NewsDigest
Supreme Court toughens appeals
■ Decision may affect time
between sentencing and
execution in capital cases.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Supreme Court, struggling to clarify
its own past rulings and a 1996 law
enacted by Congress, made it harder
Tuesday for federal judges to over
turn tainted convictions and sen
tences in state courts.
But the justices’ splintered rea
soning left in doubt the court’s ulti
mate intent in a decision that poten
tially affects more than 3,600 death
row inmates and hundreds of thou
sands of other prisoners nationwide.
“We have to wait and see how
lower courts utilize this ruling,” said
Texas Tech law professor Timothy
Floyd.
“It’s now harder for state defen
dants to get into federal court but it
remains to be seen how much hard
er.”
At issue was the effect of the
Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act, a 1996 law aimed in part
at cutting the time between sentenc
ing and executions in capital punish
ment cases.
For centuries, people convicted
in state courts have had the right to
appeal to federal courts, contending
in “habeas corpus” proceedings that
their prosecution violated some fed
erally protected right.
“This decision makes clear that
the writ of habeas corpus is not be
used as a device to go judge-shop
ping, running the same marginal
claims past multiple sets of judges,”
said Kent Schedigger of the conser
vative Criminal Justice Legal
Foundation.
But Larry Yackle, a Boston
University law professor who filed a
friend-of-the-court brief for the
American Civil Liberties Union,
said, ‘‘Today’s ruling doesn’t shut the
federal courthouse door. Some state
inmates will win.”
A series of Supreme Court deci
sions limited federal court access for
state prisoners, and the 1996 law fur
H This decision makes clear that the
writ of habeas corpus is not be used as
a device to go judge-shopping, running
the same marginal claims past multiple
sets of judges.”
Kent Schedigger
Criminal Justice Legal Foundation
ther restricted federal judges’ sec
ond-guessing of state court conclu
sions.
That law barred federal court
relief unless a state court ruling is
“contrary to, or involved an unrea
sonable application of, clearly estab
lished federal law as determined by
the Supreme Court.”
Writing for a 5-4 majority,
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said
the law requires a hands-off
approach by federal judges unless a
state court clearly is wrong about
some Supreme Court precedent or
“unreasonably applies that principle
to the facts of the prisoner’s case.”
That standard is stringent, but not
as restrictive as one the 4th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals adopted
when it upheld the death sentence of
convicted Virginia murderer Terry
Williams.
Joining O’Connor in setting the
new standard were Chief Justice
William H. Rehnquist and Justices
Antonin Scalia, Anthony M.
Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.
Jetliner crash may
be country’s worst
All 130 on board most likely dead
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - An
Air Philippines jetliner carrying 130
people crashed in the southern
Philippines Wednesday (Tuesday
CDT), and officials said all aboard
were believed killed.
The Boeing 737-200 circled its
destination city of Davao, 625 miles
southeast of Manila, before going
down in a coconut grove on nearby
Samal island, officials said.
Emergency crews arriving at the
site of the still-smoldering plane said
there were no signs of survivors. If that
turns out to be the case, it would the
worst plane crash in Philippine histo
ry
“The initial report is that everyone
was killed,” said Melcar Estella, the
assistant regional director of civil
defense.
The pilot of a small plane that flew
over the area told authorities the craft
appeared to be totally destroyed
except for its tail section.
The airline said the plane left
Manila carrying 130 people - 124
passengers, including four babies, and
six crew members.
There was no immediate word on
what caused the disaster. The airline
said a maintenance check before take
off showed the plane was OK.
Forecasters said weather conditions
were good
Planes, buses and ferries through
out the Philippines were jammed
Wednesday because of the start of
Easter holidays, in which many
Filipinos return to their hometowns.
It appeared to be the most serious
crash in the Philippines since a twin
engine plane slammed into the hills in
the northern part of the country on
Dec. 7, killing all 17 people aboard
In the country’s worst air disaster
ever, a Cebu Pacific DC-9 jet crashed
in 1998 near the top of a fog-shrouded
mountain in the southern Philippines,
killing all 104 people aboard
Several of the country’s airlines
created since toe industry was deregu
lated several years ago have been
dogged with safety- and maintenance
related problems.
Boeing began producing toe 200
model of the 737 in 1966, building
more than 1,000 of them over the next
22 years before ending production.
The plane can carry up to 130 passen
gers.
Boeing spokesman Sean Griffin
said toe plane was first put into service
22 years ago.
He said he didn’t know when toe
four-year-old airline acquired it or
whether toe specific jet had any prob
lems previously.
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Gay unions gain early
approval in Vermont
■ Vote comes after two
amendments banning gay
marriage were defeated.
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A bill
that would create the closest thing in
America to gay marriage won pre
liminary approval in the state Senate
on Tuesday.
The decision followed a debate
that was watched by people wearing
either white ribbons or pink stickers
to show where they stood.
The 19-11 vote came after the
Senate defeated two proposed consti
tutional amendments designed to
outlaw same-sex marriage.
