NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY OF DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2009
5A
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CRIME
Charges dropped in case following investigation
Charges were dismissed against a man accused in a robbery on campus last week because the crime actually happened outside of city limits, according to KU Public Safety Captain Schuyler Bailey.
Police said the 19-year-old who reported the crime, who doesn't attend the University, said he was walking to his vehicle parked in the southwest corner of the parking lot near the tennis courts when he was approached by two unknown white males.
The man said one of his attackers held him down while the other punched him in the face. He said the attackers took his wallet and told him not to call police before leaving the area in a white Cadillac. The man said the stolen wallet contained a credit card and driver's license.
Through an investigation, the KU Public Safety Office determined that the crime did not take place on campus, or even in Lawrence for that matter. The 21-year-old Perry man accused in the crime was released Wednesday when the charges against him were dropped.
Bailey said the results of the investigation had been forwarded
to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to determine the charges.
Student released on bond after over a month in jail
At an arraignment hearing on Friday, District Court Judge Robert Fairchild said a jury trial in the case would begin April 26 at 9 a.m. Billy Kernizant is accused on four charges; two for aggravated robbery and two for conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery.
A student who police say was involved in the robberies of two local delivery drivers will have a jury trial next April, according to the judge in the case.
Kernizant appeared alongside his lawyer, who asked that his bail be reduced. At the suggestion of prosecutors, Fairchild ordered that Kernizant's bail be reduced from $70,000 to $40,000 on the condition that he wear a GPS monitoring device at all times.
Kernizant posted bond and was released at 10:07 a.m. Friday. Kernizant had been in police custody since he was arrested on Oct. 5
Brandon Sayers
Military nurse acquitted in killing
LEGAL
Man who used tentanyl and morphine on patients says he never second-guessed treatment
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO -A court-martial acquitted a former milit-
full of fentanyl and morphine when they were not "dying quick enough." After the ruling, Fontana said he never second-guessed his treatment or dosages.
murder Saturday after he was accused of giving lethal doses of painkillers to hasten the deaths of three terminally ill patients at the Air Force's largest hospital.
"My intention the whole time was to take care of dying patients."
MICHAEL FONTANA Military nurse
Capit. Michael Fontana, wearing his Air Force uniform, showed no emotion as a military judge cleared him of three counts of murder, then collapsed into the arms of weeping family members inside a Lackland Air Force Base courtroom.
Capt. Michael
Military prosecutors had painted Fontana as a rogue and arrogant nurse who pumped patients
"My intention the whole time was to take care of dying patients." Fontana said.
Fontana, 36, said he wants to return to nursing.
Seeing the verdict as a validation, Fontana said he
hoped the ruling would serve as a lesson for others tasked with making sure the terminally sick are comfortable. One doctor testified in the court-martial that he worried the case would chill the use of painkillers on the gravely ill.
Elizabeth Higginbotham, Fontana's attorney, said during
closing arguments that a guilty verdict would open the "flood-gates" for lawsuits against nurses when a dying patient finally goes.
Col. William Burd, the military judge, also acquitted Fontana on one count of conduct unbecoming an officer for altering medical records.
"We have great confidence in our military justice system and we believe a fair verdict was reached today," the 59th Medical Wing said in a statement.
"We have great confidence in our military justice system and we believe a fair verdict was reached today."
The hospital
During the weeklong trial, Air Force prosecutors accused Fontana of changing hospital records, trying to cover-up his tracks and chastising other nurses for not being aggressive enough
He continued working at Wilford Hall while awaiting trial, though was stationed in the library.
The hospital said Fontana will now undergo a clinical competency evaluation to determine whether he can return to being an Air Force nurse at the Wilford Hall Medical Center.
STATEMENT FROM 59TH MEDICAL WING
in treating the end-of-life patients. They argued that Fortana knew the lethal effect of the dosages he was giving.
Fontana has been in the Air Force since 2006 and served a tour in Iraq in 2007. He worked as an intensive care nurse
at Wilford Hall, which primarily serves military personnel and retirees but provides emergency and trauma care to some civilians.
CRIME
Men accused in 9/11 attacks to plead not guilty
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday.
Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aizi Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it."
The U.S. Justice Department announced earlier this month that Ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people
in the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. will face a civilian federal trial just blocks from the site of the destroyed World Trade Center.
Ali, also known as Ammar al-
Baluchi, is a nephew of professed
9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed.
Mohammed, Ali and the others will explain "their assessment of American foreign policy," Fenstermaker said.
"Their assessment is negative," he said.
Fenstermaker met with Ali last week at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He has not spoken with the others but said
the men have discussed the trial among themselves.
Critics of Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try the men in a New York City civilian courthouse have warned that the trial would provide the defendants with a propaganda platform.
Fenstermaker was first quoted in The New York Times in Sunday's editions.
Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, said Sunday that while the men may attempt to use the trial to express their views, "we have full confidence in the ability of the courts and in particular the federal judge who
Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Holder for hours about his decision to send the five 9/11 suspects to New York for trial.
may preside over the trial to ensure that the proceeding is conducted appropriately and with minimal disruption, as federal courts have done in the past."
Critics of Holder's decision — mostly Republicans — argued the trial will give Mohammed and his co-defendants a world stage to spout hateful rhetoric.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, above, is the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mohammed's lawyer said he would plead not guilty to the charges against him.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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