Free Republic

A Yolo County man who put cheese down his trousers faces a life sentence when he goes before a judge next month. Jurors convicted Robert Preston Ferguson of two counts of petty theft on Jan. 6. One conviction was for swiping a woman's wallet from a convenience store counter. The other was for stealing $3.99 worth of shredded cheese from the Nugget Market in Woodland. Officers testified that Ferguson put the cheese in his pants and was apprehended in the parking lot. Because of a lengthy criminal history that dates back 35 years, including six first-degree burglary convictions, Yolo prosecutors...

KINGSPORT, Tenn. — The man who killed a 12-year-girl on her way home from school in 1970 died in state custody this week — 36 years to the day after the murder. Freddie Bowen, 61, died of natural causes Sunday at Meharry General Hospital while serving a 99-year sentence for killing Betty Jean Necessary, said Tennessee Department of Correction spokeswoman Amanda Sluss. Bowen attacked the girl in a small patch of woods as she walked home from Kingsley Elementary School Feb. 26, 1970. She was snatched just 200 yards from her front door, gagged and carried to a small clearing,...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ordered Florida courts on Tuesday to reconsider the sentence of a burglar who was sentenced to life because he had a pocketknife in his trousers when he broke into a closed steakhouse. Had Clyde Bunkley left the knife at home, he would have received no more than five years and would have gotten out of jail more than a decade ago. The high court said in an unsigned opinion that Bunkley may deserve a lighter sentence. Bunkley was convicted in 1987 of armed burglary for the break-in at a Western Sizzlin' Restaurant. Although Florida law...