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Nation in brief

Ex-klan member released on bail

By wire services
Published August 13, 2005

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. - Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was released from jail Friday on $600,000 bail while he appeals his manslaughter convictions and 60-year sentence in the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers.

The 80-year-old sawmill operator and part-time preacher wore street clothes, sandals and a felt cowboy hat as he was taken out of Neshoba County Jail in a wheelchair. He refused to answer questions as he got into a car with family members.

In his decision to grant bail, Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon cited previous similar cases and said he was convinced Killen was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community.

"It's not a matter of what I feel," the judge said. "It's a matter of the law."

Killen was convicted June 21 for masterminding the 1964 slayings of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. His conviction came 41 years to the day after the trio was mobbed and killed by klan members.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The couple accused of killing a Tennessee corrections officer in a daring escape objected Friday to being sent back to the state to face charges. At a hearing, the wife appeared dazed and the husband declared, "I don't want to leave without her."

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people, including 200 uniformed officers, attended the funeral for the guard Friday.

George and Jennifer Hyatte were arrested Wednesday night without a struggle at a Columbus motel after a cab driver tipped off authorities that he had driven them there.

Jennifer Hyatte, 31, a licensed nurse with no criminal record, is accused of ambushing two prison guards as they were leading her husband - a convicted robber - from the Kingston, Tenn., courthouse, fatally shooting Wayne "Cotton" Morgan, 56.

LOS ANGELES - Jack Abramoff, an indicted lobbyist, made his initial court appearance on Friday, agreed to surrender his passport and was freed to return to Florida to face the fraud charges against him.

Abramoff was traveling in California on Thursday when he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale. He turned himself in at an FBI field office in Los Angeles late Thursday and, after a night in jail, appeared in court handcuffed and looking weary.

MIAMI - Tropical Storm Irene could reach hurricane strength today, but is on a course that should keep it away from the East Coast, forecasters said.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami predicted Irene would be about 350 miles east of the mouth of Chesapeake Bay by Tuesday, moving northward.

A five-day forecast predicts Irene will head northeast, well at sea. However, experts say it is possible it could strike the Eastern Seaboard above North Carolina.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Irene's top sustained winds had increased to about 70 mph - 4 mph below hurricane strength.

Irene became the earliest ninth named storm on record when it developed Sunday.

[Last modified August 13, 2005, 01:23:07]