The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 — 7
AP PHOTO/THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, SMILEY N. POOL
Stephenville police barricades block traffic outside the Donald R. Jones Justice Center in Stephenville, Texas.
Jury selected for ‘American
Sniper’ double murder trials
Autopsy finds
defective air
bag caused
man’s death
On unemployment,
Obama wins majority
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at an Economic Club of Detroit meeting in Detroit Wednesday, Feb. 4 .
Democrats compare Jeb
Bush to Mitt Romney
Ten women and
two men to serve as
jurors for the trial
STEPHENVILLE,
TEXAS
(AP) — Carl A jury was seated
Monday in the trial of a man
charged with killing the for-
mer Navy SEAL depicted in the
Oscar-nominated movie “Amer-
ican Sniper,” after extra efforts
to keep publicity about the case
and the movie from preventing
a fair trial.
Ten women and two men
will serve as jurors for the
trial of Eddie Ray Routh start-
ing Wednesday. Routh, a for-
mer Marine, is charged with
capital murder in the deaths
of 38-year-old Chris Kyle and
Kyle’s friend, 35-year-old Chad
Littlefield. Opening statements
are Wednesday.
The movie based on Kyle’s
memoir as a celebrated sniper
who served four tours in Iraq
has grossed nearly $300 mil-
lion. In response to the attention
paid to the Kyle case, officials
called in more than four times
as many potential jurors as they
would for a regular trial.
The county’s top prosecu-
tor and the judge overseeing
the case both told prospective
jurors they would only insist
that jurors who have seen the
movie or read the book set their
prior knowledge aside when
they hear evidence. The movie
ends with a depiction of Kyle
meeting Routh, followed by
footage from Kyle’s funeral.
“It’s hard not to have knowl-
edge of this case,” Erath County
District Attorney Alan Nash
said. “It’s pervasive.”
Nash asked potential jurors
Monday morning if they were
unable to set aside what they’d
already heard. No one among
about 130 potential jurors in
court raised their hand.
State District Judge Jason
Cashon estimated that no more
than two dozen potential jurors
had been dismissed from serv-
ing due to pretrial publicity.
Cashon denied defense motions
to delay the trial or move it to a
different county.
Routh’s attorneys plan to
pursue an insanity defense.
Prosecutors won’t seek the
death penalty. He faces life in
prison without parole if con-
victed.
Family members have said
Routh, 27, struggled with post-
traumatic stress disorder after
leaving the Marines in 2010.
The small arms technician
served in Iraq and was deployed
to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Kyle took Routh to the shoot-
ing range after Routh’s mother
asked if he could help her son.
Kyle made more than 300
kills as a sniper for SEAL Team
3, according to his own count
and earned two Silver Stars for
valor. After leaving the military,
Kyle volunteered with veterans
facing mental health problems,
often taking them shooting.
About two hours after Kyle,
Littlefield and Routh arrived at
Rough Creek Lodge and Resort
on Feb. 2, 2013, an employee dis-
covered the bodies of Kyle and
Littlefield at the remote range.
Authorities say Routh drove
to his sister’s house in Kyle’s
truck, telling her and her hus-
band that he had killed Kyle and
Littlefield.
His sister told police that
Routh “was out of his mind,
saying people were sucking his
soul and that he could smell the
pigs.”
Both candidates
wish to benefit the
wealthy, according
to opposition party
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt
Romney opposed the govern-
ment’s rescue of U.S. automakers.
So did Jeb Bush.
Both worked in finance and
backed the Wall Street bailout.
Both are advocates of tax cuts
that Democrats contend only ben-
efit the wealthy and big business.
While the first actual votes of
the next presidential campaign
may be a year away, Democrats
already are drawing such com-
parisons between the former
Florida governor and the GOP’s
2012 White House nominee —
and they don’t consider them flat-
tering.
Democrats
are
unwilling
to let Bush define himself as a
reformer who aims to close the
gap between the rich and poor, so
they are trying to paint him as this
campaign’s Romney. The ex-Mas-
sachusetts governor struggled
in 2012 against criticism related
to his work in private equity and
his portrayal by President Barack
Obama’s allies as a cold-hearted
plutocrat.
