North County Times

Police in Boulder, Colo., use tear gas to quiet unruly crowd celebrating football win

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -- Police used tear gas, pepper spray and percussion grenades to quiet a rowdy crowd celebrating a University of Colorado football victory.

About 500 people had gathered Saturday night to celebrate the school's 39-37 win over the University of Texas and its Big 12 conference championship. Some in the crowd lit bonfires, tore out street signs and traffic lights and started to overturn cars. Another crowd of about 100 gathered a few blocks away.

Police used tear gas on the larger crowd and stinger grenades and pepper balls on the smaller crowd.

Eighteen people, including 11 university students, were arrested and five people, including two police officers, suffered minor injuries, police spokeswoman Jennifer Bray said.

The area, across from the university campus, has been the site of at least six large disturbances since 1997. Police were still tallying the costs of the damage, but costs from a similar incident in August 2000 totaled $8,000.

"It's disappointing that some people have still not learned how to celebrate responsibly," Police Chief Mark Beckner said in a statement.

Police videotaped the crowd and will scan the tapes for suspects. More arrests are expected.

Two young brothers die trapped inside footlocker, police say they were likely hiding

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- Two young brothers who apparently hid in a wooden footlocker when they heard their sister looking for them died after becoming trapped inside.

"By freak of accident or freak of nature … the lid came down and locked, and they couldn't get out," police Lt. William J. Noonan told the Springfield Union-News and Sunday Republican.

Police believed the two suffocated but were awaiting autopsy results Sunday.

Tracy Hart found her two sons, Chris Hart, 13, and Sean Hart, 5, just after noon Saturday, Noonan said.

Police said the younger brother often hid when he was called for meals, and they believed the two brothers hid in the 3.5-foot-long footlocker upstairs when they heard their sister looking for them.

Police said the footlocker has a push-button lock that automatically locks when the lid closes.

Hart, 31, and her other children were downstairs and did not hear any noises from the child's bedroom, Noonan said.

Charges filed 16 years after stabbing murder of English teacher

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A man has been charged in the 1985 stabbing death of an English teacher who was discovered by his 14-year-old niece, police said.

Detectives used new technology to run a fingerprint found on a wine glass through the department's Automated Fingerprint Identification System, said Barry Moskovitz, of the Records and Identification Unit, on Saturday.

The development led to charges against William Basemore, 37, an inmate already on death row for the 1986 murder of a security guard.

Dermaine Smith, 30, found the body of her uncle Richard Donahue and said her family has no knowledge of Basemore.

At the time, detectives said they suspected robbery had been the motive for Donahue's violent murder. Donahue had been stabbed 41 times.

Woman dies following car crash in Echo Park area

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A 19-year-old woman died and three other people were injured following a traffic accident Saturday in which a car leaving a parking lot was struck broadside by a pickup truck, police said.

The collision occurred at 4:06 p.m. in the Echo Park area when the driver of a Honda Accord, which had two passengers, came out of a shopping center lot and into traffic without looking both ways, said Sgt. Wayne Ridder of the Los Angeles Police Department. The northbound truck hit the car as it left the lot, Ridder said.

The driver of the Accord suffered extensive injuries and was pronounced dead Saturday night at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Ridder said.

The front passenger in the Accord was listed in serious condition; while the second passenger received minor injuries, Ridder said. Both passengers were women in their 20s.

The driver of the truck also suffered minor injuries.

All the victims were taken to the same county hospital for treatment.

No names were released.

Relative of O.J. Simpson lawyer shot

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The 16-year-old nephew of famed attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. was killed along with a friend in an ambush shooting, police said Sunday.

Sean Cochran, 16, and Anthony Caldwell, 19, were riding a bicycle on a sidewalk Saturday evening when an attacker opened fire with a handgun, hitting each numerous times, Officer Guillermo Campos said.

No arrests were immediately made and the motive for the shooting remained under investigation.

The 16-year-old is the nephew of Cochran, who successfully defended O.J. Simpson against murder charges in 1995.

A message left for Cochran at his Los Angeles law firm was not immediately returned Sunday.

George Harrison's family asks fans to join minute of meditation

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- In a message to fans, George Harrison's family expressed thanks for the affectionate outpouring in wake of his death and they asked for a minute of meditation Monday as tribute to the late Beatle.

"We are deeply touched by the outpouring of love and compassion from people around the world. The profound beauty of the moment of George's passing -- of his awakening from this dream -- was no surprise to those of us who knew how he longed to be with God. In that pursuit, he was relentless," Olivia Harrison and son Dhani Harrison said.

The statement was released late Saturday by family friend Gavin de Becker.

Harrison died of cancer Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 58. A family funeral has already been held and there were no details.

As a tribute, Harrison's widow and son asked fans to join them Monday for a minute of meditation.

"Olivia and Dhani invite you to join them in a minute of meditation in honor of George's journey, wherever you are on Monday at 1:30 p.m. PST," De Becker said.

The intensely private and spiritual Harrison was known as the quiet Beatle.

Four injured in shooting at LA party

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Four people were injured late Saturday when someone fired a handgun at a crowded party, police said.

The suspect, who was not a guest at the party, remained at large early Sunday, said Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Roger Deranian.

The victims, two males and two females in their teens or early 20s, received non-life-threatening wounds and were treated at a local hospital.

The shooting occurred about 11:20 p.m. at a quinceanera, a traditional party to celebrate a Latino girl's 15th birthday. The party was at a private home in a neighborhood south of downtown and there were about 100 guests, Deranian said.

Witnesses reported that the gunman shouted someone's name before firing but no one recognized the name, raising the possibility he was pursuing someone who had found cover in the crowd, Deranian said

Flight instructor and student parachute safely from stalled plane

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Lifeguards plucked a flight instructor and his student from the Pacific Ocean on Sunday after they parachuted to safety from a stalled aerobatic airplane.

The single-engine Super Decathlon crashed into the water and sank.

The plane took off from Long Beach Municipal Airport and the instructor had been demonstrating stalls when he was unable to restart the engine, said Lt. j.g. Neil Marcelino of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The men jumped at an altitude of about 2,000 feet, Fire Department Brian Humphrey said.

The pilot, a 53-year-old San Pedro man, suffered a broken ankle when he hit the doorway while jumping, Humphrey said.

He and his student, a 43-year-old Burbank man, were treated on shore for hypothermia before they were taken to a local hospital. Their conditions were not serious.

"I would describe the men as being profoundly fortunate," Humphrey said.

A Los Angeles County lifeguard boat reached the two about two miles from shore at 11:37 a.m., 14 minutes after a caller reported seeing their plane crash, lifeguard Capt. Chris Linkletter said.

They were treading water, supported by a single life vest.

Tornado watch issued for Sacramento Valley; gusty winds and heavy rains pummel NorCal

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Sacramento Valley was on a tornado watch Sunday afternoon as the northern part of the state was pummeled by a gusty storm.

Showers were expected to continue with the possibility of a severe thunderstorm in Alta Sierra, Cedar Ridge, Grass Valley and Nevada City.

Severe thunderstorms can create tornadoes and large hail and the lightning can be deadly, according to the National Weather Service. The service is warning those in the path of the thunderstorm to go to a sturdy shelter away from creek beds and other flood-prone areas.

A heavy surf advisory was issued for the San Francisco Bay Area and was expected to last through Monday. Wind advisories were also issued for the area.

The high winds and flooding wreaked havoc with the Bay area. A mudslide in the Oakland hills landed in back yards, and boulders landed on Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz mountains. An offramp of U.S. 101 leading to the park where the San Francisco 49ers play was closed before their game, a metering light in San Jose was blown over, and numerous accidents clogged roads.

The National Weather Service has also issued a coastal flood watch for Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.

Winds were between 25 and 40 miles per hour in the Bay area, with 60 mile per hour gusts.

Snow in the Bay area was expected to fall as low as 2,500 feet.

The rain was expected to continue Monday morning.

In the Sierra Nevada, high winds and heavy snow shut down a major interstate and ski resorts.

A blizzard at Donner Summit halted traffic on Interstate 80, and wind gusts of up to 100 miles per hour over the Sierra crest shut down operations Sunday at most Tahoe ski resorts.

Hearing set Monday for woman accused of drowning her five children in bathtub

HOUSTON (AP) -- Attorneys for Andrea Yates, the woman police say drowned her five children, are accusing prosecutors of seeking the death penalty in bad faith as a ploy to ensure a conviction.

The accusation is part of a defense motion, one of 34 to be considered at a pretrial hearing Monday, that seeks to keep potential jurors who oppose or question the death penalty from being removed from the jury pool.

Yates, 37, faces two capital murder charges for drowning her children in the family's bathtub in June. She called 911, and police found four of the children's bodies still wet under a sheet on a bed. The oldest, 7-year-old Noah, was still in the bathtub. Her trial is set for Jan. 7.

She has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. Her family says she suffered from severe depression after the births of her children.

In Texas, people selected for a jury in a death penalty case must be willing to consider death as an option during sentencing. Potential jurors who say they wouldn't sentence someone to death typically are removed from consideration.

Defense attorney George Parnham argues that if the state is allowed to challenge potential jurors unwilling to consider death, Yates would be denied her constitutional right to a jury of her peers in a county where 30 percent to 50 percent of the population have some opposition to the death penalty.

He said it also would produce a jury that already leans toward conviction.

Prosecutors say excluding jurors unable to follow the law doesn't result in "a jury that is unduly disposed to convict."

To sentence a defendant to death, a Texas jury must determine that the defendant poses a continuing threat to society, and that his or her character and background, the circumstances of the crime and moral culpability of the defendant warrant death.

Parnham said those standards can't be met because Yates had no criminal record and was a model citizen before she was diagnosed with postpartum depression.

Parnham also wrote: "The state knows that there is no evidence of the defendant being a future danger to society if she is found guilty and sentenced to life."

Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said only his office knows what evidence it has against Yates, and doesn't have to explain his decision to seek the death penalty.

Legal experts said they expect that Parnham faces an uphill battle on the jury issue.

"Yes, they would get a skewed panel, but the Supreme Court has said that is OK because it is a panel that is skewed toward those people that would follow the rules, even though everybody doesn't like those rules," said Daniel Shuman, a law professor at Southern Methodist University.

Among other defense motions to be considered Monday by State District Judge Belinda Hill are ones seeking to exclude the death penalty as a possible punishment and to suppress statements Yates made during her 911 call.

Prosecutors filed motions asking that defense identify its expert witnesses. The state already has received permission to have its mental health expert conduct a three-day evaluation to determine if Yates was insane at the time of the killings.

Judge to review mental evaluation of ex-Klansman in church bombing

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A hearing could finally resolve the question of whether a former Ku Klux Klansman will stand trial for murder in a 1963 church bombing that killed four black girls.

Circuit Judge James Garrett on Monday is to hear testimony and review reports from experts who observed Bobby Frank Cherry while he was confined at a state mental health facility for about 10 weeks.

Garrett previously ruled Cherry, 72, was mentally incompetent to stand trial in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. He could either reverse or uphold that decision based on the experts' opinions.

Under an order from Garrett, results of the lengthy evaluation at the state-run Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility have not been made public.

While the defense claims Cherry is incompetent, state experts do not often reach a similar finding. Officials of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation have said 80 percent to 90 percent of the criminal defendants the agency screens are deemed fit for trial.

"Although the court will have any number of options, we are hopeful that following the hearing we will have some definitive word on how this case will proceed," prosecutor Doug Jones said Friday.

Defense attorney Rodger Bass did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Cherry and another ex-Klansman, Thomas Blanton Jr., were indicted on murder charges last year in the bombing. Garrett delayed trial for Cherry because of questions about his competency, but Blanton was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment this year. One other Klansman, Robert Chambliss, was convicted of murder in the bombing in 1977 and died in prison. A fourth suspect died without being charged.

Garrett ruled Cherry incompetent after four mental health experts testified the retired truck driver suffered from varying degrees of vascular dementia, which can cause confusion and forgetfulness. The judge's decision sparked picketing of the courthouse and a march by black demonstrators.

The judge later ordered the additional testing at the prosecution's request.

One of the issues to be addressed at the hearing was which legal standard Garrett will use in determining whether Cherry is competent.

In his earlier decision, Garrett said the state failed to prove by "clear, convincing and unequivocal" evidence that Cherry was able to understand the proceedings and assist his attorneys.

