Nation IN BRIEF : MASSACHUSETTS : Salvi Not Allowed to Testify, Lawyer Says

A judge refused to let John C. Salvi III take the witness stand during his trial for the shooting of two abortion clinic receptionists after he already said he did not want to testify, his attorney said. Superior Court Judge Barbara Dortch-Okara said the testimony would be irrelevant because Salvi would use the time to talk about his belief in a worldwide, anti-Catholic conspiracy, defense attorney J. W. Carney Jr. said after the jury ended its first day of deliberations. A spokeswoman for the Norfolk County district attorney’s office would not confirm Carney’s contention. Salvi’s attorneys had wanted to put him on the stand to rebut a prosecution psychologist who testified he might be faking mental illness. He has pleaded innocent to murder charges by reason of insanity.