6 8A - Thursday, November], 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com A COSTUME PARTY ON ELM STREET 3 convicted in Madrid attacks Court hands down life sentences for train bombings perpetrators MADRID(AP) -Spain'sNation- al Court convicted the three main suspects in-the Madrid commuter train bombings of mass murder yesterday and sentenced them to tens of thousands of years in pris- on for Europe's worst Islamic ter- ror attack. But the verdict was a mixed bag for prosecutors, who saw four other key defendants convicted of lesser offenses and an accused ringleader acquitted altogether. With much of the case resting on circumstantial evidence, the three judges may have been wary after a number of high-profile Spanish terror cases were overturned on appeal. Spain's prime minister said the verdict still upheld justice. But victims of the attack, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 when bombs exploded on four trains on March 11, 2004, expressed shock and sadness over the court's decision. "The verdict seems soft to us," said Pilar Manjon, who lost her 20- year-old son in the attack and has become a leader of a victims asso- ciation. "I don't like itthatmurder- ers are going free." Three lead suspects - Jamal Zougam and Othman Gnaoui of Morocco and Emilio Suarez Trashorras of Spain - were con- victed of murder and attempted, murder and received prison sen- tences ranging from 34,000 to 43,000 years. Under Spanish law, the most they will spend in jail is 40 years. Spain has no death pen- alty or life imprisonment. Zougam was convicted of plac- ing at least one bomb on a train and Gnaoui of being a right-hand man of the plot's operational chief. Trashorras, who once worked as a miner, was found guilty of sup- plying the explosives used in the bombs. One of the biggest surprises was the acquittal of Rabei Osman, an Egyptian already convicted and jailed in Italy for the Madrid bombings. Italian authorities said Osman bragged in tapped Arabic-lan- guage phone conversations that he was the brains behind the Madrid plot. But translations of the taped conversations by two sets of Span- ish translators indicated his com- ments were more nuanced and did not amount to a confession. The Spanish verdict came just two days after an Italian appeals court upheld Osman's conviction there, but shaved two years off his prison term, sentencing him to eight years. Osman watched the Spanish proceedings on a videoconfer- ence link from the Justice Pal- ace in Milan. The Europa Press news agency reported that he broke down in tears and shouted: "I've been absolved! I've been absolved!" Four other top suspects - Youssef Belhadj, Hassan el Haski, Abdulmajid Bouchar and Rafa Zouhier - were acquitted of mur- der but convicted of other charges that included belonging to a terror- ist organization. They received sen- tences of 10 to18 years in prison. Fourteen other defendants were found guilty of lesser crimes and six others were acquitted. Much of the evidence in the 57- session, five-month trial was cir- cumstantial. Partygoers in costumes celebrate Halloween at the Elm Street Block Party last night. 6 S To avoid laws, sex offenders declare themselves homeless Trend makes it ing the world more dangerous rather than less dangerous," said difficult to track therapist Gerry Blasingame, past chairman of the California Coali- offenders tion on Sexual Offending. Similar laws in Iowa and Flor- SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ida have driven offenders under- - Hundreds of California sex ground or onto the streets. offenders who face tough new "They drop off the registry restrictions on where they can because they don't want to admit live are declaring themselves living in a prohibited zone," said homeless - truthfully or not - Corwin Ritchie,, executive direc- and that's making it difficult for tor of the association of Iowa the state to track them. prosecutors. Jessica's Law, approved by 70 The organization tried unsuc- percent of California voters a year cessfully in the past two years ago, bars registered sex offenders to persuade lawmakers to repeal from living within 2,000 feet of the state's 2,000-foot* residency a school or park where children restriction. gather. That leaves few places "Most legislators know in their where offenders can live legally. hearts that the law is no good and Some who have had trouble find- a waste of time, but they're afraid ing a place to live are avoiding re- of the politics of it," Ritchie said. arrestbyreporting-falsely,insome The problem is worsening cases - that they are homeless. in Florida as about 100 local Experts say it is hard to monitor ordinances add restrictions to sex offenders when they lie about the state's 1,000-foot rule, said their address or are living day-to- Florida Corrections Department day in cheap hotels, homeless spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. shelters or on the street. It also Sixteen homeless offenders are means they may not be getting the now living under a Miami bridge, treatment they need. while another took to sleeping on "We could potentially be mak- a bench outside a probation office. "As societyhasimposedrestric- tions, it becomes almost impossi- ble for them to find places to live," Plessinger said. Twenty-two states have dis- tance restrictions varying from 500 feet to 2,000 feet, according to California researchers. But most impose the offender-free zones only around schools, and several apply only to child molest- ers, not all sex offenders. California's law requires parol- ees to live in the county of their last legal residence. But in San Francis- co, for example, all homes are with- in2,000 feet of aschool or park. "The state is requiring parol- ees to find eligible housing in San Francisco, knowing full well there isn't any," said Mike Jimenez, president of the Cali- fornia parole officers union. "It will be impossible for parole agents to enforce Jessica's Law in certain areas, and encouraging 'transient' living arrangements just allows sex offenders to avoid it altogether." State figures show a 27 percent increase in homelessness among California's 67,000 registered sex offenders since the law took effect in November 2006. Since August, the number of offenders with no permanent address rose by 560 to 2,622. "This is a huge surge," said Deputy Attorney General Janet Neeley, whose office maintains the database. "Any law enforce- ment officer would tell you we would prefer to have offenders at addresses where we can locate them." Michigan Basketball Fan Night Crisler Arena November 2 @ 7:00pm - 8:30pm (DoarsOpen at 6:30p) *FREE AD SSION* UM4 Students Registerto Shoot&Win Booksfor Semeeteel Autographs Iflatable Games 0 IL I3 6 2 w ------T 0 0 ors e / Ce.ya;}/y+yn f. f i ig ill : k i ill L. R N C N L }+$ A. PRI '.i Pit j d