JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Thursday it has hired Jim Woolery, an M&A partner with law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, to help lead its North America M&A division together with Chris Ventresca.

Former global M&A leader Jimmy Elliott, a 14-year veteran of the New York-based investment bank, is being promoted to the position of global chairman of mergers and acquisitions. He will work with the firm's most important clients on strategic transactions.

The bank also is revamping its health care practice, naming Jeff Stutewill as head of its North America Healthcare group. Stute has been the primary mergers and acquisitions partner and a member of the firm's healthcare practice for 17 years. Robbie Huffines will become vice chairman of investment banking.

A former western Massachusetts police chief who organized a gun fair was found not guilty of all charges in the 2008 death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi submachine gun.

Edward Fleury cried and hugged his attorney and family Friday after he was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of furnishing machine guns to minors in the death of Christopher Bizilj on Oct. 26, 2008. Several of Christopher's relatives quickly left the courtroom without commenting.

The former Pelham, Mass., police chief said he regretted holding the machine gun shoot and will never do it again.

"I want to express my heartfelt sympathy to the Bizilj family," the 53-year-old Fleury said in a courthouse hallway to a throng of TV cameras and reporters. "It was always meant to be an educational event for people and it's unfortunate this terrible accident happened."

He said his arrest and the trial were devastating to him and that he would rather be "dropped into hell than go through this again."

Fleury's firearms training company co-sponsored the annual Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club, about 10 miles west of Springfield. Christopher, of Ashford, Conn., was shooting a 9 mm micro Uzi at pumpkins when the gun kicked back and shot him in the head.

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution for a convicted killer in Alabama.

Justice Clarence Thomas had issued a temporary stay shortly before the execution of Leroy White was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday.

A temporary stay gives the court additional time to consider legal arguments in the case. About two-and-a-half hours later the stay was denied.

White was sentenced to die for the 1988 shotgun slaying of his estranged wife, Ruby. White fired while holding their 17-month-old daughter in his arms.

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, the Alabama Supreme Court and a federal judge in Alabama declined to intervene in the execution earlier Thursday.

Herman Michels, a noted lawyer and the former presiding judge for administration of New Jersey's appellate courts division, has died. He was 83.

Michels death on Friday was announced by Gibbons PC, where he served as the law firm's counsel. The firm — which has offices in New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia and Delaware — did not disclose further details, including a cause of death.

The Short Hills resident was appointed to the bench in 1972. He was assigned to the appellate division two years later and became its presiding judge in 1980. He was named as the division's presiding judge for administration in 1985 and served until his retirement in September 1997.

During his time on the bench, Michels wrote more than 3,000 appellate division opinions, including 400 which were published. He was a graduate of Rutgers Law School.

After retiring as a judge, Michels spent more than 10 years with the Gibbons firm, serving as an arbitrator or mediator for hundreds of legal matters. He also was a past chairman of New Jersey's state ethics commission.

"The Judiciary has lost a great champion of the courts and the rule of law," said New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner. "For those with whom he served, it was an honor to have worked with a truly great man and mentor.

Gov. Mitch Daniels has appointed new judges in two central Indiana counties.

The governor's office says Daniels appointed J. Jeffrey Edens as judge of the Boone Circuit Court. Edens succeeds Justice Steven David, who was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court in September. Edens has been serving as judge pro tempore since David's appointment.

Edens is a former Boone County chief deputy prosecutor and past president of the Boone County Chamber of Commerce.

Daniels also appointed David Riggins as a Shelby County Superior Court judge. Riggins succeeds Judge Russell Sanders, who announced his retirement in August.