Category Archives: US crime

Arizona man freed after nearly three decades on death row

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Barry Jones pleads guilty to lesser charge in deal to overturn his conviction for murder of four-year-old girl in 1994

An Arizona man who spent nearly three decades on death row before the reversal of his conviction over the death of a four-year-old girl has been freed from prison.

Barry Jones’s release, ordered on Thursday, came after a Tuscon-area state court judge approved a deal between prosecutors and him which involved his pleading guilty to a lesser murder charge. According to prosecutors, a medical review of the case failed to conclude that Jones caused the girl’s fatal injury, and his pleading guilty to second-degree murder involves his failure to adequately seek emergency care for the victim.

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Church hands over ‘voluminous documents’ about accused US ex-priest

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Catholic archdiocese gives New Orleans DA files on Lawrence Hecker, accused of raping child decades ago

The second-oldest archdiocese in the US has handed over “voluminous documents” involving a retired Roman Catholic priest – and accused serial predator – to the New Orleans district attorney’s office as prosecutors investigate an allegation that the cleric manhandled and raped a child decades earlier.

The district attorney, Jason Williams, revealed the archdiocese’s provision of the documents after a federal court hearing on Thursday centering on whether those materials should be more widely released as a matter of public safety and interest.

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Trump pleads not guilty to 37 federal criminal counts in Mar-a-Lago case

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Ex-president arraigned and charged in Miami court over allegations he mishandled classified documents

Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents as he was formally arraigned on Tuesday, becoming the first former US president to face federal criminal charges.

Federal prosecutors accused Trump of willfully withholding classified documents obtained during his presidency and obstructing justice in his efforts to conceal those materials from authorities, as detailed in a 49-page indictment unsealed on Friday. The former president was charged with 37 federal counts, including 31 violations of the Espionage Act.

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San Francisco shooting leaves nine wounded after ‘targeted’ incident

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Police say all victims are expected to survive their injuries after incident in Mission District on Friday night

Multiple victims were struck by bullets during a mass shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District on Friday night, but authorities said there were no fatalities.

“We can confirm there are 9 shooting victims – all are expected to survive their injuries,” the San Francisco police department said in a tweet.

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Donald Trump uses his legal woes to plead for money from supporters – again

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Following his indictment, Trump asked supporters to ‘make a contribution to peacefully defend our movement from the neverending witch hunts’

Federally indicted Donald Trump, newly charged with multiple counts over his mishandling of classified documents, is using his legal woes to plead for money – again.

The sweeping 37-count felony indictment paints a damaging portrait of Trump’s treatment of sensitive documents, accusing him of defying justice department demands to return papers he had taken to his Florida home of Mar-a-Lago, and even storing some of them in a shower.

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‘Help me’: South Carolina woman shops passenger to police with silent message

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Driver of Jeep stopped for running red light helps police jail man – her own passenger – suspected of attempted murder and kidnap

By mouthing the words “help me” to an officer who had pulled her over for a traffic stop, a woman in South Carolina helped authorities jail a man suspected of a shooting and a kidnapping: her own passenger, according to authorities.

The unusual encounter began when officer Kayla Wallace pulled over a woman behind the wheel of a Jeep that ran a red light during the early evening of 28 May, the North Myrtle Beach police department said in a statement this week. Wallace noticed the woman was in distress while seated alongside 29-year-old Collin Bates, the police’s statement added.

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Nuclear weapon secrets in the bathroom: five revelations from Trump’s unsealed indictment

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Trump took classified documents including information on nuclear weapons and secret plans to attack a foreign country

Donald Trump took classified documents including information on nuclear weapons in the US and secret plans to attack a foreign country, according to a 49-page federal indictment unsealed Friday afternoon.

The former US president, alongside a military valet, now faces a sweeping 37-count felony indictment related to the mishandling of classified documents.

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Donald Trump charged with illegal retention of classified documents

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Ex-president is being prosecuted for violating Espionage Act and obstruction over documents held at Mar-a-Lago and has been summoned to court next week

Federal prosecutors have charged Donald Trump over his retention of national security documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, a historic development that poses the most significant legal peril yet for the former president.

The exact nature of the indictment, filed in federal district court in Miami, is unclear because it remains under seal and the justice department had no immediate comment.

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Peru extradites Dutch murderer to US over Natalee Holloway disappearance

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Joran van der Sloot, already serving 28-year sentence, faces fraud and extortion charges linked to Alabama teen missing since 2005

Peruvian police have handed over a convicted Dutch murderer to US FBI agents for transfer to the United States, where he faces extortion and fraud charges related to the killing of the Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway two decades ago.

Joran van der Sloot, a Dutch national from the Caribbean island of Aruba, is set to face charges in the United States related to the mysterious disappearance and presumed murder of Holloway, an 18-year-old from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, who vanished during a high school graduation trip to Aruba in 2005.

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High school student and relative killed in Virginia graduation shooting

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Virginia representative calls for more gun safety policies after suspect was arrested for killing two people and wounding five

A high school student and a relative were killed on Tuesday evening at a mass shooting at the young man’s graduation event in Richmond, Virginia, where five other people were shot and wounded.

