Jailed Las Vegas man stabs cellmate to death with pencil (Reuters)

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – A Las Vegas man jailed on charges of murdering his nephew killed his cellmate on Friday, stabbing him with a pencil during a fight in their cell, police said.

Guards found the cellmate unconscious and wounded during an early morning bed check at the Clark County Detention Center, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. They said he had been in a fight with his cellmate.

"The suspect physically battered the deceased inmate and stabbed him with a pencil," police said in a statement. Police spokesman Bill Cassell said pencils were among items allowed in the jail.

Carl Guilford, 18, was charged with murder in connection with the death, the first killing of an inmate in the jail since 1979, when an inmate strangled his cellmate. That inmate was sentenced to death for the crime and remains on death row.

A local television news station, 8NewsNow, reported on its website that Guilford had been in custody over the suffocation death of his 6-year-old nephew.

(Reporting by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Dahmer survivor in court in homeless man's death (AP)

MILWAUKEE – The man who led Milwaukee police to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer 20 years ago made his first court appearance in a homeless man's death.

Tracy Edwards and another man are charged with recklessly endangering safety in the death of Johnny Jordan, who drowned after being thrown off a downtown Milwaukee bridge. Edwards and co-defendant Timothy Carr are accused of arguing with Jordan and throwing him off the bridge Tuesday.

Edwards' attorney asked the court commissioner to allow Edwards to participate by phone Saturday. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the request was denied, and the commissioner set bail at $10,000 and scheduled an Aug. 8 preliminary hearing.

Edwards, now 52, is known for his July 1991 escape from Dahmer's apartment, which led to the serial killer's arrest.

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Psychiatrist: Suspect in soldier death delusional (AP)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A forensic psychiatrist told a jury Friday that the man accused of fatally shooting a soldier at a military recruiting station in Arkansas suffers from a mental disorder.

Dr. Shawn Agharkar testified that Abdulhakim Muhammad has delusions — fixed, false beliefs — that puff up his perception of himself and make him think he's being persecuted because he's a Muslim.

"He clearly has a different version of reality than the rest of us," Agharkar said.

Muhammad, 26, is charged with capital murder for killing Army Pvt. William Long and attempted capital murder for wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula in 2009. He confessed to the shootings and could be sentenced to death if convicted.

His defense attorneys argue that he isn't guilty because he has a mental disease or defect. Muhammad and prosecutors say otherwise.

"I have no mental defect or disease, neither past or present," Muhammad wrote in a letter to Circuit Judge Herbert Wright in May. "I was well aware of my actions June 1, 2009."

Muhammad says the shootings were justified because American troops have killed Muslims in the Middle East. He's professed ties to al-Qaida and called his act jihad.

On Friday, Agharkar said there's no proof to back up his claims.

"Saying you're an operative of a major terrorist group is grandiose," Agharkar said.

But a forensic psychiatrist with the Arkansas State Hospital reached a far different conclusion in an evaluation last year.

"He did not have mental disease or defect," Dr. R. Clint Gray wrote in his forensic report. Gray is expected to testify next week when the trial resumes.

Prosecutors rested their case Thursday after playing video of Muhammad confessing to the shootings. Proceedings ended abruptly Friday afternoon as prosecutors tried to suggest that Agharkar benefits financially from finding mental problems in the people he evaluates.

He's paid $350 per hour and he said he's logged between 100 and 120 hours on Muhammad's case. The state foots that bill.

"I'm paid for my time, not my testimony," Agharkar said.

Muhammad, who was born Carlos Bledsoe in Memphis, Tenn., changed his name after he converted to Islam in college. He later traveled to Yemen in 2007 and was deported back to the U.S. after he overstayed his visa.

In court on Friday, Agharkar looked at the jury — not Muhammad — as he said people with mental problems don't often think there's anything wrong with them.

"Denial of mental illness is very common," Agharkar said.

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Jeannie Nuss can be reached at http://twitter.com/jeannienuss

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Woman accused in dragging death pleads not guilty (AP)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A woman accused of dragging a tow truck driver to his death in Colorado has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.

Detra Farries heard a dozen charges Friday, including felony hit and run, vehicular manslaughter, vehicular homicide, and leaving the scene of an accident in the Feb. 23 death of 35-year-old Allen Rose.

The judge cut her bond in half, from $50,000 to $25,000, but she remains in the El Paso County Jail. Trial was set for Nov. 7.

Authorities say Rose was preparing to tow an illegally parked SUV in Colorado Springs when someone got in the vehicle and drove away. Investigators say Rose tried to chase down the SUV but got tangled in the dangling tow cable and was dragged for more than a mile.

Prosecutors say Farries ignored Rose's attempts to flag her down.

Farries told police she didn't know she was being towed.

The death inspired a new state law this year that requires tow truck drivers to place a large warning sticker on the driver's side window stating that the vehicle is under tow before hitching it up. Drivers passing by a car about to be towed are required to move over a lane for the safety of the tow operator, just like vehicles must give room to police cruisers pulling someone over.

