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VISTA, Calif. (CNS) - A murder conviction was reversed Friday for a 73-year-old former Valley Center resident, who was convicted in 2001 of killing her husband and was serving a 25-years-to-life sentence, but may receive a new trial due to newly discovered DNA evidence.Jane Dorotik was found guilty of the murder of 55-year-old Robert Dorotik, whose body was found on Feb. 13, 2000, one day after his wife said he disappeared after going jogging, prompting her to report him missing.District Attorney's Office spokesman Steve Walker said "newly discovered DNA evidence developed from advanced technology unavailable at the time of the 2001 jury trial" led the D.A.'s office to concede a habeas corpus petition filed by Dorotik's attorneys, thus reversing the conviction.Dorotik was released from the California Institution for Women in Corona in April amid the COVID-19 pandemic and will remain out of custody on her own recognizance. Attorneys will reconvene Oct. 23 to discuss the possibility of a retrial."After fighting for nearly 20 years to overturn my conviction, I am so grateful to finally see this day," Dorotik said in a statement released by her attorneys."Frankly, I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment," she said. "I have maintained from day one that I had nothing to do with my husband's murder. Spending almost two decades in prison falsely convicted of killing the man I loved has been incredibly painful. I lost literally everything in my life that Bob and I had built together."Prosecutors alleged that Dorotik beat her husband to death in their bedroom in the Valley Center horse ranch they rented, then dumped his body on the side of a road a few miles away.Medical examiners concluded he died of blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation, which prosecutors alleged was committed with a hammer and rope.The prosecution theory was that Dorotik killed her husband because she would have to pay him 40% of her income in the event of a divorce.Attorneys from Loyola Law School's Project for the Innocent say Dorotik was wrongfully convicted and submitted the habeas corpus petition alleging issues with the DNA evidence and testimony used to convict her.Her attorneys say newly conducted DNA testing of the victim's clothing, fingernails and a rope alleged to be one of the murder weapons showed no evidence of Dorotik's DNA, excluding her presence from the crime scene.They also alleged a prosecution expert witness testified during Dorotik's trial that stains found in the bedroom were her husband's blood, even though most of the stains were not tested and never confirmed to be blood at all.During an afternoon hearing at the Vista courthouse, Deputy District Attorney Karl Husoe said some of the new evidence stems from "the results of the retesting of some physical items of evidence" and noted "the DNA evidence as it exists now in 2020 is much different in quality and quantity than presented at trial in 2001."The prosecutor said the new evidence "undermines the previous evidence presented at trial to the extent that a new trial would be granted by this court."Additionally, Husoe said the D.A.'s office received "new information regarding lab personnel which our office was previously unaware of, but (was) recently made known to us," but did not elaborate on the content of that information.Walker said, "Ultimately, this office intends to pursue DNA testing and retesting of the available evidence in this case using modern and advanced DNA technology available to us today. Whatever the outcome of this additional testing may be, this office will commit resources to this matter in an effort to do all we can to seek the truth and pursue justice." 3696

Volkswagen has been fined another €800 million (6 million) over its diesel emissions scandal, this time because of failings at its Audi subsidiary.Volkswagen said Tuesday it accepted the fine imposed by German prosecutors, waving its right to appeal. It said the penalty would hit earnings this year."As a negative special item, [it will] reduce the group earnings for fiscal year 2018 accordingly," it said in a statement.The penalty by Munich prosecutors is just the latest consequence of the scandal that emerged in 2015 and initially wiped out billions off the company's value.Volkswagen admitted cheating on clean air rules with software that made emissions look less toxic than they actually were.The fine concludes the Munich prosecutors' investigation into the company. However, probes into executives, including Audi's former CEO Rupert Stadler, continue, the prosecutors said.The €800 million fine comprises a €5 million penalty for administrative offenses, the maximum allowed under German law.On top of that, prosecutors ordered Volkswagen to repay €795 million they said the company made from the cheating. The prosecutors said this included profits from the sales of affected vehicles.In this case, the diesel emissions cheating affected nearly 5 million cars sold by the Volkswagen group in Europe and the United States, prosecutors said. Specifically, it concerned V6 and V8 diesel engines manufactured by Audi and installed in Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche brands, and Audi vehicles equipped with EA 189 and EA 288 engine made by Volkswagen.Shares in Volkswagen (VLKAF) and Audi (AUDVF) were trading higher on Tuesday. Volkswagen stock is down 11 percent so far this year. 1699

WASHINGTON (AP) ¡ª First lady Melania Trump expressed support for the care that migrant children separated from their families received in U.S. detention centers and cast doubt on the authenticity of some immigrants' stories of fleeing danger in their home countries during a series of recordings aired Thursday. The tapes aired on CNN come from Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former aide to the first lady who released a book last month entitled "Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady." The tapes, which were exclusively aired on Anderson Cooper's show, were secretly recorded in 2018 by Wolkoff.In the tapes, Melania is also recorded bashing the Christmas decorations.The White House has been critical of the book and says the first lady is focused on her family and serving the country. 827

