In brief: Missouri inmate executed for killing neighbor

BONNE TERRE, Mo. – A Missouri inmate was put to death Wednesday for raping and killing a college student in 1995, making him the first U.S. prisoner put to death since an Arizona lethal injection went awry last month.

The Missouri Department of Corrections said Michael Worthington was executed by lethal injection at the state prison and was pronounced dead at 12:11 a.m. He is the seventh Missouri inmate executed this year.

Worthington had been sentenced to death for the attack on 24-year-old Melinda “Mindy” Griffin during a burglary of her Lake St. Louis condominium.

The U.S. Supreme Court and Missouri’s governor had declined on Tuesday to block the execution.

Boy, 12, arrested in 9-year-old’s death

KENTWOOD, Mich. – A 12-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of a 9-year-old boy at a playground in western Michigan.

The boy pleaded not guilty during an arraignment hearing in Grand Rapids on Tuesday, a day after the attack in nearby Kentwood.

Witnesses say the 12-year-old went to a nearby home after the stabbing, called 911 and calmly turned himself in, then tried to flag down officers when they arrived.

The victim, Michael Conner Verkerke, ran to his home and collapsed. Police say he later died at a hospital.

Defense attorney Charles Boekeloo says he entered the plea for the boy and may seek a mental evaluation to determine if he’s competent to stand trial.

The boy was ordered held without bond in a juvenile detention center.

Man sentenced to life for killing infant

TAMPA, Fla. – A Florida man convicted of killing a 3-month-old boy by tossing the infant out of a moving vehicle has been sentenced to life in prison.

Following a jury’s recommendation, a Hillsborough County judge sentenced 26-year-old Richard McTear on Tuesday. Jurors found him guilty last week of first-degree murder, kidnapping, battery, and aggravated child abuse charges. Prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty.

Authorities say McTear attacked ex-girlfriend Jasmine Bedwell in 2009 and then took off with her son, Emanuel Wesley Murray. They say he then threw the baby out of a car window on Interstate 275 in Tampa.

The child was found dead along the side of the highway.

Ferry sinks, 125 presumed dead

DHAKA, Bangladesh – A ferry that capsized in Bangladesh with hundreds of people on board this week had a capacity of only 85 passengers, the country’s shipping minister said today as he announced charges against the vessel’s owner and five of its employees.

At least 125 people are presumed dead after the M.V. Pinak went down Monday in strong currents in the Padma River, according to Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan.

More than 200 people were believed to be on board, although the exact figure is unclear because ferry operators in Bangladesh rarely keep passenger lists. Khan said the ferry operator had picked up more passengers from a second stop after departing with an already overloaded vessel earlier in the day.

“This disaster was not supposed to take place,” he said.

Police were searching for the ferry’s owner and five others to face charges of negligence, overloading and unauthorized operations.