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January 26, 1995
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O.J. Simpson defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. makes
opening statements to the jury in the Simpson double-murder
trial Jan. 25. “The evidence will show that O.J. Simpson is an
innocent man wrongfully accused,” Cochran said. (AP Photo)
O.J. Defense team swings info action
LOS ANGELES
O.J. Simpson’s defense vowed to prove him an “innocent man
wrongly accused” of two murders and promised a parade of support
ive witnesses who claim they were ignored by authorities. One
shunned witness saw four men fleeing Nicole Brown Simpson’s
neighborhood on the night ofthe slayings, attorney Johnnie Cochran
told jurors in opening statements. Depicting Simpson as a generous
man who showered his wife and her family with gifts, jobs and
vacations, Cochran derided the prosecution’s contention Simpson
was an abusive brute who eventually killed Ms. Simpson.
Police snare alleged Clinton hitman
SALT LAKE CITY
A man wanted for allegedly threatening President Clinton was
arrested as he was allegedly about to mail an explosives-filled
package to Clinton and another parcel to Charles Manson. David
Shelby was arrested at a commercial mail drop in Ogden, about 35
miles north of Salt Lake City. He was charged in a federal warrant
issued in Indianapolis with threatening to kill Clinton and Vice
President Al Gore in separate letters mailed to each on Dec. 7 from
Bloomington, Ind.
LIRR Massacre trial begins
MINEOLA, N.Y.
The man accused of a deadly rampage that killed six people and
wounded 19 on a commuter train plans to-open his courtroom
defense by claiming an unknown white man fired the shots. Colin
Férguson, acting as his own attorney over the objections of legal
advisers, has said he plans to call a psychiatrist, a handwriting
expert and a passenger from the train among his witnesses. The 37-
year-old Jamaican immigrant is accused of randomly firing an
automatic pistol at Long Island Rail Road commuters on Dec. 7,
1993. Opening arguments are scheduled for Thursday.
Balanced-budget fight looms
WASHINGTON
The Republican-controlled House is moving toward a showdown
on a balanced-budget amendment designed to end the government’s
massive run-up in red ink. GOP lawmakers are nearly unanimous
in their support, but with a two-thirds majority required for passage,
the amendment’s fate is in the hands of a divided Democratic party.
Supporters of the amendment point out the last balanced budget
occurred in 1969, and that the national debt has since reached $4.7
trillion.
Health reform revived by new Congress
WASHINGTON
Republican congressional leaders say modest health-care reforms
are feasible this year if President Clinton and Democrats will stick
to a gradual approach. House Speaker Newt Gingrich foresees
sending a series of reforms to the White House starting this summer,
but adds that depends on Democrats not gumming up the works
with too-ambitious proposals. Clinton conceded in his State of the
Union message that his administration made a mistake last year by
proposing massive, comprehensive health-care reform.
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World News
Kentucky legislator reveals affair
with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
LOUISVILLE, Ky.
(AP) A former Kentucky state
senator says she had a year-long
affair with the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. and was with
him at the Lorraine Motel the
night before he was assassinat
ed there.
Georgia Powers discussed the
relationship in her new autobi
ography, “I Shared the Dream,”
and in an interview in Wednes
day’s Courier-Journal newspa
per.
The Rev. Ralph Abernathy,
King’s lieutenant in the civil
rights movement, created a fu
ror 5 years ago when he suggest
ed in his memoirs that King
cheated on his wife. Abernathy
also wrote of a liaison King had
the night before he was killed
with “a black woman ... a mem
ber ofthe Kentucky Legislature,”
but he did not name her. The
book was widely criticized by
other civil rights activists, al
though there had been previous
reports—allegedly originated by
the FBl—that King had affairs.
Abernathy died in 1990.
Powers is apparently the first
Tyson improperly convicted, attorney argues
B Dershowitz tells
federal judge that
trial judge barred
key witnesses.
By Paul A. Driscoll
Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO
Former heavyweight champion
Mike Tyson was improperly con
victed of rape when the trial judge
selected by the prosecution barred
three key witnesses, the fighter’s
attorney has told a federal ap
peals court.
Attorney Alan Dershowitz on
Friday said it is prejudicial for the
state to have the right tonamethe
judge in a criminal trial.
Under a system no longer in use,
prosecutors in Indianapolis,
where Tyson was tried in 1992,
had the right to present evidence
to any one of six grand juries.
They selected the jury under the
supervision of Marion Superior
Court Judge Patricia Gifford, a
former prosecutor who specialized
in sex crimes.
“Can you even conceive of a sit
uation where the defense could
pickthe judge?” Dershowitz asked
athree-judge panel ofthe U.S. 7th
Circuit Court of Appeals in Chica
go.
“If the defense had had a choice,
it would have been anyone other
that Judge Gifford,” Dershowitz
said.
