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Reno reopens King assassination case
Limited review called for falls short of widow’s hopes for a national commission
WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney
General Janet Reno reopened the
investigation of the 30-year-old assas
sination of civil rights leader Martin
Luther King Jr., focusing cm two alle
gations of a conspiracy beyond James
EariRay.
The limited review announced
Wednesday stops well short of the
national commission sought by Kingb
widow, Coretta Scott King.
Nevertheless, King welcomed the
probe “as a first step towards revealing
the truth.”
“I hope this inquiry will open a
wider investigation of all pertinent
leads,” said King, whom Reno consult
ed for months and informed of the
decision Tuesday night
“When this is accomplished, our
& family aftdtheAmerican people will at
i last have the satisfaction that all rele
[ vant evidence has been fully exam
f ined,” King said.
In a brief written announcement,
Reno said, “We hope this review will
provide answers to new questions that
have been raised about a tragedy that
still haunts our nation.” She promised a
report on the findings.
Despite a narrow initial focus on
separate allegations by a retired FBI
agent and a former Memphis, Tenn.,
bar owner, “the evidence gathered fay
the inquiry will be followed wherever
it may lead,” the Justice Department
said.
In meetings last spring with Reno
and President Clinton, King and her
sons had sought a national commis
sion, armed with power to grant immu
nity in return for testimony.
The family has expressed doubts
about the official version that James
Earl Ray, acting alone, shot King on
the balcony of a Memphis, Tenn.,
motel April 4,1968. Ray died in prison
this year serving a sentence for killing
King, but he had long ago disavowed
his confession and spent years
futileiy seeking a new trial.
The review will be conducted by
civil rights division lawyers, aided by
criminal division attorneys, under the
leadership of Barry Kowalski, who
successfully prosecuted the Los
Angeles pohce officers who beat black
motorist Rodney King in an episode
caught on a video camera by a
bystander
The King family also said it had
concerns about die FBI investigation
and die actions of its farmer director, J.
Edgar Hoover.
Justice officials cautioned that the
federal government might not be able
to prosecute any allegations, even if
proved true by the investigation,
because the statute oflimitations on the
basic federal crime in the case - con
spiracy to deprive King of his civil
rights-ran out 25 years ago.
There was no federal murder
charge available for the King ease in
1968. Tennessee’s murder law has no
statute of limitations, and any evidence
Justice turns up could be turned over to i
state prosecutors, officials said.
One of Ray’s brothers, Jerry Ray,
said Wednesday he hopes a special
prosecutor, and not officials in the
Justice Department, conducts the
review. “If die FBI does it, they’ll say
James done it and he’s a racist,” he said
«
If the FBI does it,
they’ll say James done
it and he’s a racist.”
Jerry Ray
brother of James Earl Ray
Russians fail to assure
stability for markets
| MOSCOW'ffcP) - Russia’s fcSlifig
M prime ministv tried to reassur-^
investors Wednesday after bonds
plunged in value under a drastic plan
to restructure Russia’s enormous
debts, but markets continued to fall.
The ruble also dove again as
Central Bank support for the curren
cy faltered, forcing the suspension of
trading at the interbank exchange for
a second day in a row.
The ruble weakened by 5 percent,
trading at 8.26 rubles to the dollar in
contrast to 7.86 rubles on Tuesday.
M-'' President Boris^hsio^gned the
decreeonr
| $40 billi<;
ft
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after terms of the plafc^e*e re5ft&l®d:^
announcedJa^eiJutsdajt^
"ctftfiinried creditors’ fears thaffhey
would sustain heavy losses.
Investors whose bonds have
matured will have the option of trad
ing them either for long-term, dollar
denominated paper with a very mod
est return, or much higher-yielding
paper denominated in rubles.
Even as he pledged to try to limit
the damage to investors, Acting
Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
was careful to dissociate himself
> ffomfl]je restructuring decision.
^wioiitd like people to under
stand us correctly: This decision was
predetermined. In actual fact, our
task was only to formulate it, and we
could not do otherwise,” he was quot
ed as saying by die ITAR-Tass news
agency.
“Our top priority now, my person
al task, is to soften its negative influ
ence on stock markets ahdmvestors.”
Foreign investors have already
been leaving Russia in droves, and
-the losses the? will sustain under die
restructuring - in some cases receiv
ing just 17 cents for every dollar they
invested, according to some analysts
- will discourage many from return
ing anytime soon.
Russia will feel die loss of foreign
investment keenly. Some analysts
predict the country will be shut out of
international commercial borrowing
for several years.
Stocks plummeted 6.4 percent in
early trading Wednesday, with the
Russian Trading System index falling
to 82.87 points from 88.38 Tuesday.
Moscow residents lined up out
side some banks to try to withdraw
their deposits.
“I’ve got no confidence left in die
government, of course. You can’t
even buy hard currency now,” said a
woman who identified herself only as
Julia.
Communist Party leader
Gennady Zyuganov said he was
ready to talk with Chernomyrdin
about a coalition government. But he
warned that the Communists would
demand a say in the prime minister’s
program to cope with the economic
crisis.
C1’" risers brace
fc apeachment call
WAfcHftfQT&N^AP* ^
^Bfacing^ora kkely-impeachfiient
report, some ofPresident Clinton’s
political advisers want to send
Congress a separate version to
counter Kenneth Starr with-evi
dence from the president’s defense
team.
