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Crimesider

Secret Tapes Show Letterman Suspect Robert "Joe" Halderman Sought to Mask Blackmail, Says DA

(AP Photo/Louis Lanzano)
(AP Photo/CBS)
(CBS)
(CBS)
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Robert "Joe" Halderman, a TV producer accused of trying to blackmail David Letterman for $2 million, said he needed money to visit his son and would mask the transaction as a business deal, prosecutors claimed Tuesday.

Photo: Robert "Joe" Halderman exits Manhattan criminal court, Nov. 10, 2009 in New York.

Halderman also told the comedian's lawyer he would keep copies of his information on Letterman's love life for "protection," worrying that he could be fired — or even killed — in retaliation for the scheme, Manhattan prosecutors said in court papers.

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Drunk Santa Claus Asks Kids, Where's My Reindeer? (Video)

SPARTA, Wis. (CBS/AP) Santa Claus is in trouble with the law in one western Wisconsin city.

Police in Sparta say they cited a man dressed as Santa after witnesses told officers he stumbled out of a vehicle, approached several children playing in a yard, hugged them and demanded to know the whereabouts of his reindeer.

Officers found the car and arrested the driver, 47-year-old Kevin Arnold of Sparta, for alleged drunk driving. The man dressed as Santa, 55-year-old Thomas Arnold of Sparta, was cited for having an open intoxicant in the car. He was released at the scene.

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Texas Attorney Elizabeth Fontaine Feared Losing Daughters, So She Killed Them, Police Believe

(CBS/KFMB)
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (CBS/AP) Orange County Sheriff's deputies believe that Texas attorney Elizabeth Fontaine may have been so distraught over a custody dispute that she killed her two young daughters, her mother and herself on Monday, but they are not willing to say for sure who pulled the trigger until a ballistics report is complete.

Photo: Orange County sheriffs on the scene Dec. 14.

After Fontaine didn't return to a Southern California family court Monday afternoon, authorities were sent to the San Clemente area home where she was staying while dealing with a reported custody dispute with her ex-husband Jason Fontaine.

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This Man, Donald Gates, Served 28 Years For A Murder DNA Shows He Did Not Commit

(AP Photo)
(CBS/AP)
WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) Donald Eugene Gates spent 28 years behind bars for the rape and murder of a 21-year-old Georgetown University student.

Photo: Donald Eugene Gates stands outside a bus terminal while en route to Ohio Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009 in Phoenix.

But not all was what it seemed and Gates, 58, walked out of a federal prison in Arizona on Tuesday with $75 and a bus ticket to Ohio after DNA testing showed he was innocent.

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Marc Anthony Bookal, 4, Missing: "I Just Want My Baby Home," Cries Mom

(AP/Newburgh New York Police Dept)
NEWBURGH, N.Y. (CBS/AP) Christina Bookal broke down Monday night after learning her 4-year-old son, Marc Anthony Bookal, had disappeared.

Photo: Marc Anthony Bookal.

"I just want my baby home," Christina Bookal said to CBS News' New York affiliate WCBS-TV, fighting through tears.

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Tiger Woods' Doctor Anthony Galea: Claims Innocence; Gave HGH to Self, Patients, But Never Athletes

(AP/Canadian Press/Toronto Star)
WASHINGTON (CBS/AP) As the FBI ramps up its investigation into Canadian doctor Anthony Galea, who treated golfer Tiger Woods and many other pro athletes, and is now suspected of providing performing enhancing drugs to his patients, an attorney for Galea said Tuesday that he has done nothing wrong.

Photo: Dr. Anthony Galea.

PICTURES: Holly Sampson Undercover
PICTURES: Jaimee Grubbs' Secret Life
PICTURES: Tiger Woods Mistress Rumors

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Amanda Knox May be Joined in Jail by Giuliano Mignini, the Prosecutor That Put Her There

(AP Photo/Stefano Medici)
(Christine Preston)
(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
PERUGIA, Italy (CBS) The chief prosecutor in the Amanda Knox case, Giuliano Mignini, will soon be back in court, but this time he will be on the other side of Italian justice as he faces charges of "abuse of office" and "abetting" in connection with another high profile murder case.

Photo: Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini during a hearing in the Knox murder trial, June 12, 2009.

Mignini was indicted in the summer of 2006 on charges of abusing his office in connection with the still unsolved "Monster of Florence" serial killer case - a decades old string of murders that targeted young lovers on starless summer nights in the hills of Florence. Italian investigators estimate 14 victims were killed by the same person between 1974 and 1985.

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ESPN's Erin Andrews Faces Stalker Who Posted Naked Videos of Her Online

(AP Photo/Matt Sayles)
(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)
(AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)
(Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
(Jerritt Clark/Getty Images)
(Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES (AP) Walking into a courtroom Tuesday to face the man who posted naked videos of her online left Erin Andrews momentarily shaken, the ESPN sideline reporter admitted later.

Photo: Erin Andrews.

PICTURES: Erin Andrews Naked Peephole Video

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Taleon Goffney, Twin Porn Star, Sentenced to 3 Years for "Spider Man" Burglaries

(BlackMen.Net)
(AP/Philadelphia Police Dept.)
CAMDEN, N.J.(CBS/AP) Taleon Goffney, who appeared with his twin brother Keyontyli in such gay porn flicks as "Marc and the Twins," and known to police as "Spider-Man" for his daring escapes, has been sentenced to three years in prison for burglary in New Jersey.

Photo: Taleon and Keyontyli Goffney.

The skin flick star received the sentence Monday after striking a plea deal with prosecutors in Camden, NJ.

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Michael Lane, Motivational Speaker, Killed Meditating Woman with Frying Pan, Say Las Vegas Cops

(CBS/Las Vegas Metro Police Dept.)
(CBS)
LAS VEGAS (CBS/AP) Michael Lane, a British motivational speaker and "spiritual healer" told police he wanted to help 44-year-old Ginger Candela achieve a deeper state of medication. Then he hit her with a frying pan and killed her, say Las Vegas police.

Photo: British motivational speaker Michael Lane.

Lane told investigators that he and Candela were in her bedroom when he compressed her carotid arteries to help her achieve a deeper state of meditation, an arrest report released Monday says.

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