In brief: Ex-Clippers owner’s wife awarded $2.6 million in suit over gifts

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles judge has ruled that the wife of the former Clippers owner is owed $2.6 million by a woman her husband showered with gifts.

Judge Richard Fruin Jr. ruled Tuesday in the lawsuit, awarding Shelly Sterling most of the nearly $3 million she had sought.

Sterling had claimed that money used to buy V. Stiviano a house, luxury cars and stocks was her community property.

Stiviano’s lawyer had argued the gifts were made when Donald and Shelly Sterling were separated and that Shelly Sterling couldn’t seek them from a third party.

The ruling comes nearly a year after Stiviano’s recording of Donald Sterling making racially offensive remarks bounced him from the NBA and cost him team ownership.

Shelly Sterling’s lawyers used other recordings to show he bought Stiviano a house, a Ferrari and other things.

Missouri inmate executed for 1998 killing

BONNE TERRE, Mo. – A Missouri inmate was executed Tuesday night for killing a man in a fit of rage over child support payments 16 years ago.

Andre Cole, 52, became the third convicted killer put to death this year in Missouri. His fate was sealed after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down several appeals, including one claiming Cole was mentally ill and unfit for execution.

Also Tuesday, Gov. Jay Nixon refused a clemency petition that raised concerns about the fact that Cole, who was black, was convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury.

Cole and his wife, Terri, were married for 11 years and had two children before divorcing in 1995. The couple fought about visitation and he was upset about child support payments, authorities said.

By 1998, Cole was $3,000 behind in child support. Attorney General Chris Koster said Cole became angry when he learned that a payroll withholding order was issued to his employer, taking the money out of his check.

“Before I give her another dime, I’ll kill (her),” Cole told co-workers, according to Koster.

The first deduction appeared on his Aug. 21, 1998, paycheck. Hours later, Cole forced his way into his ex-wife’s home by throwing a tire jack through a glass door, Koster said. He was confronted by Anthony Curtis, a friend who was visiting. Cole used a kitchen knife to repeatedly stab Curtis, then Terri Cole. Curtis died but Terri Cole survived.

Volunteer deputy turns himself in

TULSA, Okla. – A 73-year-old Oklahoma volunteer sheriff’s deputy who authorities said fatally shot a suspect after confusing his stun gun and handgun was booked into the county jail Tuesday on a manslaughter charge.

Robert Bates surrendered to the Tulsa County Jail and was released after posting $25,000 bond.

Bates’ attorney, Clark Brewster, told reporters that his client would not make a statement, then ushered him into a waiting SUV.

Brewster said Bates is due to make an initial court appearance April 21.

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office said Bates, an insurance executive who was volunteering on an undercover operation in Tulsa, accidentally shot 44-year-old Eric Harris on April 2.