The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Washington, claims that Amazon overcharged 1.2 million advertising customers by misleading them on prices for online auctions for ads.

The complaint says Amazon said it was offering competitive prices on several ad products when it was actually inflating auction prices.

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“When one of the world’s largest online retailers engages in unfair and deceptive conduct, the impact can be staggering,” said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson. “Amazon has millions of advertising customers who were misled into paying significantly higher prices.”

In response, Amazon wrote in a blog post that the FTC “leans on a handful of simplified communications to allege a companywide effort to deceive.”

“That is patently false,” the company said.

Jurors have found Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, guilty of first-degree murder for orchestrating the death of rap legend Tupac Shakur.

The verdict was reached Monday after the roughly two-week trial came to a close three decades after the music icon’s drive-by shooting death in Las Vegas. The decision was read after only hours of deliberations.

The decision comes after weeks of testimony that largely focused on past interviews and other comments about the killing from Davis, a former gang member who is the only person to ever face criminal charges in the 1996 shooting.

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Jurors began deliberations Monday afternoon to consider the case against Davis, who faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon with gang enhancements. The panel of 10 women and six men heard from two dozen witnesses for the prosecution and three for the defense.

During the delivery of jury instructions Monday, the judge noted that Davis was accused in an indictment alleging an open charge of murder. The charge could have included first- or second-degree murder, a decision that was left to the jury.

Now convicted, Davis faces up to life in prison.

Davis isn’t accused of firing the gunshots that killed Shakur at age 25, but prosecutors have portrayed him as a shot-caller who orchestrated the attack as retribution for a casino lobby brawl earlier on the night of Sept. 7, 1996, that involved Shakur, his entourage and Davis’ nephew.

Much of the prosecution’s case focused on the defendant’s own words about the Las Vegas shooting that stunned the hip-hop world. The case remained unsolved for decades before Davis’ public interviews and 2019 memoir helped revive scrutiny of the killing.

“Under California and Nevada law, if you are the shot-caller, if you hand the gun to somebody, even if you didn’t pull the trigger, it’s all the same,” said NBC4 legal analyst Royal Oakes.

Prosecutors revisited those recordings during closing arguments, claiming the case is “drenched in circumstantial evidence.” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight.

Palal acknowledged Davis’ account changed over the years, but insisted a key element remained the same — Davis placing himself in the Cadillac.

Palal also told jurors the drive-by shooting was planned, suggesting premeditation warranting a conviction on a first-degree murder charge. He pointed to testimony and Davis’ accounts that the group initially searched for Shakur before later spotting him on the road and making a U-turn near the Strip.

“It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Palal said.

Prosecutors also played short clips of Davis’ YouTube interviews, during which he implored viewers to buy his book for what he referred to as “the real truth.” In one clip, Davis shared harsh words about Shakur and the attack at the MGM Grand.

Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand, was riding in a BMW when a white Cadillac pulled up next to it at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. The driver of the BMW, Knight, survived.

In a 2008 police interview played for jurors, Davis said he provided the gun and his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, opened fire. The other men in the Cadillac have since died, limiting eyewitness testimony.

“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Palal told jurors during opening statements. “Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.

“Now, 30 years later, we’re going to ask you to finally hold Duane Davis accountable.” 

Davis’ attorneys have disputed the statements and fought unsuccessfully to get them excluded. Attorney Michael Sanft told jurors his client’s words did not represent the truth.

During the defense’s closing argument, attorney Michael Sanft described his client’s words as braggadocio meant to make money, not the truth. He pointed to a lack of physical evidence placing Davis in the Cadillac with the shooter.

Davis wasn’t previously charged because law enforcement knew that he was “full of crap,” Sanft said earlier in the trial.

But prosecutors attempted to portray Davis as an influential gang member. Among the final prosecution witnesses to testify was a former Compton gang detective who characterized Davis as a high-ranking “shot caller.”

Davis’ ultimate authority meant younger gang members would not have opened fire on Shakur with Davis present unless he allowed it, said Robert Ladd, a former Compton police officer who investigated gang homicides in the southern Los Angeles County community.

Davis did not testify.

“Very smart move for him not to testify because in this situation the prosecution was unable to come up with any corroborating evidence of his guilt,” Oakes said. “They can’t really establish, really, that he was in Las Vegas, much less that he was in that car.

“Now, he confessed all that in his memoir, to the police in 08 and 09, podcast interviews, but is that going to be enough,” Oakes said. “Critically, there were inconsistencies in the stories he told that allowed the defense to argue he was just makin it up, he wanted street cred.”

The shooting marked a flashpoint in a dispute with roots in the long-running feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang Knight and Shakur were affiliated with, and the South Side Compton Crips, for whom Davis was a prominent leader. Ladd testified that Shakur’s shooting triggered a 10-day war in Compton between the South Side Crips and Mob Piru, resulting in three killings and 10 attempted murders.

Other witnesses called by the prosecution included former law enforcement officers, including the first to respond to the scene of the shooting; the man who snapped what is believed to be the last photo of Shakur before the shooting; and a former Mob Piru member who helped Knight with security.

Shakur remains a cultural icon and is considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. He was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

After his death, Shakur and his influence lived on. He received a posthumous star in 2023 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a street named after him in Oakland, and will be a character in the upcoming video adventure game “Stranger than Heaven.”

The singer and TikTok star known as D4vd pleaded not guilty Monday and was appointed a new attorney at his arraignment on murder and other charges in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, was assigned a new attorney from the public defender’s office during the hearing in a Los Angeles courtroom. His now-former attorney, Blair Berk, told the judge during the brief hearing that her team wishes to step down as counsel.

The judge asked Burke whether that was his wish, to which he replied, “Yes.”

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Burke had already entered a plea of not guilty to charges in a criminal complaint against him. Monday’s plea was to evidence presented at the July preliminary hearing.

His former legal team issued a statement Monday about the change of counsel.

“This morning the court granted out request to withdraw as counsel and appoint the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office after it was determined that David qualified for appointed counsel,” the attorneys said in a joint statement. “We continue to support David and his defense against these serious charges. We are grateful that the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office has taken over the representation and that David has a highly capable and committed team of attorneys and investigators behind him.”

Deputy Public Defender Walid Kandeel was appointed to represent Burke.

“The Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office has been appointed to represent David Burke,” Kandeel said. “We recognize the loss of life underlying the allegations and extend our sympathies to those who are grieving. At the same time, David Burke is entitled to a defense that takes his circumstances seriously and carefully examines the evidence. We are committed to providing him with that defense.

The next proceeding in the case is a status conference on Oct. 19. A trial would be held within 90 days of that date.

“As soon as the defense is ready to proceed, the DA’s office will proceed,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.

Burke was arrested April 16 in the months-long investigation that began after decomposing remains were discovered in September 2025 inside the storage area of his abandoned Tesla. The car was impounded after it had been parked for an extended period in a Hollywood Hills neighborhood not far from a rental property where Burke had been living.

Police said Celeste’s death likely occurred in the spring of last year. The medical examiner’s office said the cause of death was multiple penetrating injuries caused by and object or objects, which indicates a stabbing.

Burke was charged April 20 with first-degree murder, including special circumstances allegations that can increase sentencing penalties. He also faces one count each of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains.

Celeste, who disappeared in the Lake Elsinore area in 2024, was identified through forensics. She had been last seen April 5, 2024, in the western Riverside County community.

Burke was ordered to stand trial after a five-day hearing in July when a significant amount of evidence was presented in the case. Disturbing photos, details from forensics investigators and text messages, some from the night authorities said they believe Celeste was killed, were shown by prosecutors.

At a news conference after the judge’s ruling, Hochman said prosecutors methodically presented evidence that included a detailed yearslong timeline of interactions between Burke and Celeste at ages 12, 13 and 14.

Text exchanges were presented at the July hearing, including several from April 22 and 23, 2025, the date prosecutors said they believe Celeste was killed. They included messages in which Celeste threatened to end D4vd’s lucrative music career and the two argued over Burke’s relationship with another girl or woman.

The text messages indicated Burke called for a ride-share pickup on the night of April 23, 2025, at Celeste’s family home in Lake Elsinore to his Hollywood Hills residence.

At 10:10 p.m., Burke texted that the front door was open, according to the messages presented in court. At 10:31 p.m., he texted again to ask for an update on her location. The detective testified that Celeste’s death was likely within that 21-minute window between texts.

Burke’s phone and the Tesla left the residence around 11:30 p.m. and all communication between his phone and Celeste’s stopped after April 26, the detective said.

When questioning the detective, defense attorney Blair Berk — who is no longer his counsel after Monday’s hearing — argued that the text messages suggest it was Celeste who demanded to see him that night after he initially resisted.

She emphasized that the girl’s friends, family and other were aware of the relationship. Monday’s evidence included a notarized child consent form that revealed Celeste’s parents allow her to visit London with Burke in 2024.

Celeste’s decomposed body was found Sept. 8, 2025, after workers at Hollywood Tow reported a strong odor coming from the Tesla registered to the singer. Officers opened the front trunk, also known as a frunk, and found the remains in two cadaver bags.

They were found a day after what would have been Celeste’s 15th birthday.

Burke faces several special circumstances allegations, which can increase penalties at sentencing, including lying in wait, murder for financial gain, murdering a witnesses in an investigation and an allegation that Burke personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a sharp instrument, to commit the crime, Hochman said.

The financial gain allegation stemmed from the singer’s music career, which was being threatened by his alleged sexual relationship with the underage girl, Hochman said. Celeste was considered the key witness in that investigation, warranting the allegation of murdering a witness, he said.

Prosecutors told a judge at a hearing in mid-April that devices belonging to Burke contained a “significant amount” of child pornography.

Hochman said possible sentences, if Burke is convicted as charged, include life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. A decision will be made at a later date.

The “Romantic Homicide” singer’s world tour was in Minneapolis at the time of the discovery with a stop in Kansas City the next day. A representative told NBCLA at the time that D4vd was cooperating with authorities in their investigation.

D4vd is a singer-songwriter who rose to fame with viral hits on TikTok, where he has 3.8 million followers. That success led to signings with Darkroom and Interscope Records.

Born in Queens, New York, Burke moved to Texas in his early teens and gained a following on YouTube playing Fortnite and other online games. He started creating original music, some of which went viral on TikTok.

D4vd released his debut album “Withered” in April 2025 and embarked on a world tour.

In an interview on the “Zach Sang Show,” D4vd said the 4 substituted for the a in his name was for search-engine optimization and a representation of four cinematic universes with various characters that he was creating.

Closing arguments were delivered Monday in the Tupac Shakur murder trial after weeks of testimony that largely focused on past interviews and other comments about the killing from the only person to ever face criminal charges in the rap icon’s 1996 shooting death in Las Vegas.

After prosecutors and defense attorney made their final statements, juror began deliberations Monday afternoon in the case of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, who faces one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon with gang enhancements. The former gang leader isn’t accused of firing the gunshots that killed Shakur at age 25, but prosecutors have portrayed him as a shot-caller who orchestrated the attack as retribution for a casino lobby brawl earlier on the night of Sept. 7, 1996 that involved involving Shakur, his entourage and Davis’ nephew.

Crime and Courts Aug 28

What to know about key testimony in the Tupac Shakur murder trial

Celebrity News Aug 11

Who was there the night Tupac Shakur was killed in Las Vegas?

The panel of 10 women and six men heard from two dozen witnesses for the prosecution and three for the defense.

During the delivery of jury instructions Monday, the judge noted that Davis is accused in an indictment alleging an open charge of murder. The charge may include first- or second-degree murder, a decision that will be left to the jury if they deliver a conviction.

Much of the prosecution’s case focused on the defendant’s own words about the Las Vegas shooting that stunned the hip-hop world. The case remained unsolved for decades before Davis’ public interviews and 2019 memoir helped revive scrutiny of the killing.

“Under California and Nevada law, if you are the shot-caller, if you hand the gun to somebody, even if you didn’t pull the trigger, it’s all the same,” said NBC4 legal analyst Royal Oakes.

Prosecutors revisited those recordings during closing arguments, claiming the case if “drenched in circumstantial evidence.” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight.

Palal acknowledge Davis’ account changed over the years, but insisted a key element remained the same — Davis placing himself in the Cadillac.

Palal also told jurors the drive-by shooting was planned, suggesting premeditation warranting a conviction on a first-degree murder charge. He pointed to testimony and Davis’ accounts that the group initially searched for Shakur before later spotting him on the road and making a U-turn near the Strip.

“It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Palal said.

Prosecutors also played short clips of Davis’ YouTube interviews, during which he implored viewers to buy his book for what he referred to as “the real truth.” In one clip, Davis shared harsh words about Shakur and the attack at the MGM Grand.

Shakur, who in Las Vegas for a heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand, was riding in a BMW when a white Cadillac pulled up next to it at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. The driver of the BMW, Knight, survived.

In a 2008 police interview played for jurors, Davis said he provided the gun and his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, opened fire. The other men in the Cadillac have since died, limiting eyewitness testimony.

“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Palal told jurors during opening statements. “Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.

“Now, 30 years later, we’re going to ask you to finally hold Duane Davis accountable,” 

Davis’ attorneys have disputed the statements and fought unsuccessfully to get them excluded. Attorney Michael Sanft told jurors his client’s words did not represent the truth.

During the defense’s closing argument, attorney Michael Sanft described his client’s words as braggadocio meant to make money, not the truth. He pointed to a lack of physical evidence placing Davis in the Cadillac with the shooter.

Davis wasn’t previously charged because law enforcement knew that he was “full of crap,” Sanft said earlier in the trial.

But prosecutors attempted to portray Davis as an influential gang member. Among the final prosecution witnesses to testify was a former Compton gang detective who characterized Davis as a high-ranking “shot caller.”

Davis’ ultimate authority meant younger gang members would not have opened fire on Shakur with Davis present unless he allowed it, said Robert Ladd, a former Compton police officer who investigated gang homicides in the southern Los Angeles County community.

Davis did not testify.

“Very smart move for him not to testify because in this situation the prosecution was unable to come up with any corroborating evidence of his guilt,” Oakes said. “They can’t really establish really that he was in Las Vegas, much less that he was in that car.

“Now, he confessed all that in his memoir, to the police in 08 and 09, podcast interviews, but is that going to be enough,” Oakes said. “Critically, there were inconsistencies in the stories he told that allowed the defense to argue he was just makin it up, he wanted street cred.”

The shooting marked a critical flashpoint in a dispute with roots in the long-running feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang Knight and Shakur were affiliated with, and the South Side Compton Crips, for whom Davis was a prominent leader. Ladd testified that Shakur’s shooting triggered a 10-day war in Compton between the South Side Crips and Mob Piru, resulting in three killings and 10 attempted murders.

Other witnesses called by the prosecution included former law enforcement officers, including the first to respond to the scene of the shooting; the man who snapped what is believed to be the last photo of Shakur before the shooting; and a former Mob Piru member who helped Knight with security.

Shakur remains a cultural icon and is considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. He was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

After his death, Shakur and his influence lived on. He received a posthumous star in 2023 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a street named after him in Oakland, and will be a character in the upcoming video adventure game “Stranger than Heaven.”

If convicted, Davis faces life in prison.

Jurors in the closely watched Lindsay Clancy trial began deliberating last week, but did not reach a verdict on Monday.

Monday deliberations started after defense attorney Kevin Reddington criticized two national journalists as he entered court.

The jurors have a lot to consider.

Over the past five weeks, the jury heard testimony from doctors, first responders, relatives and even Clancy’s former husband. It now weighs the question of whether she should be held criminally responsible for killing her three young children at her Massachusetts home in 2023.

Both sides agree Clancy did it. But her attorneys argue the former labor and delivery nurse was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time, and that poor mental healthcare exacerbated her condition. Prosecutors argue she intentionally planned the killings.

If Clancy is convicted, her sentence could be as severe as life in prison. If she’s found not guilty, she may be released or remain confined in a mental health facility.

As the jury continues deliberating, here are moments from the trial they may be considering.

Clancy’s former husband made anguished 911 call

Clancy’s former husband, Patrick Clancy, was first to take the stand.

In emotional testimony, he described the day he found his wife after she tried to kill herself.

Lindsay Clancy had sent him out to get takeout food and medication for their daughter, which prosecutors argue was an excuse to get him out of the house.

He came home to find the house unusually silent, before finding blood throughout the main bedroom and a window open.

Jurors listened to the 911 call Patrick Clancy made after finding his wife outside in the snow. Clancy can be heard speaking with his wife, then tells the dispatcher he’s going to check on the children.

Moments later, he howls and cries after finding his children in the basement. The confused dispatcher repeatedly asks what happened.

“She killed the kids!” he yells.

Everyone knew Clancy was struggling

Clancy’s mother, mother-in-law, sister, friends and co-workers testified that Clancy struggled with her mental health after giving birth to Callan, the youngest of her three children.

Clancy’s mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, said she and her former daughter-in-law were close. Both worked as labor and delivery nurses. She described Lindsay as a wonderful mother.

But Susan Clancy testified that Lindsay had become anxious, paranoid and suicidal, and that the psychiatric care she was getting wasn’t helping.

“She felt unwell. She had insomnia. She was losing her appetite. She was very anxious and sad,” Susan Clancy said. “She was begging for help.”

Lindsay Clancy’s mother, Paula Musgrove, testified that her daughter was scared of sleeping alone, became paranoid and believed the medications she was taking “were destroying her mind.”

“Mom, will you please come up and stay with me for a bit? I’m really sick. Something is wrong,” Clancy wrote in an October 2022 text message that Paula Musgrove read in court. “I had horrible insomnia all night, and I just don’t know how I am going to get through the day. … It’s just really scary, and I don’t want to be alone.”

The defense questioned the quality of Clancy’s medical care

Clancy saw several doctors about her declining mental health, and eventually checked herself in to a psychiatric hospital.

Her lawyer, Reddington, argued that she was misdiagnosed and overmedicated.

As he cross-examined one of her psychiatrists, Dr. Jennifer Tufts, Reddington questioned her expertise, prescribing decisions and use of 25-minute video appointments with limited time for talk therapy.

At one point, Reddington implied that Tufts was a box-checking “robot.”

“What did you do? You had a woman who was telling you she felt hopeless,” he asked as they discussed an appointment about two months before the killings.

“I told her that this was something we could address, that there was hope, that there are treatments, that there are different types of programs,” Tufts said, “so she knew that she still had options and a reason to hope.”

Clancy said she heard a voice telling her to kill

Paul Zeizel, a clinical and forensic psychologist who visited Lindsay Clancy in the hospital after she killed the children, testified that he overheard her saying that a disembodied male voice had told her she had no choice but to kill her children and then herself. Zeizel said he believed Clancy wasn’t responsible for her actions because of her deep mental illness.

Prosecutors called a rebuttal witness, forensic psychologist Kirk Heilbrun, who said he didn’t believe Clancy had hallucinated voices.

“One of the things that she said when I asked about what happened, is that in the course of strangling each child, she said, ‘Go to God, baby. Go to God,’” he said. “That was part of her expectation that she and the children would be together in heaven with God.”

Dr. Gregory Saathoff, a senior psychiatrist for the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, testified for prosecutors that Clancy “had the capacity to know right from wrong.”

The lawyers got the last word

After testimony was complete, each side got about an hour to make their closing argument to the jury.

Reddington showed the jury a photograph of the Clancy family, looking happy, and a second one of Lindsay Clancy in the hospital.

“How does this turn into this?” Reddington asked. “How? Because of the damn medicine and the lousy medical care that she got.”

Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague said criticizing the mental health system was “a distraction.” She said Clancy chose to kill her children because doing so would make it easier to kill herself.

“She was depressed. She was exhausted. She was done. She didn’t want to try anymore. She felt damaged,” Sprague said. “But those kids, those kids were her protective factor. Those kids were keeping her from ending her misery.”

Lately at work or while running errands, she has seen people wearing Shakur shirts. The late rapper’s presence is everywhere since the Las Vegas trial began, she says, calling it a hopeful sign that answers are coming in the death of her favorite artist.

“His spirit wants this to come out and wants this to get justice,” Williams said.

Crime and Courts Aug 28

What to know about key testimony in the Tupac Shakur murder trial

Celebrity News Aug 20

Jury hears Duane Davis' 2008 interview with authorities in Tupac Shakur murder trial

Nearly 30 years after Shakur’s death, the trial of the only person ever charged in his killing has drawn fans back to a loss many of them never stopped carrying. For them, the case not only offers the person who may be responsible for Shakur’s death, but a chance for resolution after decades spent keeping his music, message and memory alive.

Former Southern California street gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis has pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

After his death in 1996, Shakur and his influence lived on through fans and pop culture. He received a posthumous star in 2023 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a street named after him in Oakland, California, and will be a character in the upcoming video adventure game “Stranger than Heaven.”

Fans see Shakur as a revolutionary

There’s no official memorial to Tupac where he was shot on the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996. But visitors stop at the intersection and fans gather regularly on his birthday, June 16, adding messages to a utility pole that is covered in remembrances, such as “RIP King,” “Tupac 4 Life” and “Gone but never forgotten.”

They leave balloons, cake or his favorite type of brandy, Hennessy. On a strip of concrete nearby, someone painted a rose with the phrase “the rose that grew from concrete,” a reference to Shakur’s posthumous book of poetry.

Atlanta resident Julie Hardy has been to the memorial three times on Shakur’s birthday to pay her respects.

“People still care, and he has not been forgotten,” said Hardy, 56.

For fans like Hardy, Shakur is more than just a rapper. Hardy categorized Shakur, the son of a Black Panther, among the likes of Black activists such as Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King Jr. because he wrote about the “revolution” and the ups and downs the Black community faces, she said.

Shakur’s philosophy that he dubbed T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E, which stood for “the hate U give little infants f—-s everybody,” called for the uplifting of marginalized communities and demanded accountability from systems that oppressed Black people and the youth.

Hardy gravitated toward Shakur when she was 19 living in Cincinnati, Ohio, and her cousin showed her Shakur’s first solo album, “2Pacalypse Now.”

Shakur’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby” resonated with Hardy because of the high rate of teen pregnancy at the time, she said. His song “Soulja’s Story” inspired her to write hip-hop songs because it told a story of things she also saw growing up in Black communities, such as police and gun violence.

When she saw on the news that he was shot, she called everyone she knew. Hardy then went to her friend’s house and prayed, hoping Shakur would survive like he did when he was shot in a robbery in November 1994.

She felt like a family member passed when she learned he died days later a hospital. He was 25.

“We looked up to him as an icon and a revolutionary, and now we’re looking up to him as a legend,” Hardy said.

Shakur inspired others in songwriting

Din “Lil Therapy” Malone took a bus from Denver, Colorado, to watch the trial in Las Vegas.

Malone was introduced to Shakur when he was 13 years old watching Shakur in his breakout starring role as a troubled teen in the 1992 movie “Juice.” Then, he started listening to his music.

“Tupac taught me how to translate my tears into words,” said Malone, a songwriter and artist. Outside of an overflow room in the courthouse, Malone wore a Shakur shirt and played Shakur’s music on his phone’s speaker.

Shakur wrote about his own hardships, and inspired Malone to do the same, putting into words experiences of being bullied as a kid or mourning family deaths, Malone said. He grew up in a Crips-run neighborhood in Denver and — like Shakur — learned how to “live through the hood.”

Shakur’s song “It Ain’t Easy” spoke to Malone about the importance of persevering when life isn’t easy. Even though he never met the rapper, he said he felt like he lost an older brother.

Shakur’s legacy continues

Williams, a North Carolina resident, runs a Facebook fan page for Shakur called All Eyez on Pac that has over 25,000 followers.

The 38-year-old has loved Shakur ever since she watched “Poetic Justice,” the 1993 movie starring Shakur as a postal worker and Janet Jackson as a grieving hairdresser. One of the first Shakur songs she heard was “Dear Mama,” and she said she was touched by Shakur’s deep love for his mother, Afeni Shakur.

Over the years, Williams watched every video about Shakur and every interview of people who knew him, she said.

“That’s what made me create the page because I really truly have a love for Tupac,” she said.

She saw Shakur as a sweet, kind-hearted person who was misunderstood. Shakur wasn’t perfect. He was convicted of sexual assault and acquitted on more serious charges in a sex abuse case in 1994. He was sentenced to 18 months to over 4 years in prison, but served nearly eight months before he was released. But Shakur was human, Williams said.

Some fans who sat in the courtroom during the trial still don’t believe Shakur died, believing he faked his own death and is living in Cuba.

Williams said she was in denial when she first saw Shakur’s autopsy photos but sadly came around to realize he was gone

“He would want to have justice,” she said. “He would want to keep his name and legacy alive.”

Clancy, 36, is accused of murdering her three children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months — on Jan. 24, 2023, before she threw herself out her bedroom window in a failed suicide attempt.

Prosecutors spent nearly six weeks presenting their case to jurors in the murder trial. They called 70 witnesses in an attempt to show that the mother planned the deaths, driving her husband from home so she could carry out the acts.

Her defense attorneys have said that Clancy was in the grips of postpartum psychosis, a rare condition that can alter new mothers’ sense of reality and is considered a psychiatric emergency. Her condition, they told jurors, compelled her to act on the voices in her head that were telling her to kill her three children and herself. For months, she had been seeking help from doctors and medical professionals.

The prosecution and defense made their closing arguments Thursday, and the jury began deliberating that afternoon.

The trial has raised questions about the type of care Clancy received. Clancy’s medical providers have said they adjusted her treatment as needed and based on her responses to the medications she was prescribed. At times, the medical providers testified, they did not have full access to her medical record and did not coordinate with one another. It was also unclear when Clancy stopped taking medications and began to take new ones.

Dr. Veerle Bergink, the director of Mount Sinai’s Women’s Mental Health Center, told NBC News that testimony about Clancy’s providers shows that “during multiple occasions, the diagnosis was missed and she did not get the right treatment.” Bergink, who specializes in mental health during pregnancy and postpartum, said Clancy’s adverse reaction to the antidepressants she was taking could have been “a major clue” that her diagnosis went beyond postpartum depression and that she needed different medication for postpartum psychosis.

Dr. Tracy Moran Vozar, a psychologist and perinatal mental health expert, said Clancy’s case exemplifies the systemic issues and lack of communication across the healthcare system, especially when it comes to patients with serious mental health illness who see multiple providers across different systems. Neither doctor personally treated Clancy.

“It’s very tragic, of course, for her, her family, and everything that happened,” Bergink said. “But it’s a tragedy for doctors, as well.”

Court testimony and documents from the trial provide a timeline of the care Clancy sought and received in the months before the killings.

September 2022

On Sept. 15, 2022, Clancy first met with Dr. Jennifer Tufts, a psychiatrist at Aster Mental Health, more than three months after her youngest child, Callan, was born. Tufts treated Clancy through January 2023. Clancy reported she was experiencing anxiety attacks, depressed mood, being unable to feel pleasure, guilt, decreased appetite, racing thoughts and other symptoms, Tufts testified in court. She said Clancy responded “no” to questions about whether she was hearing voices or having thoughts about harming herself or others.

Tufts diagnosed Clancy with generalized anxiety disorder and an adjustment disorder with depressed mood, which is when someone is reacting or struggling with a stressful change more intensely than expected.

She also prescribed Clancy a standard dose of the antidepressant sertraline, known by the brand name Zoloft, at a dose of 25 milligrams, then increased to 50 mg. Tufts testified that Clancy had previously taken Zoloft for about a week after the birth of her second child, according to NBC Boston.

October

Tufts testified that in October, Clancy felt “awful” after her dose of Zoloft was increased and that she was feeling more depressed, “crying all day” and having trouble eating and sleeping, among other symptoms, according to NBC Boston.

“Anxiety was really bad even before med, now hard to differentiate. Overnight racing thoughts, paranoid of getting suicidal thoughts, something bad happening. Doesn’t want to be alone,” Tufts said, reading from her records, according to NBC Boston. Tufts said she was “very concerned” about Clancy at this point. She told Clancy to stop taking the Zoloft.

Through the end of the month, Tufts and Clancy met again, and she was prescribed the benzodiazepine lorazepam, known by the brand name Ativan, the anti-anxiety medication buspirone and the antihistamine hydroxyzine, according to the defense and court testimony.

November

Clancy’s attorney Kevin Reddington said at the trial that Clancy had gotten much worse by the next appointment on Nov. 2, despite the medications she was taking, according to NBC Boston. Reddington said Tufts said that Clancy’s insomnia had increased, that she had anxiety and that she was worrying about suicide.

Tufts testified that during that appointment she said Clancy was “improving” and therefore decreased the Ativan, according to NBC Boston. Tufts responded to Reddington that she did not recall that the symptoms were significantly aggravated. On Nov. 16, Clancy went to the South Shore Hospital emergency room, where she was prescribed the antidepressant trazodone.

Days later, on Nov. 21, psychiatric nurse practitioner Julie Paul saw Clancy at South Shore Perinatal Behavioral Health clinic after Clancy’s former mother-in-law contacted the doctor, according to NBC Boston. Paul prescribed the antidepressant fluoxetine, known under the brand name Prozac, at 10 mg.

Paul testified that during this time, Clancy “was feeling overwhelmed” and that she had increased anxiety as her husband returned to work after the birth of their child. Clancy also described having issues with sleeping. During a follow-up visit the next day, Tufts testified, Clancy denied having any suicidal ideation.

On Nov. 25, Paul prescribed Clancy the antidepressant mirtazapine, known by the brand name Remeron, at 5 mg; the benzodiazepine clonazepam, known as the brand name Klonopin, at 0.5 mg; and the anti-insomnia medication zolpidem, known by the brand name Ambien, according to the defense. At this time, Clancy also reported having had an adverse reaction to Prozac, according to the defense. Clancy told Paul she was feeling disconnected and “spacey” after having taken the medication, according to Paul’s testimony, so they switched to mirtazapine.

Clancy reported dissociation and confusion to her care team on Nov. 28 after having taken Remeron, according to a defense timeline of when Clancy sought care. Two days later, psychiatric nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta prescribed the antipsychotic Seroquel at 25 mg. Jollotta took over Clancy’s care after Paul left South Shore Perinatal Behavioral Health clinic.

December

In December, Clancy also continued meeting with Tufts. As her symptoms continued, she called a suicide crisis hotline and sought inpatient treatment — which she was turned away from, according to the defense and trial testimony.

Tufts said that during a visit on Dec. 1, Clancy denied feeling suicidal but felt “close to being suicidal.”

Clancy said she was having difficulty sleeping because of the multiple medications she was taking, Tufts said.

Clancy told Tufts she had “worse depression and intrusive thoughts” after having taken Remeron, along with “the feeling that I was going to die,” according to court testimony.

Reddington, Clancy’s lawyer, asked Tufts at the trial, “You’ve got a woman telling you she’s hopeless, she doesn’t care if she dies, she can’t sleep, what did you do to validate your therapy?”

“I told her that this was something we could address, there was hope, there were treatments,” Tufts replied, according to NBC Boston.

They also discussed the possibility of undiagnosed bipolar disorder, with Tufts testifying that Clancy did not appear to have mania at the time.

On Dec. 2, Clancy returned to the South Shore Hospital behavioral clinic. Latiesha Dukes, a perinatal clinician who provided short-term therapy for Clancy, said that during her intake appointment, Clancy presented with concerns of anxiety, lack of sleep and thoughts of wanting to die, according to NBC Boston.

Dukes testified that Clancy reported “having low mood and feeling numb” during the appointment.

She said she met with Clancy four times and did not observe any signs of mania or psychosis. She said she referred Clancy to Women & Infants Hospital in Rhode Island because of “continued passive suicidal ideation.” Clancy went to the hospital but was discharged.

On Dec. 4, Clancy called a suicide crisis hotline. She met with Dukes again the next day and told her that she had called the Aspire crisis line and was evaluated by a clinician but was told “she did not meet the criteria for inpatient treatment due to not having any suicidal ideation plan,” Dukes testified.

From Dec. 6 to Dec. 13, Jollotta prescribed the benzodiazepine diazepam, known by the brand name Valium, at different doses and also increased Clancy’s Seroquel dose.

Days later, on Dec. 15, Patrick Clancy contacted providers to report worsening symptoms, according to the defense’s timeline chart.

The next day, Clancy met with Tufts, when, according to Tufts’ testimony, Clancy was “sleeping but she was still feeling very poorly.”

Tufts testified that Clancy continued to feel hopeless and depressed and had some suicidal ideation but that she denied having a plan to hurt herself. Tufts prescribed the mood stabilizer lamotrigine, known by the brand name Lamictal.

“While she was certainly struggling, she did not require hospitalization at that point,” Tufts said, according to NBC Boston.

Reddington asked Tufts on the stand whether she knew Clancy had told her then-husband that she was having thoughts about harming the children, according to NBC Boston.

“I would have been very concerned if I had heard that,” Tufts said.

On Dec. 19, Jollotta increased Clancy’s Seroquel dose. The next day, Clancy visited the Massachusetts General Hospital emergency room, according to a chart from the defense.

Over the next few days, she was evaluated for and participated in the Women and Infants Partial Hospitalization Program for patients with postpartum depression, according to the defense’s chart. Jollotta lowered Clancy’s Seroquel dose.

But by Dec. 30, Clancy had returned to the Massachusetts General Hospital emergency room, according to the defense’s chart.

January 2023

On New Year’s Day, Clancy arrived at McLean Hospital from the emergency department at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Alia Goodheart, a psychiatrist, testified that Clancy’s main complaint was that she was having trouble sleeping and felt “numb,” according to NBC Boston. Clancy also complained that she was having side effects from the medication she was taking.

Two days later, Clancy met Goodheart for the first time. Goodheart testified that Clancy said she was feeling “numbness” but did not indicate any plan for suicide, according to NBC Boston.

Goodheart said in court that the potential for a bipolar disorder diagnosis came up during the sessions.

She said she did not observe signs of psychosis from Clancy.

On Jan. 5, Clancy left McLean Hospital. She had been prescribed trazodone and Ativan. Goodheart testified that she did not have concerns about her safety or worry that she was a risk to anyone else.

Clancy had an appointment with Tufts the day after she left McLean Hospital. She was diagnosed with “major depression,” Tufts said at the trial, according to NBC Boston. She continued to report numbness and having trouble sleeping, Tufts testified.

From Jan. 9 through Jan. 16, Tufts adjusted Clancy’s prescriptions, including prescribing her Valium at different doses and trazadone, and Jollotta also prescribed her Valium, according to the defense’s chart.

On Jan. 16, Clancy had another appointment with Tufts, who prescribed the antidepressant amitriptyline. Clancy again told Tufts she was feeling numb and that bonding with her infant son felt forced, Tufts testified, according to NBC Boston. Tufts said she was “concerned that she was depressed.”

Clancy had her last appointment with Tufts on Jan. 23. Tufts testified that Clancy still had a depressed mood and felt numb and that she said she had to force herself out of bed, according to NBC Boston. Tufts testified that Clancy reported no signs of suicidal or homicidal ideation and showed no signs of psychosis.

The next day, authorities allege, she killed her three children and tried to die by suicide.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in emotional distress, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For additional resources, visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.

More than two dozen witnesses provided testimony this month before defense attorneys rested their case in the murder trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur.

