Man surrenders after 20 years on the run
Seattle
A man wanted for the past two decades on charges he helped import many tons of marijuana called the FBI, said he was tired of living on the run and turned himself in at the U.S.-Canadian border, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Michael Lerner, 62, had been in Canada, but exactly where and for how long was unclear. He appeared gaunt and tired as he shuffled into U.S. District Court here for his initial appearance Thursday, a day after turning himself in.
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of California named Lerner and 17 others in a 195-count indictment in 1986. Most of his co-defendants received sentences of two to three years, though ringleader Kenneth Chasser received a 10-year sentence and a few remain at large.
The indictment charged the group with importing literally tons of marijuana – 8,000 pounds in mid-1983 alone – but it does not specify from where. The conspiracy allegedly ran from approximately 1979 to 1983.
Lerner, described in the indictment as a leader of the group, was also charged with tax evasion and witness tampering.
Lerner was appointed counsel for his appearance Thursday. He waived a hearing to establish his identity and agreed to be detained until his transport to San Francisco.
85-year-old man acquitted of child rape charge
A Spokane County jury Thursday acquitted an 85-year-old man who was accused of raping a teenage girl on numerous occasions when she visited his Spokane home between July 2003 and April 2004, when the girl was 15.
The jury deliberated about 2 1/2 hours before rejecting a third-degree child rape charge against Arthur Leonard Sanstrom, who needed a walker to get in and out of the courtroom.
Lawyers to offer free advice on Saturday
Teams of volunteer lawyers will descend on Riverfront Park, unfold card tables near the Carousel and offer free legal advice this Saturday.
It’s part of “Street Law: Spokane,” a program where the Center for Justice, a nonprofit law firm in downtown Spokane teams with the Spokane Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyer Program.
The program, which began July 9 and will continue every Saturday through Aug. 27, provides free legal consultations, information and referrals for people who might be unable to afford traditional legal counsel, said Breean Beggs, the executive director of the Center for Justice.
Lawyers will be available from 1 to 4 p.m.
Before Spokane, Beggs opened a similar program in Billingham that has run for 10 years.
Eyman’s I-900 measure wins ballot slot
Olympia
Tim Eyman’s 2005 initiative, a measure expanding the state’s new performance audit program, qualified Thursday for the November ballot.
Secretary of State Sam Reed said Eyman and other backers of Initiative 900 submitted nearly 312,000 signatures, and a random sample showed the measure easily had enough to qualify. It takes 224,880 valid signatures to get on the ballot.
The invalidation rate, under 12 percent, was unusually low.
Reed’s office also is checking signatures on measures to roll back the recently enacted gasoline-tax increase and to expand state limits on smoking in public places. Both are expected to qualify.
Two rival measures, dealing with medical malpractice and lawsuit reform, already are assured a public vote in November.
Court says I-297 can stand if parts are ruled out
Yakima
An initiative that bars the U.S. Department of Energy from sending any more waste to the Hanford nuclear site until all existing waste there is cleaned up can stand even if parts of it are later found to be unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The federal government has sued in U.S. District Court, seeking to overturn Initiative 297 on grounds that it violates federal law governing nuclear waste and interstate commerce. The initiative has not been enforced pending resolution of the lawsuit.
The state, which is defending the initiative, had asked U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald in Yakima to allow the state Supreme Court to first decide how the measure should be interpreted.
Specifically, the state wanted its highest court to decide if the entire measure would be nullified if McDonald finds part of the initiative unconstitutional.
Citing previous case law, the court ruled that the parts of the initiative that are constitutional could be enacted even if other parts are found to be unconstitutional.
The state court did not decide whether I-297, or parts of it, are unconstitutional. The case now returns to McDonald for a decision on that question.
At issue are the federal government’s plans for disposing of waste from nuclear weapons production nationwide. The Energy Department chose Hanford to dispose of some mildly radioactive waste and mixed low-level waste, which is laced with chemicals.
Artist to play Sacagawea in Lewis and Clark trip
Bozeman
A local artist and member of the Little Shell Indian Tribe will travel with Lewis and Clark re-enactors this summer, playing the part of Sacagawea as the troupe travels from Montana to the Pacific Ocean.
Gloria Wells, 50, said it’s her role to tell the story of the expedition from the perspective of American Indians like Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone Indian who helped Lewis and Clark find their way to the Pacific more than 200 years ago.
“I see it as an opportunity – this whole Lewis and Clark bicentennial – to build bridges between Native and non-Native communities,” Wells said. “It’s our chance for our voices to be heard.”
The Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, Mo., invited Wells to join the troupe last month, when she brought fresh catfish to the re-enactors at the Fred Robinson Bridge on the Missouri River. Wells also serves on the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council of Tribal Advisors.
Wells is one of just three women portraying Sacagawea during the re-enactment. A total of 260 men from 38 states will rotate spots on the trip. Re-enactors expect to reach the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 23.