Georgia
Woman accused of killing mom to steal her newborn baby
RINGGOLD, Ga. (AP) - A Tennessee woman is charged with murder after authorities say she gunned down a northwest Georgia woman because she wanted the mother's newborn baby.
Catherine Goins is accused of luring the mom, 30-year-old Natalia Roberts, to a friend's home in the northwest Georgia town of Ringgold by saying she wanted to give the new mother some baby clothes, Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk said.
Goins then used a .380-caliber handgun to shoot Roberts in the back of her head as she went down a flight of stairs on Sept. 19, Sisk said in a statement Wednesday. Roberts crashed to the bottom landing of the staircase and was later found dead by police.
Goins, 37, of Hixson, Tennessee, had been "living a ruse" that she was pregnant, and killed the Lafayette, Georgia, woman to get her baby, Sisk said in the statement.
Investigators believe Goins wanted the victim's infant to cover up her own faked pregnancy, Sisk told reporters at a Wednesday news conference, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
After the shooting, Goins called a friend who owned the Ringgold home but was away at work and told him she had shot an intruder, the sheriff said. The friend urged her to call 911, but she left in her car with the victim's two children - the 3-week-old baby and a 3-year-old, Sisk said.
During phone conversations, the friend tried to calm Goins and convince her to come back to the home, and she returned with the two children later that day, Sisk said.
Goins then told law officers the same story - that she had shot an intruder in the home - and she was released with no charges as authorities continued to investigate, the Chattanooga newspaper reported.
Authorities later sought warrants for Goins' arrest on murder and other charges, and she was apprehended Tuesday in Marion County, Tennessee, Sisk said.
Goins was awaiting extradition back to Georgia, and it wasn't known Thursday whether she has an attorney.
Washington
In Exxon suit, judge leaves opening for villagers
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge has left a small legal opening for some Indonesian villagers to pursue a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. for human rights abuses allegedly committed by Indonesian troops guarding an Exxon natural gas field.
In a decision last year, the Supreme Court drastically limited the ability of foreign victims of human rights abuses to use American courts to seek monetary damages for their suffering. However, the Supreme Court said claims that "touch and concern the territory of the United States" might be allowed to go forward. The Supreme Court provided little guidance on the definition of "touch and concern," except to say that "mere corporate presence" in the U.S. would not suffice.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that lawyers for the villagers should be given the opportunity to amend their lawsuit in light of the Supreme Court's decision.
Lamberth said he "must determine what U.S.-based conduct is alleged."
Lawyers for the villagers say that Exxon provided money for weapons, supplies and equipment for security at the company's Indonesian gas field in the province of Aceh. Lamberth said, however, that the villagers' lawyers have not said where this support was planned or if any of the support came from the United States.
Indonesian soldiers hired by Exxon allegedly injured 15 Indonesian citizens.
Exxon spokesman David Eglinton said: "The decision is preliminary and does not reach any legal or factual conclusions about ExxonMobil's conduct or liability."
"We have fought these baseless claims for many years," he said. "The plaintiffs' claims are without merit. While conducting its business in Indonesia, ExxonMobil has worked for generations to improve the quality of life in Aceh through employment of local workers, provision of health services and extensive community investment."
Massachusetts
Judge delays Marathon bombing trial, won't move it
BOSTON (AP) - A judge granted a two-month trial delay on Wednesday for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, but denied a defense request to move his trial from Boston.
Judge George O'Toole ruled that the trial will begin Jan. 5 instead of Nov. 3, but said there's no reason to assume in advance that a fair jury cannot be selected in Massachusetts.
Defense attorneys had asked that the trial be moved to Washington, D.C., citing extensive media coverage in Boston and evaluations of public sentiment by their experts. They also asked for a trial delay until at least September 2015, saying they have not had time to prepare for a November trial, and had been given less time than was granted in many other federal death penalty cases.
Tsarnaev, 21, has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Prosecutors say he and his older brother placed two pressure cooker bombs that exploded near the marathon's finish line. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in a shootout with police several days later.
"Although media coverage in this case has been extensive, at this stage the defendant has failed to show that it has so inflamed and pervasively prejudiced the pool that a fair and impartial jury cannot be empaneled in this District," O'Toole wrote.
He also wrote that a short delay is warranted because of the large amount of evidence the defense has received from prosecutors. But he said, "An additional delay of ten months as requested by the defendant does not appear necessary."
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed they would need to summon about 2,000 potential jurors, but they filed more than 100 pages of legal briefs arguing over moving the trial.
The judge agreed with prosecutors' arguments the defense's expert evaluations were flawed, and that eastern Massachusetts' diverse population of over 5 million is sufficient to pick a jury.
The defense has cited the trial of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, which was moved to Denver, saying the marathon bombing had an even broader emotional impact. O'Toole said a more pertinent example was the Supreme Court's upholding of the decision not to move the 2006 trial of Enron fraud defendant Jeffrey Skilling from Houston, a similar large venue where feelings and publicity about that case were strong.
"It is doubtful whether a jury could be selected anywhere in the country whose members were wholly unaware of the Marathon bombings. The Constitution does not oblige them to be," O'Toole said.
