--The body of a dead woman was found in a car in Malden. Police are treating the case as a homicide but have not yet disclosed many details about what might have happened. The family of a woman who has been missing since February 13, the owner of a Malden hair salon, say they are "99 percent sure" it is her. [Boston Globe, WBZ] --A Westfield 14-year-old has miraculously emerged from a long coma......

-- Four Salem High School students have pleaded not guilty to charges that they raped a teen girl in a Lynn home late Friday night. The four boys, three 17 year-olds and one 18 year-old, were arraigned Tuesday on charges of aggravated rape. The alleged victim reported the incident to police Saturday morning. [Globe; Herald] -- Derek Boisvert, a 25 year-old convicted child rapist who appeared on the Massachusetts' 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender List......

When Bobby Brown returns to Massachusetts, he always makes a splash. While cable-TV audiences can watch him sleeping and holding conversations with sandwiches, Brockton fans got to see him as he headed to Brockton District Court to address cocaine possession charges. Luckily for Brown, a court magistrate delayed the decision on whether or not to charge Brown for having cocaine in his SUV at a Holiday Inn parking lot. Laurel Sweet describes the scene and......

Can you put a price on Super Bowl immortality? MasterCard would likely say no (because let's face it, it's priceless), but some people in St. Louis offer a resounding "hell yes." The estimated price of a 2002 Rams Super Bowl win, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, is $100 million. The lawsuit, which names the Patriots organization and Coach Bill Belichick, stems from former Rams player Willie Gary,......

After what could be considered a triumphant show at this year's Boston Music Awards, Bobby Brown still can't find any love from local law enforcement. According to Laurel Sweet, the State Police want to charge Brown with cocaine possession. The state police had to deal with Brown, who caused a ruckus at a Holiday Inn in Brockton last December and allegedly had some cocaine. Brown's case will be heard in Brockton District Court on February......

Update: The Glock-toter will be arraigned this morning in East Boston District Court. The DA's Office said his case was "admittedly banal" compared to all the other cases going on. The Transportation Security Administration is patting Logan Airport flyers on the back for not having weapons on them when they go through airport security. The TSA announced that the number of problem items collected by staff has dropped by nearly 60 percent, the Globe reports.......

--Police at Dorchester District Court released the wrong man, according to the Dorchester Reporter. The Reporter is very kind to the officers involved: "In a rare but potentially embarrassing gaffe, officers at Dorchester District Court this week appeared to release the wrong man, allowing him to waltz out of the courthouse and bolt down Washington Street, as confusion reigned inside." The reporter, Gintautas Dumcius, later notes that "The court officers glumly walked back to the......

Evolution is on trial again. A former postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has sued the Cape Cod research center, claiming his 2004 dismissal resulted from his religious beliefs. Nathaniel Abraham was dismissed from Mark Hahn's research lab after refusing to work on the "evolutionary aspects" of his assigned project, according to the Globe. Hahn is a senior research scientist known for studying the effects of toxins on aquatic animals, using a hybrid......

--The DA's office announced earlier this week that it will expand its "Gun Court," which speeds up prosecution of gun-related crimes. Only cases from Dorchester, Roxbury, the South End, and parts of downtown were accelerated to gun court, but now cases from South Boston, East Boston, and Charlestown will go there as well. The DA's office press release touted its success rate: "Gun Court prosecutors have secured convictions in 85.1% of the viable cases handled......

--Police have arrested a teenager who was only 14 years old when he killed 41-year-old Michael Hansbury on Monson Street in June of this year. The DA's Office writes, "Officers spoke with witnesses who stated that they observed an individual step up to the victim and assault him. Witnesses further stated the victim subsequently fell to the ground, hitting his head on the sidewalk." Hansbury died of the head injury. When the incident happened, the......

--What at least one tv station thought was a gasoline heist (hey, it's expensive) turned out to be the result of a mistaken delivery. WHDH reported that employees saw someone in a Lukoil truck and uniform delivering gas last night to the Lukoil on Bennington Street. Upon further inspection, they found that the individual had allegedly absconded with $19,000 worth of gas. Police started making calls and found that "Further investigation revealed that the gas......

A few rowdy students who interfaced with the BPD following the Red Sox ALCS victory have been asked to write an essay considering their behavior. This is not a joke. Roxbury District Court Judge Edward Redd asked seven college students to write "a five-page essay detailing what they have each learned from the experience of getting arrested and that they provide the court with written verification that their parents are aware that they have been......

--A level 3 sex offender with some serious impulse-control issues got busted in Cambridge District Court yesterday. According to the Herald, he went to the ladies' restroom, exposed himself, and masturbated in front of women in the restroom. Police arrested 48-year-old Malcolm Maker, who apparently really wanted to get caught. Far as we can tell, he had no other reason for being at the courthouse. He was already on the radar for incidents at Mohegan......

--ShotSpotter, the BPD's new gunshot-detection system rounded up a gun-toting suspect Sunday night. Congratulations (we guess) to Justin Searcy, 17, of Mattapan, for being one of the first to be arrested thanks to ShotSpotter. --The driver of the car that crashed into a tree on Blue Hill Avenue was arraigned today in his hospital bed. 21-year-old Rohan Blackwood, of Dorchester, was charged with two counts of motor vehicle homicide and DUI. --Revere police arrested a......

Those Daily Show jokes about killing a hobo for kicks seem awfully funny until someone actually does it. On Friday, two men were arrested for murdering two homeless men in Hingham in 2005. Yesterday, they pled not guilty in Hingham District Court. Eric Snow, of Bridgewater, and James Winquist, of Weymouth are accused of beating William Chrapan and David Lyons to death with baseball bats in Bare Cove Park. Chrapan and Lyons were found in......

Watertown city councilor Marilyn Devaney has been the source of good news the past few weeks since she stood up to the Anti-Defamation League. But the Marilyn Devaney who pitches fits and brings priests with her to trial has been sorely missed. The woman is a walking event. She was back and bold this week with an appearance in Middlesex District Court to set her court date. She will eventually go on trial for tossing......

-- Two people were arrested early this morning after they reportedly stole a dog from in front of a Walgreen's in East Boston. Stole a dog. Police responded to a call from a "hysterical victim" who explained that she had secured Bella, a brown and black boxer, to a pole in front of the store and came back out to find Bella gone. Police found the pup after witnesses pointed them in the direction of......

-- Some people just won't take no for an answer: after police ordered three people to leave an apartment in South Boston at about 3 a.m. Sunday morning, all three were back about an hour later. So were police. The suspects assured police that the leasee, "Rick," had given them permission to be there. Turns out that "Rick" doesn't live there - or, at least, isn't on the lease. David McCarthy, 40, and Pauline Zukowski,......

Six men, including two men from Boston, have been indicted for prostituting teenage girls. The charges include "conspiracy to transport minors across state lines for prostitution." These people placed ads in the paper or kidnapped teenagers off the street and put them to work. And these alleged scumbags fancied themselves pimps and gave themselves big pimpin' names, such as "Young Stallion," "Syncere," "Ruby Black," "Young Indian," and "Breeze." The last guy, from Portland, Maine, is......

Two men have been arrested for the murder of Chiara Levin in March. 34-year-old Manuel Andrade of Dorchester and 21-year-old Casimiro Barros of Roxbury will be arraigned on Monday in Dorchester District Court. A press release from the office of Suffolk DA Daniel Conley describes how the events leading up to Levin's murder unfolded: "[At the Caprice Lounge] she and her friends met Manuel Andrade and two other men. Levin and her friends went with......

With all the news surrounding the Big Dig and the upcoming gubernatorial election, the Herald could be forgiven for slacking in the area of animal reporting. But the newspaper game in Boston is too competitive for the Herald to neglect a niche it has controlled so completely, and any doubters are advised to check out today's edition, in which two, count 'em, two dog tragedy articles (pitbull pup gets ears cut off, 60 puppies die......

Neil Entwistle, who has captured the media’s attention on two continents, has arrived back in Massachusetts where he’s set to appear in Framingham District Court this afternoon at 2p.m. to be arraigned on charges of murdering his wife and baby daughter in late January. After being arrested at London’s Royal Oak tube stop on February 9, Entwistle has remained in British custody until yesterday when he was handed over to U.S. Marshals at Gatwick Airport.......

Bostonist first reported a few weeks ago about the rapist on the loose, who was posing as some sort of cabbie. After picking up two young women separately in Faneuil Hall, the "cabbie" took them each to the Alewife T station and raped them. Well, Boston women were put on edge after these two attacks, but now police have made an arrest. Kevin Bennett, a 33-year-old of Arlington, Mass., was picked up by police in......

. . . not because it's necessarily a bad plan. Not long ago, Bostonist told you about an attempt by Judge Nancy Gertner of the Federal District Court of Massachusetts to change the way federal criminal juries are selected. She was concerned that blacks made up only three percent of the people in jury pools, although they constitute six percent of the population in the eastern counties of Massachusetts from which jurors are drawn, so......

While Bostonist loves our fair city (and its accompanying metropolitan area), we must confess that racial segregation and low-level tension among races are a frustrating reality. Lately, that reality has lead to some interesting legal battles, especially in the Federal District Court, where bold steps may be taken to make juries in criminal trials more racially diverse. Or maybe these steps won't be taken. Read on. Last month, Judge Nancy Gertner ordered a change in......

Reading the Boston Globe today, Bostonist caught a mention of “pimps and prostitutes.” For years we thought it was “pimps and hos,” perhaps that's just a little too edgy for our town’s newspaper of record. The reported brothel was running out of the Allston/Brighton neighborhood. After receiving complaints of unusual traffic in the area local police began to investigate. The alleged pimps (three men over 50 from Allston, Brookline, and Quincy) were hauled into court......

This past weekend Franklin Park again played host to the annual Puerto Rican Festival. Boston seems to have lost interest in the festival overall. The only imagery, besides our own, found in local media came in the form of a single picture run in black and white in the Boston Globe and in color in the Metro. The Boston Herald used some imagery from the parade to discuss the recent filing in U.S. District Court......

A story hit the wire about a maternity chain that may be guilty of discriminating against a pregnant woman. US District Court in Boston began jury selection today in the case of discrimination in which Cynthia Papageorge is suing Mothers Work Inc. Papageorge looks to collect compensation for damages incurred in the form of emotional distress and lost wages after she was fired after May 2000. Mothers Work Inc. operates a number of maternity stores......

Bostonist is pleased to report that all it took for the state Senate to raise hourly rates for public Bar advocates (the private lawyers who represent most indigent defendants) was the release of three drug suspects for lack of representation, a pleading Globe op-ed piece by a District Court judge, and the refusal of two thirds of the lawyers in Suffolk and Middlesex Counties who take indigent defendant cases to sign up for another year.......

It seems to Bostonist that news coverage of our area institutions of higher education tends to focus on the academic achievements of Harvard and MIT, or the sports achievements of BC (okay, maybe that's a simplistic statement but those schools do get much of the spotlight). So it's an exciting day northeast of the [Cambridge] border when Tufts University garners some media attention. And yesterday was exactly one such day. Unfortunately for Tufts, however, that......