The bill will be up for final
approval in the Senate today.
A similar measure has already
passed the House, but that chamber
will have to consider changes made
by the Senate.
democratic uov. Howard dean
has said he will sign the bill.
The measure would enable gay
couples to form “civil unions” that
would entitle them to all 300 or so
rights and benefits available under
state law to married couples. No
other state has gone as far as Vermont
to give gay couples something
approximating marriage.
However, Vermont’s gay couples
would still not be entitled to the fed
eral benefits available to married
couples in such areas as taxes and
Social Security. And unlike mar
riage, civil unions would not confer
portable rights; other states would
probably not recognize such unions.
“We can do something of great
weight,” Sen. Richard McCormack,
a Democrat, said in support of the
bill. “We can do something very,
very important.”
The reaction of the dozens of
people sitting in the Senate galleries,
standing along the chamber’s walls
and milling about the hallways was
subdued.
Opponents of the legislation,
wearing white ribbons to signify
their support for traditional mar
riage, stood shoulder-to-shoulder
with supporters wearing pink stick
ers favoring civil unions.
Several senators who voted
against the bill said they were doing
so because their constituents
opposed it. Others said they feared
the national and international reac
tion.
“All of the United States and the
world will judge our decision today,”
warned Republican Sen. Julius
Canns, who unsuccessfully sought to
insert into the state Constitution a
definition of marriage as a union
between a man and a woman.
The state Supreme Court set the
stage for the legislation with its
unanimous December ruling that
same-sex couples were being uncon
stitutionally denied the benefits of
marriage.
l ne legislation would create a
status parallel to marriage by allow
ing gay and lesbian couples to obtain
a license from their town clerks and
then have their unions certified by a
judge or member of the clergy.
Same-sex couples then would
qualify for the wide array of benefits
available to married couples, from
being able to make medical decisions
on behalf of their partners to qualify
ing for certain tax breaks.
To break up a civil union, couples
would have to go through Family
Court to obtain dissolutions, just as
when married couples divorce.
Opponents of the measure had
attempted to derail it Tuesday with
the pair of constitutional amend
ments. One amendment would have
added to the state Constitution the
definition of marriage as a union
between a man and a woman. The
second would have overturned the
Supreme Court ruling.
Neither amendment won a simple
majority, let alone the two-thirds
required for constitutional amend
ments.
Scores of people listened to
debate on the amendments over
speakers in hallways outside the
small Senate chamber.
■ Forlida
Pediatrician says Elian’s
Miami relatives are abusive
MIAMI (AP) - As the wait for
a court ruling in the Elian
Gonzalez case dragged on
Tuesday, a pediatrician advising
the government said the boy is
being psychologically abused by
his Miami relatives and should be
removed from their care immedi
ately.
“This child ... continues to be
horrendously exploited in this
bizarre and destructive ambiance,”
Dr. Irwin Redlener wrote to
Attorney General Janet Reno and
Doris Meissner, the commissioner
of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service.
His comments were the first
time someone on the government
side has criticized how the 6-year
old Cuban boy is being treated.
Doctors for the Miami relatives
quickly attacked the letter, which
the government released Monday.
■ Australia
Man charged in alleged
rape of 91-year-old
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A
man has been charged in die brutal
rape of a 91-year-old woman, a
crime that caused police to con
duct DNA tests on almost every
male in the small Australian town
of Wee Waa.
In a brief court appearance
Tuesday, Stephen James Boney,
44, did not enter a plea and was
ordered to remain in custody until
a further hearing May 15.
Police refused to say whether
Boney was one of more than 600
men from the New South Wales
town who volunteered to give sali
va samples for DNA testing L0
days ago.
■ United States
Iraq, Cuba speak against 1
U.S. at sanction review
UNITED NATIONS (AP) r
Iraq and Libya took advantage ofa
Security Council review of U.N.
sanctions to press for the measures
to be lifted and to condemn what
they called U.S. manipulation in
imposing them.
Cuba - which has been under a
U.S. embargo for nearly 40 years -
echoed the demand and condem
nation.
The three countries spoke at
the end of an open council debate
Monday on making U.N. sanctions
more targeted and less harmful to
civilians.
■ Washington, D.C.
Government approves new,
powerful antibiotic
WASHINGTON (AP) r
Doctors are getting an important
new weapon in the growing battle
against drug-resistant infectionf:
The government on Tuesda^
approved a long-awaited drug
called Zyvox, described as the
world's first entirely new type
antibiotic in 35 years.
Zyvox seems to cure some
infections impervious to all other
antibiotics, even that longtime
drug of last resort called van
comycin.
Consequently, Zyvox coulid
help hundreds, perhaps even thou
sands, of life-threatening infe$
tions every year.
“It comes at a time when we
were literally running out of
antibiotics,” said Dr. Robert C.
Moellering Jr., physician-in-chief
of Boston’s Beth Israel
Deaconness Hospital.