sentences:  After joining "The Sacramento Bee" in 1976, he discovered that authorities had wrongly charged an innocent man with murder, and was instrumental in convincing detectives to drop the charges.While covering the war in Vietnam, Avery suffered a spinal fracture when a falling tree limb knocked him from atop an armored personnel carrier.Avery died of pulmonary emphysema in West Sound, Washington, on December 10, 2000.