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  • Biden announces new migration programs as he prepares to visit the border on Sunday | CNN Politics

    Biden announces new migration programs as he prepares to visit the border on Sunday | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden on Thursday announced he is expanding a program to accept up to 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela – along with a plan to expel as many migrants from those countries who circumvent US laws – as his administration confronts a surge of migrants at the southern border.

    In a speech from the White House, Biden also unveiled plans to visit the US southern border on Sunday, stopping in El Paso, Texas, to meet local officials and address border security issues. It will be his first stop at the border as president.

    Biden renewed calls on Congress to pass new immigration laws, arguing his powers to address a growing crisis are limited. He said the politics around border policy and migration often cloud discussions around how to handle migration and crossings at the border.

    “It’s important to step back and see the bigger picture,” Biden said, citing the migrants’ desire to seek their own version of the American dream.

    The announcements and border visit amount to a surge in presidential attention on an issue that’s increasingly become a political liability for Biden. He has been relentlessly criticized by Republicans and even some border-district Democrats for failing to address record levels of border crossings.

    “If the most extreme Republicans continue to demagogue this issue, and reject solutions, I’m left with only one choice … do as much as I can on my own to try to change the atmosphere,” he said.

    He said the process he unveiled “is orderly, it’s safe and humane, and it works,” Biden said.

    Immigrant advocates, though, immediately denounced the plans, arguing that it risks leaving more migrants in harm’s way in Mexico and is likely to exclude people with no connections to the US.

    “Opening up new limited pathways for a small percentage of people does not obscure the fact that the Biden administration is illegally and immorally gutting access to humanitarian protections for the majority of people who have already fled their country seeking freedom and safety,” International Refugee Assistance Project Policy Director Sunil Varghese said in a statement.

    The president acknowledged in his remarks the steps he was taking were not enough to remedy the problem but framed them as an effort to use his executive powers to manage the swelling crisis.

    “These actions alone that I’m going to announce today aren’t going to fix our entire immigration system, but they can help us a good deal in better managing what is a difficult challenge,” he said.

    The announcements come ahead of Biden’s first visit as president to Mexico, where he will discuss migration issues with the country’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The Biden administration is leaning on Mexico and other countries in the Western Hemisphere to provide temporary protections to migrants who have fled their home countries.

    “We should all recognize that as long as America is the land of freedom and opportunity, people are going to try to come here,” Biden said in his remarks. “And that’s what many of our ancestors did. And it’s no surprise that it’s happening again today. We can’t stop people from making the journey, but we can require them to come here in an orderly way.”

    Administration officials have repeatedly stressed unprecedented migration across the Western Hemisphere as deteriorating conditions were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, prompting thousands of people to move north.

    In Texas on Sunday, Biden will arrive at the epicenter of the issue. El Paso began seeing record levels of migrant arrivals beginning a few weeks ago, when anxiety about the scheduled end of the Trump-era pandemic public health rule known as Title 42 prompted thousands of migrants to turn themselves in to border authorities or to cross into the United States illegally in a very short period of time.

    Title 42 allows immigration authorities to swiftly return some migrants to Mexico. The policy was scheduled to lift last month, but a Supreme Court ruling kept the rule in place while legal challenges play out in court.

    Biden said he wanted to wait until he knew an outcome in the Title 42 legal machinations before traveling to the border, but accused Republicans calling for him to travel there of playing political games.

    “They haven’t been serious about this at all,” he said.

    Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents El Paso, said in a tweet she’s “excited” to welcome Biden to the city. While she didn’t place a big emphasis on Biden visiting the border, she made clear she welcomed it in recent weeks and urged the federal government to provide assistance to the city.

    The announcements Biden made Thursday reflect the administration’s effort to prepare for the end of Title 42, along with putting in place programs to manage the surge of migrants that have coincided with the anticipated end of the rule.

    The administration will now accept up to 30,000 migrants per month from Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela under a humanitarian parole program geared toward those nationalities. Those who do not come to the US under that program may be expelled to Mexico under Title 42.

    Officials said they would return 30,000 migrants per month who circumvent the legal processes to Mexico.

    Migrants from those countries who wish to come to the United States must apply from their home countries first – including through a phone app – before traveling to the US. They must have a US sponsor, and, if they are approved, can travel by plane.

    Administration officials previously touted the parole program for Venezuela following its rollout late last year, attributing a drop in border crossings of Venezuelans to the policy. For months, officials have been considering expanding the program to other nationalities to try to manage the flow of migration to the US southern border, culminating in Thursday’s announcement.

    The Department of Homeland Security also announced it will propose a new rule placing additional restrictions on migrants seeking asylum in the United States. If approved, the new rule will target asylum seekers who unlawfully entered the US and failed to seek protection in a country through which they traveled on their way to the US.

    Those asylum seekers will be subject to a “rebuttable presumption of asylum ineligibility,” except in certain circumstances, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a press conference.

    Officials said the announcements are meant to send a message to migrants that they should apply for entry to the United States before leaving their home countries, and that circumventing the process will result in expulsion.

    “My message is this: If you’re trying to leave Cuba, Nicaragua or Haiti, have agreed to begin a journey to America, do not – do not – just show up at the border,” Biden said. “Stay where you are and apply legally. Starting today, if you don’t apply through the legal process, you will not be eligible for this new parole program.”

    In addition, Biden announced new humanitarian assistance to Mexico and Central America.

    This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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  • Mexico prison attack kills 14, dozens of inmates escape | CNN

    Mexico prison attack kills 14, dozens of inmates escape | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    At least 14 people died in a brazen armed assault on a prison in the Mexican border city of Juarez on Sunday, officials said.

    The Chihuahua state attorney general’s office said in a statement that 10 security guards and four prisoners were killed and 13 others were injured.

    The incident began around 7 a.m. (9 a.m. ET) on Sunday when gunmen in armored vehicles arrived at the prison and opened fire on security personnel, the prosecutor’s office said.

    Authorities said inmates took advantage of the situation and 24 prisoners escaped.

    It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

    Relatives of inmates gather outside the prison, hugging and consoling each other amid news of the incident within.

    CNN has reached out to the attorney general’s office for more details about the status of the investigation.

    Ciudad Juarez, just across the US-Mexico border from El Paso, Texas, is one of Mexico’s deadliest cities and an epicenter of drug cartel violence. The rival Juarez and Sinaloa cartels have been fighting a bloody turf war in the region over lucrative smuggling routes and for drug-dealing territory in the city.

    Sunday’s violence was not the first time violence has erupted at the prison. Last August, hundreds of Mexican troops were sent there after a clash between the two cartels caused a riot and shootouts that killed 11 people.

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  • Convicted member of plot to kidnap Michigan governor sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison | CNN Politics

    Convicted member of plot to kidnap Michigan governor sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison | CNN Politics



    CNN
     — 

    A Michigan federal judge sentenced a man convicted of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to nearly 20 years in prison Wednesday.

    Barry Croft Jr. was part of a plan to kidnap the Democratic governor from her summer home in 2020 and practiced detonating explosives in preparation, prosecutors have said.
    Croft, who was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison, the longest sentence of the people convicted, is the last of the defendants in federal court to be sentenced in connection to the plot. Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Croft to life in prison.
    Explaining his sentencing decision, Judge Robert Jonker said, “I’m not somebody who’s willing ever to give up on somebody. And that’s why I think, in particular, life sentences are very unusual.”
    “Because, by definition, you’re not giving people a chance to come back into the fold,” he said.
    But Jonker also agreed with prosecutors that Croft was a leader to others involved in the plot, and noted his previous criminal history when handing down the sentence.
    A Delaware resident, Croft had traveled to Michigan to work with the local militia members to plan and surveil Whitmer’s summer home in the summer of 2020. Croft discussed using his grenade launcher and a mounted machine gun to thwart law enforcement response to the scene as a part in the kidnapping plot, jurors heard at trial.
    Trial evidence also showed that Croft practiced detonating an explosive filled with shrapnel at a training event using human silhouettes made of paper.

    Croft’s attorney, Joshua Blanchard, had asked the court Wednesday to administer a sufficient sentence but “not longer than it needs to be.”
    In a lengthy plea to the court, Blanchard asked the judge to consider Croft’s history of substance abuse and mental health concerns related largely to his significant marijuana use and family medical history.
    He blamed much of Croft’s behavior in 2020 to intoxication and said Croft ended up in the courtroom having fell down a “conspiracy rabbit hole” during solo rides as a long-haul truck driver before his arrest.
    Blanchard acknowledged his client is “a bit more susceptible to fringe ideas” and said he understands that Croft should serve a fair prison sentence – but not a life sentence.
    Croft declined to speak on his own behalf at the sentencing hearing, citing advice from his attorney.
    But the prosecutor pushed back on the defense arguments Wednesday, telling the court, “This man is thoroughly radicalized.”

    “He hasn’t changed his viewpoint,” prosecutor Nils Kessler said.

    Kessler said during his argument that Croft was the “spiritual leader” of the group “putting himself in the role of prophet.”

    He also went on to argue that Croft encouraged the other participants by saying they would be the “new founding fathers.”

    “People believed it” Kessler said.
    Croft has long been known to law enforcement for his extreme anti-government views. And in his sentencing memo, prosecutors noted a jail call recorded earlier this month during which Croft discussed his preferences for a violent lawless society with an associate.

    Jonker on Tuesday had sentenced Adam Fox, considered to be a leader of the plot with Croft, to 16 years in prison.
    “There is need for public understanding of the cost of this kind of wrongdoing and certainly for specific deterrence as well. And there is impact on our overall governmental system, not just physical threat to our sitting governor, it’s the emotional baggage that now our governor will have to carry and that she’s written about in her report,” Jonker said in court before issuing Fox’s prison sentence.
    And, earlier this month, three other men – Pete Musico, Joseph Morrison and Paul Bellar – were all sentenced in state court on charges of gang participation, support of a terrorist act and carrying or possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony, according to the Michigan attorney general’s office.
    Musico and Bellar must serve a minimum of 12 years and seven years, respectively. The alleged “commander” of the group, Morrison – who, according to affidavits filed with the attorney general’s office, went by the online moniker “Boogaloo Bunyan” – must serve a minimum of 11 years.
    This story has been updated with additional information.

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  • Richard Reid Fast Facts | CNN

    Richard Reid Fast Facts | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the life of Richard Reid, also known as the “shoe bomber” because of his attempt to detonate explosives hidden in his sneakers while on an American Airlines flight. He is serving a life sentence at the US Penitentiary Administrative Maximum facility in Florence, Colorado. Zacarias Moussaoui, convicted September 11 conspirator, is also incarcerated there.

    Birth date: August 12, 1973

    Birth place: England

    Birth name: Richard Colvin Reid

    Prosecutors believe Reid received training in Afghanistan from al Qaeda.

    Investigators believe Reid had accomplices, but Reid claims to have acted alone.

    1992-1996 – Reid is in and out of British prisons for petty crimes. He converts to Islam while in prison.

    1998-1999 – Attends the same London mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui, convicted September 11 conspirator.

    November 2001 – Travels to Pakistan.

    December 5, 2001 – Travels to Brussels, Belgium. While there, Reid tells Belgian authorities he’s lost his British passport and is issued a new one by the British Embassy.

    December 16, 2001 – Travels to Paris.

    December 17, 2001 – Buys a round-trip ticket from Paris to Miami to Antigua.

    December 21, 2001 – Is questioned by airport officials after a security agent becomes suspicious because Reid had paid for his ticket with cash and is traveling without checking luggage. By the time Reid is cleared to board his flight, the plane has already left Paris.

    December 22, 2001 – Boards American Airlines Flight 63, Paris to Miami. During the flight, Reid tries to use a match to light explosives hidden in his shoes. Passengers and crew restrain him. The flight diverts to Boston. Reid is arrested.

    January 16, 2002 – Is indicted on nine counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted murder of passengers on an aircraft, and attempted homicide of US nationals overseas.

    January 18, 2002 – Pleads not guilty to eight charges. His attorney asks the court to dismiss the ninth count, attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle, which is dismissed.

    October 4, 2002 – Pleads guilty to the eight counts against him.

    January 30, 2003 – Is sentenced to life in prison and fined $2 million.

    October 4, 2004 – Saajid Mohammed Badat, of the United Kingdom, is charged with conspiring with and aiding Reid. The British indictment alleges that Badat and Reid obtained custom-made shoe bombs in Afghanistan to be used to attack US interests.

    February 28, 2005 – Badat pleads guilty to conspiring with Reid to blow up a US aircraft.

    April 22, 2005 – Badat is sentenced to 13 years in prison. There is evidence that he had withdrawn from the plot.

    2007 – Reid files a lawsuit against the government saying the special administrative measures (SAMs) applied to him in prison violate his First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of religion. The restrictions limit his access to news and correspondence and prohibit him from praying with other prisoners.

    June 2009 – The US Justice Department relaxes the SAMs being applied to Reid. He continues with his lawsuit, claiming his First Amendment rights are still being violated.

    2010 – Reid’s lawsuit about the SAMs being applied to him in prison is dismissed.

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  • Hiding in plain sight: The network of citizens sheltering Iran’s protesters | CNN

    Hiding in plain sight: The network of citizens sheltering Iran’s protesters | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    For months, Leila has barely seen sunlight.

    “I miss being in the open air…I miss being able to walk freely,” she told CNN. “I miss my family, my room.”

    Her life now is largely confined to four walls, in a house that is not her own, with people who – until a few weeks ago – she had never met.

    Leila has been in the crosshairs of Iran’s government for years due to her work as a civil rights activist and grassroots organizer. She was forced into hiding in September, when a warrant was issued for her arrest following the outbreak of nationwide protests over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman accused of flouting the country’s compulsory hijab laws.

    Since then, while security forces stalk her house and family, Leila has taken refuge in the homes of strangers. An anonymous network of concerned citizens – “ordinary people” connected by a shared mission to protect protesters – who quietly support the movement from afar by offering their homes to activists in need.

    It’s impossible to know exactly how many protesters are being sheltered inside Iran, but CNN has spoken to several people who, like Leila, have left behind their homes and families to escape what has become an increasingly violent state crackdown.

    Leila says her own story, and the stories of those bravely hiding her, show that as well as the extraordinary displays of public anger unfolding on Iran’s streets, “the struggle against the regime continues in different forms.”

    “I came here in the middle of the night. It was dark. I don’t even know where I am and my family doesn’t know either,” she said of her current location.

    Leila – who has spent time in some of Iran’s most notorious prisons for her activism in the past – has long provided a voice for people the regime would prefer remain silent, advocating on behalf of political prisoners, and demonstrators facing execution.

    CNN has verified documents, video, witness testimony and statements from inside the country which suggest that at least 43 people could face imminent execution in Iran in relation to the current protests.

    Using only a burner phone and a VPN Leila continues her work today, communicating with protesters in jail, as well as families with loved ones on death row – sharing their stories on social media, in an effort to help keep them safe, and alive.

    “The comments and messages I receive are very encouraging. People are feeling good to see that I am active now and that I am with them [during this uprising].”

    But as time passes, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps appear to be doubling down on their hunt for Leila.

    “Every day a car with two passengers is constantly stationed out front of my family home…They have repeatedly arrested several of my family members and friends. In their interrogations, they ask, “Where is Leila? Where is she hiding?”

    To speak with her loved ones, Leila relies on third parties to pass on notes through encrypted messaging services, using code words in case Iran’s security forces are monitoring their conversations.

    “There are listening devices in our house,” she said. “That’s why I never make phone calls to my family anymore.”

