Friday, November 5, 2010

Law and Order in the Ozarks (Part LXXI): Trial delayed

The past several issues of the Newton County Times have not featured much news of law-and-order issues, but the Sept. 29 issue did announce that the trial of a woman charged with first-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend was granted a continuance so that the woman might "find an expert witness who might testify that she suffered from Battered Women's Syndrome." Her trial, initially set for late September, was reset for March 17-18, 2011. An earlier post about the case is here.

The Oct. 6, 2010 edition features the lead story, "Bids for a new jail over budget," which reports that the lowest bid for the new Newton County jail came in at nearly $1 million more than the county has available for the project. The sheriff reported that a meeting has been" scheduled with the architect to review the facility's plan to see if the project can be scaled back even further than it already has been or possibly look at other county-owned buildings to see if one might be modified for use as a jail." One building being considered for this purpose is the former county nursing home, which is now being operated as an annex to the county courthouse.

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