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Tag: Prisons

  • Man Convicted of Killing a 15-Year-Old Girl in Her Home in 2001 Is Executed by Injection in Indiana

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    CHICAGO (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl was executed by injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

    Roy Lee Ward, 53, was put to death at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. Indiana Department of Correction said in a statement that the process started shortly after midnight and Ward was pronounced dead at 12:33 a.m.

    Ward’s last meal was from Texas Corral and included a hamburger. His last words reported by Indiana Department of Correction were “Brian is going to read them,” but it was unclear when exactly he made the statement.

    He was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne. Authorities said Ward attacked the girl with a knife and dumbbell in her family’s home near Dale, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Evansville. The crime rocked the small community of roughly 1,500 people.

    Ward had exhausted his legal options after more than two decades. His attorney, Joanna Green, said days before the execution that Ward was “very remorseful” about the crime.”

    Ward’s execution came amid questions about Indiana’s handling of the powerful sedative pentobarbital. Last year state officials ended a 15-year pause on executions, saying they’d been able to obtain drugs used in lethal injections that had been unavailable for years.

    The Indiana Department of Correction said it had obtained “enough pentobarbital to follow the required protocol” for Ward’s execution. Ward’s attorneys had raised concerns about the use of the drug and how the state stored it, including temperature issues.

    Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bar media witnesses to executions. Ward’s witness list included attorneys and spiritual advisers.

    His case trailed through the courts for more than 20 years.

    Ward was convicted of the crimes in 2002 and sentenced to death. But after the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, he pleaded guilty in 2007. A decade later, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 2019, he sued Indiana seeking to stop all pending executions.

    Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court declined to stay the execution and Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency bid.

    The victim’s family members said they were ready for justice to be carried out, remembering Payne as an honor student and cheerleader with an influence beyond her short life.

    “Now our family gatherings are no longer whole, holidays still empty. Birthdays are sad reminders of what we lost,” her mother Julie Wininger told the parole board last month. “Our family has endured emotional devastation.”

    Ward skipped the parole board interview for his clemency bid, saying he didn’t want to force the victim’s family to travel to the prison and that he couldn’t always say what he meant. Attorneys say Ward was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which affected his ability to communicate.

    One of his spiritual advisers, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, said ahead of the execution that Ward thought deeply about his actions.

    “He knows he did it,” Nosbusch said. “He knows it was horrendous.”

    Golden reported from Seattle.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • New Jersey Businessman Who Testified Against Ex-Sen. Bob Menendez Won’t Go to Prison

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    NEW YORK (AP) — A New Jersey businessman who testified against former Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife at separate bribery trials won’t go to prison, after a judge credited him at his sentencing Thursday for showing honesty on the witness stand and sincere remorse.

    Jose Uribe was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Sidney H. Stein, who said he played a crucial role in the convictions “in a major conspiracy involving other countries and corruption of the highest order.”

    Menendez, 71, resigned from the Senate after his conviction last year on 16 charges, including having acted as a foreign agent for Egypt. He is serving an 11-year prison sentence. His wife, Nadine Menendez, was sentenced last month to 4½ years in prison.

    Their trials featured testimony about hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold bars, cash and a Mercedes-Benz convertible that were paid in bribes to the couple by three New Jersey businessmen, including Uribe, in return for actions by the senator on their behalf.

    “I’m not going to incarcerate you. I think you’re extremely remorseful,” Stein said of Uribe, who was the government’s star witness at the Menendez trials.

    He ordered Uribe to serve six months of home detention, though he can leave home for work, education or religious reasons. The judge also ordered Uribe to forfeit $292,000 and pay $866,000 in restitution.

    Two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also convicted in the bribery scheme. Daibes, a real estate developer, was sentenced this year to seven years in prison, while Hana, an entrepreneur, received an eight-year sentence.

    At trial, Uribe testified that he provided a $15,000 down payment in 2019 for the Mercedes and arranged monthly car payments from 2019 to 2022 in return for the senator’s help in shielding his company from New Jersey criminal probes of another trucking company.

    Uribe apologized for his “terrible” crimes, saying he was “sorry and embarrassed.” He became choked up as he apologized to his family.

    “I will never violate the law again,” he told Stein.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Lara Pomerantz called Uribe’s cooperation brave and valuable, noting that it was “not everyday a cooperator testifies at the trial of a sitting U.S. senator.”

    She said it was “easy to imagine why people were not lining up to testify,” since everyone knew that he was a particularly powerful senator who was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when he was criminally charged in the fall of 2023. Menendez was forced from the position soon afterward.

    She called the criminal probe that preceded the trials a “long-running investigation of rare and historic gravity,” and said some of the criminal conduct would have gone unknown without Uribe’s help.

    Defense attorney Daniel Fetterman said his client was “actually harassed” as a result of his cooperation, citing a day in April 2024 when two strangers approached his wife outside a bank and asked inappropriate questions.

    “That was terrifying for him and his wife,” he said, though he noted that Uribe’s cooperation continued unabated.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Indiana man convicted in 2001 rape and murder of teenager to be executed by lethal injection

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    CHICAGO — CHICAGO (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl was set to die by lethal injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

    Roy Lee Ward, 53, was scheduled to be put to death before sunrise at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

    He was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne and sentenced to death. The brutal crime, which happened in the family’s home in Dale, rocked the small community of roughly 1,500 people.

    Attorneys said Ward has exhausted his legal options after many court battles.

    “He’s very remorseful about this horrible crime,” said his attorney Joanna Green.

    Ward’s execution comes amid questions about Indiana’s handling of pentobarbital. Last year state officials ended a 15-year pause on executions, saying they’d been able to obtain drugs used in lethal injections but which had been unavailable for years.

    The Indiana Department of Correction said it had obtained “enough pentobarbital to follow the required protocol” for Ward’s execution. Ward’s attorneys though have raised concerns about the use of the drug and how the state stored it, including temperature issues.

    Ward’s expected execution in Indiana on Friday is the first of eight that are set to be carried out in October in seven different U.S. states, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

    Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bar media witnesses. Ward’s witness list includes attorneys and spiritual advisors.

    His case has trailed through the courts for more than 20 years.

    Ward was found guilty of the crimes in 2002 and sentenced to death. But after the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, he pleaded guilty in 2007. A decade later, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 2019, he sued Indiana seeking to stop all pending executions.

    Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court declined to stay the execution and Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency bid.

    The victim’s family members said they were ready for justice to be carried out, remembering Payne as an honor student and cheerleader with an influence beyond her short life.

    “Now our family gatherings are no longer whole, holidays still empty. Birthdays are sad reminders of what we lost,” her mother Julie Wininger told the parole board last month. “Our family has endured emotional devastation.”

