LOS ANGELES — A Southern California man was sentenced to death Tuesday for the 10-year-old killings of a family of four whose bodies were found buried in shallow graves in the California desert. Charles “Chase” Merritt was convicted in June of killing his former business associate Joseph McStay, McStay's wife,...
Armenians Cheer As U.S. Senate Approves Genocide Resolution
WASHINGTON — On its fourth try, the Senate approved a resolution Thursday that recognizes the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide. The resolution won unanimous approval after being blocked three previous times at the request of the White House. Co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Robert...
Mexico Farm Town Prepares Funerals After 9 Americans Slain
LA MORA, Mexico — With Mexican soldiers guarding the entrance to town, hundreds of people converged on this remote farming community for the first funerals Thursday for the nine American women and children killed in an ambush by drug cartel gunmen. A single, large grave was dug to hold the...
Victims' Parents Urge Newsom to Stop Death Penalty Reprieve
SACRAMENTO — Parents of Californians murdered by people now on death row shared gruesome details of their loved ones' killings Thursday as they launched a statewide tour to urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to reverse his moratorium on executions. "He was like a thief in the night that stole justice from...
Brown Orders New DNA Testing in Old Murder Case
SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered new DNA tests that a condemned inmate says could clear him in a 35-year-old quadruple murder case, which has drawn national attention. On Monday, Brown ordered tests of four pieces of evidence that Kevin Cooper and his attorneys say will show he was...
Texas Police Questioned Man Days Before California Killings
LOS ANGELES — A man with a history of violence who'd been deported from the United States six times wasn't flagged for arrest by Houston police and fled to California, where he's now charged in a series of California killings, authorities said. Ramon Escobar, 47, came to the attention of...
Death Sentence for Ex-Doctor Who Killed 4 People in Nebraska
OMAHA, Neb. — A former doctor convicted in the revenge killings of four people connected to a Nebraska medical school was sentenced Friday to death. A three-judge panel handed down the sentence against Anthony Garcia, 45, of Terre Haute, Indiana. The judges, who heard arguments earlier this year during the...
Suu Kyi Says Handling of Rohingya Could Have Been Better
HANOI, Vietnam — In the face of global condemnation, Myanmar's leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday said that the handling of Rohingya Muslims, 700,000 of whom have fled to Bangladesh amid a brutal military campaign, could have been better, but still defended security forces...