O.J. Simpson, making a long-shot bid for a new trial, testified Wednesday he had no idea that any of his companions were armed when they went to a Las Vegas hotel room to retrieve memorabilia that he claims was stolen from him.

“I would not have imagined in my wildest dreams that these guys would have guns," Simpson said on the stand during a court hearing that will determine if he gets a new trial.

Simpson is serving nine to 33 years after being convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping for the 2007 confrontation. Among his claims is that he didn't know a weapon was used and he got bad legal representation at his trial.

During his first few hours on the stand, the former football star recounted a boozy day with friends at the Palms hotel, where he was staying for a friend's wedding, capped by a chaotic face-off with the memorabilia dealers at the nearby Palace Station.

He said guns never came up as he and the other men discussed going to the dealers' room to size up the merchandise, that he didn't see anyone pull a gun inside the room, and that his pals later denied a weapon was shown before they left with some items.

"I was kind of stunned," he said of his mental state after he walked into the crowded hotel room and surprised the sellers, who thought they were meeting an anonymous buyer. "I was looking at stuff I hadn't seen in 10 years."

Asked about audiotape on which he is heard saying that the dealers shouldn't be allowed out of the room, Simpson said his intent was legitimate.

"If they don't want to give [the items] to me, I want them arrested," he said.

Earlier, Simpson testified that he had been drinking steadily before the clash and was so tired he missed a golf game and wanted to take a nap.

He said he had been drunk enough the night before that “I wouldn’t have gotten behind the wheel of a car.” He then had “a Bloody Mary or two” at a midday breakfast, and kept drinking by the hotel pool, he testified.

“I had a joke: ‘My doctor says I should never have an empty glass’ is what I would tell the waitress,” he said.

Simpson, 65, appeared grayer and heavier than he did when he was sent to prison. Wearing jailhouse blues and shackles on his legs, he occasionally chuckled as he calmly answered questions from his appeals team.

He famously did not take the stand during the sensational 1995 trial at which he was acquitted of killing his ex-wife and her friend.

He also did not take the stand during the robbery trial five years ago — a decision that will be key in arguments that lawyer Yale Galanter gave him bad advice during the 2008 robbery trial.

Simpson told the court that he wanted to testify in his own defense and always assumed he would, but Galanter wouldn't commit to that strategy.

"Late in the trial he said he didn't think I should testify, that they hadn't proven their case... that there was no way I could be convicted," he said. "I had to trust his judgment on that."

He said Galanter told him that he "could not be convicted" and squelched suggestions from another lawyer that he take the stand and explain what happened that night.

Under cross-examination, Simpson agreed that he had been told by the judge that he had the right to testify on his own behalf.

He also testified that Galanter knew about his plan to got to the Palace Station to see if he could reclaim the memorabilia and that the lawyer said, "You have the right to get your stuff" as long as he wasn't trespassing.

He told Galanter that if he found a suit he wore during the 1995 trial, he planned to "burn it," and the attorney insisted that he bring it to him instead.

Simpson said he wanted to reclaim the memorabilia — including items that vanished after his murder trial — because it belonged to his children and his family, “not some guy selling at a hotel room in Vegas.”

The mementos, he said, included commemorative footballs, old pictures with presidents and a picture of himself with former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, “before we heard about J. Edgar Hoover and the tutus and stuff.”

Galanter is expected to testify during the hearing, which is schedule to continue through the week.

If Simpson doesn’t prevail at this proceeding, which legal experts say is a long shot, he must serve five more years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

This story was originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 1:06 PM EDT

Hundreds of guns are being swapped for gift cards in Phoenix, where two anonymous donors have given $100,000 apiece to help fund what some say may be the city’s last series of gun buybacks.

It’s the third buyback the city has held in May, racing to take unwanted guns off the hands of residents before a new state law goes into effect that would require police to resell any lost, forfeited or abandoned firearms they receive.

“Recently I received a phone call from an individual who was motivated by the success of the Phoenix gun buyback program,” city Mayor Greg Stanton said on Tuesday. “That donor has made a donation also in the amount of $100,000.”

“These are people that are motivated by Newtown that wanted to do something positive for the community,” Stanton said of the anonymous donors, referring to the December shooting that left 26 people, most of them children, dead in a Connecticut elementary school.

Residents who want to get rid of their guns are asked to bring unloaded firearms to one of three neighborhood churches on Saturday, according to the Phoenix Police Department. Handguns, shotguns and rifles can be exchanged for a $100 grocery store gift card. Assault weapons get a $200 gift card.

The buybacks were organized in conjunction with Arizonans for Gun Safety and the Phoenix Police Department. Police say they collected 803 guns on the first weekend, and bought back 176 more a week later before running out of money.

That first round of buybacks held on May 5 also was funded by an anonymous donation to Arizonans for Gun Safety.

“That first day that we did it was unbelievably successful, we almost exhausted our gift cards on the first day,” city police spokesman Sgt. Steve Martos told NBC News.

While critics have said the buybacks will do little to reduce gun crimes in the city, the mayor has said the program is intended to be just one step toward preventing violence on Phoenix’s streets.

“I respect the Second Amendment,” Stanton said when he announced the buybacks in his State of the City address in February. “This buyback will take steps to make Phoenix safer without curtailing the rights of responsible gun owners.”

Guns collected will be assessed for historical value and to determine whether they were lost or stolen, according to Phoenix police. After that, the guns will be turned over to a company that melts them down, said Martos.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, signed the law in April requiring police to resell any firearms they collect to a federally licensed firearms dealer. That law will go into effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends, Martos said, and would make it “counterproductive” for the city to carry out buybacks in the future.

“The whole intent is to take unwanted guns off the street, process them, and then ultimately destroy them,” Martos said.

The law was supported by pro-gun groups.

The National Rifle Association said in a letter to Brewer before the bill was signed that reselling seized guns “would maintain their value, and their sale to the public would help recover public funds,” the Associated Press reported.

“However, this measure would ensure that taxpayer resources are not utilized to pursue a political agenda of destroying firearms,” the NRA’s Brent Gardner said in the letter supporting the bill, according to the AP.

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• America's gun: Sales of AR-15 soar
• Pediatricians take on gun lobby  – carefully
• Rubio-aligned group goes on air to defend Ayotte on guns

Warm and dry weather in the U.S. Midwest on Wednesday will help boost corn plantings that have fallen to a record low pace, which poses a threat to production prospects, an agricultural meteorologist said.

