Court turns aside death row appeal

The Supreme Court turned down an appeal Monday from an Arizona man, first sentenced to death in 1977, who says he has been on death row too long to be executed.

Joe Clarence Smith Jr. has been sentenced to die three times for his crimes. Smith picked up two teenage hitchhikers in the Arizona desert, a month apart, and killed them by stuffing their throats with dirt and taping their mouths. He also stabbed them repeatedly.

The justices rejected Smith’s latest plea to escape Arizona’s execution chamber in which he argued that executing him now after so much time on death row would violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Smith’s first death sentence was thrown out because of a change in Arizona’s death penalty statutes. A federal appeals court tossed out his second sentence after finding that his lawyers did a poor job at the second sentencing proceeding. In 2004, an Arizona trial court then rejected his claim that he has been on death row too long and sentenced him to death again.

Elkins, W.Va.

Dozens search for autistic hiker

More than 50 emergency responders and volunteers searched Monday for an autistic hiker who strayed from his parents in the Dolly Sods Wilderness area.

Jacob Allen, 18, of Morgantown, was hiking with his parents, Jim and Karen Allen, on Sunday afternoon when he got ahead of them and didn’t answer when they called out his name, said Chris Stadelman, public information officer at the command post.

While Allen is described by his mother as severely autistic, he is in good physical shape and likes to hike, Stadelman said. He was not carrying food or water.

Dallas

Storms pound area; 1 killed, 1 rescued

Heavy storms swept through North Texas on Monday, flooding roads, damaging buildings and knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses.

The rain caused numerous accidents and traffic delays in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. A driver in Denton lost control of his car and was killed when he slid into the path of an oncoming truck, authorities said.

One person was rescued after floodwaters submerged a stretch of roadway under elevated Interstate 635 in Dallas.