Pennsylvania
Woman found guilty in 2015 death of man stabbed 29 times
MONTROSE, Pa. (AP) - A jury has found a northwestern Pennsylvania woman guilty in the death of a man who was stabbed 29 times before his body was dumped down an embankment along the Susquehanna River.
The jury deliberated about four hours Wednesday before returning the verdict against 28-year-old Sarah Briggs in the Feb. 2015 death of Roy Marvin.
Her boyfriend, 26-year-old Jerry Mast, pleaded guilty in December in the stabbing, which police say was over an argument about drugs.
On Tuesday, Mast testified that he stabbed Marvin with a folding pocket knife and Briggs then used a kitchen knife to stab Marvin in the chest.
On Wednesday, she told the jury her boyfriend stabbed Marvin. She also described her descent into heroin addiction.
She says she felt guilt about Marvin's death because her actions led up to it.
New York
Bombings suspect has injuries from police shootout
NEW YORK (AP) - A man charged with setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York shuffled slowly into a Manhattan courtroom Thursday to face federal terrorism charges as his lawyer expressed worries that a federal lockup could not adequately care for injuries stemming from his shootout with police.
Ahmed Khan Rahimi, 28, listened as U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn read him his rights and the charges against him during a brief morning appearance after he was transferred into federal custody at 5 a.m. No plea was required because he has yet to be indicted.
The Afghanistan-born U.S. citizen was hospitalized for weeks for treatment of multiple bullet wounds after a police shootout during his Sept. 19 capture outside a bar in Linden, New Jersey.
Rahimi is charged with detonating a pipe bomb along a Marine Corps charity race in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and planting two pressure cooker bombs in New York City.
One of those devices did not explode. The other one detonated in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, injuring 30.
Netburn formally notified him that he faced four federal charges: the use of weapons of mass destruction, the bombing of a public place, the destruction of property through fire or explosion and the use of a destructive device during a crime of violence.
Rahimi, speaking softly, acknowledged that he understood the charges while his attorney, David Patton, waived a public reading of them.
Patton told the judge he was worried that Rahimi cannot be adequately treated for his wounds at the Manhattan Correctional Center, a federal lockup next to federal courthouses in lower Manhattan.
He said Rahimi has already undergone eight to 10 surgeries, many for infections resulting from his bullet wounds. Rahimi also has serious liver damage, injuries to his left hand that prevent him from closing it, an open wound on his right leg and serious back and shoulder injuries, he added.
"We have some real concerns about Mr. Rahimi's medical condition," Patton said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew DeFillippis said federal authorities took his injuries into consideration when they decided he was well enough to be transferred to the Manhattan facility.
Outside court, Patton said Rahimi "certainly plans to enter a plea of not guilty at his arraignment," but he declined to discuss anything further about the case or his client's mental condition.
In addition to the federal charges, Rahimi faces five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offenses in New Jersey. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
New Jersey
Man accused in 3 deaths over post pleads not guilty
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A man who authorities say was angry about a Facebook post has pleaded not guilty to stabbing three people to death and knifing three others in New Jersey's largest city.
Jeremy Arrington appeared in court in Newark on Thursday. The 26-year-old faces three counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, among other charges, stemming from an attack Saturday.
Authorities have said Arrington might have been angry that one of the victims had reposted a Facebook alert from police naming him as a suspect in a shooting and sexual assault.
A 23-year-old college student from Hanover Township and an 8-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother from Newark died in the attack.
An adult and two other children escaped.
Massachusetts
Judge: Woman's statements allowed in texting suicide trial
PLAINVILLE, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts judge has ruled that statements made by a woman who sent her boyfriend text messages encouraging him to kill himself can be used by prosecutors at her manslaughter trial.
The Sun Chronicle reports a Taunton Juvenile Court judge on Tuesday denied a motion by 20-year-old Michelle Carter's lawyers to suppress statements she made to police.
Carter is charged in the death of 18-year-old Conrad Roy III. Roy's body was found in his pickup truck in Fairhaven. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carter had claimed that statements she made to police three months after Roy's death were illegally obtained because she was not told she had a right to a lawyer.
A trial date hasn't been set. A pretrial status hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1.
New York
Man gets life in trooper's 'assassination'
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) - A Florida man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for deliberately running down a New York state trooper on an upstate New York highway.
Judge Joseph Cawley imposed the life sentence on Almond Upton on Thursday, calling the crime "nothing less than an assassination."
The Melrose, Florida, man was previously convicted of first-degree murder in the 2014 death of 42-year-old Trooper Christopher Skinner.
Prosecutors say the trooper was issuing a ticket along Interstate 81 near Binghamton when Upton drove his pickup truck at 93 mph into the officer.
Attorneys for the 62-year-old Florida man argued he was in a "manic state" at the time of the crash, making him unable to understand the consequences of his actions.
Published: Fri, Nov 11, 2016
