White County attorney Denton W. Aud has been sworn-in as the newest Associate Judge in the Second Circuit, Second Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Melissa Morgan reported this week.
The Fairfield City Council met in regular session last night and worked through an 8-item agenda. After an Executive Session, the council voted unanimously to sell the former Fairfield Auxiliary Police Building on South 1st St. The minimum bid for the property is $60,000 with a retail buyer preferred. The bid opening is scheduled for the first council meeting in October. Discussion was held concerning the proposed water tower on NW 7th St. It was announced that the cost of the project had blossomed from $1.4 million to $1.8 million. The project is TIF eligible and $200,000 has been pledged from Senator Darren Baileys office. An ordinance was approved allowing city access to utility meters which may be inside fenced properties. An ordinance was passed allowing for the abatement of certain fines imposed in municipal court. The abatement will allow the city to recover some of its costs if the Street & Bridge Dept. has to haul off debris from property cleanup. The airport maintenance a
Ray E. Tate's bid to withdraw his guilty plea has created a lot of work for the Wayne County court system. Tate is currently serving a sentence of life without parole for the December 29, slaying of Wayne County Sheriff's Deputy Sean Riley. On March 17th, Tate entered a guilty plea to a single count of first degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Since then, Tate filed a hand-written pro se motion to withdraw that plea, claiming his guilty plea was coerced. He also alleges he had ineffective assistance of counsel and was not mentally competent to enter the plea. The motion to withdraw his guilty plea has triggered a series of hearings and lot of work for the local court system. Most recently, a court reporter had to prepare transcripts of Tate's change of plea hearing and subsequent sentencing hearing. Those documents were just completed a few days ago. Tate's most recent court appearance was by Zoom conference on Tuesday, August 9. Tate's next hear