    Ward, who declined interview requests through his attorneys, has said little publicly. He skipped a parole board interview for his clemency bid, saying he didn’t want to force the victim’s family travel to the prison and he can’t always say what he means.

    Attorneys say Ward was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which affects his ability to communicate.

    One of his spiritual advisers, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, said Ward has thought deeply about his actions.

    “He knows he did it,” Nosbusch said. “He knows it was horrendous.”

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  • Indiana Man Convicted in 2001 Rape and Murder of Teenager to Be Executed by Lethal Injection

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    CHICAGO (AP) — An Indiana man convicted in the 2001 rape and murder of a teenage girl was set to die by lethal injection early Friday in the state’s third execution since resuming capital punishment last year.

    Roy Lee Ward, 53, was scheduled to be put to death before sunrise at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

    He was convicted in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Stacy Payne and sentenced to death. The brutal crime, which happened in the family’s home in Dale, rocked the small community of roughly 1,500 people.

    Attorneys said Ward has exhausted his legal options after many court battles.

    “He’s very remorseful about this horrible crime,” said his attorney Joanna Green.

    Ward’s execution comes amid questions about Indiana’s handling of pentobarbital. Last year state officials ended a 15-year pause on executions, saying they’d been able to obtain drugs used in lethal injections but which had been unavailable for years.

    The Indiana Department of Correction said it had obtained “enough pentobarbital to follow the required protocol” for Ward’s execution. Ward’s attorneys though have raised concerns about the use of the drug and how the state stored it, including temperature issues.

    Ward’s expected execution in Indiana on Friday is the first of eight that are set to be carried out in October in seven different U.S. states, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

    Among 27 states with death penalty laws, Indiana is one of two that bar media witnesses. Ward’s witness list includes attorneys and spiritual advisors.

    His case has trailed through the courts for more than 20 years.

    Ward was found guilty of the crimes in 2002 and sentenced to death. But after the Indiana Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, he pleaded guilty in 2007. A decade later, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. In 2019, he sued Indiana seeking to stop all pending executions.

    Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court declined to stay the execution and Gov. Mike Braun rejected Ward’s clemency bid.

    The victim’s family members said they were ready for justice to be carried out, remembering Payne as an honor student and cheerleader with an influence beyond her short life.

    “Now our family gatherings are no longer whole, holidays still empty. Birthdays are sad reminders of what we lost,” her mother Julie Wininger told the parole board last month. “Our family has endured emotional devastation.”

    Ward, who declined interview requests through his attorneys, has said little publicly. He skipped a parole board interview for his clemency bid, saying he didn’t want to force the victim’s family travel to the prison and he can’t always say what he means.

    Attorneys say Ward was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which affects his ability to communicate.

    One of his spiritual advisers, Deacon Brian Nosbusch, said Ward has thought deeply about his actions.

    “He knows he did it,” Nosbusch said. “He knows it was horrendous.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Last of the 10 New Orleans Jail Escapees From May Is Captured in Georgia, Authorities Say

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    ATLANTA (AP) — The only escaped Louisiana inmate who remained on the run following an audacious May jailbreak in which 10 men crawled through a hole behind a toilet has been found in Atlanta, the U.S. Marshals said Wednesday.

    Derrick Groves was taken into custody in a house after evading authorities for nearly five months, Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fair confirmed. Sgt. Kate Stegall, a spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police, also said Groves was in custody after a brief standoff.

    The other nine escapees had been recaptured within six weeks of breaking out of a New Orleans jail on May 16, and most were found still in Louisiana.

    Groves, 28, had been convicted of murder and was facing a possible life sentence before the jailbreak. He had the most violent criminal record of the escapees and authorities had offered a $50,000 reward for tips that lead to his recapture.

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  • Defendant’s DNA found on gas can in failed arson of news van in Utah, prosecutors say

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    SALT LAKE CITY — SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man’s DNA was found on a gasoline can that was placed under a news vehicle in a failed arson attempt in Salt Lake City, federal prosecutors allege in court documents.

    Christopher Solomon Proctor, 45, lit a fuse attached to the 2.5 gallon (9.5 liter) plastic gas container that he had put under a news vehicle owned by the local Fox affiliate, KSTU-TV, that was parked outside of a building on Sept. 12, according to the filings. The fuse went out before the gas ignited.

    Proctor has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted arson and possession of an unregistered destructive device. His attorney, Richard Sorenson, didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.

    During a hearing Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead ordered Proctor, who was arrested Sept. 29, to remain in jail until his trial. Pead said there was evidence that Proctor had planned to repeat the attempt, despite family and friends insisting that Proctor posed no danger to others, according to court documents.

    A license plate reader recorded Proctor’s vehicle near the scene within minutes of the crime, and investigators found items in Proctor’s home similar to those used to carry out the attempted arson, including black boots, a different gas can that also had a hole carved in the top, and a portion of fuse, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Thorpe wrote.

    According to prosecutors, Proctor bought more fuse days after the failed attempt and returned to the crime scene a week later. Proctor “had mentioned burning Fox News on previous occasions” to others, and told an acquaintance that he lit a fuse under a “fox news” vehicle but it did not blow up, Thorpe wrote.

    “That purchase, the presence of another gas-can at his residence and the deliberate resurveilling of the news station lead to an inference that the defendant may not have been satisfied with his failed attempt,” Thorpe wrote.

    The day after the alleged arson attempt, two men were arrested on suspicion of placing a makeshift bomb under the KSTU-TV news vehicle. Investigators searched their home and found two sticks of inactive dynamite that the men claimed were real, according to court documents. They were charged in state court with crimes including possessing hoax explosives. However, the men are not being prosecuted for crimes related to the gas can found under the vehicle.

    Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Tuesday that the charges were based on the information presented to the office and referred questions regarding the news vehicle to federal authorities.

    The federal court documents make no mention of the two men.

    The incident happened two days after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City. Thorpe said at Monday’s hearing that there is no evidence linking the alleged arson attempt to Kirk’s death, KSTU-TV reported.

    ___

    The story was updated to correct that the vehicle belongs to the local Fox affiliate, not Fox News.

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  • Dogs kill 2-year-old boy at Georgia daycare center

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    VALDOSTA, Ga. — VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) — A 2-year-old boy in south Georgia was attacked by two Rottweiler dogs and died at an unlicensed daycare center while the owner napped, according to police.

    Stacy Wheeler Cobb, the 48-year-old owner who held the daycare at her home in Valdosta, 228 miles (367 km) south of Atlanta, has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children, according to jail records.

