Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at Cipriani Wall Street on March 15, 2005 in New York City. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Ghislaine Maxwell asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for recruiting and grooming the underage girls who Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused, arguing she was immunized by an agreement federal prosecutors in Florida arranged with Epstein in 2007.
“The plea agreement applies to preclude this prosecution,” defense attorney Diana Fabi Samson told a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “Denying the viability of this plea agreement strikes a dagger in the heart of the trust between the government and its citizens regarding plea agreements.”
Maxwell raised the same argument during trial and asked for a hearing to explore what the Florida prosecutors intended. The trial judge rejected that, ruling prosecutors in New York were not bound by the agreement.
On Tuesday, a prosecutor repeated the view that the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan was not bound by the prior agreement with Epstein and said, regardless, it did not apply to Maxwell.
“The central promise in the non-prosecution agreement is a promise by the Southern District of Florida not to prosecute Epstein in that district,” assistant U.S. attorney Andrew Rohrbach said. “This is a document entered into by the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida intended to bind the Southern District of Florida and that district alone.”
In her written appeal, Maxwell’s attorneys argued she was made a “proxy” for Epstein, who died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial, to “satisfy public outrage” about his conduct. They also argued Maxwell was denied a fair trial, in part, because one of the jurors failed to disclose his own history of sexual abuse during jury selection.
Neither point came up during oral arguments.
Maxwell is currently incarcerated in a low-security prison in Tallahassee and eligible for release in 2037.
(PONTIAC, Mich.) — In a prosecution that has largely mirrored evidence from his wife’s trial, previously unseen video was shown in court Tuesday of James Crumbley telling police where to find guns in their home before authorities executed a search warrant in the hours after Ethan Crumbley, the couple’s son, killed four people in a school shooting in Michigan.
James Crumbley is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter in the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School, when his son killed four of his classmates — Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Madisyn Baldwin, 17, and Justin Shilling, 17 — and injured seven others.
The father’s trial comes weeks after his wife, Jennifer Crumbley, was found guilty of the same four counts. Ethan, who was 15 years old at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after he pleaded guilty to 24 counts including first-degree premeditated murder and terrorism causing death.
Prosecutors played recordings of James Crumbley in court Tuesday for the first time, including police footage of officers speaking with him before they executed a search warrant on the Crumbley home and body camera footage of police apprehending James and Jennifer Crumbley after a manhunt.
In footage, James Crumbley was seen talking to an officer while the search warrant was being served in which he tells officers where to find the guns in the home, telling them the passcode to unlock the gun safe.
Prosecutors have sought to point out in trial that the passcode to the gun safe — the factory preset of 0-0-0 — was an example of James Crumbley’s failure to secure the firearm and limit the shooter’s access to it.
Evidence was presented earlier in the trial of James Crumbley purchasing the gun used in the shooting for his son just days before the attack.
During her trial, Jennifer Crumbley had responded to questions from the prosecution regarding the passcode being the default 0-0-0, arguing that securing the gun was James Crumbley’s responsibility.
Other witnesses who testified on Tuesday included Luke Kirtley, who called 911 to report the location of the Crumbleys leading to their arrest; David Hendrick, the detective sergeant who was in charge of the manhunt for the Crumbley parents; and Detective Adam Stoyek, who testified about searching the Crumbley home after the shooting.
The couple had to be captured while hiding in Detroit a week after the shooting following an hourslong search when they did not turn themselves in for their scheduled arraignment, according to law enforcement officials.
They had not made an arrangement with police to turn themselves in, with James Crumbley’s attorney seeking to argue they were not fleeing. In Hendrick’s testimony Tuesday, the defense alluded to conversations the Crumbleys’ attorneys had with law enforcement regarding turning themselves in.
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — Hundreds of U.S. troops are now en route to the Gaza coast to build a massive floating pier off the war-torn enclave that will open up a desperately needed route for humanitarian aid promised by President Joe Biden.
The deployment order, delivered to the troops shortly before Biden announced the effort in his State of the Union address last Thursday, comes five months after the start of the war in Gaza and as Israel has blocked aid trucks from entering, citing security concerns.
