Television producer Aaron Spelling dies at 83

By: Associated Press | Friday, June 23, 2006 8:24 PM PDT ∞

Aaron Spelling poses for a photo in his Los Angeles office in this November 1993 file photo. Spelling, a onetime movie bit player who turned to television production to create a massive number of hit series from the vintage "Charlie's Angels," "Dynasty," "Love Boat" and "Fantasy Island" to "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place," died Friday, his publicist said. He was 83. Spelling died at his home in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke on June 18, according to publicist Kevin Sasaki.
Associated Press File Photo

LOS ANGELES -- Aaron Spelling, a onetime movie bit player who created a massive number of hit series, from the vintage "Charlie's Angels" and "Dynasty" to "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place," died Friday, his publicist said. He was 83.

Spelling died at his home in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke on June 18, according to publicist Kevin Sasaki.

Spelling's other hit series included "Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," "Burke's Law," "The Mod Squad," "Starsky and Hutch," "T.J. Hooker," "Matt Houston," "Hart to Hart" and "Hotel." He kept his hand in 21st-century TV with series including "7th Heaven" and "Summerland."

He also produced more than 140 television movies. Among the most notable: "Death Sentence" (1974), Nick Nolte's first starring role; "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" (1976), John Travolta's first dramatic role; and "The Best Little Girl in the World" (1981), which starred Jennifer Jason Leigh.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Spelling provided series and movies exclusively for ABC and is credited for the network's rise to major status. Jokesters referred to it as "The Aaron Broadcasting Company."

Success was not without its thorns. TV critics denounced Spelling for fostering fluff and nighttime soap operas. He called his shows "mind candy"; critics referred to them as "mindless candy."

"The knocks by the critics bother you," he admitted in a 1986 interview with The Associated Press.

"But you have a choice of proving yourself to 300 critics or 30 million fans. You have to make a choice. I think you're also categorized by the critics. If you do something good they almost don't want to like it."

He liked to cite some of his more creditable achievements, like "Family" (1976-80), a drama about a middle-class family, and "The Best Little Girl in the World."

Among his prestige films for TV: "Day One" (1988), about an atomic blast in middle America; "And the Band Played On" (1992), based on Randy Shilts' book about the AIDS crisis.

Spelling had arrived in Hollywood virtually penniless in the early 1950s. By the 1980s, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $300 million. He enjoyed his status, working in a Hollywood office larger than those of golden-era moguls ("I'm slightly claustrophpobic," he explained.) He gifted his second wife, Candy, with a 40-carat diamond ring.

The Spellings' most publicized extravagance was their 56,500-square-foot French chateau in Holmby Hills.

The couple bought the former Bing Crosby estate for $10 million. It was leveled to the ground, along with two other houses. Construction cost was estimated at $12 million.

The two-story house reached a height of 51 feet. Among the features: an entire floor for closets, a one-lane bowling alley, plus the usual elements for the Hollywood rich -- pool, tennis court, gym, screening room. Built on rollers, it easily survived the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

The mansion dwarfed nearby estates, and the neighbors were furious. One woman won an injunction during construction, calling the place "Look-at-me-I'm-rich architecture."

Spelling grew up in a small frame house on Browder Street in Dallas "on the wrong side of the tracks," he wrote in his 1996 autobiography. He was the fourth son of immigrant Jews, his father from Poland, mother from Russia. The father's name, Spurling, was simplified to Spelling by an Ellis Island official.

Spelling enlisted in the Army Air Corps after graduating from high school in 1942.

"I grew up thinking 'Jew boy' was one word," the producer wrote in his memoir, "Aaron Spelling: A Prime-Time Life." He was considered strange by his Dallas schoolmates because his parents spoke Yiddish. He was subjected to anti-Semitic taunts and beatings on his way home from school.

At 8, the boy suffered what he termed a nervous breakdown, and he spent a year in bed. He later considered that period the birth of his creative urge. He fell in love with great storytellers, especially O. Henry. Of his early TV series he said, "They are all O. Henry short stories."

"I still have nightmares about being in a $6,000 house in Dallas, Texas," he remarked in a 1996 AP interview. "Wall-to-wall people, one bathroom. I was the one to go to the local bakery a block away on Saturday to get the day-old stuff."

After combat and organizing entertainment in Europe during the war, Spelling returned to Texas and enrolled at Southern Methodist University, where he wrote and directed plays. He continued working in local theatrics after graduating.

Finding no work in New York, Spelling moved to Los Angeles, where he staged plays and acted in more than 40 TV shows and 12 movies. His skinny frame suited him for the role of a ragged beggar in the MGM musical "Kismet." He worked for three weeks, repeating his one line: "Alms for the love of Allah."

The "Kismet" experience resulted in two decisions: he abandoned acting for the typewriter; he married a young actress he had been courting, Carolyn Jones. She became well-known, especially as Morticia in "The Addams Family" series. They divorced after 13 years, and she died of cancer in 1983.

Spelling's friendship with such actor-producers as Dick Powell, Jack Webb and Alan Ladd led to his rapid rise as a prolific writer and later producer of TV series. In 1960, Powell, head of Four Star Productions, hired him to produce shows for Powell himself, his wife June Allyson and Lloyd Bridges. "Burke's Law," with Gene Barry as a millionaire detective, became the first hit series Spelling created.

After Powell's death, Spelling teamed with Danny Thomas in a production company, scoring a huge success with "The Mod Squad," about a trio of youthful undercover cops. In 1969, Spelling began an exclusive contract with ABC, helping the network to rise from a low third place to the top of the network ratings. Former ABC programming chief Leonard Goldberg joined him as partner in 1972.

After ABC cancelled "Dynasty" in 1989 and his contract with the network had ended, Spelling found himself without a show on the air for the first time since 1960.

"I was so depressed, I would have quit, but I like TV too much," Spelling wrote in his memoir. Besides, his company had started issuing stock in 1986, and he had an obligation to his investors. After a year's respite, he returned with "Beverly Hills 90210," which helped launch the fledgling Fox Network into the bigtime. "Melrose Place" gave Fox another hit.

Throughout his career, Spelling maintained the same image: the skinny frame, slightly hawkish face. He usually posed with a pipe in his mouth, a custom he adopted early after seeing stars with pipes in fan magazine photos.

Spelling and his second wife, Candy, had two children, Tori (for Victoria), who became a star on the two Fox serials ("Now I'm known as Tori Spelling's father," he said in mock lament), and Randy, who appeared in the short-lived "Malibu Shores."

Spelling set a record of producing more than 3,000 TV shows. Besides the TV movies, he produced 10 theatrical films including "California Split," "Mr. Mom." "'night, Mother," "Loose Cannons" and "Soapdish."

Ohio storms blamed for two deaths, dozens of injuries


CLEVELAND (AP) -- Two days of severe storms injured dozens of people in Ohio and killed at least two, a teenage boy who was camping when a tree crashed into his tent and a firefighter who tried to rescue two teenagers from rising floodwaters.

The storms left thousands of people without power Friday morning, and flood and storm watches remained in effect across northern Ohio for the third day.

Near the village of Wellington, about 40 miles southwest of Cleveland, Al Anderson Jr., 47, drowned Thursday as he tried to reach the teens, whose Jeep had gotten stuck, authorities said. The teens were rescued by boat.

The boy killed in the tent had been camping Thursday in an area southwest of Canton when the storm hit, according to Brewster Fire Chief Dale Starcher and Dunlap Hospital in Orrville. Another boy with him was hospitalized with head injuries, authorities said.

In southeastern Ohio, nine people, including seven law enforcement officers, were injured in Logan Thursday when lightning struck a shelter during a charity run, according to the State Highway Patrol. One officer was in intensive care with critical injuries, according to the patrol and Ohio Special Olympics, the race organizer.

More than a dozen other people statewide were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning, including two families sickened by fumes from generators they were using to remove water from their basements, Rossford Fire Chief Jim Verbosky said.

The storms wrecked havoc across the upper Midwest starting Wednesday, with tornadoes in Michigan and Ohio and street flooding in Indiana, Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

"It just looks like someone came through with a shovel and scrapped the shingles off about half the houses out here," Karen Bingham said as she cleared debris from her lawn in Lima.

Lima's hospitals reported 17 injuries, 13 of them from traffic accidents.

Powerful wind gusts as high as 80 mph also split mobile homes at a trailer park in Brewster and flipped small planes on the tarmac at the Allen County Airport in northeast Ohio.

Norwalk, about halfway between Cleveland and Toledo, was one of the hardest-hit areas. Seven inches of rain sent the city's reservoir spilling over its banks, cutting the city in two. Mayor Sue Lesch called the flooding the worst since a dam break in 1969.

Associated Press Writer James Hannah in Dayton contributed to this report.

Son of oil tycoon who feuded with Anna Nicole Smith over fortune dead at 67


DALLAS (AP) -- E. Pierce Marshall, who feuded for years with former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith over his father's oil fortune, has died, his spokesman said Friday. He was 67.

Marshall died unexpectedly Tuesday evening in the Dallas area from a brief and extremely aggressive infection, the family said in a written statement released through spokesman David Margulies. He declined to provide additional details.

"The family would politely request that their privacy be respected during this extremely difficult time as they grapple with this devastating loss," the statement said.

Smith married Texas oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994, when she was 26 and he was 89. He died the following year. Since then, E. Pierce Marshall has been locked in a legal battle over her entitlement to the estate.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month revived former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith's pursuit of her late husband's oil fortune, ruling Monday that the one-time stripper deserves another day in court.

The case has had twists and turns. Smith won a $474 million judgment, which was cut to about $89 million and eventually reduced to zero.

"Mr. Marshall leaves behind a legacy of being, first and foremost, a remarkable husband, father and grandfather, a successful business visionary and a man of unrivaled perseverance and principle," the Margulies statement said.

R.I. man whose penile implant malfunctioned wins $400,000 in lawsuit


PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A former handyman has won more than $400,000 in a lawsuit over a penile implant that gave him a 10-year erection.

Charles "Chick" Lennon, 68, received the steel and plastic implant in 1996, about two years before Viagra went on the market. The Dura-II is designed to allow impotent men to position the penis upward for sex, then lower it.

But Lennon could not position his penis downward. He said he could no longer hug people, ride a bike, swim or wear bathing trunks because of the pain and embarrassment. He has become a recluse and is uncomfortable being around his grandchildren, his lawyer said.

In 2004, a jury awarded him $750,000. A judge called that excessive and reduced it to $400,000. On Friday, the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed that award in a ruling that turned on a procedural matter.

"I don't know any man who for any amount of money would want to trade and take my client's life," said Jules D'Alessandro, Lennon's attorney. "He's not a whole person."

A lawyer representing both Dura-II manufacturer Dacomed Corp. and the company's insurer declined to comment. Dacomed maintained that nothing was wrong with the implant.

The implant consists of a series of plastic plates strung together with steel surgical wire, almost like a roll of wrapped coins. Springs press against the plates, creating enough surface tension to simulate an erection, D'Alessandro said.

Lennon cannot get the implant removed because of health problems, including open-heart surgery, his lawyer said. Impotence drugs could not help Lennon even if he were able to have the device taken out, because tissue had be to removed for it to be implanted.

Dacomed was later acquired by a California company whose sales dropped when Viagra was introduced on the market. The company filed for bankruptcy the following year.

Pilot, three high school students die in small-plane crash in Maine mountains


NEWRY, Maine (AP) -- The crash of a light plane on a remote mountainside in western Maine killed the pilot and three high school students who were taking an introductory flight lesson, authorities said.

The three passengers, members of an Air Force Jr. ROTC program, were participating in a summer leadership program that included an introduction to flight, Lewiston High School principal Gus LeBlanc said Friday.

"It's kind of unspeakable at this time," LeBlanc said.

The four-seat Cessna 172 crashed Thursday about an hour after picking up the students at the Bethel airport. The passengers' names were not immediately released.

The pilot, 24-year-old Charlie Weir, was a certified flight instructor with more than 900 hours of flight experience, said Nate Humphrey, president of Auburn-based Twin Cities Air Service, which operated the plane.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, Humphrey said. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

Recovery operations continued into Friday evening to remove the four bodies from the wreckage, which sat in a heavily wooded area near a ravine.

"It's incredibly difficult terrain to get into," said Mark Latti, spokesman for the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. "One of the wardens said it's as close as Maine has to a jungle."

Counselors were brought to the school to help the other students through grieving.

Police suspect 2-year-old Texas boy abducted from park


IRVING, Texas (AP) -- Authorities fear that a 2-year-old boy who disappeared while playing at a park was abducted, police said.

An Amber Alert was issued for Elian Majano on Thursday, the day after his mother drove him to the park to play. Yancy Majano, 24, told police her son was out of her sight for only a minute or two.

"We have to make a logical assumption now that an abduction has taken place," said police spokesman David Tull.

