crime

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Suspect in Ga. Hiker's Murder Denied Bail

Autopsy shows she was held captive for 3 days, bludgeoned

(Newser) - Gary Michael Hilton was denied bail this afternoon on murder charges in the gruesome death of 24-year-old Georgia hiker Meredith Emerson. The DA on the case says he has not decided whether to seek the death penalty, despite an agreement between Hilton and investigators to forgo it if Hilton led...

Friendly Service Cuts Bank Robberies

FBI finds personal attention unnerves would-be felons

(Newser) - Bank employees are thwarting robbers in Washington state, not with steel bars or alarms—but with broad smiles and enthusiastic handshakes, reports the Seattle Times. The number of bank robberies in the state reached a 20-year low thanks to FBI training program "Safecatch," which teaches bank personnel to...

Innocent Con Freed After 27 Years
Innocent Con Freed After
27 Years
Jan 4, 2008 3:00 AM CST

Innocent Con Freed After 27 Years

DNA testing confirmed he wasn't guilty of rape

(Newser) - A man who spent 27 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit was released yesterday after DNA evidence proved he hadn't assaulted his accuser. Charles Chatman, now 47, had maintained his innocence throughout his time in jail, refusing to give an account of the crime to the parole...

States Drag Feet on 'Humane' Lethal Injections

Supreme Court ruling may

(Newser) - With the Supreme Court scrutinizing whether lethal injections constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," the New York Times wonders why none of the 38 states who use it have taken a simple step that could solve the problem: trade the three-drug sequence that's said to risk intense pain for...

Murder Earns Few Women Death Penalty

Will slaughter of 6 family members draw capital punishment for Wash. woman?

(Newser) - With prosecutors still debating whether to seek the death penalty against Michele Anderson, charged in the murder of six members of her family on Christmas Eve, the Seattle Times looks at the odds that the Carnation, Wash., woman might actually be sentenced to death. Women rarely receive the death penalty,...

Hundreds Call Maddy Hotline After Parents' Christmas Plea

Private investigators look into new tips

(Newser) - A hotline set up in the hunt for Madeleine McCann was flooded with 347 calls after her parents made a televised plea for information regarding the missing 4-year-old 's whereabouts. A private detective company hired by Gerry and Kate McCann, who both remain suspects in the case, will investigate the...

She's Dead, Suspect Said in Chat
She's Dead, Suspect Said in Chat
Dec 21, 2007 5:00 AM CST

She's Dead, Suspect Said in Chat

Still not enough to hold anyone, judge ruled

(Newser) - Though the case has been closed in the disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway, one of the men detained in her suspected murder wrote in an internet chat room that she was dead shortly after she vanished, an Aruba prosecutor has revealed. That evidence was used last month to rearrest...

Police: Wife Aimed at Hubby But Decked TV

'He pushed me over the edge,' says woman

(Newser) - A Michigan woman allegedly aiming a gun at her husband killed the couple’s flat-screen TV instead, the Detroit Free Press reports. The woman, 61, explained to a police dispatcher that her husband "pushed me over the edge" but insisted she wasn't trying to hurt him. She said her...

Suspected Mob Gambling Ring Smashed
Suspected Mob Gambling Ring Smashed
Dec 19, 2007 3:56 AM CST

Suspected Mob Gambling Ring Smashed

NJ cops bust dozens in major blow to Lucchese crime family

(Newser) - New Jersey officials have nabbed a cadre of suspected mob bosses to bust up a sophisticated $2.2 billion gambling ring, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. Others among more than two dozen arrested included a prison officer and a Bloods gangster, said to be part of an "alarming alliance" between...

Princeton Student Faked Own Beating
Princeton Student Faked Own Beating
Dec 18, 2007 4:07 AM CST

Princeton Student Faked Own Beating

Sent death threats to himself and other campus conservatives

(Newser) - A Princeton student who claimed his views on morality and membership in a conservative organization triggered death threats against him and a beating has confessed that the threats and attack were self-delivered, the Daily Princetonian reports. Four others on campus, including a prominent conservative professor, were also threatened as part...

Atlanta B-baller Carjacked at Gunpoint

Hawks forward plays after robbery; cops nab 2 suspects

(Newser) - Two gunmen carjacked Atlanta Hawks forward Shelden Williams outside his barbershop in Atlanta last night and were later arrested when they tried another burglary, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Williams was unhurt and played two minutes in last night's game against the Charlotte Bobcats. "It's been a long day, but...

