Beating a criminal charge in federal court is hard enough. But what about when the defendant is combative, mentally ill and very smart? That was the challenge for court-appointed defense attorney Douglas Sughrue over the past several months in representing the woman accused of participating in a 2003 bank robbery and fatal collar-bombing in Erie.

The man convicted of the 1997 killing of a popular chaplain who served two Pittsburgh universities will get a new trial. Kristopher Heggins, 30, of Highland Park, was found guilty of shooting the Rev. Salvatore "Sam" Brunsvold on Jan. 28, 1997. But the judge who heard the original case granted a new trial because she said his previous attorney allowed the jury to hear that Mr. Heggins had been charged with other crimes.

After three separate juries failed to convict Jerry Gaines on homicide charges, he pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter.

At Abay, an ultra-hip eatery in East Liberty, pro-medical marijuana activists are recruiting and organizing new members over martinis. And in Harrisburg, some legislators are pushing for passage of a bill that would make Pennsylvania the 15th state to legalize medical marijuana -- if New York and Maryland don't beat them to it.

A man who caused more than $200,000 in damage as a member of a notorious graffiti crew pleaded guilty Thursday to vandalism charges.

A 21-year-old man was ordered to stand trial today on charges of smashing windows at three businesses in Oakland last week during G-20 protests.

For the second time, an Allegheny County jury could not reach a verdict in the homicide case against Jerry Gaines.

Through sobs, Monique Bailey could barely speak yesterday as she asked an Allegheny County judge for leniency for killing her live-in boyfriend.

Timothy Lee Williams' lawyer, Frank C. Walker II, stood next to him, powerless. He had advised Mr. Williams not to testify, but his client didn't listen. "All I really wanted to do was express myself," the defendant began, launching into an incoherent diatribe about his life and the circumstances surrounding a Hill District homicide.

Investigators first traced the cause of a fatal crash in Brookline to the brakes, then to the fluid cap, then to the mechanic who left the cap unscrewed. Last week, the mechanic was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter, setting in motion what legal experts say is a remarkable case.

In Pennsylvania, a child under the age of 10 is considered too young to be culpable in a crime. Courts also recognize that youths aged 10 through 17 are different from adults, so their cases automatically are handled in juvenile courts. But not when it comes to murder.

Did Christina Korbe hear the police officers at her door identify themselves? Did she really feel that her life and the lives of her children, ages 10 and 4, were in danger?

After five hours of deliberation, an Allegheny County jury acquitted a Penn Hills man of murder this afternoon.

A juvenile court judge will decide whether Rachel Booth, 13, was justified in the fatal shooting July 30 of her father in their Elizabeth Township home, a Common Pleas judge ruled yesterday.

Fourteen-year-old Rachel Booth could have gone to trial in juvenile court to try to prove that a lifetime of abuse led her to kill her father last summer with a shotgun blast to the face. Instead, the Elizabeth Township girl opted for a less-traumatic solution -- a deal that keeps her out of jail.