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Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper, Brian David Mitchell, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in U.S. District Court Wednesday, reports Reuters. Smart, now 23 but only 14 when kidnapped by Mitchell, testified in excruciating detail about the nine months she was held by Mitchell. The kidnapping period included four months in Utah and five months in California, Reuters reports. Utah state courts refused to prosecute Mitchell, on grounds of mental illness, reports Reuters....

Poor Lindsay Lohan. Grand theft, and a felony grand theft at that, may land her back in the big house. Last week Lindsay Lohan was reported to be wearing a stolen, one-of-a-kind necklace worth $2,500 from a Venice, California boutique. Despite adamantly denying the accusations and claiming that her stylist forgot to return the necklace, which apparently was on loan, local prosecutors have filed charges. For Lindsay Lohan, felony grand theft doesn’t even begin to cover her problems....

A New York Times article is spotlighting a recent spate of injuries and lawsuits related to magnetic toys. Most of the incidents involve injuries to children – including swallowing and inhalation of the magnets leading to intestinal perforation – and surgery is required in some cases. According to the Times article, “more than two dozen incidents involving magnet toys have been recorded since 2003,” including a number of injuries caused by Magnetix building sets (manufactured by MEGA Brands of Montreal)....

Not telling your sex partners that you are HIV positive is a pretty terrible, but does it justify murder? That’s the question Larry Dunn Jr. is probably asking himself since he was arrested and charged with murdering his girlfriend, Cicely Bolden. He confessed to stabbing her after she told him she was HIV positive. It’s understandable that Dunn was upset but that doesn’t mean he can get away with murder....

Hundreds of homeowners in Massachusetts will get foreclosure relief in the form of more affordable restructured home loans, as a result of a settlement between the state and Goldman Sachs & Company, over the investment firm’s sub-prime lending practices. Under the settlement announced Monday by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, Goldman Sachs agreed to provide $50 million in loan re-structuring for about 700 Massachusetts homeowners who are struggling with sub-prime mortgages held by Goldman entities....

TV personality Maury Povich is being sued by a convicted rapist who saw his daughter on the “Maury Povich Show.” Alan B. Griffin, who is currently incarcerated in Florida for sexual battery and second-degree attempted murder, claims that seeing his daughter exploited on “Maury” led him to suicidal thoughts and a whole year of psychiatric counseling. TMZ reports that this all went down more than four years ago when Griffin’s wife and 7-year-old daughter appeared on TV, and Griffin was the topic of discussion....

It seems even a big, famous movie star like Nick Cage can’t. So he is suing his former business manager, Samuel Levin instead. According Cage’s allegations, he is forced to sell major assets and is faced with a huge tax liability due to Levin’s “incompetence, misrepresentations and recklessness.” Cage blames his ex-manager for “sending him down the path to financial ruin” and seeks $20 million in damages from Levin. Unfortunately, $20 mill is a drop in the bucket when you spend $33 million on residences in one year....

A number of recalled products linked to recent cases of botulism sickness are still being sold in some stores nationwide. The recalled canned food products are produced by Castleberry’s Food Company. According to the Associated Press (AP), “spot checks by the Food and Drug Administration and state officials continue to turn up recalled products for sale in convenience stores, gas stations and family run groceries, from Florida to Alaska. The FDA alone has found them in roughly 250 of the more than 3,700 stores visited in nationwide checks....

A new study finds a sharp rise in the number of harmful side effects and deaths associated with prescription drug use in recent years. In the September 10, 2007 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers reported that incidents of serious side effects and negative reactions to medication increased from 34,966 to 89,842 between the years 1998 to 2005, and fatal adverse recations to prescription drugs rose from 5,519 to 15,107 during the same span....

This week two companies are recalling their chicken products, one for unlisted wheat and the other for possible salmonella contamination. Here is what you need to know: Recall # 1: Big Easy Foods - Unlisted Wheat Big Easy Foods, a Louisiana food company, is recalling its stuffed chicken products because wheat, a possible allergen, was not listed among the ingredients on product labels. Wheat is a common food allergen. In fact, nearly 90 percent of all food related allergic reactions are caused by wheat, milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, soy, and shellfish....

The longtime CEO and president of a Texas Planned Parenthood organization has found himself on the wrong side of the law. Lubbock police arrested 56-year-old Tony Thornton after receiving a report that he exposed his genitals in a public park. Thornton, who has headed the nonprofit’s Lubbock branch for years, was charged with one count of indecent exposure. He is currently out on $750 bail and has been removed from his position at the organization....

The B-list actress behind the IMDb lawsuit has revealed her name: Huang Hoang. Hoang, who goes by the stage name Junie Hoang, is 40 years old. She sued after IMDb published her birthdate and real name. Hoang kept her birthdate private in order to have more of a chance at securing younger roles. She also went by the more Westernized moniker of “Junie Hoang” to avoid potential discrimination or disadvantage....

On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation announced a settlement with the North Carolina Department of Correction allowing inmates to write and seek publishers for their work without interference from prison staff. The suit was initiated when the ACLU took up the case of Victor L. Martin, charging he had been denied his First Amendment rights after staff members at Raleigh’s Central Prison confiscated a 310-page handwritten manuscript for a novel titled Redemption Thru Peace....

After pop star Justin Bieber’s DUI arrest and the trending #DeportBieber hashtags on Twitter, many are wondering if a DUI can get a foreigner deported. The Canadian-born singer’s arrest brings to the forefront the immigration issues surrounding what happens to non-U.S. citizens who commit crimes while in the states. It’s believed Bieber has an O-1 performer’s visa, the Los Angeles Times reports. Since DUIs are serious and dangerous offenses, can a DUI get a non-citizen deported?...

Much of the country was shocked to see white supremacists marching in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend, and horrified at the images of one of those men driving a car through a crowd, killing one woman and wounding 19 others. There were clashes throughout the city between protestors (ostensibly there in defense of a statue of Robert E. Lee) and counter-protestors, and surely there will be criminal charges and repercussions as well....

The law has its own vocabulary, although often the words sound just like those we use in regular life. For example the word “aggravator” has a particular legal meaning in the context of criminal law, which is related to the way we use the word aggravation generally. Let’s consider the term in the context of crime prosecution, where it arises during sentencing. We use the word “aggravate” generally to indicate the intensification of negative circumstances, like, “The drilling right near my ears aggravated my headache....

Diamond Pet Foods is expanding a dog food recall for nine of it dry food brands, Reuters reports. It’s believed the dog food may be linked to a salmonella outbreak that infected at least 14 people nationwide. The company initially pulled only three of its brands in April. The additional six were removed as a precautionary measure, according to Diamond Pet Foods. Authorities suspected the possible connection after they discovered those infected came into contact with dogs, or the affected dog food brands, prior to getting sick....

On Thanksgiving Day, federal agents in California had more than the usual to be thankful for. A discovery of a sophisticated, well-built drug tunnel leading from a home in Mexico directly to warehouses in San Diego led to the arrest of nine suspects and the capture of between 20 and 30 tons of marijuana. The find comes just weeks after other tunnels were discovered leading between California and Mexico. Between the two, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Drug Enforcement Administration authorities say they have confiscated enough marijuana to equal one joint for every one of California’s almost 37 million citizens....

The New Jersey Supreme Court handed down State v. Henderson on Wednesday, a landmark decision changing the way its state courts handle eyewitness identifications in criminal trials. Citing the inherent unreliability of eyewitness IDs, the opportunity for police misconduct, and the inability of jurors to fully understand these issues, the court ordered judges to conduct in-depth pretrial hearings and to provide juries with enhanced instructions. Eyewitness misidentifications are considered to be one of the greatest causes of wrongful convictions, reports the Associated Press....

Seven members of a non-profit organization in Tampa, Florida, with a mission of feeding the homeless were arrested last week for feeding the homeless, again. The organization, Food Not Bombs, has gotten in trouble regularly for this exact problem, like many other individuals and small groups that seek to make an immediate impact by feeding the homeless. In Tampa, in order to legally serve or share food in a public park, a group must obtain a special permit to do so....