Innocent

UCLA and Steve Alford. A basketball program of unmatched pedigree led by a former prodigy who became a national champion and Olympic gold medalist before making a steady climb up the coaching ladder. On paper, a harmonic convergence. How they came together, a choreography of those themes, would make for a dazzling introduction, which UCLA held at center court in historic Pauley Pavilion last month. The aura of John Wooden, his contributions to sports and society -- and those 10 national titles -- was thick.

SAN FRANCISCO - A prison inmate whose triple-murder arson conviction was overturned after he demonstrated "actual innocence" will be retried rather than released, prosecutors said. U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii ordered the state last month to release George Souliotes, 72, or retry him immediately. After finding that Souliotes had proved his innocence, the judge overturned his conviction on the grounds he had been incompetently represented by his lawyer. Souliotes has spent 16 years in prison for murder in the deaths of Michelle Jones, 31, and her two children, Daniel Jr., 8, and Amanda, 3. The three died when a fire erupted in the home the family was renting from Souliotes.

A 12-year-old girl should spend up to 20 years in state custody for beating a toddler to death in her grandparents' illegal day-care center, a jury decided Friday. She was 11 when she beat 2 1/2-year-old Jayla Belton to death on May 24, striking her on the head and body more than a dozen times and rupturing her liver with the fatal blow. The girl was convicted Wednesday of criminally negligent homicide and intentional injury to a child. The six-man, six-woman jury found her innocent of the more serious charges of murder and manslaughter.

Over the last few days, thousands of people have taken to the Internet to play Sherlock Holmes. Armed with little more than grainy surveillance camera videos, cellphone photos and live tweets from police scanners, they have flooded the Web with clues, tips and speculation about what happened in Boston and who might have been behind it. Monday's bombings, the first major terrorist attack on American soil in the age of smartphones, Twitter and...

In this country, are you innocent until proven guilty, or vice versa? Ask Wen Ho Lee. SHELLEY MARTIN San Pedro

Whatever their views about capital punishment, most Americans probably assume that a convicted defendant will be released from prison if he can prove that he didn't commit the crime. In fact, the Supreme Court has stopped short of endorsing what lawyers call the "actual innocence" doctrine. But an unexpected order in a Georgia death penalty case may indicate that the justices are coming around to a common-sense view about the due process of law. Last week, they ordered a federal court in Georgia to reconsider the case of death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis, convicted of murdering an off-duty police officer 18 years ago. Since then, seven prosecution witnesses have recanted their testimony, and dignitaries including former President Carter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI have pleaded for clemency, with the pope's representative providing Georgia officials with a detailed critique of the evidence used to convict Davis.

Rarely has it been proved so eloquently, that a picture speaks for a thousand words as Paul Conrad's cartoon (Sept. 9) lamenting the dastardly murder of innocent worshipers in the Istanbul synagogue. Once again Conrad proved not only his customary genius, but also his compassion for the innocents. DENES MARSH Los Angeles

Literary empires have to start somewhere, and Scott Turow's began 23 years ago with the creation of an unusually trusting prosecutor named Rusty Sabich, whose affair with a somewhat pathological colleague made him the prime suspect after she was found bound, naked and dead. Sabich, of course, was innocent — not much of a murder-mystery if the protagonist is guilty. But the twisting plot Turow hatched for that debut novel, "Presumed Innocent," kept readers thinking and dissecting long after they finished the book.

It's very disturbing to read about the things children have to deal with--gang shootings, molestations, teen sex and a poor school environment. What a shame that kids have to face so many intense problems. I recently received an announcement for my 30th high school reunion. I remembered that the only thing I had on my mind back then was what kind of sweet roll did I want to get for nutrition. What has happened to the "innocence of childhood?" MARTY ESTRIN Glendale

The Times appears to have solidified an editorial policy to glorify, at every opportunity, the endless stream of Palestinian terrorists who have "no choice" but to murder innocent civilians ("Guide for Bombers Maps His Methods," June 12). Does The Times truly believe that the warped mentality of a chauffeur for would-be terrorists is more newsworthy than the stories of the grandparents and grandchildren whose lives are stolen, with each bomb blast, by the terrorist murderers who pretend to be working for a noble cause?

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam pledged to continue running his family's business - and NFL team - amid a federal investigation into fraud within his company. Haslam said Friday he has no plans to step aside as president of Pilot Flying J despite federal authorities alleging he was aware of a widespread scheme to defraud customers of the truck stop chain. According to court documents, sales team members said Haslam was aware that employees withheld diesel price rebates and discounts from Pilot customers to boost the company's profits and sales commissions.

