"We believe that there were proper procedures in place that would have prevented these deaths and we believe the procedures were not followed," said Harold Albertson, the attorney for Good's mother Patricia Harrison. "We think that the senior officer should have terminated the chase."

On Sept. 13, Good led police on a chase from Charleston's East End to northern Kanawha County. The chase ended when Good ran into a Charleston police cruiser in a gravel parking lot on Quick Road.

Video from police cruisers at the scene show Good continuing to rev his engine and hit the police car as other cars close in. Three police officers then fired, killing Good and in the process also killing their fellow officer.

Kerry Lee Johnson, 53, faces life in prison when he is sentenced in December.

Kerry Lee Johnson, 53, now faces life in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Duke Bloom on Dec. 18.

The jury deliberated for more than three hours before returning its verdict, which included finding Johnson guilty of breaking and entering and three counts of second-degree sexual assault.

The victim hugged Kanawha County assistant prosecutors Dan Holstein and Stewart Altmeyer after the verdict was announced.

Chris Dorst

James Michael Williams lived at the corner of Grant Street and Park Avenue, in a building adjacent to the grounds of Glenwood Elementary School and on the corner opposite the Charleston First Church of the Nazarene.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The 19-year-old man shot and killed on Charleston's West Side Tuesday night was the subject of a heated preliminary hearing in magistrate court just hours before.

James Michael Williams was before Magistrate Julie Yeager on a felony child neglect charge Tuesday for allegedly letting his cousin's 11-month-old child have a baby bottle containing beer. Hours later, he was shot through a window in his home at the corner of Grant Street and Park Avenue.

Ebony Williams, the mother of the 11-month-old, was angry when Williams' girlfriend Rosemary Lacy took the stand, Yeager said.

James Blackford III, of Martinsburg, is scheduled to go on trial starting March 9. He remains free on a $200,000 bond.

The 30-year-old was a three-year member of the Bedington Volunteer Fire Department when he was arrested in April and charged with setting fire to a barn.

Kenneth Ayers of the Baker Heights Volunteer Fire Department was critically injured in that blaze, but was later released after hospital treatment.

A tractor-trailer slammed into a pickup truck near Buzz Food Service about 8:30 a.m., the dispatcher said. Two additional vehicles were also involved in the accident, he said. The tractor-trailer was carrying empty metal drums, the dispatcher said.

One person was transported to CAMC General, he said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A fire set as a prank Thursday got out of hand and destroyed three vacant buildings.

Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department said a fire was reported on Dry Branch Road in Cabin Creek about 11:30 p.m. The fire was apparently set by pranksters in the middle of the road, but spread to nearby buildings. Crosier said two office trailers like those used by contractors and a mobile home were destroyed by the blaze.

All three buildings were vacant, he said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  Authorities have identified a man who died in a motorcycle crash near Clendenin on Wednesday.

Deputies believe Raymond E. Pauley, 40, of Amma lost control of his 2001 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle while trying to pass two cars in a no passing zone near Herbert Hoover High School at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, said Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Authorities have identified a man who died in a motorcycle crash near Clendenin on Wednesday.

Deputies believe Raymond E. Pauley, 40, of Amma lost control of his 2001 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle while trying to pass two cars in a no passing zone near Herbert Hoover High School at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, said Lt. Sean Crosier of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Crosier said Pauley apparently lost control and hit a concrete culvert while riding at high rate of speed, throwing him off of the motorcycle. Pauley was pronounced dead on the scene. The investigation continues.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  Mason County authorities are investigating the death of a woman found along a local road on Tuesday.

Mason County Sheriff David Anthony said the body of 35-year-old Tonya Lynn Slaughter, 35, of Huntington, was found lying alongside Barton Chapel Road in Mason County early Tuesday. Slaughter had no family or known connections with Mason County, Anthony said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A woman who alleges she was gang-raped by Logan County police officers has filed suit in federal court.

The woman and two men who were with her that evening allege that three of the four officers raped her and that all threatened to kill the two men.

On Tuesday, Jay Bartholomew, supervisory special agent with the FBI in Charleston, said the FBI's investigation into the incident is ongoing.

A neighbor discovered the body on Barton Chapel Road off Jerry's Run Road.

The Mason County Sheriff's Department believes the death is an isolated incident, but they are investigating it as a homicide. They would not release the victim's identity or how the victim died.

