EXTRA...

Dennis woman gets 10 years probabtion for sex crime; Rape conviction overturned; New Bedford still hopes

Cape Woman In Sex Case Given 10 Years Probation
Sarah Colby, 25, of Dennis spared jail

How she was caught
The victim's mother contacted New Britain police when her son did not return home that night. When he came home the next morning, the mother told police she noticed a mark on his neck.Before a Superior Court judge sentenced a Cape Cod woman on Friday for having a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old, he chided her for making "some of the wrong decisions.  You're still very young, but you're not a kid," Judge Frank A. Iannotti told Sarah Colby, 25. "It's time for you to start making some of the right decisions."

Police say Colby, of Dennis, drove over 100 miles to have a sexual encounter with a then-15-year-old male in a Cromwell hotel last year. Police charged her with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor, but Colby pleaded guilty to lesser charges of fourth-degree sexual assault and using a computer to entice a minor.

Iannotti spared Colby a jail term but sentenced her to 10 years of probation. Colby also must register in Connecticut as a sex offender for at least 10 years.  During her probation, Colby must submit to polygraph tests and mental health and drug evaluations ... Colby and the victim kept in touch through MSN Messenger, MySpace.com and cellphone conversations. They subsequently discussed fooling around sexually and traded nude photos of each other over the Internet, according to the warran t... Courant.  
________________

Man gets new trial in 1995 Cape Cod rape
Proscutor's errors get Melvin Ewing another chance


Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said he didn't agree with the SJC's ruling FridayBOSTON --A man convicting of raping a Cape Cod woman will get a new trial after the Supreme Judicial Court upheld an Appeals Court ruling that overturned the conviction.  Melvin Ewing was found guilty of a 1995 rape of a former neighbor in Barnstable.

The 38-year-old wasn't convicted until 2004. Prosecutors brought Ewing to trial after DNA from a cigarette he smoked during questioning in another case matched DNA from the rape.  In 2006, the state Appeals Court granted a new trial because of errors by the prosecutor, including implying that Ewing had used his access to the evidence against him to prepare false testimony. The court also faulted the judge's jury instructions...  Globe. 
____________________

SouthCoast officials downplay Patrick casino comments
New Bedford still hopes to lure Wampanoags there.
What the Governor said
"I don't think there is a city in Massachusetts that has enough space for that kind of facility, with the entertainment and the meeting venues and maybe a golf course, the restaurants, a hotel — the whole resort complex."
Gov. Deval Patrick's "misgivings" about locating a casino in any Massachusetts city are being are being dismissed locally as "political maneuvering" and a reaction to Boston-based casino opponents.  In an interview on WBUR-FM, Boston-based public radio, on Thursday, the governor said: "I have some misgivings about a casino in any city because I think the whole point is to create a resort destination."

That statement is "a direct contradiction to what the governor and his officials had said previously," said Clyde W. Barrow, director of the UMass Dartmouth Center for Policy Analysis, which studies the New England gambling scene.  "They said they wanted to develop casinos as an instrument of smart growth with a preference for urban redevelopment, not for building on a large tract of undeveloped land."

Economic development "was the focus of (the governor's) plan when he announced it," Dr. Barrow said. "His officials were clearly putting pressure on the Wampanoag to shift their plan to New Bedford" ... Standard-Times. 
__________________