California

Closing arguments begin in prison rape trial

A lawyer for an inmate who says prison guards set him up to be raped asked jurors Friday to give his client the same award they would give a free man.

“He is entitled to the benefit of federal law and justice,” said Robert L. Bastian Jr., in closing arguments after four weeks of testimony in the civil case.

Inmate Eddie Webb Dillard claims guards at California State Prison, Corcoran deliberately put him in a cell with convicted murderer Wayne Robertson, who was notorious for sexual abuse and torture.

Dillard contends the rapes, over two days in March 1993, were meant to punish him for kicking a female guard at another prison. Dillard is serving time for assault with a deadly weapon.

Pittsburgh

Coroner discovers cadmium in deaths

A coroner has found elevated levels of cadmium in 10 people who have recently died in a rural Pennsylvania county, adding to the mystery about the presence of the toxic metal.

Ever since 61-year-old Russell Repine was found to have mysteriously died in March 2002 of cadmium poisoning, Coroner Thomas Streams has tested for toxic levels of the metal in all autopsies in Indiana County, in western Pennsylvania.

Streams and state police announced Friday in Indiana, about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh, that 10 other people have tested positive for elevated levels of cadmium. Of those 10, toxicology results on three cases showed extremely high levels of the metal, which is often used in batteries, paint and welding supplies.

It is unclear whether the deaths are related.

Maryland

Ex-student arrested for alleged gun threat

A former University of Maryland student was arrested Friday by federal agents in Pennsylvania for allegedly threatening a shooting spree.

Jeffrey Wilinski, 40, was arrested outside Pittsburgh after sending a letter to his former attorney earlier this month in which he discusses “blowing some brains out” at a university building.

The FBI found at least 30 guns and one box of ammunition at his home in Pittsburgh, according to agent Jeff Killeen.

“Now I want to start pulling the trigger,” Wilinski wrote to attorney John Bell, according to an affidavit. “When I think about the dead bodies sprawling all over the halls … it makes me salivate.”