International aid organizations say several children have already died of starvation.
Troops and their families who spoke with ABC News said they had been watching the war unfold on social media and elsewhere, but that last week’s deployment order came as a shock.
Several troops said telling their kids they were leaving on short notice was the toughest part.
ABC News spoke with troops and their families in Newport News, Virginia.
“We told them that we’re going to provide humanitarian aid for people that are in need. And that we’re going across the ocean. We’ll be back as soon as we’re done,” said Chief Warrant Officer Three Jason West on what he told his three children, ages 15, 9 and 6.
West is among some 500 Army soldiers who deployed Tuesday from Virginia to the Gaza coast, where they will join Marines and Navy sailors in constructing the floating pier.
Officials describe the pier as a kind of massive floating parking lot that will attach to an 1,800-foot walkway that will attach to shore. It will take at least 60 days before it’s up and running. But once built, the pier should enable deliveries of some 2 million meals a day.
The military hasn’t built this kind of pier — a system called JLOTs — since 2010 when the Army deployed one off of Haiti. The system also was part of a military training exercise in Australia last year.
Biden has promised no U.S. boots on the ground, and officials say they will be working with Israeli forces and other partners in the region to secure the pier’s causeway to the shore, as well as offload and distribute the aid packages.
U.S. troops are expected to remain on ships throughout their deployment, which does not have an end date.
“It’s indefinite until we’re done providing humanitarian aid,” West said.
(UVALDE, Texas.) — Daniel Rodriguez, the police chief of Uvalde, Texas, announced his resignation on Tuesday. Rodriguez confirmed to ABC News that the resignation will take effect April 6.
The news comes less than one week after the Uvalde City Council released the findings of the independent report it commissioned to investigate the actions of Uvalde police officers who responded to the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. The investigation determined none of the initial five Uvalde police officers who responded to the shooting violated policy or committed serious acts of misconduct, which devastated and outraged victims’ families who attended the hearing.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the massacre. Responders waited some 77 minutes at the scene before breaching a classroom and killing the gunman.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(REDWOOD CITY, Calif.) — Scott Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife and their unborn son 20 years ago, is scheduled to appear in court virtually on Tuesday after the LA Innocence Project picked up his murder case earlier this year.
Laci Peterson, who was 27 years old and eight months pregnant, disappeared on Christmas Eve in 2002. Her body was found in San Francisco Bay in April 2003.
Scott Peterson, 51, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife and second-degree murder in the death of their unborn son. He was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to death in 2005. He was later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Attorneys with the LA Innocence Project claimed that Scott Peterson’s state and federal constitutional rights were violated, including a “claim of actual innocence that is supported by newly discovered evidence,” according to court documents filed in January. The group is seeking evidence from the original trial.
His case is scheduled to be presented in court in San Mateo County on Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT. He will appear remotely, the court said.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hill granted the hearing last week.
Scott Peterson, who pleaded not guilty, has long maintained his innocence. His previous attempt for a new trial was denied in December 2022.
In 2020, the California Supreme Court overturned Scott Peterson’s death sentence, citing that during the penalty phase his jury was improperly screened for bias against the death penalty, according to court documents.
He was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in December 2021 and moved off death row, from San Quentin State Prison to Mule Creek State Prison, in October 2022.
The LA Innocence Project — which provides pro bono legal services to people incarcerated in Central and Southern California who may have been wrongfully convicted — previously said in a statement that it is representing Scott Peterson and “investigating his claim of actual innocence.”
Scott Peterson’s attorney, Pat Harris, previously said in a statement to ABC News that they are “thrilled to have the incredibly skilled attorneys at the LA Innocence project and their expertise becoming involved in the efforts to prove Scott’s innocence.”
(PITTSBURGH) — Two people were found dead at the scene of a house explosion and fire in Pennsylvania Tuesday morning, authorities said.
The explosion in Crescent Township, just outside of Pittsburgh, was reported at 8:54 a.m., local officials said.
The home was completely leveled by the blast, and the fire was throughout the house’s foundation and along the hillside, authorities said.
“We all felt and heard the explosion,” Allegheny County Division Fire Chief Andrew Tomer said at a news conference. “You could feel it in your chest.”
No injuries have been reported, Tomer said.
“When the explosion happened, I thought either a truck hit our building or something happened within our factory,” John Bundy, who works at a factory in the area, told ABC News. “We saw, like, a mushroom cloud explosion.”
Bundy said he and his nephew “jumped in my truck and we drove to try to find the scene. And when we got there, we were along with two other gentlemen first on the scene that saw what was going on. And, we — with caution — ran up to the house.”
Bundy said another man “ran right into the flames and was screaming and asking for survivors. And it was just really impressive to see.”
“We did see a lady come out of her house with the windows were all blown out, and she was holding a baby,” Bundy said. “She said her parents lived [at the house that exploded]. And we went to her right away because obviously, you know, she needed consoling. And, it was just a bad scene.”
“It was complete devastation when we first arrived on scene,” Tomer said.
“The whole lot was just completely leveled — nothing remaining,” Logan Barcia, Bundy’s nephew, said.
At least two other homes were damaged, Tomer said.
“There was natural gas on site from a private well. There was also propane on site from a private well,” Tomer said.
(HANOVER, N.H.) — Founded as one of the first schools to educate Native Americans, Dartmouth College is now at the forefront of an effort to rectify what some tribes say has long been an atrocity in plain sight.
The school last year revealed that dozens of Native American human remains and burial objects had been discovered in its private collection of art and artifacts. Some had been put on public display and even handled by students in classrooms — all without the permission of the individuals’ ancestors or their tribes.
“You can’t help but be in, like, disbelief and shock but also be hit with a thousand other emotions that range from frustration to disappointment to sadness,” said Paige Nakai, a senior co-president of Dartmouth’s Native American student group.
The Ivy League institution is among dozens of American universities, historical societies and museums in possession of Native human remains despite a 30-year-old federal law ordering them to inventory the sacred objects and immediately return them to tribes.
“Dartmouth is 255 years old, older than the United States itself, and many of the bones were donated to Dartmouth by people who had collected them elsewhere and then gave them to us,” said Dartmouth Provost David Kotz. “So, sorting out the provenance of these has been challenging.”
Nationwide, compliance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA), has been painstakingly slow.
Of the more than 200,000 remains reported since the law was enacted around 100,000 are still being held by institutions today, according to the Interior Department, which administers the law.
Government records show UC Berkeley, the Ohio History Connection, and Harvard’s Peabody Museum top the list of those with the most artifacts awaiting repatriation.
Dartmouth has repatriated eight sets of remains since 1995, but approximately 60 more still need to be returned, according to findings from an inventory of the school’s 67,000 pieces of art and artifacts shared with ABC News.
“Museums and academic institutions both were part of the colonial process, and they were created at a time when people didn’t think Native Americans were going to be around any longer. Dehumanization of native and other peoples is part of what allowed these collections to be formed,” said Dr. Jami Powell, a citizen of the Osage Nation and the curator of indigenous art at Dartmouth’s Hood Museum.
“People should ask themselves, what if this was one of my ancestors whose remains were dug up and used for research and study without the permission of our family?” said Powell. “I think once people put themselves in the shoes of native peoples and ask these difficult questions, it’s not hard to understand why there has to be a change.”
Schools and museums are facing growing pressure to accelerate compliance with NAGPRA by hiring more staff to resolve cases and proactively reaching out to tribes to facilitate repatriation rather than waiting for a Native group to make a claim.
“The onus was on tribes to prove that somehow these were their ancestors. It allowed universities to sit on these remains for decades. Tribes often lack the resources to be able to say these are, in fact, our ancestors. So the law, without intending to be, was stacked against tribal interests,” said Professor Bruce Duthu, who chairs Dartmouth’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Program.
Some institutions have recently announced progress. Colgate University last November returned more than 1,500 funerary objects to the Oneida Indian Nation, while Cornell University repatriated Oneida remains dug up in 1964.
