Free Republic

A Kern County man sentenced to death 25 years ago for participating in the double murder of a Mojave couple will not face the death penalty after all. The state attorney general’s office confirmed Friday it will not appeal a federal judge’s decision to throw out the 1983 death sentence of Constantino Carrera. In addition, the Kern County prosecutor who originally handled the case says too much time has passed to retry the case. None of these decisions affect Carrera’s conviction for the 1982 robbery and stabbing deaths of Jack and Carol Hayes, who managed the Imperial 400 Motel in...

The federal government has failed to prepare an adequate plan to manage and protect the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, a federal appeals court ruled today. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a federal judge's decision in 2006 that the National Park Service had not adequately addressed limits on public use of the 81 miles of the river that wind through the park. U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii blocked several construction projects after he issued his ruling, including repaving the heavily used Valley Loop Road and rebuilding some of the hotel rooms and campsites...

Ishii conscious as he's taken away by ambulance Associated Press LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Dodgers rookie left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii left the game Sunday in an ambulance with a small skull fracture and a concussion after getting struck flush on the forehead by a line drive off the bat of Houston's Brian Hunter. In the fourth inning of the Astros' 6-2 victory, Hunter drove a 3-2 pitch so hard off the left side of Ishii's head that it ricocheted all the way to the backstop behind home plate for a run-scoring double. ''I saw every part of it. As soon...