DNA Links Vargas to Incident

Fernando Vargas was linked through DNA blood evidence to the beating of a man that led to the boxer’s arrest last year, a prosecutor in Santa Barbara said.

Deputy District Attorney Hilary Dozer told the judge about the scientific evidence during a hearing Wednesday, and defense attorney Sam Eaton immediately asked for a delay to review the data.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Adams granted a three-week delay, setting the next hearing for Jan. 3. The trial is to begin in March.

Vargas, 23, was arrested in July 1999 in the beating of Doug Rossi, 23, inside a Montecito home rented by two topless dancers.

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Rae Carruth’s defense attorneys began building their case that the series of telephone calls between the former NFL player and his co-defendants indicates a drug deal, not a murder-for-hire scheme. Defense attorney David Rudolf noted that key prosecution witness and co-defendant Michael Kennedy testified that the calls among the co-defendants were made just hours before the drive-by shooting of Carruth’s pregnant girlfriend Nov. 16, 1999.. . . New York Met reliever Armando Benitez slammed a door against his fiancee, Stacey O’Neill, during an argument at their residence in Baltimore on Nov. 8, according to what the woman told police in a report filed Thursday. Benitez, 28, has not been charged.

A jury in Grand Rapids, Mich., has ordered the former manager for Buster Mathis Jr. to pay $837,000 in damages to the retired heavyweight boxer. The manager, Brian Lee Baumchen, sued Mathis in 1996, and Mathis countersued. Each accused the other of wrongdoing. . . . Former America’s Cup skipper Bill Koch must pay more than $16 million to end a marriage marked by accusations of spousal abuse. Bill and Angela Koch had been married four years. A judge in West Palm Beach, Fla., granted a divorce Thursday.

Baseball

Nick Kamzic, 81, whose 39 seasons as a scout for the Angels made him the last original member of the team when he retired last year, died Tuesday in Evergreen Park, Ill. He had been hospitalized for congestive heart failure. . . . The Boston Red Sox signed free agent pitcher Hideo Nomo to a $4.5-million, one-year deal. . . . Two-time All-Star Gregg Jefferies, facing a future as a role player at 33, said he will retire. . . . Former Dodger catcher Steve Yeager will manage the Long Beach Breakers next year in their inaugural season in the independent Western Baseball League. . . . The Tigers acquired pitcher Matt Perisho from the Texas Rangers for minor league pitchers Kevin Mobley and Brandon Villafuerte. . . . The Phillies added another reliever to their bullpen by bringing back former All-Star Ricky Bottalico, who agreed to a $1.5-million, one-year contract. Bottalico pitched for Kansas City last season.

Miscellany

Sweden’s Anna-Karin Kammerling set two world records at the European short course swimming championships at Valencia, Spain. She broke her 50-meter butterfly record with a time of 25.60 seconds, then anchored Sweden’s 200-meter freestyle team that swam 1:38.21. . . . Venus and Serena Williams have entered into a three-year agreement with Avon to do TV commercials and print advertisements. Financial terms were not disclosed.

George Sholty, a Hall of Fame harness racing driver and winner of more than $20 million in purse money, has died after an extended illness in Colts Neck, N.J. He was 68. . . . Harvard Athletic Director Bill Cleary will retire next year, ending an association with the school that spans more than 50 years as a student, coach and administrator.

Canada’s Dave Hilton Jr. won the World Boxing Council super middleweight title, outpointing South Africa’s Dingaan Thobela in a split decision at Montreal. . . . Wisconsin (33-3), in its first women’s volleyball final four, faces Nebraska (33-0) today in the NCAA title match at Richmond, Va. The Badgers beat UCLA in the Mideast Regional final and defeated USC in the semifinals Thursday night. . . .Montana (13-1) plays Georgia Southern (12-2) for the Division I-AA football championship today in Chattanooga, Tenn.