The best known criminal defense attorney in southwest Missouri has been hired by accused pervert Gary Reed Blankenship.
The former O'Sullivan Industries official, who resigned his position as director of strategic marketing after his arrest, has hired Dee Wampler III. That and the immediate posting of $100,000 bond indicate Blankenship has money to spare.
He will need it to pay the high-powered Wampler, who immediately began earning that money today, filing a number of motions during his client's arraignment in Newton County Circuit Court.
Wampler filed a motion to dismiss the case, as well as a motion to lower the bond, a motion to require disclosure of any evidence the prosecution has against Blankenship, 55, Neosho.
Another motion requests disclosure by court order. Wampler is expected to claim that Blankenship was entrapped by Diamond police officer Jim Murray, who claimed the Neosho man as the latest victim of one of his internet stings by pretending to be a 13-year-old girl during an internet chat.
Blankenship has been charged with eight felony counts of possession of child pornography, one count of attempted enticement of a child and one count of promoting obscenity.
A pre-trial conference is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 16.
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FCC officials will look into Cox Communications' complaint against Nexstar Broadcasting, according to an article in this morning's Texarkana Gazette.
As mentioned last week in The Turner Report, Cox filed the complaint against Nexstar, which owns KSNF and is the de facto owner of KODE as the deadline approached for Nexstar to remove its stations from Cox's franchises in Lamar and Carthage. Cox claims Nexstar has not negotiated in good faith. Nexstar is asking Cox for 30 cents per customer per month. When Cable One in Joplin turned down that same proposal, Nexstar pulled its stations off that cable franchise.
Nexstar COO Duane Lammers told the Texarkana paper that it was Cox that had not negotiated in good faith.
"We're the ones that put a proposal out," Lammers told The Gazette. "There was no new proposal put forth by them. We're very capable and able to demonstrate that we have negotiated in good faith."
According to the Gazette article, the FCC will ask Nexstar for a response, then return to Cox for its response before any decision will be made.
The Cox complaint was also made against Mission Broadcasting, the alleged owner of KODE, according to the Gazette article.
The filing says, "Cox therefore asks the Commission, on an emergency basis, to require Nexstar and Mission to commence negotiations immediately and in good faith, and to take such other actions as are necessary to restore local television service to local viewers, by, for example finding that the public interest requires that these local stations be made available immediately to local viewers pending resolutions of all issues between parties."
The complaint accuses Nexstar of being "coercive" and making demands that are "outrageous and unreasonable," according to the Gazette article.
Lammers told the Gazette that Nexstar plans on answering the complaint in the next two weeks.