In brief: Coats gets closer to Senate return

Indianapolis – Former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats was deemed the winner in the Republican primary to reclaim his job as one of Indiana’s senators, according to reports late Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher was comfortably ahead of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner in the Democratic Senate primary there.

Coats, who left the Senate in 1998, seeks to win back the seat now held by Sen. Evan Bayh, a Democrat who is stepping down. A favorite of the party’s Washington establishment, Coats held a comfortable lead with 39.4 percent of the vote, ahead of a field of five with 88.1 percent of all precincts reporting.

His closest rival was state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, a well-financed favorite of tea party supporters, with 29.7 percent of the vote.

Fatal encounter called ‘accident’

Charlottesville, Va. – Describing a scene of violent rage, the Virginia lacrosse player accused of killing a member of the women’s team told police he kicked in her bedroom door, shook her and her head repeatedly hit the wall, according to a court document.

The suspect, 22-year-old George Huguely, of Chevy Chase, Md., has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Yeardley Love, also 22.

Huguely was not present at a court hearing Tuesday, but he appeared via videoconference from jail, wearing a gray-striped uniform. Afterward, his lawyer, Francis Lawrence, told reporters that Love’s “death was not intended, but an accident with a tragic outcome.”

Sentence started in Letterman case

New York – The former CBS television producer who tried to shake down David Letterman over the comic icon’s office affairs started a six-month jail sentence Tuesday, closing a case that opened Letterman’s behind-the-scenes behavior to public scrutiny.

Carrying a Bible to a court date he knew would end in time behind bars, Robert “Joe” Halderman declined to speak before he was led from a Manhattan court in handcuffs to begin his jail term, to be followed by 1,000 hours of community service. He agreed to both when he pleaded guilty in March to attempted grand larceny.

Letterman wasn’t on hand for Halderman’s sentencing Tuesday, and a spokesman for him declined to comment afterward.

Halderman, 52, admitted in March that he demanded $2 million in hush money last fall to keep from revealing personal information about Letterman. Halderman buttressed the threat with information he’d culled from peeking at a former girlfriend’s diary, which described a relationship with Letterman, her boss, officials have said.