Death row inmate who acted as own attorney seeks new trial

NASHVILLE (AP) — A Tennessee man on death row who was forced to act as his own lawyer is seeking a new trial, claiming multiple violations of his constitutional rights.

Howard Willis was sentenced to death in 2010 for the murders of teenage newlyweds, 17-year-old Adam Chrismer and 16-year-old Samantha Leming Chrismer, both of Chickamauga, Georgia. The boy’s head and hands were found by fishermen in Boone Lake in northeastern Tennessee in October 2002. The bodies of both teens were found a few days later in a storage unit rented by Willis’ mother in Johnson City.

Willis had nine lawyers before the judge ruled that he would have to represent himself, accusing him of sowing conflict with his attorneys in an effort to avoid a trial. Willis’ current attorneys say that characterization is unfair.

UTC program aims to lessen nursing shortage

CHATTANOOGA (AP) — As the county and nation suffer from a nursing shortage, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is launching an accelerated nursing degree program to get more nurses in the field sooner.

UTC officials announced the accelerated bachelor of science in nursing degree program in a news release Monday. It will begin this fall.

The rigorous program is intended for those who already have bachelor’s degrees in any field and who want to transition into a nursing career, the news release said.

“It will be a tremendous amount of work,” Chris Smith, director of the UTC School of Nursing, said in a phone call. “This is for the individual who really has the desire to become competent as a bachelor-prepared nurse. They have to be able to handle a rigorous program.”

Capitol rioter guilty of stealing badge from beaten officer

(AP) – A New York man pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing a badge and radio from a police officer who was brutally beaten as rioters pulled him into the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol over two years ago, court record show.

Thomas Sibick pleaded guilty to assault and theft charges for his role in the attack on Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is scheduled to sentence Sibick on July 28. The judge allowed Sibick to remain free on bond until that hearing.