Recent Updates
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Grand jury: Miss. athlete's gunshot death accident
Criminal Law 02/13/2009A Mississippi grand jury has ruled that the shooting death of a star high school football player during a traffic stop was accidental. The ruling Thursday tracks the conclusion of the initial investigation that Billey Joe Johnson had shot himself wit...
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Fla. executes man for killing Tampa teen in 1983
Criminal Law 02/12/2009A Florida rapist convicted of murdering his girlfriend's teenage daughter more than 25 years ago has been executed. Wayne Tompkins was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m. Wednesday after he failed to get courts to listen to his claims of innocence. He was p...
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Ex-La. insurance CEO pleads not guilty to theft
Criminal Law 02/03/2009The former chief of Louisiana's state-backed insurance company pleaded not guilty Monday in a criminal case that accuses him of fraudulently spending the firm's money for personal travel and entertainment. Terry Lisotta was arraigned in Baton Rouge o...
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Teen accused in taped Fla. beating pleads guilty
Criminal Law 01/29/2009One of five teenagers accused in the videotaped beating of a Florida girl has accepted a plea deal.Eighteen-year-old Mercades Nichols pleaded guilty Tuesday to battery and tampering with a witness. The State Attorney's Office said a kidnapping charge...
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Supreme Court reviews speedy trial issue
Criminal Law 01/14/2009The Supreme Court appeared unlikely Tuesday to favor a broad rule that rewards criminal defendants with dismissal of charges against them because of trial delays by their taxpayer-funded lawyers. The court heard arguments in a case from Vermont in wh...
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2 Ill. men accused of running $15M fraud scheme
Criminal Law 01/08/2009Two men passed themselves off as foreign currency traders to swindle customers out of $15 million, which they used to pay for a lifestyle that included strip clubs, jewelry and private jets, according to a criminal complaint unveiled Wednesday in fed...
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Santa gunman lost job, wife before gory attack
Criminal Law 12/29/2008Bruce and Sylvia Pardo started the new year in 2006 with all signs pointing to a bright future — an upcoming marriage, a combined income of about $150,000, half-million-dollar home on a quiet cul-de-sac and a beloved dog, Saki.But things quickly turn...
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Fla. teen pleads not guilty in school shooting
Criminal Law 12/17/2008A teen charged with fatally shooting a friend at a south Florida high school has pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge.Teah Wimberly entered a written plea Thursday. She will be tried as an adult. If convicted, the 15-year-old could be ...
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Gunman shoots 3 inside NJ church
Criminal Law 11/23/2008A gunman has fired shots inside a church in New Jersey and authorities say three people have been wounded, one critically.The gunman opened fire just before noon Sunday inside the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, in northern New ...
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2 due in federal court in Vegas boy's abduction
Criminal Law 11/03/2008The grandfather of a 6-year-old boy who was abducted for four days was due in federal court Monday to face a racketeering charge, the U.S. Attorney's office said.Clemens Fred Tinnemeyer, 51, and a woman described as his companion, Terri Leavy, 42, ha...
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Judge orders mom charged in kid's death released
Criminal Law 10/30/2008A woman accused with her husband of giving their 4-year-old daughter a fatal overdose of prescription drugs will be released from jail as she awaits trial, a judge ruled Thursday.Judge Charles Hely said Carolyn Riley should be released on her own rec...
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Wis. court: Cops illegally taped nursing home sex
Criminal Law 09/12/2008Police who videotaped a man having sex with his comatose wife in her nursing home room violated his constitutional rights, an appeals court ruled Thursday.David W. Johnson, 59, had an expectation to privacy when he visited his wife, a stroke victim, ...