The U.S. Army private accused of providing diplomatic cables and other secret documents to the WikiLeaks website pleaded guilty to misusing classified material on Thursday, but denied the most serious charge in the case, aiding the enemy.

Private First Class Bradley Manning, 25, entered the pleas prior to his court martial, which is set to begin on June 3, in a case that centers on the biggest leak of government secrets in U.S. history.

He was expected to testify later on Thursday.

Manning pleaded not guilty to the most serious charge, aiding the enemy, through his attorney. Manning, who has been jailed at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia for more than 1,000 days, could face life imprisonment if convicted of that charge.

But he pleaded guilty to a series of 10 lesser charges that he misused classified information at the hearing before military judge Colonel Denise Lind. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for those charges.

Manning, an Army intelligence officer, was arrested in May 2010 while serving in Iraq and charged with downloading thousands of intelligence documents, diplomatic cables and combat videos and forwarding them to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks began exposing the U.S. government secrets in the same year, stunning diplomats around the world and outraging U.S. officials who said damage to national security from the leaks endangered U.S. lives.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June to avoid extradition to Sweden for alleged sex crimes.

Manning had offered to plead guilty to various lesser charges in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including the unauthorized possession and willful distribution of information accessed in the Combined Information Data Networks, a military database, for Iraq and Afghanistan.

He is prepared to take the witness stand to read aloud from a 35-page statement defending himself in the espionage case, but only after Lind rules on how much of it he will be allowed to read.

Under a ruling last month by Lind, Manning would have any sentence reduced by 112 days to compensate for the markedly harsh treatment he received during his confinement. While at Quantico, Manning was placed in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day with guards checking on him every few minutes.

The post Bradley Manning: U.S. soldier pleads guilty to misusing classified data in WikiLeaks case appeared first on Metro.us.

A South African court granted bail on Friday to Oscar Pistorius, charged with the murder of his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, after his lawyers argued the “Blade Runner” was too famous to flee justice.

The decision by Magistrate Desmond Nair drew cheers from the Paralympics star’s family and supporters. Pistorius himself was unmoved, in marked contrast to the rest of the week-long hearing when he repeatedly broke down in tears.

Nair set bail at 1 million rand ($113,000) and postponed the case until June 4. Pistorius would be released only when the court receives 100,000 rand in cash, he added.

Less than an hour later, a silver Land Rover believed to be carrying Pistorius left the court compound and sped off through the capital, pursued by members of the media on motorcycles.

Pistorius, 26, was also ordered to hand over firearms and his two South African passports, avoid his home and all witnesses in the case, report to a police station twice a week and to abstain from drinking alcohol.

The decision followed a week of dramatic testimony about how the athlete shot dead model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp at his luxury home near Pretoria in the early hours of February 14.

Prosecutors said Pistorius committed premeditated murder when he fired four shots into a locked toilet door, hitting his girlfriend cowering on the other side. Steenkamp, 29, suffered gunshot wounds to her head, hip and arm.

Pistorius said the killing was a tragic mistake, saying he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder – a possibility in crime-ridden South Africa – and opened fire in a blind panic.

However, in delivering his nearly two-hour bail ruling, Nair said there were a number of “improbabilities” in Pistorius’s version of events, read out to the court in an affidavit by his lawyer, Barry Roux.

“I have difficulty in appreciating why the accused would not seek to ascertain who exactly was in the toilet,” Nair said. “I also have difficulty in appreciating why the deceased would not have screamed back from the toilet.”

By local standards, the bail conditions are onerous but it remains to be seen if they appease opposition to the decision from groups campaigning against the violence against women that is endemic in South Africa.

“We are saddened because women are being killed in this country,” said Jacqui Mofokeng, a spokeswoman for the ruling African National Congress’ Women’s League, whose members stood outside the court this week with banners saying “Rot in jail”.

TO FAMOUS TO RUN

However, Nair said he was ultimately making his decision in the “interests of justice” and that the prosecution, who suffered a setback when the lead investigator withered under cross-examination by Roux, had failed to show Pistorius was either a flight risk or a threat to the public.

Roux stressed that the Olympic and Paralympic runner’s global fame made it impossible for him to evade justice by skipping bail and leaving the country.

“He can never go anywhere unnoticed,” Roux told the court.

Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated in infancy forcing him to race on carbon fiber “blades”, faces life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder.

Prosecutors had portrayed him as a cold-blooded killer and said they were confident that their case, which will have to rely heavily on forensics, would stand up to scrutiny at a full trial.

“We are going to make sure that we get enough evidence to get through this case during trial time,” a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority told reporters.

In court, lead prosecutor Gerrie Nel was scornful of Pistorius’s inability to contain his emotions. “I shoot and I think my career is over and I cry. I come to court and I cry because I feel sorry for myself,” Nel said.

“DEEPLY IN LOVE”

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he was “deeply in love” with Steenkamp, and Roux said his client had no motive for the killing.

Pistorius contends he reached for a 9-mm pistol under his bed because he felt particularly vulnerable without his prosthetic limbs.

According to police, witnesses heard gunshots and screams from the athlete’s home. The community is surrounded by 3-m- (yard-) high stone walls and topped with an electric fence.

In a magazine interview a week before her death, published on Friday, Steenkamp spoke about her three-month-old relationship with Pistorius.

“I absolutely adore Oscar. I respect and admire him so much,” she told celebrity gossip magazine Heat. “I don’t want anything to come in the way of his career.”

Police pulled their lead detective off the case on Thursday after it was revealed he himself faces attempted murder charges for shooting at a minibus. He has been replaced by South Africa’s top detective.

The arrest of Pistorius last week shocked those who had watched in awe last year as he reached the semi-final of the 400 meters race in the London Olympics.

The impact has been greatest in South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who commanded respect from both black and white people, transcending the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

The post Oscar Pistorius awarded bail appeared first on Metro.us.

The lead detective in the Oscar Pistorius murder case is himself facing attempted murder charges for firing on a minibus full of passengers, South African police said on Thursday as prosecutors argued in court to deny the athlete bail.

Hilton Botha, who took the stand against Pistorius at the Paralympic and Olympic track star’s bail hearing earlier this week, is due to appear before a judge in May over the 2011 shooting, police spokesman Brigadier Neville Malila said.

“Botha and two other policemen allegedly tried to stop a minibus taxi with seven people. They fired shots,” Malila told Reuters.

It was unclear why the charges were reinstated against Botha, or how the latest twist in Pistorius’s sensational four-day bail hearing will affect the athlete’s chances of securing release from custody pending his trial.

At the time of the taxi bus shooting, Botha – a detective with 24 years on the force – was chasing a man accused of murdering a woman and disposing of her dismembered body down a drain, local media said.

The charges against him were provisionally withdrawn but reinstated on February 4 – 10 days before the shooting of 29-year-old model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp in a locked toilet at Pistorius’s Pretoria home, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

“The decision to reinstate was taken on February 4, way before the issue of Pistorius came to light or the murder of Reeva was committed,” NPA spokesman Medupe Simasiku told Reuters. “It’s completely unrelated to this trial.”

Malila said now that the court had decided to charge Botha, there would be an internal disciplinary investigation which would decide whether to keep him on the case: “At this stage there are no plans to take him off the Pistorius case.”

Pistorius, a double amputee dubbed “Blade Runner” because of his carbon fiber racing blades, faces life in prison if convicted of the premeditated murder of Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine’s Day.

Sportswear giant Nike, which uses the famous “swoosh” logo, froze its contract with Pistorius on Thursday saying the athlete should be “afforded due process”.

JUSTICE ON TRIAL?

The revelation about Botha capped a troubling 24 hours for South Africa’s prosecution service.

Under cross-examination at the bail hearing on Wednesday, the lead detective was accused of contaminating the crime scene in Pistorius’s house and had to backtrack on details such as the distance of witnesses from the athlete’s home.

Grilled by lead defense counsel Barry Roux, he also had to concede that Pistorius’s version of events – that he fired into the toilet door in a blind panic thinking an intruder was lurking behind it – was plausible.

The bail hearing resumed on Thursday with prosecutors immediately admitting they had only just found out about the charges hanging over Botha.

Pressing home the defense’s advantage to argue for Pistorius’s release, Roux said: “The poor quality of evidence presented by the chief investigating officer exposed disastrous shortcomings in the state’s case.”

The 26-year-old runner denies murder and was more composed in court after repeatedly breaking down in previous hearings.

