QUOTE OF THE DAY
“As far as taking a bath or shower, you got no other choice. But I ain’t drinking it, I ain’t giving it to the dogs, and I ain’t cooking with it either.”
St. Bernard Parish, La., resident Debbie Sciortino, on water deemed safe for consumption by state health officials despite a deadly amoeba being found in the suburban New Orleans community’s supply Article, 2A
Friend of Chechen slain by FBI arrested
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Authorities have arrested a friend of the Chechen man who was shot to death in his Orlando apartment during questioning by the FBI about a Boston Marathon bombing suspect.
Ashurmamad Miraliev was booked into the Osceola County jail on Friday. He is charged with tampering with a witness or informant.
Sheriff’s spokesman Twis Lizasuain said Miraliev’s arrest is unrelated to the Boston bombing probe or the FBI.
Miraliev, 20, was living in the Orlando apartment where his friend, Ibragim Todashev, was killed in last May.
Todashev was killed while FBI agents and others questioned him about his friendship with Boston Marathon bomber suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Officials originally said the Chechen man lunged at an agent with a knife.
They later said it was no longer clear what happened.
Tennessee indicts 2 over 4 bodies in car
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A grand jury on Friday indicted a man and his girlfriend on murder charges in the shooting deaths of a woman and three teenagers in what prosecutors called a robbery during a drug deal in a former mountain resort in eastern Tennessee.
The Cumberland County grand jury indicted Jacob Allen Bennett, 26, and Lina Yvonn Moser, 25, on four felony murder and two attempted aggravated robbery charges. Bennett, who is accused of being the gunman, also was charged with four counts of premeditated murder, which means prosecutors could pursue the death penalty.
Both Bennett and Moser are being held without bail.
Bennett’s appointed attorney, Kevin Marlow, did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Moser’s attorney, Kevin Bryant, declined to comment.
Bennett and Moser are accused of trying to rob two of the victims, 22-year-old Rikki Danielle Jacobsen and 17-year-old Domonic Lewis Davis, during what the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation described as a marijuana exchange. Their bodies were found in a car in the rural Renegade Mountain community Sept. 12 alongside Steven Michael Presley, 17, and Jonathan Raymond Lajeunesse, 16.
At 2-murder trial, girlfriend admits to lies
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Defense attorneys for John McCluskey, an Arizona convict accused of killing an Oklahoma couple while on the run, have spent hours hammering away at inconsistencies in the accounts of key prosecution witnesses.
However, they haven’t challenged accusations made by McCluskey’s girlfriend and cousin Casslyn Welch that McCluskey was the one who shot and killed Gary and Linda Haas of Tecumseh, Okla.
Under questioning by authorities, Welch has stuck to that claim from the time she was arrested.
Under questioning by McCluskey’s lawyers, she admitted to lying under oath and not being truthful with federal investigators and prosecutors. She said her attitude after her arrest was “deplorable” and she regretted helping with the escape and making derogatory references about the Haases.
McCluskey has said he and Welch also robbed a beauty salon in Gentry, Ark., while they were on the run.
The fourth week of testimony in McCluskey’s capital-murder trial wrapped up Thursday with the questioning of Welch. The trial is to resume Monday after a three-day break.
Case against Saudi princess dropped
SANTA ANA, Calif. - A human-trafficking charge against a Saudi princess was dismissed Friday after prosecutors couldn’t support claims by a Kenyan maid who said she had to escape from her employer’s condominium after having her passport taken and being forced to work long hours for meager pay.
The announcement was made during what had been expected to be the arraignment of Meshael Alayban, 42,.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told the judge that investigators tried to corroborate the allegations but found the evidence did not support the claim.
An attorney had said the maid wanted to make a statement to the court but wasn’t available until Monday. The judge told Rackauckas he could wait for the statement, but the district attorney moved to dismiss the case.
After the dismissal, Rackauckas said the maid believed she was the victim of human trafficking but there really weren’t restrictions on her movements as she believed.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 09/21/2013