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Violent crime, except murder, drops in '03

WASHINGTON - Violent crime declined in 2003 despite a third consecutive yearly increase in homicides, according to preliminary FBI statistics released Monday.

The violent crimes - rape, robbery, aggravated assault and homicides including murder and manslaughter - dropped 3.2 percent compared with 2002, fueled mostly by sharp declines in rape and assault.

Homicide was the only category on the increase, rising nationwide last year by about 178 cases, or 1.1 percent. In the previous two years, murder and manslaughter edged up 1 percent in 2002 and 2.5 percent in 2001.

Experts noted that the decrease in violent crime should be interpreted carefully, since police have wider discretion in reporting rape and assault, the categories showing the biggest declines last year.

Even so, the rise in homicide is relatively flat compared to the double-digit increases of the early 1990s, sparked by crack cocaine, and in the tumultuous 1960s, a period marked by social discord over the Vietnam War and civil rights.

Meanwhile, the uptick in homicides in recent years might be attributed to increased drug activity and more guns on the streets, experts said.

Attorney General John Ashcroft cited tougher law enforcement methods and stiffer sentences for habitual criminals for driving down the nation's violent crime rate.

The numbers come from 11,921 law enforcement agencies around the country that participated in the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The final report for 2003 will be released in the fall.

McALESTER, Okla. - From buying 2,000 pounds of fertilizer to mixing it with fuel in order to create a giant bomb, the evidence is "overwhelming" that Terry Nichols was the principle conspirator in the Oklahoma City bombing, prosecutors told jurors Monday at his state murder trial.

"He was in it from the get go," prosecutor Lou Keel said during closing statements. "He had the money to purchase the bomb components and to store them. If we're adding up who contributed most to the planning, Terry Nichols gets a big No. 1."

Nichols, 49, already is serving a life sentence in federal prison for the deaths of eight government agents killed in the 1995 explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. In the current trial, Nichols is charged in the deaths of 160 others who died in the attack - as well as the fetus of one victim. If convicted, Nichols faces the death penalty.

Prosecutors contend that Nichols and his friend, executed bomber Timothy McVeigh, plotted to blow up the Murrah building to avenge the 1993 federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.

The defense is expected to offer closing arguments today.

RENTON, Wash. - A section of a gasoline pipeline exploded in flames over the weekend, forcing the closing of the 400-mile system and disrupting fuel deliveries.

Nobody was injured in the blast Sunday at the Olympic Pipe Line Co. pumping station in Renton, a Seattle suburb. Workers reported seeing 20-foot flames leaping from a test line that runs off the main pipeline.

The cause of the explosion was under investigation, and the company shut down the entire pipeline as a precaution, said Bobby Talley, Olympic's president. It will be shut for days, he said.

The pipeline moves 12-million gallons of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel daily.

SAVANNAH, Ga. - A new city law and a newly declared state of emergency will let police squelch lawful dissent during the nearby G-8 summit of world leaders, protesters complain.

Protest groups have been trying for months to get a permit to demonstrate in Brunswick, the nearest mainland city to Sea Island, where President Bush is meeting world leaders June 8-10.

Gov. Sonny Perdue signed an order May 7 declaring a state of emergency in six coastal counties beginning Monday, citing "potential danger" from "unlawful assemblages, threats of violence and otherwise." The order places no limitations on demonstrations.

However, the Brunswick City Council amended its laws last week to give police authority to terminate protests if a "state of emergency or disaster is lawfully declared."

Carol Bass, an Atlanta protest organizer with the Peace and Justice Coalition, called the state of emergency order troubling.

"The implications deeply concern me, especially with the implication for demonstrations," Bass said.

Brunswick Mayor Brad Brown said he didn't know the governor had already declared a state of emergency until after the city adopted the legal change.

"It was not the intent of our ordinance to coincide with the governor making that declaration at all," Brown said.