The first witness at the federal sex trafficking trial of three brothers, two of them high-end real estate brokers, testified Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom that the thrill of attending a party at actor Zac Efron’s apartment turned into a nightmare when, hours later, one of the brothers repeatedly raped her at their home and taunted her about it.
The woman, who testified under the pseudonym Katie Moore, is one of several alleged victims expected to testify against brothers Tal, Oren and Alon Alexander, who are accused of teaming up to drug and rape women and girls over several years.
Lawyers for the brothers say the sex was consensual.
Prosecutors say the Alexander brothers used their ties to the wealthy and famous to lure multiple victims.
The woman said she was 20, an anthropology major in college, when she met two of the brothers at the party at Efron’s New York apartment in 2012. She accompanied a friend who had recently met Tal Alexander, and who invited her there to watch the last game of the 2012 NBA Finals. She said she had little interaction with Efron, who is not accused of any wrongdoing.
She testified that at Efron’s apartment, she was offered alcohol, and that she, Tal Alexander and her friend took the drug Molly. She said it was her first time taking the drug and that she felt “jitteriness” after doing so.
In this courtroom sketch, a witness, testifying under the pseudonym Katie Moore, cries on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court on the first day of the sex trafficking trial of Alon Alexander, Oren Alexander and Tal Alexander, on Jan. 27, 2026, in New York.
Elizabeth Williams via AP
After the game, the woman went to an afterparty at a Manhattan nightclub, where she said she was given a drink and remembered little afterward until she woke up naked on a bed in another apartment with Alon Alexander, also naked, standing over her. She said she repeatedly tried to get up, but he kept pushing her back, prompting her to say: “I don’t want to have sex with you.”
“Haha, you already did,” she recalled him saying as he “laughed in my face.”
She said he then overpowered and raped her. While it was happening, Tal Alexander walked into the room briefly, but did nothing to stop the attack, the woman told the jury. He seemed “super nonchalant,” she said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Smyser said in her opening statement to the jury that the Alexander brothers “masqueraded as party boys when really they were predators.”
She described the brothers as “partners in crime.”
“Woman after woman, rape after rape,” Smyser said.
Smyser said they used “whatever means necessary” including luxury accommodations, flights, drugs, alcohol and sometimes brute force to lure women into situations where they could be raped.
Attorney Teny Geragos, representing Oren Alexander, urged the jury to reject prosecutors’ “monstrous story.”
She said the brothers, who got out of college in 2008, were successful, ambitious and sometimes arrogant as they pursued women in nightclubs, bars, restaurants and online in what is known as “hookup culture,” hoping to have as much sex as possible.
“That it is not trafficking, that is dating,” Geragos said.
“You may find this behavior immoral, but it is not criminal,” Geragos said. She said some of the brothers’ accusers were hoping to enrich themselves with lawsuits and spoke of themselves as victims only after feeling regret that they had done illegal drugs or had sex outside of relationships with their boyfriends.
Attorney Deanna Paul, representing Tal Alexander, warned jurors that the subject matter of the case was disturbing and will seem like an R-rated movie, especially after prosecutors portrayed the brothers as “monsters.”
“In their early 20s, Tal and his brothers were party boys. They were womanizers. They slept with many, many women,” she said.
She urged jurors to reject the criminal charges against the brothers if they conclude that the accusers’ testimony was unreliable.
Oren and Tal Alexander were real estate dealers who specialized in high-end properties in Miami, New York and Los Angeles. Their brother, Alon, graduated from New York Law School before running the family’s private security firm. Tal is 39 years old while Alon and Oren, who are twins, are 38.
An indictment alleges that the men conspired to entice women to join them at vacation destinations such as New York’s Hamptons by providing flights and luxury hotel rooms.
The brothers have been held without bail since their December 2024 arrest in Miami, where they lived.
During her testimony Tuesday, the trial’s first witness said she fled the room where Alon Alexander had attacked her after he fell asleep. The woman remained composed through much of her testimony, though she got choked up several times. She cried as she recalled reaching out several years after the attack to friends she had told about the experience so she could be reminded that others loved her.
TikTok has agreed to settle the first in a series of closely-watched product liability cases, bowing out on the eve of a landmark trial that could upend how social media giants engage their youngest users and leave tech titans on the hook for billions in damages.
The settlement was reached as jury selection was set to begin in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday and comes a week after Snap reached a deal with the same plaintiff, a Chico, Calif., woman who said she became addicted to social media starting in elementary school.
“This settlement should come as no surprise because that damning evidence is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, an industry watchdog. “This was only the first case — there are hundreds of parents and school districts in the social media addiction trials that start today, and sadly, new families every day who are speaking out and bringing Big Tech to court for its deliberately harmful products.”
TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Monday’s settlement.
“The Parties are pleased to have been able to resolve this matter in an amicable manner,” Snap spokeswoman Monique Bellamy said of the settlement.
The remaining defendants, Instagram’s parent company Meta and Google’s YouTube, still face claims that their products are “defective” and designed to keep children hooked to apps its makers know are harmful.
Those same arguments are at the heart of at least 2,500 cases currently pending together in state and federal courts. The Los Angeles trial is among a handful of bellwethers meant to clarify the uncharted legal terrain.
Social media companies are protected by the 1st Amendment and by Section 230, a decades-old law that shields internet companies from liability for what users produce and share on their platforms.
Attorneys for the Chico plaintiff, referred to in court documents as K.G.M., say the apps were built and refined to snare youngsters and keep them on the platforms without regard for dangers the companies knew lurked there, including sexual predation, bullying and promotion of self-harm and even suicide.
As the claims against Meta and YouTube head to trial, jurors will be asked to weigh whether those dangers are incidental or inherent, and if social media companies can be held responsible for the harm families say flowed from their children’s feeds.
Scores of potential jurors filled the beige terrazzo hallway outside Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl’s courtroom downtown Tuesday morning, most passing the time on social apps on their phones. Some watched short-form videos while others thumbed through their feeds, pausing every so often to tap a like on a post.
Roughly 450 Angelenos will be vetted this week for spots on the jury. The trial is expected to last through March.
Instagram is 15 years old, YouTube almost 21. Finding Angelenos unfamiliar with either is likely impossible. The trial comes at a moment when public opinion around social media has soured, with a growing sentiment among parents, mental health professionals, lawmakers and even children themselves that the apps do more harm than good.
The judge told prospective jurors that lawyers on the case could not review their online profiles. “We know many of you use defendants’ social media and video-sharing platforms, and you’re not being asked to stop, but until you’re excused, you should not change how you use social media and you should not investigate features you don’t usually use,” Kuhl said in court.
Phones are now banned in California public school classrooms. Many private schools impose strict rules around when and how social media can be used.
In study after study, pluralities of young users — among them the youngest of “Anxious Generation” Zoomers and the oldest Gen Alpha’s iPad kids — now say they spend too much time on the apps. A disputed but growing body of research suggests some portion are addicted.
According to a study last spring by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, roughly half of teens say social media is bad for people their age, that it interferes with their sleep and that it hurts their productivity. Almost a quarter say it has brought down their grades. And 1 in 5 say it has hurt their mental health.
K.G.M., the first bellwether plaintiff, said she started watching YouTube at age 6, and was uploading content to the site by age 8.
Today, about 85% of children under 12 watch YouTube and half of those watch it daily, according to Pew.
At 9, according to K.G.M.’s lawsuit, she got her first iPhone and joined Instagram.
By the time she joined Snapchat at age 13, she was spending almost every waking hour scrolling, posting and agonizing over her engagement, despite bullying from peers, hate comments from strangers and sexually explicit overtures from adult men.
“When I was in middle school, I used to go and hide in the counselor’s office … just to go on my phone,” she said in a deposition last year.
Around that time, she said Instagram began serving her content about self-harm and restrictive eating.
“I believe that social media, her addiction to social media, has changed the way her brain works,” the plaintiff’s mother, Karen, said in a related filing. “She has no long-term memory. She can’t live without a phone. She is willing to go to battle if you were even to touch her phone.”
“There became a point where she was so addicted that I could not get the phone out of her hand,” she said.
K.G.M.’s sister was even more blunt.
“Whenever my mom would take her phone away … she would have a meltdown like someone had died,” the sister said. “She would have so many meltdowns anytime her phone was taken away, and it was because she wouldn’t be able to use Instagram.”
“I wish I never downloaded it,” the plaintiff later told her sister, according to the deposition. “I wish I never got it in the first place.”
Boosters of the litigation compare their quest to the fight against Big Tobacco and the opioid-maker Purdue.
“This is the beginning of the trial of our generation,” said Haworth, the tech industry watchdog.
But the gulf between public opinion and civil culpability is vast, attorneys for the platforms say. Social media addiction is not a formal clinical diagnosis, and proving that it exists, and that the companies bear responsibility for it, will be an uphill battle.
Lawyers for YouTube have sought to further complicate the picture by claiming their video-sharing site is not social media at all and cannot be lumped in with the likes of Instagram and TikTok.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs say such distinctions are ephemeral, pointing out that YouTube has by far the youngest group of users, many of whom say the platform was an on-ramp to the world of social media.
“I am equally shocked … by the internal documents that I have seen from all four of these defendants regarding their knowing decision to addict kids to a platform knowing it would be bad for them,” said attorney Matthew Bergman of the Social Media Victims Law Center. “To me they are all outrageous in their decision to elevate their profits over the safety of kids.”
In less than two weeks, Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit, will head to court to face charges including the alleged sexual assault of four different women. Initially indicted in August by the Norwegian Public Prosecutor’s Office for 32 offenses, this week that agency has added has added six new charges to the case. [Editor’s Note: In Norway, the crime of rape also includes incomplete sexual acts committed against a victim who is unable to resist.]
The most serious of the new charges allegedly occurred in July 2020, when Marius was said to have received and transported at least 3.5 kilos of marijuana from Lørenskog to Tønsberg (locations located an hour and a half away by car), where he delivered it to a person. The 29-year-old, once seen as a symbol of the openness of the monarchy, has acknowledged those allegations as true, with his attorney noting that he was not paid in the incident.
Other new charges are related to two alleged violations of a restraining order, and three offenses against the Traffic Act. They follow his arrest in August of 2024, when he was accused of assaulting his then girlfriend while in his apartment in Frogner, Oslo.
He acknowledged then that he had suffered from “several mental disorders” since adolescence and had “struggled with substance abuse,” saying then that “I will now resume this treatment and take it very seriously. Drug use and my diagnoses do not excuse what happened.” He was arrested again in November, this time on allegations of rape. “Our client denies all allegations of sexual abuse, as well as most allegations of violence,” attorney Petar Sekulik told the New York Post of the claims last year.
Marius Borg Høiby
HAKON MOSVOLD LARSEN/Getty Images
Though born to Princess Mette-Marit, Marius Borg Høiby does not have a royal title: his father is businessman Morten Borg, with whom the princess had a relationship before meeting Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, the heir to the Norwegian throne. When the royal couple married in 2001, Marius was 4 years old. Since then, he has grown up as part of the royal family, but does not have a claim to the throne.
The case is but one of the challenges presently faced by Norway’s royals. King Harald, Borg Høiby’s grandfather by marriage, is now 88 years old, and in delicate health. Meanwhile, Princess Mette-Marit is awaiting a possible lung transplant after years of chronic illness that has forced her to withdraw from the official agenda with no date for her return. And just over a year ago, in 2024, Princess Märtha Louise of Norwayresigned from her royal duties to marry the shamanDurek Verret, a union that has caused a break within the family.
Susie Wiles, left, the White House chief of staff in the Trump administration, may be a key witness for the defense in the upcoming trial in Miami of ex-GOP congressman David Rivera. Rivera, who represented a district in Miami-Dade, is accused of being an unregistered agent for Venezuela. When Wiles was a lobbyist, she represented a Venezuelan media company trying to expand into the U.S. market.
Win McNamee
Getty Images
Soon after Susie Wiles ran Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign in Florida, she moved to Washington to join Brian Ballard’s lobbying firm, which was mainly known for its political clout and connections to Florida’s GOP governors.
With her ties to Trump, Wiles brought an instant cachet to Ballard Partners. Among the firm’s new stable of D.C. clients was an improbable, though wealthy, Venezuelan businessman, Raul Gorrin, who was close to President Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, the leader of Venezuela’s socialist revolution.
Gorrin, a lawyer who owned a TV station in Caracas, retained Ballard’s firm in June 2017 to help him expand Globovision as a Spanish-speaking television affiliate in the United States — a challenge given that the city of Miami had declared him persona non grata because of his ties to Maduro. The Federal Communications Commission also has strict limits on foreign ownership of U.S. TV and radio stations.
Gorrin was also hoping to gain access to the new Trump administration, which was threatening economic sanctions against the Maduro regime and Venezuela’s oil industry.
Wiles, whom Trump picked as his White House chief of staff after he won a second presidential term in 2024, may soon have to face questions about her and her former lobbying firm’s relationship with Gorrin. An upcoming federal trial in Miami focuses on criminal charges against former Miami-Dade Republican Congressman David Rivera and political consultant Esther Nuhfer, who are accused of secretly lobbying for the Venezuelan government in 2017 and 2018. Wiles could not be reached for comment this week.
Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera walks out of court after his first Miami federal court appearance before Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022. Pedro Portal Miami Herald file
The defense team’s effort to seek the testimony of Wiles, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Florida’s former U.S. senator, has heightened the stakes of the high-profile case, which is headed for trial a few months after Trump sent the U.S. military to Venezuela in early January to seize Maduro. He and his wife, Cilia Flores, are being held at a federal lockup on drug-trafficking charges in New York.
Lawyers for Rivera and Nuhfer are seeking Wiles’ testimony at the trial starting in mid-March. Rivera and Nuhfer are accused of being unregistered foreign agents for the Venezuelan government. They’re also accused of trying to “normalize” relations between the Maduro regime and the United States while Rivera’s consulting firm landed a head-turning $50-million lobbying contract with the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.
The two defendants have strongly denied the allegations, and hope to undercut the government’s case by showing they were not doing Maduro’s bidding but rather were attempting to get him removed from power. They also want to show that Wiles’ former lobbying firm was attempting to lobby Trump, on behalf of Gorrin, to bring about a regime change in Venezuela.
The lead federal prosecutor, Harold Schimkat, said at a Miami federal court hearing last week that the government will try to quash Wiles’ subpoena, saying: “We don’t see her connection to this case at all.”
But defense attorneys for Rivera and Nuhfer wrote a letter to the White House seeking Wiles as a witness, saying they want to question the former Ballard lobbyist about her “extensive communications” regarding the firm’s $50,000-a-month representation of Gorrin in 2017 and 2018.
The lawyers plan to question her and other Ballard lobbyists about their work to expand Gorrin’s Venezuelan TV station onto AT&T and Comcast broadcast platforms in the United States. But they also want to ask her about what they view as the Ballard firm’s discreet effort to help Gorrin gain access to Trump and other high-ranking officials to broker a regime change in Venezuela — a critical message that they say would help Rivera and Nuhfer’s defense.
Key letter written by Wiles’ former lobbying firm
The lawyers plan to zero in on a Ballard-drafted letter obtained by the Miami Herald that underscored Gorrin’s goal to ease out Maduro as Venezuela’s president and replace him with an opposition leader aligned with the U.S. government. Their bold bid to subpoena Wiles also parallels their effort to seek similar testimony from Rubio, who as Florida’s senator privately met with Rivera, Nuhfer and Gorrin at a hotel in Washington in 2017.
“I happen to know that my government wants a way out, a way to save their skins and fortunes,” says the June 24, 2017, draft letter, which Gorrin had hoped to deliver to Trump at a presidential victory event in Washington four days later. “The opposition, on the other hand, wants a way in but is not unified in how to achieve its goals.
“The domestic violence and poverty and failure of our economic infrastructure is killing my beautiful country,” the letter, signed by Gorrin, goes on to say. “Please tell me who I can work with in your administration to bring about the change we desperately need.”
Gorrin had wanted to deliver the letter to the president at a Trump victory event at the Trump International Hotel on June 28, 2017, but was unable to do so because of restrictions imposed by the Secret Service. While he attended the event, Gorrin never met Trump.
Gorrin meets with Pence in Doral
Later that year, el Nuevo Herald reported that Gorrin met then-Vice President Mike Pence at an event in Doral where he gave a speech to Venezuelan supporters. Brian Ballard set up the meeting between Gorrin and Pence after his lobbying firm retained Gorrin as a client in June 2017, according to lawyers for Rivera and Nuhfer.
Globovisión president Raúl Gorrín shakes hands with Vice President Mike Pence after Pence spoke at an event in Doral, Florida, in 2017. Miami Herald File
At the time, Ballard Partners denied any knowledge of Gorrín’s efforts to influence the Trump administration’s approach to Venezuela or shape a transition of power, el Nuevo Herald reported.
“We’re trying to serve Globovision’s needs in U.S. markets and in various other regulatory things that come up,” Brian Ballard, the firm’s founder and a former lobbyist for Trump’s Florida business dealings, said back then.
Ballard, who authorized taking on Gorrin as a client, is expected to be called as a witness at the trial of Rivera and Nuhfer. He declined an interview request from the Herald.
In a statement issued this week by his lobbying firm’s lawyer, Curt Miner, Brian Ballard stressed that it “had no involvement in Mr. Rivera’s consulting contract with PDVSA,” Venezuela’s national oil company. The state-owned company’s U.S. subsidiary, PDV USA, hired Rivera’s consulting company in March 2017.
“Ballard Partners’ work for Globovision involved Globovision’s efforts to expand its TV network into the U.S. market,” Ballard said in the statement to the Herald. “We fully complied with all legal and regulatory requirements in our work for Globovision. Ballard Partners, if needed, stands ready to be a witness at the trial.”
Technically, Ballard Partners registered as a lobbyist for Gorrin’s company, Globovision, not the businessman himself. But the Washington lobbying firm did not have to register with the government as a foreign agent because of an exemption for representing a nonpolitical, commercial client.
Trump’s presidency has been good for Ballard’s business. The Tallahassee-based firm reported $88.3 million in federal lobbying revenue in 2025. Ballard, which quadrupled its revenue over 2024 and now ranks as the top lobbying firm in Washington, also recently announced an expansion of its consulting services focusing on Venezuela, Latin America, Mexico, Canada and Greenland — in the aftermath of Maduro’s ouster as president.
