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^ourt reverses conviction or
Austin girl in toddler death
torneysplan next move: Supreme Court
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AUSTIN (AP) — A girl accused
Bting .) toddlei to death when
F 'e was 11 may face a third trial
erin appellate court reversed
r conviction Thursday, ruling
Jic^ may have obtained her con-
siop illegally.
Lacresha Murray, now 14, orig-
■ was charged with capital
rder, making her the youngest
oCou’esi» Tson j n 70X33 to f ace such a
mdArque ar g e After two trials, she was
MeverBet entually convicted of injury to a
ild and sentenced to 25 years for
e beating death of 2-year-old
t ( yla Belton.
The 3rd District Court of Ap-
aniedy, i
vi table,
itmareot!
als on Thursday remanded the
Jk|o juvenile court, saying the
itement she gave police should
it have been used at her trial be-
use it resulted from an illegal in-
'1.1 rroeation when she was “isolat-
urewriter..'. T, ,
..and alone.
•i< heut “At a minimum, we cannot say
, t 0; 1 at appellant’s statements were
vlt f, (f,. >t the product of fright and de-
itsonia ’ a i r > court said,
ufefimtei Keith Hampton, the teen’s at-
nightdut rney. said the next move is up to
•filled v e prosecutor, who may seek a re-
brothe. .‘aring before the appellate court,
while aid ke it to the Supreme Court or
ity. try the case.
ioportray “I am going to assume that
d popular ey’re going to retry her a third
guv and d ne,” he said.
a driven no Lacresha will remain at a Texas
I'onuae- >uth Commission facility unless
; loia osecutors drop the charges,
nk ’ amjiton said.
wnoreni Prosecutors had no immediate
imment.
3ayla died May 24, 1996, of
assive internal injuries, includ-
1 g a ruptured liver, after spending
le day in the home Lacresha
_ tared with her grandparents and
five brothers and sisters. The fam
ily often baby-sat for Jayla and
other children.
After Jayla’s death, Lacresha
and her siblings were taken into
protective custody and placed at a
children’s shelter, where Lacresha
was interviewed by two Austin po
lice detectives and a representa
tive of the department’s victim
services division. Neither her
grandparents nor her lawyer were
present.
"/ would like to see
the prosecution
admit they made a
mistake, and I
would like them to
go after the real
killer”
— Barbara Taft
People of the Heart
During the interrogation Lacre
sha denied killing Jayla at least 40
times in a two-hour span, but
signed a statement written by po
lice saying she may have dropped
and kicked the toddler.
In Texas, a juvenile taken into
custody by police must go before
a magistrate before being ques
tioned.
Prosecutors argued that Lacre
sha was not officially in custody
and could have left at any time, so
she did not need to go before a
magistrate.
Justice Lee Yeakel, writing for
the appeals court, disagreed.
“She was not, however, told
that she was free to leave the in
terview room or the children’s
shelter, and she was never told she
could call her grandparents or any
other friendly adult,” Yeakel said.
A bill by Rep. Sylvester Tlirner,
D-Houston, pending in the Texas
House would clarify that such in
terrogations are illegal and a mag
istrate should decide whether the
youth may be questioned.
The jury in her first trial found
Lacresha guilty of criminally neg
ligent homicide and injury to a
child, sentencing her to 20 years.
District Judge John Dietz or
dered a second trial, saying he was
not certain justice had been
served. The second jury found
Lacresha guilty of injury to a child
and sentenced her to 25 years.
The case has been high-profile
in the state capital, where dozens
of protesters have gathered
monthly outside the courthouse
where the case was pending.
“Three years ago I promised a
little girl that we would get this
case reversed and that she would
come home, and she will,” said
Barbara Taft, who quit her job as
a legal secretary to devote herself
to People of the Heart, an organi
zation she created to help overturn
the verdict.
“I would like to see the prose
cution admit they made a mistake,
and I would like them to go after
the real killer.”
