CNN - U.S. News Briefs - March 16, 1996

News Briefs

March 16, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 a.m. EST

Deliberations resume in Menendez trial

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Jurors in the murder retrial of Erik and Lyle Menendez started deliberating from scratch Friday after two jury members were dismissed for medical reasons on Thursday.

Both of the dismissed jurors were women. One suffered a heart attack Wednesday, and the other went into premature labor. Only two alternates remain for the jury.

Their replacements are a 59-year-old white female and a 34-year-old white male. A Social Security worker was selected as the new jury foreman.

Seven previous days of deliberations were thrown out. Judge Stanley Weisberg said none of the earlier deliberations can be considered.

This is the Menendez brothers' second trial for the 1989 shotgun deaths of their wealthy parents. The defense maintains the brothers killed their parents out of fear, after years of abuse. The prosecution contends the brothers acted out of greed and fear that they would be cut out of their parents' will.

Two Menendez jurors replaced; deliberations start over - Mar. 15, 1996

Fifth day of jury deliberations in Menendez retrial - Mar. 11, 1996

Jury asks to hear Menendez testimony again - Mar. 6, 1996

Menendez murder case goes to jury - Mar 1, 1996

President signs temporary spending bill

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bill Clinton signed a stopgap spending bill Friday, averting another government shutdown for the time being.

The measure will keep government programs running and federal workers on the job until March 22. The legislation allows Republicans and Democrats more time to strike a budget compromise for the current fiscal year, which ends in October.

Hillary Clinton to visit U.S. troops in Bosnia

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton will visit U.S. troops in Bosnia this month, the White House announced Friday.

A spokeswoman for Mrs. Clinton said the purpose of the trip is to "affirm the U.S. commitment to democracy in that part of the world and show support for U.S. troops in Bosnia and their families."

The first lady is scheduled to stop in Tuzla, the headquarters of the U.S. peacekeeping mission, during a 10-day trip that will also take her to Greece, Turkey, Germany, and Italy.

Bosnia-Mission: Peace

Oklahoma bombing victim exhumed

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- The body of an Oklahoma City bombing victim, apparently buried with someone else's left leg, was exhumed and later reinterred Friday.

Forensics experts are trying to determine whose leg was buried in Lakesha Levy's tomb by mistake.

The 21-year-old woman's body was found with the severed left leg in the rubble of Oklahoma City's federal building.

Officials acknowledged existence of the extra leg after defense lawyers speculated it may have belonged to the "real bomber."

Oklahoma City tragedy

Jury set to deliberate in clinic murder trial

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- The jury hearing the worst case of anti-abortion violence in U.S. history began deliberating on Saturday.

The panel must decide if John Salvi is insane or guilty of first-degree murder in the 1994 shooting attacks on two Massachusetts clinics where abortions are performed. Two people were killed, and five others were wounded.

The defense contends Salvi is mentally ill and suffered from delusions that he was defending the world's Catholics against an evil conspiracy.

Defense begins case in abortion clinic attacks
Jurors tour clinics where workers slain
Trial to start for man accused of killing women at abortion clinics

Darden rips into Simpson attorneys in TV interview

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Los Angles prosecutor Christopher Darden said the O.J. Simpson trial was a monumental waste of time and taxpayers' money.

In an interview scheduled to air on ABC Friday night, Darden who prosecuted Simpson for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, said he believes the mostly-black jury acquitted Simpson to get even with whites for years of racial injustice.

"From the moment I saw that jury, I didn't believe that we had a snowball's chance in hell of convicting O.J. Simpson," Darden told Barbara Walters in the interview. "I saw anger in that jury ... I sensed it's payback."

Darden said Judge Lance Ito essentially let the defense run the trial and said he wanted to punch Simpson's attorney, Johnnie Cochran, after a debate over racial slurs in court. Darden also called Simpson attorney F. Lee Bailey a "jerk."

Charges reinstated against Arkansas governor

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (CNN) -- A federal appeals court Friday reinstated an indictment brought by the Whitewater special prosecutor against Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and two business associates -- Jim and Susan McDougal. But attorneys for Tucker said this will not affect the Whitewater trial against the three defendants.

"The charges are totally separate, and the ruling has nothing to do with the merits of the charges," said William Sutton, one of Tucker's lawyers in the Whitewater trial.

The ruling upholds the jurisdiction of prosecutor Kenneth Starr to pursue any offense he uncovers in his investigation of the failed Whitewater land deal in Arkansas.

Starr welcomed Friday's ruling, commenting, "After a lengthy and unfortunate delay in our investigation, justice can go forward."

In June 1995 Starr indicted Tucker and two business associates, charging them with conspiracy and tax fraud relating to a cable television system they owned in Texas.

District judge Henry Woods of Little Rock had dismissed the June 1995 indictment on appeal, ruling that Starr had exceeded his jurisdiction. Woods said Starr's jurisdiction was restricted to the financial affairs of President and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Judge puts hold on law tracking sex offenders

TRENTON, New Jersey (CNN) -- A federal judge has suspended a New Jersey law that requires authorities to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living or working nearby. The injunction will prevent enforcement of the law while the 3rd Circuit Court decides the law's constitutionality.

The law, informally known as "Megan's Law," was named for 7- year-old Megan Kanka, who was killed in 1994. A convicted sex offender living across the street has been charged with the crime and is awaiting trial.

U.S. District Judge John Bissell issued an injunction barring enforcement of the law on Wednesday, but it was not released until Friday. The injunction applies only to the community notification portion of the law. Convicted sex offenders in New Jersey still have to register with local authorities.

New Jersey Gov. Christine Whitman announced Friday that she would instruct the state attorney general to prepare an appeal of the ruling, pending the Circuit Court's decision.

States getting cold feet in same-sex marriages

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The possibility that Hawaii may legally recognize same-sex marriages has other states scrambling to prohibit them.

Georgia's state senate approved a bill Thursday denying legal recognition of gay marriages. Colorado's senate approved a similar bill Wednesday.

The U.S. Constitution calls on states to recognize the "public acts, records, and judicial proceedings" of all other states. A Georgia legislator says that without the bill, gay Georgia residents could be married in Hawaii and demand that Georgia recognize the union.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.