SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The children of a cancer patient who donated his body for research filed a lawsuit after learning their father's embalmed head was kept in a tool shed for nearly 11 years.
The head of Osie K. Whitten, who died Dec. 24, 1990, of colon cancer, was among 150 pounds of human cadaver parts allegedly removed from the medical center at the University of California, Davis, by a former autopsy assistant.
David Lawrence Beale, who worked for Pathology Support Services Inc., which managed the medical center's morgue and autopsy service, was arrested last summer after the remains were found among his belongings.
He pleaded not guilty to charges of receiving stolen property and possession of methamphetamines. Police say Beale told them he used the remains to hone his dissection skills.
The medical center, Beale and Pathology Support Services were named in the lawsuit filed by Whitten's children.
The medical center said it could not comment; it previously said it had changed the way human remains are handled. Pathology Support Services said Beale's activities were not part of his job.
COTONOU, Benin -- Benin declared three days of national mourning Saturday as crews recovered more bodies from a Christmas Day plane crash that killed at least 138 people, many of them Lebanese.
Lebanon's foreign minister, arriving home from a brief trip to Benin, said overloading may have caused the plane to go down moments after takeoff.
"It appears that the number of passengers exceeds the normal number, in addition to the load, which it appears was very much in excess," Jean Obeidhe told reporters after arriving in Beirut with 15 survivors, including 12 Lebanese, two Palestinians and a Syrian.
The Boeing 727 had 161 people aboard when it clipped a building near the airport's perimeter just after takeoff Thursday in Cotonou, the commercial capital, and plummeted into the shallow surf off Benin's Atlantic Ocean coast.
Benin Foreign Minister Rogatien Biaou said over state radio that 21 people survived, including a pilot.
By Friday night, the search for survivors had been called off and 130 bodies, mostly Lebanese, had been recovered, Biaou said. A military cargo plane sent by France was waiting to airlift corpses to Beirut.
Benin's government ordered the start of three days of national morning, and flags were lowered at government buildings in the impoverished West African country of 9 million.
Lebanon also ordered flags flown at half staff Saturday and Sunday.
In Cotonou's main city morgue, relatives of the victims, mainly Lebanese, huddled in groups trying to identify the dead, holding handkerchiefs over their noses to guard against the corpses' stench.
Eight more bodies washed ashore Saturday and were taken away by medical teams in ambulances to the city's overcrowded morgues.
The Bangladeshi military announced that 15 Bangladeshi peacekeepers were among the dead. The peacekeepers were serving in missions in the war-ravaged West African nations of Sierra Leone and Liberia and were returning home for a break.
French investigators, meanwhile, were to arrive in Benin on Saturday to help search for the plane's flight data recorder, Transport Minister Ahmed Akobi said. The cockpit voice recorder was recovered Friday.
Large pieces of the jet -- including a wing, two engines and the cockpit -- were still on the beach Saturday. People stood around watching as young boys sifted through the debris for valuables or lounged on tattered aircraft seats from the downed plane.
Associated Press
ROSEVILLE -- A Roseville pastor is replacing "Eight is Enough" television star Willie Aames as the next "Bibleman," a comic-book style action hero who quotes Scripture to children in appearances nationwide.
It can take Robert T. Schlipp an hour to struggle into his 32-pound plastic and spandex costume. He'll be joined on stage by his wife, Anayansi Schlipp, 32, who will play the role of Biblegirl.
Both had been popular children's ministers in the Rocklin area northeast of Sacramento, until they felt a new calling to preach nationwide as Christian superheroes. The couple became friends with Aames after his visits to Sunset Christian Church in Rocklin.
They'll officially assume their roles next spring, when Aames steps down after eight years to spend more time with his family. They've been working out three times a week at a gym to get in shape.
She wears a breastplate of armor, a skirt and a mask. He wears a costume in which every piece has a spiritual meaning: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit.
The idea itself comes from the Bible, Romans 13:12, "Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."
"Everything Bibleman wears has a meaning," said Schlipp, 28, though he acknowledges "it's hard to take someone seriously when they're wearing spandex."
Thousands of elementary students do take Bibleman seriously, however, attending stage shows and watching a video series available at Christian bookstores.
"It's one of the most coveted copyrights in Christian retailing," Greg Kraus of Pamplin Entertainment told the Sacramento Bee. The Portland, Ore.-based company owns the rights to Bibleman.
The Schlipps plan to take their elaborate stage show to 80 churches from April to November as part of the "A Light in the Darkness" tour.
Schlipp developed a reputation for theatrical presentations while at Sunset Christian.