The long-awaited trial is headed to closing arguments, scheduled for Monday in a Nevada courtroom where the defense called three former Las Vegas police officers to testify Thursday as their final witnesses.

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After closing arguments and jury instructions, the panel of 10 women and six men could begin deliberations in the only criminal trial in the killing of the hip-hop icon. The presentation of evidence ended after nine days of testimony.

Davis, 63, described as a gang shot-caller, did not take the stand. He isn’t accused of firing the gunshots that killed Shakur at age 25 in 1996, but prosecutors argued that he orchestrated the killing in response to a brawl earlier that night involving Shakur, his entourage and Davis’ nephew.

Shakur, in Las Vegas for a heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand, was riding in a BMW on Sept. 7, 1996, when a white Cadillac pulled up next to it at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. The driver of the BMW, Marion “Suge” Knight, survived.

Years later, Davis said he procured the gun and his nephew, who has since died, fired the shots.

Davis faces life in prison if convicted of murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang. He pleaded not guilty.

Defense attorney Michael Sanft has argued that Davis fabricated or embellished his accounts of the killing for money and notoriety and that investigators failed to independently corroborate his claims.

Key testimony from defense witnesses

Three witnesses were called by the defense to testify. Retired Las Vegas homicide detective Dan Long, the defense’s final witness, testified that he tried unsuccessfully to verify several details Davis provided during a 2009 police interview.

Davis told Long that his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, had gone to a Las Vegas hospital after being beaten by Shakur and others in a casino brawl hours before the rapper was fatally shot. Long said he was unable to find hospital records confirming Anderson was treated there.

Long also tried unsuccessfully to locate records for a white Cadillac that Davis said had been rented before the shooting.

Asked by a juror whether he had been able to verify that Davis was actually in the Cadillac the night Shakur was killed, Long said Davis himself told him he was in the car and that the shooting came from it.

On follow-up questioning by Sanft, Long acknowledged he had no independent facts outside of what Davis told him confirming he was in the Cadillac.

Prosecutors countered that Davis’ account matched information already developed by investigators. On cross-examination, Long testified that Davis identified the same four men investigators already believed were in the Cadillac when Shakur was shot.

Long also said he returned to Las Vegas after interviewing Davis in 2009 intending to seek an arrest warrant for murder because he believed there was probable cause, but prosecutors at the time told him to stand down while they reviewed the matter.

The defense also called two former Las Vegas police officers who were assigned to keep the peace at Knight’s home on the night of the shooting. They testified about vehicles entering and leaving the gated residence, including a cream- or white-colored Cadillac.

Key testimony from prosecution witnesses

The case remained unsolved for decades before Davis’ public interviews and 2019 memoir helped revive scrutiny of the killing. Those elements were key parts of the prosecution’s case over the course of the Nevada trial

Prosecutors rested Wednesday after calling 24 witnesses.

On Wednesday, prosecutors played short clips of Davis’ YouTube interviews, during which he implored viewers to buy his book for what he referred to as “the real truth.” In one clip, Davis shared harsh words about Shakur and the attack at the MGM Grand.

Prosecutors also played a clip from earlier in the trial when Davis appeared to mouth words toward a witness testifying about the rivalry between Death Row Records and Bad Boy Entertainment.

Among the final prosecution witnesses to testify was a former Compton gang detective who characterized Davis as a high-ranking “shot caller.” Davis’ ultimate authority meant younger gang members would not have opened fire on Shakur with Davis present unless he allowed it, said Robert Ladd, a former Compton police officer who investigated gang homicides in the southern Los Angeles County community.

Ladd described Davis as a leader of the South Side Compton Crips who could order younger members to act. Ladd testified that Shakur’s shooting triggered a 10-day war in Compton between the South Side Crips and Mob Piru, resulting in three killings and 10 attempted murders.

Asked Tuesday who would have been the leader among the four men in the Cadillac, Ladd answered, “Mr. Davis.”

Defense attorney Michael Sanft emphasized the lack of physical evidence supporting that theory. Ladd acknowledged that, aside from Davis’ own admissions, he had no physical evidence placing Davis in Las Vegas that night and no phone records showing Davis ordered the shooting.

Other witnesses called by the prosecution included former law enforcement officers, including the first to respond to the scene of the shooting; the man who snapped what is believed to be the last photo of Shakur before the shooting; and a former Mob Piru member who helped Knight with security. Jurors also heard audio of Davis’ previous interviews.

Several quarters placed on a table during closing arguments became a key part of a strategy for both the defense and the prosecution in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial on Thursday.

Prosecutors say Clancy strangled her children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — on Jan. 24, 2023, in their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home after sending her then-husband Patrick out for some errands. She then jumped out of the home’s second-story window and was paralyzed from the waist down in the fall. The defense says she was in the grip of bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis and should not be held criminally responsible.

Many eyes are on the high-profile case and the strategies employed by the attorneys. The quarters came into play during closing arguments on Thursday.

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington put coins down as he made points he wanted jurors to remember.

These types of theatrics can be a useful tool in making a point during a legal case, explained legal expert Margo Lindauer on NBC10 Boston’s “Commonwealth Confidential.”

“This idea of performing your advocacy and knowing what’s going to land is part of effective closing,” she said.

Reddington “is trying to condense this very, very long trial into some very simple facts and doing so in a visual way, having four quarters, four issues, four times that he is alleging that the prosecution overstepped or misrepresented the facts, is something that is going to stay with the jury,” she explained.

NBC10 Boston courtroom insider Sue O’Connell also noted Reddington’s use of tokens, not just with the quarters but with items throughout the trial.

“The entire trial, holding up poster boards and holding up the drawer and the Apple Watch,” O’Connell said, reminded viewers of Reddington’s extensive use of props throughout the trial, including closings.

But Reddington may have made a judgment error in leaving the coins on the table after he finished his closings, the experts said on “Commonwealth Confidential.” It left an opening for prosecutor Jennifer Sprague to later pick the coins up when she disputed his points in her own closings.  

“Alternatively, that prosecutor picking those quarters up and saying, ‘Nope, not today,’ is also very powerful,” Lindaeur said.

Margaret McLean, a true crime podcaster and former prosecutor, agreed with the assessment that the prosecution’s closing arguments were powerful.

“I was really surprised,” she said. “I thought they nailed it and I was worried for them because I didn’t think they were doing the best job ever.”

“I think, wow the ending is where they really nailed it,” she continued. “They left the jurors — remember jurors are going to be focused on the victims, those child victims — left the jurors with that vision of the poor victims being left on the floor by the mother.”

The jurors were handed the case just after 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. They remained in deliberations throughout Friday and were dismissed for the day without reaching a verdict, set to continue on Monday.

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Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy trial spent all day deliberating Friday but didn’t come to a conclusion over whether she was responsible for her actions when she killed her three children in 2023.

Judge William Sullivan excused the jury for the weekend just before 4 p.m.

Clancy admits that she strangled her children, but her lawyer said she did it because she’d lost her grip on reality due to postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness that can follow childbirth. The killings followed a monthslong period during which Clancy had sought treatment for her worsening mental health, including a stay in a psychiatric hospital.

Prosecutors said Clancy knew what she was doing. They say she killed the children because she was depressed and tired of living, and made a conscious choice to take her children with her before killing herself.

The jury met for a few hours Thursday without reaching a verdict. Members of the panel could find her guilty of murder or the lesser crime of manslaughter, or acquit her if they decide she wasn’t in control of herself due to her psychiatric problems.

On Friday, court returned to session briefly, and Judge William Sullivan called the prosecution and defense to a sidebar conversation. It was not immediately clear what was said, with jurors out of the courtroom.

Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, said later that the jury had asked to see a bloody knife that Clancy used in an attempt to take her life along with bags containing empty prescription pill bottles that were found in her house.

Speaking to reporters as he first entered the courtroom Friday morning, Reddington said Clancy was “very sad, scared,” and had those feelings since the killings.

Asked why, he responded: “What would you be scared of?”

He said he hoped the jury would come back with a verdict on Friday, but acknowledged deliberations could take longer.

“There are 290-something exhibits, five weeks of testimony,” he said. “It’s obviously a lot of work. They have been very attentive. I don’t know how long it will take them.”

Prosecutors haven’t spoken to the large number of reporters outside court.

Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility. She did not testify during the trial, but jurors heard at length from medical professionals who had treated her, as well as from friends and relatives she’d told about her mental health problems.

Jurors also heard from medical experts called by prosecutors and the defense, who disagreed about her likely state of mind when she killed her children Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy, ages 5, 3 and 8 months, at their Massachusetts home.

The killings happened less than three weeks after Clancy was discharged from a psychiatric hospital. She cut herself and then jumped from a second-floor window after strangling the children, but survived. She remains paralyzed from the waist down.

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If you or someone you know is struggling or in emotional distress, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

During nearly two hours in a Miami courtroom, the Tates, in shackles and tan jail jumpsuits, denied under oath criminal accusations across multiple countries, blasted their critics and described their brash online personas that exude wealth and excess as characters and not their true personalities.

The hearing ended after eight hours without a decision from U.S. Magistrate Lauren Louis, and the brothers headed back to jail.

Prosecutors rejected the brothers’ claim they are just acting. Assistant U.S. Attorney Abbie Waxman told a judge that Andrew Tate is accused of choking and holding victims and raping them while Tristan Tate is accused of human trafficking, money laundering and violence against minors.

The brothers also face sex crime charges in Romania and prosecutors said they have contacted witnesses in that case and talked about it on video.

“They promote incredible violence against women consistent with the allegations against them,” Waxman said.

Andrew Tate maintains his innocence on stand

Andrew Tate maintained his innocence on the stand. He said he can’t work with his Romanian lawyers while in jail in America and fears his absence will mean an unfair life sentence in Eastern Europe.

“If I lose a fair fight I can take it,” he said.

Lawyers for the Tates are asking a judge to allow them to be freed from custody at least until an extradition hearing can be held on their U.K. rape and trafficking charges. They have remained in a federal detention center in Miami since they were arrested July 18.

Their attorneys argued that their high profile and active social media presence make it nearly impossible for them to flee.

The U.K.’s request was out of line because their criminal case in Romania is going first. Romanian officials have let them remain free until the proceedings conclude and they have not tried to flee and are complying with all court restrictions.

The judge reminded defense attorneys she has to follow U.S. laws. Prosecutors said the serious U.K. charges increased the risk for the Tates.

No date for an extradition hearing has been set. The U.K. has until mid-September to provide evidence to the State Department.

Prosecutors say Tates bragged about wealth and multiple passports

Prosecutors said the brothers appear to have money and have bragged about multiple passports.

The Tates said their claims of wealth are largely exaggerated to boost their social media personas. They said luxury items like the $50 million yacht or $2.1 million Aston Martin car seen in their videos don’t belong to them.

But prosecutors showed a passport for “Vladimir Scorpius” from Mexico with Tristan Tate’s date of birth and photo. They said it has a real Mexican identification number. They also told the judge the brothers have shown no evidence the luxury boat or cars were rented or borrowed.

Tates have long been polarizing online

The Tates have become among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities by promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny through their social media empire.

Andrew Tate, 39, has said women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for the attacks and shared graphic descriptions of how he might attack women. Tristan Tate, 38, has worked with his brother on multiple businesses, including the production of online webcam pornography.

On his way into court Thursday, defense attorney Joseph McBride told reporters he hasn’t heard of a case where U.S. Magistrate Lauren Louis has allowed someone out on bail while awaiting an extradition hearing.

But while the odds aren’t in their favor, McBride felt like the truth was. He called them innocent, good men who have never run from the law.

Brothers testify they are taken out of context

In court, Tristan Tate was called to the stand Thursday and said he can’t prove he is innocent if he is kept in jail.

“I need to clear my name. I need to take part in these proceedings, I can’t do that from the secure housing unit,” he said.

Both brothers also complained of conditions at the Miami jail. Tristan Tate said there are ants and the only toilet in his cell is where anyone walking by can see him. He said he has lost 14 pounds eating mostly junk food in the nearly six weeks he has been in custody.

Prosecutors said prisoners are fed three balanced meals a day. They do not have access to scales, and medical records show the brothers have gained a few pounds.

Andrew Tate testified that people are confusing him with a character he plays online. He said people who accuse him of attacking women or supporting human trafficking are taking his comments out of context.

“On the internet, you have to shake people out of apathy,” he said.

The former professional kickboxers, who have dual U.S. and U.K. citizenship, have millions of social media followers and are vocal supporters of President Donald Trump. The White House has said the brothers shouldn’t expect any help from the president.

Associated Press writer Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed.

The prosecution and defense gave their closing arguments Thursday in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, and the case is now in the hands of the jury.

They will consider whether to find her guilty of first-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter, or not guilty by reason of insanity, meaning she was not criminally responsible for her actions.

Here’s what happened in court on Thursday:

Adva Lavie, 29, is due in at the Mental Health Courthouse in Hollywood Sept. 9, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Lavie, also known as Mia Ventura, was charged last year with stealing money and other property from people she met through dating apps — including wealthy older men and some younger women.

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Prosecutors say she targeted victims in Westlake Village, West Hollywood, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2023 to 2025. They say she posed as a girlfriend and travel companion to gain access to the victims’ homes and then allegedly stole cash, gold and high-end designer items.

She is charged with two counts each of grand theft and unauthorized use of personal identifying information, along with one count each of first-degree residential burglary and first-degree residential burglary with a person present.

A judge denied the defense’s request for a mental health diversion program for Lavie earlier this month.

Lavie is also facing similar charges in Riverside County.

Lavie had been engaged to billionaire and former gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck, who was arrested in West Hollywood in May for allegedly trying to dissuade multiple people from testifying in a criminal case against his then-fiancée.

Cloobeck — a real estate magnate who dropped his bid for governor late last year and threw his support behind now-disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell — pleaded not guilty Aug. 7 to charges that he tried to dissuade people from testifying in a criminal case against Lavie.

He was charged April 28 with two felony counts of attempting to prevent or dissuade a witness/victim from attending a proceeding by force or threat, and one felony count of preventing or dissuading a witness or victim from attending or testifying at a trial or proceeding.

He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of annoying telephone calls — allegedly directed at the attorney of one of the alleged victims in his fiancée’s case.

The victims named in the criminal complaint against Cloobeck are all alleged victims in Lavie’s case.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be prosecuted alongside others suspected of conspiring in the attacks: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.

Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plot to crash hijacked planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania during the attacks.

He has been held at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006.

Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Schrama, a military commissions judge, on Wednesday rejected the January 2027 start date proposed by prosecutors and instead set the trial date for about 18 months later.

The trial date was announced after a split federal appeals court last summer threw out a potential agreement that would have allowed Mohammed to plead guilty in exchange for sparing him the risk of execution.

Mohammed was charged and arraigned in 2008 with war crimes and murder in connection with the nearly 3,000 people who died in the 9/11 attacks.

The road to prosecute Mohammed and other conspirators has dragged on for years, with the Obama-era military commissions system being tested for the first time — at times leading to lengthy challenges to its rules.

Defense lawyers have also argued that the holdup comes from what they say are the government’s efforts to hide details of torture used against detainees at secret CIA prisons before they were transferred to Guantánamo Bay.

Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003 before being transferred to Guantánamo Bay three years later.

A Senate report from 2014 found that the CIA had used what it called “enhanced interrogation techniques” against Mohammed and other conspirators, including waterboarding Mohammed 183 times in what was described as “a series of near-drownings.”

Three men entered the store Monday night, grabbed about 100 items, including Dodgers and Lakers jerseys, and left without paying, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department told NBC4 Investigates. The investigation unfolded when a witness called law enforcement officers and provided a description of the three men and a getaway driver, and their vehicle’s license plate information.

Ventura County deputies pulled the car over in a traffic stop and worked with deputies reviewing security camera video from the store to help identify the suspects. Stolen items from the store were recovered inside the car, the sheriff’s department said.

Authorities said they are investigating whether the men are part of a crime ring behind the thefts of about $100,000 worth of merchandise at Southern California sporting goods stores.

The Thousand Oaks case remains under investigation and will be submitted to prosecutors for consideration of criminal charges.

Anyone with information about the theft was as to call the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Organized Retail Theft Unit at 805-383-8703.

Geybert Alexander Garcia, 40, and Melany Perdomo, 24, were arrested Tuesday on charges including burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, grand theft of a vehicle and grand theft, arrest reports said.

The pair are accused of burglarizing the home of Adam Hlavaty and Henry Parra, two of the victims of the Aug. 19 helicopter crash in Kenya that killed multiple people with ties to South Florida.

According to the arrest reports, the burglary happened at some point between Aug. 20 and Aug. 22, and was reported by the housekeeper on Aug. 23.

Although the reports don’t give the victims’ names, they list the date of the crash and said they were “tragically killed in an unforeseen fatal accident while away from the residence.”

The reports said the victims’ home on Valencia Avenue was ransacked, with personal and business documents, jewelry, electronics and artwork stolen.

The victims’ Range Rover and Porsche Taycan were also stolen.

According to the reports, the victim’s stolen Apple MacBook was tracked down to an address in Hialeah, along with the spare key for the Range Rover.

Detectives executed a search warrant at the home, where Garcia tried to conceal himself inside a bedroom closet, the reports said.

Garcia and Perdomo, who was in an upstairs bedroom, were both taken into custody.

While executing the search warrant, authorities found numerous documents stolen from the couple as well as the Range Rover key fob, the reports said.

Also found were several of the victims’ pieces of valuable artwork including a sculpture valued at more than $500,000, the reports said.

Garcia and Perdomo were both booked into jail, and both appeared in bond court on Wednesday.

