Accused Los Angeles child kidnapper-rapist arrested in Mexico

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A convicted felon suspected in the kidnapping and rape of a 10- year-old California girl who was snatched from her bedroom last month was arrested early on Wednesday in Mexico and returned to Los Angeles, FBI officials said.

Tobias Dustin Summers, also a reputed member of a white supremacist street gang in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, was wanted on 37 criminal counts stemming from the March 27 kidnapping, the FBI said.

The girl was abducted from her home in the middle of the night, driven to various locations in two vehicles and raped before being dropped off near a hospital, according to police.

A passerby who saw her wandering barefoot with cuts and bruises outside a coffee shop watched over her until police were summoned.

Authorities did not provide details of the location and circumstances of Summers' capture, but FBI spokeswoman Lourdes Arocho in Los Angeles confirmed he had been taken into custody in Baja California by Mexican national police.

At an afternoon news conference, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck credited a $50,000 reward that was "highly publicized south of the border" with leading to a telephone tip that helped authorities pinpoint Summers' whereabouts.

The fugitive's identity was initially confirmed by his tattoos, which the FBI said included the Superman logo on his upper chest, police said.

FBI special agent Tim Delaney, who oversees the criminal division of the FBI field office in Los Angeles, said Summers was returned to Los Angeles after his arrest. Beck said he would be held in lieu of $19 million bond.

Police and the FBI declined to comment on media reports that the suspect was found at a Mexican drug rehabilitation center south of Tijuana. Beck had said about three weeks ago that Summers was seen in surveillance video images crossing a foot bridge into Mexico.

Summers, 32, was indicted earlier this month on one count each of kidnapping a minor, kidnapping to commit another crime and first-degree burglary, plus 34 counts of various sex offenses. He faces multiple life prison terms if convicted, according to the District Attorney's Office.

His accused accomplice, 29-year-old Daniel Martinez, who was charged with one count each of kidnapping and burglary, was arrested on March 31.

Police have said Summers has a lengthy criminal history and had served prison terms for robbery, kidnapping, explosives possession and theft. He was most recently released from state custody in July 2012 under a program designed to ease prison overcrowding in California.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Eric Walsh and Cynthia Osterman)

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Plea deal talks under way for U.S. soldier accused in Iraq killings: lawyer

By Eric M. Johnson

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier charged with killing five fellow servicemen in 2009 at a military counseling center in Iraq is seeking a plea deal with Army prosecutors that would spare him from facing the death penalty, his lawyer told Reuters on Tuesday.

Army Sergeant John Russell, under confinement at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, is accused of going on a shooting frenzy at Camp Liberty, adjacent to the Baghdad airport, in an attack his lawyers have insisted stemmed from combat stress.

Jury selection for his court-martial had been set to begin this week.

But those proceedings were paused while negotiations continued between the two sides on a possible deal in which Russell would plead guilty to murder in return for prosecutors agreeing not to seek the death penalty, his civilian attorney, James Culp said.

"The pretrial agreement that we are working through would have John plead guilty to murder-two, intentional murder, where John takes responsibility for the intentional killing of five people," he told Reuters.

Army prosecutors declined to discuss the status of the case.

The prosecution, which has accused Russell of acting with premeditation, is likely to seek a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, Culp said. He declined to say what punishment he would recommend.

Assuming the talks lead to an agreement, the presiding judge in the case, Army Colonel David Conn, will question Russell next Monday in a proceeding known as a "providence inquiry" to determine whether the circumstances of the shooting support a guilty plea and that Russell believes he is guilty.

DEGREE OF GUILT

Even if the judge accepts the plea bargain, under the military justice system Russell would still face a court-martial - with opening and closing statements, testimony from witnesses and the presentation of evidence - to decide the degree of his guilt.

The choice then would be between a verdict of premeditated murder, or the lesser offense of intentional murder, and his prison term would hinge on that finding.

If no plea bargain is reached, or if the judge rejects such a deal, then Russell would face a lengthier, full-fledged trial in which the determination of his guilt or innocence would be at stake, as well as the question of a death penalty if he were convicted of premeditated murder.