Letter implores Trump to help broker change in Venezuela
Ballard’s statement to the Herald, however, did not address his lobbying firm’s draft letter for Gorrin. The letter begins with Gorrin complimenting Trump about his “patriotism” and agenda “to make America great again,” saying he has “no doubt” that the president “will succeed.”
“I too am a businessman from Venezuela and love my country,” the letter said. “I want for my country exactly what you are doing for America. I want to make Venezuela great again. We need change and dialogue and peace and progress and democracy.”
“I believe in my heart and soul that if you could direct me to someone in your administration to work with, I will devote every waking minute to a successful resolution of the crisis in Venezuela,” the letter continued. “Like you, I am a businessman who also understands how to negotiate through complicated problems.”
The draft letter for Gorrin was a project handled by another partner in Ballard’s lobbying firm, Sylvester Lukis, according to emails between Lukis and others, including a Miami businessman, Hugo Perera, who also communicated with Gorrin about the letter.
It is unclear if Wiles knew about the draft letter. Other emails show that she was focused on promoting Gorrin’s TV station, Globovision, and corresponded by email with one of the network’s executives as well as Gorrin, Lukis, Ballard, Perera and others, records show.
Fisher Island neighbors
In 2017, Nuhfer introduced Rivera to Perera, who then put them together with Gorrin, who was Perera’s neighbor on exclusive Fisher Island. In turn, Gorrin helped Rivera land his $50-million contract with Venezuela’s oil subsidiary, PDV USA, known as Citgo, which is based in Houston.
Court records show that PDV USA paid Rivera $20 million over a few months in 2017 for “international strategic consulting services,” but then cut him off, saying in a 2020 lawsuit that he did not perform much work to help the company expand its refining business in the United States.
For making the introductions to Gorrin, Rivera paid Perera about $5 million, but has since had a falling out with him. Perera was not charged in the government’s case against Rivera and Nuhfer. Instead, he is cooperating as a witness against them, which has led to Rivera suing him.
Separately, as part of his PDV USA contract, Rivera also paid about $4 million each to Nuhfer and Gorrin. During this same period in 2017, Nuhfer also had a separate consulting contract with Gorrin to push the expansion of his TV station, Globovision, into the U.S. market. Gorrin paid $3.75 million to Nuhfer, Rivera and Perera, according to court records.
This was separate from the $50,000-a-month retainer Globovision had with Ballard Partners to lobby on its behalf.
“The actual reason for the payment, as Ms. Wiles’ similar and concurrent Globovision efforts can corroborate, was likewise to expand Globovision onto ATT and Comcast broadcast platforms and had nothing to do whatever with the normalization of relations for the Venezuelan government of President Maduro,” according to a Dec. 22, 2025, letter sent by lawyers for Rivera and Nuhfer to the White House seeking Wiles’ testimony at their trial.
However, according to their indictment, Rivera and Nuhfer arranged meetings with an unidentified U.S. senator in Washington — Rubio —on two occasions at a private residence and a hotel in the nation’s capital to discuss the U.S.-Venezuelan normalization plan in 2017.
Rivera told Rubio at the residence that Gorrin had persuaded Maduro to accept a deal whereby he would hold free and fair elections, the indictment says. Then, Rivera, Nuhfer and Gorrin met with Rubio at the hotel, with a Venezuelan opposition leader participating by phone, to discuss Venezuela’s issues.
But Gorrin ultimately informed Rivera and Nuhfer that Maduro “refused to agree to hold free and fair elections in Venezuela in exchange for reconciliation with the United States,” according to the indictment.
In a statement, Rivera, who served as a Miami-Dade congressman for one term from 2011 to 2013, has defended his actions by saying he was really working for the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company — not directly as a consultant for the Venezuelan government in the United States — and therefore he didn’t need to register as a foreign agent.
Rivera has also said that his work for PDVSA’s subsidiary in the United States had nothing to do with his separate lobbying efforts that aimed to remove Maduro from power and replace him with an opposition leader.
“Every leader of the Venezuelan opposition I worked with in 2017 — Julio Borges, Lilian Tintori, Henry Ramos Allup — was all done through Raul Gorrin,” Rivera told the Miami Herald. “I met them all through Gorrin.
“When Brian Ballard asked me if Gorrin would help the White House get opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez of prison, Gorrin immediately said yes and helped get Lopez released days later,” Rivera said.
Ballard did not address this or other related matters with the Herald.
Lopez was released from a Venezuelan military prison to house arrest in July 2017, after serving over three years of a nearly 14-year sentence for leading anti-government protests against Maduro. Lopez fled to Spain in 2020.
Ultimately, Gorrin’s efforts on multiple lobbying fronts failed to pan out in the United States. Instead, the first Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Maduro government, Venezuela’s oil industry, government officials and others, including Gorrin.
Gorrin charged in Miami federal court
Gorrin, who is still in Venezuela, was charged in 2018 and again in 2024 with foreign corruption and money laundering in Miami federal court. Ballard stopped representing Gorrin in August 2018, citing a Miami Herald story that had revealed Gorrin was under criminal investigation.
In late 2024, Rivera was charged separately in Washington, with being an unregistered agent for Gorrin. He was accused of trying to lobby a Trump administration official between 2019 and 2020 on behalf of the Venezuelan businessman, whom federal authorities say paid the former congressman $5.5 million while trying to get himself removed from the government’s sanctions list.
Gorrin, who is considered a fugitive by federal prosecutors, provided the Herald with a brief statement through Rivera.
“Susie Wiles was always very professional and very capable,” Gorrin said. “President Trump is fortunate to have her by his side.”
Philip Young, 49, is facing 56 sexual offense charges for alleged abuse of his former wife Joanne Young, 48, including rape and administering a substance with the intent to stupefy or overpower to allow sexual activity.
Joanne Young has waived her legal right to anonymity, drawing parallels to the 2024 trial in France during which Gisele Pelicot waived her right to anonymity to raise awareness about sexual violence. She was drugged and raped by her husband, and dozens of men he invited to join in the abuse, for years in their home.
Voyeurism, possession of indecent images of children and possession of extreme images are among the other charges filed against Young. CBS News’ partner network BBC reports that Young served as a local government councilor with the Conservative party between 2007 and 2010. Prosecutors say the alleged crimes took place between 2010 and 2023.
He is yet to enter a plea, and was remanded in custody after a hearing in December.
Young was to be joined by five other men, aged 31 to 61, also accused of various sexual offenses against his ex-wife, at Winchester Crown Court, a criminal court southwest of London.
Norman Macksoni, 47, pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and possession of extreme images. Dean Hamilton, 47, pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and sexual assault by penetration, as well as two counts of sexual touching.
The three others have not yet entered pleas.
They include Connor Sanderson-Doyle, 31, charged with sexual assault and sexual touching; Richard Wilkins, 61, charged with rape and sexual touching; and Mohammed Hassan, 37, charged with sexual touching.
Wiltshire Police detective superintendent Geoff Smith said in a statement in December that the case against Young and his co-defendants stemmed from a “complex and extensive investigation.”
A Texas jury acquitted a former Uvalde school police officer who was on trial for allegedly failing to act during the massacre at Robb Elementary School in 2022 that left 19 students and two teachers dead.
The jury returned its verdict on Wednesday, around 7:15 p.m.on 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment after 7 hours, 6 minutes and 30 seconds of deliberation. Adrian Gonzales faced up to two years in prison.
“First things first,” Gonzales said after the trial ended. “I want to start by thanking God, my family, my wife, these guys here [legal team]. Thank you to the jury for considering all the evidence and making that verdict.”
Prosecutors alleged the 52-year-old Gonzales, a 10-year police veteran who had led an active shooter response training course two months before the shooting, abandoned his training and did not try to stop gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school. Over more than two weeks of testimony, prosecutors called witnesses who recounted the horrors of the massacre and showed photographs of the scene, many of them graphic.
The trial was held in Corpus Christi at the request of Gonzales’s attorneys, who argued he could not receive a fair trial in Uvalde.
During closing arguments on Wednesday morning, a prosecutor urged the jury to convict in order to send a message that law enforcement must fulfill their duty to protect when a gunman threatens children.
Gonzales did not take the stand in his own defense. He has insisted he didn’t freeze in the chaotic early moments and never saw the gunman, and his lawyers argue that three officers on the other side of the school saw the gunman still outside and didn’t fire a shot.
Body camera footage shows Gonzales being among the first group of officers to enter a shadowy and smoky hallway, trying to reach the killer in a classroom.
Contrary to the portrayal of a reluctant officer, Gonzales risked his life when he went into a “hallway of death” where others were unwilling to go in the early moments, his lawyers said.
Jason Goss, an attorney for Gonzales, said a conviction would tell police they have to be “perfect” when responding to a crisis and could make them even more hesitant in the future.
Gonzales and former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo were among the first on the scene, and they are the only two officers to face criminal charges over the slow response. Arredondo’s trial has not yet been scheduled.
Prince Harry struck a combative tone as he testified Wednesday in his lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail and insisted that his latest legal battle with Associated Newspaper Ltd. was “in the public interest.”
Harry and six other prominent figures, including Elton John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, allege that the publisher invaded their privacy by engaging in a “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering” for two decades, attorney David Sherborne said. The celebrities allege that the company illegally spied on them by hiring private investigators to hack their phones, bug their cars and access private records. Testimony from several private investigators, who have said they worked on behalf of Associated Newspapers, is set to be used in the trial.
