Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 40

Florida News 5b TIMES SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2001 Killer, closer to goal: her own I Aileen Wuornos, who has said for months that she wants to die, convinces a judge that she's competent But the case isn't over. Associated Press that her behavior raises questions about her mental health. Lawyers from the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel, the state agency that handles death sentence appeals, said they won't be able to represent Wuor- nos if the Florida Supreme Court rules -in her favor. Letha Prater, whose 50-year-old brother, Troy Burress, was killed by Wuornos in 1989, said she is glad the decision would end the appeals. "I don't hate her.

I hate what she did," Prater said. "Hatred is lost on her." Wuornos had the opportunity to end her appeals at a hearing in February, when a judge ruled that she was compe- tent to make decisions about her case. She chose to continue her appeals, later saying her lawyers misled her about her ability to drop them. She wrote to the Florida Supreme Court asking for an end to her appeals, and the court ordered Friday's hearing. hate crawling through my system." Circuit Judge Michael Hutcheson said he will recommend to the Florida Supreme Court that Wuornos is competent to make such a decision.

That could put her on the "fast track" to be executed, he told Wuornos. "I'm not scared by it," Wuornos said. "I know what the heck I'm doing." Wuornos, 45, was sentenced to death six times for killing middle-aged men in Dixie, Citrus, Marion and Volusia counties when she worked as a prostitute along the highways of Central Florida in 1989 and 1990. She has been on death row for nearly a decade. Wuornos, the subject of a television movie, Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story, and an opera that recently opened in San Francisco, testified during her 1992 trial that she killed men who assaulted her and made her fear for her life.

But Friday, she said she lied during her testimony in an attempt to beat the system. "I killed those men in the first degree, robbed and killed them." She apologized to her victims' families and said there is no point in spending more taxpayer money on her defense. "There's no sense in keeping me alive," she said. "This world doesn't mean anything to me." She lambasted her attorneys with the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel. She said that in an effort to spare her life, they told lies, saying she was raped by her father and that her mother was an alcoholic.

Former childhood acquaintances testified at a hearing in February that she had been sexually abused. Wuornos praised the police officers who arrested her and the prosecutors who tried her. One of her attorneys, Richard Kiley, said Wuornos doesn't understand the ramifications of what she is doing and "Si. DAYTONA BEACH Sobbing that "there's no sense in keeping me alive," serial killer Aileen Wuornos won a court victory Friday in her bid to fire her attorneys and hasten her execution. "I am a serial killer.

I would kill again," Wuornos said during V-k hours on the witness stand. She said she wants to fire her state-appointed attorneys and end her appeals because she wants to come clean and make peace with God. "I wanted to clear all the lies and let the truth come out," she said. "I have AP Aileen Wuornos, on the witness stand Friday in a Daytona Beach courtroom, talks of finding God and says she's ready to be executed. "I know what the heck I'm doing," she said.

AROUND THE STATE Wife's lover acquitted of killing husband Ex-House speaker works for deal in ethics misstep Sarasota Herald-Tribune John Thrasher admits to improper lobbying and agrees to pay a $500 fine. The proposal needs final approval. By LUCY MORGAN Times Staff Writer which Thrasher admits to two counts of violating the law and agrees to pay a $500 fine. The maximum fine for each violation is $10,000. Contacted at his law office in Jacksonville, Thrasher said he apologized for, his mistake earlier and just wanted "to get rid of the thing and get going." Thrasher said he initially thought his lunch invitation complied with the law, but he later realized it was wrong.

"I treasure my tenure as a public servant in the House," Thrasher wrote. "And I genuinely regret doing anything that re jL. 3 fi- TALLAHASSEE Former House Speaker John Thrasher is negotiating a settlement that would let him pay a $500 fine for illegally lobbying his former colleagues. The Florida Ethics Commission accused Thrasher of violat legal victory Friday, the state is preparing to resume full operations in its citrus canker eradication program next month. The 3rd District Court of Appeal erased a lower court order requiring warrants before state crews cut trees in Miami-Dade County.

Other judges sided with the state earlier this month on cutting programs in Broward and Palm Beach counties. "We are still in the planning stages to resume full operation Aug. 6 in Broward County and now apparently in Miami-Dade County," state agriculture spokesman Mark Fagan said after receiving word of the latest ruling. Thirty-four crews are at work chopping down trees found infected by the fruit-scarring canker, as well as citrus trees within 1,900 feet of infected ones. If the project stays on track, the state expects to be able to finish the eradication effort by the end of the year, Fagan said.

State crews have removed more than 830,000 citrus trees since 1996 to protect Florida's citrus industry. Diaz-Balart campaign agrees to $30,000 fine MIAMI U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart's congressional campaign has paid a $30,000 fine to the Federal Elections Commission. Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, and the commission agreed to the fine for excessive contributions, corporate contributions, failure to accurately report receipts and other violations.

The fine, announced this week, was paid in April. The commission found that the campaign committee accepted $17,700 in excessive contributions from individuals and $10,630 in corporate contributions. Such committees are banned from accepting corporate contributions. In a May 16 letter to the commission, Diaz-Balart said the violations resulted from "a series of innocent errors by individuals of good intention." Staff, wire reports First Florida horse dies from West Nile virus TALLAHASSEE A horse in Jefferson County died from the West Nile virus, the first equine case of the disease this year in the nation, state agriculture officials said Friday. Confirmation that the horse died from the disease comes as state health officials say they've found two more birds in North Florida that were killed by the mosquito-carried disease, which can also kill people in rare cases.

Health officials said the horse's death is the first-ever finding of that disease in a horse south of Delaware. So far, no cases of people with the disease have been reported in Florida. Nine people died from West Nile in New York and New Jersey in' 1999, shortly after the virus made its first appearance in this country. Most people bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus aren't at great risk for getting seriously ill. The disease has been fatal mainly for the elderly.

Scientists think the disease arrived in Florida via migrating birds. Health officials have so far confirmed that six birds in Florida died from the virus. Worker in Scarborough's district office found dead FORT WALTON BEACH A 28-year-old office worker for U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough was found dead early Friday in the congressman's district office.

A Fort Walton Beach police statement said there were no signs of foul play in the death of Lori Klausutis of Niceville. "It's my understanding that she had prior health problems," said Medical Examiner Michael Berk-land, as doctors were still conducting an autopsy. Klausutis had worked for Scarborough since May 1999, said Mick Serrano, the congressman's press secretary. Her body was found on the floor behind a desk by a couple who arrived at the district office for an flects poorly on that institution or the position I formerly held." Thrasher practices law in Jacksonville and is president of Southern Strategy Group a firm that includes Paul Brad-shaw and David Ran-court, two lobbyists with close ties to Gov. ing a constitutional prohibition against lobbying for compensation within two years of leaving office.

The accusation came after he invited senators to a Governor's Club luncheon with University of Miami officials. Since leaving the House in November, BRADENTON A Manatee County jury deliberated Th. hours Friday before acquitting first-de- gree murder defendant Mike Cordes, the man accused of gunning down his lover's husband out- side a Duette convenience store. Cordes, 36, who faced a possible death sentence had he been convicted, won't be going home soon, however. Prosecutors kept him behind bars for a 1997 parole violation charge.

He faces up to seven years in prison. During the weeklong trial, de- fense attorney Adam Tebrugge had argued that Cordes' friend, Todd Martin, was the shooter. In a plea bargain with prosecu- tors, Martin earlier accepted a 12- year sentence for being an acces- sory to murder in exchange for his testimony, which helped convict Jackie Postma, 31, of second-degree murder last week. She could get 25 years to life at sentencing. Martin testified that he was in on a plot to lure Ed Postma to the Duette store Aug.

20 with a late-night phone call from Jackie saying she had a flat tire. There, he testified, he thought Cordes planned to have a fight with Ed. He said he was stunned when Cordes instead shot the victim four times in the head. He also said that, in fear for his life, he obeyed Cordes' order to cut Postma's throat. But in Cordes' trial, Tebrugge pointed to a lack of physical evidence and Cordes' statement that he was drunk and asleep in his track when the shooting occurred.

"We're profoundly disappoint- ed with the (jury's) decision," pros- ecutor Art Brown told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune after the verdict. Jurors did not comment. "God will deal with (Cordes) now," said a grief-stricken Karla Postma, Ed Postma's mother. Thrasher AP Fort Walton Beach police evidence technician Dusty Rhodes, facing camera, leaves the district office of U.S. Rep.