His lawyers would also be free to pursue an acquittal through an insanity defense in that instance.

The state of Russell's mind has been the focus of legal proceedings over the past year and would remain a key factor in deciding whether he acted with malice of forethought or acted on impulse.

Defense attorneys have said Russell, who was attached to the 54th Engineer Battalion based in Bamberg, Germany, suffered a host of mental ailments after several combat tours and was suicidal prior to the attack.

An independent forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Sadoff, has concluded that Russell suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis at the time of the shootings. And Sadoff suggested Russell was provoked to violence by maltreatment at the hands of mental health personnel he sought for treatment at Camp Liberty.

"At the very last moment, the extreme despair became rage, and he killed people," Culp said. "He didn't have the mental wherewithal to be planning pre-meditated murder."

Conn will also decide after next Monday's providence inquiry whether Russell will be tried before a judge alone or a jury.

Jury selection, if a panel is to be needed, would begin on April 23, with the two sides slated to begin presenting their case at trial on May 6.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Steve Gorman and Lisa Shumaker)

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Colorado prosecutors seek death penalty for accused cinema gunman

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - Accused theater gunman James Holmes returns to a Colorado court on Monday, where prosecutors will reveal if they intend to seek the death penalty against the former graduate student for the "Dark Knight" shooting rampage that killed 12 moviegoers.

It is widely expected that Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler will attempt to win a death sentence against the 25-year-old California native.

Brauchler already has announced he has a death penalty lawyer on the prosecution team and he rejected a defense offer to let Holmes plead guilty and serve a life sentence if capital punishment is taken off the table.

Holmes is accused of opening fire inside a suburban Denver theater during a screening of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" last July, in one of the deadliest outbursts of gun violence in the United States in recent years.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder for the shooting massacre that also wounded 58 moviegoers. Another dozen people suffered non-gunshot injuries as they fled the Aurora, Colorado, cinema.

Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester entered a not guilty plea for Holmes last month, but said he would consider allowing that to be changed to not guilty by reason of insanity.

Last week, public defenders said in a court filing that Holmes was willing to plead guilty and serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole if prosecutors would not try to execute their client.

While Holmes' attorneys said they are prepared to mount an insanity defense, they wrote in the filing that "Mr. Holmes is currently willing to resolve the case to bring the proceedings to a speedy and definite conclusion for all involved."

Brauchler fired back in a written response, calling the move by the defense improper at this stage of the case and "that it was filed for the intended purpose of generating the predictable pretrial publicity."

"The only conclusion that an objective reader would reach ... is that the defendant knows that he is guilty, the defense attorneys know he is guilty and that both of them know that he was not criminally insane," Brauchler wrote.

In court pleadings, public defenders Daniel King and Tamara Brady have said Holmes has been hospitalized twice since his arrest, once for "potential self-inflicted injuries."

At one point, jailers determined Holmes was a danger to himself and in "immediate need of a psychiatric evaluation." He was transported by ambulance to a Denver psychiatric ward "where he was held for several days, frequently in restraints," his lawyers wrote.

Also at issue at Monday's hearing is whether a Fox News reporter will be compelled to testify about confidential sources she used in a story that said a notebook Holmes sent to a psychiatrist detailed his plans to commit mass murder.

Sylvester agreed to hear arguments from lawyers for New York-based reporter Jana Winter, whose story violated a gag order he had imposed in the case.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Eric Beech)

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Lawyers for accused Colorado theater gunman offer guilty plea

By Keith Coffman Chris Frantz

DENVER (Reuters) - Defense attorneys for the former graduate student accused of killing 12 people at a Denver area movie theater last July have offered to have him plead guilty in exchange for a life prison term, according to court documents filed on Wednesday.

Public defenders for James Holmes, 25, said in the Arapahoe County District Court filing that prosecutors have so far not accepted the offer, which would spare their client the death penalty in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

Holmes faces multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder stemming from the July 20 massacre at a showing of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado that also wounded 58 people.

Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler has said that he would formally inform the court during a hearing scheduled for Monday whether his office would seek the death penalty against Holmes.

Brauchler has not made his decision public, but in February announced that he had added a death penalty lawyer to the prosecution team.

All three of Colorado's death row inmates were convicted and sentenced in Arapahoe County. At a state legislative hearing earlier in March, Brauchler testified in favor of keeping the death penalty on the books in Colorado.

A spokeswoman for the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment on Wednesday afternoon.

"Prior to arraignment, Mr. Holmes made an offer to the prosecution to resolve the case by pleading guilty and spending the rest of his life in prison without the opportunity for parole," lawyers for Holmes say in the papers.

Holmes was arraigned on March 12. At that hearing, Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester entered a not guilty plea on his behalf after defense attorneys said they were not prepared to enter a plea.

INSANITY DEFENSE

In Wednesday's pleading, defense lawyers said that if prosecutors agree to take the death penalty off the table for Holmes the case could be resolved at Monday's hearing.

Attorneys for the former University of Colorado neuroscience graduate student, who surrendered to officers outside the theater minutes after the shooting rampage, had been expected to mount an insanity defense on his behalf at trial.

"As previously stated in court, counsel for Mr. Holmes are still exploring a mental health defense, and counsel will vigorously present and argue any and all appropriate defenses at a trial or sentencing proceeding as necessary," defense lawyers said in the court papers.

"Nevertheless, Mr. Holmes is currently willing to resolve the case to bring the proceedings to a speedy and definite conclusion for all involved," the defense said.

Lawyers for Holmes have said in court filings that their client has been hospitalized twice since his arrest, once after hitting his head against a cell wall.

Holmes was also held in restraints for several days at a psychiatric hospital in November after jail officials determined he was a threat to himself, according to his defense team.

In a separate written ruling on Wednesday, Sylvester denied a request by Fox News journalist Jana Winter to postpone her testimony, scheduled for Monday, about confidential sources she cited in a story about the shooting rampage.

Sylvester ordered Winter to take the witness stand as he tries to determine who leaked information to the New York-based journalist despite a gag order he issued in the case.

Winter's attorneys sought a delay while she filed an appeal of Sylvester's ruling on the grounds that she was protected against revealing her sources by New York's shield law for journalists.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman and Chris Frantz; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst, Tim Dobbyn and Cynthia Osterman)

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Egyptian blogger accused of violence released

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities released a prominent Egyptian blogger Tuesday after he refused to cooperate with prosecutors over allegations of instigating violence against the country's most powerful Islamist group in comments posted on social media.

The blogger, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, was freed following his demand that an investigative judge take over his case, according to one of his lawyers, Malek Adly. His attorneys are now awaiting a decision on the request, which amounts to a snub to the prosecutor's office by questioning its independence.

Abdel-Fattah handed himself in to authorities earlier Tuesday, a day after the country's prosecutor general ordered his arrest along with four other activists also accused of inciting violence. The arrest warrants stoked concerns among Egypt's opposition that Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was using the prosecutor's office to go after political opponents.

The allegations against the activists are rooted in clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsi outside the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in east Cairo last week that left 200 people injured in the worst bout of political violence here in months.

Activists say the arrest warrants, which closely followed a televised address by Morsi in which he warned that he would soon take exceptional measures in the face of violence, could herald a wave of arrests of opposition leaders.

Abdel-Fattah and the other activists questioned the independence of the prosecutor general, saying he is beholden to Morsi. The president appointed the prosecutor late last year despite an uproar from the judiciary.

Dressed in a prison jumpsuit to show his readiness to face jail, Abdel-Fattah arrived at the Cairo office of Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah on Tuesday surrounded by several dozen protesters chanting slogans denouncing Morsi and his group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

From inside the prosecutor's office, the blogger posted messages on Twitter saying that most of the accusations against him were based on comments sent to his account by others, rather than anything he posted himself. He also said on Twitter that he refused to respond to the authorities' questions "because of partiality of the prosecutor general."