WINFIELD -- The former sheriff of Putnam County has been fined $100 for a November 2008 DUI arrest.

Stan Farley, 66, entered a plea agreement of no contest on Sept. 25, and was fined $100 in addition to $234 for court costs by Putnam County Magistrate Linda Hunt.

Farley served as Putnam County's sheriff from 1997 to 2004.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Charleston man was robbed early today on the city's West Side.

Gregory Jones, 40, of Kanawha City, was in the 1300 block of Grant Street at about 2:30 a.m. when he was beaten by a white man and a black man, said Sgt. Eric Hodges of the Charleston Police Department. Jones was robbed of his jacket and cell phone.

Jones flagged down a police officer, who caught up with one of the alleged robbers about a block away. Police arrested 24-year-old Matthew Suttle, who was identified by Jones as one of the robbers, Hodges said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  St. Albans police are looking for a man who ran off with cash from a local convenience store late Monday.

St. Albans Police Chief Joe Crawford said a man wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and cap walked into the Go-Mart on Third Street just before 11 p.m. and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash register, Crawford said the man grabbed a handful of money and ran off.

KENOVA, W.Va. -- A truck driver has been charged over an accident that left a Kenova man dead after his wheelchair was struck by a tractor trailer.

Deris Scott died Monday morning after his motorized chair collided with the rear of a wide-turning tractor trailer in Kenova. The 68-year-old was knocked to the ground, but the truck dragged his chair for up to a quarter mile.

Driver Michael J. Joyce, of South Carolina, has been charged with felony negligent homicide.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Kanawha County sheriff's deputies are asking for help identifying a woman who may have used a credit card stolen from Fayette County.

Deputies are looking for a heavyset blonde woman who may have used a credit card stolen in August from Mountain Vending Inc. in Oak Hill, according to Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

According to Stover, the card was used about 50 times at a Cross Lanes Exxon station. Suspects charged more than $7,000 to the card before it was cancelled.

Kenneth Ray Hager

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two prisoners escaped from a work camp near the Mount Olive Correctional Complex early Monday.

A Fayette County emergency dispatcher identified the fugitives as William Okey Cline, 25, and Kenneth Ray Hager, 30. The men apparently escaped from the work camp near the prison about 1 a.m. Monday. The work camp is on prison grounds, but outside the security fence.

There are 48 prisoners assigned to the camp, said Joe Thornton, spokesman for the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.

James Pruett, 33, of Bradley, was arrested by Raleigh County sheriff's deputies after a fatal stabbing at the Bay Manor Apartments in Beckley, according to a press release issued by the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department.

Authorities believe Pruett got into a domestic dispute at the apartment complex about 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Deputies are not releasing the name of the victim pending notification of relatives.

Pruett was charged with voluntary manslaughter in connection with the stabbing. He was being held in the Southern Regional Jail on Friday in lieu of $1 million bond.

"I don't think much of what Megan Williams is allegedly saying. I think she is being manipulated," said Malik Shabazz, head of the group Black Lawyers for Justice.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The woman Megan Williams now lives with and the man who rallied to her side shortly after she was found are both skeptical of her most recent claim that she wasn't abused in Logan County in 2007.

"I don't think much of what Megan Williams is allegedly saying. I think she is being manipulated," said Malik Shabazz, head of the group Black Lawyers for Justice. "Her not showing up at the news conference is telling.

"And based on my knowledge of what's been happening with her over the last year and a half, this seems like a scheme by her caretaker to garner sensationalism and publicity in an attempt to get some money," Shabazz said.

KINGWOOD, W.Va. -- The family of a man found hanging in the Preston County Jail is suing the suspected killer, fellow inmates and the Preston County Commission.

Timothy Daft died the day after he was found in his cell in August 2005.

On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Leonard Wotring, now an inmate at Mount Olive Correctional Center, on a first-degree murder charge.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Police are trying to identify a body found in an overgrown field by a man preparing for deer season.

State Police Cpl. J.C. Weaver says handwritten telephone numbers found with the victim may yield clues, but a Georgia ID card did not help identify him.

He says the body was too decomposed to extract fingerprints or spot identifying marks.

Megan Williams, who was supposed to take back her story that seven Logan County residents beat, raped and tortured her, did not speak at a press conference on Wednesday.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Megan Williams, who was supposed to take back her story that seven Logan County residents beat, raped and tortured her, didn't speak at a press conference at her lawyer's office on Wednesday.

