Use this Cornell Law School website to locate the state where your crime took place.
Keep your search terms in mind; the newspaper may use different terminology than the law.
From the list of states on the Cornell site, select the one that matches the location of the crime in the article you've chosen.
Under Constitution and Legislation, select the link to the Statutes for your state.
Each state statute website is set up differently, so take note of ways you have of searching the statutes. Options for finding your crime in the statutes include:
Take time to look at the search options; don't just start typing in the first box you see :)