Around the Nation

3 Indicted in Death of Boy Allowed to Fire Uzi

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Three men, including a small-town police chief, were indicted Thursday on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the gun-fair death of an 8-year-old who accidentally shot himself in the head with a submachine gun that a prosecutor said he never should have been allowed to handle.

The club where the fair was held was also charged. An ad had promised that shooters would have certified instructors, but District Attorney William Bennett said the child, Christopher Bizilj, was supervised by an uncertified 15-year-old boy. Christopher's father was 10 feet behind him and reaching for his camera when the child fired the weapon.

Christopher, of Ashford, Conn., lost control of the 9mm Micro Uzi as it recoiled while he was firing at a pumpkin Oct. 26 at the Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club in western Massachusetts.

Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury was charged because he owns the sponsor of the gun fair, COP Firearms & Training. Two men who brought the Uzi to the show, Carl Guiffre of Hartford, Conn., and Domenico Spano, of New Milford, Conn., were also indicted.

Involuntary manslaughter conviction carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence and $1,000 fine. Fleury and the club also were indicted on four counts each of furnishing a machine gun to a minor. A conviction on each count is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, up to $10,000 in fines and the loss of a firearms license for at least 10 years.

Bennett said prosecutors know of at least four children, including Christopher, who fired automatic weapons at the fair.

Obama Reports More Donations

Barack Obama's presidential campaign raised $104 million in the weeks around Election Day, a grand finale to a bid that shattered fundraising records. Overall, Obama raised nearly $750 million on his road to the presidency, according to reports being filed with the Federal Election Commission. The reporting period covered Oct. 15 to Nov. 24. The campaign said more than 1 million people donated during the period, with more than half giving for the first time. Throughout the campaign, more than 3.95 million contributors gave to the eventual president-elect, his campaign said. His GOP opponent, John McCain, opted to accept public financing, which limited him to $84 million to spend from the beginning of September.

Mars Mission Postponed

NASA is delaying a mission to Mars that already had been over budget and will get even more costly. The launch of the massive roving robot with a rock-zapping laser was pushed back Thursday from next year until 2011, adding $400 million to the price tag. More than 10 problems, all solvable with time, forced the postponement, Mars exploration chief Doug McCuistion said. The six-wheeled Mars Science Laboratory will probe the Red Planet's climate and geology in finer detail than previous missions.

Couple Charged With Kidnapping

STOCKTON, Calif. -- Kelly Layne Lau and her husband, Michael Schumacher, were charged with kidnapping and torturing a teenager who authorities say was kept shackled inside their home and abused with a baseball bat, belt and knife. The boy's former guardian, Caren Ramirez, was charged with similar allegations. The boy escaped from the couple's home in Tracy, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, on Monday and fled to a gym.

Fines Sought Against Governor

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Special court-appointed investigators are seeking fines against Gov. Matt Blunt (R), alleging he "knowingly and purposely" violated Missouri's public records law by denying access to e-mails. The request for penalties is outlined in a revised lawsuit against Blunt and his former chief of staff. The suit raises the strongest assertions yet in a year-long e-mail-deletion controversy surrounding the governor, who chose not to seek reelection and has barely a month left in his term.

Soldier Acquitted in Deaths

FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- A military jury acquitted Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez, a New York Army National Guard soldier, in the 2005 bombing deaths of two superiors in Iraq.

-- From News Services