"He has a natural gift for being on stage," said Greg Fairrington, senior pastor of the church.
At various times he's driven a motorcycle on stage, catapulted from the sound booth to the stage and arrived for children's services in a go-cart. One time he played magician and made his wife disappear in a box.
"He would do all this crazy stuff," said 11-year-old Ryan Wickens. "He made it lots of fun. I didn't want him to quit as pastor, but I think it will be cool when he's Bibleman."
Associated Press
SANTA ANA -- A Stanton man was in custody Saturday after authorities found a body stuffed in the trunk of a stolen car on Christmas Day, officials said.
Kenneth Mamea Leuelu, 31, was being held without bail at the Orange County Jail for investigation of murder and violating parole for assault and battery, police said.
The body of Reyes Hermosillo, 39, a window glazier, was found in his girlfriend's 1990 Lincoln Town Car, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The car had been reported missing Tuesday.
A neighbor called authorities Thursday night to say the two men were fighting.
Leuelu was standing near the car when deputies arrived and he ran after spotting them, Amormino said. He was found about 30 minutes later hiding in a bathroom.
Hermosillo moved from his family's Stanton home to a nearby duplex where Leuelu lived, said his niece Karen Hermosillo, 29, of Stanton.
Her grandmother became worried when Hermosillo failed to call or show up for holiday's gatherings.
It was unclear about what the men had been fighting about, police and family members said.
Associated Press
DUNHAO, China -- Sitting in their temporary shelter in a government office, Xiong Qimei hugged her two sons and waited anxiously Saturday for word that they could return to their village after crews sealed a gas well in China's southwest that spewed toxic fumes and killed at least 198 people.
Xiong's family was among 41,000 people forced to flee their homes by the disaster that left villages strewn with the bodies of adults and children.
"I'm lucky I wasn't injured," said Xiong, 33, whose family shares a crowded family planning center with hundreds of evacuees. "But I miss my home. I feel like I've lost everything."
Hundreds of police and soldiers continued searching the area Saturday for survivors and more bodies, the government said.
Scientists, meanwhile, were measuring toxins in water and on plants after crews plugged the well in a remote, mountainous area with tons of sealant, the government said. But it said people who lived within three miles of the gas field in the town of Gaoqiao, northeast of the major city of Chongqing, weren't allowed to return yet.
Emergency crews spent two hours pouring sealant down the well but didn't give any other details of the operation Saturday, the government said. Earlier reports said technicians were using earth-moving vehicles. Newspaper photos showed them wearing respirators and silvery, head-to-toe protective suits.
While officials have said that light rains forecast over the next three days should help clear away the poison, the official Xinhua News Agency, citing unidentified experts, warned it could also make ground pollution worse.
There didn't appear to be any danger of a new blowout, Xinhua said, citing an industry expert.
Meanwhile, China's Cabinet appointed a team of investigators led by the chief of the national industrial safety agency to find the cause and who was responsible.
Earlier reports said a drilling mishap broke open the well at the Chuangdongbei gas field.
The disaster was huge even by the standards of Chinese industry, which suffers thousands of deaths a year in coal mine explosions and other accidents.
"It was an accident of rare severity," Xinhua quoted a spokesman for the safety agency, Huang Yi, as saying. "We must learn a lesson from it."
According to government figures, China's gas drilling industry is comparatively safe. Two gas blowouts since 1992 have killed a total of 17 people.
Xinhua reported Saturday that one member of the paramilitary People's Armed Police, Lt. Liao Yiquan, discovered the bodies of his uncle, aunt and niece. Later, Liao came across his father, who was blinded by the gas. His mother was still missing.
In Dunhao, northwest of Gaoqiao, evacuees at the family planning center sat outdoors around coal-fueled fires. Dogs and chickens wandered the grounds, dodging trucks arriving with blankets and food.
One room was a sea of straw and mattresses, where families gathered to sleep or keep warm under donated quilts.
Wu Yixiu, 56, said she walked for almost four hours out of a hilly area with her husband and infant grandson to escape.
"We were awakened by a noise that grew louder and louder. It smelled like manure," said Wu. "I could not breathe. I could not see because of the tears in my eyes. I was holding my husband's hand so he could lead me."
Associated Press
RENO, Nev. -- A family drug court judge was in jail after he was sentenced to two days behind bars for drunken driving.
Washoe County District Judge Charles McGee also was ordered to pay nearly $700 in fines, attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings five times a week, submit to daily Breathalyzer tests for six months and attend a DUI victim impact panel.
"Your final order is to remain alcohol-free," Reno Justice of the Peace Fidel Salcedo told McGee during a sentencing hearing Friday.
