December 31, 2003
A Valley Stream man, who is a Level One sex offender, was charged with sexual abuse after he allegedly feigned distress and then attacked the woman as she tried to help him.
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05:35 PM
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Prosecutors have filed charges including sexual assault and kidnapping against a Colorado Springs businessman accused of raping an 11-year-old girl while three women videotaped the attack.
Bruce Sams, 40, was scheduled to appear in court Friday for a hearing in which his lawyer will ask to have his $250,000 bond reduced.
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05:32 PM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --
A woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing at least $66,000 from a youth soccer league, which she must repay under her deal with prosecutors.
Karen Edenfield, 40, pleaded guilty to the grand theft of between $66,000 and $82,000. She also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors to explain how she robbed the First Coast Soccer Association, where she formerly served as treasurer.
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05:30 PM
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) - The Santa Barbara County sheriff denied Wednesday that Michael Jackson was roughed up in jail, saying he was asking the state attorney general to investigate the pop star's claims.
Sheriff Jim Anderson said that he was taking Jackson's complaint of abuse as a formal citizen's complaint. If Jackson's claims are found to be untrue by a state investigation, Anderson said, he would file a complaint against Jackson for making a groundless accusation against an officer.
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05:18 PM
December 29, 2003
A newborn girl was abducted from a hospital while her mother showered Wednesday, but she was quickly recovered at the home of a woman now accused of kidnapping her. Martina Allen, 22, was arrested at her Newark home about an hour and a half after the infant was taken from Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. The 2-day-old girl was found safe at the residence, police said.
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12:08 AM
LARGO -- A former professional wrestler was arrested on a charge of attempted murder because authorities said he stabbed his ex-girlfriend three times. Richard "Dirty Dick" Slater, 52, used a kitchen knife with an 8-inch blade to stab Theresa Halbert, 41, at her home Saturday afternoon, police Sgt. George Edmiston said. Halbert was briefly hospitalized for stab wounds to an arm, leg and back before she was released.
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12:07 AM
Shortly after Lennell Greer was charged Friday with beating two people at a Wal-Mart store in Forest Park on Christmas Eve, Greer's wife lashed out at the victims, saying her husband simply was protecting their daughter. "A father's love is his crime,'' said the wife, who identified herself as "Mrs. Lennell Greer.'' "What would any man do when a grown man starts something with his 11-year-old, 70-pound daughter?''
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12:06 AM
Officials say a mentally incapacitated teen was raped by two fellow patients on a hospital psychiatric ward. Police say the crime occurred at Albert Einstein Medical Center at about 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve, after one of the men pulled the 18-year-old woman into his room.
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12:05 AM
EUNICE, La. (AP) -- Three bullets were shot at a detective's mobile home just after he and his family turned in for sleep and a juvenile suspect was arrested Sunday, officials said. The bullets were fired at Ronald Papillion's home at about 10 p.m. Saturday, according to Eunice Police Department Chief Gary Fontenot.
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12:04 AM
GLENDALE, Colo. (AP) - Glendale police arrested a 22-year-old man Sunday for allegedly starting an apartment fire that killed one resident. Residents of the complex were evacuated at 1:45 a.m. Sunday when the fire began in a first floor unit.
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12:03 AM
December 28, 2003
DENVER Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant (search) said in a televised interview Thursday that he sometimes becomes distracted or scared as he fights a felony sexual assault charge. "You're just ... living in a nightmare and just can't really wake up out of it," Bryant said in the interview, broadcast on ABC at halftime of the Houston Rockets-Lakers game.
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11:20 PM
December 26, 2003
NEW YORK (AP) - Michael Jackson told CBS'"60 Minutes" that he still believes it's acceptable to sleep with children and that he would "slit my wrists" before he would hurt a child.
Jackson, arrested Nov. 20 on suspicion of child molestation, denied the charges against him during an interview with Ed Bradley conducted Christmas night and set to air Sunday. CBS released a portion of the interview on Friday.
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07:12 PM
MIAMI (Reuters) - Florida prosecutors on Friday offered a plea deal of three years' detention to Lionel Tate, the teenager whose life sentence for the beating death of a younger playmate sparked a national debate on the prosecution of children.
The offer came just over two weeks after a Florida appeals court ordered a new trial for Tate who was convicted in 2001 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
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07:11 PM
December 23, 2003
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Reuters) - Jurors on Tuesday spared the life of teenage sniper Lee Malvo after deliberating less than nine hours on options that included the death penalty for two counts of capital murder.
Malvo, 18, who the same jury convicted last week of the murder of FBI analyst Linda Franklin, 47, as part of a string of random shootings in and around the U.S. capital last year, sat with one arm resting on the defense table and the other hand covering his mouth as a court official read the sentences.
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06:17 PM
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Prosecutors can examine Rush Limbaugh's medical records to determine whether he should be charged with "doctor shopping" for prescription painkillers, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Winikoff denied the conservative commentator's request to keep the records sealed, but did say prosecutors cannot make the records public. Limbaugh's attorney promised a prompt appeal.
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12:48 PM
Lawyers in the sniper trial of Lee Malvo, who was convicted last week of two counts of capital murder, presented their closing arguments in the sentencing phase today before turning the case over to the jury for deliberations on whether he should be executed or face life in prison.
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12:21 AM
A 23-year-old woman and her boyfriend have been charged with abusing the woman's 4-year-old daughter, found severely burned and convulsive at their southeast Houston apartment Saturday.
Patricia Diaz Onofre and Jose Antonio Camacho, 28, are charged with injury to a child-serious bodily injury. The child had what appeared to be burns from scalding water to her back, the inside of her legs and her left hand, officials said. She also had a broken pelvis and unhealed, infected lacerations
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12:18 AM
After more than two months of separation from the four adopted sons they are accused of starving, Raymond and Vanessa Jackson plan to seek permission at a bail hearing on Tuesday to see the children.
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12:15 AM
Famed forensic scientist Henry Lee said Monday he has spoken with authorities who are prosecuting Kobe Bryant on a rape charge.
Lee, who worked on the O.J. Simpson and JonBenet Ramsey cases, said he spent Friday night and Saturday morning in Eagle County, meeting with prosecutors and examining evidence in the Bryant case.
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12:11 AM
The parents of a teenager who set a boatyard on fire believe their son was tried federally because the case has a connection to former President George Bush.
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12:09 AM
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Rush Limbaugh paid "substantial" blackmail to a former maid before she told law enforcement and a tabloid newspaper about his addiction to prescription painkillers, his attorney told a judge Monday.
Attorney Roy Black said Limbaugh could not complain to authorities about the maid's demand for $4 million because they would use the information against him, and that the maid and her husband "bled him dry" before going public anyway.
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12:05 AM
DETROIT (AP) - White Stripes lead singer Jack White was charged Monday with aggravated assault after a fight with the lead singer of another band.
White went to a police precinct early Sunday morning and gave a statement saying he struck Von Bondies lead singer Jason Stollsteimer in self-defense.
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12:03 AM
December 22, 2003
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott today questioned the decision of the US authorities to allow Michael Jackson to travel to the UK.
He told BBC1s Breakfast with Frost programme: There is always a presumption in this country that a man is innocent until proved guilty. Its a pretty strong rule.
But he added: I must confess I was a little bit surprised that someone in America can be released from their (bail) condition of not travelling abroad in order to launch a CD.
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04:07 AM
With wire-rim glasses and a red-tinged moustache, Judge Ruckriegle is faced with balancing a defendant's right to a fair trial with an accuser's rights under Colorado's rape-shield law, in one of the highest-profile criminal prosecutions of the year.
But lawyers who've appeared before the judge say he won't leave any room for nonsense.
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04:05 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If convicted teen-age murderer Lee Malvo is sentenced to die for his part in last year's sniper siege in and around the U.S. capital, he would hardly be unique: 82 death row inmates in America were under 18 when their crimes were committed.
The United States is one of only a handful of countries that permit the execution of juvenile criminals, and the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center has described the death penalty for youthful offenders as "a uniquely American practice."
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04:01 AM
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - The daughter of one sniper victim called Lee Boyd Malvo evil. Teachers and others who knew the convicted killer when he was younger described him as bright, courteous, sweet and lonely.