Prosecutors have asked Garrett to use a lesser standard, requiring them to prove Cherry's competence only by a "preponderance of the evidence," the same measure used in most civil proceedings.

Cherry's attorneys could argue that Garrett should use the more rigid standard.

Cherry was accused of being part of a group of Klansmen who planted a bomb that ripped through the downtown church on Sept. 15, 1963, killing Denise McNair, 11, and 14-year-olds Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carole Robertson.

Lawyers for man accused in four Green River slayings hold first strategy meeting

SEATTLE (AP) -- Defense lawyers met for the first time Sunday to discuss the case against the man arrested in connection with four of the Green River slayings that had gone unsolved for nearly two decades.

The attorneys had not discussed how Gary Leon Ridgway would plead, said public defender Mark Prothero.

"He has to get to know us and we have to get to know him," Prothero said. "When you're meeting four attorneys the first 48 hours, it gets kind of difficult."

The killings of 49 women around Seattle and Portland, Ore. -- mainly young prostitutes and runaways taken from a red-light district south of Seattle -- were attributed to the Green River killer. The victims disappeared or were found dead from 1982 through 1984, and the case was named for the river in south King County where the bodies of the first victims were found in 1982.

Some investigators believe the number is a conservative estimate; they have expanded their investigation to include other unsolved homicides along the West Coast and in British Columbia.

Ridgway was identified as a suspect in 1984 and questioned after witnesses identified his pickup truck and said he had been seen with two of the victims, according to a 1987 court document.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press from his office in nearby Kent, Prothero noted that Ridgway has maintained his innocence for 18 years.

Ridgway, 52, of Auburn, was arrested Friday as he left his job at Kenworth Truck Co. in Renton, where he has worked as a truck painter since 1969.

He was being held without bail for investigation in the deaths of four women. Prosecutors have until Wednesday to file charges. Meanwhile, detectives searched his home in Auburn as well as previous residences.

Investigators say DNA linked Ridgway to three of the victims - Opal Mills, Marcia Chapman and Cynthia Hinds, whose bodies were found in the river on Aug. 15, 1982 - and additional evidence connected him to a fourth, Carol Christensen, found May 8, 1983, in woods in nearby Maple Valley.

A saliva sample was taken from Ridgway under court order in 1987.

Prayers for Harrison in Liverpool, birthplace of The Beatles

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) -- Prayers of remembrance were said for George Harrison in his hometown Sunday - in churches, cathedrals and at makeshift street-corner shrines.

Three days after 58-year-old Harrison died from cancer in California, Canon Michael Wolfe offered a prayer of thanksgiving for "the Liverpool Beatle, George Harrison" at the city's Anglican cathedral.

Wolfe told about 200 parishioners in the vast and echoing cathedral that Harrison would be remembered "for his contribution over the years to song and music and for his work for charity."

As Liverpool launched into the Christmas holiday season Sunday with a parade, many in the city paused quietly to remember the local son who bore his fame and his illness with equal forbearance.

"George will be remembered for being dignified about being a member of the Beatles," said 21-year-old James Elliker, stopping outside the gates of Strawberry Field, the Salvation Army children's home immortalized in a Beatles song. "He'll be remembered as the nice one."

Behind him a sign pinned to the red wrought-iron gates echoed Harrison's final message to his fans: "Love one another."

Notes, flowers and cards continued to arrive at Beatles sites across Liverpool on Sunday -- at the tiny terraced house where Harrison spent the first seven years of his life; by the road sign at the top of Penny Lane, the quiet suburban street the band eulogized in song. They were left by people who paused for a moment in silence before moving on.

As costumed revelers and folk dancers prepared for the Christmas parade at Liverpool Town Hall, people trickled in to sign a book of condolence that has been open since Harrison's death was announced on Friday. An ambulance worker added her message to more than 1,000 in the book, as did a mother with her four children.

"As long as people need to sign it, it'll stay out," said Stephen Gibbs, assistant head of the Lord Mayor's office. "At the moment, a lot of people are in mourning."

Some mourners feel the loss as if he were a close friend.

"We came because we can feel him here," said Diane Machin, her jacket covered in Beatles patches and her eyes red from tears.

