Nation Digest
5.0 quake in California triggers rock slide

McKenzie Mattingly was acquitted in slaying.

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The magnitude 5.0 quake could be felt as far south as Los Angeles — 80 miles away — but it apparently caused little damage outside of the rock slide that closed at least one lane of state Highway 178 in a canyon 20 miles west of Lake Isabella.

It struck at 3:54 p.m. and was centered 17 miles northeast of Arvin. The epicenter was about 140 miles southeast of Tuesday's magnitude 6.0 quake, which was centered near Parkfield, a town of 37 people known as California's earthquake capital.

There have been more than 500 aftershocks from the earlier quake. Two of the biggest, 5.0 and 4.5, shook the region yesterday morning.

Louisville, Ky.

Ex-cop acquitted in teen's slaying

A former Louisville police detective was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and reckless homicide yesterday in the fatal shooting of a teenage drug suspect that stoked racial tensions in the city.

The former detective, McKenzie Mattingly, showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. The jurors — 10 white and two black — returned the partial verdict after more than eight hours of deliberations; the judge declared a mistrial on a separate charge of wanton endangerment after the jury was unable to reach agreement on that count.

Mattingly was charged with shooting 19-year-old Michael Newby three times in the back Jan. 3 during an undercover drug buy. The shooting sparked weeks of protests in Louisville, in part because Newby was the seventh black man killed by Louisville police since 1998. Mattingly is white.

Galveston, Texas

N.Y. heir pleads guilty in plea deal
 
New York real-estate heir Robert Durst pleaded guilty yesterday to bond jumping and evidence tampering in connection with the death and dismemberment of his elderly neighbor.

Durst was sentenced to five years and will receive credit for time served. His attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said that means Durst likely will spend about two more years in prison.

The deal was reached hours after an appeals judge removed state District Judge Susan Criss from the case amid arguments that she was biased.

Criss, who previously rejected a plea deal, presided over Durst's murder trial, where he was acquitted of intentionally killing 71-year-old Morris Black. Defense attorneys said five jurors reported Criss was openly critical of that verdict.