McGee, 53, reported to jail later in the day and was expected to be released Sunday. He was being segregated from other inmates.
"I have felt terrible shame over this," McGee told Salcedo before sentencing. "I want to apologize to the people who looked up to me."
McGee, a district judge since 1984 and founder of the county's family drug court, was arrested Dec. 9 after being stopped for failure to maintain a lane.
A test showed he had a blood alcohol level of .18 percent, more than twice the legal limit of .08 percent.
McGee pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor count of driving under the influence. Salcedo suspended a 30-day jail sentence and ordered him to spend 48 hours in custody instead.
After the hearing, McGee said he was ready to turn his life around.
"I told my people in drug court Wednesday that I haven't given up on myself," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "I hope by my example I can prove to myself and others that rehabilitation can work."
McGee will continue to hear cases but will handle a lighter load, District Chief Judge James Hardesty said.
McGee earlier acknowledged spending about two months at an alcohol rehabilitation center in the spring.
Salcedo told McGee that he needed to heed the advice he has given to countless defendants who have passed through his court.
"It's time for you to get away from the alcohol. Only one person can make it stop. You're it. You're the chosen one," Salcedo said.
"Yes, sir," McGee replied.
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- The Christmas Day crash of a single-engine plane claimed the lives of six family members, a relative said Saturday.
Henry and Vivienne Waldman, along with their daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren, were killed Thursday when their plane crashed shortly after takeoff at the North Las Vegas Airport, said son Paul Waldman, of Hermosa Beach.
Steven and Susan Maini, both of Las Vegas, and their children, 12-year-old Jack and 6-year-old Michele, also were killed.
Henry Waldman, a retired Air Force colonel, had recently purchased the Beech A-36 Bonanza and was piloting the plane, said Paul Waldman. Henry Waldman, along with his wife, a retired Internal Revenue Service employee, lived in Redondo Beach.
Paul Waldman said he believed the family was heading to Laughlin for a day trip when the plane crashed.
An official with the Clark County coroner's office said the identities of the crash victims would not be released until Monday.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Friday began their investigation into the crash. The charred wreckage of the plane was removed and taken to an airport hangar for examination.
A preliminary report on the crash was expected as early as next week, with the final report, including the likely cause, expected to take more than a year.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot radioed an emergency and indicated he would try to return to the airport shortly before the crash.
NTSB investigator Howard Plagens said the pilot reported engine trouble.
After retiring from the military, Henry Waldman, 66, worked for defense contractor TRW Inc. in Redondo Beach.
Susan Maini, 39, worked in the Las Vegas Department of Finance and Business Services. Steven Maini, 42, was president of Maini Distributing, which supplies soap and other products to hotels and restaurants.
"It's just a tragedy," neighbor Jack Hausner told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "A whole family is gone."
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Only one man holds the key to this room deep under Times Square, where the only sounds are a hissing pipe and a rumbling subway overhead. Behind the blue padlocked door are the pieces of the New Year's ball that will mark midnight as it slides 77 feet down a pole atop One Times Square.
The crystal sphere lands amid the gritty water tanks, rickety planks and iron grates that fill the rooftop of this building -- one of the most recognizable in the world. The 25-story tower has hosted New Year celebrations since it opened in 1904, with the famous "ball drop" added in 1907.
For all its exterior glamour, though, One Times Square is a bit like an amusement park funhouse -- more glitz than guts.
The building is covered on the outside with billboards, flashing lights and an electronic news zipper, but it is virtually empty inside. Countdown Entertainment, which co-produces the annual Dec. 31 event, is the only tenant on its 21st and 22nd floors.
"This whole building is a promotional event," Countdown president Jeff Strauss said.
One Times Square earns most of its keep as a backbone for billboards, electronic ads and the New Year's ball. It serves as "an icon of advertising and modern culture," says entertainment analyst Louis Brill.
Inside, its labyrinth of staircases, halls and elevators are dotted with dust balls and wrapped in an eerie hush. On a recent afternoon, the New Year's crew was assembling the ball in the basement room.
Strauss has the only key and he's guarding a secret: the new pattern of Waterford crystal triangles for this year's ball. An electrician unwraps 72 triangles from boxes that arrived from Ireland; more than 400 other crystals peek from metal storage trunks. Nearby sits the metal "skeleton" that holds the crystals, the pulsating strobe lights and hundreds of other bulbs.
Days before the big night, the 1,070-pound ball is moved to the roof. Its halves are clipped onto the steel pole that rises toward the sky, along with steam wafting up from a giant "hot" noodle soup advertisement below.
On New Year's Eve, the rooftop will become a maze of cables and wires.
