Around the state

Teen convicted in fatal beating

CLEARWATER -- A jury convicted a 19-year-old man of manslaughter Friday for fatally beating a classmate during a parking lot fight.

The verdict came in the second trial of John Acosta for the Oct. 18, 2001, fight in Bradenton that killed James Brier, 16.

Brier's and Acosta's families wept after the verdict was read. Acosta, who faces up to 15 years in prison, showed no emotion.

No sentencing date was set. Acosta, who had been free on bail, was jailed immediately.

Medical experts testified that Brier died from a burst artery at the base of his skull, caused by a violent punch that snapped his head backward and sliced the artery.

Acosta was 17 and a Manatee High School student when the arranged fight took place in a parking lot near a Foodway store as other teenagers looked on.

Bad feelings had grown between Acosta and Brier as the result of taunts Brier had endured since getting drunk and taking his clothes off at a party two months earlier. Relatives say Brier was trying to impress other students that he was bold enough to join an exclusive club.

Acosta's first trial, in Bradenton in August, ended with the jury deadlocked. Jurors from Pinellas County were impaneled for this trial, conducted by Manatee Circuit Judge Marc Gilner. Testimony began Tuesday.

Judge cautions Noelle Bush

ORLANDO -- A judge gently chided Gov. Jeb Bush's daughter at her scheduled drug court appearance Friday because she has missed counseling sessions.

Noelle Bush, 25, appears before Judge Reginald Whitehead every two weeks to report on her progress. At the brief hearing, Whitehead told her he was concerned after meeting with her counselors this week.

"You're doing a lot of good, positive things. You've come a long way, but I want you to go to all of the treatment sessions -- group and individual," Whitehead said. "I want to see that, okay?"

Whitehead urged her not to backslide in her treatment program because there was "light at the end of the tunnel."

Bush was ordered into treatment after she was arrested a year ago, accused of trying to use a fraudulent prescription to obtain the antianxiety drug Xanax.

Whitehead has since sent her to jail twice, for three days in July after being caught with prescription pills and for 10 days in October after being accused of having a small rock of crack cocaine in her shoe.

I-4 collision in Polk County kills 3

POLK CITY -- Three people died in a head-on crash on Interstate 4 that closed the westbound lanes of the highway for two hours.

The driver of a black Honda Accord sedan crossed the center line and drove into oncoming traffic, hitting a Ford Explorer, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The three people in the sports utility vehicle, two men and a woman, were pronounced dead at the scene. Their identities were being withheld until their family was notified, said Sgt. Eric McGill. The SUV had a Orange County license tag.

The driver of the Honda was taken to the Lakeland Regional Medical Center. His condition was not immediately known.

The accident happened about 7:50 p.m. near the Polk City exit, 35 miles west of Orlando. Westbound lanes were closed for two hours and traffic backed up 13 miles to Haines City.

Troopers were trying to determine why the Honda driver lost control.

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