A judge on Wednesday refused to set bond for a Mississippi man accused of killing five people and a fetus, who were slain one by one with an axe and shot inside a home in rural Alabama.
The decision by Mobile County Judge Rick Stout came as Derrick Dearman, 27, made his first court appearance on multiple charges of capital murder and kidnapping.
“He doesn’t need to be out. He is a danger to the community,” District Attorney Ashley Rich said afterward of the Leakesville, Mississippi, man.
DEATH PENALTY?
Rich has said her office may seek the death penalty against Dearman, who allegedly attacked the five as they slept and then kidnapped his estranged girlfriend, who had sought shelter from him at the house.
Killed were three men and two women, one of whom was pregnant.
Relatives of the victims were present at the hearing. Dearman turned to look at them, but said nothing.
The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office said several firearms and an axe were used on the five adults, but authorities did not specify the total number of weapons involved.
Sheriff Sam Cochran said Dearman did not have the guns when he arrived at the home, but found them in the house. Cochran said he attacked first with the axe, then with the guns.
Dearman has told reporters he was high on methamphetamine at the time of the slayings early on Saturday.
DEFENSE LAWYER
The judge appointed a defense attorney, Jim Vollmer, to represent Dearman and scheduled an arraignment hearing for Wednesday next week.
“That’s when some things might happen,” Vollmer said.
Dearman is charged with six counts of capital murder and kidnapping, and courts typically refuse bond in such cases.
The slain have been identified as Shannon Melissa Randall, 35; Joseph Adam Turner, 26; Justin Kaleb Reed, 23; Chelsea Marie Reed, 22; and Robert Lee Brown, 26. All were related by blood or marriage, relatives have said, and survivors are trying to raise money to pay for their funerals.
Dearman’s estranged girlfriend, Laneta Lester, was abducted, along with the child of Randall and Turner, authorities and relatives said. Lester is the sister of Turner, who was married to Randall.
Both Lester and the child were released, and Dearman surrendered at the sheriff’s office in Greene County, Mississippi. Citronelle police said they found the bodies on Saturday afternoon after being notified by Greene County officers that Dearman claimed to have killed people.
Dearman had been charged with burglary in Mississippi months before the slayings, and Rich said he was free on bond at the time of the killings.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
IN ABSENTIA: The MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London, a niece of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheik Hasina, condemned the ‘flawed and farcical’ trial A court in Bangladesh yesterday sentenced British Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail after a judge ruled she was complicit in corrupt land deals with her aunt, the country’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. A judge found Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, guilty of misusing her “special influence” as a British politician to coerce Hasina into giving valuable pieces of land to her mother, brother and sister. Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, was given seven years in prison and considered the prime participant in the case. The trial had been carried out in absentia: Neither Hasina, Siddiq,
RSS