THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2004
Volume 4, Issue 23
FR EE
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
New DNA evidence stalls Santa Monica kidnapping case
DAILY LOTTERY SUPER LOTTO 1 15 30 39 47 Meganumber: 19 Jackpot: $... Million
FANTASY 5 2 5 8 17 35
DAILY 3 Daytime: Evening:
014 026
Lab results may clear Olympic silver medalist Danny Harris
DAILY DERBY 1st: 2nd: 3rd:
11 Money Bags 12 Lucky Charms 02 Lucky Star
RACE TIME:
1:45.89
NEWS OF THE WEIRD
BY JOHN WOOD
BY CHUCK SHEPARD
Daily Press Staff Writer
News of the Weird reported in 2002 on a rooftop brawl in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre (under joint control of six Christian faiths, whose adherents sometimes get snippy with each other), when a cleric placed a chair in an area reserved for another faith. In September 2004, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox clerics had a fistfight (resulting in at least five injuries) after a Catholic left a door open during an Orthodox service. (Coincidentally, on almost the same day in Bedford, Ohio, police said that more than 100 Sikhs were involved in a brawl over proper clerical dress at the Guru Gobind Singh Sikh Temple.)
LAX COURTHOUSE — Olympic silver medalist Danny Harris will remain in jail for allegedly kidnapping an elderly Santa Monica woman, despite DNA evidence released Wednesday that suggests he could be innocent. Harris, 39, was arrested last month and charged with seven felony counts for allegedly twice kidnapping a 75-year-old Sunset Park woman this fall, robbing her, and threatening to kill her and burn down her house. Trained bloodhounds led police to Harris using the scent from a wool cap left outside the victim’s
TODAY IN HISTORY In 1965, Nikolai V. Podgorny replaced Anastas I. Mikoyan as president of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. In 1979, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the religious broadcaster, died in New York City at age 84. In 1984, the five-day-old hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner that claimed the lives of two Americans ended as Iranian security men seized control of the plane, which was parked at Tehran airport.
QUOTE OF THE DAY “One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.”
JANE AUSTEN ENGLISH AUTHOR (1775-1817).
INDEX Horoscopes Be with a crowd, Cap
2
Water Temperature: 59°
3
Opinion Go north, my boy
4
State Troops need support
7
National Intelligence bill moves forward
10
International 11
Comics Chuckles await
12
Classifieds Motivating tutor
Russell Weller pleads not guilty By staff and wire reports
Surf Report
More on prisoner abuse
Nick Ut/Special to the Daily Press George Russell Weller enters Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday for arraignment on charges related to his driving his car through a crowded Farmers’ Market. Weller, now 88, pleaded innocent to 10 felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in connection with the July 16, 2003, crash, which left 10 people dead and 63 injured.
13
LAX COURTHOUSE — An 88year-old man whose car careened into the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, killing 10 and injuring 63, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 10 felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. Santa Monica resident George Russell Weller mistakenly stepped on the gas rather than the brake during the July 16, 2003 accident, according to federal safety investigators who ruled out mechanical failure, weather, alcohol or drugs, and fatigue.
Weller traveled 995 feet through the market on Arizona Avenue at speeds of up to 60 mph, avoiding parked cars but hurling pedestrians into the air before stopping, a California Highway Patrol report said. The 10 people killed ranged in age from 7 months to 78 years. Days after the crash, Weller issued a statement saying he was distraught and heartbroken, and his attorney called it an accident. Prosecutors filed the charges against Weller on Jan. 5, but he has since been free on bail on the
GABY SCHKUD
By Daily Press staff
CITY HALL — Six stores have been accused by city officials of overcharging their customers, it was announced Wednesday. The Santa Monica City Attorney’s Consumer Protection Unit has filed misdemeanor charges against six stores for charging more than the posted price on items in their stores. Each store is accused of charging at least $1 higher than the posted price on one or more items in a random inspection by county inspectors, attorneys said. The charges were filed under Business and Professions Code Section 12024.2, which makes it a crime for businesses to charge more than the posted price. Each violation carries a maximum fine of $1,000. Also, under Los
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house. That scent matched the scent from a shirt discarded by the kidnapper after fleeing the scene, prosecutors said. Both items led to Harris, a resident of the nonprofit Clare Foundation located off of Lincoln Boulevard. However, lawyers on Wednesday cited lab results showing neither the cap nor the shirt belonged to Harris. Both contained the DNA of a convicted felon who state authorities refused to name, pending the results of a second round of laboratory tests. Rather than drop the charges, prosecutors convinced Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Katherine Mader to keep Harris in custody while authorities investigate the new suspect. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday, when Judge Mader may decide if enough
Angeles County ordinance, each store that violates the law must post a notice of violation in its window for 60 days. “It’s unfortunate that it was only last year that Bebe, Carlton Cards, and the Gap were convicted of the exact same charges, and they still can’t pass inspection,” said Deputy City Attorney Eda Suh. Borders has been previously cited in Santa Monica and in other cities in the Los Angeles County for similar violations. “During the holiday season, retailers get creative in how they attract consumers into their stores and get them to buy,” Suh said. “Sales and mark downs last for a week, a day, or even hours. An item can be marked one price in the morning, and another in the afternoon. See OVERCHARGE, page 6
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