Court Report

Film Reveals New 'West Memphis 3' Witnesses

Peter Jackson's "West of Memphis" documentary reveals fresh allegations in the 1993 murder case of of three young boys in Arkansas. In the documentary, screening at Sundance Friday, three new witnesses undergo polygraph tests. They declared under penalty of perjury that the nephew of Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the young victims, told them his uncle was behind the murders. Read more...

Elizabeth Smart Engaged to Be Married

Elizabeth Smart, the Utah woman who was kidnapped at age 14 and held captive for nine months, is engaged, a spokesman said. The 24-year-old Smart accepted the proposal last weekend and plans to marry this year. No details about the groom-to-be were disclosed and Smart plans to keep her personal life private, Thomas said. However, wedding registries online at Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn list an April 7 wedding date for an Elizabeth Smart and Matthew Gilmour in Utah. Read more...

Hollywood Body Parts Identified

Coroner's officials on Friday identified a man whose dismembered head, hands and feet were found in a Hollywood park as a 66-year-old from Los Angeles, and police continued to hunt for his killer. The victim's name is Hervey Medellin, coroner's Lt. David Smith said. Public directories show Medellin lived in a Hollywood apartment near the rugged, hillside park where his remains were found. Investigators served a search warrant Thursday night on a Hollywood apartment in the area, but it wasn't immediately clear if it was Medellin's apartment. Read more...

Girl Escapes Kidnapper, Calls 9-1-1

A missing 9-year-old girl escaped an apparent kidnapper and called 911 herself from a convenience store in Colorado Springs, police said. The Pueblo girl was reported missing after she failed to return home from school. The car of the man she was with broke down in Colorado Springs, and a passerby gave them a ride to a Circle K, police said. The girl ran into the store and asked to use the phone to call her uncle but instead called 911, which prompted the man to take off, authorities said. Read more...

Teen Impersonator Nabbed Acting as Policeman

A Florida teen charged with impersonating a doctor's assistant has been arrested again -- for pretending to be a policeman. Matthew Scheidt, 18, of Orlando, was arrested in Miami Beach driving a car designed to look like an unmarked police car and in possession of a loaded gun, a taser, handcuffs, and a black sheriff's t-shirt, police said. Scheidt is due to face trial in March on charges he pretended to work at Osceola Regional Medical Center for two weeks. Police said he performed CPR for five minutes on a cardiac patient and performed a physical exam on male patient. Read more...

Lenny Dykstra Sentencing Delayed for Rehab

Sentencing for former baseball great Lenny Dykstra on multiple counts of grand theft auto was postponed to March after a judge said he is making progress in a drug and alcohol program. "He is enrolled in a drug and alcohol program and progressing well," commented L.A. County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ulfig as she allowed Dykstra to delay his sentencing until March 7. Read more...

Jorelys' Killer Commits Suicide in Prison

Two days after pleading guilty to killing a 7-year-old Georgia girl at the apartment complex where he lived and worked, a 20-year-old maintenance man has apparently taken his own life. Ryan Brunn reportedly hanged himself in his cell at Jackson Diagnostic Prison in Jackson, Georgia. Brunn had been sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to the sexual assault and murder of Jorelys Rivera. Read more...

Woman Gets Death for Killing Two Sons, Husband

A Southern California woman has been sentenced to death for smothering her two young sons with a pillow and killing her husband with a sword. Prosecutors say 32-year-old Manling Tsang Williams killed her family so she could be with a lover who wanted her to divorce. Williams was sentenced on three counts of first-degree murder for the August 2007 killings at her home in Rowland Heights. Read more...

More Body Parts Found Near Iconic Hollywood Sign

An investigation unfolding near the iconic Hollywood sign in Los Angeles is playing out like a gory movie script, as police worked to identity a man whose body was found in parts over the past two days -- first a head on Tuesday, then two hands and two feet. Investigators will continue to beat the brush along a winding hiking trail on Thursday to see if they can find more body parts. Authorities said the head came from a man believed to be 40 to 60 years old. Police think all the body parts are from the same man but are trying to confirm that. Read more...

Ex-Ohio Death Row Inmate Faces Retaliation Charges

A Scotsman released from an American prison after spending two decades on Ohio's death row has been accused of leaving a threatening phone message at the courthouse where he was sentenced to death nearly 25 years ago. Ken Richey was arrested in Tupelo, Miss., where he now lives, after a grand jury in Ohio indicted him on charges of retaliation and violating a civil protection order. Read more...