Now Malvo's estranged father is expected to add his assessment Monday as the defense makes its last bid to persuade jurors who convicted the 18-year-old of capital murder to spare his life.
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03:59 AM
December 21, 2003
Most Americans prefer to spare the life of convicted Washington, D.C., sniper Lee Malvo, a view reflecting the public's broader disinclination to execute juvenile murderers. Given a choice, 52 percent say they'd prefer a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for Malvo, while 37 percent prefer the death penalty.
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12:22 AM
SAVANNAH, Ga. A Georgia beauty queen turned herself in to police Saturday to face a murder charge in the death of her boyfriend. With her mother at her side, Sharron Nicole Redmond, who holds the title of Miss Savannah, entered the Savannah-Chatham County Metropolitan Police Department at 11 a.m.. She was being held without bail in the death of 25-year-old Kevin Shorter, said her lawyer, Michael Schiavone.
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12:18 AM
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The mother of Laci Peterson has filed two lawsuits against Scott Peterson, seeking more than $5 million and accusing him of killing her daughter and unborn grandson in an act of "vicious and outrageous savagery."
The lawsuits were filed on Friday, four days before the anniversary of the evening Laci Peterson's family last saw her alive.
Along with seeking more than $5 million in damages, the lawsuits by Sharon Rocha ask for reimbursement for funeral expenses, burial costs, legal fees and other compensation.
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12:15 AM
LOS OLIVOS, Calif. (AP) - Friends and relatives of Michael Jackson descended on his Neverland Ranch on Saturday to show their support for the entertainer who is fighting child molestation charges.
The private gathering behind the gates of the sprawling estate was described as a homecoming for Jackson, who has kept a low profile in Las Vegas and undisclosed locations since surrendering to authorities on Nov. 20 and being released on $3 million bail.
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12:12 AM
December 20, 2003
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Rush Limbaugh's seized medical records are "relevant and necessary" to a prescription drug investigation and should be unsealed, a prosecutor argued in court papers Friday. The conservative radio commentator has asked the court to keep the records sealed, saying investigators violated his privacy by seizing the records last month and that without them he cannot be treated for his medical conditions.
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03:20 AM
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors on Friday squared off against defenders of singer Michael Jackson in a child molestation case that could become one of the most bitter and sensational legal slugfests in recent memory. The stakes are high on both sides but especially for Jackson, 45, who was charged on Thursday with committing seven "lewd acts" against a boy under the age of 14 earlier this year. He could go to prison for more than 20 years if found guilty at a trial.
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03:19 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Michael Jackson plans to gather with family and friends at his Neverland Ranch this weekend - an event described by his spokesman as "reinforcement and support" for the entertainer returning to his estate after being charged with child molestation. "It's a private gathering to welcome him home to Neverland," Jackson spokesman Stuart Backerman said Friday. "The plan is for him to be there."
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03:18 AM
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - On a gut-wrenching first day in the sentencing phase of Lee Boyd Malvo's trial, the daughter of sniper victim Linda Franklin testified Friday that she cries every morning and feels forced at night to repeatedly "watch that man shoot my mother in the head." Katrina Hannum's testimony capped a morning of tearful statements from family members of the victims in the October 2002 spree.
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03:18 AM
EAGLE, Colorado (Reuters) - An attorney for the woman who has accused basketball star Kobe Bryant of rape pleaded with the trial judge on Friday to keep information about the woman's mental health and sexual history out of public scrutiny. Bryant's defense attorneys have issued a barrage of subpoenas to the woman's mother, friends and clinics that treated her to expose what the defense has called a history of attempted suicide and attention seeking.
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03:17 AM
EAGLE, Colo. Putting off testimony at a key hearing in the Kobe Bryant case, the trial judge sent witnesses home Friday and met privately with attorneys arguing over whether the medical history of the woman accusing the NBA star of rape should be allowed as evidence.
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03:17 AM
WASHINGTON The recording industry can't force Internet providers to identify music downloaders, a federal appeals court said Friday in a major decision shielding online privacy while undercutting the industry's anti-piracy campaign. The ruling does not legalize distributing copyrighted songs over the Internet, but it will greatly increase the cost and effort for the Washington-based Recording Industry Association of America (search) to track such activity and sue those who are swapping music online.
