Crimes and Trials News

Rapper Earl 'DMX' Simmons is shown in this Maricopa County Sheriff's Department booking photograph July 2, 2008. (Maricopa County Sheriff Department/Handout/Reuters)

Rapper DMX denies theft charges, sings at court

Reuters - Thu Jul 24, 8:48 PM ET

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Chart-topping rapper DMX pleaded not guilty to a pair of felony theft charges in a Phoenix court on Thursday, and then treated reporters to an impromptu rap about bouncing back from adversity.

  • Robin S. Toma, executive director of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, presents the commission's 2007 Hate Crimes report during a news conference in Los Angeles Thursday, July 24, 2008. Hate crimes in the county soared last year to their highest mark in five years even as overall crime dropped across the region, according to the report. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
    Report: Hate crimes hit 5-year high in LA County AP - Thu Jul 24, 7:55 PM ET

    LOS ANGELES - Hate crimes in Los Angeles County soared last year to their highest mark in five years even as overall crime dropped across the region, according to a report released Thursday.

  • Grand jury to call reporter on indictment sources AP - Thu Jul 24, 7:45 PM ET

    SANTA ANA, Calif. - A federal judge decided Thursday that a reporter who used confidential sources in a story on export-conspiracy indictments would not have to reveal those sources to him, but it became public during the hearing that the journalist will be called to appear before a grand jury seeking the same information.

  • In this July 19, 2008 file photo provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, is shown. Simmons has been indicted on felony charges by a grand jury in Arizona for allegedly trying to get out of paying a hospital bill. Authorities say Simmons went to Scottsdale's Mayo Clinic in April, said his name was 'Troy Jones,' and received care with the intent of not paying the bill. (AP Photo/Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, File)
    Rapper DMX pleads not guilty to felony charges AP - Thu Jul 24, 7:22 PM ET

    PHOENIX - DMX rapped for reporters outside a Phoenix courtroom Thursday after pleading not guilty to felony charges of theft and identity theft.

  • Family members and friends of the captain and crew of the 'Joe Cool' fishing charter boat leave federal court Thursday, July 24, 2008 in Miami. One of two men accused of the slayings last year of four people aboard the 'Joe Cool' changed his plea Thursday to guilty in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
    Ark. man accused in 4 boat deaths pleads guilty AP - Thu Jul 24, 6:59 PM ET

    MIAMI - One of two men accused of killing four people aboard a fishing charter last year pleaded guilty Thursday in exchange for an agreement that prosecutors will not seek the death penalty.

  • Judge: Idaho child-killer is mentally competent AP - Thu Jul 24, 6:16 PM ET

    BOISE, Idaho - Convicted child-killer Joseph Edward Duncan III is mentally competent to face a death penalty hearing, a federal judge in Idaho ruled Thursday.

  • Woman accused in baby snatching is ruled competent AP - Thu Jul 24, 5:45 PM ET

    PITTSBURGH - The suspect accused of cutting a baby from his mother's womb was found mentally competent by a judge Thursday to assist in her defense, despite a psychiatrist's testimony that she is a paranoid schizophrenic.

  • In this Tuesday, July 1, 2003, file photograph, New Jersey State Assemblyman Neil Cohen, D-Union, is seen as he talks about a bill at the Statehouse in Trenton, N.J. Cohen is being investigated for child pornography possession on his legislative office computer, according to four officials familiar with the situation. (AP Photo/Brian Branch-Price, File)
    Lawmakers: NJ legislator focus of child porn probe AP - Thu Jul 24, 11:05 PM ET

    TRENTON, N.J. - Authorities are investigating whether a veteran state lawmaker possessed child pornography on his office computer, two assemblymen who share an office with him said Thursday.

  • Iran widow must go to trial in NY on terror charge AP - Thu Jul 24, 9:54 PM ET

    NEW YORK - A naturalized U.S. citizen accused of helping to lead an Iranian terrorist group must face trial on a charge of providing material support to terrorism, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • Prosecutor: Escaped convict, wife, daughter slain AP - Fri Jul 25, 12:06 AM ET

    BENNETT, Colo. - A convicted spammer fatally shot his wife and young daughter in an apparent murder-suicide Thursday while being sought after escaping prison last weekend, authorities said.

