Digest

Dateline Florida

By Times Wires
Published September 22, 2007

Only days left on sentence when dna clears him of rape

A Fort Lauderdale man was freed from prison this week after a DNA test cleared him in a 1988 rape case. The kicker? Larry Bostic, 51, who had spent more than 19 years in prison, had only 13 days left on his sentence, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Bostic filed a handwritten motion last year asking for a DNA test, which wasn't available in 1988. The results came back Aug. 30, but that wasn't enough to clear him. Prosecutors wanted to make sure the victim had not had sex with anyone else that day. That assurance came this week.

Birdbrained hunters bag protected species

You can't shoot just anything. That's the lesson three Brevard County friends learned, as they were sentenced to 31/2years probation and given a $2,750 fine after they went crow hunting on a spoil island in the Indian River and shot several nongame birds, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported. Among the dead: three black vultures, one turkey vulture, two anhingas, two grackles, four gulls and one white ibis. Joshua Lee Moores, of Cocoa, Matthew Ryan Blake, of Cocoa, and Aaron Hagemeister, of St. Cloud, each pleaded guilty to violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Part of their sentence prohibits them from possessing firearms during their probation.

[Last modified September 22, 2007, 00:00:35]