Former Defense official gets 3 years for spying

A former Department of Defense official convicted of espionage was sentenced to three years in prison after a federal judge concluded the information he gave to a Chinese spy did not harm U.S. interests. James Fondren gave the information to the spy as part of a side consulting business he ran while he was the deputy director of the U.S. Pacific Command Washington Liaison Office. Prosecutors had asked he be sentenced to more than six years in prison, but U.S District Judge Claude Hilton gave the 62-year-old less than half that time because the information caused no harm to the United States, the Associated Press reported.

D.C. man accused of killing his cousin in P.G.

A 30-year-old D.C. man has been charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 8 beating death of his 22-year-old cousin in Hyattsville, Prince George’s County police said. Ronald Neal turned himself in to Prince George’s County police Thursday. His cousin, Nathan Ronald Neal was found beaten to death on the 1600 block of Brightseat Road around 2 a.m. Jan. 8, police said.