County officials to seek change in sentencing law

County officials to seek change in sentencing law

ATLANTA — After more than three years and a tangled trail of frustrating legal delays, the man who killed four people in a brazen courthouse escape was sentenced Saturday to prison for life without parole and hundreds of years more.

The case showed how difficult it is to get a capital sentence in Atlanta’s Fulton County, where death penalties are rare even in a state where support for capital punishment is widespread. Georgia tied for third in carrying out executions last year.

And it underscored the problems Georgia prosecutors say they frequently face with the requirement that death sentences can only be returned by unanimous jury verdicts.

Brian Nichols, 37, was found guilty last month of murdering a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff’s deputy and a federal agent in the March 2005 rampage. After four days deliberating on whether to recommend the death penalty, the jury deadlocked at 9-3.

No suspect in bombing

WOODBURN, Ore. — A bomb explosion at a bank killed both a police officer and a state bomb disposal technician, and state police do not have any suspects, officials said Saturday.

The explosion occurred Friday afternoon at a West Coast Bank branch office in the agricultural town of Woodburn, which is nearly 30 miles south of Portland.

Police went to check on a telephoned bomb threat received by a Wells Fargo branch bank in the center of town and found a suspicious device, but that device was determined to be harmless. But police said the investigation there led them to the nearby West Coast office, where the bomb was found.

Cheesy weapon foils gunman in stickup

MIRAMAR, Fla. — Police say a pizza delivery man fought back with the one weapon he had handy when a gun was pulled on him in a stickup: A large, hot pepperoni pizza.

Delivery man Eric Lopez Devictoria, 40, flung the steaming pie at the gunman, buying time as he ran for safety, police said.

At least one shot was fired as Devictoria fled, but the deliveryman wasn’t hurt and was able to quickly call police, authorities said.

Three teenage suspects were nabbed soon after Wednesday’s run-in with the cheesy weapon.

Troop increase backed

KABUL, Afghanistan — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Saturday that the U.K. could send extra troops to Afghanistan under a U.S.-led military surge aimed at stemming terrorism and supporting upcoming Afghan elections.

Brown visited the front line in volatile Helmand province only a day after four British troops were killed in the same region — one in a roadside bomb and three when a teenage suicide bomber with a bomb hidden in a wheelbarrow blew himself up.

He said that Britain and other NATO allies should support proposals by President-elect Barack Obama to boost troops numbers but that the burden had to be shared equally.

Mistake being corrected

WASHINGTON — Surviving spouses of war veterans have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years due to computer glitches that often resulted in money being seized from the elderly survivors’ bank accounts.

The Veterans Affairs Department said Saturday it wasn’t fully aware of the problem. It pledged to work quickly to give back the pension and disability checks — ranging from $100 to more than $2,500 — that hundreds of thousands of widows or widowers should have received during the month of their spouse’s death.

To expedite matters, the VA said spouses who believe they were wrongfully denied payments can call its help line at 1-800-827-1000.

Italian rower rescued

SYDNEY, Australia — An Italian adventurer who spent 10 months rowing more than 9,500 nautical miles across the Pacific was rescued a mere 65 nautical miles short of his goal — Australia — after rough weather sapped him of his final shreds of energy.

Alex Bellini, who began his voyage off Peru in February, contacted his wife Friday to say he was too exhausted to row his 25-foot boat any farther, despite being nearly in sight of the eastern Australian town of Laurieton.

His wife contacted authorities, and an Australian tug boat towed the 30-year-old to shore. They reached Newcastle, 100 miles north of Sydney, Saturday morning.

Associated Press