    For years, Leila’s life has been on pause – interrupted by periods of imprisonment and prolonged interrogation – all at the hands of the Islamic Republic’s notorious security apparatus.

    “I was tortured psychologically, kept in solitary confinement. They threatened and humiliated me every day.”

    Over the last five years, Iran has been gripped by waves of demonstrations concerning issues spanning from economic mismanagement and corruption to civil rights. One of the most visible displays of public anger was in 2019, when rising gas prices led to a sweeping uprising that was quickly met with lethal force.

    Before the recent protests sparked by Amini’s death – which many see as the most significant threat the regime has faced to date – Leila was trying to rebuild.

    “When I came out of prison life was very difficult for me, but I tried to create small outlets for myself.”

    She had set up a local business, enrolled in a university course, and was working with a therapist to acclimate back to normal life and deal with the trauma brought on by years of incarceration.

    All of that changed within days of Amini’s death, when Leila knew she needed to take an active role once more in the protests that were filling streets across the country with chants of “Women, Life, Freedom.”

    Alongside her family, she began joining marches – sharing the names and stories of protesters being detained on her social media.

    Almost immediately, the threats from Iran’s authorities to send Leila back to prison started again – and then came the warrant.

    “They wanted to silence me as soon as the uprising happened after Mahsa Amini was murdered…I knew if I wanted to stay and continue my activities, I would have to hide myself from their sight.”

    Countless Iranians have been forced to cross borders in order to flee Iran’s security forces. Leila, though, took a leap of faith and decided to go underground, after a “trusted friend” she’d met through a network of activists set her up with her first safe house.

    The drive lasted hours, and there was only darkness.

    “I wore a mask. I laid down in the car so that no one would notice me. I didn’t even get out to go to the toilet or eat.”

    She has continued to move around in the weeks and months since. Smuggled through the night, never knowing her final destination.

    “The first place I was in, the homeowner was very scared, so eventually I left for another location.”

    “[Another] person I stayed with was very nice and became supportive of my efforts,” she said.

    In order to live totally off the grid, Leila is no longer picking up her medication or checking in with any doctors or medical professionals.

    She’s also stopped accessing her bank account and went as far as exchanging her life savings for gold, which someone sells for her from time to time, when she urgently needs cash.

    As is the case for so many ordinary Iranians who are the driving force of the protests, Leila’s life has “practically stopped.”

    “I just breathe and work.”

    “I am not afraid of prison. Maybe many people think that we were afraid and so we hid ourselves, but this is not the case.”

    “The one thing I fear is that if I get caught and sent back to jail, I will become a faceless name…unable to help the cause and movement, like countless others who were sent to prison and never heard of again.”

    For now, Leila says the only thing that keeps her going as weeks in hiding turn into months, is the distant hope that one day she could live in a free Iran.

    “The answer of the Islamic Republic has always been repression and violence…I hope for a miracle and that this situation will end as soon as possible for the benefit of the people.”

    “Just like when I was in prison and solitary confinement, I am improving myself with the hope of freedom,” she said.

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  • Transgender death row inmate set to be executed in January files clemency application with Missouri governor | CNN

    Transgender death row inmate set to be executed in January files clemency application with Missouri governor | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A transgender woman who is scheduled to be executed in Missouri next month for murdering a woman in 2003 has filed a clemency application with the governor, citing struggles with brain damage and childhood trauma, the petition says.

    Amber McLaughlin – listed in court documents as Scott McLaughlin – is set to be executed by lethal injection on January 3 for the 2003 murder of Beverly Guenther, according to her clemency application with Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican.

    “The lead investigating officer contemporaneously noted McLaughlin’s genuine remorse, as has every expert to evaluate McLaughlin in the years since the trial,” the application filed by her attorneys states, adding that McLaughlin has been “consistently diagnosed with borderline intellectual disability,” and “universally diagnosed with brain damage as well as fetal alcohol syndrome.”

    A spokesperson for the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-execution organization, told CNN that McLaughlin is the first transgendered prisoner to be given an execution date.

    McLaughlin was “abandoned” by her mother and placed into the foster care system, and in one placement, had “feces thrust into her face,” according to the petition.

    In one foster home, McLaughlin suffered abuse and trauma that included being tased by her adoptive father, the petition says, and she battled depression that led to “multiple suicide attempts.”

    The petition alleges that the jury in McLaughlin’s trial was not presented with evidence detailing her mental health struggles. The jury was ultimately deadlocked “after finding just one of four alleged statutory aggravating factors to be true.” The death penalty in McLaughlin’s case was imposed by a trial judge, according to the petition.

    McLaughlin’s lawyers argue she should be spared because she has expressed genuine remorse for Guenther’s death.

    The governor’s legal team will meet with McLaughlin’s attorneys on Tuesday to discuss her petition, according to Kelli Jones, communications director for the governor.

    “These are not decisions that the Governor takes lightly, and the process is underway as it relates to the execution scheduled for January,” Jones said.

    McLaughlin’s federal public defender, Larry Komp, told CNN his client’s execution “would highlight all the flaws of the justice system and would be a great injustice on a number of levels.”

    “It would continue the systemic failures that existed throughout Amber’s life where no interventions occurred to stop and intercede to protect her as a child and teen. All that could go wrong did go wrong for her. There is so much hate out there, so I admire Amber and her courage as she embraces who she is,” Komp wrote in a statement.

    According to Komp and the governor’s office, McLaughlin has not initiated a legal name change or transition and as a death-sentenced person, is kept at Potosi Correctional Center near St. Louis, which houses male inmates.

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  • After 25 years of wrongful imprisonment, 2 Georgia men set free after newly uncovered evidence exonerates them of murder charges | CNN

    After 25 years of wrongful imprisonment, 2 Georgia men set free after newly uncovered evidence exonerates them of murder charges | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    After spending 25 years in prison on murder convictions related to the 1996 shooting death of their friend, two Georgia men were exonerated this week, after new evidence uncovered in a true-crime podcast last year proved their innocence, their lawyers said.

    Darrell Lee Clark and his co-defendant Cain Joshua Storey were 17 years old when they were arrested for their alleged involvement in the death of 15-year-old Brian Bowling.

    He died from a gunshot wound to the head in his family’s mobile home on October 18, 1996, according to Clark’s lawyers, Christina Cribbs and Meagan Hurley, with the nonprofit Georgia Innocence Project.

    Moments before the gun was fired, Bowling was on the phone with his girlfriend and told her he was playing a game of Russian roulette with a gun, which was brought to his home by Storey, who was in the room at the time of the shooting, according to a news release from the Georgia Innocence Project.

    Storey was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but months later, police began investigating the death as a homicide, and interviewed two witnesses whose statements led authorities to tie Clark to Bowling’s death, the Georgia Innocence Project said.

    “Despite the circumstances, which strongly indicated that Bowling accidentally shot himself in the head, at the urging of Bowling’s family members, police later began investigating the death as a homicide,” according to a motion filed by Clark’s attorneys, requesting a new trial.

    The two teenagers were sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, following a weeklong trial in 1998.

    Clark’s exoneration came a year and a half after investigative podcasters Susan Simpson and Jacinda Davis began scrutinizing his case in their Proof true-crime podcast in 2021, and interviewed two of the state’s key witnesses.

    Through their investigation, new evidence emerged which “shattered the state’s theory of Clark’s involvement” in Bowling’s death and the podcasters flagged his case to the Georgia Innocence Project, according to its news release.

    The first witness, a woman who lived near Bowling’s home was interviewed by police, who claimed she alleged the teens confessed they had “planned the murder of Bowling because he knew too much about a prior theft Storey and Clark had committed,” according to the Georgia Innocence Project.

    Based on her testimony, Storey was charged with murder and Clark was arrested as a co-conspirator despite having a corroborated alibi, stating he was home on the night of the shooting, which was supported by two witnesses, according to Clark’s motion for a new trial.

    But the woman revealed in the podcast, police coerced her into giving false statements and threatened to take her children away from her if she failed to comply, according to the Georgia Innocence Project.

    Darrell Lee Clark was released from the Floyd County Jail on Thursday after the Rome Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office and Floyd County Superior Court Judge John Neidrach agreed that his conviction should be overturned.

    Police claimed the other witness, a man who was in a different room of the Bowlings’ home at the time of the shooting, identified Clark from a photo lineup as the person he saw running through the yard on the night Bowling was shot, the news release said.

    It was uncovered in the podcast the man’s testimony was based on an “unrelated, factually similar shooting” which he witnessed in 1976, and he never identified Clark as the individual in the yard, nor did he ever witness anyone in the yard on the night of the shooting, according to the Georgia Innocence Project.

    Davis told CNN in an interview when she and Simpson started their investigation, they weren’t expecting anything to come of it, but as they interviewed more people, it was “clear that it just wasn’t adding up.”

    “It took us a long time to talk to both of those witnesses. The podcast was happening in almost real time as an investigation. When we finally found and were able to talk to those two witnesses, it really solidified that both of these guys had been wrongly convicted,” Davis said.

    Clark’s attorneys filed pleadings in September to challenge a wrongful conviction and ask for a new trial, citing new information which proved his conviction was based on false evidence and coercion, Hurley told CNN.

    Clark, now 43, was released from the Floyd County Jail Thursday after the Rome Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office and Floyd County Superior Court Judge John Neidrach agreed the conviction should be overturned and all underlying charges against him dismissed, after evidence in the case was reexamined.

    Storey, who admitted to bringing the gun to Bowling’s home, was also released after accepting a plea deal for involuntary manslaughter, and a 10-year sentence with time served, after spending 25 years in prison. He was also exonerated of murder charges.

    Storey told CNN in an interview he was afraid to go to sleep the first night after he was released in case he would wake up and “realize it was all a dream.”

    “It’s been surreal to say the least,” he added. “I believe it’s going to be great. One step at a time. I never allowed my mind to get locked up all those years, anyhow.”

    “You never think something like that is going to happen to you,” said Lee Clark in a statement released by the Georgia Innocence Project. “Never would I have thought I would spend more than half my life in prison, especially for something I didn’t do.”

    Clark’s father, Glen Clark, told CNN in an interview, “I’ve been waiting for this day for a long, long time. 25 years. My son was wrongly accused, and I knew it all these years. It’s hard for me to live with that.”

    “I watched my son go into prison as a kid, I watched him go through prison, I watched him come out as a man. He became a man in prison,” he added.

    Clark is living with his family in their home in Floyd County for the foreseeable future as he focuses on readjusting to life outside prison and rebuilding his life, he told CNN. Storey said he also moved back to Floyd County, with plans to go back to school and get a job.

    Clark said Judge Neidrach apologized on behalf of the state of Georgia and Floyd County this week during the court hearing this week, which was an important step toward healing.

    “That really touched my heart, because I had been living in corruption for so long, and it meant a lot to have someone acknowledge that wrong,” he told CNN.

    The Georgia Innocence Project will work to support Clark during his transition and connect him to resources, and a personal fundraiser has been organized on the MightyCause platform, open to the public for donations to Clark and his family, Hurley said.

    “It’s probably going to take some time to like truly process that he is free and doesn’t have to go back behind prison walls, because he spent most of his life behind them,” Hurley said.

    After his release, Clark is living with his family in their home in Floyd County for the foreseeable future as he focuses on readjusting to life outside prison and rebuilding his life.

    “More than anything, he’s looking forward to getting to spend time with his family and rebuilding some of those relationships that he was, frankly, ripped away from at the age of 17,” she added.

    The exonerations of both men were the culmination of a collaboration between Clark, Storey and his defense team, as well as the Bowling family, which was willing to take an “objective look at this case and reevaluate some of the things they have been told in the past,” Hurley said.

    Davis was in the courtroom during Clark and Storey’s hearing this week and said she’s still “in shock” and feels a huge amount of relief for both men.

    “In the end, I also feel for Brian Bowling’s family who have been incredibly gracious and supportive as well. It’s really rare when you have the victim’s family support the convictions being overturned,” Davis said.

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  • Former Minneapolis police officer who helped restrain George Floyd sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison | CNN

    Former Minneapolis police officer who helped restrain George Floyd sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A former Minneapolis police officer who assisted in the fatal restraint of George Floyd was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison Friday for his role in the killing.

    J. Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter on the day his state trial was to begin last October, agreeing to the plea in exchange for the state dropping a count of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder in the May 25, 2020, death that triggered international protests against police brutality.

    Kueng appeared remotely from the US Bureau of Prisons Elkton facility in Lisbon, Ohio, where he’s serving a three-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. He did not address the court.

    “Nothing your honor, thank you,” he said when asked if he had any remarks.

    There was no formal victim impact statement.

    “The sentencing of Alexander Kueng for his role in the murder of George Floyd delivers yet another piece of justice for the Floyd family,” attorneys Ben Crump, Antonio Romanucci and Jeff Storms, who represent Floyd’s family, said in a statement.

    “While the family faces yet another holiday season without George, we hope that moments like these continue to bring them a measure of peace, knowing that George’s death was not in vain.”

    Harrowing video taken by a bystander showed Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, desperately pleading for the officers restraining him to let him breathe before he lost consciousness and died.

    Kueng was among four officers who were fired and criminally charged after Floyd’s death. The city of Minneapolis agreed last year to pay Floyd’s estate $27 million to settle a lawsuit with his family.

    “I really can’t come close to comprehending what the family and friends of George Floyd have had to go through,” prosecutor Matthew Frank told the court before sentencing.

    “It’s not just watching a video of your loved one dying and seeing it on TV over and over again. Throughout these two and a half years, throughout all the court proceedings, we think of them often and we wish them the best in healing and moving forward.”

    Frank said Floyd was a “crime victim” and Kueng “was not simply a bystander in what happened that day.”

    “Mr. Kueng was an active part of this,” he added.

    Defense attorney Thomas Plunkett said police leaders “failed” both Floyd and Kueng by not adequately training officers.

    Kueng received credit for 84 days time served. He will be prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition for the rest of his life, Judge Peter Cahill ruled.

    His sentencing Friday was delayed several hours because of technical issues with the web conference.

    Kueng, who helped restrain Floyd as Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, and another officer, Tou Thao, who fended off angry witnesses pleading for police to get off Floyd, were both convicted of federal charges in the killing. They were found guilty on charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights and of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin during the restraint.

    Kueng was sentenced to three years and Thao was sentenced to 3 ½ years. Keung will serve his state sentence concurrently with his federal sentence.

    The two former cops began serving those sentences in October, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

    Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in state court and was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison in June 2021.

    In federal court, Chauvin pleaded guilty to depriving Floyd of his rights and an unrelated civil rights violation was sentenced to 21 years in prison. He is serving the sentences concurrently.

    Thomas Lane, the fourth officer, who held Floyd’s legs during the arrest, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the summer and was sentenced to three years in prison in September. He is serving that concurrently with a two-and-a-half year federal sentence in Colorado.

    Kueng initially was to go on trial in October with Thao.

    Thao, according to his attorney, Robert Paule, agreed to a trial by stipulated evidence, meaning he waived his right to a trial by jury and the court would decide Thao’s fate after reviewing evidence presented by both parties.

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  • Russian dissident Alexey Navalny says he was moved into solitary cell to ‘shut me up’ | CNN

    Russian dissident Alexey Navalny says he was moved into solitary cell to ‘shut me up’ | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Imprisoned Russian dissident Alexey Navalny has been transferred into a solitary prison cell, according to tweets from himself and his staff, in what he described as a move designed to “shut me up.”

    Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, explained what happened in a Thursday Twitter thread: “Congratulations, I’ve moved up one more level in the hierarchy of prison offenders,” Navalny wrote with irony, adding that prison officials moved him to a cramped “cell-type room.”