His uncle, Arnold Pistorius, said his nephew was eating again after consuming nothing for six days and had spent much of his time in police custody reading the Bible.

A full trial is likely to take many months, and even if he is acquitted, Pistorius faces a huge challenge in rebuilding his career and image in the eyes of the millions around the world who saw him as the epitome of triumph over adversity.

SOUTH AFRICA AGOG

The proceedings have gripped South Africans, who have found themselves debating the finer points of police forensics and the ins and outs of the criminal justice process.

As public opinion has swayed back and forth, schoolchildren have come to blows in playgrounds over the athlete’s innocence or guilt, and on Thursday “Hilton Botha” was a top-trending topic on Twitter in South Africa.

“We talk about the case every day. It’s all over the news. You can’t ignore it,” said Happy Ngwenya, a taxi driver waiting for rides in Johannesburg’s Sandton financial district.

“He must face his music but the thing is, here in South Africa, criminals have so many rights.”

With massive international media interest in the case against a global celebrity, many South Africans feel the apparent hiccups on the part of the state prosecution were hurting the country’s image in the eyes of the world.

“Bring someone from outside to sort out this mess,” said businessman Godfrey Baloyi. “The whole justice system needs an overhaul.”

The post Hilton Botha: Lead detective on Pistorius case facing attempted murder charges appeared first on Metro.us.

A witness heard “non-stop shouting” in the home of South African athletics star Oscar Pistorius shortly before his girlfriend was shot dead, the detective leading the murder investigation said on Wednesday.

Warrant officer Hilton Botha, a detective with 24 years on the force, also told the Pretoria magistrates court in a bail hearing that police had found two containers of testosterone and needles in Pistorius’ bedroom.

The athlete’s defense team disputed the finding.

Pistorius, a double amputee dubbed “Blade Runner” because of his carbon fiber racing blades, sobbed uncontrollably as Botha presented his testimony about the death of Reeva Steenkamp, 29.

The law graduate and model was in the toilet of the athlete’s home when she was shot dead in the early hours of February 14 – Valentine’s Day. She was hit in the head, arm and hip.

The shooting and allegations that have emerged at the hearing have stunned South Africa and millions of people around the world who regarded Pistorius, who has no lower legs, as the epitome of triumph over adversity.

“One of our witnesses heard a fight, two people talking loudly at each other … from two in the morning to three,” Botha told the court. Pistorius’ first call after the incident was to the manager of his high security complex at 3.19 am, Botha said.

In an affidavit delivered on Tuesday, Pistorius said he woke in the middle of the night and thought an intruder had climbed through his bathroom window and entered the adjoining toilet.

The 26-year-old said he grabbed a 9-mm pistol from under his bed and went into the bathroom.

Pistorius – the highest-profile athlete in the history of the Paralympics – then described how he fired into the locked toilet door in a blind panic in the mistaken belief the intruder was lurking inside.

After four hours of testimony, the hearing was adjourned until Thursday. The hearing is expected to conclude this week, after the defense and prosecution have outlined their central arguments. It may then be several months before a trial. If convicted of premeditated murder, Pistorius faces life in jail.

TRAJECTORY

Botha, who arrived on the scene an hour after the shooting, challenged Pistorius’ affidavit.

“I believe he knew she was in the bathroom and he shot four shots through the door,” the detective said, adding the angle at which the rounds were fired suggested they were aimed at somebody on the toilet.

Pistorius had said he moved into the bathroom on his stumps – the reason he felt so vulnerable – but Botha said the shots went in a “top to bottom” trajectory, suggesting Pistorius was wearing his artificial legs when he pulled the trigger.

“It seems to me it was fired down,” he said.

One of the spent rounds was recovered from the toilet bowl, Botha said.

He also cited a witness on the upscale gated community near Pretoria where Pistorius lived as saying he heard a shot, followed 17 minutes later by more shots. Another witness spoke of a shot, followed by screams, followed by more shots, he said.

After vigorous questioning from Pistorius’ defense team, Botha estimated the distance between the witnesses and Pistorius’ home at 300 metres.

Lead defense counsel Barry Roux also disputed Botha’s reference to “testosterone”, saying the substance was a legitimate herbal remedy called “test-composutim co-enzyme”.

Details on the makeup of testo-composutim co-enzyme were not immediately available but administering testosterone as an anabolic agent is banned at all times under World Anti-Doping Agency rules for sports people.

ANGER

The case has drawn further attention to endemic violence against women in South Africa after the gang-rape, mutilation and murder of a 17-year-old near Cape Town this month.

Members of the Women’s League of the ruling African National Congress protested outside the Pretoria court on Tuesday, waving placards saying: “No Bail for Pistorius” and “Rot in jail”.

The arrest of Pistorius stunned the millions who had watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400 metres in the London Olympics.

But the impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who had transcended the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

He carried South Africa’s flag at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics, and U.S. magazine Sports Illustrated named him as one of the most inspiring figures of the year.

“Many questions are being asked, but we have no answers,” Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said in a statement.

The sprinter’s endorsements and sponsorships included sportswear giant Nike, British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley and French designer Thierry Mugler and were thought to be worth as much as $2 million a year.

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he earned 5.6 million rand ($630,500) a year and owned properties worth nearly $1 million.

However, Nike and Mugler both said they had dropped Pistorius from advertising campaigns, while cosmetics firm Clarins said it was recalling its “A Man” perfume range out of “respect and compassion towards the families involved”.

The post Witness heard ‘non-stop shouting’ before Pistorius shooting appeared first on Metro.us.

“Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius put on his artificial legs and walked across his bedroom before firing four shots through a locked bathroom door, killing his cowering girlfriend in cold blood, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Reeva Steenkamp, a 30-year-old law graduate and model, died after being hit by three rounds from a 9-mm pistol, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said.

Pistorius, 26, wept uncontrollably in court as Nel outlined details of a shooting that has stunned South Africa and the millions around the world who saw the double amputee’s track glory as the ultimate tale of triumph over adversity.

Later, in an affidavit read out by defense lawyer Barry Roux, Pistorius said he had been “deeply in love” with Steenkamp, whom he had been dating since November, and had no intention of killing her.

Having had previous death threats, Pistorius said he slept with a 9-mm pistol under his bed in his plush Pretoria home in the heart of a well-secured gated community.

He and Steenkamp went to sleep on Wednesday night – the eve of Valentine’s Day – shortly after 10 p.m., he said.

However, in the middle of the night, he awoke in pitch darkness and thought an intruder had climbed through the window of his bathroom, Pistorius said.

He climbed out of bed without putting on his prosthetic legs and went towards the closed bathroom door, not realizing Steenkamp was behind it, he said. He then fired several shots into the door, before shouting to Steenkamp to call the police.

Realizing she was not in bed, he grabbed a cricket bat to beat down the bathroom door and found her slumped on the floor.

“I am absolutely mortified at the death of my beloved Reeva,” he said in the affidavit. As Roux read the statement, Pistorius was crying uncontrollably, to the point magistrate Desmond Nair had to halt proceedings for several minutes.

“You need to concentrate on what’s going on,” he told him.

“AN ANGEL”

Nearly 1,000 km (600 miles) away, on South Africa’s windswept southern coast, scores of mourners gathered in the city of Port Elizabeth for Steenkamp’s funeral. Amid the grief, there was little sympathy for Pistorius.

“She was an angel. She was so soft, so innocent. Such a lovely person. It’s just sad that this could happen to somebody so good,” said Gavin Venter, an ex-jockey who worked for Steenkamp’s father.

“I’m disgusted with what he did. He must be dealt with harshly,” he added, shortly before Steenkamp’s cremation in the windswept Victoria Park Crematorium.

“Without a doubt he’s a danger to the public. He’ll be a danger to witnesses. He must stay in jail.”

The case has drawn further attention to endemic violence against women in South Africa after the gang-rape, mutilation and murder of a 17-year-old near Cape Town this month.

Members of the Women’s League of the ruling African National Congress protested outside the Pretoria central magistrates court, waving placards saying: “No Bail for Pistorius” and “Rot in jail”.

Before Pistorius’ dramatic testimony, Nel, the lead prosecutor at the hearing, painted a picture of premeditated killing – a crime that carries a life sentence in South Africa.

“If I arm myself, walk a distance and murder a person, that is premeditated,” he said. “The door is closed. There is no doubt. I walk seven meters and I kill.”

