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Swift murder conviction in abortion doctor's death
An activist who confessed to gunning down one of the only U.S. doctors to offer late-term abortions faces a sentence of life in prison after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder.
Jurors took just 37 minutes Friday to convict Scott Roeder for putting a .22-caliber gun to Dr. George Tiller's forehead and pulling the trigger in the foyer of a church.
Roeder's attorneys had hoped to argue for a lesser conviction of voluntary manslaughter, based on the defendant's belief that the killing was justified to save the lives of unborn children. But the judge threw out that defense, leaving jurors to choose between a murder conviction or acquittal.
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Third trial starts in Valley hit man case
A trial that began Friday in Fresno County Superior Court is so terrifying that the names of the victims weren't identified in the criminal complaint.
What is known is that a gunman with a silencer intended to kill a Fresno man, but ended up seriously wounding his daughter in September 2004.
On trial is Jesse David Alvarez, 42, who is charged with assault with a firearm and two counts of attempted murder.
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Abolish death penalty
I understand that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger still thinks the death penalty is a great idea. If he would like to balance the state budget, he could immediately do so by abolishing the death penalty.
On Jan. 12, I noted a picture and article about Rodney James Alcala going to trial in Orange County and acting as his own attorney. The article states, "Five grisly killings details," and accompanying picture of Mr. Alcala going to trial in Santa Ana.
I was the presiding judge over Mr. Alcala's two prior trials in Orange County and sentenced him to death after the jury twice returned verdicts. What a waste of time, resources and money.
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LA man gets 75-to-life for killing 3-year-old girl
A Los Angeles man who murdered a 3-year-old girl and tried to kill her father in a case of mistaken identity has been sentenced to 75 years to life in prison.
Prosecutors say 20-year-old Jonathan Banks was sentenced Friday after a jury convicted him of one count of murder and two counts of premeditated murder last November.
Prosecutors say Banks and his 29-year-old co-defendant Laron Larrimore mistook Cesar Avila for a rival gang member. They chased, shot and wounded him near his Baldwin Village home.
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Hawk's children speak out at his sentencing
HANFORD -- Dave Hawk's oldest children painted starkly contrasting portraits of their father Friday after he was sentenced to life in prison for killing their mother.
The day in court ended a murder case that has transfixed the region since Debbie Hawk, 46, went missing in June 2006. Her body has never been found.
Her son said Friday he hopes his father goes to hell for the crime; her older daughter said she still believes her father is innocent.
SACRAMENTO -- While his sisters sobbed in the courtroom, Vardan Abramyan bowed his head and held it in his hands Friday when a jury convicted him of first-degree murder for paying hitmen $4,000 to kill his father.
"He's never coming home," one of the women shrieked in the hallway outside the courtroom, after the reading of the verdict that likely will send the 22-year-old defendant to prison for the rest of his life.
Abramyan testified in the monthlong trial that he felt he had no choice but to arrange the killing, describing his father, Norik Abramyan, as an unemployed church pastor living in Fresno who terrorized him, his sisters and mother. He described his father as a physical, psychological and financial brute.
The family had emigrated from Armenia, settling first in Los Angeles, then Fresno and Sacramento.
Deputy District Attorney Anthony Ortiz said the case produced no winners, that the outcome destroyed the son as well as the abusive father, and also the three co-defendants charged with carrying out the July 30, 2006, killing in the parking lot of the Hollywood Video on Watt Avenue.
"Domestic violence is real -- there's no question domestic violence is real," Ortiz said, on his way down the courthouse steps. "It affects our society. But people need to understand there are resources out there."
Two other juries that heard evidence against two of Abramyan's co-defendants in the case, Isaiah Dupree Barron, 22, and Arthur James Battle, 21, also have returned verdicts. Sacramento Superior Court Judge James L. Long has held those outcomes under seal, however, until after the Abramyan verdict. The Battle and Barron verdicts are scheduled to be read Monday.
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