Around the Nation

CALIFORNIA

Teen arrested in officer’s death

POMONA — A 16-year-old was arrested yesterday in the courthouse shooting death of a California Highway Patrol officer east of Los Angeles.

Pomona police announced that the suspect was taken into custody early yesterday in connection with the midafternoon shooting Wednesday of Officer Thomas Steiner outside the city courthouse.

It was not clear what the motive for the shooting might have been. But Pomona Police Chief James Lewis said the suspect, whom authorities did not name, apparently intended to kill a police officer.

Officer Steiner, 35, had been in court to testify in five routine traffic cases.

FLORIDA

Police drop swim rule to draw black recruits

NORTH MIAMI — The police department in this seaside town has dropped its swimming requirement for new officers — in part to recruit more blacks to the force.

North Miami officials said knowing how to swim is not really necessary. And they said the requirement has discouraged some blacks in this Haitian-American enclave from joining the department.

“They have been intimidated because they don’t swim. Very few of them swim,” said Mayor Joe Celestin, who is Haitian-American.

North Miami has required for more than 30 years that police recruits be able to swim 150 feet fully clothed, but several South Florida departments have eliminated swimming requirements, saying officers rarely have to enter the water despite the hundreds of miles of beaches, lakes and canals.

According to a 2001 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black Americans reported more limited swimming ability than other races or ethnic groups. Also, CDC statistics have shown that minorities drown in disproportionate numbers to whites.

GEORGIA

Sect head gets prison in molestation case

ATLANTA — The leader of a religious sect was sentenced yesterday to 135 years in prison for molesting boys and girls at the group’s ancient Egyptian-style compound.

Malachi York, the 58-year-old “master teacher” of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors, also will have to forfeit the 476-acre compound, adorned with pyramids and a sphinx.

He was convicted in January of child molestation and racketeering after a trial in which 14 boys and girls from the sect said York molested them from 1998 to 2002. He was sentenced in Macon by U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal.

The sect was founded as a Muslim commune in New York and moved to Eatonton in 1993, where York set himself up as a messiah figure. Prosecutors said he recruited older girls to groom younger girls for sex with him.

ILLINOIS

Lawyer makes plea for white supremacist

CHICAGO — A white supremacist leader charged with trying to have a federal judge killed deserves a fair verdict despite “the venom he spews,” a defense lawyer said.

Matthew Hale’s attorneys urged jurors Wednesday to look beyond his hateful rhetoric and scrutinize the prosecution’s evidence, particularly tapes recorded by an FBI informant. The jury was expected to begin deliberations yesterday morning.

Mr. Hale, 32, is charged with soliciting the murder of U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, who had ruled against him in a trademark lawsuit.

KENTUCKY

Top court OKs city’s smoking ban

FRANKFORT — A ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and other public buildings in Lexington, the heart of tobacco country, was upheld yesterday by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

The court, in a 6-1 ruling, said the city had acted within its authority to “promote and safeguard public health.” It also said the ordinance could be enforced immediately.

The local government passed the ordinance in July after a study of the health effects of secondhand smoke. The study had been on hold while a group of bar and restaurant owners sued to block it.

LOUISIANA

Juvenile court judge removed from bench

NEW ORLEANS — A juvenile court judge was thrown off the bench yesterday over misconduct charges that included putting convicted felons to work in her courtroom.

Yvonne Hughes became the city’s third judge to be removed by the state Supreme Court since August 2002. She also was assessed more than $20,000 in costs, and could be disbarred or suspended from practicing law.

“The evidence that Judge Hughes failed to operate within the court structure is overwhelming and profound,” Justice John Weimer wrote in his opinion. “Her documented lack of cooperation and inability to abide by the rule of law is inconsistent with her remaining on the bench.”

The ruling yesterday said Judge Hughes violated parts of the state Code of Judicial Conduct and Louisiana’s constitution by hiring convicted felons and allowing others access to confidential juvenile records. She also has been accused of holding court by phone and failing to have a court reporter present.

MASSACHUSETTS

Body discovered on Wellesley campus

WELLESLEY — A body was discovered on the campus of Wellesley College early yesterday, one day after an 18-year-old student was reported missing.

A spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney’s office said he did not know whether the body was that of the student, a freshman from California. The office did not release the woman’s name.

District Attorney spokesman David Traub said it was not clear whether the death is a homicide. The body was discovered behind a dormitory early yesterday morning, he said.

MICHIGAN

Prosecutor indicted in rape-trial scandal

DETROIT — A suburban Detroit prosecutor was indicted yesterday on charges that he helped a convicted rapist win a new trial in exchange for contributions to his 2002 run for Congress.

Macomb County prosecutor Carl J. Marlinga, the chief law-enforcement officer in Michigan’s third-largest county since 1985, was charged with conspiracy and fraud.

Authorities said he helped reopen the case of convicted rapist Jeffrey Moldowan in return for donations to his failed campaign. Mr. Moldowan eventually was granted a new trial and acquitted.

Mr. Marlinga, 57, returned the contributions after an outcry from Republicans. He has repeatedly denied intervening improperly in the appeal.

NEW JERSEY

Sixth-grader accused of threat to teacher

SOUTH ORANGE — A sixth-grader was suspended after school officials accused him of threatening to expose a highly allergic teacher to peanut butter cookies, the boy’s father said yesterday.

Loubert Gabriel said his son, 12-year-old Jules, had been kept out of class since April 2, after a girl in his social studies class at South Orange Middle School told the teacher that Jules had made the threat.

The father said Jules had been carrying a snack packet of Nutter Butter cookies and had made a comment about having “something dangerous” but never said he had a weapon. “They mishandled this,” Mr. Gabriel said.

NEW YORK

Fraud charges leveled in Iraq charity case

SYRACUSE — A doctor accused of illegally sending money to Iraq through an unlicensed charity he founded also has been charged with defrauding donors.

A federal grand jury indicted Dr. Rafil Dhafir on mail fraud and wire fraud Wednesday, accusing him of duping donors to Help the Needy, the charity he founded in 1995.

The indictment accuses Mr. Dhafir, 55, of diverting donations to his business, including $300,000 to buy properties in Syracuse.

OKLAHOMA

Nichols judge refuses to dismiss charges

McALESTER — Cross-examination of a key prosecution witness in Terry Nichols’ trial went forward after a judge refused to dismiss state murder charges against the Oklahoma City bombing conspirator.

Judge Steven Taylor denied the dismissal request Wednesday, saying there was no basis for defense contentions that prosecutors withheld evidence of other suspects who have never been charged with the April 19, 1995, blast that killed 168 persons.

Nichols and McVeigh were convicted of federal charges for the deaths of eight federal agents. McVeigh was executed in 2001, and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.