Sen. John Morse, the Democratic leader in the state Senate, says the signs are needed because towing is an "inherently dangerous job."

Farries' lawyers told a judge in May that witnesses saw the tow-truck driver run after Farries' GMC with a knife.

Farries' public defenders also told the court that Farries had limited ability to see behind her because her vehicle had broken and obscured mirrors.

Ron Archuleta, manager of Absolute Towing in Colorado Springs, said the law fell short when he tried on July 8 to tow a vehicle parked on private property. Archuleta said he stuck a warning sticker on the car and the driver ran up and tried to take back his vehicle.

Archuleta called Colorado Springs police, who issued 57-year-old Nenad Cebic a summons for a road law violation, police spokesman Steve Noblitt said. Noblitt didn't have Cebic's hometown but said Cebic was visiting from Wyoming. A phone listing for Cebic could not be found.

Archuleta said he plans to pursue civil action to recover the $75 towing fee that was never paid.

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Information from: KRDO-TV, http://www.krdo.com/

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Information from: KRDO-TV, http://www.krdo.com/

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Federal judge in Virginia tosses death sentence (AP)

RICHMOND, Va. – A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a drug dealer's murder-for-hire conviction and death sentence in the 2001 slaying of his marijuana supplier in a case that exposed a distribution ring in the wealthy northern Virginia suburbs.

U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson of Norfolk ruled that Justin Michael Wolfe, 29, was wrongfully convicted in the death of 21-year-old Daniel Petrole Jr. in Prince William County. Wolfe claimed that the shooter, Owen Barber IV, acted alone.

Barber was the key prosecution witness in Wolfe's 2002 trial. Barber agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder and testify against Wolfe in exchange for a life sentence.

Barber recanted his testimony in 2005. Five months later, he again changed his story and said he had testified truthfully at Wolfe's trial. Barber's former roommate and his former cellmate also filed sworn statements saying Barber told them he acted alone in killing Petrole.

Jackson said in his ruling that the state's use of Barber's false testimony was grounds for vacating Wolfe's conviction and sentence. He rejected prosecutors' claims that they did not know Barber's testimony was false at the time.

"They had prior knowledge of falsities in Barber's testimony, yet never pursued or investigated the information," Jackson wrote. "In light of the Commonwealth's conduct, the Commonwealth cannot be entitled to benefit from their deliberate ignorance and/or reckless disregard for the falsities in Barber's testimony."

He also ruled that Wolfe's due process rights were violated when prosecutors withheld information from his attorneys. Jackson listed several pieces of evidence that were suppressed, including recorded witness interviews and a "gentlemen's agreement" not to prosecute one witness in exchange for his cooperation with authorities.

The judge wrote that the actions of Prince William prosecutors were "not only unconstitutional in regards to due process, but abhorrent to the judicial process."

The Virginia attorney general's office could appeal the ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The office did not respond to an inquiry about its plans.

"We're gratified by the district court's thorough and thoughtful opinion," said Brian Meiners, an attorney for Wolfe in Washington, D.C. "We're hopeful the state will accept this determination and move on."

Meiners said attorneys informed Wolfe about the ruling.

"He was very happy and is naturally curious as to what is going to happen next with this case," Meiners said.

Wolfe's mother, Terri Steinberg, said in a telephone interview that she found it frightening that an appeal by the state could drag the case out for several more years.

"We can't really enjoy this until we know for sure that it's over," she said. "Today, we're just trying to enjoy the victory and be glad that somebody finally listened."

According to trial testimony, Wolfe was making $10,000 to $15,000 a month selling high-end marijuana he bought from Petrole. Wolfe had been friends since high school with Barber, who sold lower-grade marijuana.

At the time of Petrole's death, Wolfe owed Petrole about $60,000.

On March 15, 2001, after Petrole delivered the pot to Wolfe, Barber followed Petrole to his home and shot him 10 times as he sat in his car. Barber testified that in exchange for the slaying, Wolfe forgave a $3,000 debt, gave him more than five pounds of marijuana and promised an additional $10,000.

In his affidavit recanting the testimony, Barber said he had intended to confront Petrole but thought he saw him reach for a gun, so he fired. He said he implicated Wolfe to avoid the death penalty.

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Associated Press writer Dena Potter contributed to this report.

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Miss. man pleads to manslaughter in police death (AP)

JACKSON, Miss. – A Mississippi man who was once sentenced to death for killing a police officer during a drug raid has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case and could soon be released from prison.

Cory Maye was sentenced Friday to 10 years after pleading guilty to culpable negligence manslaughter. He was given credit for more than nine years he has already served, said his attorney Bob Evans. It's not clear exactly how long before Maye will be released. He could get credit for good behavior, but processing could take a few weeks.

Maye has always claimed that he didn't hear police announce themselves and thought they were intruders when they kicked in his door during a raid in Prentiss the day after Christmas 2001. He says he was defending himself and his young daughter when he fired three shots, one of which killed officer Ron Jones, who was the police chief's son.

