Friday, November 12, 2004
Peterson murder trial
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Two dismissed jurors and a boat-turned shrine for Laci Peterson have added this week to the circuslike atmosphere surrounding the murder trial of Scott Peterson.
Deliberations were set to resume today after the jury took Veterans Day off. The holiday break came after two straight days of juror dismissals.
While deliberations went on earlier this week, the drama shifted from the courtroom to a parking lot a few blocks away. Defense attorney Mark Geragos had parked a boat the defense had hoped to use to convince jurors that Peterson couldn't have dumped his wife's body overboard into San Francisco Bay without capsizing.
The boat and its contents -- coveralls stuffed with weights and concrete anchors tied to the arms and legs -- quickly became a makeshift shrine, with candles, flowers and hand-lettered signs reading "Rot in Prison" and "Justice for Laci and Conner." Hordes of onlookers gathered around, some even kneeling, praying and weeping before the boat was towed away.
Legal experts said the stunt could be determined as an attempt by Geragos to skirt the court-imposed gag order; the judge could find Geragos in contempt of court if he thinks the lawyer violated it.
Police use stun gunon 6-year-old pupil
MIAMI -- Police used a stun gun on a 6-year-old boy in his principal's office because he was wielding a piece of glass and threatening to hurt himself, officials said Thursday.
The boy, who was not identified, was shocked with 50,000 volts Oct. 20 at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School.
Principal Maria Mason called 911 after the child broke a picture frame in her office and waved a piece of glass, holding a security guard back.
When two Miami-Dade County police officers and a school officer arrived, the boy had already cut himself under his eye and on his hand.
The officers talked to the boy without success. When the boy cut his own leg, one officer shocked him with a Taser and another grabbed him to prevent him from falling, police said.
He was treated and taken to a hospital, where he was committed for psychiatric evaluation.
"By using the Taser, we were able to stop the situation, stop him from hurting himself," police spokesman Juan DelCastillo told The Miami Herald.
The case was under review.
Submarine intrusion
TOKYO -- Japan lodged a formal protest with Beijing today after determining that a nuclear submarine that entered its territorial waters without identifying itself belonged to China.
Japan's navy had been on alert since Wednesday, when the submarine was first spotted off the nation's southern island of Okinawa. Tokyo sent reconnaissance aircraft and naval destroyers to shadow the submarine, which spent about two hours inside Japanese waters before heading north.
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura summoned Chinese envoy Cheng Yong-hua to formally protest the incursion and demand an explanation, a ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
Cheng said Chinese authorities were investigating the incident and that he would pass the protest on to Beijing, the spokesman said. Kyodo News Agency quoted Cheng as saying he could not immediately offer an apology.
Earlier, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Tokyo had concluded that it was a Chinese nuclear submarine after considering a range of factors, including the fact that the vessel appeared to be heading toward China.
Hosoda said that while Tokyo believed in maintaining peaceful diplomatic relations and promoting friendship with China, it expected an appropriate response from Beijing.
Pakistan army launchesoperation against militants
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Some 2,000 soldiers, backed by artillery and helicopter gunships, fanned out across Pakistan's tense tribal region today, searching for foreign militants and a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner, a senior military commander said.
Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, the top commander in northwestern Pakistan, said the operation in South Waziristan began at dawn. Soldiers were looking for Pakistani militant leader Abdullah Mehsud and allied "foreign miscreants," he said.
Troops seized a cache of weapons in the first few hours of the operation. The army was facing some resistance, Hussain said, but it was not clear if there were casualties.
Mehsud is accused of organizing last month's kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in South Waziristan where they were building a dam. One of the Chinese men was killed and the other was rescued by commandos.
Associated Press