    Cell-type rooms are used as punishment or to separate the most dangerous offenders in the Russian penitentiary system. Inmates in Russian penal colonies are more typically housed in barracks instead of cells according to a report by Poland-based think tank the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW).

    In his isolation, Navalny said that he is allowed just two books and can use prison commissary, “albeit with a very limited budget.”

    But the “real indescribable bestiality, very characteristic of the Kremlin, which manually controls my entire incarceration,” is the blocking of visits, he said. His parents, children and wife were due to visit, but he will no longer get to see them, Navalny wrote.

    “Alexey Navalny was transferred to a cell-type room. It’s like a punishment cell, only not for 15 days, but forever,” wrote his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh on Twitter.

    According to the Russian penal code, detention in a cell-type room cannot exceed six months. CNN has reached out to Russian penitentiary services for comment.

    Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020, an attack several Western officials and Navalny himself openly blamed on the Kremlin. Russia has denied any involvement.

    After a five-month stay in Germany recovering from the Novichok poisoning, Navalny last year returned to Moscow, where he was immediately arrested for violating probation terms imposed from a 2014 case.

    Earlier this year, Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison on fraud charges he said were politically motivated.

    While Judge Margarita Kotova read out the accusations against him, footage showed Navalny as a gaunt figure standing beside his lawyers in a room filled with security officials. He appeared unmoved by the proceedings, looking through some court documents on a table in front of him.

    Navalny was then transferred in June from a penal colony where he was serving his term to a higher security prison facility in Melekhovo in the Vladimir Region.

    “They’re doing it to shut me up,” Navalny said in Thursday’s Twitter thread about his new prison conditions. “So what’s my first duty? That’s right, to not be afraid and not shut up,” he writes, urging others to do the same.

    “At every opportunity, campaign against the war, Putin and United Russia. Hugs to you all.”

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  • Elizabeth Holmes scheduled to be sentenced on Friday | CNN Business

    Elizabeth Holmes scheduled to be sentenced on Friday | CNN Business



    CNN
     — 

    Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of failed blood testing startup Theranos who was convicted of fraud earlier this year, is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday morning by a judge in court in San Jose, California.

    Holmes, who was found guilty in January on four charges of defrauding investors, faces up to 20 years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000 plus restitution for each count.

    Lawyers for the government asked for a 15-year prison term, as well as probation and restitution, while Holmes’ probation officer pushed for a nine-year term. Holmes’ defense team asked Judge Edward Davila, who is presiding over her case, to sentence her to up to 18 months of incarceration followed by probation and community service.

    More than 100 people wrote letters in support of Holmes to Davila, asking for leniency in her sentencing. The list includes Holmes’ partner, Billy Evans, many members of Holmes’ and Evans’ families, early Theranos investor Tim Draper, and Sen. Cory Booker. Booker described meeting her at a dinner years before she was charged and bonding over the fact that they were both vegans with nothing to eat but a bag of almonds, which they shared.

    “I still believe that she holds onto the hope that she can make contributions to the lives of others, and that she can, despite mistakes, make the world a better place,” Booker wrote, noting that he continues to consider her a friend.

    Friday’s sentencing hearing caps off Holmes’ stunning downfall. Once hailed as a tech industry icon for her company’s promises to test for a range of conditions with just a few drops of blood, she is now the rare tech founder to be convicted and face prison time for her company’s missteps.

    Holmes, now 38, started Theranos in 2003 at the age of 19 and soon thereafter dropped out of Stanford University to pursue the company full-time. After a decade under the radar, Holmes began courting the press with claims that Theranos had invented technology that could accurately and reliably test for a range of conditions using just a few drops of blood taken from a finger prick.

    Theranos raised $945 million from an impressive list of investors, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Walmart’s Walton family and the billionaire family of former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. At its peak, Theranos was valued at $9 billion, making Holmes a billionaire on paper. She was lauded on magazine covers, frequently wearing a signature black turtleneck that invited comparisons to late Apple CEO Steve Jobs. (She has not worn that look in the courtroom.)

    The company began to unravel after a Wall Street Journal investigation in 2015 found the company had only ever performed roughly a dozen of the hundreds of tests it offered using its proprietary blood testing device, and with questionable accuracy. Instead, Theranos was relying on third-party manufactured devices from traditional blood testing companies.

    In 2016, Theranos voided two years of blood test results. In 2018, Holmes and Theranos settled “massive fraud” charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but did not admit to or deny any of the allegations as part of the deal. Theranos dissolved soon after.

    In her trial, Holmes alleged she was in the midst of a decade-long abusive relationship with her then-boyfriend and Theranos COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani while running the company. Balwani, she alleged, tried to control nearly every aspect of her life, including disciplining her eating, her voice and her image, and isolating her from others. (Balwani’s attorneys denied her claims.)

    In July, Balwani was found guilty on all 12 charges in a separate trial and faces the same potential maximum prison time as her. Balwani is scheduled to be sentenced on December 7.

    “The effects of Holmes and Balwani’s fraudulent conduct were far-reaching and severe,” federal prosecutors wrote in a November court filing regarding Holmes’ sentencing. “Dozens of investors lost over $700 million and numerous patients received unreliable or wholly inaccurate medical information from Theranos’ flawed tests, placing those patients’ health at serious risk.”

    Holmes’ sentencing, however, could be complicated by developments in her life after stepping down from Theranos. Holmes and her partner, Evans, who met in 2017, have a young son. Holmes is also pregnant, as confirmed by recent court filings and her most recent court appearance in mid October.

    Mark MacDougall, a white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, told CNN Business that the fact that Holmes has a young child could impact how she is sentenced.

    “I don’t know how it can’t, just because judges are human,” he said.

    MacDougall also said he doesn’t see what a long prison sentence accomplishes. “Elizabeth Holmes is never going to run a big company again,” he said. “She’s never going to be in a position to have something like this happen again.”

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  • Australian who sexually abused children in the Philippines given 129-year jail term | CNN

    Australian who sexually abused children in the Philippines given 129-year jail term | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    An Australian man already sentenced to life in prison in the Philippines for human trafficking and rape has been given an extra 129-year sentence for sexually abusing children as young as 18 months, according to prosecutors.

    Peter Gerard Scully, his Filipina girlfriend Lezyl Margallo, and two accomplices were charged with 60 offenses that included child abuse, trafficking, rape and syndicating child pornography, Merlynn Barola-Uy, a prosecutor in the southern city of Cagayan de Oro, told CNN on Wednesday.

    Margallo was sentenced to 126 years in prison, while the two accomplices received prison terms of nine years each.

    All four were sentenced on November 3 after entering a plea bargaining agreement, Barola-Uy said, describing the convictions as a “sweet victory.”

    “The victim-survivors and their families together with the prosecution team have been, since day one, consistent in their resolve to fight Peter Scully and slay every (delaying) tactic he employed,” the prosecutor said.

    “They all want to bring closure to this dark phase of their lives and move on,” Barola-Uy added.

    The offenses date back to 2012 and are among dozens of charges filed against Scully after his arrest in 2015.

    In 2018, the Australian and his former live-in partner Carme Ann Alvarez were sentenced to life in prison for human trafficking and rape in six cases involving seven children – one of whom was killed and buried in one of the couple’s rented houses in Surigao City, according to state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA).

    The cases against Scully have thrown the spotlight on the Philippines’ enduring struggle against the online sexual exploitation of children.

    In 2020, a report by the Washington-based International Justice Mission described the Philippines as a global dark spot for online sexual abuse, saying youths were vulnerable due to a combination of entrenched poverty, high internet connectivity and opaque international cash transfer systems.

    Two years later, a study by UNICEF, Interpol and ECPAT International, a global network of organizations against children sexual exploitation, found around 20% of Filipino children who used the internet and were aged between 12 and 17 had experienced some form of online sexual abuse.

    In August, members of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s cabinet told a news conference the country had declared “all-out war” on the sexual exploitation of children online.

    Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla vowed at the conference to prosecute and jail people who sexually exploited minors online, but did not detail how the law and its enforcement might be strengthened.

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  • The Iowa teen who killed her alleged rapist and escaped from a residential corrections facility is back in custody | CNN

    The Iowa teen who killed her alleged rapist and escaped from a residential corrections facility is back in custody | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Pieper Lewis, the Iowa teen and sex trafficking victim who killed a man she said raped her multiple times, is back in custody following her escape from the residential corrections facility where she was serving probation, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

    Lewis, 18, was arrested just days after she walked away from the Des Moines women’s center where she’d been sent as part of a deferred judgment she received after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury in the 2020 killing of 37-year-old Zachary Brooks. Lewis was 15 at the time.

    Lewis was found in Des Moines and taken back into custody Tuesday, the Iowa Department of Corrections said in a statement. The teenager is being held at the Polk County Jail, said Lt. Ryan Evans of the sheriff’s office, who told CNN she was expected to have a future court date for violating her probation.

    Lewis went missing early Friday, November 4, when she cut off an electronic monitoring device and left the Fresh Start Women’s Center, Jerry Evans, the executive director of the Fifth Judicial District Department of Corrections, previously told CNN.

    When she left, authorities filed a “probation violation report,” Evans told CNN, “recommending revocation of her probation” and requesting a warrant for her arrest.

    The probation violation report said an alarm sounded at the facility at 6:19 a.m., notifying staff a door had been opened. A residential officer then saw Lewis exiting the facility through a door, according to the report obtained by CNN.

    The report, which was signed by a probation officer and a residential supervisor, goes on to request the warrant for Lewis’ arrest, adding, “It is further ordered that her deferred judgments (be) revoked and original sentence imposed.”

    Lewis became a resident at the Fresh Start Women’s Center after pleading guilty in Brooks’ killing, saying in her plea agreement he raped her multiple times.

    She originally faced up to 20 years in prison. But in September, Polk County District Judge David Porter handed down a deferred judgment, meaning the plea could be expunged if she completed the probationary sentence at the residential correctional facility.

    Under Iowa law, the court additionally had to order Lewis to pay a $150,000 restitution fee to Brooks’ family, the judge said. He also ruled she should serve 200 hours of community service and pay more than $4,000 in civil penalties.

    In the plea agreement, Lewis outlined for the court the series of events that she said led up to the killing, beginning with her running away from home due to what she said was an abusive environment. She was eventually taken in by a man who she said trafficked her, forcing her to have sex with other men in exchange for money. Brooks was one of those men, according to Lewis, who described in her agreement being repeatedly assaulted, including while she was unconscious.

    On May 31, 2020, the man with whom Lewis lived confronted her with a knife and forced her to go to Brooks’ apartment, where Lewis said she was forced to drink vodka and eventually fell asleep. At one point, she woke up to find Brooks was raping her, she said.

    Later, Brooks fell asleep and Lewis, “overcome with rage” at the realization he had raped her again, “immediately grabbed the knife from his nightstand and began stabbing him,” she said in the plea agreement.

    Lewis’ attorney was pleased with the deferred judgment, but advocates for victims of sexual violence voiced concern about her ability to serve the sentence, pointing to the extent of her trauma.

    They also highlighted how her case echoed other recent cases in the US in which teenagers – often people of color – have been legally penalized or convicted of killing their sex trafficker or assaulter.

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  • California doctor faces involuntary manslaughter charge in 2019 death of jail inmate | CNN

    California doctor faces involuntary manslaughter charge in 2019 death of jail inmate | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A doctor has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of an inmate at a detention facility in Southern California in November 2019, according to the San Diego County District Attorney’s office.

    Elisa Serna, 24, was an inmate at the Las Colinas Detention Facility in Santee when on November 10, 2019, she said she was dizzy and nauseous and was moved to the medical observation unit, the district attorney’s office said in a news release at the time. The next day Serna fell while a nurse was in her cell to take her vital signs and later died, authorities said.

    The nurse, Danalee Pascua, had been charged with involuntary manslaughter in November 2021. She has pleaded not guilty.

    Dr. Friederike Von Lintig, 57, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, according to an amended criminal complaint filed in San Diego County. She was the physician on duty the day Serna died, according to a news release Wednesday from the district attorney. She was arraigned Wednesday morning.

    Von Lintig was a contracted staff member of Coastal Hospitalist Medical Associates and later employed by Correctional Healthcare Partners, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

    CNN has requested further information from the district attorney and is seeking contact information for Von Lintig’s attorney. CNN has been unsuccessful in attempts to reach the doctor.

    “Since the initial filing, The District Attorney’s Office has continued to review the matter and has received additional analysis from experts, including from the Medical Board of California, which lead to today’s charges,” Wednesday’s news release says. “The additional evidence developed in this case demonstrates that criminal negligence by this physician contributed to the inmate’s death.”

    The release didn’t give specifics on the new evidence.

    Von Lintig’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 29.

    In November, the district attorney’s office said when Pascua went to check on the inmate, “Serna fell in the defendant’s presence. The defendant failed to get Serna’s vitals, did not move Serna into a recovery position and left Serna on the ground in the cell. About an hour later, Pascua and deputies returned to Ms. Serna’s cell and began futile life-saving measures.”

    Pascua, 37, is due in court Thursday.

    “We are continuing to deny the allegations brought against Ms. Pascua,” her attorney, Alicia C. Freeze, told CNN. “We have always wondered why this inmate’s sad passing has come down onto the shoulders of Ms. Pascua only – a young nurse with an impeccable record who had only clocked in for work an hour or so prior to the woman’s death. We will continue to advocate for Ms. Pascua’s innocence.”

    Freeze said Pascua was not arrested and “appeared timely” when she was given a “Notify Letter” to appear in court.

    The “only conditions are restricting her ability to practice nursing, which we have challenged as unconstitutional and will be litigated at the new preliminary hearing date,” Freeze said in an email.

    The maximum sentence for someone convicted in California of involuntary manslaughter is four years, according to the district attorney.

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  • N.O.R.E. apologizes to George Floyd’s family for Kanye West’s comments | CNN

    N.O.R.E. apologizes to George Floyd’s family for Kanye West’s comments | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    N.O.R.E., co-host of “Drink Champs,” is expressing regret over allowing Kanye West to make controversial comments during the podcast.

    The rapper called “The Breakfast Club” radio show Tuesday to address what happened with West on the Revolt.TV show.

    “I just want to be honest, I support freedom of speech,” N.O.R.E said. “I support anybody not being censored. But I do not support anybody being hurt. I did not realize that the George Floyd statements [made by West] on my show were so hurtful.”

    During his appearance, West made antisemitic comments and suggested George Floyd was killed by a fentanyl overdose, despite a medical examiner’s testimony that fentanyl was not the direct cause of Floyd’s death, only a contributing factor when he died after being knelt on by a police officer.

    N.O.R.E. has come under fire for not pushing back on West during the interview. He explained to “The Breakfast Club” that the controversial Floyd comments happened during the “first five minutes of the show” and said West told the producer that if they stopped filming he would walk out.”

    “I wanted the man to speak,” N.O.R.E. said. “Later on I actually checked him about the George Floyd comments, I actually checked him about the ‘White Lives Matter’ but it was so later in the episode…I was so inebriated at the time that maybe people looked over it.”

    “But I apologize to the George Floyd family, I apologize to anybody that was hurt by Kanye West’s comments,” he added.

    Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney who has represented the Floyd family on matters in the past, told CNN Monday that he has put together a team to explore a possible suit against West at the request of Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd.

    On Tuesday, lawyers representing Roxie Washington, the mother of George Floyd’s daughter, provided CNN with a cease-and-desist letter addressed to West. They indicated they intend to also file a lawsuit “for harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress.”