Associated Newspapers Ltd. has denied the allegations, called them preposterous and said the roughly 50 articles in question were reported with legitimate sources that included close associates willing to inform on their famous friends.
Harry said in his 23-page witness statement that he was distressed and disturbed by the intrusion into his early life by the Mail and its sister publication the Mail on Sunday, and that it made him “paranoid beyond belief.” Harry also alleged that the lives of “thousands of people” were “invaded” by Associated “because of greed.”
“There is obviously a personal element to bringing this claim, motivated by truth, justice and accountability, but it is not just about me,” Harry said in a written statement unveiled as he entered the witness box. Under the English civil court system, witnesses present written testimony, and after asserting that it’s the truth are immediately put under cross examination. “I am determined to hold Associated accountable, for everyone’s sake … I believe it is in the public interest.”
Britain’s Prince Harry gives evidence in his privacy lawsuit against the publisher of The Daily Mail, at the High Court in London, January 21, 2026, in this courtroom sketch.
Julia Quenzler / REUTERS
A heated cross examination
Harry, dressed in a dark suit, held a small Bible in his right hand in London’s High Court and swore to “almighty God that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” After the Duke of Sussex said he preferred to be called Prince Harry, he acknowledged that his 23-page statement was authentic and accurate.
Defense lawyer Antony White, in a calm and gentle tone, began to put questions to Harry to determine if the sourcing of the articles, in fact, had come from royal correspondents working their sources at official events or from friends or associates of the prince. Harry said that his “social circles were not leaky” and disputed suggestions that he had been cozy with journalists who covered the royal family.
Harry suggested that information had come from eavesdropping on his phone calls or having private investigators snoop on him. He said journalist Katie Nicholl had the luxury to use the term “unidentified source” deceptively to hide unlawful measures of investigation.
“If you complain, they double down on you in my experience,” he said in explaining why he had not objected to the articles at the time.
As a soft-spoken Harry became increasingly defensive, White said: “I am intent on you not having a bad experience with me, but it is my job to ask you these questions.”
Eventually, Justice Matthew Nicklin intervened in the tense back-and-forth and told Harry not to argue with the defense lawyer as he tried to explain what it’s like living under what he called “24-hour surveillance.” Nicklin also reminded Harry that he does not “have to bear the burden of arguing the case today.”
At another point in his cross examination, Harry appeared close to tears as he said tabloids had made his wife Meghan’s life “an absolute misery.” Harry has previously said persistent press attacks led to the couple’s decision to leave royal life and move to the U.S. in 2020.
Harry’s media crusade
For decades, Harry has had what he called an “uneasy” relationship with the media, but kept mum and followed the family protocol of “never complain, never explain,” he said.
The litigation is part of Harry’s self-proclaimed mission to reform the media that he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris.
He said “vicious persistent attacks,” harassment and event racists articles about Meghan, who is biracial, had inspired him to break from family tradition to finally sue the press.
Britain’s Prince Harry arrives at London’s High Court in London on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026.
Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP
It is Harry’s second time testifying after he bucked House of Windsor tradition and became the first senior royal to testify in a court in well over a century when he took the stand in a similar, successful lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mirror in 2023.
Last year, on the eve of another scheduled trial, Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. tabloid publisher NGN agreed to pay Harry “substantial damages” for privacy breaches, including phone hacking.
This trial is expected to last nine weeks and a written verdict could come months later.
“If Harry wins this case, it will give him a feeling … that he wasn’t being paranoid all the time,” Royah Nikkhah, royal editor for The Sunday Times and a CBS News contributor, told CBS News on Monday. “If Harry loses this case, it’s huge jeopardy for him, not just in terms of cost, but in terms of pushing all the way to trial and not seeking to settle. So we have to wait and see, but it’s high stakes for Harry.”
On the first day of the defense’s case in Fairfax County Circuit Court, attorneys for Brendan Banfield asked the judge to dismiss the charges, arguing prosecutors knowingly presented false testimony.
On the first day of the defense’s arguments in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Wednesday, the attorneys of Brendan Banfield started by attempting to have the entire case thrown out, arguing the prosecution knowingly presented false testimony against his client.
Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the 2023 deaths of his wife Christine Banfield and another man, Joseph Ryan. Prosecutors say Brendan killed them both as part of an elaborate plot with the family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, to kill his wife and blame it on Ryan.
Defense attorney John Carroll filed a motion to dismiss, saying at the end of the prosecution’s case, “It was at that point, when they rested, that this became incumbent upon me to make this motion.”
Carroll cited a report from detective Brendan Miller, who testified at the behest of the defense Wednesday, which stated that an email account and an account with a website used for setting up sexual encounters was created by Christine Banfield.
Peres Magalhães later told police she was the one behind those accounts — a confession that came after Miller wrote the report.
Nonetheless, it was an issue Carroll honed in on when Miller took the stand.
“I was able to determine that it was her phone used in the creation of that account based on a variety of returns,” Miller said.
“And did you make any conclusions at that time that she had not given up her devices?” Carroll asked.
“I had nothing indicating loss of dominion and control at that time,” Miller responded.
Under further questioning, Miller acknowledged his findings did change upon Peres Magalhães admission.
Prosecutor Jenna Sands asked Miller if he could “conclusively opine as to who was behind the screen” based on the activity of Christine Banfield’s phone. He said he could not.
“When you wrote this report that Mr. Carroll has referenced, you used the phrasing ‘Christine did this. Christine did that.’ Is that correct?” Sands asked.
“Yes,” Miller said.
He also testified that he can’t determine who is behind a screen at all times without some form of corroboration.
Judge Penney Azcarate rejected the defense’s argument that prosecutors knowingly allowed false statements to be used in court. From there, the defense rehashed police body camera video of the immediate aftermath of the killing, including the moments when Brendan Banfield learned his wife was dead.
The defense also used its own blood spatter analyst to try to poke holes in the theory that Banfield was able to drip his wife’s blood over Joseph Ryan’s body to connect him to her death.
Defense expert LeeAnn Singley disagreed with testimony from a prosecution witness the previous day, who said blood drops on Ryan’s arm appeared to have been dripped from above.
“Once you’ve classified it as a certain mechanism, you’ve excluded everything else,” Singley said. “I didn’t feel there was enough information here for me to do that, and this target surface, it would be inappropriate, I believe, to do that, because the target surface was not ideal for being able to do that.”
After the trial broke for lunch, Singley returned to the stand and was eventually cross examined by Sands about her decision not to make a solid determination of how the drops got there.
Singley agreed that none of the options have been excluded.
She also conceded it was at least possible the blood droplets on Ryan’s arm did get dripped onto him, even if she didn’t agree with the conclusion of the prosecution’s expert that that’s actually what happened.
The case resumes at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. It’s also possible the trial continues Friday — normally a day off for the jury — because of the judge’s concern about the impending snowstorm this weekend. Azcarate said it would be her decision to decide whether the courthouse would be closed for inclement weather.
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SAN DIEGO – An 87-year-old Point Loma woman showed a jury her right hand where, she said, her son shot off three of her fingers after killing his sister and her son in 2024.
“I ran like hell!” said June Bushey on Monday, Jan. 12, as the first prosecution witness in the murder trial of her son, William “Billy” Bushey, 61.
William Bushey is charged with killing his sister, Laurie Robinson, 61, and her son, Brett Robinson, 33, on Aug. 21, 2024. The slayings took place in June Bushey’s home at 3:55 p.m in the 3600 block of Zola Street, which is several blocks away from Point Loma High School.
“She was murdered,” said June Bushey of her daughter. “He came out of his room, and he shot her. I escaped from my room, down the front steps.”
“The neighbors were yelling at me to ‘keep down,’” said June Bushey. “I got shot in the hand.”
Deputy District Attorney Scott Pirrello directed her to show her right hand to the San Diego Superior Court jury. June Bushey noted she lost three fingers in the shotgun blast and now only has “my pinkie and my thumb.”
“I can hold something pretty good,” she said.
Her son is also charged with attempted murder of his mother and the special circumstance of committing multiple murders. If he’s convicted of first-degree murder, he faces a life term in prison without the possibility of parole.
The trial with Judge Joan Weber will last several weeks. William Bushey’s attorney, Denis Lainez, told jurors his client will testify. Lainez said his client is not guilty of either first or second-degree murder and attempted murder, suggesting, but without specifically saying, he might seek a manslaughter verdict.
“I thought about calling the police, but I thought I would get shot,” said Bushey. “I went down the hall and out the front door.”
June Bushey said her son said nothing before shooting Laurie and Brett Robinson. She added that he was isolated, unemployed, and stayed in his bedroom at her home. He was on his computer most of the time and held the passwords to the internet, which June Bushey said she did not use or know.
William Bushey shot all three people after he learned that Laurie Robinson directed AT&T to make changes to their service, interrupting their Internet connection.
“Where’s the Internet?” asked William Bushey, according to Pirrello in his opening statement. “That’s when the terror began.”
Pirrello held up a shotgun to show jurors the murder weapon, saying, “Nobody knew he had that.” He said it was hidden in his closet.
June Bushey said her son worked in restaurants when he was younger, including some in Pacific Beach. “I was wondering when he was going to work.”
