Aberdeen, MS Attorneys, Lawyers and Law Firms

A plea deal agreement has Broderick Kenyo Smith admitting to manslaughter instead of capital murder in the death of Arlando Maurice Pritchett in 2012.

The plea agreement will have Smith serving just a year in jail for a split sentence of 10 years.

His jail stay will be followed with probation for three years.

Should Smith violate his probation, he could be made to serve the rest of his 10-year sentence.

According to the police, Pritchett had an argument with a cab driver prior to his shooting while Smith admitted that he had been driving a cab during the time of the incident.

Birmingham defense attorney Charles Salvagio said Smith had shot Pritchett because the latter had robbed him.

After 18 months in prison, Monsignor William Lynn, may be released when he was granted bail following the reversal of his conviction.

Lynn, who served as a secretary for clergy at the Philadelphia archdiocese, will have to give up his passport. He will also be made to wear an electronic device for monitoring.

The Roman Catholic official was sentenced to between three to six years after he was convicted for endangering an abuse victim of a priest.

However, appeal judges reversed Lynn's conviction because the child-endangerment law which he was accused of violating did not apply to him.

Following the reversal, Lynn's defense lawyers asked for his release which the prosecution opposed during the bail hearing claiming that the priest is a flight risk.

However, Philadelphia defense attorney Thomas Bergstrom said that Lynn would never run away from conviction.

Richard Thomas may only be 16 years old but he will be facing the charges filed against him as an adult.

Thomas is facing several charges including "hate crime" after he set another teenager, Luke "Sasha" Fleischman, 18, on fire.

Both were riding on a bus when the incident happened with Fleischman wearing a skirt.

Fleischman's parents said their son does not identify himself either as a male or female.

According to police, Thomas had told them he set Fleischman on fire because he is homophobic.

San Francisco defense attorney Michael Cardoza said his client, Thomas, if convicted would be facing a longer sentence because of the hate crime charge.

David Morrow, who used to be the deputy of the Adams County, has been handed a five-year prison sentence for punching a teenager who was strapped to a gurney.

Morrow said he was sorry that the teenager was hurt because of what he did.

The teenager was causing a disturbance to which Morrow and other police officers have responded.

The police decided to take the teenager to the hospital because he was intoxicated and was being belligerent.

However, while he was strapped to a gurney, Morrow had hit the teenager in the face with his fist.

The sentence may still change as the judge had agreed to schedule another hearing to re-assess Morrow's sentence.

Donald Sisson, a defense attorney in Denver, said the case was not a usual one and thus Morrow's sentence should be re-evaluated.

Donnell Deshawn Stean was cleared of manslaughter charges for the death of Bernard Howard Jr. whom he shot during an altercation.

The jury had found that Stean had only shot Howard in defense.

Howard was found to have more than the legal limit of alcohol in his blood while Stean had tested positive of an ingredient found in marijuana.

Howard was one of the people whom Stean found in his apartment when he went home on the night of Nov. 3. They were drinking and helping out a roommate of Stean's who was moving out.

The group got upset when Stean hit an older man who was also living in the apartment.

Howard had punched Stean, who retaliated by pulling out his gun.

Sacramento defense attorney Alan Whisenand said his client, Stean, had felt threatened by the group thus his actions.

Stean was also cleared of seriously wounding the female roommate's brother during the incident.