Across the Southeast

Miranda mistake has cases thrown out

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Gorman Roberts' manslaughter conviction was overturned because of a single word.

Mr. Roberts, now 20, was convicted of pushing 5-year-old Jordan Payne in February 2002 into a Pompano Beach canal, where he drowned. But his conviction and three-year prison sentence were thrown out in May 2004 when an appeals court ruled the Miranda rights warning he got from Broward Sheriff's Office investigators was incomplete.

The warning, which said suspects "have the right to talk with a lawyer and have a lawyer present before any questioning," failed to spell out that defendants also had the right to an attorney "during" police interrogation as well. It was corrected in November 2002.

Since then, more than 2 dozen other Broward County cases have been affected because of the faulty warnings.

UNC first to offer minor in Christianity

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has begun offering a minor in Christianity to help students who a professor says aren't able, regardless of their faith, to talk knowledgeably about it.

The curriculum, called Christianity and Culture, is a first for the university and sets a precedent across the nation, said Christian Smith, a UNC-Chapel Hill sociology professor.

"Teens don't know a lot about their religious tradition, and that made quite an impression on me," said Mr. Smith, who conducted a four-year study on spiritual lives of teens.

Establishing lottery is focus of many

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The legislative fight over a North Carolina lottery took more than 20 years to finish, but the political memoir of state-run gambling in this state has just started.

General Assembly members on both sides of the aisle will have to defend themselves in next year's elections.

Gov. Mike Easley, who has made establishing a lottery his top priority since taking office in 2001, and legislative leaders will have to ensure it generates more money for education, as they promised, and leads to better student performance, as they hinted.

Many lawmakers just wish the lottery would go away after it slipped through the House and Senate by the narrowest of margins before being quickly signed into law by Mr. Easley.

"I'm tired of hearing about the lottery. Y ou can quote me on that," said Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson.