Crimes and Trials News

NEW YORK - A jury considering racketeering and murder charges against John "Junior" Gotti told a judge Tuesday it was deadlocked for a second time before resuming work and indicating it was looking to deliberate into next week.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) - Accused Ponzi schemer Tom Petters will wait at least six more days to learn his fate after a federal jury adjourned deliberations without reaching a verdict over whether he orchestrated a $3.65 billion fraud.

OAKLAND, Calif. - Two men have pleaded guilty to shooting high-powered pellet guns at dozens of cars on San Francisco Bay area freeways.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Two Lebanese men were charged on Tuesday with attempting to provide material support to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah by exporting machine guns to Syria from Philadelphia, U.S. authorities said.

PHILADELPHIA - A baby-faced cop killer accepted a Philadelphia jury's death sentence Tuesday, vowing to take responsibility for shooting the veteran officer during a doughnut-store robbery.

NEWARK, N.J. - A New Jersey blogger scheduled to go on trial next week on charges that he threatened three federal judges in hate-filled postings has subpoenaed the state's governor-elect to testify on his behalf.

NEW CITY, N.Y. - A former New York City police officer has admitted he held a suburban school superintendent at gunpoint in June.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Attorneys for tenants in a vast New York City apartment complex said they would ask the state court to set the next 2010 rents if negotiations with landlord Tishman Speyer are unsuccessful.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A Connecticut man has pleaded not guilty to charges he set his girlfriend on fire and tried to set her 12-year-old daughter ablaze.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The father of a North Carolina girl who was kidnapped and killed said Tuesday he made the best decision he could at the time when he let her live with her mother, who has since been charged with prostituting the child.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles police have released a composite sketch of a man believed to have killed at least 11 people since 1985.

MOBILE, Ala. - A Belgian arms dealer has pleaded guilty to illegally exporting airplane engines and parts from the U.S. to Iran for use in aging F-5 fighter jets sold to the Islamic nation before its 1979 revolution.

MINNEAPOLIS - A Minnesota man has pleaded not guilty to terror-related charges in connection with the disappearances of as many as 20 young men who left the Twin Cities to fight with terrorists in Somalia.

NEW YORK - The man in charge of the New York City Police Department's security planning for the upcoming trial of the Sept. 11 terror attack suspects is being promoted.

FORT HOOD, Texas - Former top Pentagon officials investigating the attack at a Texas Army post have visited the site of the shootings and a military hospital.

MOBILE, Alabama (AFP) - An alleged Belgian arms dealer has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to export fighter jet engines and parts to Iran, US justice officials said.

MONROEVILLE, Ala. - A 14-year-old Alabama girl might have helped arrange the gang rape of her ninth-grade classmate and could face charges as an accomplice based on her comments in a televised interview, a district attorney said.

PHOENIX - An Iraqi immigrant accused of killing his daughter because she had become too Westernized has pleaded not guilty in a Phoenix court.

ALBANY, N.Y. - The corruption case of former New York Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno has gone to the jury, which will decide whether he used his power to line his pockets and deprive New Yorkers of honest government.

WICHITA, Kan. - A Kansas nurse convicted of enslaving mentally ill residents of a Newton group home was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday after a federal judge acknowledged the original seven-year term was too short.

MADISON, Wis. - A Wisconsin man transformed his apartment into a pornographic shrine to young girls, arranging mannequins in a sex act, plastering every flat surface with pictures and setting up a bed covered with stuffed animals, investigators said Monday.

NEWARK, N.J. - A judge reserved ruling Monday on whether a former Philippine National Police officer who served prison time for receiving classified U.S. government documents will be extradited to face murder charges back home.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Arkansas lawyer who once specialized in securities fraud litigation was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Monday to 86 months in prison for stealing $9.3 million from clients.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Chicago insurance man pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he peeped into television sports reporter Erin Andrews' hotel room when she was nude, took video of her and tried to sell the footage.

PHILADELPHIA - A jury in Philadelphia has ordered Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to pay a woman $75 million in punitive damages after finding a link between her breast cancer and a hormone-replacement drug.

NEWARK, N.J. - A former federal prosecutor and prominent New Jersey defense attorney whose past clients have included Queen Latifah and Lil' Kim has pleaded not guilty to bribery, drug and prostitution charges.

BOSTON - A convicted murderer who is seeking a taxpayer-funded sex-change operation has asked a judge to order Massachusetts prison officials to provide electrolysis treatments.

WICHITA, Kan. - Seemingly contradicting his own public statements, an attorney for the man accused of gunning down a Kansas abortion provider has argued in court documents that his client has an "absolute right" to present a defense that argues the killing was justified to stop abortion.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The number of US hate crime victims rose slightly last year to nearly 9,700 from 9,500 in 2007, with most people targeted because of their skin color, the FBI said Monday.