Deputy charged in shooting of vet
A sheriff’s deputy who was videotaped shooting an unarmed Iraq War veteran after a car chase was charged Tuesday with attempted voluntary manslaughter.
The videotape showed the veteran – Senior Airman Elio Carrion – lying on the ground outside the car as Deputy Ivory J. Webb pointed a gun at the man. After an apparent order to “Get up,” the man rose and was shot in the chest, shoulder and left thigh.
Webb was to surrender at an arraignment set for today. If convicted, he could face up to 18 1/2 years in prison.
It was the first time San Bernardino County prosecutors had filed charges against a lawman for an on-duty shooting.
Washington
Panel rejects probe of domestic spying
Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday defeated a Democratic push to investigate a domestic espionage operation authorized by President Bush, but vowed to increase scrutiny of the controversial program through a newly created subcommittee.
The developments enraged Democrats but delivered mixed results for the White House, which avoided a full-scale investigation of the spying operation by agreeing to provide detailed briefings on the program to a larger number of lawmakers, according to Senate Republicans.
Emerging from a closed-door session in which Democrats lost two party-line votes, Sen. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., the vice chairman of the committee, said the outcome pushed the panel “further into irrelevancy” and reflected the influence of the Bush administration.
“The committee is, to put it bluntly, basically under the control of the White House,” said Rockefeller, who had pushed for a committee investigation and argued that all members of the panel ought to have full access to information on the program.
Sugar Land, Texas
DeLay fends off GOP challengers
SUGAR LAND, Texas – Rep. Tom DeLay won the GOP nomination to the House on Tuesday, beating three challengers in his first election since he was indicted and forced to step aside as majority leader.
With 14 percent of precincts reporting, DeLay had 10,005 votes, or 64 percent. His closest challenger, environmental attorney Tom Campbell, had 4,049 votes, or 26 percent.
DeLay, 58, was indicted last year and is awaiting trial on charges he illegally funneled corporate donations to GOP candidates for the Texas House in 2002. The Republicans won a majority in the Legislature that year, and then pushed through a congressional redistricting plan engineered by DeLay that sent more Republicans to Washington in 2004.
Key West, Fla.
Rare crocodiles found shot dead
Two endangered American crocodiles were found dead near Key West, both with gunshot wounds between their eyes, authorities said Tuesday.
A 7-foot crocodile was found Saturday and an 8-foot crocodile was discovered Monday. Both were found on Sugarloaf Key about 12 miles east of Key West, authorities said.
Killing a crocodile is a third-degree felony in Florida, punishable by up to five years in prison.