(MINNEAPOLIS) — Derek Chauvin’s attorney is set to argue Minnesota should throw out his state murder conviction in the death of George Floyd in a Wednesday hearing.
The former Minneapolis police officer was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in June 2021 after he was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Chauvin was found guilty of pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes, resulting in Floyd’s death in May 2020. The death triggered a wave of protests against police misconduct and a racial reckoning nationwide.
Chauvin’s attorney, William F. Mohrman, will argue that pretrial publicity “was more extensive than in any trial ever in Minnesota,” and that publicity, ongoing civil unrest, alleged exclusion of evidence and “misconduct” from the prosecution led to an unfair trial, according to court documents.
Mohrman cites the local death of Daunte Wright, a Black man killed by police while Chauvin’s trial was pending; Minneapolis’ $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family; and the exclusion of evidence concerning Floyd’s past arrest as laying the foundation for an unfavorable trial outcome.
Mohrman is also questioning whether Chauvin’s third-degree murder should be overturned “because this charge allowed the state to introduce evidence of Chauvin’s ‘depraved mind’ which is irrelevant to unintentional second degree murder.”
The appellant brief, filed last year, requests the state “either reverse his conviction, reverse and remand for a new trial in a new venue or remand for re-sentencing.”
Chauvin was also sentenced to 21 years in prison on federal civil rights charges after pleading guilty to violating Floyd’s civil rights and using unreasonable and excessive force, even after he was aware Floyd had lost consciousness and a pulse.
(NEW YORK) — A rare, mid-January heavy snowstorm is slamming Denver Wednesday morning.
Denver reported 4.8 inches of snow at midnight local time and the snowfall is ongoing for the Wednesday morning commute. Another 1 to 6 inches is expected through the day.
Heavy snow is moving through Nebraska Wednesday morning where a whopping 6 to 18 inches of snow is expected through the day. With blowing snow and snowfall rates reaching 1 to 2 inches per hour, roads are expected to be extremely dangerous.
Snow will continue later in the day into Iowa, where 6 to 12 inches is expected.
This snow will continue into Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The storm is expected to reach Green Bay early Thursday morning.
On Thursday, snow is expected in upstate New York as well as much of New England, including Boston.
Snow flurries and scattered snow showers will continue on Friday in the Northeast. Six to 12 inches are expected in upstate New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.
(NORFOLK, Mass.) — A Massachusetts man accused of killing and dismembering his missing wife, Ana Walshe, 39, allegedly Googled “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to,” according to prosecutors.
Brian Walshe, 47, of Cohasset, appeared in court Wednesday morning on charges of murder and improper transport of a body. Not guilty pleas to the charges were entered on his behalf. Walshe was already in custody after pleading not guilty to a charge of misleading investigators.
Prosecutors believe Walshe made a series of Google searches including: “how long before a body starts to smell”; “how to stop a body from decomposing”; “how to embalm a body”; and “what’s the best state to divorce.”
Walshe also allegedly Googled “dismemberment” and “what happens when you put body parts in ammonia,” prosecutor Lynn Beland said. There were more Google searches for “hacksaw best tool to dismember” and “can you be charged with murder without a body,” according to Beland.
Blood, a bloody knife and another knife were found in the basement of the Walshes’ Cohasset home, Beland said.
Prosecutors said police also recovered 10 trash bags containing blood-stained items including: a hacksaw, towels, rags, cleaning agents, carpets, slippers, Prada purse and Ana Walshe’s COVID-19 vaccine card. Investigators found DNA from Ana Walshe and Brian Walshe on the slippers, according to Beland.
Ana Walshe was reported missing by co-workers in Washington on Jan. 4. At that time, Brian Walshe claimed he last saw his wife early on Jan. 1, as she prepared to take a ride share to Boston Logan International Airport for a “work emergency,” but investigators said she never caught a ride and never boarded a plane.
Investigators said they tracked Ana’s phone on Jan. 2, and it pinged in or near her Cohasset home.