"The light power is the equivalent of a Broadway show," says John Trowbridge, a production lighting expert who will direct the crew looking down on hundreds of thousands of revelers expected at Times Square.
One Times Square opened a century ago as headquarters of The New York Times in what was then known as Long Acre Square. Originally called Times Tower, the new limestone Beaux Arts structure was one of the tallest in the world.
The neighborhood was soon renamed Times Square, though the newspaper moved out a decade later. The news zipper, billed as the world's first moving sign, was added in 1928.
One Times Square remained a fairly ordinary office building through much of the last century. In the 1960s, Allied Chemical bought the graceful edifice, stripped it down to its steel core and recoating it with window panels.
The building passed through various hands as the neighborhood was transformed into today's family-friendly hub. To its current owner, the flashy exterior and location matter most.
"If a sign was erected indicating that Times Square is the Crossroads of the World, it would be on this building," says Jeffrey Katz, head of Sherwood Equities, which manages the building.
Like its host, today's New Year's ball is a high-tech marvel with a computer-controlled electric motor and winch. The first ball - 600 pounds of iron - was fueled mainly by imagination.
A Ukrainian-born metalworker was inspired by maritime practices born in the 18th century, when gold-painted "time" balls were lowered in seaports to signal noon, allowing ships to set their navigation devices before sailing.
"The lowering of the ball in Times Square was an instant hit, one of those images people responded to on a very deep level, even if they didn't know why," says Artkraft Strauss president Tama Starr, who spent 19 New Year's Eves atop the building when her company ran the event.
"It was hard, cold work - harder than it looks," Starr wrote in her book, "Signs and Wonders: The Spectacular Marketing of America."
"But," she added, "magic always looks easy."
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO -- The children of a cancer patient who donated his body for research filed a lawsuit after learning their father's embalmed head was kept in a tool shed for nearly 11 years.
The head of Osie K. Whitten, who died Dec. 24, 1990, of colon cancer, was among 150 pounds of human cadaver parts allegedly removed from the medical center at the University of California, Davis, by a former autopsy assistant.
David Lawrence Beale, who worked for Pathology Support Services Inc., which managed the medical center's morgue and autopsy service, was arrested last summer after the remains were found among his belongings.
He pleaded not guilty to charges of receiving stolen property and possession of methamphetamines. Police say Beale told them he used the remains to hone his dissection skills.
The medical center, Beale and Pathology Support Services were named in the lawsuit filed by Whitten's children.
The medical center said it could not comment; it previously said it had changed the way human remains are handled. Pathology Support Services said Beale's activities were not part of his job.
North County Times
FOREST PARK, Ill. -- A man and a 15-year-old boy were charged with attacking two Wal-Mart shoppers following an altercation in a crowded checkout line on Christmas Eve.
The incident began when a group of women cut in line in front of shoppers Matthew Baures, 22, and Genevieve Gomez, 28, sparking an argument, Police Chief Jim Ryan said.
When Baures and Gomez left the suburban Chicago store, a group of men, including the unidentified teen, confronted them in the parking lot, authorities said.
Baures was punched and kicked, and Gomez was struck when she tried to intervene. The teen allegedly hit both victims with a baseball bat. Baures and Gomez were treated at the scene.
On Friday, Lennell Greer, 41, and the boy were charged with felony aggravated battery, said Tom Stanton, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office. The teenager was cited in a juvenile petition.
Greer's wife told the Chicago Sun-Times she and her 11-year-old daughter were involved in the checkout line dispute.
Wal-Mart is investigating, company spokeswoman Sharon Weber said.
Associated Press
CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- Both snipers have been convicted, but the verdicts have left a nagging question: Which of them pulled the trigger in the shootings that killed 10 people and wounded three others in and around the nation's capital in October 2002?
In convicting Lee Boyd Malvo of murder, a jury determined he fired the head shot that killed Linda Franklin as she stood by her car.
Finding Malvo to be the triggerman was necessary to convict the 18-year-old on one of two murder counts, and the guilty verdict indicated the jury believed Malvo's initial confession that he was the sniper in all the shootings, though he later denied most of the responsibility.
"I believe he was the triggerman in all of them," said juror William Hurdle.
A different jury convicted John Allen Muhammad, 42, of the murder of Dean Meyers at a gas station, but with a different set of rules; it did not have to find that he pulled the trigger in order to convict him.
The verdicts don't necessarily conflict, but legal experts say whole truth may never be known.
"The facts in criminal cases can be very messy," said Scott Sundby, a professor at Washington & Lee University law school in Lexington, Va. "We tend to think of trials as TV shows or movie scripts, where we will know by the end who did what and for what reason. That's usually not really the case."
