(NEW YORK) — A fourth juror in the Karen Read trial has come forward to report that the jury found her “not guilty” of second-degree murder and leaving a scene of personal injury and death, attorneys wrote in court documents.
Read’s attorneys are asking the judge to dismiss the two counts when the case goes to trial again.
“There was no manifest necessity for a mistrial as to those counts, and therefore the Double Jeopardy protections of the federal and state Constitutions require that those counts not be retried,” Read’s defense attorney Alan Jackson wrote in court documents.
Judge Beverly Cannone declared the mistrial on July 1 after the jury informed her that they were deadlocked. Read’s attorneys have since filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Officer suspended
Damning testimony during Read’s trial led to the suspension of Massachusetts State Police Officer Michael Proctor. Trial testimony revealed Proctor was communicating with Canton Police Officer Kevin Albert during the investigation ahead of Read’s murder trial.
Albert is the brother of Brian Albert, who hosted the party at the house where John O’Keefe’s body was found outside. The Canton Police Department had recused itself from the investigation due to the Albert brothers’ connection to the case.
Kevin Albert was also placed on paid administrative leave, according to WCVB-TV. The Canton Police Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for July 22.
In this Aug. 17, 2014 file photo, a demonstrator holds a sign reading, “Dont Shoot”, with a picture of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The mother of Michael Brown — who was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer in 2014 sparking protests around the county — gave testimony to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) to review the case of her son’s killing in a public hearing on Wednesday.
Lezley McSpadden, Brown’s mother, joined nonprofit organization Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Howard University on a Zoom conference to petition the IACHR to recommend for United States prosecutors to criminally litigate Brown’s killing. Lawyers from the U.S. State Department and the Department of Justice also attended the hearing.
“The PTSD is overwhelming. I do have three remaining children. I was very scared and nervous to let them out of my sight for weeks after Mike was killed,” McSpadden said. “I received tons and tons of threatening letters. It got so bad where my lawyers had to look through my mail before I looked through it.”
The 10-year anniversary of Brown’s death is Aug. 9. Legal charges were never issued for Brown’s killing.
“We will undoubtedly hear from the state a litany of all the things they have done to address the scourge of racist police violence in this country over the last 10 years, some of which I commend them for doing,” Kerry Kennedy, with RFK Human Rights, said at the conference. “Is it enough when more people were killed by police in 2023 than any other previously recorded year? The answer is no.”
Brown, an 18-year-old Black teenager, was unarmed when Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer at the time, shot and killed him on Aug. 9, 2014. The shooting ignited weeks of protests, riots, looting and arson in Ferguson.
“We are deeply saddened by this event and by similar events across our nation, and this event serves as another reminder that we must do more to prevent such tragedies,” Thomas Hastings of the State Department said during the conference. “While we do not intend to discuss or debate the details of what took place on August 9, 2014, it was a devastating event that led to the loss of life of a young man.”
The incident contributed to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, as national protests over police brutality evoked Brown’s name among other Black Americans who died in police encounters, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
“Hands up, don’t shoot,” a reference to claims that Brown had his hands up and voiced his surrender to the officer before being shot, became a rallying cry around the nation for those advocating against police brutality. The DOJ later determined in an investigative report that it could not confirm Brown capitulated to the officer before he was shot and killed.
“Federal statutes would require the government to prove that Officer Wilson used unreasonable force when he shot Michael Brown, Jr, and that he did so willfully,” Kristen Clarke of the DOJ said on Wednesday. “Willfully would mean proving that he shot Mr. Brown, knowing it was wrong and knowing it was against the law to do so. After a careful and exhaustive review of all available evidence the Justice Department in 2015 determined that the evidence did not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer violated the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute.”
A St. Louis County grand jury declined to press charges against Wilson in 2014. He resigned from the police force soon after.
The U.S. Justice Department also chose not to indict the former officer in March 2015 due to witness accounts and evidence that claimed Brown attacked Wilson.
Brown’s family received a $1.5 million settlement in 2017 after they filed a lawsuit against the city of Ferguson.
“He never had a job, he never learned how to drive,” McSpadden said. “He was just beginning his life. So that was his first free summer to be a kid before he branched over into being a man. But he was robbed of it.”
The IACHR stated a report will be published outlining its findings on the case and issuing recommendations to the U.S. government.
(EUGENE, Ore.) — Police in Oregon have recovered more than 4,000 stolen Lego sets valued at over $200,000 in a massive bust following a three-month investigation, authorities said.
The seizure happened on July 3 at approximately 12:30 p.m. when authorities from the Springfield Police Department in Eugene, Oregon, served a warrant to 47-year-old Ammon Henrikson, the owner of “Brick Builders,” accusing him of knowingly purchasing new and unopened Lego sets that had been stolen from other local retail stores, according to a statement from the Springfield Police Department released on Tuesday.
“In several instances, suspects stole hundreds of dollars’ worth of Lego sets and then immediately went to the Brick Builders store to exchange the stolen items for cash: most often at a fraction of their actual retail value,” authorities said in their statement announcing the bust. “When interviewed, some suspects advised that Brick Builders’ staff knew the sets had recently been stolen. Officers learned that many of the suspects were utilizing the money they received to buy and use illegal drugs.”
Partnering with loss prevention investigators from Target, Fred Meyer, Barnes & Noble and Walmart to confirm that Henrikson was purchasing sets that were stolen from them, the Springfield Police Department ended up recovering 4,153 Lego sets with a total value of more than $200,000, police said.
The three-month investigation by the Springfield Police Department uncovered evidence that Henrikson was “knowingly purchasing new, unopened sets of Legos that had been stolen from local retail stores,” according to authorities.
“We all feel the impact of organized retail theft through the increasing cost of items we buy for our families,” said Police Chief Andrew Shearer. “Recognizing this, SPD’s Crime Reduction Unit, with the support of our retail partners, works diligently to hold accountable those who make the choice to engage in or support retail theft. SPD is proud of the work of our officers, and we are committed to the pursuit of those behind these crimes in our community.”
Henrikson has since been charged with organized retail theft and theft by receiving. Police are asking for anybody with further information related to contact SPD at 541.726.3714 or police@springfield-or.gov and the investigation is currently ongoing.
(DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) — A 14-year-old boy was bitten by a shark Wednesday in Daytona Beach, Florida, local authorities said.
The teen, who was visiting from Missouri, was bitten on his left foot while standing in knee-deep water, according to the Volusia County Beach Ocean Rescue.
He was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The incident marks the fourth shark bite reported in Volusia County just this month.
On Monday, another 14-year-old boy was bitten on the right calf during a junior lifeguard camp at Ponce Inlet. He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening lacerations, according to Aaron Jenkins, the deputy chief of Volusia County Beach Safety.
Witnesses said the shark was a blacktip, which is common in the area, he said.
A 21-year-old man visiting from Ohio was bitten on the foot on July 4 while playing football in knee-deep water. He also received non-life-threatening injuries, Jenkins said.
“Felt like my foot was being stabbed,” the 21-year-old victim, Connor Baker, said. “Tried as fast as I could to just get to shore.”
The following day, on July 5, a 26-year-old man from Sarasota, Florida, was bitten on the foot while wading in an inner tube in about five feet of water. His injuries were also non-life-threatening, Jenkins said.
(NEW YORK) — More than 150 million people were under heat alerts coast-to-coast Wednesday afternoon as temperatures soared into the triple-digits in the West and hot, humid weather in the East and South made it feel like it was over 100 degrees.
A historic heat wave that has gripped the nation for days continued Wednesday as places like Las Vegas topped the 110-degree mark for the eighth consecutive day. Fresno, California, is expected to surpass 105 degrees Wednesday afternoon for the eighth straight day, according to the National Weather Service.
Las Vegas, which recorded its highest temperatures ever on Sunday when it reached 120 degrees, broke another weather record on Wednesday. The city experienced its fifth straight day of temperatures reaching 115 or above, beating its old mark of four consecutive days of such high heat set in 1940 and tied in 2005.
Sin City could also break its record of 10 consecutive days of 110 degrees or higher by the end of this week. The temperature in Las Vegas is forecast to climb to a blistering 118 degrees on Thursday, 115 on Friday and 112 on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Elsewhere in the West, an excessive heat warning has also been issued for Phoenix, Arizona, where the high is forecast to be 113 degrees on Wednesday afternoon, and 115 on Thursday and Friday.
Salt Lake City, Utah, is forecast to reach 102 degrees on Wednesday afternoon, 105 degrees on Thursday and 104 on Friday. Boise, Idaho, is expected to hit 107 degrees on Wednesday afternoon before dipping to 106 on Thursday and back to 107 on Friday, according to the weather service.
