40 still missing in deadly Canada rail crash, fire

The downtown core lays in ruins as fire fighters continue to water smoldering rubble Sunday, July 7, 2013, in Lac Megantic, Quebec, after a train derailed ignited tanker cars carrying crude oil. The runaway train derailed, causing explosions and fires that destroyed the downtown district. (AP Photo/THE CANADIAN PRESS,Ryan Remiorz)

The downtown core lays in ruins as fire fighters continue to water smoldering rubble Sunday, July 7, 2013, in Lac Megantic, Quebec, after a train derailed ignited tanker cars carrying crude oil. The runaway train derailed, causing explosions and fires that destroyed the downtown district. (AP Photo/THE CANADIAN PRESS,Ryan Remiorz)

Canadian Prime Minister Harper, right, surveys the scene Sunday, July 7, 2013, in Lac Megantic, Quebec, as firefighters continue to spray derailed tanker cars. A runaway train derailed Saturday causing explosions of railway cars carrying crude oil and destroyed part of the downtown area of Lac Megantic. (AP Photo/THE CANADIAN PRESS, Paul Chiasson)

The downtown core lays in ruins as fire fighters continue to water smoldering rubble Sunday, July 7, 2013 in Lac Megantic, Quebec after a train derailed ignited tanker cars carrying crude oil. More bodies were recovered Sunday in the devastated town of Lac Megantic, raising the death toll to at least five after a runaway train derailed, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed the downtown district. With dozens of people reported missing, authorities feared they could find more bodies once they reached the hardest-hit areas. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)

Fire fighters continue to water smoldering rubble Sunday, July 7, 2013 in Lac Megantic, Quebec. A runaway train derailed Saturday igniting tanker cars carrying crude oil. (AP Photo/THE CANADIAN PRESS,Ryan Remiorz)

Burnt buildings are seen following a train derailment causing explosions of railway cars carrying crude oil Sunday, July 7, 2013 in Lac Megantic, Quebec. Two more bodies were discovered overnight after a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed in eastern Quebec, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed a town's downtown center. The confirmed death toll is now three, and is expected to rise further. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson

LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (AP) ? About 40 people were still missing a day after a runaway train derailed in Quebec, igniting explosions and fires that destroyed a busy downtown district and killed five people. Police said a higher death toll was inevitable, and authorities feared the number might soar once they're able to reach the hardest-hit areas. Worries remained over the status of two oil-filled train cars.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper compared the area to a war zone and said about 30 buildings were incinerated. Quebec provincial police Sgt. Beno?t Richard said only a small part of the devastated area had been searched Sunday, more than a day since the accident, because firefighters were making sure all fires were out.

The train's 72 oil-filled tanker cars somehow came loose early Saturday morning, sped downhill nearly seven miles (11 kilometers) into the town, derailed and began exploding one by one. At least five exploded.

The eruptions sent residents of Lac-Megantic scrambling through the streets under the intense heat of towering fireballs and a red glow that illuminated the night sky. The district is a popular area packed with bars that often bustles on summer weekend nights. Police said the first explosion tore through the town shortly after 1 a.m. local time. Fire then spread to several homes.

Two tanker cars were burning Sunday morning, and authorities were still worried about them Sunday evening. Local Fire Chief Denis Lauzon said firefighters were staying 500 feet (150 meters) from the tankers, which were being doused with water and foam to keep them from overheating.

"This is an unbelievable disaster," said Harper, who toured the town Sunday. "This is an enormous area, 30 buildings just completely destroyed, for all intents and purposes incinerated. There isn't a family that is not affected by this."

The growing number of trains carrying crude oil in Canada and the United States had raised concerns of a major derailment.

One death was confirmed Saturday. Police confirmed two people were found dead overnight and confirmed two more deaths Sunday afternoon. The charred remains were sent to Montreal for identification.

A coroner's spokeswoman said it may not be possible to recover some of the bodies because of the intensity of the blasts.

Locals were convinced the death toll was far higher than five. Anne-Julie Huot, 27, said at least five friends and about 20 acquaintances remained unaccounted for. She said she was lucky to be working that night, otherwise she likely would have been at a popular bar that was leveled in the blast.

"I have a friend who was smoking outside the bar when it happened, and she barely got away, so we can guess what happened to the people inside," Huot said. "It's like a nightmare. It's the worst thing I can imagine."

About a third of the community of 6,000 was forced out of their homes. The town is about 155 miles (250 kilometers) east of Montreal and just west of the Maine border.

Transportation Safety Board investigator Donald Ross said the black box of the locomotive has been recovered, but officials haven't been able to access much of the site.

Edward Burkhardt, the president and CEO of Rail World Inc., the parent company of Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway, said the train had been parked uphill of Lac-Megantic because the engineer had finished his run. The tanker cars somehow came loose.

