Stickpin of ‘Hanging Judge’ returned to museum

FORT SMITH — A stickpin that belonged to the Old West’s legendary “Hanging Judge” has been returned to an Arkansas museum days after it was stolen.

The gold-and-diamond pin in the shape of a lizard once belonged to federal Judge Isaac C. Parker. Officials at the Fort Smith Museum of History say the pin disappeared from a display case on Thursday.

The Fort Smith Police Department says the pin has been recovered and was returned to the museum on Saturday. Police say they are still investigating how the artifact was stolen.

Parker was notorious because of the large number of convicts he sentenced to death. The pin is one of only a few pieces of Parker’s personal property in the museum’s collection.

A $1,300 reward had been offered for return of the pin.

Bribery sentence upheld for Arkansas businessman

WARM SPRINGS — A federal appeals court has upheld the seven-year prison sentence of a northeast Arkansas businessman convicted of bribery and wire fraud.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that judges on Thursday upheld the 2016 convictions and correlating sentence of Ted Suhl, who jurors found paid up to $20,000 in cash bribes over four years to a state health official in hopes of receiving inside information to benefit his businesses. Suhl owned Maxus Inc. and Trinity Behavioral Health.

Suhl argued in his appeal that a federal judge improperly defined the crime of bribery in analyzing his indictment and instructing jurors; committed evidentiary errors; and unreasonably calculated the amount of loss related to the crime.

But the judges wrote in their opinion Thursday that they’re unconvinced, citing Suhl’s effort to increase his companies’ Medicaid reimbursement rates by paying the state official.