Crimes and Trials News

PARMA, Ohio - Police near Cleveland say a man dressed as Santa Claus tried to kidnap a 12-year-old girl walking to school. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Attorney General Eric Holder made an unannounced visit to a Manhattan courthouse Wednesday to inspect security for the pending trial of the professed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. Full Story »

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - A Missouri teenager charged with killing a 9-year-old neighbor cannot get a fair trial in her home county because residents are biased against her, the teen's attorney said. Full Story »

CHICAGO - A Chicago man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he conspired in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai that left 166 people dead. Full Story »

NEW YORK - A U.S. citizen who served as Bosnian ambassador to the United Nations cannot be extradited even though he is accused of embezzling more than $610,000 from the government of the war-torn Balkan nation, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York authorities are cracking down on the sale of counterfeit luxury items, shutting down 31 stalls in raids on Tuesday and Wednesday and seizing $1 million of fake bags and watches. Full Story »

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Chicago man with Pakistani roots accused of scouting targets for the 2008 Mumbai attackers Full Story »

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Ohio inmate fighting the state's second attempt to execute him will be limited to a simple argument, a federal judge said Wednesday: Does the state, having failed once, have the legal right to try again? Full Story »

BOSTON (Reuters) - A major U.S. hacker agreed to plead guilty to federal charges linked to electronic break-ins at 7-Eleven Inc and a chain of New England grocery stores, a court filing shows. Full Story »

CORNETTSVILLE, Ky. - As the only doctor in a 30-mile swath of Appalachia, Dennis Sandlin was committed to using a tracking system designed to curb prescription drug abuse, an epidemic in the area he had served for nearly two decades. Full Story »

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - John Allen Ditullio is a walking billboard for the neo-Nazi movement: a large 6-inch swastika tattooed under his right ear, barbed wire inked down the right side of his face, and an extreme and very personal vulgarity scrawled on one side of his neck. Full Story »

ROME (AFP) - Amanda Knox, the American convicted of murdering her British housemate in Italy two years ago, feels her "rights were respected" in the trial, a leading Italian daily reported Wednesday. Full Story »

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Prison Break" actor Lane Garrison, out of jail after serving time for vehicular manslaughter, is taking on a project about troubled teens and the redemptive power of football. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Former Vice President Dick Cheney says trying suspected Sept. 11 terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (HAH'-leed shayk moh-HAH'-med) in New York City will make him "as important or more important than Osama bin Laden." Full Story »

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A California grand jury has indicted a man whose decomposed daughter was found in the freezer of his motor home. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A grand jury in New York is hearing evidence against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the September 11 attacks in 2001, and four accused accomplices, NBC News reported Tuesday. Full Story »

MIAMI (Reuters) - A U.S. judge Tuesday reduced the prison terms of two convicted Cuban spies in the latest twist of a high-profile espionage case that has strained already hostile ties between Havana and Washington. Full Story »

HARTFORD, Conn. - A white retired police officer was acquitted Tuesday of manslaughter and assault for shooting two unarmed black men, angering the victims' families and prompting a call for peace from the city's mayor. Full Story »