News
Sports Briefs: Prosecutors will not seek death penalty against Taylor murder suspects
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: May 13, 2008
MIAMI — Prosecutors said yesterday that they will not seek the death penalty against four people charged with murdering Sean Taylor of the Washington Redskins because the accused shooter was a minor when the crime was committed.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that people cannot be executed for crimes committed when they're under 18, and it's a well-established legal principle that others involved in the same case as a minor cannot face the death penalty if they are less directly responsible.
Assistant State Attorney Reid Rubin filed notice Friday that the death penalty will be waived. That means that the four suspects could get a maximum of life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. The trial is scheduled to start Aug. 25.
Eric Rivera Jr., who turned 18 last month, was 17 at the time that police say that he shot Taylor during a botched robbery at Taylor's Miami-area home in November. Taylor, 24, died of massive blood loss after he was shot in the upper leg.
The Taylor family accepted the prosecutor's explanation for the move, a family spokesman said.
More football
■ Matt Walsh, a former video assistant for the New England Patriots, will meet separately with Commissioner Roger Goodell of the NFL and Sen. Arlen Specter today to discuss New England's videotaping of opposing coaches' play-calling signals in violation of league rules.
Walsh is scheduled to meet with Goodell at the NFL offices in New York at 7:30 a.m. Afterward, he will travel to Washington to meet with Specter.
Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been critical of the NFL's handling of the investigation.
Goodell and Specter each plan to hold a news conference after meeting with Walsh.
Coach Bill Belichick of the Patriots was fined $500,000, while the team was fined $250,000 and forced to forfeit its 2008 first-round draft choice. The Spygate investigation began after the NFL confiscated tapes from a New England employee who recorded the New York Jets' defensive signals from the sideline during the 2007 opener.
Last week, Walsh sent the NFL eight videotapes that showed the Patriots recording play-calling signals. The tapes included signals by coaches of five opponents in six games from 2000 through '02.
The league said that the tapes were consistent with what it already knew.
■ The Chicago Bears have signed kicker Robbie Gould to a five-year contract extension through 2013.
Financial terms weren't immediately available.
Gould has made 84 of 99 field-goal attempts and 99 of 100 points-after-touchdown with the Bears. He hit 31 of 36 field-goal attempts last season and made the Pro Bowl after the 2006 season, when he scored 143 points.
Gould hit a winning 49-yarder in overtime to send the Bears past Seattle in the playoff opener after the 2005 season. Chicago went on to the Super Bowl.
■ Defensive lineman Matt Patchan of Florida is expected to make a full recovery after being shot in a shoulder Friday night at a park in the Tampa area.
Details of the shooting are not yet known.
Golf
■ Michelle Wie did not receive an exemption into this year's Ginn Tribute with hostess Annika Sorenstam, a tournament spokesman said yesterday.
The exemptions for the tournament, scheduled May 29-June 1 in Mount Pleasant, S.C., went to Ashleigh Simon, an LPGA rookie from South Africa, and Alison Whitaker, a Duke golfer.
Wie received an exemption last year but withdrew after 16 holes. She said that the reason was a wrist injury and not because she was two-shots shy of the LPGA Tour's "88" rule, which would have banned her from further exemptions until the next season for shooting an 88 or higher. Wie was then seen practicing at the LPGA Tour's next stop.
■ Five golfers with South Carolina connections, including Jay Haas Jr., have been given exemptions into this weekend's BMW Charity Pro-Am, a Nationwide Tour tournament.
Haas is the oldest son of Jay Haas, a PGA Tour and Champions Tour star. Also receiving exemptions were Tommy Biershenk, Ben Duncan and Matt Hendrix, who played at Clemson, and Jeremy Pope, of Georgetown, S.C.
■ Samantha Bonham of Northwest Guilford has signed a letter of intent to play golf at UNC Pembroke, Coach David Synan of UNCP announced yesterday.
Bonham was a four-time all-conference selection and a member of Northwest's 2007 state-championship team.
Miscellaneous
■ TV coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament will move from the USA Network to ESPN and the Tennis Channel starting in 2009. The U.S. Tennis Association announced the six-year deal yesterday. ESPN now owns TV rights to parts of all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments.
USA started broadcasting the U.S. Open in 1984 and will carry it for the last time this year. CBS still has broadcast-network rights and has a contract with the USTA through 2011.
■ The Cuban national judo team returned home yesterday without one of its stars, whose weekend disappearance fueled speculation that she is defecting.
Yurisel Laborde, a two-time world champion and 2004 Olympics bronze medalist, was not with the team yesterday when its flight left Miami International Airport. She has not been seen since disappearing Sunday after competing in the Pan American Judo Championships.
The Cuban team checked in for their flight lugging new mountain bikes, televisions, espresso machines and other purchases made during their historic stay in Miami — it was the first time in 40 years that a Cuban Olympics team in any sport had competed in this city, a hotbed of anti-Fidel Castro sentiment.
■ Virginia Tech and North Carolina received bids to the NCAA Division I softball tournament and will play first-round games later this week.
Virginia Tech, the ACC champion, will meet Louisville at 2:30 Friday in the Knoxville Regional. UNC will play Brigham Young in Chapel Hill at 3:30 Thursday.
■ Catawba received one of three at-large bids to the NCAA Division II baseball tournament and will play Florida Tech at 7 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the South Region Tournament in Tampa, Fla.
■ Asafa Powell, the world-record holder in the 100 meters, resumed training yesterday after missing time with a chest injury, and should be in good health in time for the Olympics, his manager said.
Powell, who ran the 100 meters in 9.74 seconds last year to break the record, pulled a pectoral muscle last month and was out for about two weeks.
"He's doing fine," Powell's agent, Paul Doyle, told The Associated Press. "We expect him to be 100 percent in two weeks. It's just a matter of making up time. It shouldn't affect his Olympic preparation."
ADVERTISEMENT
N.C. Politics
Federal Politics
Relish appears Thursdays in the newspaper. If you'd like to explore our relish content online, you can find it under the Entertainment section.
Advertisement
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)
* Keep it clean
* Respect others
* Don't hate
* Don't use language you wouldn't use with your mom
* Use "Report Inappropriate Comments" link when necessary
* See Member Agreement for details