Trials

As Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich's impeachment trial began in Springfield, Ill., on Monday, the governor stayed away -- far, far away. He appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America," "The View" and "Nightline"; NBC's "Today"; CNN's "Larry King Live"; and Fox News with Geraldo Rivera. Today, he's scheduled on CBS' "The Early Show." "I'm here in New York because I can't get a fair hearing in Illinois," Blagojevich said between TV appearances.

Silvia Guadalupe Perez burst into tears as she named the bitter ingredients of her new life as a widow: three children emotionally adrift, a mounting pile of bills and meager factory wages to pay them. "I can't . . . " Perez, 36, said as she sobbed on the witness stand. She took a sip of water and dabbed her eyes with a tissue before turning again to the prosecutor's gentle questioning.

The government's perjury and obstruction of justice case against Barry Bonds includes plans to call witnesses who will testify that they saw the slugger "being injected" and heard him make statements "admitting his use of steroids," according to court filings Friday in San Francisco. Among its 39 witnesses, the U.S.

A notorious torture center boss went before a genocide tribunal today for its first trial over the deaths of more than 1 million people at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime more than three decades ago. Kang Kek Ieu, referred to as Kaing Geuk Eav in tribunal filings and better known as Duch, headed the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh. He is charged with crimes against humanity and is the first of five defendants scheduled for long-delayed trials by the U.N.-assisted tribunal.

Phil Spector stood inside the front door of his mansion Thursday morning wearing a chocolate brown suit, a shiny gold tie and an impassive expression. Before him, a group of people milled about on the crimson carpet of his foyer. They studied his furniture, peered at personal photos and inspected an adjacent bathroom. They strolled through his living room and gazed at his grand piano. Through it all, Spector displayed a stoicism at odds with the day's very high stakes.

A federal jury this week found that an Arizona rancher who has complained about illegal immigrants trespassing and trashing his border property has to pay four women $73,000 after he detained them and other migrants at gunpoint. In a verdict Tuesday afternoon, the jury in Tucson found that Roger Barnett did not violate the women's civil rights but was liable for four claims of assault and infliction of emotional distress.

What Roberta Romero, Britney Spears' personal hairdresser, has heard and seen over the last year would probably fill a book, but when she stepped her black platform pumps into a Superior Court witness box Wednesday there was only one subject on the table: Osama "Sam" Lutfi, the pop star's former confidant. Lutfi was banished from Spears' life 13 months ago when her father, who accused him of filling her body with drugs and her mind with lies, assumed control of her affairs.

A mistrial was declared Wednesday in a fraud case against a former Los Angeles Unified School District math teacher who prosecutors said conned the district into placing a $3.7-million order to buy math textbooks he wrote. After deliberating for eight days, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The panel was hung 11 to 1 in favor of acquitting Matthias Vheru, 53. The U.S. attorney's office has until March 23 to decide whether to retry Vheru. "I feel great," Vheru said.

After more than a month of testimony, the trial of Raymond Lee Oyler ended Thursday with the prosecution describing the Beaumont mechanic as a murderer who set a killer wildfire for his own amusement and to satisfy a lust for power. The defense conceded that Oyler set 11 fires, just not the 2006 Esperanza fire that killed five firefighters. "Those five men were killed by a man who taught himself to use fire as a weapon," said Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Hestrin.