AP - A 24-year-old man jailed for more than three months in the murders of his mother and brother was a free man Saturday after prosecutors said they would instead charge a high school friend accused in a string of serial killings. But the previously accused man now faces an immigration hearing on whether he should be allowed to remain in the country because he told officials he was here illegally.

Reuters - An Indiana jury convicted embattled Republican Secretary of State Charlie White in the early hours of Saturday on six out of seven felony charges including perjury, theft and voter fraud.

AP - Nevine Aly Elshiekh is a dog lover who teaches children with developmental disabilities. She is college-educated, well-respected by her neighbors and has no criminal record, not even a speeding ticket.

Reuters - The U.S. Army has dismissed all charges against the last of five soldiers to face a court-martial in the slaying of unarmed Afghan civilians, officials from their home base near Tacoma, Washington, said on Friday.

Reuters - The U.S. Army has dismissed all charges against the last of five soldiers to face a court-martial in the slaying of unarmed Afghan civilians, officials from their home base near Tacoma, Washington, said on Friday.

Reuters - A jury early on Saturday convicted Indiana's Republican Secretary of State Charlie White on six felony counts including perjury, theft and voter fraud but cleared him on a seventh charge.

AP - A lawyer says the mother of the actress Phil Spector was convicted of killing has settled her wrongful death suit against the legendary music producer.

Reuters - Authorities shot and killed an escaped inmate Friday who stabbed one Mobile police officer to death and wounded a second after fleeing in a stolen police car.

AP - Minutes after a man pleaded guilty to kidnapping, raping and murdering 7-year-old Somer Thompson, who was dumped in a trash bin and later found in a landfill, the little girl's twin brother addressed his sister's killer.

AP - A Kansas district attorney said Friday that he's likely to interview Gov. Sam Brownback as a witness during an investigation into the legality of private meetings with legislators at the governor's official residence, but the state's most powerful lawmaker criticized the prosecutor's tactics.

AP - A woman has won $975,000 in a federal jury trial, 14 years after giving birth in a jail cell in Washington state.

AP - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Friday he will meet with a district attorney leading a secret investigation that has already led to charges being filed against five former close aides and associates.

Reuters - A Pennsylvania jury ended a second day of deliberations on Friday without reaching a verdict in the corruption trial of one of the state's longest-serving lawmakers, accused of using state employees to campaign for him for free.

AP - Attorneys for a deputy who arrested Mel Gibson on suspicion of drunken driving want to call the Oscar-winner as a witness during an upcoming trial to determine if the officer suffered discrimination because of the case.

AP - A financial officer who admitted advertising child pornography for others to download was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison.

Reuters - Texas financier Allen Stanford drew on a secret Swiss bank account for personal expenses like yacht maintenance and to pay bribes, the government's top witness said at Stanford's fraud trial on Friday.

AP - A jury began deliberations Friday in the voter fraud trial of Indiana's election chief, who faces charges that could oust him from office.

Reuters - Two American women kidnapped by gunmen in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Friday were released into army custody a few hours later, security sources said.

AP - Lawyers for a former Alabama professor accused of killing three colleagues during a faculty meeting want a state appeals court to delay her March trial because officials haven't paid for expert witnesses or testing by a neurologist.

Reuters - A New Zealand court refused an appeal by the founder of online file-sharing site Megaupload.com to be freed on bail, Friday, agreeing with prosecutors there was a risk he would attempt to flee before an extradition hearing.