Category Archives: US crime

Bill Cosby appeal against sexual assault conviction rejected

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  • Pennsylvania court backs decision to let five accusers testify
  • Cosby is serving sentence of three to 10 years

A Pennsylvania appeals court has rejected Bill Cosby’s bid to overturn his sexual assault conviction over the trial judge’s decision to let five other accusers testify.

The superior court ruling was being closely watched because Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era. The same issue has been hard-fought in pre-trial hearings before movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial.

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Jeffrey Epstein is dead but sex criminal’s legal legacy may have years to run

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The financier’s associates, such as Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell, and his victims are unlikely to see closure any time soon

The legal fallout from Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest for sex trafficking and subsequent suicide in jail is likely to go on for years, ensuring that those caught up in the saga – like Prince Andrew – will face scrutiny and negative headlines for years to come.

Federal authorities in the US have repeatedly said that the investigation into the sex trafficking case is ongoing, raising the prospect of a lengthy multi-pronged and international inquiry into the wealthy financier’s jet-set lifestyle.

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Eighty-two-year-old woman beats up burglar who broke into her home

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‘I’m alone and I’m old, but guess what – I’m tough,’ said Willie Murphy, who works out almost every day at the local YMCA

An 82-year-old female body builder beat up a 28-year-old man who tried to break into her home in Rochester, New York.

“I’m alone and I’m old, but guess what – I’m tough,” Willie Murphy, a regular weightlifter, told local news station WHAM.

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Jeffrey Epstein: two New York prison guards charged

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  • Charges relate to pair’s alleged failure to check on Epstein
  • Epstein death ruled a suicide after he was found in prison cell

Two New York correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself have been charged in connection with his death, it was reported on Tuesday.

Related: New Epstein accuser sues estate and calls on Prince Andrew to share information

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Roger Stone: Trump adviser found guilty on all counts in WikiLeaks hacking case

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Stone found guilty of obstruction of justice and making false statements over what he told Congress relating to emails hacked from Democrats

Roger Stone, a self-described “dirty trickster” and longtime adviser to Donald Trump, was found guilty on Friday of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The verdict makes Stone only the latest among a growing list of people once in the president’s inner circle who have been convicted on federal charges. News of Stone’s convictions came as dramatic testimony at the public impeachment hearing unfolded on Capitol Hill.

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Jeffrey Epstein: executors of estate propose fund to compensate accusers

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Epstein’s estate is facing multiple lawsuits from women who say he sexually abused them

The executors of the estate of Jeffrey Epstein said on Thursday they had asked a judge to approve the creation of a proposed fund to compensate women the financier was accused of having sexually abused.

The executors, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, said in a statement that the fund would create a “voluntary, confidential, non-adversarial alternative to litigation”.

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Santa Clarita: Students escorted out of Saugus high school after reports of active shooter – video

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At least two people have died and several more have been injured in a shooting at Saugus high school in Santa Clarita, California, on Thursday. Footage showed sheriff's deputies swarming the school and lines of students being escorted away

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Santa Clarita: multiple people hurt in high school shooting, authorities say

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  • Police say ‘male suspect in black clothing’ not yet apprehended
  • Shooting happened at Saugus high school in California city

Authorities said multiple people were hurt in a shooting on Thursday morning at Saugus high school in Santa Clarita, a city 30 miles north of Los Angeles.

The Santa Clarita sheriff’s department said “a male Asian suspect [in] black clothing” had not been apprehended and told people “anywhere near” Saugus high to lock themselves inside.

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Father of black woman killed by police in her Fort Worth home dies

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Marquis Jefferson, whose daughter Atatiana was shot dead by police during a welfare check, has died from a heart attack

The father of a black woman fatally shot by a white police officer inside her Fort Worth, Texas, home has died.

A spokesman for Marquis Jefferson, Bruce Carter, told the Dallas Morning News that the father of Atatiana Jefferson suffered a heart attack and died Saturday night at a Dallas hospital. Carter told KDFW that Jefferson “just couldn’t get back from what happened with his daughter”.

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Case of the stolen lemur: man who took animal from US zoo wanted a monkey

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This week the FBI released more details of the investigation into the brief 2018 abduction of Isaac, a 33-year-old ring-tailed lemur

When it comes to lemurs, Isaac is known for being an easygoing guy. He’s 33, and mostly enjoys a typical lemur life: resting, eating, exploring, and napping in the sun. He’s the oldest ring-tailed lemur in North America and has lived at the same address since 2000.

