Saturday, May 30, 2015
newsmakers
Thousands view King on eve of Miss. funeral
INDIANOLA, Miss.
Blues guitarist Buddy Guy says he always intended to tour the B.B. King Museum while its namesake, his longtime friend, was still living.
The 78-year-old Guy was among more than 4,000 people who filed past King’s open coffin at the museum Friday, the eve of the blues legend’s funeral in the Mississippi Delta.
“His left hand was a special effect,” Guy said, describing King’s talent for bending strings to make the guitar sing.
King was 89 when he died May 14 at his home in Las Vegas. A public viewing and invitation-only memorial service took place in that city before his body was flown to Memphis, Tenn., for a tribute Wednesday.
He will be buried at B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in his hometown of Indianola, Miss.
Judge delays case after ‘Suge’ Knight hires Jackson lawyer
LOS ANGELES
A judge Friday delayed the murder trial of Marion “Suge” Knight after the former rap-music mogul hired the attorney who successfully defended Michael Jackson against child-molestation charges.
The appearance of Atty. Thomas Mesereau prompted the judge to reschedule a hearing on a motion by Knight to dismiss murder, attempted- murder and hit-and-run charges.
The motion was pushed back until July 7 to give Mesereau time to file his own legal documents and get more familiar with the case.
Knight is accused of running over two men outside a Compton burger stand in January, killing one and seriously injuring the other. He has pleaded not guilty.
Jury deliberating in actor’s stabbing case
PORT WASHINGTON, Wis.
TV actor Dustin Diamond testified Friday that he didn’t intentionally stab a man in a Christmas Day barroom scuffle in Wisconsin and that other patrons had been harassing him and his girlfriend before the fight broke out.
Diamond, 38, said some people had wanted to shake his hand and pose for photos at the bar in Port Washington, but that others were badgering him and his girlfriend, Amanda Schutz.
“I felt like we were being set up for antagonistic purposes,” said Diamond, who played Screech in the 1990s show “Saved by the Bell.”
Diamond faces a felony charge of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and two misdemeanors – carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct. The charges carry a sentence of at most 11 years in prison.
Testimony in the trial concluded Friday afternoon with prosecutors arguing that Diamond recklessly endangered safety in wielding a knife in the midst of a fight. Defense attorneys countered that no one saw Diamond stab the man, and video footage of the altercation is murky.
A jury was set to deliberate into Friday night.
Associated Press