The suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords smiled and nodded but didn't speak as he appeared in court Monday and his lawyer provided the 22-year-old's first response to the charges: a plea of not guilty.

In the two weeks since the deadly attack that killed six outside a Tucson grocery store, Jared Loughner's hair — shaved in the mug shot that's become an enduring image of the tragedy — has grown out slightly. The Tucson resident wore an orange prison jumpsuit and glasses, and his wrists were cuffed to a chain around his waist as eight U.S. Marshals kept watch in the packed Phoenix courtroom and gallery above.

Loughner faces federal charges of trying to assassinate Giffords and kill two of her aides. More charges are expected.

Investigators have said Loughner was mentally disturbed and acting increasingly erratic in the weeks leading up to the attack on Jan. 8 that wounded 13. If Loughner's attorney uses mental competency questions as a defense and is successful, Loughner could be sent to a mental health facility instead of being sentenced to prison or death.

But his attorney, Judy Clarke, said she wasn't raising issues of competency "at this time" after U.S. District Judge Larry Burns of San Diego asked whether there was any question about her client's ability to understand the case against him.

A former western Massachusetts police chief who organized a gun fair was found not guilty of all charges in the 2008 death of an 8-year-old boy who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi submachine gun.

Edward Fleury cried and hugged his attorney and family Friday after he was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of furnishing machine guns to minors in the death of Christopher Bizilj on Oct. 26, 2008. Several of Christopher's relatives quickly left the courtroom without commenting.

The former Pelham, Mass., police chief said he regretted holding the machine gun shoot and will never do it again.

"I want to express my heartfelt sympathy to the Bizilj family," the 53-year-old Fleury said in a courthouse hallway to a throng of TV cameras and reporters. "It was always meant to be an educational event for people and it's unfortunate this terrible accident happened."

He said his arrest and the trial were devastating to him and that he would rather be "dropped into hell than go through this again."

Fleury's firearms training company co-sponsored the annual Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the Westfield Sportsman's Club, about 10 miles west of Springfield. Christopher, of Ashford, Conn., was shooting a 9 mm micro Uzi at pumpkins when the gun kicked back and shot him in the head.

A state appellate court has affirmed a first-degree murder verdict against a man who caused a fatal crash in Anaheim five years ago when a stolen stove fell from his truck.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal recently affirmed the conviction and sided with an Orange County judge that Cole Wilkins should be sentenced to 26 years to life. Wilkins had been convicted of first-degree murder. The decision was reported in the Orange County Register on Monday.

Prosecutors say Wilkins was hauling a stove he had stolen from a construction site, meaning the July 2006 death occurred while he was committing a felony.

Off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy David Stan Piquette tried to avoid the appliance, hit a truck and was crushed by a trailer full of cement.

A TV meteorologist told police she concocted claims of being attacked because she was under personal and professional stress and wanted attention, a court document released Wednesday shows.

Heidi Jones said nothing as she appeared briefly in a Manhattan court Wednesday to answer misdemeanor charges of false reporting. Her lawyer, Paul F. Callan, said she would fight the charges and had been "unfairly characterized and vilified" in some press reports on her case.

Jones, who has been suspended from her job at New York's local ABC station, told police Dec. 1 that she'd been attacked in Central Park in September and then again outside her apartment in November, according to a court complaint prosecutors filed Wednesday.

Police have said she told them the same man targeted her both times — the first time while she ran in the park — and she provided a detailed description including the alleged attacker's race, height and clothing.

A detective unit that specializes in investigating sex crimes spoke to possible witnesses and canvassed the area to look for a suspect. Callan has said Jones never told police she was the victim of a rape but has declined to elaborate on what she did say to investigators.

A 21-year-old man admitted in court Monday that he hacked a mother to death and seriously wounded her young daughter during a 2009 home invasion but said he was insane when he did it.

Christopher Gribble of Brookline waived his right to a jury trial on whether he killed 42-year-old Kimberly Cates and seriously wounded her 11-year-old daughter, Jaimie.

The burden now shifts to Gribble's lawyers to prove he was insane during the Mont Vernon home invasion.

If the jury finds he was sane at the time, Gribble will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

If jurors find him not guilty by reason of insanity, Superior Court Judge Gillian Abramson would hold a hearing on whether he is a danger to society. If she finds that he is a danger, she will commit him to the secure psychiatric unit of the New Hampshire State Prison. He would then be entitled to have a review of his threat to society every five years.

Gribble answered, "Yes, your honor" when asked if he committed murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and burglary, and tampered with a witness. He then pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to each charge.

Gribble listened intently as Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeffery Strelzin detailed the evidence the state was prepared to present. It mirrored the evidence that was presented to the jury that convicted 19-year-old Steven Spader of first-degree murder last month.

A man who was convicted and fined for tweeting that he planned to blow up an airport will take his case to Britain's High Court in a test of the limits of free speech on the Internet, his lawyers said Monday

Attorneys for Paul Chambers said prominent human rights lawyer Ben Emmerson has been instructed to lead the legal challenge to Chambers' conviction.

Chambers, a 27-year-old trainee accountant, was arrested in January after he posted a message on Twitter saying he would blow Robin Hood Airport in northern England "sky high" if his flight, due to leave a week later, was delayed.

Chambers insisted it was a joke. But a judge found him guilty of sending a menacing message over a public telecommunications network and ordered him to pay a 385 pound ($615) fine plus legal costs.

Earlier this month another judge rejected Chambers' appeal.

The verdict caused a wave of outrage on Twitter, with thousands of supporters retweeting Chambers' message with the tag "I Am Spartacus" - a reference to the 1960 movie epic in which the titular hero's fellow rebels all assume his identity in a gesture of solidarity.