Joe Scarborough, where employee Lori Klausutis was found dead early Friday. 8 a.m. appointment, Fort Walton Police Chief Steve Hogue said. Serrano said Scarborough said Klausutis worked in a two-person office, but she was the only one working Thursday. Somebody spoke with her late Thursday.

"She probably died before 5 o'clock," he said. Scarborough, a Republican, was in Washington on Friday morning tending to House business when Klausutis' death was reported. He was flying back to his Panhandle area district and was not available for comment, an aide said. He said last month he was resigning to spend more time with two young sons. A special primary election Tuesday will select nominees for an Oct.

16 general election to replace him. Court lets canker attack resume in Miami-Dade MIAMI After winning a third Jeb Bush. Thrasher is registered to lobby the governor and Cabinet, and state agencies on behalf of 52 clients including Associated Industries of Florida, Blue Cross Blue Shield, DuPont Pharmaceuticals, the Florida Medical Association, TECO Energy the University of South Florida and The St. Joe Co. Bush recently named him to the Florida State University board of trustees.

Danaher noted that the violation is not the first time Thrasher has run afoul of state ethics laws. Shortly after Thrasher was elected in 1992, the House publicly rebuked him for representing the Florida Medical Association before a state agency in violation of state law. Thrasher has registered as an executive branch lobbyist for a number of private clients, including the university. He issued the luncheon invitation earlier this year. Eugene Danaher, a retired General Motors executive who filed the formal Ethics Commission complaint against Thrasher, is not happy with the proposed settlement.

"This is outrageous," Danaher said Friday. "He'll make a million dollars. He should be fined $100,000 and banned from the halls of the Capitol." The proposed settlement will be considered by the commission at a Sept. 6 meeting. Thrasher and Ethics Commission advocate Virlindia Doss have signed an agreement in IKlIHIlflllltj I miimmmmmmmmmummiMmimi.mmmm, iu.iiii.iui i i.i-Wii.i..iilMiuiiiiiliii,i inn, 727-544-5319 NEW! fe I I wMmjJ wwwlj 14 MILE 3E-7801 PARK BLVD PINELLAS PARK -JtlO MORE O'ViTrrfffl I 8UN RA'N 8HINE-1 SJ Ullfl lMHlgjM I I rmEiilmmi ii mill milium riiitatxrf luKw -mTT mi 1 mmmmmmm Sunday.

July 22 jj An Upper General An Outfield ticket, I 1 1 Admission ticket hot dog and Pepsi I RayS BaCkf-1 Q)( ITWo 83 0nly $12 Kook Lv- VU VJ 4 ($8.00 VALUE) ($19.50 VALUE) I UOICDOUA 1 I Giveaway! 1 Promt coupon to purdm OuttHM MM, 1 fca rt 1 Pw) Iw uit pwctaMiiiUwr MppH tn hpat the heat this vacation? In OUr I emi ntatoii tor my a. i a acnati onfissaii pmt coupoa. imt mauaMtt. PtoAmMB to first 7,500 fans 14 4 under ixieea 10 Deat me neai na vdL-auui i uui 1cm H-BmOTCttiiuWuitiit wntstm tm. mw bw guide to Florida water parks, we tell you jj about some cool places to splash and rhi chill out, in Sunday's Travel section.

fTJvJ JSJL) Boy attacked by shark goes off critical list Associated Press PENSACOLA The 8-year-old boy whose arm was bitten off, by a shark improved from critical to serious condition Friday, although doctors said he remained "acutely ill" and in a light coma. "Jessie has made a number of slight improvements throughout the week that indicate that, while he is still acutely ill, he is no longer in any immediate danger of death," said Rob Patterson, a pediatric intensive care specialist at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital. "Jessie is beginning to respond to external stimulation like changes in noise and light," he said in a daily Web site posting. He also said the boy continued to receive dialysis to help repair kidneys damaged by blood loss from the July 6 attack. As Jessie makes slow progress from the attack and the operation that reattached his right arm, retrieved from the gullet of the shark after Jessie's uncle dragged the 6'2-foot animal ashore, gifts and well-wishes keep pouring in.

As of noon Friday, he and his Ocean Springs. family had received more than 1,000 e-mails and more than 3,000 pieces of mail, including gifts of food, toys, flowers and money, officials said..