San Diego Police officers showed up twice in the month before the violence when Laurie Robinson asked for help in dealing with her brother. The situation “did not rise to the level of being a crime,” said Pirrello.
The defense attorney read some of his client’s statements to police, and he also added that William Bushey has tested positive for HIV. “I’m sick; I’m dying. I’m just a sick loser without a job,” Lainez quoted his client as saying.
“I didn’t mean to hurt (my mother). I didn’t want to wrestle my nephew over the gun. I am angry, confused,” Lainez quoted Bushey as telling police.
“My entire life, I have refused to see doctors. I feel like nothing,” said William Bushey, according to his attorney. “I am going to be homeless. I am filled with rage.”
“I don’t have any friends. I don’t have anyone who loves me,” Lainez quoted Bushey as saying to police.
Emotional testimony from teacher about Uvalde shooting in trial of former cop – CBS News
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Tuesday marked Day 5 in the trial of former Uvalde CISD police officer Adrian Gonzales over his response to the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary. CBS News reporter Karen Hua has the latest.
A 32-year-old marketing professional now based in Los Angeles, Kimmy initially became drawn to the case after learning that Mangione is also from Maryland. “Otherwise it’s just another shooting in America,” she says. Her interest deepened, though, as the political stakes developed and potentially complicated the legal proceedings. (Erika Kirk recently wondered in a CBS appearance “how social media will impact that court case, just how it might impact mine,” referring to the similar surfeit of attention that has accompanied the assassination of her late husband, Charlie Kirk.)
Soon she was captivated by the Agnifilos themselves, and the legal strategy they were building. “The case itself is already so interesting,” Kimmy says, “but the fight to control the narrative bleeding in and out of court adds another incredibly interesting layer.” (Mangione has pleaded not guilty in this case as well as a parallel federal case.)
The Agniflos met in 1992, when they were both working in the Manhattan district’s attorney office and Karen assisted Marc on a case involving one deliveryman cutting off another’s hand with a machete amid a feud over a parking spot. Their work, together and apart, eventually took them to some of the most knotty and high-profile spots in defense law.
Former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn sits with Marc Agnifilo.Richard Drew/AFP/Getty Images.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo addresses the Mangione press corps.Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images.
When Marc’s firm represented Dominique Strauss-Kahn in his 2011 sexual assault case, Karen, still working as a prosecutor, had to recuse herself. (Prosecutors ultimately dropped criminal charges of attempted rape against Strauss-Kahn, and a civil case was settled.) 50 Cent’s recent Netflix documentary about Sean “Diddy” Combs includes footage of the mogul screaming at Marc on the phone over the state of his case, leading TMZ to describe the attorney as the “true victim in all of this.” Agnifilo was Combs’s lead attorney in his federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial, which was largely regarded as a victory for Combs after he was convicted only on lesser prostitution counts.
In Mangione, the couple has found a celebrity defendant drawing a particularly personal degree of investment from his fans, with his facial expressions and movements in court dissected for meaning in online communities. A, a London-based paralegal who asked to be identified by her first initial, co-runs an advocacy platform for Mangione called Free Luigi NYC and devotes time to breaking down the legal maneuvering in the case. She attended a day of the court proceedings this month and attested that the Agnifilos had become stars.
A jury on Thursday found Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan guilty of a federal felony charge that she obstructed or impeded a proceeding before a U.S. department or agency, while acquitting her on a misdemeanor count tied to concealing an individual from discovery and arrest. Her defense team released this statement shortly after the verdict was read: “While we are disappointed in today’s outcome, the failure of the prosecution to secure convictions on both counts demonstrates the opportunity we have to clear Judge Dugan’s name and show she did nothing wrong in this matter. We have planned for this potential outcome and our defense of Judge Dugan is just beginning. This trial required considerable resources to prepare for and public support for Judge Dugan’s defense fund is critical as we prepare for the next phase of this defense.” The judge did not set a sentencing date. The defense plans to fight the conviction. The maximum penalty would be five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.Watch: Defense attorney Steve Biskupic’s post-verdict reaction:On the prosecution side, interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel asked that people keep politics out of the case and the verdict. He said this was not the government trying to make an example of Dugan, but was instead a serious matter they felt necessary to pursue.Watch: Interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel delivers remarks after Dugan verdictProsecutors filed the charges after an April 2025 courthouse encounter involving federal agents and a defendant, in Dugan’s court on a state criminal charge, a man they were seeking to arrest. The verdict followed a week of testimony and evidence centered on what jurors heard and saw from April 18, when federal agents came to the sixth floor of the Milwaukee County Courthouse with a warrant to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz.In opening statements Monday, prosecutors told jurors that Dugan “knew what she did was wrong” and argued arrests in the courthouse are “standard and routine.”The defense challenged the interpretation of events and questioned witnesses about courthouse practices, confusion over the courthouse policy for interactions with federal immigration officials. What prosecutors allegedJurors were shown surveillance video and listened to audio from inside Dugan’s courtroom, with prosecutors walking through the sequence in detail.Prosecutors pointed jurors to:Hallway surveillance video showing Dugan confronting federal agents outside her courtroom; there was no audio on the hallway video.Audio from inside the courtroom, played alongside a transcript for jurors to follow, including a moment in which Dugan’s clerk is heard saying, “We have 5 ICE guys in the hallway.”Prosecutors’ interpretation of courtroom audio, including that Dugan called Flores-Ruiz’s case out of order and told his attorney to take him out and return for a rescheduled date, which prosecutors argued was intended to get him out of the area.Evidence and testimony jurors heardThe government’s first witness included FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Baker, who testified about his actions at the courthouse that morning and what he observed. Baker described Dugan’s tone during the hallway encounter, saying, “anger would be the best way to describe it.”Jurors also heard testimony and saw exhibits related to communications among judges about how to handle interactions with federal immigration officials in the courthouse, according to the notes.WATCH FBI agents testify about courthouse confusion during immigration arrestDefense caseAfter the prosecution rested on Wednesday, the defense began calling witnesses Thursday morning. The first defense witness was Milwaukee County Judge Katie Kegel, and jurors were shown an email she sent to fellow judges that was displayed in court and included in jurors’ binders. The final witness for the defense was former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a lifelong friend who described her as an “extremely honest” person who will tell you exactly how she feels. Background of the caseThe case stems from the April 18 courthouse encounter in which agents from ICE and other federal agencies arrived outside Dugan’s courtroom with a warrant for Flores-Ruiz’s arrest.Prosecutors alleged Dugan directed agents away from the arrest location and that Flores-Ruiz later left through a restricted area before being arrested outside.Flores-Ruiz’s underlying state case involved a domestic violence allegation. In opening statements, prosecutors referenced the charge he faced that day: battery — domestic abuse — infliction of physical pain or injury. Flores-Ruiz has since been deported.
A jury on Thursday found Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan guilty of a federal felony charge that she obstructed or impeded a proceeding before a U.S. department or agency, while acquitting her on a misdemeanor count tied to concealing an individual from discovery and arrest.
Her defense team released this statement shortly after the verdict was read:
“While we are disappointed in today’s outcome, the failure of the prosecution to secure convictions on both counts demonstrates the opportunity we have to clear Judge Dugan’s name and show she did nothing wrong in this matter. We have planned for this potential outcome and our defense of Judge Dugan is just beginning. This trial required considerable resources to prepare for and public support for Judge Dugan’s defense fund is critical as we prepare for the next phase of this defense.”
Adela Tesnow
Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan reacts after hearing a guilty guilty in her federal trial
The judge did not set a sentencing date. The defense plans to fight the conviction. The maximum penalty would be five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
Watch: Defense attorney Steve Biskupic’s post-verdict reaction:
On the prosecution side, interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel asked that people keep politics out of the case and the verdict. He said this was not the government trying to make an example of Dugan, but was instead a serious matter they felt necessary to pursue.
Watch: Interim U.S. Attorney Brad Schimel delivers remarks after Dugan verdict
Prosecutors filed the charges after an April 2025 courthouse encounter involving federal agents and a defendant, in Dugan’s court on a state criminal charge, a man they were seeking to arrest.
The verdict followed a week of testimony and evidence centered on what jurors heard and saw from April 18, when federal agents came to the sixth floor of the Milwaukee County Courthouse with a warrant to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz.
In opening statements Monday, prosecutors told jurors that Dugan “knew what she did was wrong” and argued arrests in the courthouse are “standard and routine.”
The defense challenged the interpretation of events and questioned witnesses about courthouse practices, confusion over the courthouse policy for interactions with federal immigration officials.
What prosecutors alleged
Jurors were shown surveillance video and listened to audio from inside Dugan’s courtroom, with prosecutors walking through the sequence in detail.
Prosecutors pointed jurors to:
Hallway surveillance video showing Dugan confronting federal agents outside her courtroom; there was no audio on the hallway video.
Audio from inside the courtroom, played alongside a transcript for jurors to follow, including a moment in which Dugan’s clerk is heard saying, “We have 5 ICE guys in the hallway.”
Prosecutors’ interpretation of courtroom audio, including that Dugan called Flores-Ruiz’s case out of order and told his attorney to take him out and return for a rescheduled date, which prosecutors argued was intended to get him out of the area.