"Today will be the best day," said Andy Karst, meteorologist for World Weather Inc. "Then showers develop tonight, with scattered showers into the weekend."

Karst said heavier rainfall would develop beginning Saturday and continue through Wednesday next week, further stalling corn seedings. "The heaviest rains will be Saturday through Monday in the west and Monday through Wednesday in the east," he said.

Drier weather late next week should allow farmers to resume plantings, he said. "It's not ideal, but not bad either. They need to get corn planted soon."

After a cold and wet spring in most of the U.S. crop belt, farmers have seeded 28 percent of their intended corn acres, up from 12 percent a week earlier but far behind the five-year average of 65 percent, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a weekly report on Monday.

The planting pace for corn was the slowest for this point in the year in USDA records dating back to the 1980s, lagging 1984, when farmers had seeded 29 percent of their corn.

Daniel Holmes for NBC News

Roseann Sdoia, who had her right leg amputated after the marathon bombing, uses a hand-cycle outside Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown, Mass.

BOSTON – They've been taking their first steps, pushing through tough rehabilitation workouts and venturing into crowds again.

One month after blasts at the Boston Marathon killed three and injured 265, victims of the attack are trying to adjust to a "different normal" -- as one of them put it.

For many, that includes recovering from multiple wounds, such as severe burns, hearing loss, brain injuries and nerve and vascular damage. At least 15 have undergone amputations.

"The majority are not isolated to just having amputation but more of a complex poly-trauma," said Dr. David Crandell of Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, which has been treating some 30 of the wounded who require ongoing in-patient care, including most of the amputees. 

Some have undergone multiple surgeries, such as brothers Paul and J.P. Norden. Others are waiting for serious injuries to heal, like Pete DiMartino, who lost 90 percent of his right Achilles' tendon and suffered multiple broken bones in his ankles. Yet others, such as Roseann Sdoia, who had an above-knee amputation on her right leg, are embarking on the next phase of their recovery by going home. 

Though the contours of recovery vary among those injured in the attack, for a number of them the journey remains without end and uncertain. Even among those who kept their limbs, nerve damage can add variability to the process.

"Their ultimate outcome may not be determined for several months or even a year," said Crandell, medical director of the center's amputee program.

On various floors of the hospital, the wounded undergo exams, physical and occupational rehabilitation, or attend group or individual mental health therapy sessions.

Bartender itching to go home
One of those recovering at Spaulding is DiMartino, who pushes himself to go further in each rehabilitation session so he can go home as soon as possible.

Daniel Holmes for NBC News

Pete DiMartino, of Rochester, N.Y., suffered serious leg injuries during the bomb attack on the Boston Marathon.

The 28-year-old bartender from Rochester, N.Y., went to the marathon with friends and family to cheer on his mother, who was competing in the city's iconic road race. His left shoe was blown off in the blast.

In addition to the Achilles and ankle injuries, DiMartino suffered second-degree burns on his left leg and back, and had shrapnel buried in both legs. Doctors took muscle from his forearm to replace the skin, soft tissue and muscle he lost around his right ankle.

"The injuries he's had will probably affect the way his leg works for the rest of his life," said his doctor at Spaulding, Dr. Jeffrey Schneider, medical director of burn and trauma rehabilitation. "What he has been through is tremendous."

DiMartino arrived at Spaulding on May 2. Though he can't put weight on his right foot, he took his first steps on the left one on Friday, getting up on crutches to take an exhausting 90-second walk. He followed up on Monday by walking for two minutes, and then a third time he made it for five minutes. 

"Seeing those small victories just makes me feel so much better about everything," DiMartino, whose girlfriend and older sister were also wounded, said from his hospital bed. 

"It's challenging to say the least, but exhilarating at the same time," he said. "I'm advancing and I'm getting up and I'm doing these things to make my stay here shorter. … A step at a time."

On his right calf, DiMartino has a triangular-shaped contraption -- an external fixator -- with metal pins drilled into bone to stabilize the area and keep his ankle from moving. He hopes to head home -- where his sister is recovering -- in two weeks, but Schneider said the timeframe is not clear. His girlfriend is one of six people still being treated in other Boston hospitals, and the two video chat daily.

"I would really love to run the marathon next year," he said. "Every day that I'm down in the gym working out, I push myself a little bit harder than they tell me to. They tell me to do one more, I do two or three more. I know it's not a lot, but I'm just always pushing myself a little bit harder just so that I can get out of the wheelchair faster, I can get off the crutches faster ... and then I can start training."

Brothers united in recovery
Paul Norden and his older brother, J.P., went to the marathon to cheer on friends running in the race, and each lost part of a leg in the blasts. 

Elise Amendola / AP

J.P. Norden, right, followed by his brother, Paul, both suffered limb-loss after the Boston Marathon bombing.

Treated at different hospitals, the close-knit brothers struggled under the separation. They were reunited, staying under the same roof, last Friday, when J.P. joined Paul at Spaulding. They shared an embrace from their wheelchairs after talking to reporters.

"It's the best thing ever, it's great," J.P., 33, said of being around Paul, 31.

"It was just so tough," Paul said of the separation. "I see him every day of my life ... it's just amazing to be back to normal."

But their joint stint at the rehab center will be short-lived. Paul, a union sheet metal worker who had his right leg amputated above the knee, will leave on Thursday to start the next phase of his recovery while J.P., an unemployed roofer who had his right leg amputated above the knee, will continue his work at Spaulding. 

"We're competitive, so it stinks to see him leave," J.P. quipped, with Paul adding: "I'll visit him every day."

The brothers' doctor, Dr. Ross Zafonte, said Paul, who had been in a coma for the first five days after the attacks, was at a point where he could be a little more independent and go through outpatient training.

"His brother is not yet quite at that stage of the game," he added, "... and is undergoing a little bit more of the healing process. ... but he will get there."

Though the brothers said they'd had some bad days after the attacks, they both expressed optimism about what is to come. The pair will recuperate at their mother's home in Wakefield.

"I'm ready to move on. I feel great. It's just a different normal," Paul said. "It's exciting to know I'm going home real soon."

"It sounds weird but it's probably changed me for the better a little bit," J.P. said. "It made me realize how great people are. … so I'm happy, overall. I really am."