Brian Walshe was charged with misleading the investigation on Jan. 8. At that time, investigators revealed they found blood and a broken knife in the family’s basement and had surveillance video of Brian Walshe, wearing a medical mask and surgical gloves, purchasing $450 in cleaning supplies with cash at a Home Depot in nearby Rockland.
Walshe was wearing a monitoring bracelet as he awaited sentencing for selling fake Andy Warhol paintings to an art buyer in California. He was under house arrest but was allowed to leave home for things like doctors’ appointments and grocery shopping. The bracelet did not have GPS tracking.
Police conducted a sweeping search at a Peabody landfill. The landfill was the destination for a dumpster that was outside Brian Walshe’s mother’s apartment building in Swampscott. He had visited his mom in the days following his wife’s disappearance, claiming he went shopping for her. Police found no receipts from the stores he mentioned.
Investigators have not recovered a body.
Brian and Ana Walshe have three children. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said Ana Walshe’s disappearance was the second case of domestic violence his office had seen in recent weeks.
“Our thoughts are very much with the families these crimes have left behind,” Morrissey said.
Brian Walshe is being held without bail and is set to return to court on Feb. 9.
(NORFOLK, Mass.) — A Massachusetts man accused of killing his wife, Ana Walshe, 39, who was reported missing Jan. 4, is expected to appear in court Wednesday morning.
Quincy District Court officials issued a warrant for Brian Walshe, 47, of Cohasset, on Tuesday. Walshe, who is already in custody in Norfolk, pleaded not guilty to a charge of misleading investigators. He is being held on a bail of $500,000 cash or $5 million surety bond.
“The continued investigation has now allowed police to obtain an arrest warrant, charging Brian Walshe with the murder of his wife,” Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said in a video statement posted on Tuesday. “Mr. Walshe will be transported to the Quincy District Court for arraignment on the charge of murder.”
Walshe will also be charged with improper transport of a body, officials said.
His “arraignment may be as soon as 9 a.m. tomorrow dependent on defense attorney availability,” the Cohasset Police said late Tuesday.
Morrissey said his office didn’t plan on Tuesday to release further details about the investigation or potential evidence against Walshe, but some of those details are “likely to be disclosed at arraignment.”
Ana Walshe was reported missing by co-workers in Washington on Jan. 4. At that time, Brian Walshe claimed he last saw his wife early on Jan. 1, as she prepared to take a ride share to Logan Airport for a “work emergency” but investigators said she never caught a ride and never boarded a plane.
Investigators said they pinged Ana’s phone on Jan. 2, and it pinged in or near her Cohasset home.
Brian Walshe was charged with misleading the investigation on Jan. 8. At that time, investigators revealed they found blood and a broken knife in the family’s basement and had surveillance video of Brian Walshe, wearing a medical mask and surgical gloves, purchasing $450 in cleaning supplies with cash at a Home Depot in nearby Rockland.
Walshe was wearing a monitoring bracelet as he awaited sentencing for selling fake Andy Warhol paintings to an art buyer in California. He was under house arrest but was allowed to leave home for things like doctors’ appointments and grocery shopping. The bracelet did not have GPS tracking.
Police conducted a sweeping search at a Peabody landfill. The landfill was the destination for a dumpster that was outside Brian Walshe’s mother’s apartment building in Swampscott. He had visited his mom in the days following his wife’s disappearance, claiming he went shopping for her. Police found no receipts from the stores he mentioned.
Investigators located trash bags containing blood evidence. Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV reported investigators also found a hacksaw and a hatchet at the landfill. Investigators also searched a Wareham incinerator but it’s unclear whether anything was located there.
Investigators have not recovered a body but they have recovered enough genetic material to tie Walshe to the murder of his wife.
Brian and Ana Walshe have three children. Morrissey said Ana Walshe’s disappearance was the second case of domestic violence his office had seen in recent weeks.
“Our thoughts are very much with the families these crimes have left behind,” Morrissey, the district attorney, said.
(PEORIA, Ill.) — Police are hunting for a person involved in a suspected arson attack at a Planned Parenthood clinic in central Illinois just two days after the state enacted sweeping abortion protections into law.
