Green Bay News

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — Jury selection began Monday in the trial of the man accused of fatally shooting a former Navy SEAL depicted in the Oscar-nominated film “American Sniper.”

More than a dozen people were dismissed first thing Monday morning in Stephenville, Texas, where former Marine Eddie Ray Routh is charged with capital murder in the deaths of 38-year-old Chris Kyle and Kyle’s friend, 35-year-old Chad Littlefield.

A key challenge facing authorities is ensuring a fair trial just as the movie based on Kyle’s memoir continues to make millions at the box office.

The county’s top prosecutor told prospective jurors Monday that he knew many of them will have seen the movie, which depicts Kyle’s stories of serving four tours in Iraq.

“It’s hard not to have knowledge of this case,” Erath County District Attorney Alan Nash said. “It’s pervasive.”

Seeing the movie or reading Kyle’s book won’t be disqualifying on its own, according to both Nash and State District Judge Jason Cashon, who will oversee the trial.

Nash asked potential jurors if they were unable to set aside what they’d already heard about the case. No one among about 130 potential jurors in court raised their hand.

Instead of a typical Erath County jury pool of 175, about 800 jury summonses were sent out, district clerk Wanda Pringle has said. Several hundred people who weren’t eliminated due to exemptions or other factors took part in last week’s screening. The group was narrowed as potential jurors were dismissed for reasons including some who said pretrial publicity had already led them to a decision in the case.

About 260 potential jurors reported to the courthouse Monday.

Those dismissed right away were by mutual agreement of attorneys, for reasons including illness and answers they gave on a questionnaire last week, Pringle said. About 100 others were told to go home but to check in later to find out if they would be needed Tuesday.

Routh’s attorneys plan to pursue an insanity defense. Prosecutors won’t seek the death penalty. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

Family members have said Routh, 27, struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after leaving the Marines in 2010. The small arms technician served in Iraq and was deployed to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. Kyle took Routh to the shooting range after Routh’s mother asked if he could help her son.

About two hours after they arrived at Rough Creek Lodge and Resort on Feb. 2, 2013, an employee discovered the bodies of Kyle and Littlefield at the remote range.

In the meantime, authorities say Routh drove to his sister’s house in Kyle’s truck, telling her and her husband that he’d killed Kyle and Littlefield.

His sister told police that Routh “was out of his mind, saying people were sucking his soul and that he could smell the pigs.”

MADISON (AP) – The Secretary of State’s office could see its staff and budget shrink by half under Gov. Scott Walker’s budget.

Walker’s proposal would cut the office’s annual budget by 48 percent over the next two years and would eliminate two of the office’s four full-time positions. The state could save more than $500,000.

La Follette said the loss could be devastating for the office that files and maintains state records. In 2013 the Legislature stripped the secretary of his power to publish bills after La Follette lagged in publishing Walker’s collective bargaining law in 2011.

The treasurer’s office has also been reduced in recent months as treasurer Matt Adamczyk fired the two employees in his office.

Walker’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

Find the schedule for the championships, held Feb. 9-14 on Lake Winnebago in Fond du Lac.

BELLEVUE, Wash. (AP) — The AAA auto club reports gasoline prices in Washington are rising.

The average price Monday is $2.23 a gallon. That’s up 10 cents in a week, but still 17 cents less than a month ago. It’s also 5 cents higher than the national average, which has been climbing for two weeks.

Some metro prices from AAA’s Monday survey:

Bellingham $2.34, Bremerton $2.30, Seattle-Bellevue-Everett $2.35, Tacoma $2.31, Olympia $2.31, Vancouver $2.25, Yakima $2.06, Tri-Cities $1.90, Spokane $1.84.

DETROIT (AP) — The families of 52 people killed in crashes caused by faulty General Motors small-car ignition switches will receive millions in compensation from a company fund.

The new total, which is one more than last week, was posted Monday on an Internet site by compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg.

Each death claim is worth at least $1 million under guidelines established by Feinberg, who was hired by GM to handle claims and make payments.

As of Friday, the fund received 4,237 claims for deaths and injuries. In addition to the death claims, Feinberg has deemed 79 injury claims eligible for compensation. The deadline for filing claims was Jan. 31, and another 57 claims arrived last week that were postmarked by the deadline.

GM was aware of faulty ignition switches on Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars for more than a decade, but it didn’t recall them until 2014. On 2.6 million of them worldwide, the switches can slip out of the “on” position, causing the cars to stall, knocking out power steering and turning off the air bags.

Of the total, Feinberg’s office has determined that 501 are not eligible, largely because they were the wrong models or the air bags did not deploy.

Another 1,016 claims lack information, while 1,143 more are being reviewed. Another 1,446 were submitted with no documentation, according to the Internet posting. All of those will be given the chance to submit more documentation.

