Zimmerman juror is pitching a book
MIAMI – One of the six jurors in the George Zimmerman trial is planning to write a book.
Martin Literary Management announced Monday it is representing the woman known as Juror B37 and her husband, who is an attorney. The names of the jurors have not been released, but during jury selection, it was disclosed that B37 works in an unspecified management position and has two adult children.
In a statement, Martin Literary said the book would focus on what it is like to be sequestered and why B37 felt she had no choice but to acquit Zimmerman.
Calif. court declines to stop gay marriages
SAN FRANCISCO – The California Supreme Court refused Monday to order the state to immediately stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
However, the court still plans to consider whether the governor and attorney general correctly instructed county clerks that a voter-approved ban on gay marriages had become legally invalid statewide.
Without comment, the court denied a request made Friday by backers of the ban for an emergency order that would have required the state to keep enforcing Proposition 8 while they pursue a last-ditch legal effort to preserve it.
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for gay marriages to resume in the nation’s most populous state June 28 by dismissing the backers’ appeal of a lower court ruling that found the ban unconstitutional. The high court decided the backers lacked authority to defend Proposition 8 after the governor and attorney general refused to do so.
Zetas drug leader captured in Mexico
MEXICO CITY – Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, the notoriously brutal leader of the feared Zetas drug cartel, has been captured in the first major blow against an organized crime leader by a Mexican administration struggling to drive down persistently high levels of violence, a U.S. federal official confirmed.
Trevino Morales, known as “Z-40,” was captured by Mexican Marines in Nuevo Laredo, the Mexican media reported. The U.S. official who confirmed the media reports was not authorized to speak to reporters and asked not to be identified.
Trevino’s capture removes the leader of a corps of special forces defectors who splintered off into their own cartel and spread across Mexico, expanding from drug dealing into extortion and human trafficking. Along the way, the Zetas authored some of the worst atrocities of Mexico’s drug war, slaughtering dozens, leaving their bodies on display and gaining a reputation as perhaps the most terrifying of the country’s numerous ruthless cartels.
U.S.: Egypt’s democracy needs Brotherhood
CAIRO – The most senior U.S. official to visit Egypt since its elected president was ousted said Monday that Washington is committed to helping the Arab country succeed in its “second chance” at democracy, adding this can happen only with the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Deputy Secretary of State William Burns’ meetings with Egypt’s interim leaders came as thousands of supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi held another mass rally to demand his return to office. The protest turned violent as police fired tear gas at pro-Morsi protesters who burned tires, threw rocks and blocked traffic flow on a main roadway running through the heart of the capital.
Burns, the No. 2 American diplomat, insisted that the United States is not taking sides in deeply polarized Egypt, saying it is not Washington’s policy, “as outsiders, to support particular political personalities and particular parties.”
Associated Press