Dershowitz did not contend that
Gifford showed any prejudice dur
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Georgia Powers reveals
secret after nearly three
decades. (AP Photo)
woman to say she had an affair
with King.
“The relationship between
Martin Luther King Jr. and I
began with mutual admiration,”
she wrote. “Gradually, our at
tachment grew stronger until it
passed beyond camaraderie into
intimacy.”
An assistant for King’s widow,
Coretta Scott King, said she was
ing the trial, only that the method
of her selection violated Tyson’s
rights.
There was no immediate ruling
on the attempt to win a new trial
for the ex-fighter, who was sen
tenced in March 1992 to six years
in prison after being convicted by
a jury.
As the trial neared its conclu
sion, the defense said it learned of
three women who said they saw
the woman, Desiree Washington,
engaging in foreplay with Tyson
in a limousine just before they
entered the Indianapolis hotel
where she was raped.
Gifford did not allow the wit
nesses to testify because she be
lieved the defense delayed in noti
Barkley seeks Tyson visit
BNBA Allstar says
he believes former
heavyweight champ
was innocent of
raping beauty
contestant.
PHOENIX
(AP) NBA All-Star forward
Charles Barkley says he will
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out of the country and unavail
able for comment. Mrs. King and
son Dexter King had just arrived
in South Korea for a visit on
behalf of the King Center.
In 1967, Powers became the
first black person elected to the
state senate. Her relationship
with King began in March of
that same year, she told the
Courier-Journal. They had met
3 years earlier at a Louisville
civil rights march.
Powers does not say how often
she and King were together, but
indicates an intermediary rou
tinely asked her to meet King.
She wrote that she and King
were careful to keep their rela
tionship secret, and that she
faltered only when he was shot
on April 4, 1968, in Memphis,
Tenn.
“When they put Dr. King into
the ambulance, I instinctively be
gan climbing in to go with him.
Andy Young gently pulled me
back. ‘No, Senator,” he said, ‘I
don’t think you want to do that.”
Young, who would later be
come the US ambassador to the
United Nations and Atlanta
fying the prosecution of this de--
velopment.
The witnesses would have cor
roborated Tyson’s testimony that
he had reason tobelieve Washing
ton would be a willing sex partner
onceinthehotel room, Dershowitz
told the court.
He said the defense first learned
of the possible witnesses on a
Thursday afternoon. It was Fri
day before the witnesses were in
terviewed and Saturday before
attorneys received a.court order
allowing them to inspect the lim
ousinetomakesure someone could
seeintoit fromthe outside through
tinted windows.
The prosecution was notified
before the end of the weekend of
again try to visit former heavy
weight boxing champion Mike
Tyson whilethe Phoenix Suns are
in Indianapolis to play the Pac
ers.
“I'm going to try to see him,”
Barkley said, adding that he be
lieved Tyson was innocent of rap
ing a Miss Black America contes
tant in 1991.
“He should not be in jail,”
Barkley said. “He got a bad rap.”
Tyson was sentenced in 1992 to
six years at the Indiana Youth
mayor, was among those work
ing with King in the civil rights
movement. He did not return a
telephone call seekingcomment.
Powers writes that she went to
see Mrs. King two days after the
assassination.
“As I took Coretta’s hand, I
said, 'l'm sorry.’ Sorry for what?
I was sorry she had lost her
husband; I was sorry the world
had lost a savior, and, on some
level, I think I was also apologiz
ing for my relationship with her
husband.”
The book does not discuss any
relationships King may have had
with other women.
Powers, who retired in 1988,
told the Courier-Journal she de
cided to write about the relation
ship because “I had to be honest
about my life story.”
“It was one year out of 71 years
of living,” Powers said. “It was
not the greatest part of my life,
but it was something that hap
pened in my life.
“All these years, I had the fear
I was going to be exposed. I no
longer have the fear.”
the new witnesses, but the judge
ruled that surprise witnesses that
late in the trial would have been
too disruptive.
“The defendant’s rights were
violated for the convenience of the
prosecution,” Dershowitz told the
appeals court.
Arend J. Abel, a deputy Indiana
attorney general, told the court
that the witnesses’ testimony
would not have been so crucial to
the outcome of the trigi that it
merited disregarding tl?)\w,ck of
timely notification.
There was no word from the
court when it might rule on the
appeal.
Tyson is scheduled for release in
May from the Indiana Youth Cen
ter near Plainfield.
Center. He is eligible for release
in May.
Barkley tried unsuccessfully to
visit Tyson last season when
Phoenix played in Indianapolis.
Prison officials complained visits
by the boxer’s celebrity friends
were interfering with his
classwork.
Barkley said although he thinks
Tyson is innocent, he isn’t with
out problems.
“He’s a little kid who had too
much too soon,” Barkley said.
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