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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 27 March 2018

Judge rules against Pulse nightclub shooter's widow

By TAMARA LUSH Noor Salman," the judge
JASON DEAREN said.
Associated Press Salman, now 31 and the
The revelation that the mother of a small child, is
Pulse nightclub shooter's being tried in federal court
father was an FBI informant in Orlando.
for 11 years before the at- Her defense is scheduled
tack has little bearing on to wrap up this week and
the trial of the gunman's lawyers will give closing ar-
widow, a judge ruled Mon- guments.
day. In court on Monday, an FBI
U.S. District Judge Paul By- agent testified that they
ron rejected a defense mo- considered trying to de-
tion for a mistrial of Noor velop Omar Mateen as an
Salman, who is accused of informant, like his father, af-
helping her husband plan ter investigating him in 2013
his June 2016 mass shoot- and finding he didn't have
ing at the gay nightclub in ties to terrorism.
Orlando, where he killed 49 Salman's lawyers say the
people. government's belated dis-
Lawyers for Salman said closure about Mateen's
that because prosecutors father and his ties to the
didn't disclose that Ma- FBI has prevented them A Homeland Security K-9 officer, left, approaches Bob Kunst, of Miami Beach, Fla., who came to
teen's father, Seddique from exploring the possibili- make a statement outside federal court, in Orlando, Fla., where the widow of the man who shot
Mateen, was an FBI infor- ties that Seddique Mateen 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando is going on trial, Wednesday, March 14, 2018. Noor
mant until halfway through was more directly involved, Salman is charged with aiding and abetting her husband Omar Mateen in planning the 2016 at-
tack on the Pulse nightclub. She's faces life in prison if convicted. She has pleaded not guilty.
the trial, her Fifth Amend- and that Salman may have (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
ment right to due process been framed to hide the
and Sixth Amendment right government's mistakes. wood where the search for ieri's The Divine Comedy. of the FBI's involvement
to a fair trial were denied. The government's "vio- truth has been thwarted," Her lawyers' motion said with Seddique Mateen's
The judge disagreed. lations in this case have they wrote, paraphrasing U.S. Attorney Sara Sweeney activities leading up to the
"This trial is not about Sed- placed Ms. Salman, the and citing 15th Century sent them an email Satur- Pulse attack.
dique Mateen. It's about jury, and this Court in a dark Italian poet Dante Aligh- day revealing some details q

Grandmother of slain Sacramento man calls for police changes

By DON THOMPSON backyard March 18. min Crump. He called it an all but about 1,500 fans they are unlikely to face
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — "They didn't have to kill him "execution" of a man who from entering. criminal charges.
The grandmother of an un- like that, they didn't have to "chose nonviolence" and Police said they were pur- Leaders of the NAACP want
armed black man killed by shoot him that many times," was found with only a cell- suing a suspect who had the Sacramento police
Sacramento police called she said through sobs, re- phone and not the hand- broken at least three car department to change its
Monday for changes in the counting the night of his gun police thought he was windows and a neighbor's foot pursuit policy to allow
way police confront sus- slaying. She believes Clark aiming in their direction. sliding glass door. They say for options like waiting for
pects, such as sending in a was in the backyard trying Members of the Sacra- the suspect fled from two backup, sending in a po-
police dog, using a Taser, to get into the house he mento Kings and Boston responding officers and ig- lice dog, backing off and
or aiming for an arm or leg shared with his grandpar- Celtics NBA teams took up nored commands to stop maintaining surveillance or
when shots are fired. ents and other family mem- his cause Sunday, wear- and show his hands. Video using less-than-lethal force
Sequita Thompson said at bers when he was shot. ing Clark's name on black and audio recordings re- like Tasers during confron-
an emotional news con- He's the latest prominent warm-up T-shirts three days leased by the department tations. Crump said the
ference that police didn't face of young black men after protesters formed a last week show the officers family planned Monday to
need to shoot at 22-year- killed by police nationwide, human chain blocking en- appear to genuinely be- view Clark’s body in prepa-
old Stephon Clark 20 times, said the family's renowned trances to the Kings' Gold- lieve Clark had a gun, and ration for an independent
killing him in her darkened civil rights attorney, Benja- en1 Center and prevented independent experts said autopsy.q