Levi Aron Pleads Guilty to Murdering Leiby Kletzky

As expected, Brooklyn man Levi Aron admitted today to kidnapping and killing 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky last summer in Borough Park. At a brutal-sounding plea hearing, a judge walked Aron, whose mood has been described as "neutral, practically blank," through the crime as the killer affirmed the disturbing details. Aron faces 40 years to life in prison.

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Jared Loughner Pleads Guilty to Arizona Shooting, Avoids Death Penalty

After more than a year of medication and psychological evaluations, Jared Lee Loughner was deemed competent to stand trial and pleaded guilty today to nineteen counts in the 2011 massacre that killed six people and wounded thirteen, including former Representative Gabrielle Giffords. Loughner, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, will serve life in prison with no parole under the deal, but cannot be put to death. "Gabby and I have been in contact with the US Attorneys' Office throughout this process. We don't speak for all of the victims or their families, but Gabby and I are satisfied with this plea agreement," said Giffords's husband Mark Kelly in a statement. "The pain and loss caused by the events of January 8, 2011 are incalculable. Avoiding a trial will allow us — and we hope the whole Southern Arizona community — to continue with our recovery and move forward with our lives."

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Levi Aron to Plead Guilty in the Murder of Leiby Kletzky

Brooklyn's Levi Aron is expected to plead guilty next week in the brutal killing of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky last summer, the Daily News and NBC report. Aron is due in court on August 9, and plans to take a deal that hands down a sentence of 40 years to life, while avoiding a painful trial, according to sources, although lawyers in the case have declined to comment. "There is a deal," said Assemblyman Dov Hikind, of the Orthodox neighborhood Borough Park, where the abduction and murder occurred. "But can things change? Until this is officially announced, things can change." He added, "The family has to live with this for the rest of their lives. They want to bring this to a conclusion."

That puts the decision to the accused killer. "At any moment, Levi Aron can change his mind," Hikind warned.

Kletzky disappeared on July 11, 2011, the first time he was allowed to walk home alone from day camp, sending the tight-knit neighborhood into a panic. As reported in New York by Matthew Shaer, a dramatic search commenced, but ended when the boy's body was found in a dumpster, dismembered in a suitcase. Kletzky's severed feet were found in Aron's apartment.

In a written confession, Aron said Kletzky approached him for directions. He took the child to a wedding and kept him overnight, but panicked when he saw the missing person signs, he said, opting to smother the boy and attempt to dispose of the body. Prosecutors did not allege sexual assault.

Aron was declared fit to stand trial last August, but a psychiatric evaluation found his mood to be "neutral, practically blank."

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Sergeant Found Not Guilty of Most Serious Charges in Suicide of Pvt. Danny Chen

The first of eight people to be tried by a military court in the suicide of Chinese-American soldier Danny Chen was acquitted today of negligent homicide, reckless endangerment, communicating a threat, and hazing, the New York Times reports. Sergeant Adam Holcomb was found guilty of two lesser counts, including maltreatment and assault. Chen, a 19-year-old from the Lower East Side, was fulfilling a longtime dream by serving in Afghanistan, but died in October of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head while on guard duty after months of torment by his company.

In letters home, Chen chronicled the relentless, and often racist, bullying he faced from other soldiers, hazing that prosecutors argued drove him to commit suicide. "People crack jokes about Chinese people all the time," Chen wrote. "I'm running out of jokes to come back at them." (Jennifer Gonnerman reported on the tragic story for New York in January.)

On the night he died, Chen was made to crawl to a guard tower while being hit with rocks by his superiors because he forgot his water and was not wearing a helmet. In the days prior, according to testimony, he told a fellow soldier that he was thinking about killing himself because of the harsh treatment.

But defense lawyers argued that Chen's problems predated Sergeant Holcomb, concluding in the closing statement, "Private Chen killed Private Chen."

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