It's a Quick Read 4: weekend and Monday editions



Orange County Register
: A six-man, six-woman jury recommended death for John Fitzgerald Kennedy–no, not that John Fitzgerald Kennedy; that one is already dead, and this one is a 43-year-old career criminal with the gang moniker “Crazy John”–in the murders at sea of a Newport Beach couple. The same jury had convicted Kennedy of two counts of murder with special circumstances in the 2004 slayings of yacht owners Thomas and Jackie Hawks. “Crazy John” showed no emotion as he got the chair. . . . Police responding to a burglary alarm at an Irvine business found a dead 2008 All Conference and All Southern California Orange Coast College catcher inside. Windows had been smashed out, Jourdan Watanabe was bloody and injured and, before he died hours later at a nearby hospital, the suspected burglar indicated he was on drugs. . . . Ducks GM Bob Murray is meeting with Scott Niedermayer today to ask if the 2007 Conn Smythe Trophy winner is going to retire when the season ends. Niedermayer's answer will help Murray decide whether to entertain offers from NHL contenders before Wednesday's trade deadline. . . . Angel Darren Oliver is among several athletes caught up in Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford's $8 billion investment scheme. The feds froze some of Oliver's bank and credit-card accounts while they investigate Stanford. “It not gone. It's only frozen,” Oliver told Angels blogger Bill Plunkett of his investment dollars, which go “pretty deep.”

Los Angeles Times: The Orange County Sheriff's Department allows gangs inside jails to steer inmates to select bail companies in exchange for kickbacks, alleges a legal claim filed by three veteran bail bond agents, who estimate their businesses are losing $100 million a year. The practice called “capping”–not to be confused with “bustin' a cap in yo ass”–blossomed under Sheriff-turned-felon Mike Carona and has been allowed to thrive under Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, claim the bondsmen. . . . LA-area Muslims say FBI surveillance has a chilling effect, in light of fitness instructor Craig Monteilh's revelation that he was an undercover informant at the Islamic Society of Irvine and other SoCal mosques. . . .  The sinking economy has been a boon for lifeguard tryouts in Huntington Beach. Over the weekend, 156 applicants competed for 25 summer jobs paying $16 an hour.

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