Category: Court News

An elderly drug runner from Oklahoma entered a plea agreement in Mohave County Superior Court in late June. Beverly Kennedy, 67, pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of attempted transportation of marijuana for sale. Kennedy was eastbound in a 2018 Nissan when pulled over for speeding on Interstate 40, about 40 miles west of Kingman. Prosecutor Amanda Claerhout said Kennedy was the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle and broke down in tears when officers asked about suspicious duffel bags in the back seat and cargo area. Claerhout said she told officers that she “was moving a load for…

Police arrested a Kingman man after responding to a report of a shooting late Saturday. Officers were dispatched to the 3400 block of N. Diamond St. at about 10:50 p.m. after they were advised that a man was down in the street and that a vehicle had fled the scene. “Officers arrived to find a 42-year-old man lying in the street, alive but unresponsive,” said Deputy Police Chief Rusty Cooper. “It was later learned that the man had not been shot, but possibly passed out after being shot at.” Cooper said officers made contact with David Lyndon Grassie, 28, after…

A severely disabled Mohave Valley man pleaded guilty July 3 in the shooting death of his girlfriend of eight years. There is no dispute that 29-year-old James Manker killed 56-year-old Tina Stimmell, but Manker told the Court that he had difficulty pleading guilty to second degree murder for what he believes was a mercy killing. “So much of me wants to plead not guilty because I don’t feel like it was murder. It was assisted suicide,” said Manker, who maintains Stimmell was suffering from stage 4 kidney failure. “I put her out of her misery as I see it. I…

A prison term was ordered Friday for a Las Vegas resident who was charged in an undercover law enforcement operation targeting men who prey upon minors for sex. Durell Shaw, 33, is among nine men indicted after engaging in sexually oriented communication with a Mohave County Sheriff’s detective who was posing as a teenager. Prosecutor Greg McPhillips said each of the defendants responded to social media posts by the detective before the detective diverted the communication to text messages while posing as 13-year-old “Sabrina.” Shaw was intercepted by officers last October when he drove to Kingman to meet Sabrina. Judge…

More and more trials are being conducted in the Mohave County court system. Court Administrator Kip Anderson said 89 trials were conducted in the just concluded fiscal year compared with 58 in fiscal year 2017-18, an increase of roughly 30%. “These numbers represent juries scheduled and called to appear,” Anderson said. “Other trials were set and then canceled.” Presiding Judge Charles Gurtler explained that there are occasions where jurors are summoned but trials are not conducted because cases are resolved or rescheduled at the last minute. Gurtler said increasing criminal case filings are driving up the trial numbers. “Criminal filings…