Blog Posts by Jason Sickles, Yahoo!

By Jason Sickles

Courtroom gavel (Thinkstock)Behavioral addictions could be considered bona fide illnesses under the American Psychiatric Association’s new manual for mental disorders, prompting criticism from some pundits.

“You see, I'm addicted to bling, so I just had to knock over the jewelry store,” quipped Kent Scheidegger on his Crime and Consequences blog as a possible excuse a suspect might give.

Scheidegger is legal director and general counsel for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a nonprofit public interest group dedicated to advocating swift and fair punishment for criminals.

His bling addiction humor aside, Scheidegger told Yahoo News he’s concerned about how the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) will play out in the legal community. The “bible” for psychiatric diagnoses is primarily a health care tool, but is often quoted as gospel in courtrooms, too.

“In an awful lot of criminal cases, the guy is guilty as sin … they’ve got him cold, and [defense

Chris, who asked that his last name not be used, hasn't fired a third of his collection. (@Gun_Collector)

How many guns is that, you say?

One hundred and fifteen.

The country’s clash over gun control has created anxiety about ammo shortages, increased applications for conceal-carry permits and even brought a Florida man social-media fame.

1980 Colt MKIV/Series '70 Government Model M1911 (@Gun_Collector)

@Gun_Collector had 8,500 followers on the photo-sharing site Instagram before the December mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary bolstered calls for tougher firearms laws.

Now he has a celebritylike following of nearly 40,000 fans who subscribe to portraits he posts of his arsenal of semi-automatic handguns and rifles.

“I don’t consider myself a ‘gun nut,’” the 42-year-old father said. “I have a collection, and it is something I really enjoy and like to share with people. There really is no agenda other than that.”

He knows not everyone shares his passion or position on bearing arms, and asked that Yahoo News not publish his last name.

“There will be activists that would target me because of what I do,” Chris said. “I am not using this for personal

The Tsarnaev brothers look on in the background as Laura Cummins (No. 19751) finishes. (Bob Leonard/AP)

Runner Laura Cummins had an uneasy suspicion she’d crossed paths with the men suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon. A photo now proves it.

Minutes before the first explosion, a photographer near the finish line captured Cummins midstride with terrorism suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev looking on in the background.

“That picture just spooks me, seeing how close they were to me,” Cummins said.

Dzhokhar, in his backward white baseball cap, appears to be looking right at Cummins, who wore race bib No. 19751.

“Every time I see it, I get goose bumps,” she told Yahoo News.

[Related: Runner, spectator get photos of marathon bombing suspects]

The Warrenton, Va., resident finished the race in four hours and six seconds. Had she been nine minutes slower, she would have been in the line of fire.

“That keeps going through my head,” said Cummins, who was battling leg cramps and considered dropping out after Mile 15.

“But I bought one of those expensive jackets that cost $100. And I said, ‘I can’t wear it if I don’t finish.’ So I somehow found it in me to keep on chugging.”

This wasn’t Cummins’ first brush with terror.

Wanted poster showing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as being captured. (FBI)

BOSTON – Keeping bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev alive and able to answer questions would be a badly-needed intelligence coup for terror investigators, a former U.S. District Attorney told Yahoo News on Saturday.

“The fear of law enforcement has always been the small, insular cells that are kind of under the radar,” said Richard Roper, a federal prosecutor for 21 years. “Either the lone wolf or the small cells … they’re difficult to obtain intelligence on. I hope they get some good stuff out of him.”

On Saturday, Dzhokhar was reportedly clinging to life and under heavy guard at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He apparently suffered gunshot wounds to the neck and leg during separate gun battles with authorities on Friday.

Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, are believed to have planted the two backpack bombs near the finish line of Monday's Boston Marathon. The twin explosions killed three people and injured 180 others.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was

Authorities have stepped up their search for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after numerous shots were fired Friday evening in a residential area of Watertown, Mass. Yahoo News is following the latest developments in the live-blog below.

My apologies, we have another url for the liveblog. Please visit us here: http://news.yahoo.com/control-room/

Police officers secure a school building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) near where a police officer was reportedly shot in Cambridge, Mass. (REUTERS/Kristyn Ulanday)

[Updated at 12:55 a.m. ET]

BOSTON — An intense manhunt is underway for a gunman who shot and killed a campus officer Thursday evening at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The Middlesex County District Attorney's office confirmed the officer's death. The officer, who has not been identified, was reportedly answering a disturbance call when he was shot multiple times about 10:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the university is pleading for students to stay indoors and out of harm's way.

"The shooter remains at large, police continue to search the campus," the school warned in a campus alert at 12:37 a.m. "Please REMAIN INDOORS until further notice."

The university issued the first alert at 10:48 p.m.: "There are gunshots reported in the vicinity of Building 32 (Stata Center). Area is cordoned off. Stay away from area."

According to audio of MIT police dispatch radio chatter posted online, an officer described the suspected shooter as a black male wearing black clothing and weighing

[Updated at 11:30 p. m. ET]

BOSTON — Students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are being told to stay indoors because of an active shooter on campus Thursday night.

"Responding agencies continue to investigate active shooter incident at building 32 (Stata)," according to an alert sent to students at 11:20 p.m. "Please stay indoors and away from Building 32((Stata) and surrounding area."

The university issued their first alert at 10:48 p.m.: "There are gunshots reported in the vicinity of Building 32 (Stata Center). Area is cordoned off. Stay away from area."

An MIT police officer was reported shot, according to audio of MIT dispatch radio chatter posted online. An officer described the suspected shooter as a black male wearing black clothing and weighing approximately 120 pounds.

The university did not immediately confirm any injuries.

Yahoo News' Dylan Stableford reported from New York City.

[Updated at 2:30 a.m. ET]

BOSTON — The FBI intensified its manhunt in the Boston Marathon bombing case on Thursday by releasing images of two men they deem to be suspects. Investigators asked that anyone with information about the men or who may have seen them in the vicinity of the race finish line on Monday to step forward with information as soon as possible.

At a late-afternoon news conference here, FBI Special Agent Richard Deslauriers released surveillance tape and displayed photos of two young men captured in the moments before the twin explosions that killed 3 and injured 170.

"Somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, co-workers or family members," Deslauriers said. “Though it may be difficult, the nation is counting on those with information to come forward and provide it to us."

[PHOTOS: View a gallery of the images released by the FBI]

Early Friday morning, investigators added enhanced photos of both suspects to the FBI website.

The release of the