“The motive is ‘I want to kill’. That’s it,” he added. “This deceased was in a 1.4 by 1.14 meter little room. She could go nowhere. It must have been horrific.”

NIKE DROPS PISTORIUS

The arrest of Pistorius stunned the millions who had watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400 meters in the London Olympics, running on high-technology carbon fiber ‘blades’.

But the impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who had transcended the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

His endorsements and sponsorships, which include sportswear giant Nike, British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley and French designer Thierry Mugler, are thought to be worth as much as $2 million a year.

In his affidavit, Pistorius said he earned 5.6 million rand ($630,500) a year, and owned properties worth nearly $1 million.

Nike said on Monday it had dropped Pistorius from any future advertising campaigns. Other sponsors have said they will make no decisions until the legal process has run its course.

Pistorius has cancelled scheduled track appearances in Australia, Brazil and Britain in the coming months to focus on his attempt to clear his name.

Born without a fibula in either leg, Pistorius had his lower legs amputated as an 11-month-old baby but became the highest-profile athlete in the history of the Paralympic Games.

Dressed in a dark suit, Pistorius arrived at the court in a police car shortly before 7 a.m. (0500 GMT). Proceedings were delayed as more than 100 journalists from around the world jostled to get into the dimly lit, brick-face courtroom.

After the hour-long private ceremony in the cream-colored hill-top church in Port Elizabeth, Steenkamp’s brother Adam and uncle Mike, fighting back tears, spoke briefly to reporters.

“There’s a space missing inside all the people that she knew that can’t be filled again,” Adam Steenkamp said. “We are going to keep all the positive things that we remember and know about my sister. We will miss her.”

The post Prosecutor: Pistorius shot girlfriend through door appeared first on Metro.us.

South African ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, broke down in tears on Friday after he was charged in court with shooting dead his girlfriend in his Pretoria home.

The 26-year-old Olympic and Paralympic superstar stood with head bowed in front of magistrate Desmond Nair to hear the charge that he had murdered model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp.

Pistorius then started sobbing, covering his face with his hands. “Take it easy,” Nair told him. “Come take a seat.”

The case has stunned a nation that revered ‘the fastest man on no legs’ as a hero who managed to compete at the highest levels of sport despite being born without a fibula in either leg.

Prosecutors told the Pretoria court the shooting of 30-year-old Steenkamp in the early hours of Thursday was pre-meditated.

Pistorius faces life in prison if found guilty.

He did not enter a plea but a statement issued by his family and London-based agent said the charge was disputed “in the strongest possible terms”.

“He (Pistorius) has made it very clear that he would like to send his deepest sympathies to the family of Reeva,” the statement said, in the first message attributed to him since his arrest.

Steenkamp was found shot dead in Pistorius’s plush home in the middle of a heavily guarded gated complex in the northern outskirts of the capital, police said.

The Afrikaans-language Beeld newspaper said she was hit four times, in the head, chest, pelvis and hand.

“The security guards found Pistorius by Steenkamp’s body in the bathroom,” the paper said on its website, citing a neighbor. “The door had bullet holes right through it.”

Defense lawyer Kenny Oldwage said his client had an “extremely traumatized state of mind”. He did not request bail before proceedings were adjourned until February 19.

GOLDEN BOY LOSES SHINE

Early reports of the shooting suggested Pistorius may have mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder, but police said neighbors had heard noises before the shots and there had been previous “domestic” incidents at the house.

Pistorius said nothing during the 40-minute hearing.

His father, Henke, and brother, Carl, sat directly behind him in the packed court-room, occasionally leaning forward to give him a pat on the shoulder.

His mother died in 2002 when he was 15 years old – a tragedy that he said spurred him on in his quest to compete as an able-bodied athlete.

Along with Lance Armstrong’s recovery from testicular cancer to win the Tour de France – an achievement now brought low by his admission of doping – Pistorius’ tale of triumph over adversity was one of the most powerful in the history of sport.

South African newspapers plastered Steenkamp’s killing across their front pages, reflecting shock and dismay at the fall of a man who commanded rare respect on all sides of the racial divides that persist in Nelson Mandela’s “Rainbow Nation” 19 years after the end of apartheid.

“Golden Boy Loses Shine” ran a front page headline in the Sowetan, beside a picture of Pistorius, head bowed in a grey hooded tracksuit being led away from a police station.

Callers to morning radio shows expressed grief at the death of Steenkamp, who had been due to give a talk at a Johannesburg school this week about violence against women.

There was also widespread disbelief at the fate of a sportsman regarded as a genuinely “good guy”.

“How is it possible for one so high to fall so low so quickly?” Talk Radio 702 host John Robbie said.

ADVERTS PULLED

South Africa’s M-Net cable TV channel immediately pulled adverts featuring Pistorius off air but most of his sponsors, including sports apparel group Nike, said they would not make any decisions until the police investigation was completed.

Pistorius’ endorsements and sponsorships, which also include British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley and French designer Thierry Mugler, are thought to be worth as much as $2 million a year.

He reached the pinnacle of his fame in London 2012 when he became the first double amputee to run in the Olympics, reaching the 400-metres semi-finals.

In last year’s Paralympics he suffered his first loss over 200 meters in nine years. After the race he questioned the legitimacy of Brazilian winner Alan Oliveira’s prosthetic blades, but was quick to express regret for the comments.

Near the home, people who knew Pistorius paid tribute to a much-loved local hero.

“Some of us were in tears,” said Precious, who works at a petrol station where Pistorius used to fill up his McLaren supercar, signing autographs and picking up the tab for people in the convenience store.

“He was just so kind to everyone,” said Precious, who declined to give her family name.

The post ‘Blade Runner’ Oscar Pistorius sobs in court after murder charge appeared first on Metro.us.

At least Charlie Sheen isn’t worried about Lindsay Lohan‘s legal troubles. “She’s terrific,” he tells Jay Leno in an interview. “I mean she’s going through a lot of stuff, but she’s smart and super-talented and will come out on top eventually, you know.” As for the $100,000 Sheen loaned the troubled actress — money she reportedly put toward her massive tax bill — Sheen says, “I didn’t know it was for taxes. If I had known that, I’d have given her half, you know.”

John Mayer is definitely mellowing when it comes to dealing with paparazzi. “The way that the media plays a part in everyone’s life has changed over the last several years,” he tells RollingStone.com. “I mean, I used to be incredibly put off by somebody taking a picture, thinking as if in some way it was it was invading my brain. But all it is is you can see where I was last weekend. That’s all. And I think time has shown that nothing will be stolen from you. It’s just a photograph of you and your dumb scarf that you put on because it wouldn’t fit in your suitcase. Cool.”

Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence recently told Metro that her “Silver Linings Playbook” co-star Bradley Cooper had taught her that she can’t go to the grocery store anymore now that she’s famous. ” It’s fine, I can get friends to get my groceries,” she said last month. But apparently Lawrence thought the height of awards season was a good time to try again, as she was spotted this week at a Los Angeles supermarket, buying groceries incognito under a large purple hat and a massive scarf, according to photo agency X-17.

Steven Soderbergh might be retiring from directing, but that doesn’t mean a sequel to last year’s “Magic Mike” isn’t on the way — at least according to Matthew McConaughey, who played the leader of a team of male strippers in the film. “I know it’s something that’s legitimately brewing,” McConaughey tells MTV News. “In the right way [I would come back. It would be so much fun, but I would only be able to revisit [my character] Dallas if I really go, ‘OK, that’s what he would be doing.’ I’d have to keep him the same tone.”

The post Thursday gossip roundup: Charlie Sheen thinks Lindsay Lohan is ‘terrific’ appeared first on Metro.us.

The pictures, which police said Holmes took of himself with an iPhone before his shooting rampage at a midnight showing of a “Batman” film last summer, capped three days of hearings in which prosecutors laid out their case for putting him on trial.

The onetime neuroscience doctoral student is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder for the 12 people who were slain and dozens of others wounded at the opening of “The Dark Knight Rises” in the Denver suburb of Aurora.

Prosecutor Karen Pearson said in her closing arguments that Holmes would have killed more people had his rifle not jammed, adding, “He certainly had the ammo to do so.”

The July attack marked one of the most lethal mass shootings in U.S. history and one of a string of mass shootings last year capped by the massacre of 20 children and six adults in December at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Wrapping up the prosecution’s case against Holmes on Wednesday, Aurora police Sgt. Matthew Fyles ran through pictures Holmes took roughly six hours before the deadly assault on the Century 16 multiplex near his home.

