hJury being selected for Blake's civil trial

hJury being selectedfor Blake's civil trial
BURBANK, Calif.-- Actor Robert Blake, who was acquitted earlier this year of his wife's murder, talks to reporters on his way to court Monday for jury selection in a civil trial that seeks to hold him responsible for her death. Seventy prospective jurors were summoned for the civil case in which Bonny Lee Bakley's four children are suing Blake and his former handyman, Earle Caldwell, for wrongful death. Bakley, 44, was shot in 2001 as she sat in Blake's car outside a restaurant where they had dined. The criminal trial ended in mid-March with a jury acquitting Blake, star of the 1970s detective drama "Baretta," of murder and other charges. Caldwell was initially charged in the criminal case but was dismissed as a defendant.
Gunman kills 4 people,then turns gun on himself
SASH, Texas -- A gunman killed four people near a small-town church, then killed himself early Monday after a nine-hour standoff with police, authorities said. Police said witnesses told them that Freddie L. Cranshaw, who lived across the street from the Sash Assembly of God church, exchanged words in the church parking lot Sunday night with church member Wes Brown, who asked Cranshaw to leave. Cranshaw returned a short time later and shot Brown, 61, at close range, and then shot the pastor, James Armstrong, 42, the witnesses said. Cranshaw then drove to an intersection, where he shot at a truck towing a horse trailer and then killed the two women in the truck after they tried to flee and hide, witnesses told police.
Garland's ruby slippersdisappear from museum
GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. -- A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" and insured for $1 million is missing from a Grand Rapids museum. Police Chief Leigh Serfling said the slippers were stolen late Saturday or early Sunday. Children's Discovery Museum director John Kelsch said the slippers belong to a Los Angeles man who loaned them to the museum for several weeks this summer. Garland was born in Grand Rapids in 1922.
Arrest warrant soughtfor ex-governor in prison
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut's top state prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant for former Gov. John G. Rowland, his attorney said Monday. Rowland has been in a federal prison in Pennsylvania since April after pleading guilty to a charge he conspired to trade his office for favors and to commit tax fraud. Rowland became a target of state prosecutors because of consulting work he accepted after he resigned from office last year. Investigators are looking at whether the work violated the state's "revolving door" laws.
Dems to question Robertsabout torture memo
WASHINGTON -- Democrats plan to question Supreme Court nominee John Roberts about a disavowed Justice Department memo that critics say led to torture in foreign prisons, top Senate Judiciary Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont said Monday. Leahy said he gave Roberts a copy of the so-called "Bybee memo" during a meeting Monday in the Senate's Russell office building. It was the second meeting between the two men since July, when President Bush nominated Roberts to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee argued in a Jan. 22, 2002, memo that the president has the power to issue orders that violate the Geneva Conventions as well as international and U.S. laws prohibiting torture.
Officials suspect arson
PARIS -- The fire that killed 17 people in a crowded Paris apartment building was likely caused by an "outside element," a city hall official said, suggesting the fire may have been arson. Jean-Yves Mano, the top housing official for Paris, said in an interview published Monday in the newspaper 20 Minutes that the building's layout -- especially its cramped staircase -- was also to blame. Fourteen children were among those killed Friday in the crowded building that housed African immigrants.
Associated Press