California mother, boy tortured before man fled with girl, 16
California mother, boy tortured before man fled with girl, 16
SAN DIEGO — A family friend tortured and killed a mother and 8-year-old son before setting his home on fire and escaping with the mother’s 16-year-old daughter, according to search warrants unsealed Wednesday.
The warrants do not describe the torture but say firefighters found the mother’s body in James Lee DiMaggio’s garage near a crowbar and what appeared to be blood next to her head. A dead dog was found under a sleeping bag in the garage with blood near its head.
Investigators found the child’s body as they sifted through rubble.
DiMaggio and 16-year-old Hannah Anderson exchanged about 13 calls before Hannah was picked up from cheerleading practice on Aug. 4. Both phones were turned off, and the home burned several hours later.
DiMaggio, 40, was like an uncle to the children and close to the parents for nearly two decades. The warrants describe how DiMaggio took Hannah on multiday trips, most recently to Malibu and Hollywood.
Manning takes stand at sentencing hearing, apologizes for hurting US with leaks
FORT MEADE, Md. — Pfc. Bradley Manning took the stand Wednesday at his sentencing hearing in the WikiLeaks case and apologized for hurting his country, pleading with a military judge for a chance to go to college and become a productive citizen.
He addressed the court on a day of often emotional testimony from family members about his troubled childhood and from a psychologist who said Manning felt extreme mental pressure in the “hyper-masculine” military because of his gender-identity disorder — his feeling that he was a woman trapped in a man’s body.
“I am sorry that my actions hurt people. I’m sorry that they hurt the United States,” he said.
The soldier said that he understood what he was doing but that he did not believe at the time that leaking a mountain of classified information to the anti-secrecy website would cause harm to the U.S.
Though he often showed little reaction to court proceedings during most of the two and a half month court-martial, Manning appeared to struggle to contain his emotions several times Wednesday during testimony from his sister, an aunt and two mental health counselors, one who treated him and another who diagnosed him with several problems.
Jesse Jackson Jr.
draws prison sentence
WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison Wednesday for illegally spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items, the judge scolding the son of the famed civil rights leader for using the money as a “piggy bank” and sentencing his wife to a year as well.
However, Jackson, who emotionally apologized to his father, mother, congressional colleagues and others, was given significantly less prison time than federal guidelines recommend, recognized by the judge as a “complex person” who has done both good and bad.
Sandra Jackson, a former Chicago alderman, was sentenced for filing false joint federal income tax returns.
After prison, the former congressman is to spend three years on supervised release and complete 500 hours of community service. If he earns credit for good behavior in prison, he could end up serving closer to two years. He agreed to repay the $750,000 when he pleaded guilty earlier this year.
According to court documents, the Jacksons had spent campaign money on TVs, restaurant dinners, an expensive watch and other costly personal items.
By wire sources