In one picture, Holmes grinned while holding the muzzle of a handgun near his face. He stuck his tongue out in another photo.

His brightly dyed red hair was visible in both pictures, and he wore black contact lenses that made his pupils appear abnormally large. In another picture taken the same evening, his bed was strewn with guns, ammunition magazines, body armor, a gas mask and other gear.

BOOBY-TRAPPED APARTMENT

In a self-portrait taken on July 5, Holmes posed with a semi-automatic rifle and wore the tactical body armor he was wearing when he was arrested.

A separate photo taken on July 16 showed the booby-trapped explosives Holmes is accused of rigging up inside his apartment, which according to police he had intended as a diversion to draw authorities away from the theater the night of the assault.

The explosives were safely dismantled after the shooting.

Holmes’ lawyers, seen by legal experts as preparing for an insanity defense, had been planning to call two witnesses to testify this week about their client’s state of mind around the time of the shootings.

But in a surprise twist to the proceedings after the prosecution rested its case on Wednesday, public defender Daniel King told the judge his team had decided not to present its own evidence or testimony.

“This is a preliminary hearing and not the proper venue or time to put on a show or truncated defense,” King said. The defense also declined to make a closing statement before the hearing was adjourned.

Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester said he was taking evidence presented this week under advisement and scheduled a new court hearing for Friday that he said would serve as a “status hearing and/or arraignment.”

If the judge orders the case to proceed to trial, Holmes, 25, is widely expected to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Authorities have offered no motive for the slayings. Holmes’ lawyers have said he suffers from mental illness, but they have not been more specific.

The post Accused Colorado massacre shooter James Holmes posed with weapons appeared first on Metro.us.

Holmes, 25, a former neuroscience graduate student, is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder for a shooting rampage on July 20 that killed 12 people and wounded 58 in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado.

Holmes, who was also expected to be in court, is accused of opening fire during a midnight screening of the latest Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Attorneys are expected to say on Wednesday whether they are ready for next week’s preliminary hearing, at which prosecutors will lay out evidence against Holmes so that a judge may decide if there is enough basis for him to stand trial.

However, Holmes could waive his right to that hearing and enter a plea instead.

Holmes’ lawyers, whom analysts have suggested may be laying the groundwork for an insanity defense, have said he suffers from mental illness and that he had sought to get help prior to the shooting.

Police have said that minutes into the film on July 20, Holmes left the theater to don a suit of tactical body armor, helmet and a gas mask, before returning to open fire on the unsuspecting crowd with multiple weapons.

The post Accused Colorado theater gunman in court before major hearing appeared first on Metro.us.

Gilberto Valle, 28, of Forest Hills, Queens, was charged and arrested in October with conspiring to cross state lines to kidnap the women and with illegally accessing a federal database.

Prosecutors said some of the women were acquaintances of Valle but it was not clear if he knew or had met all of them. Valle, who an official said had no prior criminal record, was not charged with carrying out any of his suspected plans.

At a brief hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Valle’s attorney, Julia Gatto, told the judge she would again seek to have her client freed on bail after two other judges previously denied her request.

Investigators uncovered a file on Valle’s computer containing the names and pictures of at least 100 women, and the addresses and physical descriptions of some of them, according to the criminal complaint. It said he had undertaken surveillance of some of the women at their places of employment and their homes.

Gatto argues that Valle, a 6-1/2 year NYPD veteran, was all talk and should be released on bail.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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A grand jury today indicted Pedro Hernandez, 51, on two counts of murder in the second degree and one count of kidnapping in the first degree. He was first arrested by the NYPD in May, after a member of his family told police he was responsible for Patz’s murder.

In custody, Hernandez told police he lured the boy into SoHo basement on May 25, 1979, by offering him a soda. He confessed to strangling Patz and then wrapping his body in plastic wrap and putting it in the trash. Shortly after, Hernandez moved from his West Broadway apartment, eventually to Maple Shade, N.J., where he was living at the time of his arrest.

Police said Hernandez told family members over the years he had “done a bad thing and killed a child in New York,” prompting one relative to turn him in.

His own attorneys have raised the question as to whether mental health issues led him to make a false confession, but the Manhattan district attorney’s office said Hernandez’s confession will stand.

“This indictment is the outcome of a lengthy and deliberative process, involving months of factual investigation and legal analysis. We believe the evidence that Mr. Hernandez killed Etan Patz to be credible and persuasive, and that his statements are not the product of any mental illness,” Erin Duggan, a spokesperson for the Manhattan DA, said in a statement. “The grand jury has found sufficient evidence to charge the defendant, and this is a case that we believe should be presented to a jury at trial.”

Hernandez’s attorney, Harvey Fishbein, insists his client has an I.Q. in the “borderline-to-mild mental retardation range.”

“Nothing that occurs in the course of this trial will answer what actually happened to Etan Patz,” Fishbein said. “The indictment is based solely on statements allegedly made by my client, who has, in the past, been repeatedly diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia, and who has, over the last six months, been found to suffer from schizotypal personality disorder, which is characterized by, among other things, unusual perceptual experiences, commonly referred to as hallucinations.”

Patz’s disappearance on his first walk alone to the school bus stop grabbed national headlines in 1979.  His face become one of the first to appear on a milk carton in an effort to garner information leading to his whereabouts.

Potential prosecution problems

Paul Callan, former deputy chief of homicide in the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, said it’s unusual for a suspect to be indicted six months after an arrest, and it could suggest some holes in the case.

“It’s a real uphill battle to get a conviction in such an old case,” Callan said. “Witnesses’ memories fade, physical evidence doesn’t exist anymore.”

In New York, a defendant cannot be convicted solely on a confession. Prosecutors must present corroborating evidence, which could prove challenging, Callan suggested, especially because Patz’s body was never found.   

“The defense will come in and say they don’t even know that Etan Patz was murdered, maybe he was kidnapped,” Callan said.

One point the prosecution might argue, he predicted, is that Hernandez confessed the crime to multiple people over the years with consistent detail, suggesting truthfulness. Jurors may also be more eager to reach a resolution in such an iconic cold case.        

“This is the case that put child predators on the radar screen of mothers in America. A jury will like to convict and punish the person responsible,” Callan added. 

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Loughner, 24, a college dropout with a history of psychiatric disorders, was handed the sentence following a plea deal with prosecutors in August that spared him the death penalty.

Loughner, a college dropout, pleaded guilty in August in federal court to 19 charges, including murder and attempted murder, in connection with the January 8, 2011 shootings outside a Tucson area supermarket.

He admitted going to a “Congress On Your Corner” event armed with a loaded Glock 19 pistol and 60 additional rounds of ammunition with plans to kill Giffords, who was seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party.

Loughner shot her through the head at close range, but she survived with injuries that left her with speech difficulties and a limp. Six people were killed, including U.S. District Judge John Roll and 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green.

Loughner also admitted shooting the others with the intent to kill.

Court-appointed experts said Loughner suffered from schizophrenia, disordered thinking and delusions. He was determined unfit to stand trial in May 2011 after he disrupted court proceedings and was dragged out of the courtroom.

Loughner later was ruled mentally competent to stand trial after being treated for psychosis at a U.S. Bureau of Prisons psychiatric hospital in Springfield, Missouri. He then agreed to plead guilty.

Few clues to the motives for the attack have emerged. But prison psychologist Christina Pietz has testified that Loughner had expressed remorse for the rampage and especially for the 9-year-old girl’s death.

Giffords resigned from Congress in January to focus on her recovery. Her former aide, Ron Barber, who was also wounded in the shooting spree, served out the rest of her term after winning a special election.

Barber ran in Tuesday’s election for a newly created congressional district in Arizona and was running neck-and-neck with Republican Martha McSally, with the outcome hanging on some 80,000 provisional and early votes that have yet to be tallied.

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Kate Middleton and her husband, Prince William, have won their first court victory in the wake of Closer magazine publishing topless photos of Middleton, according to the Guardian. A French court has ordered an injunction preventing any further use of the images by the publication. The photos must be handed over within 24 hours, and the magazine’s publishing company will be fined $13,000 a day if it publishes more of them or sends them to a third party. A separate criminal investigation has been launched to see if the magazine violated William and Kate’s privacy by publishing the photos. A guilty verdict could lead to jail time for Closer’s editor.

