conspiracy

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Lawyers for a former stripper convicted of a murder conspiracy asked the Alaska Court of Appeals to overturn her conviction because a jury was allowed to read a victim's "letter from the grave." Mechele Linehan, 37, was convicted in 2007 of luring a man who loved her to kill her former fiance, Kent Leppink, in hopes of gaining $1 million in life insurance money.

SAN DIEGO - Three Marines and a Navy man convicted of aiding the kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi man have been ordered removed from the military, the Navy said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - Mexico has extradited 11 fugitives, accused of crimes including murder, sex offenses, drug trafficking and money laundering, to face trial in the United States, the Justice Department said Sunday.

VERNON, Conn. - Several witnesses identified the man charged with fatally stabbing a University of Connecticut football player as the killer, prosecutors said Wednesday.

NORTH HAVERHILL, N.H. - A New Hampshire man charged in the murder of a developmentally disabled Wal-Mart cashier who'd been flirting with his girlfriend pleaded guilty Monday to lesser charges, admitting he helped orchestrate the attack from his jail cell.