European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes . Sunday september 11,1994 prosecutors won t seek death penalty for . Los Angeles apr . Simpson wont die in the Gas chamber or by lethal inject fun if convicted of murder land prosecutors Are silent on whether politics or pragmatism led them not to seek the death penalty. In a terse news release Friday District attorney Gil Garcetti a office said he a does not intend to make any further statement about this decision until the trial is  Black leaders who argue that the death penalty is sought disproportionately for Black defendants applauded Garcetti a decision. Women who pressed for the death penalty because of Simpsons record of Pou Sal abuse claimed he got special treatment. Some Legal observers said the decision made strategic sense. Seeking the death penalty a probably would have undermined the chances of the prosecution to obtain a conviction a said Beverly Hills civil rights lawyer Leo j. Terrell. A you have jurors there who know if they vote for first degree murder they re possibly sending this Man to the Gas chamber a he said. Simpson is charged with two counts of first degree murder in the june 12 slashing deaths of his sex wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her Friend Ronald Goldman. A. A a a Quot a ,. Multiple murder is a special circumstance under California Law that allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty by Gas or injection. In a letter to Simpsons lawyers assistant District attorney Frank Sundstedt said the decision was made after a consideration of All available aggravating and mitigating.  Garcetti a office said Public sentiment did not play a role in the decision. But defense lawyer Harland Braun said prosecutors use of focus groups to measure Public sentiment clearly. Influenced them. A it makes it look As if the death penalty is a popularity contest a said Braun a former prosecutor. A a it a like a lets see what the Lynch mob  Crew prepares for robotics laser show after shuttle liftoff Cape canaveral Fla. Apr discovery a astronauts powered up scientific experiments after blasting off on a Mission that includes a laser Snow robotic manufacturing and the first free flying astronauts in a decade. The shuttle and its six member Crew rocketed into orbit nearly two hours late Friday because of thunderstorms. A we did no to think for a while we were going to do it but you All came through for us a commander Richard Richards told Mission control. Hours into the trip astronauts Mark Lee and Carl Meade switched on one of discovery a primary experiments a a $25 million laser that will beam fluorescent Green pulses of Light to Earth and Back. A the study designed to help scientists understand atmospheric conditions began saturday with ground controllers sending up Remote commands. The research is a space Firtl. Atmospheric measurements with lasers have been conducted from air planes but never from spacecraft. The shuttle also is carrying the first . Space robot which will try to Load semiconductor crystals into furnaces. Scientists want to test the robot while demonstrating the possibilities for manufacturing computer chips in space where weightlessness allows the growth of purer crystals. The Crew in scheduled to drop off a $14 million satellite tuesday and retrieve it two Days later. The satellite has two telescopes that will focus on the suns Corona the outer part of the solar atmosphere. The space shuttle discovery lifts off Friday from Kennedy space Center in Florida after being delayed by Stormy weather. Food Stamps linked to drugs fraud Washington apr secret service investigators say they uncovered massive food stamp fraud during a summer Long sweep of merchants suspected of trading the coupons for Cash and contraband. Known As a operation stamp out a the Agency a investigation targeted merchants in several cities who buy food Stamps from recipients at half the Stamps face value and then redeem them for the full Price from the Federal government. Investigators also discovered that food stamp recipients who sell their benefits for Cash often use the. Money to buy illegal drugs frequently in open air drug markets a outside the corrupt stores or even at the grocery store checkout counter a the secret service said last week. A in several instances during this Roundup undercover agents purchased drugs directly from the merchants using food Stamps instead of Cash As their currency a the Agency said in a news release. More than 150 store owners and employees were arrested in several raids on grocers and other merchants. Some 27 million americans receive $24 billion in annual food stamp benefits. The secret service estimates that $2 billion is illegally laundered rep. Ron Wyden d-ore., who chairs a House subcommittee on regulation said Friday that the investigation underscores the need to beef up food stamp enforcement at the agriculture department. Phil Shanholtzer a spokesman for the departments food and nutrition service disputed the secret service estimate of the Cost of trafficking saying that agriculture officials do not have a reliable figure on  tour at gunpoint nets Man 30 years in jail from the associated press Houston a a Man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for abducting two women at gunpoint making them buy twinkle snack cakes and caffeine pills then forcing them on a tour of Christmas lights. David Lynn Justice 21, was sentenced thursday on aggravated assault charges in the december 1993 abduction of the women outside a Houston restaurant. He forced the two into flier car with a Shotgun. After making them buy twinkies and no doze Justice drove the women around to see residential Christmas lights. He later freed them and fled in their car. Justice told authorities that he abducted the women a because he was depressed and wanted some company a said prosecutor Debbie Mantooth. He must serve 15 years before becoming eligible for parole. Mom shot fetus police say St. Petersburg Fla. A a 19-year-old pregnant woman too poor to afford an abortion shot herself in the Abdomen police said and the baby died after being bom three months premature. Kawana Michele Ashley was charged wednesday with manslaughter and third degree murder. She was being held on $50,000 bail. Ashley was turned away from an abortion clinic because she did no to have enough Money the St. Petersburg times reported saturday. Unemployed she already had a 3-year-old child and live with her grandmother. Her baby Brittany Ashley was delivered by emergency caesarean Section in March with a Bullet through her wrist. The baby a underdeveloped kidneys began to fail and she died 15 Days later on april 11. Ashley first told police that she had been wounded in a drive by shooting near her  gets new pacemaker. Detroit a civil rights Pioneer Rosa Parks was hospitalized Friday and resting comfortably following surgery to replace her broken pacemaker. The plastic coating on a wire in the pacemaker was cracked said Harper hospitals or. Joseph Talbert. The pacemaker was replaced Friday after the defect was found during a routine checkup thursday. A her Overall condition is excellent. She a a very Spunky woman and in Good spirits a Talbert said. The problem Likely was not caused by the aug. 30 robbery in her Detroit Home he said. Police said a Man broke into her House hit her on the face and Chest and robbed her of $53. A suspect is in custody. The 81-year-old Parks launched the Modem civil rights movement. A seamstress in Montgomery ala., in 1955, she disobeyed a Law that said Blacks had to give up bus seats to  Leader stable new Orleans a Benjamin Hooks who retired last year As executive director of the a act was in stable condition Friday after being a hospitalized. Hooks ordered the Tulane medical Center not to disclose the nature of his illness spokeswoman Candace Graves said. He was admitted thursday. Hooks who lives in Memphis tenn., was in new Orleans for the annual meeting of the National Baptist convention .a. Inc. Hooks retired in april 1993 after 15 years As executive director of the National association for the advancement of coloured people. He retired in May As chairman of the leadership conference on civil rights a Post he held for 15  chases stolen Ca r Cincinnati a a woman whose car was Stoler did no to think she would Ever see it again a until she saw it next to her on the  Casebolt 24, was travelling with two friends thursday when one of them spotted her 1986 powder Blue Dodge Lancer. They followed the car off the interstate and through City streets with Casebolt shouting a a that my car that a my car a when the teen Ager driving the stolen vehicle turned into a dead end Street and onto a driveway Casebolt a car pulled behind him. The youth fled through Yards leaping Over Bushes. Police say no arrests have been made