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(NEW YORK) — A Minnesota judge sentenced a man to life in prison without parole Thursday for the death of his first wife, 13 years after police said he shot her over their financial troubles and lied to investigators that it happened during a home invasion.

Several of Heidi Firkus’ friends and family gave emotional victim statements before the judge sentenced her husband Nick Firkus, 40, for his crimes. For years, Nick Firkus maintained he was innocent and that a mysterious home intruder was involved in her death. However, investigators found there was nothing to back up his alibi and found evidence that he lied to his wife about their debts.

“Every homicide is a tragedy. This one is particularly egregious. He hid behind his status for too many years,” Elizabeth Lamin, the assistant district attorney for Ramsey County, Minnesota, said.

On April 25, 2010, Heidi Firkus called 911 saying there was a break-in and stopped talking after a gunshot went off, according to the audio from the call. Police found her dead and her husband wounded in the leg from a gunshot.

“20/20” will take a deep look into Heidi Firkus’s murder and the 13-year-long investigation in an episode airing this Friday at 9 p.m. ET and streaming the next day on Hulu.

Nick Firkus told investigators that he fought over a shotgun with the intruder and that it went off, hitting both him and his wife.

Firkus also told officers that the couple was facing serious financial problems and were set to be evicted, but that he kept those issues secret from her, his family and their friends.

No suspects were named and no one was arrested for years.

However, investigators were still looking into Nick Firkus’ role in his wife’s death, especially since there were discrepancies in his story. There were no signs of a break-in in the house and only Nick Firkus’ DNA was found on the shotgun.

He was arrested in May 2021 and charged with first and second degree murder. Prosecutors said that Nick Firkus killed his wife to hide from the shame of their financial troubles.

A jury convicted Nick Firkus on both charges on Feb. 10 after deliberating for 10 hours.

Peter Erickson, Heidi Firkus’ brother, blasted Nick Firkus during his impact statement.

“The realization that everything Nick was telling us. To have audacity obviously inconsistent to Heidi’s character [it’s] insulting,” he said.

Linda Erickson, the victim’s mother, got emotional during her statement thinking about the years of life lost.

“Because of the unthinkable actions of one person, she was robbed and those who loved her were robbed of participating in that adventure with her,” Linda Erickson said.

Nick Firkus’ attorneys contended their client’s story was the truth and that his wife’s death was caused by the break-in.

Nick Firkus again reiterated his claims that he didn’t murder his wife before the judge sentenced him.

“I will maintain my innocence until my dying last breath,” he said.

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(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — Virginia lawmakers on Wednesday passed a resolution recognizing Abby Zwerner, 25, for what they characterized as courageous actions, saying she earned the state’s “admiration for her courage and dedication to the safety of her students.” The honor follows after the teacher was allegedly shot by a 6-year-old student back in January.

Zwerner attended the honor ceremony and was accompanied by family members.

“Thank you for all that you do for our children, and the lives that you no doubt saved,” Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears told Zwerner. Previously, Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew called Zwerner a “hero” who “saved lives.”

Deja Taylor, the mother of a 6-year-old student in Virginia who allegedly shot a first-grade teacher in January, turned herself into law enforcement Thursday. She faces a maximum of six years in prison for charges related to child neglect and allowing her child to access a firearm.

She posted a $5,000 bond, the Newport News Sheriff’s office told ABC News.

Police said the boy’s mother legally purchased the gun. Her attorney, James Ellenson, has said the gun was secured on a top shelf in her closet and had a trigger lock.

In April Zwerner’s attorneys announced a $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News Public School system formally alleging school administrators ignored multiple warnings about the boy leading up to the shooting. In the lawsuit, they allege that Taylor’s son had a “history of random violence, with which all defendants were familiar.” His parents, according to the lawsuit “did not agree for him to be placed in special education classrooms” which dealt with children with behavioral issues.

Zwerner specifically accuses Assistant Principal Ebony Parker, who has since resigned, of failing to act despite being told repeatedly that the student had a gun at school.

Ellenson said Taylor has no prior criminal record. In January she told ABC News in a statement that her family “has always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of children.”

“The firearm our son accessed was secured” she said, adding her family will regret their “absence on this day for the rest of our lives.” The gun used during the incident was legally purchased and owned by Taylor, they said.

In early January, authorities say Taylor’s 6-year-old son fired one round of a 9mm Taurus Armas pistol at teacher Zwerner in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. The bullet passed through Zwerner’s hand and into her chest, according to police. Despite being wounded, police said Zwerner ushered her students out of the classroom to safety and was the last person to leave the room. No students were physically injured during the incident.

