Religious Officials

A preacher's wife testified at her murder trial Wednesday that her husband had abused her physically and sexually, but she said the shotgun fired accidentally as she pointed it at him in their parsonage bedroom. Mary Winkler said she heard a "boom" but did not pull the trigger, prompting prosecutor Walt Freeland to ask her later whether she understood how a trigger worked. "Yes, sir," Winkler replied. She said she remembered holding the gun but not getting it from the closet.

A minister's wife who claimed her husband physically and mentally abused her was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter Thursday for shooting him in the back. Mary Winkler, 33, was stoic as the verdict was announced, saying nothing and staring blankly into the distance. Prosecutors had asked jurors to convict Winkler of first-degree murder, which could have carried a life sentence.

Firebrand cleric Muqtada Sadr reappeared Friday after months in hiding, a move that appeared carefully staged to strengthen his hold over the Shiite Muslim street and to reassert his position as political kingmaker. In a sermon delivered before thousands of supporters in this Shiite holy city, the cleric presented himself as the champion of all Iraqis -- regardless of creed. He called for a U.S.

A Calvary Chapel youth leader faces four counts of unlawful sex with a 14-year-old girl he met through the church. Cezar David Soriano, 23, of Tustin was charged with felony unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation of a minor between ages 14 and 15, and felony sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor. If convicted on all four counts he faces a maximum sentence of four years and six months in prison. Soriano is scheduled for arraignment today. He is being held on $100,000 bail.

A former Camarillo church youth minister has been arrested on suspicion of child molestation and sexual assault of three teenage girls and possession of child pornography on his home computer, authorities said Friday. Mark Holland McDowell, 46, was arrested at his Camarillo home Thursday in connection with the molestation and sexual assault of the girls when they were 13 and 14 between 1991 and 1999, authorities said. He was released on $50,000 bail.

A 6-month-long standoff between Pakistani authorities and followers of a pair of radical Muslim clerics erupted Tuesday into a shootout in the heart of the capital that left at least 11 people dead. The confrontation at the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, coincides with a political crisis that has left President Pervez Musharraf with a precarious grip on power. Adding to a sense of chaos, record flooding over the last week in the south has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.

One is an Armenian American priest who resides in Pasadena, the other a Rwandan minister who lives half a world away in Kigali. Across culture and distance, however, Father Vazken Movsesian and Benjamin Kayumba share a powerful if tragic bond: their peoples' traumatic legacy of genocide. Movsesian lost dozens of relatives, including a grandfather, during the early 20th century massacre of about 1.2 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, which became the modern republic of Turkey.

The former music director of a Catholic church has been charged with having unlawful sex with a 16-year-old female choir member in 1995, authorities said Friday. Albert Lee Schildknecht, 56, the former music director of St. Timothy Roman Catholic Church, is accused of orally copulating and digitally penetrating the minor, whom he met at the church when he was 44. If convicted, he could face more than four years in prison.

A Shiite Muslim cleric heading a powerful religious committee died Monday, paving the way for a potentially divisive succession battle between the clique surrounding conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and more moderate political factions. Ayatollah Ali Akbar Faiz Meshkini died at the age of 86, state media reported.

An Anaheim pastor accused of molesting three congregants was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting two additional victims at his home and his church office, prosecutors said. Raul Rosas Hernandez, 42, faces multiple felony counts in the latest case, including lewd acts on a child under 14, lewd acts on a child, unlawful sexual intercourse and distributing pornography to a minor.