"Yesterday we spent watching television and listening to all the tributes," Machin said as she stood outside Liverpool's Cavern Club, where the Beatles launched their career in the 1960s. "Today we wanted to grieve with people who feel the same way we do."

Harrison may have a final gift for his fans. British newspapers reported that the former Beatle recorded a final album -- his first studio album since the 1980s -- in the months before his death.

Japanese celebrate birth of royal baby; controversy over male-only succession looms

TOKYO (AP) -- The forbidding gates of Japan's Imperial Palace opened Sunday to let waves of well-wishers onto its manicured grounds to celebrate the birth of a baby girl to Crown Princess Masako and Crown Prince Naruhito, the heir to the throne.

Rituals honoring the birth of the royal couple's first child in eight years of marriage started out as a family affair. Hours after the delivery Saturday, a court messenger placed a sword and purple silk robes beside the infant's pillow at a hospital on the palace grounds.

On Sunday, it was the people's turn to take their party to the palace.

Tens of thousands of Japanese of all ages lined up to sign a congratulatory book. Many waved Japanese flags and shouted "Banzai!" - or long life.

Heading the procession of well-wishers at the palace was Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, dressed in a tailcoat and leading a group of senior government officials.

"Many citizens are expressing their delight in a direct way … It is bright and heartwarming," Japanese news agencies quoted Koizumi as saying as he paid his respects.

In the evening, about ten thousand people were expected to join a lantern festival outside the palace organized by politicians and leading cultural figures.

Away from the festivities, Japan debated whether Japan's imperial succession law should be changed to allow a woman to ascend to the throne.

Many Japanese have been fretting about the fate of the Chrysanthemum Throne - the world's oldest hereditary monarchy - because the royal family has not produced a male heir since 1965, when Naruhito's younger brother, Prince Akishino, was born.

"The baby's birth makes it important to have a deeper discussion of the issue," the Yomiuri newspaper said in an editorial Sunday.

Other commentators said Naruhito, 41 and Masako, 37, still have time.

"It wouldn't be appropriate to debate (the succession law) just after first child has just been born," the Mainichi newspaper said.

The 1,500-year-old imperial household last faced a succession crisis in the late 1920s and early 1930s, when Empress Nagako gave birth to four girls before she had the current emperor, Akihito.

Japan has had several reigning empresses, most recently Gosakuramachi, in the 18th century. But a succession law drafted after World War II -- part of legal changes redefining the emperor as a ceremonial leader -- imposed the men-only rule.

This week, Akihito will name the baby girl, who weighed 6.5 pounds at birth.

Sierra storm shuts down interstate, ski resorts

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- The latest in a series of potent storms brought more heavy snow and high winds Sunday to the Lake Tahoe area, shutting down a major interstate as well as ski resorts.

All Sierra traffic on Interstate 80 was being held Sunday afternoon at both the Nevada line and Baxter because of a blizzard atop Donner Summit.

Chains were mandatory on two other major trans-Sierra highways: U.S. Highway 50 over Echo Summit and Highway 88 over Carson Pass.

"It's blowing really hard and snowing like crazy and visibility is really, really bad," said John Booth, vice president of Boreal ski area atop Donner Summit. "Right now, I can't even see the trees just outside my office window."

Chains or snow tires were required on all other highways in the Tahoe area.

No major accidents were reported.

Wind gusts of up to 100 mph over the Sierra crest shut down operations Sunday at most Tahoe ski resorts.

Some resorts, including Alpine Meadows, Heavenly and Kirkwood, did not even open because of the winds.

Other resorts, including Squaw Valley USA and Sugar Bowl, closed at noon after limited morning operations.

Most Tahoe resorts reported receiving another foot of snow overnight Saturday for a total of 2 feet since late Friday.

Over a 24-hour period ending Sunday morning, Kirkwood resort south of Tahoe reported getting an inch an hour of snow for a total of 2 feet.

In all, weekend storms were expected to dump as much as 3 feet on higher elevations and 1 feet at lower elevations by Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

The snow level dropped Sunday afternoon to Reno and other valley floors in northwest Nevada.

After a slow start to the ski season due to a lack of snow, a string of storms over the last week has brightened the outlook for Tahoe resorts.

