Crimes and Trials News

LOS ANGELES - Attorneys were setting the stage for the trial of two doctors and the attorney boyfriend of the late Anna Nicole Smith, arguing about what evidence will be allowed in court. Full Story »

HONOLULU - A federal prosecutor said Thursday a former B-2 bomber engineer helped China design a stealth cruise missile to raise money to pay the $15,000-a-month mortgage on the mansion-like home he built on Maui's north shore. Full Story »

EDINBURG, Texas - A jury sentenced a south Texas man to death on Thursday, four days after convicting him of capital murder for beheading his common law wife's three children in 2003. Full Story »

SALT LAKE CITY - Defense lawyers for the man charged with kidnapping Elizabeth Smart argued Thursday that the case should be moved out of Utah so he can get a fair trial. Full Story »

PHOENIX - The showdown over Arizona's immigration law played out in court and on Phoenix's sun-splashed streets on Thursday, as the state sought to reinstate key parts of the measure and angry protesters chanted that they refused to "live in fear." Dozens were arrested. Full Story »

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - President Barack Obama has signed a bill he says will address the unique public safety challenges facing American Indian tribes. Full Story »

DENVER - Nearly a fifth of Colorado's medical marijuana dispensary operators could be forced out of business in coming weeks because of new state rules barring some convicted felons from the pot business, federal drug authorities say. Full Story »

SALINAS, Calif. - Authorities say two teens were killed and two wounded in three separate shootings in the central California city of Salinas over a span of about 13 hours. Full Story »

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A man whose northeastern Pennsylvania property contained as many as 12 corpses will be tried on double-murder charges this fall. Full Story »

NEW YORK - The judge in the Brooke Astor case has denied a motion to overturn the convictions of the New York philanthropist's son and his co-defendant. Full Story »

SALT LAKE CITY - Defense lawyers for the man charged in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart will ask a judge to move a November trial out of Utah to another state. Full Story »

VILLERS-AU-TERTRE, France (AFP) - A French nursing assistant Thursday admitted suffocating eight newborn babies because she did not want more children and wished to avoid seeing a doctor for contraception, a prosecutor said. Full Story »

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Suspected drug hitmen have kidnapped four Mexican journalists who were reporting on organized crime in northern Mexico, the latest attempt by cartels to silence the media, a Mexican media group said on Wednesday. Full Story »

NEW YORK - A U.S.-trained scientist from Pakistan who was convicted of trying to murder U.S. agents and military officers in Afghanistan should be sent to prison for 12 years rather than life because she is mentally ill, her lawyers said in court papers Wednesday. Full Story »

CHICAGO - As jurors retired to deliberate Wednesday in the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, they entered a cocoon of privacy not all jurors in high-profile cases enjoy. Full Story »

OMAHA, Neb. - A judge said Wednesday she's not sure whether lawsuits challenging a Nebraska city's ban on hiring and renting to illegal immigrants should be heard in federal or state court, delaying any ruling on blocking the voter-approved ordinance. Full Story »

SALT LAKE CITY - A Utah Supreme Court decision that overturns polygamous church leader Warren Jeffs' 2007 criminal conviction won't automatically make him a free man. Even if Utah doesn't retry him, Texas and federal prosecutors are waiting to move forward with their own cases. Full Story »

NORFOLK, Va. - Eleven Somali nationals accused in separate pirate attacks on U.S. Navy ships off Africa have pleaded not guilty in Virginia to a new indictment. Full Story »