Fraud Roundup
Ind. man convicted of wife’s hot tub death
It took jurors only three hours before returning the guilty verdict against Michael B. Smith, 61, after hearing 10 days of testimony.
Prosecutors maintained that Smith killed his 55-year-old wife, Linda, as their business was failing and he wanted to collect more than $300,000 from her life insurance policies.
Brown County Prosecutor Jim Oliver said during closing arguments that while defense attorneys had raised several opposing theories about Linda Smith’s death, no one else had a motive to kill her.
“Michael Smith had 300,000 motives to kill Linda Smith,” Oliver said.
The couple co-owned Custom Mats of America, which made floor mats and wall hangings with corporate logos.
Smith, who did not testify during the murder trial, called 911 for help in the early hours of Nov. 9, 2003, saying there had been an accident at his home in northern Brown County, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis. He was not charged until February of this year.
Defense attorney Andrew Roesener asked jurors to consider nearly a dozen alternative theories as to how Linda Smith died, ranging from a slip-and-fall accident to a drug addict searching for something to steal who happened upon her in the hot tub in an outbuilding on the couple’s property.
A pathologist for the prosecution testified Linda Smith was strangled, while a pathologist called by defense attorneys said he believed that she had drowned in an accident. Sentencing will be on Sept. 21.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Answers still elusive in 127-year-old Kansas mystery
Researchers trying to solve a 127-year-old mystery still don’t have a usable DNA sample to help them.
Two University of Colorado professors excavated a grave in Lawrence, Kan. in May supposed to belong to John Hillmon, a 31-year-old ranch hand who was, according to one story, accidentally shot and killed in 1879.
When Hillmon’s widow tried to collect her husband’s life insurance, the insurers argued Hillmon faked his death and substituted the body of a missing Iowa man. The researchers had hoped to extract DNA from the remains to help identify the body.
“The short term results have been discouraging,” Dennis Van Gerven, professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado, told The Kansas City Star. “We’re still in the hunt for DNA.”
Court cases involving the insurers and Hillmon’s widow spawned a key rule for trial evidence still taught in law schools. After teaching the story for years, Colorado law professor Mimi Wesson decided to try to solve the mystery.
She enlisted Van Gerven, who has experience unearthing mummies. Van Gerven hoped to compare any usable DNA with the DNA of living relatives of Hillmon and the missing Iowa man.
But Van Gerven’s team found only a handful of bone fragments in the grave’s soil, because moisture had caused the body to decompose.
He said scientists are using sophisticated techniques for locating and isolating DNA, making it still possible for a usable sample to be extracted. “I think we’re going to know one way or the other quite soon,” he said.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
N.D. man pleads guilty to selling bogus malpractice insurance
A man who sold bogus medical malpractice insurance to Fargo’s Red River Women’s Clinic and other abortion providers has pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering, North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman said.
William A. Ledee III, 63, agreed to forfeit $10 million in cash and property as part of a plea agreement in federal district court in Atlanta, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said.
Ledee’s agreement includes a maximum prison sentence of seven years and six months. He also pleaded guilty to selling insurance after he had been convicted of a felony crime involving dishonesty.