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By TIMES WIRES
Published October 12, 2006

Dead manatee found in canal near Old Tampa Bay

TAMPA - Tampa police recovered the body of a dead manatee from a canal near Old Tampa Bay on Wednesday afternoon.

The manatee was floating in the water behind 5200 W Azeele St. and appeared to have been dead for about 24 hours, police spokesman Larry McKinnon said.

Officers with the police Marine Unit arrived after 4 p.m., tied the manatee to the side of a police boat and towed it to a boat ramp off the Gandy Bridge.

The corpse was delivered to Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, where scientists will try to determine the cause of death.

Slaying was self-defense, appellate court finds

TAMPA - Melvin Stacy Jenkins has served five brief sentences in Florida prisons. But he won't have to complete his sixth, and longest, prison term.

On Wednesday, 1½ years after a circuit judge sentenced him to 25 years, an appellate court overturned Jenkins' conviction for manslaughter.

The reason: Jenkins acted in self-defense when he fatally stabbed a man who had threatened him outside his Tampa mobile home, appellate judges said.

"We conclude that Mr. Jenkins established his claim of self-defense and that the state failed to present legally sufficient evidence to overcome that defense," Judge Chris Altenbernd wrote.

Husband of victim sues over fatal boat accident

TAMPA - The husband of a New Jersey woman killed in a boat collision off Anclote Key in January filed a lawsuit Wednesday blaming her death on the Odessa company that chartered their boat and the owner of the yacht that crashed into them.

Vincent Mazzola is asking for more than $75,000 in damages in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa.

Mazzola and his wife, Theresa, were two of six people on the Lazy Bones, a 31-foot fishing charter, the afternoon of Jan. 24.

They were anchored 10 miles west of Anclote Key when a 54-foot Sea Ray yacht emerged from the fog. The yacht ripped through the starboard side of the stern, taking off a corner of the boat from the railing to below the water line.

The impact threw the Mazzolas off the boat, according to the lawsuit. Theresa Mazzola, 67, was taken to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. She suffered internal injuries and died that night.

The owner of the yacht, the Almost There, is Ronald M. Lacey, 45, of Crystal Beach. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Mazzola says the Lazy Bones charter did not keep a proper lookout, sound fog signals or take evasive action. He accuses Lacey of failing to take similar precautions. In addition, Mazzola accuses him of failing to properly light his yacht or maintain a safe speed.

[Last modified October 12, 2006, 01:06:15]