Malvo, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, calmly told police after his arrest that he fired all the shots during the three-week series of attacks. He bragged about how difficult the head shots were, described how the victims fell, and said he only wounded 13-year-old Iran Brown instead of hitting him in the head because the boy moved.
Months later, Malvo began giving defense psychiatrists and psychologists a different account. He admitted shooting 35-year-old bus driver Conrad Johnson, the final sniper victim, but denied being the shooter in the other attacks.
Prosecutors contended Malvo's initial story was the truth, but defense attorneys argued that Malvo lied to protect Muhammad, a man he saw as a father figure, and then told psychiatrists the truth as he emerged from Muhammad's psychological spell.
Muhammad refused to speak to police and mental health experts and did not testify.
"Our ability to access the past is always problematic, and especially when there's two people and one of them is talking and the other isn't," said Anne Coughlin, a University of Virginia law school professor.
However, she said, "We know enough. The state produced sufficient, credible evidence that testified to what these men did, what their differing roles were, and that they are roughly equal in terms of culpability."
Forensic experts found Malvo's DNA and fingerprints on the rifle used in the killings. DNA consistent with Muhammad's also was found on the gun, and forensics linked Muhammad to a telescopic sight found in the car in which the two were arrested.
Witnesses described seeing both Muhammad and Malvo near crime scenes around the times of the shootings, although no one ever saw who fired the gun.
Virginia is rare among states in that it normally restricts death sentences to people convicted of physically carrying out killings, the so-called triggerman rule, Sundby said.
The judge in Malvo's trial stuck close to the rule, telling jurors they had to find that Malvo pulled the trigger in Franklin's slaying in order to convict him of the multiple murder charge and make him eligible for a death sentence on that count.
But the judge in Muhammad's trial allowed the definition of triggerman in the multiple-murder charge to be extended to someone "integrally involved in the crime," Sundby said.
"There is some precedent for expanding that definition, but Muhammad's case definitely pushed it," and is likely to be a point of contention during appeals, Sundby said.
Muhammad's jury last month recommended the death penalty; Malvo's jury last week voted for life in prison.
Coughlin agreed that it is unusual for a Virginia defendant to get a death sentence without having been specifically designated the triggerman, but not for a case to end without the public actually knowing who pulled the trigger.
"I think people close to these crimes, the family members of victims and the family members of the defendants, will always be left with questions," Coughlin said.
"However," he said, "the theory that the state came up with, that John Muhammad was the idea man, the mastermind, and that Malvo was the enthusiastic partner; the state proved that story beyond a reasonable doubt to two juries."
In all, Malvo and Muhammad have been linked to 20 shootings, including 13 deaths in Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Washington, D.C. Prosecutors in Alabama and Louisiana have already said they intend to put the two men on trial for the killings in their states, as well.
Associated Press
PROVO, Utah -- Trudging through snow far deeper than they expected, rescue crews Saturday searched for three snowboarders feared dead in an avalanche, but found no trace of them.
The search over 10 acres covered with more than 16 feet of snow was exhausting, and not just for humans: Some of the rescue dogs' hind legs were rubbed raw by ice as they tried to detect the scents of the young men lost Friday in a backcountry canyon in northern Utah.
Search crews "are putting these 10-to-12 foot poles down, and they are not hitting bottom," Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy said. At times, the poles couldn't reach the ground even after rescue crews dug holes six feet deep in the snow, which had a consistency comparable to wet cement.
"So far, they have not found any exterior clues … things like gloves, jackets, snowboards, those kinds of things," said John Valentine, a Utah state senator who is a volunteer dog handler helping in the search.
Rod Newberry, 20, Adam Merz, 18, and Mike Hebert, 19, had been snowboarding with two friends when the avalanche swept down Provo Canyon Friday afternoon. Their friends survived, but Newberry, Merz and Hebert were gone.
Explosives were dropped by helicopter and set off in the canyon Saturday morning to break up potential snow slides so search teams could safely reach the area.
Volunteers from six counties were expected to offer fresh help Sunday. If the men are not found Sunday, Tracy said the recovery operation would be reassessed.
Family and friends of the missing men wandered in and out of a lodge serving as the command center Saturday, consoling each other, crying at times.
"They realize they are dealing with a recovery," said Craig Knight, a friend of Hebert and Merz who was serving as a spokesman for the families.
One of the survivors, Matt Long, was led back up the mountainside late Saturday afternoon to assist in the search, which ended for the day after sundown Saturday.
Knight said the missing men grew up together in Utah County and had gone to the canyon Friday morning for a day of snowboarding.