Once again, the hottest place in the nation Wednesday was Death Valley, California, where the temperature shot up to 123 degrees at 2 p.m. local time from 99 degrees at 5 a.m. The high for Wednesday in Death Valley’s Furnace Creek area is forecast to hit 127.
The all-time record high for Death Valley is 134 degrees set in July 1913, according to the National Weather Service.
On the East Coast, Philadelphia, in particular, has been scorching hot lately. On Tuesday, the City of Brotherly Love experienced its eighth straight day of high temperatures at or above 95 degrees. Normally, Philadelphia averages seven days for the whole summer when the temperature hits 95 or above.
On Wednesday afternoon, it was 93 degrees in Philadelphia.
Factoring in the heat index, which includes high humidity, Philly was expected to feel more like 105 degrees on Wednesday afternoon, while Washington D.C. was expected to feel like 109 degrees and Raleigh, North Carolina, like 108 degrees, according to the weather service.
Wednesday evening could bring a much-needed break from the sweltering conditions as showers and thunderstorms move across the Great Lakes and into the Northeast.
A tornado watch is also in effect until 9 p.m. ET Wednesday for parts of Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont.
(NEW YORK) — A passenger is seeking $1.5 million in damages from JetBlue after she allegedly sustained severe burns from “scalding hot” tea served during a period of turbulence, according to a complaint.
According to the complaint, filed on June 24, the “dangerously hot cup of tea” was allegedly served to Tahjana Lewis while there was “ongoing turbulence” with the “fasten seat belt” sign turned on. The complaint claims this decision was “dangerous and hazardous” given the conditions at the time.
The alleged incident occurred on May 15 aboard Flight 2237 traveling from Orlando, Florida, to Hartford, Connecticut, according to the complaint. Lewis, the plaintiff, claimed she was seated in the row directly behind the passenger who ordered the drink on this flight, the complaint states.
Lewis reportedly suffered from “severe” and “disfiguring” burns on her upper chest, breasts, legs, left buttocks and right arm, with “disfigurement and scarring on all five burn-affected regions,” according to the complaint.
“That’s gross negligence,” Lewis’ attorney, Edward Jazlowiecki, told ABC News regarding JetBlue’s purported decision to serve drinks during what he called “serious” turbulence. “Absolutely gross negligence.”
JetBlue did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
The complaint claims that JetBlue served this beverage “at a temperature that was unreasonably and dangerously hot beyond what is accepted in the food service industry or airline industry.”
Jazlowiecki also said JetBlue “should have done something to assuage [Lewis’] pain.” He claimed the crew did not ask if there were doctors on board, didn’t divert or make an emergency landing, and that they “didn’t offer her much help until she got off the plane.”
According to Jazlowiecki, Lewis experienced second-degree and possibly third-degree burns, and she will likely have to get skin grafting. He said she went to the emergency room immediately after the flight and consulted a skin specialist.
In addition to becoming “sore and partially disabled,” the complaint claims that Lewis became limited in her ability to work and suffered from emotional damages.
Jazlowiecki also said Lewis was traveling alone with her 5-year-old daughter and that this incident was “extremely traumatic” for the child to witness.
(ATLANTA) — A federal bankruptcy court judge said on Wednesday he is leaning toward dismissing Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy case after two former Georgia election workers Giuliani defamed agreed it would be the best way for them to collect at least part of a $148 million judgment against the former New York City mayor.
Dismissal would remove the shield surrounding Giuliani’s assets and allow the election workers — Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss — and other creditors to pursue his money in the courts.
It would also allow Giuliani to appeal the defamation judgment.
Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in December 2023 after a jury ordered him to pay nearly $150 million to Freeman and Moss for defaming them with false accusations that the mother and daughter committed election fraud while the two were counting ballots in Georgia’s Fulton County on Election Day in 2020.
The bankruptcy judge signaled he would rule Friday during another hearing.
Court records showed that Giuliani has less than $100,000 cash and a dwindling retirement account. Earlier this month he was disbarred in New York over his “false and misleading” statements about the 2020 election.
He also faces criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
(CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y.) — Alexi Saenz, a high-ranking member of the MS-13 gang, pleaded guilty in federal court in Central Islip, New York, on Wednesday to racketeering charges stemming from eight murders.
He faces between 40 and 70 years in prison as part of a plea agreement, prosecutors said.
Among the deaths Saenz pleaded guilty to were those of two Long Island teenagers — 16-year-old Kayla Cuevas and 15-year-old Nisa Mickens — who were killed in Sept. 2016. Prosecutors said several gang members chased them down and attacked them with baseball bats and a machete.