The incident occurred at approximately 11:31 p.m. on Sunday when police in Peoria, Illinois, responded to the 2700 block of N. Knoxville to reports of a structure fire at a commercial building due to an “unknown person throwing a Molotov cocktail” into it, police spokesperson Semone Roth told ABC News’ Chicago station WLS-TV.
“Within minutes, the Peoria Fire Department responded to the scene and extinguished the fire that was contained to one room,” said the Peoria Police Department.
The building, which houses the Peoria Planned Parenthood Clinic, sustained “significant damage,” according to a statement from Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, which was obtained by WLS.
No patients or staff were inside during the fire but one firefighter sustained non-life-threatening injuries while attempting to extinguish the flames, according to the Peoria Police Department.
“Fire investigators determined the preliminary cause of the fire was arson,” authorities said, and during the course of their investigation, the Peoria Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division managed to obtain video footage that identified a suspect vehicle in the vicinity at the time of the crime.
The arson attack on the Planned Parenthood clinic came just two days after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed comprehensive reproductive health care legislation into law that protects out-of-state abortion seekers and allows them to get an abortion.
Illinois is just the latest of a number of states that have managed to enact legal reinforcements around abortions following last year’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had been in place since 1973.
“The vast majority of our Peoria Health Center patients were coming to us for family planning, STI testing and treatment and other reproductive health care,” said Welch. “This act of vandalism will have a devastating impact on the community’s ability to access birth control, cancer screenings and gender-affirming care.”
The Planned Parenthood location that was attacked offered medication abortion but was not a site for in-clinic procedures, Welch told WLS. She also said that she planned to prosecute the perpetrator “to the fullest extent of the law.”
The clinic, which is currently closed due to fire damage, is rescheduling their patients to other health care facilities and is also now offering transportation assistance to those who may require it.
“We would never condone violence against any Planned Parenthood or any other abortion clinic,” Mary Kate Zander, executive director of the anti-abortion organization Illinois Right to Life, told WLS. “The primary reason that we stand against abortion is that it’s an act of violence. So it would be hypocritical of us to not say the same in the case of an act of violence against abortion workers.”
For now, authorities have been unsuccessful in their efforts to locate the suspected vehicle involved in the arson attack and the Peoria Police Department is asking for public assistance in identifying and locating the truck and the driver they think was involved in the criminal act.
Anybody with any information on this case is asked to call Peoria Police Detective Brian Terry at (309) 494-8390 or Crime Stoppers, which is an anonymous tip line at 673-9000.
Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Some Florida educators and students are concerned about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ vow against “trendy ideologies” in state colleges and universities.
“We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideologies,” DeSantis said during his Jan. 3 inauguration speech.
Some faculty members and students say they fear DeSantis’ “anti-woke” policies will be harmful, impacting school clubs, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requirements and committees, as well as courses that touch on racial history, or race-based perspectives.
Bryn Taylor, a graduate student at the University of Florida, told ABC News that getting rid of DEI efforts would “take us back in social progress” and leave opportunities in higher education for privileged people.
“It’s about lowering barriers … for any marginalized group,” Taylor said, adding that it doesn’t just affect people of color and LGBTQ populations. “That includes first-gen students, low-income students, international students, students with disabilities.”
Taylor is the co-president of the Graduate Assistants United at the University of Florida and a member of a DEI committee at the school.
“Why don’t you want your base to become educated?” Taylor said. “Why don’t you want your citizens to have the best access to the best schools in the world?”
The DEI movement and critical race theory, the systemic racism via the legal system, have been around for decades, scholars have told ABC News.
DeSantis’ anti-“woke” efforts in education
The governor’s self-proclaimed war against “woke” beliefs has begun.
Woke is defined by the DeSantis administration as “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them,” according to DeSantis’ general counsel, as reported by The Washington Post.
In December, DeSantis’ office requested data on funding, staffing and more for courses and programs that include “diversity, equity and inclusion” and “critical race theory” in a recent memo to school administrators across the state.
