Defense attorney says charges dropped in racially charged East Texas dragging death

September 24th, 2009 Attorney: Jail says Texas mom competent for trialSAN ANTONIO — The attorney for a Texas mother accused of killing and mutilating her 3-week-old son says a jail psychiatrist has deemed her competent to stand trial. Ed Camara said Thursday that a judge will consider that recommendation at a November competency hearing for Otty Sanchez.

September 18th, 2009 Texas group derides scent IDs as junk scienceDALLAS — A group that tries to free wrongly convicted people says scent identifications using trained dogs are based on junk science and should be scrapped. The Innocence Project of Texas says it will release a report next week outlining its reasons why scent identifications should be inadmissible in court.

July 29th, 2009 Baltimore councilwoman charged again in probeBALTIMORE — A grand jury has indicted a Baltimore councilwoman on new charges in a probe of City Hall finances. About two months ago, a judge dropped charges against Helen Holton in an investigation that has also ensnared one of the city's most powerful developers.

July 28th, 2009 NJ man charged in 'American Idol' contestant deathTOMS RIVER, N.J. — A man has been charged with drunken driving following a New Jersey shore car accident that killed an "American Idol" contestant whose angry rejection rant became an Internet sensation.

July 22nd, 2009 Heated words traded at rally over dragging deathPARIS, Texas — On one side of a downtown street in this eastern Texas town stood about 200 protesters, chanting "Black Power" and led by a group of New Black Panthers clad in paramilitary outfits and black berets. On the other side of the street stood a couple dozen counter-protesters, a few yelling "White power!" while some skinheads waved Nazi flags.

July 21st, 2009 Hundreds expected for protests in dragging casePARIS, Texas — Members of a black extremist group are assembling in Texas before planned demonstrations over murder charges being dropped against two white men accused in the death of a black friend. About a dozen members of the New Black Panther Party gathered Tuesday near the courthouse in Paris.

July 21st, 2009 Riot police separate protesters in Texas townPARIS, Texas — Texas state riot police have swarmed into the streets of an eastern Texas town and broken up a tense standoff between screaming black separatists and white supremacists. About 100 people protesting the state's handling of a black man's dragging death case Tuesday avoided a designated protest zone near the courthouse in the Texas town of Paris' marched through downtown streets.

July 21st, 2009 Protestors take to streets in dragging death casePARIS, Texas — About 100 people protesting the state's handling of a black man's dragging death case have avoided a designated protest zone near a Texas town's courthouse and are marching through downtown streets. The demonstrators gathered Tuesday for a rally in Paris led by the black separatist group, the New Black Panther Party.

July 21st, 2009 Texas town prepares for protests in dragging caseDALLAS — Black and white extremists are expected to demonstrate Tuesday in an eastern Texas town where murder charges were dropped against two white men accused in the death of a black friend run over by a vehicle and dragged beneath it. What the scheduled rallies likely will lack, critics say, is mainstream support from Paris residents who have tired of the negative publicity the case has brought to their town.

June 23rd, 2009 Fort Hood soldier stabbed to death on Texas postFORT HOOD, Texas — The FBI says a soldier was stabbed to death at her Fort Hood home and her civilian ex-husband is being charged with murder. Fort Hood police found 26-year-old Sgt.

June 22nd, 2009 Texas teen charged in shooting death of sisterGALVESTON, Texas — A 16-year-old Texas girl faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in what investigators say was the accidental shooting death of her 12-year-old sister. Galveston police say the teenager was playing with a gun Sunday morning at home when it accidentally fired, striking her sister in her upper torso.

June 8th, 2009 Dropped charges protested in Texas dragging casePARIS, Texas — Protesters vowed Monday to get the U.S. Department of Justice to review the dismissal of state murder charges against two white men in the dragging death of a black friend.

June 5th, 2009 Ex-suspect claims innocence in Texas dragging casePARIS, Texas — One of two white men cleared this week of murder charges alleging they ran down their black friend in east Texas says he knew he would be exonerated. Shannon Finley reiterated his innocence Friday, the day after prosecutors said they didn't have enough evidence to make a case.

June 5th, 2009 Charges dropped in black man's dragging deathDALLAS — Murder charges were dropped at the prosecution's request Thursday in the dragging death of a black man in east Texas, and the two white men who had been accused of killing him were released from jail. Shannon Finley and Charles Crostley were released Thursday afternoon in Paris after a judge granted the special prosecutor's motion to dismiss the case.

April 23rd, 2009 Charges dropped against motorcycle club membersDETROIT — Federal prosecutors in Michigan have dismissed criminal charges against nearly two dozen defendants in the government's investigation of a motorcycle club. Spokeswoman Gina Balaya of the U.S.