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Saturday, December 17, 2011
The Vicksburg Post
’Barefoot Bandit’ gets more than 7 years for spree COUPEVILLE, Wash. (AP) — Colton Harris-Moore, the “Barefoot Bandit,” was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to dozens of state charges. The 20-year-old man gained international notoriety while evading police across the country in stolen planes, boats and cars during a two-year crime spree. He looked down and showed
Death of drum major a homicide ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Florida A&M University drum major was severely beaten in a hazing incident and died within an hour, the state medical examiner said Friday in declaring it a homicide. Robert Champion, 26, had bruises to his chest, arms, shoulder and back and internal bleeding that caused him to go into shock, which killed him, the office said. Champion’s Nov. 19 death and the severe beating of another band member during a hazing ritual three weeks earlier have brought new scrutiny to a culture of hazing within the Tallahassee school’s famed Marching 100. State and local authorities are investigating Champion’s death. Any death involving hazing is a third-degree Robert felony in FlorChampion ida, but so far no charges have been filed. Three male band members were arrested in a separate probe into the recent beating of a female member whose thigh bone was broken. Witnesses told 911 that Champion was vomiting before he was found unresponsive aboard a band bus outside an Orlando hotel after the school’s football team lost to rival Bethune-Cookman. The toxicology report was negative for drugs and alcohol and there was no injury to the internal organs. Hazing cases in marching bands have cropped up over the years, particularly at historically black colleges, where a spot in the marching band is coveted and the bands are revered almost as much as the sports teams. In 2008, two firstyear French horn players in Southern University’s marching band had to be hospitalized after a beating. A year later, 20 members of Jackson State University’s band were suspended after being accused of hazing.
3 dead in Calif. office shooting IRWINDALE, Calif. (AP) — Three people were killed and two more injured Friday in a California office complex shooting, police said. The suspected gunman was among the dead, Baldwin Park police Capt. Michael Taylor said. The people were shot around 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Southern California Edison office building in Irwindale. One of the dead was discovered inside the building. Another died en route to a hospital. Two others have unspecified injuries and their conditions are not known. The building was quickly locked down and dozens of people were seen streaming out with their hands raised. Two nearby schools also were locked down but no one on the campuses was hurt. There was no immediate word on what prompted the gunfire.
no reaction as the sentence was delivered. Judge Vickie Churchill said, “This case is a tragedy in many ways, but it’s a triumph of the human spirit in other ways.” She described HarrisMoore’s upbringing as a “mind numbing absence of hope,” and believed he was genuinely remorseful and contrite. Friday’s proceedings consolidated cases against Har-
ris-Moore in three Washington counties. He has already pleaded guilty to federal charges i n S e att l e Colton and will be Harris-Moore sentenced for those crimes early next year. He will serve his state and federal sentences at the same
time. Harris-Moore faced a sentencing range of between seven and just under 10 years. “Colton’s very pleased,” said his attorney John Henry Brown, who called the sentence fair. “He was expecting the worst.” Wearing handcuffs and an orange jail uniform, HarrisMoore spoke softly in court while entering his pleas.
In a statement provided to the judge, he said his childhood was one he wouldn’t wish on his “darkest enemies.” Harris-Moore said he studied manuals and online videos to teach himself to be a pilot, and the thrills he experienced while flying stolen planes renewed his passion for life and will help him rehabilitate while in prison. “The euphoria of the countdown to takeoff and the real-
ization of a dream was nearly blinding,” he wrote of his first illicit flight on Nov. 11, 2008. “My first thought after takeoff was ‘Oh my God, I’m flying.’ I had waited my entire life for that moment.” He said he’ll use his prison time to study and get ready to apply to college, with the hope of earning an aeronautical engineering degree.