Northwest briefly: Slain student had more than one attacker, medical examiner says

Testimony: More than one attacker

PERUGIA, Italy — A British student killed in Italy was attacked by more than one person, a medical examiner testified Saturday in the trial of an American suspect and her former boyfriend. A second witness said bruises found on the victim’s body were not compatible with consensual sex.

Suspect Amanda Knox — who has said she is innocent of charges of murder and sexual violence in the 2007 death of Meredith Kercher — kept her head down as graphic images from Kercher’s autopsy were shown in court, according to prosecutor Giuliano Mignini. Raffaele Sollecito, who also denies wrongdoing, glanced at the images sporadically, Mignini said.

Prosecution witness Vincenza Liviero, a medical examiner, testified behind closed doors to comply with a request from Kercher’s family to preserve the victim’s memory.

“It was an action carried out by more than two hands, and there was sexual violence,” Liviero told reporters at the end of the hearing.

Gynecologist and prosecution consultant Mauro Marchionni also testified that the bruises on Kercher’s body suggested nonconsensual sex, Kercher’s lawyer, Francesco Maresca, said.

Spokane: Court restores $1M award

The state Court of Appeals has reinstated a $1 million judgment that a former Boeing Co. worker and cancer patient won in a discrimination case.

Thomas Burchfiel worked in Boeing’s manufacturing plant in Spokane before it was sold to St. Louis-based Triumph Composite Systems. He said he was told in 2002 that his job was being eliminated, but that he’d be given a chance to reapply.

He sued when he wasn’t rehired, and said the reason was that he had been diagnosed with leukemia two years earlier.

A jury agreed and awarded him $1 million, but a Spokane County Superior Court judge vacated the award upon finding that Burchfiel didn’t establish a factual basis for his claim.

The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported Saturday that the state Court of Appeals has overturned that decision and reinstated the award.

Boeing says it’s reviewing the decision.

Yakima: Father arrested in holdup

Yakima police have arrested a father who was wanted for holding up a convenience store near Ellensburg with his 9-year-old daughter.

Police Lt. Tom Foley said officers took 42-year-old Robert Daniel Webb into custody Saturday afternoon on a first-degree robbery arrest warrant.

Webb surrendered to police at a friend’s home in Yakima, Foley said.

Police have been looking for Webb, who was last seen eluding officers Wednesday night in Fortuna, Calif. He left his daughter, Meadow Webb, at the home of an acquaintance, and she returned to Washington state Friday.

Kittitas County Sheriff’s deputies questioned Webb in Yakima on Saturday, and he was expected to be booked into Yakima County Jail, Foley said. Webb would likely be arraigned in Kittitas County where the robbery occurred, he added.

On the video that captured Tuesday’s robbery, the robber told the clerk at an AM-PM minimart he had lost his job and needed money for his daughter. Store video shows the girl in a pink coat watching as the man beside her pulls a gun and takes about $200.

Oregon: All but one monkey recaptured

Officials say they’ve got all but one of nine monkeys back in cages at a research facility after a keeper’s mistake allowed them to make an escape.

Officials at the Oregon National Primate Research Center said Saturday that the one missing monkey is on the grounds of the facility.

The animals got loose Friday after their keeper left the cage unlocked and they figured out how to open the door.

Workers baiting cages with apples recaptured some Friday and three Saturday. One official said the monkeys love fruit.

The Japanese Macaque monkeys monkeys are too fast to catch. They generally retreat from humans but if threatened, they could bite.

Associated Press