By CURT ANDERSON AP Legal Affairs Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday denied an effort by one of deceased wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged underage sexual abuse victims to to revive a lawsuit claiming Florida federal prosecutors failed to consult victims when reaching a secret plea deal with Epstein […] More
April 14, 2020
If convicted, confessed Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz will face the death penalty for the murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in 2018, the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. His lawyers say Cruz is prepared to plead guilty in return for a life prison sentence, an offer Florida prosecutors […] More
April 14, 2020
Both Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are being investigated for the murder, attempted murder or conspiracy of Chad’s first wife, Tammy Daybell. According to a letter from the Idaho Attorney General’s Office, the state is in agreement to take over the Tammy Daybell case in Fremont County, Idaho, listing both Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell […] More
April 14, 2020
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A Birmingham police detective was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of shooting and killing a woman in a slaying the police chief described as a “love triangle gone wrong.” Police took Alfreda Fluker, 39, into custody at her home in west Birmingham, AL.com reported. Officers responding Friday night to an alert by […] More
April 13, 2020
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — The wife and three children of a physical therapist who has been charged with their deaths died from overdoses of Benadryl and “unspecified violence,” according to autopsy reports released Tuesday. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Anthony Todt’s wife, Megan, was stabbed twice in the stomach. His sons, Alex, 13, and Tyler, 11, had […] More
April 13, 2020
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has allowed Michael Avenatti to be temporarily freed from a federal jail in New York City and to ride out the coronavirus scare at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. The attorney, who rose to fame representing porn star Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against President Donald Trump, petitioned last […] More
April 13, 2020
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles prosecutors have charged imprisoned former film producer Harvey Weinstein with an additional count of felony sexual battery by restraint. The district attorney’s office said the charge was filed over allegations the former movie mogul sexually assaulted a woman at a Beverly Hills hotel in May 2010. The woman was […] More
April 10, 2020
Press Release from Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office, April 10, 2020 Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced today that film producer Harvey Weinstein was charged with an additional sexual assault count stemming from an incident that allegedly occurred at a Beverly Hills hotel in May 2010. Case BA483663 was amended to add […] More
April 10, 2020
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Former Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton has been indicted on a felony charge of injury to a child after his teenage daughter accused him of beating her. A Tarrant County grand jury indicted the 38-year-old Hamilton on Monday. He remains free on $30,000 bond after he turned himself in to authorities […] More
April 9, 2020
The true crime documentary series Tiger King has become a national sensation, but did it tell the real story? More
April 9, 2020
WASHINGTON (AP) — Linda Tripp, whose secretly recorded conversations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky led to the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, died Wednesday at age 70. Her death was confirmed by attorney Joseph Murtha. He provided no further details. In August 1994, Tripp became a public affairs specialist at the Pentagon, […] More
April 9, 2020
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky doctor has been arrested, accused of choking a teenage girl while confronting a group of young people about social distancing in a video that’s gone viral. John Rademaker, a Louisville-area physician, was named as the man seen pushing three teenage girls before putting his hands around the neck of […] More
April 8, 2020
CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado man sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of fatally beating his fiancee with a baseball bat has written a letter to a local television reporter arguing his innocence. Patrick Frazee, 33, wrote a letter after not testifying at his trial or speaking at his sentencing, KCNC-TV […] More
April 8, 2020
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors on Tuesday charged a teenager with fatally shooting a University of Wisconsin physician and her husband, who were the parents of his girlfriend, and leaving their bodies at the school’s arboretum. Khari Sanford, 18, was charged with two counts of party to the crime of first-degree intentional homicide, use […] More
April 7, 2020
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a bid by the suspect in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting to have the death penalty removed as a potential sentencing option. Lawyers for Robert Bowers argued that capital punishment violates the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause and the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Senior […] More
April 7, 2020
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Memphis police said a man who shot a mother in front of her children and killed another passenger in her car was charged with murder. Records show that Romarus Turner, 28, was scheduled for video arraignment Monday in the March 28 shooting. Police announced the charges on Twitter. The shooting killed […] More
April 6, 2020
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Investigators believe a woman charged with murdering her 11-year-old stepson killed him in his bedroom just a few hours before reporting him missing in January and allegedly concocted a variety of stories to mislead them, according to a court document. Authorities say Letecia Stauch reported Gannon Stauch missing on […] More
April 6, 2020
KEENESBURG, Colo. (AP) — The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado, has for several years been home to dozens of animals rescued from the roadside zoo in rural Oklahoma featured in the newly released Netflix documentary, “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.” Thirty-nine tigers and three black bears from Joe Exotic’s G.W. Zoo were […] More
April 3, 2020
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — After a prolonged standoff, Florida state troopers arrested a Georgia man accused of fatally shooting three people in his child’s mother’s family and kidnapping his child, authorities said Wednesday. Caesar Zamien Lamar Crockett Jr. safely handed his 2-year-old son over to authorities after a crash near Tampa. He then stayed in […] More
April 3, 2020
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former Oklahoma zookeeper sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot has filed a federal lawsuit seeking nearly $94 million in damages, claiming among other things that he was convicted based on false and perjured testimony. Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as “Joe Exotic,” filed the lawsuit […] More
April 3, 2020
A judge ordered rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine to be freed early, citing asthma and increased danger due to the COVID-19 outbreak. More
April 3, 2020
Can justice be served in the middle of a pandemic? Vinnie Politan and Seema Iyer will dig deep into the implications and discuss the monumental task of starting the court system up again when the pandemic ends. More
April 2, 2020
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A California woman was sentenced Tuesday to seven months in prison for paying bribes to rig her two daughters’ college admissions exams and get one of them into Georgetown University as a fake tennis recruit. In an unusual hearing held via videoconference due to the coronavirus […] More
April 1, 2020
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff is asking for new leads in the disappearance of the former husband of a big cat sanctuary owner featured in the new Netflix series “Tiger King.” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister posted on his personal Twitter account Monday that the popularity of the seven-part documentary made it a good time […] More
March 31, 2020
The mother and grandmother of baby Evelyn Boswell are behind bars as the investigation continues into the little girl’s death, law enforcement said. More
March 30, 2020
By MICHAEL TARM AP Legal Affairs Writer CHICAGO (AP) — R&B singer R. Kelly cited the novel coronavirus in asking a federal judge Thursday to free him from a federal jail in Chicago as he awaits trial on child pornography and other charges, a court filing by his lawyers saying scant precautions to stem the […] More
March 30, 2020
The rapid spread of COVID-19 has forced a judge to postpone the Los Angeles murder trial of millionaire Robert Durst. More
March 30, 2020
SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) — Lonnie Franklin, the convicted serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper” who preyed on the women of South Los Angeles for more than two decades, has died in prison. He was 67. California corrections officials said Franklin was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin State Prison on Saturday […] More
March 30, 2020
What does the latest court decision regarding Jussie Smollett's legal representation mean for his case and the law? More
March 27, 2020
NEW YORK (AP) — The judge who sentenced the rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine to prison said Wednesday he would have ordered home confinement instead if he had known about the coronavirus in December. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer commented in a written order even as he rejected a lawyer’s request that the 23-year-old performer, whose […] More
March 26, 2020