    Cobb left the child unattended for more than two hours on Saturday, according to the Valdosta Police Department. They believe he went into the house’s backyard and opened the kennel with both Rottweilers, which then “mauled my baby to his death,” the mother wrote in a GoFundMe, describing camera footage. When police arrived at around 3:45 p.m., the child was dead.

    The 2-year-old was the only child at Cobb’s daycare, though there are typically 10, according to police. Cobb was taken to the Lowndes County Jail. Jail records did not indicate if Cobb had an attorney who could speak on her behalf, and officials could not confirm whether she had one.

    A GoFundMe created by the child’s mother, Adrianna Jones, identified the boy as Kaimir Jones. The single mother said knew something was wrong because Cobb usually checks in throughout the day, but she hadn’t responded to Jones for three hours. Her “intuition” said to leave work early, Jones said.

    “This was a heartbreaking, devastating and traumatizing scene that I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Jones wrote.

    The rottweilers and a third dog at the house were taken by Lowndes County Animal Control.

    The Valdosta Police Department said in an online post that the investigation is ongoing and they expect more charges.

    “This is a horrible and tragic event that should have never occurred, but because of negligence on this offender’s behalf, a mother has tragically lost a child,” said Valdosta Police Chief Leslie Manahan.

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  • 3 Former New York Prison Guards Charged in Beating Death of Handcuffed Inmate Go on Trial

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    UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A prosecutor told a jury Tuesday that three former upstate New York prison guards on trial in the fatal beating of a Black handcuffed inmate took part in an act of “sheer, unimaginable brutality.”

    Mathew Galliher, Nicholas Kieffer and David Kingsley are charged with murder and first-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, whose beating by guards at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9 was captured in part on body-camera footage. The trio were among 10 corrections officers indicted in February on murder charges or for lesser crimes.

    Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told jurors in his opening statement that they would view sickening videos of Brooks’ treatment by a group of guards, and that each of the defendants was involved.

    “They no longer were corrections officers. They were a gang,” Fitzpatrick said in his opening statement. “They took turns — collectively and individually — of punching him, kneeing him, pepper spraying him, choking him, pinning him down, cuffing his legs.”

    Brooks, 43, had been serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault since 2017 and was transferred to Marcy from a nearby lockup that night. The videos, which triggered widespread outrage, show officers striking him in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.

    Defense attorneys told jurors that prosecutors will not be able to prove their clients acted with malice or depraved indifference to human life, as the charges allege. The attorneys asked jurors to take careful note of their clients’ specific actions that night.

    “The prosecution is attempting to tie Nicholas Kieffer to the actions of others, suggesting to you that he is somehow responsible via association,” said his attorney, David Longeretta.

    Galliher’s attorney, Kevin Luibrand, said his client has been charged with murder, in large part, for shackling Brooks’ legs to keep him from kicking.

    “Mathew Galliher didn’t harm Robert Brooks. He didn’t hit him, he didn’t strike him, he didn’t encourage others to strike him, he didn’t deny him medical care,” Luibrand said. “He didn’t do anything that contributed to the death of Robert Brooks.”

    Fitzpatrick, the special prosecutor, says Brooks died of a massive beating that broke a bone in his neck, ripped his thyroid cartilage and bruised several internal organs. He also died as a result of repeated restrictions to his airways, which caused brain damage, and choking on his own blood.

    Fitzpatrick said Brooks was beaten three separate times as soon as he arrived at the prison, the last being the fatal beating in the infirmary caught on the silent body-camera footage.

    A fourth corrections officer is scheduled to go on trial for second-degree manslaughter in January.

    Six guards indicted in February have since pleaded guilty. Three more employees have agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges and are cooperating with the special prosecutor.

    Fitzpatrick also is prosecuting guards in the fatal beating of Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at another Marcy lockup, the Mid-State Correctional Facility. Ten guards were indicted in April, including two who are charged with murder, in Nantwi’s death.

    Both prisons are about 180 miles (290 kilometers) northwest of New York City.

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  • Intruder With Mental Health Issues Vandalizes Washington State Capitol

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    OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — An intruder broke into the Washington state Capitol and smashed a glass door, set fire to a rug and flag, and knocked over busts of George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr. before he was taken into custody by state troopers.

    The man, who has a history of mental health challenges, was booked into Thurston County Jail on suspicion of first-degree burglary, first-degree arson and first-degree malicious mischief, said Chris Loftis, spokesman for the Washington State Patrol.

    “The suspect’s actions were very purposeful at the Capitol but appears to be an individual experiencing a mental health crisis of some sort,” Loftis said in an email to The Associated Press.

    The man parked in a flower bed in the flag circle in front of the Legislative Building at about 10:15 p.m. Sunday and was spotted by someone with the Department of Enterprise Services, which stewards the state Capitol Campus. They alerted the state patrol.

    The suspect had two hammers and broke in through a ground-floor office window, proceeded upstairs where he damaged items as he moved through the building, Loftis said.

    Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said the flags on the side of the Rotunda were knocked over and one was burned.

    “He broke a glass door to enter the State Reception Room, where he also set fire to several objects, including the original rug, which is a priceless treasure.”

    Diandra Asana, spokesperson for Heck, said the state patrol did not find the incident to be politically motivated.

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  • Judge denies request by ex-detective convicted in Breonna Taylor raid to delay prison

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    LOUISVILLE, Ky. — LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A former Louisville police detective convicted of using excessive force during the deadly Breonna Taylor raid is expected to report to prison this week, after a judge denied his bid to remain free while he appeals the sentence.

    Brett Hankison became the first officer involved in the raid to be convicted on criminal charges when a jury found him guilty of using excessive force in November. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison in July but quickly filed an appeal asking a judge to let him remain free on bond.

    U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings on Monday denied Hankison’s bond request. He is scheduled to report to prison on Thursday. Jennings wrote in her ruling that Hankison “failed to demonstrate a substantial question of law or fact material to his appeal justifying bond.”

    Hankison drew his handgun and fired 10 shots into the windows of Taylor’s apartment the night of the deadly raid, but didn’t hit anyone. Some of his shots flew into a neighboring apartment, nearly striking two people inside.

    Jennings said during Hankison’s sentencing that she was “startled” that no one was injured by Hankison’s shots. Hankison’s first federal trial on excessive force charges ended in a mistrial in 2023, and he was acquitted of state charges of wanton endangerment in 2022.

    Ahead of his sentencing, the U.S. Justice Department asked that Hankison be given no prison time.

    Jennings expressed disappointment with the request, saying the Justice Department was treating Hankison’s actions as “an inconsequential crime.”

    Two other officers shot Taylor as they returned fire, after Taylor’s boyfriend opened fire when police broke down the door. Hankison was behind the officers and when the shooting started, he ran to the side of the apartment and fired through the windows.

    Hankison said at trial he was trying to protect his fellow officers, who he believed were coming under fire from someone inside with a rifle.

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  • ACLU Says ICE Is Unlawfully Punishing Immigrants at a Notorious Louisiana Detention Center

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    BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The immigration detainees sent to a notorious Louisiana prison last month are being punished for crimes for which they have already served time, the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday in a lawsuit challenging the government’s decision to hold what it calls the “worst of the worst” there.

    The lawsuit accuses President Donald Trump’s administration of selecting the former slave plantation known as Angola for its “uniquely horrifying history” and intentionally subjecting immigrant detainees to inhumane conditions — including foul water and lacking basic necessities — in violation of the Double Jeopardy clause, which protects people from being punished twice for the same crime.

    The ACLU also alleges some immigrants detained at the newly opened “Louisiana Lockup” should be released because the government failed to deport them within six months of a removal order. The lawsuit cites a 2001 Supreme Court ruling raised in several recent immigration cases, including that of the Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, that says immigration detention should be “nonpunitive.”

    “The anti-immigrant campaign under the guise of ‘Making America Safe Again’ does not remotely outweigh or justify indefinite detention in ‘America’s Bloodiest Prison’ without any of the rights afforded to criminal defendants,” ACLU attorneys argue in a petition reviewed by The Associated Press.

    The AP sent requests for comment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry.

    The lawsuit comes a month after state and federal authorities gathered at the sprawling Louisiana State Penitentiary to announce that the previously shuttered prison complex had been refurbished to house up to 400 immigrant detainees that officials said would include some of the most violent in ICE custody.

    The complex had been nicknamed “the dungeon” because it previously held inmates in solitary cells for more than 23 hours a day.

    ICE repurposed the facility amid an ongoing legal battle over an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” and as Trump continues his large-scale attempt to remove millions of people suspected of entering the country illegally. The federal government has been racing to to expand its deportation infrastructure and, with state allies, has announced other new facilities, including what it calls the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana and the “Cornhusker Clink” in Nebraska. ICE is seeking to detain 100,000 people under a $45 billion expansion Trump signed into law in July.

    At Angola last month, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters the “legendary” maximum security prison, the largest in the nation, had been chosen to house a new ICE facility to encourage people in the U.S. illegally to self-deport. “This facility will hold the most dangerous of criminals,” she said.

    Authorities said the immigration detainees would be isolated from Angola’s thousands of civil prisoners, many of whom are serving life sentences for violent offenses.

    “I know you all in the media will attempt to have a field day with this facility, and you will try to find everything wrong with our operation in an effort to make those who broke the law in some of the most violent ways victims,” Landry, a Republican, said during a news conference last month.

    “If you don’t think that they belong in somewhere like this, you’ve got a problem.”

    The ACLU lawsuit says detainees at “Louisiana Lockup” already were “forced to go on hunger strike” to “demand basic necessities such as medical care, toilet paper, hygiene products and clean drinking water.” Detainees have described a long-neglected facility that was not yet prepared to house them, saying they are contending with mold, dust and ”black” water coming out of showers, court records show.

    Federal and state officials have said those claims are part of a “false narrative” created by the media, and that the hunger strike only occurred after inaccurate reporting.

    The lawsuit was filed in Baton Rouge federal court on behalf of Oscar Hernandez Amaya, a 34-year-old Honduran man who has been in ICE custody for two years. He was transferred to “Louisiana Lockup” last month from an ICE detention center in Pennsylvania.

    Amaya fled Honduras two decades ago after refusing the violent MS-13 gang’s admonition “to torture and kill another human being,” the lawsuit alleges. The gang had recruited him at age 12, court documents say.

    Amaya came to the United States, where he worked “without incident” until 2016. He was arrested that year and later convicted of attempted aggravated assault and sentenced to more than four years in prison. He was released on good-time credits after about two years and then transferred to ICE custody.

    An immigration judge this year awarded Amaya “Convention Against Torture” protection from being returned to Honduras, the lawsuit says, but the U.S. government has failed to deport him to another country.

    “The U.S. Supreme Court has been very clear that immigration detention cannot be used for punitive purposes,” Nora Ahmed, the ACLU of Louisiana’s legal director, told AP. “You cannot serve time for a crime in immigration detention.”

    Mustian reported from New York

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  • Abrego Garcia wins request for hearing on whether smuggling charges are illegally ‘vindictive’

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    HARRISBURG, Pa. — HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge has concluded that the Department of Justice’s prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia on human smuggling charges may be an illegal retaliation after he successfully sued the Trump administration over his deportation to El Salvador.

    The case of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was a construction worker in Maryland, has become a proxy for the partisan struggle over President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration policy and mass deportation agenda.

    U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw late Friday granted a request by lawyers for Abrego Garcia and ordered discovery and an evidentiary hearing in Abrego Garcia’s effort to show that the federal human smuggling case against him in Tennessee is illegally retaliatory.

    Crenshaw said Abrego Garcia had shown that there is “some evidence that the prosecution against him may be indictive.” That evidence included statements by various Trump administration officials and the timeline of the charges being filed.

    The departments of Justice and Homeland Security did not immediately respond to inquiries about the case Saturday.

    In his 16-page ruling, Crenshaw said many statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern,” but one stood out.

    That statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, on a Fox News program after Abrego Garcia was charged in June, seemed to suggest that the Department of Justice charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful deportation case, Crenshaw wrote.

    Blanche’s ”remarkable statements could directly establish that the motivations for Abrego’s criminal charges stem from his exercise of his constitutional and statutory rights” to sue over his deportation “rather than a genuine desire to prosecute him for alleged criminal misconduct,” Crenshaw wrote.

    Likewise, Crenshaw noted that the Department of Homeland Security reopened an investigation into Abrego Garcia days after the U.S. Supreme Court said in April that the Trump administration must work to bring back Abrego Garcia.

    Abrego Garcia was indicted on May 21 and charged June 6, the day the U.S. brought him from a prison in El Salvador back to the U.S. He pleaded not guilty and is now being held in Pennsylvania.

    If convicted in the Tennessee case, Abrego Garcia will be deported, federal officials have said. A U.S. immigration judge has denied Abrego Garcia’s bid for asylum, although he can appeal.

    The Salvadoran national has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the United States illegally as a teenager.

    In 2019, he was arrested by immigration agents. He requested asylum but was not eligible because he had been in the U.S. for more than a year. But the judge ruled he could not be deported to El Salvador, where he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family.

