A.M.BRIEFING: Friday

From CDT staff reports

Accused rapist to stand trial next year

The Milesburg man charged with raping shooting victim Racheal Perryman in the summer of 2008 won’t stand trial until next year.

Kyle A. Lingle, 21, was charged in January 2009 with pushing Perryman onto a couch and raping her while they watched television in his apartment five months earlier.

He first denied having sex with her, then admitted they had consensual sex, court papers show, but he said he knew that “she was not into it.”

Lingle’s attorney, public defender Patrick Klena, anticipates he’ll ask the court to bar prosecutors from trying the case because Perryman is now dead. She was shot Oct. 24 while hunting with her boyfriend, Troy Ray Tierney.

Police are investigating the shooting.

Assistant District Attorney Steve Sloane said the trial was continued, but said there hasn’t been a decision made on how to pursue the case against Lingle without the main witness.

He has said in the past that he was researching the possibility of using her previous statements to the court.

Waupelani crash cuts power to some residents

Allegheny Power and Comcast crews were working to restore services to residents near Waupelani Drive on Thursday after a suspected drunken driver slammed his Jeep Cherokee into a utility pole.

State College police say 34- year-old Paul Zurat, of Enola, was speeding south on Waupelani Drive when he hit a curb and crashed.

“The pole shattered the top half, falling onto (Zurat’s) roof,” the police report states. “(The Jeep) continued another 66 feet before coming to rest.”

Zurat told police he was driving the speed limit and crashed because he hit “wet leaves,” the report states, but police say the investigation found he was driving at a “high rate of speed.”

Department of Health offers H1N1 clinics

The state Department of Health will give free swine flu vaccinations over three days starting today at 18 clinics across the state, including one in Centre County.

Appointments are required, and may be made by visiting www.H1N1inPA.com or calling 877-724-3258 during business hours. Because the supply of vaccine is limited, the clinics are specifically for target groups, including people who are: •six months to 24 years old;

• caregivers for children younger than six months;

• pregnant women;

• health care workers;

• people under 65 with underlying health conditions.

One clinic will be at the Centre County State Health Center, 280 W. Hamilton Ave., State College. It will serve people from Centre, Clinton, Union and Snyder counties.

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