WASHINGTON (AP) ¡ª Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the West's iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty."It's a free-for-all," Dakota Snider, 24, who lives and works in Yosemite Valley, said by telephone Monday, as Yosemite National Park officials announced closings of some minimally supervised campgrounds and public areas within the park that are overwhelmed."It's so heartbreaking. There is more trash and human waste and disregard for the rules than I've seen in my four years living here," Snider said.The partial federal government shutdown, now into its 11th day, has forced furloughs of hundreds of thousands of federal government employees. This has left many parks without most of the rangers and others who staff campgrounds and otherwise keep parks running.Unlike shutdowns in some previous administrations, the Trump administration was leaving parks open to visitors despite the staff furloughs, said John Garder, senior budget director of the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association."We're afraid that we're going to start seeing significant damage to the natural resources in parks and potentially to historic and other cultural artifacts," Garder said. "We're concerned there'll be impacts to visitors' safety.""It's really a nightmare scenario," Garder said.Under the park service's shutdown plan, authorities have to close any area where garbage or other problems become threats to health and safety or to wildlife, spokesman Jeremy Barnum said in an email Monday."At the superintendent's discretion, parks may close grounds/areas with sensitive natural, cultural, historic, or archaeological resources vulnerable to destruction, looting, or other damage that cannot be adequately protected by the excepted law enforcement staff that remain on duty," Barnum said.In the southern Sierra Nevada in Central California, some areas of the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks were closed Monday evening. In Sequoia, home to immense and ancient giant sequoias, General Highway was closed because overflowing trash bins were spreading litter and posed a threat to wildlife and the icy, jammed roadway was seeing up to three-hour delays, according to the National Park Service.Also closed was the Grant Tree Trail, a popular hiking spot, because the government shutdown halted maintenance and left the path dangerously slick from ice and snow, with at least one injury reported, the park service said.Campers at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California's deserts were reporting squabbles as different families laid claims to sites, with no rangers on hand to adjudicate, said Ethan Feltges, who operates the Coyote Corner gift shop outside Joshua Tree.Feltges and other business owners around Joshua Tree had stepped into the gap as much as possible, hauling trailers into the park to empty overflowing trash bins and sweeping and stocking restrooms that were still open, Feltges said.Feltges himself had set up a portable toilet at his store to help the visitors still streaming in and out of the park. He was spending his days standing outside his store, offering tips about the park in place of the rangers who normally would be present."The whole community has come together," Feltges said, also by phone. "Everyone loves the park. And there's a lot of businesses that actually need the park."Some visitors have strung Christmas lights in the twisting Joshua trees, many of which are hundreds of years old, the Los Angeles Times reported.Most visitors were being respectful of the desert wilderness and park facilities, Joshua Tree's superintendent, David Smith, said in a statement.But some are seizing on the shortage of park staffers to off-road illegally and otherwise damage the park, as well as relieving themselves in the open, a park statement said. Joshua Tree said it would begin closing some campgrounds for all but day use.At Yosemite, Snider, the local resident, said crowds of visitors were driving into the park to take advantage of free admission, with only a few park rangers working and a limited number of restrooms open.Visitors were allowing their dogs to run off-leash in an area rich with bears and other wildlife, and scattering bags of garbage along the roads, Snider said."You're looking at Yosemite Falls and in front of you is plastic bottles and trash bags," he said.Officials at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado said Monday they were closing restrooms and locking up trash bins in many locations.In Yellowstone National Park, private companies have picked up some of the maintenance normally done by federal workers. The contractors that operate park tours by snowmobile, buses and vans are grooming trails, hauling trash and replacing toilet paper at pit toilets and restrooms along their routes.Nearly all roads inside Yellowstone are normally closed for winter, meaning most visitors at this time of the year access park attractions like Old Faithful or the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone through guides. Those guides are splitting the cost of grooming the trails used by their vehicles to keep their operations going, said Travis Watt, general manager of See Yellowstone Alpen Guides based in West Yellowstone, Montana.The tour companies can likely keep this system going through the entire winter season if they need to, Watt said."It's definitely not our preference ¡ª the park service does a good job doing their thing and we hate to see them out of work," Watt said. "But it's something we can handle."___Gecker reported from San Francisco. Matt Volz contributed from Helena, Montana. 5752

Wanting a hassle-free way to donate to charity? Charity credit cards offer reward points every time you use your credit card, and then give that cash-back to charity.But we found you need to do some research if you want to make the most of your donation.¡°The Susan G Komen charity card is a big one out there and it¡¯s an example of a bank working with a charity to specifically promote that particular charity and it will even give you a little bit of a bonus after you spend a certain amount on that card,¡± said Matt Shultz with CreditCards.com.There are some cards that are specific to certain charities like Bank of American¡¯s Susan G. Komen credit card.  ¡°Then there are other cards like Charity Charge by Master Card which gives you 1 percent cash back on everything you spend," said Shultz.The Charity Charge credit card will take 1 percent cash back and put it toward the charity of your choice. But, Shultz said not all charity credit cards give the same way. ¡°When you¡¯re considering getting a charity credit card make sure you understand how much value you¡¯re going to get back and how much money will be donated to that charity,¡± said Shultz.You need to find out exactly how much money from your purchases gets donated to the charity and how that money is being used at the charity.¡°Charity credit cards can be worth it but a lot of the time you are really better off getting a general purpose credit card that might give you 2 percent cash back on everything you buy and then you can take that cash back that you earn and write that to your charity," said Shultz.If you decide to take that route and skip the charity credit card all together, Schultz recommends the Chase Freedom Card. It will give you more money cash back then your charity credit card reward points would be donating. ¡°When you¡¯re looking to donate to a charity it¡¯s not really about making things as convenient for you it¡¯s about getting things done and raising money for the charity that you believe so much in,¡± said Shultz.In the end, Shultz said if giving the most amount of money to a charity is important, look at getting a traditional credit card and mailing the cash back money to the charity yourself.  2256

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