Such a move would be
designed to provide Clinton’s
Democratic allies on Capitol Hill
with ammunition to argue against
starting impeachment proceedings
in the Monica Lewinsky case -
and to influence public percep
tions.
The idea has been “batted
around” and passed on to Clinton’s
lawyers by political advisers, one
senior administration official paid.
A second official said the
report could be written like 3 dis
senting r^port.duripgjacongres
sional investigation, evaluating the
same evidence bit coming to dif
•. ferent conclusions.
The officials, both of whom
commented only on condition of
anonymity, cautioned that no deci
sions have been made and that it is
unclear how Clinton’s lead private
attorney, David Kendall, views the
idea. Kendall was out of town
Wednesday and unavailable for
comment.
Advisers note that there are
other options for putting forth
information helpfulto Clinton, o ;
such as press briefings, release of
documents and interviews with
aides or even the president him
self.
Starr, the independent counsel,
is expected to deliver a report to
Congress as early as next month
that would outline possible
impeachable offenses in the
Lewinsky case, including perjury,
obstruction of justice and abuse of
the power of the presidency.
Clinton’s defenders are likely to
respond soon after.
At issue is whether Clinton ;
lied under oath in die Paula JonQF i
sexual harassment lawsuit and \
tried to obstrtict the lawsuit and J
subsequent criminal investigaitiqit |
by'.dpncealmg.the nature of h0 5
relationship jwth Lewinsky. * * ^
. T Last"week,. Clinton ended
seven months of public denial by
acknowledging he had an inappro
priate relationship with Lewinsky
and had misled both his family and
the country.
But the president told a grand
jury that his denial of “sexual rela
tions” with Lewinsky under oath
last January was legally accurate
even though he had engaged in
sexual contact with her, legal
sources said.
La Vista man gets life sentence
PAPILLION (AP) - A LaVista
man convicted of dousing his
estranged wife with gasoline, setting
her on fire and watching her burn
was sentenced Wednesday to life in
prison.
Francis Seberger, 40, convicted
at trial of first-degree murder, was
sentenced by a three-judge panel in
Sarpy County District Court.
Prosecutors had sought die death
penalty for die arson that severely
burned Debbie Seberger, 34. She
was burned over 80 percent of her
body and died at the St. Elizabeth
Health Center’s burn unit in Lincoln
a month after the attack May 31,
1997.
Seberger’s attorney argued that
his client’s life should be spared
because he was despondent over his
divorce and drunk at the time of the
killing. Attorney Greg Pivovar said
Wednesday that the sentence was the
best his client could hope for.
Prosecutor Patricia Bramhall
said she did not know why the
judges did not impose the death
penalty.
The Sebergers’ 13-year-old
daughter, Nicole, had written the
court asking that her father’s life be
spared. She was in court for the sen
tencing.
Supreme Court to rule
on 2000 Census polling
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Clinton administration is press
ing for a Supreme Court ruling on
the use of modem polling tech
niques it contend* will better
account for minorities and city
dwellers in the 2000 Census.
The solicitor general has
appealed a federal court ruling
barring use of statistical sam
pling for the national head count
and will ask for Supreme Court
review, the Justice Department
said in a statement Wednesday.
’ ; The census is used to deter
mine how; mjany congressional
seats each state giets’ Billions of
dollars in federal funds also are
allocated on the basis of how
many people live in each state
and city.
more accuraie coum wouiu
be expected to benefit
Democrats, because those nor
mally missed in the Census
belong to that party's constituen
cies.
House Republicans sued over
administration plans to use sam
pling, claiming it violates the
constitutional^ requirement for an
“actual enumeration'' oftfce pop
lilafibnv Afedefaf bbtirt panel
ruled Monday that the sampling
plan violates the Census Act.
Sampling is a basic tool of
pollsters and marketers that
makes estimates based on what is
already known about a given pop
ulation.
Man pleads guilty
to Beanie Baby scam
MEDJN4, Ohia(AP) - A man
accused of operating a Beanie
Baines scam that cheated people
in 19 stotes^ipcluding Nebraska,
has pleaded guiltyto theft. ;
Eldred Proctor, 58, and3iis
wife received between $80,000
and $100,000 by advertising to
sell rare and retired versions of
the popular beanbag toys, David
Sheldon, a Medina County assis
tant prosecutor, said Tuesday.
Proctor took the orders -
including $5,356 from a
Nebraska man and $980 from a
Florida resident - but never sent
the toys. The couple returned all
but about $15,000.
Proctor said he had cancer
and needed money for medical
treatments.
He pleaded guilty Monday to
three counts of theft involving the
scam. He also pleaded guilty to
theft of welfare benefits and ille
gal use of food stamps.
His wife, Arlene Proctor, 55,
pleaded guilty to the same
charges in April, Sheldon said.
Both are to be sentenced Sept.
28 in Medina County Common
Pleas Court and face a maximum
penalty of 2 Vi years in prison.
Sheldon said there were about
90 victims in 19 states. The states
are Minnesota, West Virginia,
Illinois, Ohio, Texas, Nebraska,
Florida, California, Virginia,
Connecticut, New York,
Montana, New Jersey, Oklahoma,
Washington, Michigan, Georgia,
Missouri and Massachusetts.
