Alleged Murderer and Rapist Pleads Guilty

A Puerto Rican man has pleaded guilty to raping and killing a pregnant Georgia tourist whom he kidnapped along a rural island road. Eliezer Marquez Navedo pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree murder, kidnapping and two sexual assault charges in the Feb. 4 slaying of Sara Kuszak. He faces life in prison at a June 1 sentencing hearing. Kuszak was jogging along a remote road in eastern Puerto Rico when Marquez abducted her, stuffed her in the trunk of a car, raped her and slashed her throat. Police say he acknowledged killing her after they arrested him with bloodstains on his shirt and pants. Kuszak was about five months pregnant. She was visiting Puerto Rico with her fiance and friends.

( The Associated Pres)

Suspect Killed in Amber Alert Abduction

Georgia authorities say a man suspected of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend's two children has been shot to death by police after trying to run over an officer with his car. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said police caught up with25-year-old Jairo Bastos on a suburban Atlanta parking lot Friday after a motorist saw an Amber Alert describing the car and called authorities. Police found the missing 9-month-old and 22-month-old children unharmed but provided no other details. It was not immediately clear if they were in the car when Bastos was shot. Police also did not say immediately if they were the suspect's children. The children's mother Adrian Stearns called police Thursday to say Bastos had taken took off with them in her car. Bastos had recently been evicted from Stearns' apartment.

(Associated Press)

Lawmakers Have Packed Schedule With Two Days to Go

Wednesday marks Day 39 in this year’s legislative session. And both chambers have a packed schedule.

The big issue for House lawmakers is the transportation governance bill. The measure no longer includes the creation of a new state agency – a plan backed by Governor Sonny Perdue. Instead, legislators would have more power when it comes to managing Department of Transportation dollars.

And there’s also a measure to curb property taxes. The legislation would put a 3% cap on property assessment increases.

In the Senate, next year’s budget is the hot topic. And there's a plan to do away with both the sales tax and the so-called birthday tax on car purchases. Instead, every sale would be subject to a title fee of up to $1500. Some of that money would be set aside for trauma care.

Below is a list of the bills that are on tap for the second-to-last day of the 2009 session.

House:
SB 27 - Confederate Heritage/History Month; create; encourages observances/celebrations; provide statutory construction
SB 49 - Georgia Registered Professional Nurse Practice Act; nursing education program
requirements; revise certain provisions
SB 85 - Georgia Aviation Authority Act; create; provide for membership, governance,
operation, power, duties
SB 114 - Education; provide for transfer of students who are military dependents into a local school system
SB 128 - Motor Vehicles; option of owner; permanent license plates for boat, utility,
noncommercial cattle/livestock trailers; provide for fees
SB 133 - Health Share Volunteers in Medicine Act; provide certain compensation; health care provider; sovereign immunity protection
SB 144 - Insurance Agent License; applicant shall be appointed by an authorized insurer prior to issuance of the license; repeal requirement
SB 163 - Human Resources Commissioner; authorize to appoint a diabetes coordinator
SB 164 - State Highway System; signs and signals; height limitations; allow owners to obtain permits to remove vegetation from the viewing zones
SB 172 - Victim Compensation; provide for recovery for serious mental and emotional
trauma; change definitions; provisions
SB 178 - Education; advance funding, exceptional growth, low-wealth capital outlay grants; embed/extend a sunset date
SB 194 - State Purchasing; benefits based funding projects; revise provisions; change
membership of an oversight committee
SB 195 - Professions/Businesses; clarify applications submitted in prescribed form not necessarily written document; provisions
SB 200 - Transforming Transportation Investment Act; create State Transportation Agency; definitions; purposes; abolish State Road/Tollway Authority
SB 201 - Health; provide voluntary contributions through individual income tax returns for cancer research
SB 207 - Proceedings; admit general public to hearings in juvenile court with certain
exceptions
SB 246 - Courts; provide notice of the release of child from detention under certain
circumstances; definitions
SB 253 - Sparklers; provide a definition for the term "indoors"
SR 1 - Appropriations; provide for prioritized funding requirements regarding certain
supplementary appropriations Acts - CA
SR 153 - Education Improvement Districts; provide creation and comprehensive regulation - CA
SR 176 - James H. Chandler, Jr. Memorial Intersection; dedicate


