The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, October 29, 2012 - 3A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, October 29, 2012 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT Dozens attend Detroit vigil amid crime worries Dozens of people concerned about possible recent attacks on women turned out for a candle- light vigil at a southwest Detroit park despite assurances from police that their worries are unfounded. The Detroit News reports the vigil took place Thursday night at Patton Park. Area resident Becky Dorie says they're "hoping to get our streets back." She says she's joined in almost nightly patrols of the area with a community group. Southwest District police Commander John Serta says he's been "trying to put down" recent rumors of multiple attacks on women. IOWA CITY 1977 killing: Were suspects framed? Two black men wrongly con- victed in the 1977 murder of a white Iowa police officer hope to prove something they couldn't during trials that sent them to prison for 25 years: that detectives framed them to solve a high-pro- file case. During a civil trial that starts Wednesday in Des Moines, Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee will argue that Council Bluffs police officers coerced witness- es into fabricating testimony against them in the killing of John Schweer. Schweer was found dead while working as the night watchman at a car dealership. Harrington and McGhee, then teenagers from neighboring Omaha, Neb., say detectives used threats against a group of young black car theft sus- pects to trump up evidence target- ing them because of their race and pressure to solve the retired cap-_ tain's killing. RAMALLAH, West Bank Palestinians look for UN recognition next month The Palestinian president is moving forward with his plan to seek upgraded observer status at the United Nations next month, despite American and Israeli threats of financial or diplomatic retaliation, officials said Sunday. The decision sets the stage for a new showdown between Israel and the Palestinians at the world body, followinglast year's attempt by the Palestinians to seek status as a full member state. Although that initiative failed to pass the U.N. Security Council, it caused months of diplomatic tensions with Israel. "We will go to the U.N. regard- less of any threats," said Taw- fik Tirawi, a senior member of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. "I expect the Israelis to take punitive measures against us, if we win this status, but this is our choice and we will not retract it." BAGHDAD Iraq searches plane bound for Syria Iraqi authorities forced an Iranian cargo plane heading to Syria to land for inspection in Baghdad to ensure it was not car- rying weapons, an Iraqi official said Sunday. It was the second such forced landing this month. The plane was released after the check. The move appeared aimed at easing U.S. concerns that Iraq has become a route for shipments of Iranian military supplies that might could Syrian President Bashar Assad battle rebels in his country's civil war. The head of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority, Nassir Ban- dar, said the inspection took place Saturday. The inspectors allowed the plane to continue its flight after they determined there were no weapons onboard, he said. -Compiled from Daily wire reports Quake strikes Canada's coast Sergio Romo kisses Marco Scutaro as they are sprayed with champagne in the locker room as San Francisco Giants cel- ebrate after the Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers, 4-3, in Game 4 of baseball's World Series Sunday. Tigers lose World Series in sweep Evacuations but no major damage in B.C. VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of Canada, but there were no reports of major dam- age. Residents in parts of British Columbia were evacuated, but the province appeared to escape the biggest quake in Canada since 1949 largely unscathed. The U.S. Geological Survey said the powerful temblor hit the Queen Charlotte Islands just after 8 p.m. local time Saturday at a depth of about 3 miles (5 kilometers) and was centered 96 miles (155 kilometers) south of Masset, British Columbia. It was felt across a wide area in Brit- ish Columbia, both on its Pacific islands and on the mainland. "It looks like the damage and the risk are at a very low level," said Shirley Bond, British Columbia's minister responsible for emergency management said. "We're certainly grateful." The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its tsunami advi- sory for Hawaii Sunday morn- ing just before 4 a.m. local time, three hours after downgrading from a warning and less than six hours after the waves first hit the islands. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service canceled tsu- nami advisories for Canada, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California. Tsunami Warning Center officials said wave heights were diminishing in Hawaii, though swimmers and boaters should be careful of strong or unusual currents. The biggest waves - about 5 feet (1.5 meters)high - appeared to hit Maui. There were no immediate reports of damage, though one person died in a fatal crash near a road that was closed because of the threat near Oahu's north shore. Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrom- bie said the state was lucky to avoid more severe surges. "We're very, very gratefulthat we can go home tonight count- ing our blessings," Abercrombie said. Dennis Sinnott of the Cana- dian Institute of Ocean Science said a 69-centimeter (27 inch) wave was recorded off Langara Island on the northeast tip of Haida Gwaii, formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands. The islands are home to about 5,000 people, many of them members of the Haida aboriginal group. Another 55 centimeter (21 inch) wave hit Winter Harbour on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island. Canada's largest earthquake since 1700 was an 8.1 magni- tude quake on August 22, 1949 off the coast of British Colum- bia, according to the Canadian government's Natural Resourc- es website. It occurred on the Queen Charlotte Fault in what the department called Canada's equivalent of the San Andreas Fault - the boundary between the Pacific and North Ameri- can plates that runs underwater along the west coast of the Haida Gwaii. In 1970 a 7.4 magnitude quake struck south of the Haida Gwaii. The USGS said the temblor shook the waters around British Columbia and was followed by a 5.8 magnitude aftershock after Giants beat Tigers, 4-3, in 10 innings to win championship DETROIT (AP) - Smart pitching. Clutch hitting. Sharp fielding. Plus an MVP Panda. All the right elements for a sweet World Series sweep for the San Francisco Giants. Nearly knocked out in the playoffstime andtime again, and finally pressed by the Detroit Tigers in Game 4, Pablo Sando- val and the Giants clinched their second title in three seasons Sunday night. Marco Scutaro - who else? - delivered one more key hit this October, a go-ahead single with two outs in the 10th inning that lifted the Giants to a 4-3 win. "Detroit probably didn't know what it was in for," Giants gen- eral manager Brian Sabean said. "Our guys had a date with des- tiny." On a night of biting cold, stiff breezes andsomerain,theGiants combined the most important elements of championship base- ball. After three straight wins that looked relatively easy, they sealed this victory when Sergio Romo got Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to look at strike three for the final out. "Tonight was a battle," Giants star Buster Posey said. "And I think tonight was a fitting way for us to end it because those guys played hard. They didn't stop, and it's an unbelievable feeling." Posey, the only player who was in the starting lineup when San Francisco beat Texas in the 2010 clincher, and the underdog Giants celebrated in the center of the diamond at Comerica Park. They built toward this party all month, winning six elimina- tion games this postseason. In the clubhouse, they hoisted the trophy, passed it around and shouted the name of each player who held it. "World Series champions," Giants outfielder Hunter Pence hollered. Benched during the 2010 Series, Sandoval, nicknamed Kung Fu Panda, went 8 for 16, including a three-homer perfor- mance in Game 1. "You learn," Sandoval said. "You learn from everything that happened in your career.... We're working hard to enjoy this moment right now." Cabrera delivered the first big hit for Detroit, interrupting San Francisco's run of dominant pitching with a two-run homer that blew over the right-field wall in the third. Posey put the Giants ahead 3-2 with a two-run homer in the sixth and Delmon Young hit a tying home run in the bottom half. It then became a matchup of bullpens, and the Giants pre- vailed. Ryan Theriot led off the 10th with a single against Phil Coke, moved up on Brandon Craw- ford's sacrifice and scored on a shallow single by Scutaro, the MVP of the NL championship series. Center fielder Austin Jackson made a throw home, to no avail. "That's what makes it so much special, the way we did it," Scutaro said. "We're always against the wall and my team, it just came through first series, second series and now we sweep the Tigers." Romo struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th for his third save of the Series. The Giants finished the month with seven straight wins and their seventh Series champion- ship. They handed the Tigers their seventh straight World Series loss dating to 2006. "Obviously, there was no doubt about it. They swept us," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "So there was certainly no bad breaks, no fluke. "Simple, they did better than we did," he said. "It was freaky. I would have never guessed we would have swept the Yankees and I would have never guessed the Giants would have swept us." The Giants combined for a 1.42 ERA, outscored the Tigers 16-6 and held them to a .159 bat- ting average. "I think we never found our confidence at home plate," Cabrera said. "It was not the same game we played. We could not find our game in the World Series." Execution looms for S.D. killer, ending 22-year saga Nanny not herself beoekilling kid Ortega allegedly a life in distress has begun to emerge in the days since the kill- stabbed two ing. "Apparently over the last children to death month she was not herself," said police department spokesman NEW YORK (AP) - Friends Paul Browne. and relatives of Yoselyn Ortega, But relatives in Ortega's native the