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JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS, Associated Press
TULSA, Okla. (AP) —
A volunteer sheriff's deputy plans to vacation in the Bahamas while facing a second-degree manslaughter charge in Oklahoma, his attorneys told a judge Tuesday, drawing immediate criticism from the family of the man he killed.
Robert Bates pleaded not guilty during the hearing in Tulsa district court. The 73-year-old former insurance executive has said he confused his handgun for a stun gun when he shot Eric Harris after the suspect ran during a sting investigation involving gun sales.
Bates' lawyers told the judge that Bates, a reserve deputy with the Tulsa County sheriff's office, and his family planned to take their previously planned vacation ahead of his next court date in July.
"It's really not an issue," Corbin Brewster, one of Bates' attorneys, said in an interview after the hearing.
Harris' family criticized the trip, saying it sends a message "of apathy with respect to the shooting and Eric's life."
"At a time when we are still mourning the death of a loved one that he shot down in the street, Mr. Bates will be relaxing and enjoying his wealth and privilege," the family said in a statement released Tuesday.
Bates was charged after the sheriff's office released video of the shooting, in which Bates is overheard apologizing for shooting the suspect.
Harris' family has questioned whether Bates was qualified to conduct police work. Their attorneys allege that the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office violated several of its own policies by not keeping a permanent record of Bates' certifications and allowing him to carry his personal handgun after training on another weapon.
But Sheriff Stanley Glanz said Bates — his longtime insurance agent and former campaign manager — had been properly trained and passed annual firearms certifications required by the state.
Bates, who sold his insurance business for $6 million in 1999, was trained to be a Tulsa Police Department patrolman in 1964, but he left the department in 1965.
He was out of law enforcement for 35 years before returning for volunteer work in Florida in 2000, and the Tulsa County force in 2008. Bates also made several donations to the Tulsa County sheriff's office, and was Glanz's campaign manager during the 2012 election.
By JULIET LINDERMAN
Associated Press
The six officers suspended in the investigation of a black man who died after his arrest had experience on the force ranging from nearly two decades to three years, officials said.
The officers were identified by city officials Tuesday. They have been suspended with pay while authorities investigate the death of Freddie Gray, who was handcuffed, placed in a transport van with his legs later shackled, and driven around in the van for about 30 minutes before being rushed to the hospital in critical condition, officials said.
Gray died of a "significant spinal injury" on Sunday, a week after his arrest, Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez said Monday. Police have not said exactly how Gray was injured.
Gray, 25, was arrested on April 12 after police "made eye contact" with him and another man and the two started running, authorities said. The lawyer for Gray's family said he believes the police had no reason to stop the man in the first place.
What led to that injury - and why Gray was initially pursued by police - is still unknown.
According to court documents, Officer Garrett Miller accused Gray of carrying a switchblade, which was discovered in Gray's pocket after he was stopped.
By DENISE LAVOIE AP
The life-or-death phase in the trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev got underway Tuesday with a prosecutor showing the jury a photo of Tsarnaev giving the finger to a security camera in his jail cell three months after the attack.
"This is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev - unconcerned, unrepentant and unchanged," Nadine Pellegrini told the jurors who will decide whether the 21-year-old Tsarnaev should be executed.
"He had one more message to send," the prosecutor said.
The government then began calling to the stand what is expected to be a long line of witnesses who lost legs or loved ones in the April 15, 2013, bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260. An MIT police officer was shot to death days later as Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, tried to get away.
The first witness was Celeste Corcoran, who made her way to the stand on two artificial limbs. She told the jury that the blast hurled her into the air and left her in such excruciating pain that she wanted to die.
"I remember hearing just blood-curdling screams. I just remember looking around, just seeing blood everywhere, sort of like debris falling from the sky," Corcoran said.
Corcoran said her husband, Kevin, immediately began applying pressure to her legs, then tied tourniquets using his belt and a belt he got from another man.