    The human smuggling charges in Tennessee stem from a 2022 traffic stop. He was not charged at the time.

    Trump administration officials have waged a relentless public relations campaign against Abrego Garcia, repeatedly referring to him as a member of the MS-13 gang, among other things, despite the fact he has not been convicted of any crimes.

    Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have denounced the criminal charges and the deportation efforts, saying they are an attempt to punish him for standing up to the administration.

    Abrego Garcia contends that, while imprisoned in El Salvador, he suffered beatings, sleep deprivation and psychological torture. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has denied those allegations.

    ___

    Follow Marc Levy on X at: https://x.com/timelywriter

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  • Abrego Garcia Wins Request for Hearing on Whether Smuggling Charges Are Illegally ‘Vindictive’

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    HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge has concluded that the Department of Justice’s prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia on human smuggling charges may be an illegal retaliation after he successfully sued the Trump administration over his deportation to El Salvador.

    The case of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was a construction worker in Maryland, has become a proxy for the partisan struggle over President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration policy and mass deportation agenda.

    U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw late Friday granted a request by lawyers for Abrego Garcia and ordered discovery and an evidentiary hearing in Abrego Garcia’s effort to show that the federal human smuggling case against him in Tennessee is illegally retaliatory.

    Crenshaw said Abrego Garcia had shown that there is “some evidence that the prosecution against him may be indictive.” That evidence included statements by various Trump administration officials and the timeline of the charges being filed.

    The departments of Justice and Homeland Security did not immediately respond to inquiries about the case Saturday.

    In his 16-page ruling, Crenshaw said many statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern,” but one stood out.

    That statement by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, on a Fox News program after Abrego Garcia was charged in June, seemed to suggest that the Department of Justice charged Abrego Garcia because he won his wrongful deportation case, Crenshaw wrote.

    Blanche’s ”remarkable statements could directly establish that the motivations for Abrego’s criminal charges stem from his exercise of his constitutional and statutory rights” to sue over his deportation “rather than a genuine desire to prosecute him for alleged criminal misconduct,” Crenshaw wrote.

    Likewise, Crenshaw noted that the Department of Homeland Security reopened an investigation into Abrego Garcia days after the U.S. Supreme Court said in April that the Trump administration must work to bring back Abrego Garcia.

    If convicted in the Tennessee case, Abrego Garcia will be deported, federal officials have said. A U.S. immigration judge has denied Abrego Garcia’s bid for asylum, although he can appeal.

    In 2019, he was arrested by immigration agents. He requested asylum but was not eligible because he had been in the U.S. for more than a year. But the judge ruled he could not be deported to El Salvador, where he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family.

    The human smuggling charges in Tennessee stem from a 2022 traffic stop. He was not charged at the time.

    Trump administration officials have waged a relentless public relations campaign against Abrego Garcia, repeatedly referring to him as a member of the MS-13 gang, among other things, despite the fact he has not been convicted of any crimes.

    Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have denounced the criminal charges and the deportation efforts, saying they are an attempt to punish him for standing up to the administration.

    Abrego Garcia contends that, while imprisoned in El Salvador, he suffered beatings, sleep deprivation and psychological torture. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has denied those allegations.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

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  • Tyrese Gibson booked into Georgia jail and released on bond following cruelty to animal charge

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    Tyrese Gibson was booked into a Georgia jail early Friday, a week after he failed to turn himself in following an arrest warrant for cruelty to animals, police said.

    Gibson was released the same day on a $20,000 bond, Fulton County Police Captain Nicole Dwyer said. He has still not turned his four Cane Corso dogs to police, who authorities say killed a neighbor’s small dog in mid-September and had roamed the neighborhood unsupervised at various times over the past few months.

    “We are glad he did the right thing and turned himself in,” Dwyer wrote to The Associated Press, noting the four dogs are still unaccounted for.

    Gibson’s lawyer, Gabe Banks, wrote to the AP Friday that his legal team secured a consent bond, meaning the terms of his bond were set before he voluntarily turned himself in. Banks wrote Gibson “has cooperated fully with legal authorities and will continue to do so until this matter is resolved.”

    Banks had previously told AP that the actor wasn’t home when the incident took place and “immediately made the difficult decision to rehome his dogs to a safe and loving environment,” including two adult dogs and their three puppies.

    A search warrant for the “Fast & Furious” actor’s property was issued alongside the arrest warrant days after the Sept. 18 incident, when the dogs attacked a small spaniel owned by a neighbor about a half a mile away from Gibson’s house. The dog was rushed to a veterinary hospital, but did not survive, Dwyer said.

    The dogs were seen on camera minutes later at the next-door neighbor’s house, where the owner called police to report she couldn’t reach her car because of the animals. Animal control officers responded and were able to keep the dogs back while the neighbor went to her vehicle.

    Gibson had initially told police he would surrender his dogs on Sept 22, but when officers arrived, he said he needed a few more days, according to a police press release.

    Gibson posted a video to Instagram that included various clips of his dogs early Monday and reposted it the following day with a statement from him and his lawyer. Banks wrote Gibson had dealt with stalkers for years, and “his only motivation in bringing these dogs into his life was to protect his family and provide peace of mind.”

    Banks added the dogs weren’t “trained to be vicious,” and “had never harmed a child, a person, or another dog. This tragic event is shocking and traumatizing for him and his family — and he can only imagine how devastating it has been for the family who lost their pet.”

    “I had no idea I would ever wake up to this nightmare, and I know the family must feel the same way. To them, please know that my heart is broken for you,” Gibson said in the statement. “I am praying for your healing and for your beloved pet, who never deserved this. I remain committed to facing this matter with honesty, responsibility, and compassion.”

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  • Judge remains undecided on treatment plan for man charged with stalking Jennifer Aniston

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    LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge remained undecided Friday on the treatment and placement plan for a man charged with stalking Jennifer Aniston and ramming his car into the front gate of her home.

    Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, a 48-year-old from Mississippi, has pleaded not guilty to felony stalking and vandalism. But in May, Judge Maria Cavalluzzi found him not competent to stand trial after evaluations from two experts. At Friday’s hearing in a Los Angeles court dedicated to mental health cases, she heard arguments on Carwyle’s treatment and placement.

    Aniston’s lawyer, Blair Berk, spoke on her behalf for the first time, detailing two years of Carwyle’s harassment and stalking, including various failed attempts to make physical contact with the actor.

    Cavalluzzi said she leaned toward sending Carwyle to a mental health treatment alternative to imprisonment. She requested another hearing, scheduled for later this month, to hear from a mental health professional before making a final decision.

    Prosecutors and Aniston’s attorney will have a chance to weigh in, Cavalluzzi said.