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03:16 AM
December 18, 2003
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - A jury convicted Lee Boyd Malvo of capital murder in the Washington-area sniper case Thursday, rejecting claims that the teenager was brainwashed by John Allen Muhammad into taking part in the three-week reign of terror that left 10 people dead.
The jury now will decide whether Malvo should be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.
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05:42 PM
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) - Michael Jackson was formally charged Thursday with repeatedly molesting a cancer-stricken boy invited to his Neverland Ranch, setting the stage for what could become one of the most sensational celebrity cases this Internet-wired, 24-hour-cable world has ever seen.
The nine-count felony complaint charged Jackson with seven counts alleging lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent.
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05:41 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Officials canceled classes for about 20,000 children on Thursday after bullet marks were found on two school buses, raising fears that they may be linked to shootings around a stretch of highway that have terrorized the Columbus area.
Officials began inspecting other school buses after dents found in the tail light areas of two buses were confirmed to be from bullets.
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05:41 PM
December 17, 2003
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - Jurors began deliberating Wednesday whether Lee Boyd Malvo was a puppet or a partner in the sniper spree that sent panic through the Washington area. Circuit Judge Jane Marum Roush sent the case to the jury Tuesday afternoon after closing arguments, and the eight women and four men selected a foreman. They began their discussions Wednesday morning.
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01:47 PM
SOMERVILLE, N.J. Investigators are poring over reopened patient records in two states following the arrest of a nurse with a checkered career who told police he fatally drugged up to 40 terminally ill people under his care. Charles Cullen, 43, told authorities he administered drug overdoses to put "very sick" patients out of their misery over the last 16 years in nine hospitals and a nursing home in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
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01:46 PM
DENVER Kobe Bryant's defense team has filed a barrage of court motions in his sexual assault case, depicting his accuser as a troubled, attention-seeking young woman and asking a judge to throw out much of the evidence against the basketball superstar. The motions released Monday also asked the judge to disregard the state's rape shield law, which limits what defense lawyers can ask about an alleged rape victim.
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01:45 PM
Prosecutors were expected this week to file child molestation charges against pop icon Michael Jackson, nearly four weeks after his dramatic arrest, law enforcement sources said Monday. While prosecutors declined to comment on the timing of the filing of formal charges against Jackson on "multiple" child sex counts, sources said the move was expected before the end of the week.
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01:44 PM
RENO, Nev. (AP) - A freshman Nevada football player is in trouble with the law and temporarily off the team after being charged with stealing backpacks. Steven Murphy was arrested by university police on Friday for investigation of grand larceny and burglary. He is accused of taking backpacks from the dining hall commons in New Hall and was arrested by undercover police during a sting operation.
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01:43 PM
INDIANAPOLIS -- Thirty people from Indianapolis, Bloomington, Chicago and Cincinnati have been arrested in a heroin trafficking ring, authorities said Wednesday. Informant tips and a traffic stop in Bloomington led investigators to the operation, which federal and local law enforcement authorities said funneled heroin from Chicago -- where the ring's leaders were based -- to Indianapolis.
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01:43 PM
Authorities last week discovered a McNeal couple buried in their yard in shallow graves. Their son, Zachary Eggers, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the alleged ambush-style shootings that have shocked the community located about 35 miles southeast of Benson and the Arizona Department of Corrections (DOC) facility in Douglas, where Bradley Eggers, 43, and his wife, Delyn Eggers, 40, worked.
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01:42 PM
A former biology teacher at Sacred Heart Academy has been arrested for allegedly trying to clean a small amount of mercury that spilled without alerting school officials. Dawn Lechner, 34, was arrested Monday and charged with first-degree criminal mischief.
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01:41 PM
December 15, 2003
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Nearly a month after his arrest, Michael Jackson could be charged this week in a child molestation case in which legal experts say prosecutors will need strong physical evidence to overcome questions about the accuser's credibility. Law enforcement officials have not discussed their evidence since the pop star turned himself in on Nov. 20 after an arrest warrant was issued in Santa Barbara County.
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03:06 AM
HAMMOND, Ind. David E. Maust, the Indiana man suspected of murdering three teenagers found buried in his basement, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he strangled and killed a 16-year-old boy. The 49-year-old also told the judge that he wants to represent himself in court. A hearing on that request will be held next Friday.
