DAIMLER-CHRYSLER IS FOUND GUILTY IN AIR-BAG DEATH OF BOY
NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal jury on Friday decided Daimler-Chrysler AG must pay $750,000 to a family of a 5-year-old boy killed by an air bag, the first such case to reach trial.The jury, after a one-month trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, decided the carmaker was 50 percent responsible for the death of Michael Crespo during a family vacation to Puerto Rico in 1995. The jury did not specifically rule on who is responsible for the other half.
Daimler-Chrysler, in a statement, denounced the verdict finding that air bags were unreasonably dangerous.
MAN DIES WHEN CANDLE HE GAVE FRIEND BURNS HER HOME
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) -- A man who gave a gardenia-scented candle to his cancer-stricken friend died when the flame ignited the woman's mattress, burning her mobile home and trapping him inside.
Mark Chosse died early Thursday. His friend, Linda Casey, was hospitalized with second-degree burns to her head and hands.
"I put the candle in a saucer dish and lit it. Then I said a little prayer thanking God that I had lived another day and thanking him for my friend," Casey, 56, said from her hospital bed.
TEEN WHO BLAMED GIRLFRIEND IN N.Y. SLAYING IS CONVICTED
NEW YORK (AP) -- A 16-year-old boy who blamed his wealthy girlfriend for the mutilation slaying of a Central Park drinking buddy was convicted Friday of manslaughter.
Jurors rejected a more serious charge of second-degree murder for Christopher Vasquez, who claimed he was made a scapegoat in the May 1997 death of 44-year-old real estate broker Michael McMorrow.
Vasquez faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced Jan. 13. His former girlfriend, Daphne Abdela, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in March.
POSTAL SERVICE SET TO DELIVER 60,000 PIECES OF STOLEN MAIL
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Postal Service is beginning delivery of about 60,000 pieces of stolen mail that had been held as evidence. Some is as much as six years old.
Deliveries begin Saturday of the mail that is addressed to residents of Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
The mail was recovered when postal inspectors arrested an Atlanta-area man who had been stealing mail for four years. The man was not a postal employee, postal officials stressed.
HOFFA LEADS IN RACE TO HEAD TEAMSTERS BUT ISN'T A SHOO-IN
WASHINGTON (AP) -- James P. Hoffa took the lead Friday in early ballot counting for president of the Teamsters union once headed by his father, but it wasn't the runaway some had predicted.
With 85,101 votes from the southern and eastern regions processed, Hoffa led with 43,215 votes, or 51 percent. Tom Leedham, chief of the union's warehouse division, had 35,487, or 42 percent. Counting continues through the weekend.
WOMAN'S GARBAGE BAG GARB FAILS HER IN ROBBERY ATTEMPT
FORT LUPTON, Colo. (AP) -- A 4-foot-11 woman tried to rob a bank while wearing a black garbage bag over her head, with holes cut out for her arms and eyes, police said.
The disguise left Angela Martinez, 70, almost completely covered as she entered the Bank of Colorado, police said.
"The would-be robber, with other bank customers staring at her, went to the front of a line and demanded money from a bank teller," Lt. Joe Perales said.
Bank tellers alerted police, who arrested Martinez right away Monday.
MAYOR OF UGANDA'S CAPITAL CONVICTED IN U.S. BANK FRAUD
BOSTON (AP) -- A jury on Friday convicted the mayor of Uganda's capital of depositing almost $200,000 worth of phony checks into a U.S. bank and for lying to the Customs Service about how much money he was carrying.
Nasser Ntege Sebaggala, mayor of Kampala, was convicted of four counts of bank fraud, two counts of making false statements to customs and two counts of transporting altered financial securities. He was ordered held until sentencing on Feb. 23.