Just back from downtown Phoenix’s county courthouse, where Faleh Almaleki has been sentenced to 34 1/2 years behind bars for the 2009 murder of his daughter Noor and near-murder of another woman…
Jurors apparently won’t be hearing from the two Final Exit Network defendants in a classic “right-to-die” case involving the assisted suicide of a mentally troubled Phoenix woman. Attorneys for the pair, Dr. Larry Egbert and Frank Langsner, told Superior Court Judge Paul McMurdie yesterday afternoon that they don’t plan…
Faleh Almaleki, the infamous dad who killed his daughter, Noor, and seriously injured her older friend in 2009 will be sentenced today to a very long prison term. Rather than rehash all the gory details, let us refer you to our original story on this terribly tragic 2009 case, which…
The “senior exit guide” who helped a Phoenix woman commit suicide testified that it took the woman about eight minutes to become unconscious after pulling a plastic hood over her own head and inhaling helium. Wye Hale-Rowe, a retired family therapist in her early 80s, testified for the prosecution at…
It was but a year ago that the Phoenix Suns made an improbable and fairly glorious run to the NBA Western Finals, where the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers finally beat them in a hard-fought series. Fans know what happened next — among other things, unloved team owner Robert Sarver ran…
The trial of two aged members of the “right to die” organization Final Exit Network continues in Maricopa County Superior Court today, with prosecutors certainly hoping things go better for them than last week. Dr. Larry Egbert and Frank Langsner are on trial for conspiring to commit manslaughter in the…
Donald Delahanty, who senselessly ended veteran Phoenix police officer David Uribe’s life in May 2005, will continue residing on death row after the Arizona Supreme Court today upheld his conviction. We know this case well, as we were hanging with Phoenix homicide detectives when word of the tragic shooting came in,…
We wrote many moons ago about then-Valley resident Gary McCord, a professional golf commentator for CBS–it was a favorite yarn of ours about a journeyman golfer who had parleyed a quick wit into a lucrative career. The hook was the laughable situation that ended with the powers-that-be at the Masters…
We were passing the time last night watching the local TV news (yes, we know…..) as KPHO Channel 5 anchor Catherine Anaya breathlessly read the following story: “Phoenix police say they had to shoot a dog and a man. Officers heard there was a fight near 27th Avenue and McDowell…
Opening statements started this morning in the jury trial of two “right-to-die” octogenarians charged in the case of a mentally disturbed Phoenix woman who committed suicide in 2007. A packed spectator’s gallery at Maricopa County Superior Court heard dramatically divergent views of criminal defendants Dr. Larry Egbert and Frank…
Our former colleague Sarah Fenske (now toiling as the managing editor at our sister paper in St. Louis, the Riverfront Times, wrote a cool story last April about a shady and shaky attorney named Grant Goodman. Bernie Madoff, the crook who’s got to be near and dear to attorney Grant Goodman’s…
Jury selection is set to start April 5 in a “right to die” manslaughter case involving two “exit guides” who helped a deeply disturbed Phoenix woman commit suicide. The trial of Final Exit Network medical director Dr. Larry Egbert and Scottsdale resident Frank Langsner, both in their 80s, will touch on…
We first met Rod Petersen in 1983 in what used to be the press room at Phoenix Police Department, just inside the front doors of 620 West Washington. Rod was grizzled even then, a garrulous big fella who reported with great authority on the crime news of the day right…
We know that Anthony Hill, an occastional substitute teacher in the Glendale Elementary School District, got all verklempt by alleged anti-American sentiments made by his eighth-grade Latino students during a March 8 class. State Senate prez Russ”Yap” Pearce An exit report composed by the irate Mr. Hill (here it is, as…
Most of Arizona and Wildcats fans around the globe held their collective breath early Saturday evening as, remarkably, their team had a chance in the last seconds to win the NCAA West Regionals and head to the Final Four. Down by two points to UConn after mounting a pair of…
We’ve been watching Arizona basketball since, well, we moved to Tucson in 1973 to attend that fine institution of occasional and usually random learning. We actually were in attendance for the final game at ancient Bear Down Gym, seemingly a throwback to the days of James Naismith and the proverbial…
The defending NCAA champion Duke Blue Devils will strut into the basketball arena in Anaheim later today brimming with confidence, fully expecting to leave as the victor over the Pac-10’s Arizona Wildcats in a Sweet 16 contest. Yes, the Blue Devils are as well-coached and deep as ever, and the…
A deceptively simple assault prosecution involving a Maricopa County sheriff’s deputy and a Gila Bend couple has ended after nearly two years and more machinations than in some murder cases. The case of State of Arizona vs. Clemente and Maria Hinojosa concluded, happily for the couple, with something of a…
Our onetime colleague Lisa Davis (one of our personal faves) showed up at the Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe last night to read from her newly published book, “The Sins of Brother Curtis: A Story of Betrayal, Conviction, and the Mormon Church ” a chilling expose of a Mormon pedophile and how…
At this moment on the cusp of the Sweet 16, it strikes us as flat-out absurd how much big-time college basketball and football coaches continue to rake in, no matter what the economy is doing to most of the rest of us. Yup, we know that those salaries generally…
Arizona Wildcats fans at the arena in Tulsa and elsewhere could feel yesterday’s game against Texas slipping away in the closing moments. With just a few minutes left, the Longhorns had taken their first lead since very early in the fiercely fought contest, and it was all the Cats could…
Arizona has just beaten Memphis 77-75 in the first round of the NCAA championships. A last-second block by Derrick Williams–eerily similar to what he did in a 87-86 win over Washington a few weeks ago–preserved the big win. To call this one a thriller is not cliche; the teams were so…