Camille Biros, the fund’s deputy administrator, has said the number of death and injury claims granted by the fund is likely to rise, but she would not estimate by how much. She says it likely will take until late spring to sort through all of the claims.

Those who agree to payments give up their right to sue the automaker.

Initially, GM had said at least 13 people had died in crashes caused by the switches, but the company has always said the toll would rise. Legislators have estimated that at least 100 people were killed.

Last year GM set aside $400 million to make payments, but conceded that could grow to $600 million. The company’s chief financial officer told analysts earlier this month that those numbers have not changed. GM has placed no cap on the amount of money he can spend, Feinberg has said.

GREEN BAY – Charges have been filed against a suspect in the a Green Bay tavern shooting.

According to court records, Jerrell Jobe, 23, has been charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

Green Bay police were called to Skirtz Tavern on Jan. 27 for a report that someone had been shot in the parking lot at closing time.

Police found a 24-year-old man who was shot in the shoulder. He was transported to the hospital.

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A man had been arguing with his ex-wife over taxes and child support before he showed up at her house and killed her and three other people before fatally shooting himself, an investigator said Monday.

The shooting happened just after 3 p.m. Saturday as neighbors were outside enjoying unusually warm weather. Cedric G. Prather Jr., 33, parked about a quarter mile from the home and walked inside the suburban Atlanta home, fatally shooting his ex-wife, 33-year-old Latoya A. Andrews, and her boyfriend, 33-year-old Joseph Terry Brown, police said.

Prather also fatally shot two of his children, including one of whom a neighbor said begged him not to pull the trigger.

Prather left no note explaining his motive, Douglas County sheriff’s Capt. Bruce Ferguson said.

“I can’t tell you why he did it,” Ferguson said. “All I can do is to say he snapped or he had enough is what we’ve concluded in our investigation.”

The shooting happened in a subdivision in Douglasville, about 20 miles west of Atlanta. Prather killed his 7-year-old daughter, London, and 9-year-old son, Jerimiah. He shot and wounded two other children, who are in critical condition: Andrews’ 15-year-old daughter, Demesha Owens, and Brown’s 7-year-old daughter, Jada Brown.

A third child of Andrews and Prather, a 13-year-old boy, was not home at the time. Prather and Andrews were married for about 11 years and had been divorced about five years, Ferguson said.

There had been no prior reports of domestic violence and there was nothing in Prather’s record that jumped out as a red flag, Ferguson said.

Neighbors heard gunshots within a few minutes of Prather’s arrival and called 911, Ferguson said. A witness told police one of Prather’s children was heard outside pleading with him not to shoot.

After the rampage, Prather killed himself in the street.

Friends of Prather told police that he had been upset and angry lately. One friend had called Prather to check up on him and was on the phone with him as the shooting happened.

Prather used a .45-caliber handgun to shoot all the victims and himself. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is working with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to trace the gun and determine whether he had it legally.

Teresa Carter, 59, said she heard the gunfire from inside her home but didn’t see what happened. Carter said she often saw the children playing in the driveway and around the neighborhood. They enjoyed petting her dog.

“I heard shots, and I heard the girl scream,” Carter said. “And then I heard four more shots.”

Brandon Hallman was working on a car a few houses down when the shooting started.

“I heard a couple quick shots, you know, back to back to back. Went out there and, you know, looked and it was already over,” Hallman said. “We just grabbed some towels and kind of went down there to try and help before the paramedics got here.”

 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Northern California was hit by a second wet and windy storm on Sunday, though it appeared to do far less damage than a similar system two days earlier.

The worst of the wind and rain was over for the San Francisco Bay Area by the early afternoon, though scattered showers were expected through Monday morning, said National Weather Service forecaster Austin Cross.

Wind gusts of over 45 mph were reported earlier in the day, with steady precipitation that dropped an additional 2 inches of rain in coastal areas.

“This storm has less rain and is also moving through a bit quicker than we saw on Friday,” Cross said. “That’s helping it from getting too severe.”

Friday’s storm knocked out power to more than 90,000 people in the Bay Area. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. crews were not seeing anything similar by Sunday afternoon, PG&E spokesman Joe Molica said. PG&E had brought in crews from Oregon, Washington and Arizona to prepare for the storm.

At San Francisco International Airport, officials said more than 80 flights were canceled as of the afternoon. The Federal Aviation Administration was reporting arrival delays of as much as 2½ hours.

Friday’s storm led to the cancellation of 175 flights at the airport.

There were also reports of downed trees and some localized flooding.

The two storms were not expected to end California’s ongoing drought.

Friday’s storm dropped 10 to 15 inches of snow at higher elevations of the Northern Sierra, according to the National Weather Service. Sunday’s storm system was also expected to be warm, bringing as much as another 14 inches of snow.

