Below are the headlines from this week's top crime stories. Find out what others are saying about these cases in the Crime & Punishment Forum and add your comments and opinions.

• Man Charged With 5-Year-Old's Murder
  McNeill also charged with child rape.
  
• Teen to Be Tried as Adult
  In death of Elizabeth Olten, 9.
  
• Wanda Barzee Enters Guilty Plea
  For kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart.
  
• 'Junior' Gotti Jury Is Deadlocked
  Judge orders more deliberations.
  
• Family Members Charged in Sex Abuse Case
  Six accused in "horrific" child abuse.
  

^{Photo of Mario McNeill: Police Mug Shot}

Unable to reach a unanimous verdict, the New York jury deciding the fate of John "Junior" Gotti, accused of racketeering, has been sent back to the jury room. This is the fourth trial for Gotti, the previous three all ending in hung juries.

John "Junior" Gotti claims he left the mob over 10 years ago and is innocent of all charges.

Poll: Is John "Junior" Gotti out of the mob?

1) Yes
2) No
3) Undecided

See Also:

• Mafia Mugshot Gallery
  
• Crime and Punishment Weekly Crime Polls

_{Photo: Mugshot}

A North Carolina man previously accused of kidnapping a 5-year-old North Carolina girl now faces charges of first-degree murder and first-degree rape of a child. Mario McNeill admitted taking Shaniya Davis from her Fayetteville home.

Preliminary autopsy reports showed that Shaniya was asphyxiated. Read more...

A 15-year-old Missouri girl has been indicted and will be tried as an adult in the murder of a 9-year-old neighbor. Alyssa Bustamante faces first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges for the death of Elizabeth Olten.

Bustamante has been held in juvenile detention since her arrest on Oct. 23. Read more...

The woman charged with her husband with the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart has entered a guilty plea in federal court and asked her victim to forgive her for the pain she caused. Wanda Eileen Barzee, 64, also apologized to the court for her role in the kidnapping of the 14-year-old Salt Lake City girl.

Barzee is scheduled to be sentenced May 19. Read more...

Joe Luis Saenz has been added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. He is wanted for his alleged involvement in at least four murders in Los Angeles, including the deaths of two rival gang members on July 25, 1998. He is also suspected in the kidnapping, rape and murder of his former girlfriend. Read more...

Wanted Fugitives:

• Wanted for Violent Crimes
  
• Wanted for Crimes Against Children
  
• Wanted for Murder

^{Photo: FBI}

The body of a missing 5-year-old girl who was allegedly sold for sex by her mother has been found by searchers in a heavily wooded area about 40 miles from her Fayetteville home. Police did not say how Shaniya Davis was killed.

Her body was found southeast of Sanford, North Carolina, where she was last seen on video entering a hotel with a man. Read more...

The mother of a five-year-old North Carolina girl missing since last Tuesday has been arrested on charges of human trafficking, child abuse and prostitution, according to police reports. Antoinette Nicole Davis was arrested a day after Mario Andrette McNeill was charged with kidnapping Shaniya Davis.

Fayetteville police would not say if the human trafficking charges were related to Shaniya's disappearance, but reports filed in the case indicated they were. Read more...

This week D.C. Sniper Muhammad was executed, however his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, was also convicted for murder in Virginia and Maryland. Because he was a juvenile at the time of the shootings, he was not eligible for the death penalty and instead received a life sentence.

Now the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether or not life sentences for juveniles are cruel and unusual punishments.

Poll: Do you think life sentences for juveniles should be unconstitutional?

1) Yes - Rehabilitate them and release them.
2) No - Do the crime, do the time.
3) Undecided - Depends on their age.

See Also:

• Court Ponders Life Sentences for Juveniles
  
• Crime and Punishment Weekly Crime Polls

_{Photo: BigStockPhoto.com}

An Arkansas jury deliberated just two hours before finding Curtis Lavelle Vance guilty of all counts in connection with the brutal beating death of a popular morning Little Rock television anchorwoman. The same jury began deliberating whether or not to impose the death penalty of life in prison for the murder of Anne Pressly.

Pressly was beaten during a home invasion robbery and never regained consciousness before she died five days later. Read more...