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| Defense lawyers: Did FBI pressure push Boston bomber over the edge? Saturday, Mar 29, 2014 07:53 AM PDT Three days after an FBI agent was cleared of wrongdoing in the bizarre killing of an associate of slain Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the only surviving bombing suspect, alleged that the FBI attempted to recruit the elder Tsarnaev as an informant. In court filings on Friday, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense team said that new information suggests the FBI interviewed Tamerlan on several occasions before the attack, and even pressured him to surreptitiously report on the Chechen underworld. Lawyers are seeking more information from the agency in order to formulate a death penalty defense that points to Tamerlan as the ideological ringleader of the attack. "We do not suggest that these contacts are to be blamed and have no evidence to suggest that they were improper, but rather view them as an important part of the story of Tamerlan's decline," defense attorney David Bruck wrote. Full Story | Top |
| San Francisco 49ers' Culliver arrested on hit-and-run, weapons charges Friday, Mar 28, 2014 09:16 PM PDT  By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver was arrested in California on Friday on felony hit-and-run and weapons charges, authorities said. Culliver, 25, is suspected of striking a bicyclist on Friday morning while driving in San Jose, a city about 50 miles south of San Francisco, and speeding away in his white Ford Mustang, the San Jose Police Department said in a statement. After the collision, Culliver then smashed into the vehicle of a witness who attempted to block Culliver's car from fleeing the scene, police said. The driver was later able to corner Culliver's vehicle until authorities arrived, police said. Full Story | Top |
| Houston-area man arrested in undercover FBI terrorism sting Friday, Mar 28, 2014 05:21 PM PDT A Houston-area man suspected of leading an anti-government group appeared in federal court on Friday to face charges of trying to rob an armored car with explosives and plotting to blow up U.S. government buildings. Robert James Talbot Jr., 38, of Katy, Texas, was arrested by U.S. agents Thursday after an eight-month federal probe as he was about to rob an armored car with inert explosives provided to him by informants who had entered his group, according to a criminal complaint filed in a U.S. federal court in Houston. Full Story | Top |
| Why is public support for the death penalty declining? Friday, Mar 28, 2014 05:12 PM PDT Public support for the death penalty is dropping in the United States, although more than half of adults still say they favor it as a punishment for murder. Fifty-five percent of US adults support the death penalty, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released Friday – down from a peak of 78 percent in 1996. The trend coincides with a drop in violent crime in most major cities – something that also peaked in the early-to-mid-1990s, notes Drew DeSilver for the Pew Research "Fact Tank" blog. Full Story | Top |
| Texas screens jurors for trial of man charged with killing prosecutors Friday, Mar 28, 2014 03:48 PM PDT By Marice Richter DALLAS (Reuters) - A Texas court on Friday began screening thousands of potential jurors to serve in the October trial of a case that dominated headlines last year, when a man was accused of shooting dead three people, including two prosecutors. Nearly 3,000 people have been summoned to come to the Rockwall County court for the jury panel in the trial of Eric Williams, a former Kaufman County justice of the peace and attorney accused of murdering District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife, Cynthia, and Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, according to Rockwall County officials. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Eric Williams, 46. McLelland and Hasse had prosecuted Eric Williams for the theft of office computer monitors, which cost him his job and law license. Full Story | Top |
| 2 Britons arrested in oil theft in Nigeria Friday, Mar 28, 2014 03:22 PM PDT LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The British High Commission says two British men have been arrested in Nigeria this week in connection with an alleged attempt to steal oil. Full Story | Top |
| FBI most wanted fugitive arrested in murder of NY mother, toddler Friday, Mar 28, 2014 02:57 PM PDT  An accused gang member put on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list this week was arrested on Friday for his role in the 2010 killing of his girlfriend and her toddler son, federal authorities said. Juan Elias "Cruzito" Garcia, 21, a reputed member of the murderous international gang known as MS-13, was taken into custody when he voluntarily returned to the United States to face criminal prosecution, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a press release. Garcia, who has ties to El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Panama, is accused in the execution-style shooting of the mother and child in Central Islip, New York, authorities said. His surrender on Friday - just two days after being put on the most wanted list - was the result of a coordinated effort between Nicaraguan authorities and U.S. law enforcement, which sent aircraft to bring Garcia to New York, the FBI said. Full Story | Top |
| NJ mom who lived with sons in storage is sentenced Friday, Mar 28, 2014 02:50 PM PDT TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The mother of two children who were living periodically in a 5-by-10-foot unit at a New Jersey storage facility has been sentenced to probation. Full Story | Top |
| Support for the Death Penalty Is Strongest Among Religious White People Friday, Mar 28, 2014 02:31 PM PDT  Fewer Americans now favor the death penalty, but support is still strong among religious whites and Republicans. According to a Pew Research Center survey, 55 percent of adults support the death penalty for convicted murderers, while 37 percent oppose it. Whites remain the only racial group in the United States where a majority support the death penalty. A sharp drop in violent crime, greater media attention given to wrongful convictions, and reports of inhumane and prolonged executions are some of the reasons for a shift in public opinion away for supporting the death penalty since the mid-1990s, Pew reports. Full Story | Top |
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