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Show Friday, Feb. 26, 2010 Page 2 World&NatiOn Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Clarify Correct The policy of The Utah Statesman is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find unfair, please contact the editor at statesmaneditor@aggiemail.usu.edu Celebs &People NEW YORK (AP) – Michael Douglas' troubled son Cameron was denied bail and a chance for outpatient addiction treatment Thursday as he awaits sentencing in a federal drug-dealing case. Wearing dark-blue federal prison garb, the screen scion said nothing during the hearing at a DOUGLAS Manhattan federal court. He briefly greeted his mother, Diandra, and other supporters as he was taken back to jail. His father did not attend the hearing. NewsBriefs SeaWorld killer whale kills trainer ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Despite calls to free or destroy the animal, SeaWorld said Thursday it will keep the killer whale that drowned its trainer, but will suspend all orca shows while it decides whether to change the way handlers work with the behemoths. Also, VIP visitors who occasionally were invited to pet the killer whales will no longer be allowed to do so. "We're going to make any changes we have to to make sure this doesn't happen again," Chuck Tompkins, chief of animal training at SeaWorld parks, said a day after a 12,000-pound killer whale named Tilikum dragged a trainer into its pool and thrashed the woman to death as audience members watched in horror. Suspected terrorists plead not guilty California killer convicted SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – A jury convicted an amateur photographer Thursday for the third time in the murder of a 12-year-old girl and also found him guilty in the brutal stranglings of four women, whose deaths went unsolved for decades until investigators discovered DNA and other evidence tying the cases together. Jurors took less than two days to find Rodney James Alcala, 66, guilty of five counts of first-degree murder after six weeks of grueling testimony. Alcala, a UCLA graduate with prior convictions for sexual molestation and rape, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. The jury also found true special circumstance allegations of rape, torture and kidnapping, making him eligible for the death penalty. Jurors return next week for the penalty phase. Alcala, who represented himself, has been sentenced to death twice before for 12-yearold Robin Samsoe's murder, but both convictions were overturned. The four other cases were heard for the first time this year. Minutes after the verdict, Samsoe's older brother stood in the hallway and called his mother as his relatives enveloped the two prosecutors in bear hugs. Robert Samsoe, who was 15 when his sister was murdered, said he thinks daily about what his sister would be like if she were still alive. The blondhaired girl, who would have been 42, was passionate about drama and ballet and spent hours debating with friends which was better, ballet or gymnastics. "Robin would have been a teacher, I think, and she would have been a great mom and a great aunt," he said, tearing up. He added that the crime and the ensuing 30 years of litigation have taken a heavy toll. "I would have probably had a childhood" without the murder, he said. "When this happened, our lives got turned upside down. It separated a family. There's more to it than just Robin." Investigators arrested Alcala a month after Samsoe disappeared on June 20, 1979 while riding a friend's bike to a ballet class in Huntington Beach in Orange County. Her body was found 12 days later in the Angeles National Forest, where it had been mutilated by wild animals. Alcala's parole agent quickly recognized him from a police sketch and called authorities. Alcala, who at the time was awaiting trial for the rape of a 15-year-old girl, has been in custody ever since. But prosecutors only added the murders of four Los Angeles County women in 2006 after investigators discovered forensic evidence linking him to those crimes, including DNA found on three of the women, a bloody handprint and marker testing done on blood Alcala left on a towel in the fourth victim's home. Bruce Barcomb, the brother of Alcala's first known victim, 18-year-old Jill Barcomb, said he had almost given up hope that police would solve the case. "DNA technology never entered my mind," he said. "There was a one-in-100 billion chance of a match – and it was Jill." The jury heard testimony that two of the four adult victims were posed nude and possibly photographed after their deaths; one was raped with a RODNEY ALCALA, a former death row inmate who was twice convicted of the 1979 killing of a I 2-year-old Huntington Beach girl, sits in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif.Alcala, a California man with a genius IQ who is charged with the serial killings of five females, donned an earring Tuesday Feb. 9 and took the witness stand in his own defense. AP photo claw hammer; and all of them were repeatedly strangled and resuscitated during their deaths to prolong their agony. Prosecutors also alleged Alcala took earrings from at least two of the victims as trophies. The Samsoe case, which was first tried in 1980, presented more of a challenge for prosecutors. No one saw her abducted and investigators were unable to recover forensic evidence from her mutiliated body. The trial focused almost entirely on the Samsoe murder and Alcala chose not to address the four other cases when he testified in his own defense. Prosecutors relied on witnesses who saw a curly-haired photographer taking pictures of Samsoe, her friend and other teenagers on the beach minutes before she disap- was killed. He accused prosecutors of lumping the four Los Angeles women in with Samsoe to inflame the jury and pointed out lapses in witnesses' recollections of that day. The other women murdered were Georgia Wixted, 27, a nurse from Malibu; Charlotte Lamb, 32, a legal secretary from Santa Monica; Jill Parenteau, 21, a key punch operator from Burbank; and Barcomb, a teen who had run away to Los Angeles from Oneida, N.Y. weeks before her murder. Prosecutor Matt Murphy said Thursday he would call as witnesses in the penalty case two of Alcala's earlier victims, including the teenager whose rape case against Alcala was pending in 1979 when he murdered Samsoe. Alcala was convicted of sexually assaulting the other woman in 1968. Suspect may have contacted students online NEW YORK (AP) – Two men have pleaded not guilty to new charges in a foiled plot to bomb New York City subways with homemade bombs. Charges unsealed Thursday morning in federal court in Brooklyn allege that Zarein Ahmedzay (zah-RAYN' ah-MIHD'-zay) and Adis Medunjanin (ah-DEES' mehdoon-YAH'-neen) were involved in the plan to attack the system in mid-September 2009. LateNiteHumor Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1997 - Top 10 Good Things About Having a Clone 10. Send your clone to work in the morning, then spend rest of day watching UP and eating fudge. 9. The two of you can star in an adorable ad campaign for Xerox. 8. At parties, you're no longer automatically the biggest loser in the room. 7. Most interstate highways now feature fast-moving clone lane. 6. You'll get to know Michael Jackson during meetings of the Genetic Oddities Club. 5. No longer have to choose between dating Siegfried and dating Roy. 4. At some point, you'll have entire week of "Jenny Jones" shows devoted to you 3. Can take advantage of "Clones Eat Free" special at Ponderosa. 2. Your clone can do your jail time while you continue on as First Lady of the United States 1. Three words: frequent flier miles. peared. Photos of one of the girls were later found in his possession. Also key to the trial was a pair of gold ball earrings that Samsoe's mother said belonged to her daughter. The earrings were found in a jewelry pouch in a storage locker that Alcala had rented in Seattle. Investigators found other earrings in the same pouch, including a small rose-shaped stud that contained a trace of DNA from another of Alcala's alleged victims, Charlotte Lamb. Alcala maintained, however, that the gold ball earrings were his and introduced a video of himself as the winning contestant on a 1978 episode of "The Dating Game." He told jurors the grainy video clip showed him wearing the earrings under his long, feathered hair a year before Samsoe REAGAN WEBER, right, one of the two eighth grade students who was shot Tuesday at Deer Creek Middle School with her friend Sydney Erickson who was with her when the gunman fired.Weber was resting at home with her father, her sister Morgan, I 7, and Erickson. AP photo LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — Among items seized from the room of a man accused of wounding two students at a Colorado middle school were photos of youths who appear to be in their teens, prompting the accused's father to speculate that his son may have had online contact with students there prior to the attack. Jefferson County sheriff's investigators Thursday were puzzling over why Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood, 32, may have targeted Deer Creek Middle School. They declined to say whether Eastwood had contact with students at the school, which is just miles from Columbine High, but they were interviewing students and parents. "It's very well a possibility, but it remains under investigation," said sheriff's spokesman Mark Techmeyer. Eastwood's father, War Eagle Eastwood, said Wednesday that he found digital pictures in his son's room showing students, who he guessed were in middle school or high school. Investigators seized the photos when they searched Eastwood's home in Hudson. The elder Eastwood said his son had talked to himself and imaginary friends and that recently that talk had turned into yelling. The Eastwoods don't have a home computer, but War Eagle Eastwood said his son would go to public libraries. Officials at nearby Hudson Public Library declined to comment, citing privacy concerns. Investigators were also reviewing Bruco Eastwood's journals as they tried to figure out why he allegedly showed up at his old school Tuesday and started firing in the parking lot before he was tackled by a math teacher. Student Reagan Weber was treated at a hospital and released. The mother of the other victim, Matt Thieu, said he was doing well at a hospital. Deer Creek was scheduled to reopen for classes on Monday. Teacher David Benke was hailed as a hero. Officials called his actions proof that the Littleton-area community had learned lessons from Columbine, where law enforcement was criticized for not moving quickly enough in the 1999 incident in which two teenagers killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves. Investigators say Eastwood initially entered the school Tuesday, said he was a former student, and chatted with teachers without drawing suspicion. Sheriff's department spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said Eastwood used a restroom and left the building. Moments later, he opened fire with his father's bolt-action hunting rifle in the parking lot. Techmeyer didn't release the exact timeline, saying it was part of the investigation. But he said that contrary to what a school official has said, it was moments, rather than hours, between the time Eastwood entered and left the building – without a weapon – and when the shooting began. John McDonald, director of safety, security and emergency planning for Jefferson County Schools, told KUSATV that Eastwood wanted a tour of the school. McDonald said tours are not given during school hours. A school security officer was not at Deer Creek at the time because he was responsible for three schools and was investigating a property crime at another school, Kelley said. Other officers were on the scene within three minutes, Techmeyer said. "Who knows? It probably would've ended differently if he had been on the scene," Techmeyer said of the security officer. "He may not have been at the door, but the response time would have been mere seconds versus three minutes. It could've ended more tragically, for Mr. Eastwood." It's unclear whether Eastwood watched the school resource officer leave or even knew that Deer Creek had one, Techmeyer said. There are 10 "school resource," or security, officers for 57 schools in unincorporated Jefferson County. Each officer is assigned primarily to a high school, where violent activity may occur more often, and one or two middle schools secondarily, Techmeyer said. Regular patrol deputies handle elementary schools. It would be too expensive to place one in every school, and school resource officers who cover a few schools are better able to establish potential crime patterns, Kelley said. Sheriff's officials are reviewing the program, as they would after any shooting, Techmeyer said. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers told a conference on school safety Thursday that there have been more than 250 school-related violence deaths nationwide, half of them shootings, since Columbine. Suthers insisted there is no way to stop a determined gunman, including the 53-year-old man who killed student Emily Keyes at Colorado's Platte Valley High School in 2006, the man who killed 33 people at Virginia Tech in 2007 and the faculty shooting deaths of three people this month at the University of Alabama. Anonymous tips to a phone bank set up after Columbine allowed officials to prevent 28 planned school attacks in Colorado, respond to more than 400 threats of violence and seize 200 weapons from schools or school buses, Suthers said. But he noted that school staff – not police – were involved in most of those cases. |