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03:04 AM
CHESAPEAKE, Va. Dec. 14 Shortly after he was arrested, Lee Boyd Malvo told police he was the triggerman in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings. Months later, he told defense mental health experts that John Allen Muhammad was the shooter in all but one of the 10 killings.
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03:02 AM
MODESTO, Calif. Defense attorneys for Scott Peterson said Friday they will file a change of venue motion Monday in the double murder case. Defense lawyer Mark Geragos is arguing that Peterson will not be able to get a fair trial or have an impartial jury selected in the Modesto area, where the crimes took place, because of intense media coverage.
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02:58 AM
MODESTO, Calif. Prosecutors are interested in buying the pickup truck they claim Scott Peterson used to haul his pregnant wife's body to San Francisco Bay.
A judge last month ordered Modesto police to return the Ford F-150 pickup after Peterson's lawyer claimed his family needed to sell the vehicle to pay bills.
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02:57 AM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Prosecutors said Thursday they would seek the death penalty against serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph for a blast that killed a police officer at an abortion clinic. Attorney General John Ashcroft authorized prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the 1998 bombing that also seriously injured a nurse, U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said.
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02:55 AM
December 11, 2003
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - Lee Boyd Malvo was legally insane during last year's sniper spree because of intense indoctrination by sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad, a defense psychiatrist testified Wednesday at Malvo's trial.
"Lee was unable to distinguish between right and wrong and was unable to resist the impulse" to commit the killings, said Neil Blumberg, who examined Malvo 20 times in jail. "From day one, I thought he met the legal criteria for insanity."
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01:28 AM
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - An appeals court Wednesday threw out a boy's conviction for beating a 6-year-old playmate to death in a case that focused attention on a Florida law that says child murderers must be locked away for the rest of their lives.
The 4th District Court of Appeal ordered a new trial for Lionel Tate, 16, saying his mental competency should have been evaluated before his trial. He was tried as an adult and is serving life without parole at a maximum-security juvenile prison.
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01:27 AM
A woman and her boyfriend were charged with first-degree murder Wednesday in the deaths of her three children, who drowned when their car plunged into a lake in September in what initially looked like a tragic accident. Sheriff Roger Massey would not say how the car went down a boat ramp into Clinton Lake, killing the 6-year-old, 3-year-old and toddler inside.
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01:27 AM
ATLANTA (AP) - Singer Bobby Brown was charged with battery Wednesday, three days after he allegedly hit his wife, singer and actress Whitney Houston.
Fulton County police spokesman Kurtis Young said Brown, 34, turned himself in. Brown and Houston left Fulton County Magistrate Court together after they and their attorneys met with police.
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01:26 AM
GRAND FORKS, N.D. The mother of missing college student Dru Sjodin said the family has not given up hope of finding her alive and is "outraged" by a sheriff's statement that her daughter is probably dead.
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01:26 AM
Two 8th-graders Arrested After Gun Found at Middle School
Two 13-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of felony gun charges after a loaded gun was found at their Reno middle school. The .22-caliber pistol was found in the pocket of a sweat shirt Traner Middle School, Washoe County School District Police Chief Mike Mieras said.
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01:25 AM
Two 8th-graders Arrested After Gun Found at Middle School
Two 13-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of felony gun charges after a loaded gun was found at their Reno middle school. The .22-caliber pistol was found in the pocket of a sweat shirt Traner Middle School, Washoe County School District Police Chief Mike Mieras said.
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01:24 AM
A physician has been charged with child abuse for striking his teenage daughter so hard with his belt that it covered her body with bruises, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. The teenage girl told deputies that her father beat her last month after a confrontation the two had about a boy she dated against his wishes.
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01:23 AM
December 10, 2003
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - The mother of a missing college student said her family has not given up hope that she will be found alive, despite a sheriff saying Dru Sjodin is likely dead after DNA tests showed her blood was found in the car of a man suspected in her kidnapping. Grand Forks County Sheriff Dan Hill said Tuesday the investigation is now more of a recovery mission than a rescue - a comment that outraged Sjodin's family.
