Local News Now

Outside attorney: Government's case relies on 'finks and vermin'

Inset photo by Headline Surfer® / Will the jurors in the Volusia County mortgage fraud case believe government witnesses Sidney Coton and Christopher Mencis, who have already pleaded guilty and subsequently testified in exchange for lighter sentences or will they believe defendant James Sotolongo, shown at left in the display photo with his attorney, who didn't take the stand in his own defense? The jurors begin deliberating on Friday morning.

ORLANDO -- Federal prosecutor Tanya Wilson apologized to the jury of 12 on Thursday in closing arguments for the cast of unsavory characters she had to rely on to make her case of mortgage fraud against the three individuals from the Daytona Beach-area on trial in the courtroom.

OAK HILL, Fla. -- An 18-year-old has been booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach on DUI manslaughter charges in the July 24, 2013, horrific wreck on Maytown Road that took the life of his cousin.

Headline Surfer® graphic / Sheriff's homicide investigators are awaiting autopsy results before deciding if criminal charges will be levied in the early Easter morning shooting death of Sanford Olson at his residence at 7 Seabreeze Drive in Ormond by-the-Sea as shown in this locator map. His wife told a neighbor he was accidentally shot.

ORMOND BEACH -- The Volusia County Sheriff's Office's Major Case Unit is continuing to investigate the fatal shooting early Sunday morning of a 55-year-old man in Ormond-by-the-Sea, just north of the Ormond Beach city limits.

The victim's wife was being interviewed about the death at 7 Seabreeze Drive after receiving a call at 2:52 a.m. about a shooting that had happened. When they arrived on scene, deputies discovered he had been shot to death.

Campaigns of politicians bankrolled by millionaire developer Mori Hosseini

Headline Surfer® cartoon / Copyright protected / County Council members Doug Daniels, Deb Denys, Pat Patterson andPat Northey, shown left to right in the smaller inset photos have all had their campaigns bankrolled by millionaire and ICI Homes builder Mori Hosseini, shown below the 24/7 internet newspaper's cartoon that depicts the obvious conflict of interest of the politicians with Hosseini.

DAYTONA BEACH -- ICI Homes builder Mori Hosseini was in the Volusia County Council chambers to speak against a rival developer's plans for a strip mall anchored by a Publix just a couple of miles from his proposed lavish Woodhaven mixed-use community.

Fort Lauderdale Attorney defending woman in Jacksonville stand your ground case that made national headlines has fired a torpedo into the fed govt's case here early on

Photos for Headline Surfer® / High-profile defense attorney Bruce Zimet, shown here with CNN's Anderson Cooper is representing Marissa Alexander in an upcoming re-trial ordered after her conviction in 2012, for firing a gun in her estranged husband'sdirection, citing Florida's stand your ground law as a defense. Zimet also is representing Stephanie Musselwhite in the Daytona-area mortgage fraud trial under way in Orlando,  where she and co-defendants Jim Sotolongo and Ramara Garrett, are accused of defrauding several banks.

ORLANDO -- Even though she held her own and then some in opening statements to the jury in U.S. District Court in Orlando against three of Florida's top defense attorneys in a complex mortgage fraud trial two days earlier, Thursday was not a good day for prosecutor Tanya Williams.

Openings delayed until Tuesday due to family death on government team

Photo for Headline Surfer® / Ramara Garrett and Jim Sotolongo, along with Stephanie Musselwhite (not pictured here), will stand trial in U.S. District Court Tuesday in Orlando on mortgage fraud charges. The three have pleaded innocent to charges.

ORLANDO -- A jury has been seated for the federal trial that begins Tuesday with opening statements by the government and defense attorneys in the Daytona Beach area mortgage fraud case against Jim Sotolongo, Ramara Garrett and Stephanie Musselwhite.

The trial was supposed to begin after the lunch break today, but the judge announced opening statements would begin Tuesday morning after the court was informed a member of lead prosecutor on Tanya Wilson's team had a sudden death in the family.

Ormond bike ride; swim in Daytona Beach surf reminders of life's enjoyments not to be taken for granted

Headline Surfer® photos / County Chair Jason Davis shown in the images at left, is back home after suffering a heart attack late Thursday night.

DAYTONA BEACH -- County Chair Jason Davis has a newfound appreciation for life -- whether it's strapping on his helmet and riding his Harley up the coastline to enjoy the scenery of the scenic loop in Ormond Beach or diving into the curling waves of the World's Most Famous Beach here in Daytona on a humid Sunday afternoon.