“We don’t need to try to show
that Jeb is like Romney. He pretty
much is Romney,” said Eddie Vale,
vice president of American Bridge
21st Century, a liberal group set
up to conduct opposition research
on Republicans. “When it comes
to any ideas or policies, he’s the
same as Romney.”
That line of criticism was
noticeable this past week after
Bush gave his first major policy
speech as a potential presiden-
tial candidate. His remarks to the
Detroit Economic Club empha-
sized an upbeat economic mes-
sage and touched on overhauling
the nation’s immigration system
and trying to improve the lives of
children underserved by public
schools.
Democrats countered by cir-
culating the transcript of a 2012
interview in which Bush cited his
opposition to the auto bailout. In
the interview, Bush said the auto
rescue, a key issue in Michigan,
was “driven by politics” and he
noted the Obama administration’s
role in shuttering car dealerships
and providing the United Auto
Workers union with an equity
stake in Chrysler.
Obama’s team successfully
used that bailout as a wedge
against Romney in Michigan
and Ohio, repeatedly referring
to a 2008 Romney op-ed with
the headline, “Let Detroit Go
Bankrupt.” Although Romney
did not write the headline and
advocated a managed bankrupt-
cy for the industry, it created the
impression that he was willing
to forgo thousands of U.S. auto
jobs.
Bush’s early approach to his
potential campaign signals a
desire to avoid such pitfalls, as
well as Romney’s most notable
gaffe — his behind-closed-door
dismissal of the “47 percent” of
Americans who, he said, don’t pay
income taxes.
Lisa Wagner, Romney’s 2012
Midwest fundraising director,
said that once voters meet Bush,
“they see his head and his heart
are connected” and they are “very,
very taken” with his “sincerity.”
During a question-and-answer
session after the Detroit speech,
Bush said losing his first bid for
Florida governor in 1994 taught
him that winning campaigns
requires building an emotional
attachment with voters.
Forensic report
shows blunt force
injury to the neck
HOUSTON (AP) — An
autopsy has found that a metal
disc from a defective air bag
sliced into a Texas man’s neck
and killed him after a low-
speed car accident last month
near Houston.
The Harris County Insti-
tute
of
Forensic
Sciences
concluded that Carlos Solis
had suffered no other serious
injuries, and his death was
accidental. The report, which
became public late last week,
listed the cause of death as
blunt-force injuries to the
neck.
Solis, 35, a father of two,
died Jan. 18 in the Houston
suburb of Spring. His 2002
Honda Accord had a driver’s
air bag made by Takata Corp.
of Japan. Those can inflate
with too much force, causing
them to blow apart a metal
inflator canister and send
shrapnel into the passenger
compartment.
Solis is among six people
killed and 64 injured by the
inflator mechanisms, which
have caused the recalls of 19
million vehicles worldwide
and touched off investigations
by the U.S. Justice Depart-
ment and safety regulators.
Takata
offered
condo-
lences to Solis’ family and
said it’s committed to work-
ing with the U.S. government
and automakers to “take all
actions needed to promote
public safety.” Honda offered
its condolences, saying it is
“currently in communication
with representatives of the
family in an effort to further
investigate the situation and
to address their concerns.”
The white metal disc was
2¾ inches in diameter and
weighed
about
13
ounces,
according to the report. It
caused a gaping cut in Solis’
neck that severed an artery
and vein. “Appearance con-
sisted of a slightly distorted
air bag inflator component,”
the report stated. The disc
lodged in the right side of
Solis’ neck near his shoulder,
according to the report.
Pictures
of
the
crash
showed it did little damage to
the left front bumper, fender
and hood of Solis’ car.
Solis bought the car in April
from an independent dealer in
the Houston area. It was part
of 2011 recall to fix a defec-
tive driver’s air bag inflator,
but neither the dealer nor
two previous owners had the
recall repairs done. Honda
has said it mailed recall noti-
fication letters to a previous
owner of the Accord starting
in 2011, but it had not yet sent
a letter to Solis. The company
urged anyone with a vehicle
recalled for air bag problems
to take the cars to dealers as
soon as possible.