Evidence and testimony jurors heard
The government’s first witness included FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Baker, who testified about his actions at the courthouse that morning and what he observed.
Baker described Dugan’s tone during the hallway encounter, saying, “anger would be the best way to describe it.”
Jurors also heard testimony and saw exhibits related to communications among judges about how to handle interactions with federal immigration officials in the courthouse, according to the notes.
WATCH FBI agents testify about courthouse confusion during immigration arrest
Defense case
After the prosecution rested on Wednesday, the defense began calling witnesses Thursday morning.
The first defense witness was Milwaukee County Judge Katie Kegel, and jurors were shown an email she sent to fellow judges that was displayed in court and included in jurors’ binders.
The final witness for the defense was former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a lifelong friend who described her as an “extremely honest” person who will tell you exactly how she feels.
Background of the case
The case stems from the April 18 courthouse encounter in which agents from ICE and other federal agencies arrived outside Dugan’s courtroom with a warrant for Flores-Ruiz’s arrest.
Prosecutors alleged Dugan directed agents away from the arrest location and that Flores-Ruiz later left through a restricted area before being arrested outside.
Flores-Ruiz’s underlying state case involved a domestic violence allegation. In opening statements, prosecutors referenced the charge he faced that day: battery — domestic abuse — infliction of physical pain or injury. Flores-Ruiz has since been deported.
Nick Reiner made his first court appearance Wednesday in Los Angeles on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, while the couple’s other two children made their first public statement on their crushing loss.Nick Reiner, 32, did not enter a plea as he appeared from behind glass in a custody area in the large Los Angeles courtroom where newly charged defendants are arraigned. He was in shackles and wearing a blue, padded suicide prevention smock used in jail.His arraignment was postponed until Jan. 7 at his attorney’s request. He spoke only to say “yes, your honor” to agree to the date. He is being held without bail.Jake and Romy Reiner talk about their ‘unimaginable pain’His older brother Jake Reiner and younger sister Romy Reiner released their statement through a family spokesperson.“Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day,” they said. “The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends.”The brother and sister said they are “grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life. We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”Medical Examiner says ‘sharp force injuries’ killed coupleAlso Wednesday, the LA County Medical Examiner listed the primary cause of death for both Rob and Michele Reiner as “multiple sharp force injuries” as the office released its investigators’ initial findings.The office said more investigation is needed before further details will be revealed, but the bodies can now be released to the family.The cause of death was consistent with police describing the couple as having stab wounds.Nick Reiner’s attorney urges cautionAfter the court hearing, Nick Reiner’s attorney, Alan Jackson, called the case “a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family.” He said the proceedings will be very complex and asked that the circumstances be met “not with a rush to judgment, not with jumping to conclusions.”Jackson declined to answer shouted questions from dozens of reporters surrounding him and has not addressed the guilt or innocence of his client.Nick Reiner was charged Tuesday with killing Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70.They were killed sometime in the early morning hours of Sunday, the District Attorney’s Office said. They were found dead late in the afternoon in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles, authorities said.Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles from the crime scene, police said.The two counts of first-degree murder come with special circumstances of multiple murders and an allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a Tuesday news conference that his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.Meg Ryan and others remember the ReinersRob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” and “When Harry Met Sally …,” whose star Meg Ryan paid tribute to the Reiners on Wednesday.“Thank you, Rob and Michelle, for the way you believe in true love, in fairy tales, and in laughter. Thank you for your faith in the best in people, and for your profound love of our country,” Ryan said in an Instagram post. “I have to believe that their story will not end with this impossible tragedy.”Rob Reiner met Michele Singer Reiner during the shooting of the classic rom-com, and he said the meeting inspired him to change the film to have a happy ending.Ryan’s co-star Billy Crystal, a close friend of Rob Reiner for decades, was part of a group that also included Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David that released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple Tuesday night.“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”Rob Reiner has another daughter, Tracy Reiner, from his first marriage, to actor-director Penny Marshall.The lawyers on the Reiner caseNick Reiner’s attorney Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.Authorities have not said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.
LOS ANGELES —
Nick Reiner made his first court appearance Wednesday in Los Angeles on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, while the couple’s other two children made their first public statement on their crushing loss.
Nick Reiner, 32, did not enter a plea as he appeared from behind glass in a custody area in the large Los Angeles courtroom where newly charged defendants are arraigned. He was in shackles and wearing a blue, padded suicide prevention smock used in jail.
His arraignment was postponed until Jan. 7 at his attorney’s request. He spoke only to say “yes, your honor” to agree to the date. He is being held without bail.
Jake and Romy Reiner talk about their ‘unimaginable pain’
His older brother Jake Reiner and younger sister Romy Reiner released their statement through a family spokesperson.
“Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day,” they said. “The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends.”
The brother and sister said they are “grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life. We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”
Medical Examiner says ‘sharp force injuries’ killed couple
Also Wednesday, the LA County Medical Examiner listed the primary cause of death for both Rob and Michele Reiner as “multiple sharp force injuries” as the office released its investigators’ initial findings.
The office said more investigation is needed before further details will be revealed, but the bodies can now be released to the family.
The cause of death was consistent with police describing the couple as having stab wounds.
Nick Reiner’s attorney urges caution
After the court hearing, Nick Reiner’s attorney, Alan Jackson, called the case “a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family.” He said the proceedings will be very complex and asked that the circumstances be met “not with a rush to judgment, not with jumping to conclusions.”
Jackson declined to answer shouted questions from dozens of reporters surrounding him and has not addressed the guilt or innocence of his client.
Nick Reiner was charged Tuesday with killing Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70.
They were killed sometime in the early morning hours of Sunday, the District Attorney’s Office said. They were found dead late in the afternoon in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles, authorities said.
Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles from the crime scene, police said.
The two counts of first-degree murder come with special circumstances of multiple murders and an allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a Tuesday news conference that his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.
Meg Ryan and others remember the Reiners
Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “Stand by Me,” “The Princess Bride,” and “When Harry Met Sally …,” whose star Meg Ryan paid tribute to the Reiners on Wednesday.
“Thank you, Rob and Michelle, for the way you believe in true love, in fairy tales, and in laughter. Thank you for your faith in the best in people, and for your profound love of our country,” Ryan said in an Instagram post. “I have to believe that their story will not end with this impossible tragedy.”
Rob Reiner met Michele Singer Reiner during the shooting of the classic rom-com, and he said the meeting inspired him to change the film to have a happy ending.
Ryan’s co-star Billy Crystal, a close friend of Rob Reiner for decades, was part of a group that also included Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David that released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple Tuesday night.
“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”
Rob Reiner has another daughter, Tracy Reiner, from his first marriage, to actor-director Penny Marshall.
The lawyers on the Reiner case
Nick Reiner’s attorney Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.
On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.
Authorities have not said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.
Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents.Nick Reiner, 32, was charged Tuesday with killing the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell.“Their loss is beyond tragic and we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice,” Hochman said.Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added special circumstances of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.Hochman said his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty in the case.“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” McDonnell said.The announcement came two days after the couple was found dead from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from the crime scene, police said.Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally…” and “The Princess Bride.” He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.Several of those closest to them, including actors Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David, released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple on Tuesday night.“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”Nick Reiner had been scheduled to make an initial court appearance earlier Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance was postponed.At Wednesday’s hearing, Reiner may enter a plea, a judge may schedule an arraignment for later or the same issue that prevented him from coming to court Tuesday could cause further postponement. He is being held without bail.Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.Authorities haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.
Nick Reiner, 32, was charged Tuesday with killing the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
“Their loss is beyond tragic and we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice,” Hochman said.
Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added special circumstances of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.
Hochman said his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty in the case.
“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” McDonnell said.
The announcement came two days after the couple was found dead from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from the crime scene, police said.
Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally…” and “The Princess Bride.” He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.
Several of those closest to them, including actors Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David, released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple on Tuesday night.
“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”
Nick Reiner had been scheduled to make an initial court appearance earlier Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance was postponed.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Reiner may enter a plea, a judge may schedule an arraignment for later or the same issue that prevented him from coming to court Tuesday could cause further postponement. He is being held without bail.
Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.
On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.
Authorities haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.
SALEM — Now that a wounded North Andover police officer has a 2026 trial date, her defense team is turning its attention to the culture of the North Andover Police Department and what transpired before the shooting nearly five months ago.
A jury trial has been set for Feb. 9 in Essex County Superior Court following a trial assignment conference on Tuesday for Kelsey Fitzsimmons, 29, who was shot by a responding officer and colleague in her North Andover home after being served with an abuse prevention order filed by her then-fiance, North Andover firefighter Justin Aylaian.
