Israeli to face trial on 70 sex abuse charges in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A former school principal who was extradited from Israel after a six-year legal battle was ordered to stand trial Thursday on 70 charges of child sex abuse. Malka Leifer, 55, pleaded not guilty to all the charges at the end of a court...

Former US defense secretary testifies in Holmes fraud trial

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis testified Wednesday in the trial of fallen tech star Elizabeth Holmes, saying the entrepreneur misled him into believing she was on the verge of rolling out a blood-testing breakthrough that he hoped would help save lives...

Last person seen with Kristin Smart in 1996 heading to trial

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The last person seen with Kristin Smart before she vanished from a college campus 25 years ago on the Central California coast will stand trial on a murder charge in her suspected death and his father faces trial as an accomplice for allegedly helping bury her body, a...

California man convicted for role in Montana deputy's death

BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — A California man who, along with his son, went on a “suicide mission” involving law enforcement officers, has been convicted for his role in the death of a Montana sheriff’s deputy and for shots fired at two other officers during a pursuit. ...

R. Kelly's rules protected him, prosecutors in sex trial say

NEW YORK (AP) — R. Kelly got away with sexually abusing underage victims for more than two decades by ruling his inner circle enablers with an iron fist, a prosecutor told jurors on Wednesday at the R&B singer’s sex-trafficking trial. “The defendant set rules,...

Texas murder conviction overturned for improper legal work

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas' highest criminal court on Wednesday overturned a death row inmate's capital murder conviction because one of the prosecutors in his 2003 trial was moonlighting as a clerk for the judge in the case. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled...

Man who claimed to have bomb at Capitol competent for trial

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who claimed he had a bomb in a pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol last month, prompting evacuations and an hourslong standoff with police, is competent to stand trial, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. Floyd Ray Roseberry pleaded not guilty in...

Pennsylvania high court OKs 'comfort dogs' for witnesses

Canines in the courtroom? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court says yes — under certain conditions. A trial witness may be accompanied by a “comfort dog” if the animal will help yield reliable, complete and truthful testimony, the justices ruled Wednesday in a...

Trial set over man's death in struggle with Phoenix police

PHOENIX (AP) — An April 25 trial has been scheduled in a lawsuit filed over the 2017 death of a man during a struggle with Phoenix police officers who were arresting him outside a community center. The lawsuit alleged officers caused Muhammad Abdul Muhaymin’s death by...

California judge rules classmate of college student Kristin Smart, missing since 1996, to stand trial on murder charge