Sr~” News Digest
Tuesday, November 28, 1995 Page 2
White policemen charged with
murder in death of black man
PITTSBURGH — Two white po
licemen were charged with murder
Monday in the death of a black busi
nessman who suffocated during a
scuffle that Jesse Jackson had branded
a lynching. A third white officer was
charged with involuntary manslaugh
ter.
Two more officers, both white, es
caped charges, and one of them will
testify for the prosecution in the Oct.
12 death of Jonny Gammage, 31, a
cousin of Pittsburgh Steelers football
player Ray Seals.
Seals said he was satisfied with the
charges and called for calm. But the
victim’s mother said all five of the
police officers were “mad with rage
and evil” and should go to prison.
Prosecutors did not follow a rec
ommendation by a coroner’s jury that
all five be charged with homicide.
“I have a duty to file only those
charges which I believe can be sub
stantiated by admissible evidence at
trial,” said District Attorney Robert
Colville.
Gammage, who managed his
cousin’s clothing and charity inter
ests, died after a low-speed chase by
police that led from suburban
Brentwood into Pittsburgh. Two au
topsies indicated that Gammage suf
focated because of pressure on his
chest and neck; the officers said they
had to fight to subdue him.
i-1
The prosecutor charged Brentwood
Police Lt. Milton Mulholland and
Officer John Vojtas with third-degree
murder and involuntary manslaugh
ter. Evidence of intent would have
been needed for the more serious
charge of first-degree murder. Sec
ondniegree murder involves a killing
committed during a felony.
Third-degree murder is punishable
by 20 to 40 years in prison. First
degree murder carries up to life in
prison or the death penalty.
Officer Michael Albert ofBaldwin
was charged with involuntary man
slaughter, punishable by up to five
years.
All three charged officers were re
leased on their own recognizance.
The district attorney said a fourth
policeman, Whitehall Officer Sean
Patterson, did not appear to be crimi
nally responsible, and Whitehall Po
lice Officer Keith Henderson will be a
prosecution witness.
Vojtas’ attorney, Jim Ecker, said
he is confident his client will be
cleared. “He and I both believe in the
American system of justice,” Ecker
said.
Robert DelGreco, an attorney for
the victim’s family, said Albert should
also have been charged with third
degree murder. Albert testified that he
applied pressure to Gammage’s shoul
der and the back of his neck.
“He did this by baton, he did it by
foot and he did it by knee,” DelGreco
said.
Last month, Jackson had called the
slaying a “lynching,” and the Pitts
burgh chapter of the National Asso
ciation for the Advancement of Col
ored People had called for charges of
first-degree murder. A black leader
repeated that call Monday.
“All five of them should be charged
with murder because unless a strong
message is sent here, it will happen
again,” said Jim Tarpley, a member of
the Million Man March organizing
committee. “We have black people
here who are afraid to go outside the
city of Pittsburgh.”
Seals, the son of a police officer,
said he would have preferred that all
five officers be charged but was gen
erally satisfied. He urged blacks to
stay calm.
“To me, it was never meant to be a
racial situation. This could have hap
pened to anybody,” Seals said.
Gammage’s mother, Narves, said
in Syracuse, N.Y., that she was satis
fied with the top two charges but felt
involuntary manslaughter was a slap
on the wrist.
“All five officers should serve time.
... None of them tried to stop it,” she
said. “I think they were mad with rage
and evil and they kept on until they
caused his death.”
Gingrich won’t join
presidential race
WASHINGTON — House
Speaker Newt Gingrich ruled out a
1996 presidential run Monday, leav
ing a clearly defined field to fight
for the GOP nomination and little
doubt the speaker will himself be a
campaign issue.
It had long been clear that
Gingrich was unlikely to join the
presidential race, but not until Mon
day did he slam shut the door. He
said he would not endorse a candi
date, but hoped to serve as chair
man of the Republican convention
next August in San Diego.