Instead, lawyer Byron L. Potts recanted her claims for her. He said Williams told him that the only injuries that weren't self-inflicted were the bruises on her face.

"She is recanting the entire incident. She says it did not happen, and she's scared,'' Potts said. He urged prosecutors to re-examine the cases against the seven people convicted in the attack.

Melvin Craig Mullins, 39, of Tioga, was charged with first-degree sexual assault and incest on Tuesday after three female juveniles told Nicholas County sheriff's deputies they had been repeatedly abused while in Mullins' care, according to a press release issued by the Nicholas County Sheriff's Department.

Additional charges may be filed. Mullins was in the Central Regional Jail on Wednesday in lieu of $900,000 bond.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A Berkeley County grand jury has indicted a former volunteer firefighter in connection with an April blaze that seriously injured another firefighter.

James Blackford III, of Martinsburg, was indicted on charges of first-degree arson, setting fire to lands and causing serious injury during an arson-related crime.

It was not immediately clear if Blackford has a lawyer.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A new report says West Virginia ranks fifth nationally in substantiated cases of child abuse or neglect, despite relatively high spending to protect children.

The report, released today by the Every Child Matters Education Fund, says there were 7,109 substantiated cases of abuse or neglect in West Virginia in 2007.

That gives the state the fifth-highest rate, behind Massachusetts, Iowa, New York and Kentucky.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Four new officers have been hired to supervise convicted sex offenders in West Virginia.

Justice Thomas McHugh swore in the officers Tuesday at the state Supreme Court chambers in Charleston.

Officers Arthur Houchins, Tonya Lash, Matthew West and Heath Harmon were hired this month to work in a nine-county area from Mercer to Pocahontas counties.

Megan Williams will hold a press conference Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, to recant her claims of abuse, attorney Byron L. Potts, who represents Williams, told The Charleston Gazette on Tuesday night.
"She has decided she has been living this lie for approximately two years and she has decided to tell the truth," Potts said. "She fabricated the story and she did this in retaliation because she was having a relationship with one of them."

Williams saga takes another strange turn

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Seven people pleaded guilty for their part in abusing Megan Williams -- but now Williams says that abuse never happened.

She will hold a press conference Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, to recant her claims of abuse, attorney Byron L. Potts, who represents Williams, told The Charleston Gazette on Tuesday night.

ASHFORD, W.Va. --  Boone County authorities have identified a woman who died in a single-vehicle wreck on Monday.

Boone County sheriff's officials identified the victim Tuesday as Joyce Barker, 46, of Ashford. The accident happened around 3:30 p.m. on County Route 1 in Ashford, according to a county 911 dispatcher.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Mexican authorities have been unable to establish the identity of human remains that are reputedly those of a fugitive from justice in Morgantown.

A lawyer for ABC Bailing Bonding told Monongalia Circuit Judge Russell Clawges on Monday that a bone from the body is now being sent to the U.S. for testing.

Mexican officials drew blood from the body found in a pauper's grave in a bid to see if DNA from the sample matches that of David Coffman. They were unable to extract DNA from the sample, though.

Walter Thomas Wilson was shot by Huntington police officer Richard Kern in the parking lot of a Speedway gasoline station on Hal Greer Boulevard just after midnight, according to media reports.

Huntington police said Kern had gone into the store to get some coffee when another customer told him that Wilson was acting suspiciously. When Kern went to investigate, he and Wilson got into a scuffle that spilled out onto the parking lot.

Police said Kern shot Wilson after Wilson allegedly went for a gun. Wilson reportedly had a past criminal record.

CLIFTON, W.Va. -- A Mason County man is charged with more than 700 counts of sexual abuse after he allegedly sexually abused a young female relative repeatedly over a period of seven years.

Steven Ray Crilow, Sr., 37, of Clifton, was arrested for allegedly touching the girl's genitals on a weekly basis for seven years between 1996 and 2002 at an apartment complex where he resided in Point Pleasant.

The victim was between the ages of 3 and 9 at the time of the alleged abuse, according to the Mason County Sheriff's Department.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Charleston man faces charges of wanton endangerment, possession of a firearm by a felon and battery on correctional officers after early morning incidents Sunday at a St. Albans bar and South Central Regional Jail.