As stories of her erratic behavior mount, Amanda Bynes apparently she has no plans to enter rehab despite reports earlier this week that she would, according to E! News. After having her car impounded Sunday, Bynes has been using taxis and car services to run errands around town, including a shopping trip in West Hollywood during which witnesses say she locked herself in a store dressing room for two hours and “wouldn’t stop talking to herself.” While rehab might not be in her immediate future, court is: Bynes is expected before a judge Friday for a hearing on her pending DUI cases. She has also been charged separating for two hit-and-run incidents.

One Direction member Niall Horan is putting to rest rumors that he is dating singer and American “X Factor” judge Demi Lovato. “Traveling around the world and all the promo that we do — it doesn’t leave time for a girlfriend. It really doesn’t. Demi is really cool and we’re really good friends,” the 19-year-old Irishman tells the Daily Mirror.

Snowboarder and Olympic gold medalist Shaun White was reportedly arrested for public intoxication in a hotel in Nashville, TN, according to TMZ, though he was briefly hospitalized before heading to jail. White reportedly trashed his hotel room, and when hotel staff confronted him, he set off several fire alarms and attempted to flee on foot, eventually falling and sustaining a head injury. After receiving medical treatment, he was booked on counts of public intoxication and vandalism.

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The band’s supporters burst into chants of “Shame” outside the Moscow courthouse and said the case showed Putin’s refusal to tolerate dissent. The U.S. embassy in Moscow said the sentence appeared disproportionate to what the defendants did.

The women have support abroad, where their case has been taken up by a long list of celebrities including Madonna, Paul McCartney and Sting, but opinion polls show few Russians sympathize with them.

“The girls’ actions were sacrilegious, blasphemous and broke the church’s rules,” Judge Marina Syrova told the court as she spent three hours reading the verdict while the women stood watching in handcuffs inside a glass courtroom cage.

She declared all three guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, saying they had deliberately offended Russian Orthodox believers by storming the altar of Moscow’s main cathedral in February to belt out a song deriding Putin.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Marina Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, giggled as the judge read out the sentences one by one. They have already been in jail for about five months, meaning they will serve another 19.

They say they were protesting against Putin’s close ties with the church when they burst into Moscow’s golden-domed Christ the Saviour Cathedral wearing bright ski masks, tights and short skirts.

State prosecutors had requested a three-year jail term.

Putin’s opponents portray the trial as part of a wider crackdown by the former KGB spy to crush their protest movement.

“They are in jail because it is Putin’s personal revenge,” Alexei Navalny, one of the organizers of big protests against Putin during the winter, told reporters outside the court. “This verdict was written by Vladimir Putin.”

Putin’s spokesman did not immediately answer calls following the verdict, but the president’s allies said before the trial that the Kremlin would not have any influence on the outcome. The Russian Orthodox Church also did not comment.

FOREIGN SUPPORT

Foreign singers have campaigned for the trio’s release, and Washington says the case is politically motivated. Madonna performed in Moscow with “PUSSY RIOT” painted on her back.

“As in most politically motivated cases, this court is not in line with the law, common sense or mercy,” veteran human rights campaigner Lyudmila Alexeyeva said.

But Valentina Ivanova, 60, a retired doctor, said outside the courtroom: “What they did showed disrespect towards everything, and towards believers first of all.”

The judge said they had “committed an act of hooliganism, a gross violation of public order showing obvious disrespect for society.” She rejected their argument that they had no intention of offending Russian Orthodox believers.

The trio’s defense lawyers said they would appeal.

Many in Russia’s mainly Orthodox Christian society backed the authorities’ demands for severe punishment, though some have said the women deserved clemency.

Putin, who returned to the presidency for a third term in May after a four-year spell as prime minister, has said the women did “nothing good” but should not be judged too harshly.

Witnesses say at least 24 people were detained by police in scuffles or for unfurling banners or donning ski masks in support of Pussy Riot outside the courtroom. Among those detained were Sergei Udaltsov, a leftist opposition leader, and Garry Kasparov, the chess great and vehement Putin critic.

“Shame on (Russian Orthodox Patriarch) Kirill, shame on Putin,” Udaltsov said before he was detained.

“A disgraceful political reprisal is under way on the part of the authorities … If we swallow this injustice, they can come for any one of us tomorrow.”

The crowd of about 2,000 people outside the court was dominated by Pussy Riot supporters but also included some nationalists and religious believers demanding a tough sentence.

“Evil must be punished,” said Maria Butilno, 60, who held an icon and said Pussy Riot had insulted the faithful.

An opinion poll of Russians released by the independent Levada research group on Friday showed only 6 percent had sympathy with the women, 51 percent said they found nothing good about them or felt irritation or hostility, and the rest were unable to say or were indifferent.

RADICAL PROTESTERS

Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and Samutsevich are educated, middle-class Russians who say their protest was not intended to offend believers.

The charges against Pussy Riot raised concern abroad about freedom of speech in Russia two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“Today’s sentence in the Pussy Riot case looks disproportionate to the actions,” the U.S. Embassy in Moscow wrote on its Twitter microblog in Russian.

Protests in support of the group were planned in cities from Sydney to Paris, and New York to London. A crowd of several hundred gathered in a New York hotel late on Thursday to hear actress Chloe Sevigny and others read from letters, lyrics and court statements by the detained women.

In the centre of Kiev, a bare-chested feminist activist took a chainsaw to a wooden cross bearing a figure of Christ, while in Bulgaria, sympathizers put Pussy Riot-style masks on statues at a Soviet Army monument.

“Huge damage has been done to the country’s image and attractiveness for investors,” former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin wrote in a message posted on his website.

Protest leaders say Putin will not relax pressure on opponents in his new six-year term. Parliament has already rushed through laws increasing fines for protesters, tightening controls on the Internet, and imposing stricter rules on defamation.

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Holmes, 24, had profiles on both the dating website Match.com and the casual sex website Adult Friend Finder.

One woman told TMZ she was horrified to find that Match had suggested she connect with Holmes on Friday afternoon, just hours after he was arrested for the massacre during a midnight premier of “The Dark Knight Rises.”

The photo on his Match profile shows Holmes with the same dyed red hair he had during the shooting. In his profile, he lists himself as agnostic with “middle of the road” political views. Under favorite movies, Holmes wrote, “Too many good movies to have a
favorite, maybe Dumb and Dumber, Hachiko, Star Wars, etc.” He said his
favorite book is “Where’s Waldo?”

Holmes’ profile states he definitely wants kids. 

“You should message me if you’re interested, obviously. Or lookin’ for sexy times. Very nice!,” Holmes said in his profile, along with “Will you visit me in prison?”

The woman, Diana, who was matched with Holmes said it was “pretty scary getting matched to a mass murderer.”

Holmes also tried to reach out to three women on Adult Friend Finder before the shooting, and was reportedly rejected by all of them. One woman who said Holmes was “just looking to maybe chat … nothing sexual” told TMZ she didn’t respond to him because she just wasn’t that into him.

Holmes indicated in his profile that he was looking for casual sex, and possibly group sex.

In his first appearance in court this morning, Holmes sat expressionless,  except for brief moments when he closed his eyes. He will be formally charged in the shooting on July 30.

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Formal charges against James Eagan Holmes, 24, will be filed on July 30, the judge presiding over the proceeding said. A public defender was appointed as his attorney.

Police say Holmes was dressed in body armor and toting three guns when he opened fire at a packed midnight screening of the new Batman movie early Friday. Fifty-eight people were wounded.

Holmes was apprehended moments after the massacre. Police say they are still searching for a motive for the crime.

On a live television broadcast of the proceedings, Holmes could be seen sitting silently, looking straight ahead, occasionally closing his eyes.

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Famous Las Vegas diner Heart Attack Grill was embroiled in a law suit with New York City’s 2nd Avenue Deli over its $24.95 “Instant Heart Attack” sandwich — a culinary creation piled high with pastrami, corned beef, salami or turkey, and nestled between two fried potato cakes. The deli also plans to begin selling a $34.95 “Triple Bypass” sandwich.

The Heart Attack Grill sells similar bypass-themed monstrosities, which have made headlines more than once after customers were rushed to the hospital after collapsing in the restaurant. Heart Attack Grill accused 2nd Avenue Deli of copyright infringement last year.

“We believe you copied Heart Attack Grill’s family of medically themed food items, including its ‘BYPASS’ trademarks,” Heart Attack Grill said in a cease and desist letter to 2nd Avenue Deli, according to the Daily News.

Deli owner Jack Lebewohl, who runs the eatery’s two locations with his family, decided to sue Heart Attack Grill, claiming he was serving the sandwich even before the Vegas restaurant opened in 2005. A Manhattan federal judge ruled Friday in favor of 2nd Avenue Deli, but also restricted the deli from advertising the sandwich outside of Manhattan.

“We feel very vindicated,” Josh Lebewohl, Jack’s son, told Metro. “We are just happy that we will be able to continue doing what we do best. The true victors really are our customers.”

Lebewohl said the deli has been serving the “Instant Heart Attack” for 10 years, ever since his father realized you “can’t go wrong with fried potatoes and meat.” He’s seen many patrons devour the calorie-laden staple, but the newly-named addition to the restaurant’s menu could serve as NYC’s next great food challenge:

“I haven’t seen anyone finish the ‘Triple Bypass’ sandwich,” Lebewohl said.

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Sandusky now faces a maximum sentence of 442 years in prison.

The crowd gathered outside the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania erupted in cheers after the jury announced guilty verdict after guilty verdict. Sandusky was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.  

Jurors reached the verdict after two days of deliberations.Sandusky, 68, was facing 48 counts of abuse of 10 boys over a 15-year period in a case that stunned the university, refocused attention on the issue of child sexual abuse in the United States and led to the firing of Penn State President Graham Spanier and legendary head football coach Joe Paterno.

Meanwhile, as jurors in the child sex abuse trial of Jerry Sandusky worked into the night to reach a verdict on Friday, his lawyer predicted the outcome, telling reporters he would be shocked if the one-time Penn State assistant football coach was acquitted of all charges.

“I would die of a heart attack – shocked – if he was acquitted on all of the charges,” Joe Amendola told reporters awaiting the verdict in the courtroom, despite a standing gag order for the attorneys in the case.

Amendola’s off-the-cuff remark was the latest of several quips he made to reporters covering the trial this week. Previously he compared the trial to a TV soap opera, which earned him a trip to Judge John Cleland’s chambers.

Emerging from his meeting with Cleland, Amendola made a zipping motion at his mouth and said Cleland had told him: “Joe, you’re going to the prayer corner.”

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The man was the sixth of eight alleged child sex abuse victims to testify in the closely watched trial in Pennsylvania.

Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator for Pennsylvania State University’s successful football program, faces 52 counts of abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. If convicted on all counts, he faces a sentence of more than 500 years in prison.

The witness said he had met Sandusky in 1998 when he was 11 years old at a picnic hosted by the Second Mile, a charity Sandusky had founded.

The witness said Sandusky invited him to work out at a Penn State campus gym, which was deserted when they went there late in the day. The two wrestled and lifted weights for about 15 minutes and then Sandusky told him it was time to shower, the witness said.

“My immediate thought was, ‘I’m not really sweating yet, it’d only been about 15 minutes,” said the man.

In the shower, Sandusky grabbed him from behind and said playfully, “I’m going to squeeze your guts out” and bear-hugged him, the man testified haltingly.

Sandusky also lifted him up to rinse shampoo out of his hair. “That’s the last thing I remember about being in the shower. It’s all black,” said the man, identified in court documents as Victim 6.

The boy’s mother reported the incident to university police and it was investigated but no charges were filed.

The man testified that he had continued to have contact with Sandusky. He sent Sandusky emailed Fathers Day and Thanksgiving Day greetings in 2009. The man said the email was one he had sent to all those on his list of friends.

When defense attorney Joe Amendola asked the witness, “Did the change in your attitude have anything to do with hiring an attorney and thinking that there might be some financial gain for you?,” the man answered: “Zero.”

Three alleged victims were set to testify against the 68-year-old Sandusky on Thursday after three others offered testimony on Wednesday accusing him of sexually abusing them in showers, bedrooms and basements when they were young boys.

Judge John Cleland told jurors at the close of Wednesday’s session in Centre County Court in Pennsylvania that the trial was running much more quickly than expected. The prosecution, which began presenting evidence on Monday, could conclude its case by Friday.

“It would appear that by Friday the commonwealth will have enough time comfortably” to finish, he said. At the trial’s start, Cleland had said it would go on until the end of the month.

Of the alleged victims – known in court documents as Victims 1 to 10 – eight agreed to testify against Sandusky. Those who have testified have offered sometimes-graphic accounts of abuse, including oral sex. Two of the accusers remain unidentified.

The defense has said it could call dozens of witnesses when it presents its case. They include Sandusky’s wife Dottie and other family members. Amendola has argued that the accusers are out for money. He has said that Sandusky might have acted inappropriately but is not a molester.

The trial is taking place amid a heavy media presence in the small town of Bellefonte, about 10 miles northeast of State College, site of Penn State’s main campus.

Sandusky, who retired in 1999, is accused of meeting the boys through the Second Mile.

The case prompted the firing of university President Graham Spanier and head football coach Joe Paterno, record-holder for most wins by a major U.S. college football coach. Paterno died of lung cancer in January.

The post Alleged victim’s mom called cops about Jerry Sandusky in 1998 appeared first on Metro.us.

The alleged victim, now 25 years old, told the court that Sandusky pinned him down and forced him to receive oral sex while the two were wrestling in the basement of Sandusky’s home. The victim said Sandusky got on top of him and pulled his shorts down. The man said Sandusky told him, “I’d never see my family again,” if he told anyone about the oral sex, according to the AP.

The victim was living with a foster family at the time and had met Sandusky, a former coach for Penn State University football, through the The Second Mile, a charity the former coach founded to help underprivileged boys. The man told the court that Sandusky later back down from his threat, but forced him to receive and perform oral sex two more times in 1998 and 1999.

“He apologized for saying that,” the witness said. “He told me he didn’t mean it and that he loved me.”

This witness was one of the first two alleged victims to come forward, which set off an investigation leading to 52 criminal counts against Sandusky.

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The coroner’s finding ends a three-decade fight for justice by Azaria’s parents, Michael Chamberlain and Lindy Chamberlain, who was jailed for three years over her daughter’s death before she was later cleared.

“This has been a terrifying battle, bitter at times, but now some healing, and a chance to put our daughter’s spirit to rest,” Michael Chamberlain told reporters in the Northern Territory capital Darwin after the coroner’s ruling.

Azaria disappeared on August 17, 1980 from a tent in a camping ground near Uluru, a towering, haunting monolith formerly known as Ayers Rock, one of central Australia’s main tourist attractions.

Azaria’s body was never found. Her parents always maintained she was taken by a dingo, an Australian native wild dog.

“Obviously we are relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga,” Lindy Chamberlain, now known as Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, told reporters outside the court.

The dingo-baby case has been dramatized several times, and was turned into a Hollywood film “A Cry in the Dark”, starring Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep as Lindy Chamberlain.

TAKEN BY A DINGO

Northern Territory Coroner Elizabeth Morris found evidence from the case proved a dingo or dingoes were responsible for 9-week-old Azaria’s death and ruled that her death certificate should read “attacked and taken by a dingo”.

“What occurred on 17th August, 1980, was that shortly after Mrs Chamberlain placed Azaria in the tent, a dingo or dingoes entered the tent, took Azaria and carried and dragged her from the immediate area,” Morris said.

In an emotional finding, Morris then offered her condolences to the Chamberlains and one of their sons, who were in the Darwin court room.

“Please accept my sincere sympathy on the death of your special loved daughter and sister Azaria. I am so sorry for your loss,” she said to the family. “Time does not remove the pain and sadness of the death of a child.”

A first inquest in 1981 supported the parents’ account but, a second inquest in 1982 overturned that finding and recommended Lindy and Michael Chamberlain stand trial over Azaria’s death.

Lindy Chamberlain, then pregnant with her fourth child, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Michael Chamberlain was convicted of being an accessory and given a suspended sentence.

A judicial inquiry, known as a Royal Commission, overturned the convictions in 1987, leading to Lindy Chamberlain’s release. A third inquest in 1995 returned an open verdict.

The latest inquest, however, heard new evidence of several dingo attacks on humans, including details of how a nine-year old boy died in Queensland after being attacked in 2001.

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In the defense’s opening statement in a trial closely watched in the United States, Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola told the seven women and five men of the jury that Sandusky, 68, was a naive man filled with love and affection for young people.

“Jerry Sandusky, in my opinion, loves kids so much he does things that none of us would ever think of doing,” Amendola said.

Sandusky faces 52 counts of sexual abuse against 10 boys. If convicted, the former Pennsylvania State University football defensive coordinator could be sentenced to more than 500 years in prison.

Eight young men are prepared to testify in Centre County Court in Pennsylvania about how Sandusky befriended and sexually abused them as boys over a 15-year period, according to prosecutors. The men, now aged 18 to 28, will be identified publicly for the first time in court.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Joseph McGettigan III called Sandusky a “predatory pedophile” and urged the jury to listen to his alleged victims in the case, now men, as though they were children.

“You will be hearing the voices of young men, but I ask you to bring insight … of how children react to things,” McGettigan said.

McGettigan added that he would press the witnesses for details in the lurid case only because the jurors’ needed to hear them. “I must ask, and they must answer,” McGettigan said.

Putting up pictures of eight of the 10 alleged victims on a courtroom screen, while occasionally jabbing a finger toward Sandusky, McGettigan told jurors that eight had remained silent until now out of humiliation, fear and shame.

As the prosecutor spoke, Sandusky sat silently, hunched forward with his back to the packed courtroom, as ceiling fans whirled overhead.

Amendola called his task of defending Sandusky a difficult one, given the resources of the state and a “tidal wave” of negative publicity about the case.

‘A DAUNTING TASK’

“This is a daunting task. This is like looking up at Mount Everest from the bottom of the hill, it’s like David and Goliath,” he told jurors.

Amendola suggested Sandusky could take the witness stand, telling jurors that the former coach would tell them about his youth and how taking showers with other people had been common for people of his generation growing up in Washington, Pennsylvania.

Amendola also hinted that the accusers could be out for money, saying that six of the eight identified accusers had taken the step of retaining civil attorneys.

Prosecutors allege Sandusky had physical contact with the boys, known in court documents as Victims 1 to 10, that ranged from tickling and a “soap battle” in Penn State showers to oral and anal sex.

The abuse charges shook the university and prompted the firing of revered football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier in November 2011.

Sandusky is accused of using the Second Mile, a charity he founded in 1977, to prey on needy young boys. The charity said last month it was closing because contributions had dried up.

Victor Vieth, executive director of the National Child Protection Training Center, said Amendola would try to attack the accusers’ credibility but would face a tough task.

The long gap between the alleged abuses and reporting them “only adds to their credibility,” said Vieth, a former Minnesota prosecutor. “This is not a fun day for them. Who wants to talk about having anal intercourse with a much older man?”

The allegations brought an ignominious end to the career of Paterno, who recorded more wins in major college football than any other coach. He died of lung cancer in January, about two months after being fired. His widow Sue and son Jay may be called as witnesses for Sandusky.

The charges also marked a watershed in awareness of child sexual abuse. Sandusky was a well-respected children’s champion and coach in college football.

Sandusky has laid out a potential defense, saying in an NBC television interview in November that he engaged in horseplay with alleged victims but stopped short of sexual intercourse or penetration.

Amendola has said one of his tactics will be to “destroy” the credibility of former graduate football assistant Mike McQueary and thus raise questions about all the witnesses and victims.

McQueary, a key witness, told prosecutors he saw Sandusky assaulting a boy known as Victim 2 in February 2001 in a Penn State locker room. Victim 2 and another boy, Victim 8, have not been found.

The trial has brought a flood of media to Bellefonte, a town of 6,200 people about 10 miles northeast of State College, the location of Penn State’s main campus.

Eight of the 12 jurors, who were picked last week, have ties to Penn State, the largest employer in the area of small towns and farms. But legal and jury experts said familiarity is no guarantee of sympathy for Sandusky and may hurt him if they blame him for tarnishing the university’s image.

The post Prosecutor brands Jerry Sandusky ‘predatory pedophile’ as trial begins appeared first on Metro.us.

Lawyers for both parties declined to disclose the settlement. A lawyer for Evangelista called media reports that she sought $46,000 a month as a misunderstanding, but acknowledged she was seeking a “substantial” sum to raise their 5-year-old son.

Both parties agreed to return to court on Tuesday to finalize the agreement.

“Everybody’s glad, for the sake of the child, that it’s done,” David Aronson, attorney for Pinault, told reporters outside of court.

The model and Pinault walked out of the courtroom together, whispering. The scene was a stark contrast to last week’s trial, when Evangelista barely acknowledged Pinault and shot him icy glances during opening arguments.

Evangelista, 46, and Pinault, 49, had been embroiled in a contentious child-support trial over their son Augustin, conceived during a brief liaison in late 2005.

Pinault testified to ending the relationship after learning Evangelista was pregnant in early 2006. He denied a charge he had asked her to terminate the pregnancy.

Augustin was born in October 2006. Within a year, Pinault would father a child by actress Salma Hayek, named Valentina. Hayek and Pinault married in 2009 in Paris, on Valentine’s Day.

Pinault is chief executive of PPR, a multinational firm that owns luxury brands including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. He is worth about $3 billion, according to Aronson.

Last week, Evangelista’s attorney, William Beslow, grilled Pinault over his finances, the amount he spends on his other children and about the gifts he’d given Augustin. Beslow had argued Augustin was entitled to financial support on par with Valentina.

Pinault acknowledged he had put his $12 million Los Angeles home in a trust for Valentina to “reassure” Hayek that she and their child would be taken care of should anything happen to Pinault or to their relationship. Pinault fathered two children by a previous wife before meeting Evangelista.

Last week’s courtroom drama included a series of contentious exchanges, including Pinault’s acknowledgements that he “didn’t even know (Evangelista) very well” when she became pregnant. Evangelista also gave a detailed account of her rise from a 50-cent-a-basket cherry picker in her Canadian hometown near Niagara Falls to one of the most photographed faces in the world.

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Edwards is accused of accepting more than $900,000 in campaign funds from two wealthy donors, knowing the exposure of his extramarital affair “would destroy his presidential campaign,” prosecutors said in a trial brief.

The candidate at the time was a married father of three, whose late wife, Elizabeth, had breast cancer.

Jurors will hear opening statements the federal courthouse in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Edwards, 58, is accused of conspiring to solicit the money, receiving more than the $2,300 allowed from any one donor, and failing to report the payments as contributions.

He faces six felony counts, each carrying a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Edwards admits personal failings but insists he broke no laws.

Edwards’ defenders say the government is overreaching with its prosecution of Edwards, the son of mill workers who earned his fortune as a trial lawyer in North Carolina before being elected as a U.S. senator from the state in 1998.

His defense lawyers dispute the Justice Department’s interpretation of federal election laws, arguing the donors would have given the money regardless of the campaign and did so knowing it wouldn’t be used for campaign purposes.

The money was not spent to influence the election but rather to conceal the affair and resulting pregnancy from Edwards’ wife and children, they said.

Edwards never personally received any of the payments, nor did his campaign. The money was used to cover living expenses and medical care for his mistress, campaign videographer Rielle Hunter, rather than traditional campaign activities.

“This is expanding the scope of the definition of campaign contribution,” said Ron Wright, a law professor at Wake Forest University who is not involved in the case. “It is an unprecedented definition.”

PIVOTAL POINTS

The defense is expected to call two former Federal Election Commission members who, if allowed by the judge, would testify they believe Edwards did not violate campaign finance laws.

Hampton Dellinger, a former deputy attorney general who has followed the Edwards case, said the campaign finance experts’ testimony could be pivotal.

The missing pieces of the case also could be significant, he said. Neither of the two donors whose payments are in question are able to testify.

Fred Baron, who served as Edwards’ national campaign finance chairman in 2008, has since died, and heiress Rachel “Bunny” Mellon is 101 and physically unable to attend the trial. Elizabeth Edwards died in 2010.

A chief government witness will be Andrew Young, a campaign aide who later wrote a tell-all book about Edwards’ affair and the efforts to keep it out of the public eye.

Young, who was granted immunity, initially claimed he had fathered a child with Hunter, who is also expected to testify. A lawsuit settlement earlier this year between Young and Hunter called for copies of a videotape purported to show her having sex with Edwards to be destroyed.

Edwards’ defense team, recently reshuffled to include the lawyers who represented Hunter in the civil case, has indicated it will attack Young’s motives and credibility.

Edwards, who also ran for president in 2004 before becoming John Kerry’s vice presidential running mate the same year, has his own credibility issues. He repeatedly denied having an affair and daughter with Hunter, and finally admitted paternity two years after the child’s birth.

