PARIS

French president rejects pardon for Nazi war criminal

Associated Press

French President Jacques Chirac has rejected a third request to pardon Maurice Papon, a former police chief imprisoned for his role in deporting Jews to Nazi death camps, one of Papon's lawyers said yesterday.

Papon, 91, is at the center of a debate in France on jailing the elderly. He was convicted in 1998 of complicity in crimes against humanity and is serving a 10 year term at Paris' La Sante prison.

Lawyers for the former Vichy official had submitted a new request for presidential pardon on June 11, attaching a doctor's certificate attesting to Papon's heart problems.

Francis Vuillemin, one of Papon's lawyers, said the Justice Ministry informed him in a letter last week that the request had been turned down. Vuillemin said he was not aware of the results of medical evaluations ordered by the ministry ahead of Chirac's decision.

Chirac has already rejected two pardon requests.

After lawyers filed the request, 17 prominent politicians, former Resistance fighters and intellectuals signed a petition urging Chirac to pardon Papon because of his age and poor health. Two former prime ministers - Pierre Messmer and Raymond Barre - were among those who signed.

The former Vichy official, who led the Bordeaux area police during the Nazi occupation of France and later went on to become budget minister, was convicted in 1998 of complicity in crimes against humanity for his role in the arrest and deportation of 1,500 Jews.

He fled to Switzerland after the conviction, but was arrested and began serving his sentence in October 1999.

MIAMI

Lawyers say O.J. could serve prison time for road rage

Associated Press

Prosecutors said yesterday they will seek a prison sentence if O.J. Simpson is convicted in his road rage trial, reversing themselves just before the start of jury selection.

Miami's top prosecutor had previously said the former football great and actor is unlikely to face jail time over the alleged road rage incident. When charges were filed in December, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle had said anger-control counseling was the expected punishment upon a conviction.

The felony auto burglary and misdemeanor battery charges carry a maximum 16-year prison term.

"We do in fact intend to seek a sentence within that sentencing range," Assistant State Attorney Paul Mendelson said yesterday.

The trial stems from an angry encounter with another motorist in his suburban Miami neighborhood. Simpson was accused of scratching motorist Jeffrey Pattinson's face while pulling off Pattinson's glasses.

"Another day in paradise," Simpson said as he entered court for jury selection.

Defense attorney Yale Galanter said that before the Dec. 4 encounter, Pattinson tailgated Simpson for a distance equivalent to "over half of a football field."

"That's a long way to be honking your horn and flashing your lights," Galanter said. "That just doesn't impress me as the act of a man who's cool, calm and collected."

Pattinson says he honked and flashed his lights when Simpson's sport utility vehicle rolled through a stop sign. Simpson stopped and approached Pattinson's SUV, and allegedly reached in and pulled off his glasses.

"This is an incident that took place in at most 30 seconds, and there were two people there," Galanter said. He believes Simpson "is being unfairly targeted as a result of his celebrity status and notoriety."

Simpson was cleared by a jury in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife and her friend. A civil jury later found him liable and he was ordered to pay $33.5 million.

PHOENIX

Gutierrez running for governor

Associated Press

Democrat Alfredo Gutierrez, a former state senator, formally announced yesterday he's running for governor.

Gutierrez, 56, made the announcement from his hometown of Miami, Ariz.

He joins former Republican Congressman Matt Salmon in the race. Salmon was the first major candidate to announce his gubernatorial run.

Gutierrez said he'll concentrate on giving rural Arizona a greater voice and improving the state's education system.

"It's going to take a leader with the ability to envision the universities of the future, someone with experience in politics and business, to make that vision real," Gutierrez said.

From 1972 to 1986, Gutierrez was a member of the state Senate, where he was both the majority and minority leader.

Gutierrez also said he would focus on the current budget situation and would make it a priority to keep open closing trauma centers in Tucson.

He said the state needs to tap its rainy day reserve to help counter a revenue shortfall worsened by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Gov. Jane Hull has said she is preparing up to $1.6 billion in spending cuts and other budget changes to counter the shortfall, but has been reluctant to tap the rainy day reserve.

"It isn't raining, it is storming, it is flooding and we've got to do something," Gutierrez said.