    The judge acknowledged Aniston’s “very real” fear, but she said she can’t ignore the opinions of mental health professionals who have evaluated Carwyle and deemed him not a danger to society. The alternative treatment option offers community-based housing, treatment and support services as opposed to incarceration.

    Prosecutors alleged Carwyle had been harassing the “Friends” star with a flood of voicemail, email and social media messages for two years before driving his Chrysler PT Cruiser through the gate of her home in the wealthy Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles on May 5, “only feet away from where she was,” Berk said.

    Carwyle had a stated and “persistent delusion” to impregnate Aniston with three children, Berk said, and “there is simply no way to prevent him from carrying out his delusion if he walks out.”

    The prosecution expressed concern that if Carwyle were offered the treatment in Los Angeles, nothing would stop him “from traveling those few miles to Ms. Aniston,” Berk said.

    Berk and William Donovan, the deputy district attorney, argued Carwyle was a present danger to Aniston and those around her. Berk said he attempted to enter her property twice, but was turned away.

    Carwyle’s lawyer, Robert Krauss, said his client qualifies for alternative treatment, arguing that he hasn’t been convicted of violent crimes. Granting him alternative treatment, “is not like giving him a break or showing him leniency,” Krauss said. “Its just one thing and one thing only — and that is absolute, pure faithfulness of the law.”

    Krauss also referenced a report from the probation department, which recommended Carwyle be granted probation and 90 days in jail if convicted, much less than the over three years maximum sentence for his two charges. Carwyle has been in jail since May and, if convicted, could be let out with time served.

    Carwyle was present at the hearing and addressed questions from Cavalluzzi, saying he “wasn’t right in the head,” when asked about the text messages he sent Aniston. He said he has been taking medication, which is keeping him focused, and admitted his wrongdoing.

    When Cavalluzzi asked how she can be sure he won’t walk away from the treatment program — a stated concern from the prosecution — Carwyle responded, “You have my word.”

    Berk said Carwyle “traveled thousands of miles over a year ago “after sending thousands of messages” that reflected “his delusions and intentions to not just make contact with Ms. Aniston, but to commit criminal wrongs against her, sexual violence against her.” She added that Carwyle stressed in his messaging that he “would be unabated by doctors or others or FBI intervening.”

    Donovan argued that a state hospital is a “much safer, much more effective place for him to go,” and will offer the treatment Carwyle needs to address his delusions. The prosecution also argued there’s no evidence that Carwyle’s delusions toward Aniston have stopped, even with medication.

    Carwyle has been under involuntary medication for the past few months. Krauss said that Carwyle’s actions toward Aniston were “just the product of psychosis from someone who is unmedicated.” The government must keep its “promise of treatment rather than punishment and of rehabilitation rather than incarceration,” he said.

    The hearing was postponed several times in recent months as Carwyle at first objected to the incompetence finding and asked for an opinion, and both sides sought more time to examine the case.

    Carwyle remains jailed, but he is under a judge’s order not to contact or get near Aniston.

    Authorities said Aniston was home at the time of the gate crash, but he did not come into contact with her. A security guard stopped him in her driveway until police arrived. No one was injured.

    Carwyle also faces an aggravating circumstance of the threat of great bodily harm.

    Aniston became one of the biggest stars in television in her 10 years on NBC’s “Friends.” She won an Emmy Award for best lead actress in a comedy for the role, and she has been nominated for nine more. She currently stars in “The Morning Show” on Apple TV+.

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  • Judge Remains Undecided on Treatment Plan for Man Charged With Stalking Jennifer Aniston

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    LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge remained undecided Friday on the treatment and placement plan for a man charged with stalking Jennifer Aniston and ramming his car into the front gate of her home.

    Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, a 48-year-old from Mississippi, has pleaded not guilty to felony stalking and vandalism. But in May, Judge Maria Cavalluzzi found him not competent to stand trial after evaluations from two experts. At Friday’s hearing in a Los Angeles court dedicated to mental health cases, she heard arguments on Carwyle’s treatment and placement.

    Aniston’s lawyer, Blair Berk, spoke on her behalf for the first time, detailing two years of Carwyle’s harassment and stalking, including various failed attempts to make physical contact with the actor.

    Cavalluzzi said she leaned toward sending Carwyle to a mental health treatment alternative to imprisonment. She requested another hearing, scheduled for later this month, to hear from a mental health professional before making a final decision.

    Prosecutors and Aniston’s attorney will have a chance to weigh in, Cavalluzzi said.

    The judge acknowledged Aniston’s “very real” fear, but she said she can’t ignore the opinions of mental health professionals who have evaluated Carwyle and deemed him not a danger to society. The alternative treatment option offers community-based housing, treatment and support services as opposed to incarceration.


    Harassment started 2 years ago, prosecutors say

    Prosecutors alleged Carwyle had been harassing the “Friends” star with a flood of voicemail, email and social media messages for two years before driving his Chrysler PT Cruiser through the gate of her home in the wealthy Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles on May 5, “only feet away from where she was,” Berk said.

    Carwyle had a stated and “persistent delusion” to impregnate Aniston with three children, Berk said, and “there is simply no way to prevent him from carrying out his delusion if he walks out.”

    The prosecution expressed concern that if Carwyle were offered the treatment in Los Angeles, nothing would stop him “from traveling those few miles to Ms. Aniston,” Berk said.

    Berk and William Donovan, the deputy district attorney, argued Carwyle was a present danger to Aniston and those around her. Berk said he attempted to enter her property twice, but was turned away.

    Carwyle’s lawyer, Robert Krauss, said his client qualifies for alternative treatment, arguing that he hasn’t been convicted of violent crimes. Granting him alternative treatment, “is not like giving him a break or showing him leniency,” Krauss said. “Its just one thing and one thing only — and that is absolute, pure faithfulness of the law.”

    Krauss also referenced a report from the probation department, which recommended Carwyle be granted probation and 90 days in jail if convicted, much less than the over three years maximum sentence for his two charges. Carwyle has been in jail since May and, if convicted, could be let out with time served.


    Suspect says he won’t walk away from treatment

    Carwyle was present at the hearing and addressed questions from Cavalluzzi, saying he “wasn’t right in the head,” when asked about the text messages he sent Aniston. He said he has been taking medication, which is keeping him focused, and admitted his wrongdoing.

    When Cavalluzzi asked how she can be sure he won’t walk away from the treatment program — a stated concern from the prosecution — Carwyle responded, “You have my word.”

    Berk said Carwyle “traveled thousands of miles over a year ago “after sending thousands of messages” that reflected “his delusions and intentions to not just make contact with Ms. Aniston, but to commit criminal wrongs against her, sexual violence against her.” She added that Carwyle stressed in his messaging that he “would be unabated by doctors or others or FBI intervening.”

