A month after Kenneth L. Dessaure Jr. asked a judge for the death sentence, the convicted murderer has changed his mind and now asks the court to spare his life.

At a hearing Monday, the 23-year-old said he wants to live so he can be a father for his five young children. Dessaure said he was upset at his guilty verdict when he signed a three-sentence waiver in September preventing his lawyers from arguing that he should get life in prison.

Dessaure was convicted Sept. 5 of killing his neighbor, 27-year-old nursing assistant Cindy Riedweg, after seeing her sunbathe on Feb. 9, 1999, outside her apartment in Oldsmar. She was found naked in the hallway with 53 wounds to her face, neck, chest, hands and back.

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Brandt C. Downey III scheduled another hearing for Oct. 26.

Clearwater seeks to draw baseball organization

CLEARWATER -- USA Baseball, a national organization that oversees amateur baseball, is fielding bids from Clearwater and about a dozen other cities to relocate its headquarters from Tucson, Ariz.

The organization, which was created by Congress in 1978 to represent amateur U.S. baseball and has operated in Arizona the past four years, assembles the U.S. Olympic baseball team.

With guidance from the Tampa Bay Sports commission, the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, Philadelphia Phillies and the city of Clearwater, the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Visitors Bureau will try to entice USA Baseball to move to Clearwater.

If it accepts the invitation, the organization will operate from Jack Russell Stadium, which the Philadelphia Phillies use for spring training. The Phillies will vacate the stadium in 2003 for a new $22-million complex.

USA Baseball could have access to the new digs, as well. One reason the group wants to leave Tucson is that it is expensive for teams to fly there, and local residents have not turned out to see many games, said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball's executive director.

If the baseball group located here, the Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates that about 8,000 additional rooms could be sold each year. At an average of $78 per night, that translates into about $624,000 for the local economy.

Tampa police officer shot at, but unhurt

TAMPA -- A Tampa police officer was shot at late Monday night, authorities said. The officer was not hurt.

The incident happened shortly before 11 p.m. in the 600 block of Bay Avenue, said Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin.

Part of Bay Avenue was shut to traffic while police investigated the incident.

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