The search warrant in the case had Maye's neighbor's name on it, but a confidential informant had allegedly told police there were drugs in both apartments of the duplex. Maye had no criminal record and police found only the remnants of a marijuana cigarette in his apartment, his lawyer said.

Prosecutors had argued during Maye's trials that police repeatedly announced themselves and suggested Maye peeked out the window blinds and knew they were police.

Maye was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2004. His death sentence was overturned in 2006 when a judge ruled that his attorney didn't do a good job during the sentencing phase. Maye was then re-sentenced to life without parole.

Last year, the Mississippi Supreme Court ordered a new trial after ruling that the original jury should have been allowed to consider Maye's claim of self-defense.

"We've been in negotiations with the district attorney's office for a few weeks trying to come to some conclusion in this case. We've been trying to reach a settlement in which nobody was particularly happy with it, but that everybody was willing to live with," Evans said. "We pretty much accomplished that."

District Attorney Hal Kittrell said court rulings in recent years have been favorable to Maye and "yielded some evidence that was beneficial" to him. He wouldn't elaborate.

"It was decided that it was in the best interest of the family and the state to accept the plea," Kittrell said.

Evans, Maye's lawyer, said it was a difficult decision to take the plea deal "because we felt that Cory had a viable defense."

"The bottom line on this is that Cory will be back in the free world in the not too distant future," Evans said. "And I hope that the Jones family is able to achieve some sense of closure."

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Life sentence in US border agent's death (AP)

SAN DIEGO – A federal judge in San Diego has sentenced a Mexican man to life in prison for striking and killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent with a drug-laden Hummer as the officer laid spike strips in an attempt to puncture the vehicle's tires.

U.S. District Judge Michael Anello also sentenced Jesus Navarro on Friday to an additional 80-year term on drug counts.

The judge called the crime "particularly brutal, violent and heinous."

Agent Luis Aguilar was killed in January 2008 at a campground in California's Imperial Sand Dunes near the Arizona border.

Navarro told the judge that he was being dealt an injustice and plans to appeal.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Federal prosecutors want a Mexican man sentenced to life in prison for striking and killing a Border Patrol agent with a drug-laden Hummer as the officer laid spike strips in an attempt to puncture the vehicle's tires.

Jesus Navarro didn't intend to kill the agent, only avoid the spikes, says his attorney, who recommends that a judge deliver a 40-year prison sentence Friday.

A jury deliberated only two hours in April before convicting Navarro of second-degree murder and conspiracy to distribute marijuana in the death of Agent Luis Aguilar at a campground in California's Imperial Sand Dunes near the Arizona border in January 2008.

Navarro, 25, was extradited to the United States last year.

Shortly after Aguilar died, Navarro was arrested in Mexico and signed a detailed confession — after authorities beat and threatened him, he later said — that acknowledged a split-second choice to hit the 32-year-old Border Patrol agent instead of the spikes. He was held in Mexican prison until a judge cleared him of unrelated migrant smuggling charges and released him five months later.

The Mexican government said at the time the United States didn't ask to arrange for Navarro's extradition until after he was released.

The U.S. government was offering a reward of up to $350,000 when Mexican agents arrested him again, in February 2009, near Zihuatenejo.

Navarro testified at his two-week trial that he was in the central Mexican state of Sinaloa on the day Aguilar was killed and that Mexican authorities who were working closely with U.S. officials forced him to confess to a crime he didn't commit.

Navarro testified that he stopped driving loads of drugs after a 2007 run-in with the Border Patrol. David Bartick, his attorney, told jurors that Navarro was "basically expelled" from his drug smuggling organization.

Prosecutors highlighted testimony of Navarro's collaborators that he remained an active smuggler after the 2007 incident. Eyewitnesses to Aguilar's killing identified Navarro as the driver in photos.

His 9-year-old daughter and other family wrote U.S. District Judge Michael Anello to plead for leniency.

"He is a responsible person who does not deserve to be in there," wrote Karla Nunez, his wife of 10 years with whom he had three children. "Please don't give him too much time, his children need him."

Aguilar is one of 23 Border Patrol agents who have died in the line of duty since 1990. The married father of two children had been an agent for nearly six years and was assigned to the Yuma, Ariz., sector.

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U.N. asks Texas to commute Mexican's death sentence (Reuters)

GENEVA (Reuters) – The top U.N. human rights official urged the governor of Texas on Friday to call off the execution next week of a Mexican citizen convicted of murder who was not told of his right to diplomatic advice when arrested.

Humberto Leal Garcia was convicted of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl in Texas in February 1998 and his conviction was upheld the following year, a spokesman for United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said.

"We understand that the execution of Mr. Leal Garcia is now set for Thursday, 7 July. The governor of Texas still has the power to commute the sentence to life imprisonment. The High Commissioner has written to him directly requesting him to do so," her spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing.

At the time of his arrest, Leal Garcia was not informed of his right under international law to have consular assistance from Mexican authorities which, as a foreign national, he is entitled to under the Vienna Convention, he said.

"The lack of consular assistance and advice raises concerns about whether or not Mr. Leal Garcia's right to a fair trial was fully upheld," Colville said.

The case also raised questions about U.S. compliance with a 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice, he said.

The court ruled that as a remedy for violating the Vienna Convention, the United States must provide "review and reconsideration" of Leal Garcia's conviction and sentence, according to the U.N. spokesman.

Colville, asked about U.S. authorities failing to inform foreign nationals about their consular rights, replied: "It's a continuous problem. It is also a problem between the federal and state level in the United States.

"I think that at the federal level there is recognition that the problem exists, but at the state level tends to be where the difficulty lies."

Dozens of former U.S. law enforcement officials and ex-diplomats appealed last month for the execution of Leal, now 38, to be blocked arguing that it would put Americans at risk in prosecutions abroad.

Mexico's ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, has also asked that the execution be stopped.

A spokeswoman for Texas Governor Rick Perry told Reuters last month that "the governor would have to receive a favorable recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles to consider the clemency requested."

(Editing by Robert Woodward)

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Death sentence for killer of 3 Pittsburgh police officers (Reuters)

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to death on Tuesday for killing three Pittsburgh police officers who responded to a domestic dispute at his mother's house in 2009.

Richard Poplawski, 24, was found guilty over the weekend of murder and other charges for fatally shooting officers Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo on April 4, 2009, at the house in the city's Stanton Heights neighborhood.

Poplawski's mother had called 911 to report a domestic dispute. He was arrested after being wounded during a three-hour standoff with police.

His mother said she had argued with her son that morning after discovering his dog had urinated inside the house, according to a criminal complaint filed by police.

She said Poplawski had been discharged from the Marine Corps for assaulting his drill sergeant and had been stockpiling guns and ammunition because he believed police were no longer able to protect society due to the economic collapse, according to court documents.

On Tuesday evening, a jury of seven men and five women reached a verdict of three death sentences, said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney's office.

The decision came after family members testified during the penalty phase of the trial, which began on Monday.

The jury had been transported across the state from Dauphin County to avoid the influence of pretrial publicity.

(Reporting by Daniel Lovering, Edited by Peter Bohan)

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Mother sues for $25 million after son's hazing death (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The mother of a Cornell University student is suing a fraternity for $25 million after her son was allegedly kidnapped, bound and forced to drink large amounts of alcohol that led to his February death.

George Desdunes, a sophomore at the prestigious Ivy League school, called the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house in the early morning hours of February 25 to ask for a ride back to his room, but a hazing ritual ensued instead, according to the lawsuit filed by his mother Marie Lourdes Andre.

Freshman pledges kidnapped Desdunes in what is part of a "long-standing ritual that was authorized and encouraged by SAE chapter offices and members," said the lawsuit filed in New York's Kings Country Supreme Court.

The 19-year-old human ecology student was bound by his wrists and ankles with zip ties and duct tape, quizzed on SAE history and forced to drink high amounts of alcohol.

After he lost consciousness, the pledges left him to die on a couch at the fraternity house -- his wrists and ankles still bound, according to court documents.

Desdunes was unresponsive in the morning when Cornell personnel found him. His blood alcohol level was .409 percent hours after the hazing activities, more than five times the legal limit for driving in New York state.

He died in hospital later that day.

"With the death of my son, I find some comfort in knowing that this lawsuit may bring about changes in fraternities that will prevent other families from suffering as I have," Andre said in a statement.

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Ohio woman guilty of charges tied to deputy death (AP)

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – A woman has pleaded guilty to charges related to a New Year's Day trailer park gunfight that left dead a western Ohio sheriff's deputy and the man who shot her.

Clark County prosecutor Andy Wilson says Maria Blessing pleaded guilty Monday in Springfield to obstruction of justice and a weapons-related complicity charge and could get up to five years in prison.

Authorities had accused Blessing of helping Michael Ferryman get the gun they say he used to kill Deputy Suzanne Hopper and injure another officer at a trailer park near Springfield, 50 miles west of Columbus.

The deputy was married and had two children. Ferryman was killed in the shootout.

Blessing turned herself in to authorities in Ravenna in northeast Ohio when she was indicted in April. Her attorney hasn't returned calls seeking comment.

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Woman charged in pregnant mother's death arraigned (AP)

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A south-central Kentucky woman has pleaded not guilty to charges that she killed a pregnant woman and took her baby last spring.

Warren County Deputy Circuit Clerk Teresa Render said 33-year-old Kathy Michelle Coy of Morgantown appeared in court Friday and entered not guilty pleas to murder, tampering with physical evidence, resisting arrest and two counts of kidnapping.

Judge John Grise set a pretrial hearing in Coy's case for Sept. 19.

The remains of 21-year-old Jamie Stice were found in Warren County on April 14, less than a day after she was last seen leaving her home with Coy. A detective has said Coy was arrested after showing up at a Bowling Green hospital with a newborn baby but no sign of having given birth.