“Essentially, afterlife is very sacred,” said Raylen Bark, a senior co-president of Dartmouth’s Native American student group. “You become one with the community and with the landscape. And so when you die, you go back into that ground into that land.”
Top museums from New York to Cleveland to Chicago have been closing exhibits or covering up sacred Native objects displayed without tribal consent.
But some tribal leaders and Native advocates allege there are institutions deliberately resisting compliance in the name of science and research.
In late 2023, the Biden administration announced stricter regulations meant to give NAGPRA new bite: a five-year deadline for institutions to re-inventory their collections and return Native human remains or else face steep fines. The new rules also require proactive consultation with tribes and express consent before any sacred objects are displayed or researched.
“That is a form of accountability that universities never had to worry about before and now they do,” said Duthu. “I think universities are always looking over the fence to see how their neighbors are doing, and the tide has changed, and I think that has to continue because no one now wants to be the outlier.”
Dartmouth has appointed a high-level working group to oversee repatriation efforts, accelerate compliance with the law, and facilitate outreach to tribal members on campus and nationwide. School officials say they are committed to returning all of the remains as soon as possible.
“To me, the most important thing is to work with the tribes and the Native American representatives who understand the deep cultural, spiritual value of these ancestors, and to ensure that we do what is most appropriate in their eyes, in handling and returning these ancestors,” said Kotz.
Powell said she cannot guarantee that all of the Native human remains uncovered at Dartmouth will be repatriated in the next five years as required by law — or that other sets of remains would not be discovered in the future. But she said there is sincere intention to honor the law and the tribal communities.
“We’re confident that the steps are being taken to make sure that there is some type of trust that Dartmouth is doing the right things,” said Nakai.
(Portland, Ore.) — Three years ago, Oregon decriminalized small amounts of illicit drugs, from fentanyl to methamphetamine to crack.
But some state leaders, local residents and others are having second thoughts about the law, which was passed following a 2020 voter-approved ballot initiative. Now cities like Portland have seen a surge in homeless people encamped in the streets using drugs.
“We’re out here every day and we write the same ticket. Some people, sometimes multiple times a day,” Portland Police Officer David Baer told ABC News.
As calls to reform the new law and to give police more authority over the situation continue to grow, some of the law’s advocates argue that more time is needed to correct a problem that has been compounding for a long time.
“What we know is that putting people in jail has never been an effective way to treat people with substance use disorder,” Haven Wheelock, the executive director of the Portland-based social services nonprofit Outside In, told ABC News.
Measure 110, was the first drug decriminalization measure in the country that affected harder drugs outside of marijuana and pushed for a health-based approach to fighting addiction versus arrests.
The law went into effect in February 2021 and established Behavioral Health Resource Networks (BHRNs), which is “an entity or group of entities working together to provide comprehensive, community-based services and supports to people with substance use disorders or harmful substance use,” according to the law.
The BHRNs have received state grants – over hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth – to help fund their initiatives.
People who are caught using drugs in the open are still liable for a possession of a controlled substance misdemeanor charge and $100 fine, but they are also provided with a card with a phone number for treatment options, according to Baer.
“So you call that number, do a health screening [and] my understanding is they’ll also pay the ticket for you,” he said.
However, after three years and over 7,600 drug violations, only about 200 calls to the number have been made, according to data from the state city.
The surge in open drug use has given way to concern from Oregon’s residents. The downtown of its most populated city has remained barren long after covid lockdown ended, increasingly dotted with homeless encampments.
Although outreach groups have been up and running for nearly three years, and have been on the streets providing outreach, many said they have struggles getting people to commit to their services.
Ricco Mejia, an outreach leader with the Behavioral Health Addiction Association of Oregon, one of the recipients of the state’s $264 million in grants, recently met with a homeless couple who were sleeping on the street and offered them a bed, new clothes and detox and outpatient treatment.
After they initially agreed to the offer, they had second thoughts.
“I believe we made a good human connection,” Meija, who himself is in recovery for drug addiction, told ABC News when asked if the couple’s rejection was discouraging.