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06:33 AM
WARWICK, R.I. (AP) - Grieving families who for 10 months wondered whether anyone would be charged for a nightclub fire that killed 100 people finally got their answer when a grand jury indicted the club's owners and the tour manager for the rock band Great White. Brothers Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, owners of The Station, and Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele were each indicted Tuesday on 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter - two for each victim of the Feb. 20 blaze.
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06:32 AM
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hours after a child welfare agency memo surfaced saying that earlier this year Michael Jackson had been cleared of allegations that he molested a 13-year-old boy, Los Angeles police officials on Tuesday said they had almost no involvement in that investigation. And Santa Barbara prosecutors -- who are expected to charge Jackson with child molestation next week following their own probe -- said they did not expect the prior investigation to be "significant" to their case.
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06:31 AM
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP) - Police considered Tuesday whether to pursue charges against singer Bobby Brown, after officers responded to a domestic abuse call by his wife Whitney Houston at their home in this Atlanta suburb. Officers arrived at the couple's home Sunday evening and found Houston with a cut upper lip and a bruised cheek, Fulton County Police spokesman Kurtis Young said.
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06:30 AM
DENVER - The judge in the Kobe Bryant case rejected a prosecution motion Tuesday to seal all court filings related to evidence in the high-profile sexual assault case. Instead, state District Judge Terry Ruckriegle said, attorneys can file motions about Bryant and his accuser that leave sensitive details to be filed separately under seal.
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06:30 AM
DENVER, Colorado (Reuters) -- Attorneys for Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant want to know who, if anyone, among authorities in Eagle County where the star athlete has been charged with rape, ordered T-shirts showing him being hanged. "The information is sought because it is relevant to show the bias of the investigating agencies," Bryant's lawyers said.
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06:29 AM
A suspended Alief Hastings High School teacher, accused of having sex with a 16-year-old special-needs student, cannot be found, Houston police said Tuesday. Adrianne L. Hockett, 25, is charged with three counts of sexual assault for her alleged seven-month relationship with the boy.
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06:27 AM
Mobile police arrested a 51-year-old Mobile man Monday afternoon and charged him with raping an 11-year-old girl last fall in the Toulminville area, authorities said. Charles Edward Brown was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse, police said.
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06:26 AM
December 09, 2003
FLANDREAU, S.D. (AP) - Rep. Bill Janklow planned the official close of his political career to coincide with his sentencing in the traffic death of a motorcyclist, a decision that also means the special election to fill his seat will be held during South Dakota's June 1 primary.
Janklow, a dominating force in South Dakota politics for 30 years, appeared stunned as the verdict was read Monday: guilty of second-degree manslaughter, reckless driving, running a stop sign and speeding for an Aug. 16 crash that killed Hardwick, Minn., motorcyclist Randy Scott, 55.
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03:47 AM
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - A knife and blood matching missing college student Dru Sjodin's type were found in the car belonging to the man accused of kidnapping her, a source told The Associated Press on Monday.
Preliminary analysis of the blood matches DNA taken from Sjodin's toothbrush, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported on its Web site late Monday, citing two sources close to the investigation.
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03:46 AM
Jackson sold 47 million copies of "Thriller," which sounds like a lot until one realizes that Dunkin' Donuts sells more cups of coffee than that in one month. In fact, more people have a cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee than watch Bill O'Reilly on the same day. But note where Dunkin' Donuts stands in the media cultural hierarchy compared to Jackson and O'Reilly.
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03:45 AM
A 19-year-old convicted sex offender was arrested at a Sun Valley elementary school on suspicion that he did not register his address with authorities.
Dwayne Robison, of Sun Valley, was arrested at Lois Allen Elementary School on suspicion of being a sex offender who failed to register an address change and provided false and misleading information.
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03:44 AM
A Port St. Lucie man played treasure hunter this month when he found an Arizona woman's wedding ring along a St. Lucie County beach and attempted to extort nearly $3,000 from the couple, deputies said.
Gary Russel Sampson, 53, was arrested Saturday on charges of extortion and grand theft after exchanging the ring for cash.