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Co-defendant describes brutal Pa. torture death (AP)

GREENSBURG, Pa. – One of six people charged with torturing and killing a mentally disabled western Pennsylvania woman testified that another defendant now on trial had the victim wrapped with a string of lights so she would "look like a Christmas tree."

Amber Meidinger, 21, of Greensburg, also testified Thursday that then-17-year-old Angela Marinucci told another suspect to kill Jennifer Daugherty after the victim had survived slash and stab wounds in the February 2010 attack.

Meidinger testified that her boyfriend, Melvin Knight, 21, and another defendant, Ricky Smyrnes, 25, used the Christmas lights to choke Daugherty, 30. After she was dead, they strung them around Daugherty's body because Marinucci "wanted her to look like a Christmas tree," Meidinger said.

Meidinger was scheduled to return to the stand for cross-examination by Marinucci's attorney, Michael DeMatt, on Friday.

DeMatt acknowledges Marinucci was involved in the abuse and present for Daugherty's killing, but has argued against the theory of Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck that Marinucci instigated the savage treatment of Daugherty.

Prosecutors contend Marinucci was jealous because Daugherty claimed to be pregnant by Smyrnes, who several witnesses have since testified was Marinucci's boyfriend at the time.

DeMatt told the jury in his opening statement that Smyrnes was the ringleader and killed Daugherty so he could focus on Marinucci. He scoffed at the idea that the five adult defendants would do the bidding of Marinucci, now 18, who was then just a high school senior.

But three county prison inmates have testified Marinucci bragged and made wisecracks about her role in the killing and torture, in which Daugherty was beaten with a towel rack, punched, kicked and forced to drink a blended concoction of urine, feces, laundry bleach and prescription drugs.

When Daugherty vomited instead of dying from the concoction, Smyrnes handed Knight a knife and had him stab Daugherty in the neck and chest, though Meidinger said Smyrnes also slashed the woman's wrists.

Meidinger said she has no deal with prosecutors and said it was her idea to testify.

"I wanted to speak the truth to the family," she said.

Peck has said he plans to pursue the death penalty against Smyrnes, Knight and Meidinger, who testified that she also laughed and made fun of Daugherty and hit her with a towel rack so she would drink the foul mixture. They're scheduled for trial later this year along with two other defendants, Peggy Miller, 28, and Robert Masters, 36, who were present but allegedly had lesser roles and will not face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder.

Marinucci is being tried separately because she had tried to move the charges against her to juvenile court. Though she dropped that fight and is being tried as an adult, she cannot face the death penalty if convicted because she was juvenile at the time of the crime.

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Jury convicts Ohio mom in baby's microwave death (AP)

DAYTON, Ohio – Jurors in an Ohio woman's third trial found her guilty Friday of killing her baby daughter by cooking her in a microwave oven.

China Arnold was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of 28-day-old Paris Talley in August 2005. Arnold could receive the death penalty. The sentencing phase will begin Monday.

Arnold's first trial ended in a mistrial. She was found guilty in the second trial, but that conviction was reversed last fall. An appeals court found there was misconduct by prosecutors and that the trial court made an error by not allowing a material witness to testify in Arnold's defense.

Prosecutors have said Arnold, 31, intentionally put the baby in the microwave after a fight with her boyfriend. The defense had argued that someone else was responsible.

Medical experts testified that the baby died after her temperature reached 107 to 108 degrees Fahrenheit and that she probably was in the microwave for more than two minutes, dying quickly afterward.

"She died because she was overheated," said Dr. Marcella Fierro, retired chief medical examiner for Virginia. "She was cooked."

Messages seeking comment from the prosecutor and defense attorney were left at their offices, but a gag order in the case prevents anyone connected to it from commenting outside court.

Assistant Prosecutor Dan Brandt told jurors in court that Arnold's actions were "even more purposeful" than a slaying with a gun or knife, the Dayton Daily News reported.

"Baby Paris is without life, but she's not without a voice," Brandt told jurors in closing arguments. "Please listen to her."

Brandt said that Arnold had to carry the baby over, place her in the microwave, shut the door and press buttons. Then she waited while her child cooked to death, Brandt said.

Defense attorney Jon Paul Rion argued that the evidence pointed as much to Terrell Talley, the baby's father, as it did Arnold.

"This doesn't make sense to you," Rion told jurors. "It doesn't. I've been watching your faces."

The prosecutor cut and fit evidence to show "this loving mother somehow was so evil that she killed her baby in this way," he said.

Rion said Talley's testimony that Arnold said "I killed my baby" left out important context: She only meant that she failed as a mother by allowing the crime to happen and not that she killed her child.

The defense attorney also said that Talley's sneakers were stained with a bodily substance that should have been tested.

Arnold also was very intoxicated, Rion said.

"No mother is going to do this, in this way," Rion said. "China Arnold is innocent of these charges."

Brandt said that Arnold admitted to police that the baby woke her up and that she was alone, beside her other sleeping children. There also were no signs of a break-in, he said.