Gators Defensive Tackle Orr Arrested

Florida sophomore defensive tackle Leon Orr was served with a notice to appear on two marijuana-related charges during the first week of spring semester, according to a University Police report. The arrest report describes a scene on the night of Jan. 10 in which UPD officer Bradley Roberts searched Orr's dorm room in building eight of Keys Complex about a half hour before midnight. During the search, which Orr consented to, Roberts found a "baggy of a green leafy substance, a glass pipe and rolling papers" on Orr's desk and bedside table. Read more...

Former TV Skipper Gets Jail in Fatal Crash

An Alaska fishing captain who led a crew on the program that spawned the cable TV show "Deadliest Catch" will serve five years in prison for a fatal crash. The Peninsula Clarion that 60-year-old Clarence "Ole" Helgevold Jr., of Soldotna, has been sentenced. He was originally charged with manslaughter in January 2011 when his car crashed with a snowmobile driven by George Larion, who was thrown from the snowmobile and died. Read more...

Jackson Doc Won't Be Asked for Restitution

After consulting with Michael Jackson's family, prosecutors have decided not to seek restitution against the personal physician who was found guilty of the legendary pop singer's death. Deputy District Attorney David Walgren withdrew the request for restitution from Conrad Murray during a court hearing. Last month, Murray filed papers with the court indicating that he was indigent anyway. Read more...

New Trial Denied for Joshua Komisarjevsky

A judge has denied a request by convicted murderer Joshua Komisarjevsky for a new trial in the home invasion killings of a woman and her two daughters. New Haven Superior Court Judge Jon Blue denied motions for a new trial and that Komisarjevsky's conviction be overturned, stating he received a fair trial in the first place. Read more...

Conviction in Death That Sent Wrong Man to Prison

A jury convicted a man of the 1986 killing of a mother of four, a crime for which another man served 20 years in prison before being exonerated by new DNA tests. The New Haven Superior Court jury found 47-year-old Kevin Benefield, formerly of New York City, guilty of murder and felony murder during its second day of deliberations. Both charges carry a penalty of 25 to 60 years in prison. Sentencing is set for March 23. Jurors found that the former Bronx resident killed 30-year-old Barbara Pelkey, whose nude body was found at a manufacturing company where she worked in her hometown of Wallingford. Authorities said Pelkey was raped. Read more...

Man Trades Mom's Car for Crack Cocaine

Police say a 32-year-old Saline man took his mothers 2003 Honda without her permission. Police say he drove the car to Ypsilanti where he traded it to a crack dealer for an unspecified amount of crack cocaine, according to a Saline police report. Police were alerted to the situation when a cab driver called police after he said the suspect stiffed him for a $38 fare from Ypsilanti to Saline, according to police. The suspect told police he knew he didn't have any money and didn't care because he needed a ride home, according to police. Read more...

Former Miss USA Appears on Drunken Driving Charge

Former Miss USA Rima has made an initial appearance in a Detroit-area courtroom in a drunken driving case. A judge in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park on Wednesday set a March 14 trial date, but lawyers on both sides said they planned to talk in an attempt to resolve the case sooner. Police say they found an open bottle of champagne on the floor behind the driver's seat when Fakih was stopped Dec. 3. She was accused of driving 60 mph in a 2011 Jaguar and weaving through traffic without using a signal. Read more...

Bruno Mars Clear of Cocaine Possession Case

Pop star Bruno Mars was cleared of a felony cocaine possession case in Las Vegas, after his attorneys told a state court judge the Grammy-winning pop star stayed out of trouble, performed community service and met other conditions of a plea deal reached almost a year ago. Mars, whose real name is Peter Gene Hernandez, didn't appear in person for the brief hearing at which Clark County District Court Judge Jessie Walsh dismissed the case. Mars acknowledged having 2.6 grams of cocaine when he was arrested in a bathroom in September 2010 after a nightclub performance at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Read more...

Brunn Gets Life in Death of 7-Year-Old

A 20-year-old maintenance man at a Georgia apartment complex has entered a guilty plea to charges stemming from the sexual assault and murder of a 7-year-old girl. Ryan Brunn was sentenced to life in prison for the death of Jorelys Rivera at the River Ridge apartments in Canton, Georgia. Jorelys disappeared from the complex playground and was later found in a compactor-type trash bin. Read more...

DNA Naps Serial Killer Years Later

A serial killer nabbed after giving a DNA sample in connection with a drunk-driving conviction more than a decade after his murder spree was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison. Francisco Acevedo, 43, whose case prompted calls for expansion of the state's DNA database to track criminals, was not even a suspect in the murders of three women in Yonkers, New York until he applied for parole in 2009 while in prison for drunk driving, prosecutors said. Read more...