The boy's 4-year-old brother, who was with Elian just before he disappeared, was taken into custody by Child Protective Services over concerns that the children might not have had adequate supervision, said CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales.

Rescuers find the first of 65 bodies in mine following February explosion


MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Rescuers have found the first of 65 bodies believed to have been left in a northern Mexican mine following a February explosion, authorities said Friday.

The body was found about dawn as workers were removing debris from one of the shafts at the Pasta de Conchos mine in northern Coahuila state, said Ramiro Gonzalez, an official from the state attorney general's office.

Investigators from the attorney general's office had entered the mine, and were trying to recover and identify the body, Gonzalez said.

Mine owner Grupo Mexico issued a statement confirming the discovery of the body and expressing its sympathy to relatives of all 65 workers killed in the Feb. 19 explosion near San Juan Sabinas, about 135 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of the Texas border.

Relatives of the victims said Pasta de Conchos was unsafe and workers had inadequate equipment, prompting more than 5,000 members of Mexico's Mining and Metal Workers Union to go on strike over safety issues.

Grupo Mexico has offered each family about $72,000 in compensation, in addition to pensions, insurance and other benefits they are entitled to by law.

The company said it will set up a fund for the education of the dead workers' children up to college graduation and will also pay their wages until the other benefits are processed.

The union said it is asking for at least double what the company is offering.

Grand jury indicts teacher accused in attack on teenager


BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- A grand jury indicted a former teacher accused of attacking a teenager and leaving her clinging to life in a park.

Samson Shelton, 26, was charged Friday with attempted murder.

Authorities said that Shelton choked 17-year-old Ashley Reeves with a belt and injured her neck with his forearm before leaving her for dead in Belleville's Citizens Park, where she was found April 29.

Prosecutors said they would pursue an extended sentence, citing the "heinous and brutal" nature of the attack. That means Shelton could receive up to 60 years in prison if convicted.

Shelton's attorney, Justin Kuehn, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

School officials have said Shelton was once a teacher at a middle school Reeves attended. Investigators have said that Reeves and Shelton had a relationship, but declined to elaborate.

Reeves was moved to a private Missouri rehab center May 23 from a St. Louis hospital where she'd been treated after being rescued.

Shelton is free on $800,000 bond with orders to stay home, attached to electronic monitoring.

Baltimore police officer who robbed drug dealers sentenced to 139 years in prison


BALTIMORE (AP) -- A former police officer was sentenced to 139 years in prison Friday for robbing drug dealers and selling the drugs himself.

Antonio Murray, 35, portrayed the shakedowns as the way things were done on the streets in a difficult and dangerous job.

Murray was convicted in April with another former police officer, William King. The judge who sentenced Murray, U.S. District J. Frederick Motz, gave King 315 years in prison last week and called on the U.S. Supreme Court to review the federal law that calls for consecutive sentences when a person uses a gun in a crime such as robbery.

The officers, who joined the force in 1992, worked in the department's housing authority unit. They were accused of taking drugs and cash from dealers and letting them go.

The officers had become so notorious for shaking down drug dealers that they were mentioned in "Stop Snitching," an underworld DVD that circulated on Baltimore's streets, warning people not to talk to police about drug activity.

Sheriff's deputy mistook pistol for Taser


BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) -- A sheriff's deputy who was trying to get a man down from a tree shot and wounded him after mistakenly pulling a gun instead of a Taser, authorities say.

The deputy, a five-year veteran of the force whose name was not released, was placed on leave while Thursday's shooting is investigated.

Deputies carry both a Taser and a gun on their utility belts. The Taser, or stun gun, is similar in shape to the compact .40-caliber gun the deputy carried, sheriff's spokesman Scott Wilson said.

The victim was listed in satisfactory condition.

The man had been climbed a fig tree and stayed there for hours, talking to himself. Deputies were unsure whether he was intoxicated or psychotic, and they wanted to get him down before he hurt himself or others, Wilson said.

Deputies and rescue workers tried to coax him down for almost two hours, during which he became increasingly hostile, said David Blakeslee, an employee at an auto repair shop nearby.

Blakeslee said the man climbed down on his own after getting shot.

"He said, 'Ow, that hurt. I'm coming down, I'm coming down,"' Blakeslee said.

Mexico to argue 'Railroad Killer' mentally unfit for execution in U.S.


MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The Mexican government said Friday it was fighting the execution in Texas of a Mexican man known as the "Railroad Killer," arguing he shouldn't face the death penalty because he's mentally ill.

Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez has sent a letter to the Texas parole board opposing the execution by lethal injection of Angel Maturino Resendiz, 46, who defense lawyers have said is mentally unfit because he allegedly believes he is half human, half angel.

The Foreign Relations Department also is preparing legal protests against the execution scheduled for Tuesday, the department said in a news release.

"According to international law and the current practice in the (United) States, mentally ill people should not be subject to the death penalty," it said.

A Texas judge ruled this week that Resendiz was mentally competent to be executed.

Resendiz was convicted of raping and murdering Houston, Texas-area physician Claudia Benton in her home in December 1998.

He also has been linked to eight slayings in Texas, two each in Illinois and Florida, and one each in Kentucky, California and Georgia between 1986 and 1999. Resendiz has claimed to have committed even more killings.

Resendiz became known as the "Railroad Killer" because many of the attacks were near railroad tracks and because he was known to hop on trains to travel around the United States.

The crimes landed him on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list until he turned himself in to a law enforcement official in El Paso, Texas, in 1999.

Baby pelicans starving along California coast


CORDELIA (AP) -- Miles from the shores where they usually soar, 10 baby brown pelicans lounge by a pool in a roomy cage, large buckets of fish there for the taking.

Just days ago, these birds could not feed themselves at all.

Starving baby pelicans -- emaciated, cold and too weak to fly -- are washing up on California beaches in disturbing numbers this spring, say wildlife rescuers and state officials.

The underfed pelicans have stirred concerns over this endangered species, which has recently shown signs of recovery. Ironically, biologists say, that recovery could also be the source of the problem.

The International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia, in the grassy hills about 50 miles northeast of San Francisco, has taken in almost two dozen pelicans this month.

Jay Holcomb, the center's executive director, said most came ashore near Santa Cruz and Monterey. All are between 2 and 4 months old.

The center's sister facility in San Pedro, south of Los Angeles, has cared for more than 50 Southern California birds since late May.

"We have an unusually high number in rehab this year," Holcomb said.

Several dead birds tested by the California Department of Fish and Game turned up with empty stomachs, said Hannah Nevins, a seabird biologist with the department. No evidence of toxins or infectious diseases was found.

A successful breeding season this spring made the competition for food among the pelicans more intense, Nevins said. Young pelicans fresh from the nest face steep odds against more experienced adults in the hunt for food.

"You see all these young birds trying to make it on their own," she said.

More research is needed to see whether the starving birds also indicate a shortage of the sardines, anchovies, and other schooling fish on which pelicans feed, Nevins said.

To stabilize the starving pelicans arriving in Cordelia, rehabilitation workers hook them up to intravenous fluids. The birds then move on to liquid food tubed directly into their stomachs before being released to the cages outside.

"Some of the birds are so weak you cannot give them whole fish," said Megan Prelinger, a wildlife rehabilitation specialist at the Rescue Research Center.

Pelicans can eat up to 5 pounds of fish per day once they move back to solid food. Nursing a bird back to health, Prelinger said, takes about 10 days and $200.

Of the more than 20 birds the Rescue Research Center has helped, two have died from starvation. Three others have recovered fully and were released back into the wild along San Francisco Bay.

"This is their second chance," Holcomb said. Nearby, an assistant pressed a stethoscope to a baby pelican's breast. "We want them to be perfect so they have a chance of making it."

California brown pelican populations began to rebound after the federal government banned the pesticide DDT in 1972. Pelicans nested on Prince Island near Southern California's Channel Islands this year for the first time since 1939, evidence the bird is finally returning to its historic breeding colonies.

Scientists estimate 7,000 breeding pairs have nested in California in recent years, up from a complete collapse in the early 1970s.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now considering whether to remove the California brown pelican from the federal endangered species list.

On the Net:

Endangered species: http://www.fws.gov/endangered/wildlife.html.Species

Pelican may have been flying while intoxicated when it crashed into car

LAGUNA BEACH - A pelican that crashed head-on into a car windshield may have been flying while intoxicated on sea algae, and officials warned people today to be on the lookout for more unusual animal behavior. - The California Brown Pelican flew into a car windshield yesterday on Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach.

It was in guarded condition with internal injuries at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, where a four-inch gash in its pouch was stitched up and its right toe was stabilized with a pin, said Lisa Birkle, assistant wildlife director.

