May 31, 2003
From news to action
I was browsing VolunteerMatch when I was struck with the idea that news aggregators could do keyword matching between news stories and volunteer opportunities:
Posted by Trevor F Smith at May 31, 2003 12:13 PM | TrackBack
News briefs from California's Central Coast
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 29, 2003
(05-29) 07:23 PDT SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) --Four people accused of nearly beating a homeless man to death Halloween night have pleaded no contest to felony charges.
James Gardner, 19, and Roy Thomas Bohannon, 24, were sentenced Tuesday to eight years in state prison. Chanda Miller, 18, and Devon Alexander Smith, 20, were sentenced to five years.
The four defendants allegedly used a piece of wood, a metal pipe and a spiked bracelet to beat Vance Lybrand, 49, as he slept in a plywood shelter along the street.
The attackers left the area at one point, and then returned later. During a second beating, Gardner allegedly jumped on Lybrand's face repeatedly, climbing a chain-link fence to gain leverage.
Lybrand suffered a partially severed finger, a broken collarbone, facial cuts, broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Lybrand testified during a preliminary hearing that he had been assaulted by the defendants multiple times in the past.
Gardner claimed Lybrand tried to attack Miller with a hammer that night, prompting a physical response.
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