Widow Found Not Guilty After 9 Yrs. In Prison

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A woman who spent nine years in prison for the shooting death of her husband before winning a new trial was acquitted of murder yesterday, ending a decade-long crusade to prove he killed himself.

Susie Mowbray gasped as the judge read the verdict.

"This is how the justice system is supposed to work," said Robert Ford, one of Mowbray's attorneys.

Prosecutors said Mowbray, 49, shot her husband, car dealer Bill Mowbray, as he slept in 1987 to get $1.8 million in insurance money. She insisted he killed himself because of depression and financial problems at his Cadillac dealership.

She was convicted in 1988 and sentenced to life in prison but won a new trial in 1996 after an appeals court ruled that prosecutors suppressed a blood expert's report contradicting the homicide theory. She was released from prison last year pending her retrial.

The blood expert, Dr. Herbert MacDonell, took the stand Wednesday and testified that the lack of blood on the sleeve of Susie Mowbray's nightgown indicates she did not kill her husband.

The defense also argued that Mowbray had attempted suicide in the past and had threatened to take his own life just days before his death.

NASA told to stop planning human lunar or Mars projects

WASHINGTON - A top administrator has ordered NASA to terminate projects aimed at sending humans to Mars or back to the moon.

In a letter dated Jan. 9, Richard Wisniewski, acting associate administrator for space flight, wrote, "I am directing the centers, effective immediately, to issue termination notices for all contractual vehicles associated with beyond-Earth-orbit activities such as human Lunar or Mars exploration."

"It means that studies will continue at a very low level, but there are no dedicated funds and therefore no commitment," said Pat Dasch, executive director of the National Space Society.

NASA spokesman Michael Braukus yesterday confirmed the termination letter's authenticity, but said it would be unfair to portray the agency as uninterested in a mission to the moon or Mars.

"There is a budget funding problem," Braukus said. "Mr. Wisniewski is making a business decision."

Some projects deemed important to the International Space Station or future space-shuttle operations could be spared, Braukus said.

Woman sues after finding stranger's body in casket

NASHVILLE - A widow who was shocked to see that her deceased husband's casket contained a stranger dressed in his naval uniform has sued the funeral home for $250,000.

"It was the right casket but the wrong body," said W.H. Stephenson, attorney for Frances Davis, whose husband, Billy, died Jan. 17.

Davis filed suit, alleging she suffered "enormous mental fear, depression, distress, pain and anguish."

Oprah editors allegedly cut comments on meat safety

AMARILLO, Texas - Oprah Winfrey's editors kept most of a food-safety activist's warnings about beef in the final version of an episode while cutting comments about the meat's safety, lawyers for cattlemen suing the talk-show host claimed yesterday.

Winfrey, her production company and food-safety activist Howard Lyman are being sued by a group of Texas cattlemen who say they lost millions when cattle prices plunged after her April 16, 1996, show on "dangerous foods."

The cattlemen are seeking to recoup alleged losses of $10.3 million as well as unspecified punitive damages.

Jurors have been shown uncut videotape and the edited version of the show.

A plaintiffs' chart showed that two-thirds of what Lyman said made it past editors, while remarks promoting the safety of beef were edited out.

Winfrey's attorney, Charles Babcock, responded with his own list of statements made by his client during the show, many of which contained cautionary words like "could" and "may."

One comment that was not part of the broadcast came from William Hueston, a mad-cow-disease expert for the Agriculture Department at the time, who said: "I was in Great Britain last week and ate beef. I'll go back next week and eat beef."

Court agrees to rule on sexual harassment case

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said yesterday it will decide whether a woman who was subjected to unwanted sexual advances by her boss but did not submit and did not then lose her job, can sue for illegal sexual harassment.

At issue are so-called quid pro quo sexual-harassment lawsuits in which a worker claims she was threatened with job loss or other retaliation if she spurned advances.

The case was brought by Kimberly Ellerth, a merchandising assistant in Burlington Industries' mattress-fabric division from March 1993 to May 1994.

She claimed she was sexually harassed by Theodore Slowik, a New York-based vice president for one of Burlington's divisions.

Ellerth said she construed the harassment as implying that she would have to engage in sexual relations with Slowik to succeed in the business. But she did not submit, did not lose her job and was, in fact, promoted.

Separately yesterday, the justices announced they would decide whether a federal law protecting disabled people from bias applies to inmates in state prisons. The case was brought by a Pennsylvania prisoner who was kept out of a motivational boot camp because of a history of hypertension.

Man with AIDS virus must get written consent before sex

ORLANDO - A man accused of having sex with a girl without telling her he has the AIDS virus has been ordered to have future sex partners sign a form stating they are aware of his health condition.

The sex-consent form is part of Jerrime Day's probation for having sex with a 16-year-old girl, who claimed she didn't know he was HIV positive.

Day, 20, entered a no-contest plea Wednesday to the misdemeanor charge.

Orange County Judge Deb Blechman said the forms are her way of making sure others aren't blindly exposed to the disease.

Under the terms of his probation, Day must get the written permission from his sex partner before having sexual intercourse and then show it to his probation officer.

The forms must be signed in front of a witness.