Wildlife officials said the bird may have been high on an algae in the ocean that could be reaching Orange County.

If the bird's behavior was a result of eating the sea algae and subsequent Domoic Acid poisoning -- which has affected seabirds and marine mammals the last two months -- then more birds could be affected and people should be on the lookout for similar unusual behavior, Birkle said.

Symptoms range from general disorientation, acting "drunk" or just being in an unusual place, she said.

Any unusual behavior in pelicans should be reported to the wildlife center in Huntington Beach at (714) 374-5587, Birkle said.

Brown pelicans are an endangered species that are protected from hunters. But the government is seeking to "de-list" them from that status because they have made a comeback from their dwindled numbers caused by DDT poisoning years ago, Birkle said.

-- North County Times wire services

Suspect in Nevada killing, sniper shooting, surrenders in Mexico

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- A wealthy former pawn shop owner, accused of killing his wife and shooting the judge handling their divorce, was back on U.S. soil Friday after 11 days on the lam that ended on Mexico's posh resort coast, authorities said.

Darren Mack, 45, surrendered at a hotel in the Pacific coast resort city of Puerto Vallarta on Thursday night. Mack, who was not armed, was taken into custody without incident, authorities said.

A bearded Mack arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Friday morning, said Reno Police Chief Michael Poehlman. He will be extradited to Nevada, but no arrangements for the transfer have yet been made, Poehlman said.

Reno detectives flew to Dallas aboard the state's jet early Friday.

Though Mack voluntarily left Mexico and has said he will not fight extradition, authorities said he must appear before a magistrate in Texas before he can be returned to Nevada.

Mack is charged with the murder of his estranged wife, Charla Mack, whose body was found in a pool of blood in his townhouse garage June 12, hours after Judge Chuck Weller was shot in the chest while standing by the window of his courthouse office. Mack also will be charged with attempted murder for the attack on Weller, who survived, Poehlman said.

Mack's Reno attorney, Scott Freeman said he and co-counsel David Chesnoff of Las Vegas are eager to begin a defense.

Freeman said Mack chose to surrender to authorities.

"He did so to be with his family, his children and to defend himself," Freeman said.

It wasn't known how Mack traveled to Mexico or how long he's been there. Poehlman said investigators were still looking for a rented 2006 Ford Explorer he was driving.

The FBI and Mexican authorities cooperated in the search for Mack, establishing checkpoints and searching buses and bus stations after learning Mack was traveling by public transportation, authorities said.

"The arrest of accused killer Darren Roy Mack proves that criminals cannot find a safe haven on either side of the border," Tony Garza, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said in a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

Poehlman said intense media coverage on both sides of the border helped investigators and persuaded Mack to turn himself in.

"We believe he was aware that things were tightening around him," Poehlman said.

On Thursday, authorities said Mack was believed to be on Mexico's west coast and had been spotted by a swimming pool at a resort in Cabo San Lucas. He had arranged to surrender Thursday morning at the U.S. consulate in Puerto Vallarta, but didn't show up.

Mack contacted Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick earlier this week and "expressed a desire to surrender," according to Poehlman.

Gammick said Mack's lawyers called him about 5 p.m. Thursday, and new arrangements were made for his surrender later that night.

Gammick, who has known Mack for 20 years, said no decision has been made on whether the state will seek the death penalty.

"We're not there yet," Gammick said, who will not handle the prosecution. "This case will be handled like every other murder case in the county."

Gammick said there's no evidence anyone else was involved in the stabbing of Charla Mack or the shooting of Weller, but authorities don't know if Mack had help fleeing the country.

Weller was shot in the chest from three football fields away. He was released from the hospital last week and is recovering at an undisclosed location under guard.

In a brief statement issued after Mack's capture, Weller said he and his family are grateful "this tragedy has been resolved in a peaceful manner without further bloodshed."

A custody hearing in the Macks' contentious divorce case was scheduled before Weller in September.

Charla Mack's mother, Soorya Townley, and brother, Christopher Broughton, planned a Friday afternoon news conference in Reno.

Mack was a co-owner of Palace Jewelry & Loan Co. Inc., a pawn shop, until he turned over control in 2005 to his mother, a lawyer for the business said. Mack earned more than $500,000 a year and had a net worth of $9.4 million as recently as 2004, according to court documents.

The FBI added Mack to its Most Wanted Fugitives list Tuesday, the same day Charla Mack, 39, was buried.