Columnist Bob Herbert of The
New York Times also has champi
oned her cause, writing several
columns arguing that the sup
posed facts of the case do not add
up. Herbert suggested that anoth
er relative might have beaten the
child.
ne
fad.
ryan
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lit
WHO’S WHO AMONG STUDENTS
IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES
1998-99
The following Aggies have been selected as the recipients of the Who’s Who
Among Students in American Universities and Colleges for I 998-99:
Jennifer Elaine Allen
Frank S. Aswad
Kathryn FJelen Bahr
Tase Edward Bailey
Charles John Bechert
Elicia Dawn Bennet
Joseph Lee Dale Benningfield
Ke\ly IVlichelle Boley
Ross Thomas Bown
Aaron Wayne Campbell
Melissa Rene Conley
Dana Denise Devlin
Joshua D H. Duncan
Toan Duy Duong
Andrew Benjamin Ebert
Curtis Allen Franke
Alice SuzAnne Gonzalez
Ryan Collins Green
Victoria Elizabeth Guerra
Justin Scott Harper
Kelly Chaundel Hartline
Michael Redmond Haughey
Clark Michael Kardys
Kendall Ryan Kelly
Robert William Kimmel
Kristen D’Lynne Kirby
James Phillip Lary
Ann Elizabeth Leslie
Lorelei Arlene Luna
Amy Elizabeth Magee
Brian Roger Marks
Carla Denise Martinez
Madison Auge Mauze’
Kristen Anna Maxey
Pablo Francisco Merheb
Brian Eugene Minyard
Jenny Snow Morris
David James Muckerheide
Andrew Murr
Mark Andrew Naftanel
Reese Edward Neumann
Kim Thi Nguyen
James Weston Poston
Lesliam Quiros
Richard Scott Rolison
Carl David Roth
Nicole Christine Smith
September Anne Smith
Lee D Stanley
Kaycie Lynn Swain
David Osborn Taylor
Becky Lynn Thorne
Stephanie Suzanne Toone
Brent Edward Troyan
Donald Vincent Turilli
Beau James Voelkel
Toni Ann Watjus
Caren Alison Williams
Lacie Deanne Winters
Justin Keith Wood
Graduate Students
Patricia Leigh Draughn
Jan Finley Fernandez
Patricia A. Lowe
Rakhi Roy
James Nick Rugila
Lisa Katrice Thompson
Page 7 « Friday, Anril 16, 1999
NASA
launches
imaging
satellite
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE
BASE, Calif. (AP) — NASA’s Land-
sat 7 satellite was launched Thurs
day on a $770 million mission to
monitor global conditions ranging
from soil moisture and snowpacks
to the effects of flood, fire, earth
quakes and volcanos.
A two-stage Boeing Delta II
booster with nine strap-on solid
rockets roared off the launch pad at
11:32 a.m. PDT, carrying the 4,400-
pound satellite toward polar orbit.
All went well through the first
phase of the flight, ending with cut
off of the second stage and the rock
et and satellite coasting at 17,000
mph, launch control reported.
The second stage was to restart
57 minutes after liftoff and burn
briefly before separating from the
satellite at an altitude of 434 miles.
The Landsat series dates to
1972. Landsat 5, launched in March
1984, is still operating. The Landsat
7 mission, with updated technolo
gy, was designed to maintain the
flow of Earth observation data gath
ered over the past quarter century.
Project scientist Darrel Williams
said the orbit was designed to have
Landsat 7 to repeat coverage of any
given area every 16 days. Com
bined with Landsat 5’s data, each
area will be covered every eight
days.
The data can be used to deter
mine the health of crops and other
vegetation by monitoring water
content of the soil, keeping tabs on
natural disaster impacts, and mon
itoring population changes in met
ropolitan areas.
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T ime to Rent a
TUXEDO
For Ringdance
Complete Tuxedo Ensembles
From $49.95 to $64.95
Includes:
Coat, Trousers, Wing-tip Shirt,
Tie and Cummerbund or
Tie and Vest and
Lace Shoes.
(studs and cufflinks included with shirt rental)
(Designer Vest or Mandarin Collar Shirt: $14.95 extra)
Ladies and Lords
Texas Ave. Across from the Main Entrance to Texas A&M
409-764-8289
By Popular Request Ladies and Lords will not be changing it’s name.
Parents' Weekend dinner
dry and flavorless?
Put a little Variety in your life
Nutritional Information
Serving Size 9 acts
(1 guest)
Calories 1
Not a significant source of calories from
showing up. You must enjoy the show and
laugh, cry and applaud.
Ammount'Serving
%DV
Total Acts 8
90%
1 special guest
5%
Host / me
5%
Singing
30%
Bands
20%
Dancing
30%
Variety
100%
I
* Percent daily values (DV) are based on a
typical Parents Weekend.
Surgeon Generals Viferning-,
Without a sense of Variety Show, you may
experience boredom, fatigue and loneliness
Side effects include extreme laughter,
excitement and an overall sense of fun.
- presents
Variety Show
hosted by
FRt^pAN
April 16th Parents'Weekend
Rudder Auditorium
Tickets are $8 in the
MSC Box office