Friends and relatives gathered just beyond the crime scene tape Thursday morning to comfort one another and try to come up with a reason for the fatal shooting of Cory Lynn Evans. ...more

October 17, 2008

Local defense lawyer Kevin Napper, accused of propositioning an undercover police officer, has been placed in a pretrial diversion program. Napper, married to Circuit Judge Katherine Essrig, was put in the misdemeanor program designed for first-time offenders. ...more

October 16, 2008

A local defense attorney who is married to a circuit court judge is accused of propositioning an undercover police officer for sex, records show. Kevin Napper, 51, of Tampa was released from a Hillsborough County jail Monday on $250 bail. He is charged with soliciting another to commit prostitution, a misdemeanor. ...more

September 30, 2008

Brice Butler ...more

February 7, 2008

SEBRING — Ken Melvin and Ray Napper, two of the seven members of the Lake Denton Citizens Advisory Committee, were not happy with the committee's recommendations to re-open this closed public lake with severe restrictions. Melvin, though, reluctantly endorsed the Highlands County commissioners' decision Tuesday to reopen the popular lake –– closed since early September –– despite the number of controversial restrictions on public access. He described the lake reopening plan as too little, too late and nowhere near a good solution to a big problem. Unlike the other speakers who harshly criticized the plan, though, Melvin didn't oppose the commissioners adopting the committee's unpopular and controversial plan. ...more

January 3, 2008