Senate:
HB 2 updates and clarifies many existing provisions in Georgia law related to illegal immigration.
HB 16 prohibits the use of an electronic tracking device to determine the location or movement of another person without that person’s consent, with several exceptions.
HB 56 revises provisions relating to distribution of proceeds and renegotiation of distribution certifications.
HB 63 deletes the chapter governing the Redevelopment Powers Law and replaces with some existing and new language. It also adds new language regarding the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) Restriction Act.
HB 64 specifies that a funeral director must file a death certificate within 72 hours.
HB 69 allows a physician to issue a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order without the concurrence of another physician so long as there is oral or written consent from an authorized health care agent operating under a durable power of attorney or pursuant to an advance directive.
HB 86 allows that absentee ballots must be counted by precinct, and separate returns must be made showing the results by each precinct.
HB 101 allows that a transit agency may authorize the placement, erection, and maintenance of commercial advertisements on or in transit vehicles or facilities owned or operated by that transit agency.
HB 119 makes and provides appropriations for the State Fiscal Year beginning July 1, 2009, and ending June 30, 2010.
HB 120 authorizes the annual sales tax holiday for school supplies and energy efficient appliances.
HB 141 is the annual housekeeping bill for the Department of Banking and Finance (the Department), which addresses the regulation of financial institutions and commercial paper in Georgia.
HB 147 relates to proceedings for forfeiture of bonds or recognizances, so as to relieve a surety from liability under certain circumstances.
HB 169 provides a notice of new or revised flood elevations to Georgia property owners affected.
HB 173 permits non-compete and non-solicitation clauses in employment and business contracts.
HB 184 directs the Department of Human Resources to prepare information for public dissemination on the department’s website describing the importance of obtaining a blood test for sickle cell disease.
HB 186 extends the income tax credit for teleworking through FY2012. It also increases the available credit to $2.5 million for Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012.
HB 189 revises the applicability of the Georgia Arbitration Code because the General Assembly finds that entities need to cooperate with each other to ensure parents with better options on child support obligations.
HB 217 sets forth the requirements for influenza vaccine protocol agreements between physicians and pharmacists or nurses.
HB 221 amends two statutes to require that writs of mandamus and writs of prohibition to compel the removal of a judge cannot be issued if a motion to recuse has not been filed first, nor where a motion to recuse has been denied after assignment to a different judge.
HB 243 provides conditions of employment of certificated personnel in elementary and secondary education for salary increase for persons receiving certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
HB 258: Driver's license; minor of disabled guardian; restricted learner's permit; provisions
HB 278 allows local school system to waive the expenditure control requirements under the Quality Basic Education Act
HB 304 revises the rights of county appraisers and tax assessors and authorized agents of the county to go onto property to conduct official business.
HB 310 provides that the statewide recycling program for state agencies.
HB 318 defines several terms relating to the place of return for tax purposes of motor vehicles and mobile homes.
HB 321 relates to "group accident and sickness insurance" defined and "true association" defined, so as to provide for changes in the definitions of the terms.
HB 344 Probation; Department of Corrections; collections of additional fees; authorize
HB 349 Sales and use tax exemption; new construction of civil rights museum; provide
HB 371 Public Retirement Systems Investment Authority Law; increase in allowable fund investment; provisions
HB 379 Income tax; certain real estate investment trusts; disallow expenses paid
HB 388 The Option of Adoption Act
HB 395 Sales and use tax; personal property; construction of certain symphony halls; extend exemption
HB 406 Service delivery strategies; certain drinking water projects; funding limitation; provide exemption
HB 438 Income tax; tax credits for qualified jobs and projects; comprehensive revision
HB 439 Income tax; credits; business enterprises
HB 453 Superior courts; sunset dates for property filing fees; change
HB 455 Elementary and secondary education; annual contracts for certified personnel; extend certain deadlines
HB 473 Community Affairs, Department of; grants for clean energy property
HB 477 Retirement and pensions; creditable service; application requirement
HB 480 Taxation of motor vehicles; comprehensive revision
HB 483 Ad valorem tax; modernization and revisions of certain provisions
HB 485 Income tax; alternative credits for base year port traffic
HB 487 Superior Court Clerks' Retirement Fund of Georgia; employee contribution
HB 488 Superior Court Clerks' Retirement Fund of Georgia; eligibility criteria for creditable service
HB 492 Time-share projects and programs; private residence clubs
HB 493 Georgia Youth Conservation Corps; creation and purposes of the corps;
HB 509 Professions and businesses; regulation; change provisions.
HB 514 Judicial system; assignment of senior judges;
HB 528 Specialized land transactions; developers provide audits to homeowners
HB 549 Driver Services, Department of; information for purposes of creating juror lists
HB 568 Public Service Commission; members shall represent entire state
HB 575 Kidnapping; change certain provisions
HB 608 Time-share projects; estate shall include certain interests
HB 639 Special license plates; protect wild dolphins in Georgia
HR 161 White, Mr. John Jerome; compensate
HR 336 CPL Jonathan Ryan Ayers Memorial Interchange; dedicate

