Court rejects appeal of condemned man

Court rejects appeal of condemned man

BONNE TERRE, Mo.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid Tuesday by Missouri inmate Leon Taylor to halt his execution, just hours before he was scheduled to be put to death.

The court rejected two appeals without comment, although justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan would have voted to grant one of the requests, which dealt with a civil suit challenging the way Missouri carries out executions.

Taylor, 56, was scheduled to die early today for killing gas station attendant Robert Newton in suburban Kansas City in 1994, in front of Newton’s 8-year-old stepdaughter. Taylor would be the ninth man put to death in Missouri this year and the 11th since November 2013.

Protesters try to storm legislature

HONG KONG

Hong Kong police arrested four men early today after a small group of protesters tried to force their way into the city’s legislature in overnight clashes.

The arrests came after authorities cleared some barricades a day earlier from a small section of a site occupied by pro-democracy activists for nearly two months.

Police used pepper spray against the umbrella-wielding protesters, who they said repeatedly charged their cordon and injured three officers.

Governor defends pardon for his son

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe on Tuesday defended plans to pardon his son for an 11-year-old marijuana conviction, saying his son is receiving the same type of second chance that hundreds of others have had over the past several years.

The outgoing Democratic governor last week said his next round of intended pardons, due in December, would include one for his son Kyle, who was convicted in 2003 of felony marijuana possession with intent to deliver. Beebe said his son’s case was similar to many of the more than 700 pardons he’s issued since taking office in 2007.

“I’m not going to treat my son worse than I treat everybody else, and I’m not treating him better,” Beebe said on his last appearance on the “Arkansans Ask” program on the Arkansas Educational Television Network.

Senate blocks NSA phone-records bill

WASHINGTON

The Senate has blocked a bill to end bulk collection of American phone records by the National Security Agency. The measure was President Barack Obama’s signature proposal to rein in domestic surveillance.

Tuesday’s vote was largely along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the bill and most Republicans voting to kill it. The Republican-controlled House previously had passed a version of the bill.

The legislation would have allowed the NSA in terrorism investigations to query the records held by the telephone companies.

Sister of victim rails against Manson

LOS ANGELES

Debra Tate, whose pregnant sister Sharon was slain in 1969 by the murderous followers of Charles Manson, has spent much of her life trying to divert attention from the cult leader and keep him in prison.

Her job got tougher with the news that Manson, now 80, plans to marry a 26-year-old woman who moved from the Midwest years ago to be near him.

Debra Tate calls the development “ludicrous” and “insane,” but says she is not surprised.

“It’s always something with him,” she said.

Associated Press