In the Nation
Arias jury will return Monday
PHOENIX - The murder case against Jodi Arias in the death of her onetime boyfriend has gone to the jury, which is weighing weeks of evidence and the defendant's ever-changing version of events.
After closing arguments, the panel deliberated for just about an hour Friday before concluding for the day. Deliberations resume Monday.
Arias says she killed Travis Alexander in self-defense. Prosecutors say it was an act of premeditated first-degree murder that could carry a death sentence or life in prison.
The final statements wrapped up with Arias' lawyer imploring jurors to take an impartial view of his client, even if they don't like her, and prosecutors describing the defendant as a manipulative liar who meticulously planned the attack and is still lying.
- AP
Texas plant had little insurance
McALLEN, Texas - The Texas fertilizer plant that exploded last month, killing 14 people, injuring more than 200, and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage to the surrounding area had only $1 million in liability coverage, lawyers said Saturday.
Tyler lawyer Randy C. Roberts said he and other attorneys who have filed lawsuits against West Fertilizer's owners were told Thursday that the plant carried only $1 million in liability insurance.
Brook Laskey, an attorney hired by the plant's insurer to represent West Fertilizer Co., confirmed the amount Saturday.
Roberts said he expected the plant's owner to ask a judge to divide the $1 million in insurance money among the plaintiffs, several of whom he represents, and then file for bankruptcy.
He said he was not surprised that the plant was carrying such a small policy.
- AP
Aiming to curb cellphone theft
SAN FRANCISCO - Disturbed by the nationwide epidemic of cellphone robberies and thefts, law enforcement officials are looking to the wireless industry for help.
In San Francisco, where half the robberies were phone-related last year, District Attorney George Gascon is calling on major companies in nearby Silicon Valley to create new technology such as a "kill switch" to permanently and quickly disable stolen smartphones to render them worthless.
Stakes are high. Nearly 175 million cellphones were sold in the United States in the last year, accounting for $69 billion in sales, according to the research firm IDC.
The Federal Communications Commission says almost one out of three robberies nationwide involves the theft of a mobile phone. A highly anticipated national database system to track cellphones reported stolen will start this fall.
- AP