Gunfire rang out outside a downtown theater, where the graduation ceremony had just ended, causing hundreds of attendees to flee in panic, weep and clutch their children, authorities and witnesses said.

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Black woman in Florida fatally shot through front door by white neighbor

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Ajike ‘AJ’ Owens killed after allegedly trying to retrieve iPad taken from her child, while shooter has not been arrested or charged

A Black mother of four in Florida was killed by a white neighbor who shot her through a front door as the victim attempted to retrieve an iPad taken from her child, civil rights attorney Ben Crump has said.

In a Twitter post on Monday, Crump said the death of Ajike “AJ” Owens, 35, at a housing complex in Ocala on Friday evening was an “unjust killing” and lamented that the shooter had not been arrested or charged.

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Ohio police continue search for fugitive who escaped prison last week

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Safecracker James Lee was apprehended last Wednesday, while convicted killer Bradley Gillespie is still on the lam

Authorities on Sunday were searching for a convicted killer who escaped an Ohio prison by hiding in a trash container.

The manhunt for Bradley Gillespie began last week when he and another man incarcerated at Allen-Oakwood correctional institution in Lima, Ohio, James Lee, were discovered missing, according to reports.

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Alex Murdaugh faces federal charges of money laundering and fraud

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Convicted murderer faces charges after being indicted over allegations he schemed to steal settlement money from clients

The convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh is facing federal charges for the first time after being indicted on 22 financial fraud counts over allegations he schemed to steal settlement money from clients.

The indictments unsealed on Wednesday do not appear to reveal any new allegations against the once-prominent South Carolina attorney now serving life without parole for killing his wife and younger son.

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Canadian police solve 48-year-old case of teenager’s rape and murder using DNA

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Police say West Virginian who died 40 years ago raped and killed 16-year-old Sharron Prior in a Montreal suburb in 1975

Canadian police say they have solved one of the highest-profile cold cases in Quebec history, linking the 1975 rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl to a West Virginia man who died more than 40 years ago.

Police in Longueuil, Quebec, said that DNA evidence allows them to be 100% certain that Franklin Maywood Romine murdered teenager Sharron Prior in the Montreal suburb.

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Pleas entered for suspect in 2022 University of Idaho student killings

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A judge entered not guilty pleas for the accused, Bryan Kohberger, whose attorney said will ‘stand silent’ at this time

A judge entered not guilty pleas on Monday for a man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students, setting the stage for a trial in which he could face the death penalty.

The 13 November 2022 killings stunned the rural community of Moscow, Idaho, and prompted many students to leave campus early, switching to remote learning for the remainder of the semester.

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Jeffrey Epstein allegedly tried to extort Bill Gates over extramarital affair

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Convicted sexual offender reportedly threatened to expose Gates’s relationship with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova

The convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein appeared to threaten Bill Gates and tried to blackmail the multi-billionaire over his extramarital affair with a Russian bridge player, according to a new report published by the Wall Street Journal.

Speaking to the Journal, sources familiar with the matter said that after Epstein found out about the Microsoft co-founder’s affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, he threatened Gates into reimbursing him for tuition costs that Epstein had initially covered for Antonova to attend software coding school.

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Boy who saved sister by hitting would-be kidnapper with slingshot speaks: ‘I had to’

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Owen Burns, 13, says he grabbed the closest thing after he heard his eight-year-old sister’s screams in Alpena Township, Michigan

A Michigan boy who recently channeled his inner David and warded off his sister’s hulking, would-be kidnapper by shooting him with a slingshot has said he grabbed the unconventional weapon because he was “freaking out” at the unfolding danger and it was the closest thing.

“It just felt like I was scared, and I had … to do” something, 13-year-old Owen Burns told CNN on Friday. “Cause if I didn’t … she would’ve been taken away or … worse.”

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Man accused of stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee pleads not guilty

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The San Francisco district attorney has alleged Nima Momeni planned to kill Lee and left him to ‘slowly die’

The man accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Nima Momeni, 38, was arraigned on Thursday in a San Francisco courtroom on a single murder charge in Lee’s death last month.

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Alleged attacker of congressman’s staff had history of mental illness, police say

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Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 49, had also assaulted a women earlier on same day he struck at Democrat’s Virginia office, authorities say

A man who allegedly attacked two congressional workers with a metal baseball bat had a history of mental illness and had assaulted someone else earlier in the day, authorities said.

The man, identified as Xuan-Kha Tran Pham, 49, of Fairfax, Virginia, attacked the Democratic congressman Gerry Connolly’s office on Monday, shattering windows and striking two women, including an intern on her first day on the job, authorities said.

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US driver pulled over for speeding tried to switch places with dog, police say

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Motorist maneuvered inside car before getting out on the passenger side following police stop in Springfield, Colorado

A driver who was pulled over for speeding and appeared to officers to be drunk tried to switch places with his dog in an attempt to avoid arrest, police in Colorado are alleging.

An officer watched the motorist maneuvering inside the car before he got out on the passenger side on Saturday night in Springfield, a town of about 1,300 people on Colorado’s Eastern Plains, police said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

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