U.S. attorney considers federal charges for 3 cops

U.S. attorney considersfederal charges for 3 cops
MILWAUKEE -- The U.S. attorney's office is considering potential federal charges in the beating of a biracial man after a county jury acquitted three white former police officers of most of the charges against them, a federal prosecutor said Saturday.
County prosecutors claimed the men beat Frank Jude Jr. on Oct. 24, 2004, because they thought he stole a badge at a party. Defense lawyers argued that key prosecution witnesses were unreliable.
After more than 26 hours of deliberations, the all-white jury returned innocent verdicts late Friday on the charges against Daniel Masarik and Andrew Spengler, both 26. John Bartlett, 34, was cleared on one charge, but the jury deadlocked on a charge of substantial battery.
U.S. attorney Steven Biskupic said Saturday he already had spoken with District Attorney E. Michael McCann and Mayor Tom Barrett.
The mayor had said after the verdicts that he spoke to federal authorities about a possible civil-rights case.
Drug trial participantfaces losing fingers, toes
LONDON -- A 20-year-old man who suffered severe reactions during testing of a drug intended to treat autoimmune diseases and leukemia said he will lose parts of his fingers and toes.
Ryan Wilson was among six healthy volunteers who took part in the clinical trial and suffered convulsions and organ failure minutes after being administered the test drug TGN1412. All the other volunteers have been released from the hospital.
Large parts of Wilson's hands and feet have turned black, where flesh has died, according to pictures published in the newspaper.
Wilson plans to sue the drug maker TeGenero AG of Wuerzburg, Germany, and Waltham, Mass.-based Parexel International, which conducted the trials.
In an interim report, investigators said they found no evidence of product contamination or improper practices in the trial.
Prisoner slashes faceof Russian billionaire
MOSCOW -- Jailed Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been hospitalized after another prisoner slashed him in the face while he slept, his lawyer said Saturday.
The attorney, Yury Schmidt, told The Associated Press that Khodorkovsky had been assaulted by another prisoner with a sharp object between Thursday night and Friday morning.
The billionaire tycoon, once Russia's richest man, required stitches and was recovering in the infirmary wing of the prison camp in Krasnokamensk, Schmidt said. He also accused prison authorities of trying to cover up the assault.
Khodorkovsky, imprisoned since October, is serving an eight-year sentence for tax evasion and fraud in a Siberian prison camp. His Yukos oil empire was carved up by the state.
Group seeks disclaimer
ROME -- The conservative religious group Opus Dei has asked for a disclaimer on the upcoming film based on the best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code."
Opus Dei, portrayed as a murderous, power-hungry sect in the novel by Dan Brown, wrote in an April 6 letter to Sony Corp. that a disclaimer would show respect to Jesus and to the Catholic Church.
"Any such decision by Sony would be a gesture of respect toward the figure of Jesus, to the history of the Church and to the religious beliefs of viewers," Opus Dei wrote in the letter, which was posted on its Italian Web site.
"The Da Vinci Code" contends that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had descendants, and that Opus Dei and the Catholic Church were at the center of a cover-up.
A spokesman for Sony Pictures Entertainment declined to say whether the film would bear a disclaimer.
3 reporters arrested
McMINNVILLE, Tenn. -- Three members of a video team for The Weather Channel have been charged with trespassing on allegations they refused to leave the property of a woman who was killed by a tornado.
Edward John Lazano Jr., Bradley Reynolds and Jorma Brandon Duran were freed on $500 bail each after their arrests Wednesday, The Southern Standard reported. Calls seeking comment Saturday from the Warren County sheriff's office were not immediately returned.
They reportedly were videotaping on the property of Sherry Bruce, who was killed when storms struck the area April 7.
"There are eight no trespassing signs posted on the property," Bruce's brother-in-law, Lynn Boren, wrote in warrants filed against the video team. "They were asked at least six times over 30 minutes to leave."
Sheriff Jackie Matheny denied reports that he gave them permission to be on the property.
Combined dispatches