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03:43 AM
SHELBYVILLE, Ind. -- A 14-year-old Shelby County boy accused of raping and robbing a hotel clerk last week was charged in the case Monday. The teen (pictured, left), who is not being identified because of his age, was being held Monday in a juvenile detention center.
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03:42 AM
December 04, 2003
GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - The man accused of kidnapping a college student from a mall parking lot was in a North Dakota jail following his arrest in Minnesota, while a massive search effort failed to turn up any sign of the missing woman. Some volunteers were left in tears Wednesday as their search for 22-year-old Dru Sjodin came up empty. But family members continued to express confidence that the University of North Dakota student will be found alive.
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06:20 AM
CINCINNATI (AP) - The death of a 350-pound black man who was clubbed by police in a videotaped beating was caused primarily by the struggle that ensued after the suspect lunged and swung at the officers, the coroner said Wednesday in a case that has heightened racial tensions.
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06:19 AM
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fifty-seven Hells Angels members were arrested on Wednesday as police and federal agents raided homes and motorcycle gang clubhouses across the western United States, seizing guns, explosives and drugs. Authorities said the predawn raids, which followed a two-year undercover operation in five states, turned up more than 100 firearms, along with a small amount of methamphetamine, and suggested that more charges could follow.
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06:18 AM
MODESTO, Calif. Scott Peterson pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday to charges that he murdered his wife Laci and their unborn son Conner charges that could send him to death row. Also during the arraignment, Judge Al Girolami (search) set Peterson's trial date for Jan. 26 after Peterson exercised his right to a speedy trial. He could have had up to two months between the arraignment and the opening day of the trial.
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06:17 AM
CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- The judge in sniper suspect Lee Malvo's trial barred defense lawyers from introducing a letter in which Malvo asked for help getting out of what he called "his situation." The agony of defeat almost seemed to knock the wind out of Malvo's defense team, WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins reported. The judge rejected attempts to introduce a letter in which Malvo reportedly asks for help getting out of his situation, saying the rejection comes on the grounds of heresy.
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06:17 AM
CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- Sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad was suspected of lobbing a grenade into another soldier's tent during the Persian Gulf War and once threatened to ''slaughter'' a superior, a former platoon sergeant testified Wednesday. Kip Berentson, 48, said at the trial of Muhammad's alleged accomplice that no one was wounded in the 1991 grenade attack and no charges were brought, but Muhammad was transferred to another platoon.
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06:15 AM
December 03, 2003
GRAND FORKS, N.D. Still unable to find a missing college student even after arresting a suspect, police were hoping to marshal 1,000 fresh volunteers, asking some to bring all-terrain vehicles for a renewed search effort. Searchers were asked to report Wednesday in Grand Forks and in Crookston, Minn., about 30 miles away, to help look for 22-year-old Dru Sjodin, the University of North Dakota student from Pequot Lakes, Minn., who has been missing since Nov. 22.
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09:04 AM
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Prosecutors for the first time hinted at parts of their theory behind the Laci Peterson slaying, saying her husband Scott bled inside the truck he allegedly used to haul her body away after killing her. Prosecutors have never previously said Scott Peterson was wounded in the killing - saying he was injured either during or after the alleged attack on his wife - and have never publicly revealed where they believe Laci Peterson was killed.
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09:03 AM
FLANDREAU, S.D. (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow failed to even slow down before his Cadillac sped through a stop sign and collided fatally with a motorcyclist, a witness at the South Dakota Republican's manslaughter trial testified on Tuesday. "It didn't seem like Mr. Janklow was attempting to slow down," Mike Jenkins, one of the prosecution's first witnesses testified of the Aug. 16 accident that killed Randy Scott, a 55-year-old volunteer fireman.
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09:02 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Authorities have linked 12 shootings along a five-mile stretch of interstate around Columbus, including one that killed a woman and another that broke a window at an elementary school. Four of the shootings - three at vehicles and one at the school last month - were from the same gun, Franklin County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Martin said.
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09:02 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Police officers executing a search warrant do not violate constitutional rights by waiting only 15 to 20 seconds after knocking and announcing their presence before using force to enter a suspect's residence, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. The unanimous decision written by Justice David Souter held that officers who searched for cocaine in a suspect's apartment in Las Vegas did not violate the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures of evidence.
