Judge Throws Out Raiders’ Fraud Claim

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Joe Gray dismissed the Raiders’ fraud claim against Oakland and Alameda County on Tuesday, preventing the team from seeking punitive damages in its $1.1-billion lawsuit.

On Monday, Gray left intact the Raiders’ breach-of-contract claims against the city and county, as well as the team’s fraud claims against the stadium board and individuals who helped bring the Raiders back from Los Angeles.

Gray dismissed the fraud accusations against the city and county because of the Raiders’ failure to file a timely claim. The team could still get the $1.1 billion it seeks through its breach-of-contract claims.

The Raiders have been in litigation with the city and county for years, contending officials fraudulently lured them with promises of a sold-out stadium.

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Police and relatives asked Cherica Adams leading questions and distorted her memory of what happened the day she was shot, psychologist Elizabeth Loftus testified at the murder trial of former NFL player Rae Carruth.

Loftus said this could account for a discrepancy in two accounts in which Adams described the actions by Carruth right before the 1999 drive-by shooting.

Loftus said the 911 operator posed the first of a number of leading questions by asking whether Adams thought Carruth was responsible for her shooting.

“There is a bit of a suggestion in this,” Loftus told the jury. “It may have planted a seed.”

The first police officer to arrive on the shooting scene posed another leading question, Loftus said, by asking Adams, “Did your boyfriend shoot you?”

The police officer’s report states Adams nodded in affirmative, Loftus said, whereas trial testimony has shown that Carruth was not the trigger man.

College Football

Washington State running back Deon Burnett regrets the way he quit the team and changed into street clothes during halftime of a game against Washington but said he has had no second thoughts about leaving the Cougars. He will begin school at Nevada Las Vegas in January and will redshirt the 2001 season.

Gene Stallings, a longtime football coach at Alabama and Texas A&M;, has been hired by North Texas to help the school find an athletic director.

Boxing

Boxer Paul Ingle underwent a tracheotomy to ease his breathing during a drug-induced coma.

Doctors in Sheffield, England, said the former International Boxing Federation featherweight champion remains in stable condition.

The Englishman, 28, was injured during his 12th-round loss to South Africa’s Mbulelo Botile on Saturday.

Ingle’s injury has renewed calls for the outlawing of boxing. In Geneva, the World Medical Assn., representing the world’s doctors again urged a ban on “the simply barbaric practice” of boxing.

The WMA, made up of 8 million doctors in 70 countries, first sought a ban on boxing in 1983.

Britain’s Boxing Board lost its appeal of a ruling that said it was liable for boxer Michael Watson’s brain damage.

The board now faces a $1.5-million compensation claim filed by Watson, who was injured nine years ago during a fight. Watson, 35, contended that ringside resuscitation facilities were inadequate and a doctor did not enter the ring for seven minutes. As a result he suffered massive brain damage.

Winter Sports

Ice dancers Jamie Silverstein and Justin Pekarek, second in the 2000 U.S. championships and 12th in the world, withdrew from next month’s U.S. figure skating championships and dissolved their five-year partnership. Pekarek, of Valencia, and Silverstein were U.S. and world junior champions in 1999. Pekarek cited personal and family reasons for taking a break from competition.

Skier Mario Matt led an Austrian sweep at Madonna Di Campiglio, Italy, and won a World Cup slalom with a combined time of 1 minute 44.00 seconds, ahead of teammates Heinz Schilchegger and Rainer Schoenfelder. . . . Sonja Nef of Switzerland won a World Cup slalom race at Sestriere, Italy, beating Anja Paerson of Sweden by .24 of a second.

Miscellany

Tom Lasorda was selected as the honorary coach of the year by the U.S. Olympic Committee after guiding the U.S. Olympic baseball team to its first gold medal.

The U.S. team was named the team of the year by national media and the USOC’s Executive Committee, Board of Directors and Athletes’ Advisory Council.