Executive News Svc. 1 Introduction to the Executive News Service 2 Review Current News 3 R

Executive News Svc.

 1 Introduction to the
    Executive News Service

 2 Review Current News
 3 Review Late Breaking News

 4 Create/Change/Delete a Folder

 5 Review folder KFOLDER  (7 stories)

!5

Executive News Svc.

   7 stories selected

 1 Scan by story titles
 2 Scan by story leads
 3 Read all stories

!1

Executive News Svc.

   List of 7 selected stories

 1 APnv 09/10 1010  Drescher-Bordenkircher
 2 APca 09/10 1010  Drescher-Bordenkircher
 3 APmi 09/10 0859  Drescher-Bordenkircher
 4 APwv 09/10 0053  Drescher-Bordenkircher
 5 APpa 09/09 0635  Krishna Assault
 6 APnj 09/09 0319  Krishna Assault
 7 APnj 09/08 1915  Krishna Assault

!1, 5
Executive News Svc.

APnv 09/10 1010  Drescher-Bordenkircher
   MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) -- A Hare Krishna swami, convicted of one murder and
facing another murder charge in California, is "an absolute liar" for claiming
in a $50 million lawsuit that he was mistreated in jail, a sheriff says.
   Marshall County Sheriff Donald Bordenkircher on Wednesday called the suit
filed by Thomas Drescher "horse apples."
   Drescher has said he was mistreated at the Moundsville jail from May 1986
until January 1987, prior to his transfer to the penitentiary.
   Drescher, 38, of Buffalo, N.Y., is serving a life term without parole after
being found guilty of murdering another Krishna devotee, Charles Saint Denis,
in 1983.
   The West Virginia Supreme Court granted Drescher a 60-day stay of his
extradition to stand trial on an unrelated murder charge in California last
week. He is accused of gunning down Steve Bryant, a dissident Krishna follower,
in Los Angeles last year.
   The sheriff said authorities took away Drescher's religious beads during his
stay at the jail because an informant said they may have contained drugs.
   No contraband was found and the beads were returned, Bordenkircher said in
his reply, which was mailed last week but has yet to be filed with the U.S.
District Court in Clarksburg.
   Bordenkircher said jail officials once took Drescher's lawyer to New
Vrindaban, the Krishna settlement near Moundsville, to get more beads.
   "Those beads are imported from India," Drescher said. "If they contained
foreign substances, I'm sure the Federal Drug Administration would have caught
them long ago."
   The sheriff added that Drescher was stripped to his underwear and kept in a
cell with only a mattress for his last 10 days at the jail because police
thought he would try to commit suicide.
   Bordenkircher's written response said an inmate had told authorities that
Drescher had vowed never to serve one day of hs prison sentence.
   "We're dealing with some very devious personalities here," Drescher said
during a telephone interview Wednesday. "They're saying the Krishnas are the
ones who are no good.
   "Well, we'll let a judge and jury decide that."
   Marshall County Prosecutor Thomas White, who is representing Bordenkircher
in the lawsuit, said no hearing date has been scheduled in the case.
   

Executive News Svc.

APpa 09/09 0635  Krishna Assault
   TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- An aggravated assault conviction against a man who
punched a Hare Krishna follower was upheld by an appeals court.
   A two-judge panel in the Appellate Division of Superior Court on Tuesday
rejected the defendant's claim that the prosecutor failed to prove he had the
state of mind necessary to be guilty of aggravated assault.
   The defendant, identified as Ronald R. Smith, punched the victim on a street
somewhere in Somerset County.
   The court, citing trial testimony, said Smith "suddenly" threw a punch after
the victim, who was soliciting contributions, received a donation from Smith's
companion but did not give out a bumper sticker to Smith.
   "On the basis of the evidence, the jury could reasonably conclude that
defendant punched the victim with extraordinary force, that he purposely
`blind-sided' him ... and that the blow was delivered recklessly with extreme
indifference to the value of human life," the court said.
   The victim had an "enormous swelling" on the right side of his cheek and a
laceration on the back of his head, and faced a "substantial risk" of death,
the court said.
   If he had not been told the victim was punched in the face, the neurosurgeon
who treated the victim would have attributed the injuries to a "baseball bat or
a tire iron, something carrying great energy," the court said.
   Smith was sentenced to an indeterminate custodial term not to exceed seven
years.
   The defendant's home town and the date and exact location of the assault
were not given in the opinion. Neither the prosecutor who handled the case nor
the attorney for the defendant could be reached for comment.
   

!