NBA Washout David Vaughn Back From The Depths of Despair

ORLANDO -- David Vaughn would doze off at night thinking about the thick, fluffy towels and those cool-to-the-touch, soft white sheets that he used to pull up around his chin when he slept so soundly at the posh Ritz Carlton, his home-away-from-home when he played in the National Basketball Association.

Unfortunately, he would wake up soon afterward, realizing he was back to reality, living on the streets in Orlando, sleeping with one eye open, in places that often embarrassed him.

There was that dank, dusty storage shed that a friend rented for $39 a month and gave him the extra key so he could at least get out of the rain at night. Nobody bothered him there but the cockroaches.

There was the back of his old Chevy Impala, which was a little cramped for a 6-foot-9, 250-pound man. The bigger issue was the middle-of-the-night taps on the window by law enforcement when he parked in a bad spot, or even worse when he was awakened by the gunshots of the drug dealers outside.

There was the homeless shelter, which wasn't always available because it was first-come, first-served and it usually filled up fast with grown men wheezing or crying or snoring and people always asking questions.

Then there was the clean and comfortable local hospital, where he eventually ended up because the infection from the multiple spider bites on his toe had grown so out of control and spiked his fever that doctors wanted to amputate his grotesque-looking foot before it cost him the entire leg.

That's where he woke up one day to find his estranged wife crying beside his hospital bed, begging him to come home again, even if it meant violating the court order that prevented him from being within 500 feet of her.

Living on the street almost killed him.

Praying for forgiveness literally saved him.

"I feel lucky to still be alive,'' Vaughn said last week when we met at the downtown public library, heaven for an avid reader and a day-time haven for anyone living on the streets. It's where he felt comfortable enough to sit and talk about his life after basketball, about his downward spiral, about hitting bottom nine months ago in that hospital room, and his rebirth through the last several months."I went from the pinnacle of having it all, to the pits of having absolutely nothing, and seeing no light at the end of the tunnel.''
-- David Vaughn

"I went from the pinnacle of having it all, to the pits of having absolutely nothing, and seeing no light at the end of the tunnel,'' he said. "I was a mess, but I didn't want to end up in hell. And now I'm on my way back.''

Vaughn, 36, wasn't much different in 2008 than the thousands of homeless people living in cities across America, except he had fallen out of the penthouse, a former first-round draft pick of the Orlando Magic in 1995 who washed out of the league after four years, and with no idea where to turn next.

Vaughn came from the University of Memphis, a big, strong power forward who shined in college basketball, but struggled to carve his niche in the NBA, never living up to expectations. He played in Europe for a couple years afterward, bounced through a few teams, even returned home to try the Harlem Globetrotters for a short period.

But he lost his passion for the game, then lost everything else, including his wife, two children and his self esteem.

His original three-year guaranteed contract with the Magic didn't come with any guarantees of a successful life. The contract didn't come with a course in life management skills, and he had none when his basketball career finished. He had no degree after three years in college, and no real desire to get one.

"We're fortunate that he's still with us, after all he has been through the last few years,'' said Kyle Rote, Jr. his former agent who has kept in and out of contact with him and his wife. "A lot of guys would be dead. I've always said `it's a lot harder to get out of big-time professional sports than it is to get into it.' You get sucked into that lifestyle, and there's no easy way out.''

Despite all the low moments -- the domestic violence arrest and two jail stays, the failed drug tests, the broken up family, the broken down body, the depression that followed, and the year on the streets -- Vaughn's story does not have a sad ending.

It's a comeback story with a happy new start. It's a story about a good family man now whose life has come back together as he looks for a new job, looking forward to being there for his two kids and his wife and for himself, a rock for them to lean on instead of a dope for failing them.

There is no bitterness in his voice, only the joy that he has found in the last nine months and the hope for a bright and simple future. He speaks confidently about his plans and he smiles a lot.

"I have no regrets, except for what I put my family through,'' he said. "I'm a lot smarter now. I made it to the NBA, which was a dream of mine. I just didn't know what to do when I got there. The money doesn't last forever. It comes and goes. I made a lot of bad choices. Now I just want to get a decent job, drive a truck, be a security guard, maybe coach a little. I'd be happy with that life. My wife stuck with me through the hard times -- and I'm grateful -- and we made it through the storm.''

Vaughn's NBA career included two seasons in Orlando, then another two split between Golden State, Chicago and New Jersey. Through four seasons, he played in just 118 games, averaging only 9.8 minutes a game. He then played parts of three seasons in Europe.

The money he made in basketball – the most was $600,000 in each of his first three seasons – is long gone. He bought more cars than he could ever drive, a house too big for himself when he was single, too many clothes and too much jewelry, sending too much money to relatives back in Memphis.

When his basketball career ended in 2003, he came back to Orlando looking for work. He unloaded trucks at a grocery store. He moved packages at Federal Express. He tried his own one-man moving company. He worked for three years at a furniture store driving and unloading trucks. He was good at it, too, but he was laid off when the store stopped their delivery service.

Even when he lived on the street, he often was working. He just wasn't making enough money to support both him and his family that he couldn't legally see. They had a small apartment. He had the street. His paychecks usually went to them.

"We look back now, at all the trials and tribulations we went through, and say `wow. We made it through,''' said Brandi Vaughn, his wife and mother of his two children. "It was a battle. When he was playing basketball, we had it all, but we were foolish. We separated, but I never divorced him, even when the judge said I should. We fought the good fight, and we made it through.''

Vaughn today is collecting unemployment, getting $250 per week, still looking for another job. He and the family live together in Southwest Orlando. He likes nothing better than watching his two sons playing football in the courtyard outside their apartment.

They have little money, but they never have been happier. He thinks back to the '90s when he played in the NBA, living large and acting wild like a child with too many quarters in an arcade.

"I used to come to this library a lot when I had nowhere else to go,'' he said. "If I had any advice for the young guys coming into the league today, it's prepare for a future beyond basketball. If you're not careful, everything can disappear.''

Nicole Richie Checks Into Hospital

It seems like Nicole Richie has been pregnant for 18 months, but she may finally be ready to give birth to baby #2.

Richie, who is expecting her second baby with boyfriend Joel Madden, reportedly checked into a Los Angeles medical center at the end of last week.

Joel recently confessed that him and Nicole can’t wait to welcome their second child into the world, but they're staying mum on the sex of the baby.

Madden said, “We're excited about it. It's going to be great." Nicole’s father, singer Lionel Richie, recently confessed he hopes the couple will have a son.

He said: "It's very exciting. Joel is hoping for a boy, but knowing Nicole she's hoping for a little girl again. They're not telling me what sex the baby is because I'll tell everyone! Nicole is the mom of moms. She's in love with the whole concept."

We can't wait to find out if she had a boy or a girl...and what name she chose. Congrats to the happy couple!

New giant rat species discovered

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Scientists have discovered a new species of giant rat in a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea.

The newly discovered rat is similar in size and weight to this one found by scientists in 2007.

Measuring 82 centimeters (32.2 inches) from nose to tail and weighing around 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds), the species is thought to be one of the largest rats ever to be found.

The discovery was made by a team from the BBC Natural History Unit inside the crater of Mount Bosavi -- an extinct volcano in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea.

"This is one of the world's largest rats. It's a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers," said Kristofer Helgen, a biologist from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, who was part of the expedition team.

Initial examinations of the rat -- provisionally named the Bosavi woolly rat -- suggest that it belongs to the Mallomys -- a genus of rodents in the muridae family which are the largest living species of rodent.

A 40-year-old history teacher at Munford High School was shot by his 15-year-old daughter

A 40-year-old history teacher at Munford High School was shot by his 15-year-old daughter early today as he slept in a den, Tipton County Sheriff's Department officials said.

Sheriff's deputies, called about 12:30 a.m., found Douglas Van Neste had been fatally shot at his home on Marshall Cove, which has a Millington address but is in south Tipton County.

The preliminary investigation found that he was shot by his daughter, who used a shotgun, officials said.

The daughter has not been charged or arrested.

Incidents leading up to the shooting are still under investigation, they said. The family -- Van Neste had a wife and two children -- is cooperating with investigators.

"This is a tragic incident for the Van Neste family, the Munford High School staff and student body and our Tipton County community," Sheriff J.T. 'Pancho' Chumley said in a statement.

"The Sheriff’s Office is working closely with the Tipton County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. (Tim) Fite, and his staff to assist the school family in providing any support needed during this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those touched by this death.”

Sheriff's detectives, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation detectives and a district attorney's office participated in the investigation. An autopsy was expected to be conducted today at the Regional Forensic Center in Memphis.

A statement from police says, "The preliminary investigation indicates that Mr. VanNeste sleeping in the den when he was shot by his 15-year-old daughter. The specific incidents leading up to the shooting is still under investigation at this time. The family is being cooperative with detectives and special agents in the investigation. "

Man spent 23 years in jail for a crime he did not commit will be given $80,000m dollars a day

DALLAS — Thomas McGowan's journey from prison to prosperity is about to culminate in $1.8 million, and he knows just how to spend it: on a house with three bedrooms, stainless steel kitchen appliances and a washer and dryer.

"I'll let my girlfriend pick out the rest," said McGowan, who was exonerated last year based on DNA evidence after spending nearly 23 years in prison for rape and robbery.

He and other exonerees in Texas, which leads the nation in freeing the wrongly convicted, soon will become instant millionaires under a new state law that took effect this week.

Exonerees will get $80,000 for each year they spent behind bars. The compensation also includes lifetime annuity payments that for most of the wrongly convicted are worth between $40,000 and $50,000 a year — making it by far the nation's most generous package.

"I'm nervous and excited," said McGowan, 50. "It's something I never had, this amount of money. I didn't have any money — period."

His payday for his imprisonment — a time he described as "a nightmare," "hell" and "slavery" — should come by mid-November after the state's 45-day processing period.

Exonerees also receive an array of social services, including job training, tuition credits and access to medical and dental treatment. Though 27 other states have some form of compensation law for the wrongly convicted, none comes close to offering the social services and money Texas provides.

The annuity payments are especially popular among exonerees, who acknowledge their lack of experience in managing personal finances. A social worker who meets with the exonerees is setting them up with financial advisers and has led discussions alerting them to swindlers.

The annuities are "a way to guarantee these guys ... payments for life as long as they follow the law," said Kevin Glasheen, a Lubbock attorney representing a dozen exonerees.

Two who served about 26 years in prison for rape will receive lump sums of about $2 million apiece. Another, Steven Phillips, who spent about 24 years in prison for sexual assault and burglary, will get about $1.9 million.

The biggest compensation package will likely go to James Woodard, who spent more than 27 years in prison for a 1980 murder that DNA testing later showed he did not commit. He eventually could receive nearly $2.2 million but first needs a writ from the state's Court of Criminal Appeals or a pardon from the governor.

McGowan and the others are among 38 DNA exonerees in Texas, according to the Innocence Project, a New York legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions. Dallas County alone has 21 cases in which a judge overturned guilty verdicts based on DNA evidence, though prosecutors plan to retry one of those.

Charles Chatman, who was wrongly convicted of rape, said the money will allow him some peace of mind after more than 26 years in prison.

"It will bring me some independence," he said. "Other people have had a lot of control over my life."

Chatman and other exonerees already have begun rebuilding their lives. Several plan to start businesses, saying they don't mind working but want to be their own bosses. Others, such as McGowan, don't intend to work and hope to make their money last a lifetime.

Some exonerees have gotten married and another is about to. Phillips is taking college courses. Chatman became a first-time father at 49.

"That's something I never thought I'd be able to do," he said. "No amount of money can replace the time we've lost."

The drumbeat of DNA exonerations caused lawmakers this year to increase the compensation for the wrongly convicted, which had been $50,000 for each year of prison. Glasheen, the attorney, advised his clients to drop their federal civil rights lawsuits and then led the lobbying efforts for the bill.

Besides the lump sum and the monthly annuity payments, the bill includes 120 hours of paid tuition at a public college. It also gives exonerees an additional $25,000 for each year they spent on parole or as registered sex offenders.

No other state has such a provision, according to the Innocence Project.

Exonerees who collected lump sum payments under the old compensation law are ineligible for the new lump sums but will receive the annuities. Whether the money will be subject to taxes remains unsettled, Glasheen said.

The monthly payments are expected to be a lifeline for exonerees such as Wiley Fountain, 53, who received nearly $390,000 in compensation — minus federal taxes — but squandered it by, as he said, "living large." He ended up homeless, spending his nights in a tattered sleeping bag behind a liquor store.

But after getting help from fellow exonerees and social workers, Fountain now lives in an apartment and soon will have a steady income.

Fountain's story is a cautionary tale for the other exonerees, who meet monthly and lately have been discussing the baggage that comes with the money.

Chatman said he's been approached by "family, friends and strangers, too."

"It takes two or three seconds before they ask me how much money, or when do I get the money," he said. "Everyone has the perfect business venture for you."

Though appropriately wary, the exonerees say they are excited about having money in the bank.

"You're locked up so long and then you get out with nothing," McGowan said. "With this, you might be able to live a normal life, knowing you don't have to worry about being out on the streets."

