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Ex-SEAL trainee says friend killed Ga. student
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - Despite his past lies, a former Navy SEAL trainee has no reason to lie now about being the only killer of a Georgia college student, a lawyer trying to exonerate his fellow trainee said Thursday.
Dustin Turner and fellow trainee Billy Joe Brown were sentenced to decades in prison for murder, but Brown, from Dayton, Ohio, since has said he alone was responsible.
"Why in the world would (Brown) go on the stand and admit to killing a helpless victim if it weren't true?" said David B. Hargett, Turner's lawyer.
Turner and Brown were convicted in separate jury trials of killing Jennifer Evans, an Emory University student from Tucker, Ga., who disappeared from a Virginia Beach bar while on vacation in 1995.
The men first blamed each other but in a prison interview in 2002 and a sworn statement in 2003, Brown said he was the only one responsible for Evans' death.
On Wednesday, Brown testified that he became a Christian while incarcerated and realized he had to come clean. Under cross-examination, he acknowledged having told conflicting stories in the past; he said that he choked Evans but later claimed Turner did it because he was angry that Turner, his close friend, snitched to investigators.
"With everything that was thrown at him (Wednesday), he still sat there and said ‘I'm here for one reason only: salvation,"' Hargett said during closing arguments Thursday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court. "And he doesn't get there by lying. He gets there by telling the truth."
(Refer to page 8 of today's Daily Chief-Union) |
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Ohio lawmaker resigns amid football ticket investigation
COLUMBUS (AP) - A state lawmaker from northeast Ohio has resigned amid allegations that he purchased Ohio State football tickets with campaign funds and resold them for a profit.
State Rep. John Widowfield, a Republican from Cuyahoga Falls near Akron, submitted his resignation Wednesday in a two-sentence letter. Republican House Speaker Jon Husted acknowledged the resignation in a one-sentence letter without further comment.
Sources with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Thursday that Legislative Inspector General Tony Bledsoe is looking into whether Widowfield sold the tickets on eBay for a profit after buying them at face value through a season ticket option available to state lawmakers. The sources requested anonymity because the investigative process is secret.
A message was left at Widowfield's home seeking comment.
Widowfield showed up to his assigned committee on Wednesday morning, then suddenly resigned around 1 p.m., just after the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, which handles legislator misconduct, finished meeting. Proceedings of the committee are confidential and Bledsoe declined comment Thursday.
(Refer to page 8 of today's Daily Chief-Union) |
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| THURSDAY MAY 29, 2008 |
Longtime leader of Ohio's public schools to resign
COLUMBUS (AP) - Gov. Ted Strickland called Ohio's schools superintendent "one of our nation's premier education leaders" as she annouced her resignation about two months after he criticized her as being neither a leader, an advocate nor a good manager.
Susan Tave Zelman announced Wednesday that she will resign when a new superintendent starts and will remain in an advisory role until December.
In February's State of the State address, Strickland had threatened to strip Zelman's authority in a move to give his office more control over schools by creating a new education chief accountable to him instead of the state Board of Education.
But the Republican-controlled Legislature has not moved to authorize Strickland's plan. And the state Board of Education, which is searching for a replacement for Zelman with the governor's input, still opposes the changes.
Zelman has led primary and secondary education in the state for nine years, overseeing a system with about 1.8 million students.
"Academic performance has improved measurably," Zelman said of her time in the job. "School funding has increased. And the Ohio Department of Education has been re-engineered to serve Ohio's 600-plus school districts with a stronger customer-service focus."
(Refer to page 8 of today's Daily Chief-Union) |
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Ohio governor taps law professor as temporary AG replacement
COLUMBUS (AP) - Gov. Ted Strickland says dispute resolution, orderliness and leadership are traits held by the woman who will replace an attorney general who resigned after admitting to having an extramarital affair with a subordinate, hiring unqualified friends and being unprepared to run the giant state agency.
Strickland on Wednesday appointed Nancy Hardin Rogers, the dean of Ohio State University's law school, to take over the office until an election is held in November to select a new attorney general.
She replaces Democrat Marc Dann, who resigned earlier this month after two staffers complained of sexual harassment by one of his top aides and an ensuing investigation led to him admitting to the affair.
The resignation has given Republicans an opening to reclaim a statewide seat they previously held for more than a decade, and Strickland has led the charge to keep that from happening.
Strickland noted Rogers' distinguished legal career, strong reputation and expertise in the field of dispute resolution.
"She will bring to that office as quickly as any human being can possibly do so a sense of confidence, orderliness and leadership," he said.
(Refer to page 8 of today's Daily Chief-Union) |
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