Old routines renewed
Outside of Spaulding on Monday, Roseann Sdoia took off on a bike that she powered with her arms. Her last in-patient day at Spaulding was Tuesday, and her occupational therapist, Samantha Geary, wanted to give her a fun rehabilitation send-off.

Daniel Holmes / for NBC News

"I have so much appreciation and gratitude for everything that everybody's done," said Roseann Sdoia, who has gone to her Boston home to continue her recovery.

The pair had already visited Sdoia's second-floor apartment in Boston's North End to test out how she will fare on one leg. And they tried out the cobblestone streets of her neighborhood with Sdoia navigating on crutches. She met a neighbor, who offered to pay for a grocery delivery service, and another greeted her with kisses. 

Sdoia, who runs the residential portfolio for a development firm, has had similarly warm embraces from her friends and family, who have joined her at physical and occupational therapy, and kept a steady presence in her room to cheer her spirits.

"I have so much appreciation and gratitude for everything that everybody's done between donations and just time that ... friends have spent with me, endless hours just being here to make sure I'm not alone going through this," she said, breaking down in tears. 

Sdoia admits she has had some rough days since the attacks and is not sure what to expect when she leaves the safety net of the rehabilitation center. But she figures more emotions will emerge when she departs. 

"I honestly don't really know what happened to me. I mean, I know I was in a bombing, I know I lost part of my leg. I know that, but I guess I really won't know exactly what happened again until I go home, and I'm back in daily life, and dealing with getting around on the crutches and traversing ... things that aren't handicap accessible," she said. "It's going to be a challenge and I think at that point it will hit me."

She has re-started familiar routines, like watching the 10 p.m. news and tuning into the radio in the morning. Sdoia hopes she will get a prosthetic in a few weeks, which she said would be "liberating."

"So the crutches are temporary," she said, "and, in my head, so is my disability, is how I look at it."

How to help:
For a general fund to help victims, the One Fund, created by Boston's mayor and the governor of Massachusetts, is accepting donations.

To donate to individuals featured in this story, here are funds they have set up:
Pete DiMartino
Roseann Sdoia
Norden brothers

Slideshow: Boston bombings

Heightened security, empty streets, and memorials mark the the days after the Boston Marathon bombings.

Launch slideshow

Related:

Full coverage of the Boston Marathon tragedy on NBCNews.com

Jurors who convicted Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell of first-degree murder said Wednesday it was wrenching to sift through the gruesome evidence that he delivered three babies alive and then killed them.

“It was business as usual for him,” juror David Misko told reporters outside the courthouse where Gosnell was sentenced to a third life term as part of a deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty.

The panel deliberated 10 days before finding Gosnell guilty of three counts of first-degree murder for snipping three babies’ spinal cords after botched late-term abortions, along with more than 200 lesser charges.

The three jurors who spoke Wednesday said photos of the babies were the most compelling, and sickening, evidence.

Juror Sarah Glinski said that because she does not have children, she was able to emotionally detach to some degree, but the photos forced her “to admit that this kind of evil exists in this world.

”Misko said it was also difficult to look at Gosnell, 72, in the courtroom.

“He just sat there for the past eight weeks, smirking,” he said.

Two of the jurors said they believed Gosnell had opened his clinic in the poor West Philadelphia neighborhood intending to help young women in dire straits, as the defense contended.

“I think somewhere, something went wrong perhaps in his mind that made him do these things to these children that were born alive,” said Glinksi.

Juror Joseph Carroll said he believed that over the years the clinic became an assembly-line operation.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell and his lawyer, John McMahon, before Judge Jeffrey Minehart, in Philadelphia, on May 15.

“He started out as a good practice doctor but eventually just became a money-generating machine,” Carroll said.

Carroll feels Gosnell wasn’t the only one to blame, saying women who had gone to the clinic knowing they were more than 24 weeks pregnant should have been charged, too.

“I really believed that they didn’t care,” he said. “They didn’t want a child and they found a service that was going to rectify that situation.

"Gosnell could have faced the death penalty for the babies’ deaths, but in a last-minute deal with prosecutors, he agreed to waive his right to appeal in exchange for life without parole on two of the first-degree murder counts.

On Wednesday, he was sentenced to a third life term for the third baby’s death, as well as the death of a 41-year-old patient who overdosed on anesthesia and dozens of other lesser charges.

His defense lawyer said he was convicted in the public’s mind before trial because of a grand jury report that described the clinic as a “house of horrors” splattered with blood, staffed by unlicensed workers and filled with broken-down equipment.

McMahon said Gosnell cut a deal with prosecutors to avoid putting his six children through a death penalty phase, not because he believes he committed a crime.

"Dr. Gosnell truly believes in himself and things he's done but at this point, the jury has spoken ... He's resigned and accepted his fate,” McMahon said.

McMahon said Gosnell knows he “bent the rules” by performing abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, which is prohibited under Pennsylvania law, and admits to other mistakes.

“He recognizes he did things wrong," he said.

But his client, he said, is not a murderer."He believes what he did was not homicide. He believes he never killed a live baby," McMahon said.

"Dr. Gosnell is far from a monster and this was not a house of horrors."Gosnell still faces a federal trial in September on allegations he wrote fraudulent prescriptions for pain pills. McMahon said he "probably" will make a deal on those charges.

A group of self-styled Robin Hoods who scamper around the streets of a New Hampshire city and feed expired parking meters for strangers has been hit with a harassment lawsuit.

The city of Keene says its three parking inspectors have been taunted, insulted and followed by the group — to the point that one of them says he has suffered heart palpitations and is thinking about quitting his job.

In its lawsuit, the city is asking a court to order the group not to come within 50 feet of the parking inspectors.

The suit names six defendants, most of them bloggers for Free Keene, which describes itself on its Facebook page as “your connection to the liberty activism movement in New Hampshire.”

One of the six, Ian Freeman, told NBC News that “The Robin Hooders have always been courteous in my experience” and pointed out that the city has not charged them criminally with harassment.

“The city is upset because they are losing revenue and are coming up with anything they can to try to stop it,” he said.

He also noted that the city’s job description for parking inspectors, included as part of the lawsuit, requires that inspectors “endure verbal and mental abuse when confronted with the hostile views and opinions of the public.”

The city attorney in Keene did not immediately respond to a call for comment from NBC News.

After they feed a meter, members of the group place a card on the windshield of the car that says: “We saved you from the king’s tariffs. Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Please consider paying it forward.” The card features the Disney depiction of Robin Hood as a fox.

The group has fans in Keene, a city of about 23,000 near the Massachusetts state line.

“My husband had it a few weeks ago,” Pam Stetzer told NBC affiliate WHDH in Boston. “He was just running a little late in one of the stores … and when he came back he had the little card there saying they had put a little extra money in for him. It definitely saved him.”

Another member of the group, James Cleaveland, told The New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper that the group has stopped the inspectors from writing about 4,000 tickets.

The three parking inspectors, in affidavits filed with the lawsuits, say that the taunts from the group have ranged from accusations of racism to basic trash-talk.

One of the inspectors, Linda Desruisseaux, said that one of the six liked to taunt her by saying, “Linda, guess what you’re not going to do today — write tickets.”

Danny Izzi / www.AvantiLimoRide.com

A photo taken by Avanti Limousines and Airport Transportation owner Danny Izzi at the scene of the accident in Davie, Fla.

Cummerbunds and courage rounded out prom night for a group of 20 Florida teenagers who sprang from their limo to help the victims of an automobile accident on Saturday.

The high school seniors were gussied up to dance the night away in Fort Lauderdale when a van carrying a family of seven overturned in front of them on Interstate 595. A dramatic video captured the students from Western High School in Davie, Fla., as they helped pull five adults and two children from the vehicle.

The driver of the van, a Honda Odyssey, was traveling eastbound on I-595 when traffic slowed, said Sgt. Mark Wysocky of Florida Highway Patrol. The driver apparently veered to the left, bouncing off the divider and turning the van on its side.

The students were in their Cadillac Escalade limo directly behind the van when it flipped just before 6:45 p.m., Danny Izzi, president of Avanti Limousines and Airport Transportation, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“I almost hit them,” Izzi, who was at the wheel of the limo, told the paper. “I had to slam on my brakes, but with 20 kids in there it’s really [difficult] to put the brakes on.”

Prom-goer Peter Kim told NBC Miami that he grabbed a young boy from the overturned van and helped calm the mother.

“We laid her down, and we tried to calm her down. She was just panicking, she was in shock,” Kim said. “She was screaming out, ‘Where’s my baby? Where’s my baby?’”

“I was just hoping that the people were OK,” said fellow senior Frank Tucker.

The students still made it to prom after what Tucker described as a “silent” ride.

“It felt great that we got to help someone out and that we didn’t just roll on by,” Kim told NBC Miami. “I’m happy that I had my peers that actually helped out instead of just sitting there and doing nothing.”

The professionals agreed.

“It was really amazing, because nowadays when people are so willing not to get involved they were ready to get involved,” Sgt. Wysocky said. “All the students and the limo driver should be commended for stopping.”

There were no serious injuries, Wysocky said, though a 2-year-old child was not secured by a seat belt at the time of the accident.

Repair work on the Washington Monument is finally ready to get under way with the last of more than 550 feet of scaffolding in place.

The National Park Service has released helmet-cam video of the final preparations from atop of the Washington Monument.

The monument, the world's largest freestanding stone structure, has been closed for repairs since a 5.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the region Aug. 23, 2011.

The project is expected to last 12 to 18 months, according to the NPS. The total cost of the repairs could reach $15 million.

Chris O'meara / AP, file

This Nov. 28, 2012, file photo shows a customer at a 7-Eleven convenience store with a Powerball ticket in Tampa, Fla.

A lucky winner could take home one of Powerball's largest jackpots on Wednesday night as the prize rose to an estimated $360 million dollars.

That makes it the third largest Powerball jackpot in at least a decade. Lottery officials have said that such stratospheric payouts will become more common as a result of a redesign last year. Those changes were intended to produce bigger jackpots faster, and raised the price of a ticket to $2.

“It usually took a handful of months, if not several months, for a jackpot to reach this large amount,” Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer told the Associated Press. “Now it’s achieving that within a handful of weeks. I think the redesign is achieving exactly what we had wanted it to achieve, which is the bigger, faster-growing jackpot.”

Powerball tickets are sold in 43 states. The biggest Powerball jackpot ever totaled $587.5 million and was split between two tickets on Nov. 28. New Jersey resident Pedro Quezada won the fourth largest Powerball prize ever in March, taking home a $338 million jackpot.

While odds of getting rich quick remain slim, more players are likely to take home a smaller prize by matching fewer numbers. And for those who miss tonight's jackpot can take consolation: the Mega Millions jackpot rolled over to $190 million Tuesday night. The next drawing of that game comes Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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• Nobody wins: Powerball jackpot jumps to $350 million
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Yonhap via Reuters

Kenneth Bae, 44, was convicted of "hostile acts" against North Korea.

An American tour operator sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea has begun his sentence at a “special prison,” state media reported Wednesday.

Kenneth Bae, 44, stood trial last month accused of “hostile acts” against the repressive regime.

Bae, who is from Washington state, was convicted of an attempt to topple the government through “state subversion” according to a brief report on the Korean Central News Agency's website.

“Pae Jun Ho, an American citizen, started his life at a special prison on Tuesday,” the report said, referring to him by his Korean name.

He is one of at least three other U.S. citizens who are also devout Christians to have been detained by North Korea in recent years.

While North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated.

Washington state Rep. Cindy Ryu told The Herald newspaper in December that Bae might have been doing missionary work in North Korea.

"Many of us are third- and fourth-generation Christians and many of our pastors are originally from North Korea," Ryu said. "We want to visit our home country, but in North Korea you cannot say you are a missionary."

A Facebook page has been set up titled “Remember Ken Bae, Detained in North Korea.”

Related:

• North Korea: Detained American tourist has 'admitted his crime'
• Detained American, Internet freedom on agenda as Google boss visits North Korea
• Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

AP

This combination of undated photos show, from left, Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, Salah Osman Ahmed and Omer Abdi Mohamed, three of the four ethnic Somalians sentenced Tuesday for aiding the al Qaeda-linked rebel group al-Shabab.

MINNEAPOLIS -- A federal judge sentenced four men to prison on Tuesday for helping recruit young men in Minnesota to travel to Somalia and fight for the militant group al-Shabab.

Investigators believe about 20 young, ethnic Somali men left Minnesota from 2007 to 2009 to go to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab, which the United States has designated a terrorist organization.

Three men who cooperated with investigators were each sentenced to three years and a fourth man was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

"These defendants, by providing material support to a designated terrorist organization, broke both the law and the hearts of family members across the Twin Cities," U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones said in a statement.

Eighteen men were charged after a four-year investigation. Eight were convicted and the rest are thought to be fugitives or to have been killed in Somalia while fighting for al-Shabab.

On Tuesday, Omer Abdi Mohamed, 28, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty in July 2011 to one count of conspiring to provide material support to co-conspirators who intended to murder, kidnap, or maim Ethiopian and Somali government troops.

Mohamed, of Minneapolis, admitted that he helped recruits get plane tickets and helped to raise money for them to travel to Somalia to fight with al-Shabab in 2007.

Three men who cooperated with investigators were each sentenced to three years in prison by Chief Judge Michael Davis in Minneapolis federal court. Abdifatah Yusuf Isse, Salah Osman Ahmed, and Ahmed Hussein Mahamud had each pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to al-Shabab.

Isse, 29, and Ahmed, 30, both of Minneapolis, admitted traveling to Somalia in December 2007, where they both stayed at al-Shabab safe-houses or training camps. They left Somalia together in the spring of 2008.

Mahamud, 28, a Westerville, Ohio, resident who had lived in a Minneapolis suburb, admitted in February 2012 that he helped provide al-Shabab with money and people from 2008 through February 2011.

Isse, Ahmed, and Mahamud testified at the trial of another man, Mahamud Said Omar, who was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison for his 2009 conviction on five counts for providing money and aiding the travel of men to Somalia for al-Shabab.

Omar, a Somali citizen who lived legally in the United States, was accused of aiding al-Shabab from September 2007 through August 2009. He was accused of providing hundreds of dollars to al-Shabab for assault rifles and of helping six men travel from Minnesota to Somalia in the fall of 2008.

Also on Monday, Davis sentenced Minneapolis resident Kamal Said Hassan, 28, to 10 years in prison. He admitted going to Somalia, where he trained at an al-Shabab camp and participated in an attack on Ethiopian soldiers, prosecutors said.

Hassan pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding al-Shabab and one of lying to investigators.

The earliest of the travelers left the United States in October and December 2007, followed by more in 2008 and 2009. Two of the travelers, Shirwa Ahmed and Farah Mohamed Beledi are believed to have blown themselves up in attacks in Somalia.

Related:

• Has 'world's most dangerous' place turned the corner?

The U.S. military seems increasingly incapable of policing itself or ridding its ranks of sexual predators, watchdogs charge, but the latest litany of accusations — leveled Tuesday at Fort Hood — has thrust the Pentagon to the brink of wholesale reform long sought by victims of sexual assault. 

With the second member of the military's campaign to stem sexual misconduct falling under investigation — for alleged sexual misconduct — critics were quick to lambast Pentagon brass for "gross negligence" and for maintaining an internal system of investigation and discipline that appears to be in desperate need of being ripped down and rebuilt with fresh independence and transparency. 

"It is abundantly clear that the military cannot adequately handle its sexual violence crisis from within," said Anu Bhagwati, executive director of Service Women's Action Network and former Marine captain.

"If military culture is to transform in any meaningful way, we need to break down the doors of silence and make sure our troops who are harmed have access to the same legal remedies as all civilians whom they protect and defend," she added. "We can start by ensuring that military crimes are no longer handled by commanding officers, but rather by impartial attorneys and judges."

Nancy Parrish, president of the victims advocacy group Protect Our Defenders, agreed that "the Pentagon is responsible for failing to effectively govern its personnel," following news that a Fort Hood Army sergeant first class allegedly forced at least one subordinate soldier into prostitution and sexually assaulted two others. 

"The problems are so long standing and pervasive that, at a minimum, it constitutes gross negligence on the part of the leadership," Parrish said. 

Late Tuesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel directed all branches to "re-train, re-credential, and re-screen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters," according to the Pentagon. 

'Open to any and all options'
The Fort Hood scandal, coming just nine days after the sexual battery arrest of an Air Force officer tasked with preventing rape, cranked the volumed on long-standing cries "to get to work reforming the military justice system that clearly isn’t working," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. "I believe strongly that to create the kind of real reform that will make a difference we must remove the chain of command from the decision making process for these types of serious offenses.”

Ironically, hours before the Fort Hood allegations surfaced, Gillibrand was prepping a final draft of her bill — set to be introduced Thursday — that seeks to accomplish precisely that goal: transferring sex crimes from the watch and authority of military brass and instead funneling such cases to independent military prosecutors, said a spokesman for Gillibrand. 

Her proposal was further hastened by the Pentagon's May 7 revelation that 26,000 troops last year claimed anonymously to be sex-assault victims (up from 19,000 in FY11), and a May 9 White House meeting with lawmakers pitching various ideas to stem the military’s rape crisis.

“Sexual violence in the military is not new. And it has been allowed to go on in the shadows for far too long," Gillibrand said Tuesday. "Congress would be derelict in its duty of oversight if we just shrugged our shoulders at these 26,000 sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, and did nothing. We simply have to do better by them."

The appetite for a dramatic military shift on the issue seems to have reached a tipping point, lawmakers and advocates agree, especially after the Department of Defense signaled Monday that Hagel is "open to any and all options." That marked a clear pivot from Hagel's position as recently as May 7 when he said decisions on sex cases must stay inside the command structure. 

"Make no mistake," Pentagon press secretary George Little wrote Sunday in a letter to the New York Times, "Mr. Hagel believes sexual assault is one of the urgent matters facing the Defense Department today and will work very closely with the White House and members of Congress to confront this urgent challenge." 

'Debilitating' crisis
Gillibrand began writing her bill — working with Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. — just two days after her impassioned critique of the military's desire to retain "convening authority" in sex crimes went viral last March. She chose to include in her bill all military crimes punishable by one year or longer in the brig because she felt sending only rape cases to the Judge Advocate General's Corps would further stigmatize sex-assault victims and create "a two-class system," her spokesman said.  

Meanwhile, Rep. Dan Benishek, R-Mich., plans to introduce a companion bill in the House, his office confirmed.

