SOUTHWEST

SENTENCING HEARING BEGINS FOR LYNNDIE ENGLAND

FORT HOOD, Texas – Defense lawyers sought leniency for Private First Class Lynndie England at a hearing yesterday to determine her punishment in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, with a psychologist testifying that the reservist was oxygen-deprived at birth, speech impaired, and had trouble learning to read.

West Virginia school psychologist Dr. Thomas Denne, the first defense witness, said England’s learning disabilities were identified when she was a kindergartner – and though she made progress in school, she continued needing special help. “I knew I was going to know Lynndie England for the rest of my life,” Mr. Denne said.

A military jury of five men and one woman was seated earlier yesterday to make a sentencing recommendation for England, 22, who pleaded guilty Monday to seven counts of mistreating prisoners. She said she let her comrades talk her into going along with the abuse.

– Associated Press

MIDWEST

BTK SERIAL KILLER’S PROSECUTOR VOWS NO PLEA BARGAIN

WICHITA, Kan. – Prosecutors vowed yesterday there will be no plea bargain in the case against a former church leader and city employee charged with 10 counts of murder in the BTK serial killings that terrorized Wichita since the 1970s.

“I look forward to a trial of this case because it is important after 30 years for people to know, and for people to understand and appreciate, not only the work of law enforcement, but to be able to say, ‘It’s over, it’s over,'” District Attorney Nola Foulston said after the arraignment of suspect Dennis Rader.

Mr. Rader, 60, stood mute during the brief hearing, leaving it to District Court Judge Gregory Waller to enter a not guilty plea for him. Judge Waller set trial for June 27 – a date likely to be postponed. Mr. Rader, a former city compliance officer from suburban Park City, was arrested February 25 and charged in 10 deaths linked to the serial killer known as BTK, which stands for “Bind, Torture, Kill.” The killings began in the 1970s and made headlines again last year when the killer started sending cryptic messages and packages to press outlets and police.

Authorities have declined to say what led them to Mr. Rader.

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

PAYMENTS FOR TRAVEL LINKED TO ABRAMOFF

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff paid at least a portion of the expenses for two Democratic members of Congress and two staff members to the then-House Majority Whip, Tom DeLay, a Republican of Texas, during a pair of trips in the mid-1990s to the Northern Mariana Islands, according to a former secretary of Mr. Abramoff’s and travel records published on the Internet yesterday. The payments represent two new instances in which lawmakers and staff members on overseas trips had their expenses initially covered by a registered lobbyist despite a blanket ban in congressional ethics rules on direct payments by lobbyists for travel-related expenses.

The two congressmen were James Clyburn of South Carolina, now vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, now the senior Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee. The aides to Mr. DeLay were Edwin Buckham, now a lobbyist for the Alexander Strategy Group, and Tony Rudy, now a member of Mr. Buckham’s lobbying firm.

In these instances, Mr. Abramoff was reimbursed by his law firm, Preston Gates Ellis. The island government, which had hired the law firm, eventually paid it back for the expenses incurred by Mr. Abramoff, according to a source close to the incidents, who spoke on condition of anonymity. House ethics rules contain no exemption for payments by lobbyists that are later reimbursed by others.

– The Washington Post

ARMY WITHHELD DETAILS ABOUT TILLMAN’S DEATH

The first Army investigator who looked into the death of a former NFL player, Pat Tillman, in Afghanistan last year found within days that he was killed by his fellow Rangers in an act of “gross negligence,” but Army officials decided not to inform Tillman’s family or the public until weeks after a nationally televised memorial service.

A new Army report on the death shows that top Army officials, including the theater commander, General John Abizaid, were told that Tillman’s death was fratricide days before the service. Soldiers on the scene said they were immediately sure Tillman was killed by a barrage of American bullets as he took shelter behind a large boulder during a twilight firefight along a narrow canyon road near the Pakistani border, according to nearly 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and investigative reports obtained by the Washington Post. The documents also show that officers made erroneous initial reports that Tillman was killed by enemy fire, destroyed critical evidence, and initially concealed the truth from Tillman’s brother, also an Army Ranger, who was near the attack on April 22, 2004, but did not witness it.

– The Washington Post