Crime Time

Legendary music producer Phil Spector gets 19-to-life

Famed music producer Phil Spector has been sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for killing actress Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles home in 2003.

On Friday, the judge sentenced Spector to 15 years to life for second-degree murder and also four years in prison for personal use of a gun. The judge is also ordering restitution payments.

Spector, 69, stared impassively during the sentencing, according to television station KTLA.

-- Lance Murray

Pharmacist charged with teen robber's killing is out on bond

The Oklahoma City pharmacist charged with first-degree murder for shooting a teenage would-be robber six times is out on bail.

He can go to work at the pharmacy where the shooting occurred, but must wear an electronic monitoring device, authorities said.

Jerome Ersland, 57, was charged after he shot the 16-year-old boy in the head, chased another robber outside, and then returned to shoot the unconscious and unarmed teenager five more times in the abdomen, authorities said.

The coroner ruled that the teen was still alive when Ersland shot him repeatedly, and that he died from the shots to the abdomen not the shot to the head.

Needless to say, the incident has stirred debate about the right to self-defense.

-- Lance Murray

Police shoot man who stole school bus, led officers on chase

It must have been wild scene in Glenwood, Ill., after police say they shot a man who allegedly stole a school bus in a nearby city and then led officers on a chase through several suburbs.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the man rammed several police cars with the bus before engaging in a shootout with the officers following the 45-minute chase.

-- Lance Murray

Off-duty cop killed by fellow officer in case of mistaken identity

Tragedy struck the New York City police department overnight when a 25-year-old rooke cop was killed in a fusillade of gunfire by a fellow police officer. It was a case of mistaken identity, officials said.

Officer Omar Edwards had just gotten off work and was confronting a man who was trying to breaking into his car. Edward had pulled his weapon on the man.

Just then two other officers pulled up to the scene and fired six shots.

The officer who fired the shots is white and Edwards was black. Officials said investigators will look into whether that played a role in the shooting.

-- Lance Murray

Girl, 15, charged with soliciting the killing of her father

A 15-year-old girl in Hagerstown, Md., has been ordered to stand trial as an adult on charges that she solicited a boy on her school bus to kill her father.

The father was fatally stabbed in an alley behind his rented duplex on Halloween, authorities said.

The girl had told friends that her father had abused her, but investigators say they've found no evidence that was true.

She asked a boy on the bus to do it, but he turned her down. A couple days later, investigators said a 20-year-old, imposing 6-foot-5-inch newcomer to Hagerstown who had gained a reputation as a defender of girls became involved. Prosecutors said they have no proof the girl actually asked the boy to kill her father.

Police said that boy, Alec Eger, confessed to stabbing the father after confronting him about the alleged abuse of his daughter. He said a fight ensued and he stabbed the father after he tried to grab the boy's knife.

-- Lance Murray

Pharmacist charged with murder for fatally shooting robber

Authorities in Oklahoma City have charge a pharmacist with first-degree murder after he shot and killed a 16-year-old would-be robber.

According to the Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater, Jerome Ersland was justified in shooting the teenager once in the head during the attempted robbery to protect himself and two women who were in the store.

But Prater said Ersland went beyond self-protection when returned to the unconscious teen and shot him five more times in the abdomen as he lay on the floor.

-- Lance Murray

Injured man didn't want to see defendant go to prison

A woman has been sentenced to 10 years probation after pleading guilty to being drunk when drove through barricades and ran over a Bedford city employee last year.

But Lisa Cleveland, (right) can thank Rudy Ramos, one of two men she struck, for her not getting prison time.

"The only reason I offered probation was because he didn’t want to see her go to prison," Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Bruce Fyfe said Wednesday.

Cleveland faced a maximum of 10 years in prison on the intoxication assault charge and five years on the other charge.

Ramos, who was awarded the Bedford Employee Commitment Award in 2007, suffered a shattered pelvis, torn ligaments, damaged cartilage and a dislocated knee. He also had severe lacerations to his head and face.

The other man was treated and released.

Staff Writer Domingo Ramirez Jr. reports.

Your local blotter: Eight years in prison; baby safe; sexual assault

Man sentenced in burning of UNT student’s body

A co-defendant in the case of a University of North Texas student from Arlington who was strangled before her body was set on fire has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Donovan Young pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and destruction of a corpse. He was sentenced Wednesday.

His plea came almost three months after Ernesto Reyes, the man convicted of killing Melanie Goodwin, was sentenced to life in prison.

Goodwin was last seen talking to Reyes at about 1:40 a.m. Sept. 25, 2007, at a convenience store in Denton, authorities have said The two were then seen leaving in Goodwin’s car. Her burned body was found nine hours later in Carrollton.

Young told investigators that Reyes came to his apartment that night and said that he had killed someone and needed to get rid of her body. Young gave Reyes a gas can and money for gas.

Read what happened next in this report from Staff Writer Mitch Mitchell.

To read more about these next incidents, follow the links from Dallas-Fort Worth Crime (bottom right corner of the page.)

Baby safe, father in custody after abduction in Dallas
The boy's father grabbed him as his mother tried to flee after a breakup, police said. Staff Writer Mitch Mitchell reports.

Fort Worth police investigate reported sex assault
The woman told police a man who appeared to be a door-to-door salesman, pulled a gun and forced his way into her home. Staff Writer Deanna Boyd reports.

Hurst store owner fights off gunman
The store owner's bold counterattack was captured on video. Staff Writer Domingo Ramirez Jr. reports.

Bodies of 2 men found in car on Dallas freeway

The bodies of two men were found in a parked car on a ramp in east Oak Cliff just south of downtown Dallas early Wednesday morning.

The victims, Christian Brooks, 31, and Grady Gaston, 34,, had been shot and had their hands bound, said Sgt. Warren Mitchell, a Dallas police spokesman.

One body was found in the trunk and a second was found in the back seat of a late-model Jaguar, Mitchell said. Staff Writer Nathaniel Jones reports.

Middle-schoolers intervene to stop man who was beating woman

All too often, we hear about people standing by and not helping when they see a crime taking place.

Well, the Dallas Morning News reports that a group of middle school students -- who were doing community service and detention -- jumped into action to rescue a woman who was being beaten by a man in downtown Dallas and then helped police identify the man.

The victim, Darlene Waller, told the Morning News she appreciated what the students did for her.

"I don't care why they were down here,” she said. “They couldn't have been very bad kids because they saved my life.”

Good for them.

-- Lance Murray

'Ladies' man' convicted for infecting women with HIV

Defense attorneys said Philippe Padieu was "ladies man" being prosecuted for his lifestyle.

A North Texas jury on Wednesday said he was guilty of infecting several women with the virus that causes AIDS.

Padieu, a Frisco martial arts instructor (shown right in this nbcdfw.com photo) was convicted Wednesday in a Collin County court on six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to The Associated Press.

Prosecutors say Padieu recklessly and intentionally exposed the women to HIV without telling them. They contended his infected bodily fluids were the deadly weapon.

Defense attorneys argued it wasn't against the law for someone with HIV to have unsafe sex.

Padieu, 53, faces five to 99 years in prison on each of the six counts.