Area briefs

Murder trial set to begin

Ottawa  An Overbrook man is scheduled to go on trial Tuesday in Franklin County District Court for second-degree murder.

John Powell, 44, was arrested June 13, 2001, for the murder of Barney Riley, 39, Lawrence. Riley’s body was found June 11 by children riding bicycles behind a vacant house in the 1600 block of Shawnee Road in northwest Franklin County.

An autopsy revealed Riley had been beaten with a blunt object.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in the early stages of its investigation by the Major Case Squad, consisting of officers from surrounding counties and cities.

Johnson County Senior Judge Robert Jones will preside at the trial. Jones was appointed by the Kansas Supreme Court after Franklin County Judge James Smith recused himself.

Smith accidentally read the wrong charge against Powell to a pool of potential jurors in November when the trial was initially scheduled. Smith then delayed the trial so a new pool of jurors could be summoned. He also had been criticized for his courtroom demeanor in an earlier unrelated trial by Powell’s attorney, Robert Kuchar.

Driver killed in one-car crash

Oskaloosa  An Ozawkie man died Wednesday night when the pickup truck he was driving struck a bridge 2 miles east of Oskaloosa on 94th Street.

The Kansas Highway Patrol identified the driver as Michael S. Hill, 46.

About 11:30 p.m., Hill was eastbound on 94th Street when he lost control of a 1984 Ford Ranger and struck a bridge, the Highway Patrol said. The truck overturned and slid eastward on the driver’s side.

Hill was thrown from the truck, the report said.

Funeral arrangements were pending Thursday at Barnett Funeral Home, Oskaloosa.

Actor to stage one-man show featuring Hughes enactment

Chautauqua scholar and actor Charles Everett Pace will bring writer Langston Hughes to life in Lawrence today and Saturday.

Pace will perform an abbreviated version of a “A Writer’s Life: On the Road with Langston Hughes” for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students from Langston Hughes, Pinckney and New York schools today. Pace also will answer students’ questions in the persona of Hughes and chat with them about pride in their Hughes/Lawrence heritage.

Pace will give a full-length version of the performance for the public at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ninth Street Baptist Church, 847 Ohio.