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Volume 98 | Issue 28
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ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
UNT alum targeted in foiled D.C. assassination plot A MBER A RNOLD Managing Editor & Wire Reports
As the intended target of a thwarted assassination plot that reads like a Hollywood script, Adel Al-Jubeir, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., has been thrust into the center of an international dispute that may have lasting diplomatic consequences. But before he was evading international terrorists, Al-Jubeir was walking the Denton campus as a political science and economics student at UNT.
Two men have been charged with conspiring to kill the 49-year-old diplomat in a plot code-named “Chevrolet,” which included using $1.5 million allegedly provided by the Iranian government to hire a member of a Mexican drug cartel to kill Al-Jubeir in a bomb attack at a Washington, D.C., restaurant. The plan was uncovered when at least one of the men charged, Round Rock resident Manssor Arbabsiar, tried to hire a paid informant of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to carry
out the attack. “The idea t hat t hey would attempt to go to a Mexican drug cartel to solicit mu rder-forADEL hire to kill the AL-JUBEIR Saudi ambassador, nobody could make that up, right?” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview with The Associated Press. Arbabsiar, a naturalized U.S.
citizen and Iranian passport holder, oversaw the plan along with two members of the Quds Force, Abdul Reza Shahlai and Gholan Shakuri, according to Justice Department officials. The Quds Force is described by the U.S. as Iran’s primary foreign support-organization for terrorists and extremists around the world. Although the conspiracy was supported and directed from Tehran, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department is not accusing the
Iranian government of directly having a hand in the operation. However, Clinton said the U.S. would use the case as a way to influence other countries that have been reluctant to apply harsh sanctions or penalties against Iran. President Barack Obama informed other world leaders of the U.S. developments, Clinton said. The Saudi Embassy released a statement Tuesday commending the U.S. in its efforts to prevent the attack.
Ruling overturned 25 years after conviction A LEX COPELAND
Contributing Writer Michael Morton spent nearly 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife, but today he’s free after new evidence proved his innocence. Michael Morton was released Oct. 4 after his lawyers brought forth new evidence in his favor that was not considered in the 1987 case. Morton is currently awaiting a consideration of the state Court of Criminal Appeals. “The leading factor leading to his conviction was that the prosecution didn’t hand over exculpatory evidence that, had his lawyers known, likely would have meant that he never would have been convicted in the first place,” said Paul Cates of the Innocence Project, the organization handling Morton’s case. The evidence included transcript interviews from multiple sources, including an eyewitness account by Morton’s then-3-year-old son, who said he witnessed the murder, and a bloodstained bandana that contained DNA of both the victim and a third, yet-unnamed party. The Innocence Project, which oversaw the case for seven years, had to fight for access to the exculpatory evidence, or evidence in the defendant’s favor, and the DNA evidence, Cates said. “The district attorney was opposed to the [DNA] testing,” Cates said. “We had to bring a lawsuit we took all the way up to an appeals court that gave us access to the testing of the bandana that was recovered.”
T he prosec ut ion had deemed the DNA evidence on the bandana irrelevant, but it ended up being crucial in proving Morton’s innocence, Cates said. “The district attorney said that it wouldn’t lead to anything,” he said. “We now know that it lead to another male that was implicated in another case.” The DNA matched that of a man linked with crimes featuring a similar modus operandi. Authorities are withholding the suspect’s name because of the ongoing examination. The number of older case reversals because of DNA evidence might have already reached its peak since its advent as legal evidence, said Bruce Budowle, director of the UNT Health Science Center’s Institute of Investigative Genetics. “It’s a steady trend, or more of a declining trend,” he said. “If you go back to these old cases that predate DNA, there was some evidence that might point it in another direction, but there are fewer cases that predate DNA.” DNA evidence has been widely trusted since its introduction to the courts. The reason the district attorney would disregard the evidence is hard to determine, Budowle said. “Sometimes you look for things in context to confirm what you believe and so, if you find things that you believe and they are consistent, you automatically begin to dismiss the need for other things,” Budowle said.