  • Judge: EPA must regulate ship water discharge AP - Wed Jul 23, 10:47 PM ET

    SAN FRANCISCO - An appeals court Wednesday upheld a ruling ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the water discharged from ships as a way to protect local ecosystems from invasive species.

  • Kansas man pleads guilty in teen's kidnap-slaying AP - Wed Jul 23, 8:58 PM ET

    OLATHE, Kan. - A man pleaded guilty Wednesday to snatching an 18-year-old from a store parking lot, raping her and strangling her with her own belt before dumping her body in a park.

  • In this photograph of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin, reviewed by the U.S. Military, defendant Salim Hamdan (R) watches a video of himself under interrogation, shown as part of his trial, inside the courthouse at Camp Justice, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba July 23, 2008. Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's driver, knew the target of the fourth hijacked jetliner in the Sept. 11 attacks, a prosecutor said on Tuesday in an attempt to draw a link between him and the al Qaeda leadership in the first Guantanamo war crimes trial. (Janet Hamlin/Pool/Reuters)
    Judge to Moussaoui jury: You got it right AP - Wed Jul 23, 5:25 PM ET

    McLEAN, Va. - The judge in the trial of convicted Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui says she told jurors that they made the right decision in sparing his life.

  • Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James arrives at the U.S. District Courthouse in Newark, N.J., Wednesday, July 23, 2008, for a court hearing on his corruption conviction. U.S. District Judge William J. Martini upheld the corruption convictions of James and his one-time mistress Tamika Riley. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)
    Judge upholds convictions of ex-Newark mayor AP - Wed Jul 23, 2:58 PM ET

    NEWARK, N.J. - A federal judge on Wednesday upheld the corruption convictions of former Newark Mayor Sharpe James and his one-time mistress, but indicated that James probably will get less than the 15- to 20-year prison sentence prosecutors are seeking.

  • In this Saturday, July 19, 2008 booking photo provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, is shown. The 37-year-old was arrested at a Phoenix mall Saturday on suspicion that he gave a gave a false name and Social Security number to a hospital to get out of paying for medical expenses. (AP Photo/Maricopa County Sheriff's Office) .
    Rapper DMX indicted on felony charges in Arizona AP - Wed Jul 23, 2:41 PM ET

    PHOENIX - Rapper DMX has been indicted on felony charges by a grand jury in Arizona for allegedly trying to get out of paying a hospital bill.

  • Producer Lorne Michaels attends Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World Gala on May 8, 2008 in New York. A criminal court judge has upheld charges against a Long Island, New York, man accused of stalking 'Saturday Night Live' producer Lorne Michaels. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
    NY judge upholds charge of stalking 'SNL' producer AP - Wed Jul 23, 12:56 PM ET

    NEW YORK - A criminal court judge has upheld charges against a Long Island, New York, man accused of stalking "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels.

  • This undated booking file photo provided by the Mohave County Sheriff's Office shows polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs in Arizona. Jeffs was indicted Tuesday July 22, 2008 in Texas on a sex assault count. (AP Photo/Mohave County Sheriff's Office, File)
    Authorities seek indicted polygamist sect members AP - Wed Jul 23, 4:22 PM ET

    SAN ANGELO, Texas - Texas authorities on Wednesday began looking for five indicted members of a polygamist sect, in a child sex-abuse case that the group's spokesman alleged was a face-saving move by officials who lost a court battle over their seizure of hundreds of children from a sect-owned ranch.

  • Women and children of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from the Yearning for Zion compound in Eldorado, Texas. The jailed leader of a polygamist sect and five other men linked to a Texas compound raided earlier this year have been indicted on child sexual assault and other charges, officials said Tuesday.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Deseret Morning News)
    US polygamist sect leader charged with child sex assault AFP - Tue Jul 22, 10:50 PM ET

    ELDORADO, Texas (AFP) - The jailed leader of a polygamist sect and five other men linked to a Texas compound raided earlier this year have been indicted on child sexual assault and other charges, officials said.

  • Accused driver in migrant crash pleads not guilty AP - Tue Jul 22, 10:36 PM ET

    EL CENTRO, Calif. - A Mexican citizen accused of driving a sport utility vehicle into a canal, killing six illegal immigrants, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to smuggling charges.

  • Warren Jeffs looks toward the jury in his trial in St. George, Utah, September 25, 2007. REUTERS/Douglas C. Pizac/Pool
    Texas grand jury indicts 6 in polygamist ranch case Reuters - Tue Jul 22, 10:23 PM ET

    HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas grand jury on Tuesday charged the jailed polygamist leader of a breakaway Mormon sect with sexually assaulting a child and indicted five followers after state officials raided a polygamist ranch near Eldorado in April.

  • Rosenberg testimony on verge of public release AP - Tue Jul 22, 9:46 PM ET

    NEW YORK - A judge signaled Tuesday that he would order the release in coming months of much of the secret testimony in the notorious espionage case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

  • NY priest pleads guilty to raping 3 teenage boys AP - Tue Jul 22, 8:07 PM ET

    BOSTON - A Franciscan priest from New York pleaded guilty to raping three teenage boys during overnight trips to Boston in the 1970s and 1980s and was ordered Tuesday to serve time on probation.

  • Guards search Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel during the second day of the fourth Petra Conference of Nobel Laureates June 19, 2008. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed
    Man guilty in false imprisonment of Elie Wiesel Reuters - Tue Jul 22, 7:35 PM ET

    SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A San Francisco jury convicted a 24-year-old man on misdemeanor charges on Monday for pulling Elie Wiesel from a hotel elevator in an incident the Holocaust survivor, author and Nobel Peace Prize recipient thought was a kidnapping attempt.

  • In this June 2, 2008 file photo, Rev. Al Sharpton arrives for the Apollo Theater's annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York. Federal prosecutors have disbanded their criminal probe into the financial dealings of Sharpton and his Harlem civil rights group, the minister and his lawyers said Tuesday, July 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
    Sharpton's lawyers say feds have dropped tax probe AP - Tue Jul 22, 6:48 PM ET

    NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors have decided not to seek criminal charges against the Rev. Al Sharpton over his chronic tax problems, his lawyers said Tuesday.

  • Romanian pleads guilty in Conn. over phishing scam AP - Tue Jul 22, 6:40 PM ET

    BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - One of 38 people charged in a global crime ring that allegedly stole personal information from unsuspecting Internet users pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal fraud charge.

  • Key evidence in Rosenberg trial to remain secret Reuters - Tue Jul 22, 5:55 PM ET

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Testimony that could help clear executed American communist Ethel Rosenberg of charges she helped pass atomic secrets to the Soviet Union in the 1950s will remain secret, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

  • Prosecutors want to commit man, 78, in cop deaths AP - Tue Jul 22, 1:32 PM ET

    COLUMBIA, S.C. - Prosecutors said Tuesday they want a 78-year-old man committed to a mental hospital after he was found incompetent to stand trial for killing two South Carolina law officers.

  • A guard checking on a detainee in Camp Delta at the US Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, pictured here, has pleaded not guilty on Monday at of the first war crimes trial before a special military tribunal at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials have said.(AFP/File/Paul J. Richards)
    Bin Laden's driver pleads not guilty in Guantanamo trial AFP - Mon Jul 21, 11:26 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, has pleaded not guilty at the opening of the first trial before a special "war on terror" military tribunal at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, officials said.

  • Rap music figure convicted in Las Vegas slaying AP - Mon Jul 21, 9:17 PM ET

    LAS VEGAS - A jury found a 37-year-old San Francisco rap music figure guilty in the slaying of a Kansas City rival in what authorities called a West Coast versus Midwest rap war.

  • Child porn charge for N.D. expert on sex offenders AP - Mon Jul 21, 8:20 PM ET

    FARGO, N.D. - A former psychologist who evaluated sex offenders at North Dakota's state mental hospital faces federal charges of possession of child pornography.

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