Teen Held on $750K Bond in Sister's Death

A 15-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting his older sister at their western Arkansas home was being held on a $750,000 bond after an initial court appearance Tuesday, though formal murder charges haven't been filed, the local prosecutor said. Prosecutor David Gibbons says he plans to charge the boy as an adult "because of the nature of the crime." Read more...

Delaware Governor Spares Convicted Murderer

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell has spared the life of a man who was facing execution for the 1990 murder of his girlfriend. Robert Gattis was scheduled to die by injection Friday for killing Shirley Slay. But Markell has decided to accept a recommendation from the state Board of Pardons that he commute Gattis' death sentence to life in prison without parole. It appears to be the first time a Delaware governor has commuted a death sentence. Read more...

Meth-Smoking Mom Kills 2 Kids, 2 Adults

A woman who shot her two children, their father and a cousin in California's Central Valley before committing suicide took video of herself on her iPad as she smoked methamphetamine prior to the killings, police said. The apparent murder-suicide by 23-year-old Aide Mendez began when she argued with the father of her two children, 33-year-old Eduardo Lopez. Police arrived to find Lopez outside the Silver Lakes Apartment with knife and gunshot wounds, said Lt. Mark Salazar, homicide commander for the Fresno Police Department. Read more...

Alabama's Kirkpatrick Arrested on Drug Charges

A week earlier, Dre Kirkpatrick hoisted a crystal football in New Orleans. His early-morning hours of this Tuesday, however, involved handcuffs in Bradenton. The now-former Crimson Tide cornerback was arrested just after midnight on marijuana possessions charges in Bradenton, Fla. Kirkpatrick was booked at 12:48 a.m., and released on $120 cash bond. Another former Alabama defensive back was arrested and booked at the same time on the same charges. Chris Rogers, a senior on the 2009 national championship team when Kirkpatrick was a freshman, was also processed by the Manatee County Sherriff’s Office. Read more...

Lindsay Lohan Progress Report: It's All Good!

Lindsay Lohan's scheduled progress report in front of Judge Stephanie Sautner was short and sweet. After receiving a glowing report from her probation officer, the actress was ordered by the judge to perform 15 more days of morgue duty and attend five therapy sessions before her next court date, Feb. 22. Read more...

Bank Foreclosing on O.J. Simpson's Florida Home

A bank is foreclosing on the Florida home of O.J. Simpson, who is serving time in a Nevada prison for kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges. Miami-Dade Circuit Court records show that JPMorgan Chase filed for foreclosure in September. Simpson's attorneys have since filed a motion to dismiss the case. Simpson bought the four-bedroom, four-bath house south of downtown Miami in 2000 for $575,000. Its current assessed value is $478,401. Read more...

Boy, 15, Tells Police He Fatally Shot Sister

Arkansas authorities were investigating the death of a 16-year-old girl as a homicide after her younger brother confessed to fatally shooting her this weekend, a local sheriff said. The girl's 15-year-old brother was crying and appeared remorseful when he turned himself in, Franklin County Sheriff Anthony Boen said. But Boen said he doesn't believe the sister's death was an accident. Read more...

Ohio Taking Death Penalty to Supreme Court

Ohio's governor and attorney general said the state is asking the U.S. Supreme Court for a ruling that Ohio's protocol for carrying out the death penalty is constitutional. Gov. John Kasich and Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement that the state wants the high court to reverse a federal appeals court decision to delay the Wednesday execution of Charles Lorraine. Read more...

Man Tried to Drown 2 Kids in Bathtub

An apparently intoxicated 23-year-man was charged with trying to drown two small children in a bathtub. Shanice Jackson told the station that the police arrived just in time to save her and the children from LaMonte L. Brown. "...If it wasn't for them coming when they did, I think me and my kids would have been dead last night. I really do," Jackson said. "I think he would have killed us... I think my kids would have drowned in the tub last night." Read more...

Stupid Criminals: Not What It Was Cracked Up to Be

A Missouri woman found herself on the wrong end of an arrest after she called police to report a crime. It seems that 47-year-old Suzanne Basham was outraged when her neighborhood crack dealer sold her $40 worth of sugar instead of cocaine. Read more...

Kasey Kahl Arrested for Drunk & Disorderly Conduct

What started as innocent fun with friends turned into an arrest for reality star Kasey Kahl – and one heck of a mug shot. The former Bachelor Pad and Bachelorette star, 27 – who is also the ex-boyfriend of Vienna Girardi – was taken into custody at Club Habanos in Fresno, Calif. Kahl was booked on a drunk-and-disorderly-conduct charge, and released around 8:30 a.m. Read more...