City earns award for new plan A LEX M ACON
Senior Staff Writer
PHOTO BY ANDREW WILLIAMS/INTERN
Business sophomore Elizabeth Diaz and journalism sophomore Katelyn Pena search for a book for their philosophy class. Diaz and Pena were looking for “Aristotle’s Ethics” on the third floor of Willis Library.
Libraries forced to do more with less JAVIER LOPEZ
“We are still adapting to a very difficult year.”
Staff Writer
As UNT’s Library Department faces an $800,00 budget shortfall, the TexShare content sharing program the library uses will soon operate on a smaller budget as well. The state of Texas eliminated $8 million in government funding for the program.
UNT libraries
PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUL MOSELEY/FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM/MCT
UNT forensics student Nicole Harris goes over her paperwork during DNA Differential Extraction classwork. Michael Morton’s lawyers brought forth new evidence, including DNA tests, to exonerate him 25 years after his conviction.
“The attempted plot is a despicable violation of international norms, standards and conventions and is not in accord with the principles of humanity,” the statement read. Al-Jubeir graduated from UNT in 1982 with bachelor’s degrees in political science and economics. In 2006, UNT presented Al-Jubeir with a Distinguished Alumnus award and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters to honor his accomplishments in international diplomacy.
Martin Halbert, dean of libraries, said the $800,000 budget shortfall will prevent the library from keeping journals and other resources up-todate. “We are still adapting to a very difficult year,” Halbert said. The library’s main source of funding comes from the $16.50-per-credit-hour library use fee students pay each semester. Halbert said the library will
—Martin Halbert Dean of libraries
need to find another way to support itself rather than rely on enrollment fees, because the university has seen enrollment numbers fall. The library has cut back on book purchases and has reduced the library staff’s hours to deal with the budget shortfalls. Jason Harvey, a pre-international studies junior, said he goes to the library five times a week. He said the cost-cutting measures the library is using to offset its budget deficit might affect the amount of resources the librar y can prov ide students.
“A l l of my a r t icles a re fou nd i n t he e-resea rch [database],” Har vey said. “It would hurt a lot if they didn’t have that content.”
TexShare Access to resou rces outside of the UNT library may a lso be limited because TexShare, a content sharing program that gives students access to resources housed at other universit ie s, h a s a l s o r e c ei v e d budget cuts from the Texas Legislature.
See LIBRARY on Page 2
The North Central Texas Counci l of Gover nments presented the city of Denton w it h a CLIDE award last week, recognizing the city’s Downtown Implementation Plan for promoting sustainable development in North Texas. The CLIDE, or Celebrating Leadership in Development E xcel lence, awa rds were created by t he NCTCG’s C enter of De velopment E xc el lenc e to ack now ledge cities and organizations in North Texas that are leading the way in sustainable economic development. Sustainability and development experts from around the country made the decision to give a CLIDE award to the city this year. At the award presentation during last week’s City Council meeting, Denton Mayor Mark Burroughs said the award was a “matter of pride” for the city. Burroughs said Denton, as one of the fastest growing c it ie s i n t he U.S., w a s committed to following the Downtown Implementation Plan’s guidelines. “The outcomes should well benefit many generations of future Denton residents and will hopefully make the air cleaner, our city more wa l kable, ou r resou rces better utilized and make a better future for all of us,” Burroughs said. The 2010 Census identified Denton as one of the top-25 fastest growing cities in the count r y, a t rend Denton officials said they expect to continue. D e n t o n’s D o w n t o w n Implementation Plan, finalized in Aug ust last year, is a “set of physical plans and detailed recommendations to increase economic development in downtown Denton,” according to the city’s website. The city of Denton and Jacobs Consultancy firm put the plan together with input from Denton residents and business owners. The pla n recom mends greater connectivity between Quakertown Park and downtown and calls for aesthetic i m pr ov e me nt s s uc h a s remov i ng fa ke bu i ld i ng facades.
See CITY on Page 2
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Dallas City Council limits Occupy protesters Views | Page 5