Brazil: Arrest ordered in US nun's death

A Brazilian court has annulled the acquittal of a rancher accused of orchestrating the murder of an American-born nun.

The court in Para state says Vitalmiro Moura should be taken into custody to face a new trial in the shooting death of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang, a native of Dayton, Ohio.

Federal Prosecutor Felicio Pontes on Tuesday confirmed the ruling, as did a spokesman for the court. Pontes says the rancher is not yet in custody.

Stang spent three decades defending the rights of poor settlers who confronted powerful ranchers seeking their lands in the Amazon's wild frontier.

She was allegedly killed in 2005 for defending land that Moura and another rancher wanted.

A new trial date has not been set.

Terra/AP