Crime and Trials News Headlines

CONCORD, N.H., June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Survivors of gun violence, faith leaders, and local activists gathered at City Plaza in Concord, New Hampshire today to hold Senator Kelly Ayotte accountable for voting against bipartisan legislation proposed by NRA A-rated Senators Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey that …

By Barbara Liston SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida judge ordered 40 prospective jurors who passed an initial vetting to return to court on Wednesday to start the second and final round of questioning in the murder trial of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. Zimmerman's defense team estimates the second …

BOSTON (AP) — A former enforcer for James "Whitey" Bulger who admitted killing 20 people insisted Tuesday that he is not a hit man or a serial killer, but instead is a "nice guy" who was only trying to help his family and friends when he pumped bullets into victims while working with Bulger and his gang.

NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of fatally shooting a gay man walking with a companion in New York City's Greenwich Village afterward claimed that he opened fire because the victim "thought he was tough in front of his bitch," prosecutors said in court papers Tuesday.

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) has approved nearly $53 million in state and federal grants."As evidenced by these awards, PCCD continues its commitment to Pennsylvania's communities as we work together to implement and continue programs …

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Tom Corbett today signed House Bill 492, amending the Crime Victims Act to allow victims or their representatives to testify in person before the state Parole Board before it decides whether to release an offender from prison.  "We have an obligation to …

After two deaths and at least 500 lost homes, local officials are calling Colorado’s Black Forest wildfire not just the most destructive fire in state history, but also the site of a criminal investigation.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi woman has pleaded not guilty to killing a woman by giving silicone injections as a buttocks enhancement.

A former college professor accused of going overseas to have sex with minors has become the 500th person to hold a spot on the FBI's famous Ten Most Wanted List. The felonious milestone was reached this week when two new names were added to the list of America's worst at-large criminals. Jose Manuel Garcia Guevera became …

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli leaders on Tuesday condemned an apparent hate crime in an Arab town near Jerusalem that is known for good relations with its Jewish neighbors.

Montreal's interim mayor, who vowed to clean up the corruption scandals rocking the city, now faces fraud charges himself. Michael Applebaum faces 14 charges, including defrauding the government and corruption ...

The West Virginia eighth-grader who was suspended and arrested in late April after he refused to remove a t-shirt supporting the National Rifle Association appeared in court this week and was formally charged with obstructing an officer.

By Ghaith Shennib TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Two former top associates of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi were acquitted on Monday of wasting public money, but remained in jail as part of a bigger investigation involving his spy chief and one of his sons. Ex-foreign minister Abdel-Ati al-Obeidi and Mohammed Zwai, former head of the legislature, …

By Barbara Liston SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - A white man with a chest-length gray beard wrote in a questionnaire for prospective jurors that he could keep an open mind about George Zimmerman's guilt or innocence but he failed to mention the $20 donation he made to the murder defendant's legal fund. The donation came to …

By Ronnie Cohen SAN RAFAEL, California (Reuters) - An elderly California photographer charged with the slayings of four prostitutes dating back to the 1970s opened his own defense at his serial-murder trial on Monday, declaring to jurors, "I'm not the monster that killed these women." Joseph Naso, 79, who has admitted a …

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Potential jurors' views on race were the focus of questioning Monday in the second week of jury selection for the Florida murder trial of George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The driver Oregon police say fatally struck a man trying to dribble a soccer ball 10,000 miles from Seattle to Brazil for the World Cup has been arrested.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A form of cancer killed the serial killer known as the Night Stalker who terrorized Southern California in the mid-1980s, coroner's officials said Monday.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) — Jurors in the trial of a 79-year-old man charged with the decades-old slayings of four women in Northern California wiped tears from their eyes on Monday, as a prosecutor showed graphic images of the victims' bodies and described how they were discovered.

  An Indiana woman who was sentenced to death by the electric  chair at age 16 was released today after serving more than a quarter of a century in prison. Now 43 years old, Paula Cooper left the Rockville Correctional Facility in Indiana today a free...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has reached a milestone in its 63-year-old program of pursuing its "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives."

A former teller at an Idaho Falls credit union has been sentenced to two months in prison, followed by two months of home detention for embezzlement. The U.S. Attorney's Office says 40-year-old Virginia ...

By David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon (Reuters) - Montreal's new mayor, who pledged to stamp out corruption when he took office last November, was arrested and charged with fraud on Monday in another blow to the reputation of Canada's biggest cities. Michael Applebaum, whose predecessor resigned under pressure, faces 14 charges …