However, the prosecutor's office offered a different account. The prosecutor's spokesman posted a message on the office's official Facebook page that said Abdel-Fattah cooperated with officials during the questioning. It said he denied the accusations against him, and that the Twitter or Facebook accounts were his.

Abdel-Fattah and his lawyer dismissed the prosecutor's version of events, and said they will file complaints against them for allegedly forging official documents.

"I said only that I stick to my right to be silent," Abdel-Fattah told The Associated Press. He said his lawyers refused to admit the evidence to the case because they were photocopies of social media websites. "They did no investigative efforts at all."

This is not the first time Abdel-Fattah has butted heads with Egypt's authorities since the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago. He was detained for two months in late 2011 by the then-ruling military over allegations he attacked soldiers carrying out a bloody crackdown on protesters. He was later released without charge.

The Friday clashes outside the Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters were the worst violence between the Brotherhood and its opponents in three months.

The protest was called in response to earlier violence outside the building, in which Brotherhood supporters beat up several activists and attacked reporters. Both sides brought hundreds of supporters to the new demonstration, which devolved into street fighting with knives, fists, stones, sticks, and birdshot. Both sides beat the others followers. Police fired tear gas but did not try to separate the two sides.

Brotherhood officials accuse the protesters of attacking its offices and say its members were defending the building. Protesters, in turn, blame Brotherhood members for sparking the violence, saying they tried to encircle the rally from the back.

At least six anti-Morsi protesters were detained during the violence, and the prosecutors ordered them to be held for 15 days pending investigation.

Brotherhood offices have frequently been ransacked and torched in Egypt's recent turmoil.

The prosecutor's office says it is examining statements and video clips posted on activists' Facebook and Twitter accounts, which allegedly include calls to burn the offices of the Brotherhood and kill Brotherhood members. A wider inquiry will examine the contents of social networking sites in the run-up to Friday's clashes.

Abdel-Fattah and the other activists ordered detained were key figures in the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising who later led demonstrations against the military generals who took power after Mubarak. Since Morsi took office in June as the country's first democratically elected president, they have protested what they see as the new leader's dictatorial style of rule.

The opposition accuses Morsi of acting like his predecessor, of not living up to his promises to have an inclusive political process and of acting in the Brotherhood's interests rather than in Egypt's national interest.

The Brotherhood, meanwhile, accuses the opposition of having no grassroots support, and says the president should be challenged through the ballot box, not street protests.

Meanwhile, Egypt's interim parliament, the Shura Council, said it is working on drafting a law to regulate protests. The law would give the authorities the right to deny permission to demonstrations that harm "citizens' interests," including by blocking traffic.

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Lawyers win delay for teen accused of killing girl

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) — Lawyers for a Colorado teen who allegedly told police he wanted to plead guilty to killing a 10-year-old girl asked a judge on Tuesday for more time to study possible defenses.

Judge Stephen Munsinger granted the request and postponed the arraignment of Austin Sigg until April 12.

The 18-year-old suspect is charged with the murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of Jessica Ridgeway. The fifth-grader's disappearance last fall sparked a massive manhunt and fear among residents of Denver's west suburbs.

Police have said Sigg acknowledged during questioning that he strangled Jessica then dismembered her body in a bathtub at his mother's home. The child's remains were found in a park and in a crawl space at the home.

On Tuesday, defense attorney Katherine Spengler said Sigg's legal team also needed to study the massive amount of evidence in the case and analyze his mental state at the time of the crime.

"A race to justice really is no justice at all," Spengler told the judge.

Sigg wore an orange jumpsuit in court, where he flashed a tight smile and talked with his attorneys before the hearing.

Jessica's mother, Sarah Ridgeway, and other supporters in the audience wore purple — Jessica's favorite color — at the hearing.

Police have said Sigg vehemently denied sexually assaulting Jessica.

Jessica lived in suburban Westminster with her mother, about a mile from Sigg's home. Her father, Jeremiah Bryant, lives in the Kansas City suburb of Independence, Mo.

