Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.wpost From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: AROUND THE NATION= Date: Sat, 14 Nov 92 11:48:46 EST Message-ID: <22.1992Nov14.114846@AmeriCast.com> AROUND THE NATION= N.Y. Prosecutors Voice Concern About 'Sidebar' Loophole< ALBANY, N.Y. - A little-noticed ruling by New York's highest court could put verdicts in thousands of criminal trials in jeopardy, includ- ing some of the state's most celebrated cases, Paul Schechtman, counsel to Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, said yesterday. The Court of Appeals, ordering a new trial for a defendant in a minor drug case, said recently that criminal defendants have the right to be included in "sidebars," quiet courtroom conferences among judges, lawyers and prospective jurors. Authorities in Morgenthau's office, noting that such conferences are relatively common, expressed concern that courts could use the ruling to order new trials in thousands of cases. As examples, they cited the Central Park jogger beating case and the Happy Land Social Club arson fire in the Bronx. Other experts suggested that prosecutors may be overstating the case's impact, noting that it may be difficult to prove from the record that sidebars took place in many trials.< Setback in Beating Case< LOS ANGELES - In a double blow to prosecutors, U.S. District Judge John G. Davies has barred evidence about alleged racist statements and past use of force from the federal civil rights trial of four police officers charged in the Rodney G. King beat- ing. Prosecutors had hoped to use the "Gorillas in the Mist" comment entered by Officer Laurence M. Powell on a police comput- er shortly before the March 1991 beating. Powell referred to the movie while discussing an incident involving a black family. In the officers' state criminal trial, prosecutors initially agreed not to mention the statement before the jury but later were allowed to introduce it due to a defense lawyer's mistake. Davies ruled Thursday that the transmission was "clearly a state- ment with race and racist content" but not relevant to the federal case. Powell and his co-defendants, Sgt. Stacey C. Koon and Officers Theodore J. Briseno and Timothy E. Wind, face trial Feb. 2 on charges that they violated King's civil rights by beating him after a car chase. < Ex-Navajo Leader Guilty< PRESCOTT, Ariz. - Former Navajo chairman Peter MacDonald was con- victed of conspiracy and burglary in a 1989 riot that left two people dead. A U.S. District Court jury, which deliberated 16 days, also con- victed nine co-defendants of at least two counts each, including six of conspiracy. Judge Robert Broomfield declared a mistrial on 23 counts on which the jury deadlocked. The charges stemmed from a July 20, 1989, march by MacDonald sup- porters on the headquarters of the nation's most populous Native American tribe. Two MacDonald supporters were killed, and three were wounded. Three tribal police officers also were injured. The clash culminated an unsuccessful five-month struggle by Mac- Donald to reverse a 1989 decision by the Tribal Council to suspend him after allegations of corruption against him during U.S. Senate hearings.< < Addenda< Criminal charges are expected against some Detroit police off- icers involved in the beating death Nov. 5 of motorist Malice Green, Wayne County Prosecutor John O'Hair said. Seven officers are suspended.< Paul Stoos, 20, a former airline worker from Los Angeles who posed as singer Harry Connick Jr., was arraigned in New York on charges that he planted a phony bomb in an overhead luggage bin on a United Airlines Boeing 767 Wednesday in an attempt to extort $600,000. A lawyer for James R. Porter, 57, a former Roman Catholic priest charged in Stillwater, Minn., with molesting a babysitter, 15, asked a judge to exclude testimony about prior accusations that Porter sexually molested at least 46 youths in the 1960s while he was a priest.< Fourteen former Georgia prison employees were indicted in Atlanta in a sex scandal in which more than 100 female inmates accuse 50 prison employees of physical or sexual abuse dating to 1972 or of knowing of the abuse.<<11:13 11-14C9999----- Copyright 1992, The Washington Post. This story is from the Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar- chived or redistributed. For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor- poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)