American Scene

CONNECTICUT

Rape suspect spoke of earlier offenses

NEW HAVEN | A Connecticut man suspected of rapes along the East Coast since 1997 told investigators he began committing sexual offenses six years before that, two law enforcement officials familiar with the case said Tuesday.

Aaron Thomas pleaded not guilty Tuesday in New Haven Superior Court to a charge of raping a woman in New Haven in 2007 in her apartment in front of her baby. Mr. Thomas, who kept his head lowered during the proceedings, pleaded not guilty to first-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor and burglary and is being held on $1.5 million.

Mr. Thomas, 39, was arrested March 4 in his hometown of New Haven after authorities say DNA confirmed he was the so-called East Coast Rapist responsible for rapes and other attacks on 17 women from Virginia to Connecticut.

Mr. Thomas told police he began committing sexual offenses at age 19 in 1991, said two officials with direct knowledge of the case. The nature and number of incidents was not clear.

So far, Mr. Thomas is charged with one rape in Connecticut and three in Virginia.

KENTUCKY

Lawyers want execution-drug probe

LOUISVILLE | Attorneys in Arizona, Georgia and Kentucky have called on the Justice Department to investigate how the states acquired a key lethal injection drug that is in short supply in the U.S.

The requests come amid a sodium thiopental shortage. The sole U.S. maker of the drug said earlier this year it would no longer produce it, sending many of the 35 death-penalty states scrambling to find an alternative.

Justice Department officials didn’t return telephone calls Tuesday, but have said they were reviewing a request for an investigation. Drug Enforcement Administration officials confirmed a week ago they seized Georgia’s supply of the drug.

Meanwhile, Mississippi’s attorney general said the state will most likely switch to pentobarbital in future executions because of the shortage. Attorney General Jim Hood’s office did not respond to questions about whether Mississippi will substitute pentobarbital for sodium thiopental in the three-drug cocktail or use it alone.

Texas and Oklahoma recently announced the switch to pentobarbital, and plan to use it along with two other drugs. Ohio became the first state to use pentobarbital alone when it executed an inmate with the drug March 10.

MICHIGAN

Census: Detroit’s population plummets

TRAVERSE CITY | New census data shows that Detroit’s population dropped 25 percent in the last decade, with the city losing more than 237,000 people.

A significant drop was expected, but U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Tuesday caught some experts off-guard.

The data shows Detroit’s population fell from 951,270 in 2000, to 713,777 in 2010. State demographer Ken Darga said that’s “considerably lower” than the Census Bureau estimate released last year.

The data reflects the exodus of city residents to the suburbs and the auto industry’s steady decline. The Motor City’s population peaked at 1.8 million in 1950, when it ranked fifth nationally.

NORTH CAROLINA

Prosecutors: Dozens more lab errors found

RALEIGH | North Carolina’s crime lab has found dozens more cases of mishandled blood evidence, adding to an already extensive review of years-old files, prosecutors said Tuesday.

District attorneys from around the state are preparing to reassess the 75 new cases in the coming months. Prosecutors have analyzed some 150 cases identified as part of an inquiry last year, and they contend each conviction was appropriate because of other evidence such as confessions, eyewitnesses and ballistics.

“There was additional overwhelming evidence in every one of them,” said Peg Dorer, executive director of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys.

Ms. Dorer said SBI officials notified the prosecutors last week about the new 75 cases. SBI leaders didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Defense attorneys questioned the reliability of the review led by prosecutors.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports