Death sentence rarity

For the first time in 57 years a Los Angeles jury has handed down a death sentence in a federal case, tomorrow's Daily Journal reports. Two Russian mafia associates from Encino, Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas, were convicted in a kidnapping-and-murder plot that left five victims submerged in the New Melones reservoir near Yosemite. More than $1 million in ransom was paid in the case. It took the jury less than a day to decide in favor of a death verdict, which is binding on U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian, the DJ says. The last time a federal jury in Los Angeles handed down a death sentence was 1950, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.

Wednesday stories: Times, Daily News