“This case is not so much the United States v. John Edwards, it’s Andrew Young v. John Edwards,” Dellinger said. “And I think the jury’s determination about which one of them is more credible may be one of the key factors in deciding whether Mr. Edwards is guilty.”

The trial could last until late May or early June. A conviction would make what qualifies as a campaign contribution less certain for future candidates, said law professor Wright.

“It’s going to mean lots more lawyers employed by campaigns,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot more legal risk involved in election reporting if the government wins this.”

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Wearing a brown jacket, jeans and carrying a brown paper bag, Zimmerman walked out of the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Seminole County moments after midnight after posting bail and meeting other conditions set for his release at a hearing on Friday.

Zimmerman was met by another man and quickly climbed into a white BMW sports utility vehicle that drove off. He made no comments to a handful of journalists gathered outside the jail.

Under the conditions set by Judge Kenneth Lester Jr., Zimmerman must wear an electronic monitoring device and he may be allowed to leave the state. He also must observe a dusk-to-dawn curfew and is prohibited from consuming illegal drugs or alcohol or possessing a firearm.

Attorney Daryl Parks, who represents Martin’s parents, said the family respected the judicial process that allowed Zimmerman to be released from jail but was “devastated by him being able to walk the streets.”

“It’s with a very, very heavy heart that they’ve seen him walk freely late last night back into the public,” Parks said on CNN.

Zimmerman attorney Mark O’Mara, appearing in on CBS’s “This Morning” program, said there had been no recent threats against his client but his whereabouts still are expected to remain a closely guarded secret until his next appearance in court.

Zimmerman shot and killed Martin is a gated community in Sanford in central Florida on February 26 in an incident that triggered civil rights protests nationwide and fired a national debate over guns, self-defense laws and race in America.

No date has been set for Zimmerman’s trial.

Zimmerman, who is white and Hispanic, has said he shot the 17-year-old Martin in self-defense following a confrontation that occurred as Martin was returning to his father’s house in the community after buying candy from a convenience store.

Police initially declined to arrest Zimmerman, citing Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows people to use deadly force when they believe they are in danger of being killed or suffering great bodily harm.

The lack of an arrest led thousands to march in protest rallies in Sanford and across the country. The public outrage forced the Sanford police chief and regularly assigned prosecutor to step aside.

At the Friday hearing, Zimmerman apologized to Martin’s family, stunning a rapt courtroom after he appeared in a suit and tie and with shackles around his waist and wrists.

Governor Rick Scott appointed Angela Corey as special prosecutor. She charged Zimmerman on April 11.

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ABC News reported that the photo was taken just three minutes after Martin was shot and killed. The photographer who snapped the photo said Zimmerman asked him to call his wife. When the photographer asked what he should tell her, he said Zimmerman said, “Man, just tell her I shot someone.”

The photographer did not witness the scuffle, but said that he could hear it.

Zimmerman told police that he shot Martin in self-defense after the teen broke his nose and bashed his head against the ground. However, that claim was debated within the media after surveillance video was released that didn’t clearly show any injuries on Zimmerman the night of the shooting.

A police report did include an officer’s summary of the incident, including that he noticed Zimmerman’s head was wet and that he was bleeding.

Zimmerman, who was charged with second degree murder, is in court seeking bond today. On the stand, he addressed the Martin family, saying, “I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was.”

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Now, 17 years after the infamous lawsuit that settled with McDonald’s paying $160,000 to a woman who was scalded with hot coffee, the burger giant is facing two more lawsuits for java burns.  The suits were filed on the same day last week in the Chicago area, according to Chicago Business.   

In one of the suits, a 4-year-old girl is the alleged victim. Lynn Abdelal was handed a cup of hot coffee to bring to her grandmother. The coffee spilled on her, causing second degree burns. The child was rushed to the hospital where her family was told she would have “permanent scarring.” The family is seeking $4 million from McDonald’s, claiming the child should never have been given the coffee in the first place.

The second suit was filed by 35-year-old Melissa Pettigrew who claims she suffered “horrific” burns on her thighs after spilling a cup of hot coffee from a drive-thru.

The style of McDonald’s coffee cups have come under fire by critics who claim it is prone to spills. The company has announced it is looking into different designs, but not for safety reasons. Instead, McDonald’s is seeking more Eco-friendly styles of cups.

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The star witness, identified as M.B., was one of the last people to see Clementi, 18, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after posting about his suicide plan to Facebook on September 22, 2010, just days after learning his roommate Dharun Ravi, now 20, covertly watched them and others to do so too.

M.B., a man in his 20s or 30s who is not a Rutgers student, said he met Clementi in an online chat room for gay men and then visited him in the dorm room he shared with Ravi. The men had three dates before Clementi committed suicide.

According to The New York Times, M.B. learned that his encounter with Clementi had been recorded two weeks after his death when prosecutors came to his home. However, M.B. said he had felt “uneasy” during his visit to Clementi’s dorm room after noticing a camera lens.

“I had just glanced over my shoulder and I had noticed there was a webcam that was faced toward the direction of the bed, and I just thought it was kind of strange. Just being in a compromising position and seeing a camera lens — I guess it just stuck out to me that if you were sitting at a desk using the computer, that camera wouldn’t be facing that direction, it would be facing the person at the computer,” M.B. said during his testimony, according to The Times.

M.B. has been the most anticipated witness in the trial. His identity has been closely guarded because he is considered a victim himself. Efforts to protect M.B.’s identity were requested by his lawyer, Richard Pompelio.

Ravi is not charged in Clementi’s suicide, which was widely portrayed as a tragic example of bullying and the toll it too often takes on gay teenagers. He is, however, charged with 15 counts of invasion of privacy, witness and evidence tampering and bias intimidation, which is a hate crime. If convicted, he faces the possibility of 10 years in prison.

Students who lived in the same college dorm and have been called as witnesses in the trial described M.B. as about 30-years o-d and “sketchy.” Ravi’s lawyer maintains he set up the webcam because he was afraid that the man would steal his valuable computer equipment.

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78 protesters were scheduled to be in court, stemming from arrests that happened during a march on September 24. The majority of them were offered a deal that would drop disorderly conduct charges against them if they avoided arrest for the next six months. Nine protesters accepted the offer, according to Erin Duggan, the communications director for District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

Charges were dismissed in the case of John Farley, an online editor for WNET, after his station said he was at the event to cover it, according to CBS. One misdemeanor was adjourned. 14 people were no-shows. The judge issued a one-time stay on bench warrants and called on those absent from court to appear, along with the protesters who refused the prosecutor’s offer, on January 9.

The protesters who refused the deal did so because they felt the charges against them were unjustified, according to the AP.

“The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office fully supports every person’s first amendment right to peacefully demonstrate,” said Erin Duggan. “At the same time, we are charged with enforcing violations of the law.”

She said her office is assigning these cases to assistant district attorney’s in each of the trial bureaus.  

“However, to ensure the greatest degree of consistency and fairness in case evaluation and possible disposition of cases, our office has assigned a senior felony assistant district attorney to coordinate and supervise the flow of the cases through the court system,” she said.

There have been 555 arrests related to Occupy Wall Street since the movement began, according to the D.A.’s office.

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Yesterday the actress got into even more trouble while at her progress report hearing in Los Angeles, Calif.  Judge Stephanie Sautner scoffed at the lack of hours put into her court ordered community service and suspended her probation.

Her bail was set at $100,000 (which Lohan quickly paid) and to add insult to injury, she was handcuffed before she was taken into custody.  Judge Sautner ordered Lohan to perform 16 hours a week of community service at the  L.A. County Morgue  where she will be cleaning tables where  autopsies are performed, reports TMZ. She’ll also be doing basic custodial duties like sweeping floors, cleaning toilets, and will be on trash duty.

Lohan appeared at the courtroom in a stunning white Fendi dress, gold stilettos, and terrible make-up. Although the judge was harsh in her verdict, the jury is still out on just what was going on with Lohan’s face. Was she trying to even out what looks like a bruise on her right cheek  and temple or was the application just another travesty of justice for the actress.

Oh, and to just to help refresh your memory, Lohan’s current legal problems stem from her 2007 drunk-driving conviction, as well as a jewelry theft conviction earlier this year.

More news about Lindsay Lohan (and her sister Ali)

The Word: Ali Lohan’s dramatic about-face
Lindsay Lohan gets Billy Joel lyric tattoo
Lindsay Lohan sues rapper Pitbull

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