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Nation in brief

Lawyers spar on whether condemned man retarded

By wire services
Published July 27, 2005

YORKTOWN, Va. - A lawyer for a death row inmate told jurors Tuesday his client was so limited mentally that he couldn't get a driver's license and was cut from the football team because he didn't understand the rules.

A prosecutor, though, said Daryl Atkins' mental retardation claim was a ploy to avoid execution.

"None of his teachers, friends or family believed Daryl was mentally retarded until he was facing the death penalty," Commonwealth's Attorney Eileen Addison said during opening statements.

Defense lawyer Mark Olive portrayed Atkins, 27, as someone who struggled through life because of his limited mental abilities.

A jury was seated earlier Tuesday for a trial that will determine whether Atkins, whose case led the Supreme Court to bar execution of the mentally retarded, is himself retarded.

CHICAGO - Pesticide use in or near U.S. schools sickened more than 2,500 children and school employees over a five-year period, and though most illnesses were mild, their numbers have increased, a study found.

Sources include chemicals to kill insects and weeds on school grounds, disinfectants and farming pesticides that drift over nearby schools, according to the report by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and their colleagues.

Lead author Dr. Walter Alarcon said one of the largest recent incidents occurred in May when about 600 students and staff members were evacuated from an Edinburg, Texas, school after pesticides sprayed on a cotton field drifted into the school's air-conditioning system. About 30 students and nine staffers developed symptoms including nausea and headaches.

The study, which appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, covered events from 1998 to 2002.

LINCOLN, Neb. - A 22-year-old man faces criminal charges in Nebraska for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, although he legally married her in Kansas after she became pregnant.

The man's lawyer said the couple, with their families' support, "made a responsible decision to try to cope with the problem."

Matthew Koso, 22, was charged Monday with first-degree sexual assault, punishable by as much as 50 years in prison.

After the girl became pregnant, her mother gave permission in May for Koso to take the young woman to Kansas, which allows minors to get married with parental consent. The girl is now 14 and seven months pregnant.

WASHINGTON - The National Zoo's new mother panda, Mei Xiang, left her cub alone for about three minutes on Monday so she could eat some bamboo and drink water. It was the first time she had eaten since the cub was born July 9, zoo officials said.

Studies of giant pandas in the wild have found that new mothers will go as long as a month without eating or drinking.

At 21/2 weeks old, the cub has survived longer than any other born at the National Zoo. The cub's gender remains a question, because zoo veterinarians have not had a chance to examine it.

[Last modified July 27, 2005, 01:06:11]