U.S. Pleased by Second Singapore Case

[Reuters]

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The United States Tuesday expressed
satisfaction that American teenager Stephen Freehill escaped
caning in a vandalism case in Singapore.
Asked if the government was glad Freehill's case ended
without the confrontation that characterized the case of fellow
American teenager Michael Fay, a State Department spokesman,
David Johnson, said: ``Yes. We would have preferred that the
other case turned out so.''
Freehill escaped a possible nine strokes of the cane Tuesday
when Singapore prosecutors dropped vandalism charges against
him.
The decision came 12 days after Fay was caned four times for
vandalism relating to the same incident in a highly publicized
case that stoked U.S.-Singapore tensions and included criticism
of the sentence by President Clinton.
Johnson said the U.S. embassy in Singapore followed
Freehill's case as closely as Fay's and made clear to
Singaporean authorities that Washington considered the caning
harsh punishment for a youthful offender.
District Court Judge Khoo Oon Soo fined Freehill, 17, $516
after the prosecution said it was withdrawing charges of
vandalism and mischief because it could not rely on the
statements of his accomplices.
Originally, Freehill faced three charges of spray-painting
cars in the company of 18-year-old Fay, Hong Kong youth Shiu Chi
Ho, 17, and others last September. Freehill also faced two
charges of mischief and one of keeping stolen property.
He could have been sentenced to nine or more strokes on the
three vandalism charges, with a mandatory minimum of three
strokes for each count.