Compiled from staff and wire reports

Hanging at jail an apparent suicide

LEBANON - Warren County sheriff's detectives are investigating the death of a 39-year-old woman found hanging in her county jail cell early Wednesday.

Mary J. Burnett of Evansville, Ind., was arrested in August in connection with a suspected mobile methamphetamine lab in Waynesville. She was found alone in her cell about 4:45 a.m. A corrections officer last saw Ms. Burnett alive during routine rounds at 3:58 a.m., sheriff's officials said.

An autopsy is being performed to determine the official cause of death. She was the second county jail inmate to die in an apparent suicide this year.

Ms. Burnett had appeared in Warren County Court Tuesday morning on a probation violation on the earlier drug case after authorities found that she had been indicted in Greene County in a separate methamphetamine investigation.

Ms. Burnett had received three years of probation in Warren County on the Waynesville case after pleading guilty Oct. 3 to a misdemeanor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia.

Her alleged accomplice, Jeff Meyers, 33, was recently indicted on charges of illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs, aggravated possession of drugs and a weapons offense.

In Greene County, Ms. Burnett was accused of breaking into a farm supply business to steal anhydrous ammonia, which is used to make methamphetamine.

Man who grabbed gun shot to death

DAYTON, Ohio - A man grabbed a deputy's gun in the lobby of a downtown courthouse Wednesday and shot and wounded an officer, authorities said. Another deputy shot the gunman, who died at a hospital.

The deputy was wounded in the calf and was released after being treated at Miami Valley Hospital.

Montgomery County Sheriff Dave Vore said the man walked through a metal detector in the Dayton-Montgomery County Courts Building about 2 p.m. and set it off.

"He immediately grabbed one of our court deputy's weapons, fired at least one shot inside the courthouse, exited the courthouse and was confronted by two other deputies," Sheriff Vore said. "The other deputies returned fire on the suspect."

It wasn't immediately clear whether the wounded deputy was the officer whose gun was grabbed.

Deputies may be involved in bar fight

DEERFIELD TWP. - Hamilton County sheriff's deputies are under investigation for felonious assault in a Sunday morning brawl that left three people injured at Tabby's American Grill & Bar in Landen.

According to an incident report, a tavern employee told Warren County Sheriff's investigators that the victims were assaulted with beer bottles about 12:15 a.m. Sunday.

One person suffered a facial laceration and a cut tendon on his finger, the report said.

No charges have been filed while the Warren County agency continues the investigation.

Officials, who wouldn't give details of the incident, declined to identify the suspects because they have not yet been charged.

Steve Barnett, Hamilton County sheriff's spokesman, said disciplinary action could be taken if charges are filed.

Man could face 3-year-old charges

One of Cincinnati's Most Wanted could be coming back to the Tristate to face charges stemming from a wild crime spree nearly three years ago that included bank robbery, child molestation and a car chase across the Brent Spence Bridge.

The sentencing last week of Leon Stamper Jr., 43, formerly of Northern Kentucky, in a related case in Louisville paves the way for prosecutors in both Northern Kentucky and Hamilton County to proceed with their cases.

In January 2000, Cincinnati Police tried to pull Mr. Stamper over. His car had been seen at a mugging of an elderly woman the day before.

Mr. Stamper sped off in an older Pontiac, striking several vehicles and injuring at least two people. He bailed from the wrecked car and police found a terrified woman and two children in the Pontiac.

The woman found in Mr. Stamper's wrecked car was later identified as Jaymie Hutchins, a mother who went on to shoot a man in the groin because she said he molested her son.