Dzhokhar is in a prison hospital, facing a potential death sentence if convicted of the terrorism plot that authorities allege the 19-year-old and his late 26-year-old brother carried out April 15. Twin pressure cooker bombs detonated near the race’s finish line, leaving three people dead and injuring more than 260 others.
Tamerlan died in a gunfight with authorities April 19, a day after authorities released photos of the suspects. Russell has been ensconced at her parents’ North Kingstown, R.I., home since then. BOSTON — On a warm summer day in July 2006, Robin Aleo climbed to the top of a 6-foot inflatable pool slide and slid down head first. As she neared the bottom, the slide partially collapsed and Aleo slammed her head on the concrete pool deck, causing fatal injuries. Five years later, a jury awarded Aleo’s family more than $20 million, finding that the slide sold by Toys R Us did not comply with federal safety standards for swimming pool slides. Toys R Us will go before the highest court in Massachusetts on Monday to ask that the award be overturned. The national chain argues that the 1976 Consumer Product Safety Commission regulation cited by Aleo’s family does not apply to inflatable in-ground pool slides, but only to rigid pool slides. Aleo, 29, of Louisville, Colo., was visiting relatives in Andover when she went down a “Banzai” pool slide. Her husband, Michael, and 15-month-old daughter were watching as her head hit the pool deck. She suffered a broken neck and died the next day at a Boston hospital. A jury in Salem Superior Court awarded Aleo’s estate $20.6 million in 2011, including $2.5 million in anticipated lost income from Aleo’s career in advertising and marketing, $100,000 for pain and suffering before her death and $18 million in punitive damages. MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Though the Alabama Legislature has cleared the way for posthumous pardons of the Scottsboro Boys, much work — from legal documents to public hearings — remains before the names of the nine black teens wrongly convicted more than 80 years ago are officially cleared. The Scottsboro Boys were convicted by all-white juries of raping two white women on a train in Alabama in 1931. All but the youngest were sentenced to death, even though one of the women recanted her story. All eventually got out of prison. Only one received a pardon before he died. The case became a symbol of the tragedies wrought by racial injustice. It inspired songs, books and films. A Broadway musical was staged in 2010, the same year Washington opened a museum dedicated to the case. The Scottsboro Boys’ appeals resulted in U.S. Supreme Court decisions that criminal defendants are entitled to effective counsel and that blacks can’t be systematically excluded from criminal juries. In April, the state Legislature passed a bill to allow posthumous pardons in the case, and Gov. Robert Bentley signed it into law. But before the pardons are officially issued, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles must receive applications for them from a circuit judge or district attorney in one of the counties where the Scottsboro Boys’ original trials occurred. CAMARILLO, Calif. — A big cool-down in weather calmed a huge wildfire burning in Southern California coastal mountains Saturday, and firefighters worked to cut miles of containment lines while conditions were favorable. High winds and withering hot, dry air were replaced by the normal flow of damp air off the Pacific, significantly reducing fire activity. “The fire isn’t really running and gunning,” said Tom Kruschke, a Ventura County Fire Department spokesman. The 43-square-mile blaze at the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains was 30 percent surrounded. HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — A proposal to ban bonfire pits on Southern California beaches has sparked fierce opposition from residents who say they don’t want to see a cherished family tradition extinguished. The Southern California Air Quality Management District is proposing to snuff out all 840 fire pits on beaches in Los Angeles and Orange counties because of concerns about the health impacts of wood smoke. Newport Beach residents raised the issue first and say smoke blows into their beachfront homes, sets off fire alarms and causes respiratory problems. But nearby Huntington Beach is fighting back with a campaign called “Keep Your Mitts Off Our Pits.” The city has 400 pits and says they are a critical part of Southern California beach culture that brings in $1 million in parking revenue annually. http://amarillo.com/bridget-murphy/2013-05-04/experts-feds-pressure-widow-pals-bomb-case Comments are closed.
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