COLVILLE,
Wash.
(AP)
—
Richard
L.
Keenum
will
serve
at
least
50
years
in
prison
for
the
execution-style
murders
of
two
men
in
a
remote
cabin
last
October.
Keenum,
32,
insists
he
found
Matthew
L.
Raynor,
32,
and
his
roommate,
52-year-old
Russell
C.
Markvardsen
dead
when
he
arrived
to
burglarize
their
home
in
the
Onion
Creek
area,
north
of
Colville.
“I
did
not
kill
Russell
Markvardsen,
and
I
did
not
kill
Matt
Raynor,”
Keenum
said
at
his
sentencing
last
week.
A
jury
convicted
Keenum
of
two
counts
of
first-degree
murder
earlier
this
month.
Members
of
Raynor’s
family
joined
prosecutor
Jerry
Wetle
in
calling
for
the
maximum
sentence
of
67
years.
Stevens
County
Superior
Judge
Rebecca
Baker
rejected
court-appointed
defense
attorney
Lorinda
Noble’s
request
for
a
minimum
sentence
of
53
years.
Under
state
law,
Keenum
must
serve
at
least
50
years.
No
motive
was
suggested
for
the
slayings,
but
several
witnesses
said
Keenum
had
made
comments
about
disliking
gays.
Markvardsen
and
Raynor
were
partners.
ALBANY,
N.Y.
(AP)
—
A
former
federal
prosecutor
promised
a
thorough
independent
investigation
of
sex
abuse
allegations
against
Roman
Catholic
Bishop
Howard
Hubbard,
while
establishing
e-mail
and
voice
mail
sites
for
anyone
to
provide
information
in
the
case.
At
a
news
conference
last
week,
Mary
Jo
White,
hired
by
the
Albany
diocese’s
review
board,
said
several
attorneys
and
investigators
from
her
New
York
City
law
firm
were
already
at
work.
The
board
examines
claims
of
clergy
sex
abuse.
Hubbard
has
denied
two
recent
allegations
of
improper
gay
relationships
in
the
1970s
and
others
raised
in
a
recently
uncovered
letter
written
in
1995.
The
bishop
said
he
has
kept
his
vow
of
celibacy
and
has
dismissed
several
priests
from
the
14-county
diocese
for
credible
sex
abuse
claims.
The
priest
who
allegedly
wrote
the
confidential
1995
letter,
Rev.
John
Minkler,
was
found
dead
at
his
suburban
Albany
home
Sunday.
The
cause
of
his
death
is
under
investigation.
TULSA,
Okla.
(AP)
—
A
Tulsa
City
Council
candidate
remained
in
custody
Feb.
18
after
he
was
arrested
during
a
gay-marriage
opposition
rally
the
day
before
at
the
state
Capitol.
An
Oklahoma
Highway
Patrol
trooper
arrested
Paul
Tay
on
Feb.
17
after
the
two
scuffled
when
the
officer
tried
to
gain
control
of
Tay’s
weapon,
which
turned
out
to
be
fake.
He
was
arrested
on
complaints
of
inciting
a
riot,
desecrating
a
flag,
disturbing
the
peace
and
obstructing
an
officer.
Tay
arrived
at
the
rally
on
a
bicycle
that
was
pulling
a
wagon
containing
an
Oklahoma
state
flag
with
Nazi
swastikas
taped
on
it.
He
was
dressed
in
camouflage,
a
helmet
and
ski
goggles.
Tay
allegedly
shouted
slurs
against
gays,
blacks
and
police
officers
in
protest
of
his
arrest.
Tay’s
Tulsa
attorney,
Kurt
Hoffman,
said
his
client
is
misunderstood
but
not
mentally
ill.
“I
agree
with
a
lot
of
Mr.
Tay’s
intentions
—
some
of
his
ways
of
setting
those
out
seem
shocking,
especially
to
the
general
public,”
Hoffman
said.
BOSTON
(AP)
—
A
judge
has
set
a
tentative
date
for
October
for
the
criminal
trial
of
former
priest
Paul
R.
Shanley,
a
key
figure
in
the
clergy
sexual
abuse
scandal.
The
trial
would
come
more
than
two
years
after
Shanley
was
charged
with
child
rape.
He
also
faces
pending
lawsuits
by
10
victims
and
their
family
members
who
refused
to
sign
onto
a
massive
$85
million
settlement
with
the
church.
Prosecutors
had
sought
to
have
the
case
tried
before
civil
litigation,
which
lawyers
said
could
still
be
delayed
to
follow
the
criminal
trial.
“It
would
not
be
conceivable
to
me
that
the
civil
case
will
go
before
the
criminal
case,”
Roderick
MacLeish
Jr.,
the
lawyer
for
alleged
victim
Gregory
Ford,
told
the
Boston
Herald.
Shanley
was
once
known
for
his
street
ministry
to
gay
and
troubled
youth.
He
became
a
focal
point
of
the
church
abuse
scandal
after
internal
church
records
disclosed
in
separate
civil
lawsuits
showed
that
officials
did
not
remove
him
from
parish
work
even
after
they
received
complaints
about
statements
he
made
about
sex
between
men
and
boys.
HAMBURG,
Germany
(AP)
—
The
justice
minister
of
Hamburg
was
stabbed
in
the
leg
by
a
woman
during
a
campaign
event
Feb.
19,
German
police
said.
Roger
Kusch,
a
member
of
the
city’s
ruling
Christian
Democrats,
was
campaigning
for
this
month’s
elections
when
a
41-year-old
woman
allegedly
came
up
behind
him,
pulled
out
a
folding
knife
and
stabbed
him
in
the
thigh,
police
spokesman
Ralf
Kunz
said.
Bystanders
grabbed
the
woman
and
turned
her
over
to
police.
Kusch
was
treated
at
a
hospital
for
minor
injuries.
Mayor
Ole
von
Beust
said
the
stabbing
“was
evidently
the
act
of
a
misguided
individual.”
Kusch,
49,
and
von
Beust
were
embroiled
in
controversy
last
year
when
Hamburg’s
interior
minister
was
fired
after
threatening
to
go
public
with
allegations
that
von
Beust
promoted
Kusch
because
the
two
men
had
an
affair.
