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  • The New York hush-money probe of Donald Trump explained

    The New York hush-money probe of Donald Trump explained

    NEW YORK — In the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump’s lawyer tried to buy the silence of a porn actress who said she had a sexual encounter with the Republican during his days as a reality TV star.

    More than six years later, New York prosecutors appear to be close to deciding whether Trump should face charges in connection with that payoff, in what could become the first criminal case ever brought against a former president.

    Thursday’s news that the Manhattan district attorney invited Trump to testify before a grand jury next week suggested prosecutors were serious about bringing charges in a probe that looked like yesterday’s news just a few months ago.

    Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, now a key prosecution witness, is scheduled to testify before the grand jury on Monday, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people were not authorized to speak publicly about grand jury proceedings and did so on condition of anonymity.

    Trump has denied wrongdoing and that he had any extramarital affairs, and he blasted the probe in a Truth Social post as a “political Witch-Hunt, trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party”

    Here’s a refresher on how things got to this point:

    WHAT IS THIS CASE ABOUT?

    The investigation centers on hush-money payments made in 2016 to two women who alleged that they had extramarital encounters with Trump, who has denied their accounts of his infidelity.

    Specifically, District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team appears to be looking at whether Trump or anyone committed crimes in arranging the payments, or in the way they accounted for them internally at the Trump Organization.

    HOW WERE THE PAYMENTS MADE?

    Cohen paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 through a shell company Cohen set up. He was then reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.

    Earlier in 2016, Cohen also arranged for former Playboy model Karen McDougal to be paid $150,000 by the publisher of the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer, which squelched her story in a journalistically dubious practice known as “catch-and-kill.”

    Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, “grossed up” Cohen’s reimbursement for the Daniels payment for “tax purposes,” according to federal prosecutors who filed criminal charges against the lawyer in connection with the payments in 2018.

    Cohen got $360,000 plus a $60,000 bonus, for a total of $420,000.

    Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. Federal prosecutors say the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself.

    WHAT IS TRUMP’S INVOLVEMENT?

    Cohen says Trump directed him to arrange the Daniels payment.

    Cohen also made recordings of a conversation in which he and Trump spoke about the arrangement to pay McDougal through the National Enquirer.

    At one point in the recording, Cohen told Trump, “I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend, David,” a reference to David Pecker, who ran the Enquirer’s parent company at the time.

    Cohen said he had already spoken with the Trump Organization’s longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, on “how to set the whole thing up.”

    Trump then said: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?”

    Today, Trump characterizes the attempts to get him to pay money to the women to keep them quiet as “extortion.”

    WHAT CRIMES ARE PROSECUTORS LOOKING AT?

    Legal experts say a case could be made that Trump falsified business records by logging Cohen’s reimbursement for the Daniels payment as legal fees. But that’s only a misdemeanor under New York law — unless prosecutors could prove he falsified records to conceal another crime.

    Mark Pomerantz, who led the investigation under then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., wrote in his recent book “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account” that in 2021, he looked into whether Trump could be charged with money laundering or if Trump had been somehow extorted.

    David Shapiro, a fraud risk and financial crimes specialist and former FBI special agent, said a potential case against Trump could be “especially difficult” when it comes to proving his intent and knowledge of wrongdoing.

    “He’s loud, he’s brash, so proving that he had specific intent to fraud, one is almost left with the idea that, ‘well, if he has that specific intent of fraud, he has it all of the time, because that’s his personality,’” said Shapiro, a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

    The Manhattan district attorney’s office has declined to comment on the investigation.

    HAVEN’T WE BEEN HERE BEFORE?

    Yes. Several times.

    Federal prosecutors entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the National Enquirer’s owner, which admitted paying McDougal to help Trump, but they declined to seek a criminal charge against the then-sitting president.

    The Manhattan district attorney’s office opened its own investigation into the payments in 2019 and has revisited it several times since while expanding the probe into Trump’s business dealings and other topics.

    So far, the only charges have been against Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty, and the Trump Organization, which was convicted in December of an unrelated offense: scheming to dodge taxes on company-paid perks such as free apartments and cars for executives.

    WHAT ABOUT THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS?

    The hush-money payments and Cohen’s reimbursements happened more than six years ago. New York’s statute of limitations for most felonies is five years. For misdemeanors, it’s just two years.

    Does that mean prosecutors have run out of time? Trump thinks so. In social media posts, he insists that the statute of limitations “long ago expired,” calling the matter “old news.”

    But that’s not always how the law works. In New York, the clock can stop on the statute of limitations when a potential defendant is continuously outside the state. Trump visited New York rarely over the four years of his presidency and now lives mostly in Florida and New Jersey.

    Practically speaking, though, the passage of time could affect the case in other ways. Memories fade, and evidence and records get lost or destroyed.

    “The power of the case — the surprise factor, the shock value,” also fades, Shapiro said, meaning a jury might be less impressed by allegations that have been public for so long.

    WHO ARE PROSECUTORS SPEAKING WITH?

    Members of Trump’s inner circle, including his former political adviser Kellyanne Conway and former spokesperson Hope Hicks, have met with prosecutors in recent weeks. Cohen, now estranged from Trump, has made several visits to prepare for his expected grand jury testimony.

    Among others: Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher, was spotted going into the building where the grand jury is meeting, as well as Trump Organization insiders including the company’s senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney.

    Prosecutors are still interested in Weisselberg’s insider knowledge about the hush-money arrangements. The 75-year-old ex-CFO is due to be released from a five-month jail sentence on April 19. There’s no indication that he’s keen to cooperate against his former boss.

    Trump himself is probably highly unlikely to testify before the grand jury or meet with prosecutors.

    WHAT OTHER LEGAL TROUBLE IS TRUMP FACING?

    The hush-money case is one of several potential criminal cases the Republican faces as he mounts a comeback run for the White House in 2024, along with an investigation into election interference in Georgia, the probe of storage of classified documents at his Florida home, and other matters.

    __

    Associated Press reporter Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

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    Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/.

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  • Today in History: MARCH 4, Franklin Roosevelt takes office

    Today in History: MARCH 4, Franklin Roosevelt takes office

    Today in History

    Today is Saturday, March 4, the 63rd day of 2023. There are 302 days left in the year.

    Today’s highlight in history:

    On March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as America’s 32nd president.

    On this date:

    In 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York. (The lawmakers then adjourned for lack of a quorum.)

    In 1863, the Idaho Territory was created.

    In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for a second term of office; with the end of the Civil War in sight, Lincoln declared: “With malice toward none, with charity for all.”

    In 1917, Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana took her seat as the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, the same day President Woodrow Wilson took his oath of office for a second term (it being a Sunday, a private ceremony was held inside the U.S. Capitol; a second, public swearing-in took place the next day).

    In 1966, John Lennon of The Beatles was quoted in the London Evening Standard as saying, “We’re more popular than Jesus now,” a comment that caused an angry backlash in the United States.

    In 1981, a jury in Salt Lake City convicted Joseph Paul Franklin, an avowed racist and serial killer, of violating the civil rights of two Black men, Ted Fields and David Martin, who’d been shot to death. (Franklin received two life sentences for this crime; he was executed in 2013 for the 1977 murder of a Jewish man, Gerald Gordon.)

    In 1987, President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation on the Iran-Contra affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had “deteriorated” into an arms-for-hostages deal.

    In 1994, in New York, four extremists were convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people and injured more than a thousand. Actor-comedian John Candy died in Durango, Mexico, at age 43.

    In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sexual harassment at work can be illegal even when the offender and victim are of the same gender.

    In 2015, the Justice Department cleared Darren Wilson, a white former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a Black 18-year-old, but also issued a scathing report calling for sweeping changes in city law enforcement practices.

    In 2018, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench in the southwestern English city of Salisbury; both survived what British authorities said was a murder attempt using a nerve agent.

    In 2020, federal health officials investigated a suburban Seattle nursing home at the center of a coronavirus outbreak.

    Ten years ago: Cardinals from around the world gathered inside the Vatican for their first round of meetings before the conclave to elect the next pope, following the retirement of Benedict XVI. Kenya’s presidential election drew millions of eager voters, but the balloting was marred by deadly violence. (Uhuru Kenyatta beat seven other presidential candidates with 50.07 percent of the vote.) Five-time Grand Slam singles champion Martina Hingis headed the 2013 class for the International Tennis Hall of Fame; also named were Cliff Drysdale, Charlie Pasarell, and Ion Tiriac.

    Five years ago: “The Shape of Water” won four Oscars including best picture; the top prize was announced by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway a year after they were caught up in the erroneous announcement that “La La Land” and not “Moonlight” had won for best picture. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would “never” extradite any of the 13 Russians who’d been indicted by the United States for election-meddling.

    One year ago: Russian troops seized the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe after a middle-of-the-night attack that set it on fire and briefly raised worldwide fears of a catastrophe in the most chilling turn in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine to that point. A jury cleared an Amtrak engineer of all charges stemming from a derailment that left eight people dead and hundreds injured in Philadelphia in 2015.

    Today’s birthdays: Actor Paula Prentiss is 85. Movie director Adrian Lyne is 82. Singer Shakin’ Stevens is 75. Author James Ellroy is 75. Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry is 73. Singer Chris Rea is 72. Actor/rock singer-musician Ronn Moss is 71. Actor Kay Lenz is 70. Musician Emilio Estefan is 70. Movie director Scott Hicks is 70. Actor Catherine O’Hara is 69. Actor Mykelti (MY’-kul-tee) Williamson is 66. Actor Patricia Heaton is 65. Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., is 65. Actor Steven Weber is 62. Rock musician Jason Newsted is 60. Actor Stacy Edwards is 58. Rapper Grand Puba is 57. Rock singer Evan Dando (Lemonheads) is 56. Actor Patsy Kensit is 55. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., is 55. Gay rights activist Chaz Bono is 54. Actor Andrea Bendewald is 53. Actor Nick Stabile (stah-BEEL’) is 53. Country singer Jason Sellers is 52. Jazz musician Jason Marsalis is 46. Actor Jessica Heap is 40. Actor Scott Michael Foster is 38. TV personality Whitney Port is 38. Actor Audrey Esparza is 37. Actor Margo Harshman is 37. Actor Josh Bowman is 35. Actor Andrea Bowen is 33. Actor Jenna Boyd is 30.

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  • Warrant: Bomb materials at home of alleged July 4th gunman

    Warrant: Bomb materials at home of alleged July 4th gunman

    A unsealed federal warrant says agents found bomb-making materials at the apartment of an alleged gunman charged with fatally shooting seven people at a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago last year

    CHICAGO — A federal warrant unsealed Thursday says agents found bomb-making materials at the apartment of the alleged gunman charged with fatally shooting seven people at a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago last year, a newspaper reported.

    Among the items found in the Highland Park home of Robert Crimo III days after the attack were commercial components used for explosions and a timer, according to the Chicago Tribune report.

    An affidavit attached to the warrant cited Crimo, 22, as telling FBI agents he mulled the possibility of deploying explosives in the attack on the annual holiday parade in Highland Park, just north of Chicago.

    “It could have been planted if it worked, in theory it could have been planted . . . somewhere where it could cause harm,” Crimo was quoted as saying. “If it worked, I might have planted it early, or I might have just sat down, left the bag there, and walked away.”

    The affidavit said that Crimo also told agents the explosives would have been “too heavy to carry to the parade, but he considered using them if the opportunity arose.”

    A grand jury indicted Crimo in July on 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, representing the seven people killed and dozens wounded in the attack at the holiday parade in Highland Park. He has pleaded not guilty.

    The warrant was filed in U.S. District Court shortly after the shooting, though no federal charges have been filed in the case, the Tribune reported.

    Last month, Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., 58, entered a not guilty plea to charges that he helped his then-19-year-old son obtain a gun license three years before the attack. A grand jury indicted him on seven counts of reckless conduct. Each count carries a maximum 3-year prison term.

    The father is free on bail. His son was ordered held in jail pending trial.

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  • Defense says zeal to convict Murdaugh derailed investigation

    Defense says zeal to convict Murdaugh derailed investigation

    WALTERBORO, S.C. — A defense lawyer for Alex Murduaugh said Thursday that state agents were so determined to get the disgraced South Carolina attorney convicted of murder in the killings of his wife and son that they lied about or misrepresented evidence.

    Attorney Jim Griffin gave the defense’s closing, emphasizing Murdaugh’s main point — that investigators focused solely on him and conducted the investigation so poorly that any evidence pointing to someone else, like fingerprints or possible DNA on Maggie or Paul Murdaugh’s clothing, was never gathered.

    “How could he have butchered Maggie and Paul without leaving a trace of evidence within a matter of minutes?” Griffin said.

    Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted. Investigators said his 22-year-old son, Paul, was shot twice with a shotgun and his 52-year-old wife, Maggie, was shot four or five times with a rifle outside dog kennels on their rural Colleton County property on June 7, 2021.

    Prosecutors think Murdaugh had no more than about 17 minutes from the time his wife and son stopped using their cellphones to when he left the property to visit his ailing mother.

    Experts from both sides agreed there had to be a massive amount of blood, tissue and other material from the killings, but the prosecution did not present any evidence of blood spatter on clothes. The weapons in the case also have never been found.

    “He had 17 minutes. He would have to be a magician to make all that evidence disappear,” Griffin said.

    No one tried to look for DNA on the clothes of the victims, which a killer could have left. No one tried to see if fingerprints or shoe prints could be lifted from the blood around Paul Murdaugh and matched to a possible killer, Griffin said.

    Prosecutors think Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son because he feared his years of stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and clients would be exposed and his lofty standing in the community toppled. They said he hoped their deaths would make him a sympathetic figure and draw attention away from the missing money.

    A key piece of evidence for prosecutors is a video that includes the voices of Murdaugh, his wife and son at the kennels just minutes before investigators said they were killed. The video wasn’t discovered for a year because agents couldn’t initially hack into his son’s iPhone

    For 20 months, Alex Mudaugh told everyone that he wasn’t at the kennels but while testifying in his own defense, he finally admitted he was there.

    “He lied because that’s what addicts do. He lied because he has a closet full of skeletons,” Griffin said.

    Prosecutors said all Murdaugh did was lie — to the people he was stealing from, to police about a key fact in their investigation, to his family about his drug use and even about the order in which he checked his wife and son for signs of life, switching who he checked first in different police interviews.

    Griffin said that showed how badly the state wants to convict Murdaugh at all costs, referring to prosecutors’ closing argument where they said the evidence showed Maggie Murdaugh died while running to see her son.

    “Alex was running to his baby. Can you imagine what he saw?” Griffin said. “And is it evidence of guilt that he doesn’t remember what the sequencing was at that moment?”

    Griffin said his time as a prosecutor left him pained to say the State Law Enforcement Division either fabricated or lied about evidence, but his said testimony made it obvious.

    The lead agent on the case said on the stand that he told the grand jury that indicted Murdaugh 13 months after the deaths that the T-shirt Murdaugh was wearing when police arrived had high velocity blood spatter from his son that happens when someone is shot at close range.

    But other agents in the case had already reported further testing on the shirt showed no blood on it and the shirt was never mentioned by prosecutors at the trial.

    The two shotgun blasts that killed Paul Murdaugh had different size pellets. Owen incorrectly told the grand jury other shotguns in the house were loaded in a similar fashion.

    “There’s two shooters out there,” Griffin said.

    And there was the matter of the blue rain jacket that state agents said was covered in gunshot residue when it was found at Murdaugh’s mother’s house. Investigators theorized Murdaugh wrapped guns in it to hide on his parents’ property, but Murdaugh’s family didn’t recognize it and it wasn’t his size.

    Griffin ended his closing argument with a plea to the jury.

    “On behalf of Alex, on behalf of Buster, on behalf of Maggie and on behalf of my friend Paul, I respectfully ask you do not compound a family tragedy with another,” Griffin said, his voice breaking.

    Earlier Thursday, Judge Clifton Newman removed a juror because she discussed the case with other people. Five jurors have had to be replaced during the six-week trial, leaving the jury with just one alternate with deliberations looming.

    Newman’s exchange with the juror Thursday was pleasant. He asked her if she needed the bailiff to get any of her things from the jury room. She said she had her purse and a dozen eggs that a fellow juror brought for each juror from his farm.

    ___

    Find more AP coverage of the case: https://apnews.com/hub/alex-murdaugh

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  • Trump cowboy found not guilty of campaign finance charge

    Trump cowboy found not guilty of campaign finance charge

    SANTA FE, N.M. — Cowboys for Trump cofounder Couy Griffin was found not guilty Wednesday of a misdemeanor charge of failing to register a political committee at a trial in southern New Mexico.

    The verdict from a 12-member jury capped a two-day trial in Alamogordo, the community where Griffin served as an Otero County commissioner until he was banished from office last year for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

    The dismissed charge against Griffin carried a potential punishment of up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

    Jurors deliberated for more than nine hours before delivering the verdict. The decision interrupts a string of adverse legal decisions for Griffin, who remains barred from elected office under a judge’s decision upheld by the New Mexico Supreme Court in February.

    Griffin said in a text message that he felt “blessed to be judged by jury of his peers” in his home community and has “never felt as vindicated.”

    In 2019, Griffin forged a group of rodeo acquaintances into the promotional group called Cowboys for Trump, which staged horseback parades to spread President Donald Trump’s conservative message about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions.

    Griffin invoked free speech protections in declining to register and disclose donors to Cowboys for Trump, while expressing concern that financial contributors might be harassed.

    In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors argued that Griffin used Cowboys for Trump to explicitly link political advocacy to appeals for online donations, while flouting registration and financial disclosure requirements for political committees that are designed to ensure transparency and fairness in elections.

    They said Griffin was a politician in his own right who clearly advocated for Trump while the president was a candidate for reelection, and that Griffin also promoted political positions on border enforcement, gun rights, abortion and more.

    But the jury wasn’t persuaded. Defense attorney Jonathan Miller portrayed Griffin as “just a guy who rides a horse” and tried to do the right thing by registering Cowboys for Trump as a for-profit corporation and notifying donors that they cannot deduct donations from taxes.

    Miller, a public defender, said Griffin’s intention was to speak boldly and openly about common sense convictions and national pride — without yielding to government control through the regulation of nonprofit groups.

    “He shouldn’t be punished for showing his pride in his country,” Miller said.

    Griffin’s attorney also accused state campaign finance regulators of bias and singling out Cowboys for Trump for enforcement.

    Since early 2020, Griffin has resisted pressure to register the group as a political committee, including filing an unsuccessful petition with the 10th District Court of Appeals.

    The secretary of state’s office initially prevailed in a June 2020 arbitration decision that ordered Cowboys for Trump to register as a political committee, file expenditure and contribution reports and pay a fine of $7,800. Griffin never complied with the agreement.

    Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, without going inside the building. Last year, he became the first elected official to be banished from elected office in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol building, which disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

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  • Defense at Murdaugh trial says 2 shooters; jury to see scene

    Defense at Murdaugh trial says 2 shooters; jury to see scene

    A defense expert in the double murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh testified Monday that he thinks two different shooters killed Murdaugh’s wife and son.

    While the idea has hovered over the trial because two different weapons were used and no evidence has been presented suggesting either victim tried to defend themselves, crime scene expert Tim Palmbach was the first witness to suggest the two-killer theory in testimony.

    Investigators have said 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh was shot four or five times with a rifle, while 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh was killed by two shotgun blasts near kennels on the family’s sprawling Colleton County property on June 7, 2021.

    Also on Monday, the judge agreed to a defense request to let the jury visit the family property and see the crime scene for themselves before they deliberate Alex Murdaugh’s fate. The date for that trip has not been set.

    Murdaugh, 54, is charged with murder in the deaths of his wife and son. He faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted. Before the jury visit issue came up, both sides suggested that closing statements and deliberations could begin this week.

    Palmbach testified Monday that the likelihood of two shooters was mostly common sense. All evidence so far has indicted the two people killed were shot close to the same time. They stopped using their cellphones within seconds of each other. Both victims appeared to be surprised, with their hands down and no evidence either of them tried to come to the other’s aid or was running away.

    The second, fatal shotgun blast to Paul Murdaugh’s head was at close range, meaning blood, skull fragments, other matter and possibly pellets would have been launched back at the shooter, Palmbach said.

    That shooter ”minimally was stunned — probably blood and material in his eyes and maybe have been injured and would have taken some degree of time to recover,” Palmbach said.

    Also, carrying two long guns would have been cumbersome and awkward given that the rifle used to kill Maggie Murdaugh could have had a clip that carried 20 to 30 bullets. “You can’t handle and shoot both of them,” he said.

    An important part of Alex Murdaugh’s defense is to show that investigators failed to thoroughly collect crime scene evidence and to sow doubt about expert testimony for the prosecution stating that authorities did everything possible to find the killer.

    The defense also used Monday’s testimony to point out that neither weapon used in the shootings has been found, that state agents at the scene didn’t look for footprints or fingerprints and that no evidence of blood, brain matter or other material from the killings were found on Murdaugh or his clothes.

    The shooter “would have been literally covered in all that material,” Palmbach said.

    There were only 16 minutes between the time the victims stopped using their cellphones and when Alex Murdaugh left his house about 1,100 feet (335 meters) from the crime scene to visit his ailing mother. He called 911 when he found the bodies shortly after returning home.

    In cross-examination, prosecutors focused on Palmbach’s analysis that the fatal shotgun blast was fired from above Paul Murdaugh’s head, even though hair, blood and other material was found on the ceiling above in a storage closet the family called the feed room.

    Palmbach said the force of gases from the shotgun blast was like a bomb inside the enclosed skull, sending particles out of the same hole the shot created.

    Alex Murdaugh cried several times during the graphic testimony. Monitors the courtroom audience can use to see evidence were covered as they have been whenever crime scene and autopsy photos are shown.

    After five weeks inside the Colleton County courthouse, jurors will soon visit the crime scene. Judge Clifton Newman agreed with a defense request to let them go to the Murdaugh’s home, called Moselle.

    Defense attorney Dick Harpootlian said Monday that it’s important for the jury to see “how small the feed room is ” and “where the feed room is compared to Maggie’s body.”

    “You just cant really appreciate the spatial issues without really seeing them,” he said.

    Prosecutors told the judge that they didn’t want the jury to visit because it has been 20 months since the killings and it looks different.

    Prosecutor Creighton Waters said trees planted between the Murdaugh home and the kennels shortly before the killings have grown taller and thicker.

    “If anything, that would require additional testimony because the scene is different,” Waters said on the trial’s 25th day.

    Newman said he usually allows a visit if either side requests it. Only the jury, the judge, lawyers, and police and security personnel can be there.

    The judge agreed with Harpootlian’s request for Colleton County deputies to provide additional security on the property, which is currently under contract with a buyer for $3.9 million.

    The defense lawyer said over the weekend that several trespassers were found taking selfies outside the feed room where Paul Murdaugh died.

    “It’s the most distasteful thing we’ve ever seen,” Harpootlian said.

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  • Emotional outburst disrupts death penalty trial in NY attack

    Emotional outburst disrupts death penalty trial in NY attack

    NEW YORK — Emotions ran high Thursday in death penalty proceedings for a man convicted of killing eight people on a New York City bike path, as the man’s father professed both shame and love for his son and the defendant’s uncle shouted “dirty ISIS bastards!” and punched a door as he left the room.

    Habibulloh Saipov’s testimony in Manhattan federal court and the subsequent outburst came in front of a jury that must decide whether Sayfullo Saipov gets death or life in prison for the Halloween day attack in 2017, when he drove a truck along the busy path near the World Trade Center memorial, mowing down pedestrians and cyclists.

    “I’m sorry that this has occurred,” Judge Vernon S. Broderick said after the jury left the room. He expressed concern at the effect the dramatic turn might have on jurors and warned defense lawyers to ensure there was no repeat of such behavior. Testimony did not resume for two hours.

    “That we’re disappointed at that is an understatement,” lawyer David Patton told the judge. Broderick later banned the uncle from the courthouse.

    The death penalty phase began after the same jury last month convicted Sayfullo Saipov, 35, who throughout the trial has slumped in his chair and appeared unrepentant and unemotional.

    But he perked up as his father, whom he only recently saw for the first time in 13 years, took the stand to decry the terror attack, saying it has left the family ashamed.

    When asked by defense attorney David Stern how he reacted to his son’s attack, Habibulloh Saipov said: “My soul was destroyed.”

    “He committed a terrible tragedy. He caused death for eight people and injuries for many more and he ruined their lives,” Saipov said.

    “How do you feel about what he did?” Stern asked.

    “I feel very bad about this. And I would like to apologize in front of everyone, all victims,” he continued.

    Habibulloh Saipov testified that he once told his son after working in the United States for five years that “people there are sincere and they are always smiling to each other.”

    When the son came to the country in 2010 and began working as a truck driver, the father said they frequently had hourslong conversations to keep him awake on long hauls.

    Habibulloh Saipov cried as he recounted learning that his son had carried out the attack and seeing his wife collapse and faint after seeing images of the aftermath on her phone. He said he was then subjected to 15 days of interrogation by law enforcement.

    At one point, Sayfullo Saipov pulled his coronavirus mask away from his face to wipe around his eyes as his father cried.

    The father also told of phone calls in which Sayfullo Saipov bragged that he should feel lucky to have a son who had done something heroic.

    “Do you feel lucky to have a son who did what he did?” Stern asked.

    “No, not at all,” the father answered.

    Habibulloh Saipov acknowledged that he’ll likely never see his son again after he returns to his country, Uzbekistan, on Friday.

    Asked if he still loves him, he said, “With all my heart.”

    He added that he hopes his son is spared the death penalty so he’ll realize the truth about his crimes.

    The outburst from the uncle and another shout from an unidentified woman left a family member of one victim sobbing as the judge summoned a nurse. He also directed that Sayfullo Saipov be checked.

    The words “dirty ISIS bastards” were relayed by an interpreter at the judge’s request. The interpreter said whatever else was said by anyone was unintelligible.

    Sayfullo Saipov told investigators following his arrest that he carried out the killings after the Islamic State group called for terror attacks.

    Testimony resumed after a long break, and the judge instructed jurors that the uncle’s outburst was not directed at the court, jury, prosecutors, defense or trial process.

