HOUSTON, July 21 (UPI) -- A jury of six men and six women has been chosen in the trial of a Texas woman accused of cutting off the penis of her estranged boyfriend. Delmy Ruiz, a native of El Salvador, is accused of aggravated assault in the attack last Oct. 28 on Rene Nunez, 35. Police did not recover the severed male organ, the Houston Chronicle reported. At the time, Nunez was under a court order to stay away from Ruiz's north Harris County home, the woman's attorney said. Earlier, Nunez pleaded guilty in an August 2003 assault on Ruiz and was sentenced to two years probation. Ruiz faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. "The allegation -- and it's only an allegation -- is that she cut off her lover's penis with a knife," District Judge Michael McSpadden said as jury selection began in the trial. JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 21 (UPI) -- An elderly Jacksonville, Fla., woman was arrested in a dope-on-a-rope scheme in which she allegedly sold drugs and retrieved the money on two-story rope. Minnie Perlotte Collins, 76, was arrested Friday after reportedly selling $20 worth of crack cocaine to an undercover agent. Police who searched her home said they found her purse attached to a long rope by her bedside, and a well-worn path below her second-story bedroom window. Police also reporting finding a gun and ammunition. "I've heard about Miss Minnie for a long time," police Lt. Adam Brown told the Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union. "I found that hard to believe" of a woman that age. Collins was free on bond on charges of second-degree felony possession of drugs and sale of a controlled substance. GREELEY, Colo., July 21 (UPI) -- Gardeners deluged Greeley, Colo., police with calls to reclaim their prized gnomes from a stash of 80 of the stolen yard-art statues. Children found 80 6- to 12-inch statues in bags behind an apartment complex on Saturday, police said. "We've been inundated with phone calls," Sgt. Tom Walde told the Rocky Mountain News. Police set up appointments with people to identify their particular gnome or gnomes. "They're just like little people, only they don't talk to you," said resident Elsie Schnorr, who had 30 statues stolen from her yard. Schnorr recovered some of the statues stolen from her yard, but will have to wait until spring to replace others. "I don't go out and steal them, that's for sure," Schnorr said. "I go out and buy them." YUBA CITY, Calif., July 21 (UPI) -- A life-long Yuba City, Calif., man has learned he's next in line to become the next Earl of Essex, as he's the 11th Earl of Essex's fourth cousin once-removed. Bill Capell, 53, said he and his wife were awakened by a phone call about a month ago, when an official from London called to tell them Capell's cousin had died and the 11th Earl, Frederick Paul, had taken over. Capell said he's researching what the title involves, and is a bit concerned about citizenship requirements for the U.S. equivalent of a senator. "I know I would have a seat in the House of Lords," he told the Marysville (Calif.) Appeal-Democrat. The current Lord Essex is 61, unmarried and has no children. In the event he remains childless, the Earldom will pass to Capell. Capell's claim to Essex Earldom was reported in the Daily Telegraph in London and is documented online at Burke's Peerage & Gentry, the report said.
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