Explaining his decision,
Gingrich listed the daunting chal
lenge he faces in trying to shepherd
a balanced budget through Con
gress, calling it “one of the most
important decisions we’ve made in
domestic government in the last 60
years.”
Political calculations also played
a part. Iowa’s caucuses and New
Hampshire’s primary are less than
three months away, followed by a
blizzard of early primaries.
“I didn’t see how I could be both
speaker of the House and run a cam
paign of that scale,” Gingrich said.
In his year as speaker, Gingrich
has become a controversial, polar
izing political figure, viewed nega
tively by 57 percent of Americans
“/ didn ’t see how I
could be both speaker
of the House and run
a campaign of that
scale. ”
NEWT GINGRICH
House Speaker
in one recent poll. Disapproval of
Gingrich is often cited by Repub
licans when they are asked to ex
plain declining support for the
GOP agenda.
His decision leaves the GOP
field with a clear front-runner,
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.
Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, former
Tennessee Gov. Lamar
Alexander, publisher Steve Forbes
and commentator Pat Buchanan
are among those clamoring for an
opening or a Dole stumble.
For his part, Dole is working
feverishly to create the impres
sion his nomination is all but in
evitable. Just Monday, Wiscon
sin Gov. Tommy Thompson be
came the 16th of the 30 Republi
can governors to endorse Dole.
News (
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Court rules against demonstrators
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court piled on more bad news for
anti-abortion activists Monday, refusing to free five demonstrators from
paying nearly $ 100,000 in lawyer fees to an abortion clinic they targeted.
The action, taken without comment in a case from Sacramento, Calif.,
extended abortion foes’recent losing streak in the nation’s highest court.
It marked the first time the issue of lawyer-fee awards in abortion-linked
litigation had been considered by the justices.
“That the court would let this $ 100,000 penalty stand is outrageous
and sends a very chilling message to pro-life demonstrators,” said Jay
Sekulow, a lawyer with the anti-abortion American Center for Law and
Justice.
‘Happy Face’ conviction leads to release
SALEM, Ore. — A man and a woman who served four years for a
1990 strangling were released from prison Monday, three weeks after
the “Happy Face Killer” was convicted of the crime.
“There’s no longer any doubt that these two individuals are innocent.
The evidence is compelling,” Circuit Judge Paul Lipscomb said.
Laveme Pavlinac, 62, and her former boyfriend, John Sosnovske, 42,
went free two months after Keith Hunter Jesperson confessed to the
strangling of Taunja Bennett. He was convicted of the murder on Nov. 2.
Jesperson was nicknamed the Happy Face Killer for the smiley faces
he drew on letters claiming responsibility for eight murders.
Pavlinac had told police she helped her boyfriend kill Bennett and
dispose of her body. But at her trial, Pavlinac recanted, saying that she
had lied in an attempt to escape her abusive relationship with Sosnovske.
Failed deal may mean higher rates
WASHINGTON—A failure by Congress to reach a balanced budget
agreement could lead to a “sharp increase” in the cost of mortgages and
other interest rates, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said
Monday.
“I think the reaction could be quite negative” in the financial markets,
Greenspan said at a Senate Banking Committee hearing.
For months, Republicans have been making the argument that failure
to work out a budget deal could hurt the financial markets, and ultimately
raise the cost of borrowing for consumers. Greenspan’s comments,
made in response to questions by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman
of the Senate Budget Committee, bolstered the GOP’s arguments.
Jurors told that police destroyed evidence
LOS ANGELES — Jurors rolled their eyes and shook their heads
Monday when told that police accidentally destroyed evidence in the
drive-by murder case against rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and another
man.
During opening statements, Deputy District Attorney Ed Nison said
he could not produce the bloody clothes of victim Philip Woldemariam,
collected by police from the carport where 20-year-old man died.
But Nison said there was evidence that the rapper, whose real name
is Calvin Broadus, and co-defendant McKinley Lee were involved in the
1993 shooting.
