Criminology and Psychology

Texas police have issued felony warrants for the arrests of Bucs CB Aqib Talib and his mother, Okolo Talib. Talib could face 5 to 20 years in prison after he turns himself in for the second-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. A grand jury will hear the case in 4-6 weeks, though it could be months before it goes to trial. The Bucs cannot release players during the lockout. The more pressing issue for Talib is the very real prospect of prison time.

Two neighbours in the US state of Mississippi drew weapons and fired at each other as an argument over a defecating dog ran out of control. Associated Press news agency said Jerry Blasingame, 60, has been charged with assault for shooting Terry Tehnet, 52, with a shotgun. Mr Tehnet was angry because he thought Mr Blasingame's dog had defecated on his lawn, in a rural part of the state. Mr Tehnet, whose injuries are not life-threatening, may also be charged. The two men gave AP different versions of what happened. 'Meet me at the levee' Mr Tehnet said he visited his neighbour to complain about dog "poop" on his property. Mr Blasingame blamed him for shooting his dog the week before, Mr Tehnet said, and told him: "Just meet me at the levee and I'll shoot you down." Mr Blasingame told AP he got his gun and drove off but Mr Tehnet did not follow so he returned to the neighbourhood. The two men confronted one another again and each claimed the other produ...

Speakeasies, bootleggers, gun-wielding crime bosses and tough-guy accents pay homage to Las Vegas ' mob roots in a pair of new attractions showcasing Sin City's criminal history.An interactive attraction featuring gangster memorabilia and commentary from film mobsters James Caan, Mickey Rourke and Frank Vincent opens Wednesday on the Las Vegas Strip. And Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a former mob defense lawyer, plans to launch his Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement later this year. For Las Vegas, the attractions represent an unprecedented embrace of its infamous founders. "What differentiates us from any other city is our history," Goodman said. "This is the story of America." The desert oasis made famous by scantily-clad showgirls, ubiquitous slot machines and 24-hour happy hours has long celebrated its reputation as a haven of vice, but its relationship with the mob has taken a few hits in recent years. The city that once proudly ...

One of the men being held in connection with the murder of Michaela McAreavey has been released without charge after striking a deal with police and agreeing to testify against her alleged killers. 31-year-old Raj Theekoy from Mauritius was released after appearing in court on Tuesday. Prosecutors revealed he had agreed to give vital evidence in the case against his former colleagues - Avinash Treebhoowoon, 29, and 41-year-old Sandip Mooneea, who are accused of the newlywed's murder. The daughter of Tyrone GAA football manager Mickey Harte was strangled in her hotel room while on Honeymoon at the Legends Hotel in Mauritius in January. Theekoy, a room attendant at the hotel, was charged with conspiracy to commit murder but walked free from court after it was revealed he would become a star witness in the trial against his former colleagues. Meanwhile, a fourth man also charged in connection with the killing has had his charges reduced. 26-year-old Dassen Narainen, a security officer...

MURDER accused Malcolm Webster wrote a grovelling love letter to his wife just months after she accused him of trying to kill her, a court heard yesterday. The High Court in Glasgow was told Webster's second wife Felicity Drumm received the letter after he had left New Zealand, where they had married and lived. The court heard Webster left New Zealand in February 1999 after he was confronted by Felicity, who believed he had been trying to kill her and cash in secret life insurance policies he had taken out on her. The jury was read a note to Felicity from Webster which he sent on April 26, 1999. In the letter, he tells her: "I still regard you as the most important person in my life. You are the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. "We can get through this. I'm either an optimist or a fool, but I just went to tell you I love you." Webster, 51, denies trying to kill her by drugging her and by staging a car crash.

MAN aged 98 was charged with attempted murder last night after an incident which left a policewoman in hospital. Officers were called to a house in Birch Row, Scone, Perthshire, at about 2.40pm after reports of a disturbance. A Tayside Police spokesman said last night: "As a result of the incident, a police officer sustained a serious injury to her arm. "She was taken to Ninewells Hospital where she has been detained overnight. "A 98-year-old man has been arrested and inquiries are continuing."

A KILLER who tore the head off his lover after hiding her rotting body had his sentence slashed yesterday. Alan Cameron got 11 years taken off his minimum 25 year sentence for the murder of mum-of-four Heather Stacey by Appeal Court judges. They slammed the trial judge for imposing a jail term of "such severity." And they said it appeared that Lord Matthews had been influenced by what Cameron did after the murder. But they rejected Cameron's challenge to the murder conviction. The 56-year-old was sentenced last year for murdering Heather, 44, at the house they shared in Edinburgh, in December 2007. It was never established how Heather died.

chance meeting between members of two warring Sacramento street gangs sparked a shooting that killed an innocent out-of-town girl at a teen party last summer on Auburn Boulevard, witnesses told a hearing Tuesday. The violence erupted when a group of unidentified teenagers recognized and then jumped a gang rival who had cursed them at a juvenile detention facility, sheriff's detectives testified at a preliminary hearing for two young men facing murder charges. It ended when a friend of the beatdown victim ran to a car, retrieved a handgun, came back to the fight and shot wildly into a crowd – killing 14-year-old Lanajah Nachelle Dupree, according to the detectives' testimony. "Cowards," said Norman Dupree, 33, the father of Lanajah Dupree, after the Superior Court hearing. "If it was a gang fight they should have taken it up with each other and left all the innocent people out of the situation." At the conclusion of the examination, Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard...