Free Republic

An 18-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a 9-month-old baby in Merced was struck by another inmate during a court appearance yesterday, according to reports. An unidentified man with his hands shackled struck the accused murderer Daevon Motshwane at least twice before guards intervened in footage recorded by KSEE.

A hate-filled protester was escorted away from the Ground Zero mosque site this morning after tearing apart a Koran and burning some of the pages — an early sign that the rancor was ramping up as numerous protests were set to begin. The man, who refused to identify himself, walked up the corner of Murray and Church streets with a green Koran in his hands. Amid a crowd of protestors and media, he first tore a page from the holy book and tossed it into the air. He then ripped a couple of more pages from the book and lit...

Sheriff says he may not have known he'd shot drug backpacker, who died. Criminal investigators have determined that a U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot and killed a drug backpacker last Saturday was not being threatened at the time, officials with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department said Friday. The agent, though, may not have known he had shot somebody, said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada. The dead man, Julio Cesar Yenez Ramirez, 31, from Nogales, Sonora, was shot through the right arm and the bullet pierced his heart and lung, exiting through the left armpit, Estrada said. He...