April 18, 2013

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PITCHER OF THE WEEK

SIGN UP: Annual John K. Crosswell Charity Golf Tournament is Friday A2

Former Sumter High, P-15’s and USC Sumter standout honored by South Atlantic League B1

THEN THERE WERE 3: School district names Teacher of the Year finalists A3 VOL. 118, NO. 153 WWW.THEITEM.COM

THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 2013 | SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA

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Henderson gets 45 years Man pleads guilty in Haley slaying Samuel G. Henderson, 41, will spend the next 45 years in state detention. He was sentenced by 3rd Circuit Judge R. Ferrell Cothran on Wednesday shortly after he entered an Alford plea to the August 2011 murder of Melissa Corley Haley.

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BY ROBERT J. BAKER bbaker@theitem.com Samuel G. Henderson says he doesn’t remember killing 33-year-old Melissa Corley Haley on a balmy August morning nearly two years ago. His foggy memory was the subject of a three-day trial this week at the Sumter County Courthouse, which ended Wednesday morning when Henderson entered an Alford plea to

murder. Third Circuit Judge R. Ferrell Cothran sentenced Henderson to 45 years in state detention, the maximum time negotiated by the 3rd Circuit Solicitor’s Office. Under North Carolina v. Alford, defendants can plead HALEY guilty to a crime without admitting culpability. A defendant essentially tells the court under an Alford plea that

he might not have committed the crime, but the state has enough evidence to convict him. “I have questions, some of the same I assume everyone else in this courtroom has had over the past few days,” Cothran said. “I can’t imagine what brought this on, what brought someone with no violent history to do this to a young lady.” Henderson, 41, was arrested SEE HENDERSON, PAGE A8

Testimony: Officials search for bombing suspect Tuomey knew of concerns Draft of contracts raised questions BY BRADEN BUNCH bbunch@theitem.com COLUMBIA — A cursory review performed by a former inspector general of the United States Department of Health and Human Services found there could be concerns with an early draft of the contracts entered into between Tuomey Healthcare Systems and local physicians, the forKUSSEROW mer federal official testified in court Wednesday. On the second day of the retrial of the federal government’s case against the local hospital, Richard Kusserow — the former HHS inspector general during the Reagan and Bush administrations who now serves as the CEO of Strategic Management — testified he had reviewed an initial draft of the Tuomey contracts in 2004 at the request of the hospital’s lawyers. SEE TUOMEY, PAGE A6

BOSTON (AP) — In what could be a major break in the Boston Marathon case, investigators are on the hunt for a man seen in a department-store surveillance video dropping off a bag at the site of the bombings, a Boston politician said Wednesday. Separately, a law enforcement official confirmed that authorities have found an image of a potential suspect but don’t know his name. The development — less than 48 hours after the attack that left three people dead and more than 170 wounded — marked a possible turning point in a case that has investigators analyzing photos and videos frame by frame for clues to who carried out the twin bombings and why. City Council PresiTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS dent Stephen Murphy, Investigators on Wednesday comb through the finish line area of the Boston Marathon at Boylston Street, who said he was briefed two days after two bombs exploded just before the finish line. The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said no arrests had been made in connection with the bombing. SEE BOSTON, PAGE A6

FBI: Man arrested, accused in ricin letters OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man was arrested Wednesday, accused of sending letters to President Obama and a senator that tested positive for poisonous ricin and set the nation’s capital on edge a day after the Boston Marathon bombings. OBAMA Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested at 5:15 p.m. at his apartment in Corinth, near the Tennessee state line about 100 miles east of Memphis, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel McMullen. It wasn’t immediately

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known where he was being held. Authorities still waited for definitive tests on the letters to Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, RMiss. Preliminary field tests can often show false positives for ricin. The letters were intercepted before reaching the White House or Senate. Ricin is derived from the castor plant that makes castor oil. There is no antidote, and it is at its deadliest when inhaled. An FBI intelligence bulletin obTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS tained by The Associated Press A U.S. Capitol Police hazmat vehicle is parked at a mail said the two letters were postprocessing facility for congressional mail in Hyattsville, marked Memphis, Tenn. Md., where a letter addressed to Sen. Roger Wicker, RMiss., tested positive for ricin on Tuesday. A letter sent to SEE LETTERS, PAGE A8 President Obama also tested positive for the poison.

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