Witness

ATLANTA - On the night George Zimmerman fatally shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, a witness said he saw some of the scuffle - and described a black man in a dark hoodie on top of a white or Latino man, punching him repeatedly, "mixed martial arts style. " Then there was a pop, the witness told police, according to documents made public Thursday in Zimmerman's second-degree murder case. Soon, he said, the man in the hoodie was "laid out in the grass. " The detail, one of many in a trove of discovery records released by prosecutors, could bolster Zimmerman's contention that he acted in self-defense on the night of Feb. 26, after he called police and reported Martin as a suspicious character in his neighborhood.

ATLANTA - On the night George Zimmerman fatally shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, a witness said he saw some of the scuffle - and described a black man in a dark hoodie on top of a white or Latino man, punching him repeatedly, "mixed martial arts style. " Then there was a pop, the witness told police, according to documents made public Thursday in Zimmerman's second-degree murder case. Soon, he said, the man in the hoodie was "laid out in the grass. " The detail, one of many in a trove of discovery records released by prosecutors, could bolster Zimmerman's contention that he acted in self-defense on the night of Feb. 26, after he called police and reported Martin as a suspicious character in his neighborhood.

The following is my response to your article (Aug. 28), "Fear Fails to Gag Witness to Murder." How unfortunate it is that a man like Barry Glenn Williams, who was taken into custody and charged with murder, has been treated with more care than Patricia Lewis, the only witness who was brave enough to testify against him. Where are the priorities of our society? Why do we pay $40,000 a year to support gang leaders so they can live adequately in our jails, while at the same time neglect to provide for people like Patricia Lewis?

WASHINGTON — Rusty Hardin, lead attorney for Roger Clemens, got the former pitcher's chief accuser to admit to a series of lies in a day of aggressive cross examination, but did not undermine his credibility with a single grand stroke. Clemens is on trial for perjury, accused of lying to Congress about his use of performance enhancing drugs. Brian McNamee, a former trainer who worked closely with Clemens, admitted that in 2007 he lied to federal agent Jeff Novitzky and the Mitchell Commission, which was investigating performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

Joel told me a lot during the four days he was visiting Alex in the ICU. Alex was the love of his life. Alex hadn't seen his parents, now traveling in from the Midwest, in 11 years. Joel (all names have been changed) had been sober since he and Alex moved in together. But that, like everything else, ended on July 4, the day of Alex's accident. Joel was histrionic and brittle. He was also raging drunk.

It's risky being a so-called protected witness, especially when the targets of the criminal investigations are members of powerful Mexican drug cartels and dirty cops. The government's witness protection program faced new questions Wednesday after the fatal shooting in a Starbucks of a former federal police commander who turned informant after his arrest last year for suspected drug ties. Edgar Enrique Bayardo reportedly had been providing Mexican authorities with information on traffickers based in the northwestern state of Sinaloa before he died Tuesday in a hail of gunfire here in the capital.

Former KB Home chief Bruce Karatz turned to a powerful ally Thursday in his defense against stock-options backdating charges, presenting former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan as the first of his character witnesses. Riordan, who served as mayor from 1993 to 2001, told jurors at the federal courthouse in Los Angeles that he's known Karatz for 30 years, considers him a close friend and does not believe Karatz would knowingly commit a crime. "I think he's an outstanding character who respects the law. He has a very high level of integrity," said Riordan, whose voice was so powerful that defense attorney John Keker instructed him to back away from the microphone.

At the Dillard's counter in Oklahoma City, Vicki Behenna was buying a beachy canvas purse for summer when her oldest son called from Iraq. "Mom." "Hey Mike, how are you doing?" she asked. She was relieved to hear his voice, but quickly sensed the strain in it. When the connection failed, she kept the phone in her hand, waiting. In the last few weeks, she had been desperately worried about him. Michael Behenna, 25, was an Army lieutenant leading an infantry platoon on his first tour in Iraq.

He's Joe Torre, a household name from coast to coast, the stoic statue in the dugout, talking now about a lack of self-esteem -- his own. Of all people. He's MVP as a player, World Series champion four times as Yankees manager, the Dodgers under Torre the most successful they have been in 20 years. But he's still also little Joey in so many ways, a witness to domestic abuse in his own home, and the shame and embarrassment that come from believing only his family had such ugly problems.

A woman who was the only witness to a murder has been slain, forcing authorities to release the three suspects in the original killing. Felicia Stanberry, 23, was found in the street Thursday night with bullet wounds to the head and neck. Police said they would have to release three men implicated in a Jan. 6 murder because Stanberry was the only witness. Assistant Dist. Atty. Thomas Norman said there is "no doubt" Stanberry was killed for cooperating with police.