Hostage Standoff Ends in Madison

A hostage standoff has ended at a Madison, Georgia hotel. A man who was holding three people hostage, including his infant son, surrendered Monday morning. It ended a 12-hour-plus ordeal that began 8pm Sunday night at a motel off Interstate-20 in east Georgia’s Madison.

Multiple agencies were on the scene of the standoff, including the FBI, GBI and Morgan County Sheriff’s Department. Authorities say the alleged abductor, 25-year-old David Dietz, is accused of a weekend kidnapping of his estranged wife, his seven-month old infant son, and a teenager. Authorities say Dietz is a former South Carolina police officer.

Hostage Standoff Continues in Madison

Multiple agencies are currently involved this morning in an armed standoff with a kidnapping suspect in Madison. Officials with the FBI, GBI and Morgan County Sheriff’s Department are on the scene trained on a motel room in the east Georgia town just off Interstate-20. The standoff has now extended to about 11 hours.

Authorities say 25-year-old David Dietz is a former South Carolina police officer--he’s accused in a Saturday night abduction of three people in South Carolina, including the man’s estranged wife and a seven-month-old infant.

Authorities in an updated briefing this morning say they are making progress in negotiations with the alleged abductor.

GA Supreme Court: new definition of kidnapping

The Supreme Court of Georgia has adopted a new legal standard for the crime of kidnapping, ruling that prosecutors must consider four factors before deciding that significant enough movement of a victim has occurred to warrant the charge of kidnapping. In a split 4-to-3 decision written by Presiding Justice Carol Hunstein, the Court has overturned a Georgia Court of Appeals decision and thrown out kidnapping charges against Joey Allen Garza of Lee County. The high court has upheld his convictions for false imprisonment and aggravated assault.

At issue is the amount of movement required to establish kidnapping. Traditionally, the movement requirement was one of great distance. “In its earliest incarnation, the common law crime of kidnapping required the movement of the victim out of the country,” the 18-page opinion says. Georgia’s first kidnapping statute required that the victim be transported across state or county lines. But increasingly, the majority finds, the state’s kidnapping law has been used to charge people with the more serious charge of kidnapping when the facts support the less serious crime of false imprisonment.

Ga. Supreme Court adopts new kidnapping standards

Georgia's top court adopted a new legal standard for kidnapping, ruling that prosecutors must consider four factors before deciding to pursue kidnapping charges.

The Georgia Supreme Court's 4-3 decision Monday requires prosecutors to consider how far the victim was taken and whether the movement endangered the victim.

It also says authorities should weigh whether the movement occurred during the commission of a separate crime and whether it was a key part of that second crime.

The new standards came as part of an 18-page ruling that threw out kidnapping charges against Joey Allen Garza of Lee County. The court upheld his convictions for false imprisonment and aggravated assault.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about this issue.

