In brief: Priests attacked; one is killed

PHOENIX – A badly injured priest managed to administer last rites to his dying fellow clergyman who was fatally shot in a nighttime attack at their Roman Catholic church in downtown Phoenix as police rushed to the scene after the man also called 911.

Authorities had no suspects or solid leads as of Thursday afternoon. Investigators said they are unsure how many attackers were involved or if robbery was the motive.

A car belonging to the Rev. Kenneth Walker, who died late Wednesday at a hospital, was found abandoned a few blocks from the church.

The Rev. Joseph Terra was hospitalized in critical condition. The two priests lived at the church.

Terra called 911 to report a burglary at the Mother of Mercy Mission around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday and administered last rites to Walker while waiting for police to arrive.

Wrongly freed man killed hours later

FRESNO, Calif. – A burglary defendant who won his freedom because of a jury’s mistake lost his life a few hours later when he was stabbed to death in a fight.

The jury in the trial of Bobby Lee Pearson, 37, mistakenly signed a not-guilty form Wednesday, and the flabbergasted judge said he had no choice but to order him to be released from jail because the verdict had already been put on the record.

After being released from jail, Pearson went to the home of his sister, Lasandra Jackson, to get some clothing and belongings. Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said Pearson apparently got into a fight with his sister’s boyfriend, 35-year-old Willie Gray.

The two had a history of problems, said Dyer, adding that investigators believe Gray killed Pearson, who was found dead in the street with a chest wound from a knife or gun and a cut on his stomach.

Wright named new U.S. poet laureate

WASHINGTON – The Library of Congress has chosen Southern writer Charles Wright to serve as the nation’s next poet laureate beginning this fall.

Wright hails from Pickwick Dam, Tennessee. For years, he was a professor at the University of Virginia.

In announcing the selection, Librarian of Congress James Billington said Wright is a master of the “meditative, image-driven lyric.”

The 79-year-old Wright succeeds another Southern poet, Natasha Trethewey, as poet laureate.

Wright has won the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award and the Bollingen Prize.