Cleveland: Judge rejects new trial for Rep. Traficant

A judge ruled Tuesday that Rep. James A. Traficant Jr.’s complaints about the makeup of the jury that convicted him of bribery and racketeering do not qualify him for a new trial.

The Ohio congressman had asked for a new trial, saying he was denied a jury of his peers because prospective jurors from Youngstown were excluded under the court’s jury selection guidelines.

Traficant, a Youngstown Democrat running for re-election as an independent, was found guilty in April of tax evasion, accepting bribes from businessmen and taking kickbacks from staff.

He faces up to 63 years in prison at his sentencing July 30 but will likely get less time under federal sentencing guidelines.

Houston: Andersen attorneys ask verdict be thrown out

Lawyers for Arthur Andersen LLP asked a federal judge Tuesday to throw out the firm’s felony conviction for shredding and doctoring Enron Corp.-related documents or grant a new trial.

The 80-page filing called the guilty verdict “insupportable” and said the Chicago-based firm was convicted of obstruction of justice on the basis of “conduct that was not criminal.”

Bryan Sierra, spokesman for the Justice Department, declined to comment and said prosecutors would likely respond with court filings.

A jury convicted the accounting firm June 15, after a six-week trial that included 72 hours of deliberations over 10 days.

Connecticut: Skakel sentencing delayed until August

Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel’s sentencing for the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley has been delayed until Aug. 9.

Judge John Kavanewsky ordered the three-week delay after consultation with the probation officer conducting a presentencing investigation, a court spokeswoman said Tuesday. The original date was July 19.

Michael Sherman, Skakel’s lawyer, said the defense also requested the delay.

“We want to make as full a presentation as possible,” Sherman said.

Skakel, 41, was convicted June 7 of beating Moxley to death with a golf club when they were 15-year-old neighbors in an exclusive Greenwich neighborhood. A nephew of Ethel Kennedy, Skakel faces between 10 years and life in prison.

Detroit: Sept. 11 rage brings murder conviction

A man who told authorities he shot an Arab-American to death partly out of anger over Sept. 11 was convicted Tuesday of first-degree murder.

A jury took 3 1/2 hours to find Brent Seever guilty. Seever, 38, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Police said Seever had been stalking his ex-girlfriend when he shot her boyfriend, Ali M. Almansoop, in front of her Lincoln Park home Sept. 19. The 44-year-old Almansoop emigrated from Yemen more than 30 years ago.

Seever told investigators he had become angry from watching TV coverage of the terrorist attacks.

Minnesota: River sets second flood record in 2 weeks

The Wild Rice River crested at its second record in two weeks, but officials were confident their dikes would protect this northwestern Minnesota town.

The river peaked at 17.6 feet late Monday, nearly a foot above its top level earlier in the month, and had dropped 4 inches by Tuesday morning, said Kevin Ruud, Norman County’s emergency director.

“We’ve learned not to be relieved until the water leaves town, and we hope it doesn’t come back this time,” Ruud said.