Julia Denniss, a student at The Marist School in DeKalb County, on Friday became the state's first three-time spelling bee champion. The competition was intense for the 50th annual Georgia Association of Educators Spelling Bee. Denniss, 14, was crowned the winner after 42 rounds and 300 words. She will represent Georgia in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. in early June. The word that brought her to victory was "planishere." She received several gifts with her trophy and all-expenses-paid trip to the national competition. They included $1,000 from the GAE, a 3GKindle and a one-year online subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica. NANCY BADERTSCHER
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The Georgia Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new trial for a man because his judge held the trial in the county jail, violating the defendant's right to a public trial.
Bobby Carroll Purvis, who was found guilty of molesting a 9-year-old girl, was tried in a courtroom at the Berrien County jail. The Supreme Court frowned on evidence showing that when Purvis' brother pressed the buzzer to enter the room to observe the trial, a jailer refused to unlock the door. Further, the judge failed to get Purvis' consent to hold his trial in the jail, the court said. BILL RANKIN
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