Ark. court upholds conviction in TV anchor slaying
Recent Cases
The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a man convicted of killing a Little Rock television anchorwoman.
Justices said Thursday that Curtis Vance's objections are without merit.
Vance had appealed his capital murder and rape convictions in the October 2008 death of KATV anchor Anne Pressly in her Little Rock home. Last month, the state's highest court granted Vance's request not to hold oral arguments in his appeal and instead relied on briefs that had already been filed.
Vance was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 for the rape, robbery and slaying of Pressly.
Pressly was a 26-year-old anchor on KATV's "Daybreak" program. She appeared briefly in "W," Oliver Stone's biopic on President George W. Bush.
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Texas Adopts Statewide Texting-While-Driving Ban
Effective September 1, 2017, Texas will become the 47th state to pass a statewide ban on texting while driving. Governor Abbott’s signing of House Bill 62 is an effort to unify Texas under a uniform ban and remedy the “patchwork quilt of regulations that dictate driving practices in Texas.”
The bill specifically prohibits drivers from reading, writing, or sending an electronic message on a device unless the vehicle is stopped. That includes texting and emailing. It does not, however, prohibit dialing a number to call someone, talking on the phone using a hands-free device, or using the phone’s GPS system.
Violations would be punishable by a fine ranging from $25 to $99, to be set by each municipality. Although penalties could rise to as much as $200 for repeat offenders.
Studies have found that a driver’s reaction time is half as much when a driver is distracted by sending or reading a text message. According to state officials, in 2015 more than 105,000 traffic accidents in Texas involved distracted driving, leading to at least 476 fatalities.