Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Nation & World Court from page 4 court conclusions. That law barred federal court relief unless a state court ruling is “contrary to, or involved an unreasonable appli cation of, clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court.” Writing for a 54 majority, Justice San dra Day O’Connor said the law re quires a hands-off approach by federal judges unless a state court clearly is wrong about some Supreme Court precedent or “unreasonably applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner’s case.” That standard is stringent, but not as restrictive as one the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals adopted when it upheld the death sentence of convicted Virginia murderer Terry Williams. Joining O’Connor in setting the new standard were Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. The court’s four more liberal justices — John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer — voted to allow greater feder al court access. But the court split 6-3, with O’Con nor and Kennedy joining their four more liberal colleagues, in overturning Williams’ Hpath spntenrp Writing for the six, Stevens said Williams is entitled to a new sentencing trial because he was denied constitu tionally adequate legal help. Williams says he would have received a life prison term, not a death sentence, if a court-ap pointed lawyer had done a minimally ad equate job. The justices said the Vuginia Supreme Court’s decision upholding Williams’ sen tence “was both contrary to and involved an unreasonable application of this court’s clearly established precedent.” But the court never explained just what makes a ruling unreasonable. “It is a common term in the legal world and, accordingly, federal judges are familiar with its meaning,” O’Connor said in her opinion. Not necessarily so, said Evan Lee, a professor at the University of California’s Hastings law school in San Francisco. “Justice O’Connor thinks judges will know it when they see it, but will they really?” he said. “The lack of guidance to lower courts is a real disappointment.” Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas voted against giving Williams any federal court relief. The mildly retarded Williams was convicted of killing Harris Stone,.who was found dead at his Danville, Va., home in late 1985. Williams confessed to fa The lack of guidance to lower courts is a real disappointment.’ Evan Lee University of California law professor tally beating Stone and stealing his wal let, which contained $3. At the sentencing trial, Williams’ lawyer never informed the jury of Williams’ low intelligence or his dread ful childhood, which included savage beatings by his father and both of his par ents being jailed for criminal neglect. In a separate decision involving a dif ferent Virginia death row inmate, the court, in a unanimous decision written by Kennedy, made it somewhat easier for state prisoners to raise issues in federal court that they did not pursue in earlier state court appeals. In the case of Michael Wayne Williams — convicted of killing Morris Keller Jr. and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, during a 1993 robbery in Cumberland County, Va. — Kennedy said the 1996 federal law lets federal courts consider issues inmates failed to raise in state court if they failed to discover certain infor mation despite diligent efforts. The ruling allows Williams a feder al court hearing on his claim of prosecu torial misconduct and juror bias. ..a. « Pediatrician says Elian suffering psychological abuse in Miami by Mildrade Cherfils The Associated Press Miami—As the wait for a court ruling in the Elian Gonzalez case dragged on Tuesday, a pediatrician advising the government said the boy is being psy chologically abused by his Miami rela tives and should be removed from their care immediately. “This child .'continues to be hor rendously exploited in this bizarre and destructive ambiance,” Dr. Irwin Redlen er wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno and Doris Meissner, the commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Ser vice. His comments were the first time someone on the government side has crit icized how the 6-year-old Cuban boy is being treated, and were quickly attacked by doctors for the Miami relatives. The government released the letter Monday. Questions about the boy’s mental health intensified as all sides waited for a federal appeals court in Atlanta to de cide whether the government should be kept from letting the boy leave the coun try. The Miami relatives have been fight ing for custody ever since Elian was found clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast. His mother and 10 others drowned in an attempt to flee Cuba. The relatives have defied government efforts to unite the boy with his father, • who flew to Washington on April 6 hop ing to gain custody. The Justice Department has indi cated it would await the court ruling before acting. But many in the crowd maintaining a night-and-day vigil at the relatives’ home for fear that federal agents would take the boy. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., uiged a crowd of nearly 200 to remain peaceful. “Violence is not an option. Whoever threatens violence is an ene my, an enemy of this child.” Later on a gusty Tuesday afternoon, the boy’s great-uncle, Lazaro Gonza lez, and others stood on the roof of the home and flew kites as Elian watched from the backyard slide. Earlier, as he walked to the front of the home, pro testers yelled, “Elian, my friend!” Redlener, an unpaid adviser to Meiss ner, selected the three mental health ex perts who met briefly with Lazaro Gon zalez and the boy’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. In his letter, Redlener cited the family’s “frantic” legal maneuverings, their allegations that Elian was abused by his father and a homemade videotape in which the boy told his father he did not want to return to Cuba. “The current environment and the production of the videotape last week re flect a profoundly disturbing and dan gerous environment for this child,” Redlener said. The Miami relatives have said Elian would suffer psychologically if re turned to Cuba. Outside their Little Havana home, doctors said Redlener could not make a valid assessment without ex amining the child. “We denounce and strongly oppose statements made by individuals who have been expressing medical or psychologi cal judgment without following the most basic rules of medical ethics and care,” said Dr. Jose Carro, president of the Cuban Pediatric Society in Exile. A child psychiatrist with no connec tion to the case said she doubted there was physical abuse, but it was clear Elian is living in a disruptive situation. “If this fight was going on with adults, the child should be completely insulat ed from it. And I can’t imagine how this child has been insulated,” said Dr. Gabrielle Carlson, a pediatrician and child psychiatrist in New York. “It’s a tragedy,” she said, agreeing with Redlener’s conclusion that the boy should be removed. Satellite images of Area 51 put on Internet by Martha Waggoner The associated Press Raleigh, N.C.—The truth is out there—on the Web. Photos of Area 51, the super-secret Air Force test site in Nevada that lias long tantalized UFO and conspiracy buffs and fens of “The X-Files,” are being posted on the Internet. “Tliis is the fust glimpse into the most secret training and testing fa cility for the Air Force,” said John Hoffman, president of Aerial Images Inc. of Raleigh. The company planned to post five images of the site, divided into four frames each, in collaboration with Microsoft, Kodak. Digital Equipment Corp., Autometric Inc. and the Russ ian agency Sovinfonnsputnik. The partners launched a Russ ian satellite from Kazakhstan in 1998 to map Earth’s surface and Area 51. An open-skies agreement signed in 1992 by 24 nations, including the United States and Russia, made the effort possible. • • Graduation 2000 • • o • A Celebration • for Students • j BEACH, j ! 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