Free Republic

While on leave to visit his five children, Ray was pulled over by the police and dragged out of his car at gunpoint. As he lay face down on the pavement, they told him he was under arrest — for the murder of a girl he’d never met. Ray had been in the parking lot that night. While studying to be a U.S. Marshal, he was moonlighting as an unarmed security guard. It was his second day on the job. He heard gunshots, took cover, and radioed for help. When police arrived, they didn’t treat Ray as a suspect. If...

Patriots from 5 states gathered on Tuesday, September 27th outside the Cannon Building in Washington D.C. to try to get interest and support from Congress to help Sgt. Derrick Miller.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration said Friday that two Democratic senators falsely took credit for steering millions of dollars to projects in their home state, even as officials acknowledged that the Homeland Security secretary met with the lawmakers and discussed financing the projects. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano denies politics played any role in distributing stimulus money. The Associated Press reported this week that her department did not follow its own priority list when selecting projects. Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester have taken credit for helping secure $77 million in stimulus money for repairs at border stations...

LIHUE, Hawaii - Bette Midler cut down more than 230 trees around one of her properties on the island of Kauai without a permit, and the state has recommended she be fined. The staff of the Board of Land and Natural Resources recommended $6,500 in fines for having the trees felled and for building a graded road without permits required for the land zoned for conservation use. The singer and actress will pay the fines and will follow a replanting program, her attorney Max W. J. Graham said. The actress and movie star, who was born in Honolulu, didn't realize...

CHILTON, Wis. - A man who spent 18 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit will be charged with killing a woman whose vehicle was found near his home, a prosecutor said Friday. Steven Avery's blood was found inside Teresa Halbach's sport utility vehicle, said Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz, who plans to charge Avery with first-degree intentional homicide by Tuesday. "It is no longer a question, at least in my mind as special prosecutor in the case, who is responsible for ... the death of Teresa Halbach," Kratz said. Avery, who was freed from prison two...

McDonald’s pays $10m damages Silicon Valley (PTI): Fast food giant McDonald’s will pay $10 million to 24 groups, including the International American Gita Society, as part of a settlement of lawsuits. McDonald’s has been charged with misleading Hindus and vegetarian consumers by “wrongly describing” its French fries, containing beef additive for flavouring, as vegetarian. McDonald’s recently informed the Gita society that it is among the groups receiving the settlement money, the US-based non-profit organisation’s spokesperson, Ramananda Prasad, said. “We are such a small organisation, and nobody supports us, the temples are busy with their own activities,” Prasad, who founded the...

Witnesses: Jury Wrongly Convicted Peterson REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — In tearful testimony, Scott Peterson's (search) family and friends pleaded with jurors to spare his life, contending that he was mistakenly convicted of killing his pregnant wife, Laci.Defense witnesses have already testified that Peterson sang to seniors on Sundays, distributed food and clothes in Tijuana and that he was a good friend and loving son.On the fifth day of the trial's penalty phase, Peterson's relatives questioned the jury's verdict."I don't believe he's guilty," said his uncle, John Lathamke to see him die. It would tear our family apart."But jurors showed no expression, some...

PHOENIX (Nov. 19) - For Ray Krone, his crooked smile became a criminal offense. Krone was wrongfully convicted twice of killing a Phoenix woman based largely on expert testimony that purportedly matched his teeth with bite marks found on the victim. Now the ABC reality show "Extreme Makeover" plans to transform the since-exonerated Krone, once dubbed the "snaggletooth killer," into a man with a winning smile. "It's the embarrassment of being called the snaggletooth killer, living with that," Krone said in a phone interview before heading to California for his cosmetic adventure, which began Thursday. "My teeth are what they...