TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday refused to dismiss his order suspending Broward County Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant, and he told her the state cannot be held responsible for her attorney's fees.
Bush suspended Oliphant in November, alleging incompetence, neglect of duty and misfeasance. The Senate will decide whether she is ousted or reinstated.
Her lawyer, Henry Hunter, sought dismissal of the suspension order and asked the state to cover her legal fees.
Vandals hit family - again
DELTONA - For the second time in two years, vandals have defaced a black family's property with racist graffiti.
Someone placed a swastika on and set fire to the car belonging to the family of William and La-Tara Walker and spray-painted "Never forget" on the driveway early Monday.
Two years earlier, vandals ransacked their home, punching holes into nearly every wall, spray-painting swastikas on the walls and slashing furniture, causing at least $50,000 in damage. Neighbors helped the family rebuild.
The Deltona Fire Marshal's Office and State Fire Marshal's Office determined the blaze was arson and both were investigating.
La-Tara Walker said she doesn't know why they have been targeted. "I'm just numb now," she said. "I pray to God to give me an answer."
Cook gets life in robbery
FORT LAUDERDALE - A former Waffle House cook was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for his involvement in a robbery at his former workplace that left two employees dead.
Jimmy E. Mickel, 34, was sentenced Monday for his role in the March 2002 heist that led to the deaths of Christina Delarosa, 17, and Willy Absolu, 29.
A jury cleared him of murder charges last month, but convicted him of kidnapping and armed robbery.
Gerhard "Chip" Hojan was convicted in October of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, armed robbery and armed kidnapping. Hojan has not been sentenced yet, but the jury recommended the death penalty.
Hojan, a regular customer at the restaurant, started shooting after he shepherded the two victims along with a third employee, Barbara Nunn, into the restaurant's cramped freezer.
Nunn, who was shot in the head, survived and identified Mickel and Hojan.
Girl testifies in sex case
PENSACOLA - A 16-year-old girl testified from Northern Ireland via satellite television Tuesday that she was molested last year in Florida by an activist with ties to past antiabortion violence.
She was 15 when she accused John Burt, 66, of improperly touching her and showing her a written proposition at Our Father's House, a home for troubled girls that he and his wife, Linda, ran in nearby Milton.
The teen said she ran away June 5 after Burt had touched her breasts, groin and buttocks. Burt also grabbed her by the wrist and forced her to touch his groin through his pants, she testified.
Burt is facing penalties ranging from probation to 15 years in prison on each of five counts of lewd and lascivious molestation or conduct.
His ties to antiabortion violence include being jailed for barging into a Pensacola abortion clinic and breaking equipment in 1986.
Burt also associated with two Pensacola killers: Michael Griffin, serving a life sentence for fatally shooting an abortion doctor in 1993, and Paul Hill, executed last year for the 1994 shootings of another doctor and a clinic escort.
