Commission Seeks Change In Estate Appointment

{Charleston, West Virginia}...Kanawha County commissioners are asking Circuit Court Judge Tod Kaufman to reconsider his order appointing 34 year old Susan R. Williams of Cedar Grove as executrix of the estate of her deceased mother, Ray Joyce Breeden, because Williams is a convicted felon. Kaufman also ordered the commission to pay all of Williams' attorney fees and court costs. Commission President Kent Carper says the fiduciary office has a policy barring convicted felons from being placed in charge of estates. Carper said the policy stemmed from cases of executors or executrixes "raiding" estates. In 1997, Williams pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to transfer, manufacture and possess unregistered firearms. She tried to sell 20 homemade pipe bombs to an undercover federal agent in February 1997 for $400. Williams was sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison.