NEW YORK — The brothers operated in the glitz and glamour of the Hamptons and South Beach. Two were high-end real estate brokers dubbed “The A Team.” The third went to law school and ran their family’s private security firm, which caters to heads of state and the rich and famous.
They frequented nightclubs, cruised on yachts and flew on private jets. One lived alongside celebrities and corporate titans on Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row. The others had multimillion-dollar waterfront mansions in Miami.
But behind their posh, peripatetic facade, prosecutors say, Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander — known collectively as the Alexander Brothers — were predators who sexually assaulted, trafficked and raped dozens of women from 2008 to 2021, often after incapacitating them with drugs and sometimes recording their crimes on video.
The brothers met victims at nightclubs, parties and on dating apps, and recruited others for trips to ritzy locales, paying for their flights and lodging at high-end hotels or luxe vacation rentals before drugging and raping them, prosecutors said. In all, dozens of women have accused them of wrongdoing.
Now, the brothers — Tal, 39, and twins Alon and Oren, 38 — face a reckoning that prosecutors say was more than a decade in the making: a sex-trafficking trial that could put them in prison for the rest of their lives.
Opening statements are slated for Tuesday in the brothers’ trial in federal court in Manhattan, after they were delayed a day because of heavy snowfall over the weekend in New York.
Oren and Tal Alexander, the real estate dealers who specialized in high-end properties in Miami, New York and Los Angeles, have pleaded not guilty, along with their brother Alon, who graduated from New York Law School before taking his position with the security firm.
All three have been held without bail since their December 2024 arrests. They were indicted months after several women filed lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct.
A spokesperson for the Alexander Brothers said they “categorically deny that anyone was drugged, assaulted, or coerced, and the government has presented no physical evidence, medical records, contemporaneous complaints, or objective proof to establish those claims.”
“This case highlights a broader concern about how the federal sex-trafficking statute is being applied,” said the spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer. “Congress enacted that law to address force, coercion, and exploitation; not to retroactively criminalize consensual adult relationships through inference or narrative.”
“As the defense has consistently said, allegations are not evidence,” Engelmayer added.
The brothers’ attorneys have promised to show the jury of six men and six women that prosecutors have taken innocent romantic and sexual encounters and converted them into criminal activity through clever lawyering.
Oren Alexander’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, has said the defense plans to prove that witnesses have lied to the government and that their testimony can’t be trusted.
Judge Valerie E. Caproni, who will preside over the trial, has rejected defense requests to toss out the charges or send the case to state court. The Alexanders’ lawyers have said the allegations against them resemble “date rape” crimes more commonly prosecuted in state courts, but Caproni disagreed.
“That badly misrepresents the nature of the charges,” the judge wrote.
Agnifilo has said the jury will hear evidence of group sex, threesomes and promiscuity. During jury selection last week, prospective jurors were asked questions related to sexual activity and sex crimes.
In court papers, the Alexander Brothers’ lawyers wrote that among the accusers they expect to testify at trial, they had located evidence “that undermines nearly every aspect of the alleged victims’ narratives.”
Prosecutors have said their evidence will show that the brothers “have acted with apparent impunity — forcibly raping women whenever they wanted to do so.”
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Illinois doctor indicted on murder charges in the December slayings of his ex-wife and her dentist husband in their Columbus home is due in an Ohio courtroom on Friday.
Michael David McKee, 39, is scheduled to be arraigned in Franklin County on four aggravated murder counts and one count of aggravated burglary while using a firearm suppressor in connection with the Dec. 30 shooting deaths of Monique Tepe, 39, and Dr. Spencer Tepe, 37.
The mystery that first surrounded the case — which featured no forced entry, no weapon and no obvious signs of theft, additional violence or a motive — drew national attention. McKee, of Chicago, was arrested 11 days later near his workplace in Rockford, Illinois. He was returned to Ohio on Tuesday to face the charges against him.
McKee attended Catholic high school in Zanesville, a historic Ohio city about 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) east of the capital, according to the Diocese of Columbus. He enrolled at Ohio State University in September 2005 — the same semester that his future wife, then Monique Sabaturski, enrolled, university records show. Both graduated with bachelor’s degrees in June 2009. Sabaturski earned a master of education degree from Ohio State in 2011 and McKee earned his medical degree there in 2014.
Sabaturski and McKee married in Columbus in August 2015 but were living apart by the time Monique filed to end in the marriage in May 2017, court records show. Their divorce was granted that June. McKee was living in Virginia at the time, court and address records show. He completed a two-year fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center in October 2022, according to the school.
McKee also lived in and was licensed to practice medicine in both California and in Nevada, where he was among doctors named in a personal injury lawsuit in a Las Vegas court in 2023. OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois, where McKee was working at the time of his arrest, declined to provide specific information on the dates of his employment. His Illinois medical license became active in October 2024.
An Ohio grand jury indicted McKee in the double homicide last week.
McKee is accused of illegally entering the Tepes’ home with a firearm equipped with a silencer, shooting the Tepes — whose bodies were found in a second-floor bedroom — and leaving the property along a dark alley alongside the house.
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant has said that McKee was the person seen walking down that alley in video footage captured the night of the murders. She also said a gun found in his Chicago apartment was a ballistic match to evidence at the scene and that his vehicle’s movements were tracked from Columbus back to Illinois.
A message seeking comment was left with McKee’s attorney.
McKee is charged with two aggravated murder counts for each homicide, one for prior calculation and design and one for committing the crime, as well as facing the aggravated burglary count. If convicted, he faces a minimum of life in prison with parole eligibility after 32 years and a maximum term of life in prison without parole.
Columbus police conducted a wellness check on Spencer Tepe at around 10 a.m. on Dec. 30, after his manager at a dental practice in Athens, Ohio, reported that he had not shown up to work on that day, saying tardiness was very worrying and “out of character” for Tepe, according to a 911 call.
Someone else called to request a wellness check before a distraught man who described himself as a friend of Spencer Tepe called police and said, “Oh, there’s a body. There’s a body. Oh my God.” He said he could see Spencer Tepe’s body was off the side of a bed in a pool of blood.
The Franklin County Coroner’s Office deemed the killings an “apparent homicide by gunshot wounds.”
Family members said the Tepes were “extraordinary people whose lives were filled with love, joy and deep connection to others.”
They have described Monique as a “joyful mother,” avid baker and “thoughtful planner.” According to their obituaries, which were issued jointly, the pair were married in 2020.
Spencer Tepe got his bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in 2012 and earned his doctor of dental surgery degree in 2017, according to school records. He was a member of the American Dental Association and had been involved with the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.
They had two young children. Both were home at the time of the killings and left unharmed, as was the family dog.
“Our investigation revealed that Donald Trump is the person who caused Jan. 6, it was foreseeable to him, and that he sought to exploit the violence,” Smith testified.
Trump, during the hearing, was live-posting his rage against Smith — suggesting the former career prosecutor should himself be prosecuted. In the room sat militant Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and a tense encounter erupted between one audience member and police who had defended the Capitol, reminding how Jan. 6 still divides the Congress, and the country.
Smith said he believes Trump officials now will do “everything in their power” to prosecute him, but he said he would “not be intimidated” by attacks from the president, adding that investigators gathered proof that Trump committed “serious crimes.”
“I’m not going to pretend that didn’t happen because he’s threatening me,” Smith said.
Throughout the session, Republicans highlighted new developments as they seek to sow doubt on Smith’s now defunct-case against Trump, while Democrats warned that Trump’s allies are trying to rewrite history after the defeated president sent his supporters to the Capitol to fight for his failed election against Democrat Joe Biden.
Far from done, Smith is expected to be called before the Senate, which is planning its own hearing, and he has been unable to discuss the documents case that lawmakers want to probe. Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon halted the release of a report by Smith’s team on that case with an injunction that is set to expire next month, but lawyers for Trump have asked to leave it permanently under seal.
One star witness under scrutiny, but Smith says there are ‘so many’ more
The young aide recounted having been told that day about Trump lunging for the steering wheel in the presidential limousine as he demanded to join supporters at the Capitol. It’s a story that others said did not happen.
“Mr. Smith, is Cassidy Hutchinson a liar?” asked Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the committee chairman.
Smith explained that Hutchinson’s testimony was “second hand,” and as his team interviewed other witnesses, and the Secret Service agent in the car at the time “did not confirm what happened.”
Jordan pressed whether Smith would have brought Hutchinson forward to testify anyway, and Smith said he had not made “any final determinations.”
Smith said, “We had a large choice of witnesses.”
“That says it all,” Jordan declared. “You were still considering putting her on the witness stand because you had to get President Trump.”
In fact, Smith said, one of the “central challenges” of the case was to present it in a concise way, “because we did have so many witnesses” — state officials, Trump campaign workers and advisers — to testify.
“Some of the most powerful witnesses were witnesses who, in fact, were fellow Republicans who had voted for Donald Trump, who had campaigned for him and who wanted him to win the election,” Smith said.
Smith defends his work, and subpoenas for lawmaker phone records
A career prosecutor who worked for Republican and Democratic administrations, and worked on a range of cases including war crimes overseas, Smith has presented himself as a straight arrow whose work stands for itself.
“I am not a politician and I have no partisan loyalties,” Smith said. “Throughout my public service, my approach has always been the same — follow the facts and the law without fear or favor.”
Republicans sought to portray Smith as a hard-charging prosecutor who had to be “reined in” by higher-ups as he pursued Trump ahead of the former president’s possible run for a second term.
They singled out the collecting of phone toll records of members of Congress, including the House speaker at the time, former GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
During one particularly sharp exchange, Republican Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas said Smith used nondisclosure agreements to “hide” subpoenas from the subjects, and the public.
Smith explained that collecting the phone records was a “common practice” and investigators wanted to understand the “scope of the conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 election.
“My office didn’t spy on anyone,” he said.
Smith said he sought the nondisclosure agreements because of witness intimidation in the case. He cited Trump’s comments at the time, particularly the warning that he would be “coming after” those who cross him.
“I had grave concerns about obstruction of justice in this investigation, specifically with regards to Donald Trump,” he said.
Smith said it’s not incumbent on a prosecutor “to wait until someone gets killed before they move for an order to protect the proceedings.”
Threats to democracy — and to Smith himself — linger
One Democrat, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, asked how he would describe the toll on American democracy if the nation does not hold a president accountable for fraudulent actions, particularly in elections.
“If we do not hold the most powerful people in our society to the same standards, the rule of law, it can be catastrophic,” he said.
“It can endanger our election process, it can endanger election workers and ultimately, our democracy.”
“The attack on this Capitol on Jan. 6,” Smith said, echoing an appeals court ruling, “it was an attack on the structure of our democracy.”
Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado asked Smith if he was aware that Trump was live-posting social media comments during the hearing.
The congressman began reading what the president had posted.
“’Jack Smith is a deranged animal, who shouldn’t be allowed to practice Law,’” Neguse read. “’Hopefully the Attorney General is looking at what he’s done.’”
“We have a word for this,” the congressman said. “It’s called weaponization. It’s called corruption.”
Democrats repeatedly asked if Smith had ever been approached by Biden’s Justice Department to investigate or prosecute Trump. Smith said he had not.
In his own words, Smith lays out the case
Smith presented his case against Trump, publicly and in previous private testimony, in ways that have not wavered.
“President Trump was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law,” Smith said in opening remarks.
“Rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power.”
Smith said, “If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so.”
“No one should be above the law in this country.”
Still, the special counsel said he stopped short of filing a charge of insurrection against Trump. That was pursued in the House impeachment of Trump in the aftermath of Jan. 6, though the president was acquitted of the sole count of incitement of an insurrection by the Senate.
He said the case had “proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity,” and remained confident had it gone to trial.
Asked about Trump’s decision to pardon some 1,500 people convicted in the Jan. 6 attack, including those who assaulted police officers, Smith had almost no answer.
“I don’t get it,” he said. “I never will.”
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LOS ANGELES — Federal immigration authorities allowed a suspect in a $100 million jewelry heist believed to be the largest in U.S. history to deport himself to South America in December, a move that stunned and upset prosecutors who were planning to try the case and send him to prison.
Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores was one of seven people charged last year with stalking an armored truck to a rural freeway rest stop north of Los Angeles and stealing millions worth of diamonds, emeralds, gold, rubies and designer watches in 2022.
Flores faced up to 15 years in federal prison if convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit theft from interstate and foreign shipment and theft from interstate and foreign shipment. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Flores in late December after he requested voluntary departure, prosecutors said in court filings.
ICE did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Flores’ attorney, John D. Robertson, motioned to dismiss the indictment against his client, asking for the charges to be permanently dropped and the case closed.
Federal prosecutors oppose the motion and say they still hope to bring Flores to trial, asking for charges to be dropped “without prejudice” to keep the door open for criminal prosecution in the future.
Despite Flores being a lawful permanent resident and released on bail, he was taken into ICE custody in September, according to court filings from his defense attorneys. Federal prosecutors say they were unaware Flores had an immigration detainer.
This was a violation of his criminal prosecution rights and warrants his case getting dismissed, Robertson said in his motion.
Flores opted for deportation to Chile during a Dec. 16 immigration hearing, according to court documents. The judge denied his voluntary departure application but issued a final order of removal, and he was sent to Ecuador.
“Prosecutors are supposed to allow the civil immigration process to play out independently while criminal charges are pending,” federal prosecutors wrote in their motion opposing the case dismissal. “That is exactly what they did in this case — unwittingly to defendant’s benefit in that he will now avoid trial, and any potential conviction and sentence, unless and until he returns to the United States.”
What happened to Flores is extremely unusual, especially in a case of this significance, former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson said.
Ordinarily, if a criminal defendant had immigration proceedings against them — which is common — immigration officials would inform prosecutors what was happening. In minor cases, a defendant can sometimes choose to self-deport in lieu of prosecution.
“It’s just beyond me how they would deport him without the prosecutors … being in on the conversation,” Levenson said. “This really was the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing.”
The jewelers who were stolen from are also demanding answers.
“When a defendant in a major federal theft case leaves the country before trial, victims are left without answers, without a verdict, and without closure,” Jerry Kroll, an attorney for some of the jewelry companies, told the Los Angeles Times.
The infamous jewelry heist unfolded in July 2022 after the suspects scouted the Brink’s tractor-trailer leaving an international jewelry show near San Francisco with dozens of bags of jewels, according to the indictment. While the victims reported more than $100 million in losses, Brink’s said the stolen items were worth less than $10 million.
A lawsuit filed by the Brink’s security company said one of the drivers was asleep inside the big rig and the other was getting food inside the rest stop when the thieves broke in.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Actor Timothy Busfield was released from jail Tuesday night in New Mexico, where he is facing counts of child sexual abuse.
Hours earlier, Busfield’s attorneys successfully argued that the actor best known for appearances in “The West Wing,” “Field of Dreams” and “Thirtysomething” wasn’t a danger to the community and shouldn’t be behind bars while he awaits trial. Prosecutors sought to keep him in jail, outlining what they said was grooming behavior and abuse of power by Busfield over three decades.
State District Court Judge David Murphy said while the crimes Busfield is accused of inherently are dangerous and involve children, prosecutors didn’t prove the public wouldn’t be safe if he’s released.
“There’s no evidence of a pattern of criminal conduct, there are no similar allegations involving children in his past,” Murphy said. “Rather this defendant self-surrendered and submitted himself to this court’s jurisdiction, demonstrating compliance with the court order for his arrest.”
Outside the courthouse, Busfield’s wife, actor Melissa Gilbert, thanked Murphy for the ruling. She also thanked friends, relatives, co-workers and strangers who she said have showered their family with love. Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls in the 1970s to ’80s TV series “Little House on the Prairie,” sat behind Busfield during the hearing. He was handcuffed and dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit.
Prosecutors declined to comment on the ruling.
Busfield is facing two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse while working as a director on the set of the TV series “The Cleaning Lady,” allegations that he denies. He was booked into jail after a warrant was issued for his arrest and he turned himself in.
According to the criminal complaint, an investigator with the Albuquerque Police Department said a boy reported that Busfield touched him on his private areas over his clothing on one occasion when he was 7 years old and another time when he was 8. The boy’s twin brother told authorities he was also touched by Busfield, but he did not specify where and didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to get in trouble, the complaint said.
During the hearing Tuesday, Busfield’s attorneys pointed out that the children initially said during interviews with police that Busfield didn’t touch them inappropriately. Busfield’s attorneys then accused the boys’ parents of coaching their children toward incriminating statements after the boys lost lucrative roles on the show.
Busfield’s defense team called just one witness — Alan Caudillo, director of photography on “The Cleaning Lady” — to testify that children on set were never left alone with individuals, and that the parents were the ones who encouraged hugs with adults on the set.
According to the criminal complaint, one of the boys later disclosed during a therapy session that he was inappropriately touched by Busfield. Those records were obtained by police during the investigation.
Assistant District Attorney Savannah Brandenburg-Koch called evidence of abuse against Busfield strong and specific. She also said witnesses expressed fear about potential retaliation and professional harm.
“The boys’ allegation are supported by medical findings and by their therapist,” Brandenburg-Koch said. “Their accounts were specific and not exaggerated.”
Arguing for Busfield’s release, defense attorney Amber Fayerberg said her client will be under intense scrutiny because of publicity surrounding the charges.
“That bell can’t be un-rung,” Fayerberg said. “The idea that he (Busfield) could then go out and be dangerous with a child — in the world where everybody knows who he is — is absurd.”
Busfield submitted letters vouching for his character, and his attorneys say he passed an independent polygraph test.
Legal experts say New Mexico is among a few states that allow polygraph evidence in criminal cases, but a judge has final say over whether one can be used. There are strict requirements for admission in court.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A judge ordered that actor Timothy Busfield be released from jail pending trial on child sex abuse charges, at a detention hearing Tuesday.
The order from state district court Judge David Murphy is linked to accusations that Busfield inappropriately touched a minor while working as a director on the set of the series “The Cleaning Lady.”
Busfield will be supervised upon release by a pretrial services office in Albuquerque, and can leave the state to return home, the judge said.
Busfield, an Emmy Award-winning actor who is known for appearances in “The West Wing,” “Field of Dreams” and “Thirtysomething,” was ordered to be held without bond last week at his first court appearance. Busfield called the allegations lies in a video shared before he turned himself in.
The judge acknowledged evidence that Busfield is accused of crimes that are inherently dangerous and involve children, but said prosecutors didn’t prove that there are no conditions of release that would protect the public’s safety.
“There’s no evidence of a pattern of criminal conduct, there are no similar allegations involving children in his past,” Murphy said. “Rather this defendant self-surrendered and submitted himself to this court’s jurisdiction, demonstrating compliance with the court order for his arrest.”
At the hearing, Busfield was handcuffed and dressed in an orange jail uniform in a New Mexico state district court, while wife and actor Melissa Gilbert watched from the court gallery.
Gilbert was tearful while exiting the courtroom after the judge ordered Busfield’s release.
Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls in the 1970s to ’80s TV series “Little House on the Prairie,” was on the list of potential witness submitted ahead of the hearing.
Albuquerque police issued a warrant for Busfield’s arrest earlier this month on two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse. A criminal complaint alleges the acts occurred on the set of the series “The Cleaning Lady.”
According to the criminal complaint, an investigator with the police department says the child reported Busfield touched him on private areas over his clothing on one occasion when he was 7 years old and another time when he was 8. The boy’s twin brother told authorities he was also touched by Busfield, but did not specify where. He said he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to get in trouble.
On Monday, Busfield’s attorneys submitted two brief audio recordings of initial police interviews in which the children say Busfield did not touch them in private areas. The attorneys in a court filing argue that the complaint characterizes the interviews as a failure to disclose abuse, but an “unequivocal denial is materially different from a mere absence of disclosure.”
According to the criminal complaint, one of the boys disclosed during a therapy session that he was inappropriately touched by the show’s director. Those records were obtained by police during the investigation.
Arguing Tuesday for Busfield’s continued detention, Assistant District Attorney Savannah Brandenburg-Koch called evidence of abuse against Busfield strong and specific.
“The boys’ allegation are supported by medical findings and by their therapist,” Brandenburg-Koch said. “Their accounts were specific and not exaggerated.”
She also described a documented pattern of sexual misconduct, abuse of authority and grooming behavior by Busfield over the past three decades. Prosecutors also say witnesses have expressed fear regarding retaliation and professional harm.
“GPS is not going to tell this court if he is around children or talking to witnesses,” Brandenburg-Koch said.
Busfield’s attorneys have argued that the allegations emerged only after the boys lost their role in the TV show, creating a financial and retaliatory motive. The filings detailed what the attorneys said was a history of fraud by both the boys’ father and mother. They cited an investigation by Warner Bros. into the allegations that found the allegations unfounded.
Busfield also submitted letters vouching for his character, and his attorneys say he passed an independent polygraph test.
Legal experts say New Mexico is among a few states that allow polygraph evidence in criminal cases, but a judge has final say over whether one can be used. There are strict requirements for admission.
William D. DeFoor, 26, entered pleas to three counts in federal court in Cincinnati. Prosecutors have charged DeFoor with damaging government property, engaging in physical violence against any person or property in a restricted building or grounds, and assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers.
The suspect faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the first two charges and up to 20 years on the third.
Federal prosecutors allege the Secret Service saw someone run along the front fence of Vance’s residence in Cincinnati’s upscale East Walnut Hills neighborhood just after midnight on Jan. 5 and then breach the property line. The person later identified as DeFoor was armed with a hammer and tried to break out the window of an unmarked Secret Service vehicle on the way up the driveway. The person then moved toward the front of the home and broke 14 historic window panes, according to a federal affidavit.
Damage done to security enhancements around the windows was valued at $28,000, according to the filing.
DeFoor’s attorney, Paul Laufman, has said in court that the situation represents “purely a mental health issue” and that his client was not motivated by politics.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEW YORK — Halena Herrera can’t cross a street without thinking about the pickup truck that barreled toward her, killing her best friend and three other people, at a New York City park two Fourth of Julys ago.
Daniel Hyden was drunk at the wheel as the Ford F-150 jumped a curb, bulldozed a chain-link fence and plowed into a group of friends and relatives who were holding a holiday barbecue at Corlears Hook Park in Manhattan. The truck stopped just feet from Herrera, its momentum halted by bodies trapped underneath.
Judge April A. Newbauer sentenced Hyden on Friday to 24 years to life in prison in the deaths of Ana Morel, 43; Lucille Pinkney, 59; her son, Herman Pinkney, 38; and Herrera’s best friend, Emily Ruiz, 30.
Seven people were hurt, including Herrera, who was hit in the face by debris.
“Learning that the only reason I lived was because four other people were dying under the car is still very hard to deal with,” Herrera told reporters after Hyden’s sentencing in state court in Manhattan.
“I’m glad that at least now there’s some sense of justice,” she said. “It doesn’t help much. It doesn’t bring anything back, but it’s good to have it over with, so I’m happy for that.”
Diamond Pinkney, Lucille’s son and Herman’s brother, said seeing Hyden sentenced was a “big relief.” The driver, a substance abuse counselor who wrote a 2020 book about coping with addiction, “knew what he did, he knew the possibility he could’ve caused and he did it,” Pinkney said.
Hyden, 46, from Monmouth, New Jersey, described it as an “accident” in his courtroom apology. He was convicted in November at a non-jury trial of murder, aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges.
“I’m processing how deeply disturbed and deeply hurt I was and still am. And I’m still processing the amount of people I hurt with my actions,” he said, standing in a room packed with victims, relatives of the people he killed and about two-dozen officers.
Hyden said he had broken his sobriety after his own sister was killed by a drunk driver in New Jersey in 2021. At the time of his crash in July 2024, he was preparing to speak at that driver’s sentencing, he said.
“What kind of human being would put other human beings through the same thing he was going through?” Hyden asked.
Herrera scoffed at Hyden’s newfound shame, telling reporters afterward: “He has shown no remorse from the very beginning, so for him to sit there and say that he’s sorry is just — I don’t believe any of it.”
The crash happened less than an hour after Hyden was refused entry to a nearby party boat and clashed with security. Police officers who responded to the boat incident testified that they didn’t witness anything warranting arrest, so they walked Hyden to a park bench and left.
He then got behind the wheel of the pickup truck, prosecutors said, accelerating through a stop sign at 39 mph (63 kph), speeding through a construction zone and zooming over sidewalk at up to 54 mph (87 kph) before reaching the park.
Hyden was pressing the gas pedal down fully and didn’t hit the brakes until half a second before he hit the crowd, prosecutors said. He then tried to put the vehicle in reverse, but witnesses pulled the keys from the ignition to stop him.
Hyden’s lawyer suggested he had a foot injury that complicated his driving.
“While this prison sentence will not reverse the fatalities, injuries, and trauma, I hope this sentencing brings a measure of comfort for those who were impacted by this mass casualty event,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “If you are intoxicated, do not get behind the wheel — it risks the lives of others, and you will be prosecuted.”
Herrera and Pinkney both said they want Hyden to remain in prison for the rest of his life so he does not have a chance to hurt anyone else.
Herrera, who is studying to be a therapist, said she has had bouts of depression and struggles with post-traumatic stress — the horror of that night infecting her daily activities. But, she said, she has to stay strong for her 7-year-old son.
“Every day, I’m worried that something else can happen,” Herrera said. “You know of it — you know that death happens, you know that accidents happen and things happen. But to live it is a different thing.”
“So, now it’s like: Am I going to get hit by a car crossing the street? Is something going to happen to me?”
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A 24-year-old man was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of an elderly Thai man whose 2021 killing in San Francisco helped spark a national movement against anti-Asian American violence.
A jury did not find Antoine Watson guilty of murder when it returned a verdict Thursday for the January 2021 attack on 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. Jurors found Watson guilty on the lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault.
The office of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins declined to comment, saying that the jury was still empaneled. Jurors will return Jan. 26 to hear arguments on aggravating factors and sentencing will be scheduled once that is completed, the office said in an email.
Vicha Ratanapakdee was out for his usual morning walk in the quiet neighborhood he lived in with his wife, daughter and her family when Watson charged at him and knocked him to the ground. The encounter was captured on a neighbor’s security camera. Ratanapakdee died two days later, never regaining consciousness.
His family says he was attacked because of his race, but hate crime charges were not filed and the argument was not raised in trial. Prosecutors have said hate crimes are difficult to prove absent statements by the suspect.
The public defender’s office, which represented Watson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Watson testified on the stand that he was in a haze of confusion and anger at the time of the unprovoked attack, according to KRON-TV. He said he lashed out and didn’t know that Ratanapakdee was Asian or elderly.
Hundreds of people in five other U.S. cities joined in commemorating the anniversary of Ratanapakdee’s death in 2022, all of them seeking justice for Asian Americans who have been harassed, assaulted, and even killed in alarming numbers since the start of the pandemic.
Asians in America have long been subject to prejudice and discrimination, but the attacks escalated sharply after the coronavirus first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. More than 10,000 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were reported to the Stop AAPI Hate coalition from March 2020 through September 2021.
The incidents involved shunning, racist taunting and physical assaults.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Public concern is particularly high in Bangkok due to the frequent and sometimes fatal construction accidents on major road projects. In the latest case, a construction crane collapsed on Thursday, killing two people, just a day after the train tragedy in which 32 people died.
Public outrage has centered on Italian-Thai Development, the contractor responsible for both sites where the past week’s accidents occurred. The company, also known as Italthai, was also the joint lead contractor for the 33-story State Audit Office building, which toppled while under construction in March, killing about 100 people.
It was the only major structure in Thailand to collapse from an earthquake whose epicenter was in Myanmar, more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) away.
Twenty-three individuals and companies were indicted in that case, including Italthai’s President Premchai Karnasuta, on charges including professional negligence causing death and document forgery. Italthai, a major developer in Thailand which has won many government projects, has denied wrongdoing in that case as well as the more recent crane crashes.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has responded to the latest incidents by ordering the Transport Ministry to terminate contracts with, blacklist and prosecute the companies involved. Unfinished projects will be funded by seizing performance bonds and bank guarantees, with the government reserving the right to sue for extra costs. Additionally, a “scorecard” system to keep track of contractors’ performance records should be enforced by early February.
Investigators can often find the technical cause of accidents, such as human error or equipment failure.
But critics say construction safety faces broader systemic problems, pointing to lax regulation, poor enforcement, and corruption. A lengthy investigation determined that the building collapse in March, though triggered by an earthquake, was fundamentally caused by flawed structural design and effort to evade regulations.
“I don’t think Thailand fails in terms of the body of knowledge in engineering or even in the technical aspects,” said Panudech Chumyen, a civil engineering lecturer at Bangkok’s Thammasat University. “I think there’s a failure in our system; there are so many gaps that I don’t know where we should begin to close them.”
He said the safety challenges range from laxity in law enforcement to red tape and the lack of integration in safety policies among different stakeholders in projects. He also pointed to a shortage of independent assessors without conflicts of interest, which often results in performance reports that do not reflect reality.
The involvement of Chinese companies in the building collapse, as well as troubled rail and road projects, has also drawn attention.
Wednesday’s train accident took place on a line that is part of a Thai-Chinese high-speed railway project linking the capital to northeastern Thailand. It is associated with an ambitious plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has caused controversy in many of its activities around the world, including corruption scandals.
Concern over Chinese construction practices increased after the collapse last year of the State Audit Office project, in which the Chinese company China Railway No. 10 was co-lead contractor with Italthai. Its Bangkok representative, Zhang Chuanling, was charged with violating Thailand’s Foreign Business Act by using Thai nationals as nominee shareholders to hide Chinese control of its local affiliate.
Thais were outraged by the collapse. Many took to social media to post criticism and images of the so- called “tofu-dreg projects” or “tofu buildings,” a term used to describe shoddy buildings or infrastructure built too hurriedly or with payoffs to allow them to evade regulatory standards. The phrase was popularized to describe such a damage after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China.
China’s ambassador to Thailand, Zhang Jianwei, said Thursday that China requires its companies to follow the rules when participating in overseas projects, and that Beijing is willing to “guide Chinese companies to actively cooperate with the Thai authorities’ investigation.”
—
AP researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.
Media reports from earlier this week alleged Iglesias had sexually and physically assaulted two women who worked at his residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas between January and October 2021. A day later, Spanish prosecutors said they were studying the allegations.
“With deep sorrow, I respond to the accusations made by two people who previously worked at my home. I deny having abused, coerced or disrespected any woman. These accusations are absolutely false and cause me great sadness,” Iglesias said on Instagram.
Spanish online newspaper elDiario.es and Spanish-language television channel Univision Noticias published the joint, three-year investigation on Jan. 13 into Iglesias’ alleged misconduct.
A Spanish high court received formal allegations against Iglesias by an unnamed party on Jan. 5, according to officials there. Iglesias could potentially be taken in front of the Madrid-based court, which can try alleged crimes by Spanish citizens while they are abroad, according to the court’s press office.
The 82-year-old Iglesias is one of the world’s most successful musical artists, having sold more than 300 million records in more than a dozen languages. After making his start in Spain, he won immense popularity in the United States and wider world in the 1970s and ’80s. He’s the father of pop singer Enrique Iglesias.
In 1988, he won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance for his album “Un Hombre Solo.” He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 2019.
“I had never experienced such malice, but I still have the strength for people to know the full truth and to defend my dignity against such a serious affront,” Iglesias said on social media.
He also thanked those who had sent messages of support.
UTICA, N.Y. — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.
“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards’ body cameras.
Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.
Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.
Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.
The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to some reforms in New York’s prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.
Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison’s infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.
Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn’t intervene.
“Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.
Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”
“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.
Even before Brooks’ death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.
Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi’s death in April, including two charged with murder.
There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.
“The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher’s trial.
Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.
The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.
LAS VEGAS — The jury trial for Nathan Chasing Horse, the former “Dances with Wolves” actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls, is expected to begin Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Prosecutors allege he used his reputation as a spiritual leader and healer to take advantage of his victims over two decades. Chasing Horse has pleaded not guilty to 21 charges, including sexual assault, sexual assault with a minor, first degree kidnapping of a minor and the use of a minor in producing pornography.
The case sent shock waves across Indian Country when he was arrested and indicted in early 2023. There were many setbacks and delays, but the case finally proceeded to trial after prosecutors added allegations that he filmed himself having sex with a child.
Best known for portraying the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 movie “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.
After starring in the Oscar-winning film, according to prosecutors, Chasing Horse proclaimed himself to be a Lakota medicine man while traveling around North America to perform healing ceremonies.
Prosecutors claim Chasing Horse led a cult called The Circle, and his followers believed he could speak with spirits. His victims went to him for medical help, according to a court transcript from a grand jury hearing.
One victim was 14 years old when she approached him hoping he would heal her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer. Chasing Horse previously had treated the victim’s breathing issues and her mother’s spider bite, according to a court transcript. He allegedly told her the spirits wanted her to give up her virginity in exchange for her mother’s health. He allegedly had sex with her and said her mother would die if she told anyone, according to the victim’s testimony to the grand jury.
The original indictment was dismissed in 2024 after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled prosecutors abused the grand jury process when they provided a definition of grooming as evidence without any expert testimony.
The high court, specifying that the dismissal had nothing to do with his innocence or guilt, left open the possibility of charges being refiled. In October 2024, the charges were refiled with new allegations that he recorded himself having sex with one of his accusers when she was younger than 14.
Prosecutors have said the recordings, made in 2010 or 2011, were found on cellphones in a locked safe inside the North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the girl in the videos.
Jury selection will begin Tuesday. The trial is expected to last four weeks, and prosecutors plan to call 18 witnesses. A week before the trial, Chasing Horse attempted to fire his private defense attorney, saying his lawyer hadn’t come to visit him. Judge Jessica Peterson removed Chasing Horse from the courtroom when he tried to interrupt her, and she denied his request.
This case is a reminder that violence also occurs within Native communities and is not just something committed by outsiders, said Crystal Lee, CEO and founder of the organization United Natives, which offers services to victims of sexual abuse.
Chasing Horse’s trial requires hard conversations about Native perpetrators, she said.
“How do we hold them accountable?” she said. “How do we start these tough conversations?”
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The FBI said in a court document made public Monday that it had found no surveillance or other video of a Border Patrol agent shooting and wounding two people in a pickup truck during an immigration enforcement operation in Portland, Oregon, last week.
Agents told investigators that one of their colleagues opened fire Thursday after the driver put the truck in reverse and repeatedly slammed into an unoccupied car the agents had rented, smashing its headlights and knocking off its front bumper. The agents said they feared for their own safety and that of the public, the document said.
The FBI has interviewed four of the six agents on the scene, the document said. It did not identify the agent who fired the shots.
None of the six agents was recording body camera footage, and investigators have uncovered no surveillance or other video footage of the shooting, FBI Special Agent Daniel Jeffreys wrote in an affidavit supporting aggravated assault and property damage charges against the driver, Luis David Nino-Moncada.
The truck drove away after the shooting, which occurred in the parking lot of a medical office building. Nino-Moncada called 911 after arriving at an apartment complex several minutes away. He was placed in FBI custody after being treated for a gunshot wound to the arm and abdomen.
During an initial appearance Monday afternoon in federal court in Portland, he wore a white sweatshirt and sweatpants and appeared to hold out his left arm gingerly at an angle. An interpreter translated the judge’s comments for him. The judge ordered that he remain in detention and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Wednesday.
The agent’s affidavit said that after being read his rights, Nino-Moncada “admitted to intentionally ramming the Border Patrol vehicle in an attempt to flee, and he stated that he knew they were immigration enforcement vehicles.”
His passenger, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, was hospitalized after being shot in the chest and on Monday was being held at a private immigration detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, according to an online detainee locator system maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nino-Moncada and Zambrano-Contreras are Venezuela nationals and entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and 2023, respectively, the Department of Homeland Security said. It identified Nino-Moncada as an associate of Tren de Aragua and Zambrano-Contreras as involved in a prostitution ring run by the gang.
“Anyone who crosses the red line of assaulting law enforcement will be met with the full force of this Justice Department,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday in a news release announcing charges against Nino-Moncada. “This man — an illegal alien with ties to a foreign terrorist organization — should NEVER have been in our country to begin with, and we will ensure he NEVER walks free in America again.”
Oregon Federal Public Defender Fidel Cassino-DuCloux, whose office represents Nino-Moncada, did not immediately return messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. He told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the federal shooting of and the subsequent accusations against Nino-Moncada and his passenger follow “a well-worn playbook that the government has developed to justify the dangerous and unprofessional conduct of its agents.”
Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed last week that the pair had “some nexus” to the gang. Day said the two came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects.
Zambrano-Contreras was previously arrested for prostitution, Day said, and Nino-Moncada was present when a search warrant was served in that case.
Johnson reported from Seattle.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A man convicted of killing a traveling salesman during a robbery is set to become Florida’s first execution of 2026 under a death warrant signed Friday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed off on a record 19 executions last year.
Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Feb. 10 at Florida State Prison. DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.
Heath was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery with a death weapon and multiple forgery charges in 1990.
According to court records, Heath and his brother, Kenneth Heath, met traveling salesman Michael Sheridan at a Gainesville bar in May 1989. After hanging out at the bar for some time, the three men agreed to go somewhere else to smoke marijuana.
At some point, the brothers plotted to rob the other man, investigators said. Ronald Heath drove the group to a remote area, where Kenneth Heath pulled a handgun on Sheridan. The man initially refused to give the brothers anything, and Kenneth Heath shot Sheridan in the chest.
As Sheridan emptied his pockets, Ronald Heath began kicking the man and stabbing him with a hunting knife, prosecutors said. Kenneth Heath then shot Sheridan twice in the head.
The brothers dumped Sheridan’s body in a wooded area and returned to the Gainesville bar to take items from his rental car. The brothers made multiple purchases with Sheridan’s credit cards the next day at a Gainesville mall.
Ronald Heath was arrested several weeks later at his Douglas, Georgia, home after investigators connected him to the stolen credit cards. Officers recovered clothing purchased with the stolen cards, as well as Sheridan’s watch, according to court records.
Kenneth Heath was also charged with Sheridan’s murder, but he was sentenced to life in prison as part of a plea agreement.
Attorneys for Ronald Heath are expected to file appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis. The state’s final execution of 2025 was the Dec. 18 lethal injection of Frank Athen Walls, who was convicted of fatally shooting a man and his girlfriend during a home invasion robbery.
NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein returns to court Thursday, seeking to get his latest sex crime conviction thrown out because anger and apprehensions flared among jurors during deliberations last spring.
It’s the latest convoluted turn in the former Hollywood honcho’s path through the criminal justice system. His landmark #MeToo-era case has spanned seven years, trials in two states, a reversal in one and a retrial that came to a messy end in New York last year. Weinstein was convicted of forcing oral sex on one woman, acquitted of forcibly performing oral sex on another, and the jury didn’t decide on a rape charge involving a third woman — a charge prosecutors vowed to retry yet again.
Weinstein, 73, denies all the charges. They were one outgrowth of a stack of sexual harassment and sex assault allegations against him that emerged publicly in 2017 and ensuing years, fueling the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. Early on, Weinstein apologized for “the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past,” while also denying that he ever had non-consensual sex.
At trial, Weinstein’s lawyers argued that the women willingly accepted his advances in hopes of getting work in various capacities in show business, then falsely accused him to net settlement funds and attention.
The split verdict last June came after multiple jurors took the unusual step of asking to brief the judge on behind-the-scenes tensions.
In a series of exchanges partly in open court, one juror complained that others were “shunning” one of the panel members; the foreperson alluded to jurors “pushing people” verbally and talking about Weinstein’s “past” in a way the juror thought improper; yet a third juror opined that discussions were “going well.” The foreperson later came forward again to complain to the judge about being pressured to change his mind, then said he feared for his safety because a fellow panelist had said he would “see me outside.” The foreperson eventually refused to continue deliberating.
In court, Judge Curtis Farber cited the secrecy of ongoing deliberations and reminded jurors not to disclose “the content or tenor” of them. Since the trial, Weinstein’s lawyers have talked with the first juror who openly complained and with another who didn’t.
In sworn statements, the two said they didn’t believe Weinstein was guilty, but had given in because of other jurors’ verbal aggression.
One said that after a fellow juror insulted her intelligence and suggested the judge should remove her, she was so afraid that she called two relatives that night and “told them to come look for me if they didn’t hear from me, since something was not right about this jury deliberation process.” All jurors’ identities were redacted in court filings.
Weinstein’s lawyers contend the tensions amounted to threats that poisoned the process, and that the judge didn’t look into them enough before denying the defense’s repeated requests for a mistrial. Weinstein’s attorneys are asking him to discard the conviction or, at least, conduct a hearing about the jury strains.
