MAN PLEADS INNOCENT
Man pleads innocent
ST. LOUIS -- The parents of a kidnapped Missouri boy said Thursday they believe their son was molested during the four years he was missing, and his grandmother claimed his captor had awakened the boy every 45 minutes, apparently as a way to control him. The comments came the same day the man suspected of snatching 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck in 2002 pleaded innocent to charges of kidnapping another boy Jan. 8. Michael Devlin, a 41-year-old pizzeria manager, was accused of taking 13-year-old Ben Ownby just after he got off the school bus in Beaufort. A schoolmate's tip about a white pickup truck helped lead authorities to Devlin's suburban St. Louis apartment and to the dramatic rescue of Ben and Shawn on Jan. 12. During an interview with Oprah Winfrey on a show that aired Thursday, Shawn's parents said they have not asked their son what happened on the advice of child advocacy experts. "OK, I'm going to go there and ask you, what do you think happened? Do you think he was sexually abused?" Winfrey asked Shawn's parents, Craig and Pam Akers. Both nodded and said, "Yes."
Indicted in abduction
BOISE, Idaho -- A man convicted in the 2005 slayings of three members of an Idaho family was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court with kidnaping the family's two youngest children and killing one of them. The indictment against Joseph Edward Duncan III, issued by a federal grand jury in Coeur d'Alene, will allow the government to seek the death penalty, U.S. Attorney Tom Moss said. The indictment accuses Duncan of kidnapping Dylan Groene, 9, and his sister Shasta, then 8 years old, sexually abusing them both and later killing Dylan in Montana.
Trucker sentenced to life
HOUSTON -- In abandoning 19 people to their deaths in his sweltering, stifling tractor-trailer, Tyrone Williams ultimately gave up just the sort of American life those illegal immigrants had made the risky journey to attain. A native of Jamaica, Williams came to the United States legally in 1989. Eventually, he owned his own trucking business, was married and had two kids, with a third on the way. But he wanted more. The lure of 7,500 for taking part in the 2003 smuggling operation, which left immigrants trapped in his airtight refrigerator truck dead of dehydration, overheating and suffocation, led to his sentence Thursday to life in prison without parole. After convicting Williams last month of 58 counts of conspiracy and harboring and transporting immigrants, the jury took more than five days to decide Williams should not be executed. Jurors said they spared him because they believed he didn't mean for the immigrants to die on the aborted trip from South Texas to Houston. Williams looked down as the verdict was read. His attorney, former U.S. Rep. Craig Washington, wept and wiped his eyes. Later, Washington said he was crying tears of joy. "We're grateful to God and to the jury for saving Tyrone's life." he said.
Car seat report withdrawn
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Consumer Reports was forced Thursday to retract a damning report on infant car seats after the federal government said test crashes on the seats were conducted at drastically higher speeds than the magazine had claimed. The revelation amounts to an embarrassment for the trusted consumer guide, and a relief to parents who were frightened about their babies' safety after the original report came out. That report said most of the seats tested "failed disastrously" in crashes at speeds as low as 35 mph. In one test, it said, a dummy child was hurled 30 feet. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which performed its own tests after seeing the report, discovered that some of the crash tests were conducted under conditions that would represent being struck at more than 70 mph. "Consumer Reports was right to withdraw its infant car seat test report, and I appreciate that they have taken this corrective action," said NHTSA administrator Nicole Nason.
Official: Iran is ready
TEHRAN, Iran -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed back over the U.S. military buildup in the Gulf, saying Thursday that Iran is ready for any possibility in the standoff over its nuclear program. The president made clear he was not backing down in his tough rhetoric toward the United States, despite criticism at home. Conservatives and reformists alike have openly challenged Ahmadinejad's nuclear diplomacy tactics, many saying his fiery anti-Western remarks are doing more harm than good. Ahmadinejad said their calls for compromise echo "the words of the enemy." At the same time, Ahmadinejad's top national security official, Ali Larijani, sharply denounced U.S. policy in Iraq, saying Washington is fueling Shiite-Sunni hatred. The United States sent an aircraft carrier to the Gulf this week -- the second to deploy in the region -- a buildup that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said was intended to impress on Iran that the four-year war in Iraq has not made America vulnerable. In an apparent reaction to the deployment, Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday that Iran would not back down over its nuclear program, which Tehran says is being developed only to produce energy.
Associated Press
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