The first embers of true Capitol Hill fury were stoked in February when Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin reversed the aggravated sexual assault conviction of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a fighter pilot. A jury of five military officers found Wilkerson guilty of assaulting a civilian contractor as she slept at his home on the Aviano Air Base In Italy. Franklin also dismissed Wilkerson's sentence: one year in the brig and dismissal from the Air Force.

Gillibrand's bill seeks bar military commanders from setting aside guilty findings.

"Hopefully, we have reached the tipping point," Parrish said. "It is ultimately up to the military leadership. If they decide that this epidemic and all of the recent scandals is a problem that should be solved, reform can happen and happen relatively quickly.

"At least until now, the military has treated the issue of sexual assault and rape in the military as a public relations problem," she added. "There are some recent signs that some in the leadership realize that it is a real crisis: a crisis that, for the military, is debilitating."

Related:

• Air Force's sex-abuse prevention honcho charged with sexual battery
• Army sergeant assigned to sex-abuse prevention being investigated for pimping, sexual assault
• Obama: 'No tolerance' for military sexual assault
• 'Every American should be outraged:' Military sees sharp increase in sex assault cases

www.breakawaybrazil.com

Richard Swanson was killed after being hit by a vehicle while trekking from Seattle to Brazil.

A Seattle man who felt “destined” to go on a 10,000-mile fundraising journey to soccer’s World Cup in Brazil, dribbling a soccer ball along the way, has died just two weeks into his journey.

Richard Swanson, 42, was hit by a pickup truck in Lincoln City, Ore., on Tuesday morning, along Highway 101, Lincoln City police said. Swanson left May 1 on a trip that would have taken him through 11 countries before he reached Sao Paolo, Brazil, the site of soccer tournament.

Swanson, a Seattle resident, was documenting his adventure on his website, BreakAwayBrazil.com, where he was also asking for donations for the One World Futbol Project – an organization that donates sturdy soccer balls to youth in developing countries.

“We are extremely saddened to hear the news about Richard. He was a very inspiring man, our thoughts are with his family,” One World Futbol tweeted on Tuesday after learning of Swanson’s death.

Swanson was a private investigator for years, and then a graphic designer. A father of two grown sons, he got laid off from his job last year and was looking for an adventure.

“I felt destined that I should go on this trip,” Swanson, who five years ago discovered a love for soccer, told the Longview, Wash., Daily News on May 7.

In a YouTube video he recorded of himself on his website, Swanson addressed how wild the idea of walking from Seattle to Brazil sounded – but he said he’s always wanted to go to the World Cup.

“Screw what happens. I don’t even care, I should just take off, out the door, and start hoofing it and head south,” he said he found himself thinking, with little disposal income after getting laid off.

Then he took the idea further.

“Since I’m going to the World Cup, I should honor it by dribbling a soccer ball, which makes the trip even more crazy. Of course I batted the idea around a little and thought, 'This is lunacy.'”

What convinced him was running the idea by a friend, who told him about the One World Futbol project. The part-adventure, part-fundraiser was born.

“Part of the trip was for myself, but part of it was for all the people who can’t do things like this,” he said in the video. “They have their responsibilities. They can’t leave their jobs they’ve been at for 10-plus years. They have mortgages, they have young kids.”

The trip came to a tragic end on Tuesday when Swanson was hit on the shoulder of the highway at around 10 a.m., Lincoln City Police Lt. Jerry Palmer said. Swanson was seriously injured and died at the hospital, Palmer said.

“He had his backpack that he was living out of, his cell phone, and his little soccer ball that he was working his way south with,” Palmer said.

No charges have been filed. Palmer said a district attorney will determine in the next couple of days whether charges are necessary.

Kristi Schwesinger, a friend of Swanson’s in Seattle, told The Associated Press that Swanson had started out his trek in flip-flops. After 13 nights, he switched to hiking sandals, she said. He spent two of his nights in Vancouver, Wash., with his son, Devin, and spent the other nights sleeping on strangers’ couches.

"It was all by word of mouth, Facebook, media contacts, friends and family who put the word out," Schwesinger told The AP.

He spent Monday night in Lincoln City, where he got to take a soak in a hot tub. Schwesinger  said he was headed to Newport, Ore., next, and didn’t know where he was going to stay.

"The hardest thing is he was so young," Schwesinger told The AP. "Just today we were planning his surprise birthday party for Sunday. He was so young, so full of life, so excited by the journey he was on. To be taken from us so soon is really heartbreaking."

This story was originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 4:19 AM EDT

The 12-year-old brother of an 8-year-old girl stabbed to death in her home last month has been charged with second-degree murder, NBC station KCRA in Sacramento reported.

His sister, Leila Fowler, was found in their Valley Springs home in Northern California on April 27 with knife wounds.

The brother, who reported the stabbing to police, told investigators that he had scared off a long-haired intruder.

The boy’s attorney, Mark Reichel, told KCRA Tuesday that the boy may have lied about the intruder, making up a "macho" story, but that didn’t mean he was a killer.

Calaveras County sheriff’s deputies searched several homes in the area in an attempt to gather evidence before arresting the boy on May 11. He is being held in a juvenile detention center.

Reichel told KCRA that he met with the boy in jail on Tuesday.

Police have not revealed what evidence they have in the case.

After the boy’s arrest on Saturday, Calaveras County Sheriff Gary Kuntz made a brief statement.

"Citizens of Calaveras County can sleep a little better tonight," Kuntz said, according to NBCBayArea.com.

Just a week after an Air Force lieutenant colonel working in its sexual-assault prevention office was arrested and accused of sexual battery, a second U.S. service member assigned to a military sexual assault program is being investigated for various forms of sexual misconduct, officials revealed Tuesday.

A U.S. Army sergeant first class, assigned to III Corps at Fort Hood, Texas, is now under investigation for pandering — a prostitution solicitation charge — abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates, the Pentagon said.

A Defense Department source told NBC News the publicly unidentified soldier allegedly forced at least one subordinate soldier into prostitution and sexually assaulted two others.

This soldier was assigned as an equal opportunity advisor and Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program coordinator with one of the III Corps' subordinate battalions when the allegations came to light.

He has been suspended from his duties pending an investigation.

Since the soldier has not been charged and the Army has not released his identity. Special agents from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command are conducting an investigation.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was informed about the allegations against the Fort Hood soldier on Tuesday, said George Little, Pentagon spokesman.

“I cannot convey strongly enough his frustration, anger, and disappointment over these troubling allegations and the breakdown in discipline and standards they imply,” Little said.

Hagel has directed Army Secretary McHugh to fully and rapidly investigate the case “to discover the extent of these allegations, and to ensure that all of those who might be involved are dealt with appropriate,” Little said in a statement.

In addition, Hagel ordered all branches of the military to re-train, re-credential, and re-screen all sexual assault prevention and response officers as well as military recruiters. 

“Sexual assault is a crime and will be treated as such,” Little said. “The safety, integrity, and well-being of every service member and the success of our mission hang in the balance.”

Calling the latest investigation "disturbing," U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she will unveil legislation Thursday to reform the military justice system in the prosecution of sexual-assault crimes to remove "chain of command influence." Senior commanders now have the ability to overturn guilty verdicts in sexual assault cases.

"To say this report is disturbing would be a gross understatement," Gillibrand said. "For the second time in a week we are seeing someone who is supposed to be preventing sexual assault being investigated for committing that very act."

The latest report comes after a string of bad news regarding the military's effort to staunch sexual assaults in its ranks.

On Monday, May 6th, the Air Force officer in charge of its sexual-assault program, Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski, was arrested in an Arlington, Va. parking lot for allegedly groping a woman.

Police said the 41-year-old officer grabbed a woman's breasts and buttocks just after midnight. She managed to fight off her assailant.  

Krusinksi was charged with sexual battery. The Air Force removed him from his position pending an investigation.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon released its annual report from the DoD's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, which find a spike in sexual assaults.

According to the report, 3,374 incidents of "unwanted sexual contact" occurred within all branches of the Armed Forces in the 2012 fiscal year. That is a 6 percent increase from the previous year, when there were 3,192 reports.

The results of an anonymous survey, however, showed that an alarming 26,000 respondents said they had been sexually assaulted in the past year, compared to 19,000 respondents in last year's survey. 

President Barack Obama said last week he has “no tolerance” for sexual assault in the military. He made the comments in the wake of a new Pentagon report showing the instances of such crimes have spiked since 2010.

The bottom line is: I have no tolerance for this,” Obama said. “‘I expect consequences,” Obama added. “So I don’t just want more speeches or awareness programs or training, but ultimately folks look the other way. If we find out somebody’s engaging in this, they’ve got to be held accountable – prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged. Period.”

Related:

Air Force's sex-abuse prevention honcho charged with sexual battery

Obama: 'No tolerance' for military sexual assault

'Every American should be outraged:' Military sees sharp increase in sex assault cases

Image: Steven Soden

A DNA test used by investigators to identify victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy has helped solve a 41-year-old New Jersey missing persons case, officials announced Tuesday.

Sixteen-year-old Steven Soden went missing on April 3, 1972, but his remains were not identified until 2012, when authorities matched them with a DNA sample from his sister.

Soden's relatives contacted the Cook County Sheriff's Office in 2011 after hearing about Sheriff Thomas Dart's efforts to identify several of Gacy's victims. They believed Soden may be one of them, officials said.

"We always had hopes that we'd somehow find him alive," Steven's brother, Ron Soden, 73, told NBC 4 New York Tuesday from his home in Tacoma, Wash. "In this day and age, it's so much easier to find someone over the Internet."

The teen, who lived at an orphanage, was last seen alive on April 3, 1972, running away with 12-year-old Donald Caldwell, from the Bass River Camp Grounds in Burlington County, N.J., during a group camping trip, officials said. Neither boy was ever seen again.

Soden may have headed to Chicago, where his biological father lived, his relatives suggested — and there he may have come into contact with Gacy.

Tim Boyle / Des Plaines Police Department vi

This is John Wayne Gacy's police arrest photo from Dec. 21, 1978. Following intensive research, investigation and surveillance, Gacy was arrested by the Des Plaines, Ill., Police Department on Thursday, Dec. 21, 1978.

Gacy killed 33 teenage boys and young men in Chicago from 1972 to 1978. He was executed for his crimes in 1994. Seven of his victims remain unidentified.

At Dart's request, a DNA sample was taken from Soden's sister, but there was no match between her and any of the unidentified Gacy victims.

In December 2012, however, her profile matched that of unidentified human skeletal remains found 13 years earlier in New Jersey.

Over the next few months, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and New Jersey State Police conducted further investigation and obtained additional DNA samples from Soden's half siblings, including a paternal half sibling, to make an accurate identification.

Genetic testing was performed at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification.

The remains were discovered in the woods in Burlington County in April 2000 — not far from where Soden was last seen.

New Jersey State Police say they're still searching for Caldwell as well as additional evidence in Soden's death, according to Philadelphia NBC affiliate WCAU. His exact cause of death is still unknown.

"You always hope for the best," Ron Soden told NBC 4 New York. "But when you finally get an answer, a partial answer…" He trailed off.

"It's sad," he continued. "The sense of him being so young, and the way it happened, and where it was. He probably ran away because he thought nobody cared about him. It's just not a good story."

Lm Otero / LM Otero/AP

An investigator pauses while sifting through the debris of the destroyed fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2013.

DALLAS — Investigators will announce on Thursday the results of a probe into what caused last month's fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, that killed 14 people and obliterated sections of the small town, a state agency said on Tuesday.

The State Fire Marshal's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will release the findings of their joint investigation at a news conference, according to a news release from the fire marshal's office.

Texas officials on Friday announced a criminal investigation into the blast.

Investigators confirmed a week ago that ammonium nitrate stored at the West Fertilizer Co detonated in the April 17 explosion. The cause of the fire and subsequent blast at the facility, which also injured around 200 people, is expected to be announced by officials on Thursday.

More than 70 investigators have developed more than 200 leads, from which more than 400 interviews have been conducted, investigators said last week.

Investigators believe the fire started somewhere in the 12,000-square-foot fertilizer and seed building.

Looking into the cause of the initial fire, they have eliminated the weather, natural causes, anhydrous ammonia, a railcar containing ammonium nitrate, and a fire within the ammonium nitrate bin.

Additionally, they said water used during fire-fighting activities did not contribute to the cause of the explosion as some had speculated.

Bryce Reed, a Texas paramedic who was among the first responders at the explosion site, was arrested last week for possession of pipe bomb components. State officials have said no evidence linked Reed's arrest to the plant disaster.

