Accosting Wiesel brings hate crime conviction
Accosting Wiesel brings hate crime conviction
SAN FRANCISCO — A New Jersey man who once claimed insanity was convicted Monday of a hate crime for accosting Nazi death camp survivor and scholar Elie Wiesel in a hotel elevator.
Eric Hunt, 24, was convicted in San Francisco Superior Court of one felony charge of false imprisonment with a hate crime allegation. Hunt was also convicted of two misdemeanor counts — one for battery and one for elder abuse.
The jury dismissed charges of attempted kidnapping, stalking and a second false imprisonment charge.
During the nine-day trial, Wiesel, 79, testified that he thought Hunt was trying to kidnap him when he was forcefully pulled off an elevator at San Francisco’s Argent Hotel on Feb. 1, 2007.
Serbs arrest Karadzic
BELGRADE, Serbia — Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, a war crimes fugitive and one of the world’s most wanted men, was arrested on Monday evening in a sweep by Serbian security forces, the country’s president said.
Karadzic has been indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. He has been hiding since 1998.
President Boris Tadic’s office said in a statement that Karadzic was arrested “in an action by the Serbian security services.”
Karadzic, who was the leader of ethnic Serbs during the war that erupted with Bosnia’s secession from Yugoslavia, is accused of masterminding massacres.
He had topped the tribunal’s most-wanted list for more than a decade and was said to have resorted to elaborate disguises to elude authorities.
Prosecutors oppose more visits for Hinckley
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors argued Monday against a request by a mental hospital to allow would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley Jr. expanded visits to his family in Virginia.
Hinckley has been committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington since he shot and wounded President Reagan in 1981. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He said he shot Reagan to impress actress Jodie Foster.
Inspectors find salmonella on jalapeno pepper
WASHINGTON — Government inspectors finally have a big clue in the nationwide salmonella outbreak: They found the same bacteria on a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled by a small Texas produce shipper.
But Monday’s discovery doesn’t solve the mystery: Authorities don’t know where the pepper became tainted — on the farm, or in the plant in McAllen, Texas, or at some stop in between.
Nor are they saying the tainted pepper exonerates tomatoes sold earlier in the spring that consumers until last week had been told were the prime suspect.
But for now, the government is advising consumers to avoid eating any fresh jalapenos, or products made with them, such as fresh salsa. Tomatoes now on the market are considered safe to eat, health officials have said since last week.
Missing-girl probe dropped
LISBON, Portugal — Portugal’s attorney general ordered police Monday to halt their investigation into the disappearance of British girl Madeleine McCann because detectives uncovered no evidence of a crime during their 14-month probe.
The case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges, Attorney-General Fernando Pinto Monteiro’s office said in a statement. Detectives found no reason to charge any of the three people named as suspects: Madeleine’s parents Kate and Gerry and local man Robert Murat, the statement said. All three denied involvement.
After the announcement, the McCanns said being named suspects in the case had damaged the search for Madeleine.
Police follow pillow trail
MONROE, Wash. — Police say a trail of pillows and backpacks led to two sleeping men who were arrested after a department store break-in. Kyle Burress, 25, and Allen Pierce, 27, have been charged with second-degree burglary.
Police spokeswoman Debbie Willis says a break-in was discovered July 9 at a Fred Meyer department store northeast of Seattle. The two were still being held Monday.
Willis says police followed a trail of cardboard and items from storage containers in a locked area behind the store that led to the two men. One was sleeping in a stolen hammock and the other on a pile of stolen pillows.
Associated Press