"They liked to play, and they played hard," he said.
A snowshoer reported the avalanche Friday afternoon in the Aspen Grove area of Provo Canyon, about a mile north of Sundance ski resort, Utah County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Dennis Harris said. The area is considered backcountry and has no avalanche control.
Dell Brown, who was snowshoeing with his family, said he and his wife fell to the ground and covered their two small children after the first slide. He said he saw one survivor and heard voices and called 911 before the second slide hit.
"We're just very grateful for our safety," said Brown, whose voice quivered with emotion as he recounted the events. "Each of those three slides, we were certain our lives were over."
Long, 18, was buried to his chest in snow but dug himself out. Another snowboarder, J.D. Settle, 20, was completely buried but was rescued by a bystander and escaped with only a knee injury.
The snowboarders were swept a half mile down a narrow chute above Aspen Grove. Two smaller avalanches followed, Tracy said.
Two other groups of skiers or snowboarders also were caught in the main avalanche, but both managed to get out.
The avalanche hit near the end of a storm that dumped 29 inches of snow in the Sundance area in 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service.
It appeared the main avalanche broke away at the top of the chute and that none of the skiers or snowboarders appeared to have triggered it, Tracy said.
None of the snowboarders carried standard avalanche safety equipment such as radio transmitters, shovels or probe poles, Tracy said.
Associated Press
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A Florida boy whose murder conviction and life sentence in the slaying of a 6-year-old playmate were thrown out this month could be freed from prison almost immediately under a new plea bargain offered by prosecutors.
The deal is identical to one Lionel Tate and his mother rejected in 2001, before he went to trial, prosecutors said Friday.
Richard Rosenbaum, Tate's appellate attorney, said he expects his client to make a decision in the next couple of weeks. He said he spoke to Tate Friday afternoon but declined to discuss their conversation.
Tate, now 16, beat 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick to death when he was 12, claiming he accidentally killed her while imitating pro wrestling moves he had seen on television.
He was tried as an adult, convicted of first-degree murder and received an automatic life-without-parole sentence in a case that led to international criticism of Florida's tough handling of juveniles who kill.
The plea bargain would let Tate plead guilty to second-degree murder and receive a sentence of three years in prison, of which he has already served 33 months, Broward County State Attorney Michael J. Satz said in a statement.
That would be followed by a year under house arrest and 10 years of probation. Tate would also have to undergo psychological treatment.
"This plea was the right thing to do before the trial and it's the right thing to do now," Satz spokesman Ron Ishoy said.
Rosenbaum said the offer would mean Tate could be released from prison on or near Jan. 25.
"I believe this is the best offer and the only way to get something better would be to go to trial and to win," Rosenbaum said. But he stressed that it's up to Tate to decide whether to accept the offer.
Tate's mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, would prefer that her son be allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter instead of second-degree murder, her attorney, Henry Hunter, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for its Saturday editions.
Glenn Roderman, an attorney who represents Tiffany's father, Mark James, said late Friday that the offered deal is "more than fair."
"I think he's a hell of a lucky kid," Roderman said in a telephone interview while vacationing in western Canada. "He should have taken it to begin with."
Two weeks ago, an appeals court threw out Tate's conviction, saying his mental competency should have been evaluated before the trial. The court expressed concern about Tate's apparent immaturity and possible misunderstanding of the plea bargain.
If he had accepted the plea bargain, he could have been out of prison 10 months ago.
The appeals court left it to prosecutors to decide whether to retry him.
Tate's sentence in January 2001 drew international criticism as his mother and supporters brought the case to a U.N. human rights meeting in Geneva and Pope John Paul II in Rome. Florida prosecutes more children as adults than any other state.
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Tom Welling of the hit WB series "Smallville" is serious about comedy, but you wouldn't know it from his latest role.
The 25-year-old plays a straightman in the slapstick family film "Cheaper by the Dozen," which stars comic veteran Steve Martin as his father.
"I'm the only one who's not funny," Welling says of his character -- the family's older brother, Charlie.
Welling, who plays a young Clark Kent in "Smallville," says he's serious about making people laugh. He's examined Jerry Seinfeld's recent documentary, and says he was attracted to "Cheaper by the Dozen" by the chance to work with Martin.
The movie is a remake of the 1950s family comedy about 12 children being raised in a household made even more chaotic by their parents' demanding careers.
The film, which opened Christmas Day, also stars Bonnie Hunt and Hilary Duff.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Most Swedes say their support for the monarchy would remain firm even if Crown Princess Victoria were to marry a commoner, according to a poll published Saturday.