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09:01 AM
CINCINNATI No decision would be made in whether Cincinnati cops used excessive force in subduing an unarmed 350-pound man, who later died, until an investigation was completed, the city's police chief said Tuesday. "I don't think you can have a final judgment at this point," Chief Thomas Streicher told a television morning news show.
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09:00 AM
December 02, 2003
CHESAPEAKE, Va. - The ex-wife of John Allen Muhammad said Monday that she called 911 to report a car similar to the one used in the sniper spree near her home, bolstering a defense argument that she was the ultimate target. Lawyers for teenage sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo contend last year's killing spree was part of a plan by Muhammad to kill his ex-wife, an argument the prosecutor called "nonsense."
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04:45 AM
CROOKSTON, Minn. (AP) - A man described by authorities as a predatory sex offender was arrested and charged with kidnapping in the disappearance of a college student who may have been abducted last month while talking on her cell phone. Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 50, was arrested Monday in Crookston, where he lives, according to police in Grand Forks, N.D.
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04:44 AM
CINCINNATI (AP) - A 350-pound black man died after being clubbed repeatedly by officers in a videotaped beating that raised new allegations of police brutality against blacks in Cincinnati nearly three years after the city was rocked by riots. The mayor said Monday that the videotape showed that the nightstick-wielding officers were defending themselves.
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04:44 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio A chilling 911 tape was released over the weekend from the Nov. 25 fatal shooting along I-270 in Ohio, which has been linked to at least one of the other 11 shootings in a five-mile area. And on Sunday, authorities announced they'd set up a post office box as a way for the shooter or shooters to contact them.
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04:43 AM
A Lake Worth woman has been arrested on child-neglect charges for leaving her 3-year-old and teenage daughters home alone with a pit bull that attacked them, police said Monday.
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04:41 AM
A Mandeville area doctor has been arrested in the alleged rape of a woman in July near Madisonville, authorities said. Alberto Suarez, 51, who heads the neonatal critical care unit at Lakeview Regional Medical Center near Mandeville, was booked Oct. 28 on a warrant for simple rape, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed Monday.
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04:41 AM
December 01, 2003
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) - Attorneys for sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo have subpoenaed convicted mastermind John Allen Muhammad to testify, raising the possibility that Muhammad could speak on the younger man's behalf. "We'd like to hear the truth," Malvo's attorney, Craig Cooley, said when asked what information he wants from Muhammad.
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03:31 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Investigators trying to find out who is responsible for a string of highway shootings said Sunday they have found no link between the shootings and similar incidents elsewhere. The first of the 11 vehicle shootings, on a five-mile stretch of the interstate that circles Columbus, took place in May, but most occurred in the last two months.
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03:31 AM
FLANDREAU, S.D. (AP) - Bill Janklow, a former four-term South Dakota governor and the state's only congressman, returns to his boyhood hometown Monday to face a trial that may decide his political future. The 64-year-old is charged with speeding, running a stop sign, reckless driving and manslaughter in an Aug. 16 accident that killed a motorcyclist at a rural intersection in South Dakota.
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03:30 AM
Details about Scott Peterson's Christmas Eve fishing trip that emerged during his preliminary hearing left some already skeptical fishermen with more doubt.
"None of his story made any sense," said Carl Costley of Oakdale, who has fished 35 years for huge, tough-skinned sturgeon. "It just doesn't hold water."
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03:29 AM
Kobe Bryant's accuser recently spent time in an Arizona medical treatment facility, and legal experts say it could be another blow to prosecutor's efforts to convict the Los Angeles Laker star on a felony sexual assault charge.
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03:29 AM
BOLIVIA, N.C. (AP) - Two Brunswick County corrections officers have been charged in connection with an alleged sexual encounter with an inmate. Hewett said while two officers were on rounds making sure inmates were accounted for, officer Moraima Cortes opened the door to the women's dormitory and took inmate Pamela Jo Rinehart, 26, from her cell.
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03:28 AM
SAN DIEGO (AP) Actress Joey Lauren Adams, who appeared in Chasing Amy and Big Daddy, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, police said. Actress Joey Lauren Adams was arrested in San Diego on suspicion of drunken driving and later released on her own recognizance.
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03:27 AM