knife faces up to 22 years in prison following convictions on all counts at trial in Kingman. The Mohave County Superior Court jury deliberated about 30 minutes last week before finding Christopher Chambers, 42, guilty of aggravated assault, criminal damage and burglary. Prosecutor Jaimye Ashley told the jury that officers responding to a burglary in progress ordered Chambers to exit the residence in the 2500 of View Way after they observed him moving from the master bedroom inside the home on April 24, 2018. She said police scaled…

KINGMAN – Monday’s change of plea hearing for a Kingman man charged with second degree murder was postponed. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle granted a defense motion to allow Bradley Stumpf, 32, to have a preliminary mental health examination. Court records show Stumpf told DPS investigators that he had been hearing voices for months when he confessed in the February killing of Jason McCafferty, 46. The pair were returning from a survey work detail in Phoenix when McCafferty was shot and killed in a vehicle at the Interstate 40, Stockton Hill Road off ramp. Records show Stumpf claimed…

KINGMAN – Trial will begin on October 29 for a Kingman man accused of sexual abuse and torture of a local woman and her 11-year-old son. Prosecutor Jacob Cote, defense attorney Sandra Carr and Judge Billy Sipe will conduct a pre-trial hearing on October 28 to handle any motions or other matters in the case against Jerry Gilligan, 72. Gilligan previously served more than two decades in prison for the murder of his step-father before he was paroled in 2013. He is named in a 26-count indictment charging him with a number of sex offenses as well as assault and…

KINGMAN – With no objection from prosecutor Jacob Cote during a Tuesday hearing in Kingman, Mohave County Judge Billy Sipe quickly granted a defense motion to sever the cases of two Lake Havasu City residents charged with the murder of their child. Andrew Lamorie, 23, and Brittany Rodriquez, 26, had been scheduled to be tried together next month for the January death of 27-month-old Gabriella Lamorie. The girl weighed just 14 pounds at the time of her death at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, according to the Clark County coroner. In addition to the emaciation, the autopsy report noted…

A 14-year prison term was ordered September 25 for an 18-year-old Kingman man who admitted a variety of sexual involvements, including rape, of younger teenage victims during the first six months of 2018. Dillan Gonzales previously pleaded guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of attempted child molestation, attempted sexual assault and sexual conduct with a minor. Family members addressing Judge Billy Sipe said Gonzales was a “good kid” who “messed up.” They requested compassion, leniency and mercy from a Judge who could have ordered up to 25.75 years in prison. Family members of victims who were…