Prosecutors said the teens’ murders arose from a series of disputes and an altercation Cuevas and her friends had with people associated with MS-13 at Brentwood High School. After the altercation, the gang members “vowed to seek revenge against Cuevas,” according to prosecutors.
Saenz, along with several other suspected MS-13 gang members, were arrested for the teens’ deaths in 2017. Charges against his brother, Jairo Saenz, who was also arrested at the time, remain pending.
“To say that Alexi Saenz’s hands are drenched in blood does not begin to describe the multiple killings and extreme mayhem he personally directed and committed in the span of one year in Suffolk County,” Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a press release Wednesday. “While those murders and violent crimes were intended to further the sordid mission of the MS-13, the defendant has failed miserably.”
Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty for the two Saenz brothers, but Attorney General Merrick Garland said in 2023 they would no longer do so.
The murders of the two girls garnered national attention, with then-President Donald Trump inviting their parents to the 2018 State of the Union.
“Here tonight are two fathers and two mothers: Evelyn Rodriguez, Freddy Cuevas, Elizabeth Alvarado, and Robert Mickens,” Trump said during his speech. “Their two teenage daughters — Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens — were close friends on Long Island. But in September 2016, on the eve of Nisa’s16th birthday, neither of them came home. These two precious girls were brutally murdered while walking together in their hometown. Six members of the savage gang MS-13 have been charged with Kayla and Nisa’s murders.”
Saenz was charged in connection to the murders of six other people, all of whom the MS-13 members suspected of being affiliated with rival gangs, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors described Saenz as a ringleader in these killings, frequently instructing fellow gang members to carry out the attack or giving the greenlight to do so.
Saenz was also charged in connection with three attempted murders, arson, narcotics trafficking and firearms offenses.
Suffolk County Police Department acting Commissioner Robert E. Waring called Saenz’s crimes “senseless and barbaric.”
“The murders of teenagers Kayla Cuevas and Nisa Mickens shook our communities and reverberated around the nation,” Waring said. “My hope is that this guilty plea will give the victims’ families some closure while also demonstrating our commitment to dismantling these criminal enterprises.”
(CHICAGO) — A missing pastor was found dead in his car in the Des Plaines River, near Chicago, Tuesday night after he had been missing for a week, according to officials.
Warren Beard, 53, was last heard from on July 2 and was last seen in Joliet, Illinois, according to the Chicago Police Department. Beard was the assistant pastor at New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago.
Video footage from July 2 shows Beard’s vehicle going through a gate and under a raised drawbridge before crashing into the river, Rockdale officials said at a press conference Tuesday. The vehicle was located underwater using sonar.
The road where the vehicle was seen was closed, according to officials.
Beard was found in the Des Plaines River approximately 150 yards west of Brandon Road in Rockdale, according to the Will County Coroner’s Office.
An autopsy to determine the final cause and manner is scheduled for Wednesday, but the results have not yet been publicly released.
“He was the greatest person, one of the greatest men I’ve ever met in my life, and this is painful,” New Israelite Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Chenier Alston told Chicago ABC station WLS. “We want answers. Words can’t even begin to describe how we feel.”
Illinois State Police is investigating the incident.
(MARANA, Ariz.) — A 2-year-old girl has died after her father left her in a hot car in Arizona, where residents are enduring triple-digit temperatures, according to authorities.
The father was running errands with his daughter, and when he returned home Tuesday afternoon, he allegedly knowingly left the 2-year-old in the car, Marana Police Capt. Tim Brunenkant told ABC News.
He left the car running and the air conditioning on, Brunenkant said.
The dad went into the house, and when he returned to the car between 30 and 60 minutes later, the car was off, Brunenkant said.
The 2-year-old was unresponsive and the dad called 911, Brunenkant said. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said.
The temperature in Marana reached a scorching 111 degrees on Tuesday. Marana is just outside of Tucson, where an excessive heat warning has been issued.
Brunenkant called the death a “heat-related tragedy.”
No charges have been filed at this time but charges have not been ruled out, Brunenkant said Wednesday.
Interviews are underway and police are looking for surveillance video in the neighborhood, he said.
At least nine children have died in hot cars across the U.S. so far this year, according to national nonprofit KidsAndCars.org.
Since 1990, at least 1,093 children have died in hot cars — and about 88% of those kids are 3 years old or younger, according to KidsAndCars.org.
