Ohio jurors shown key video of dying man's blinks

CINCINNATI (AP) — Captivated jurors in a Cincinnati murder trial watched video Tuesday that prosecutors say shows a dying, paralyzed shooting victim who couldn't speak identifying a photo of his killer by blinking his eyes.

Over the unsuccessful and repeated objections of defense attorneys, prosecutors showed the jury a 17-minute video of shooting victim David Chandler, 35, in which he answers detectives' questions by blinking twice to say "no" and three times for "yes."

Ricardo Woods, 35, is charged with Chandler's October 2010 murder and has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say that in the video, Chandler clearly identifies Woods as his attacker, while Woods' attorneys argue that his blinks were inconsistent and unreliable. The video is considered the key piece of evidence in the trial. Jurors will have to determine whether Chandler appears alert and knew what he was doing when he said "yes" to Woods' photo.

In the video, police have to repeat some questions when Chandler fails to respond or when the number of times he blinks is unclear.

But when police show Chandler a picture of Woods and ask him if he was the man who shot him, Chandler looks at it for a couple seconds before blinking his eyes hard three times, opening them wide in between each blink. When police ask him whether he's sure that's the person who shot him, he again blinks three times.

All the jurors watched the video closely, some silently moving their lips as they appeared to count the blinks and some taking notes. One woman appeared upset by the video, which shows a clearly struggling Chandler lying in a hospital bed, his face and body connected to tubes and machines, his vital signs on display in the background.

Woods, dressed in a brown suit, sat quietly watching the video.

Cincinnati police Detective Howard Grant testified earlier in the day that he had "no concern at all" that Chandler understood what he was being asked and pointed out that he'd answered many questions by blinking before being asked to identify the shooter.

Also Tuesday, a jailhouse informant testified that Woods told him that he killed Chandler because he caught him buying drugs from someone else while still owing Woods money.

The informant, Jermaine Beard, is facing four counts of armed robbery that could carry a prison term of up to 56 years.

Defense attorneys questioned Beard's motives, pointing out that he testified in two other murder cases and getting him to acknowledge that he was trying to get a light sentence for himself by helping prosecutors.

In opening statements last week, defense attorney Wendy Calaway told jurors that Woods did not shoot Chandler, calling him "an innocent man who found himself in a perfect storm of misinformation and misidentification."

She said that Chandler had stolen drugs from dealers, was considered a police "snitch" and had many enemies.

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Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AmandaLeeAP

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Bauer: FBI Video Links Southern Poverty Law Center to FRC Shooter's Act of Domestic Terrorism

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer, citing the release this week of an FBI interrogation video, demanded that the Southern Poverty Law Center stop falsely labeling pro-family Christian ministries as "hate groups." 

Floyd Lee Corkins II plead guilty to shooting a security guard at the Family Research Council and to charges of domestic terrorism.  On a video released this week, Corkins admits to FBI agents that he targeted FRC after seeing it listed as an anti-gay hate group on the Southern Poverty Law Center's website.  

Bauer, president of American Values, served as president of Family Research Council for more than 10 years.  He called the Southern Poverty Law Center's decision to target faith-based ministries that support Biblical values "an offensive and dangerous act, now conclusively linked to domestic terrorism."

"It is ironic that a group that claims the civil rights mantle is so aggressively targeting pro-family, Christian organizations.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a minister," Bauer observed.  "Dr. King argued for equality in society based on the biblical understanding of the value of all life."

Bauer continued, "A domestic terrorist shot a security guard during his attempt to kill men and women at the Family Research Council because of the Southern Poverty Law Center's offensive and defamatory mischaracterization of its work.  That is evidence of the dangerous level of hate created by the left's growing intolerance for traditional values.  The SPLC's credibility should also be on trial as its virtual 'hit list' has led to precisely the kind of intolerance and violence it is supposed to be against."

The FBI video can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgjI3wavx-I&feature=player_embedded

SOURCE American Values

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Sarah Palin Video Spotlights Ted Cruz and a Mama Grizzly

sarah palin

If anyone was wondering if Sarah Palin is going to weigh in on the 2014 midterm elections, that question was answered today with a resounding yes.

In a video released Wednesday by Sarah Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC, she revved up conservatives and tea party Republicans for 2014 with snippets of her Conservative Political Action Conference speech from earlier this month as well as media coverage praising the speech and her string of successful past endorsements.

Titled "Loaded for Bear," the video begins with the praise from the mainstream media she is always quick to criticize as the "lamestream media."

"Sarah Palin stole the show at this weekend's CPAC convention," the video begins. "She is a superstar and she's used that to get people elected."

"She still knows how to fire up the conservative faithful," another television anchor says.

The video's string of media praising her tenacity and endorsement record is a key part of the video and despite some of the coverage being a bit dated, it still helps push her view that she doesn't need a Fox News contract to get her point of view out there or to have the press talking about her.

RELATED: Sarah Palin Compares Obama to Bernie Madoff, Sips From a Big Gulp

The other star of the video is new conservative superstar Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who introduced Palin at CPAC.

"She is fearless, she is principled, she can pick winners," Cruz says in a clip from that introduction. "Sarah Palin jumped in early and supported Rand Paul. She supported Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, Pat Toomey, Nikki Haley, Deb Fischer, Jeff Flake and myself."

Over images of Palin at the Iowa State Fair in 2011-when speculation ran high she would enter the GOP primary-as well as footage from tea party rallies in Nevada, Palin's CPAC speech is interspersed.

"Don't let the big consultants, the big money men and the big bad media scare you off," Palin says. "They talk about re-branding the GOP instead of restoring the trust of the American people. How about re-building the middle class?"

RELATED: What's Next for Sarah Palin

The video then excerpts the part of the former Alaska governor's speech when she goes after Washington, D.C., establishment Republicans and gives a not-so-veiled dig at Karl Rove and others:

"Now is the time to furlough the consultants and tune out the pollsters. Send the focus groups home and toss the political scripts. Don't let them invalidate you," Palin says. "It's time for We the People to break up the cronyism, and that goes for finding candidates. Look into our communities, our PTAs, our service clubs, small businesses, tea party rallies and city halls for people willing to lead."

The video - made by a production company she often uses named Passcode Creative - doesn't just go after members of her own party, but the president as well.

As we hear Palin say, "We deserve better than the people who call themselves our leaders," we see an image of the president playing golf and headlines about the unemployment rate.

Interspersed with video of Palin's greeting supporters and conservative women like New Mexico's Susanna Martinez or Nebraska's Deb Fischer, she warns those watching:

"But we won't get it unless we fight and this is one fight that's worth it," Palin says. "The next election is 20 months away. The last thing we need is Washington, D.C., vetting our candidates."

The video ends with another cameo from Cruz, "I would not be in the U.S. Senate today if it were not for Governor Sarah Palin," and her signature mama grizzly roaring with a popular Palin saying, "We haven't yet begun to fight!"

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UN troops seized by Syrian rebels appear in video

BEIRUT (AP) — Several U.N. peacekeepers from the Philippines who were detained by Syrian rebels appear in videos posted online and say that they are safe and fine.

Rebels abducted 21 U.N. peacekeepers near the village of Jamlah in the Golan Heights on Wednesday.

In one of the videos posted online Thursday, three men are dressed in camouflage and blue bullet-proof vests emblazoned with the U.N. and "Philippines."

One of the men says in English says they "are safe and the Free Syrian Army are treating us good."

The other video shows six peacekeepers sitting in a room, and one of them says they are safe.

The abduction marked the first time since U.N. troops began patrolling an Israeli-Syrian armistice line nearly 40 years ago that U.N. forces have encountered trouble.

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"Dishonoured" crowned best video game at UK ceremony

LONDON (Reuters) - Stealth action game "Dishonoured", featuring a masked bodyguard-turned-assassin, was named best video game of the year at an award ceremony on Tuesday.

An exotic adventure, "Journey", beat big budget rivals to take home five awards at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Game Awards.

"Dishonoured", developed by France's Arkane Studios that is owned by privately-owned U.S. company ZeniMax Media, beat the widely expected favourite, "Journey", for the top prize.

Also nominated for that award were "Far Cry 3" from Ubisoft, EA's "FIFA 13", "Mass Effect 3" from Bioware, and "The Walking Dead" from TellTale Games.

But "Journey", by independent U.S. developer Thatgamecompany in which players travel from a sprawling desert to find secrets of a forgotten civilisation, went home with most prizes, winning five awards after being nominated in eight of 17 categories.

"Journey", the third game from Thatgamecompany following "Flow" and "Flower", won awards for Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Game Design, Online Multiplayer and Original Music.

The BAFTA prizes, started in 2003, are among the few awards for achievements in the gaming industry that is estimated to have trebled in size in the past decade with consultancy DFC Intelligence valuing the industry at $78.5 billion (51.8 billion pounds).

The host for the fifth consecutive year, Irish comedian and gamer Dara O'Briain, said the 53 games nominated this year included blockbuster titles but also games with more imaginative thinking from independent developers.

"This year's list shows a movement towards what animation can do and the imagination of that - it's a very interesting list," O'Briain said ahead of the ceremony.

Two awards were won by both survival horror game "The Walking Dead" and "The Unfinished Swan", a game developed by Giant Sparrow and published by Sony.

The inaugural award for a British Game went to "The Room", a puzzle adventure from developers Fireproof Games, which the jury described as "an engaging, enigmatic, beautiful, slow burn".

Daniel Krupa, games writer at video game website IGN, said the nominations for the BAFTA Game Awards highlighted the greater range of games that had emerged in recent years due to apps on smartphones and new distribution methods for games.

Following is a list of the main winners of the British Academy Games Awards in 2013:

BEST GAME:

- "Dishonoured"

DEBUT GAME:

- "The Unfinished Swan"

BRITISH GAME:

- "The Room"

GAME DESIGN:

- "Journey"

PERFORMER:

- Danny Wallace (The Narrator) - "Thomas Was Alone"

STORY:

- "The Walking Dead"

FAMILY:

- "LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes"

ACTION:

- "Far Cry 3"

SPORTS/FITNESS:

- "New Star Soccer"

GAME INNOVATION:

- "The Unfinished Swan"

ORIGINAL MUSIC:

- "Journey"

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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