"She eliminated everyone else," Brandt said.

Talley testified Arnold was drunk, but not so drunk that she would not know what happened. He said she told him the baby would still be alive if he hadn't been unfaithful to her.

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Texas woman appears in NH court in son's death (AP)

By LYNNE TUOHY and DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Lynne Tuohy And Denise Lavoie, Associated Press – 34 mins ago

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – The Texas woman charged with killing her 6-year son in New Hampshire is going to be held without bail on a second degree murder charge pending another court hearing.

Forty-two-year-old Julianne McCrery of Irving, Texas stared at the floor during a brief court appearance Thursday in Portsmouth District Court and appeared to be crying as she was led out by police.

When asked by Judge Sawako Tachibana Gardner if she wanted a court-appointed lawyer, McCrery answered in a clear voice, "yes, ma'am."

McCrery was taken to Portsmouth on Thursday after she appeared in a Massachusetts court and waived extradition.

McCrery is charged with asphyxiating her son, 6-year-old Camden Hughes, on Saturday in Hampton. His body was found in South Berwick, Maine.

McCrery's lawyer called it "a tragic case."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

A Texas woman accused of killing her 6-year-old son and leaving his body on a dirt road in Maine may have come to New England to kill her son and commit suicide, saying the boy is "in heaven" and she wants to go there as soon as possible, her lawyer said Thursday.

Julianne McCrery, 42, of Irving, Texas, waived extradition during a brief appearance in Concord District Court on Thursday and was expected to be transported to New Hampshire to face a second-degree murder charge.

Before the hearing, defense lawyer George Murphy said he believes investigators have a confession from McCrery, and he said that based on conversations with his tearful client that he believes she came to the region with the idea of taking her son's life and committing suicide.

"I believe she was up here to bring both herself and her son to heaven," Murphy said. "She told me, `I love my son very much. I know where he is. He's in heaven. I want to go there as soon as possible.'"

Investigators believe McCrery killed 6-year-old Camden Hughes on Saturday in Hampton, N.H., and then left the body in South Berwick, Maine.

The case drew national attention as the boy went unidentified for days because no one reported him missing. State police in Maine released a computer-generated image showing a boy with blond hair and blue eyes.

McCrery's friend, Shirley Miller of Arlington, Texas, said "Julie" McCrery suffered from mood swings and sometimes would just "up and go" without telling anyone. Last fall, she took her son out of kindergarten and went to Seattle and Nebraska before returning to Texas where she was living with Miller's adult son.

Miller said McCrery "was up one minute and down the next" but she would never have believed that McCrery would hurt her son.

"I would say she was a caring mother," Miller said. "I don't know why she did this unless she just flipped out."

Preliminary autopsy findings showed that the cause of Camden's death was asphyxiation and the manner of death was homicide, according to Maine's chief medical examiner. The homicide remains under investigation.

McCrery was detained Wednesday at a Massachusetts highway rest stop after police got a tip on her pickup truck, which matched a vehicle spotted near the spot where the boy's body was found covered with a blanket.

Her detention Wednesday set off a rapid-fire chain of events in which the investigation shifted from Maine, where the boy's body was discovered, to Massachusetts, where McCrery was questioned, and finally to New Hampshire, where authorities believe the boy died and the formal charges were ultimately filed.

After leaving Massachusetts, McCrery was due to make her first court appearance Thursday afternoon in District Court in Portsmouth, N.H.

Court documents and interviews paint a conflicting portrait of a devoted mother who loved her young son and wrote a book about how to get a good night's sleep called "Good night, sleep tight!" Her biography on Amazon.com said she drove a school bus and operated a cement mixer.

"She's a very likable person. I've always gotten along with her. Most everybody likes her, that's why this was such a shocker," Shirley Miller said.

But Texas public records show that McCrery was arrested at least twice on prostitution charges and once for possession with intent to distribute drugs. In 2009, she was sentenced to one year in prison for a misdemeanor conviction of prostitution. In 2004, she was sentenced to three years of probation for a felony conviction of possession of a controlled substance.

Murphy said McCrery told him that she'd attempted suicide within the past few days and had tried to kill herself several times in 2004, although she did not explain why, Murphy said. She did not explain why she came to New England, he said.

Her son died Saturday, the same day his body was discovered by a local resident in South Berwick, Maine, near the state line with New Hampshire, officials said. He had not been reported missing, and amid several frustrating days seeking his identity. Investigators believe he died in Hampton, N.H., where a motel room was being treated as a crime scene. All three locations are with 65 miles of each other.

A long-time friend of McCrery's, Christian von Atzigen, of Irving, Texas, told police he recognized the boy from the image distributed by state police.

"We didn't want to believe it," von Atzigen said.

"Julie's a good person. If you would ever ask me if she would harm a hair on that precious little boy's head, I would say never," he told The Associated Press. "She loves that boy."

Von Atzigen said he last saw McCrery on Easter, when she came to his house to get a part to fix her hot water heater. While she was there, she dropped off some of Camden's toys for his 2-year-old son, he said.