Prosecutors maintain that the judge was presented with claims about “scattered instances of contentious interactions” and handled them appropriately. Jurors’ later sworn statements are belied, prosecutors say, by other comments from one of the same jury members. He told the media right after the trial that there “was just high tension” in the group.
Prosecutors also said the foreperson’s concerns about discussions of Weinstein’s past were vague and the topic wasn’t entirely off-limits. Testimony covered, for example, 2017 media reports about decades of sexual harassment allegations against him.
The judge is expected to respond Thursday. He could set the conviction aside, order a hearing or let the verdict stand without any further action. Whatever he decides could be appealed.
NEW YORK — A New York City judge on Wednesday ordered a mental health evaluation for a Massachusetts woman charged in the unprovoked stabbing of a tourist changing her baby’s diaper in a bathroom of Macy’s flagship store in midtown Manhattan around the holidays.
Kerri Aherne, 43, of Tewksbury, will be examined by mental health professionals to determine whether she’s fit to stand trial, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
She pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, assault, endangering the welfare of a child and other charges during her arraignment Wednesday in Manhattan court.
Aherne’s lawyer Kevin Sylvan didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment but told the Daily News that his client’s mental state is “the only relevant issue right now.”
The newspaper reports that Aherne had been released from a New York psychiatric hospital the morning of the attack and had previously been a patient at a mental health facility in Massachusetts.
Prosecutors say that on Dec. 11, Aherne purchased a knife at the Macy’s store in Herald Square, went up to a seventh-floor bathroom and began stabbing a woman who was changing her child’s diaper.
The victim, a California resident, eventually managed to grab the knife and toss it away. Aherne was restrained by the victim’s partner and store security until police arrived.
The victim was stabbed in the back, arm and hand. Her 10-month-old baby, who fell from the changing table onto the floor during the attack, was not injured.
Macy’s issued a statement at the time saying it was “deeply saddened” by the attack.
“The thousands of families that visit Manhattan during the holiday season deserve to be safe while shopping and celebrating with their loved ones,” Bragg added in a statement Wednesday.
Ahern remains in custody. Her next court date is Feb. 11.
His scheduled appearance in a Los Angeles Superior Court comes 3 1/2 weeks after the beloved actor-director and his wife of 36 years were found dead with stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood section of Los Angeles, authorities said.
Nick Reiner, 32, the youngest of Rob Reiner’s four children, was arrested hours later, and has been held without bail since. He was charged two days later with two counts of first-degree murder. He did not enter a plea during a brief first court appearance Dec. 17, when he wore shackles and a suicide prevention smock.
His attorney, Alan Jackson, has given no indication of the plans for his defense. Nearly all defendants in criminal cases plead not guilty at this stage. Jackson could also ask for another delay before a plea is entered.
If Nick Reiner pleads not guilty, the case would normally head toward a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for him to stand trial. His mental competence for trial could also be a factor.
A decade ago, Nick Reiner publicly discussed his severe struggles with addiction and mental health after making a movie with his father, “Being Charlie,” that was very loosely based on their lives.
Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70, were killed early on the morning of Dec. 14, and they were found in the late afternoon, authorities said. The LA County Medical Examiner said in initial findings that they died from “multiple sharp force injuries,” but released no other details, and police have said nothing about possible motives.
Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. After the initial Reiner hearing, Jackson called the case “a devastating tragedy.” He said the proceedings will be very complex and asked that the circumstances be met “not with a rush to judgment.”
The counts against Reiner come with special circumstances of multiple murders and an allegation that he used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.
Prosecutors have said they have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.
The prosecution is being led by Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.
Rob Reiner was a prolific director whose work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and ’90s. His credits included “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “A Few Good Men,” and “When Harry Met Sally,” during whose production he met Michele Singer, a photographer, and married her soon after.
WASHINGTON — Five years ago outside the White House, outgoing President Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters to head to the Capitol — “and I’ll be there with you” — in protest as Congress was affirming the 2020 election victory for Democrat Joe Biden.
A short time later, the world watched as the seat of U.S. power descended into chaos, and democracy hung in the balance.
This page requires Javascript.
Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An individual accused of vandalizing the Ohio home of Vice President JD Vance in the dark of night and causing other property damage was behind bars Tuesday, awaiting action in separate state and federal cases.
William D. DeFoor, 26, appeared in two different courtrooms after being detained early Monday by Secret Service agents assigned to Vance’s Cincinnati home in the upscale East Walnut Hills neighborhood east of downtown. The vice president and his family were not home.
According to an affidavit filed in federal court, the Secret Service saw someone run along the front fence of Vance’s residence and breach the property line around midnight. The person later identified as DeFoor was armed with a hammer and tried to break out the window of an unmarked Secret Service vehicle on the way up the driveway before moving toward the front of the home and breaking its glass windows, the affidavit says.
Fourteen historic window panes were broken and damage was done to security enhancements around the windows valued at $28,000, according to the filing.
A judge set bonds totaling $11,000 on state charges of vandalism, criminal trespass, criminal damaging and obstruction of official business that were brought in Hamilton County court. There, DeFoor was previously deemed incompetent to face trial on a 2023 criminal trespassing charge and referred for treatment after a 2024 vandalism charge. A grand jury hearing was scheduled for Jan. 15.
A hearing in the federal case to determine whether DeFoor can be released on bond from the Hamilton County jail was set for Friday in federal District Court in Cincinnati.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Ohio’s southern district brought charges of damaging government property, engaging in physical violence against property in a restricted area and assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers.
The first two charges are each punishable by up to 10 years in prison, while assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
Messages left with possible relatives and with DeFoor’s attorney were not immediately returned.
Vance expressed gratitude in a post Monday on the social platform X to the public for all the well wishes and to the Secret Service and Cincinnati police for their quick response to the incident.
“As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows,” he wrote.
According to his office, Vance and his family were home in Cincinnati over the weekend. Court filings indicate that they left to return to Washington around 3 p.m. Sunday.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.