“Your honor, you’ll see that the defendant’s got prior felony convictions for burglarizing homes, money laundering, dealing in stolen property,” a prosecutor said during Garcia’s hearing. “I don’t know if this home was specifically targeted because I believe it was in the media that the victims passed away.”

Garcia’s defense attorney, Paul Basile, provided a notarized document he said came from Garcia’s family that they said was from one of the alleged victims.

The document allegedly granted Garcia possession of their vehicles and entrance into their home, the attorney said.

“Oh I gotta see this,” Judge Mindy Glazer said. “Really? Before they went on their vacation, they decided to give Mr. Garcia authorization to use their vehicles, Mr. Garcia, who has a criminal history?”

“Judge, I can only go by the information that’s provided by the family,” Basile responded.

“Yeah, I would not give that much weight,” Glazer said.

“It’s my understanding that the notary is actually a friend of the victim,” Basile said.

The hearing was reset for later Wednesday for a probable cause hearing, though Basile discussed setting a bond.

“I’m not going to address anything until I hear from the officers for the probable cause hearing,” Glazer responded. “But I mean, it’s pretty egregious to break into somebody’s home of victims who had just perished. So I’ll consider whatever you ask based on what there’s probable cause for.”

At the afternoon hearing, a detective and a friend of the victims both spoke, and both said they believed the document was fraudulent.

The friend also said Hlavaty and Parra’s home was damaged when it was broken into, with the door destroyed and a camera and home security system ripped out.

Glazer ordered Garcia held without bond at the afternoon hearing. Perdomo was staying behind bars on an immigration hold.

Jared Bridegan was shot in 2022 after he got out of his SUV to remove a tire from a road in Jacksonville Beach. The attack stumped police for months as they struggled to understand why someone with no apparent enemies would be killed while his daughter sat nearby in her car seat.

Prosecutors believe he was killed because of ongoing strife with his former wife, Shanna Gardner, over the parenting of their twins.

Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, was convicted of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder and faces an automatic sentence of life in prison. He’s married to Gardner, 39, whose trial is set to start in September.

“They wanted a majority of the decision making. They wanted more custody, even 60-40,” Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler said during closing arguments Tuesday in Duval County court.

“It doesn’t matter if they were completely right about the situation or completely wrong. What matters is how they fixed it,” Stifler said. “They fixed it by executing a man when they had other alternatives available to them. That’s why we’re here.”

Prosecutors said Fernandez Saldana hired Henry Tenon to carry out the fatal ambush. He had no personal connection to Bridegan, but was a former tenant at Fernandez Saldana’s rental property in Jacksonville. The prosecutor described him as “basically homeless, squatting on people’s couches with overdrawn bank accounts.”

Jurors saw three checks totaling $10,000 written to Tenon after the homicide, marked as payments by Fernandez Saldana for handyman work and a business idea — “good luck!!”

Florida Aug 17, 2023

‘Cold, calculated': Ex-wife charged in 2022 murder of Microsoft executive in front of his 2-year-old

Tenon’s DNA was identified on the rim of the tire that was intentionally placed in the road, police said.

He initially pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Fernandez Saldana but backed out and will stand trial in 2027.

Defense attorney Jesse Dreicer told jurors that Fernandez Saldana had no motive to have Bridegan killed. Fernandez Saldana and Gardner are estranged, and Gardner moved to Washington state after the killing. She was arrested in 2023.

“He certainly gained no benefit from the death of Jared Bridegan,” Dreicer said, noting there was no testimony that Fernandez Saldana told anyone that Bridegan “deserves to die.”

Gardner is the daughter of the co-founder of Stampin’ Up!, an arts-and-crafts company based in Utah.

Bridegan was shot twice when he stopped his Volkswagen Atlas to move the tire out of the way. He had just returned two children to Gardner’s home after a meal with the twins. At the time of his death, he was married to Kirsten Bridegan and they had two children.

Kirsten Bridegan told the jury that the post-divorce relationship between her husband and Gardner was “pretty terrible,” adding there was “absolutely no trust.” She said it interfered with the kids’ medical appointments and even routine meetings at school.

Bridegan was chief technology officer at Utah-based Clean Simple Eats before working at Microsoft for less than a year before his death, his wife said.

Brad Ireland, whose former wife and two children were among the dead, identified the shooter as 44-year-old Alan Smith. Smith’s parents, who were also killed, had asked him to move out, but he returned on Sunday and opened fire, Ireland said.

The victims represented four generations of the blended family, ranging from a great-grandmother in her 90s who used a wheelchair to a 7-year-old girl, according to Jennifer Mercer, a neighbor and family friend who set up an online fundraiser to help cover funeral costs and other expenses, and was authorized to release these details.

Gunshots followed by an inferno

Police responded to the home on Sunday evening and heard gunshots coming from out back, just before the house was completely engulfed in flames. Investigators confirmed Tuesday there were eight victims, including four children, and that the suspect had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound and later died.

The investigation has been complicated by concerns about the structural integrity of the house after the fire burned it to its foundation, said Jeff Stovall, a spokesperson for the Billings Police Department.

Firefighters fought the blaze until around 1 a.m. Monday, according to Billings Fire Department Chief Matt Hoppel. The home is in a subdivision outside of city limits that’s not required to have fire hydrants.

Efforts to fight the fire were delayed until the site was secure, allowing the blaze to tear through the home.

12-year-old calls 911

Among those killed were Ireland’s ex-wife, Megan Ghekiere, and their two children, Owen Ireland, 13, and Chloe Ireland, 7. Also killed were Ghekiere’s two stepchildren with her current husband: Landon Ghekiere, 15, and Charlotte Ghekiere, 12.

“The one thing we do know is that Charlotte was the hero,” Mercer said. “Charlotte called 911 and she tried to save her family. And that’s something the family does want out there.”

She described the family as “very loving and close,” and said the children all got along and that their parents remained amicable even after divorcing.

“I feel like our entire community is devastated, even people that never knew any of them,” Mercer said.

The family relocated from Seattle

The Smith family was originally from the Seattle area. Ireland said that after he and Megan Ghekiere divorced six years ago, she moved to Montana with their children. That’s where she met the man who would become her second husband, Adam Ghekiere, who was working and not at the home when the shooting occurred.

Her parents, Dana and Barb Smith, soon followed, buying a house in Billings near their daughter’s home. Evelyn Smith, Dana’s elderly mother, lived in a nearby retirement community, Ireland said.

Alan Smith moved in with his parents in Montana and stayed with them for years before being asked to move out a couple weeks ago, Ireland said. He unexpectedly returned to the home on Sunday evening, where the Smiths had gathered for a weekly family dinner.

Alan Smith killed his grandmother, his parents, his younger sister and the four children before setting the house on fire, Ireland said. He tried to flee before being confronted by law enforcement, he said.

Suspect was a ‘hermit,’ relative says

“There were many red flags and many people spoke out,” said Ireland, who lives in Arizona. “No one listened.”

Alan Smith was a “hermit” who spent most of his days in his room on his computer, Ireland said.

“No one knew what he did in there 24/7,” he said.

Alan Smith had attended Eastern Washington University but had been unable to find or hold a job. A search of criminal records in Montana and Washington found no record Alan Smith had ever been arrested or charged with a crime.

Ireland said that to his knowledge Alan Smith had never been violent, though he could be verbally abusive.

Friends of the victims have set up two GoFundMe accounts to raise money on behalf of Adam Ghekiere and his ex-wife, Erica Schneider.

Husband races back to house

Adam Ghekiere, who works at the airport in Billings, told the AP that he heard over a dispatch radio about an active shooting. After calling each member of his family, he raced across town to the Smith home.

When he got there, the house was ablaze, and two hours later, he learned his wife and children had been killed. His children weren’t supposed to be there because family dinner was usually on Friday, he said.

“I don’t think he expected my kids to be there,” Ghekiere said, referring to his brother-in-law. “Monster isn’t even enough to describe what he did.”

Ghekiere said police confirmed his daughter, Charlotte, was the one who dialed 911 from inside the house.

“I keep hearing her quote to me every time I would say ‘I love you’ and she would say ‘I love you more,’” he said.

22nd mass killing this year

The shootings were the 22nd mass killing this year, according to a database maintained by the AP and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

Fifteen of those have stemmed from domestic disputes, which is higher than the average of about 50% of U.S. mass killings, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University who manages the database.

The Montana shooting is the deadliest in the U.S. since April, when a Louisiana father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, and shot and wounded his wife and another woman.

—

Biesecker reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press writers Gene Johnson in Seattle and Mikella Schuettler in Phoenix contributed.

—

Schuettler is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

A California man with a guillotine in the bed of his pickup truck was arrested near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, U.S. Capitol Police said.

Officers noticed the guillotine when they came across the pickup parked illegally in the 100 block of East Capitol Street at around 3 p.m., police said. Officers seized the guillotine.

“It’s the real deal, man,” Philan-Tam-Duy Le allegedly told an officer when asked if the guillotine worked and could cut someone, according to an arrest report.

Le, a 35-year-old man from Julian, California, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor attempted possession of a prohibited weapon, according to court documents.

He allegedly told police he “wasn’t there for any specific reason” and “didn’t have issues with specific members of Congress,” court documents say.

Police are investigating why Le came to D.C. They said he drove to D.C. from California.

Le pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday. He received pretrial release conditions and a stay away order.

Patrick Kevin Spurlock is charged in the July 24 killings of Los Angeles residents Jeremiah Badeker, Jack Cartegena and Michael Bogacz. The shooting was at a residence in the 1900 block of Wilcox Avenue when an altercation occurred. The victims were ordered to the floor at gunpoint, then shot several times, according to authorities.

Spurlock was arrested Aug. 13. He was charged Aug. 17 with three counts of murder, which include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder with a prior
murder conviction along with allegations that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm, court records show.

Special circumstances allegations can increase penalties in the sentencing phase of a trial.

Spurlock was found mentally competent last Friday to stand trial. He is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Sept. 4.

Spurlock could face life in prison without the possibility of parole or a death sentence if convicted as charged.

Jefferson was in town as a tourist on Sept. 7, 1996, when he spotted the rapper in the passenger seat of a black BMW at a stoplight. Hip-hop mogul Marion “Suge” Knight was driving and Jefferson took the opportunity to greet the stars.

“I saw the wheels first and then I looked over and I saw it was Tupac and Suge,” Jefferson said. “I said, ‘What’s up, Pac? And then he kind of looked, he kind of did like a double take and he said, ‘What’s up, man?’ I said, ‘Where you guys headed?’ And he said, ‘We’re headed to the club.’ He said, ‘You should follow us.”

Celebrity News Aug 23

What happened in the first week of the Tupac Shakur murder trial

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Jury hears from man who took photo of Tupac Shakur moments before murder

Last week in court, Jefferson testified that he had previous interactions with Shakur since he sold cars.

“I don’t know why, I’ve seen them before. I said, ‘Let me take a picture real quick,’” Jefferson told NBCLA. “I grabbed my camera, snapped a picture and then after I snapped a picture, the light changed green, the car pulled off. After we made the turn onto Flamingo, I don’t know how many seconds had passed by but all I heard was, ‘Pow, pow, pow, pow.’”

Jefferson said he didn’t immediately realize it was Shakur who was shot until a police officer on a bicycle responded to the scene.

“The bicycle cop threw his bike down and then Suge was about to get out the car,” Jefferson said. “Then you hear Suge, saying, ‘My man, Pac, is shot. Pac is shot. We need help. Pac is shot.’ And the officer pulls his gun out and telling Suge to lay down. And he still, you know, he’s still saying ‘Pac is shot.’”

Jefferson was called to the witness stand on Friday to recount what he witnessed as former gang member Duane “Keffe D” Davis stands trial for murder in connection with the rapper’s death. Davis is accused of orchestrating the shooting that resulted in Shakur’s death. Prosecutors allege the orchestration was revenge for Shakur’s entourage assaulting Davis’ nephew just hours before the shooting.

“I never been on the witness stand; It’s my first time I’ve ever been on the witness stand,” Jefferson said. “And then just to be a part of it, and then to look at the jury, see the jury, see Mr. Davis. I can’t really describe it, but it wasn’t, you know, it was kind of unreal just to just be there.”

Jefferson said he still owns the rights to the photograph he took of Shakur, with the negatives of that image stashed in a vault. Meanwhile, Davis’ murder trial remains underway.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin Wednesday for the federal trial of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi in Washington, D.C. His trial will be the first in the U.S. for the Dec. 21, 1988, bombing.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich’s order didn’t specify the nature of the newly discovered evidence.

Al-Marimi’s lawyers say prosecutors disclosed the new evidence to them on Saturday and added that their “constitutional and ethical obligations require the defense to investigate this development.”

The judge scheduled a Sept. 1 hearing in Washington to discuss the status of the case.

Al-Marimi is charged in the U.S. with making the bomb that downed the airplane, killing 270 people, most of them Americans.

Flight 103 was 31,000 feet over Lockerbie when a bomb in the plane’s forward cargo area exploded 38 minutes after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport. The flight was bound for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

The blast killed all 259 passengers and crew members and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, where the wreckage destroyed an entire city block. Citizens of 21 countries were killed, including 190 Americans and 43 from the United Kingdom. The passengers included 35 Syracuse University students returning home from a semester abroad.

Prosecutors allege Al-Marimi and others carried out the bombing at the direction of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was ousted and killed during a 2011 civil war.

Two other Libyan intelligence agents were tried by a panel of Scottish judges on a former U.S. military base in the Netherlands in 2000. The tribunal convicted one official and acquitted the other, but the bombmaker’s possible identity remained a mystery for years.

Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer was shot and killed Sept. 16, 2023 in the high desert community of Palmdale as he sat in a patrol vehicle at a red light near the sheriff’s Palmdale station.

Palmdale Oct 5, 2023

Funeral services held for LA County deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer

Palmdale Sep 18, 2023

Slain deputy's former teachers remember Ryan Clinkunbroomer's kindness, ambition

Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar, 32, who prosecutors said had aspired to kill a law enforcement officers, was convicted Monday in the veteran law enforcement officer’s death. Salazar pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, so jurors will return to court Wednesday for the next phase of the trial to determine whether he was sane at the time of the crime.

The downtown Los Angeles jury deliberated about two hours and also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer, lying in wait and firing from a vehicle, along with allegations that he personally used and discharged a .22-caliber revolver. Special circumstance allegations can increase penalties during the sentencing phase.

The defendant could face life in prison if found sane. If he is determined to have been insane at the time of the killing, he would be confined to a state hospital rather than prison.

Clinkunbroomer was a fourth-generation sheriff’s deputy who had become engaged to be married four days before he was killed.

“For nearly three years, we have stood firmly with Ryan Clinkunbroomer’s family and with the dedicated men and women of our Palmdale Sheriff’s Station,” Sheriff Robert Luna said. “Throughout this time, we have remained steadfast in supporting this investigation and doing everything we can to assist the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in pursing justice and holding this individual accountable for the ambush murder of Ryan.

“Today’s guilty verdict delivers that justice and accountability. While nothing can bring Ryan back to his family, his loved ones, or our Department family, we hope this verdict brings a sense of peace and closure to those who loved him and served alongside him. Ryan dedicated his life to service, proudly carrying on his family’s legacy as a third-generation member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.  We will forever honor his service, his sacrifice, and the badge he proudly wore.  Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer will never be forgotten.”

Deputy District Attorney David Ayvazian told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury in opening statements that Clinkunbroomer “was doing what he loved — working as a deputy sheriff. He died in the line of duty and the only reason he died was because he was a deputy sheriff.”

Salazar, a Palmdale resident, entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the killing. An attorney for Salazar said in his opening statement that the trial would not focus on whether his client fire the shot, but whether the defendant was insane at the time.

Salazar’s attorney argued that his client wasn’t targeting law enforcement officers. Defense attorney George Rosenstock argued his client’s thoughts appear to be “somewhat disorganized” and that the decision to kill was made within seconds. He argued that the panel should reject the allegations of premeditated and deliberated murder and lying in wait.

Both Ayvazian and Rosenstock described the defendant’s apparently irrational behavior on the day of the killing and two days earlier when he was “driving around confronting complete strangers,” the defense lawyer said.

Ayvazian told jurors that following his arrest, Salazar told two undercover operatives in jail during a surreptitiously recorded conversation that he had wanted to kill a police officer for years and described following officers, parking and waiting and playing music to prepare himself.

At a June 2024 hearing in which Salazar was ordered to stand trial, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Gustavo Carrillo testified that Salazar acknowledged his involvement in the shooting during questioning at the Palmdale sheriff’s station by detectives two days after the killing. Salazar told investigators that he felt bad and “cried for the (expletive) officer,” according to the detective.

Under cross-examination by Salazar’s attorney at the preliminary hearing, the detective acknowledged that when asked why he had shot the deputy, Salazar responded that it had “started a long time ago before COVID” and that he “began to hear voices in his head.”

During the sanity phase of the trial, the defense wants to call three mental health professionals who examined and interviewed Salazar and listened to statements he made to law enforcement after his arrest and during an undercover jailhouse operation and then concluded that the defendant was legally insane at the time of the offense, Rosenstock indicated in court papers.

A deputy medical examiner concluded Clinkunbroomer died from a single gunshot that entered the back of his head.

After the shooting, investigators used surveillance video footage to identify a vehicle believed to be a Toyota Corolla and then to ask the public to come forward with any information about the vehicle, prosecutors said.

Ayvazian said Monday that among those who contacted investigators was a motorist who testified that he took a photo of the license plate of a vehicle whose driver had aggressively confronted him about seven minutes before authorities believe Clinkunbroomer was shot. The driver identified Salazar in court during the 2024 hearing as the person who confronted him.

The deputy was honored in January with the Castaic Sports Complex being renamed the Ryan M. Clinkunbroomer Castaic Sports Complex.

