National news briefs

Evidence points to F-22 pilot's death

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Evidence found at the remote, rugged Alaska site where an F-22 Raptor crashed indicates the pilot died, an Air Force official said Friday evening.

Part of the fighter jet's ejection seat was found at the site, which means Capt. Jeffrey Haney of Clarklake, Mich., was not ejected and could not have survived the Tuesday night crash, Col. Jack McMullen said.

"If the pilot was able to eject, the seat would go with him," McMullen said. Also, an emergency locator transmitter would have been activated if the pilot had ejected and it was not.

Also found were pieces of the flight suit Haney had been wearing.

Officials identify slain Australian twin

Denver Post

DENVER — Officials Friday confirmed the identity of an Australian woman who died Monday in a suicide pact with her twin sister, as the women's parents arrived to be with their wounded daughter who survived.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office Friday said Kristin A. Hermeler, 29, was the woman who died at the Family Shooting Center in Cherry Creek State Park.

Her twin sister, Candice K. Hermeler, remains in serious condition at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood.

The twins' parents declined a request made through the sheriff's office for an interview, but issued a statement through the hospital.

"Our family would like to say thank you for the outpouring of support and concern shown during this past week," the statement said.

Judge OKs use of new execution drug

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A sedative commonly used to euthanize animals may be used on death row inmates in Oklahoma to substitute one of the three drugs in the state's lethal injection formula, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot rejected a motion by death row inmates Jeffrey David Matthews and John David Duty, who argued that the use of a drug called pentobarbital amounted to "cruel and unusual punishment."

Friot said the inmates' attorneys failed to prove that the new drug posed a "substantial risk of serious harm." The judge said the two anesthesiologists who testified during Friday's daylong hearing agreed that a sufficient dose would render an individual unconscious and ultimately lead to death.