Latest Crime & Trial News

It’s time to look back on 2020 and the top legal stories of the year. (Episode 70) More

December 17, 2020

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A former Sioux Falls high school teacher accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student has reached a plea deal. Daylan Fargo, 27, pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor in Minnehaha County Tuesday. Charges of having sexual contact with a child under 16 and sexual exploitation of a minor […] More

December 17, 2020

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A judge has denied a request by a former suburban Portland doctor to put a two-year hold on a civil case filed against him by 29 patients who allege he sexually abused them. Multnomah County Circuit Judge Melvin Oden-Orr noted in his ruling Monday that “for some plaintiffs, 17 years have […] More

December 17, 2020

PALM COAST, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man was sentenced to 50 years in prison Wednesday for stabbing his mother to death after he got angry when she threatened to kick him out of the house. Nathaniel Shimmel, 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday after facing a first-degree murder charge and the possibility of […] More

December 17, 2020

By ROBIN McDOWELL and MARGIE MASON Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Black man sent to prison for life as a teenager took his first steps of freedom Tuesday to the sound of ringing bells and cheering family members and supporters, hours after a pardons board commuted his sentence in a high-profile murder case. Myon […] More

December 16, 2020

Body camera video shows the first interactions police had with Gregory and Travis McMichael, the father and son charged with Arbery's murder. More

December 16, 2020

NEW YORK (AP) — Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard was arrested on charges alleging he sexually abused women and girls after luring them into his orbit with opportunities in fashion and modeling over the last 25 years. Nygard, 79, was detained after a Winnipeg, Canada, court appearance Tuesday following his Monday arrest by Canadian authorities […] More

December 15, 2020

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein are urging a judge to free her to await trial under a $28.5 million bail package that would include armed guards to ensure she remains safe and doesn’t flee a New York City residence.   The bail arguments […] More

December 15, 2020

By DAN SEWELL Associated Press CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal judge plans to complete sentencing Tuesday afternoon for an Ohio man who falsely claimed to be a long-missing Illinois child. Brian Michael Rini, now 25, was initially sentenced earlier this year to two years behind bars. But the judge wanted to see results of a […] More

December 15, 2020

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death for killing and dismembering nine people, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media, in a case that shocked the country. The Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Court found Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the […] More

December 15, 2020

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Monday that a lawsuit filed by the Michael Jackson estate over an HBO documentary about two of the late pop star’s sex abuse accusers can go forward in private arbitration. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of […] More

December 14, 2020

CHICAGO (AP) — “Cheer” star Jerry Harris, already facing federal child pornography charges, has been indicted on new charges that allege he solicited sex from minors at cheerleading competitions and convinced teenage boys to send him obscene photographs and videos of themselves. The new seven-count indictment that was made public on Friday was not unexpected. […] More

December 14, 2020

By MICHAEL BALSAMO and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A subpoena seeking documents from Hunter Biden asked for information related to more than two dozen entities, including Ukraine gas company Burisma, according to a person familiar with a Justice Department tax investigation of President-elect Joe Biden’s son. The breadth of the subpoena, issued […] More

December 14, 2020

By CURT ANDERSON AP Legal Affairs Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Rapper Lil Wayne pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge that he possessed a weapon despite being a convicted felon following a 2019 search of a private plane in the Miami area. The rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter, entered the […] More

December 11, 2020

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Singer FKA twigs filed a lawsuit Friday alleging that Shia LaBeouf was physically and emotionally abusive during their relationship from 2018 to 2019, saying her experience was part of a pattern of terrorizing women for the 34-year-old actor.   “Shia LaBeouf hurts women,” the lawsuit […] More

December 11, 2020

By KELLI KENNEDY Associated Press FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — While serving a 90-year prison sentence for selling marijuana, Richard DeLisi’s wife died, as did his 23-year-old son and both his parents. His adult daughter was in a horrific car accident and suffered a paralyzing stroke as a result. He never met two granddaughters — […] More

December 10, 2020

By JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An assistant FBI director retired after he was accused of drunkenly groping a female subordinate in a stairwell. Another senior FBI official left after he was found to have sexually harassed eight employees. Yet another high-ranking FBI agent retired after he was accused of blackmailing a young […] More

December 10, 2020

17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was back in court for a probable cause hearing and like every aspect of this story, it was divisive. (Episode 69) More

December 10, 2020

Relatives said Casey Goodson, 23, was killed in the doorway of his grandmother’s house in Columbus as he walked through the front door. More

December 10, 2020

By ERIC TUCKER, MICHAEL BALSAMO and JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is investigating the finances of President-elect Joe Biden’s son, including scrutinizing some of his Chinese business dealings and other transactions, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The revelations put a renewed spotlight on questions about […] More

December 10, 2020

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing a case Wednesday that could make it easier for the president to fire the head of the agency that oversees government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The case could also mean undoing an agreement between the companies and the government […] More

December 9, 2020

By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Maybe Olivia Jade Giannulli had hoped for kid-glove treatment in choosing the family vibe of “Red Table Talk” for her first public comments about the college admissions scandal involving her famous parents.   If so, she was quickly enlightened during Tuesday’s episode of the Facebook […] More

December 9, 2020

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn but pointedly noted that a pardon Flynn received from the president last month does not mean that he is innocent. The order from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan was expected in […] More

December 9, 2020

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has declared that he has the “absolute right” to issue a pardon to himself. Yet the law is much murkier than his confidence suggests. No president has attempted to pardon himself while in office, so if Trump tries to do so in the next […] More

December 8, 2020

BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — Police arrested a man Monday they say broke into a mansion owned by former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and model Gisele Bundchen and made himself comfortable on a couch while no one else was in the home. Police in Brookline, just outside Boston, responded to the home around 6 […] More

December 7, 2020

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Twenty-nine inmates have been charged in connection with a South Carolina prison riot that left seven inmates dead and 22 injured in 2018, the state’s attorney general announced Thursday. The charges were filed against the inmates at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, Attorney General Alan Wilson said at a news conference. […] More

December 7, 2020

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — A California attorney for an Illinois 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting two people and wounding a third during a night of unrest in Wisconsin is extracting himself from his criminal defense after prosecutors raised ethical concerns about the lawyer.   Los Angeles civil lawyer John Pierce has been at the forefront […] More

December 7, 2020

By REBECCA BOONE Associated Press BOISE, Idaho (AP) — As days turned into years, Brett Woolley came to accept that his father’s murderer would never be found — and that his family’s private tragedy had become a Wild West legend, the kind of thing folks shared when they were a few too many drinks deep. […] More

December 7, 2020

EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — A Texas high school football player who ran onto the field and blindsided a referee who had ejected him from a game was charged with assault Friday and his team has been taken out of the playoffs. Senior defensive lineman Emmanuel Duron of Edinburg High School appeared in municipal court after […] More

December 7, 2020

A council of Kentucky prosecutors says it does not have the legal authority to appoint another special prosecutor in the Breonna Taylor case. More

December 4, 2020