Reed is expected to plead not guilty in federal court on Wednesday, his lawyer said.

Twitter.com

@GovMarkDayton posted this photo on Twitter.com, with the caption "It's history"

As thousands cheered outside the state Capitol with rainbow and American flags, Governor Mark Dayton signed a bill on Tuesday that makes it possible for same-sex couples to get married.

Minnesota is the 12^th state to pass a gay marriage bill and the first Midwestern state to do so through a legislative vote.

"What a day for Minnesota!" Dayton, a Democrat, declared moments before putting his signature on a bill. "And what a difference a year and an election can make in our state."

The bill was signed a day after it was approved by the Senate in a 37-30 vote.

"It is an overwhelming joyful day, the culmination of years of work. Two years ago it would have been unimaginable to be here," said Jake Loesch, communications director with Minnesotans United, a LGBT group. "It was incredible, we had 7,000 people cheering as the bill as signed, it was probably the biggest crowd the Capitol has ever seen,"

Gay activists from all over the country cheered this decision.

"The transformative nature of people talking about their love and their lives is clear, as we see in reaching this milestone in Minnesota, and in the fact that a clear and growing majority of Americans supports the freedom to marry," said Rea Carey, executive director of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

“The many years of door-knocking, phone calls and poignant conversations about why marriage matters have made a difference.”

And Minnesotans United tweeted: “Freedom prevails. Thank you, Minnesota!”

The push for gay marriage was a quick change from just six months ago, when LGBT supporters had to mobilize to turn back a proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex unions. Minnesota already had such a law, but an amendment would have been more difficult to ever undo.

But voters rejected the amendment, and the forces that organized to defeat it soon turned their attention to legalizing gay marriage. Democrats' takeover of the Legislature in the November election aided their cause.

"There is still a lot of work to be done. Now we have to make sure that all the legislators that made this day possible will be reelected," said Loesch.

Tonight, the city of Saint Paul is hosting a party to celebrate this historical moment. The law will go into effect on August 1.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

John Giles/PA wire file

The National Transportation Safety Bureau recommended Tuesday to lower the legal blood-alcohol content level to .05 from .08.

WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board voted to recommend to states that they lower the blood-alcohol content that constitutes drunken driving.

Currently, all 50 states have set a BAC level of .08, reflecting the percentage of alcohol, by volume, in the blood. If a driver is found to have a BAC level of .08 or above, he or she is subject to arrest and prosecution.  

The NTSB recommends dropping that to a BAC level of .05. 

Each year, nearly 10,000 people die in alcohol-related traffic accidents and 170,000 are injured, according to the NTSB. While that’s a big improvement from the 20,000 who died in alcohol-related accidents 30 years ago, it remains a consistent threat to public safety. 

Studies show that each year, roughly 4 million people admit to driving while under the influence of alcohol.

The recommendation prompted immediate criticism from restaurant trade groups.

"This recommendation is ludicrous," said Sarah Longwell, managing director of American Beverage Institute. "Moving from 0.08 to 0.05 would criminalize perfectly responsible behavior.

"Further restricting the moderate consumption of alcohol by responsible adults prior to driving does nothing to stop hardcore drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel."

The United States, Canada and Iraq are among a small handful of countries that have set the BAC level at .08. Most countries in Europe, including Russia, most of South America and Australia, have set BAC levels at .05 to constitute drunken driving.

When Australia dropped its BAC level from .08 to .05, provinces reported a 5-18 percent drop in traffic fatalities.

The NTSB reports that at .05 BAC, some drivers begin having difficulties with depth perception and other visual functions.  At .07, cognitive abilities become impaired. 

At .05 BAC, the risk of having an accident increases by 39 percent. At .08 BAC, the risk of having an accident increases by more than 100 percent.

The NTSB believes that if all 50 states changed their standard to .05, nearly 1,000 lives could be saved each year.  It is also considering other steps to help bring down the death rates on America’s roads.

The NTSB is an investigative agency that advocates on behalf of safety issues.  It has no legal authority to order any change to state or federal law. It would be up to individual states whether to accept the NTSB’s recommendation, and up to the Department of Transportation whether to endorse the recommendations.

The last move from .10 to .08 BAC levels took 21 years for each state to implement.

More U.S. News from NBC News

This story was originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 8:01 PM EDT

Jeremiah Bean, 25, has been arrested as a person of interest after five people were found dead in one morning in northern Nevada.

Police identified three of five people killed in a brutal flurry Monday that has terrified a small western Nevada town.

Robert Pape, 84, his wife, Dorothy, 84, and Angie Duff, 67, were among the victims discovered in Fernley, Nev., NBC's Reno affiliate KRNV reported.

Another male victim found in Duff's residence and a body found in a ditch near an interstate exit for an infamous brothel just outside of Reno have yet to be identified. Autopsy results into the causes of death are pending, police said.

Lyon County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday announced that Jeremiah Bean, 25, was arrested on suspicion of burglary after authorities caught him with items from the Pape's home.

Authorities believe all five deaths are connected, KRNV reported.

Bean was found when a neighbor near the first crime scene called the police about a man hiding in his garage, officials said.

He attempted to run from police, but was quickly surrounded by authorities, officials said.

Bean is being held on $50,000 bail.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

This story was originally published on Tue May 14, 2013 7:51 PM EDT

In this undated photo released by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, Dr. Kermit Gosnell is shown.

Former Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who was found guilty of first-degree murder, was spared the death sentence Tuesday after he agreed to forgo an appeal.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office agreed to two life sentences without the possibility of parole in exchange for not appealing.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, but Gosnell's age would have made it unlikely he would be executed before his appeals ran out.

Gosnell, 72, was convicted Monday of three counts of first-degree murder for the death of three babies that prosecutors said were delivered alive and subsequently killed. He was convicted of other charges as well, including infanticide, manslaughter, conspiracy and running a corrupt organization, NBCPhiladelphia.com reported.

The verdict was announced on the 10th day of deliberations, capping a two-month trial that featured grisly testimony about botched late-term abortions and became a flashpoint for both sides in the national abortion debate.

Gosnell was sentenced Tuesday for the deaths of two of the babies. He will be sentenced on the remaining charges, including the death of the third baby, on Wednesday.

Related:

Abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell convicted of first-degree murder