Scott Peterson thanks supporters on web site

By: Associated Press | Friday, July 29, 2005 9:27 PM PDT ∞

SAN FRANCISCO ---- Double murderer Scott Peterson, convicted of killing his wife and unborn son, has issued his first public message via the Web -- a thank you to supporters -- since he was condemned to death in Modesto in December.

"For me, the amount of support we have received is just incredible," he writes in a note dated July 21 from San Quentin prison on a Web site hosted by the Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty, based in Toronto.

"Those who have decided to reach out to our family have made such a difference. In every conversation among our family there is always the mention of your thoughts and letters. At mail call I am encouraged by, and enjoy hearing from people." The short message is bordered by a drawing of barbed wire and features a photo of Peterson in a suit sitting at a defense table in court.

"Coming soon," the site promises, "family photos, holidays." There are also downloads of court documents, links to sites supporting Peterson's innocence and an appeal to "send Scott messages of support" to his new home on death row.

Peterson says in the message he would like to respond with personal notes but some receiving his letters have sold them and sometimes "fabricated content."

"It's an irritating, unfortunate situation," he says.

Peterson does not have Internet access on death row. His note was posted on the site by the Canadian group which hosts similar pages on behalf of some 500 death row inmates.

Peterson was convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Laci, on Christmas Eve 2002 in a case that riveted the nation. Laci Peterson's body and the tiny corpse of their unborn son were found on the shore of San Francisco Bay months after she disappeared.

Peterson's attorneys have filed for a new trial.

Umpire bans youth team from speaking Spanish on field

By: Associated Press

METHUEN, Mass. -- An umpire ordered players on local Little League team to stop speaking Spanish during a state tournament game this week, a decision the coach said demoralized the team and cost it the game.

"This never should have happened," head coach Chris Mosher told the Eagle-Tribune newspaper. "These are 14-year-old kids who should not have to deal with any of this, especially in Little League baseball."

National Little League spokesman Lance Van Auken said there's no rule against players speaking Spanish or any other language on the field. But he said it's too late to reverse the decision or the outcome of the game.

Mosher said he tried to file a protest after the game, but under league rules, protests must be filed before the game ends.

"It appears the umpire was concerned that the coach or manager may have been using a language other than English ... to communicate potentially 'illegal' instructions to his players," Van Auken said in an e-mail to The Associated Press Friday. "The umpire simply overstepped his authority, and there was no malicious intent."

Mosher said the incident happened Tuesday night during a Junior Little League game against Seekonk in Lakeville.

Methuen was winning 3-1 when assistant coach Domingo Infante instructed the pitcher in Spanish to try to pick off a runner at second base. After the unsuccessful attempt, the umpire called time-out and spoke with the local tournament director. The unidentified umpire then decreed that only English could be spoken.

"All I could hear was, 'We cannot allow this,"' Mosher said. "At this point I was baffled why we could only speak English."

Mosher said he challenged the ruling, but kept his team on the field after the tournament director said it would stand.

An angry Infante then left the field, which Mosher said demoralized his pitcher and catcher, who speak little English. Methuen lost the game 10-6, though the team remains alive in the tournament.

Van Auken told the Eagle-Tribune the umpire won't be punished.

"You're talking about human beings," Van Auken said. "Human beings do make mistakes."

Searchers find body of 2-year-old who fell from bridge in Indiana

By: Associated Press

GARY, Ind. -- Search crews on Friday found the body of a 2-year-old girl who fell at least 40 feet from a highway bridge after flying from an SUV during a crash.

The body of Jatima Greene was found about 20 feet from where she was last seen Wednesday night in the Grand Calumet River, state police said. Jatima fell into the river as the SUV driven by her mother struck a retaining wall on a ramp and flipped over.

About 20 people resumed the search by boat and from helicopters for the toddler's body Friday morning after crews worked throughout the day Thursday in an unsuccessful search, Fire Chief Mark Everett said.

Rescuers said Thursday there was little chance they would find the girl alive after divers looked for her near railroad track abutments in the heavily industrialized area where the water was coated with moss, algae and debris.

Passengers in the car said the girl was wearing a seat belt, but investigators found no child seats in the vehicle.

Family members said those in the SUV were returning home to Gary from a birthday party in Chicago when the crash happened. Police were investigating reports that the SUV went out of control after it was struck from behind by a semitrailer.

Limo driver charged with DUI on prom night loses license for 18 months

By: Associated Press

WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. -- A limousine driver who was busted for drunken driving by the teens she drove to a high school prom has lost her driving privileges.

Christina Tomacelli had her license suspended for 18 months Thursday by a state agency. She was charged April 9 with driving under the influence of alcohol and refusing to submit to a blood-alcohol test and still faces criminal charges.

Tomacelli, 49, of Altamonte Springs, had been driving 10 students to the prom when one used his cell phone to call home and report the driver's erratic behavior. His father called 911.

Police: Mother apparently killed young sons, herself

By: Associated Press

FORT DODGE, Iowa -- A woman apparently shot her two young sons, then herself in the family's home, police said, and a neighbor recalled frequent arguments there in recent months.

The bodies of 3-year-old Braydon Gollob and 2-year-old Brody Gollob were found Thursday by their two older siblings, Police Chief Thomas Francis said Friday. The older children, ages 10 and 13, ran to a neighbor's home to call police.

Police went to the home and found their mother, Richella Stark, lying wounded in an upstairs bedroom. She was taken to a Des Moines hospital, where she later died.

The older children were staying with their father, Francis said. The younger children were the sons of Stark's boyfriend, David Gollob.

Child welfare officials had gone to the home at some point in the last two years, Francis said, but there had been no previous police complaints at the house.

Next-door neighbor Betty Lind said the two toddlers frequently rode their tricycles to her house and called her "Grandma."

She said she heard frequent arguments coming from the home before the boyfriend moved out several months ago.

"I knew they were unhappy and the kids were unhappy and I thought, 'Those poor little kids -- what they have to hear,'" Lind said.

DNA evidence vacates 18-year-old murder conviction

By: Associated Press

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. -- A court on Friday used new DNA tests of hair to overturn the conviction of a man who has spent 18 years behind bars for a rape and murder he says he did not commit.

The ruling by Judge Thomas S. Smith did not exonerate Larry Leroy Peterson, however, and the original charges stand. The judge set bail at $200,000 and said the case would soon be in a jury's hands.

Defense lawyer Vanessa Potkin, who works for the Innocence Project at Cardozo School of Law in New York, said about 30 hairs found at the crime scene were tested for DNA, and none placed Peterson there. Neither do microscopic examinations of 130 additional hairs that were not DNA tested.

Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi said he still believes Peterson, now 54, raped and killed 25-year-old Jacqueline Harrison in Pemberton Township in 1987.

"I am not at liberty to outline the state's case, but suffice it to say we have sufficient evidence to go forward," Bernardi said.

Smith's ruling marked the first time a New Jersey court had overturned a conviction because of DNA evidence.

A trial date could be set at a Sept. 19 hearing.



Mother to serve 18 months for role in son's shooting of postal worker

By: Associated Press

PITTSBURGH -- The mother of a young boy who accidentally shot and killed a postal carrier was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison for illegally owning a gun and lying to federal authorities.

Latoya Burnette, 31, of Butner, N.C., tearfully apologized and asked for lenience, saying her son and two daughters needed her at home.

"I'm very, very sorry," Burnette said. "I'm very traumatized by this situation."

U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry called the killing "a tragedy of epic proportions" and told Burnette she failed in her responsibility as a mother.

Burnette pleaded guilty in March to illegally owning a gun that her son used to shoot Clayton Smith on June 23, 2003 while aiming at a tree outside his apartment window. Smith, 45, of Colliers, W.Va., was in a shopping mall parking lot nearby.

Federal prosecutors said Burnette shouldn't have had the gun because she was a felon -- convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She also pleaded guilty to lying to federal authorities by saying she didn't own it.

Investigators tied Burnette to the shooting when she was in court on an unrelated matter in 2004 and said her boyfriend had taken her .380-caliber gun -- the kind of weapon used to kill the postal worker.

The boy, who was 9 at the time of the shooting, was not charged; investigators ruled the shooting was unintentional because the boy could not see Smith.

Burnette could have gotten up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In addition to the 18 months, McVerry sentenced Burnette to three years probation.

Former Illinois death row inmate found guilty in drugs case

By: Associated Press

CHICAGO -- A former death row inmate whose case helped launch an emotional campaign against the death penalty in Illinois was convicted Friday of drugs and weapons violations following a tumultuous trial.

Aaron Patterson, 41, turned down an offer to hear the verdict by teleconference. He had been banished from the courtroom after defiantly refusing to be cross-examined and shouting to the jury that he was the victim of "a legal lynching."

Patterson could get from 15 years to life in prison when federal Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer sentences him. The sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 4.

Defense attorney Tommy Brewer told reporters after the verdict that "(Patterson)'s angry at authorities as he should be, but he's not an evil person."

He said the tumult surrounding the trial -- one lawyer was released from Patterson's defense team before the trial started after she staged two tearful walkouts in as many days -- provided ample fodder for an appeal.

Patterson spent 17 years in prison, 13 of them on death row, for a double murder he insists he did not commit. He says he was framed by Chicago homicide detectives who tortured him.

In January 2003, then-Gov. George Ryan pardoned Patterson as one of his last acts in office, saying there was no credible evidence against him. Ryan also pardoned three other men and commuted the sentences of all other death row inmates to life without parole.

Patterson emerged from prison saying he would dedicate his life to exposing corruption and police misconduct. He filed a lawsuit against city and county officials who sent him to death row and turned down a $4 million settlement offer from the city.

Prosecutors used witnesses and secretly made recordings to convince jurors that Patterson brokered a series of heroin sales to a government witness, sold marijuana and illegally bought four guns, including a MAC-10 machine pistol.

Patterson claimed he had sought to buy replicas -- not real guns. His attorneys told jurors that he was investigating wrongdoing by law enforcement officials and ended up being set up by the very officials he had been investigating.

Federal prosecutors scoffed at that claim.

"He was using that guise to cover up his gang activity and his drug deals," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro said.