At 2:54 a.m. Sunday, Donell<co > William Edwards, 27, was arguing with a woman outside Mel's Bar in St. Albans when Lt. M.L. Matthews with the St. Albans Police Department approached Edwards and asked if he had a gun. As Matthews walked in Edwards' direction, several people said, "He has a gun." In a criminal complaint, Matthews said that Edwards turned and looked at him as he approached and placed a revolver in his back pocket.

Edwards told Matthews he did not have a gun, and then Matthews patted him down and discovered a cocked silver revolver in his left rear pocket loaded with hollow point bullets. While under arrest at the St. Albans Police Department, Matthews learned that Edwards has two convictions for wanton endangerment with explosives in 2002 and 2003. Also, Edwards allegedly said that he was on federal probation for eight more months, according to Matthews.

During an Oct. 9 news conference, Charleston police released the video from the night Patrolman Jerry Jones and Brian Good were killed.

The video details a dark, tragic scene where two young men die. One of the deaths, police say, was a justified killing, and the other, an accident.

When asked at the news conference if there was any concern about the sheriff's department investigating the Charleston Police, with whom they work very closely, Charleston Mayor Danny Jones said "no."

Read about other cities' use of civilian review boards.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Below is a list of incidents during the past five years where West Virginia police agencies investigated other police, along with the known outcomes of those investigations:

June 15, 2006 -- Charleston Police Sgt. Eric Johnson was shot once in the face and once in the abdomen. He returned fire, killing Brett Lawrence Hanick. The officer accompanying Johnson, Capt. Tim Tucker (who was not his partner), did not have his service weapon with him and hid from the gunshots.

Read about recent incidents where West Virginia police investigated other police.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Meshea Poore has seen clients walk through her door, bruised and battered, with claims of police brutality.

Sometimes the stories are accurate, sometimes not, the Kanawha County public defender said.

GREENVIEW, W.Va. -- A Boone County man has been taken to the hospital after being stabbed in the right shoulder, according to a Boone County emergency dispatcher.

The victim apparently got into an altercation with another man around 5:30 p.m. and was stabbed in the shoulder on Big Branch Road in Greenview, the dispatcher said.

The victim was transported to Boone Memorial Hospital, but the dispatcher said his injuries do not seem to be serious.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Facebook users beware: Cyber thieves have started impersonating friends in need on the popular social networking site and have made hundreds or thousands of dollars off unsuspecting users.

Thieves are hijacking accounts and using them to send emotional pleas for help, such as "I lost my wallet in London and desperately need money to get home!" said Craig Butterworth with the National White Collar Crime Center, which has a branch in Fairmont.

Many times, unsuspecting users will wire hundreds, even thousands of dollars to the thieves, Butterworth said.

DUNBAR, W.Va. -- A man suspected in a West Dunbar shooting that left one man injured earlier this week has turned himself in.

T. Majete Edmonds, also known as Tyrone Edmonds, Tyrone Davis and DJ T-Nutz, 35, of Charleston, turned himself in to the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department Wednesday evening.

Deputies say Edmonds admits to shooting Troy Moss of Dunbar in the stomach on Tuesday before fleeing the scene.

RONCEVERTE, W.Va. -- Three more volunteer firefighters and a woman have been accused in an embezzlement scandal involving the Ronceverte Volunteer Fire Department.

State Police Trooper W.A. Pendleton said Matthew Scott Campbell, 27, and Gary Lee Carter, 59, are charged with receiving stolen property.

Ricky Gean Reed, 40, and Angela Brammer, 25, are charged with conspiracy to commit embezzlement. Brammer's husband was among three former department officials indicted last week.

SPENCER, W.Va. -- A Roane County man was recovering Wednesday after being shot in the head by his brother.

Rex Fields, 46, of Gandeeville got into an argument with his brother, Leslie, at Rex Fields' home on Oct. 9, according to State Police Sgt. Michael Baylous. Leslie Fields then left the house and came back with a .22 caliber pistol, Baylous said.

Leslie Fields, 47, of Spencer, then shot his brother twice in the head before fleeing on an all-terrain vehicle, Baylous said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Sissonville man was robbed Tuesday night in Charleston's Transit Mall.

Branden Baldwin, 22, was walking in the transit mall about 10 p.m. when he was approached by a white man asking for money, said Sgt. Eric Hodges of the Charleston Police Department.

