SEATTLE – Late-night funny man Conan O’Brien tied the knot at St. James Cathedral to Seattle ad executive Liza Powell on Saturday.
“Sorry about the rain,” O’Brien quipped as he and his new bride emerged from the Catholic cathedral under an umbrella built for two after the afternoon ceremony.
O’Brien is in his ninth season on NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien.”
O’Brien’s longtime friend and Harvard roommate, the Rev. Paul O’Brien, officiated. The two are not related.
The bride, who wore a long-sleeved white dress trimmed with lace, is the daughter of Seattle Dixieland band leader Jake Powell. She met O’Brien as a guest on his show, KING-TV reported.
Tacoma
Driver in fatal accident had life sentence overturned: The driver of a fleeing car involved in a crash that killed another man had been sentenced to life in prison after three felony convictions. But Bruce Eric Smith, 33, appealed his “three strikes you’re out” term and got the conviction overturned because an overcrowded Pierce County court system violated his right to a speedy trial.
Pierce County sheriff’s deputies were responding Friday to a 911 call from an alleged rape victim when the chase began, sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said. Smith was arrested after the head-on collision. Killed in the crash was Russell Whitaker II, 26, of Tacoma, who died on the way to a hospital.
Prosecutors said they will consider charging Smith with first-degree murder, as opposed to the lesser charge of vehicular homicide, because they say he killed Whitaker while fleeing from another crime.
A jury convicted Smith of his third felony – second-degree assault with a deadly weapon – and he received a life sentence in March 1999. Smith appealed, saying the court system had violated his right to a speedy trial within 60 days of being charged, because no courtrooms were available. In January 2001, the Washington State Court of Appeals in Tacoma agreed and overturned his conviction. If Smith is convicted on any felony charges stemming from Friday’s crime spree, he again faces a life sentence.
Seattle
Man charged in stabbing death: A man described by his mother as having a history of mental illness has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the stabbing of a Microsoft Corp. employee and former singer. No motive for the killing of David Barzilai, 25, formerly of Phoenix, was given in documents that were filed Thursday with the charge against Ronald Jacob Lakey, 32, of Kirkland. Following arraignment, tentatively set for Jan. 23 in King County Superior Court, prosecutors have 30 days in which to decide whether to seek the death penalty. Police found Barzilai’s body, riddled with at least 234 wounds, Jan. 6 at his apartment after Lakey went to a Washington State Patrol office in Kelso and told authorities he had stolen Barzilai’s car, according to court documents.
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