Crime Time

New York man sentenced for killing his Texas-born wife

A New York newlywed was sentenced to the maximum 25-years-to-life for killing his wife, a native of Carrollton, Texas, who had moved with him to New York in hopes that both could find work.

The Texas-born victim, Stefanie Casey, 28, had been married to Bryon Drennan, 37, for just 24 days when she disappeared. Police said she had been stabbed multiple times and struck in the head, the New York Post reports.

"You scare me," Judge Dennis Kehoe is quoted as saying after he listened to Drennan and his lawyer attempt to discredit evidence. "I think you are a dangerous person."

-- Lance Murray

Video: DUI La-Z-Boy chair is up for sale on Ebay

You might remember the story we had the other day about the Minnesota man who was arrested for driving while intoxicated while driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair.

Well police are putting the decked-out chair up for sale on Ebay and plan to use the proceeds to pay for much-needed police equipment.

The chair's former owner isn't happy, though. He thinks the money should go to something like a food bank.

Here's a video report from msnbc.com

-- Lance Murray

Wife dead, husband wounded in Arlington, police say

Police in Arlington say that a domestic dispute may have led to the shooting of man on Bayou Drive, whose wife was later found fatally shot inside their home.

A neighbor reported the wounded man outside the home shortly after 9 a.m.  He told police that his wife had shot him. He was wounded in the leg.

Staff Writer Nathaniel Jones' report is here.

-- Lance Murray

Former teacher gets probation for having sex with student

A jury in Fort Worth has given a former teacher and coach at Western Hills High School 10 years' probation for having a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old student.

Testimony showed it wasn't the first time that Rudolph Anthony Garza had such a relationship with a student, staff writer Martha Deller reported.

Garza wasn't given prison time, but the judge sentenced him to serve 180 days in the Tarrant County Jail as part of his probation.

You can read Deller's full report here.

-- Lance Murray

2 shot at LA synagogue; police say it could be hate crime

Police in Los Angeles are investigating the shooting of two men Thursday morning at a synagogue in North Hollywood.

Both victims are in the 30s and are in stable condition at a hospital near the synagogue.

Police said they are looking for the gunman, who shot the men as they were entering the building for morning prayers. The shooting is being investigated as a hate crime, police said.

-- Lance Murray

Coyotes attack, kill folk singer who was out hiking

Coyotes are known to be shy animals who avoid contact with humans -- usually.

But authorities in Canada say that a teenage folk singer hiking in a national park in the eastern part of the country was attacked and killed recently by two coyotes.

She was identified as Taylor Mitchell, 19. Police said that two hikers nearby heard her screaming and alerted park rangers. When the rangers arrived they shot and killed the coyotes, which acted very aggressively toward the rangers.

-- Lance Murray

Video: Woman denies offering sex for World Series tickets

In a video interview with CNN, the woman accused by police of prostitution for trying to sell sex in exchange for World Series Tickets denies the charge. The woman, Susan Finkelstein, who says she is a die-hard Philadelphia Phillies fan, says she was simply trying to get cheap tickets for her and her husband and never offered sex in payment. Watch the video here.

-- Lance Murray

Murdered 55 years ago, now we know her name

Using DNA provided by a relative, police in Denver have identified a woman whose nude and beaten body was found 55 years ago along a creek.

She was Dorothy Gay Howard of Phoenix, police said.

But, even with her identity now known, police said the cold case is not over. Now they want to find her killer.

-- Lance Murray

Judge dismisses murder charges in 1991 yogurt shop killings

The case may have happened in 1991, but the killings at an Austin yogurt shop continue to make news.

A judge there has dismissed murder charges against two men who were awaiting retrial in the killings of four teenagers at the shop.

One of the men had already been sent to death row and the other had been given a life sentence.

Retrials were ordered after DNA evidence from the victims revealed the presence of an unknown man, the Associated Press has reported.

-- Lance Murray

Murder defendant says he was too fat to have killed

We love novel defenses, but will the jury buy this one?

A Florida man will testify that he couldn't have killed his son-in-law in 2006 because he was too fat to have pulled off the crime. Edward Ates' attorney said that when the crime occurred in 2006 that Ates was 5-foot-8 and 265 pounds -- so fat and in bad health that he couldn't have climbed and descended the staircase where the killer allegedly was perched.

Ates has asthma, sleep apnea and other obesity-related illnesses, his attorney contends.

-- Lance Murray