Apr 29
Los Angeles — The involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, charged in the death of Michael Jackson, will be delayed until September, a judge decided Monday.
The defense had asked for just two weeks to find and prepare new medical experts to counter new experts recently added by the prosecution.
Murray, who was Jackson’s personal doctor, is accused of causing his death on June 25, 2009, while giving him a surgical anesthetic.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, during a Monday morning hearing, asked Murray if he agreed with a delay.
“I believe it is in the best interest of all parties involved,” Murray told the judge.
Jury selection, which began in late March, was expected to conclude this week.
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Apr 26
For the last month, the prosecutor built a case brick-by-brick, without editorial comment, against the three men accused in the pot-robbery killing of a Land Park teenager five years ago.
Tuesday, in the closing arguments in the trial of the three men accused of murder in the Jan. 3, 2006, shooting death of James Ramirez in the foyer of his parents’ home, Deputy District Attorney Sean Laird said it was time to “tell it like it is.”
“The evidence in this case revealed these three men to be monsters,” Laird said, turning toward Alex Brown Jr., Terry Larell Alexander and David Jacob Carrera.
Brown, 34, Carrera, 33, and Alexander, 26, are each charged with murder in the death of Ramirez.
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Apr 20
A fire at a North Highlands home in which firefighters found the bodies of a 37-year-old woman and her 8-year-old son was an act of arson, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District investigators have concluded.
Laura Fernandez and Wilfred Villarruel were found April 6 by crews that responded to the blaze in the 4000 block of Stephens Drive. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Evidence at the scene led Sac Metro arson investigators to believe that the blaze had been intentionally set, department spokesman Assistant Chief Scott Cockrum said Thursday.
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Apr 18
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday ended the country’s 48-year-old state of emergency, following the legislature’s approval of the bill earlier this week. In several decrees issued Thursday, al-Assad also abolished the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC), developed in the wake of the state of emergency to prosecute those deemed a threat to security, and legalized peaceful protest demonstrations, although they must be approved the Ministry of the Interior. Read all post…
Apr 14
The Sacramento middle school teacher who was arraigned on child sex abuse charges this week used to be a foster parent whose license was revoked by the state after similar allegations were reported four years ago.
Still, Preston Lewis, 50, was allowed to work as a special education teacher at Sam Brannan Middle School in South Land Park because nobody told the Sacramento City Unified School District that his foster care license had been revoked in 2007.
“Had we known that we could have been able to take disciplinary action,” said district spokesman Gabe Ross.
It’s unclear whether the state Department of Social Services knew Lewis was a teacher.
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