Monday, January 26, 2004
Anna Nicole Smith's exsentenced for threats
LOS ANGELES -- An ex-boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith's was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison for making criminal threats against the former Playboy Playmate and attacking her neighbor, officials said.
Superior Court Judge Kathryne Stoltz rejected Mark Hatten's motion for a new trial Friday.
"I'm not a bad person. I basically walked away from this fight," Hatten said. "You'll never hear about me bothering Anna Nicole again."
Hatten was convicted last November of making criminal threats against Smith, who testified she had a brief sexual relationship with him in 2000 that ended when he approached her with a knife in her home. Hatten claimed they had an on-again, off-again relationship.
Hatten was also convicted of assault for a fight involving a neighbor who went to Smith's house to persuade Hatten to leave.
Jurors acquitted Hatten of two other counts involving stalking and threats against Smith, 36, who became a reality TV star when "The Anna Nicole Show" began airing on E! Entertainment Television.
Harry Belafonte sayshe'll continue to speak out
NEW YORK -- At a time when the Dixie Chicks and other performers have been criticized for speaking against the Iraq war and Bush administration, actor and singer Harry Belafonte says he believes it's his duty to continue protesting as he has since the early days of the civil rights movement. "Today it's almost a disease, there's some social flaw if an artist at any level dares to participate in political or social action, somehow you are out of your league, why don't you just shut up and entertain. It's somehow that we are not citizens," Belafonte said Thursday at a panel hosted by Paxton Baker of the BET Jazz cable channel at the International Association for Jazz Education's annual conference. "I find protest very entertaining and very instructive," he added, recalling that during the civil rights movement Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and other jazz musicians didn't hesitate to support the cause. "I think there is a need for artists to jump in here, to be heard. We've got to stop distancing ourselves." Last year, Belafonte, 76, spoke at anti-Iraq war demonstrations in the United States, and in interviews for European newspapers criticized President Bush for displaying an "extremely dangerous" combination "of arrogance and limited intellect."
Notable deaths
Helmut Newton, an acclaimed fashion photographer whose work appeared in magazines such as Playboy and Vogue, was killed in a car crash Friday, police said. He was 83.
Billy May, a Grammy-winning composer and trumpeter who arranged such standards as "Cherokee," "Take the A Train" and "Serenade in Blue" and worked with such stars as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller, has died at age 87. May died Thursday of heart failure at his home in San Juan Capistrano, his wife, Doris May, said Friday.
Today's Birthdays
Actress Anne Jeffreys is 81. Actor Paul Newman is 79. Actress Joan Leslie is 79. Cartoonist Jules Feiffer is 75. Sportscaster-actor Bob Uecker is 69. Actor Scott Glenn is 62. Singer Jean Knight is 61. Activist Angela Davis is 60. Rock musician Corky Laing (Mountain) is 56. Actor David Strathairn is 55. Singer Lucinda Williams is 51. Rock singer-musician Eddie Van Halen is 49. Reggae musician Norman Hassan (UB40) is 46. Actress-comedian Ellen DeGeneres is 46. Hockey star Wayne Gretzky is 43. Musician Andrew Ridgeley is 41. Rhythm and blues singer Jazzie B. (Soul II Soul) is 41. Gospel singer Kirk Franklin is 34. Actress Jennifer Crystal is 31. Country musician Michael Martin (Marshall Dyllon) is 21.