In response to backlash, his office told ABC News that “the governor, as chief executive of the state, has every right to ask how public dollars are being spent by public state entities, like state colleges and universities. In fact, that is good government.”
However, DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE” Act — which restricts race-related curriculum and conversation in workplaces, schools and colleges — has been temporarily blocked from being implemented in colleges and universities. The law is still being battled out in the courts.
WOKE in the bill stands for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees.”
DeSantis has also stacked the board of trustees at Sarasota’s New College of Florida — a college known for its progressive campus culture — with conservative figures such as Christopher Rufo, who popularized misinformation on critical race theory.
The governor’s office told ABC News that DeSantis made his decisions because “the public expects their tax dollars to go towards [New College’s] statutorily stated mission of ‘provid[ing] a quality education.'”
“Instead, New College has publicly committed to ‘eliminating outcome disparities for underrepresented and underserved groups,'” a statement from DeSantis’ office read.
DeSantis’ office asserted that the college’s statement “quite literally admits the institution will adjust outcomes based on non-academic factors of their choosing.”
Educators and students fight back
Andrew Gothard, the president of the United Faculty of Florida union, said that one of the complaints he’s heard from faculty against recent education restrictions is that “nobody really knows what the governor and the Office of the Governor are looking for here.”
“When we listen to politicians talk about this subject matter, they seem to use it as a catch-all for any course or topic or subject matter that talks about people who aren’t white,” Gothard told ABC News. “In higher education, we know that DEI and CRT are much more specific in their usage, but they also can relate to a larger array of issues.”
Critical race theory, which is taught in universities and colleges, seeks to understand how racism has shaped U.S. laws.
“Students in a higher education classroom should be educated on what this is, so that then they can make their own decisions about how they feel about it,” Gothard said.
Educators and librarians are left to ask themselves: “How do I know if my subject area is DEI- or CRT-related in the way that the governor thinks those terms work?” according to one librarian.
Kestrel Ward, a librarian at the University of Florida, fears the reaction to the lists being made of the funding, staffing and production of programs and courses relating to DEI and race.
“People in power creating lists of people they find undesirable has not led anywhere good for the people who are on those lists,” Ward said.
Ward said restrictions on DEI and “critical race theory” could be far-reaching — and could affect their book displays, programs and library selection.
Ward has considered leaving the position at the library due to the impending restrictions.
“It is becoming increasingly untenable, particularly for marginalized people, but for lots of people to work in higher education because there’s so much hostility from the government, which is an infringement on our academic freedom, but it’s also an infringement on our First Amendment rights,” Ward said.
(NEW YORK) — Four passengers were killed and another was hurt after a small plane crashed in Lavaca County, Texas, on Tuesday morning, the state’s Department of Public Safety said.
The injured survivor was taken south to a hospital in the nearby small city of Victoria.
Images from the wreck showed the remainder of the small single-engine plane lying in a flat grass field, surrounded by pieces of debris. More than 10 vehicles were visible near the taped-off site as officials stood over it in video filmed at the scene Tuesday.
Some residents living nearby said it was foggy in the area around 11 a.m. when the plane went down — crashing near county roads less than a mile from the Yoakum Municipal Airport in south central Texas. Yoakum, Texas, is a town of under 10,000 people located in between the four major cities of San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Corpus Christi.
Harvest Church in Germantown, Tennessee, posted online Tuesday afternoon identifying the victims as its members and asking for prayers. The Memphis-area church said Bill Garner, Steve Tucker, Tyler Patterson and Tyler Springer all died in the crash.
“All were beloved members of Harvest Church and their loss currently leaves us without the proper words to articulate our grief,” the church said, announcing its worship center would be open for prayer and mourning time Tuesday night.
The post said pastor Kennon Vaughan was the lone survivor taken to the hospital and he was in stable condition as of the last report.
The flight tracking website FlightAware showed the aircraft appeared to depart from Memphis International Airport hours before the crash and traveled round trip from Memphis to Dallas just days ago.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a statement Tuesday afternoon saying it is “investigating the Jan. 17, crash of a Piper PA-46-350P aircraft near Yoakum, Texas.”