    Donovan argued that a state hospital is a “much safer, much more effective place for him to go,” and will offer the treatment Carwyle needs to address his delusions. The prosecution also argued there’s no evidence that Carwyle’s delusions toward Aniston have stopped, even with medication.

    Carwyle has been under involuntary medication for the past few months. Krauss said that Carwyle’s actions toward Aniston were “just the product of psychosis from someone who is unmedicated.” The government must keep its “promise of treatment rather than punishment and of rehabilitation rather than incarceration,” he said.

    The hearing was postponed several times in recent months as Carwyle at first objected to the incompetence finding and asked for an opinion, and both sides sought more time to examine the case.

    Carwyle remains jailed, but he is under a judge’s order not to contact or get near Aniston.

    Authorities said Aniston was home at the time of the gate crash, but he did not come into contact with her. A security guard stopped him in her driveway until police arrived. No one was injured.

    Carwyle also faces an aggravating circumstance of the threat of great bodily harm.

    Aniston became one of the biggest stars in television in her 10 years on NBC’s “Friends.” She won an Emmy Award for best lead actress in a comedy for the role, and she has been nominated for nine more. She currently stars in “The Morning Show” on Apple TV+.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Sept. 2025

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  • Feds reimburse Florida $608 million for ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ costs

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    Federal officials on Friday confirmed that Florida has been reimbursed $608 million for the costs of building and running an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades, exposing “Alligator Alcatraz” to the risk of being ordered to close for a second time.

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in an email that the state of Florida was awarded its full reimbursement request.

    The reimbursement exposes the state of Florida to being forced to unwind operations at the remote facility for a second time because of a federal judge’s injunction in August. The Miami judge agreed with environmental groups who had sued that the site wasn’t given a proper environmental review before it was converted into an immigration detention center and gave Florida two months to wind down operations.

    The judge’s injunction, however, was put on hold for the time being by an appellate court panel in Atlanta that said the state-run facility didn’t need to undergo a federally required environmental impact study because Florida had yet to receive federal money for the project.

    “If the federal defendants ultimately decide to approve that request and reimburse Florida for its expenditures related to the facility, they may need to first conduct an EIS (environmental impact statement),” the three-judge appellate court panel wrote last month.

    The appellate panel decision allowed the detention center to stay open and put a stop to wind-down efforts.

    President Donald Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.

    Environmental groups that had sued the federal and state governments said the confirmation of the reimbursement showed that the Florida-built facility was a federal project “from the jump.”

    “This is a federal project being built with federal funds that’s required by federal law to go through a complete environmental review,” Elise Bennett, Florida and Caribbean director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “We’ll do everything we can to stop this lawless, destructive and wasteful debacle.”

    ___

    Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social

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  • Texas megachurch founder Robert Morris pleads guilty to child sex abuse charges

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    The founder of a Texas megachurch who resigned last year after a woman in Oklahoma accused the pastor of sexually abusing her in the 1980s pleaded guilty Thursday to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child, authorities said.

    Robert Preston Morris, 64, entered the pleas before a judge in Oklahoma’s Osage County as part of a plea agreement, according to the state attorney general’s office.

    The abuse began in 1982 when the victim was 12 and Morris was a traveling evangelist staying in Hominy, Oklahoma, with her family, according to the statement by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond. The abuse continued over the next four years, the statement said.

    Morris was the senior pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, where he led one of the nation’s largest megachurches until his resignation. He was indicted earlier this year by an Oklahoma grand jury. Under the plea agreement, Morris received a 10-year suspended sentence with the first six months to be served in the Osage County Jail.

    Morris was handcuffed and wearing a suit as he was escorted out of court on Thursday by two sheriff’s deputies.

    The victim, Cindy Clemishire, who is now 55, said in a statement that “justice has finally been served, and the man who manipulated, groomed and abused me as a 12-year-old innocent girl is finally going to be behind bars.” The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Clemishire has done.

    “My hope is that many victims hear my story, and it can help lift their shame and allow them to speak up,” she said. “I hope that laws continue to change and new ones are written so children and victims’ rights are better protected. I hope that people understand the only way to stop child sexual abuse is to speak up when it happens or is suspected.”

    Morris must register as a sex offender and will be supervised by Texas authorities via interstate compact. He also was ordered to pay his costs of incarceration, including any medical expenses, and restitution to the victim.

    One of Morris’ attorneys, Bill Mateja, said Morris wanted to accept responsibility for his conduct, and wanted to bring the legal matter to an end for the sake of him and his family and Clemishire and her family.

    “While he believes that he long since accepted responsibility in the eyes of God and that Gateway Church was a manifestation of that acceptance, he readily accepted responsibility in the eyes of the law,” Mateja said.

    Mateja said Morris wanted to apologize to Clemishire and her family for his conduct and asked for forgiveness.

    When asked about the allegations last year by The Christian Post, Morris said in a statement to the publication that when he was in his early 20s he was “involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying.” He said it was “kissing and petting, not intercourse, but it was wrong.”

    Gateway Church was founded by Morris in 2000. He has been politically active and formerly served on President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board. The church hosted Trump on its Dallas campus in 2020 for a discussion on race relations and the economy.

    Gateway Church declined to comment Thursday.

    The pleas were entered before Osage County District Special Judge Cindy Pickerill.

    “There can be no tolerance for those who sexually prey on children,” Drummond said. “This case is all the more despicable because the perpetrator was a pastor who exploited his position of trust and authority. The victim in this case has waited far too many years for this day.”

    ____

    This story has been corrected to say that Robert Morris was indicted earlier this year, not last year.

    ____

    Associated Press journalist John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

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  • Behind bars but not silenced: Veteran Turkish columnist perseveres through ‘prison journalism’

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    ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish journalist Fatih Altayli has been imprisoned, but his reporting remains defiantly alive.

    From behind bars, the veteran journalist delivers news and sharp political commentary on his YouTube channel through letters relayed by his lawyers. The letters are read aloud by an assistant in an initiative Altayli’s peers have dubbed “prison journalism.”

    “Fatih Altayli has launched a new form of journalism: prison journalism,” fellow journalist Murat Yetkin, wrote on his news website, Yetkin Report. “Drawing on visits from legislators, letters, and his lawyers — he continues his journalism uninterrupted, conveying not only information from inside but also insights about the outside world.”

    Altayli, whose YouTube program attracts hundreds of thousands of views daily, was arrested in June on charges of threatening President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an accusation he strongly denies. Critics say his arrest, which comes amid a deepening crackdown on the opposition, was aimed at silencing a government critic.

