Henderson County (May 9, 2023) - During the most recent Henderson County three-day Superior Court Administrative Session, which began on May 03, 2023, the following four drug traffickers pleaded guilty and were sentenced by Superior Court Judge Mark Powell, istrict Attorney Andrew Murray announced.
Henderson County (Oct 12, 2021) - A Superior Court judge on Monday sentenced a 42-year-old Hendersonville man to up to 19 years in prison on 24 counts of third-degree felonious sexual exploitation of a minor, District Attorney R. Andrew Murray announced.
Superior Court Judge Robert C. Ervin convened a hearing on the removal of Newman on Monday morning.
James P. Cooney III, the independent counsel, said in opening arguments that ample grounds exist to warrant the removal of the district attorney. He cited the three pillars of the case against the elected prosecutor for Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties:
A plea deal Newman made that allowed a defendant charged with five child sexual abuse felonies to plead guilty to one misdemeanor in a brief proceeding that the victim was not made aware of.
The successful charge of vindictive prosecution by a defendant jailed for eight and a half years, a case currently on appeal before the state Supreme Court.
June 12, 2014: Valerie Marie Owenby, who was then 12 years old, and her mother, Carol Lynn Owenby, report to the Henderson County sheriff’s office that James Franklin Sapp, a next door neighbor, had sexually assaulted her from the time she was 5 years old to the present.
Aug. 6, 2014: Sheriff’s Detective Tonya Reeves submits a search warrant application detailing Valerie’s accusations of sexual assault by Sapp from the time she was 5 until she was 12 and her accusations that Sapp “told her she would kill her dad if she told anyone” and when he stopped the abuse threatened to kill her family if she told anyone. The search warrant, granted by Superior Court Judge Mark Powell, compels Sapp to pose for photos from the waist down to corroborate Valerie’s statement that he had identifying marks around his penis area.