Recent Updates
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Cornell student charged in wife's slaying in NY
Criminal Law 06/29/2009A Cornell University graduate student charged with murdering his wife is being held without bail in an upstate New York jail. Blazej (BLAH'-zay) Kot appeared in Tompkins County Court on Wednesday but didn't enter a plea. Defense attorney Joseph Joch ...
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'Craigslist' killer back in court to face new charges
Criminal Law 06/22/2009Philip Markoff, the former medical student accused of killing a 25-year-old masseuse he met through Craigslist is being arraigned in Boston today for first-degree murder and other charges. Philip Markoff is expected to be in Suffolk Superior Court on...
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Man Pleads Guilty to Using MySpace to Lure Teen Girls
Criminal Law 05/29/2009A Monrovia man pleaded guilty Thursday to using Internet websites like MySpace to lure teenage girls into having sex with him. Gregory Serrano, 34, pleaded guilty to 20 sex charges involving three teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17. Prosecutors ...
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Man pleads not guilty to killing Chandra Levy
Criminal Law 05/28/2009A man serving a prison sentence for attacking women in a Washington park pleaded not guilty Wednesday to killing federal intern Chandra Levy. Twenty-seven-year-old Ingmar Guandique was arraigned in District of Columbia Superior Court on six counts, i...
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Man headed to prison for stealing donations
Criminal Law 05/13/2009The former executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine has been sentenced to eight months in prison for stealing more than $100,000 in contributions to the nonprofit. Raafat Dajani (dah-JAHN'-ee) of Arlington, Va., admitted he would in...
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Man jailed for dodging child support for 14 kids
Criminal Law 04/12/2009Authorities in Michigan say a man fathered 14 children with 13 different women and owes more than $530,000 in unpaid child support. The Flint Journal reports 42-year-old Thomas Frazier was jailed Thursday. Court records say he hasn't made a support p...
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Wash. man convicted in fellow student's murder
Criminal Law 04/02/2009A 20-year-old man who had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic was convicted Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a fellow high school student. Douglas S. Chanthabouly had been charged with first-degree murder but a Pierce County Superior Court j...
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Final arguments ready in Spector murder retrial
Criminal Law 03/23/2009Six years after actress Lana Clarkson died of a gunshot wound at Phil Spector's hilltop mansion, lawyers will once again deliver final arguments to a jury in the legendary music producer's murder trial. The question hanging over these proceedings is ...
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Hedge-fund swindler due in NY court after checkup
Criminal Law 02/27/2009Fresh from a medical exam, a New York hedge-fund cheat is returning to court on charges that he skipped out on a 20-year prison sentence. Instead of reporting to federal prison last June for bilking millions from his investors, Samuel Israel faked hi...
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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...