Leaders from Multnomah County, which includes Portland, declared a state of emergency earlier this year over the drug problem as overdose deaths from opioids like fentanyl increased nearly 42% between 2022 and 2023, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The problem has caused many Oregon residents to reconsider Measure 110, which passed with 58% of the vote, according to election results.
An Emerson poll taken last year found that 64% of Oregonians supported rolling back part of the law, 56% wanted a total repeal and 54% of residents believed the law increased the presence of homeless in their communities.
State Rep. Kevin Mannix, (R), has been one of the staunchest opponents of the law and has contended that voters were misled.
“We think that law enforcement has to have the authority to intervene for those who are using hard drugs,” he told ABC News.
Oregon State Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber (D), one of the early supporters of Measure 110, told ABC News that the law was not a mistake and it needs more time for the system to work.
“We fundamentally haven’t figured out how to have the behavioral health system and the criminal justice system really talk to each other,” she said.
Proponents of Measure 110 have noted that the funding of recovery programs has been slow.
Oregon didn’t begin dispersing funds until May 2022.
But proponents of the program argued that when the money gets where it’s supposed to go, it can make an impact.
Dan Hood said he has been nine months sober from drugs such as heroin and meth after he started attending services provided by the clinic Recovery Works. Hood, who started using drugs in high school, said the practice of harm reduction, where a specialist will provide guidance for safer drug use, was a big step in getting him to get off drugs completely.
“The harm reduction allows you to open up and get closer with them,” Hood said. “The more you’re honest, the more you can get closer with them, the more they can help you.”
Hood has been sober for nine months, thanks to the help of Recovery Works, a Measure 110-funded clinic.. He is currently job hunting at the Measure 110-funded agency.
“When I see someone out on the street and suffering still, I just wish that they could find the help that they need,” Hood said. “It’s an example of what I don’t want to do or be like anymore.”
Wheelock, who has been advocating for more harm reduction services for decades, told ABC News that the state still needs more services and facilities if it is going to combat the addiction crisis.
She argued that people are blaming Measure 110 for problems that existed long before it was enacted.
“I don’t want to go back to watching people cycle in and out of jail, and their risk for overdose being so much higher when they get out than when they went in,” Wheelock said.
Still, state officials recently took action to address the public’s concerns.
Earlier this month, the state legislature voted to roll back parts of Measure 110, Governor Tina Kotek announced she will sign in the new law sometime this month.
Starting Sept. 1, police must either directly place drug users with treatment providers or bring them in front of a judge where they will be put on probation. Repeat offenders receive longer probation sentences and eventually may have to serve up to 180 days in jail.
Lieber, who led negotiations on the new bill, said the state needs more time to figure out how the new system can balance safety and helping those in need.
“I fundamentally believe, by criminalizing addiction, we are keeping people in a downward spiral. And yet, I do think that sometimes people need motivation to get into treatment in a way that the criminal justice system offers,” she said.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — The U.S. dollar is perhaps the most recognized in the world, accepted nearly everywhere and viewed as one of the most reliable, stable currencies of any nation. Which is why, at a time when consumers swipe or tap a card to pay for most anything, the U.S. Secret Service reported that they seized nearly 22 million dollars in counterfeit cash last year.
Counterfeiting is a crime that has existed for millennia, but it really came to the fore in the U.S. during the Civil War, when both the Union and Confederate governments, in an attempt to subvert the other, counterfeited each other’s currency. By the war’s end, nearly one-third of all currency circulating the U.S. was counterfeit, undermining a recovering economy where physical currency was what most used to do business.
The U.S. Secret Service was born out of the need to thwart that rampant counterfeiting and restore the population’s trust in the nation’s financial system. That task has become more challenging with the advent of cybercurrencies like Bitcoin, digital currencies, peer-to-peer payment methods like PayPal and Venmo, and more. Criminals and crimes adapt to the times, and, as much as payment methods have increased, so too have the ways to defraud consumers. Cryptocurrency-related crimes grew over 53% in 2023, according the FBI’s Internet Crime Report, from $2.57 billion in losses in 2022 to $3.94 billion last year.
