Man convicted in death of 8-year-old witness

Man convicted in deathof 8-year-old witness
WATERBURY, Conn. -- A man was convicted of conspiracy Friday in the slaying of an 8-year-old murder witness and the boy's mother.
But the jury acquitted Adrian Peeler, 25, of the most serious charges -- murder and capital felony -- which could have brought the death penalty. Peeler could get up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder at his April 20 sentencing.
"There wasn't enough evidence," jury foreman David Heath said, declining further comment.
Peeler was accused of shooting to death Leroy "B.J." Brown Jr. and his mother, Karen Clarke, in their Bridgeport home in 1999 to keep the boy from testifying against Peeler's drug-dealing brother, Russell Peeler.
At the time, Russell Peeler was awaiting trial on charges of murdering Clarke's boyfriend.
The murders of Leroy and his mother led to changes in Connecticut's witness protection laws. Protection for Leroy had been withdrawn at Clarke's request because she found the police presence intrusive.
Russell Peeler was convicted last year of ordering his brother to kill the mother and son. He was also convicted of killing Clarke's boyfriend.
Navy investigateshacker attack, theft
WASHINGTON -- Naval officials are investigating how hackers broke into a computer at a Navy research facility in Washington and stole the source codes to a missile guidance program, officials said Friday.
The Navy has been working with the FBI and police forces in Germany and other unnamed countries since Dec. 24, when officials believe the break-in occurred. An FBI spokesman downplayed the theft, saying the software stolen was unclassified.
"We are trying to see who's responsible," said Paul O'Donnell of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. "This has led us to several foreign countries."
O'Donnell said the target was an unclassified computer.
FBI spokesman Chris Murray confirmed that the guidance system source codes -- the building blocks of a program -- had been stolen. Murray said that the target computer was at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.
Judge orders Fujimorito appear in court
LIMA, Peru -- A judge Friday ordered former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori to appear in court or face arrest on charges linked to his flight to Japan amid a scandal that swept him from office last fall.
The order came two days after Fujimori -- who is still in Japan and has said he plans to stay there -- was charged with dereliction of duty and abandonment of office.
Court spokesman Andiolo Zevallos said that if Fujimori fails to obey Judge Miguel Castaneda's order an arrest warrant could be issued. It was not immediately clear what court date was set.
Less than a year into his third presidential term, Fujimori flew to Asia in November amid mounting corruption scandals involving his former spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos.
He sent his resignation from Tokyo by fax to Peru's Congress, which rejected it and voted him out instead, declaring him morally unfit to remain in office.
Too broke to afford spy
MOSCOW -- A former Russian security chief said Friday the country was too broke to afford the services of alleged FBI spy Robert Philip Hanssen and accused Washington of seeking to discredit Russia by saying he was Moscow's agent.
According to the FBI, Hanssen received more than $600,000 in cash and diamonds, and an additional $800,000 had been set aside for him in an overseas escrow account as payment for 15 years of spying.
"Russia simply does not have that kind of money," said Nikolai Kovalyov, a former chief of Russia's Federal Security Service.
According to the FBI, Hanssen began spying for the Soviet Union in 1985, when the Communist government spent lavishly on its intelligence operations and agents.
Kovalyov, whose agency is the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, did not deny Hanssen had worked for Moscow, saying only that the FBI's evidence was too flimsy to justify the investigators' conclusions.
"His employers could have been anyone. Why is this assigned to Russia?" Kovalyov said at a news conference.
Associated Press