Bernita Sims | |
---|---|
Mayor of High Point, North Carolina | |
In office December 3, 2012 –September 10, 2014 | |
Preceded by | Becky Smothers |
Succeeded by | Bill Bencini |
High Point City Council member,Ward 1 | |
In office December 2003 –December 2012 | |
Personal details | |
Political party | Democratic |
Residence(s) | High Point,NC |
Alma mater | University of the District of Columbia University of North Carolina Wilmington |
Bernita Sims was the mayor of High Point,North Carolina. She was elected November 6,2012 with 33% of the vote. Sims,a Democrat,was the city's first African American mayor. [1] On November 18,2013,Sims was indicted by a Guilford County grand jury for allegedly writing a worthless $7,000 check. She resigned on September 10,2014,after pleading guilty to a felony worthless check charge.
On November 18,2013,Sims was indicted by a Guilford County grand jury for allegedly writing a worthless $7,000 check as part of an estate settlement. The bill of indictment said Sims "unlawfully,willfully,and feloniously did draw,make,utter or issue and deliver to [Annie Ponce]" a check from a First Bank account in High Point that Sims "knew at the time ... did not have sufficient funds on deposit with the bank with which to pay the check." On November 19,2013,Sims turned herself in at the High Point magistrate's office. She was later released by the magistrate on a $10,000 unsecured bond. [2]
On September 10,2014,Mayor Bernita Sims pleaded guilty to a felony worthless check charge and resigned as mayor. She was sentenced to a four to 14-month suspended sentence and five years probation and was fined $500. According to her attorney,Sims had already made a $7,000 restitution payment. Mayor Pro Tem Jim Davis assumed Sims's duties as mayor for the remainder of her term. [3] On November 4,2014,Bill Bencini was elected as her successor. [4]
In many common law jurisdictions,an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is a prima facie case to answer or by a grand jury. A similar concept in the United States is known as a felony,which for federal crimes,also requires an indictment. In Scotland,which is a hybrid common law jurisdiction,the procurator fiscal will commence solemn proceedings for serious crimes to be prosecuted on indictment before a jury.
A hybrid offence,dual offence,Crown option offence,dual procedure offence,offence triable either way,or wobbler is one of the special class offences in the common law jurisdictions where the case may be prosecuted either summarily or on indictment. In the United States,an alternative misdemeanor/felony offense lists both county jail and state prison as possible punishment,for example,theft. Similarly,a wobblette is a crime that can be charged either as a misdemeanor or an infraction,for example,in California,violating COVID-19 safety precautions.
Edward Robert Vrdolyak,also known as "Fast Eddie",is a former American politician and lawyer. He was a longtime Chicago alderman and the head of the Cook County Democratic Party until 1987 when he ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Chicago on the Illinois Solidarity Party ticket. He subsequently ran again in 1989 on the Republican Party ticket. He was a prominent opponent of Harold Washington and the de facto leader of the so-called "Vrdolyak 29" that opposed and blocked many of Washington's measures.
The presidency of Ronald Reagan was marked by numerous scandals,resulting in the investigation,indictment or conviction of over 138 administration officials,the largest number for any president of the United States.
Michael John Devlin is an American criminal convicted of kidnapping and child sexual abuse of two young boys,Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. He is serving 74 life sentences plus 2,020 years at Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron,Missouri. His life sentences are 30 years each;his total sentence is 4,240 years.
Channon Gail Christian,aged 21,and Hugh Christopher Newsom Jr.,aged 23,were from Knoxville,Tennessee,United States. They were kidnapped on the evening of January 6,2007,when Christian's vehicle was carjacked. The couple were taken to a rental house. Both of them were raped,tortured,and murdered. Four males and one female were arrested,charged,and convicted in the case. In 2007,a grand jury indicted Letalvis Darnell Cobbins,Lemaricus Devall Davidson,George Geovonni Thomas,and Vanessa Lynn Coleman on counts of kidnapping,robbery,rape,and murder. Also in 2007,Eric DeWayne Boyd was indicted by a federal grand jury of being an accessory to a carjacking,resulting in serious bodily injury to another person and misprision of a felony. In 2018,Boyd was indicted on state-level charges of kidnapping,robbery,rape,and murder.
Dianne Wilkerson is a former Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate,representing the 2nd Suffolk District from 1993 to 2008.
Bertram "Bert" Johnson is a Democratic former member of the Michigan Senate.
The trial of Sheila Dixon,then mayor of Baltimore,started on November 9,2009. It was the first of two scheduled trials for Dixon on a variety of charges. The charges stemmed from alleged corruption on the part of the mayor involving gifts she allegedly received and gift cards she allegedly stole.
Kent Sorenson is a former Iowa state legislator who resigned after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and other felonies related to campaign finances.
Nicole Nadra Baukus is an American woman convicted of two counts of vehicular manslaughter stemming from a fatal car collision on June 29,2012,in which she was driving intoxicated. Baukus pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 38 years in prison with the possibility of parole. Highway surveillance cameras showed Baukus' vehicle traveling on the wrong side of Interstate 45 after she had consumed alcohol at a nearby bar. A later request for a new trial was denied. Baukus attended and graduated from Oak Ridge High School in Conroe,Texas.
The Wyatt Family was featured on the American reality TV show American Guns. Rich Wyatt ran a gun store called Gunsmoke Guns which was the main setting for the American Guns show. He operated the store with his family:Renee his wife,his stepdaughter Paige Wyatt,and his stepson Kurt Wyatt,along with the many other employees of Gunsmoke. The store lost its firearms license in April 2012,though continued to trade allegedly booking the sales whilst directing purchasers to another store to fill in checks and complete the sale. Rich Wyatt was found guilty of charges related to this activity and tax evasion in 2017,and was sentenced to 78 months in prison.
The shooting of Anthony Hill,a U.S. Air Force veteran,occurred on March 9,2015,in Chamblee,Georgia,near Atlanta. Hill,fatally shot by police officer Robert Olsen,suffered from mental illness and was naked and unarmed at the time of the incident. The incident was covered in local and national press and sparked the involvement of Black Lives Matter and other advocacy groups who demonstrated their anger at the shooting. In January 2016,a grand jury indicted officer Olsen on two counts of felony murder and one count of aggravated assault. Nearing the fourth anniversary of the homicide,it was decided that Olsen's trial would be rescheduled for September 23,2019,with delays including three successive judges having recused themselves in the case.
Ralph Allan Lee Shortey is an American convicted sex offender and former politician and businessman. A member of the Republican Party,he was elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 2010,defeating several challengers in primary elections,re-elected in 2014 and served his term until 2017. During his tenure,he established a Republican consulting firm. Shortey was the state campaign chair for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Operation Mississippi Hustle was a federal investigation initiated in 2014 by the United States Attorney and prosecuted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. It examined the relationship between officials of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and various for-profit prison contractors and subcontractors,who have provided services to the five private prisons in the state. One,Walnut Grove,closed in September 2016 but has since reopened.
Shawn Michael Grate is an American serial killer and rapist who was sentenced to death for the murders of five young women in and around northern Ohio from 2006 to 2016. Grate was convicted on two counts of aggravated murder on May 7,2018,in Ashland County,pleaded guilty to two additional murders on March 1,2019,in Richland County,and pleaded guilty to an additional murder on September 11,2019,in Marion County.
Kathleen Kramedas McGuiness is an American politician who was the Delaware state auditor,from January 2019 until October 2022. In July 2022,she was found guilty on multiple corruption charges.