Solis’
family
is
suing
Honda, Takata and the dealer
who sold Solis the car.
American views
have improved
slightly, according
to recent poll finds
WASHINGTON
(AP)
—
Americans’ views of Presi-
dent Barack Obama have
improved slightly in the past
two months, and opinions
are more positive about the
direction of the country and
the health of the economy,
an
Associated
Press-GfK
poll finds.
A
slim
majority
now
approves of the way Obama
is
handling
unemploy-
ment, according to the poll,
conducted before Friday’s
release
of
a
surprisingly
strong jobs report.
Forty-seven
percent
of
those surveyed approve of
how Obama is doing his job,
compared with 41 percent
in December, and 51 percent
approve of his handling of
unemployment,
compared
with 44 percent before.
Nearly half say the econ-
omy is good now, while 41
percent
thought
that
in
December.
In
December
2013, only one-third called
the economy good.
Approval
of
the
way
Obama is handling the econ-
omy improved slightly, 41
percent to 45 percent, over
the past two months.
Friday’s
report
showed
that U.S. employers added
257,000
jobs
in
January,
and the average hourly wage
grew by 12 cents to $24.75,
the biggest gain since Sep-
tember 2008. Hourly pay has
increased 2.2 percent in the
past year.
“We’ve come a long way
these past six years since we
suffered the worst financial
crisis since the Great Depres-
sion,” Obama said Friday in
Indianapolis. “In 2014, our
economy created more than
3.1 million jobs, and that’s
the best year of job growth
since
the
1990s,”
adding
that “America is poised for
another good year.”
Despite the increase in
jobs, the unemployment rate
rose to 5.7 percent from 5.6
percent,
largely
because
more people began look-
ing for jobs. An increase in
the number of job hunters
can indicate that people are
more confident in their abil-
ity to find work, even if the
official unemployment rate
goes up.
But people still feel that
their own recovery is lag-
ging, the poll shows, with
only 35 percent saying their
own family has completely
or mostly recovered from
economic downturn.
Just 27 percent see the
job market where they live
as being most of the way to
recovery, far less than the
number that thinks big busi-
nesses (55 percent) and the
stock market (53 percent)
have bounced all the way
back.
People also fear the pos-
sibility of another down-
turn.
Three-quarters
say
the government has not put
the right rules and regula-
tions in place to stop another
recession from occurring.
Obama has been keen to
take credit for the improving
economic landscape, arguing
that new financial regula-
tions, an early boost in gov-
ernment spending and the
bailout of the auto industry
under his watch were essen-
tial to the recovery.
Economic
concerns
remain at the top of Ameri-
cans’ minds, the AP-GfK
poll shows, with 9 in 10 call-
ing the economy a very or
extremely important issue,
significantly more than any
other issue asked about in
the poll.
The poll finds that people
are slightly more likely to
trust Democrats than Repub-
licans on handling economic
issues, 33 percent to 28 per-
cent.
Improving views of the
president also came with a
small increase in the per-
centage
that
thinks
the
country is headed in the
right direction — 39 percent
compared with 33 percent in
December.
Much of that improvement
was among Democrats, two-
thirds of whom now think
the country is headed in the
right
direction.
Improved
ratings
among
Democrats
appeared to boost Obama’s
approval rating.
Bolstered by lower unem-
ployment, greater consumer
confidence and evidence of
a rise in his approval rat-
ings, Obama has made an
aggressive start to his final
two years in office even
after
November’s
elec-
tions gave control of Con-
gress to Republicans. The
White House hopes a stron-
ger recovery gives Obama
the credibility to confront
Republicans with his own
economic pitch.
In spite of growing opti-
mism
about
politics
and
the economy, 8 in 10 people
questioned have little con-
fidence
that
Obama
and
Republicans in Congress can
work together to solve the
country’s problems.
Americans
blame
both
sides
for
the
perceived
impasse. About half thinks
Obama doesn’t compromise
enough
with
Republicans
to get things done, while 6
in 10 say Republicans don’t
compromise
enough
with
Obama. Fewer than 2 in 10
think either side compro-
mises too much.