    Hamidulloh Saipov, another uncle, testified that he too still loves his nephew, though he believes he did “something wrong, something unbelievable.”

    “He broke everybody’s hearts. He broke our heart,” the uncle said. “Everybody was shocked. Everybody was sick.”

    He said Sayfullo Saipov had changed due to being “influenced by bad people” and added that he hopes his nephew “will get back to himself.”

    Sayfullo Saipov’s sister, a year younger than him, finished the day’s testimony with a tearful description of the damage her brother’s actions have done to their parent’s health.

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  • Grand jury indicts father of July 4 parade shooting suspect

    Grand jury indicts father of July 4 parade shooting suspect

    CHICAGO — An Illinois grand jury on Wednesday formally indicted the father of a man charged with fatally shooting seven people at a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago, the Lake County State’s Attorney Office said.

    The indictment charges Robert Crimo Jr., 58, with seven counts of reckless conduct. Prosecutors have said he helped his son, Robert Crimo III, obtain a gun license years before the shooting in Highland Park, even though the then-19-year-old had threatened violence.

    Sara Avalos, a spokesperson for the prosecutors office, confirmed the grand jury indictment and said the father will be arraigned Thursday.

    Robert Crimo Jr. was arrested in December, also on seven felony counts of reckless conduct, one for each person killed. Each count carries a maximum 3-year prison term. The longtime resident and well-known figure in Highland Park was released after his arrest on a $50,000 bond.

    At a brief hearing last month, prosecutors had told Judge George Strickland at a Lake County Courthouse in Waukegan, north of Highland Park, they needed more time to present evidence to the grand jury.

    In a brief statement released by his office later Wednesday, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said the grand jury agreed the case against the father should move forward.

    “Parents who help their kids get weapons of war are morally and legally responsible when those kids hurt others with those weapons,” Rinehart said.

    George M. Gomez, the father’s Chicago-area attorney, didn’t immediately respond to a request for a comment Wednesday. But he earlier called the accusations against his client “baseless and unprecedented.”

    Rinehart has previously said the accusations against the father are based on his sponsorship of his son’s application for a gun license in December 2019. Authorities say Robert Crimo III attempted suicide by machete in April 2019 and in September 2019 was accused by a family member of making threats to “kill everyone.”

    “Parents and guardians are in the best position to decide whether their teenagers should have a weapon,” Rinehart said after the father’s arrest. “In this case, the system failed when Robert Crimo Jr. sponsored his son. He knew what he knew and he signed the form anyway.”

    Authorities say Illinois State Police reviewed the son’s gun license application and found no reason to deny it because he had no arrests, no criminal record, no serious mental health problems, no orders of protection and no other behavior that would disqualify him.

    Legal experts have said it’s rare for an accused shooter’s parent or guardian to face charges — in part because it’s difficult to prove such charges.

    In one notable exception, a Michigan prosecutor in 2021 filed involuntary manslaughter charges against the parents of a teen accused of fatally shooting four students at his high school. A trial date was delayed while the state appeals court considers an appeal.

    A grand jury indicted Robert Crimo III in July on 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, representing the seven people killed and dozens wounded in the attack at the holiday parade in Highland Park.

    Robert Crimo Jr. has shown up at several of his son’s pretrial hearings, nodding in greeting when his son entered the courtroom shackled and flanked by guards. The father is a familiar face around Highland Park, where he was once a mayoral candidate and operated convenience stores.

    ___

    Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at @mtarm.

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  • Revived Trump probe puts Manhattan DA back in spotlight

    Revived Trump probe puts Manhattan DA back in spotlight

    NEW YORK — When Alvin Bragg became Manhattan’s first Black district attorney last year, one of his first big decisions was to tap the breaks on an investigation that had been speeding toward a likely criminal case against former President Donald Trump.

    The move won him few friends. Exasperated liberals dreaming of Trump in handcuffs threw up their hands. Conservatives gloated that the Democrat’s hesitation to bring a charge was proof Trump had been investigated for political reasons.

    A year later, Bragg is shaking up that first impression.

    Fresh from winning a conviction against Trump’s family company for tax fraud, Bragg convened a new grand jury last week in a reinvigorated investigation that could lead to the first ever criminal charges against a former U.S. president.

    The probe, lately focused on hush money payments made to two women in 2016, is one of several legal challenges Trump faces as he seeks a return to the White House. It is putting Bragg back in the spotlight after a grueling first year in office.

    “We’re going to follow the facts and continue to do our job,” Bragg said, speaking broadly about the investigation in a recent interview with the Associated Press.

    Asked if charging Trump was a real possibility, or if the former president could rest easy, Bragg replied: “I’m not going to tell anyone how to rest.”

    Bragg came into office 13 months ago amid what he calls a “perfect storm” of rising crime and political pressure. A Harvard-educated former federal prosecutor, chief deputy state attorney general and civil rights lawyer, he came equipped with legal and management credentials, but not much experience navigating New York City politics.

    He campaigned as a progressive reformer, but one with a strong record as a prosecutor, and won an eight-way party primary before soaring to victory with 83% of the vote in deep blue Manhattan.

    Yet he got off to a rocky start. Shortly after taking office, he wrote a “Day One” memo for his staff that outlined his philosophy on prosecuting — or not prosecuting — certain crimes. Among other things, it said the district attorney would no longer prosecute some low-level misdemeanor crimes, including subway fare evasion and marijuana possession.

    Republicans, and some centrist Democrats, pounced.

    Bragg, they said, was soft on crime. New York’s police commissioner said Bragg’s intention not to prosecute some people accused of resisting arrest would invite violence against police officers.

    U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican running for governor, campaigned partly on a promise to remove the independently elected Bragg from office. He also featured Bragg in a campaign ad, even though Bragg wasn’t even on the ballot.

    The vitriol became so rancid — and sometimes racist — Bragg said his friends worried for his safety.

    But Bragg, an old-school lawyer, was hesitant to push back publicly, something he now regrets.

    “I’ve learned that the work doesn’t always speak for itself,” said Bragg, who’s been appearing more on TV and giving interviews to outlets as varied as Teen Vogue and Manhattan’s West Side Rag.

    He likened Zeldin’s TV attack ad to an infamous “Willie Horton” commercial that aired in the 1980s in support of George H.W. Bush’s presidential campaign. That ad featured a Black prison inmate who committed violent crimes while on a weekend leave as part of a program authorized by Bush’s Democratic rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.

    “If someone wants to have substantive discussion, we can have that,” Bragg told the AP. “But if someone wants to put a Black face in an ad and have Willie Horton-type fears raised, we don’t have time for that.”

    While some types of crime increased in Manhattan during Bragg’s first year in office, the number of murders and shootings actually dropped.

    Inside the district attorney’s office, Bragg faced dissent over the direction of the Trump investigation — grievances that are being aired anew in a book by a former prosecutor.

    In 2021, Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., had authorized top deputies to seek an indictment on charges that Trump had exaggerated the worth of his assets in financial statements he gave to lenders. A grand jury had been collecting evidence. Vance retired before the case was finished, leaving the decision about whether to go forward to Bragg.

    Bragg decided not to proceed immediately, citing concerns about the strength of the case.

    The delay prompted two prosecutors leading the investigation to resign.

    One of them, Mark Pomerantz, has written about his disagreement with Bragg in a new book, “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account.” In it, Pomerantz outlines his case for charging Trump and laments Bragg’s decision not to pursue an indictment.

    Bragg countered in a statement that, in his assessment, “Pomerantz’s plane wasn’t ready for takeoff.”

    Bragg also took issue with Pomerantz’s criticism of his prosecution team. “It is appalling that he insulted the skill and professionalism of our prosecutors,” he said at an event this week. “We have the most outstanding lawyers in the country working every day in the Manhattan DA’s office to keep our city safe from the streets to the suites.”

    Lately, those lawyers have again been turning up the heat on Trump.

    On Dec. 6 they won a conviction against the Trump Organization for helping the company’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, and other executives avoid paying personal income taxes. The company got a $1.6 million fine. Weisselberg pleaded guilty and got jail time. He qualifies for release in April.

    And a new grand jury is hearing evidence related to payments made in 2016 to two women who alleged they had sexual encounters with Trump.

    Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has already served prison time in connection with those payments after pleading guilty to campaign finance crimes. He has said the Trump Organization reimbursed him for one of the payouts and rewarded him with extra pay disguised as reimbursement for legal services.

    Bragg declined to discuss the investigation in detail, but said prosecutors had paused certain aspects of the probe until the Trump Organization trial was finished. The verdict was a green light to get back to work.

    “The trial is sort of a strong demarcation line for us,” Bragg said.

    With that, the Manhattan investigation is suddenly back on the list of potential legal perils for Trump.

    In Fulton County, Georgia, the district attorney is investigating Trump’s alleged interference in that state during the 2020 election. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Trump’s storage of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Florida and the former president’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

    Trump has lashed out at Bragg and Pomerantz on social media, calling the district attorney’s investigation “fake,” “weak,” and “fatally flawed.”

    “THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THEY HAD WITH THE “CASE” IS THAT I DID NOTHING WRONG!” he said in one recent post.

    But now, a year later, Bragg and his team might have other thoughts.

    __

    Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/.

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  • Jury: Musk didn’t deceive investors with 2018 Tesla tweets

    Jury: Musk didn’t deceive investors with 2018 Tesla tweets

    SAN FRANCISO — A jury on Friday decided Elon Musk didn’t deceive investors with his 2018 tweets about electric automaker Tesla in a proposed deal that quickly unraveled and raised questions about whether the billionaire had misled investors.

    The nine-member jury reached its verdict after less that two hours of deliberation following a three-week trial. It represents a major vindication for Musk, who spent about eight hours on the witness stand defending his motives for the August 2018 tweets at the center of the trial.

    Musk, 51, wasn’t on hand for the brief reading of the verdict but he made a surprise appearance earlier Friday for closing arguments that drew starkly different portraits of him.

    Not long after the verdict came down, Musk took to Twitter — the bully pulpit he now owns — to celebrate.

    “Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed!” Musk tweeted.

    Musk’s decision to break away from his other responsibilities to sit in on the closing arguments even though he didn’t have to be there may have had an impact on the jurors, said Michael Freedman, a former federal prosecutor who is now in private practice working for a law firm that has represented celebrities and business executives.

    “It shows he has a presence,” Freedman said.

    Nicholas Porritt, an attorney who represented aggrieved Tesla investors, said he was disappointed after urging the jurors in his closing arguments to rebuke Musk for reckless behavior that threatened to create “anarchy.”

    “I don’t think this is the kind of conduct we expect from a large public company,” a downcast Porritt said after discussing the verdict with a few jurors who gathered to talk to him. “People can draw their own conclusion on whether they think it’s OK or not.”

    During their discussion with Porritt, the jurors told them they found Musk’s testimony that he believed he had lined up the money from Saudi Arabia‘s Public Investment Fund without a written commitment to be credible. They also expressed doubt about whether Musk’s tweeting was the sole reason for the swings in Tesla’s stock price during a 10-day period in August 2018 covered in the case.

    The trial pitted Tesla investors represented in a class-action lawsuit against Musk, who is CEO of both the electric automaker and the Twitter service he bought for $44 billion a few months ago.

    Shortly before boarding his private jet on Aug. 7, 2018, Musk tweeted that he had the financing to take Tesla private, even though it turned out he hadn’t gotten an iron-clad commitment for a deal that would have cost $20 billion to $70 billion to pull off. A few hours later, Musk sent another tweet indicating that the deal was imminent.

    Musk’s integrity was at stake at the trial as well part of a fortune that has established him as one of the world’s richest people. He could have been saddled with a bill for billions of dollars in damages had the jury found him liable for the 2018 tweets that had already been deemed falsehoods by the judge presiding over the trial.

    That determination, made last year by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, left the jury to decide whether Musk had been reckless with his tweeting and acted in a way that hurt Tesla shareholders.

    “It may have not been that difficult for the jury,” Freedman said, “because it sort of became like an up-or-down vote.”

    Earlier Friday, Musk sat stoically in court during the trial’s closing arguments while he was both vilified as a rich and reckless narcissist and hailed as a visionary looking out for the “little guy.”

    Over the course of a one-hour presentation, Porritt had implored the jurors to rebuke Musk for his “loose relationship with the truth.”

    “Our society is based on rules,” Porritt said. “We need rules to save us from anarchy. Rules should apply to Elon Musk like everyone else.”

    Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, conceded the 2018 tweets were “technically inaccurate.” But he told the jurors, “Just because it’s a bad tweet doesn’t make it a fraud.”

    During roughly eight hours on the stand earlier in the trial, Musk insisted he believed he had lined up the funds from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take Tesla private after eight years as a publicly held company. He defended his initial August 2018 tweet as well-intentioned and aimed at ensuring all Tesla investors knew the automaker might be on its way to ending its run as a publicly held company.

    “I had no ill motive,” Musk testified. “My intent was to do the right thing for all shareholders.”

    Spiro echoed that theme in his closing argument.

    “He was trying to include the retail shareholder, the mom and pop, the little guy, and not seize more power for himself,” Spiro said.

    Porritt, meanwhile, scoffed at the notion that Musk could have concluded he had a firm commitment after a 45-minute meeting at a Tesla factory on July 31, 2018, with Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund, given there was no written documentation.

    In his 90 minute presentation, Spiro emphasized Musk’s track record helping to start and run a list of companies that include digital payment pioneer PayPal and rocket ship maker SpaceX, in addition to Tesla. The automaker based in Austin, Texas, is now worth nearly $600 billion, despite a steep decline in its stock price last year amid concerns that Musk’s purchase of Twitter would distract him from Tesla.

    Recalling Musk’s roots as a South African immigrant who came to Silicon Valley to create revolutionary tech companies, Spiro described his client “as the kind of person who believes the impossible is possible.”

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  • Missouri mom convicted of killing her infant twins

    Missouri mom convicted of killing her infant twins

    ST. LOUIS — A Missouri mother who reported that her infant twins were stillborn has been convicted of manslaughter.

    Maya Caston, 28, was convicted Friday of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that jury found her guilty of lesser charges instead of convicting her of second-degree murder.

    Prosecutors argued that Caston’s lack of action to get care for the babies showed that she caused the deaths. And her extensive internet searches for miscarriages and abortion methods before she gave birth demonstrated that she didn’t want the babies.

    The evidence showed that Caston searched Google for “cheap abortion pills,” “free abortion clinic” and “can you cause a miscarriage if you hit yourself in the stomach hard enough?” After she gave birth, Cason researched if you can bury a baby in a back garden.

    Caston told the jury that she had planned to give the babies up for adoption at a doctor’s appointment three days after they were born, but by that time, the babies had died after not eating.

    “We have two dead babies. She didn’t want them. She didn’t care for them,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Dittmeier said in closing arguments. “She didn’t even give them a name.”

    Caston’s public defenders argued that she has an intellectual disability and didn’t understand the risk to the infants.

    “I was in shock. I didn’t know what to do,” she told the jury.

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  • Trial set for Black soldier suing police over violent stop

    Trial set for Black soldier suing police over violent stop

    NORFOLK, Va. — A U.S. Army lieutenant who was pepper sprayed, struck and handcuffed by police in rural Virginia, but never arrested, will argue to a jury that he was assaulted and falsely imprisoned and that his vehicle was illegally searched.

    Video of the 2020 traffic stop got millions of views the next year after Caron Nazario filed the federal lawsuit that is now being heard, highlighting fears of mistreatment among Black drivers and intensifying the scrutiny of the boundaries of reasonable, and legal, police conduct.

    The episode also served as a grim signal to many Black Americans that military uniforms don’t necessarily protect against abuse of authority by law enforcement.

    The trial is scheduled to begin Monday in federal court in Richmond.

    Video shows Windsor police officers Daniel Crocker and Joe Gutierrez pointing handguns at a uniformed Nazario behind the wheel of his Chevy Tahoe at a gas station. The officers repeatedly commanded Nazario to exit his SUV, with Gutierrez warning at one point that Nazario was “fixing to ride the lightning” when he didn’t get out.

    Nazario held his hands in the air outside the driver’s side window and continually asked why he was being stopped.

    Nazario also said: “I’m honestly afraid to get out.”

    “You should be,” Gutierrez responded.

    Nazario stayed in the vehicle. Gutierrez went on to pepper spray him through the open window. Once Nazario exited the SUV, the officers commanded him to get on the ground, with Gutierrez using his knees to strike Nazario’s legs, the lawsuit states.

    Since the traffic stop, Nazario has developed anxiety, depression and PTSD, according to his lawsuit. He has been unable to leave home at times due to “hypervigilance regarding the potential for harassment by law enforcement,” court filings state.

    A psychologist found that Nazario, who is Black and Latino, suffers from race-based trauma associated with violent police encounters, which can exacerbate injuries “in ways that do not commonly affect the white populations.”

    “The officers involved not only assaulted Mr. Nazario, but pointed their weapons directly at him and, at some point during the encounter, threatened to kill him,” the suit alleges. “Mr. Nazario recalls that he thought he was going to die that evening.”

    Nazario is suing Crocker and Gutierrez. Crocker is still on the force, but Gutierrez was fired in April 2021, the same month Nazario filed his lawsuit.

    The men deny ever threatening to kill Nazario. They contend that Nazario misconstrued Gutierrez’s statement that Nazario was “fixing to ride the lightning.” Gutierrez spoke those words while holstering his gun and drawing his Taser and was referencing his stun gun, not an execution, according to court filings.