    N.O.R.E. was asked during his call with “The Breakfast Club” if he was aware of the possible legal action and whether he too might he be a target of that. He said that while he knew about it, “It’s not even about suing or the money, It’s about the hurt from the thing.”

    “I was locked down, I’m a supporter of the George Floyd movement,” he said. “I saw that video too. I seen that cop’s knee on his neck. I seen [Floyd] calling for whoever. I’m embarrassed of myself.”

    N.O.R.E. said he spoke with West Tuesday and told him he would be addressing what happened. The episode has since been removed.

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  • Lawyers for George Floyd’s daughter draft cease-and-desist letter to Kanye West | CNN

    Lawyers for George Floyd’s daughter draft cease-and-desist letter to Kanye West | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Lawyers representing Roxie Washington, the mother of George Floyd’s daughter, have drafted a cease-and-desist letter to Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, over comments he made claiming Floyd was killed by a fentanyl overdose.

    On the podcast “Drink Champs,” West claimed George Floyd was killed by a fentanyl overdose, despite a medical examiner’s testimony that fentanyl not the direct cause of Floyd’s death, only a contributing factor when he died after being knelt on by a police officer.

    Attorneys at Witherspoon Law Group told CNN the comments were especially damaging to Gianna Floyd, George Floyd’s daughter.

    “She’s a little girl that’s been traumatized and is being re-traumatized by Kanye West,” attorney Kay Harper Williams said of George Floyd’s daughter. It’s “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” she added.

    When CNN sat with then-6-year-old Gianna Floyd in June 2020 she didn’t say a word during the interview.

    The attorneys have indicated they intend to also file a lawsuit “for harassment, misappropriation, defamation, and infliction of emotional distress.”

    CNN has reached out to a representative of Ye for comment.

    As of Tuesday, the episode of “Drink Champs” appeared to have been removed from YouTube and Revolt TV. However, “it still exists, that does not remove it from the universe,” said Williams.

    “Too little too late, the harm has been done to our client,” she added.

    A cease-and-desist letter, provided to CNN, was addressed to an attorney they believed was representing Ye, however, they told CNN they were informed this attorney was not actually affiliated with Ye in this matter. They’re actively trying to make sure it’s received, though they added there will be more pressure once the lawsuit is formally filed.

    Regarding a separate legal effort being explored by attorney Lee Merritt, who has represented the Floyd family on matters in the past, Williams told CNN the two legal have not been coordinating efforts up to this point.

    Merritt told CNN on Monday that Floyd’s brother contacted him to pursue a defamation suit against the star.

    While that’s not legally possible because George Floyd is deceased, Merritt said, there are other legal avenues to pursue, including the Floyd family possibly suing for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

    “I have put together a working team to investigate [Ye’s] statements and to investigate the source of those statements,” Merritt said.

    CNN has reached out to Merritt for comment on the cease-and-desist letter.

    “George Floyd, just like Gianna said, changed the world so to have Kanye West come back and speak in a way that’s harmful to that legacy,” Williams said, “I’m offended as a human, as a black woman, as a mother.”

    “Gianna is a child and she’s being harmed,” she added.

    “There’s a really important discussion right now around the country about speech,” said Witherspoon. “But at the end of the day you cannot say these things that are false.”

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  • Inmates say guards fired tear gas after deadly blaze at Iranian prison | CNN

    Inmates say guards fired tear gas after deadly blaze at Iranian prison | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    Details of a chaotic night marked by tear gas and explosions have emerged from an Iranian prison following a deadly fire at the facility on Saturday.

    At least four inmates died of smoke inhalation and 61 others were injured in the blaze at Tehran’s Evin prison, which began when prisoners set fire to a warehouse, state-run news agency IRNA reported, citing Iranian authorities.

    The notoriously brutal facility is known for housing political prisoners in the country, which has seen mass protests in recent weeks against the Islamic regime that has ruled it for decades.

    Award-winning film director Jafar Panahi, 62, who is among the dissidents jailed at Evin, said guards fired tear gas at inmates, according to his wife, Tahereh Saeedi.

    In an interview with Radio Farda – the Iranian branch of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Saeedi said her husband called her from the prison and told her that he and fellow jailed filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof are in good health.

    Saeedi added that from the time the fire broke out Saturday night to when she got a call from her husband the next day were the worst hours of her life.

    Activist group 1500tasvir reported earlier that, in videos posted on social media, gunshots were heard and Iranian special forces were seen heading to the area where the prison is believed to be located.

    Sources inside the prison told pro-reform outlet IranWire that guards fired tear gas all night after the fire broke out. In many cases, prisoners had to break their windows to so they could breathe, IranWire reported.

    In a Twitter post Sunday, human rights activist and former Evin inmate Atena Daemi said tear gas was fired by security officials, citing a woman prisoner.

    Inmates on Ward 8 have no water, gas, or bread and 45 of them were transferred “to an unknown place,” Daemi said. “Now everyone is fine, but they are worried about being transferred to other prisons, solitary confinement and interrogation.”

    Many inmates had been transferred to Rajaei Shahr prison, about 20 kilometers west (12 miles) of Tehran, Mostafa Nili, a lawyer who represents a number of prisoners, said on Twitter. Video from IranWire shows a bus taking prisoners away from Evin.

    Jailed journalist Niloofar Hamedi is also safe following Saturday’s fire, according to a tweet from her husband, Mohamad Hosein.

    “She told me she didn’t know what had happened at Evin last night but said that she heard the terrifying sounds and thought something terrible happened,” Hosein said his wife told him, adding she was doing well.

    Hosein said Hamedi is being held in Evin’s Section 209 – notorious for housing prisoners of conscience – and did not have information about other areas of the prison.

    Iranian-American Siamak Namazi, who has been detained in Iran for seven years and was forced to return to prison on Wednesday after briefly being released on furlough, is also safe, according to the Namazi family lawyer Jared Genser.

    Namazi was moved to a secure area of the prison and has spoken to his family, Genser said.

    Speaking earlier to state broadcaster IRIB, Tehran’s prosecutor Ali Salehi said the “conflict” at the prison was not linked to the protests that have swept the country following the death of a young woman in police custody.

    In September, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after she was detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly. Iranian authorities have since unleashed a brutal and deadly crackdown on demonstrators, who have united around a range of grievances with the country’s authoritarian regime.

    “No prisoner is safe in Iran, where people are maimed and killed for criticizing the state,” the head of New York-based Independent Center for Human Rights in Iran, Hadi Ghaemi tweeted Sunday. “Political prisoners in Evin & Iran should be freed. All prisoners should have proper medical treatment + access to counsel/families.”

    Ghaemi also urged the United Nations to hold Iran’s leaders accountable in a call echoed by Amnesty International secretary general and former UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard.

    A special session of the UN Human Rights Council should be held to create a “UN investigative and accountability mechanism on Iran government and religious authorities,” Callamard said in a tweet Sunday, citing “far too many crimes against the Iranian people.”

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  • Iranian security official confirms fire at Evin prison, says situation is under control after social media footage emerges | CNN

    Iranian security official confirms fire at Evin prison, says situation is under control after social media footage emerges | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A large, dark plume of smoke was seen billowing near Evin prison in northern Tehran in multiple videos on social media Saturday night.

    An Iranian security official said “thugs” set fire to the warehouse of prison clothing, which led to a fire in the prison, Iranian state media IRNA reported. Tehran’s Evin Prison is a notoriously brutal facility where the regime incarcerates political dissidents.

    “Now the situation is completely under control and peace is maintained in the prison, and the firemen are extinguishing the fire,” the security official told IRNA.

    Activist group 1500tasvir reported that in videos posted on social media, gunshots were heard and Iranian special forces were seen heading to the area where the prison is believed to be located.

    The Iranian official said that the “rioters” were separated from other prisoners and the other detainees have returned to their cells, IRNA reported.

    CNN cannot independently verify the situation.

    Girls and woman have led the nationwide protest movement that has gripped Iran following the death of a young woman in police custody.