The boy has been hospitalized since the shooting and is “receiving the treatment he needs.”

Following the shooting, the Newport News School Board announced it would hire two security officers and install 90 weapons detection systems throughout the division.

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(LLANO COUNTY, Texas) — A Texas county’s library system is being threatened amid an ongoing battle over banned books.

On Thursday, the Llano County Commissioners Court will discuss whether to “continue or cease operations” of the library system after previously removed books discussing race, health, gender and sexuality were returned to shelves under a court order.

The debate seemingly began in July 2021, when a community group began pushing for the removal of children’s books that they deemed “inappropriate,” according to court documents.

These books included two children series, dubbed the “Butt and Fart books” in the court order. The books “depict bodily functions in a humorous manner in cartoon format, because [critics] believed these books were obscene and promoted ‘grooming’ behavior.”

As months went on, the removal of books continued, targeting books that discussed race, discrimination, gender, sexuality or sexual health, court documents show.

In December 2021, the Llano County Commissioners Court, an elected governing body of the county, voted to close the library for three days to check the shelves for “inappropriate” books, however “inappropriate” was not defined, court documents show.

The Commissioners Court also voted to suspend access to the library’s online resources and dissolve the existing library advisory board, according to court documents.

Instead, a new advisory board was created and members of the community group that advocated for the book removals were appointed to it, according to the court order.

In April 2022, several Llano County residents sued county officials and the library over the book bans, calling the efforts to restrict books “censorship.”

“Book banning offends basic First Amendment principles and strikes at the core of our democracy,” read the lawsuit.

On March 31, a federal judge ordered the previously banned books to be put back on the shelves and allowed to be checked out and looked up in the library’s catalog. Now, the county Commissioners Court partially behind the move to remove books will decide the fate of the library system.

A representative for the Commissioners Court’s public information office declined ABC News’ request for comment regarding the reasoning behind the Thursday special meeting on the library’s potential closure, citing the pending litigation.

Book bans have been seen across the country in record-breaking numbers: Roughly 1,269 demands were made to censor library books and resources in 2022, according to the American Library Association. The organization says it is the highest number of attempted book bans since it began collecting data over 20 years ago.

The vast majority of book banning attempts were made against literature written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color, according to the ALA.

Leila Green Little, one of the residents involved in the lawsuit to bring back the books, called herself a “third generation patron of the Llano County Library System.”

Little said when she decided Llano County was where she wanted to raise her kids, she got them Llano County Library cards.

“My grandmother used to come to this library, my mother used to come to this library system, and they’ve both now passed so I feel a real connection to them when it comes to the library system,” she told ABC News. “My public library is where I have cried, where I have laughed, where. I’ve watched my children grow and learn, where I’ve studied.”

Little is also a member of the Llano County Library System Foundation, which offers support to the libraries through advocacy and grants, according to the foundation’s website.

She called the attempt to close the library system a “tantrum” by the local government.

“Libraries are extremely important to me,” she said. “I got involved in this preliminary injunction because I love my public library system and I must ensure that it serves the public.”

Little’s counsel, Emily Munoz, called the removal of books “censorship.”

“There’s nobody in Llano county that benefits from shutting the library,” said Munoz. “People are gonna lose their jobs. People are going to lose places where they meet. They’re going to lose the opportunity to read books, the opportunity to read books for free, a place to take their children.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s one-time director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, appeared before a federal grand jury investigating Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Ratcliff is the latest former top Trump adviser to appear before a grand jury in Washington, D.C., following a judge’s ruling last month that a number of top aides must appear.

Former top aide Stephen Miller was at the court earlier this week, and former Department of Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli was spotted there last week. Sources confirm they were appearing before the grand jury.

Both men have previously appeared before the grand jury, but Trump had challenged their grand jury subpoenas by attempting to assert executive privilege.

A judge last month ordered former chief of staff Mark Meadows and other former top Trump aides to testify or provide additional grand jury testimony to the grand jury probing attempts to overturn the election, ABC News was first to report.

Also included in the judge’s order were aides Dan Scavino, Robert O’Brien, Nick Luna and John McEntee. It was not immediately clear whether dates had been set for them to appear.

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — Police arrested a fellow tech executive for the killing of 43-year-old Cash App founder Bob Lee, the San Francisco Police Department said on Thursday.

Police identified the suspect as Nima Momeni, 38, who appears to be the owner of an Emeryville, California-based company called Expand IT.

Momeni previously knew Lee, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said.

“Mr. Momeni was taken into custody without incident in Emeryville and transported to San Francisco County jail and booked on a charge of murder,” Scott said at a briefing on Thursday. “Our investigators have been working tirelessly to make this arrest.”

Lee, an executive at cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin, was killed in the early morning hours on April 4 in the San Francisco neighborhood of Rincon Hillon, the San Francisco Police Department said last week.

He died after “apparent stab wounds,” the police said.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Thursday applauded the efforts of the SFPD.

“While in some cases we do immediately have as suspect, that was not the situation here,” she said. “Mr. Lee’s killer has been identified, arrested, and now will be brought to justice.”

London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, previously said in a statement to ABC News last week that Lee’s death marks a “horrible tragedy.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump arrived Thursday at the office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James for a deposition as part of her $250 million civil lawsuit against Trump and his namesake company — his first return to New York City since he pleaded not guilty last week to 34 felony charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Trump’s motorcade was seen entering a garage beneath the attorney general’s office near Wall Street.

James sued Trump last September, accusing him, his eldest children, the Trump Organization and some of its executives of scheming for more than a decade to manipulate Trump’s net worth and the value of his real estate holdings in order to receive more favorable terms on loans, taxes and insurance.

The trial is scheduled for October and, if James is successful, could result in a $250 million penalty and a ban on the defendants from operating a business in New York.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and, in a morning social media post ahead of the deposition, called James, who is black, “racist” and her lawsuit “ridiculous.”

Trump is facing deposition questions about his business practices and the reliability of financial statements prepared by the Trump Organization, but it remains to be seen whether he answers those questions or invokes his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, the way he did hundreds of times last August when he sat for his first deposition as part of the case.

In a civil case, jurors are allowed to draw an adverse inference from a defendant’s choice to take the Fifth.

Trump’s legal team had sought to delay the October trial, but Judge Arthur Engoron said last month there was no need to postpone what he called a “seemingly simple case” of whether Trump’s disclosures to lenders and insurers were accurate or not.

“The issue is whether the statements were false,” Engoron said during a hearing last month. “This case is complex, but it is not complicated.”

Trump has complained about Engoron, writing in his Thursday morning social media post, “If I had a fair judge, this case would have never happened.”

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(NEW YORK) — A federal U.S. appeals court late Wednesday partially blocked an unprecedented ruling by a single federal judge in Texas last week that reverses the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the widely-used abortion drug mifepristone.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted the U.S. Department of Justice’s emergency request to put on hold U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision to suspend the FDA’s initial authorization of mifepristone back in 2000, citing the the statute of limitations. However, the three-judge panel determined that other parts of Kacsmaryk’s ruling, which suspends changes the FDA later made to mifepristone’s approved use and halts distribution of the drug by mail, could still go into effect at the end of the day Friday.

The Justice Department could ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and completely block Kacsmaryk’s order.

The challenge to mifepristone’s FDA approval stems from a lawsuit filed in Amarillo, Texas, in November 2022 by Alliance Defending Freedom, an Arizona-based conservative Christian legal advocacy group working to outlaw abortion. The case was assigned to Kacsmaryk, who was appointed to the federal bench in 2019 under former President Donald Trump and is currently the sole judge seated in the Amarillo division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

On April 7, Kacsmaryk ruled to suspend the FDA’s authorization of mifepristone, saying the drug was unsafe and its approval process was rushed. The Justice Department subsequently appealed the decision to a higher court.

The lawsuit against mifepristone came just months after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide nearly 50 years ago.

Mifepristone has been on the market for 23 years. In 2016, the FDA lifted some of mifepristone’s original safety restrictions by increasing the maximum gestational age at which the drug can be used from 49 to 70 days, reducing the number of in-person office visits that patients are required to make from three to one, allowing non-doctors to prescribe and administer the drug and eliminating the requirement for prescribers to report non-fatal adverse events.

In 2021, the FDA announced it had permanently lifted its restriction that mifepristone must be dispensed in-person. Last month, the agency went a step further by allowing retail pharmacies to provide the drug too, either by mail or in person, so long as they meet certain requirements.

Medication abortion now accounts for more than half of all abortions in the U.S., using a combination of two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based research group focusing on sexual and reproductive health.

The FDA has not approved misoprostol to be used for abortions on its own.

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(NEW YORK) — Families of Black men killed by police or gun violence have come together to brainstorm how to turn their “grief into action” to prevent continued instances of police violence.

The conversation comes as the country awaits a decision from a grand jury on the indictment of officers in the death of Jayland Walker, who was shot by police following a 2022 attempted traffic stop.

The panel, held by civil rights organization National Action Network on Wednesday in Manhattan, included family members of Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Tyre Nichols, Amir Locke and Botham Jean.

Garner, Locke, Floyd and Nichols were killed in incidents with police.

Martin was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a man who followed Martin for believing Martin was suspicious. He was acquitted on all charges connected to Martin’s death. Arbery was followed by three men and fatally shot by one of them while out for a jog because the men believed he was responsible for trespassing.

Together, the families talked about their collective efforts to keep the memory of their deceased loved ones alive – in some ways, through the implementation of police reform.

On Tuesday, the evening before the panel, Memphis passed an ordinance called the “Driving Equality Act in Honor of Tyre Nichols” that would ban traffic stops for secondary violations like overdue registration or broken lights.

Nichols died in January following a violent traffic stop captured in body camera footage, which shows officers striking Nichols repeatedly. Five officers have been charged so far in connection with his death.

“He was on his way home from watching the sunsets. He liked to go to a park and watch the sunsets as much as possible,” said Row Vaughn, mother of Nichols, through tears.

She continued, “He was stopped. He was beaten. Less than 800 feet from my home … I didn’t watch the video, but I could hear him calling my name.”

She applauded Memphis for the move, but says there is much more to be done.

“We are going to continue to fight so that this doesn’t happen to another Tyre,” said Vaughn. “There’s just too many of our Black men being killed for nothing. I’m not understanding why Black men can’t even go home.”

Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner, said the pain over her son’s 2014 death by police in New York City lingers on. She reminds other families facing similar tragedies that they’re “all fighting for the same thing, going down the same road.”

“I remember when this horrible incident happened to my son – I didn’t know what I would do. I was in a dark place at that time. But I decided to turn my mourning into action,” Carr said.

In 2020, several years after Garner’s death, she helped to pass the Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act, which criminalizes the harmful use of a chokehold by a police officer.

“You’re going to knock on doors that are not going to open, but sometimes you have to kick the door in,” said Carr.

She also helped build the E.R.I.C. Initiative Foundation, which offers scholarships, free meals, toy giveaways and retreats in an effort to connect and uplift those affected by police brutality.

Wanda Cooper Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, also has been fighting for legislative change since her son’s death.

Arbery was killed in Brunswick, Georgia, when three men followed him while he was jogging in their neighborhood and one of the men fatally shot him.

Arbery’s death and the nationwide outcry that followed led to the repealing of Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law and the enactment of hate crime laws that criminalize acts motivated by someone’s identity.

“They repealed the citizens’ arrest laws, so white people cannot get in their trucks and chase down a Black boy,” said Cooper Jones.

She said her son’s death made her redefine who she was “as a woman.”

“Wanda, are you just going to sit down or are you going to implement more changes?” she said she asked herself. “Ahmaud is gone, but it is very important that his legacy lives forever.”

Though the evening applauded the wins so far from victims and their families, others said there’s a long way to go in addressing the policing issues that lead to the deaths of their children.

Amir Locke’s father, Andre Locke, is working on federal legislation that would end the use of no-knock warrants, which allow officers to enter a home without announcing their arrival. Locke was fatally shot by police who were executing a no-knock warrant.

The passage of the George Floyd Policing Act also has been an ongoing battle for police reform advocates. The legislation would improve accountability for police misconduct, restrict certain harmful policing practices, and enhance transparency and data collection.

“I cannot explain the pain,” said one of George Floyd’s brothers. “We’ve been fighting since 2020 – it is 2023. Times are changing.”

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(NEW YORK) — The New York City Police Department is responding to a new threatening letter sent to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, according to police sources.

The sources told ABC News the letter contained a white powder and was discovered just after 3 p.m. in the basement mailroom at 80 Centre Street.

There are no reports of injuries or sickness.

The NYPD, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Office of Emergency Management are all responding, authorities said.

This is at least the second time Bragg has received a letter containing a suspicious white powder since former President Donald Trump started writing on social media about his impending indictment.

Bragg has been receiving additional security protection.

