NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Criminal justice: A man who was exonerated after spending 12 years on Texas’ Death Row got a chance Saturday to question lawyers who are running to become Dallas’ top prosecutor. Anthony Graves moderated a panel of candidates for district attorney. Convicted in 1994 of murder, Graves was cleared in 2010 after an alleged accomplice recanted his testimony that Graves was involved and an investigation found misconduct by the district attorney in the case. That prosecutor was later disbarred. Graves now works with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.
2 Gun violence: Rapper Jay-Z brought his star power to a Florida peace rally Saturday in memory of slain teenager Trayvon Martin. Jay-Z joined Martin’s parents onstage in Miami Gardens at the sixth annual Peace Walk & Peace Talk. The rally honors gun violence victims including Martin. Martin, a black 17-year-old, was fatally shot in 2012 in the town of Sanford by white neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, setting off a wave of racially charged protests around the nation. Zimmerman was later acquitted of all charges in the shooting. Jay-Z is producing the documentary about Martin.
3 Rape case: A 19-year-old Washington state man, who police say raped a high school student as she died from a drug overdose and texted seminude photos of her, has been charged with manslaughter. Brian Roberto Varela, of Lynnwood, was also charged Friday with second-degree rape and controlled substance homicide in the death of Alyssa Mae Noceda, 18. Police say they found Noceda’s body in a crate at the suspect’s home. Varela told detectives that after Noceda died, he used her thumb to unlock her phone and send messages to make it appear she had run away.
4 Trudeau visit: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posed for a selfie Saturday with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and talked up ties on the last day of his three-day swing through California. Garcetti welcomed the prime minister to Los Angeles and said they would work together on issues such as trade and climate. The mayor also said a California Highway Patrol officer injured while accompanying Trudeau’s motorcade on Friday is expected to recover from a broken clavicle. The Ventura County Fire Department said the crash happened shortly after Trudeau’s motorcade left the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. Trudeau’s vehicle was not involved.
5 Slain journalist: The father of slain journalist James Foley hopes two recently captured extremists will be put on trial and sentenced to life in prison. Officials recently confirmed the capture of two Britons who were part of a notorious Islamic State cell that tortured and beheaded Foley and more than two dozen other hostages. In Rochester, N.H., his father John Foley, said giving the men the death penalty would make them martyrs, so he’d prefer that they spend the rest of their lives in prison. El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Amon Kotey were captured in January in eastern Syria.