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the crash as well.
(NEW YORK) — A fisherman is missing after he was reportedly pulled into the ocean when he hooked a “huge” ahi tuna off the coast of Hawaii.
The incident occurred at approximately 5 a.m. on Sunday morning when 63-year-old Mark Knittle of Captain Cook, Hawaii, was fishing with a friend on a boat near Hōnaunau on the west coast of the Island of Hawaii.
“Knittle and a friend were fishing near the ‘C’ buoy, four miles outside of the Hōnaunau Boat Ramp, when Knittle hooked an ahi,” the Hawaii Police Department in a statement detailing the accident. “The friend heard Knittle say, ‘the fish is huge,’ then saw Knittle go overboard into the water.”
Police say Knittle’s friend attempted to grab the line in an initial and unsuccessful attempt to save him.
“Knittle was seen on the surface and disappeared within seconds,” the Hawaii Police Department said. “The friend attempted to jump in after Knittle but could not see him anywhere.”
The Hawaii Fire Department and Coast Guard personnel were immediately dispatched and have been conducting a continuous 72-hour search for Knittle. Authorities have not disclosed whether any clues have been recovered during their search.
Knittle is described as 5’10” tall and weighs approximately 185 pounds. He has curly brown hair with a white mustache and beard. Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this incident to contact the Hawaii Police Department’s non-emergency line at (808) 935-3311.
The search and investigation for Knittle is ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — A polar bear chased down and killed a woman and a young boy when it entered a remote village community in Alaska before a resident was able to shoot and kill the bear during the attack.
The incident occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Wales, Alaska — the westernmost point of the American mainland with an estimated population of about 170 people — when a polar bear reportedly entered the remote community, police said.
“Initial reports indicate that a polar bear had entered the community and had chased multiple residents,” according to a statement released by the Alaska Department of Public Safety on Tuesday in the aftermath of the attack. “The bear fatally attacked an adult female and juvenile male.”
The bear was shot and killed by a local resident as it attacked the victims, according to authorities.
Polar bear attacks are very rare but male polar bears can weigh anywhere from 600 to 1,200 pounds with female polar bears ranging between 400 and 700 pounds, according to the Alaska Department for Fish and Game. Their average life span is about 25 years.
“Current and predicted future declines in sea ice led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list polar bears as threatened under the ESA (Endangered Species Act) throughout their range,” according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “Thinner ice and longer ice-free periods in summer may reduce the length of time polar bears have to hunt, and result in population declines.”
An investigation into the attack is ongoing as “troopers and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game are working to travel to Wales as weather conditions allow,” the Alaska Department of Public Safety confirmed.
The identities of the victims have not yet been confirmed and the next of kin notifications are still in progress.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department said in a brief court filing Tuesday that it will not seek the death penalty in the case against the alleged shooter who killed 19 at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart in 2019.
The Justice Department did not say why it isn’t seeking the death penalty.
Patrick Crusius allegedly killed 23 in August 2019 at an El Paso Walmart and is facing state murder charges and federal hate crime charges.
Crusius was indicted by federal prosecutors in 2019 on 90 federal charges, including 22 counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death, 22 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder, 23 counts of a hate crime involving an attempt to kill and 23 counts of use of a firearm during a crime.
He is accused of being the sole gunman to carry out the Aug. 3, 2019, killing rampage that federal authorities investigated as an act of “domestic terrorism,” meaning the suspect was allegedly intent on “coercing and intimidating a civilian population,” officials said at the time of the announcement.
Crusius allegedly told investigators following his arrest that he set out to kill as many Mexicans as he could after driving from his home in Allen, Texas, about 650 miles east of El Paso, officials said.
The Justice Department has paused carrying out the death penalty during the Biden administration after former Attorney General William Barr resumed carrying out the death penalty at the end of the Trump administration.
A lawyer for Crusius hadn’t yet responded to a request for comment.