A search warrant affidavit said officers who searched Mack's townhouse found several boxes of ammunition and an empty gun case with a receipt for a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle equipped with a laser sighting device.

D.A. will decide on retrying mother in baby meth poisoning case

CORONA (AP) -- Prosecutors will decide whether to retry a woman accused of killing her baby by nursing with methamphetamine-laced breast milk after a jury deadlocked on murder charges and a judge declared a mistrial.

The jury stalemated 6-6 Thursday in the murder case against Amy Leanne Prien, said Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the Riverside County district attorney's office.

"It was a very difficult case with complicated issues involved," Wyatt said.

Prien, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence for felony child endangerment, would have faced 15 years to life if she had been convicted. The jury got the case June 15 after a 2.5-month trial.

The district attorney's office has until July 11 to decide on retrying the case, which began when Prien was arrested in January 2002 and was charged with murdering 3-month-old Jacob Wesley Smith.

Prien was convicted of second-degree murder in 2003, but an appeals court overturned the conviction in September, citing flawed jury instructions from the trial judge.

The prosecution was believed to be the first of its kind in California.

Prien said she woke up and found her son dead in her bed on Jan. 19, 2002. The prosecution argued during the trial that Prien, who had smoked meth for 10 to 15 years, would breast-feed her child after smoking even though she knew it could damage him.

When Prien was arrested, blood tests showed the methamphetamine levels in her blood were within a potentially lethal range, but police never tested her breast milk.

Her attorney, Joe Reichmann of Los Angeles, argued that the charges were based on "make-believe science" because authorities never knew how much of the drugs were in her milk.

Defense co-counsel, Stephen Yagman, said Thursday in a phone interview that the baby's death was caused by pneumonia and not drugs. He said the district attorney's office was "out of control" and had violated his client's civil rights.

Prien's defense filed a $10 million civil lawsuit against the district attorney's office alleging a violation of her rights and spurious prosecution, but it was thrown out.

Nelson said she would recommend to District Attorney Grover Trask that the case be retried.

Police officer alleges he was fired for admitting drug problem

LOS ANGELES - A former police officer is suing the Covina Police Department, alleging he was fired for admitting to abusing alcohol and drugs.

Victor Lupu, who worked for the police department for nearly 26 years, filed his lawsuit yesterday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging various violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.

Lupu alleges he was discriminated against and subjected to ongoing harassment for having a physical disability caused by his substance abuse. He is seeking unspecified damages for loss of income, benefits and medical expenses, as well as for emotional distress.

Covina Police Chief Kim Raney was not immediately available for comment.

Lupu's lawyer, Gregory W. Smith, said today that the ex-officer's substance abuse was job-related, but he declined to explain further. Lupu does not face any criminal charges, Smith said.

"This wasn't like Rampart where they were taking drugs right from the evidence room," Smith said.

Lupu began abusing alcohol in 2003 and then started using drugs in January 2005, according to the lawsuit.

Lupu told Raney about his substance abuse problem in June 2005 and said he had made an appointment for treatment through the department's employee assistance program, the lawsuit stated.

"The chief told (Lupu) that he could receive treatment, but told (him) not to make any long-term treatment commitments until he determined the course of action that he (Raney) would take," the lawsuit states.

Six days later, Raney told Lupu he would have to use his own insurance to pay for his recovery effort. He was also denied a leave of absence, according to the suit.

"Instead, (Lupu) was terminated from his employment for voluntarily coming forward for assistance..." according to the lawsuit.

Lupu was a senior officer assigned to the patrol division at the time of his firing, Smith said. Lupu also had worked as a detective, Smith said. CNS-06-23-2006 15:37

Man shot three times in the leg

SAN DIEGO - A man who claimed he was a member of the Mexican Mafia was shot three times today when he challenged another man to a fight in the East Village, police said.

A man was sitting on his porch at 350 17th St. when he watched another man strike several vehicles before parking his car, San Diego police Sgt. Rich Nemetz said.

When he told the motorist to be more careful, the man approached the porch from his car, said he was in the Mexican Mafia and challenged the resident to a fight, Nemetz said.

The resident told the man he was armed with a pistol and ordered him to get off his property, Nemetz said, adding that when the man refused, the resident opened fire, striking him three times in the leg, Nemetz said.

Both men were detained, and the gunshot victim was taken to a hospital for treatment, Nemetz said.

-- North County Times wire services