WASHINGTON — An anxious wife drove Brian McNamee to hold on to evidence of Roger Clemens' steroid use for self-protection, the former trainer testified at the former pitcher's federal perjury trial. "She kept saying in the midst of a battle royale, 'You're going to go down if something ever happens,' " McNamee said. So as a measure of insurance, McNamee said, he held on to a beer can filled with a used needle, a syringe and a glass steroid ampule he had fished out of Clemens' recycling bin in 2001.

The 17-year-old football star's skin was black and his backpack red. Were it not for those colors, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday, Jamiel Shaw II might never have been murdered by an 18th Street gang member eager to earn his stripes. Deputy Dist. Atty. Allyson Ostrowski said Pedro Espinoza, now 23, shot Shaw execution-style in 2008 thinking he was a Bloods gang member because he was African American and was carrying a red Spider-Man backpack. Shaw, who played for Los Angeles High School, was killed in March of that year just a few houses away from his Arlington Heights home.

Back when single-celled organisms ruled Earth, a gigantic black hole lurking quietly at the center of a distant galaxy dismantled and devoured a star. On Wednesday, astronomers reported that they watched the whole thing unfold over a period of 15 months starting in 2010, the first time such an event had been witnessed in great detail from start to finish. "The star got so close that it was ripped apart by the gravitational force of the black hole," said Johns Hopkins University astronomer Suvi Gezari, lead author of a paper about the observations that was published online by the journal Nature.

A hostess escorted Emily Blunt to a private room in the commissary on the Universal Pictures lot, where a lone table had been set for a meal. The actress glanced around at the empty, window-less space and asked, "Might we be able to go out into the main dining room? I feel a bit cooped up in here. " As a team of handlers scurried to grant her request, one publicist whispered admiringly, "Wow, I've never had a star ask for less privacy. She's so cool, right?" Blunt, 29, seems to inspire this breathless sort of praise.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — After days of salacious testimony about a mistress, a love child and naked political ambition, John Edwards' criminal campaign finance trial focused Wednesday on the credibility of the prosecution's chief witness. In the first of what is expected to be several days of cross-examination, the defense sought to portray former Edwards aide Andrew Young as an opportunist who profited from the rise and fall of the aspiring presidential candidate. As he questioned Young, defense attorney Abbe Lowell held up a copy of Young's tell-all book about Edwards, "The Politician," and highlighted inconsistencies between Young's testimony and the book, as well as his TV appearances to promote the book.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A former aide to John Edwards on Tuesday described the detailed plans he said the former presidential candidate devised to hide his extramarital affair and his mistress' pregnancy, including accepting money from a wealthy benefactor to pay for his paramour's expenses. Andrew Young, the prosecution's chief witness, testified throughout the second day of the criminal trial against Edwards, who is accused of six counts related to campaign finance violations. Young testified that he approached a number of Edwards supporters seeking money to pay the living and healthcare expenses for mistress Rielle Hunter, who gave birth to Edwards' daughter.

A Sherman Oaks man who pleaded guilty earlier this year to a bank fraud charge has admitted to federal authorities that he sought to have a witness in the case killed in a drive-by shooting, officials said Wednesday. Pavel Valkovich, 28, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of solicitation of murder for offering to pay $10,000 to arrange for the slaying of a man who was cooperating with authorities in the fraud case against him. Valkovich was involved in a scheme in which he and others used stolen personal identifying information to transfer funds from victims' bank accounts to PayPal accounts he and his cohorts could access, prosecutors contend.

U.S. prosecutors may not call Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren E. Buffett as a witness in a criminal trial of former officers of the company's General Re Corp. reinsurance unit, according to a court filing. Opening arguments are scheduled Monday in the trial of four former General Re officers who were indicted for allegedly scheming to help insurer American International Group Inc. inflate reserves on its books. Buffett appears on the government's witness list to rebut any suggestion that he was involved in the transaction, prosecutors said in the filing.

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for Roger Clemens, seeking to discredit a key government witness in the All-Star pitcher's perjury trial, contend that Brian McNamee is telling lies, on which he is cashing in. McNamee, a former strength coach, has said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone. Rusty Hardin, the lead Clemens attorney, said in his opening statement Tuesday that the former trainer had become a celebrity as a result of the allegations he made against Clemens.

An Afghan immigrant who admitted planning to bomb New York City targets to protest the war in his homeland takes the stand again Wednesday in the trial of an alleged co-conspirator in the plot, which officials called "one of the most serious threats" to the country since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Najibullah Zazi began his testimony Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, looking far different from the defiant, bearded man who stood in a courtroom in February 2010 and pleaded guilty to terror-related charges.