DETROIT

‘Underwear bomber’ gets life in failed attack attempt

Defiantly declaring “a day of victory,” a Nigerian man was given a mandatory life sentence Thursday for trying to blow up a packed jetliner with a bomb sewn into his underwear. People aboard the flight testified that the failed attack had disturbed their sleep and travels for more than two years.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was the same remorseless man who four months ago pleaded guilty to all charges related to Northwest Airlines Flight 253. He seemed to relish the mandatory sentence and defended his actions as rooted in the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

“Mujahideen are proud to kill in the name of God,” he said. “Today is a day of victory.”

Had the bomb not fizzled, nearly 300 people aboard the flight would probably have been killed.

The case stirred renewed fears that terrorists could still bring down an American jetliner more than eight years after 9/11, and it accelerated installation of body scanners at the nation’s airports.

MADISON, Wis.

Stepbrother, parents charged in sexual assault of teen

Prosecutors on Thursday charged the stepbrother of a severely malnourished Wisconsin teen with repeatedly sexually assaulting her beginning around her 10th birthday, in the same year she claims her father and stepmother began confining her to the basement.

Dane County prosecutors also charged the girl’s father, 40, and stepmother, 42, with child abuse and first-degree reckless endangerment, which are felonies, as well as a misdemeanor count of neglecting a child.

The couple and the girl’s stepbrother, 18, appeared in a Madison courtroom Thursday for an initial hearing.

CLEVELAND

Parents sentenced in death of son denied medical help

The parents of an 8-year-old boy who died from Hodgkin lymphoma after suffering for months from undiagnosed swollen glands were sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday following their guilty pleas to denying him medical treatment.

Attorneys for Monica Hussing, 37, and William Robinson Sr., 40, had said the parents had financial problems and tried to get checkups for their son but couldn’t afford it.

The couple was given the maximum sentence by Cuyahoga County Judge Michael Astrab, who accepted their guilty pleas last month to attempted involuntary manslaughter in a last-minute plea deal before their trial was about to begin. They were handcuffed and taken into custody immediately. Both plan to appeal the sentence.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.

Man jailed on cruelty charge for cooking, eating cats

In a case that has shocked even investigators, a California man is in jail for allegedly cooking and eating cats.

Jason Louis Wilmert is being held in the Kern County Jail on charges alleging animal cruelty and using a pet or domesticated animal for food. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Neighbors called sheriff’s deputies when they heard cats wailing and screeching at the 36-year-old’s house in the Bakersfield suburb of Oildale.

Sheriff’s spokesman Ray Pruitt says he has “never seen anything like this.”

Pruitt says investigators found evidence that led them to believe “he had the intent to use a cat for food,” but he couldn’t comment directly on the evidence.

PHOENIX

Grandson testifies against man in forced canyon hike

The oldest grandson of a man standing trial on child abuse charges testified Thursday that he secretly asked another hiker to call 911 during a long, hot hike in the Grand Canyon last year.

The 12-year-old said his vision and hearing became altered and mountains appeared to sway during the 19-mile hike on Aug. 28, a day that saw temperatures as high as 108 degrees. He said he fell down several times because of cramping.

“I needed medical attention and I was hurting and he was hitting and pushing me and calling me fat,” the boy said. “I was scared and it was hard and I was all weak and tired and kind of hurt.”

Prosecutors have alleged that 45-year-old Christopher Alan Carlson of Indianapolis deprived his three grandsons of food and water and pushed, choked and repeatedly kicked them during hikes on Aug. 15 and Aug. 28.

A criminal complaint said Carlson put his grandsons – who were 12, 9 and 8 years-old at the time – in circumstances “likely to cause death or serious bodily injuries.” Defense attorney Jeffrey Williams has portrayed Carlson as an active health nut who had a firm hand and wanted to show the boys the world.

— From news service reports