    Prosecutors accuse Altayli of issuing and publicly disseminating a threat, a criminal charge under Turkish penal law, and are seeking a minimum five-year prison sentence. The first hearing of the trial is set for Friday.

    The charges stem from a comment he made on his YouTube program, “Fatih Altayli Comments,” following a recent poll that reportedly showed more than 70% of the public opposed a lifetime presidency for Erdogan, who has been in power for more than two decades.

    On the show, Altayli said he wasn’t surprised by the results of the poll and that the Turkish people preferred checks on authority.

    “Look at the history of this nation,” he said. “This is a nation which strangled its sultan when they didn’t like him or want him. There are quite a few Ottoman sultans who were assassinated, strangled, or whose deaths were made to look like suicide.”

    The 63-year-old journalist, columnist and television presenter whose career spans decades, was detained from his home on June 21, a day after the comment was aired – and charged with threatening the president.

    The Istanbul Bar Association described the detention order against Altayli as unlawful, insisting that his comment did not constitute a “threat” and should be considered as freedom of expression.

    The government-run Department for Combating Disinformation has responded to criticism over Altayli’s arrest, insisting that issuing a threat is a criminal offense and denouncing what it described as a coordinated campaign to manipulate public opinion and present the alleged threat as freedom of expression.

    Altayli has since turned his cell in the notorious high-security Silivri prison near Istanbul — now renamed Marmara Prison Campus — into a newsroom of sorts. He often writes commentary critical of the political climate that led to his imprisonment and shares news he gathers from a steady stream of visitors, including politicians and legal advisers.

    The YouTube program, now rebranded as “Fatih Altayli Cannot Comment,” opens with the journalist’s empty chair. His assistant, Emre Acar, reads Altayli’s letter out loud before a guest commentator, which has included journalists, politicians, academicians, actors and musicians, temporarily occupies the seat and delivers his or her views in a show of support.

    Altayli’s written commentaries, meanwhile, continue to be published on his personal website.

    Yetkin said many had assumed that because of his privileged lifestyle, Altayli would bow to pressure.

    “But Fatih didn’t bow. I won’t say he’s maintained his line; he’s elevated it. In my view, he’s standing firmer than before,” Yetkin wrote.

    Altayli’s “prison journalism” has included an interview with fellow inmate Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, who was arrested in March on corruption charges. That interview was conducted through written questions and answers exchanged through their lawyers. Altayli also gives news of other prominent prisoners at Silivri.

    With a majority of mainstream media in Turkey owned by pro-government businesses or directly controlled by the government, many independent journalists have lost their jobs and have turned to YouTube for uncensored reporting.

    A total of 17 journalists and other media sector workers, including Altayli, are currently behind bars, according to the Turkish Journalists’ Syndicate. The government insists the journalists face prosecution for criminal acts, not for their journalistic work.

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  • Prosecutors seek over 11 years in prison for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

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    NEW YORK — Prosecutors urged a New York federal judge Tuesday to send Sean “Diddy” Combs to prison for over 11 years following his conviction on prostitution-related charges, citing one of his accusers who said she lives in fear of the music mogul’s release from detention.

    “His crimes of conviction are serious and have warranted sentences over ten years in multiple cases for defendants who, like Sean Combs, engaged in violence and put others in fear,” they wrote in a presentence submission requesting at least 11 years and three months in prison.

    They filed their sentencing recommendation shortly after midnight, including letters from some of his accusers describing how his violence and demands had impacted their lives.

    They called Combs “unrepentant” and said Combs had conceded his acts of violence and abuse throughout his trial but “incredibly, … he now argues that his victims should shoulder the blame.”

    Combs, 55, has remained jailed since his July conviction on charges related to arranging male sex workers to travel to hotels or residences where he directed them to have sex with his girlfriends.

    The elaborate dayslong, drug-fueled sexual events were often filmed by Combs. Defense attorneys have asked that he be sentenced to no more than 14 months in prison. Sentencing is set for Friday.

    In July, Combs was convicted of two charges for violating the Mann Act, which outlaws interstate commerce related to prostitution, for arranging the paid sexual encounters between his girlfriends and male sex workers. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

    The same jury acquitted the Bad Boy Records founder of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have resulted in a life sentence.

    Last week, the defense submitted its presentence arguments, saying Combs has suffered enough during his nearly 13 months behind bars that he should be freed soon.

    They wrote that he became a changed man in a Brooklyn federal lockup, where he has been under constant suicide watch and learned to react calmly to threats rather than violently, even when a fellow inmate confronted him with a shiv.

    They said Combs has realized that his overuse of drugs, including some prescribed by doctors, had contributed to violent acts he participated in.

    Prosecutors said Combs was now trying to cast himself as a victim.

    “He is not the victim,” they wrote. “The Court should focus on the very real effects that the defendant’s conduct had on the lives of the actual victims, his victims.”

    At trial, two of Combs’ former girlfriends testified that they felt forced to participate in the drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers as Combs watched and sometimes filmed.

    R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura described being beaten by Combs when she displeased him during their decadelong relationship. Another ex-girlfriend, testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” said she felt pressured to perform sexually with male sex workers. She testified that an enraged Combs once put her in a chokehold and punched her in the face.

    In a letter accompanying the prosecutors’ submission, Cassie wrote that she testified while nine months pregnant during Combs’ trial “in front of a packed courtroom about the most traumatic and horrifying chapter in my life. I testified that from age nineteen, Sean Combs used violence, threats, substances, and control over my career to trap me in over a decade of abuse.”

    Cassie wrote that Combs controlled her like a puppet.

    “These events were degrading and disgusting, leaving me with infections, illnesses, and days of physical and emotional exhaustion before he demanded it all again. Sex acts became my full-time job, used as the only way to stay in his good graces,” she said.

    Cassie said she still has nightmares and flashbacks on an everyday basis and requires psychological care to cope.

    “My worries that Sean Combs or his associates will come after me and my family is my reality. I have in fact moved my family out of the New York area and am keeping as private and quiet as I possibly can because I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up about his abuse at trial,” Cassie said.

    The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has.

    In an indictment, prosecutors asserted that Combs used his fame, wealth and violence to force and manipulate Cassie and Jane, now-ex-girlfriends, into the sexual performances he called “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”

    After Combs was convicted, Judge Arun Subramanian immediately refused a defense request to grant him bail.

    He denied it again in August as he rejected Combs’ $50 million bail proposal, saying the hip hop impresario hadn’t proven that he did not pose a flight risk or danger, nor shown an “exceptional circumstance” after a conviction that otherwise requires detention.

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