Free Republic

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A New York judge has warned the founder of a Muslim-oriented television station to retain a lawyer so he won't have to defend himself during an upcoming trial on charges he beheaded his wife. Muzzammil Hassan ...has parted ways with three previous lawyers. Hassan's pursuing a battered spouse defense.

A court hearing Wednesday on whether a television reporter must turn over notes of an interview with accused killer Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan instead became a forum for Hassan to accuse his jailers of torturing and plotting to kill him. Hassan asked a judge to "fire" Sheriff Timothy B. Howard because of the alleged actions of sheriff's deputies in the Erie County Holding Center, claims that a Sheriff's Office spokesman called "preposterous." Hassan, 45, who is awaiting trial on charges he murdered his wife in Orchard Park last year, told Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk he was attacked and beaten...

Not long ago, Faisal Shahzad had a pretty enviable life: He became an American citizen after emigrating from Pakistan, where he came from a wealthy family. He earned an MBA. He had a well-educated wife and two kids and owned a house in a middle-class Connecticut suburb. In the past couple of years, though, his life seemed to unravel: He left a job at a global marketing firm he'd held for three years, lost his home to foreclosure and moved into an apartment in an impoverished neighborhood in Bridgeport. And last weekend, authorities say, he drove an SUV loaded with...

A 45-year-old woman, charged with ending a domestic dispute by killing her 26-year-old husband of five days, is a registered lobbyist for a group fighting domestic violence. Arelisha Bridges was ordered held without bond in the Fulton County Jail. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing later this month on charges of felony murder, murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Officials said Bridges claimed she was unemployed. But records show she is a lobbyist for an organization called the National Declaration for Domestic Violence Order; its Web site says the group is...

13-year-old initiated sex, judge says Article from: Herald Sun December 17, 2007 01:51pm A JUDGE has labelled a man's rape of a 13-year-old boy "adolescent experimentation" and said the teen and the perpetrator were "both victims". Judge Michael Kelly's comments come a month after a prosecutor accused him of making inappropriate and disrespectful statements about the sexual assault victim during a plea hearing. The Melbourne County Court was told that in March 2001 a 24-year-old man began a relationship with a 13-year-old boy.

<p>A Brooklyn newlywed pleaded not guilty yesterday to fatally stabbing her hubby after he made a wisecrack about the size of her derriere.</p> <p>Judy Castillo-Thomas, 27, who stood with her head hanging, entered her plea before Judge Matthew D'Emic in Brooklyn Supreme Court while Jason Thomas' family and friends packed the courtroom wearing T-shirts emblazoned with his photo.</p>