Man pleads guilty to ex’s murder

Man pleads guilty to ex’s murder

SALT LAKE CITY

A Utah man was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering his ex-girlfriend and hauling her dead body to Missouri inside a 50-gallon storage bin.

Michael Doyel entered the plea Friday and was immediately sentenced by Judge Judith Atherton in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court.

In a parallel case, the 51-year-old Doyel pleaded guilty in December to a federal kidnapping charge. He was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison, and will serve that term before the Utah sentence.

In federal court, Doyel said he strangled Deborah Jones in April 2008 after she ended their relationship.

Jones’ body was found inside a bin in the backseat of her car outside a Branson, Mo., motel.

Court to hear case about drug dog

MIAMI

In a case closely watched by law enforcement nationwide, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether a Florida police dog’s sniff outside the front door of a house with a marijuana growing operation is an illegal search.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi wants the justices to reverse a state Supreme Court decision that the K-9’s sniff runs afoul of the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure. Eighteen states and the territory of Guam have filed a brief in support of Bondi’s position, concerned that other state courts might start issuing similar decisions.

Bombing in Syrian capital kills 25

BEIRUT

A bomb exploded Friday at a busy Damascus intersection, killing 25 people and wounding dozens in the second major attack in the Syrian capital in as many weeks, officials said, vowing to respond to further security threats with an “iron fist.” The government blamed “terrorists,” saying a suicide bomber had blown himself up in the crowded Midan district. But the country’s opposition demanded an independent investigation, accusing forces loyal to the Syrian regime of being behind the bombing to tarnish a 10-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Man released from jail re-arrested

LOS ANGELES

A California man just released from county jail Friday morning was rearrested for possession of stolen property — his day-glow orange inmate jumpsuit.

Jerry Valentino Aldama, 26, of Colton allegedly stole the jumpsuit when he was released from the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga early Friday. Then, for reasons that mystify police, he slipped into the jail garb before boarding an eastbound bus outside the jail.

Thinking Aldama was on the lam, the Omnitrans bus driver alerted his dispatcher, who in turn called the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Whales stranded in New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand

Seven long-finned pilot whales have died after being beached in New Zealand, and rescuers are fighting to save 18 more of the marine mammals.

Seven of the 25-strong pod died after they stranded late Friday on Farewell Spit at the northwest corner of South Island, conservation officials said.

The surviving whales were floated off the beach at high tide. Wildlife official John Mason says they were well offshore by mid-afternoon Saturday but were still in danger as they swam north toward more shallow waters on the ebbing tide.

Associated Press