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The Oregon attorney general's office opposed an appeal from Kip Kinkel, who killed his parents and two high school students in 1998 in Springfield.

The appeal, submitted in March, claimed that Kinkel's sentence of 111 years and eight months, handed down when he was 15 years old, amounted to cruel and unusual punishment and violated the Eighth Amendment.
Kinkel gunned down his parents at their home and went on a shooting spree at Thurston High School, where two were killed and 25 wounded. He accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to prison without the possibility of parole.

Authorities have arrested the suspect wanted in a Mother's Day parade shooting that wounded 19 people in New Orleans, police said.

Akein Scott, 19, was arrested Wednesday night in the Little Woods section of eastern New Orleans, police department spokeswoman Remi Braden said. She said no additional details were available and would not be until Thursday morning.

Police previously said Scott had an arrest record involving drug and weapon charges.

Court records show some had been dropped but he was facing a felony charge of illegally carrying a weapon while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance. Scott was scheduled for a court hearing on motions related to that case Thursday. It was not immediately known whether he would be present for that hearing or whether it would be rescheduled.


Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion doctor, was sentenced Wednesday to a third life term for killing an aborted baby that he described as so big it could "walk to the bus."

The IRS scandal now includes nine US Senators and improper sharing of information. But we should really ask ourselves why we have an IRS.

By MEGHAN PIERCE
Union Leader Correspondent


KEENE - The city has filed a lawsuit against six citizens, part of a group dubbed Robin Hood of Keene that patrols downtown armed with video cameras and pockets full of change to fill expired parking meters.

Also known as Robin Hooders, the six are associated with the Free Keene group.

Members of the group place cards under windshield wipers that read, "Your meter expired; however, we saved you from the king's tariffs, Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Please consider paying it forward," and includes an address where donations can be sent.

A jury just convicted Kermit Gosnell of first-degree murder in the late-term abortion deaths of three babies. But many more share his guilt.

The Benghazi cover-up might be about more than political embarrassment. Did Barack Obama commit manslaughter and obstruction of justice?

Marcia Coyle's impressive new book on the Supreme Court arrives at a propitious time, on the cusp of major forthcoming decisions on affirmative action, voting rights, gay marriage and the human genome that could rock the legal world.

Coyle, chief Washington correspondent for The National Law Journal and a 25-year veteran court reporter, gives readers reason to pay heed during the next two months. Her review of the court's eight-year run under Chief Justice John Roberts, told largely through four major cases decided by 5-4 votes, shows just how important those decisions can be.

The Roberts Court: The Struggle for the Constitution is an accessible civics lesson, not only about the nation's highest court but the process that leads up to those dramatic hours of oral argument — the plotting by plaintiffs and preparation by lawyers that goes largely untold.

If it stops short of delivering what it seems to promise at the start — a denunciation of the conservative court's proclivity for trampling precedents, overruling elected officials and delivering big answers to small questions — it's because the Roberts Court isn't so easily defined, and Coyle is an objective observer in a media environment dominated by invective and rants.

After months of twists and turns in a dramatic trial rife with sex, lies and digital images, jurors in Arizona have decided the fate of Jodi Arias.

A verdict was reached Wednesday in the case that has drawn worldwide attention and followers lining up daily for courtroom seats. The verdict is expected to be announced at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Since Friday, jurors have been deliberating evidence surrounding this key question: Did Arias kill ex-boyfriend Travis Alexander in self-defense? Or did she commit murder?

Alexander was stabbed repeatedly, shot and nearly decapitated five years ago. Arias says she killed him in self-defense after he attacked her, but the grisly slaying has caused even some anti-domestic violence advocates to doubt her case.

Authorities say three brothers have been arrested after three women who vanished about a decade ago in separate cases were found alive Monday in a residential area just south of downtown Cleveland, just a few miles from where they disappeared.

One of the women said she had been abducted and told a 911 dispatcher in a frantic call, "I'm free now."

Police said one of the brothers, a 52-year-old, lived at the home, and the others, ages 50 and 54, lived elsewhere. Authorities did not release names and gave no details about them or what charges they might face.

Ariel Castro, 52, who was identified by the woman, Amanda Berry, in the 911 call, and was later arrested in connection to the case. Castro moved into the area in 1992 and neighbors considered him a loner who kept shades over his windows and would only leave the home at night. In 1993, he was arrested for domestic violence, but a grand jury dropped the charges and he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.



The armless Saskatoon man ticketed last week for driving without a seatbelt is vowing never to pay up, even it means taking his case to the Supreme Court.

Steven Simonar, 55, met with Saskatoon police Wednesday but did not get the apology he asked for.

The constable who issued the ticket was unrepentant, and “as arrogant and ignorant” as when he issued the ticket, Simonar said.


Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, ran to Cuba where she has been living since 1984. Yes, she is related to Tupac Shakur, in that he is the step son of her brother Mutulu.

NEWARK, N.J. — A militant convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper 40 years ago is now the first woman on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists.

The FBI and state of New Jersey also announced Thursday a doubling of the reward, to $2 million, for the capture of Joanne Chesimard.

The state is adding its own $1 million on top of the million dollars already offered by the FBI for her capture and return.

Chesimard was a member of the Black Liberation Army. She's been on the run since 1979 when she escaped from prison, where she was serving a life term in the death of Trooper Werner Foerster.

She fled to Cuba, where she has lived under the name Assata Shakur.

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