In Brief

PAULDING COUNTY

Silver Comet testimony focuses on brain injury

Testimony on Wednesday in the sentencing phase of the death-penalty trial of Michael Ledford, 46, focused on damage to areas of his brain that control anger and impulse. Decades of alcohol abuse and a childhood fall from the top of a 50-foot tree were blamed for the injuries.

Dr. Thomas Sacky, a forensic psychiatrist, used pictures taken in an MRI of Ledford’s brain to explain to a Paulding County jury one of the reasons Ledford went “fearless into a rage” and battered cyclist Jennifer Ewing, 53, of Sandy Springs when she bit him during an attack on the Silver Comet Trail.

Another defense witness —- W. Alexander Morton, a professor emeritus in psycho pharmacology at the University of South Carolina —- testified earlier Wednesday that Ledford had a “long history of violence when he drinks.”

The jury convicted Ledford on Monday of murder, kidnapping, aggravated sodomy, aggravated battery and aggravated assault. It is now hearing testimony to decide whether he should be condemned, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole or life with the possibility of parole. RHONDA COOK

DEKALB

CEO: Campaign chief has no tie to lobbyist

DeKalb County’s chief executive officer, Burrell Ellis, said his campaign manager has done no business with the new federal lobbyist hired by the county.

On May 12, Ellis approved a $10,000 a month contract with mCapitol Management to lobby for DeKalb in Washington. The company’s Web site lists the Kevin Ross Public Affairs Group among its “network partners.” Ross was Ellis’ campaign manager, and he led Ellis’ transition team.

Ross “has confirmed to me that, one, he does not have a financial interest in mCapitol and, two, that he is in no way connected with the procurement” of mCapitol as a lobbyist for DeKalb, Ellis said Wednesday. TY TAGAMI

Atlanta

Man charged in mailing child porn to prison

An Atlanta man has been charged with sending pornographic images of children to a prison inmate by mailing them in an Easter card.

Preston Daniel Cooper, 43, appeared in U.S. District Court on Wednesday. He is being held without bond.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Cooper had previously served a 15-year sentence for molesting a 5-year-old girl.

STATE

Husband charged in ‘85 bush-ax killings of 3

Columbus —- A northwest Georgia man was charged in the 1985 bush-ax killings of his pregnant wife and two small children in Columbus.

Michael Curry, 51, was arrested Wednesday in Dalton, where he was living.

Ann Curry, 24, her 4-year-old daughter, Erika, and 20-month-old son, Ryan, were killed Aug. 29, 1985, within hours after visiting her parents’ nearby home.

Curry ran to a neighbor’s house screaming “They killed my wife and kids! Why did they kill my wife and kids?” after arriving home from work.

He was questioned but never charged. Officials would not say whether new evidence has been uncovered. ASSOCIATED PRESS

OBITUARIES

‘First Lady of Gospel’

Eva Mae LeFevre sang her way from tiny churches to the Grand Ole Opry and even the White House. She had a lifelong fan in gospel great Bill Gaither. She died Monday at age 91. B4