Related: Orangutan Sandra granted personhood settles into new Florida home

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Woman accuses Roman Polanski of raping her in 1975 when she was 18

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Film director denies claim by Valentine Monnier about alleged incident at ski resort

A Frenchwoman has accused Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski of raping her in a Swiss ski resort when she was a teenager.

It is the latest accusation against the Polish-born director who fled from the US to France in 1978 after admitting the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.

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Airbnb to ban party houses in wake of Halloween shooting in California

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Airbnb’s CEO said the company ‘must do better’ after five people were killed at a party in San Francisco

Airbnb’s chief executive has said the company will ban “party houses” following a deadly shooting at a Halloween party held at an Airbnb rental home in California.

In a series of tweets, Brian Chesky said on Saturday that the San Francisco-based company would expand manual screening of “high risk” reservations and remove guests who fail to comply with policies banning parties at Airbnb rental homes.

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Boy, 15, charged in Chicago Halloween shooting of seven-year-old girl

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A 15-year-old boy was charged on Friday night with attempted murder in the suspected gang-related shooting of two people on Chicago’s West Side, including a seven-year-old girl who was out trick-or-treating in a bumblebee costume when she was shot in the neck and critically injured.

The shooting was another grim example of children in the city being caught in crossfire while walking down the street, sitting on a porch or laughing with friends inside a house.

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Trump lashes out at Kamala Harris after senator protests criminal justice award

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After Kamala Harris pulled out of a South Carolina criminal justice forum because its organizer gave Donald Trump an award, the president duly lashed out.

Related: Springing the 'rat' trap: how Baltimore fought back against Trump's insults

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US mother charged with murdering daughter she said was terminally ill

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  • Kelly Renee Turner, 41, promoted ‘bucket list’ of dreams to fulfil
  • Olivia Gant, seven, died in unclear circumstances in 2017

A Colorado mother who sought donations to cover medical treatments for her daughter and promoted the girl’s “bucket list” of dreams to fulfil before she died has been indicted on a murder charge in the seven-year-old’s death, which was previously believed to be from a terminal disease.

In a grand jury indictment revealed on Monday, Kelly Renee Turner, 41, also known as Kelly Gant, was charged with 13 criminal counts that included child abuse, theft and charitable fraud in the death of Olivia Gant in 2017.

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Fourth man held in campaign fraud case involving Rudy Giuliani associates

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Prosecutors allege David Correia, 44, made outsized political donations to Republican candidates to advance business interests

A Florida man wanted in a campaign finance case involving associates of Rudy Giuliani is in federal custody after flying Wednesday to Kennedy airport in New York City to turn himself in, federal authorities said.

Related: Third Rudy Giuliani associate arrested at JFK airport – live

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Panama Papers law firm Mossack Fonseca sues Netflix over The Laundromat

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Partners Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca want US court to stop the film being released on Friday

The partners of the offshore law firm whose confidential files were exposed in the Panama Papers leak, Mossack Fonseca, have launched defamation action against Netflix over a movie about the scandal that is due to be released on Friday.

In a US lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca say The Laundromat, in which they are respectively played by Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas, portrays them as “ruthless uncaring lawyers who are involved in money laundering, tax evasion, bribery and/or other criminal conduct” and ask the court to stop it from being screened.

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Fort Worth woman was playing video games at home when officer killed her

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Family attorney says Atatiana Jefferson, 28, was playing video games with her eight-year-old nephew when she was shot dead

Protesters gathered on Sunday in Fort Worth to call for the arrest of the white police officer who shot dead a black woman in her home after arriving to conduct a welfare check.

Related: 'That's murder': Fort Worth police officer shoots woman inside her home

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‘That’s murder’: Fort Worth police officer shoots woman inside her home

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  • Lawyer and family of Atatiana Jefferson, 28, demand answers
  • Police called after report front door standing open

After a white police officer responding to a report of a house door standing open killed a black woman inside her own home on Saturday, an attorney for the woman’s family said the officer had not had time to perceive a threat before shooting.

“You didn’t hear the officer shout, ‘Gun, gun, gun,’” attorney Lee Merritt said after viewing video taken from a Fort Worth officer’s bodycam during the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson, 28.

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Nine-year-old charged with murder of five people in trailer park fire

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Prosecutors criticised after alleging the youngster started the blaze intentionally to kill three small children and two adults

A nine-year-old child has been charged with the first-degree murder of three children and two adults in a fire at a trailer park in Illinois.

The child was also charged with two counts of arson and one count of aggravated arson, the Peoria Journal Star reported. The juvenile’s gender was not identified.

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