California

Attorney: Teen’s killer acted out of shame

A Hayward man on trial in the killing of a transgender teen acted out of shame and revulsion upon discovering that he had had sex with a man, a defense attorney said Thursday, arguing that the crime was not murder but “classic manslaughter.”

The argument came on the second day of opening statements in the trial of three men charged with murdering Eddie “Gwen” Araujo, 17. The teenager, who lived as a woman, was beaten, strangled and buried in a shallow grave in 2002 after it was discovered that Araujo was biologically male.

“It brought shame and humiliation, shock and revulsion,” said Michael Thorman, the attorney for Michael Magidson, 23.

Kentucky

Police officer who shot black teen fired from job

A Louisville police officer indicted on a murder charge in the fatal shooting of a black teenager was fired Thursday.

Police Chief Robert White said McKenzie Mattingly, 31, violated the department’s use of force policy when he shot Michael Newby in January.

“Specifically, I felt that Michael Newby was not an immediate threat to the officer’s life or his physical well-being. Nor was any other person in the area clearly in immediate danger because of Newby’s actions,” White said.

Mattingly was indicted March 5 by a grand jury on charges of murder and wanton endangerment.

California

Molester gets 25 years for trying to buy boy

A 72-year-old man considered one of California’s most notorious child molesters was ordered to spend the rest of his life in prison Thursday for trying to buy a young boy for $500.

Handcuffed to his wheelchair in court, Kenneth Parnell — the kidnapper in the infamous Steven Stayner case — was sentenced to 25 years to life for trying to persuade a woman to purchase a 4-year-old boy for him.

Parnell was arrested in January 2003. The woman went to police after Parnell handed over $100 in exchange for the fictitious boy’s birth certificate.

Parnell was convicted in 1982 of abducting 7-year-old Stayner in 1972, changing the boy’s name and keeping him for seven years. Stayner’s story was told in a book and TV movie, “I Know My First Name is Steven.”

Louisiana

Death row inmate gets new trial based on DNA

A Gretna man sentenced to die while still a teenager was granted a new trial Thursday based on DNA that defense lawyers said did not match evidence found on the killer’s ski mask.

Defense lawyers have argued for more than a year that DNA on the mask, shirt and glove worn by the gunman matched a man now in prison — not Ryan Matthews.

Matthews was 17 when he was convicted and sentenced to death in the killing of a suburban New Orleans grocer who was shot four times in a 1997 robbery at his store. Matthews has been on death row since 1999.

His lawyers predicted that prosecutors eventually would drop all charges.

Oklahoma

Witness saw trucks day before OKC bombing

A man testified at Terry Nichols’ murder trial Thursday that a large Ryder truck and a pickup were parked together at a Kansas lake the day before the Oklahoma City bombing.

Prosecutors allege the Ryder truck was the one that delivered the bomb that destroyed the federal building on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people. They say the smaller truck seen by Richard Wall matched the description of one owned by Nichols.

“To my thought, it was just out of place,” said Wall, who was fishing with his son at Geary Lake on April 18.

Prosecutors allege that Nichols and executed bomber Timothy McVeigh went to the remote area to build the 4,000-pound ammonium-nitrate-and-fuel-oil bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

LOS ANGELES

Filming halted as porn stars test HIV positive

Several major adult movie companies — including the industry’s largest, Vivid — announced Thursday they would stop filming after two stars tested positive for HIV.

The shutdown followed an urgent plea by health advocates to halt unprotected sex in the porn industry. The positive tests have reverberated throughout the industry, sparking a mix of anxiety and indifference at industry movie sets, talent agencies and testing clinics.

Vivid and other companies announced that they would stop filming in hopes of heading off an outbreak of HIV in the multibillion-dollar business.

Production would stop until those actors who had worked with “Gonzo” porn star Darren James and actress partner Lara Roxx could be tested, company officials said.