Sentencing

The alleged ringleaders of a Chinese counterfeiting gang that sold at least $2 billion worth of bogus Microsoft Corp. software were sentenced Wednesday to prison terms of up to 6 1/2 years, believed to be the harshest penalties yet under China's tightened piracy laws.

The guiding principle in Municipal Judge Paul Sacco's courtroom is an eye for an eye. Or rather, an ear for an ear. So when teenagers land in front of him for blasting their car stereos or otherwise disturbing the peace in this small northern Colorado city, Sacco informs them that they will spend a Friday evening in his courtroom listening to music -- of his choosing. No, they can't pay a fine instead, he tells them. So, he adds with a snicker, ever heard of Barry Manilow?

A court handed down a death sentence today to a man who manufactured a milk additive that caused thousands of Chinese babies to develop kidney stones, some of them fatal. The defendant, Zhang Yujun, was the first of 21 defendants to be sentenced by the provincial court in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, in China's most famous product tainting case. Another defendant, Zhang Yanzhang, received a life sentence.

Two well-known physicians accused of taking part in a plot to overthrow the Islamic Republic were given stiff prison sentences Wednesday, their lawyer said. Arash Alaei was sentenced to six years in jail and his younger brother Kamiar got three years, attorney Massoud Shafaei told The Times, adding that he would appeal the verdict within the 20-day limit. Also Wednesday, human rights activists identified a third defendant in the case: Sylvia Hartounian, 33, a reproductive medicine specialist.

A Granada Hills office manager who ran six family planning clinics across Southern California was sentenced to three years and four months in prison Friday for performing abortions on women, some of whom were not given pain medication during the procedures. Bertha Pinedo Bugarin, 49, who has no medical license, sobbed uncontrollably as she told Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta that she felt deep remorse for what she had done and begged the court's forgiveness.

A Los Angeles man involved in starting the destructive Corral Canyon fire in Malibu was sentenced Thursday to five years' probation and 300 hours of community service. As part of his probation, Brian David Franks, 28, will have to testify at the trials of other men accused of involvement in the fire, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said after his sentencing in a Van Nuys courtroom.

Two people were sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to grand theft for taking at least $700,000 from homeowners looking to prevent foreclosure, the California attorney general's office said. Rosa Conrado, 51, of San Bernardino, charged with six counts, was sentenced to 72 months in prison, and Martin Jesus Flores, 33, of Baldwin Park, got three years' probation on one count. Alejandrina Maldonado, 33, of St. Lucie, Fla., was sentenced Feb.

Today is the day that people who entrusted their money to Bernard L. Madoff have anxiously awaited. Since the financier allegedly admitted in December to running one of the largest investment frauds in history, victims have clamored for him to be carted off to prison. With Madoff expected to plead guilty today, a federal judge will decide whether the defendant will be led away in handcuffs or allowed to remain at his multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartment pending sentencing later this year.

Even with Bernard L. Madoff heading to prison Thursday after confessing to an epic Ponzi scheme, the intrigue over his case deepened as embittered victims pressed the government to find out who may have helped him and where the money went. At a 75-minute court hearing, he pleaded guilty to 11 securities-related fraud counts and said he was "so deeply sorry and ashamed."

If a judge takes the lead from probation officers, former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona could face 6 1/2 years in prison for leaning on his assistant to lie to a grand jury that was investigating the administration of the state's second-largest sheriff's agency. A probation report, which recommends that the man once dubbed "America's sheriff" serve 78 months in federal prison for witness tampering, was issued last week and was immediately sealed.