Sect leader's appeal in slaying rejected

The state's highest court rejected an appeal from the leader of an Attleboro religious sect who was convicted of first-degree murder in the April 1999 starvation death of his son. Jacques Robidoux, who said he deprived his 10-month-old son, Samuel, of solid food to follow a prophecy from God, was convicted in June 2002. He asserted in his appeal, among other things, that his lawyer had been ineffective because he failed to pursue an insanity defense. Robidoux had discussed pursuing an insanity defense with his defense lawyer but had rejected the idea, the court said in an opinion written by Justice Robert Cordy. While Robidoux argued in his appeal that his lawyer should have proceeded with the insanity defense anyway, the court said, "Such a holding would stand in stark contrast to our prevailing law.

A campaign to replace criminal penalties for marijuana possession with civil penalties took the next step in reaching the 2008 statewide ballot yesterday, with supporters bringing boxes of signatures to Secretary of State William Galvin's office. Election officials now must review the signatures, validated by cities and towns, before passing the measure to the Legislature. The legalization forces submitted more than 81,000 signatures, roughly 15,000 higher than the threshold, said Whitney Taylor of the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy. (State House News Service)

Former House speaker George Keverian, 76, was in fair condition last night at Massachusetts General Hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Keverian, who was recently dismissed from his Everett assessor's job after a political difference with the city's outgoing mayor, has been under stress and suffering from a shortness of breath, said his friend Alfred Lattanzi of Everett. At the hospital, he had fluid removed from around his heart Monday night, Lattanzi said. Everett's Common Council on Monday passed a resolution bestowing a vote of confidence on Keverian for his 12 years of work in the assessor's office. But the council does not have the authority to rehire him.

Air traffic controllers had to switch to backup radio frequencies to contact planes approaching Logan International Airport for two hours yesterday, after a technician cut the wrong communication cable, a federal aviation spokesman said. Some planes were delayed as a precaution, but no one was in danger, said Jim Peters, a spokesman for Federal Aviation Administration in New England. Air traffic controllers in the Merrimack, N.H., control center, where planes are guided on their final approach to Boston, had to switch to the backup frequencies from about 11 a.m. to about 1 p.m., when the cable was fixed, he said. Technicians were working on the 19th floor of the air traffic control tower at Logan when someone inadvertently cut the cable, Peters said. As a precaution, about two dozen planes headed to Boston were delayed on the ground at their departure airports, and a backup radar system was also used, Peters said.

Eight semifinalists have been announced in the search for the state's next commissioner of education, according to a news release from the Department of Education. The candidates, who were not identified, were chosen from a pool of 16 applicants, from Massachusetts and nationwide. In the next two weeks, the board plans to interview the semifinalists and announce a short list of finalists, who will participate in public interviews at the Omni Parker House on Jan. 7. Pail Reville, Board of Education chairman, said he hopes a new commissioner can be named by the end of January.

Police are seeking the public's help in searching for a woman who allegedly attacked and robbed an 87-year-old Dorchester woman in her home yesterday. The victim, who was not identified by police, let the woman in and gave her a glass of water after she knocked on the door of the woman's Buttonwood Court home and asked to use her telephone, police said. The woman then knocked the victim unconscious and rummaged through her home for jewelry and other valuables, police said. The elderly woman woke up and tried to leave the apartment, but was stopped by the suspect who threatened her with a knife and later fled. Police described the suspect as a female in her mid-30s to early 40s with shoulder-length brown hair, about 5 feet 5 inches tall, and wearing a cast on her right foot. Anyone with information can call 617-343-4335 or text 'TIP" to 27463 to remain anonymous.