He said he doesn't know why McCrery was in Maine.

"My wife talked to her a couple of days ago and everything seemed OK," he said. "There was no mention of her going anywhere."

Maine State Police had enlisted the help of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service after a witness noticed naval insignia on a truck being driven by a woman near where the body was found.

McCrery was taken into custody at a highway rest stop in Massachusetts after police got a tip she was there. She was in a truck that matched the description of the vehicle, authorities said.

In Maine, the case has led to an outpouring of emotion. Several hundred people attended a candlelight vigil in the boy's memory Tuesday night in front of the South Berwick town hall.

Near where the boy was found, people have placed three crosses, dozens of stuffed animals, candles, flowers, a baseball and other children's items. A framed piece of paper says, "God Bless This Little Boy."

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Associated Press writers Russell Contreras in Boston; Linda Stewart Ball in Dallas; David Sharp in Portland, Maine; Clarke Canfield in Alfred, Maine; and Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H.; contributed to this report.

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Tacoma, Wash., woman charged in death of newborn (AP)

TACOMA, Wash. – A 20-year-old Washington state woman has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her newborn daughter in Tacoma. Pierce County prosecutors say Melissa Cathryn McMillen pleaded not guilty Friday. Bail was set at $1 million.

The News Tribune says court papers indicate McMillen told investigators she gave birth in the toilet of her home last Saturday, and she said the baby was dead. According to the documents, she said she didn't touch the baby, only looked at her from a distance, and she later stashed the baby in the basement.

The newspaper says McMillen's boyfriend called for medical aid Tuesday night, saying his girlfriend had given birth to a stillborn four days earlier.

The Pierce County medical examiner's office says the child was born alive after a full-term pregnancy. The cause of death was not immediately known.

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Four people found shot to death in North Carolina (Reuters)

BOSTON (Reuters) – Police found four people shot to death on Saturday in Research Triangle Park off Highway 54 in Durham, North Carolina, local officials said.

Three women were found shot to death inside a car, a green Honda Accord, while a man was found dead just outside the vehicle, said Lt. Stanley Harris, a spokesman for the Durham County sheriff's office.

Police responded early on Saturday to a call that came in just before midnight on Friday, Harris said.

The investigation is ongoing and the bodies are at the medical examiner's office, he said. No other information was currently being released.

Research Triangle Park is a 7,000-acre technology, science and business park, home to more than 170 global companies, according to its website.

(Reporting by Lauren Keiper; Editing by Greg McCune)

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Jury chooses death sentence for Tennessee man (AP)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A jury issued a death sentence Saturday for a Memphis man found guilty of murdering the mother of his three children and then dismembering and disposing of her body.

The jury reached its decision shortly before 7:30 p.m. EST in the case against 33-year-old James Hawkins.

Hawkins' 15-year-old daughter, the prosecution's chief witness, had testified that her father repeatedly sexually abused her when she was 12 years old.

The girl said she saw her father stab and strangle 28-year-old Charlene Gaither during an argument on Feb. 9, 2008. Hawkins' two sons, ages 13 and 14, also testified against him.

It took less than two hours for the jury to convict Hawkins on Friday.

During the sentencing hearing Friday, jurors were shown six gruesome photos of Gaither's torso, which had dark gray wounds where the head, feet and hands were removed. They also heard for the first time about Hawkins' 17 prior convictions on aggravated robbery and aggravated assault charges.

The defense called witnesses, who testified that Hawkins had an IQ of 77 and suffers from attention deficit disorder.

Hawkins' mother, Della Thomas, told the jury Saturday she did not want her only son to die.

She said Hawkins' father, James Hawkins Sr., would hit her and also abuse their daughter.

Thomas said her son's behavior worsened after his brother was fatally shot at age 15. Thomas said she raised Hawkins and his five siblings the best she could as a single mother who had to work to support the family.

"He is my only son," Thomas said. "Like any mother, you don't want your son to die."

Hawkins showed more emotion during the sentencing phase than during the trial. On Saturday, he would often close his eyes and bow his head. He could be seen drying his teary eyes during his mother's testimony.

Hawkins did not testify, but he did apologize to Gaither's family.

Outside the courtroom, the victim's father, Louis Irvin, said he was relieved to finally get justice for his daughter.

"I'm sad, though, his mother is going to lose a child," Irvin said. He also said that he hopes the sentence serves as a deterrent for people who think of committing murder.

"We need to make this an example," Irvin said. "We have to stop this violence and hatred."

Relatives of Hawkins declined to comment.

Defense attorneys were not available for comment after the verdict was read.

Prosecutor Missy Branham said that the heroes of the trial were the children who testified against their father.

"This was just a trauma for all the children," Braham said.

Cynthia Guy, Gaither's sister, has been taking care of the victim's three children. She said they are doing fine and she would do her best to care for them.

"The jury did their job," Guy said. "Like I said, nobody wins in this situation."

Because of the sexual abuse allegations, The Associated Press is not identifying the defendant's children, whose last names are different from the father's.

