New York: Lawsuit to seek slavery reparations

Seeking to right a wrong that dates back centuries, advocates of reparations for slavery have extracted apologies from a number of U.S. corporations. Now they’re looking for something much more tangible money.

A lawsuit expected to be filed today against insurer Aetna, the FleetBoston financial services firm, railroad operator CSX and several other companies seeks damages, shares of corporate profits and what amounts to generations’ worth of back pay for forced labor.

Ed Fagan, a Livingston, N.J., lawyer who is among a team of attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said a total of eight companies will be targeted in suits filed today in federal courts in New York and New Jersey. He declined to name the other five companies.

New York City: Former officer indicted in police brutality case

A former police officer awaiting retrial in the torture of Abner Louima was indicted Monday on perjury charges.

According to federal prosecutors, Charles Schwarz lied at a trial in 2000 when he denied escorting Louima inside a Brooklyn stationhouse and when he denied being present when the Haitian immigrant was assaulted by Officer Justin Volpe.

Last month, a federal appeals court overturned Schwarz’s conviction and that of two other former police officers found guilty of obstruction. The court found that Schwarz’s lawyer had a conflict of interest and that the jury was tainted because it was aware of Volpe’s secret plea.

The court ordered that Schwarz be retried on civil rights charges related to the assault. He is now free on $1 million bail.

Volpe is serving 30 years.

South Carolina: Six die in pileup on foggy interstate

Six people were killed in a fiery, six-car pileup early Monday on a stretch of highway shrouded in fog and smoke from a nearby forest fire.

The chain reaction started when a sport utility vehicle hit the back of a tractor-trailer that had slowed because of poor visibility. The truck driver got out and was struck and killed by a car carrying five people.

That car was then hit by another 18-wheeler in a fiery wreck that killed all five inside.

Georgia: Two found innocent in sheriff-elect’s slaying

Two men accused of killing the sheriff-elect on orders from his predecessor were acquitted of murder and other charges Monday.

David Ramsey and Melvin Walker were charged in the ambush slaying of Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown, who was gunned down in his Decatur driveway in 2000, three days before he was to be sworn in.

The case against the two men was based almost solely on the testimony of two other alleged participants in the plot who were given immunity from prosecution. They said that outgoing Sheriff Sidney Dorsey ordered the hit.

Dorsey is facing trial on murder and racketeering charges.

Florida: Jury deliberating ‘Springer’ murder case

After a long evening of deliberations in the Ralf Panitz murder trial, jurors are expected to meet this morning to resume the task of determining whether he killed his ex-wife, Nancy, in the home they once shared.

Ralf Panitz, 42, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with Nancy Campbell-Panitz’s death. Her body was found in a Sarasota residence July 24, 2000, shortly after a judge granted her possession of the house she had shared with Ralf and just hours after the airing of “The Jerry Springer Show” episode featuring the troubled relationship between Ralf, Eleanor and Nancy.