Scott Roeder has been convicted of the premeditated, first-degree murder of Dr. George Tiller. He faces a mandatory life sentence. The jury deliberated for 37 minutes. [Kansas City Star]

Police now believe that Jeff Locker, a distraught motivational speaker beset by debt, drove to East Harlem last July, bought condoms at a bodega, then asked a man named Kenneth Minor to kill him, for his ATM card. Minor obliged.

Kabul residents say US soldiers murdered an imam who was sitting peacefully in his car with his three children. "After they shot him, they didn't stop, they just kept driving," said one witness. The US military confirms the killing. [WP]

Neverland giraffes Rambo and Jabbar Jr. were discovered dead yesterday in Arizona's Bonjoko Wildlife Preserve, where staff suspect "foul play"; control of the beasts' $100,000 emergency fund had recently sparked a legal battle. Necropsies are under way. [TMZ Pictured:Jabbar]

So much for the theory that economic downturns fuel crime waves. Unless something totally crazy happens between now and the end of the week, New York City "is on track, for the second time in three years, to have the fewest number of homicides in a 12-month period since 1962." [NYT]

As Alyssa Bustamante's cache of "Jackass stunt" videos resurface on YouTube, Missouri's penal system finds itself at its wits' end trying to accommodate a rare beast: the violent female juvenile offender.

Rugged personality-possessing newspaperman Charlie LeDuff can typically be found roaming Detroit in search of frozen hobo bodies and colorful raccoon hunters. Today, he has a more serious topic: Enough violence to make you...well, never want to go to Detroit.

An Arkansas man has been convicted of killing Anne Pressly, the 26 year-old Arkansas TV anchorwoman with a small role in the movie W who was attacked and stabbed in her home last year. The motive was not grand.

Here's a fun post that connects Fort Hood to "the feminization of the military." Enjoy!

This week was all about gun violence and terrible elections and Jay Leno.

Somebody tried to kill a bunch of lab workers at Harvard Medical School two months ago, with deadly poison. This is just coming out now, because Harvard does not want you to know about its deadly coffee machines.

The FBI suspected Anna Nicole Smith of scheming to have E. Pierce Marshall, the son of her oil tycoon husband, killed in order to clear the path to inheriting her husband's fortune, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press.

Things are getting bad down Tila Tequila way. Claudia Schiffer needs a prayer. And there's gay marriage in a certain Mad Men actor's future. Yes, it's your Tuesday morning gossip roundup!

Derrion Albert, Chicago-based 16-year old who attended Bible Class every week, was beaten to death on September 24. A bystander's video captured the truly horrific ordeal. Four alleged attackers are now being charged as adults. And we have some questions.

Murdered Yale student Annie Le's funeral was today. I wasn't going to write anything about it, because, you know, not a story. Not even a footnote. Apparently, I'm wrong:

Here is a video of various popular television news show hosts and elected officials—well, Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann (R-MN)—explaining that the census was part of a plot to round up patriotic Americans and place them in internment camps.

Susan Atkins died in prison last night at 61. Atkins was sentenced to death in in 1971 for her role in the Tate/LeBianca murders. She was denied parole for the last time on September 2.