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NY beach community becomes dumping ground of death (AP)

CAPTREE STATE PARK, N.Y. – Killers have long chosen isolated locations to secretly dump their victims: Gary Ridgway got the Green River Killer moniker for leaving women he murdered along the waterway near Seattle, some of New York serial killer Joel Rifkin's 17 victims were found in shallow graves on eastern Long Island or in creeks in Brooklyn, and in 2008 the FBI found the body of a slain mobster buried in a Long Island industrial park.

Authorities on Long Island suspect a serial killer may be responsible for the deaths of four prostitutes found in December dumped just steps from an isolated beach highway, but news this week that other killers have used the same strip of Ocean Parkway near Jones Beach as a dumping ground of death ratcheted up an already intense investigation.

"It is clear that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

Spota released additional clues this week about four other victims, including two women whose torsos were left years ago 45 miles away in the woods off the Long Island Expressway. Their heads and limbs were found near the beach this spring. An unknown man and a toddler are among the latest Ocean Parkway murder mysteries confronting detectives.

And that's not all: Remains found at two locations along the same highway in neighboring Nassau County have yet to be identified. Ten sets of remains, and an unknown number of killers.

The FBI in 2004 established a database to track serial killings along U.S. highways. Since that time, it has compiled information on 595 victims and 275 suspects. Many of those crimes are believed to involve victims of over-the-road truckers or others who were found at truck stops, gas stations or restaurants along major highways. A Suffolk County police spokeswoman said all pertinent information about their investigation has been sent to the FBI, although the parkway doesn't allow access to commercial truckers.

The FBI last month provided high-tech aerial photography of the Ocean Parkway region to assist local authorities in their search for additional victims, and state and local police have expanded their search area for victims to two adjacent highways. Those data are still being analyzed.

Some Long Islanders aren't surprised killers would find the remote stretch of highway, populated by fewer than 250 year-round residents, as an attractive dumping ground.

"It makes sense," says Don Gaynor, of nearby Bay Shore, about 35 miles east of New York City. "There's very little lighting. There are no security cameras of any kind. And when you get down here at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, you could be the only car on the road for half an hour, so it's a very easy place to dump anything that you don't want people to know about, and your chances of getting caught are nil to none."

Ocean Parkway, built in the 1930s to accommodate sun worshippers headed to the newly opened Jones Beach, is a mostly four-lane highway that dissects the barrier island south of Long Island for more than 15 miles. Along the south side runs a network of state and town-run beaches, featuring pristine white sand and azure ocean water. The island is so narrow that authorities have fretted for years that a major hurricane could create a breach between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great South Bay.

Commuters hoping to avoid traffic jams on Long Island's primary roadways often use the parkway as a long shortcut to get to their destinations because there are rarely any snarls; more miles to drive, but quicker to get there.

The north side, where all the remains have been found, is largely a daunting thicket of tick-infested underbrush, including poison ivy and evergreens — an uninviting area that apparently enticed several killers. The only reason anyone might stop on that side of the roadway, where parking is prohibited, would be to deal with car trouble. Detectives have scoured parking ticket records as part of their hunt for a killer.

Dr. Michael Baden, the chief forensic pathologist with the state police and host of the HBO cable TV show "Autopsy," said the killers likely chose the location because it's an area with which they're familiar and they're likely aware that it's sparsely populated, especially in the winter, when there are few beach visitors.

"It's a place the perpetrator knows about, usually near where he grew up or where he travels to or from. It's a place where it would be easy to throw a body and not be found," Baden said. "The initial issue is to go to a place where very few cars go and nobody will see you."

Ridgway, one of the most prolific killers in U.S. history, led authorities to the site of some of his victims following his arrest in 2001. Advances in DNA technology enabled authorities to link a saliva sample he gave authorities in 1987 to some of the bodies. He is serving life without parole.

Rifkin picked up many of his 18 victims while they worked as prostitutes in New York City, and he left their remains at various locations in the metropolitan area.

Rifkin, who admitted committing the murders, has said in recent prison interviews that none of the bodies found along Ocean Parkway was of one of his victims.

Baden, who travels by train from New York City to Albany on business, said he often peers out the window along the tracks that run parallel to the Hudson River.

"It's amazing how many interesting spots you find along the railroad tracks," he said. "Tremendous areas that nobody would ever see if someone were to leave a body there."

At Captree State Park, just up the road from where the remains were found, 62-year-old Carmine LiBretti, of Bayport, said the revelations unfolding since December are startling.

"I've been coming here since I was a kid, and it's pretty scary to find out that somebody's dumping bodies like that," he said. "You know, you don't know if (the killers) are from around here or from another town or another state.

"I went fishing here with my dad years ago, with my brothers. In fact I got married right out here 32 years ago. I said to my wife, 'We got married there, and now they're finding bodies.' What the hell, man?"

Ray Marshall of Hicksville added the mystery is baffling. "I can't understand how they can dump bodies and nobody ever saw them," he said. "Somebody should have seen something."

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Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.

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