Poisonings case closed
Poisonings case closed
BANGOR, Maine -- Nearly three years after parishioners drank arsenic-laced coffee at a church in northern Maine, detectives said they have decided that the only person to be implicated acted alone. Daniel Bondeson, a church member, committed suicide days after the poisonings on April 27, 2003, that killed one person and sickened 15. State police had believed Bondeson might have had an accomplice when he poisoned the coffee at Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church in New Sweden. But investigators said Tuesday they learned during grand jury proceedings late last year that Bondeson told his lawyer the day before he killed himself that he acted alone.
Cruises have daughter
LOS ANGELES -- The Tomkitten has arrived. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the public lovebirds dubbed TomKat by the press, had a baby girl Tuesday, said Cruise spokesman Arnold Robinson. The baby, named Suri, weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 20 inches long, he said. The name Suri has its origins in Hebrew, meaning "princess," or in Persian, meaning "red rose," the statement said. It's the first child for Holmes, 27. Cruise, 43, has an adopted daughter and son from his marriage to Nicole Kidman.
Gag order in homicide trial
PURCELL, Okla. -- An Oklahoma judge issued a gag order Tuesday to stop what defense attorneys called inflammatory statements about the gruesome slaying of a 10-year-old girl, who prosecutors say was killed by a neighbor who wanted to eat human flesh. Special District Judge Gary Barger met with prosecution and defense attorneys before signing the order prohibiting attorneys, investigators and law enforcement authorities from talking publicly about the case. The defense argued that "inflammatory, prejudicial and conclusory statements" by officials about the suspect were fueling widespread coverage of the case. The judge also authorized defense attorney Silas R. Lyman II to examine the apartment of Kevin Ray Underwood, a 26-year-old grocery store stocker who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jamie Rose Bolin.
Tobacco suits filed
WASHINGTON -- The battle over money the tobacco industry owes states under their 1998 settlement intensified Tuesday after talks to resolve the dispute fizzled. A spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. said Tuesday that the weeks-long negotiations between the states and tobacco companies had broken down. "We had tried to work hard with the states to resolve this very difficult matter and are disappointed an agreement couldn't be reached," said David Howard, a spokesman for the No. 2 cigarette maker. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed suit Tuesday to recoup more money from the companies. "We were, and remain, entitled to full payment," Lockyer said in a statement.
Charity drugs reinstated
WASHINGTON -- In a legal opinion that could help many thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, drug manufacturers were told Tuesday that they can continue giving free medicine to poor people even if they're enrolled for the new drug benefit. Each year, large drug companies routinely give millions of free prescriptions to the poor. However, most of the drug companies had said they would discontinue this practice for senior citizens now that they could get coverage through Medicare. In particular, the drug companies had concerns that continuing to operate their patient assistance programs for Medicare beneficiaries would violate federal anti-kickback laws. Conceivably, they could use the programs to steer patients to a particular drug and reduce the patients' incentive to locate and use less expensive drugs. Such steering could also raise the costs of the program for taxpayers and participants.
Moussaoui: crazy or not?
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The defense portrayed Zacarias Moussaoui as a delusional psychotic Tuesday who reversed tactics and strategy constantly, while a prosecutor pointed out how well the confessed Sept. 11 conspirator has controlled his behavior under the stress of being on trial for his life. Moussaoui himself best captured the day in one of his shouted comments on leaving court for a break: "Crazy or not crazy? That is the question." Defense attorney Gerald Zerkin set the day on a course few juries have seen: He opened the defense team's files to show how they concluded their own client cannot be believed.
Holocaust denial charges
BERLIN -- A far-right activist extradited from the United States and a Belgian -- both accused of denying the Holocaust -- have been charged with incitement, German prosecutors said Tuesday. Germar Rudolf and Siegfried Verbeke are accused of "systematically" denying or playing down the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews in documents and on the Internet and of stirring anti-Semitic hatred, prosecutors in the western city of Mannheim said.
Associated Press