"We've had a very good safety record for these 10 years," Burkhardt said. "Well, I think we've blown it here."

Joe McGonigle, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic's vice president of marketing, said the company believes the brakes were the cause.

"Somehow those brakes were released, and that's what is going to be investigated," McGonigle said in a telephone interview Sunday. "We're pretty comfortable saying it is the brakes. The train was parked, it was tied up. The brakes were secured. Somehow it got loose."

Lauzon, the fire chief, said firefighters in a nearby community were called to a locomotive blaze on the same train a few hours before the derailment. Lauzon said he could not provide additional details about that fire since it was in another jurisdiction. McGonigle confirmed the fire department showed up after the first engineer tied up and went to a local hotel. Someone later reported a fire.

"We know that one of our employees from our engineering department showed up at the same time to assist the fire department. Exactly what they did is being investigated so the engineer wasn't the last man to touch that train, we know that, but we're not sure what happened," McGonigle said.

McGonigle said there was no reason to suspect any criminal or terror-related activity.

The train's oil was being transported from North Dakota's Bakken oil region to a refinery in New Brunswick. Because of limited pipeline capacity in the Bakken region and in Canada, oil producers are increasingly using railroads to transport much of the oil to refineries.

The Canadian Railway Association recently estimated that as many as 140,000 carloads of crude oil will be shipped on Canada's tracks this year ? up from just 500 carloads in 2009. The Quebec disaster is the fourth freight train accident in Canada under investigation involving crude oil shipments since the beginning of the year.

Harper has called railroad transit "far more environmentally challenging" while trying to persuade the Obama administration to approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast. Greenpeace Canada said Sunday that federal safety regulations haven't kept up with the enormous growth in the shipment of oil by rail.

"We think it is safe. We think we have a safe operation," McGonigle said of carrying oil by rail. "No matter what mode of transportation you are going to have incidents. That's been proven. This is an unfortunate incident."

___

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies and Charmaine Noronha contributed from Toronto.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-07-07-Canada-Oil%20Train%20Derailment/id-c5bc4dae946a486683b8c6f3dd7b7e13

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Seeking death penalty in Boston case? A long road

FILE - This file photo provided Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. If the Obama administration seeks the death penalty against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, it would face a long, difficult legal battle with uncertain prospects for success in a state that hasn?t seen an execution in nearly 70 years. Attorney General Eric Holder will have to decide several months before the start of any trial whether to seek death for Tsarnaev. It is the highest-profile death-penalty decision yet to come before Holder, who personally opposes the death penalty. (AP Photo/Federal Bureau of Investigation, File)

FILE - This file photo provided Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. If the Obama administration seeks the death penalty against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, it would face a long, difficult legal battle with uncertain prospects for success in a state that hasn?t seen an execution in nearly 70 years. Attorney General Eric Holder will have to decide several months before the start of any trial whether to seek death for Tsarnaev. It is the highest-profile death-penalty decision yet to come before Holder, who personally opposes the death penalty. (AP Photo/Federal Bureau of Investigation, File)

FILE This April 15, 2013 file photo shows medical workers aiding injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston following an explosion. If the Obama administration seeks the death penalty against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, it would face a long, difficult legal battle with uncertain prospects for success in a state that hasn?t seen an execution in nearly 70 years. Attorney General Eric Holder will have to decide several months before the start of any trial whether to seek death for Tsarnaev. It is the highest-profile death-penalty decision yet to come before Holder, who personally opposes the death penalty. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

FILE - In this June 25, 2013 file photo, Attorney General Eric Holder leaves a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington. If the Obama administration seeks the death penalty against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, it would face a long, difficult legal battle with uncertain prospects for success in a state that hasn?t seen an execution in nearly 70 years. Attorney General Eric Holder will have to decide several months before the start of any trial whether to seek death for Tsarnaev. It is the highest-profile death-penalty decision yet to come before Holder, who personally opposes the death penalty. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? If the Obama administration tries for the death penalty against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, it could face a long, difficult legal battle in a state that hasn't seen an execution in nearly 70 years.

Attorney General Eric Holder will have to decide several months before the start of a trial ? if there is one ? whether to seek death for Tsarnaev. It is the highest-profile such decision yet to come before Holder, who personally opposes the death penalty.

He'll get plenty of advice.

"If you have the death penalty and don't use it in this kind of case where someone puts bombs down in crowds of civilians, then in what kind of case do you use it?" said Aitan D. Goelman, who was part of the legal team that prosecuted Oklahoma City bombing figures Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

In the past 4 ? years, the Justice Department has sought executions in several instances. But, in an indication of how protracted the process can be, none of the administration's cases has yet put anyone on death row.

Massachusetts abolished its own death penalty in 1984, but Tsarnaev is being prosecuted in federal court. Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, only three people, including McVeigh, have been executed. Others have pending appeals.

In cases where federal juries have chosen between life and death, they have imposed twice as many life sentences as death sentences ? 144 to 73 ? according to the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project, a two-decade-old group created by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

The jury pool for a case against Tsarnaev would come from a state that has rejected repeated efforts to reinstate the death penalty.

However, a former U.S. attorney in Massachusetts, Michael J. Sullivan, says viewing the state as opposed to the penalty is not entirely correct. Voters have supported reinstating the death penalty in non-binding referenda. And when Sullivan was U.S. attorney in Boston, his team of prosecutors won a death penalty verdict. That case is on appeal.

"I'm not suggesting there's strong interest in reinstating the death penalty in Massachusetts, but I think jurors in a federal case would be very thoughtful and under the right circumstances would vote in favor of the death penalty, said Sullivan.

Before the Justice Department decides to seek the death penalty, a case moves through three tiers of review by federal prosecutors.

"There's going to be a lot of push in that U.S. attorney's office in Boston to seek the death penalty in this case," predicts former prosecutor Johnny Sutton, who chaired a panel of 17 U.S. attorneys advising the attorney general on law enforcement issues during the George W. Bush administration. Sutton was U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas from 2001 to 2009.

On June 27, Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. attorney in Boston, said, "We will do everything that we can to pursue justice." Her comments followed the handing up of a 30-count indictment against Tsarnaev that included 17 charges carrying the death penalty or life imprisonment.

In Washington, federal prosecutors in a Capital Case Unit conduct their own analysis of death penalty cases. They advise the Attorney General's Review Committee on Capital Cases, which makes recommendations to the attorney general. Defense lawyers can weigh in, too.

Prosecutors seem to have strong evidence against Tsarnaev, but even if jurors agree that he was behind the explosions that killed three and injured more than 260, execution is far from guaranteed.

After a conviction, jurors must again be unanimous in their decision to impose the death penalty. In the terrorism case against Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, one juror declined to vote in favor of the death penalty, resulting in a life sentence.

In the Tsarnaev case, the decision could come down to whether the government can prove the attacks showed substantial planning and premeditation. The indictment against Tsarnaev contains extensive detail about his actions the day of the bombings and after, but contains a relatively small amount of information about prior weeks and months.

If Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's now-dead older brother, Tamerlan, was the planner and Dzhokhar played a lesser role, Dzhokhar's legal team could use that argument to his benefit. Another factor in Dzhokhar's favor: He had no prior criminal record. Tsarnaev also could benefit from what federal law calls "other factors," ? anything in the defendant's background, record or character that weighs against a death sentence.

"The most likely way for Tsarnaev to avoid the death penalty would be cooperating with the government ? helping investigators identify other bad actors, if any, in the deal," said Sutton. "But I think even if the defense plays the defendant as young, gullible and willing to cooperate" in the investigation, "what this defendant can really offer in the way of information is probably very limited."

Two widely publicized domestic terrorism cases from the past ? the Olympic Park bomber and the Unabomber ? ended when defense attorney Judy Clarke negotiated plea agreements with the government.

Clarke now represents Tsarnaev.

"Even though the government is not supposed to use the death penalty as a bargaining tool, the reality is that a lot more cases are announced as death penalties than actually result in a trial," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group.

In the 1990s, Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph carried out four bombings in Georgia and Alabama that killed two people and injured more than 120.

With jury selection underway, Rudolph admitted to all the bombings and received life in prison. As part of his deal, Rudolph led investigators to five hidden stashes of dynamite, three of which were relatively near populated areas.

Clarke also represented Theodore Kaczynski ? the man known as the Unabomber who set off 16 bombs that killed three people and injured 23 from 1978 to 1995.

As court proceedings began, Kaczynski attempted to hang himself. He demanded to act as his own lawyer. A psychiatrist said he was a paranoid schizophrenic. His lawyers argued that jurors should be told he was mentally ill.

Kaczynski argued with his own attorneys. He didn't want to be viewed as mentally ill, he said. In the end, the government and Kaczynski's lawyers cut a deal. On Jan. 22, 1998, Kaczynski pleaded guilty to all the government's charges in exchange for life imprisonment

Associated Press

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Hamilton man burned in cooking oil accident

A man was flown by helicopter to a hospital Saturday after suffering serious burns in an accident involving hot cooking oil.

Hamilton firefighters said they were called to Grant Circle about 2:45 a.m.

Investigators said they were working to determine how the accident happened.

There was no fire inside the home.

The man's condition was not released.

Source: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/butler-county/hamilton-man-burned-in-cooking-oil-accident/-/13601510/20772276/-/14qwrws/-/index.html?absolute=true

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