Crum to Take Stand Friday
By Kerry Craig At the end of the third full day of testimony only three witnesses remain to be heard in the first-degree murder trial of Aaron Tyler Crum in Hopkins County’s 8th District Court and defense attorney Martin Braddy said late Thursday that the 26-year-old Crum will take the stand. District Attorney Will Ramsay rested his case Thursday morning after presenting and two full days of testimony from witnesses and...
Expert Witnesses Take Stand in Crum Murder Trial
by Kerry Craig Testimony in the Aaron Crum murder trial in Hopkins County’s 8th District Court continued Wednesday with Jessica Horton the sister of murder victim Joshua Paul Cowling on the witness stand. Horton was at the after hours party when her brother was killed and called 911 to report the shooting and told the court that Crum administered CPR to her brother. She said he also told her he was “in fear for my...
Crum Murder Trial: First Day of Testimony
Aaron Tyler Crum by Kerry Craig Following jury selection Monday, testimony got underway Tuesday morning in Hopkins County’s 8th District Court for 26-year-old Aaron Tyler Crum on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Joshua Paul Cowling at a residence in the 500 block of Pampa Street in the early morning hours of February 24. As testimony got underway, District Attorney Will Ramsay called...
Kougher Sentenced to Life Plus 20 Years for Indecency with Child Charges
It will be 40 years before Bradley Curtis Kougher, 41, will be eligible for parole following a decision by a Hopkins County jury in Eighth Judicial Court Thursday evening. Kougher was found guilty of a Felony 1 Indecency with a Child and a Felony 2 Indecency with a Child. It took the jury less than 15 minutes to find him guilty and just over an hour to determine his sentence. He was sentenced to life in prison for the Felony 1 and 20...
McQueen Sentenced to Five Years in Plea Bargain Agreement
Monday afternoon in Eighth Judicial District Court, Justin Joe McQueen plead guilty to the October, 2015, murder of Jesse Louis Vasquez. Vasquez died from gunshot wounds following a Sunday night shootout on Ingram Street in Sulphur Springs. McQueen, 19-years of age at the time of the shooting, was one of several who exchanged gunfire that night. Witnesses at the scene reported to police that a white male had left the scene. During...
Redo for Raza
In a unique twist, Mohammad Shabeeh Raza will face a second trial in Eighth Judicial District Court for online solicitation of a minor. Monday afternoon Raza was found guilty of the charge made following his arrest in December 2015 at a Sulphur Springs convenience store. On Monday, Raza had been remanded to the custody of the Sheriff and would have entered the sentencing phase of the trail December 6th. Instead, the District...
Tenacity for Justice Renews Restitution Order
Tenacity for justice served proved true for the District Attorney’s office Wednesday morning in Eight Judicial District Court. District Attorney Will Ramsay, knowing that a 10-year probation was nearing an end and that restitution, ordered as a condition of probation, had not been made, filed a motion to continue the order of probation while having the probationer accept a State Jail Felony. In March 2006 Kathy Lynn Haygood pled...
Franklin County Capital Murder Trial Set for June
James Crawford of Talco will be tried Capital Murder in Franklin County in June of this year according to the office of Eighth Judicial District Attorney Will Ramsay. Crawford will not face the death penalty but if convicted will face up to a life sentence without parole. Working on a tip, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department arrested 21-year old James Crawford of Talco for a capital murder in Mt. Vernon in September, 2015. The...
McMahan Pleads Guilty; Sentenced to Life in Prison
December 29, 2015 – Tuesday afternoon in 8th Judicial District court, Patrick Wayne McMahan, 31, plead guilty to the murder of 66-year old Gary Maynard at his home. McMahan was sentenced to life in prison, straight time, by District Judge Eddie Northcut. McMahan will be eligible for parole in 30 calendar years. McMahan’s plea will save Hopkins County as much as $300,000 in attorney’s fees and court expense. He was to...
Kuhl Sentenced to Life in Prison
Just before noon Wednesday, October 07, 2015, a Hopkins County jury sentenced Franklin Coy Kuhl, Jr. to life in prison. The sentence came after the jury began deliberation shortly after 10 a.m. Around 11:15 a.m., the jury sent a note to 8th Judicial District Judge Eddie Northcutt requesting State’s Exhibits 9-17. The exhibits included a video from the Motel 6 in Greenville where Kuhl, aged 50 at the time of the offense in February,...
