ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 25, 1997 TAG: 9702250097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
ABC appeals cash award to Food Lion
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - ABC asked for a new trial Monday on a lawsuit by a supermarket chain that resulted in a $5.5 million punitive damage award against the network for a 1992 hidden-camera expose.
At issue was the jury's verdict that ABC must pay Food Lion punitive damages for lying to get videotaped evidence it used in a ``PrimeTime Live'' report accusing the chain of selling rat-gnawed cheese and expired meat.
The case was closely watched because it opened a new line of legal attack against the news media and put hidden-camera journalism on trial.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Tilley, who has the authority to reduce the damage award, could schedule a hearing on ABC's motions or could make his ruling based on the court filings, his case manager said Monday.
Neither ABC nor Food Lion officials returned phone calls seeking comment Monday.
- Associated Press
Gag order imposed in Bill Cosby case
NEW YORK - A judge imposed a gag order Monday on lawyers in the case of a woman accused of trying to extort $40 million from Bill Cosby by claiming she was his illegitimate daughter.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones agreed to the order during a brief hearing at the request of prosecutors.
Autumn Jackson, 22, who has been free on bail since her Jan.18 arrest, and co-defendant, Jose Medina, 51, both attended the routine pre-trial hearing.
Cosby has said there is a possibility he is Jackson's father. Cosby has said he gave money to Jackson for educational purposes for several years, as he has for other young people needing assistance.
Jackson pleaded innocent last week. Her boyfriend, Antonay Williams, 26, of Perry, Fla., pleaded guilty to helping in the alleged extortion plot and has agreed to testify for prosecutors.
- Associated Press
Alcoholic fog cited in slayings of blacks
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - A former paratrooper accused of hunting and killing two black people was so fogged by alcohol that it's unlikely he could form an intent to kill, an expert testified Monday.
``His brain had been soaking in alcohol for 12 or 13 hours,'' said Professor Brian McMillen, a pharmacologist at East Carolina University medical school.
James Burmeister, 21, of Thompson, Pa., would have had difficulty forming an intent to kill on Dec. 6, 1995, McMillen testified.
Burmeister is charged with first-degree murder in the slayings of Michael James, 36, and Jackie Burden, 22, who were shot while walking along a street here. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The first day of defense testimony aimed to refute prosecutors' theory that Burmeister wanted to kill black people to endear himself to racist skinhead soldiers.
McMillen testified that Burmeister drank nearly two gallons of beer the night of the killings and had a blood alcohol level of .259 percent just before the slayings happened. That level is more than three times the North Carolina legal limit of .08 percent for drunken driving.
- Associated Press
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