Snow is more important than rain because snowpack supplies about a third of the water needed by residents, agriculture and industry.

KESHENA – Gary Besaw was elected as the new chairman for the Menominee Tribe Monday morning.

Laurie Boivin, the previous chairwoman, remains in the legislature, according to spokeswoman Tasha Caldwell.

Besaw’s term is for one year.

The tribe has been trying to build a casino in Kenosha, but Gov. Scott Walker rejected the plans. The tribe called a special meeting for Tuesday night to discuss a possible march to the State Capitol on the issue.

SHEBOYGAN – Investigators have released more information about the arrest of an alderman for sexual assault of a child.

Kevin Matichek, 33, was arrested on Friday. Police say there are at least two victims, ages 15 and 17.

The victims are not related to Matichek, but officials declined to say how he knew them.

Matichek is expected to appear in court Monday afternoon.

Mayor Michael Vandersteen says the city council can take steps to remove Matichek from office, but said it was too early to start that. Matichek is up for re-election in April.

FOX 11’s Bill Miston is in Shebyogan and will have the latest details tonight on FOX 11 News at Five.

(CNN) – This year, the average sweetheart will fork over $142 and change for gifts and Valentine’s Day merchandise.

That’s up more than $10 compared to last year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.

The NRF says Valentine holiday spending is expected to total nearly $19 billion overall. More than half of the romantics surveyed said they’ll buy candy for their sweeties. Traditional favorites, flowers and jewelry are also making the cut.

And pets are scoring big this year; the survey found a record 21 percent of shoppers say their pets will get Valentine’s Day treats.

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Sharon Bowen thought her late husband was a bit crazy for buying a scrapbook filled with black and white photos of Cleveland ballplayers from the early 1900s – but not anymore. It turns out that book held what may be the only autographed photo of Shoeless Joe Jackson, the Holy Grail of baseball signatures.

Jackson, who was tossed out of baseball for throwing the 1919 World Series and remembered in the movie “Field of Dreams,” was illiterate and rarely signed anything but paychecks and legal documents, making his autographs among the rarest in sports.

How many Jackson signatures are in existence isn’t clear, but most experts agree that it’s probably less than 100. But this is the first signed photo authenticated by autograph experts, according to Heritage Auctions, which is handling the sale of the century-old photograph this month.

It could fetch at least $100,000, according to the Dallas-based auction house.

“If I were a betting man, I’d say the chances of another one surfacing would be highly unlikely,” said Joe Orlando, president of Professional Sports Authenticator, which validated the signature and photo.

In this Jan. 22, 2015, photo, an autographed picture of Cleveland ball player Joe Jackson is shown at Heritage Auctions in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Bowen’s husband, Bill, first saw the scrapbook about 10 years ago.

It was stored in a barn near Cleveland and belonged to a couple whose family was friends with Frank W. Smith, a photographer with The Plain Dealer newspaper. He shot the photo of Jackson along with those of Hall of Famers Christy Mathewson and Napoleon Lajoie during spring training in 1911.

The family offered to sell the scrapbook five years ago to Bowen’s husband because they knew how much he treasured the 60 photos. The price tag: $15,000.

“I told him ‘absolutely not,'” Bowen said. “Luckily for me, I lost that argument.”

Her husband kept the book in a trunk, looking at it almost every day and showing it off to friends. A collector all his life, he appreciated its history and connection to his hometown. Not knowing the book’s sky-high value, they never locked it up or worried about keeping it out of sight. “It wasn’t an investment,” she said.

Bill died at age 67 last April, and the family decided someone else should enjoy the photos.

The signed photos of Jackson and other members of the Cleveland Naps, the team that later became the Indians, will be sold in New York City on Feb. 21. The photo of Jackson – taken the year he became the only rookie to hit over .400 – had an online bid of $42,000 as of last week.

A baseball bearing Jackson’s shaky signature brought $78,000 in 2011. Even a scrap of paper with his autograph sold for $23,100 nearly 25 years ago.

The experts at Heritage Auctions were skeptical when the Bowen family contacted them. “We get calls and emails on a daily basis about stuff that turns out to be reproductions or they’re not authentic,” said Chris Ivy, the company’s director of sports auctions.

That changed quickly once they saw the images. They sent the photos to Professional Sports Authenticator whose sports memorabilia experts looked at them from all angles.

“Our job is to be the skeptic, especially if it is too good to be true,” said Orlando.

They first set out to determine that the photographs were originals and from the early 1900s, and they looked at the story behind the scrapbook and its origins.

And they verified the autographs – not an easy task when it comes to Jackson’s childlike signature. It’s known that Jackson more or less signed his name by mimicking a pattern that his wife had made. She often signed his name, too.