NewYork Citynanny accused Dominican Republic said they of stabbing two young children were shocked by the allegations. to death, said she appeared to Miladys Ortega, the nanny's be struggling emotionally and older sister in the Caribbean financially recently. Few, though, nation, told The Associated Press could offer any explanation for on Saturday thatcher sister "loved what might have caused her to those children." She said the attack the children. family felt the nanny was "unable "She snapped," the nanny's to do that." sister, CeliaOrtega, told The New "Yoselyn is fair, loving, loving York Post. "We don't understand with those children. She loved what happened to her mind." them," Ortega said at the family Yoselyn Ortega, 50, remained home in Santiago de los Cabal- hospitalized Saturday from self- leros, about 150 miles north of inflicted stab wounds, including the capital, Santo Domingo. She a deep gash to her throat. spoke as she prepared to attend Police said Marina Krim, Mass after visiting the grave of the Manhattan mother who their mother. employed Ortega, returned to She said the Krims had visited her Upper West Side apartment the Dominican Republic last Feb- Thursday to find two of her chil- ruary with Yoselyn and stayed at dren, ages 2 and 6, dead of knife her home in a middle-class dis- wounds and the nanny stabbing trict of Santiago. herself with the blade. "Those children were here," Yoselyn Ortega's motive Miladys Ortega said tearfully. remains a mystery, even to those "They were happy, running, who knew her, but a picture of playing." Defendent spent years appealing Court decisions SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Torrential overnight rains had washed away the blood so the searchers at first thought the pale form lying on the earthen berm might be a mannequin. "I almost didn't believe it," recalled former Lincoln Coun- ty Sheriff Ken Albers, the first officer to approach the body of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell. "You don't mess up a crime scene, but I had to walk over and touch the body to convince myself that it was real." The shocking discovery that night in 1990 began a 22-year legal and emotional saga that is expected to end Tuesday, when Donald Moeller, who was con- victed of abducting and murder- ing the girl, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection in the state penitentiary. After decades of appeals, Moeller, 60, now accepts his fate without protest. But the end leaves behind a community still marked by the crime and its experience with capital punish- ment. Moeller's death sentence in 1992 was the first handed down in South Dakota in 45 years. Until this month, when the killer of a prison guard was executed, there had been only one other execution in the state since the 1940s. The child's mother, Tina Curl, plans to drive the 1,400 miles back to Sioux Falls from her native New York state to watch Moeller take his last breath. She didn't have the money for the trip but did fundraising events to pay her way. "I'm looking forward to it," said Curl, who said she fell into alcoholism after her daughter's death. "All this is just bringing what I tried to push way in the back, back up front." Some residents said the mur- der changed how they felt about their city, where violent crime is rare. "It's just like society as a whole just kind of tightened up for a long time," said Jeff Mas- ten, the former Lincoln County state's attorney who prosecuted the case, and who later changed careers because of the strain of criminal law. LaVonne Martley, a juror, said she knew the execution would bring the case back into the public spotlight - "and I've dreaded it." But she has never questioned the outcome. "He definitely did it," she said. Curl thought she was escap- ing the dangers of big-city life when she moved her family in 1990 from New York to Sioux Falls, a well-kept, medium-size city along the Big Sioux River that serves as a market center for the sprawling expanse of farmland where South Dako- ta, Iowa and Minnesota come together. Homicides happen, but not many - about a half dozen a year, most involving people who know each other, and where there is no mystery to solve. On May 8, 1990, Becky, a fourth-grader who lived with her mother and stepfather in a Sioux Falls mobile home, began walking a couple of blocks to Omer's Market to buy sugar to make lemonade. She never returned. Authorities say Moeller, a felon with a history of assaults who lived nearby, lured the brown-haired girl into his truck and drove her to a wooded area near the Iowa state line, where he raped her, stabbed her and left her to bleed to death. Moeller was interviewed shortly after the killing but disappeared before investiga- tors could follow up. Detec- tives later tracked him down in Tacoma, Wash., and brought him back for trial. He was con- victed in September 1992 based on DNA and circumstantial evi- dence. The trial, with detailed and graphic displays on how the child was killed, devastated the community, but the ordeal wasn't over: The verdict was overturned by the South Dakota Supreme Court because of the mention of past crimes during testimony. With a new trial ordered in 1996, the horror of the grue- some killing was relived, and lingered for years longer.