Crimes and Trials News

PHOENIX - An Iraqi immigrant accused of killing his daughter because she had become too Westernized has pleaded not guilty in a Phoenix court.

ALBANY, N.Y. - The corruption case of former New York Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno has gone to the jury, which will decide whether he used his power to line his pockets and deprive New Yorkers of honest government.

WICHITA, Kan. - A Kansas nurse convicted of enslaving mentally ill residents of a Newton group home was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday after a federal judge acknowledged the original seven-year term was too short.

MADISON, Wis. - A Wisconsin man transformed his apartment into a pornographic shrine to young girls, arranging mannequins in a sex act, plastering every flat surface with pictures and setting up a bed covered with stuffed animals, investigators said Monday.

NEWARK, N.J. - A judge reserved ruling Monday on whether a former Philippine National Police officer who served prison time for receiving classified U.S. government documents will be extradited to face murder charges back home.

MINNEAPOLIS - Federal prosecutors unsealed new terror-related charges against eight people on Monday as part of the long-running investigation of young men who left the United States to fight in Somalia.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) - The government made a final effort to convince jurors on Monday that accused Ponzi schemer Tom Petters orchestrated a $3.65 billion fraud, and is not the victim he claims to be.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Arkansas lawyer who once specialized in securities fraud litigation was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Monday to 86 months in prison for stealing $9.3 million from clients.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Chicago insurance man pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he peeped into television sports reporter Erin Andrews' hotel room when she was nude, took video of her and tried to sell the footage.

PHILADELPHIA - A jury in Philadelphia has ordered Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to pay a woman $75 million in punitive damages after finding a link between her breast cancer and a hormone-replacement drug.

NEWARK, N.J. - A former federal prosecutor and prominent New Jersey defense attorney whose past clients have included Queen Latifah and Lil' Kim has pleaded not guilty to bribery, drug and prostitution charges.

BOSTON - A convicted murderer who is seeking a taxpayer-funded sex-change operation has asked a judge to order Massachusetts prison officials to provide electrolysis treatments.

WICHITA, Kan. - Seemingly contradicting his own public statements, an attorney for the man accused of gunning down a Kansas abortion provider has argued in court documents that his client has an "absolute right" to present a defense that argues the killing was justified to stop abortion.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The number of US hate crime victims rose slightly last year to nearly 9,700 from 9,500 in 2007, with most people targeted because of their skin color, the FBI said Monday.

NEW YORK - The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said.

SAN ANTONIO - A military judge in Texas has found a former Air Force nurse accused of killing three terminally ill patients not guilty of murder.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An elderly US couple charged with spying for Cuba for almost 30 years has pleaded guilty in the conspiracy, with the husband agreeing to serve a life sentence, the US Justice Department said.

PERUGIA, Italy (AFP) - American student Amanda Knox exclaimed "I was her friend!" as Italian prosecutors Saturday demanded she be jailed for life for the 2007 murder of her British housemate Meredith Kercher.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio - The jury in the trial of an Ohio police chief accused of breaking into the home of a woman who carried twins for Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick ended five hours of deliberations Friday without a verdict.

HONOLULU - A Maui man accused of spying for China is difficult to work with and makes wild exaggerations but is legally able to stand trial, a federal prosecutor asserted Friday.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Two congressional Republicans say federal prosecutors rushed into a settlement with a nonprofit operated by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson that had been accused of misspending government grants.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Two former county judges accused of taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send juveniles to private detention facilities are partially immune from civil lawsuits, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled Friday.

SAN DIEGO - A 17-year-old pleaded guilty Friday to killing a Border Patrol agent who was shot eight times while chasing suspected illegal immigrants in the mountains east of San Diego.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The army psychiatrist accused of a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood military base in Texas will have his first pre-trial court hearing Saturday in his hospital room, his lawyer's office told AFP.

SUFFERN, N.Y. - Cable television newsman Dominic Carter, an influential reporter on New York politics, was convicted Friday of an attempted assault on his wife.

SAN FRANCISCO - A judge's decision to move Johannes Mehserle's murder trial to Los Angeles County is a setback for the former transit police officer charged with gunning down an unarmed man on New Year's Day.

NEW YORK - A prison system official says a New York City man is free after spending nearly two decades behind bars for murder before a judge declared him innocent.

ATLANTA - Wesley Snipes' attorneys asked a federal appeals court Friday to review an "unreasonable" three-year prison sentence for the film star, who was convicted a year ago on federal tax charges.

PARIS (Reuters) - Roman Polanski will not agree voluntarily to being extradited to the United States over a 1970s child sex case, the film director's lawyer said in an interview with French daily Le Figaro published on Friday.