Swedish media have been speculating on whether Victoria, 26, will marry boyfriend Daniel Westling, a gym instructor from a small town in central Sweden.
Seventy-two percent of 1,000 people interviewed by polling institute Sifo said their approval of the monarchy would not be affected if Victoria tied the knot with an average Swedish man. The poll was conducted Dec. 11-17 and had a potential error margin of 3 percentage points.
Twelve percent said the monarchy's standing would be weakened and 8 percent said it would be strengthened. The remainder were undecided.
Victoria's choice of husband would have to be approved by the government and King Carl XVI Gustaf. The figurehead monarch has few other decision-making powers.
In neighboring Denmark, Crown Prince Fredrik is set to exchange vows with Mary Donaldson, an Australian commoner, on May 14.
ATLANTA -- New Orleans-based rapper Juvenile, known for his hit song "Back That Thang Up," is facing an arrest warrant in Georgia on child abandonment charges.
Gwinnett County sheriff's deputies say the multi-platinum artist, whose real name is Terius Gray, has failed to provide financial support for a six-month-old daughter. Deputies say they have paternity test results that show Gray is the child's father -- an allegation the rapper disputes.
"To suggest he is a deadbeat dad couldn't be further from the truth," said Tim Fry, one of Gray's lawyers.
The Gwinnett County sheriff's department obtained an arrest warrant for Gray in November.
"Technically, he is a fugitive from justice," Lt. Nick Neal said. "We have this warrant in the system and we will wait for an opportunity to arrest him in a jurisdiction that will extradite him here."
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Wesley Clark got a surprise holiday present -- his first grandchild was born a little early, on Christmas Day.
The baby boy, named Wes, wasn't due until January. The father, Wesley Clark II, said both the child and mother, Astrid, were doing well in Los Angeles.
The senior Clark, a retired Army general from Little Rock who is seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, called the birth the gift of a lifetime.
"We couldn't be prouder or happier. We thank all our friends around the country for their prayers and good wishes during Astrid's pregnancy," Clark said.
Clark and his wife, Gert, waited outside the delivery room during the birth. Clark missed the birth of his own son because he was serving in Vietnam.
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Hootie & the Blowfish have endorsed Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, who hails from the state where the rock band got its start.
Members of the band are University of South Carolina alumni. Edwards is a senator from North Carolina and stresses on the campaign trail that he's the son of a South Carolina millworker.
"South Carolina's band is coming out for South Carolina's candidate," said Edwards spokeswoman Jenni Engebretsen.
The band's lawyer, Richard "Gus" Gusler, said the group is planning a performance in South Carolina before the state's primary on Feb. 3.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- A two-part miniseries set in South Dakota that explores American Indian legends is set to air Sunday and Monday.
The four-hour miniseries, titled "Dreamkeeper" (ABC at 9 p.m. EST), features tribal legends as told to a teenager by his grandfather. The story begins on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota.
"I couldn't be happier with the production," said John Fusco, who wrote the screenplay. He had worked on the 1992 film "Thunderheart," which also used South Dakota as a setting.
Fusco, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, said he was glad to work on another film that's rooted in South Dakota.
The Hallmark Entertainment miniseries was shot mostly in Alberta, Canada, Fusco said, but people from the Pine Ridge reservation traveled there to work on the project.
August Schellenberg stars as the grandfather, and Eddie Spears plays the grandson, Shane, who drives his grandfather to a tribal ceremony in New Mexico.
MOBILE, Ala. -- Rock band 3 Doors Down plans a concert March 27 in Mobile to benefit children's charities along the Gulf Coast.
Guitarist Matt Roberts, one of two band members with homes in the Mobile area, said the show "is a very special thing for us because it's always great to give back to this city."
Mayor Mike Dow said he hopes the outdoor concert at Cooper Riverside Park will draw 30,000 people.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Gospel singer Yolanda Adams will highlight the 15th annual "Realizing the Dream" concert at The University of Alabama in memory of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The event will be held Jan. 17 at the university's Moody Music Concert Hall. The national holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader is Jan. 19.
Adams says she never tires of singing gospels.
"I like to sing songs that, in the end, touch everybody. There's a humanity to these songs that gets in your blood," the 41-year-old singer said in a statement.
LONDON -- David Beckham, the most recognizable face in the world's most popular game, was the biggest newsmaker in international sports in 2003.
The England soccer team captain's $43 million transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid was voted the top sports story of the year in a worldwide poll of Associated Press subscribers.
The Beckham saga finished comfortably ahead of the doping scandals that rocked sports, Michael Schumacher's record sixth Formula One title, Lance Armstrong's fifth straight Tour de France victory and England's World Cup rugby triumph.
