A Missouri man who was convicted Feb. 8 of a 1989 Nebraska slaying wants a retrial.

On Monday a judge scheduled a hearing to consider the motion by the attorney for John Oldson, of Randolph, Mo. Oldson was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 31-year-old Cathy Beard, of Ord. Beard disappeared in 1989.

Oldson’s lawyer told the judge at what was to be a sentencing hearing that Oldson deserved a new trial based on the arrest of a key defense witness four days after Oldson’s conviction. Judge Karin Noakes set a hearing May 6 on the retrial motion and rescheduled sentencing for June 3.

Beard’s body was found near Ord in 1992. Oldson, who used to live in Ord, was interviewed in 1989 but not arrested.

The deputy county attorney for Hamilton and Saunders counties has been named a county judge in east-central Nebraska.

The office of Gov. Dave Heineman says he’s selected C. Jo Petersen, of Beaver Crossing, for the judgeship in the 5th Judicial District. The district consists of Boone, Butler, Colfax, Hamilton, Merrick, Nance, Platte, Polk, Saunders, Seward and York counties.

The governor’s office says Petersen also is a private practice attorney focusing on general law. She’s been deputy county attorney for Butler, Platte and Polk counties and was Seward county attorney for eight years.

Petersen replaces Judge Gerald Rouse, who worked in Seward County before retiring.

The National Transportation Safety Board says a witness reported seeing a flash in the sky before a helicopter crashed near an Oklahoma City nursing home last month, killing two people.

It’s not clear what could have caused such a flash.

The preliminary report, released Wednesday, does not spell out why the helicopter crashed on Feb. 22, killing the pilot and a flight nurse. The third person onboard was seriously injured.

Investigators say satellite data showed the helicopter took off from a helipad at Integris-Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, but that the data stopped less than four minutes into the flight.

The report says the helicopter was headed to Watonga, about 70 miles away, to transfer a cardiac patient to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center.

Authorities in northeast Kansas say a 27-year-old Hiawatha man is charged in the death of a 4-year-old boy.

Brown County Prosecutor Kevin Hill says Lee Davis IV, also known as Jimmy Davis, was charged with first-degree murder and felony abuse of the child, who died Tuesday.

Davis is being held on $2 million bond and is expected to have a lawyer formally appointed for him Thursday or Friday.

The child was taken by air ambulance from Hiawatha Community Hospital on Sunday to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, where he died Tuesday.

A preliminary hearing for Davis has been set for March 13.

Authorities have arrested two suspects in a triple homicide at a home in Clark, an unicorporated town in northwest Wyoming, about 30 miles north of Powell near the Montana border.

Park County Sheriff Scott Steward says the slayings were reported at about 11 a.m. Saturday, and no other suspects are being sought. The names of the victims and the manner of their deaths have not been released.

Neighbor Robert Bushman Jr. tells The Powell Tribune the victims were a woman, her father and her mother. He says some of his neighbors who saw the victims’ dogs chasing two vehicles down the road became concerned and found the residents fatally shot in the home.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol conducted a traffic stop that led to the arrests.

Nineteen-year-old Stephen Hammer and 18-year-old Tanner Vanpelt, both of Cody, made their first court appearance Tuesday morning in Cody.

Each is charged with 11 felony counts, including premeditated murder, use of a deadly weapon and robbery.

A judge ordered the two teens held without bond. The judge also appointed public defenders for the defendants, who said little during the hearing except to answer the judge’s questions.

According to court documents, the teens told investigators they stole handguns from a Cody gun store and went to a house they knew to steal a black Audi SUV so they could escape to Denver.