Yahoo! News: Crimes and Trials News

Crimes and Trials News

• Serial killer has South Carolina residents on edge (AP)
  

  AP - Terrified residents canceled Fourth of July plans and holed up in their homes Friday as investigators hunted a serial killer believed to have shot four people to death.

  
  
  
  
• Pa. man pleads guilty to smuggling gun on to plane (AP)
  AP - A Philadelphia man faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to boarding a US Airways flight while carrying a concealed weapon.
  
  
• Mom in MySpace case says it was properly dismissed (AP)
  

  AP - A Missouri mother said she never should have been prosecuted for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old girl who ended up committing suicide.

  
  
  
  
• Rep.: Investigate Murder of Sailor (The Advocate)
  The Advocate - A Congressman for the Camp Pendleton area in Southern California is requesting that the Department of Defense investigate whether a gay sailor who was found dead on Tuesday was the target of a hate crime.
  
  
• Judge eyes quick action on Calif. gay marriage ban (AP)
  

  AP - A federal judge in San Francisco said a lawsuit seeking to overturn California's same-sex marriage ban will likely one day reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

  
  
  
  
• Hawaii judge halts furloughs for state employees (AP)
  AP - A Hawaii judge has blocked Gov. Linda Lingle from forcing thousands of public employees to take three unpaid days off per month, dealing her a setback in efforts to tame a huge state budget gap.
  
  
• Prosecutors: Flirty juror no reason for new trial (AP)
  

  AP - A Los Angeles fashion designer convicted of sexually assaulting seven women and teenage girls should not be granted a new trial even though a juror flirted over the phone with the defendant's sister, prosecutors argued Thursday.

  
  
  
  
• Sheriff: Same person has killed 3 in northern SC (AP)
  AP - A sheriff says the shooting deaths of a peach farmer and two women in a rural South Carolina county the past week have been linked to the same killer.
  
  
• Navy investigates gay sailor's death in Calif. (AP)
  AP - The death of a gay sailor who was killed as he stood guard at Camp Pendleton doesn't appear to be a hate crime, officials said Thursday.
  
  
• Pa. senator guilty of $3.5M fraud seeks new trial (AP)
  AP - A former Pennsylvania state senator convicted of a multimillion-dollar fraud is seeking a new trial on corruption charges, alleging the jury was tainted.