American Scene

CALIFORNIA

Woman pleads guilty to kidnapping, killing

TRACY | A California Sunday school teacher accused of kidnapping, raping and killing an 8-year-old playmate of her daughter, then stuffing the body in a suitcase, pleaded guilty Monday to murder.

Melissa Huckaby, 29, entered the plea in San Joaquin County Superior Court to a charge of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of kidnapping. As part of a deal with prosecutors, all other charges, including two involving rape and lewd or lascivious conduct with a child under 14, were dropped, said court spokeswoman Sharon Morris.

The surprise plea came during what was scheduled to be a routine pretrial hearing Monday morning. The initial charges in the grand jury indictment last year would have made her eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Her trial had been set to begin in October.

Miss Morris said Huckaby now faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole when she’s sentenced June 14.

Authorities say Huckaby killed Sandra Cantu, a playmate of her young daughter, in March 2009. A search for the girl ended after 10 days when her body was found stuffed in a black suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond a few miles from the Tracy mobile home park where both the child and the defendant lived.

Sandra was last seen on a surveillance camera skipping near her home just five doors down from Huckaby.

LOUISIANA

Oil spill swells to 4 million gallons

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO | Black Hawk helicopters peppered Louisiana’s barrier islands with 1-ton sacks of sand Monday to bolster the state’s crucial wetlands against an epic oil spill, an estimated 4 million gallons and growing, in the Gulf of Mexico.

At the site of the ruptured well a mile below the surface, a remote-controlled submarine shot chemicals into the maw of the massive undersea leak to dilute the flow, further evidence that BP expects the gusher to keep erupting into the Gulf for weeks or more.

Crews using the deep-sea robot attempted to thin the oil — which is rushing up from the seabed at a pace of about 210,000 gallons per day — after getting approval from the Environmental Protection Agency, BP PLC officials said.

Two previous tests were done to determine the potential effect on the environment, and the third round of spraying was to last into early Tuesday.

The EPA said the effects of the chemicals were still widely unknown.

MASSACHUSETTS

Bail terms eased for Kerrigan’s brother

WOBURN | The brother of figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, who is charged with manslaughter in the death of their father, has gotten permission to have knee surgery and help his mother with outdoor chores.

Mark Kerrigan has been confined to the family’s house in Stoneham, Mass., with GPS monitoring. He posted $25,000 bail after pleading not guilty in the January death of Daniel Kerrigan, 70.

Judge Jane Haggerty granted a defense request Monday to remove Mark Kerrigan’s monitoring device for the surgery. She also said he may take out the trash and do yard work.

Prosecutors did not object.

Prosecutors say Mark Kerrigan was drunk during the argument that led to his father’s death. The defense and the family blame the death on a heart condition.

MICHIGAN

9 militia members stay jailed for now

DETROIT | Nine Midwestern militia members accused of conspiring against the government must stay locked up while prosecutors challenge an order that would release them until trial, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said it was continuing a temporary stay of a Detroit U.S. district court’s decision to free the Hutaree members pending trial.

The ruling made clear the panel wants consideration of the government’s appeal to move swiftly.

“Because of the importance of the issues presented, the clerk of the court shall establish an expedited schedule for the submission and consideration of any additional materials needed to facilitate appellate review of the merits,” the ruling reads.

The decision is at least a temporary victory for prosecutors, who claim the nine are a risk to the public. They’re charged with conspiracy to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the government and the attempted use of weapons of mass destruction.

NEW YORK

Judge: Torture claims can’t void indictment

NEW YORK | A detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, brought to the U.S. for trial on charges he helped in the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa while he was an aide to Osama bin Laden cannot use allegations of torture by the CIA to dismiss the indictment, a judge said Monday.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan made the ruling in Manhattan after months of consideration of documents, much of their contents redacted, that were submitted by attorneys for Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and the government.

Judge Kaplan said that Ghailani might be able to sue the government for civil damages or seek criminal prosecution of those who abused him if he can prove his rights were violated by torture, but that he cannot eliminate an indictment charging him in the August 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies.

The ruling by Judge Kaplan could set a precedent if other Guantanamo detainees are brought to the U.S. for trials in the civilian court system. Some of them also allege they were tortured. The judge said there were precedents set by other court cases for his findings.

OHIO

Review ordered in terrorism asset freeze

TOLEDO | The U.S. government must show it had probable cause in 2006 to freeze the assets of an Ohio-based charity it suspects of having ties to the militant Islamic group Hamas, a judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge James Carr ordered a post hoc review of the government’s action. He previously called the government’s action unconstitutional and halted aspects of its investigation. He said an after-the-fact review of probable cause is atypical, but necessary in an unusual case.

Judge Carr, a 1994 appointee of President Clinton, declined to speculate what would happen if the government failed to show probable cause.

Officials with the Toledo-based Kind Hearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development have denied any terrorist-group connection.

The judge ruled in August that the Department of the Treasury should get permission before freezing an organization’s funds under terrorism-financing laws.

PENNSYLVANIA

Fantasy artist Frazetta dies

PHILADELPHIA | Pioneering fantasy artist Frank Frazetta has died in a Fort Myers, Fla., hospital. He was 82.

Mr. Frazetta had been out to dinner with his daughters Sunday but suffered a stroke at his Boca Grande home later that night and was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital, manager Rob Pistella said. A hospital spokeswoman confirmed the death, as did his daughter Heidi Frazetta Grabin.

“He’s going to be remembered as the most renowned fantasy illustrator of the 20th Century,” Mr. Pistella said.

Mr. Frazetta created covers and illustrations for more than 150 books and comic books, along with album covers, movie posters and original paintings. His illustrations of Conan the Barbarian, Tarzan, Vampirella and other characters influenced many later artists.

His children have fought over an estate estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars, filing lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Florida.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports