Arraignments

A military judge refused to delay the arraignments of five detainees accused of involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann said the interests of justice would be best served by completing the arraignments June 5. Military lawyers had sought to postpone the first pretrial hearings for men charged with the 2001 attacks that killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania, saying the government has...

The lead singer and co-founder of the heavy metal band As I Lay Dying is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday on charges he tried to hire a man to kill his estranged wife, San Diego County sheriff's records show. Tim Lambesis, 32, of Carlsbad was arrested without incident Tuesday in Oceanside while shopping. He is accused of attempting to find someone to kill his estranged wife, who lives in Encinitas. Lambesis had tried to hire an undercover sheriff's detective for the murder, authorities said.

Maurice Simmons, a linebacker who signed a letter of intent with USC, was arraigned Friday in Compton Superior Court and charged with felony robbery and assault with a firearm in connection with an incident that allegedly took place this week. Simmons, an 18-year-old senior at Compton Dominguez High, and codefendant Lamont Lee Hall, 19, both pleaded not guilty before Judge Judith Meyer, said Sandi Gibbons, spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office.

The man suspected of kidnapping and assaulting a 10-year-old Northridge girl is due to be arraigned Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Tobias Dustin Summers, 32, a felon and reputed gang member, was apprehended last week   at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in Las Misiones, a small community about 200 miles south of the U.S. border in   Mexico . Police confirmed Summers' identity through the Superman tattoo on his chest, authorities said.

A 31-year-old woman accused of firing a weapon at children near an elementary school will be arraigned Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court on charges of assault with a firearm. Los Angeles Municipal Judge Suzanne E. Person ordered Charlotte De La Torre to stand trial on the two assault charges but dismissed a pair of attempted murder counts during a recent preliminary hearing.

A man and his wife were charged Monday with the fatal stabbing of a television music composer who had invited the couple as guests into his Hollywood Hills home. Juanito Purugganan, 29, and his wife, Michelle, 20, were charged with one count of murder with special circumstance allegations that could qualify them for the death sentence if they are convicted. Los Angeles police said Doug Timm, 29, was murdered either July 21 or 22 and his house burglarized.

The co-founders of Livent Inc. will not appear for arraignment in New York this week on charges of widespread fraud at the theater company and will surrender to U.S. authorities only if extradited from Canada, their lawyers said Wednesday. Garth Drabinsky, the high-profile producer of "Ragtime" and other Broadway hits, and his partner, Myron Gottlieb, were charged by U.S. prosecutors two weeks ago with criminal conspiracy and securities fraud.

An 18-year-old man arrested last week in the fatal shooting of a Monroe High School student is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on murder charges, the district attorney's office said Thursday. Charges were filed this week against Luis Acosta of Panorama City in the slaying of Giovanni Avelar, who was shot July 21 near a Catholic church in North Hills while walking home from school, said Det. Abel Parga of the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division.

A Lancaster teen-ager Wednesday denied murdering his close friend in an apparently accidental shooting Saturday night, authorities said. The 17-year-old boy, whose name was withheld because of his age, was arraigned in Sylmar juvenile court, where he denied the charge of murder, with the special allegation that he used a firearm. A probable cause hearing was scheduled for Nov. 30, said Richard Taklender, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.

The state Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an attempt by Los Angeles officials to overturn an appellate ruling that requires the city to speed the arraignment of arrested prisoners and allow them visits from family and friends at the jail.

The man suspected of kidnapping and assaulting a 10-year-old Northridge girl last month was arraigned Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court and pleaded not guilty to three dozen felony counts. Tobias Dustin Summers, 32, made his first court appearance since being returned from Mexico last week  after his apprehension by Mexican authorities. Attorney Jeffrey S. Yanuck, who is representing Summers, had no immediate comment because he is still reviewing his client's case.

A high school teacher is set to be arraigned Friday in Newport Beach on charges he used a fake girl's Facebook profile to lure teenage boys to send him sexually explicit photos and videos of themselves. Zachary Joshua Reeder, 30, of Orange, is to be charged with about 60 felonies. He could face up to 44 years in prison if convicted. He taught at Servite High School and previously worked as a teacher and coach in Irvine. He allegedly established online relationships with at least 106 boys, some of them students he knew through teaching and coaching, prosecutors said.  While teaching at the all-male private school in Anaheim, authorities said, Reeder created a Facebook page designed to win over teenage boys and coax them into posting sexually provocative photos and videos of themselves.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - James E. Holmes, the man accused of unleashing the movie theater massacre seven months ago in Aurora, Colo., is expected to enter a plea on Tuesday. Holmes, 25, will be arraigned at 9 a.m. in a case involving a crime that has transfixed and horrified the nation in its viciousness. The former neuroscience doctoral student at the University of Colorado-Denver is accused of opening fire in a packed movie theater on July 20, killing 12 and wounding about 70. He is charged with 166 counts and could face the death penalty.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - The judge presiding over the Aurora movie theater shooting, appearing impatient at the pace of the proceedings, entered a not guilty plea on behalf of suspect James E. Holmes on Tuesday and set a trial date for Aug 5. Also, George Brauchler, the newly elected district attorney for Colorado's 18th Judicial District, said in court that he would announce April 1 whether he would seek the death penalty for Holmes. When public defender Daniel King asked to postpone the arraignment because the defense team, citing the complexity of the case, was not ready to enter a plea, a sigh could be heard from the courtroom gallery filled with dozens of victims and their family members.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - The judge in the Aurora movie theater massacre case has rejected a defense argument that Colorado laws on insanity pleas are unconstitutional, paving the way for a long-awaited arraignment next week. James E. Holmes, 25, was arrested without resistance minutes after a gunman opened fire July 20 in a packed theater during the showing of "The Dark Knight Rises. " Twelve people were killed and about 70 others were wounded in a crime that horrified the nation and has now become fodder in the debate over gun control.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - A judge Friday delayed the arraignment of theater shooting suspect James E. Holmes on 166 counts of murder, attempted murder and weapons charges until March 12, granting a defense request for more time to "research the appropriate plea. " Holmes is accused of unleashing a massacre on July 20 in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater that killed 12 and injured at least 70 others. Holmes has not yet entered a plea and has been held without bail since his arrest moments after the shooting.

Arraignment for Dennis Rodman on three misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace has been postponed until July 24. Attorney Paul Meyer said he and Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Fell agreed to postpone the case "so that discovery of evidence can occur and motions can be evaluated."

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier was arraigned and released on bail Wednesday on charges he lied about the child sex abuse allegations involving  Jerry Sandusky. Spanier was charged last week with perjury, obstruction, endangering the welfare of children, failure to properly report suspected abuse and conspiracy for his actions in response to complaints about Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant football coach, showering with children. Spanier was Penn State's president for 16 years before being forced out last year.