(AP)

Accused murderer, molester wants new jury

Lawyers for a man charged with kidnapping, molesting and killing a 6-year-old boy say his charges should be dismissed because the grand jurors who indicted him were not diverse enough. David Edenfield, his wife, Peggy Edenfield and their adult son, George Edenfield, are accused of kidnapping, molesting and strangling Christopher Michael Barrios Jr., who is Hispanic, in 2007 in their trailer at a mobile home park. The lawyers tried to convince the Glynn County Superior Court Judge to dismiss the indictment by arguing Hispanics were underrepresented among potential grand jurors. They also want the trial moved to another county.

Nichols trial set to begin today ... again

The trial against Brian Nichols is expected to begin more than three years after a rampage left four people dead at a downtown Atlanta courthouse. As many as 600 witnesses could be called and written evidence runs to the thousands of pages. But first prosecutors and defense attorneys must find a fair jury - which legal experts say could be the trickiest task of the entire case.

Nichols is charged with killing four people, including a judge, as well as a sherriff’s deputy, court reporter and an off-duty federal officer, faces 54 counts ranging from kidnapping to murderin a March 2005 shooting spree that began inside a downtown Atlanta courthouse.

This is the second time jury selection has been attempted in the case. First time around, dozens of potential jurors simply refused to show up. Warrants were issued and several people were charged with contempt of court.

Nichols faces the death penalty. So far, its cost taxpayers 3 million dollars for his defense. It’s expected the final bill will exceed 5 million dollars.

A new judge was assigned to the case after the first judge was quoted in a New Yorker magazine article saying of Nichols, “everyone in the world knows he did it."

Hiker's killer denies connection to another case

The man serving life in prison for killing a Georgia hiker denies being involved in a college student's disappearance. Gary Hilton says he's not connected to the case of 20-year-old Clemson University student Jason Knapp. Knapp was last seen Easter 1998. Hilton admitted to kidnapping and murdering 24-year-old Meredith Emerson in north Georgia in January.

Hilton to fight extradition

The man serving a life sentence for murdering a Georgia hiker has vowed to fight extradition to Florida. The Herald-Gazette newspaper of Barnesville reports that Gary Michael Hilton told a judge yesterday he wished to contest the validity of murder charges against him in Florida. Authorities there believe he killed Cheryl Hodges Dunlap. Hilton pleaded guilty to murdering Meredith Emerson in January after kidnapping her from a hiking trail in north Georgia.

Five drug gang members convicted in Rome

Five men were convicted Monday in Rome for their part in a violent drug gang that was responsible for five murders, attempted murder and kidnapping in northwest Georgia. A federal prosecutor says the ring was based in Cedartown, and had a hand in half of the murders in Polk and Floyd counties in 2003.

The five men, all in their 30's, were convicted of conspiring to engage in a racketeering enterprise from March 2000 to December 2006. They were also found guilty of conspiring to distribute and distributing methamphetamine and cocaine. The five will be sentenced in May--15 others have pleaded guilty in the case, while another 10 await trial.

Break in missing hiker case

There has been a break in a murder case thought to be linked to Gary Michael Hilton, sentenced last week to life in prison for murdering a Georgia hiker. Police in North Carolina say skeletal remains found over the weekend are those of missing hiker John Bryant. Police believe Hilton is responsible for murdering Bryant and his wife Irene this past fall, after they disappeared while hiking. Hilton pleaded guilty to murdering 24-year-old Meredith Emerson last month after kidnapping her from Blood Mountain in North Georgia.

Hiker's killer gets life in prison

The man charged with murdering a Georgia hiker earlier this month has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to life in prison. Wearing an orange jumpsuit and bulletproof vest, Gary Michael Hilton entered his plea today before a judge in Dawson County Superior Court. The 61-year-old drifter was charged with killing 24-year-old Meredith Emerson January 4th, days after kidnapping her from a trail at Blood Mountain in north Georgia. The judge told Hilton could be up for parole in 30 years, but will likely die in prison of natural causes before then.

Alleged murderer could be linked to NC case

The man charged in the beating death of a Georgia hiker is being looked another woman’s disappearance in North Carolina. 26-year-old Rossana Miliani was last in Bryson City on December 7th, 2005. A store clerk from Bryson City recently told a private investigator that Miliani came into her store with a man who resembled 61-year-old Gary Hilton. Hilton is charged with kidnapping 24-year-old Meredith Emerson New Year’s Day while she was hiking at north Georgia’s Blood Mountain.

Hiker's alleged attacker remains in custody

Today a judge denied bond for a drifter accused of kidnapping and killing a 24-year-old hiker in the north Georgia mountains. Gary Hilton was charged yesterday with the murder of Meredith Emerson. Emerson's body was found Monday night nearly 50 miles from where she vanished New Year's Day near Blood Mountain in Union County. Hilton led authorities to Emerson's body Monday evening in exchange for an agreement that prosecutors not seek the death penalty against him for Emerson's killing.

Autopsy planned today on female hiker

The body of a young female hiker, missing for a week in the north Georgia mountains, has been found.

24-year-old Meredith Emerson was discovered by searchers last night in north Georgia’s Dawson County. Her body was found in a forest near Amicalola Falls State Park. On Friday, investigators found Emerson’s bloodied clothes 10 miles away.

Emerson went missing on New Year’s Day, when she went for a hike with her dog in the north Georgia mountains.

John Cagle, Special Agent in Charge with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, detailed where information came from to locate Emerson's body.

"This information had been given to the Dawson County authorities by the citizens, and plans had been made to further search the area (Tuesday)...however, the specific information given as to the location of the body, was given to me by Gary Hilton".

Hilton is currently facing a charge of kidnapping with bodily injury. He was denied bond during a 10-minute court hearing Monday afternoon.

Authorities believe there could be a connection with this case and the disappearance and presumed killing of an elderly North Carolina couple in October.

UPDATE: Body of missing hiker found Monday night

A spokeswoman for the family of Meredith Emerson confirmed Monday night that the body of the missing 24-year-old hiker had been found. No other details were given, only to confirm that authorities had recovered the body of Meredith Emerson. A news conference was scheduled for 10pm Monday night in Dawsonville.

The discovery ends a search for Emerson that had extended six days, since her disappearance on New Year's Day.

Earlier Monday, the man charged in the case had his first court appearance in Union County. 61-year-old Gary Michael Hilton did not respond to questions from the judge during a 10-minute hearing. The court appointed public defender indicated that Hilton was not prepared to comment. Bond was denied Hilton, who as of the time of the hearing, was facing a charge of kidnapping with bodily injury. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Stay with gpb.org, and GPB's Radio Network for continuing details in this case.

Bond denied for hiker's alleged attacker

Today a judge denied bond for a 61-year-old man accused of kidnapping missing hiker Meredith Emerson. Gary Michael Hilton did not speak during his first appearance before Union County Magistrate Judge. Hilton's attorney did not enter a plea on Hilton's behalf. Emerson's whereabouts remain a mystery as authorities continue to search for her in the north Georgia mountains where she disappeared New Year’s Day.

Court appearance today for man charged in missing hiker case

61-year-old Gary Michael Hilton will make his first court appearance today in north Georgia's Blairsville, to answer to the charge of kidnapping with bodily injury. Hilton is charged in the case of hiker Meredith Emerson, who's been missing since last Tuesday when she went for a hike in Vogel State Park near Blood Mountain.

Only trained search and rescue personnel and law enforcement will be involved in today's search, which is now being expanded to a five-county area from north Georgia to metro Atlanta.

Hilton was found and taken into custody in the metro Atlanta area Friday night-—he was charged in the case Saturday. Emerson's dog was recovered safely on Friday, when it was found wandering in a grocery store parking lot in Cumming. Police found some of Emerson's personal effects on Friday, including blood-stained clothing.

Authorities also said Sunday there may be a connection between the Emerson case and the disappearance and presumed killings of a elderly couple in North Carolina last October.