Tampa Bay briefs

By Times staff reports

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 23, 2001

Worker crushed by crane dies

TAMPA -- A construction worker has died after being crushed by a crane, officials said.

The accident happened Tuesday at 6 p.m. at 5801 Commerce St.

Kenneth Douglas Oliver, 47, of 4803 Ingraham St. was working on the ground near a large crane when the crane pinned him against a concrete beam, police said.

Oliver, who worked for Standard Concrete Co., suffered internal injuries and was flown to Tampa General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

2 killed in car crash in Brandon

BRANDON -- Two people died in a two-car accident Wednesday afternoon at Bloomingdale Avenue and John Moore Road in Brandon.

Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter identified the victims as Trudy Mark, 51, and her 16-year-old son, Britten Shores, both of 3721 Orange Crest St. in Valrico.

Carter said Mark's 1998 Pontiac Firebird was struck at 4:06 p.m. by a 1998 Mitsubishi driven by Michael Hollash, 24, of 3617 W Mullen Ave. in Tampa.

Hollash had been driving east in the westbound lanes of Bloomingdale when he ran a red light at John Moore Road, authorities say. His car struck Mark's car as she was waiting to make a left turn.

Shores died at the scene. His mother died a short time later at Brandon Regional Hospital.

Hollash was not injured.

Deputies still were investigating the accident Wednesday night.

Penalty for threat: 5 months served

TAMPA -- A 33-year-old man charged in September with threatening to kill Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman was sentenced Wednesday to time served, just over five months in jail.

Curtis Christopher Fulton of 5520 Gunn Highway, Apt. 1304 called Lieberman's office in Washington, D.C., and spoke with a staff member, according to court records.

He gave the staff member his home phone number and other personal information, and he also told her he had a gun and intended to kill Lieberman, according to the Secret Service. When agents showed up at Fulton's apartment, he told them he had been expecting them.

Fulton told the agents that he didn't agree with Lieberman's criticisms of Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Fulton grew more agitated and threatened to strike the agents while continuing to rant about Lieberman, court records state.

Fulton spent five months and one week in jail before being released pending the outcome of his case.

Death sentence ordered -- again

TAMPA -- Ray Lamar Johnston on Wednesday was sentenced to death for the second time for killing a 47-year-old massage therapist.

Circuit Judge Rex Barbas imposed the death penalty on Johnston for strangling Janice Nugent and leaving her in the bathtub of her Seminole Heights home in February 1997. Earlier this year, a jury recommended the death penalty for Johnston on an 11-1 vote.

It was the second time a jury had recommended capital punishment for the crime. Another jury also recommended death, but Barbas ordered a new sentencing hearing because of a prosecutor's procedural error.

Johnston also faces the death penalty for murdering another woman, LeAnne Coryell, a 30-year-old dental assistant abducted from her Northdale apartment in August 1997.

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