The Week October 30 - November 5

NATION

The Union County Nightmare

After a weeklong national alert and a frantic series of fruitless tips and searches set off by Susan Smith's vivid accounts, the hunt for the carjacking kidnapper of 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander ended in Union County, South Carolina, the place where the tragedy began. Authorities accused Smith of murdering the children after police found her car with the boys inside at the bottom of a local lake. The arrest shocked the community and appeared to confirm some of the worst infanticidal suspicions of early doubters of Smith's tale.

The White House Rifle Case

Francisco Martin Duran, the Colorado man accused of opening fire on the White House with a semiautomatic rifle, was ordered held without bail and charged with four felonies that could result in 35 years behind bars. Prosecutors indicated they were studying notes seized from Duran, as well as the statements of acquaintances, to determine whether or not the charges should be upgraded to an attempted assassination of the President. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen announced that the review of White House security begun after the September plane incident would be intensified.

CIA Uncloaked and Daggered

In a scathing report, the Senate Intelligence Committee accused the CIA of gross ineptitude for failing to unearth agency mole Aldrich Ames during a period of nine years. Ames' sale of secrets to the Soviets -- the most damaging security breach in U.S. spy history -- is believed to have cost the lives of at least 10 agents behind the Iron Curtain and compromised more than 100 operations. The committee blasted the agency for its inability to investigate itself and properly recognize Ames' suspicious activities. The panel also criticized Director R. James Woolsey for his mild reprimands of those responsible for the botched probe.

Death for a Pro-Life Killer

A Florida jury recommended death for antiabortion extremist Paul Hill after convicting him of murdering Dr. John Britton and his escort James Barrett outside a Pensacola clinic in July. Hill, already convicted on federal charges, had told the jury beforehand, "You may mix my blood with the blood of the unborn ... However, truth and righteousness will prevail." A judge will decide later whether to impose the death sentence.

A Deadly Plane Crash

A packed ATR-72 plane, American Eagle Flight 4184, heading to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from Indianapolis, crashed in a northwestern Indiana soybean field during a heavy rainstorm. All 68 people aboard perished.

The Simpson Case

The prosecution and defense in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson agreed on a 12-person jury composed of eight blacks, two Hispanics, one white and one person of white and American Indian background. Eight of the panelists are women, four are men. Still to be selected: 15 alternate jurors.

One Tailhook Lesson Learned