Daniel Fultz, the attorney who represented Grayson during his murder trial, said he died around noon. He was six months into his 20-year sentence for second-degree murder.

Grayson, 32, was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2023, and it had progressed to Stage 4 and spread to his liver, lungs and rectum, another defense attorney, Mark Wykoff, said at his sentencing in January. In July, he was denied medical release by the Illinois Prisoner Review Board.

It was not immediately clear whether cancer is what caused Grayson’s death.

Grayson shot Massey, 36, after he responded to her 911 call shortly before 1 a.m. July 6, 2024. The shooting, which was captured on body camera video, set off protests and calls for justice.

Crime and Courts Oct 29, 2025

Sean Grayson found guilty of murder in the death of Sonya Massey

Illinois Oct 20, 2025

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Grayson was convicted last year.

During the 911 response, Massey picked up a pot of boiling water from her stove, prompting Grayson to back away, according to court testimony.

Grayson testified that he believed Massey was going to throw the boiling water on him after she said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.” When Grayson looked confused, Massey repeated the sentence.

He testified that he took the remark as a threat.

Grayson pointed his gun at Massey and threatened to shoot her, according to body camera video. She apologized and dropped to the floor, but he fired three times, striking her.

Grayson declined to offer medical care, Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser said in court. Massey was pronounced dead at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield.

First Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Beth Rodgers said in court: “‘I’m sorry.’ That is the last thing Sonya Massey said before the defendant murdered her, just like he said he would.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Sonya Massey Act, a law requiring stricter background checks for law enforcement hires, and it went into effect at the beginning of the year.

Sangamon County officials agreed in early 2025 to pay a $10 million settlement to Massey’s family.

The remains were found at 12:23 a.m. Saturday in the area of William Avenue and Poplar Street, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Carlos Mendoza. The victim’s name was withheld pending family notification.

The location was south of the Redlands (10) Freeway.

“During the investigation, the Central Homicide Unit identified Jesse Kennedy, a 48-year-old resident of Cabazon, as the suspect in this murder,” Mendoza said. “Kennedy was located in the area of William Avenue and
Poplar Street, where he was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center” on suspicion of murder.”

The investigation remained active and anyone with information was asked to call Central Homicide Unit Investigator Nick Ramirez at 951-955-2777 or Cabazon sheriff’s station investigator Birmingham at 951-922-7100.

The legal team for Karmelo Anthony released a statement on the denial:

“On behalf of our client, Karmelo Anthony, we are disappointed in today’s ruling but not deterred.

We continue to maintain that serious constitutional and legal errors denied Karmelo Anthony the fair trial to which he was entitled. The restrictions placed on public access to his trial raised fundamental Sixth Amendment concerns. The defense made consequential decisions throughout the trial in reliance upon an agreement with the State concerning the evidence that would—and would not be introduced, only to have the State change its position at a critical point in the proceedings. And we maintain that errors in the jury instructions impaired the jury’s consideration of the issue at the very heart of Karmelo’s defense: whether he acted in self-defense.

The denial of this motion does not make those issues, or others not yet raised, disappear. Therefore, this denial does not end our work.

We will continue to challenge Karmelo’s conviction and pursue every legal remedy available to him. We will take these issues to the appellate courts, and wherever else the law permits us to go, because we believe deeply in Karmelo, in his constitutional rights, and in the justice we are seeking on his behalf.

We knew when we entered this case that this case might not be won in a single courtroom or with a single motion. We will keep advocating for Karmelo until the justice we seek is obtained.”

Attorney Russell Wilson, who led Anthony’s new defense team, also released a statement:

“We are disappointed that the Court denied our motion for a new trial. We respectfully disagree with the ruling and remain firmly committed to protecting our client’s rights.

We believe the issues raised in our motion are substantial and deserve meaningful appellate review. The denial of our motion does not end this case. We will continue the appeal in the Fifth Court of Appeals and pursue every legal remedy available to our client.

Our commitment to our client has not changed. We will continue to advocate vigorously on his behalf through every lawful avenue available.”

Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis also released a statement following the court’s decision:

“We respect, and expected, the court’s decision denying the motion for a new trial. The jury’s guilty verdict stands, and we remain confident in the process. Every defendant has the right to appeal, and our thoughts and prayers remain with the Metcalf family in the painful wake of last week’s hearing.”

Had the motion been granted, Anthony’s murder conviction would have been vacated, and it would have been up to the Collin County District Attorney’s Office to decide whether to proceed with another trial.

Anthony also could have been released while the case was pending. He would have been subject to a pre-trial bond of $250,000, though the district attorney could have argued for different bond conditions.

Anthony was convicted in June of murdering Metcalf, who was stabbed during a confrontation in the stands at Kuykendall Stadium on April 2, 2025.

Anthony’s bid for a new trial focused in part on what happened behind closed doors before his murder trial began and an informal agreement between prosecutors and the defense over what evidence would be presented to jurors.

During the first day of the hearing Thursday, defense attorney Mike Howard, who represented Anthony during his original trial, spent hours on the stand describing a “gentleman’s agreement” that kept bad character trait evidence about both Anthony and Metcalf out of the trial.

For Anthony, that evidence included prior violent thoughts and behavior, along with his mindset before the track meet. Proposed evidence involving Metcalf and his twin brother, Hunter, included allegations of bullying, fighting and racism.

Howard said the biggest dispute came when Anthony was preparing to testify. According to Howard, prosecutors took the position that the agreement did not cover Anthony if he took the stand, leading to a heated exchange in the judge’s chambers.

Anthony ultimately did not testify because he felt he “wasn’t going to get a fair shake,” Howard said.

Day 2 of retrial hearing focuses on courtroom access, pretrial “gentleman’s agreement”

Anthony’s former defense attorney, Toby Shook, and prosecutor Bill Wirskye both took the stand in Friday’s hearing to testify about Anthony’s original trial.

The defense focused heavily on the issue of courtroom access. Anthony’s new attorneys argued that the original judge imposed restrictions that kept members of the public out and violated Anthony’s rights.

Attorneys also focused on the off-the-record gentleman’s agreement, under which the defense and prosecution had agreed to keep damaging character evidence about Anthony and Austin Metcalf out of the trial.

Prosecutors revealed that under the agreement, the jury did not hear about what they said was a documented pattern of Anthony’s interest in guns, knives, and fighting, along with allegations of stalking and threatening his girlfriend, who was in court on Friday.

Judge Chitty said he plans to review all the documents before making his decision.

Day 1 of retrial hearing focuses on character evidence, Anthony’s decision not to testify

During Thursday’s hearing, attorneys focused on what happened behind closed doors during Anthony’s original trial.

Defense attorney Mike Howard, who represented Anthony during his first trial, spent hours on the stand detailing how both sides agreed on what would and would not be presented to jurors. That informal agreement kept bad character evidence about Anthony and Metcalf out of the trial.

For Anthony, that character evidence included prior violent thoughts and behavior, and his mindset before the track meet. Proposed evidence about Austin Metcalf and his twin brother Hunter included allegations of bullying and racism.

According to Howard, the biggest dispute occurred when Anthony was about to testify during the original trial. He said prosecutors took the position that the agreement did not cover Anthony if he took the stand, leading to a heated exchange in the judge’s chambers. Anthony ultimately decided not to testify because he felt he “wasn’t going to get a fair shake.”

Retired District Judge Michael Chitty will continue hearing Anthony’s motion on Friday. Chitty has until Monday to rule on the motion for a new trial.

During Friday’s hearing, Howard’s former co-counsel, Toby Shook, is expected to testify along with several other witnesses. The hearing will resume at 9 a.m.

Trial judge recused

The retrial hearing began a day after a hearing to recuse Judge John Roach, who presided over Anthony’s June murder trial.

Appointed San Antonio Judge Sid Harle ruled that Roach should be recused from Anthony’s post-trial proceedings. Anthony’s new defense team, led by Russell Wilson, sought to remove Roach from the case.

The defense cited Roach’s rulings limiting public access, as well as an interview in which Roach agreed the jury got it right and characterized Anthony as “a nice young man who committed a crime.”

Following Roach’s recusal, Austin Metcalf’s father, Jeff, spoke to NBC 5 about Anthony’s efforts to get a new trial.

“Let’s see what happens tomorrow,” Metcalf said. “Let’s see if they’re still celebrating tomorrow, because if he’s still granted a new trial, he could get more years.”

Murder of Austin Metcalf

Frisco Police were called to Kuykendall Stadium at about 10 a.m. on April 2, 2025, after 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in the chest during a confrontation in the stands.

According to witnesses, an argument began when Metcalf, a Memorial High School junior, told Anthony, a Centennial High School student, to move from underneath Memorial’s pop-up tent used during a downpour.

When he was told to leave, Anthony immediately opened his bag, reached in, and said to the victim, “Touch me and see what happens,” according to witnesses. When Metcalf pushed Anthony, a witness said Anthony unexpectedly pulled a black knife from the bag, stabbed Metcalf in the chest, and ran away.

The death drew national attention in part because of social posts that amplified the case over race. Anthony is Black, and Metcalf was white. Anthony told police he was protecting himself during the confrontation, but prosecutor Bill Wirskye told jurors during opening remarks that it was a “senseless murder” and not a case of self-defense.

Austin Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, said his son didn’t know Anthony, and that Austin’s twin brother, Hunter, was nearby when the confrontation took place and not only saw his brother get stabbed but he tried to stop the bleeding.

Frisco Police said that despite lifesaving measures by police and fire personnel, including CPR and the administration of blood, Metcalf died in his twin’s arms.

Jeff Metcalf said his son had a 4.0 GPA, was the MVP of the football team, and had a bright future, including attending college.

Anthony admitted to stabbing Metcalf and claimed self-defense. When an officer referred to Anthony as the ‘alleged suspect,’ Anthony reportedly responded, “I’m not alleged; I did it,” and asked whether the stabbing could be considered self-defense and if Metcalf was OK.

The incident took place at the 11-5A championship district track meet, which included more than 100 students from eight schools. The district said that moments after the stabbing, the stadium was immediately secured, the meet was suspended, and all students were returned to their home campuses “with expediency.”

Friday’s testimony in the trial of former gang member Duane “Keffe D” Davis began with Leonard Jefferson, who took what is believed to be the last photo of Tupac Shakur before his death. Jefferson said he was visiting Las Vegas Sept. 7, 1996 for the highly anticipated Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight boxing match at the MGM Grand, but ended up selling his two tickets.

Celebrity News Aug 20

Jury hears Duane Davis' 2008 interview with authorities in Tupac Shakur murder trial

Celebrity News Aug 18

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Jefferson testified Friday that he snapped a widely seen photo of Shakur in the passenger’s seat of a black BMW at a stoplight with hip-hop mogul Marion “Suge” Knight behind the wheel. The photo was later licensed for books and other projects.

Prosecutor Binu Palal asked Jefferson about conspiracy theories alleging he staged the scene at the stoplight.

“Well, I mean, the internet does what it does,” Jefferson said.

Palal then directly asked whether Jefferson staged the scene.

“I did not,” he responded.

Jefferson said he had previous interactions with Shakur in Los Angeles, where he sold cars, so he spoke with him through the cars’ windows. Moments after the brief conversation with the men in the BMW, Jefferson said he heard a “pop, pop, pop” sound.

He said he looked up to see cars from Knight’s caravan stopped on the street in front of him.

“I see that they they’re kind of like struggling with the door,” Jefferson said. “They get the door open and then they pull. I see them pull Tupac out of the car.”

Just before a midday recess, Davis spoke up as he was seated at a courtroom table with his attorneys. He referenced his address being given out in court in a brief exchange with the judge and a prosecutor before people filed out of the courtroom.

Jefferson’s testimony came a day after jurors heard Davis tell detectives in 2008 that his nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson fired the shots that killed Tupac Shakur. Prosecutors allege Shakur was killed to avenge Shakur’s entourage attacking Davis’ nephew a few hours earlier at the MGM Grand after the Tyson fight.

Davis was at the fight but not the brawl.

Davis, who said in the 2008 interview that he was also in the car with Anderson, is accused of orchestrating the killing of the 25-year-old hip-hop superstar. At the time of the interview, his nephew had been dead for a decade.

Davis said the white Cadillac he and Anderson were riding in with two other men pulled up alongside a car with Shakur inside, along with hip-hop mogul and Death Row Records head Marion “Suge” Knight.

“If we would have been on my side, I would have blasted,” Davis said. Instead, Knight’s car was on the other side, so Davis passed his gun back to Deandre “Big Dre” Smith. But Smith didn’t want it, Davis said.

Anderson, who was also in the back seat, took the weapon and started firing, Davis said.

Jurors watched the screen as the transcript of the audio recording rolled. Some occasionally took notes. At the beginning of the audio interview, Davis and his attorney whispered to each other. Shakur’s family sat still, occasionally looking at the screen or looking down to the floor. The room was quiet as Davis described the shooting.

It was the first time Davis directly discussed his involvement in the killing with authorities. The interview is essential evidence in the state’s case against the 63-year-old Davis. Prosecutors told jurors in opening statements that they would lean heavily on Davis’ own admissions in interviews with police and on podcasts, as well as the 2019 memoir he co-authored, “Compton Street Legend.”

He also previously told the FBI that his nephew was not involved in the 1996 shooting of Shakur, and speculated that Knight or Sean “Diddy” Combs were involved.

Davis has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer has called the prosecution’s narrative “fiction” and said Davis was “full of crap” when he told stories of his involvement, and that authorities knew it. He argued investigators failed to back up the statements his client made with evidence.

The Los Angeles police detectives had actually brought Davis in to talk about the 1997 shooting death of Shakur’s archrival, the Notorious B.I.G.

Davis had briefly been one of the suspects in that still unsolved killing, but he was later discounted.

“Everybody was a suspect at that time,” Daryn Dupree, one of the detectives in the interview, said in court testimony Thursday.

The detectives tell Davis that their discussion is confidential.

“Nothing you say today can be used against you,” said Greg Kading, the other detective conducting the interview who described it in a book a few years later.

Some in the audience shook their heads when someone in the audio tells Davis that “nothing leaves this room.”

Dupree adds, “If you don’t say nothing, it’s cool, but if you go out there and start talking …”

Prosecutors say Davis did in fact “go out there and start talking” a decade later when he told stories about the shooting in interviews and the memoir. They said that nullifies any agreement he had with law enforcement over this and other recorded conversations.

Later in the evening, they were in the Cadillac and saw Shakur hanging out of a black BMW with people calling out “Tupac!”

Davis said that after Lane fired the shots, he thought Knight was dead.

Decades after his death, Shakur remains a cultural icon, and one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. He died as his popularity was peaking and his film career as an actor was taking off. His legend has only grown in the years since.

In a Thursday update on the investigation into the bizarre series of confrontations near Philadelphia City Hall, authorities said 22-year-old Zymire Hughes, who has a warrant for his arrest, may have left Philadelphia. Investigators said they received information that Hughes left Philadelphia on Tuesday and added that he often travels to the Los Angeles area and Las Vegas for employment.

Philadelphia Aug 17

Suspect in Chucky-style mask wanted in Philadelphia after chasing jogger: Police

Crime and Courts Aug 19

‘Are you ready to die?' Police search for suspect in creepy doll mask

“You think it’s funny to scare people? Well, get ready to get scared by us because we got the handcuffs,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said at a Thursday news conference. “We got the jail cell. We got the Philly jury that’s going to tell you it’s not funny at all. You think it’s funny to make people run? Get your sneaks. Because that’s what Zymire Hughes is doing right now. Mr. ‘big and bad’ is on the run. We’re not having it in this city. We are not tolerating it.”

The early morning altercations were reported Aug. 12, when authorities said a man in a Chucky-style mask approached several people In one case, the man asked a woman whether she was “ready to die,” police said. The Chucky doll was the main antagonist in the “Child’s Play” horror franchise.

The man appeared to be holding a cell phone and recording the encounters, police said. Investigators identified two TikTok accounts and an Instagram account that they believe are connected to Hughes.

“There wasn’t an attempt by himself to lay hands on anyone. He didn’t brandish any weapon,” Philadelphia Police Captain Jason Smith said. “Although in the case of the jogger, he did have his right arm behind his back, implying that he had a weapon. But at no point in time did he furnish a weapon. To the best of our knowledge, there were no other injured parties, other than the jogger.”

Deputies responded late Wednesday morning after a city employee reported the bronze statue depicting a kneeling soldier and a separate bronze rifle had been stolen hours earlier.

According to the LASD, surveillance video obtained during the investigation shows a dark-colored vehicle parked near the memorial at around 2:15 a.m. Wednesday. The suspected thief could be seen exiting the vehicle and using a tool to remove the statue before getting back in the vehicle and leaving, the sheriff’s department said.

Investigators were unable to obtain additional descriptions about either the suspect or vehicle due to the poor quality of video.

The combined value of the stolen statue and rifle is estimated at approximately $100,000, the LASD said.

The memorial, installed in November 2024, is no stranger to crime.

Pieces of the memorial statue were vandalized and stolen in May 2025, days before planned Memorial Day celebrations in the city. In that instance, someone sawed off parts of a statue, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.

City officials said in a May 2025 social media post that they were “deeply saddened and troubled,” referring to the previous incident, adding, “this is a shameful act of disrespect to those who risked their lives protecting our country and freedoms, as this memorial stands as a symbol of honor and their sacrifice.”

A spokesperson for the city said additional information about this week’s theft is expected to be released in the coming days.

Anaheim police responded to a request for a welfare check Tuesday at the Kona Motel and found the victim, Jasmine Miranda, of Anaheim, suffering from injuries. She died at the scene.

Authorities told NBCLA that an employee went to the woman’s room after she failed to check out around 11 a.m. and motel staff had not heard from her. The employee knocked on the door and, when no one answered, entered the room and found the woman on the bathroom floor.