Hodges said Baldwin told the man he didn't have much money, but gave him 60 cents. The man then called over two black males, and all three allegedly beat Baldwin.

ST. ALBANS, W.Va. --   A St. Albans man received minor injuries Tuesday after his handgun went off while he was cleaning it.

William Hunt, 72, of St. Albans, walked into the HealthPlus Urgent Care Center in St. Albans about 6:15 p.m. with a wound to his left hand, said Lt. James Agee of the St. Albans Police Department.

Hunt told authorities he had been cleaning his Springfield XD 45 .45 caliber pistol earlier in the day, and that the weapon discharged after he put it back together. Agee said Hunt had inserted a magazine and chambered a round when the pistol went off.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Police are searching for a man they believe shot someone in Institute shortly before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

The suspect, who was described as a black male wearing khaki pants and green jacket, allegedly shot another male in the abdomen and chest area, according to a Metro 911 dispatcher. The suspect was last seen driving west on Fairlawn Avenue in a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee, the dispatcher said.

The victim was driven to Dunbar, where someone called 911 for help, according to the dispatcher. He did not know why the victim was driven away from the scene.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Prosecutors are set to try convincing a federal judge that members of the Pagans Motorcycle Club shouldn't be released before trial on murder conspiracy, racketeering and other charges.

The first detention hearings are scheduled for today in Charleston. Among those scheduled to appear are Pagans national Vice President Floyd B. "Jesse'' Moore of St. Albans.

Moore and more than 50 other members and associates of the outlaw motorcycle club were named in the 44-count indictment. While some have been released, prosecutors want Moore and others, including club president David Barbeito of Myersville, Md., held pending trial.

RONCEVERTE, W.Va. Three former leaders of the Ronceverte Volunteer Fire Department have been charged with embezzling from the department.

A Greenbrier County grand jury indicted former chief Jody Anderson Campbell, former assistant chief and treasurer William Darrell Miller and former president and secretary Michael Kevin Brammer last week.

Each man is charged with one count of embezzlement of $1,000 or more and conspiracy to commit embezzlement. Both charges are felonies.

ST. ALBANS, W.Va. -- St. Albans Police are posting extra patrols after someone apparently tried to light an Adams Avenue home on fire with a Molotov cocktail late Friday.

At about 10 p.m. Friday, a resident in the 1900 block of Adams Avenue reported a small fire outside one of his bedroom windows, a news release from St. Albans Police said Sunday. The resident said he saw a flicker of light and heard something hit his roof, the release said.

The man went outside, found a small fire, put it out and called 911, the release said. Police later found two beer bottles filled with liquid accelerant and a torn strip of fabric sticking out of the top. One had been lit; the other had not, the release said.

Kenneth Paul Cantrell

WINFIELD, W.Va. -- A Scott Depot man has been charged with sexual abuse after he was caught on tape with his hand down the shorts of 15-year-old girl.

Kenneth Paul Cantrell, 44, was charged Thursday with two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree and two counts of sexual abuse by a parent or guardian in Putnam County Magistrate Court.

Cantrell has been living with the girl's family for 11 years. He is not the father or stepfather of the girl.

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. -- Authorities plan to resume the search for victims of a handyman who claimed to have killed five people after mapping his family's farm in Braxton County.

James Childers of Clarksburg killed himself in June as police prepared to arrest him on murder and arson charges. The 45-year-old Childers had recorded an audiotape in which he led police to the bodies of two women and claimed to have killed three other people.

No other bodies have been located.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal judge has freed the president of the Pagans Motorcycle Club two days after he was charged in a sweeping racketeering indictment accusing the biker gang of plotting to kill and extort rivals.

Marcy Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland, says David Barbeito was released on bond Thursday.

Federal prosecutors had sought to hold Barbeito without bond and are appealing the decision to release him. Murphy says he is scheduled to appear at a detention hearing in Charleston at 2 p.m. Friday.

LOGAN, W.Va. -- Six people, including four volunteer firefighters in Logan County, face arson charges.

Deputy Fire Marshal Reed Cook says the four adults and two juveniles are accused of setting fires last spring primarily in vacant houses in the Buffalo Creek area.

The firefighters include Orlando Rogers, 24, of Kistler; and Crystal Compton, 31, and Steve Waldon, 25, both of Amherstdale.