    Crocker and Gutierrez argue that they performed their duties within the law after Nazario failed to immediately pull over and refused to exit his vehicle. Plus, a federal judge already found they had probable cause to stop Nazario for an improperly displayed license plate, and to charge him with eluding police, as well as obstruction of justice and failure to obey.

    “To the extent Mr. Nazario claims mental anguish or other psychological injuries, Mr. Nazario is still in the Virginia National Guard — there is no evidence he has been medically retired or otherwise discharged in connection with this incident,” according to a trial brief filed by Gutierrez in late November. “In fact, shortly after the traffic stop, Mr. Nazario deployed to Washington, D.C. in support of the January 6, 2021 disturbance.”

    Nazario, a medical officer, said he arrived after the insurrection occurred, according to a deposition.

    Besides Nazario’s lawsuit, fallout from the traffic stop includes a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general that alleges Windsor discriminated against Black Americans. The small town is about 70 miles (110 kilometers) southeast of Richmond.

    In August, a special prosecutor determined that Gutierrez should not be criminally charged but should be investigated for potential civil rights violations.

    “Although I find the video very disturbing and frankly unsettling, Gutierrez’s use of force to remove Nazario did not violate state law as he had given multiple commands for Nazario to exit the vehicle,” special prosecutor Anton Bell said in his report.

    U.S. District Judge Roderick C. Young also narrowed the scope of Nazario’s lawsuit. In August, Young ruled that federal immunity laws shield Crocker and Gutierrez from Nazario’s claims that they violated his constitutional protections against excessive force and unreasonable seizure, as well as Nazario’s right to free speech by threatening him with arrest if he complained about their behavior.

    Nazario can present claims under state law of false imprisonment and assault and battery to a jury, the judge ruled. The judge also found Crocker liable for illegally searching for a gun in Nazario’s SUV, leaving the question of damages on that point to a jury. Nazario had a concealed-carry permit for the weapon.

    The jury will also consider whether Gutierrez is liable for the illegal search. The former officer denies he knew Crocker was conducting the search.

    Nazario’s attorneys are expected to present evidence regarding Gutierrez’s professional history, including an unrelated suspension without pay for excessive force.

    That episode happened during a 2019 traffic stop while Gutierrez served as a sheriff’s deputy in Isle of Wight County. Gutierrez drew his weapon on the driver during the two times the man exited his vehicle and held him at gunpoint for nearly four minutes until another officer arrived, according to court filings.

    While trying to handcuff the man, Gutierrez grabbed him by his neck and “forced his face into the pavement while attempting to place him on his stomach,” the findings stated. The man suffered a facial injury that required medical attention.

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  • US may execute its first openly transgender woman

    US may execute its first openly transgender woman

    ST. LOUIS — Unless Missouri Gov. Mike Parson grants clemency, Amber McLaughlin, 49, will become the first openly transgender woman executed in the U.S. She is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday for killing a former girlfriend in 2003.

    McLaughlin’s attorney, Larry Komp, said there are no court appeals pending.

    The clemency request focuses on several issues, including McLaughlin’s traumatic childhood and mental health issues, which the jury never heard in her trial. A foster parent rubbed feces in her face when she was a toddler and her adoptive father used a stun gun on her, according to the clemency petition. It says she suffers from depression and attempted suicide multiple times.

    There is no known case of an openly transgender inmate being executed in the U.S. before, according to the anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center. A friend in prison says she saw McLaughlin’s personality blossom during her gender transition.

    Before transitioning, McLaughlin was in a relationship with girlfriend Beverly Guenther. McLaughlin would show up at the suburban St. Louis office where the 45-year-old Guenther worked, sometimes hiding inside the building, according to court records. Guenther obtained a restraining order, and police officers occasionally escorted her to her car after work.

    Guenther’s neighbors called police the night of Nov. 20, 2003, when she failed to return home. Officers went to the office building, where they found a broken knife handle near her car and a trail of blood. A day later, McLaughlin led police to a location near the Mississippi River in St. Louis, where the body had been dumped.

    McLaughlin was convicted of first-degree murder in 2006. A judge sentenced McLaughlin to death after a jury deadlocked on the sentence. A court in 2016 ordered a new sentencing hearing, but a federal appeals court panel reinstated the death penalty in 2021.

    One person who knew Amber before she transitioned is Jessica Hicklin, 43, who spent 26 years in prison for a drug-related killing in western Missouri in 1995. She was 16. Because of her age when the crime occurred, she was granted release in January 2022.

    Hicklin, 43, began transitioning while in prison and in 2016 sued the Missouri Department of Corrections, challenging a policy that prohibited hormone therapy for inmates who weren’t receiving it before being incarcerated. She won the lawsuit in 2018 and became a mentor to other transgender inmates, including McLaughlin.

    Though imprisoned together for around a decade, Hicklin said McLaughlin was so shy they rarely interacted. But as McLaughlin began transitioning about three years ago, she turned to Hicklin for guidance on issues such as mental health counseling and getting help to ensure her safety inside a male-dominated maximum-security prison.

    “There’s always paperwork and bureaucracy, so I spent time helping her learn to file the right things and talk to the right people,” Hicklin said.

    In the process, a friendship developed.

    “We would sit down once a week and have what I referred to as girl talk,” Hicklin said. “She always had a smile and a dad joke. If you ever talked to her, it was always with the dad jokes.”

    They also discussed the challenges a transgender inmate faces in a male prison — things like how to obtain feminine items, dealing with rude comments, and staying safe.

    McLaughlin still had insecurities, especially about her well-being, Hicklin said.

    “Definitely a vulnerable person,” Hicklin said. “Definitely afraid of being assaulted or victimized, which is more common for trans folks in Department of Corrections.”

    The only woman ever executed in Missouri was Bonnie B. Heady, put to death on Dec. 18, 1953, for kidnapping and killing a 6-year-old boy. Heady was executed in the gas chamber, side by side with the other kidnapper and killer, Carl Austin Hall.

    Nationally, 18 people were executed in 2022, including two in Missouri. Kevin Johnson, 37, was put to death Nov. 29 for the ambush killing of a Kirkwood, Missouri, police officer. Carmen Deck was executed in May for killing James and Zelma Long during a robbery at their home in De Soto, Missouri.

    Another Missouri inmate, Leonard Taylor, is scheduled to die Feb. 7 for killing his girlfriend and her three young children.

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  • Alex Jones’ motion to set aside Sandy Hook verdict denied

    Alex Jones’ motion to set aside Sandy Hook verdict denied

    HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut judge on Thursday denied Infowars host Alex Jones’ motion seeking a new trial and the overturning of a jury verdict requiring him to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

    The ruling found the motion was not supported “by any evidence or case law.”

    Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families, said in a statement that the court “has now affirmed the jury’s historic and just rebuke of Alex Jones.”

    Jones attorney Norm Pattis called it “an expected and disappointing decision” and said they would be heading to the appellate courts.

    For years Jones described the 2021 shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, as a hoax on his Infowars broadcasts.

    In October the jury decided that he must pay victims’ families $965 million in compensatory damages, and a judge later added on another $473 million in punitive damages.

    The Connecticut decision came after a separate jury in Texas awarded the parents of a child killed in the shooting $49 million in damages earlier this year.

    Jones filed for personal bankruptcy earlier this month.

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  • WTO rejects US ‘Made in China’ labeling on Hong Kong goods

    WTO rejects US ‘Made in China’ labeling on Hong Kong goods

    GENEVA — World Trade Organization arbitrators concluded Wednesday that the United States was out of line in requiring that products from Hong Kong be labeled as “Made in China,” a move that was part of Washington’s response to a crackdown on pro-democracy protests there in 2019-2020.

    A WTO dispute panel found the U.S. violated its obligations under the trade body’s rules and rejected Washington’s argument that U.S. “essential security interests” allowed for such labeling. The panel said the situation did not pose an “emergency” that would justify such an exemption under the trade body’s rules.

    The United States or Hong Kong could appeal the ruling to the WTO’s appeals court. However, the Appellate Body is currently inactive because the U.S. has almost single-handedly held up appointments of new members to the court amid concerns it had exceeded its mandate. So any such appeal would go into an arbitration void and remain unsettled.

    The United States Trade Representative’s office indicated it would ignore Wednesday’s ruling anyway.

    “The United States does not intend to remove the marking requirement as a result of this report, and we will not cede our judgment or decision-making over essential security matters to the WTO,” USTR spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement.

    Hong Kong, a former British colony, is one of China’s special administrative regions and is considered a separate trading entity from China.

    At a press briefing Thursday, Hong Kong’s commerce minister Algernon Yau said he had written to the USTR urging the U.S. to drop the label requirement.

    The U.S. market only accounts for about 0.1% of Hong Kong’s exports, but the requirement has caused “unnecessary concern” for manufacturers, he said.

    “Even though the financial implication is minimal, it caused a lot of confusion to the customers regarding ‘Made in Hong Kong’ or ‘Made in China,’” he said.

    Three decades ago, the U.S. Congress passed a law allowing products from Hong Kong to benefit from a trading status different from China’s, and potentially lower tariffs, if it remained sufficiently autonomous. By marking products as “Made in China,” the U.S. can ratchet up the tariffs it levies on goods from Hong Kong.

    Mass protests persisted for months in Hong Kong in 2019-2020. They abated after Beijing imposed a National Security Law, using it to silence or jail many pro-democracy activists.

    In July 2020, then-U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order saying that Hong Kong was “no longer sufficiently autonomous to justify differential treatment in relation to the People’s Republic of China.”

    ———

    Associated Press writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

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  • Megan Thee Stallion ‘matters,’ says DA at Tory Lanez trial

    Megan Thee Stallion ‘matters,’ says DA at Tory Lanez trial

    LOS ANGELES — A California prosecutor told jurors Wednesday that hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion would never have subjected herself to the torrent of public abuse she’s received if she wasn’t telling the truth about rapper Tory Lanez shooting her in the feet and wounding her in the summer of 2020.

    Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott said the jury should believe Megan’s anguish — evident in her testimony last week — and her courage in fighting through it. Jurors should also provide Megan with justice by convicting Lanez, he said, citing the scorn she received online and in parts of the hip-hop community.

    “Why would she lie?” the Los Angeles County DA said. “She’s been subjected to a stream of hate. For what? For coming forward as a victim of domestic violence?”

    In his own closing, Lanez’s defense attorney George Mgdesyan gave jurors what he called a perfectly good reason for Megan to lie: Being victimized by Lanez was a better public story than the embarrassing, potentially career-damaging truth that she was shot by her best friend — not Lanez —in a jealous dispute over him.

    “Megan Pete is a liar. She lied about everything in this case from the beginning,” Mgdesyan said. “She lied under oath here.”

    He said that Lanez actually struggled with Megan’s former friend Kelsey Harris to stop her from shooting, and that a pause heard on an audio recording amid the five shots fired on the night of July 12, 2020 was evidence of that.

    “He was trying to protect her,” Mgdesyan said.

    Mgdesyan mocked Megan’s experience in the years that followed.

    “It’s been so bad for her,” he said. “She’s won Grammys. She’s had number ones on the Billboard charts.

    “You know who it’s been bad for? That man right there,” Mgdesyan said, pointing at Lanez. “He hasn’t been able to work. He’s had to go through this with his family for 2 1/2 years.”

    The Canadian rapper Lanez, 30, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, has pleaded not guilty to discharging a firearm with gross negligence, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. The counts could lead to up to 22 years in prison and deportation.

    Bott said Megan’s testimony was in itself sufficient to convict, but it’s supported by layers of other evidence, including the accounts of other eyewitnesses and apologies from Lanez.

    Megan testified that she left a gathering at the Hollywood Hills home of Kylie Jenner in an SUV with Lanez, his bodyguard and Harris. Megan and Harris have since become estranged.

    She said a dispute broke out that led to her insulting Lanez’s music, which made him especially angry. She testified that as she began walking away from the SUV, he fired at her feet and yelled, “dance, b—-!”

    Megan had to have surgery to remove bullet fragments.

    When Harris took the stand, she said she didn’t remember seeing Lanez shooting the gun, and that she only assumed he did when she sent a text minutes later saying “Tory shot Megan” to a man who worked as security for Megan. She denied shooting the gun herself.

    But prosecutors were then allowed to play an interview Harris did with them in September, in which she clearly identified Lanez as the shooter.

    In an email to The Associated Press, Harris’ attorney Daniel Nardoni would not comment on her role, saying he urged her to invoke her 5th Amendment rights on the stand, despite partial immunity provided by prosecutors.

    Mgdesyan asked jurors to weigh the likelihood of violence stemming from insulting someone’s music or a dispute between two women over a man.

    “What’s more likely to lead to a shooting?” he said.

    He told jurors it was clear Megan was lying because she denied being in a dispute of any significance with Harris, despite a defense witness who saw the stopped SUV from his nearby balcony and said he saw the two women in the car violently fighting. The witness, Sean Kelly, also testified that he saw muzzle flashes come from a woman as the shots were fired.

    But prosecutors also used the testimony of the man, who said he saw a small man “firing everywhere.”

    Mgdesyan said Megan had changed over time to say she walked toward the front of the SUV rather than the back, so that it would match her description of Lanez firing at her from over the open car door. He said she invented the “dance, b—-!” line, which no else testified to hearing, to explain why she was looking over her shoulder to see he was doing the shooting.

    The lawyer used the image to joke about his client’s size.

    “He’s 5-foot-2, I don’t know if he can even get over a car to shoot!” Mgdesyan said, bringing a laugh from Lanez, who watched from the defense table in a blue suit and black turtleneck.

    Mgdesyan told the judge earlier in the day that Lanez would not testify. The defense was set to finish its closings on Thursday, with the jury getting the case after the prosecution’s rebuttal.

    Bott ended his presentation Wednesday with a quote from Megan’s testimony, in which she said there have been times that “I wish he would have just shot and killed me.”

    “Megan does matter,” Bott said. “This case matters. Hold him accountable for shooting Megan over nothing more than a bruised ego.”

    ———

    Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton

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  • Former Atlanta officer indicted for murder in 2019 shooting

    Former Atlanta officer indicted for murder in 2019 shooting

    ATLANTA — A Georgia grand jury has indicted a now-retired Atlanta police officer on murder charges after the officer shot and killed a man in 2019 who was hiding in a closet after running away from a fugitive task force.

    Sung Kim was indicted for felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and other charges Friday in the death of Jimmy Atchison, said Jeff DiSantis, a spokesperson for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. A copy of the indictments was not immediately available.

    Atchison’s case has been a top local example for those protesting police violence against Black people in recent years. His name was often chanted by Atlanta protesters during Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020.

    Atchison’s family has repeatedly contended that officials were dragging their feet in presenting the case to a grand jury. Attorney Gerald Griggs said the family was withholding comment on Friday.

    Atchison, 21, was killed on Jan. 22, 2019, after an FBI task force that included Kim tried to arrest him for an armed robbery warrant. Police said Atchison stole a woman’s purse and cell phone — a claim disputed by a witness produced by Atchison’s family.

    Atchison ran away from officers through an apartment complex, entered a different apartment and hid in a closet, according to an earlier report from prosecutors. Kim, a longtime Atlanta officer, found Atchison in the closet after a foot chase and shot him.

    Family members claimed Atchison raised his hands to surrender when he was shot in the face. Kim said Atchison made a threatening move and believed Atchison had a weapon. The man was not armed.

    A report by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined Atchison was given conflicting commands, Atchison family attorney Tanya Miller has said. She said one task force member told Atchison to come out with his hands up, while another told him not to move.

    Kim was not wearing a body camera because, at the time, FBI policy prohibited their use by agents and task force members.

    Atchison’s family criticized the previous longtime district attorney, Paul Howard, as well as Willis, who defeated Howard in 2020, for their failure to indict Kim. The Fulton County Public Integrity Unit recommended that the Kim be charged, and Howard had said he was ready to present charges in 2020 until the COVID-19 pandemic shut down court proceedings.

    Lawyers brought a wrongful death suit against the city of Atlanta in 2020 on behalf of Atchison’s two daughters, saying they would seek $20 million.

    Willis pledged to resolve what she described as a backlog of 30 police use-of-force cases by the end of 2022. She has since indicted a number of current and former officers.

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  • Transgender inmate on Missouri’s death row asks for mercy

    Transgender inmate on Missouri’s death row asks for mercy

    COLUMBIA, Mo. — The first openly transgender woman set to be executed in the U.S. is asking Missouri’s governor for mercy, citing mental health issues.

    Lawyers for Amber McLaughlin, now 49, on Monday asked Republican Gov. Mike Parson to spare her.

    McLaughlin was convicted of killing 45-year-old Beverly Guenther on Nov. 20, 2003. Guenther was raped and stabbed to death in St. Louis County.

    There is no known case of an openly transgender inmate being executed in the U.S. before, according to the anti-execution Death Penalty Information Center.

    “It’s wrong when anyone’s executed regardless, but I hope that this is a first that doesn’t occur,” federal public defender Larry Komp said. “Amber has shown great courage in embracing who she is as a transgender woman in spite of the potential for people reacting with hate, so I admire her display of courage.”

    McLaughlin’s lawyers cited her traumatic childhood and mental health issues, which the jury never heard, in the clemency petition. A foster parent rubbed feces in her face when she was a toddler and her adoptive father tased her, according to the letter to Parson. She tried to kill herself multiple times, both as a child and as an adult.

    Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones said the Governor’s Office is reviewing her request for mercy.

    “These are not decisions that the Governor takes lightly,” Jones said in an email.

