SUPREME COURT . . . "DEADLY FORCE" RULE STANDS

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to reconsider a ruling that lets police use deadly force against people who try to escape from custody while awaiting a criminal trial, effectively saying it is constitutional to shoot at even unarmed fugitives. Without comment, the justices turned away an appeal in a Houston case that argued against shooting "pretrial detainees." The incident involved Roland Brothers Jr., a Texas man arrested in 1998 for auto theft, who was shot by sheriff's deputies while trying to escape. His family sued, claiming the act was unconstitutional. Today's decision resolved a nine-year-old legal contradiction: In 1985, the High court struck down a Tennessee "fleeing felon" law allowing such force, but a federal appeals court the same year said that ruling shouldn't apply once a criminal suspect had been arrested.WITCH-STATE SEPARATION? The Court also nixed a Florida man's suit against the Alachua County school board for allowing his son's elementary school to celebrate Halloween with brooms, cauldrons and teachers dressed up as witches. The father, Robert Guyer, argued that using Halloween symbols violated the constitutionally-required separation of church and state. His reasoning: brooms, etc., are like symbols of Wicca, a variety of witchcraft and a religion whose adherents consider Halloween a religious holiday.