NYC BRIEFS

Pipe bomb suspect pleads not guilty

Jose Pimentel, the Manhattan man charged with trying to build a pipe bomb to attack targets in the city, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Tuesday in State Supreme Court.

Pimentel, 27, is charged under a seldom-used state antiterrorism law with conspiracy and weapons possession.

Federal officials, who typically prosecute terror cases, declined to be involved with Pimentel because of concerns about the role played by an NYPD informant.

A lawyer for Pimentel said after the hearing that his defense team is confident a jury will "see the case for what it is."

The defense lawyers have argued that police manipulated Pimentel.

Pimentel's next court hearing was scheduled for April 17.

-- JOHN RILEY

Lawmakers to hold Port Authority hearing

New Jersey and New York lawmakers will hold a joint hearing on the Port Authority.

The April 20 hearing at the College of Staten Island will focus on the agency's spending and accountability in the wake of a recent toll increase and critical audits.

The hearing will be co-chaired by New Jersey Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski and New York Republican Sen. Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick). The men lead the transportation committees in their chambers.

The bistate agency is controlled by Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Democrat Andrew M. Cuomo of New York.

The Port Authority operates airports, seaports, a train system, and several bridges and tunnels that link the two states. It also owns the site of the new World Trade Center.

Doctor faces 20 years in prescription case

A doctor has pleaded guilty to selling prescriptions for the painkiller oxycodone from his Staten Island home.

Dr. Felix Lanting, 85, admitted the drug charge Tuesday in federal court. According to a complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court, Lanting wrote more than 3,000 prescriptions for the painkiller since April, often without examining the patients. He was arrested in November 2010.

The complaint says about 490 of his patients were under the age of 30.

Court papers say at some point the doctor hired "goons" and "bouncers" to guard his house after the family of a customer who suffered an overdose took an ax to his door.

The frail doctor was released on bail. He will be sentenced June 26 and faces 20 years in prison.

Man sentenced in stabbing of wife, kids

A New York City man has been sentenced to 40 years in jail for fatally stabbing his wife and her two young children.

Jermaine Ruiz of Brooklyn also was ordered at his Monday sentencing never to contact his surviving twins.

The victims, Jessica Ybe, 24, and her toddlers, Jelyhanna, 2, and Sasha, 3, were killed in January 2010.

All three were partly wrapped in plastic bags.

Ruiz had pleaded guilty to killing them in their Brooklyn apartment after learning Ybe planned to have a relationship with the father of one of the murdered girls.

Exonerated man uses funds to help others

A New York man who won $6.5 million in a wrongful imprisonment case plans to use some of the settlement money to help others who believe they have been unjustly convicted.

The Wall Street Journal says Jeffrey Deskovic has established the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice to work on cases in the New York City area.

Deskovic, 38, spent 16 years in prison on charges he killed a Peekskill High School classmate. He was released in 2006 after DNA linked the 1989 killing to another man.

He's been active in criminal justice reform and anti-death penalty movements since his release.

Compiled with wire service reports