"We're set for Christmas now," Booth said. "We have put away our snow-making equipment for the season.

"It's looking like a real winter now. There are 4- to 5-feet-high snowbanks along the highway."

The snow is also good news for the region's water outlook after recent subpar winter snowpacks in the Sierra.

Defense gets its turn in trial of man accused of 1963 killing

CINCINNATI (AP) -- The defense for a man accused of fatally beating his high school girlfriend in 1963 has argued that he is innocent, that the state's evidence is inadequate and that he shouldn't even be tried as an adult for the slaying.

On Monday, lawyers for 54-year-old Michael Wehrung get their chance to present evidence to the jury hearing his case.

A grandfather and roofing company executive, Wehrung is being tried for second-degree murder in the death of Patricia Ann Rebholz, who was killed when she and Wehrung were both 15.

He has pleaded innocent. If convicted, he could go to prison for life.

Wehrung was indicted in May 2000 after DNA tests were used to re-examine bloodied clothing preserved from the original investigation.

Wehrung watched silently last week as prosecutors tried to persuade jurors that he killed Rebholz. He declined to talk with reporters.

Prosecution witnesses said the blonde cheerleader was choked into unconsciousness and then had her skull crushed with blows from a wooden piece of fence post on Aug. 8, 1963.

Rebholz was killed in a vacant lot across from Wehrung's boyhood home in suburban Greenhills as she walked from a teen dance on the night she planned to tell Wehrung she was ending their relationship to date another boy, prosecution witnesses said.

Wehrung's lawyers said there were shortcomings in the state's evidence.

Larry Zettler, a former Greenhills police officer who helped reopen the murder investigation in 1999, conceded under defense questioning that citizens had been allowed over the years to handle physical evidence, including clothing and shoes that Wehrung and Rebholz wore in 1963.

The evidence was kept for years in a safe in a damp basement storage room of the Greenhills city building. A state examiner who attempted DNA testing of two pairs of Wehrung's pants that police confiscated in 1963 said the material had deteriorated to the point where she could not determine whether there had been blood on the pants, Zettler said.

Also, a former Cincinnati television news reporter, Tom Schell, testified Friday that Wehrung admitted in August 1963 that he slapped Rebholz and she fell down. Wehrung also told police then that he didn't kill Rebholz, but his "other self" could have, Schell testified in a videotaped statement.

"He said that it might have been 'another self,"' said Schell, now retired and living in the Los Angeles area. "I was surprised. I was really not aware of what that meant."

Schell said he has no records of his conversation with Wehrung.

Wehrung's parents, concerned that police were repeatedly questioning the teen for hours at a time, signed over custody of their son to a juvenile court judge who prohibited police from having contact with the teen and sent him to a military school in North Carolina. The judge and Wehrung's parents are now dead.

Defense lawyers tried to have Wehrung tried in juvenile court because of his age when the slaying occurred. But the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in July that a 1997 state law would permit Wehrung's trial as an adult because he was not charged in the case as a juvenile.

Parents of drowned vacationers arrive for manslaughter trial

INTERLAKEN, Switzerland (AP) - Grieving relatives gathered in this central Swiss town Monday for the start of the trial of the organizers of an adventure trip on which 21 young vacationers drowned.

The victims, aged 18 to 31, died July 27, 1999, were swept away by a flash flood while taking part in the sport of canyoning in the Saxet Brook above Interlaken, Switzerland.

Eight former associates of the now-defunct Swiss tour operator Adventure World are charged with manslaughter through culpable negligence for letting the trip proceed despite evidence of a coming thunderstorm. If found guilty, they face a maximum punishment of a year in prison plus a fine.

"The most important thing for us is to look the accused in the eye and let them know that we have never thought it was an accident," said Australian Bill Peel, who lost his 27-year-old son Billy.

Most of the victims were Australian but they also came from New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland and Britain. Canyoning involves jumping, sliding and rappelling down rivers and swimming downstream without a raft.

The defendants are three directors of the company, two guides who survived, the lead guide who authorized the trip, and two instructors.

Prosecutors say the guides failed to get the group out of the river even when the water level rose and turned muddy. The managers are accused of giving the guides insufficient training.

The trial is expected conclude Dec. 11.

12/3/01