    Komp said McLaughlin’s lawyers are scheduled to meet with Parson on Tuesday.

    A judge sentenced McLaughlin to death after a jury was unable to decide on death or life in prison without parole.

    A federal judge in St. Louis ordered a new sentencing hearing in 2016, citing concerns about the effectiveness of McLaughlin’s trial lawyers and faulty jury instructions. But in 2021, a federal appeals court panel reinstated the death penalty.

    McLaughlin’s lawyers also listed the jury’s indecision and McLaughlin’s remorse as reasons Parson should spare her life.

    Missouri has only executed one woman before, state Corrections Department spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said in an email.

    McLaughlin’s lawyers said she previously was rooming with another transgender woman but now is living in isolation leading up to her scheduled execution date.

    Pojmann said 9% of Missouri’s prison population is female, and all capital punishment inmates are imprisoned at Potosi Correctional Center.

    “It is extremely unusual for a woman to commit a capital offense, such as a brutal murder, and even more unusual for a women to, as was the case with McLaughlin, rape and murder a woman,” Pojmann said.

    Missouri executed two men this year. Kevin Johnson, a 37 year old who was convicted of ambushing and killing a St. Louis area police officer he blamed in the death of his younger brother, was put to death last month. Carmen Deck died by injection in May for killing James and Zelma Long during a robbery at their home in De Soto, Missouri, in 1996.

    ———

    Hanna reported from Topeka, Kan.

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  • Today in History: December 9, Charles and Diana’s separation

    Today in History: December 9, Charles and Diana’s separation

    Today in History

    Today is Friday, Dec. 9, the 343rd day of 2022. There are 22 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Dec. 9, 2014, U.S. Senate investigators concluded the United States had brutalized scores of terror suspects with interrogation tactics that turned secret CIA prisons into chambers of suffering and did nothing to make Americans safer after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

    On this date:

    In 1854, Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” was published in England.

    In 1911, an explosion inside the Cross Mountain coal mine near Briceville, Tennessee, killed 84 workers. (Five were rescued.)

    In 1917, British forces captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Turks.

    In 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the first animated TV special featuring characters from the “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, premiered on CBS.

    In 1987, the first Palestinian intefadeh, or uprising, began as riots broke out in Gaza and spread to the West Bank, triggering a strong Israeli response.

    In 1990, Solidarity founder Lech Walesa (lek vah-WEN’-sah) won Poland’s presidential runoff by a landslide.

    In 1992, Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation. (The couple’s divorce became final in August 1996.)

    In 2000, the U-S Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt in the Florida vote count on which Al Gore pinned his best hopes of winning the White House.

    In 2006, a fire broke out at a Moscow drug treatment hospital, killing 46 women trapped by barred windows and a locked gate.

    In 2011, the European Union said 26 of its 27 member countries were open to joining a new treaty tying their finances together to solve the euro crisis; Britain remained opposed.

    In 2013, scientists revealed that NASA’s Curiosity rover had uncovered signs of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars.

    In 2020, commercial flights with Boeing 737 Max jetliners resumed for the first time since they were grounded worldwide nearly two years earlier following two deadly accidents; Brazil’s Gol Airlines became the first in the world to return the planes to its active fleet.

    Ten years ago: U.S. special forces rescued an American doctor captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan; a Navy SEAL, Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas D. Checque, was killed during the rescue of Dr. Dilip Joseph. Same-sex couples in Washington state began exchanging vows just after midnight under a new state law allowing gay marriage. Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera, 43, and six others were killed in a plane crash in northern Mexico.

    Five years ago: After more than three years of combat operations, Iraq announced that the fight against the Islamic State group was over, and that Iraq’s security forces had driven the extremists from all of the territory they once held. Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield became the sixth Sooner to win college football’s Heisman Trophy.

    One year ago: A jury in Chicago convicted former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett on charges he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself and then lied to Chicago police about it. (Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail; he was allowed to go free after six days while he appealed the conviction.) A federal appeals court ruled against an effort by former President Donald Trump to shield documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Starbucks workers at a store in Buffalo, New York, voted to unionize, a first for the 50-year-old coffee retailer in the U.S. A federal jury in Arkansas convicted former reality TV star Josh Duggar of downloading and possessing child pornography. (Duggar would be sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.) Al Unser, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 four times, died following years of health issues; he was 82. Provocative Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmueller died in Rome at 93.

    Today’s Birthdays: Actor Dame Judi Dench is 88. Actor Beau Bridges is 81. Football Hall of Famer Dick Butkus is 80. Actor Michael Nouri is 77. Former Sen. Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., is 75. World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Kite is 73. Singer Joan Armatrading is 72. Actor Michael Dorn is 70. Actor John Malkovich is 69. Country singer Sylvia is 66. Singer Donny Osmond is 65. Rock musician Nick Seymour (Crowded House) is 64. Comedian Mario Cantone is 63. Actor David Anthony Higgins is 61. Actor Joe Lando is 61. Actor Felicity Huffman is 60. Empress Masako of Japan is 59. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is 56. Rock singer-musician Thomas Flowers (Oleander) is 55. Rock musician Brian Bell (Weezer) is 54. Rock singer-musician Jakob Dylan (Wallflowers) is 53. TV personality-businessperson Lori Greiner (TV: “Shark Tank”) is 53. Actor Allison Smith is 53. Songwriter and former “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi (dee-oh-GWAHR’-dee) is 52. Country singer David Kersh is 52. Actor Reiko (RAY’-koh) Aylesworth is 50. Rock musician Tre Cool (Green Day) is 50. Rapper Canibus is 48. Actor Kevin Daniels is 46. Actor-writer-director Mark Duplass is 46. Rock singer Imogen Heap is 45. Actor Jesse Metcalfe is 44. Actor Simon Helberg is 42. Actor Jolene Purdy is 39. Actor Joshua Sasse is 35. Actor Ashleigh Brewer is 32. Olympic gold and silver medal gymnast McKayla Maroney is 27. Olympic silver medal gymnast MyKayla Skinner is 26.

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  • Ex-Border Patrol agent convicted of killing 4 women in Texas

    Ex-Border Patrol agent convicted of killing 4 women in Texas

    SAN ANTONIO — A former Border Patrol agent who confessed to killing four sex workers in 2018 was convicted Wednesday of capital murder, after jurors heard recordings of him telling investigators he was trying to “clean up the streets” of his South Texas hometown.

    Juan David Ortiz, 39, receives an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole because prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty.

    Ortiz, a Border Patrol intel supervisor at the time of his arrest, was accused of killing Melissa Ramirez, 29, Claudine Anne Luera, 42, Guiselda Alicia Cantu, 35, and Janelle Ortiz, 28. Their bodies were found along roads on the outskirts of Laredo in September 2018.

    During the trial that began last week, jurors heard Ortiz’s confession during a lengthy taped interview with investigators.

    Ortiz told investigators he had been a customer of most of the women, but he also expressed disdain for sex workers, referring to them as “trash” and “so dirty” and insisting he wanted to “clean up the streets.”

    He said “the monster would come out” as he drove along a stretch of street in Laredo frequented by the women.

    Defense attorneys said Ortiz was improperly induced to make the confession and that it should not be considered. Defense attorney Joel Perez argued that Ortiz, a Navy veteran who had been deployed to Iraq, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had been suffering from insomnia, nightmares and headaches, and was medicated and had been drinking that night.

    Prosecutors told jurors it was a legal confession provided by an educated senior law enforcement official who was not having a mental breakdown.

    Erika Pena testified that Ortiz picked her up on the evening of Sept. 14, 2018, and that she got a bad feeling when he told her he was the “next to last person” to have sex with Ramirez, whose body had been found a week earlier. She testified that he told her he was worried investigators would find his DNA on the body.

    “It made me think that he was the one who might have been murdering,” Pena, 31, told the jury.

    Pena escaped from his truck at a gas station after he pointed a gun at her, and she ran straight to a state trooper who was refueling his vehicle. Ortiz fled.

    Authorities tracked Ortiz to a hotel parking garage in the early hours of Sept. 15, 2018, and he was arrested.

    Capt. Federico Calderon of the Webb County Sheriff’s Department testified that officers who arrested Ortiz knew about the slayings of Ramirez and Luera, and while chasing him after Pena’s escape learned that a third body — later identified as Cantu’s — had been found. But Calderon said it wasn’t until Ortiz’s confession that they learned Janelle Ortiz had been slain.

    Webb County Medical Examiner Corinne Stern testified that Ramirez, Luera and Janelle Ortiz were fatally shot while Cantu, who was shot in the neck, died of blunt force trauma to the head.

    The bullets collected from the crime scenes came from the same gun, and matched the weapon found in Juan David Ortiz’s pickup, a ballistics expert testified.

    Ortiz served in the U.S. Navy for nearly eight years, until 2009, holding a variety of medical posts and served a three-year detachment with the Marines.

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