Crimes and Trials News

SAN DIEGO - Some members of the civilian jury that acquitted a former Marine accused of war crimes in Iraq say they weren't qualified to judge actions in combat, and military and legal experts said the case raises serious questions about whether federal prosecutors should even pursue such cases.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Appeals Court on Friday upheld a lower court's dismissal of government charges against a man accused of scheming with others to gain control of the state-run Azerbaijan oil company.

PHILADELPHIA - A man who made millions of dollars by plundering hundreds of bodies sent to funeral homes and selling their often-diseased parts and tissues to medical companies pleaded guilty Friday to a raft of charges that could send him to prison for life.

DAYTON, Ohio - A mother was convicted Friday of killing her month-old daughter by burning her in a microwave oven, with jurors rejecting a defense attorney's claims there was evidence that someone else was responsible.

DETROIT - A lawyer for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick asked a judge Friday to freeze next week's hearing that could remove him from office, accusing Gov. Jennifer Granholm of being too biased to preside over the case.

HOUSTON - A federal judge accused of fondling a former court employee was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on sexual abuse charges.

SALT LAKE CITY - Attorneys for a polygamous church sued a court-appointed accountant on Friday, seeking to reverse an $8.8 million judgment against its $110 million property trust.

LOS ANGELES - Former Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and his entertainment lawyer co-defendant were convicted Friday of charges linked to the wiretapping of billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's former wife in a child support battle.

OAKLAND, Calif. - A judge on Friday accepted a plea deal that reduced the murder charge for a software programmer who led authorities to his wife's body after his initial conviction.

SAN FRANCISCO - A former San Francisco radio talk show host and former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Thursday for distributing child pornography.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department announced new guidelines on Thursday for investigating corporate crime cases, following criticism that prosecutors have gone too far in pressing companies to cooperate with criminal probes and restricted individual defendants' rights.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - A request from O.J. Simpson's last remaining co-defendant to delay the Sept. 8 start of the pair's armed robbery and kidnapping trial was rejected Thursday by a divided Nevada Supreme Court panel.

TAMPA, Fla. - Looking upbeat and waving confidently to his family in a Tampa federal courtroom, John A. "Junior" Gotti entered a not guilty plea to federal racketeering charges that link him to three mob slayings, cocaine distribution and other crimes.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - An accountant who worked for a trash hauler at the center of a sweeping federal investigation of mob influence in the industry pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in price fixing for hauling services in Connecticut and New York.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A former U.S. Marine sergeant accused of killing four unarmed Iraqi detainees was acquitted on Thursday of all criminal charges in the case, including voluntary manslaughter.

MIAMI (Reuters) - Rap star DMX pleaded guilty to trying to buy cocaine and marijuana in Miami and was awaiting extradition to Arizona on outstanding drug charges there, his lawyer said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A hearing in which attorneys for convicted murderer Charles Dean Hood will raise conflict of interest concerns involving the judge that sentenced him to die has been scheduled for two days after Hood is to be executed, one of his attorneys said Thursday.

RIVERSIDE, California (AFP) - A former US Marine was acquitted of manslaughter here Thursday in the shooting deaths of four unarmed Iraqi prisoners during 2004 fighting in Fallujah.

PITTSBURGH - A federal appeals court has refused to rehear the deportation case of a retired western Pennsylvania steelworker who served as a Nazi concentration camp guard during World War II.

DENVER - A Colorado man suspected of making racist threats against Barack Obama limped into federal court on crutches Thursday and was formally advised of a methamphetamine-possession charge against him.

MIAMI - Rapper DMX has pleaded out a Miami drug case and now awaits extradition to face more charges in Arizona.

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Accused Mafia boss John Gotti Jr. pleaded not guilty on Thursday to federal murder and racketeering charges in Florida, and his sister predicted he would beat the charges for the fourth time.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A grand jury has indicted a Broward County man on manslaughter charges in what police are calling the road rage shooting of a federal customs agent.

HOUSTON - A judge in Texas has ordered the father of actress and singer Hilary Duff to spend 10 days in jail for contempt of court.

BOISE, Idaho - In the end, killer pedophile Joseph Edward Duncan III couldn't — or wouldn't — offer a reason why he should live.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has thrown out a copyright infringement case against Veoh Networks Inc, an Internet video start-up with high-profile Hollywood backers, ruling that video-sharing companies are not solely responsible for policing piracy that may take place on their sites.

JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia's armed forces chief dismissed Thursday a US federal court judge's ruling that ExxonMobil must face a lawsuit over alleged killings and torture by troops in Aceh province.

SPOKANE, Washington (Reuters) - A federal jury in Idaho sentenced Joseph Duncan on Wednesday to death for shooting to death a 9-year-old boy in front of his younger sister after kidnapping and sexually abusing the boy.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Los Angeles prosecutors have dropped 30 of 59 sexual abuse charges against Indian-born celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander, as jury selection got under way for his trial in California.