UK Bans Samurai Swords
UK Bans Samurai Swords
Dec 14, 2007 3:35 PM CST

UK Bans Samurai Swords

Move follows a wave of high-profile attacks in recent years

(Newser) - British authorities are cracking down on a deadly, if unconventional, weapon—the samurai sword. The government banned the sale of the Japanese blades this week following at least 80 serious attacks, including five deaths, in the last few years, the Guardian reports. Collectors and martial arts practitioners will not be...

Mall Shooter Took Gun While Briefly Alone

Assault gun in Omaha slayings came from ex-stepfather's house

(Newser) - The night before the Omaha mall shootings, Robert Hawkins' mother went Christmas shopping for an hour. In that hour alone in his ex-stepfather's house, reports the Omaha World-Herald, the 19-year-old stole the assault rifle he used to randomly kill eight people the next day. At dinner, Hawkins told his mother...

Colo. Shooter Had Ties to Church
Colo. Shooter Had Ties to Church
Dec 10, 2007 2:44 PM CST

Colo. Shooter Had Ties to Church

Lone gunman ID'd as ex-mission worker who sent threatening letters

(Newser) - A former mission worker was the shooter in both of yesterday’s Colorado church shootings, CNN reports. The killer, identified as Matthew Murray, worked with Youth With a Mission in Arvada, where the first shooting occurred. The Rocky Mountain News describes Murray as the 24-year-old son of a local neurosurgeon,...

UK Cops Charge Boater With Fraud
UK Cops
Charge Boater With Fraud
Dec 8, 2007 4:53 PM CST

UK Cops Charge Boater With Fraud

Back-from-dead Darwin hid in family home, using secret passage

(Newser) - UK cops today charged John Darwin, the 57-year-old former teacher who allegedly faked his death in a 2002 canoeing incident, with two counts of fraud—acquiring a money transfer by fraud and lying to get a passport—the  BBC reports. Darwin will remain in custody until a court appearance Monday;...

Omaha Shooter Cased Store, Smuggled Gun

Police say he hid an AK-47 inside balled-up sweatshirt

(Newser) - 19-year-old Robert Hawkins briefly looked around the Von Maur department store yesterday before leaving, only to return six minutes later and open fire with a stolen AK-47 in the Omaha rampage that left nine dead. Upon reentry, Hawkins was "concealing something balled up in a hooded sweatshirt," police...

Rodney King Shot While Bicycling
Rodney King Shot While Bicycling
Nov 29, 2007 8:28 PM CST

Rodney King Shot While Bicycling

Man whose beating sparked LA riots has minor injuries

(Newser) - Rodney King, whose videotaped beating by police officers in 1991 led to the LA riots, is recovering from minor wounds after being sprayed with birdshot while on his bicycle, the Los Angeles Times reports. King told police that two people demanded his bike at a street corner in San Bernardino,...

Violent Crime Rate Down in Several Cities

Mid-Atlantic region still grappling with rising murder rate

(Newser) - The crime surge of the last two years seems to be petering out, according to a new study by a police research group. The 2005-2006 rise in violent crime rates had been the first sustained jump in over a decade, but the new report shows that the numbers of murders,...

NYC Murder Rate in Free Fall
NYC Murder Rate in Free Fall
Nov 23, 2007 11:02 AM CST

NYC Murder Rate in Free Fall

New York City murder rate drops to lowest in more than four decades

(Newser) - The murder rate in New York City hit a new low this year—the lowest it's been in the 44 years reliable statistics have been kept, reports the New York Times. And if early analysis holds up, of the fewer than 500 murders this year, fewer than 100 will have...

Filling Jails Doesn't Cut Crime
Filling Jails Doesn't
Cut Crime
Nov 20, 2007 6:23 AM CST

Filling Jails Doesn't Cut Crime

Study concludes that longer sentences don't make streets safer

(Newser) - Getting tough on criminals through longer prison terms—at an annual cost of tens of billions of US taxpayer dollars—hasn't made a major impact on crime, concludes a study released yesterday. The US prison population has increased 800% since 1970—giving the nation has the world's highest incarceration rate—...

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