His lawsuit against House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said the office has received more than a thousand threatening or harassing calls and emails. Bragg himself has received “multiple” death threats since Trump’s indictment, police sources told ABC News.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — A judge overseeing Dominion Voting System’s $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox News on Wednesday imposed a sanction against the network after it made “misrepresentations” to the court and potentially withheld evidence.

Dominion’s lawsuit accuses Fox News of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories that the voting machine company had somehow rigged the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden’s favor, so the network could retain viewers.

The judge said during a pretrial hearing on Wednesday that Fox News would have to pay for any last-minute additional depositions that Dominion would need to do before the case is set to head to trial on Monday. Dominion did not immediately make clear if any such depositions were needed.

“If there is a deposition that needs to be done, it will be done,” Judge Eric Davis said. “Fox will do everything it needs to make the person available, and it will be at the cost of Fox.”

But potentially more significantly, the judge said he would “most likely” appoint a special master to “do an investigation” into whether representations by Fox made to the court as part of the case were “untrue or negligent” — including a certification it had made in December that it had essentially completed its discovery process in accordance with the case.

The special master was already involved in the case to oversee the discovery process, but the new investigation will determine “what sanctions could be implemented” against Fox, the judge said — a significant development on the eve of trial.

“This is very serious,” Judge Davis said of the issue.

The unexpected move came in response to concerns raised by Dominion that Fox News was still turning over evidence in the case, and that in some instances Dominion was still learning of evidence from the public domain. This included, for example, an internal recording they said they only recently obtained appearing to show former President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani privately expressing doubts over the claims regarding Dominion’s voting software.

The recordings, Dominion’s attorney said, were made by a Fox News producer, Abby Grossberg, on her phone during the pre-taping of an interview Giuliani gave on the network on November 8, 2020.

“What about this software, this Dominion software?” Fox News host Maria Bartiromo could be heard asking Giuliani on the recording, which was played out in court.

“That’s a little harder, it’s being analyzed right now,” Giuliani said.

Dominion’s attorney, Davida Brooks, said the interview “marched forward” even after Giuliani failed to give credence to the question. She said the recordings were “obviously relevant” and expressed concern over what else might exist that Fox has not turned over as evidence.

“What I don’t know is, are there more recordings?” Brooks asked the judge.

An attorney for Fox pushed back, claiming they had handed over all relevant documents and that they were not aware the recordings existed until recently.

“They are recordings of a Fox employee,” Davis responded. “How could Fox not know?”

Grossberg is engaged in separate litigation with the network, claiming in a lawsuit that that she was “coerced” by Fox’s attorneys as part of her deposition in the case.

In a statement issued after the hearing, Fox said, “As counsel explained to the Court, FOX produced the supplemental information from Ms. Grossberg when we first learned it.”

Also Wednesday, the judge questioned Fox attorneys over allegations from Dominion that the network had concealed the official role of Rupert Murdoch as an officer at Fox News. Although Murdoch is the chairman of the network’s parent company, Fox Corporation, Dominion said Fox News’ lack of disclosure regarding Murdoch’s position with Fox News had hindered, among other things, their ability to obtain evidence regarding him.

“We have been litigating based on this false premise that Rupert Murdoch wasn’t an officer of Fox News,” Dominion’s attorney, Justin Nelson, told the judge. Nelson also pointed out that Murdoch himself said during his deposition that he was not an officer of Fox News.

The judge appeared taken aback by the revelation, which first arose on Tuesday, saying Fox attorneys had been “evasive.”

“I need people to tell me the truth,” Davis said on Tuesday. “And by the way, omission is a lie.”

Davis said he was ordering Fox attorneys to preserve all communications related to the issue.

“I’m very uncomfortable right now,” Davis said. “I’m going to let you know — I’m very uncomfortable.”

Fox’s attorney, Dan Webb, said that Murdoch himself “did not know” that he was an executive of the network. An attorney for Fox on Tuesday had said it was an “honorific” title.

“I don’t think there’s any documents withheld related to Rupert Murdoch that are relevant to this case,” Webb said. “Nobody intentionally withheld information with them.”

In a statement on Tuesday night Fox pushed back on the idea that Murdoch’s status at Fox News had been concealed.

“Rupert Murdoch has been listed as executive chairman of FOX News in our SEC filings since 2019 and this filing was referenced by Dominion’s own attorney during his deposition,” Fox said in the statement.

“Now the question becomes, ‘What do I do with attorneys that aren’t straightforward with me?'” Judge Davis said. “That’s the next question.”

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