Pope Francis celebrates Easter Mass
VATICAN CITY, March 31 (UPI) -- Pope Francis delivered the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing to a packed crowd at St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday, observers said.
"What a joy it is for me to announce this message: Christ is risen," Francis said at noon from the papal balcony.
"I would like it to go out to every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons," he said. "Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil. Love has triumphed, mercy has been victorious."
Francis' speech focused on a need for peace.
"Peace in the whole world, still divided by greed looking for easy gain, wounded by the selfishness which threatens human life and the family, selfishness that continues in human trafficking, the most extensive form of slavery in this twenty-first century," he said. "Peace to the whole world, torn apart by violence linked to drug trafficking and by the iniquitous exploitation of natural resources."
Before the Urbi et Orbi, Francis took a ride around St. Peter's Square in the Popemobile, waving and smiling at the crowd, CNN reported.
Second prosecutor killed in Kaufman County
KAUFMAN, Texas, March 31 (UPI) -- A second Kaufman County, Texas, prosecutor and his wife have been found shot to death, raising fears in the town of a conspiracy, officials said
Mike and Cynthia Woodward McLelland were found dead in their home near Forney, Texas, Saturday, The Dallas Morning News reported.
A law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the newspaper the McLellands' door appeared to have been kicked in and described the scene as awful.
"There are shell casings everywhere," the official said. "This is unprecedented. This is unbelievable. This is huge."
Prosecutor Mark Hasse was shot to death while walking from his car to the Kaufman County Court House on Jan 31 and authorities said the unsolved slayings were being investigated as if they were related.
"Until we know what happened, I really can't confirm that it's related, but you always have to assume until it's proven otherwise," Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh said.
At the time of Hasse's death, police said he was looking into the prison gang Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, ABT, for possible racketeering charges.
Kaufman defense attorney Eric Smenner said employees of the district attorney's office should be placed under immediate police protection.
"They need to shut the office down for a while," he said. "I think everybody there is a target. They're not safe in the streets in downtown Kaufman. They're not safe in their homes."
"It looks like somebody is making a pretty concentrated effort to target the most important people in that office," he said.
2 boys face murder conspiracy charges
COLLVILLE, Wash., March 31 (UPI) -- A judge in Washington state has ruled two boys, ages 10 and 11, can stand trial for allegedly plotting to rape and kill one girl and kill other classmates.
The two Colville fifth-graders were found competent to stand trial in juvenile court Friday in Stevens County Superior Court, KXLY-TV, Spokane, reported. The boys, whose names have not been released, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, witness tampering and juvenile possession of a firearm. Their next hearing is scheduled for April 8.
Authorities allege they engaged in the murder conspiracy in early February.
KREM-TV, Spokane, reported court documents revealed the boys confessed to plotting to harm seven classmates. Police said the boys brought a knife, a gun and ammunition to Fort Colville Elementary School with the intention of killing their classmates, the TV station said.
Their plot ended when another student saw a knife fall from one of the suspect's backpacks while getting off the school bus and told teachers.
The girl who was targeted had been the girlfriend of one of the suspect's and had mocked him on the school bus. A Colville police officer told the court he asked the boy if he knew it would be wrong and illegal to kill the girl and that the boy replied, "Yes, I wanted her dead."
The boys also allegedly were ready to pay $80 to another student to keep their plan a secret, KXLY-TV said.
Teacher's aide Richard Payette testified he asked one of the boys where he had gotten the gun, "and he said he had stolen the gun from his brother's room and that his brother has stolen it from his grandfather."
4 arrested in slayings of 2 teens
OCEANSIDE, Calif., March 31 (UPI) -- Four suspected gang members faces charges in the shooting deaths of two teenagers and the wounding of two others, police in California said Saturday.
Three of the suspects -- Martin Melendrez, 19, and Michael Zarita, 19, both of Vista, and Santo Diaz, 18, of Oceanside -- were being held in the county jail in Vista. The fourth, a minor whose name wasn't released, was taken to a juvenile facility, the Los Angeles Times reported.
They are charged with two counts of murder, two of attempted murder and two counts of participating in a criminal street gang for the March 13 shooting deaths of Melanie Virgen, 13, and Edgar Sanchez, 15, and the wounding of two other teens in Libby Lake Park.
Investigators had yet to provide a motive for the shootings in the park where two other teens were gunned down in May 2011. Three suspects await trial in that case, the Times said.
