NATION IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Witness May Recant Slaying Testimony

Moments before closing arguments in New York City’s racial murder trial, the defense told the court that the prosecution’s star witness would recant testimony that he saw Joseph Fama, 19, shoot Yusuf Hawkins, the 16-year-old black who was attacked and shot to death by whites in the Bensonhurst neighborhood last August. But state Supreme Court Justice Thaddeus Owens said the case must go to the jury and a retrial could be sought later. The witness, Frank Tighe, 20, has suffered from hallucinations and other mental problems. Much of the evidence against Fama rests on Tighe’s story that he saw Fama fire a pistol four times at Hawkins.