Nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner raised his hand in victory. Nearly 100 years had passed since his great-uncles, Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin, were wrongfully executed in South Carolina. On Wednesday, a board voted 7-0 to pardon both men, clearing their names in the 1913 killing of a veteran of the Confederate Army. It marks the first time in history that South Carolina has issued a posthumous pardon in a capital murder case. "It really, really feels good," Joyner ...

The raid looked like something out of a Hollywood action movie. On July 7, Russian special forces dropped down on ropes from a helicopter to storm a luxury yacht on the Pirogovsky reservoir outside Moscow, arresting three dozen mobsters, including the group's alleged ringleader, Tariel Oniani. But within days, nearly all of them, including Oniani, had to be set free because prosecutors couldn't charge them with anything. Russia's laws have long been weak and unspecific when it comes to combating organized crime, part of the ...

A Florida jury has recommended that a plumber who kidnapped, raped and murdered a police detective's daughter be executed for his crimes. Michael King, 38, showed no reaction Friday afternoon as the jury's 12-0 recommendation of death was announced in Sarasota. Jurors deliberated for nearly three hours. King was convicted a week ago of first-degree murder and related offenses in the January 17, 2008, death of Denise Lee, a 21-year-old mother of two boys. Nathan Lee ...