The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 10

A10 SouthlandC The Sun SATURDAY, March 17, 1990 Court refuses to delay Harris execution By WILLIAM CARLSEN San Francisco Chronicle Any commutation by the governor, however, would still have to be approved by a majority of the same justices who turned down Harris' appeal Friday. The high court issued its ruling without comment in a two-sentence order. Harris, 37, has been battling in state and federal courts for 11 years to have his death sentence set aside. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1979 for the murders of two San Diego teenagers, John Mayeski and Michael Baker, whose car he used in a bank robbery later the same day. Although Deukmejian promised earlier this week to be "fair and objective" in handling Harris' clemency request, the governor is a well-known ardent proponent of capital punishment.

As a legislator, he carried the 1977 death penalty law under which Harris was sentenced. Among the new evidence the state's high court considered and rejected was a statement from Harris' brother, Daniel, who served as a key prosecution witness but now says Harris never planned to rob or kill his two victims. The state's high court also rejected the argument by Harris' lawyers that his years as the object of severe child abuse left him the victim of posttraumatic stress syndrome, similar to war veterans, and organic brain damage. They also maintained he suffered fetal alcohol syndrome as a result of his alcoholic mother's heavy drinking shortly before his birth. Harris' attorneys contend the new psychological information is the result SAN FRANCISCO An appeal to spare the life of Robert Alton Harris has been unanimously rejected by the California Supreme Court, leaving the condemned killer few options in his fight to block his scheduled April 3 execution.

Attorneys representing Harris said they will file a new request next week in federal court in San Diego seeking a delay. Harris, whose execution in San Quentin's gas chamber would be the first in California since 1967, has also asked Gov. George Deukmejian to commute his death sentence. A hearing on the request for clemency has been scheduled for March 27 at San Quentin. Rarin' to tour U.S.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY Thompson murders recalled at graveside WHITTIER Friends and relatives of slain racing promoter Mickey Thompson and his wife gathered for a private graveside ceremony Friday, the second anniversary of the couple's unsolved murder. Thompson, 59, and his wife Trudy, 41, were ambushed in the driveway of their Bradbury home at 6 a.m. on March 16, 1988, in one of the most sensational crimes still unsolved in Los Angeles County. It was apparent the murders were carried out by professional killers who were lying in wait, homicide investigators have said. Detectives have sifted hundreds of clues, but the trail has gone cold, despite extensive media coverage and a tantalizing award fund of more than $260,000.

"It's almost gotten down to the point where we need a phone call, for somebody to come forth and that's almost like winning the lottery," sheriffs investigator Mike Griggs said last September. Tape played in art forgery case LOS ANGELES Prosecutors in a multimillion-dollar art fraud case have produced an audio tape on which a man they describe as one of the nation's most prolific art forgers talks about copying others' work. "I did a Chagall," the man remarks on the tape, played in Municipal Court this week. Later the man answered "Yeah," when asked if he had other phony Chagalls in the works. The tape was played during a preliminary hearing Wednesday and Thursday for Anthony Gene Tetro, 40, who allegedly was a known source of fake art in some art circles.

The man on the tape was identified as Tetro. Tetro is charged in a 44-count felony forgery indictment. He has been a primary target of local and federal authorities in an art fraud probe. Two sentenced in extortion try SAN FERNANDO Two men who sent frightening letters to hundreds of people in two Antelope Valley desert towns in 1988 were sentenced Friday to four years in prison for the mass extortion scheme. Roman Makuch, 28, and Richard Faroni, 27, were each convicted Jan.

29 of 10 counts of attempted extortion. Authorities said the 6-foot-7 Makuch and the diminutive Faroni, who went by the nicknames Rocky and Bullwinkle, sent extortion letters to 265 people, including doctors, lawyers and other high-paid professionals. I lrv of new research on child abuse developed since his sentencing in 1979. Daniel Harris testified at the trial that he and his brother kidnapped the boys and stole their car, then drove them to an isolated area, where Robert Harris shot one youth in the back and then chased down and shot the other. Daniel Harris was sentenced to six years in prison as part of a plea-bargain agreement.

Now living in Oro-ville, the younger Harris gave a statement to an investigator this week stating prosecutors had withheld evidence favorable to his brother. "I do not believe Robert was capable of independently devising or sustaining a plan to commit a robbery; neither do I believe the shooting of the victims was premeditated, nor anything more than a sudden, impulsive act," the statement said. 55 suspected illegal aliens are seized Two smuggler suspects also arrested at LAX By STARR SPENCER Los Angeles Daily News LOS ANGELES U.S. Immigration and Naturalization officials have arrested 55 suspected illegal aliens and two suspected smugglers during an airport crackdown on alien smuggling, officials say. i The late Thursday and early Friday arrests at Los Angeles International Airport were part of an continuing investigation of suspected illegal aliens trying to fly east, said INS spokesman Ben Davidian.

"We had intelligence there was a smuggling ring or rings operating out of LAX and we increased our presence there," Davidian said. The 48 men and seven women apprehended Friday followed the arrests of 98 people Wednesday and Thursday during Eastern Airlines stopovers in Atlanta while en route to New York. "We arrested them in various stages of arrival at the airport, but before they got on planes," Davidian said Friday. Davidian declined to say if Friday's arrests were bound for Eastern Airlines flights, but said the suspects were headed for a number of destinations, including New York and Chicago. He said this week's airport sweeps are small compared to the 2,000 detained daily at the Mexican border, but are part of an effort to control organized smuggling.

Davidian said smuggling can involve operators at the border who promise entry to the United States for a few hundred dollars to sophisticated schemes guaranteeing jobs and citizenship. "You're talking about people who peddle human flesh," Davidian said. "For varying sums of money, they promise people all sorts of things, which they almost never deliver. They don't give a damn about human life and safety." Davidian declined to name the two alleged smugglers who were arrested, but said they were in the custody of Los Angeles INS authorities. Ill fill ''Vvv.

buz 1 1 rjr i jj AP WIREPHOTO Singer David Bowie, in Los Angeles on Friday, announces dates and locations of the U.S. leg of his current world tour, "Sound-Vision." The tour began in Canada in early March. His first U.S. concert will begin April 27 in Miami, with West Coast stops planned for May. State closes camp where seven drowned Associated Press ORANGE COUNTY Scouts plant roses for Pat Nixon YORBA LINDA Girl Scouts celebrated former first lady Pat Nixon's birthday Friday by planting a dozen rose bushes at the site of the Richard Nixon Library Birthplace.

The roses, a dark red fioribunda variety named the "Pat Nixon Rose" during her White House years, were planted during a noontime ceremony in a garden of the $25 million Nixon center, which will be dedicated July 19. Nixon, born March 16, 1912, was not on hand, but sent a letter of appreciation through the Orange County Federation of Republican Women. SACRAMENTO COUNTY State to reduce water deliveries SACRAMENTO State water officials said Friday they expect to cut by half the amount of water delivered this year to agricultural customers, citing low rainfall and dwindling storage as California faces a fourth year of drought. The Department of Water Resources said, however, that full water deliveries would continue to urban areas. Authorities said rainfall would be needed in March and April to deliver the full amounts requested.

From Sun News Services its appeal and the state has 30 days after that to schedule a hearing. "I think what is unfortunate is that the state goes in and talks to ex-employees, especially disgruntled employees, and comes up with allegations," Trott said. Norris said the camp was closed because of allegations that: One camp resident was sexually assaulted by another in 1988 and a camp resident was molested by a woman staff member in 1989. Behavior-modifying drugs were administered without prescription to students, who ranged in age from 12 to 18, to keep them from causing trouble. The camp did not provide proper care and supervision to its charges.

Feb. 19 after the youths broke through thin ice during a Presidents Day outing. The adults died trying to save the others. "Camp O'Neal was served with a revocation action and a temporary suspension," said Kathleen Norris, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Service's Sacramento office. She said the temporary order will keep the camp closed pending the outcome of the revocation hearing, which will be held before an administrative lawjudge.

Norris said 16 residents at the camp were being relocated to other facilities by probation officials. Camp O'Neal Director Bobbi Trott said all of the campers had left by early Friday afternoon. "They were real upset," she said. Trott called the closure unwarranted and said she was confident the matter would be successfully appealed. The camp has 15 days to file MAMMOTH LAKES State officials on Friday closed the juvenile probation camp whose two counselors and three students were among seven people who drowned last month in an icy Eastern Sierra lake.

The California Department of Social Services cited allegations of sexual misconduct, lack of supervision and improper medication of students at Camp O'Neal in ordering the closure. A Camp O'Neal official called the closure unfounded. The camp was closed immediately pending the outcome of a hearing to revoke its operating permit, said Kathleen Norris, an agency spokeswoman. Three teenagers from the camp for youthful offenders, two camp counselors and two would-be rescuers drowned in nearby Convict Lake on SPRING SALE western wear SUMMARY ACME BICYCLES Associated Press SAINT PATRICK'S DAY PARKING LOT SALE! Saddleman Boot Jeans sines reg. 26.99 NOW 19 With Savings Like These i Free Bottle TUNE-UP You Can't Lose! Wrangler Pro Rodeo Jeans reg.

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Joyce Van Schaack of Tarzana to the Child Abuse Prevention Committee of the Social Services Advisory Board. Carole Muenzer of Tres Pinos, John Tobias and Joseph Zanger, both of Hollister to the board of directors ot the 33rd District Agricultural Association, San Benito County Fair. Anna Beeman of Woodland, Manuel Carbahal and Ron Whitehead, both of Davis, to the board of directors of the 40lh District Agricultural Association, VnlnCountv Fair. Save up to 50 on all Clothing and Shoes! Free Samples of Bodfuel' With This Coupon Offer Expires Dan Post BOOTS 3-31-90 AND MUCH, MUCH MORE! Lizard Skin reg. 268.00 Iga Other styles and brands on sale 1 Redlands' Only Authorized Dealer For: RALEIGH DIAMOND BACK IIIIM) MOUNTAIN KMX 965 So.

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