Names and faces
Los Angeles prosecutors said Friday that they won’t file elder abuse charges against Casey Kasem’s widow despite efforts by three of the radio personality’s children to have her prosecuted. A charge evaluation sheet released by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said Casey Kasem had received consistent medical care in his final days and that it wouldn’t be appropriate to charge Jean Kasem. “Because of Mr. Kasem’s longstanding profound health issues, this case cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury,” the filing said. Jean Kasem was married to the celebrity announcer for more than 30 years but was stripped of control over his medical care in the final days of Casey Kasem’s life. Casey Kasem died in June 2014 in Washington state, where Jean Kasem had taken him after checking him out of a Los Angeles-area medical facility where he was receiving around-the-clock care. The longtime American Top 40 host had a form of dementia and a severe bedsore when he died. Shortly before Casey Kasem’s death, his daughter Kerri Kasem was appointed as his conservator. She and Kasem’s two other children from a previous marriage called for elder abuse charges against their stepmother at a news conference in January. Los Angeles police looked into the allegations, but prosecutors declined to bring charges. Jean Kasem said her decision to move her husband to Washington was made to protect his privacy, prosecutors said.
A standing ovation for B.B. King and more cheers than tears marked a family-and-friends memorial of the blues great’s life and legacy Saturday in Las Vegas. King’s closed coffin lay framed by an array of floral arrangements, two of his guitars named Lucille, and a tapestry showing him in eyes-clenched reverie picking a note from a section of the guitar frets dubbed by followers the “B.B. King Box.” As the applause ended, granddaughter Landra Williams dubbed him “the backbone of our family King.” More than 10 of King’s 35 grandchildren and eight of the blues icon’s 11 surviving adult children spoke during a two-hour service. Music industry icons such as Claudette King Robinson, Carlos Santana and Richie Sambora also attended. Separate memorials are planned in the coming days in Memphis and in King’s hometown of Indianola, Miss., where he will be buried next Saturday after the 35th annual B.B. King Homecoming Festival. King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, won 15 Grammys and sold more than 40 million records worldwide.