Ashcroft subject to lawsuit by man who cites Justice policies

(CNN) -- Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is not immune from being sued by a man who says he was illegally detained under Justice Department policies implemented after the September 11 terror attacks, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

A spokesman for former Attorney General John Ashcroft says his team is reviewing the decision.

The man, a native-born U.S. citizen who was once a college football star, was held and interrogated by the FBI for 16 days in 2003 and his travel was limited for another year, court documents said.

A spokesman for Ashcroft, asked for his reaction, said, "We're reviewing the decision and have no further comment."

The court rejected Ashcroft's argument that his involvement was as a prosecutor, which would give him full immunity from lawsuits, not as an investigator, which could leave him liable.

"We disagree," the decision said. "Many tools and tactics available to prosecutors can serve either an investigatory or advocacy-related function."

Abdullah al-Kidd's lawyers said Ashcroft developed a policy under which the FBI and Justice Department would use the federal material witness law as a pretext "to arrest and detain terrorism suspects about whom they did not have sufficient evidence to arrest on criminal charges but wished to hold preventively or to investigate further."

His arrest warrant was based on an FBI affidavit that said he was needed to testify at the trial of a Saudi man who had been indicted on visa fraud. Al-Kidd was never called as a witness in that case, in which the defendant was acquitted, court documents said.

The decision said that "al-Kidd's arrest functioned as an investigatory arrest or national security-related pre-emptive detention, rather than as one to secure a witness's testimony for trial."

Al-Kidd, an African-American born in Wichita, Kansas, converted to Islam and changed his name from Lavini T. Kidd, according to court documents.

He was taken into custody at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia as he prepared to depart to Saudi Arabia, where he planned to study Arabic and Islamic law, the documents said.

The FBI interrogated him, moving him from Virginia to Oklahoma and then Idaho, court documents said. He was kept in chains while being held in high-security cells that were lit 24 hours a day, his lawyers said.

A judge ordered his release 16 days later, but he was required to surrender his passport and stay in Nevada for another 15 months.

During that time, he lost his job with a government contractor because he could not get a required security clearance. The father of two also was divorced by his wife.

The FBI began watching al-Kidd months before detaining him, as part of their anti-terror investigation aimed at Muslim men, his lawyers said.

When agents learned of his plans to fly to Saudi Arabia, they obtained the "material witness" warrant based on their contention he would not return.

The agents failed to tell the magistrate who issued the warrant that al-Kidd was an American citizen with family in the United States, or that he had previously cooperated with the FBI, his lawyers said. They also told the judge he had a one-way ticket, when he actually held a round-trip ticket, they said.

Oregon Player Suspended for Sucker Punch

(AP) Oregon suspended running back LeGarrette Blount on Friday for the remainder of season for punching Boise State defensive end Byron Hout.

As Boise State began celebrating on their famous blue turf, Hout yelled in Blount's face and tapped him on the shoulder pad. Before Broncos head coach Chris Petersen could pull Hout away, Blount landed a right to Hout's jaw, knocking him to his knees.

Blount also had to be restrained by police officers from fans heckling him on the way to the locker room after No. 16 Oregon's 19-8 loss Thursday to the No. 14 Broncos.

Blount's suspension includes any bowl games. Coach Chip Kelly said Blount will remain on scholarship.

Hout will not be suspended for taunting Blount. Boise State spokesman Max Corbet told The Associated Press in an e-mail that Petersen planned to spend time with Hout this week to help him learn from what happened.

Mike Bellotti, who stepped aside as head coach to become Oregon's athletic director this summer, said the Pac-10 was consulted about the punishment and supported Oregon's decision.

Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott was at the game and saw the altercation firsthand.

After the game, Blount apologized for his actions.

"It was just something that I shouldn't have done," said Blount, who had eight carries for a loss of five yards. "I lost my head."

Regardless, Oregon University president Richard Lariviere called Blount's behavior "reprehensible."

"We do not and will not tolerate the actions that were taken by our player. Oregon's loyal fans expect and deserve better," Lariviere said in a statement. "The University of Oregon Athletics Department is reviewing the situation and will take appropriate action, reflecting the seriousness of the player's behavior."

In February, Blount was suspended indefinitely from the team for "failure to fulfill team obligations." Bellotti did not share any details, elaborate at the time, but Blount reportedly missed offseason team meetings.

He was reinstated before spring practice.

Blount, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound transfer from East Mississippi CC, rushed for 1,0002 yards and a school-record 17 touchdowns last season.