MISTRIAL SHOCK TO PROSECUTOR IN OKLAHOMA
TULSA, OKLA.» An Oklahoma prosecutor said Saturday that he was shocked when a judge declared a mistrial in the case of a white former Tulsa police officer who fatally shot his daughter’s black boyfriend because jurors had deliberated for only a few hours.
It was the third mistrial in nine months for former Tulsa police officer Shannon Kepler, and all of the trials have been overseen by District Judge Sharon Holmes. Kepler doesn’t deny shooting 19-year-old Jeremey Lake, but claims he was acting in self-defense. Kepler testified that Lake was armed, although police didn’t find a weapon on Lake or at the scene. The shooting happened shortly after Lake had started dating Kepler’s then-18-yearold daughter, Lisa.
Wife guilty in flawed insurance killing. CLEVELAND» A newlywed accused of soliciting her firefighter husband’s killing to collect $100,000 in insurance money has been convicted of aggravated murder in a scheme that was flawed from the start: His ex-wife was still the beneficiary of his policy.
Uloma Curry-walker, 45, could receive life in prison without parole for the November 2013 slaying of William Walker, whom she had married just four months earlier.
Vermont man faces hate crime charge. MONTPELIER,
A Vermont man is facing a hate crime charge that he sent antimuslim emails to the state’s Democratic Party chairman, who is Muslim.
Faisal Gill, who is believed to be the country’s first Muslim chairperson of a state political party, said he received three threatening emails in May.
Christopher Hayden, 48, of Burlington has been charged with disturbing the peace by electronic means, with a hate crime enhancement.
The messages are peppered with racial and religious epithets, and call Gill an “agent for creeping sharia law” who should “get out (of Vermont) or we will make you wish you did.”
Divers enjoy underwater music festival. BIG
About 400 divers and snorkelers have submerged in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary for a local radio station’s broadcast beneath the sea advocating reef preservation.
The aquatic-focused playlist included the theme from the “Little Mermaid,” the Beatles’ “Octopus’s Garden” and even “Jaws,” just to get participants’ attention, according to event co-creator Bill Becker.
Music was transmitted via waterproof speakers hung from boats.
Pygmy rabbits after wildfire.
Officials have captured
rescued 33 endangered pygmy rabbits that survived a wildfire in central Washington state and moved them to other breeding sites.
Biologist John Gallie told The Seattle Times that the rabbits were captured late last month after the wildfire burned sagebrush the rabbits need for food and shelter.
Gallie says about 70 rabbits died at the 10-acre Beezley Hills site, one of four in the state where biologists have been breeding the rabbits for release into the wild.
Wedding fireworks groom arrested. Guests watching a fireworks display after a New York wedding were cheering the bride, groom and booms when police arrived. The groom ended up under arrest.
Nassau County police say they were called to a Massapequa home early Saturday and found a big party with professional-level pyrotechnics in the backyard.
Police say 39-year-old Thomas Giglio explained he was setting them off to celebrate his wedding.
He is awaiting arraignment.
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