Dole, N.Y. officials blame
I Hollywood for subway fire
NEW YORK — There were no
arrests and few leads in thetorchingof
a subway token booth on Monday, but
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and
police officials pointed the finger at
one alleged culprit: Hollywood.
In a virtual replay of scenes from
the new movie “Money Train,” two
men squeezed a flammable liquid into
a subway token booth on Sunday and
ignited it, blowing it up and critically
burning the clerk.
“That just may be an eerie and
frightening coincidence, but coming
only a few days after the movie was
released, it offers a powerful reminder
of the influence Hollywood has over
our society and our culture,” Dole
said while campaigning in Iowa for
the Republican presidential nomina
tion.
A statement from Columbia Pic
tures, which released the film, said its
makers were “appalled and dismayed”
by the real-life fire. But a Columbia
spokesman,Ed Russell,wouldn’tcom
ment on whether the studio acknowl
edged a possible connection.
Dole’s comments echoed those
made earlier by Police Commissioner
William Bratton and city transit offi
cials. They, too, cited the new action
movie as a possible blueprint for the
crime.
The clerk, Harry Kaufman, was in
extremely critical condition Monday
with third-degree bums over 80 per
cent of his body. The motive was
apparently robbery.
“Somebody blew up my booth....
Please help me,” Kaufman told a po
lice officer as he came up the station
stairs, screaming and in flames.
Kaufman, 50, told investigators that
one of the attackers had used a soda
bottle to squirt the liquid through the
token slot and the other man lighted it.
A fire-prevention system designed
to release a flame-stifling chemical
never went off in the Brooklyn sub
way booth. The two men fled, leaving
behind a rifle.
Police concluded that at least one
of the men was injured after finding a
charred black glove on a different
stairwell leading to the street. Hospi
tals were alerted to watch for suspi
cious bum victims, said transit bureau
Chief Kenneth Donohue.
Donohue and transit officials gath
ered Monday morning at a token booth
at another Brooklyn station to demon
strate the fire-protection system for
the media, in part to discourage copy
cat attacks.
Installed after a rash of
firebombings in the late 1970s, the
multimillion-dollar system is triggered
by an ultraviolet camera suspended
from the booth ceiling and aimed at
the token slot, transit officials said.
Investigators were testing residue
found on the ultraviolet sensor recov
ered from the scene of Sunday’s attack
in hopes of determining if someone put
a cup or a coat over it, a trick used by
some clerks so they can smoke ciga
rettes inside the booths, officials said.
Nebfraskan
Editor J. Christopher Hain Night News Editors Julie Sobczyk
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Clinton
Continued from Page 1
the most dangerous U.S. military
operation since the Persian Gulf
War.
Clinton tried to assuage fears
that the operation would evolve into
a major conflict, what critics refer
to as “mission creep.” Four times in
the speech he described the opera
tion in narrow terms — “limited,
focused”—and said it would have
“realistic goals that can be achieved
in a finite period of time.”
The American troops would be
part of a 60,000-man NATO force
enforcing a 600-mile long separa
tion zone between the warring fac
tions. Headquartered in Tuzla in
northeast Bosnia, the Americans
would be deployed in a mountain
ous, mine-strewn countryside in
harsh winter conditions. t
The dangers would be com
pounded by the bitter ethnic rival
ries and suspicions that tore apart
Yugoslavia. To some in Bosnia, the
NATO troops are more likely to be
seen as an unwelcome occupying
force than as peacekeeping saviors.
The mission comes on the heels
of an agreement signed in Dayton,
Ohio, last week to stop the bloodi
est fighting in Europe since World
War II, claiming 250,000 lives.
“We must not turn our backs on
Bosnia now,” Clinton said. “And so
I ask all Americans — and I ask
every member of Congress, Demo
crat and Republican alike, to make
the choice for peace. In the choice
between peace and war, American
must choose peace.”
Corrections
and
Clarifications
Monday’s Daily Nebraskan in
correctly reported the dates for
cap and gown fittings for De
cember graduates. The correct
dates were Monday and today.
