NATIONAL BRIEFS

TEXAS: DeLay shows confidence

Tom DeLay remained confident he would prevail at his money-laundering trial, saying Wednesday he believes prosecutors have yet to present any evidence that he did anything illegal. DeLay, the once powerful but polarizing House majority leader, is accused of using his political action committee to illegally funnel $190,000 in corporate donations into Texas legislative races eight years ago. Prosecutors have implied that DeLay was the driving force behind the political group. But ex-PAC workers, including DeLay's daughter, told jurors he had little involvement in running the group.

CONNECTICUT: Jury weighs sentence

A man convicted of a deadly home invasion should be spared the death penalty because he was in a "state of intense rage, despair and confusion" and is deeply remorseful for what he did, his attorneys said Wednesday. Steven Hayes was convicted last month of murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters in a horrific home invasion in Cheshire in 2007. The jury that convicted Hayes must now decide whether to sentence him to death or life in prison.

WASHINGTON: Same gun in 5 shootings

A shooting at a Coast Guard recruiting station in Northern Virginia is connected to a string of similar incidents at military-related buildings, the FBI said Wednesday. FBI spokeswoman Lindsay Godwin said ballistics tests concluded that the same gun was used in the first four shootings, and preliminary test results also link the latest shooting.

CALIFORNIA: 20 tons of pot seized

Federal authorities in San Diego have made one of the largest marijuana seizures in the United States, confiscating 20 tons of pot near an underground tunnel connecting warehouses on either side of California's border with Mexico, officials said Wednesday. Mexican authorities seized four tons of pot from the warehouse on their side of the border. A tractor-trailer driver, a U.S. citizen, and his Mexican wife were arrested and were to be arraigned today.