The experts at PSA looked at the pen pressure and the spacing of the Jackson signature while comparing it to other examples.

“The stars aligned,” Orlando said.

Mike Nola, official historian for the Shoeless Joe Jackson Society and a board member of the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum in Greenville, South Carolina, said he can’t remember seeing another signed photo of Jackson.

There are well over four dozen legitimate Jackson signatures that he knows of, including several bats and at least a dozen baseballs, he said. “That’s still pretty rare especially by today’s standards when guys are signing everything,” Nola said.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Prosecutors have dismissed domestic violence charges against Panthers defensive end and soon-to-be free agent Greg Hardy after they said the accuser in the case couldn’t be found.

Hardy’s appeal in the case was set to begin Monday. But Mecklenburg County district attorney Andrew Murray told the judge that officials attempted many times to contact the woman, but failed.

Murray said Hardy had a reached a civil suit agreement with the woman. Hardy and his attorney left the courthouse and did not answer questions.

Hardy was convicted last summer on assault on a female and communicating threats.

Hardy made $13.1 million last season despite playing in one game after being placed on the commissioner’s exempt list.

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Right-hander James Shields, who helped Kansas City reach the World Series last season, has agreed to a four-year contract with the San Diego Padres.

Shields is the latest addition by first-year general manager A.J. Preller, who in December added sluggers Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Wil Myers, as well as Derek Norris and Will Middlebrooks.

Shields was traded from Tampa Bay to Kansas City two years ago in a deal in which Myers, then the Royals’ top prospect, was acquired by the Rays.

Shields was 14-8 with a 3.21 ERA last season and declined a $15.3 million qualifying offer from the Royals. He lost both of his World Series starts, outdueled each time by Madison Bumgarner.

Take an in-depth look at the life and career of NBC News anchor Brian Williams.

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MADISON (AP) – Leaders of Wisconsin’s public broadcasting system say budget cuts proposed by Gov. Scott Walker could put some shows on the chopping block.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports Walker’s 2015 to 2017 spending plan includes a $2.5 million cut in state funding each year for the Educational Communications Board. The ECB spends about $19 million a year, and buys national programming for some stations and operates infrastructure for most stations outside Madison.

The spending plan would also cut $150 million a year from the University of Wisconsin System, which runs public TV and radio networks with the board.

Gene Purcell, executive director of the board, says the cuts would inflict a “serious wound” on public broadcasting in Wisconsin. A spokeswoman for Walker says the governor’s office estimates the ECB would be able to make up for cuts through grants, gifts and private donations.

MADISON (AP) – A former Madison man will be sentenced in May for tax evasion and harassing IRS agents.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports 58-year-old Scott Bodley was convicted Friday of 26 charges, including filing false money orders, false income documents and false tax returns, along with income tax evasion and attempting to impede and obstruct the administration of federal tax laws.

Bodley faces up to three years on each of two tax charges and up to five years each on the remaining 24 convictions. He was taken into custody pending sentencing May 1.

At a three-day trial where Bodley represented himself, prosecutors said he used false Social Security numbers and false identification documents. They claimed Bodley stopped filing legitimate tax returns in 1999.

Bodley lives in Silver City, New Mexico.

MADISON (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is headed to London for a trade mission that comes on the heels of a similar trip last week by another potential Republican presidential candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Walker’s trip runs Monday through Friday. It’s his second oversees trade mission and comes as he’s tries to bolster his foreign policy credentials.

Walker’s spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, says the trip is primarily focused on “private meetings and factory tours focused on attracting foreign direct investment to Wisconsin.” She calls it a business trip, “not a photo op.”

More details about Walker’s itinerary are expected to be released later Monday.

Walker’s only known public event so far is a speech Wednesday at the Chatham House entitled, “Building Global Partnerships for Stronger Local Economies.”

OSHKOSH – University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh faculty, staff and students gathered Monday morning to discuss Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal for the state’s university system.

The crowd filled two rooms in Reeve Memorial Union for a town hall-style forum.

The meeting began with UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Andrew Leavitt explaining the governor’s proposal.

Walker wants to give the system more freedom from state oversight, a change UW leaders have wanted for decades.

“We want to applaud Governor Walker for this,” said Leavitt.

The governor also wants to cut $300 million of the UW system’s state funding over the next two years. The cut has been heavily criticized by UW leaders.

“It’s going to be exceedingly difficult to manage the cut,” said Leavitt.

Walker also wants to continue a tuition freeze for the UW system over the next two school years.

The governor’s plans will be debated by state lawmakers this spring. The Legislature will put together its budget plan for the governor to sign before it can take effect July 1.

FOX 11’s Andrew LaCombe is at today’s forum and will have more tonight on FOX 11 News at Five.