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details. Defense attorneys for Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, the Rockefeller impersonator convicted in the 1985 slaying of his landlady's adult son, said Wednesday that their client had been hopeful of an acquittal. Gerhartsreiter, 52, strolled into the courtroom smiling, but showed little emotion when the court clerk announced the jury had convicted him of first-degree murder. Defense attorney Brad Bailey said Gerhartsreiter had previously been optimistic and that he remains hopeful that he will overturn the conviction on appeal.

KAUFMAN, Texas - Officials investigating the deaths of two prosecutors in this rural community east of Dallas have turned their attention to a former local official who threatened the two victims after losing his job in a corruption investigation, according to federal law enforcement officials briefed about the case. The federal officials said the man who emerged as a person of interest this week was convicted and placed on probation for stealing public property in Kaufman County two years ago. After his arrest, investigators found he had numerous guns, including an assault rifle and survivalist equipment, one of the federal officials said.

Innocence A Novel Louis B. Jones Counterpoint: 160 pp., $14.95 paper The plot of Louis B. Jones' new novel seems to promise an antic, postmodern free-for-all: A middle-aged former Episcopalian priest, now employed in Marin County real estate, takes a weekend tour of Sonoma wine country with his new girlfriend. Both have recently undergone surgeries to repair a cleft palate, both are sexually inexperienced, and both are grappling with issues of self-definition and identity.

He may be out of sight, but former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky remains very much in mind, surfacing in recorded interviews to once again insist he was innocent of molesting children. Sandusky, 69, was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse, and is serving a 30-year to 60-year sentence in a Pennsylvania prison. Though he never took the stand during his celebrated trial, he publicly insisted - before the trial and after -- that  he is innocent of all charges and is actively pursuing an appeal.

It took more than 13 years and appeals at nearly every level of the state and federal court system, but with the simple turn of a key by a state correctional officer on Tuesday afternoon, Daniel Larsen was unshackled and free. "I feel good, feel blessed," Larsen said with an ear-to-ear grin as he rode the elevator down to the main floor of the U.S. Central District Court in downtown Los Angeles, surrounded by friends and family. Magistrate Judge Suzanne Segal ordered Larsen's release, finding that he was "actually innocent" of carrying a concealed knife during a 1998 bar fight in Northridge.

I could not finish "Preoccupied Territory" (Opinion, Jan. 19). Lynn Cohen's point of view, that innocent Arabs are suffering, left no room for outrage at the Arab leaders whose terrorist aims and unwillingness to seek peace are in large part responsible for the present heart-rending situation. It is a known axiom, and I quote Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben: "When leaders go astray, innocent people suffer." Unfortunately, innocent people are suffering on both sides. Since the intifada began in earnest two years ago, more than 700 Israelis have been murdered and over 5,000 Israelis have been burned, maimed, wounded and permanently disabled in terror attacks.

Re "Executing 'Mental Children,' " editorial, Aug. 15: I was somewhat surprised by the question: "And have we executed some individuals who were innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted?" Is this a trick question? Of course innocent people have been executed! That is the tragedy of capital punishment. It isn't that we believe ruthless killers don't deserve to die. We have no sympathy for out-of-control monsters who are a threat to society. However, the reason some of us support life sentences without the possibility of parole, instead of the death penalty, is because if one innocent person is executed, then the entire system is inherently wrong and should be abolished.

SAN FRANCISCO - A prisoner serving life without parole for a triple murder arson should be released because his lawyer failed to defend him adequately in a "fundamentally unfair" trial, a federal magistrate has recommended. The magistrate's 93-page decision followed a ruling last year that George Souliotes, 72, had proved "actual innocence" and that no reasonable juror would have convicted him given the state of the evidence today. Souliotes had to prove his innocence before challenging his conviction because his former lawyer missed a legal deadline in filing his appeal.

Benjamin Britten, who never in his life thought of himself as gay, might well be dismayed if he could peer down at how discussion of his life and work has come to be dominated by the matter of his sexuality. The latest biography - by Paul Kildea, a serious scholar and by no means sensationalist - made news by suggesting that Britten's heart condition, which brought about his death at age 63, was the result of syphilis. Meanwhile, the tide of performances and critical studies goes on confirming how deeply his music was affected by his irresoluble personal quandary: the wish to be forever a boy among boys.