Toronto
Former AG charged in hit-and-run: Ontario has retained an independent prosecutor to handle a homicide case against its former attorney general. Michael Bryant, who was attorney general for the province from 2003 to 2007, allegedly dragged cyclist Darcy Sheppard through a Toronto street at high speed after the two had an altercation at a traffic light. Sheppard was clinging to the car but was eventually flung off and killed. Usually, cases involving prominent officials are handled in the Crown Law Office—but many prosecutors there are former Bryant hires, so an independent prosecutor was brought in. Bryant, who reportedly fled the scene but was arrested shortly afterward, was instrumental in toughening Ontario’s laws against reckless driving.
Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
Slaughter in rehab: Mexican troops this week captured the suspected ringleader in the brutal execution-style slaying of 17 patients at a rehabilitation clinic in Juárez. About a dozen masked men burst into the clinic last week, lined up patients against the wall, and gunned them down. Drug gangs have targeted rehab centers in the past, accusing them of protecting rival dealers, but this attack was one of the deadliest and most brazen in years. The suspect, José Rodolfo Escajeda, is considered one of the nastiest hit men in the Juárez Cartel. He is on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Most Wanted list, and the U.S. said it would seek his extradition.
St. George’s, Grenada
End of an era: The leaders of the 1983 coup that triggered a U.S. invasion of Grenada were released from prison this week after serving nearly 26 years. Former Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard and 16 others had been sentenced to life in prison for hauling leftist Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and 10 aides before a firing squad. Bishop had taken power in a communist coup just four years earlier, and Coard wanted to push Grenada even further left and forge closer ties with Cuba. But six days after Coard’s coup, President Ronald Reagan sent thousands of U.S. troops to crush the rebellion. Coard and six others were released this week; the other 10 defendants had already been released.
