Atlanta: Attorneys outline cases in H. Rap Brown trial

As a sheriff’s deputy lay dying in the street, the former black-power radical once known as H. Rap Brown stood over him and shot him three more times, a prosecutor said Tuesday in opening statements.

Brown, now a 58-year-old Muslim cleric who changed his name to Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, is on trial on charges of murdering one Fulton County deputy and wounding another. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Defense attorney Jack Martin countered that Al-Amin is a victim of mistaken identity and shoddy police work.

The trial opened in front a nearly all-black jury after being postponed once because the judge said anti-Muslim sentiment after the Sept. 11 attacks would make it difficult to seat a jury.

Kentucky: Security worker’s nap causes snafu at airport

Early morning flights out of Louisville International Airport were delayed Tuesday so a thousand passengers could be rescreened because a security employee was reported to have fallen asleep, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

“Apparently a screener was found early this morning to be sleeping at his or her post. And the result, the concourse had to be cleared and a number of passengers rescreened,” said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the FAA in Atlanta.

The employee was fired by Globe Aviation, the company that handles airport security.

Texas: Leads on escapee few

A couple of unsubstantiated sightings are all prison officials have in the search for prison escapee John William Roland, III, on the run from an Abilene prison, officials said.

“We don’t have anything, no solid leads,” said Larry Todd, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. “We can only surmise that he is laying low and hiding somewhere. He could be hundreds of miles away from the prison unit, or he could be in the Abilene area.”

Roland, who was serving a life sentence for capital murder, escaped about 5 a.m. Sunday by luring a prison guard, Sgt. Wesley Hurt, to an isolated area and hitting him with a mallet, prison documents say.

Todd said Tuesday here is no reason to believe Roland is armed, since there were no weapons in a pickup he stole from Hurt.