Been busy. Here's the rundown:
Life in prison for murder of 'vampire'
A MAN has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a rapist/male prostitute and self-proclaimed vampire.
The man, who can be identified only as JP for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in the Victorian Supreme Court last year to the 2003 murder of Shane Chartres-Abbott.
Mr Chartres-Abbott, 28, was gunned down in front of his partner and father outside his home at Reservoir, in Melbourne's, on June 4, 2003. At the time, Mr Chartres-Abbott was on trial for the rape and maiming of a woman who had hired him as a prostitute.
The Supreme Court was told the hitman claimed he was asked to carry out the murder as a favour for an associate and two police officers helped him both before and after the crime.
He has made statements and undertaken to give evidence against those he alleges are involved.
JP's admissions to his involvement were described as "extraordinary" because he was never a suspect in the case.
Justice Simon Whelan said JP and another man went to Mr Chartres-Abbott's home and ambushed him as he walked down the street with his partner and father.
The court was told the two other people were pushed aside and JP fired two shots at Mr Chartres-Abbott, one into his side and the other under his chin.
The pair fled in a car they had parked nearby.
"The murder to which you have pleaded guilty was a callous, planned, premeditated execution," Justice Whelan told the man.
Justice Whelan said such a crime would ordinarily attract a life sentence with no parole but because of the significant help he was willing to give police, his admissions and the fact his statements put him and his family in danger, he deserved a discount.
Mr Chartres-Abbott had pleaded not guilty at his trial to two counts of rape and one count each of intentionally and recklessly causing serious injury.
The jury in his trial was told that he informed the woman he was a vampire and he drank blood to live.
The woman was found naked, bloodied and unconscious in the shower of a hotel room in August 2002. Part of her tongue had been ripped out.
JP said Mr Chartres-Abbott's murder was carried out as revenge for the attack, describing him as an "animal" and a danger to other women.
JP is already serving a life sentence and with today's sentence will be eligible for parole in 2023 when he is in his early 70s.
'Vampire' convict dies in Bolivia
American who called himself after a fictional vampire and who was serving 30 years for fatal bombings in La Paz has died, Bolivian officials say.
Triston Jay Amero, 26, was sentenced in January for the March 2006 blasts in which two people died.
A prison official said Amero had complained of stomach pains and was taken to hospital, where he died.
He went by the name Lestat Claudius de Orleans y Montevideo, derived from the vampire novels by US author Anne Rice.
Amero, originally from California, had been convicted of carrying out the attacks with his Uruguayan ex-girlfriend, Alda Ribeiro Costa, 47, who was also jailed for the maximum 30-year term.
He was serving his sentence in the Chonchocoro maximum security prison.
A post-mortem was being performed, prison officials said.
Amero and Costa were arrested immediately after the blasts at the low-budget hotels, which took place hours apart on 21 March 2006.
The explosions caused extensive damage and killed a young man and young woman.
According to the Associated Press, Amero passed himself off as a Saudi Arabian lawyer, a pagan high priest, a notary public and a vampire during earlier travels around South America.
He had a history of mental illness and had been jailed on several occasions, AP reported.
'Vampire' disappears, skips hearing
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-freak0410,0,3308804.story
A Pottsville man who police say persuaded a 15-year-old girl he was part werewolf and part vampire before sexually assaulting her has flown from justice.
Kristian Allen Carl, 19, failed to show up for a Jan. 29 preliminary hearing before District Judge Charles Moran of Pottsville.
Carl allegedly believed he was a supernatural hybrid, part vampire and part werewolf, according to Pottsville police Sgt. James Joos. Joos said Carl had shown him his canine teeth to prove his lineage, and said he had a guardian dragon that protected him from evil-doers.
Carl was charged with statutory sexual assault after admitting he had sexual intercourse with the girl, who told police he was her boyfriend, on Nov. 14, 2007, according to an affidavit Joos filed with Moran.
Carl knew the girl's age and was aware he could "get in trouble" for having sex with a girl under age 16, Joos wrote. Carl told police he had met the girl the previous night and the two went to a friend's apartment to spend the night.