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An oral version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, failed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in closely watched trials, Novo Nordisk said Monday.In two Phase 3 trials of more than 3,800 adults receiving standard care for Alzheimer’s, the company evaluated whether an older pill form of semaglutide worked better than a placebo. The drug was shown to be safe and led to improvements in Alzheimer’s-related biomarkers, the company said, but the treatment did not delay disease progression.Novo had long treated Alzheimer’s as a long-shot bet for the popular GLP-1 drugs. Use of these drugs for diabetes and weight loss has exploded in recent years, and they have shown benefits for a wide range of additional health conditions, such as protecting the heart and kidneys, reducing sleep apnea and potentially helping with addiction.Smaller trials and animal studies had suggested GLP-1s might help slow cognitive decline or reduce neuro-inflammation but larger trials like Novo’s were needed to confirm whether patients saw actual benefits.”Based on the significant unmet need in Alzheimer’s disease as well as a number of indicative data points, we felt we had a responsibility to explore semaglutide’s potential, despite a low likelihood of success,” said Martin Holst Lange, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of Research and Development at Novo Nordisk said in a statement on Monday that thanked trial participants.A one-year extension of the trials will be discontinued, Novo said. Results from the trials have not yet been peer-reviewed or published but will be presented at upcoming scientific conferences.Novo has been facing increased competition in the weight loss market and recently announced lowered prices for some cash-paying patients using Ozempic and Wegovy. Novo shares fell Monday after the Alzheimer’s trial announcement.
CNN —
An oral version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, failed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in closely watched trials, Novo Nordisk said Monday.
In two Phase 3 trials of more than 3,800 adults receiving standard care for Alzheimer’s, the company evaluated whether an older pill form of semaglutide worked better than a placebo. The drug was shown to be safe and led to improvements in Alzheimer’s-related biomarkers, the company said, but the treatment did not delay disease progression.
Novo had long treated Alzheimer’s as a long-shot bet for the popular GLP-1 drugs. Use of these drugs for diabetes and weight loss has exploded in recent years, and they have shown benefits for a wide range of additional health conditions, such as protecting the heart and kidneys, reducing sleep apnea and potentially helping with addiction.
Smaller trials and animal studies had suggested GLP-1s might help slow cognitive decline or reduce neuro-inflammation but larger trials like Novo’s were needed to confirm whether patients saw actual benefits.
“Based on the significant unmet need in Alzheimer’s disease as well as a number of indicative data points, we felt we had a responsibility to explore semaglutide’s potential, despite a low likelihood of success,” said Martin Holst Lange, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of Research and Development at Novo Nordisk said in a statement on Monday that thanked trial participants.
A one-year extension of the trials will be discontinued, Novo said. Results from the trials have not yet been peer-reviewed or published but will be presented at upcoming scientific conferences.
Novo has been facing increased competition in the weight loss market and recently announced lowered prices for some cash-paying patients using Ozempic and Wegovy. Novo shares fell Monday after the Alzheimer’s trial announcement.
Lyndon Wiggins was found guilty Monday of the 2019 kidnapping and killing of Minneapolis realtor Monique Baugh after a weekslong retrial.
Wiggins, 40, was found guilty of aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated murder, aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated attempted murder, aiding and abetting kidnapping and aiding and abetting first-degree murder while committing kidnapping.
He was originally convicted June 2022, and sentenced to life in prison. However, his conviction was reversed by the Minnesota Supreme Court, who said the trial judge gave the jury erroneous legal instructions.
Wiggins’ retrial began on Oct. 6 and the jury was handed the case on Friday.
“Monique Baugh’s family has waited nearly six years for the cases against all defendants to conclude,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. “Mr. Wiggins played a primary role in Monique’s death, and he is being held accountable. My thoughts are with Monique’s family, and I want to express my gratitude to the jury for their service and to our trial team for securing this conviction.”
According to court documents, Wiggins’ codefendant Elsa Segura set up a fake home showing in Maple Grove, Minnesota, that led to Baugh’s death. Baugh arrived at the home on New Year’s Eve and was abducted by two men and put in the back of a U-Haul. Later that afternoon, the men drove the U-Haul up to Baugh’s boyfriend’s home, and a masked gunman entered the home and shot him with a .45 caliber pistol.
Baugh was shot three times and would later die from her injuries. Her boyfriend said he didn’t know who would have shot him, but named Wiggins as someone who wanted to harm him.
Monique Baugh (Credit: Monique Baugh via Facebook)
Segura’s original conviction was also overturned, but she was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to kidnapping in 2024. The two other men, Cedric Berry and Berry Davis, were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for their role in Baugh’s killing.
According to Moriarty’s office, Wiggins will be sentenced on Nov. 13 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday barred President Trump’s administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, until at least Friday, saying she “found no credible evidence” that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall.
The city and state sued in September to block the deployment.
It’s the latest development in weeks of legal back-and-forth in Portland, Chicago and other U.S. cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalize and deploy the National Guard in city streets to quell protests.
The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, an appointee of Mr. Trump, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.
In a 16-page filing late Sunday, Immergut said she would issue a final order on Friday due to the voluminous evidence presented at trial, including more than 750 exhibits.
The purpose of the deployment, according to the Trump administration, is to protect federal personnel and property where protests are occurring or likely to occur. Legal experts said that a higher appellate court order that remains in effect would have barred troops from being deployed anyway.
Law enforcement officers watch from a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Portland, Oregon.
Jenny Kane / AP
Immergut wrote that most violence appeared to be between protesters and counter-protesters and found no evidence of “significant damage” to the immigration facility at the center of the protests.
“Based on the trial testimony, this Court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months before the President’s federalization order, protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadic instances of violent conduct that resulted in no serious injuries to federal personnel,” she wrote.
The complex case comes as Democratic cities targeted by Mr. Trump for military involvement — including Chicago, which has filed a separate lawsuit on the issue — seek to push back. They argue the president has not satisfied the legal threshold for deploying troops and that doing so would violate states’ sovereignty. The administration argues that it needs the troops because it has been unable to enforce the law with regular forces — one of the conditions set by Congress for calling up troops.
Immergut issued two orders in early October that blocked the deployment of the troops leading up to the trial. She previously found that Mr. Trump had failed to show that he met the legal requirements for mobilizing the National Guard. She described his assessment of Portland, which Mr. Trump has called “war-ravaged” with “fires all over the place,” as “simply untethered to the facts.”
One of Immergut’s orders was paused Oct. 20 by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But late Tuesday, the appeals court vacated that decision and said it would rehear the matter before an 11-judge panel. Until the larger panel rehears the case, the appeals court’s initial order from early October — under which the National Guard is federalized but not deployed — remains in effect.
During the Portland trial, witnesses including local police and federal officials were questioned about the law enforcement response to the nightly protests at the city’s ICE building. The demonstrations peaked in June, when Portland police declared one a riot. The demonstrations typically drew a couple dozen people in the weeks leading up to Mr. Trump’s National Guard announcement.
Federal agents detain someone during a protest held outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
Dave Killen / AP
The Trump administration said it has had to shuffle federal agents from elsewhere around the country to respond to the Portland protests, which it has characterized as a “rebellion” or “danger of rebellion” — another one of the conditions for calling up troops under federal law.
Federal officials working in the region testified about staffing shortages and requests for more personnel that have yet to be fulfilled. Among them was an official with the Federal Protective Service, the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that provides security at federal buildings, whom the judge allowed to be sworn in as a witness under his initials, R.C., due to safety concerns.
R.C., who said he would be one of the most knowledgeable people in DHS about security at Portland’s ICE building, testified that a troop deployment would alleviate the strain on staff. When cross-examined, however, he said he did not request troops and that he was not consulted on the matter. He also said he was “surprised” to learn about the deployment and that he did not agree with statements about Portland burning down.
Attorneys for Portland and Oregon said city police have been able to respond to the protests. After the police department declared a riot on June 14, it changed its strategy to direct officers to intervene when person and property crime occurs, and crowd numbers have largely diminished since the end of that month, police officials testified.
Another Federal Protective Service official whom the judge also allowed to testify under his initials said protesters have at times been violent, damaged the facility and acted aggressively toward officers working at the building.
The ICE building closed for three weeks over the summer due to property damage, according to court documents and testimony. The regional field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, Cammilla Wamsley, said her employees worked from another building during that period. The plaintiffs argued that was evidence that they were able to continue their work functions.
Oregon Senior Assistant Attorney General Scott Kennedy said that “without minimizing or condoning offensive expressions” or certain instances of criminal conduct, “none of these incidents suggest … that there’s a rebellion or an inability to execute the laws.”
