Suspected Nazi gains reprieve

John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi death camp guard, marked his 89th birthday Friday by winning a reprieve of his ordered deportation to Germany to face possible trial.

An immigration judge in Arlington, Va., issued the stay of a deportation expected during the weekend, said his son, John Demjanjuk Jr.

Demjanjuk, a retired autoworker who lives in the Cleveland suburb of Seven Hills, has argued that his deportation would amount to torture, given his frail health.

A German arrest warrant issued in March accuses the Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk of 29,000 counts of acting as an accessory to murder at the Sobibor camp in occupied Poland during World War II.

COVINA, Calif.

Killer used cocaine before massacre

A California coroner said a man who dressed as Santa Claus and killed his ex-wife and eight of her family members at a party Christmas Eve used cocaine before the rampage.

An autopsy report detailed Friday in the Pasadena Star-News states Bruce Pardo had low levels of the drug in his blood and urine.

Laboratory director Joe Motto said it’s unclear how much influence the cocaine had on Pardo’s behavior, but that it’s unlikely it prompted the attacks.

Authorities have said the 45-year-old Pardo may have been bitter over his divorce when he went on his killing spree in the Los Angeles suburb of Covina.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

Palin in-law charged with burglary

Police say Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s sister-in-law is accused of breaking into the same home twice to steal money.

Deputy Wasilla Police Chief Greg Wood said 35-year-old Diana Palin was arrested Thursday after she was confronted by the homeowner in the governor’s hometown of Wasilla. She faces two counts of felony burglary and misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and theft.

Wood said tire tracks and shoe prints tied Palin to another break-in Tuesday in which $400 was taken.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.

Man coughs up inch-long nail

Prax Sanchez said he doesn’t recall any serious hammer-and- nail mishaps in his past.

Yet doctors administering an MRI on the 72-year-old Colorado man last month abruptly stopped the exam to tell him there seemed to be something metallic in his face.

Right after the MRI, Sanchez coughed up an inch-long nail.

His doctor, Jamieson Kennedy, told KKTV in Colorado Springs that the nail might have been embedded there as long as 30 years. The MRI’s magnetic force apparently dislodged the nail, causing Sanchez to cough it up.

Sanchez said he can’t remember ever using a nail like it.

“I’ll probably frame it,” he said Friday.

From wire reports