A 15-year-old girl has pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in a Seattle bus tunnel beating of another girl that was captured on surveillance video.

The Seattle girl who entered her plea Tuesday had been charged with first-degree robbery in the Jan. 28 attack. However, the King County prosecutor's office says there wasn't enough evidence to prove that count.

Friends and relatives of six people arrested in the attack say the 15-year-old defendant and the now-16-year-old victim had a long-standing dispute. Two other juveniles have pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault. Three adults await trial on robbery counts.

The widely viewed video showed uniformed security guards doing nothing to stop the beating. The attack prompted changes in bus tunnel security, including allowing security guards to intervene in tunnel fights rather than merely "observe and report."

A Massachusetts state senator caught on video stuffing what prosecutors said was bribe money into her sweater and bra has pleaded guilty to corruption charges.

Dianne Wilkerson, a Boston Democrat, entered the pleas to eight counts of attempted extortion at a hearing in U.S. District Court on Thursday. She will remain free on bail until her sentencing on Sept. 20.

Federal prosecutors are recommending a sentence of no more than four years in prison. Defense attorneys will be allowed to argue for less.

Wilkerson was arrested in October 2008 and accused of taking $23,500 in bribes to help get a liquor license for a nightclub and helping an undercover agent posing as a businessman who wanted to develop state property.

A teenager convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in the killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant received the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison Wednesday, with the judge saying "the proof was overwhelming."

Jeffrey Conroy, 19, who was convicted last month in the November 2008 stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero, offered an apology before state Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle imposed the sentence.

"I'm really sorry for what happened to Mr. Lucero. I'm really sorry for the whole situation. I feel really bad for what his whole family is going through right now," said Conroy.

His eyes welled up as his lawyer read aloud letters seeking mercy for him.

Conroy was one of seven teenagers implicated in the killing but the only one to go to trial. The killing put a spotlight on troubled race relations on Long Island and led to a U.S. Justice Department probe of bias attacks against Hispanics and the police response to such crimes.

A New York teenager is facing up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced in the hate crime killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant.

Nineteen-year-old Jeffrey Conroy was convicted last month of manslaughter and other crimes in the November 2008 stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero (mar-SEHL'-oh loo-SEHR'-oh) on Long Island. Conroy is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday.

Prosecutors say they'll ask that Conroy serve the maximum of 25 years, although a judge has the option of imposing a minimum sentence of eight years.

Conroy was one of seven teenagers implicated in the killing but the only one to go to trial.

Prosecutors contend he was the one who inflicted the fatal blow during a confrontation near the Patchogue train station. The killing shone a national spotlight on race relations on Long Island.

Three of nine members of a Midwest militia accused of conspiring to overthrow the government were released from jail Tuesday until trial after prosecutors suddenly backed off an intense effort to keep the entire group behind bars.

David Stone Jr., 19, Jacob Ward, 33, and Tina Stone, 44, were released to family members after appearing in federal court in Detroit. They must wear electronic monitors and follow strict conditions first set by a judge earlier this month.

"It's a great start," said Stone Jr.'s attorney, Todd Shanker. "David Jr. is not a danger to anybody. He's going to work at a nearby farm and he's not going to bother anybody."

After the hearing, Tina Stone said she was happy to be going to her father's home in Hillsdale County but declined further comment. Asked what's ahead, her father, Tim Kelley, said with a laugh: "She's pickin' my strawberries. I know that."

The three are among nine indicted members of a southern Michigan-based group called Hutaree. All are charged with conspiring to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the government and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction.

Three of nine members of a Midwestern militia who are accused of conspiring to overthrow the government likely will be released from jail Tuesday until trial, a defense attorney said.

Prosecutors notified attorneys for Tina Stone, David Stone Jr., and Jacob Ward that they intended to withdraw their opposition to a judge's order releasing the three, lawyer Michael Rataj said.

"I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. They want to let her out," said Rataj, who represents Tina Stone. "Why they approached me and lawyers for two other defendants, I don't know."

The three were to appear Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Detroit, said Rod Hansen, a spokesman for the court.

Prosecutors will continue to oppose the release of the other six and met a Monday deadline to file new court papers with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts ordered the release of all nine members until trial under strict conditions, including electronic monitors. But the government appealed her ruling, and the 6th Circuit suspended it May 10.

A Florida man accused of causing a trans-Atlantic flight to be diverted to Maine is due in federal court for a detention hearing.

Prosecutors say Derek Stansberry got the attention of the flight crew and passed them a note that said he had a fake passport. Later, he told air marshals that he had dynamite. The April 27 flight from Paris to Atlanta ended up landing at Bangor International Airport.

Defense lawyer Virginia Villa initially sought a competency hearing but she now says that Stansberry is competent. He'll appear before a magistrate judge Wednesday.

The former Air Force intelligence specialist was working for a defense contractor in Africa. Villa says his actions are out of character.