A motel employee said the woman was the only person who had checked into the room.

After interviewing witnesses and reviewing security camera video, authorities identified the suspect as Oscar Velasquez, also of Anaheim. Detectives used license plate reader technology to find Velasquez.

Details about a possible motive were not immediately available.

He was arrested Wednesday night in Santa Ana on suspicion of murder. The case will be sent to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for consideration of criminal charges.

Arraignment was scheduled for Friday.

Velasquez has an extensive criminal background, including prior convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, narcotics violations, and possession of firearms, Anaheim police said.

Anyone with information related to the crime was asked to contact the Anaheim Police Department at 714-765-1900.

Patrick Barnett, a 40-year-old Lakewood resident, was charged with first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased body and tampering with physical evidence, the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced.

Lindsey Barnett, 37, was found with her throat slit in the shower stall of the couple’s Lakewood home on Aug. 13, according to an arrest affidavit prepared by Detective Victoria Wagner.

Patrick Barnett called 911 at 6:01 a.m. that day and “indicated that his wife” had “cut herself and her throat,” the affidavit said.

But investigators were immediately doubtful of his account. Crime scene investigators found “a large amount of blood on the right side of the bedsheets, pillow” and “blood clots all over predominantly the right side of the bed,” according to the affidavit.

“A trail of blood was running from the right side of the bed to the bathroom but”investigators “indicated to me that there was not a lot of blood in the bathroom to speak of,” Wagner wrote.

Police also found that Patrick Barnett had a “new or fresh cut to his right thumb” along with “fresh scratches on his right upper arm near his arm pit that follow down to part of his chest,” the affidavit said.

He also“scratches to the bottom right side of his abdomen and a new or fresh scratch mark just below his collar bone,” the document states.

“These scratches mentioned above are consistent with fingernail scratches that are consistent with being defensive wounds,” police concluded.

In his initial interview with police, the suspect admitted that he and the victim had been struggling in their marriage. Lindsey Barnett had suffered from postpartum depression, her husband allegedly told police.

The victim’s mother, Donna Ott, told police that her daughter, a teacher, had suffered with depression but “never expressed suicidal thoughts and never had suicide attempts,” according to the affidavit. Ott said “Lindsey loved her children an was making plans for the school year.”

The couple had two children — ages 3 and an infant — who were not injured, police said.

Patrick Barnett insisted to investigators that he and his wife were working to repair their marriage. “He was asked about infidelity by either him or Lindsey and he said there was no infidelity,” the affidavit states.

Hours after Lindsey Barnett’s body was found, police received a call from a woman claiming to be Patrick’s girlfriend, asking for a welfare check, police said. She told police she hadn’t heard from him since 11 p.m. the previous night, which she said was unusual since the two texted constantly, according to the affidavit.

When police arrested Patrick Barnett at 7:10 p.m. that day and confronted him about the girlfriend, he allegedly confirmed he had been seeing another woman. The two had met online three months earlier and bonded over their shared involvementin the ultimate frisbee community, police said.

“He admitted he had a relationship” outside of marriage but claimed “Lindsey knew about it and was fine with it,” the affidavit said.

Patrick Barnett was assigned a public defender, prosecutors said; a representative for that office could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday. Barnett is scheduled to appear before a Jefferson County judge on Friday.

Lindsey Barnett taught art at both Hutchinson and Westgate Elementary Schools, campuses of Jeffco Public Schools in suburban Denver.

“Lindsey was a joy to have in our school. She brought a deep passion for teaching art, a sweet soul, and an extraordinary dedication to our students,” Hutchinson principle DeAnn Hoffman said in a statement.

“Beyond her work in the classroom, she always put our kids first, helping organize special projects and pouring her heart into the district art show for both of our school communities. This loss has shaken our entire community, and our deepest sympathies, thoughts, and care are with Lindsey’s family during this difficult time.”

Jessica Bowie, 35, of Albany, allegedly told a confidential source that she supported ISIS and asked for help learning to make explosives, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

She was arrested Wednesday by FBI Albany’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, John A. Sarcone the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, told reporters Thursday.

Bowie is expected in court Thursday afternoon on a single charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terror organization.

According to the complaint, Bowie converted to Islam five years ago, was radicalized online and created several social media accounts using an honorific Islamic name. She appeared to have created multiple accounts because they were “frequently suspended by providers for violating their terms of use,” the complaint said.

Several accounts allegedly tracing back to Bowie posted messages expressing support for terrorism between May and July.

Bowie swore her allegiance to ISIS in multiple audio recordings in English and Arabic, and once wrote, “Praise be to Allah for September 11,” Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albany Field Office, Craig Tremaroli, said in a news conference Thursday.

The complaint alleges that Bowie communicated between July 16 through August 17 with a confidential source who was working with the FBI and posing as an ISIS facilitator.

She told the source that she wanted help to carry out an attack on the New York Capitol, according to the complaint. The building was less than two miles away from her home, and she said she wanted to do something to “harm the enemies of god,” the complaint said.

The complaint alleges that Bowie visited the Capitol five times between July 21 and Aug. 9, where surveillance teams observed her photographing the area. In messages to the source, she allegedly said she wanted to have an “affect on the American system.”

“I want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting,” one message included in the complaint said.

Two other confidential sources met with Bowie in Albany earlier this month in a meeting that was recorded, the complaint said. Bowie allegedly said she wanted to attack the building on a day where the most senators would be present.

She hoped to escape after the attack and, if she evaded the authorities, planned to return for future plots, the complaint said.

“Miss Bowie didn’t just want to kill lawmakers; she wanted a complete disruption of our government. And after that, she planned to flee the country and one day come back to ‘do more,’ such as New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Even stating she would come back to attack the White House and the president,” Tremaroli said.

Asked why she wanted to target the state Capitol, Bowie allegedly said, “Ideally it would be the White House with the president, but like, that’s an even harder job.”

She was also asked whether it would bother her if other people, including Muslims, died in the attack, the complaint said.

“I’d say it definitely bothers me, and I know I’m going to hear about the things after — what’s going to bother me, especially if there’s a Muslim, if there’s children, pregnant women,” Bowie responded, according to the complaint.

She went on to say, however, that Allah would hopefully forgive her, the complaint said.

One of the confidential sources gave Bowie $200 to purchase bomb-making materials, which she allegedly did on August 5 at a Home Depot. She then gave the items to the confidential sources when she met with them in the days that followed.

Last week, Bowie allegedly asked one of the sources about obtaining a handgun, saying she wanted the weapon “so if the cops do get towards me during the operation I can shoot back,” the complaint said.

She met with the confidential sources to buy a gun and ammunition on Wednesday, according to the complaint.

Tremaroli said the investigation into Bowie started over a month ago.

“I want the American people to know this: today’s announcement will have a chilling effect on anyone in this country who is being radicalized or considering acts of violence, and on our enemies whose governments support death to America,” Sarcone said. “We are vigilant, we are prepared, and just as we stop this defendant, we will continue to disrupt plots and protect the American people.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Thursday she is “grateful” to the FBI and New York State Police for their work in the case.

“Earlier this year, amid a rise in political violence and threats against public officials, we took steps to strengthen security at the State Capitol and across state government,” she said.“While there is no immediate threat at this time, we will continue working closely with our law enforcement partners to protect New Yorkers and keep our communities safe.”

The charge against Bowie carries a statutory maximum prison term of 20 years, and up to $250,000 fine and a lifetime term of supervised release.

Police said she’s also been accused of a similar attempt in another state at least once before.

Lakesha Brown, 42, was arrested Monday after police found her with the girls, ages 4 and 11 months, hiding them in what police described as an “unclean and unsuitable trailer” with no air conditioning amid 97-degree Atlanta heat.

Bodycam footage released by the Atlanta Police Department shows officers closing in on the trailer and arresting Brown on Monday after the mother reported to police Brown had failed to return her children after an outing on Saturday. Officers found the trailer when a detective checking vehicles nearby heard a baby crying from inside. The girls were unharmed and returned to their mother, police said, and Brown now faces two counts each of kidnapping and first-degree cruelty to children.

A warrant said Brown had met the mother in a “pregnancy mom” Facebook group and over the course of a year gained her trust, presenting herself as part of a support network that assisted mothers with babysitting and other services.

Brown was supposed to be babysitting her girls on Saturday, the mother said, and she’d told her that she would take them to Walmart and a candy store.

The mother said she had called Brown throughout the day to check on her children and was told they were OK, but when she went to their scheduled meetup location to pick them up, Brown and the children were not there. She told police she called Brown again and was given various excuses for her being late with the girls until finally, Brown told her that she “was in an accident” and did not have her children, who were now in custody of the Georgia Division for Family and Children Services.

The mother then called 911 to report the kidnapping, a call that triggered an Amber Alert. Investigating officers found that the kids were not in state custody as Brown had claimed. The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were contacted, and the FBI used “cell phone ping technology” to track Brown’s cell phone to the area where she and the children were found, according to the warrant.

As Special Victims Unit detectives investigated, the warrant said, they found that Brown also had an active warrant out in Alabama for failing to appear in court while out on bond in another kidnapping case that unfolded similarly — in 2021, she allegedly befriended a woman through a Facebook group, offered her babysitting services and is accused of then kidnapping that woman’s 4-day-old son, who was later reunited safely with his mother.

In a press release from the Jefferson County, Alabama, Sheriff’s office, sent out after Brown’s 2021 arrest, officials indicated that even that might not have been Brown’s first time attempting something similar.

“Information that has been received during this investigation suggests that Brown may have attempted this type of behavior in the past,” the press release said.

After her Atlanta arrest, Brown waived her first appearance at Fulton County Jail. Attorney information was not immediately available.

Jonathan Rinderknecht entered the pleas in the 9th floor courtroom at US District Court in Downtown LA, the same courtroom that hosted his first trial on similar charges that ended with a hung jury earlier this summer.

Rinderknecht was dressed in a beige jail jumpsuit and stood at the lectern with his attorney, telling the judge he understood the new charges filed against him.

“And how do you plead to the charges?,” asked US District Court Judge Anne Hwang.

“Not guilty,” Rinderknecht said.

Judge Hwang set the retrial date for November 2.

“We believe the retrial is probably going to be shorter,” Assistant US Attorney Mark Williams told the judge, and estimated it would take 5 to 8 days to present the prosecution’s case.

A superseding grand jury indictment was made public last week.

It revealed prosecutors opted to drop one of the three arson charges from the first trial, and redefined the other two counts to separate the arson allegation from the first fire on January 1, 2025, called the Lachman fire, from the fire destruction caused by the devastating Palisades fire six days later.

Crime and Courts Aug 13

Federal charges revised against Palisades arson suspect

California Wildfires Jul 16

Man accused in Palisades Fire arson ‘looking forward' to retrial

At the first trial in June prosecutors characterized the two fires as a single, continuous event, and jurors reported they were deadlocked on all counts 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal.

“There is no direct evidence that establishing that he started a fire on January first,” said Rinderknecht’s defense attorney Steve Haney.

“There wasn’t when they charged the case a year ago, there wasn’t in June, there won’t be in November. And that’s the challenge they have, despite how they have changed, modified, turned upside-down the indictment,” he told reporters outside court.

Rinderknecht remains in federal custody with no bail.

Riley English, a 26-year-old transgender woman, said she was in the grips of a mental health crisis and abusing drugs when she drove to Washington in January 2025 and told Capitol police that she was there to kill Bessent on the day of his Senate confirmation.

“I never wanted to hurt anyone,” she told U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras. “I’m not a political person. I’m not a violent person.”

Contreras, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, sentenced English to six years and one month of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. English has remained jailed since her arrest and will get credit for the nearly 20 months that she already has spent in custody.

“You’ve had a very difficult life,” Contreras told English. “Hopefully, the progress you’ve made in jail to this date has set you on the right path.”

Nobody was injured, and Contreras said her plan to harm Bessent had an “exceedingly low or non-existent” chance of success. Bessent wasn’t at the Capitol when English arrived on Jan. 27, 2025. The Molotov cocktails that English brought to the Capitol appeared to be incapable of igniting, the judge noted.

Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 10 years and one month for English. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Horan said English had been planning the “attempted political assassination” for at least a month at a time when the threat of politically motivated violence has been mounting in the U.S.

“This was not a chance encounter or an impulsive act,” Horan said.

The case against English fits a pattern of politically motivated violence that has plagued the U.S. over the past decade. In a letter addressed to the judge, Bessent said he worries the country “cannot survive this assault.”

“Political violence is an attack on the rule of law and on representative government itself,” Bessent wrote. “It also deprives our country of service by talented men and women with ability and integrity who may reasonably decide that no job is worth threats to themselves and their families.”

English’s prosecution drew comparisons to the case against California resident Sophie Roske, who was sentenced last October to over eight years in prison for attempting to assassinate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his Maryland home. Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of no less than 30 years for Roske, a transgender woman. They appealed Roske’s sentence by U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman, calling it unreasonably lenient.

Defense attorney Maria Jacob said English was “terrified and traumatized” by fears of what would happen to transgender people under the second Trump administration.

“Our argument is that she was in a diminished mental state,” Jacob said.

Investigators said they found a folding knife, two homemade firebombs and a lighter in English’s possession at the Capitol.

English, of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, told police that she was influenced by Luigi Mangione, the man who was charged with fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. She said she was “on a mission” and “had been thinking about this for a while because of Luigi Mangione,” prosecutors said. English told officers that she was terminally ill and “wanted to do something before I go,” according to prosecutors.

English also said she traveled from Massachusetts to Washington intending to kill other Republican political figures — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson — and to burn down the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, according to police. English changed her target to Bessent after reading an internet post about his confirmation hearing, police said.

Jacob said English’s actions last year were “a cry for help.”

“There was no indication that she was acting rationally that day,” the judge said.

Gene Evin Atkins, 36, was charged with second-degree murder in the second of two trials over the shootout. The charge includes an allegation that he personally used and discharged a firearm during the July 21, 2018 crime in the neighborhood north of downtown Los Angeles.

Crime and Courts Aug 17

Jury handed case of man charged in deadly Trader Joe's shooting

Crime and Courts Aug 6

Retrial underway for man accused of killing Trader Joe's employee during standoff in Silver Lake

During the shootout, assistant store manager Melyda “Mely” Maricela Corado, 27, was caught in the crossfire and struck by bullet fired by a LAPD officer.

Jurors spent about three hours in deliberations before returning their verdict Tuesday, which included the panel finding true allegations that Atkins personally used and discharged a firearm during the crime. Sentencing was tentatively scheduled for Monday, City News Service reported.

Second-degree murder involves the an unlawful killing with malice aforethought, but does not require premeditation or deliberation.

Prosecutors urged jurors to convict Atkins for setting in motion the chain of events that led to Corado’s death. The defense argued the shooting was not a foreseeable consequence of Atkins’ actions.

Jurors began deliberations Monday afternoon about two months after the first jury convicted him of 40 other counts that could carry a potential life prison term, but acquitted him of the most serious charge of first-degree murder and deadlocked 10-2 in favor of guilt on second-degree murder involving Corado’s shooting death.

The deadly chain of events on July 21, 2018 unfolded after Atkins allegedly shot his then 77-year-old grandmother in an attack that also injured his girlfriend, then led police on a pursuit that ended when he crashed into a pole outside the Trader Joe’s. Atkins was shot in his arm when he ran from his car and into the store in the community northeast of downtown LA.

Prosecutors said Atkins fired shots at officers and held people hostage inside the store. Hostages inside the store were ordered to create a “human shield” around him, according to prosecutors.

They alleged it was Atkins’ choices that led to the standoff and Corado’s death.

Atkins surrendered about three hours with four remaining hostages.

The first jury spent about three days in deliberations before finding Atkins guilty of 24 counts of false imprisonment of a hostage involving Trader Joe’s employees and customers, along with counts of assault with a firearm on an officer, three counts of attempted murder, two counts each of mayhem, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and attempted carjacking.

He was also found guilty in June of one count each of fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle while driving recklessly, assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and driving or taking a vehicle without consent.

In 2024, Corado’s family settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the city for nearly $10 million. The Los Angeles Police Commission determined the officer who fired the shot did not violate department policy.

In a sworn statement submitted to the court in May 2024, the officer who fired the shot said, “I had no alternative but to fire my weapon at Gene Atkins in order to stop this deadly threat that he, himself, had created. I fired based upon his actions and stopped when I realized he was moving into the Trader Joe’s entrance to avoid striking individuals inside, despite the fact that he was still considered a violent fleeing felon and continued to pose an imminent threat of serious/great bodily injury and/or death while inside Trader Joe’s.”

The officer said shots fired by Atkins struck a nearby pole, forcing officers to take cover behind a concrete wall.

Gene Evin Atkins, now 36, is charged with murder — along with allegations that he personally used and discharged a firearm during the crime — in connection with the July 21, 2018, shooting death of assistant store manager Melyda “Mely” Maricela Corado, 27, who was caught in the crossfire.

Jurors were handed the case mid-Monday afternoon and spent nearly two hours in deliberations. They are due back Tuesday morning to continue their discussions.

The first jury to hear the case against Atkins convicted him in June of 40 other counts that could carry a potential life prison term, but acquitted him of the most serious charge of first-degree murder and deadlocked 10-2 in favor of guilt on second-degree murder involving Corado’s shooting death.

Crime and Courts Aug 6

Retrial underway for man accused of killing Trader Joe's employee during standoff in Silver Lake

Silver Lake Jun 9

Suspect in deadly Trader Joe's standoff not guilty of murder, convicted on other charges

The first jury spent about three days in deliberations before finding Atkins guilty of 24 counts of false imprisonment of a hostage involving Trader Joe’s employees and customers, along with counts of assault with a firearm on an officer, three counts of attempted murder, two counts each of mayhem, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and attempted carjacking.

He was also found guilty in June of one count each of fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle while driving recklessly, assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and driving or taking a vehicle without consent.

Deputy District Attorney Ben Schwartz told jurors in his closing argument Monday in the retrial, “But for his (the defendant’s) actions, she would be alive. … It doesn’t get any more dangerous than that.”

He noted that the officers and those near the Trader Joe’s saw Atkins get out of the blue Toyota Camry and immediately fire at police officers after crashing his grandmother’s vehicle near the store, saying that an expert also concluded that Atkins had fired first at the officers.

Atkins surrendered at about 6:30 p.m. that day, just over three hours after he ran inside the busy store.

The prosecutor said the defendant had also fired at officers in two separate rounds of gunfire without police firing back as they chased him after being informed that he was being sought in his grandmother’s shooting earlier that day.

Defense attorney Errol Cook urged the panel to acquit his client of murder, while acknowledging that the woman’s death was “an enormous tragedy.”

“… He did not kill Ms. Corado,” he said, telling jurors to set their anger aside and not to “transfer the blame.”

Cook told the panel that his client had committed crimes, caused chaos and “terrified people,” but added that a gunbattle with police at the store’s entrance/exit doors was “not a natural and probable consequence” of his actions.

Atkins has not been in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom for any of his retrial.

In a statement released after the jury’s verdict in the first trial, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said, “On July 21, 2018, Gene Atkins went on a trail of terror, attempting to kill two people, trying to carjack innocent bystanders, engaging in a gun battle with police and holding dozens of terrified people hostage. Melyda Corado was needlessly killed, and others were gravely injured as a result of the defendant’s deadly actions. He may not have fired the shot that killed Melyda, but we still firmly believe he is responsible for her death.”

Then-Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore confirmed in 2018 that the bullet that killed Corado was fired by an officer — not by Atkins. The prosecutor noted that Atkins was charged with murder for Corado’s shooting under the “provocative act” theory, telling jurors in his first trial that his actions “caused a lethal danger,” resulting in the woman’s “tragic” death.

At a December 2018 court appearance, Atkins told a judge he had “no criminal record, but I have an extensive mental health record,” including a diagnosis of “bipolar disorder and a list of other disorders as well.”

At another court hearing in February 2019, Atkins said he was “sent here by Jesus” and didn’t understand anything.

“God bless you, sir,” he repeatedly told a judge, later adding that “I was sent here by Jesus” and that he was a “prophet.”

He was found mentally competent to stand trial in 2021.

Relatives of Corado filed a wrongful death and negligence suit in November 2018 against the city and the officers that eventually resulted in what attorneys said was a $9.5 million settlement.

The Los Angeles police officer who fired the shot that accidentally killed Corado said in a sworn declaration that he had no choice but to open fire to protect himself, his partner and bystanders.

“I had no alternative but to fire my weapon at Gene Atkins in order to stop this deadly threat that he, himself, had created,” Sinlen Tse said in his sworn statement. “I fired based upon his actions and stopped when I realized he was moving into the Trader Joe’s entrance to avoid striking individuals inside.”

In a 2020 memorandum, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office found that Tse and Officer Sarah Winans were “justified in using deadly force in an attempt to stop” the suspect.

“After the crash, Atkins immediately exited the Camry and fired his handgun three times at Tse and Winans as he ran into the Trader Joe’s,” according to the memorandum from the District Attorney’s Office.

“Tse and Winans returned fire in an attempt to stop Atkins from trying to injure or kill them or civilians in the Trader Joe’s. Atkins showed no consideration for the lives of others and it was reasonable and lawful for Tse and Winans to use deadly force to protect themselves and the public.”

The District Attorney’s Office noted that “no bystanders were visible” behind Atkins or in the line of fire when the officers fired at the suspect, with the evidence suggesting that Corado was “accidentally struck by gunfire when she ran toward the front doors” of the store after the vehicle crash.

“Neither I, nor Officer Winans, fired any additional shots due to the concern regarding the patrons inside Trader Joe’s, demonstrating one of several instances where Officer Winans and I showed restraint, control and reverence for human life,” Tse said.

Tse said he never considered pursuing Atkins inside the market, saying that would have only put more patrons and employees in danger “due to the poor decisions Gene Atkins was making and the fact he had no regard for human life, except for his own.”

Tse said he learned later that one of the five shots he fired proved to be the one that mistakenly killed Corado. Atkins did “absolutely nothing” to help Corado for nearly 20 minutes despite knowing she was injured, Tse said.

In her declaration, Winans said there came a point where Atkins posed as much of a deadly threat to the Trader Joe’s patrons as he did to her and Tse.

“No longer could I avoid the unfortunate need to fire my weapon to stop Gene Atkins’ deadly actions, but I also was forced into this situation based upon the deadly actions that Gene Atkins had demonstrated he was capable of engaging in,” said Winans, who fired three shots.

“My heart goes out to her family for their tragic loss,” Tse said.

Following the settlement with the city, Corado family members issued a statement through their attorneys, saying: “Nothing will bring Mely back to us and we are forever heartbroken by her violent death caused by those who are meant to protect and serve the community. We will keep her memory alive always. We hope this settlement sends a loud message to LAPD and all law enforcement agencies across the country that officers must account for their surroundings when firing their guns.”

Deputy Clinkunbroomer was shot and killed Sept. 16, 2023 in the high desert community of Palmdale, allegedly by a man who had aspired to kill a law enforcement officers, prosecutors said as the trial began for 32-year-old Kevin Eduardo Cataneo Salazar.

Palmdale Oct 5, 2023

Funeral services held for LA County deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer

Palmdale Sep 18, 2023

Slain deputy's former teachers remember Ryan Clinkunbroomer's kindness, ambition

Salazar is accused of shooting Clinkunbroomer in the back of the head in a patrol vehicle while stopped at a red light near the sheriff’s Palmdale station.

Deputy District Attorney David Ayvazian told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury Monday that Clinkunbroomer “was doing what he loved — working as a deputy sheriff. He died in the line of duty and the only reason he died was because he was a deputy sheriff.”

The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of murder of a peace officer, lying in wait and firing from a vehicle, along with allegations that he personally used and discharged a .22-caliber revolver. Special circumstance allegations can increase penalties during the sentencing phase.

Salazar, a Palmdale resident, entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity in connection with the killing. An attorney for Salazar said in his opening statement that the trial would not focus on whether his client fire the shot, but whether the defendant was insane at the time.

Salazar’s attorney argued that his client wasn’t targeting law enforcement officers.

The defendant could face life in prison if convicted as charged and found sane. If he is determined to have been insane at the time of the killing, he would be confined to a state hospital rather than prison.

Salazar sat silently facing the judge during Monday’s proceedings in a courtroom packed with members of Clinkunbroomer’s family and colleagues from the sheriff’s department.
Family members stepped out of the courtroom several times when photos and videos were displayed for jurors. Body camera video played in court showed the moment a deputy started running toward a wounded Clinkunbroomer, seated in his patrol car.

Both Ayvazian and Rosenstock described the defendant’s apparently irrational behavior on the day of the killing and two days earlier when he was “driving around confronting complete strangers,” the defense lawyer said. Ayvazian told jurors that following his arrest, Salazar told two undercover operatives in jail during a surreptitiously recorded conversation that he had wanted to kill a police officer for years and described following officers, parking and waiting and playing music to prepare himself.

At a June 2024 hearing in which Salazar was ordered to stand trial, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Gustavo Carrillo testified that Salazar acknowledged his involvement in the shooting during questioning at the Palmdale sheriff’s station by detectives two days after the killing. Salazar told investigators that he felt bad and “cried for the (expletive) officer,” according to the detective.

Under cross-examination by Salazar’s attorney at the preliminary hearing, the detective acknowledged that when asked why he had shot the deputy, Salazar responded that it had “started a long time ago before COVID” and that he “began to hear voices in his head.”

During the sanity phase of the trial, the defense wants to call three mental health professionals who examined and interviewed Salazar and listened to statements he made to law enforcement after his arrest and during an undercover jailhouse operation and then concluded that the defendant was legally insane at the time of the offense, Rosenstock indicated in court papers.

A deputy medical examiner concluded Clinkunbroomer died from a single gunshot that entered the back of his head.

After the shooting, investigators used surveillance video footage to identify a vehicle believed to be a Toyota Corolla and then to ask the public to come forward with any information about the vehicle, prosecutors said.

Ayvazian said Monday that among those who contacted investigators was a motorist who testified that he took a photo of the license plate of a vehicle whose driver had aggressively confronted him about seven minutes before authorities believe Clinkunbroomer was shot. The driver identified Salazar in court during the 2024 hearing as the person who confronted him.

Clinkunbroomer was a fourth-generation sheriff’s deputy who had become engaged to be married four days before he was killed. The deputy was honored in January with the Castaic Sports Complex being renamed the Ryan M. Clinkunbroomer Castaic Sports Complex.

Judge Gregory Carro has ordered prosecutors to respond to Mangione’s motion to dismiss by Oct. 9th. The defense will then have until Oct. 30 to respond to prosecutors filing. With this latest development, the next court date is set now for Dec. 10.

Mangione pleaded guilty Friday to federal stalking charges, potentially capping a saga that captivated the public and ignited fiery national debate over the insurance industry.

Thompson’s family was in court for the guilty plea. It was the first time any of the CEO’s relatives were in the same room with the man accused of gunning down their loved one. Thompson’s mother glared at him.

MANGIONE ADMITS TO SHOOTING BRIAN THOMPSON

Before pleading guilty, Mangione admitted to killing the healthcare executive, saying, “On the morning of Dec 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan in his back. I understood my actions would place him in fear of death and bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal.” 

He told the courtroom Friday that he pursued Thompson “after years of enduring severe pain from a broken back and navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system.”

While addressing the courtroom, Mangione also said that when he learned that UnitedHealthcare was going to hold its private investor conference on Dec. 4, 2024, he emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership “posing as an investor with millions in assets” and received a response. He did not elaborate what the response was. However, it was after this that he traveled to New York City after using a 3D printer to make a gun and silencer.

The plea comes weeks before Mangione’s state murder trial was set to begin. The agreement means his lawyers move to have the case tossed on New York double jeopardy grounds.

“Mr. Mangione has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson,” defense lawyer Karen Friedman said outside court, arguing that her client shouldn’t face two prosecutions over a “single tragic event.”

Mangione never was a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company.

Thompson’s family called Friday’s plea an important step toward justice.

“While nothing will ease the pain of losing him, we are grateful that the federal justice system has held the person responsible for this heinous act accountable,” they said. “Now we look to the court to ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime.”

The federal judge said she would not decide Mangione’s sentence Friday. She scheduled sentencing for Dec. 18 and remanded him to federal custody until then. Prosecutors have recommended 24 to 30 years. The judge has the prerogative to sentence him to any amount of time she wants, up to life in prison.

The Department of Justice previously had sought the death penalty in the federal case, but an appeals court ruling took that option off the table earlier in the year. The federal trial had been scheduled to start in January 2027, with the state trial getting underway with jury selection in just a few weeks, on Sept. 8.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE GUILTY PLEA? WHAT CHARGES DOES MANGIONE STILL FACE?

Following his guilty plea, Friedman filed a double jeopardy motion arguing arguing that his plea in federal court triggered double jeopardy related to his state case.

On Monday, following news of the delay in Mangione’s state trial, NBC New York reached out to the district attorney’s office who said they expected this development.

Mangione originally faced 11 state charges. Last year, Judge Gregory Carro tossed out two of the more severe counts: first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism and second-degree murder as a crime of terrorism. In May, Carro dismissed a criminal charge related to a gun magazine.

Crime and Courts Jan 30

Judge rules Luigi Mangione won't face death penalty in health care CEO murder case

WHAT HAPPENED ON DEC. 4, 2024?

The killing set off a nationwide conversation about the health insurance industry and focused attention on Mangione, who was decried by some as a violent extremist and defended by others as an avatar for rage over the insurance industry.

Thompson, 50, was shot as he walked to a Sixth Ave hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Thompson worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles west of Manhattan. At the May 18 hearing, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing can be used as evidence against him.

The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches the one used to kill Thompson, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive and rebelling against “the deadly, greed-fueled health insurance cartel.”

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.

A hearing will be held later this year on whether Nick Reiner will be granted access to a trust fund set up for him by his parents in a process that will likely impact who defends him in the double-murder case.

Reiner, charged with murder in the killings of his parents Rob and Michele Reiner at the couple’s Brentwood residence in December, is fighting for access to the first payment from the trust fund that was set up for him in 1993. He has argued that the rules of the trust state the first payment should have been provided three years ago when he turned 30.

Crime and Courts Aug 15

Nick Reiner trust fund fight could hinge on California's Slayer Statute

Celebrity News Aug 12

Nick Reiner indicted for murders of parents Rob and Michele

Attorneys who run he trust are trying to block the payment, citing a California law known as the Slayer Statue. The law states that a person cannot be paid from a trust if they killed the person who established the legal document.

At a hearing Monday in a downtown LA courtroom, the judge scheduled a hearing on the matter for October. The judge’s decision will likely be a key factor in Reiner’s ability to pay for a lawyer to defend him in the murder trial.

“He turned 30 before he allegedly killed his parents, so his lawyer’s argument is going to be even if it’s determined later that he (killed) his parents, well, he was entitled to the money a few years ago, so give it to him now so he can hire a high-priced lawyer,” said NBCLA legal analyst Royal Oakes. “Now, theoretically, the probate judge could say, hey, you know what? I’m entitled to have a mini murder trial right here in the civil court, and if I determined that Reiner probably killed his parents, I’ll hold onto this trust money. But it’s very unlikely the judge would do that.”

Reiner’s former defense attorney Alan Jackson spoke outside court after Monday’s brief hearing. He said he is pleased the judge is considering Reiner’s request and hopes it can be resolved in Reiner’s favor as quickly as possible.

A pretrial hearing in the murder trial is set for the fall. It was not immediately clear whether the probate court timeline to hear the trust case will affect the start of the criminal case.

Reiner was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder with additional special circumstances allegations of multiple murders and lying in wait, plus the special allegation he personally used a deadly weapon. Special circumstances allegations can increase potential penalties in the sentencing phase of a trial, including the possibility of a life-without-parole term.

Special circumstances elevate a murder charge to a more severe level. The charges carry the potential for a possible death sentence, if prosecutors pursue capital punishment.

The indictment speeds the case toward a jury trial, bypassing the need for a public preliminary hearing, which had been expected to take place sometime in the fall.

The 32-year-old was arrested on Dec. 15 after the tragic discovery of the bodies of Rob Reiner, 78, and photographer wife Michele Reiner, 68, inside their Brentwood home.

Reiner remains jailed without bail.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman has said the case is eligible for the death penalty.

The medical examiner determined the Reiners’ deaths were caused by “multiple sharp force injuries.”

Nick Reiner is the second of the couple’s three children. 

“Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day,” Jake and Romy Reiner said in a statement after the slayings. “The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends,” the statement added.

The deaths of Rob Reiner, a celebrated director whose long list of successful films included “When Harry Met Sally…,” “A Few Good Men” and “This Is Spinal Tap,” and Michele Reiner, a talent photographer and producer, stunned the Hollywood community and led to an outpouring of tributes from entertainment industry colleagues, political figures and more. The family’s challenges with Nick, including battles with drug addiction, were well-documented.

In 2015, Rob and Nick Reiner worked on a coming-of-age film together called “Being Charlie.” Directed by Rob Reiner and co-written by Nick Reiner, the film explored the relationship between a son and father. In a 2016 interview with The Associated Press, they talked about the film.

“It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,” Rob Reiner told the AP. “I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘You know it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already. This has already been good.’ We’ve worked through a lot of stuff.”

In September, the family appeared together at the Los Angeles premiere of “Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues.”

Nick Reiner has spoken publicly over the years about his struggles with drug addiction, which began in his teens. He told People in an interview in 2016 that he cycled in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness and relapses in between.

“I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun,” Nick Reiner told People, adding that, “If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs they were suggesting, then I had to be homeless.”

Deputies responded to the care facility located in the 6000 block of La Mesa Street in June 2025 regarding a report of inappropriate behavior involving an employee and a patient, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department announced.

At the time, no sufficient suspect information was gathered, and no arrests were made.

In March, the Riverside Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau Special Victims Unit assumed the investigation and identified a second victim. Investigators later identified the suspect as June Richard Lee of Hemet. No further victim descriptions were provided.

Lee was allegedly also using the name Richard Bautista. He was located Friday in the 42000 block of Margoni Way and was taken into custody without incident.

Lee was booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center on suspicion of lewd acts on a dependent adult, sexual battery and forced oral copulation. He was expected to appear in court on Wednesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Anyone with additional information was encouraged to contact the Riverside County Sheriff’s Special Victims Unit at 951-776-1099.

Deijae Devon Jester, 21, was convicted as a juvenile in the Brooklyn-born rapper’s February 2020 shooting death. Jester, 15 at the time, admitted a first-degree murder charge in 2023 stemming from the killing of Pop Smoke, whose real name was Bashar Jackson, an an allegation that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm during the crime. He also admitted a home-invasion robbery count.

Hollywood Hills Apr 7, 2023

Man Pleads Guilty in Killing of Rapper Pop Smoke During Robbery at Rented Hollywood Hills Mansion

Hollywood Hills Feb 19, 2020

Rising Rapper Pop Smoke Killed in Shooting at a Hollywood Hills Home

The Sylmar resident pleaded no contest in June to one felony count each of possession for sale of a controlled substance, bringing contraband into a jail and bringing or sending contraband into a juvenile hall or camp. He was sentenced Thursday to four years in county jail for the drug offense.

