Across the southeast

Two men, one boy die in small plane crash

CALERA, ALA. - A small plane crashed Saturday afternoon during an air show at the Shelby County Airport, killing two men and an 11-year-old boy on board.

FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen of Atlanta said the single-engine Beech Bonanza crashed into an airport fence at about 1 p.m. during takeoff. There was no fire.

She said the plane was giving air tours during the show and wasn't involved with stunts.

The names of the men and 11-year-old boy were not immediately released.

Federal officials began an investigation, and the crash's cause wasn't known.

Mosque hit by gunfire at start of Ramadan

MELBOURNE, FLA. - A mosque was hit by gunfire as members inside celebrated the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, authorities said Saturday.

No injuries were reported, and there were no arrests.

A member of the Islamic Society of Brevard County stepped outside the mosque Friday night to use his cell phone when he heard several gunshots, police said.

The man took cover behind a wall as several rounds struck the building, police said. He then ran in and told mosque members, who called police.

Authorities searched the surrounding area for suspects but found none.

Police were not releasing many details of the shooting because the investigation was ongoing, spokeswoman Jill Frederiksen said Saturday. Detectives were working to determine a reason for the shooting.

Police will begin extra patrols around the mosque in Melbourne, about 50 miles east-southeast of Orlando.

Appeal is coming in faked confession case

RICHMOND, VA. - A $2.25 million jury award for a former death row inmate will be appealed by the family of a state police investigator who jurors concluded fabricated a confession that nearly sent the inmate to his death.

Earl Washington Jr., 46, spent 9 years on death row for the rape and murder of Rebecca Lynn Williams, a 19-year-old mother of three who was found stabbed to death in her Culpeper apartment in 1982.

DNA testing led to Mr. Washington's pardon in 2000.

In May, a federal jury in Charlottesville found that Curtis Reese Wilmore, a highly regarded state police officer who died in 1994, fabricated parts of Mr. Washington's confession.

Mr. Wilmore won a confession from him in 1983 in which Mr. Washington, who is mildly retarded, was said to have known details of the crime only the killer could have known.

The DNA testing that led to Mr. Washington's pardon implicated convicted rapist Kenneth Maurice Tinsley, 61. He will be arraigned Oct. 10 in Culpeper County Circuit Court on capital murder charges in the Williams slaying.

Mr. Tinsley is serving a life term in a Virginia state prison.

- Edited from wire reports