Court Cases

Jodi Arias has been found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury of her peers. Immediately after the verdict was read, Arias was allowed to give an interview in which she said she would actually prefer the death penalty instead of spending her life in jail.

"I think I just went blank," Arias told KSAZ anchor Troy Haden when asked what she felt when she heard the guilty verdict. "Just – I don't know. I just feel overwhelmed. I think I just need to take it a day at a time."

The verdict "was unexpected for me, yes, because there was no premeditation on my part. I can see how things look that way, but I didn't expect the premeditation. I could see maybe the felony murder because of how the law is written, but I didn't – the whole time, I was fairly confident I wouldn't get premeditation because there was no premeditation," Arias explained. more >>

A California judge has ruled against a conservative breakaway Anglican congregation in a property dispute between it and The Episcopal Church.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Kim G. Dunning ruled last week that the property of St. James Anglican Church of Newport Beach belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

"As a matter of law, the Diocese is entitled to enforce the trust in its favor and eject the current occupants," reads the court order. "All the church property acquired by and held in the name of St. James Parish is held in trust for the Episcopal Church and the Diocese, which have the exclusive right to possession and dominion and control." more >>

A South Carolina high school will be paying an $85,000 settlement to a former teacher who was removed from the classroom after stomping on a U.S. flag as part of a lesson on freedom.

"Prior to his resignation, attorneys for Mr. Compton informed district attorneys that he had prepared a complaint for filing in federal court," said Lexington-Richland District 5 spokesman Mark Bounds, according to The State.

Chapin High School teacher Scott Compton is also going to be receiving his salary through to June 7, and the school district will have to pay nearly $32,000 for attorney fees, The Associated Press reported. more >>

A California woman has expressed fears that she might have to again start paying spousal support to her ex-husband who raped her daughter, leading some to scrutinize the laws that are allowing a situation like this to happen.

"Every time I wrote that check, I cried because I felt like I was paying the man that raped my daughter," Carol Abar told CBS2.

 "He's asking not just to resume the existing support of $1,300 a month, but he's asking for what amounts to approximately $33,000 in past due support and that too is a miscarriage of justice," added Brian Uhl, Abar's attorney. more >>

Jodi Arias has been busy sending messages to tweet while awaiting a verdict from the jury currently deliberating her fate. The woman accused of the brutal murder of Travis Alexander admitted to considering suicide and said that she would have taken a plea deal a long time ago to avoid court.

"I would have signed a plea years ago to avoid this disaster, but I was refused a plea as the State and the family refused to settle. I wanted so much to avoid trial but the State forced it. My only other option was suicide and, well..." Arias tweeted via her friend, Donavan Bering. Bering has been operating the account @Jodinarias since Arias has been behind bars, posting the messages that Arias tells her to.

"She'll call and say, 'I have a quote.' We'll talk about it. Sometimes she says, 'Let's tweet.' And then she'd say, 'No, let's not do it,'" Bering told Fox 10 News last month. more >>

Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, an Air Force officer in charge of the branch's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response unit, has been charged with one count of misdemeanor sexual battery after allegedly groping a woman in Virginia early Sunday morning.

Krusinski was reportedly drunk and grabbed a woman's breast and buttocks while in the parking lot of a strip club only a mile from the Pentagon. The woman fought him off, leaving bruises and cuts on his face, then called the police. He was immediately taken into custody and charged with sexual battery following an alleged assault on Sunday morning.

He was then released on $5,000 bond, and Krusinski is due back in court on Thursday. Krusinski has been removed from his post in the Air Force after the military learned of the arrest. more >>