New Jersey

Teen found with swords, guns gets five years

One of three teenagers caught last summer with swords and guns and charged with planning a killing spree was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for carjacking.

Cody Jackson, 15, apologized in court.

“I just want everyone to know I wasn’t going to kill anyone,” he told Superior Court Judge Samuel D. Natal.

Jackson; Matthew Lovett, 19; and Christopher Olson, 15, were arrested before dawn July 6 walking down a street in Camden armed with the swords, handguns, rifles and 2,000 rounds of ammunition. Authorities say they planned to hijack a car and gun down three teens they considered enemies.

The teens approached a motorist, who sped off and called police, and the three were arrested before any shots were fired.

Mississippi

Inmate hanged in cell said he was in danger

Two days before he was found hanging in his prison cell, a convicted killer sent his aunt a letter saying guards had beaten him from head to toe for throwing water on an officer, and he feared for his life.

“I’m not lying, Auntie, call as soon as you get this. I could be in great danger,” Christopher Smiley wrote in the Nov. 24 letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. He added: “If you do not get this, I might get killed.”

Smiley, a 27-year-old psychiatric patient serving a life sentence for murder, was found Nov. 26 hanging from a bedsheet noose at Parchman state prison.

Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said that an investigation was under way but that there had been no indication of wrongdoing by officers.