Region briefs 10/1/03

Sorbello sentenced for child sex crime

After pleading guilty to second degree child molestation Tuesday in a Cape Girardeau County courtroom, a Farmington man was placed on two years probation.

Within 10 days, Gerald A. Sorbello, 36, must register as a sex offender, said assistant prosecuting attorney Julie Hunter. With his plea, Sorbello avoided a jury trial for the class A misdemeanor that had been set for Oct. 7.

"He was also ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and must continue with any follow up or counseling ordered by the board of probation and parole," Hunter said.

Sorbello's victim is a relative and was 14 years old when he exposed her to sexual contact by touching her through her clothing in July 2002 at his former home in Millersville, Hunter said.

Cape school suspends kindergartner for threat

A Cape Girardeau elementary student has been suspended for threatening another kindergartner, superintendent Mark Bowles said.

"Yes, it was a suspendable offense, and it was the consequence chosen," he said Tuesday.

An altercation between the students occurred at the beginning of last week, Bowles said. When one made a verbal threat to the other, the incident was reported and investigated.

"The administrator at that building determined this was about more than just two kids who were upset and venting," he said. "A comment was made that had to be taken seriously, and she imposed a reasonable, severe consequence."

Bowles said the suspension will be brief and age-appropriate.

"It certainly is not the kind of thing we want to see anyone suspended for at this age, but we are just responding to a day and age where we've got to take these things seriously," Bowles said. "Our no-tolerance police must be supported."

Wesener named SEMO residence life director

Kelly Burris-Wesener, assistant dean for housing and residential life at Hope College in Holland, Mich., has been hired as director of residence life at Southeast Missouri State University.

Burris-Wesener replaces Jim Settle, who resigned recently to take a job as director of residence life at Southwest Texas State University. She will begin her new duties at Southeast on Nov. 3, school officials said.

At Hope College, Burris-Wesener coordinated a 2,250-bed operation that included nine residence halls, seven apartment buildings and 64 houses.

Supreme Court overturns sentence for triple killer

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a convicted triple murderer on Tuesday because the sentence had been imposed by a judge, not a jury. Instead, the state's highest court sentenced Deandra Buchanan of Columbia to life in prison.

Buchanan was convicted by a jury of the November 2000 slayings of his aunt, stepfather and girlfriend. But jurors were unable to agree on whether to sentence Buchanan to death or life imprisonment. So Boone County Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton sentenced Buchanan to death.

Buchanan's attorneys argued that his death sentence should be overturned based on the precedent of last year's decision in the case of another death row inmate, Joseph Whitfield.

-- From staff, wire reports