Researchers at the University of South Florida are conducting clinical trials to explore the potential of psilocybin, a compound found in magic mushrooms, as a treatment for postpartum depression and other mental health disorders.Tracey Tee, founder and CEO of Moms on Mushrooms, said, “We’ve greatly misjudged and mis-prioritized the mental health of mothers in general and we’ve gotten a lot of it wrong.”Her group educates women about magic mushrooms and psilocybin, focusing on how they can help mothers dealing with trauma or depression. Tee emphasized the potential of microdosing and magic mushrooms as an emerging solution, although she acknowledged it may not be suitable for everyone. “Studying it for postpartum in particular is like a no-brainer for me,” she said.Health researchers at the University of South Florida are investigating whether psilocybin can help treat major depressive disorders, postpartum depression, and other conditions.Dr. Ryan Wagoner, who was involved with the research, said, “What we are eventually trying to move towards are these medications that can be Food and Drug Administration-approved just like any medication you might take.” Wagoner said if psilocybin’s medical properties are proven to outweigh its risks, it could be reclassified and approved as a medication. “If you can show that the substance does have a medical property that’s valuable to it and outweighs any sorts of risks, suddenly we can move what schedule it’s on and get it approved to be a medication just like anything else,” Wagoner said.Researchers say psilocybin works by targeting serotonin receptors in the brain, enhancing sensory input and potentially disrupting neural networks involved in depression. They are exploring the use of smaller doses to activate serotonin receptors without causing unwanted side effects. “What if we use a smaller dose. What if we use a dose that activates the serotonin receptor but doesn’t cause as much of those side effects that we’re not looking for,” Wagoner said.Tee believes the stigma around magic mushrooms should be replaced with a view of them as a medical treatment. “The idea is that you’re not high and that it’s mimicking and still working in the brain and body in the same way that a large dose journey does, that’s like transformative effects, but we are doing it in smaller amounts over time incrementally so that you are able to go about your day,” she said. She added that psilocybin should be paired with other treatments. “It really needs to be paired with something because it’s not a passive magic pill in the same way an antidepressant is; you really want to work with the medicine,” Tee said.The National Institutes of Health reports that approximately 30% of patients with major depressive disorder have treatment-resistant depression. A Johns Hopkins study found that two doses of psilocybin produced rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms. “You actually have to put into practice, and so that is why we do clinical trials to first detect if there are side effects we weren’t expecting,” Wagoner said. They are investigating whether psilocybin offers benefits beyond existing medications.”Is this something real that’s going on in the brain that’s different or better than some of the medications we already have on the market,” Wagoner said.Tee expressed optimism about the role of psychedelics in mental health treatment, saying, “I think there’s a really beautiful place for psychedelics to slide in and support a lot of people without a lot of damage we’re seeing being caused by other modalities.”Magic mushrooms remain illegal in Florida, classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance at both the state and federal levels. Possession of psilocybin mushrooms is a felony, with significant fines, probation, and potential prison time. Florida has also banned mushroom spores, despite them not containing psilocybin. Wagoner said clinical trials will continue, with more data and research being collected to potentially achieve FDA approval in the future.
Researchers at the University of South Florida are conducting clinical trials to explore the potential of psilocybin, a compound found in magic mushrooms, as a treatment for postpartum depression and other mental health disorders.
Tracey Tee, founder and CEO of Moms on Mushrooms, said, “We’ve greatly misjudged and mis-prioritized the mental health of mothers in general and we’ve gotten a lot of it wrong.”
Her group educates women about magic mushrooms and psilocybin, focusing on how they can help mothers dealing with trauma or depression. Tee emphasized the potential of microdosing and magic mushrooms as an emerging solution, although she acknowledged it may not be suitable for everyone.
“Studying it for postpartum in particular is like a no-brainer for me,” she said.
Health researchers at the University of South Florida are investigating whether psilocybin can help treat major depressive disorders, postpartum depression, and other conditions.
Dr. Ryan Wagoner, who was involved with the research, said, “What we are eventually trying to move towards are these medications that can be Food and Drug Administration-approved just like any medication you might take.”
Wagoner said if psilocybin’s medical properties are proven to outweigh its risks, it could be reclassified and approved as a medication.
“If you can show that the substance does have a medical property that’s valuable to it and outweighs any sorts of risks, suddenly we can move what schedule it’s on and get it approved to be a medication just like anything else,” Wagoner said.
Researchers say psilocybin works by targeting serotonin receptors in the brain, enhancing sensory input and potentially disrupting neural networks involved in depression.
They are exploring the use of smaller doses to activate serotonin receptors without causing unwanted side effects.
“What if we use a smaller dose. What if we use a dose that activates the serotonin receptor but doesn’t cause as much of those side effects that we’re not looking for,” Wagoner said.
Tee believes the stigma around magic mushrooms should be replaced with a view of them as a medical treatment.
“The idea is that you’re not high and that it’s mimicking and still working in the brain and body in the same way that a large dose journey does, that’s like transformative effects, but we are doing it in smaller amounts over time incrementally so that you are able to go about your day,” she said.
She added that psilocybin should be paired with other treatments.
“It really needs to be paired with something because it’s not a passive magic pill in the same way an antidepressant is; you really want to work with the medicine,” Tee said.
The National Institutes of Health reports that approximately 30% of patients with major depressive disorder have treatment-resistant depression.
A Johns Hopkins study found that two doses of psilocybin produced rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms.
“You actually have to put into practice, and so that is why we do clinical trials to first detect if there are side effects we weren’t expecting,” Wagoner said.
They are investigating whether psilocybin offers benefits beyond existing medications.
“Is this something real that’s going on in the brain that’s different or better than some of the medications we already have on the market,” Wagoner said.
Tee expressed optimism about the role of psychedelics in mental health treatment, saying, “I think there’s a really beautiful place for psychedelics to slide in and support a lot of people without a lot of damage we’re seeing being caused by other modalities.”
Magic mushrooms remain illegal in Florida, classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance at both the state and federal levels.
Possession of psilocybin mushrooms is a felony, with significant fines, probation, and potential prison time.
Florida has also banned mushroom spores, despite them not containing psilocybin.
Wagoner said clinical trials will continue, with more data and research being collected to potentially achieve FDA approval in the future.
When jurors returned to a West L.A. courtroom to deliver their verdict in a child sex abuse case earlier this month, one key person was missing: the defendant.
John Kaleel — a veteran piano teacher who has given lessons to the families of several Hollywood power players — faced allegations that he sexually abused one of his students in 2013.
Kaleel, 69, pleaded no contest in 2016 to committing a lewd act with a teenage student, but later fought to have the plea overturned after realizing the felony conviction would be grounds for deportation to his native Australia. L.A. County prosecutors then retried him and, while the case was pending, he was released on his own recognizance.
On Oct. 8 — the same day jurors in the Airport Courthouse found him guilty of five counts of sexual abuse — Kaleel slipped out of the country, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and court records.
The Sheriff’s Department did not say where they believed Kaleel had fled to. Court records show prosecutors filed an application to seek an “Extradition/Fugitive Hardcopy Warrant,” but it contained no details about how he absconded and a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office declined to answer questions.
Kaleel’s attorney, Kate Hardie, said she last saw her client when she drove him home from court on Oct. 7, the day before the verdict was handed down, and has had no contact with him since. Kaleel has been a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. since the 1980s, according to Hardie. Attempts by The Times to contact Kaleel were unsuccessful.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to discuss what steps it would take to get Kaleel back in custody in Los Angeles. Hardie said her client faces at least a decade in state prison at sentencing.
Hardie accused the district attorney’s office of carrying out a “vindictive prosecution” against Kaleel, who had already served a year in jail and spent time in a federal immigration detention center after his original plea deal.
Kaleel taught private lessons for more than a quarter-century in L.A., and his clients included “Hollywood industry professionals and students who have pursued successful music careers,” according to his website. The web page boasted testimonials from the creators of critically acclaimed television series, including “Mad Men” and “Orange Is the New Black,” who praised his work with their children.
Emmy-award winning animation director Genndy Tartakovsky, who created several famous cartoons, including “Dexter’s Laboratory” and “Samurai Jack,” also referred to Kaleel as a “gift,” according to the website.
“I have never seen my three children become more inspired or enthusiastic for anything as much as they did for your piano classes,” Tartakovsky said, according to an earlier version of Kaleel’s business website.
The testimonials disappeared from the website on Monday, after The Times began contacting representatives for those quoted.
Spokespersons for Jenji Kohan, who created “Orange Is the New Black,” and Matthew Weiner, the writer behind “Mad Men,” both denied giving Kaleel any endorsements or the permission to post any comment on his website. A representative for Tartakovsky declined to comment. Court records show Tartakovsky’s wife and one of his children, a former student of Kaleel’s, testified on the teacher’s behalf at trial.
“Mr. Kaleel has always maintained his innocence and that he took his initial plea bargain on the advice of counsel to avoid a harsher sentence should he lose at trial,” Hardie said. “He later learned of the immigration consequences when he was placed in an immigration custody facility for 8 [or] 9 months and faced removal proceedings.”
Hardie argued her client was the victim of a “trial tax,” which references prosecutors often seeking to punish defendants more severely when they don’t take a plea. Hardie also said Sheriff’s Department detectives interviewed many of Kaleel’s students “and found no other student who complained of Kaleel being inappropriate.”
The alleged victim in the case first contacted the Sheriff’s Department in 2015. The boy said he was 15 when Kaleel acted inappropriately by asking “to take measurements of [the victim’s] body parts, including his penis,” according to court records.
Two years later, Kaleel convinced the boy that they should masturbate together while on a FaceTime call because that’s “what friends do,” records show. In September 2013, prosecutors alleged, Kaleel invited the boy over and they smoked marijuana together before having oral sex.
A friend of the victim also testified at trial that Kaleel attempted to engage in sexual conduct with him, but that count was not charged, according to court records. Hardie said her client had no physical contact with that boy.
After Kaleel struck a plea deal, he was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and served with a deportation order. He successfully challenged his removal at the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2019, according to his former immigration attorney, Mfon Anthony Ikon.
Ikon said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security then abandoned its attempts to deport Kaleel.
Representatives for ICE and DHS did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2022, Kaleel convinced a judge to overturn his plea to the initial sex crimes charge on the grounds that he didn’t fully understand the impact it might have on his immigration status, records show.
Dmitry Gorin, a former L.A. County prosecutor who has tried cases in the area for the last three decades, said it’s rare — but not unprecedented — for defendants to vanish on the eve of a verdict.
“It’s an unusual situation,” he said. “But people’s conduct can be very unpredictable when they’re facing tremendous time in prison.”