Original wire story (a0529):
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- A naked man got stuck in the chimney of a bookstore early Christmas morning.
Don't worry, it wasn't Santa Claus.
The 34-year-old man was treated Thursday for bruises and abrasions at Hennepin County Medical Center after being found naked and lodged in the furnace flue at Uncle Hugo's Bookstore. He was expected to be charged with attempted burglary on Friday.
"He was lucky," said police Lt. Mike Sauro. "He was only stuck in that chimney for a few hours. It's kind of a happy ending, because if he had been in there until that store opened Friday morning, it's my judgment he would have died.
"He doesn't appear to be a hard-core criminal, just stupid."
Police suspect that the man was drunk when he climbed atop the one-story building and removed all his clothes to help squeeze into the chimney. He then started to slide down the 12-by-12-inch chimney shaft, Sauro said.
"He's not Santa Claus," Sauro said. "He's a really skinny guy. And he's lucky he didn't get cooked."
The man told police that he entered the chimney about 1 a.m. Thursday to retrieve keys he accidentally dropped down the shaft.
A passer-by called police around 9 a.m. Thursday, after hearing screams for help coming from inside the store. Firefighters broke into the chimney with sledgehammers and freed the man.
"The store is pretty well torn up," said owner Don Blyly, who came in Thursday to hang up signs for a sale to begin Friday. "This is not what I came in here for today, but that's what I have to deal with."
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. -- The O'Connor family has its own Christmas miracle: Its cat that had been missing for two months was found clear across the country.
Jefferson, a 5-year-old orange tabby, somehow escaped from his carrier as he was being loaded on a Delta Air Lines flight at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The cat was flying with his kin, McKinley, to the East Coast, while the O'Connors were driving.
Delta crews and the family spent four nights scouring the airport. Later, workers checked animal hospitals and shelters, distributed fliers and took out newspaper ads.
Around mid-October, a woman spotted Jefferson in a tree near the airport, but the cat's collar came off when she tried to grab him.
About a month later, the family had gotten desperate. Kelly O'Connor decided to fly back to the Seattle area to look for the cat. She posted brightly colored, laminated fliers offering a $200 reward.
"A lot of friends, frankly, thought we were crazy," Will O'Connor said.
Finally, on Dec. 15, a daughter of a Delta Air Cargo manager told the O'Connors that Jefferson had turned up in a house basement near the airport. A veterinarian confirmed the cat's identity through an implanted microchip. Delta flew him to Rhode Island.
Jefferson had lost about 40 percent of his 13-pound body weight when he arrived, Will O'Connor said.
"He kind of stunk a little bit," Will O'Connor said.
The normally adventurous feline is slowly regaining his desire to go outdoors, perching himself on the window sill.
"He's starting to turn into his old self," Will O'Connor said.
DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. -- A man robbed a bank, then took a cab to a liquor store, where he got drunk before he was arrested two hours later, police said.
William F. Nutley, 56, was picked up trying to leave through the back door of the liquor store, Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety Sgt. Mike Fowler said.
Nutley had robbed a Bank of America branch Tuesday by telling a teller that he had an accomplice who would shoot her if she did not give him money, Fowler said.
He then walked across the street to wait for a taxi to take him about 10 miles to the New Smyrna Beach liquor store where police found him and a portion of the stolen money, Fowler said. Police would not say how much was stolen.
Nutley was charged with robbery.
ANDOVER, Mass. -- Bridge players at the Andover Senior Center say the deck is stacked against them.
Seniors are threatening to boycott the center after town officials abolished a $4 weekly prize at the afternoon bridge club, saying it violated gambling laws.
The ban inspired players to heckle town manager Reginald Stapczynski when he came to discuss the new policy two weeks ago. One dared him to compare war records.
Last week, volunteer Eve Perry quit after organizing the group for nine years.
"We were having a good time. Everybody was happy," player Donald Hayes said. "But then they made a big fuss about it."
Stapczynski said officials decided they could not condone illegal gambling of any amount.
"I think the issue goes way beyond the $4," he said. "We want to sponsor programs and we want to follow the law. Cash on the table is just not something we want to promote."
Bingo games offer cash prizes at senior centers with a special permit, but no special permits exist for bridge games, he said.
Andover police said they weren't behind the crackdown on cash prizes and don't envision any busts on the senior center.
"I don't think the intent is gambling," said Lieutenant Kevin Winters. "I think the intent is to give them excitement."
Posted in Backpage on Sunday, December 28, 2003 12:00 am Updated: 9:05 pm.
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