Jester’s mother, Nickia Tyonia Randall, is also facing the same charges for allegedly attempting to pass two latex balls to her son that contained fentanyl pills while visiting him Dec. 14, 2025 at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, according to the District Attorney’s Office. One of the balls was recovered and contained 25 fentanyl pills, authorities said.

“Deijae Jester committed a devastating crime when he took the life of Pop Smoke. Because he was a juvenile, the law afforded him an opportunity for redemption. Instead of embracing that opportunity, he chose to traffic one of the deadliest drugs imaginable from inside a juvenile detention facility,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said. “He was given the chance at rehabilitation by serving seven years in a juvenile hall but he chose to smuggle in fentanyl. Now he faces multiple years in county jail. If you continue to commit serious crimes after being given a second chance, this office will hold you fully accountable. I hope others take notice before making the same destructive choices.”

The 20-year-old rapper was killed on Feb. 19, 2020 at a rented home where he was staying while on a four-day trip to Los Angeles. The robbers knew the address because a day earlier, Jackson had posted a photograph on social media of a gift bag he had received and the address was on a label, authorities said.

The attackers stole Jackson’s diamond-studded Rolex watch and sold it for $2,000, a detective testified.

Pop Smoke arrived on the rap scene in 2018 and broke out with “Welcome to the Party” a gangsta anthem with boasts about shootings, killings and drugs that became a huge sensation, and prompted Nicki Minaj to drop a verse on a remix.

He had several other hits, including the album “Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon,” which was released posthumously.

Reiner pleaded not guilty last week to a newly unsealed grand jury indictment that charges him with the December 2025 murders of Rob and Michele Reiner, and further alleges Nick Reiner was ‘lying in wait’ to carry out the stabbing attack at the family’s home in Brentwood.

A judge in LA probate court is set to hear arguments on the trust challenge Monday, and new legal filings from the trust attorneys argue Nick Reiner should not receive the money while the murder case is proceeding.

The trust attorney invoked the “Slayer Statute” in a response to Reiner’s demand, and said because there are now, “conflicting claims,” to the trust fund, the money should be withheld until they’re resolved, a clear reference to Reiner’s guilt or innocence yet to be established by a criminal court.

Nick Reiner filed suit against the trust earlier this year, and demanded the first of two payments from the fund, which both sides agree was due to him when he turned 30 years old, on Sept. 14, 2023 – two years before the murders – but was never distributed to him.

According to Reiner’s filing, he needs the money to re-hire defense attorney Alan Jackson, who initially represented Reiner but withdrew from the case in January.

“Nick loved his parents, and he is devastated by their deaths. But the facts about what did and did not happen to them are not at issue in this Trust litigation,” Reiner’s court filing said.

“Like anyone accused of a crime, Nick is presumed innocent, and he is entitled to mount his defense with the resources that are lawfully his own,” it said.

Celebrity News Aug 12

Nick Reiner indicted for murders of parents Rob and Michele

Celebrity News Jun 9

Rob Reiner's son Nick seeks access to trust fund to pay for his defense in parents' killings

California Probate Code section 250 says, “A person who feloniously and intentionally kills the decedent is not entitled to property, interests, or benefits under a will, trust, intestate succession, and certain other transfers.”

The Code specifically describes a trust, “created by…the decedent, or in which the decedent has an interest,” like the one established by Rob and Michele Reiner for the benefit of Nick, his brother Jake, and his sister Romy, according to the court filings.

Should the probate court agree to delay a decision on distributions to Nick Reiner, a future acquittal in criminal court would still not guarantee his receipt of the money.

The Code also says while a criminal conviction would be conclusive proof of ineligibility, the probate court may still reach an independent determination of whether he, “feloniously and intentionally killed the decedent under a preponderance of the evidence standard,” which is somewhat less stringent than proof beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal court.

Reiner’s petition for access to the trust argued the age 30 distribution was mandatory, that it was due 2 years before the murders, and that he’s never been found to be ‘incompetent’ or incapable of receiving the money.

The attorney for the trust also argued that because Reiner didn’t explicitly demand his age 30 distribution he ‘consented’ to not receiving the money.

The amount of money in the trust isn’t publicly known, but Reiner’s petition said it had at least $1.5-million in value.

Thompson’s family was in court for the guilty plea. It was the first time any of the CEO’s relatives were in the same room with the man accused of gunning down their loved one. Thompson’s mother glared at him.

Before pleading guilty, Mangione admitted to killing the healthcare executive, saying, “On the morning of Dec 4, 2024, I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan in his back. I understood my actions would place him in fear of death and bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal.” 

He told the courtroom Friday that he pursued Thompson “after years of enduring severe pain from a broken back and navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system.”

While addressing the courtroom, Mangione also said that when he learned that UnitedHealthcare was going to hold its private investor conference on Dec. 4, 2024, he emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership “posing as an investor with millions in assets” and received a response. He did not elaborate what the response was. However, it was after this that he traveled to New York City after using a 3D printer to make a gun and silencer.

The plea comes weeks before Mangione’s state murder trial was set to begin. The agreement means his lawyers move to have the case tossed on New York double jeopardy grounds.

“Mr. Mangione has accepted full responsibility for the death of Brian Thompson,” defense lawyer Karen Friedman said outside court, arguing that her client shouldn’t face two prosecutions over a “single tragic event.”

Mangione never was a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company.

Thompson’s family called Friday’s plea an important step toward justice.

“While nothing will ease the pain of losing him, we are grateful that the federal justice system has held the person responsible for this heinous act accountable,” they said. “Now we look to the court to ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime.”

The federal judge said she would not decide Mangione’s sentence Friday. She scheduled sentencing for Dec. 18 and remanded him to federal custody until then. Prosecutors have recommended 24 to 30 years. The judge has the prerogative to sentence him to any amount of time she wants, up to life in prison.

The Department of Justice previously had sought the death penalty in the federal case, but an appeals court ruling took that option off the table earlier in the year. The federal trial had been scheduled to start in January 2027, with the state trial getting underway with jury selection in just a few weeks, on Sept. 8.

Following his guilty plea, Friedman filed a double jeopardy motion arguing arguing that his plea in federal court triggered double jeopardy related to his state case.

Mangione originally faced 11 state charges. Last year, Judge Gregory Carro tossed out two of the more severe counts: first-degree murder in furtherance of an act of terrorism and second-degree murder as a crime of terrorism. In May, Carro dismissed a criminal charge related to a gun magazine.

The killing set off a nationwide conversation about the health insurance industry and focused attention on Mangione, who was decried by some as a violent extremist and defended by others as an avatar for rage over the insurance industry.

Crime and Courts Jan 30

Judge rules Luigi Mangione won't face death penalty in health care CEO murder case

Thompson, 50, was shot as he walked to a Sixth Ave hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Thompson worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles west of Manhattan. At the May 18 hearing, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing can be used as evidence against him.

The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches the one used to kill Thompson, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive and rebelling against “the deadly, greed-fueled health insurance cartel.”

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.

Most notably, the “first superseding indictment” charges Rinderknecht with igniting the Jan. 1 Lachman Fire in one count, and causing the damage from the Jan. 7 Palisades Fire in the second count.

Previous coverage:

Wildfires Jun 26

Juror explains Palisades arson trial decision and initial confusion over verdict

California Wildfires Jul 16

Man accused in Palisades Fire arson ‘looking forward' to retrial

A mistrial was declared during Rinderknecht’s first trial in June, after jurors told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal on all charges.

Rinderknecht is due in court next week for status conference and his retrial is scheduled for September.

Federal prosecutors say they believe Rinderknecht intentionally ignited the Lachman Fire around midnight on New Year’s 2025 along a hiking trail in the Palisades highlands neighborhood because he was frustrated with his place in society, and harbored particular anger at wealthy people.

His defense attorney argued there was insufficient evidence to show the Lachman Fire was arson at all, and far from conclusive proof that embers smoldering underground after the fire appeared to be extinguished reignited in the intense winds a week later.

During the trial, the prosecution told jurors the two fires were really one event, so that any responsibility for the Lachman Fire flowed to the catastrophic destruction brought by the Palisades Fire.

Clancy looked up suicide methods, bipolar disorder and insomnia at the end of December 2022 and, in January, went in search of information on postpartum depression. She also wrote a detailed note in October 2022 expressing doubts about her parenting choices, second-guessing her decision to stop breastfeeding her 8-month-old, and reconsidering plans for a fourth child.

The defense says she was in the grip of bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis, a rare condition that can alter a woman’s sense of reality after childbirth. A forensic psychiatrist diagnosed Clancy with those conditions following the killings.

In her note, the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse seemed most concerned with not being able to give her youngest child the same attention as her first two, ages 3 and 5.

“I’m terrified of something happening to my kids or doing something wrong to mess up their development,” Clancy’s note read. “Our generation is inundated with information about every aspect of parenting. … It’s insane. For the last five years, I’ve just filled my mind with all things parenting and it’s just unhealthy.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Clancy has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy. Their father found the children in the basement of the family’s home in coastal Duxbury, south of Boston. Their mother was lying in the yard after jumping out a second-story window, and remains paralyzed from the waist down.

Text messages with her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, show them juggling the routines of parenthood. Massachusetts State Police cellphone forensics expert Tim Chiappini read aloud texts between them from the day of the killings. They checked in on each other and Lindsay Clancy expressed relief that one of their children’s kidneys were OK. There were also photos of the children.

“You’re a good mamma,” Patrick Clancy texted, prompting Lindsay Clancy to respond with a heart and smile emoji.

Clancy’s livestreamed trial has generated intense public interest, with journalists and spectators packing the courtroom as online audiences pore over the details of the tragedy.

Crime and Courts Aug 12

Lindsay Clancy trial turns focus to medications she was prescribed before killing kids

Health Aug 11

As Lindsay Clancy uses postpartum psychosis as defense in trial, experts explain the condition

Clancy’s attorneys do not dispute that she killed the children. But they say the jury should not hold her criminally responsible because she was mentally ill, believing she heard voices ordering her to take their lives and her own.

Prosecutors argue she was an intentional killer who contrived to get her husband out of the house by sending him to get takeout and to the pharmacy on Jan. 24, 2023, then strangled the children with exercise bands.

Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham has urged jurors not to view the trial as “a public debate about women’s mental health and how the medical system treats women.”

If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.

Her attorneys say Clancy did everything she could to seek help: She turned to multiple outpatient providers, tried various drugs they prescribed, called a suicide hotline, went to an emergency room, and approached but wasn’t accepted into a hospital-based, full-day treatment program for women with postpregnancy mental health problems. Clancy even checked herself into a psychiatric hospital for several days.

Rather than improving, her condition worsened on the ever-remixed cocktail of psychiatric medications, some of them problematic for bipolar patients, her attorneys and family say.

Prosecutors aim to show that Clancy had access to a range of mental health services but sometimes ignored doctors’ advice and stopped taking certain medications. They’ve brought several of her medical providers who testified she never talked about having a plan to harm herself or her children. They say she never showed signs of psychosis or mania, although she did say she was having suicidal thoughts.

Opening statements at the murder trial in Las Vegas are expected to begin Monday.

Family members and fans of the legendary rapper have been waiting for decades to learn the truth behind the 1996 drive-by shooting that left Shakur dead at the height of his career.

Shakur was just 25 when he was shot near the Las Vegas Strip at a time when he was in the middle of a fierce battle for dominance in a music scene shaped by rival gangs.

Celebrity News Aug 11

Who was there the night Tupac Shakur was killed in Las Vegas?

Crime and Courts Aug 9

Man accused of orchestrating Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing is on trial. What to know

Authorities three years ago charged Duane “Keffe D” Davis with murder, describing him as the “shot caller” who orchestrated the killing. Davis has pleaded not guilty and could be sentenced to life in prison if he’s convicted.

Sixteen jurors were picked for the trial, which is expected to last about a month. During the selection process, potential jurors were asked about their favorite books and movies, if they had any strong feelings about gangs, and whether they had listened to Shakur’s music.

Shakur still is considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. With hits like “California Love” and “Dear Mama,” more than 75 million of his records have been sold worldwide, including seven albums released after his death.

He was in the passenger seat of a BMW driven by Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight on Sept. 7, 1996, when shots were fired from a Cadillac at a red light. Knight survived but Shakur died six days later.

Prosecutors have not accused Davis, now 63, of pulling the trigger that night, instead saying that he made the calls that led to Shakur’s death and provided the gun.

In Nevada, a person can be convicted of murder for helping another person commit the crime.

Davis is the only person still alive who was in the car where prosecutors said the fatal shots originated.

The case against Davis was revived when Davis published the book “Compton Street Legend,” about the shooting and his time in the Crips, in 2019 as well as his statements during police and media interviews.

Davis’ attorneys unsuccessfully fought to block from the trial details written in the book and said during a 2008 police interview. They argued the book was fictionalized and had a co-author, making it impossible to know which parts Davis wrote.

They also argued Davis’ previous interview with a federal task force was supposed to be confidential and not used against him.

Among those who could be called to testify in the trial is Knight, the rap music mogul whose label represented Shakur. He continually has said that he wants no part in the trial.

Knight, who is serving a 28-year sentence for running over and killing a Compton businessman in 2015, is the only surviving person who was in the car with Shakur at the time of the shooting.

Prosecutors expect to call between 35 and 45 witnesses, ranging from people who saw Shakur moments before he was shot to those who were associates of both Shakur and Davis at the time. Sean “Diddy” Combs, who Davis claimed wanted Shakur and Knight dead, will not be one of those witnesses, attorneys said.

Associated Press writers John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

The shooting was reported Monday evening when deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol officers responded to a shots fired report near Cajon Boulevard and Keenbrook Road in San Bernardino County.

That’s where members of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe police encountered a group suspected of burglarizing rail cars. The BNSF police team is assigned to prevent trespassing and cargo thefts on the rail system.

During the confrontation, one person opened fire from the moving train toward a BNSF officer, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The officers was not hit by gunfire or injured.

On Wednesday evening, investigators from the Rural Crime Task Force with help from the San Bernardino Police Department were conducting a law enforcement operation in the Cajon Pass northeast of Los Angeles when they located the suspected shooter, identified by investigators as 21-year-old Angel Castro, and three other people, all of whom were arrested.

Tools used for burglarizing trains were found inside their vehicle, the sheriff’s department said.

The train targeted in the heist continued before later stopping in the Summit Valley area. It was not immediately clear what, if anything, was stolen from the rail cars.

Castro was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, cargo theft and conspiracy to commit a crime. The other four men were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy, cargo theft, and possession of burglary tools.

The suspect were booked at the Central Detention Center and remained in custody Thursday.

The decision from U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns said President Donald Trump’s administration failed to prove an ongoing violation of federal civil rights laws. The judge said the lawsuit, filed in March, mostly focuses on incidents that took place in the 2023-24 academic year, with a few from March 2025.

The cases were “too isolated and episodic” to prove a persistent civil rights violation at the Ivy League campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the judge said.

Harvard and the White House did not immediately provide comment on the decision.

The lawsuit accused Harvard of failing to protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled the campus after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. The Trump administration argued Harvard officials did nothing as Jewish students were “harassed, physically assaulted, stalked, and spat upon.”

In a statement after the lawsuit was filed, Harvard said it “cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus.”

“Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies,” the statement read.

The government’s case sought to recover billions of dollars in federal research grants awarded to Harvard since October 2023. Trump officials argued they had a right to recoup the money under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law barring discrimination based on race or national origin.

The lawsuit is among several actions the government has taken against Harvard since the Ivy League university refused a list of demands made by the White House after Trump, a Republican, returned to office last year. Trump officials have separately sought to cut Harvard’s research funding and limit its ability to enroll foreign students and U.S. military members.

In a separate legal case last year, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reverse more than $2.6 billion in federal funding cuts to Harvard. That decision found that the White House put unconstitutional conditions on federal funding, using antisemitism as a “smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault” on universities.

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It comes weeks before his state trial was set to begin.

Defense lawyers, a court spokesperson and Department of Justice spokespeople all declined comment, except to confirm Mangione’s 11 a.m. hearing. A court spokesperson said the hearing is set to take place in a ceremonial courtroom at the 40 Foley Square courthouse — a larger courtroom that can accommodate extra seating for the press and public.

The sources familiar with the matter stressed plea negotiations are ongoing, and nothing is final until Mangione officially enters into any plea deal. To date, Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges.

A source familiar with the matter says Mangione met with his lawyers Thursday morning at the Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of Friday’s federal court hearing in Manhattan. The plea talks were ongoing and Mangione can choose to accept or reject any deal or offer at any time, sources said.

NBC New York first reported on Tuesday on the possibility of a plea deal unfolding at Friday’s hearing. Earlier in June, NBC New York first reported plea talks were underway.

The details of the possible plea deal are not yet known, but they mark a conclusion of the Midtown saga nearly 21 months after the healthcare executive was gunned down on a midtown sidewalk. The deal is likely to result in the state criminal charges getting thrown out because of New York’s double jeopardy rules.

The Department of Justice previously had sought the death penalty in the federal case, but an appeals court ruling took that option off the table earlier in the year. The federal trial had been scheduled to start in January 2027, with the state trial getting underway with jury selection in just a few weeks, on Sept. 8.

The killing set off a nationwide conversation about the health insurance industry and focused national attention on Mangione, who was decried by some as a violent extremist and defended by others as an avatar for rage over the insurance industry.

Federal prosecutors brought four charges against Mangione, including two terror-related murder charges that were later dismissed by a New York district judge. He still faced weapon and stalking charges heading toward the start of the trial.

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Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Thompson worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles west of Manhattan. At the May 18 hearing, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing can be used as evidence against him.

The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches the one used to kill Thompson, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive and rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.”

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.