Jessica disappeared Oct. 5 while walking to meet a friend just two blocks away on their way to school.

Her body was found on Oct. 10 along a remote road in a park. Police scoured her neighborhood and even collected cheek swabs for DNA from some residents.

Authorities asked the public to keep an eye out for people exhibiting unusual behavior such as leaving town unexpectedly, missing appointments or changing their appearance.

On Oct. 23, Sigg's mother, Mindy Sigg, called 911 to say her son wanted to turn himself in. When the dispatcher asked what her son had said, she replied, "That he did it, and he gave me details, and her remains are in my house."

Her son then spoke with the dispatcher.

"I don't exactly get why you're asking me these questions. I murdered Jessica Ridgeway. I have proof that I did it," Austin Sigg said, according to a police recording of the call.

Westminster police Detective Michael Lynch testified at a preliminary hearing that Sigg told his mother that he kidnapped Jessica as she walked past his car, bound her arms and her legs, and took her to his house.

Former classmates said the 5-foot-6, 160-pound Sigg was intelligent, often wore black, and would stay late sometimes to work on computers. He was interested in mortuary science and was taking forensics classes, they said.

Sigg left Standley Lake High School in July after finishing the 11th grade and later earned a GED. School officials said they didn't know why he left. One former classmate, Sarah Morevec, said he had been bullied for having a high voice.

Sigg cannot face the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the slaying. If convicted, he could face life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years.

He also faces an attempted kidnapping charge involving an attack on a 22-year-old woman who was running near the elementary school attended by Jessica.

___

Associated Press writer P. Solomon Banda contributed to this report.

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U.N. threatens to stop working with Congo army units accused of rape

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has threatened to stop supporting two Congolese army battalions unless soldiers accused of raping scores of women in an eastern town are prosecuted, a senior U.N. official said on Thursday.

The United Nations said 126 women were raped in Minova in November after Congolese troops fled to the town as so-called M23 rebels briefly captured the nearby provincial capital of Goma.

The senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two Congolese battalions had been told to start prosecuting soldiers accused of raping the women in Minova this month or they would lose the support of U.N. peacekeepers.

"Many rapes were committed. We have investigated, we have identified a number of cases and we demand that the Congolese authorities take action legally against those people," said the official. He did not say how many soldiers had been accused.

"Since nothing sufficient has happened at this stage we have already put two units of the armed forces of Congo on notice that if they do not act promptly we shall cease supporting them," he said. "They have to shape up."

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in December that alleged human rights abuses were committed in and around Minova between November 20 and November 30, including the 126 rapes and the killing of two civilians. Nesirky said at the time that two soldiers were charged with rape, while seven more were charged with looting.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, has a mandate to protect civilians and supports operations by the Congolese army. There are more than 17,000 troops in Congo - a country the size of Western Europe.

Peacekeepers have been stretched thin by the M23 rebellion in the resource-rich east of Congo and the U.N. Security Council is considering creating a special intervention force, which one senior council diplomat has said would be able to "search and destroy" the M23 rebels and other armed groups in the country.

M23 began taking parts of eastern Congo early last year, accusing the government of failing to honor a 2009 peace deal. That deal ended a previous rebellion and led to the rebels' integration into the army, but they have since deserted.

African leaders signed a U.N.-mediated accord late last month aimed at ending two decades of conflict in eastern Congo and paving the way for the intervention force.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Christopher Wilson)

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Accused Scottish cardinal admits sexual failings

LONDON (AP) — The cardinal who until recently served as Britain's highest-ranking Catholic leader has admitted to unspecified sexual misbehavior and promised to play "no further part" in the public life of the church.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigned Monday from his position as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh after a newspaper published accounts alleging that priests had accused him of misconduct.

O'Brien initially rejected the claims, saying he was resigning because he did not want to distract from the upcoming conclave which is due to pick a new pope.

But on Sunday the Church of Scotland issued a statement quoting O'Brien as saying that there had been times "that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal."

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