    In September, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after she was detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly. Iranian authorities have since unleashed a brutal crackdown on demonstrators, who have united around a range of grievances with the country’s authoritarian regime.

    Witnesses previously said that Iranian security forces beat, shot and detained students at Tehran’s Sharif University. Last month, nearly two dozen children were killed during the protests, according to a report by Amnesty International.

    At least 23 children – some as young as 11 – were killed by security forces in the last 10 days of September alone, the report said.

    Earlier this week, an Iranian official also admitted that school students participating in street protests are being detained and taken to psychiatric institutions.

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  • Singapore jails OnlyFans creator for defying police order to stay off the site | CNN

    Singapore jails OnlyFans creator for defying police order to stay off the site | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A Singapore court on Tuesday sentenced an OnlyFans creator to three weeks in prison for breaching a police order to stay off the adult subscription site while he was under investigation for allegedly breaking obscenity laws.

    Titus Low, 22, pleaded guilty to the charge and another count of transmitting obscene material for which he was fined 3,000 Singapore dollars (about $2,000), according to court documents. He will begin his jail term on October 26, his lawyer told CNN.

    The sale and production of pornographic materials is illegal in Singapore but that has not stopped OnlyFans from building a following in the conservative city state – where watching porn is not against the law but online sites are restricted by state censors.

    Low is the first OnlyFans creator to be prosecuted in Singapore. He joined the site famous for its NSFW content in April 2021 and at one point had more than 3,000 paid subscribers to his channel – mostly men.

    His bisexual image has challenged taboos in the country, which in August announced it would repeal a colonial-era law that criminalized gay sex.

    Police arrested Low in December last year after a man had complained three months earlier that he found an obscene video of the OnlyFans star on his 12-year-old niece’s phone.

    Low was later released on bail under the condition that he would not access his OnlyFans account.

    In court Tuesday, prosecutors said Low had breached that order and “undermined police investigations to advance his financial interests” on multiple occasions.

    Low admitted to the court that he failed to comply with the police order. He told the court he had reached out to OnlyFans to regain access to his account several times because he felt “obligated” to continue providing content to his subscribers.

    Defense lawyer Kirpal Singh told CNN that Low’s adult content had been “redistributed without his knowledge, authorization or consent.”

    “He has also not been posting on the platform and wants to finally move on from this episode,” Singh said, adding that Low had no plans to appeal.

    CNN reached out to OnlyFans for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.

    Low told CNN on Wednesday that he was “prepared” to serve prison time. “I plan to meditate a lot and read,” he said. And he also refused to rule out a return to OnlyFans.

    “It wouldn’t be fair if the ban stayed. I love what I do and it’s what I’m known for. My nudes are out there already,” he said.

    “But that is also the nature of OnlyFans. Creators have little control over our material being leaked or recirculated without our knowledge and that is not something I can control, but I will definitely be more careful going forward.”

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  • Myanmar court extends Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison sentence to 26 years | CNN

    Myanmar court extends Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison sentence to 26 years | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A court in military-run Myanmar has sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s deposed former leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, to three additional years in jail for corruption, a source familiar with the case told CNN, extending her total prison term to 26 years.

    Wednesday’s verdict is the latest in a string of punishments meted out against the 77-year-old, a figurehead of opposition to decades of military rule who led Myanmar for five years before being forced from power in a coup in early 2021.

    Suu Kyi was found guilty of receiving $500,000 in bribes from a local tycoon, a charge she denied, according to the source. Her lawyers have said the series of crimes leveled against her are politically motivated.

    Suu Kyi is currently being held in solitary confinement at a prison in the capital Naypyidaw.

    Last month, Suu Kyi was found guilty of electoral fraud and sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor, in a trial related to the November 2020 general election that her National League for Democracy won in a landslide, defeating a party created by the military.

    It was the first time Suu Kyi had been sentenced to hard labor since the 2021 military coup. She was given the same punishment in a separate trial under a previous administration in 2009 but that sentence was commuted.

    Suu Kyi has also previously been found guilty of offenses ranging from graft to election violations.

    Rights groups have repeatedly expressed concerns about the punishment of pro-democracy activists in the country since the military seized power.

    Last week, a military court in Myanmar sentenced a Japanese journalist to 10 years in prison for sedition and violating a law on electronic communications after he filmed an anti-government protest in July, a Japanese diplomat said.

    Toru Kubota, 26, was arrested by plainclothes police in Yangon, where he was filming a documentary that he had been working on for several years, according to a Change.org petition calling for his release.

    In July, the military junta executed two prominent pro-democracy activists and two other men accused of terrorism, following a trial condemned by the UN and rights groups.

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  • The real-life ‘Inventing Anna’ could be released from jail soon. She’s still fighting deportation | CNN

    The real-life ‘Inventing Anna’ could be released from jail soon. She’s still fighting deportation | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    A judge has ruled that Anna Sorokin, the fake heiress Netflix’s “Inventing Anna” is based on, can be released from jail on bond while she fights deportation – if certain conditions are met.

    According to court records, Immigration Judge Charles Conroy found this week that Sorokin can be released on $10,000 bond from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. But he also ruled that she must remain confined 24 hours a day at a residential address and refrain from accessing any social media platform either directly or through a surrogate while her case continues.

    “This ruling does not mean that Anna will get a free pass. She will continue to face deportation proceedings and her release will be closely monitored by ICE and the State of New York,” attorney John Sandweg, a former acting director of ICE who’s one of Sorokin’s attorneys, said in a statement Thursday. “As the Court found, however, the evidence clearly demonstrated that any risks can be more than adequately mitigated by appropriate supervision.”

    The judge’s ruling also says ICE may use an ankle monitor to keep tabs on Sorokin once she’s released.

    As of Thursday afternoon, the 31-year-old Sorokin remained in ICE custody, a spokesman for the agency said.

    She’s been in ICE custody for 17 months, according to her attorney – mostly at the Orange County Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

    Sorokin was found guilty of stealing more than $200,000 from banks and friends while scamming her way into New York society, the Manhattan District Attorney said after her 2019 conviction.

    Her case drew widespread attention after a 2018 New York magazine article.

    That article became the basis of Shonda Rhimes’ “Inventing Anna,” a dramatization that released on Netflix in February and quickly became one of the streamer’s most popular shows. Actress Julia Garner, best known for her Emmy-winning role as Ruth on “Ozark,” played Sorokin.

    The show ends with Sorokin’s conviction. But in real life, the drama has continued.

    Sorokin was released from jail in February 2021 after serving nearly four years on theft and larceny charges. But it wasn’t long before she ended up back behind bars.

    ICE took custody of Sorokin on March 25, 2021. In November, the Board of Immigration Appeals granted an emergency stay in her case, according to ICE. She’s been fighting her deportation – and also joined a group of plaintiffs suing the agency earlier this year, alleging they’d requested and been denied Covid booster shots while in custody. They dropped their lawsuit in March after receiving the shots, according to court records.

    While she’s been detained, frequent posts have been made on Sorokin’s social media accounts. Recently they’ve featured Sorokin’s artwork, which was featured in a New York show in May.

    Earlier this year an attorney representing Sorokin told NBC News that he feared her deportation when he couldn’t reach her, but word later emerged that she was still in ICE custody.

    Soon afterward, Sorokin spoke out from behind bars, telling the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that she never claimed to be a German heiress.

    “I was from Germany, which was true, but nobody ever asked me about my job,” Sorokin said. “Nobody asks who are your parents and how much money do they make. It’s just outrageous.”

    She told host Alex Cooper that she never “told any senseless lies.”

    But she admitted – sort of – to lying about her status and background.

    “I guess I did,” she said. “I mean, I cannot tell an exact instance, but I’m sure.”

    Sorokin also said she was surprised by the public’s fascination with her story.

    “It was just really a surprise to me that people would be, like, so interested in the way I went about the things, because it just made so much sense to me,” she said.

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