Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/119207
6A Daily News ��� Tuesday, April 2, 2013 WORLD BRIEFING Prosecutors to seek death penalty for James Holmes CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) ��� For James Holmes, ������justice is death,������ prosecutors said Monday in announcing they will seek his execution if he is convicted in the Colorado movie theater attack that killed 12 people. The decision ��� disclosed in court just days after prosecutors publicly rejected Holmes��� offer to plead guilty if they took the death penalty off the table ��� elevated the already sensational case to a new level and could cause it to drag on for years. ������It���s my determination and my intention that in this case, for James Eagan Holmes, justice is death,������ District Attorney George Brauchler said, adding that he had discussed the case with 60 people who lost relatives in the July 20 shooting rampage by a gunman in a gas mask and body armor during a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie. There was no audible reaction from the 25-yearold former neuroscience graduate student, who sat with his back to reporters, or from victims��� families in the courtroom. Holmes��� parents sat side by side in the gallery, clutching hands with fingers intertwined. The decision had been widely predicted by legal analysts. Texas prosecutors on high alert KAUFMAN, Texas (AP) ��� Deputies escorted some Kaufman County employees into the courthouse Monday, two days after the district attorney and his wife were found shot to death in their home in an attack that stirred fears that other public employees could be targeted by assassins. Law enforcement officers were seen patrolling one side of the courthouse, one holding a semi-automatic weapon, while others walked around inside. Authorities have said little about the investigation into the deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, whose bodies were found Saturday. The couple���s slayings came less than two weeks after Colorado���s prison chief was shot to death at his front door, apparently by an exconvict, and a couple of months after Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse was killed in a parking lot near his courthouse office. No arrests have been made in Hasse���s Jan. 31 killing. ������I don���t want to walk around in fear every day ... but on the other hand, two months ago, we wouldn���t be having this conversation,������ County Judge Bruce Wood, the county���s top administrator, said Monday at a news conference. Syrian activist group says more than ���BUCKWILD��� 6,000 killed in star, 2 others March BEIRUT (AP) ��� March found dead was the bloodiest month yet in Syria���s 2-year-old conflict with more than 6,000 documented deaths, a leading anti-regime activist group said Monday, blaming the increase on heavier shelling and more violent clashes. Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the increased toll is likely incomplete because both the Syrian army and the rebel groups fighting the government often underreport their dead in the civil war. ������Both sides are hiding information,������ Abdul-Rah- COME MEET THE CLYDESDALES! Bring your camera or smart phone Tues., April 16, 5pm Tehama District Fairgrounds Get a photo with the Clydesdales & BBQ Dinner for a $10 donation to the Red Bluff Police Dept. Canine Program. Sponsored by Red Bluff Round-up & Foothill Dist. man said by phone from Britain, where his group is based. ������It is very difficult to get correct info on the fighters because they don���t want the information to hurt morale.������ The numbers, while provided by only one group, support the appraisal of the conflict offered by many Syria watchers: The civil war is largely a military stalemate that is destroying the country���s social fabric and taking a huge toll on civilians. The increase also reflects the continuing spread of major hostilities to new parts of Syria. While clashes continue in Aleppo, Damascus and Homs, Syria���s three largest cities, rebels have launched an offensive in recent weeks to seize towns and army bases in the southern province of Daraa, largely with the help of an influx of foreign-funded weapons. SISSONVILLE, W.Va. (AP) ��� A cast member of the MTV reality show ������BUCKWILD������ was found dead Monday in a sport utility vehicle in a ditch along with his uncle and a third, unidentified person, authorities said. Kanawha County Sheriff���s Department Cpl. B.D. Humphreys said the bodies of cast member, Shain Gandee, 21, his uncle David Gandee, 48, and the third person were found Monday in a remote area near Sissonville. Authorities had been searching for the men since early Sunday morning. They were last seen around 3 a.m. Sunday at a bar in Sissonville and they told people they were going driving offroad. Humphreys said state police were getting ready to send out an aviation unit to search for the men when authorities received a call Monday morning that a vehicle was found wrecked in a muddy area a few miles from Gandee���s home in Sissonville, about 15 miles outside of Charleston. Authorities found the 1984 Ford Bronco that belonged to the Gandee family in a ditch with all three men inside. Humphreys did not provide details on the condition of the vehicle or the bodies. He said no foul play was suspected.