O.J. Simpson lawyers seek new trial

O.J. Simpson’s lawyers cited judicial errors and insufficient evidence Friday in seeking a new trial for the former football star, who was convicted of kidnapping and robbing two sports memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas casino hotel room.

In his motion, attorney Gabriel Grasso faulted Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass’ decisions during jury selection, her limitations on cross-examination of witnesses and her instructions to jurors before deliberations.

Grasso and Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter also said the judge refused to grant enough time to review transcripts and videotapes of the trial, which led to guilty verdicts against Simpson and co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart on Oct. 3. Galanter said he would file a more detailed appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, the state’s only appellate court, if Glass denies a new trial.

Colin Powell calls Stevens honest

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell called Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens’ word “sterling” at the senator’s corruption trial.

Federal prosecutors have accused Stevens of lying on Senate documents about more than $250,000 in renovations to his Alaska cabin and other gifts from Bill J. Allen, former head of the oil services company VECO Corp.

Powell testified Friday that he’s known Stevens well for 25 years. The former Army general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says there has never been any suggestion that Stevens “would do anything that was improper.” In Army infantry talk, Powell said Stevens is a man “you take on a long patrol.”

In cross-examination, Powell said he didn’t know anything about the case against Stevens.

No charges in Army beating

An Army trainee will face nonjudicial punishment rather than criminal charges for beating a Jewish soldier so badly he was treated by a hospital, the military said Friday, in a move that keeps many details of the attack secret.

Ft. Benning commanders decided not to seek a court-martial in the attack on Pvt. Michael Handman and will resolve it as a personnel matter rather than a crime. Fort Benning spokeswoman Monica Manganaro said the Army would not release the name of the soldier responsible for the attack, the punishment he received or the results of a military police investigation because nonjudicial punishments are protected under the federal Privacy Act.

“I’m infuriated,” Jonathan Handman, the beaten soldier’s father, said Friday. “The Army’s continuing to do what they tried to do from the beginning, which is just shovel this under the carpet. It should be treated and charged as a hate crime.”

Michael Handman, 20, of Atlanta says he was beaten by a fellow trainee Sept. 24 in a laundry room next to their barracks. He was treated at the Army hospital on Fort Benning in Columbus for a concussion and bruising to the left side of his face.

Obese inmate appeals to justices

Lawyers for an Ohio death row inmate who unsuccessfully argued that his obesity prevents humane lethal injection filed an appeal Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution, planned for next week.

The Ohio public defender’s office filed the application on behalf of Richard Cooey a few hours after Gov. Ted Strickland declined clemency. Cooey, 41, is scheduled to be executed Tuesday for killing two University of Akron students in 1986.

The Ohio Supreme Court and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied Cooey’s requests for a stay of execution. The Ohio Parole Board rejected his request for clemency last month.

His attorneys had argued that prison food contributed to a weight problem that would make it difficult to access a suitable vein for lethal injection. Cooey is 5-feet-7 and weighs 267 pounds.

Group suing over new abortion law

An advocacy group is suing over a state law that prohibits a woman from getting an abortion unless she first has an ultrasound and the doctor describes to her what the fetus looks like.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Oklahoma County District Court, the Center for Reproductive Rights says that the requirement intrudes on privacy, endangers health and assaults dignity.

The law, set to go into effect Nov. 1, would make Oklahoma the fourth state in the nation to require that ultrasounds be performed before a woman can have an abortion and that the ultrasounds be made available to the patient for viewing, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a health research organization. The other states are Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

From Times Wire Reports