Further, a February 2023 Deloitte poll found that, during the previous 12 months, “34.5% of polled executives report that their organizations’ accounting and financial data was targeted by cyber adversaries,” with nearly a third of those organizations attacked more than once during the survey period.
Just one such attack can cripple a business and shut down economic activity, which is why governments around the world have prioritized stopping them. Yet as financial cybercrimes have taken the spotlight, counterfeiting of U.S. currency has quietly experienced a resurgence. As the Secret Service says, “The threat of counterfeit U.S. currency to the financial system of the United States continues to evolve. Advances in technology, the availability of scanning and printing devices and the adoption of the U.S. dollar by nations as their legal tender have exacerbated the global threat.”
Before computers, currency counterfeiters created physical printing plates to simulate U.S. currency, and printed their counterfeit currency on different types of paper. Digital scanners and printers have further enabled counterfeiters, but the biggest challenges for most counterfeiters are the security features in U.S. currency, which are difficult to replicate.
Yet it still happens. In May 2012, the Canadian police seized $1 million worth of fake U.S. $20 bills and arrested four suspects. When asked why they did it, the main counterfeiting suspect stated that it was because U.S currency was the most widely accepted worldwide.
Indeed, over half of genuine U.S. currency is in circulation overseas. Cash, especially genuine U.S. currency, is the preferred payment method in many corners of the world for law-abiding individuals who either can’t or don’t want to use electronic payment systems. When counterfeit currency is introduced in these places, it can significantly undermine the local economy and damage trust.
In 2020, the U.S. Secret Service confiscated more than half a billion dollars in counterfeit money. Since then, seizures have steadily declined due in part to the consistent redesigns of U.S. currency to make it more counterfeit resistant.
As attempts to thwart counterfeiting have continued, “funny money” has taken on new forms, including the use of “prop money” – that is, fake money made for use as on-camera props in films or television. As a result, and despite non-criminal intentions, Hollywood is apparently home to one of the largest stashes of counterfeit currency.
All of which is why an estimated $70 million to $200 million in counterfeit bills are in circulation at any given time, according to the United States Department of Treasury. As recently as June of 2023, Philadelphia Customs and Border Protection officers, working with the U.S. Secret Service, seized nearly $15 million in counterfeit currency from several multi-million-dollar counterfeit smuggling attempts.
Even while the world’s monetary transactions are going more electronic, the continued popularity of counterfeiting demonstrates that in many corners of the world, cash is still king.
Donald J. Mihalek is an ABC News contributor, retired senior Secret Service agent and regional field training instructor who served during two presidential transitions. He was also a police officer and served in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Dejan Belnavis, 27, was arrested on charges of armed assault to murder and carrying a firearm without a license, police said. (Worcester Police Department/Facebook)
(NEW YORK) — After a dayslong manhunt, a suspect has been taken into custody in the fatal shooting of a mother and her 11-year-old daughter in Massachusetts, authorities said.
Chasity Nunez and her daughter, Zella Nunez, were found shot to death in a parked car in Worcester on the afternoon of March 5, the Worcester Police Department said.
Security video shows the victims’ car parked on the side of the road when two people walked up to the car and started shooting, according to court documents.
One suspect, 28-year-old Karel Mangual, was arrested one day after the double homicide. Police urged the public to be on the lookout for the second suspect, Dejan Belnavis, 27, and offered a reward up to $10,000.
Belnavis was taken into custody on Monday after a motor vehicle stop in the San Diego area, police said.
“We’ve been tracking him for a week. We’re using law enforcement technology with the aid of U.S. Marshals … and the state police. We were able to locate him through that technology,” Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier said at a news conference Monday.
“Right now, there’s nothing else as far as why he was there,” Saucier added.
Mangual and Belnavis were both wanted on charges of armed assault to murder and carrying a firearm without a license, police said.
Mangual’s charges will be upgraded to murder on Tuesday, and when Belnavis is brought back to Massachusetts he will also be charged with murder, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said.
Police have not disclosed a possible motive.
Police and prosecutors said they’ve spoken with the victims’ family following Belnavis’ arrest. Worcester Police Lt. David Doherty said they were “grateful and thankful.”
