Plea Bargain

NASHUA — A teenager who was in the room during a deadly home invasion acknowledged yesterday that he wrote a poem saying he liked to cut up women with an ax but insisted it was two codefendants, not him, who hacked the victims with a machete and knife. Despite a withering cross-examination, William Marks, 19, maintained at Steven Spader’s trial that Spader attacked Kimberly Cates and her 11-year-old daughter, Jaimie, with a machete in their Mont Vernon home in October 2009.

The former president of a company that makes tear gas and pepper spray has been ordered to pay a $100,000 fine for improperly storing hazardous waste near a Vermont river. Jon Goodrich, former president of Bennington Operations of Mace Personal Defense Inc., pleaded guilty in January to one count of improperly storing the waste. The Bennington Banner reports (http://bit.ly/JiIJwU) the fine was agreed on through a plea bargain and Goodrich has paid it. The company itself had pleaded guilty to unlawful storage of hazardous waste in February 2011.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- Escorted into court by her fiancé, runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks tearfully pleaded no contest yesterday to faking her own abduction. She was sentenced to probation, community service, and a fine. "I'm truly sorry for my actions, and I just want to thank Gwinnett County and the city of Duluth," Wilbanks said in court. Judge Ronnie Batchelor sentenced her to two years of probation and 120 hours of community service as part of a plea bargain.

A lawyer for the king of Spain's son-in-law denied media reports that he is negotiating a plea bargain for his client with prosecutors over a corruption case that is making the monarchy look terrible at a time when everyday people are enduring acute economic woes. Inaki Urdangarin, the 44-year-old in-law, has not been charged with a crime. But he has been named a formal criminal suspect and has undergone questioning by a judge in Palma on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Urdangarin is the husband of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia's second daughter, Princess Cristina.

HOUSTON -- Former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew Fastow is negotiating a plea bargain that could send the high-powered executive to prison for his role in the accounting scandal that brought down the energy company, sources close to the case said yesterday. However, another source familiar with the matter said a potential agreement for Fastow to pay at least $20 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission and his plea bargain are contingent upon whether a separate plea deal is reached for his wife, Lea, who rose to the rank of assistant treasurer at Enron before quitting in 1997.

HOUSTON -- When Coral Eugene Watts stood to hear his punishment after confessing to the slayings of 13 women, the judge knew that the prison sentence he was about to hand down was inadequate. Sixty years was the most Watts could get, based on the evidence available to prosecutors, Texas Judge Doug Shaver told him in 1982. "Sad to say," he added. The sentence turned out to be even lighter than the judge imagined. An appeals court ruling knocked decades off Watts's term.

The state's highest court confirmed yesterday a little-known judicial power to ignore prosecutors and shorten criminal sentences in plea deals if the judge believes "justice may not have been done. " In a 6-to-1 decision, the Supreme Judicial Court decided to make it clear that judges are allowed to shorten sentences because of mitigating circumstances. The court also asserted that prosecutors cannot revoke a plea deal if a judge shortens the agreed-upon sentence. Justice Francis X. Spina, the sole dissenter on the ruling, worried that it could open the door to judges using...

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- One of two men charged in a fatal dorm room attack on a Western Kentucky University freshman pleaded guilty yesterday to murder and rape and will testify against his codefendant. In exchange for Stephen Soules's guilty pleas, he is to be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole, said Chris Cohron, assistant commonwealth's attorney for Warren County. If Soules had been convicted, he could have faced the death penalty. Soules agreed to testify against Lucas Goodrum, Cohron said.

NEW YORK - A federal judge has granted prosecutors more time to negotiate a possible plea bargain with Bernard Madoff’s longtime auditor. Accountant David Friehling pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges including securities fraud and filing false reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Prosecutors said Friehling rubber-stamped Madoff’s books for 17 years without confirming their accuracy. So far, he is the only person besides Madoff facing criminal charges in the case.

CORINTH, Vt. -- A man who tried to care for more than 300 goats and had some of the animials living in his house with him has had the seized animals returned and won permission to move them out of state. Chris Weathersbee, 64, pleaded guilty last week to animal cruelty and two other charges as part of a plea bargain that also called for the animals' return and removal to eastern Kentucky. Weathersbee said he has hired a livestock trucking company and plans to leave soon for a farm in Kentucky, where he expects the animals to be used on a vegetation-management project.

WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court ruled for the first time Wednesday that the guarantee of effective legal representation applies to plea bargain agreements, significantly expanding the constitutional rights of defendants as they move through the criminal justice system. In a pair of cases decided by 5-to-4 votes, the court opened a new avenue for defendants to challenge their sentences on grounds that their attorneys gave them faulty advice, lawyers on both sides of the issue said.

The state's highest court today confirmed a little-known judicial power to ignore prosecutors and shorten criminal sentences in plea deals if the judge believes "justice may not have been done. " In a 6-1 decision, the Supreme Judicial Court's decided to make it clear that judges are allowed to shorten sentences because of mitigating circumstances. The court also asserted that prosecutors cannot revoke a plea deal if a judge shortens the agreed-upon sentence. Justice Francis X. Spina, the cases' sole dissenter, worried that the case could open the door to judges using their power to...

Serbia's folk diva Svetlana Raznatovic on Monday denied charges of violent behavior she and another defendant are facing for allegedly insulting and beating up the manager of a football club. Raznatovic claimed at a court hearing that it was she who was insulted. "He (the manager) even wanted to attack me," she told the court. "I have never caused any incidents. " The hearing was briefly interrupted when the singer complained she was feeling ill and asked for a glass of water.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - A former Rutgers University student accused of using a webcam to spy on his roommate's intimate encounter with another man chose the gamble of a trial, rejecting a plea bargain yesterday that would have kept him out of prison and sought to prevent his deportation to India. Dharun Ravi's reason was simple, said his lawyer, Steven Altman. "He's innocent. He's not guilty," he said after the court hearing. "That's why he rejected the plea. " Ravi has less than a month to reconsider before summonses are sent to prospective jurors and the judge in the case...

New Jersey prosecutors have dropped the most serious charges against a man who had been accused of killing a former "American Idol" contestant with his car, agreeing with his lawyer that even though he had confessed, there is no evidence he struck the woman. Daniel Bark pleaded guilty under a plea agreement Monday to eluding police and drunken driving. Prosecutors dismissed aggravated manslaughter and other charges in the 2009 accident that killed Alexis Cohen of Allentown, Pa. Her profanity-laden rants when she was rejected by the show on two successive...

A former Israeli soldier has begun serving her 4 ½-year prison sentence for copying classified military documents and relaying them to a newspaper reporter. Anat Kamm has said she was ideologically motivated to copy more than 2,000 military documents from army computers between 2005 and 2007. She served as a junior clerk in the office of the Israeli commander responsible for the West Bank at the time. Kamm is in her early 20s. After her discharge, she passed on the material to a reporter.

WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court ruled for the first time Wednesday that the guarantee of effective legal representation applies to plea bargain agreements, significantly expanding the constitutional rights of defendants as they move through the criminal justice system. In a pair of cases decided by 5-to-4 votes, the court opened a new avenue for defendants to challenge their sentences on grounds that their attorneys gave them faulty advice, lawyers on both sides of the issue said.

A lawyer for the king of Spain's son-in-law denied media reports that he is negotiating a plea bargain for his client with prosecutors over a corruption case that is making the monarchy look terrible at a time when everyday people are enduring acute economic woes. Inaki Urdangarin, the 44-year-old in-law, has not been charged with a crime. But he has been named a formal criminal suspect and has undergone questioning by a judge in Palma on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Urdangarin is the husband of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia's second daughter, Princess...