News Roundup

Published for NC Criminal Law on May 17, 2019.

A horrifying attack on the Appalachian Trail near the North Carolina state line that left one person dead and another person seriously injured was a major national news story this week.  As the hiking website The Trek reports, Ronald Sanchez was stabbed to death early on Saturday morning as he and another hiker walked away from an area where they had broken camp in order to distance themselves from a man who was threatening them and acting unstable.  That man, James Jordan, now is in custody and has been charged with murder and other crimes.  Reports say that Jordan recently became known to law enforcement after several incidents where he menaced other hikers.  Keep reading for more news. Pilot Arrested for Murder.  WRAL reports that an American Airlines pilot who lives in Raleigh recently was arrested at a TSA checkpoint at the Louisville International Airport and charged with murder for allegedly killing three people in Kentucky in 2015.  Christian Richard Martin is accused of killing Calvin and Pamela Phillips as well as their neighbor Edward Dansereau.  At the time of the murders, Calvin Phillips reportedly was set to testify against Martin in a child abuse case in military court. Gun at School.  The Winston-Salem Journal reports that a teacher at Paisley Magnet School, Sarah Melissa Wilson, was arrested this week after it was alleged that she stored a handgun in her classroom last month after obtaining it from a student and then returned it to the student at the end of [...]