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(NEW YORK) — The jurors in accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione‘s state murder trial will be kept anonymous over concerns that they may be subject to “harassment, intimidation, or improper outside influence” if their identifying information is publicly released, according to the judge.

Judge Gregory Carro said Tuesday that only prosecutors and defense lawyers will have access to the jurors’ names and addresses.

Jury selection starts on Sept. 8.

Carro justified his decision in part by noting that individuals identifying themselves as Mangione’s supporters have “engaged in inflammatory and hostile public statements outside the courthouse and announced their intention to attend jury selection to attempt to speak to prospective jurors.”

“Given the extraordinary public attention and the documented instances of threatening or hostile behavior by individuals outside the courthouse, the court finds that disclosure of juror names to the public poses an unjustifiable risk of interference with the administration of justice,” Carro wrote in an order. “Restricting public disclosure of juror names while making the names available to the parties and counsel is an appropriate and necessary safeguard.”

Defense lawyers opposed withholding the names of jurors, arguing that prosecutors failed to demonstrate an “actual threat to the safety or integrity of the jury” and alleged that the concerns raised by prosecutors were “speculative” and “hypothetical.”

“They have identified no specific facts demonstrating that any actual, existing threat to the safety or integrity of the jury presently exists,” Mangione’s lawyers wrote. 

Carro disagreed, writing that prosecutors have demonstrated that individuals related to the case have been subject to threats and harassment. 

“The court finds that these circumstances create a realistic and substantial risk that prospective and sworn jurors could be subject to harassment, intimidation, or improper outside influence, and that disclosure of their identifying information would meaningfully increase that risk,” Carro wrote.

Prosecutors allege Mangione gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in an assassination-style killing on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024. Mangione has pleaded not guilty in separate state and federal cases, and faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in his state murder case. 

Carro’s written order came hours after Mangione appeared in a packed courtroom for a pretrial conference, possibly the last time the accused killer will be seen in public before jury selection begins.

The last two rows of the courtroom were filled with about 20 Mangione supporters, some wearing shirts declaring his innocence or calling for expanded courtroom access. 

At the hearing, Carro shot down the defense’s claims that access to the trial was limited or that prosecutors were involved in dictating the coverage plans.

He said this was not the court’s “first rodeo” when it comes to high-profile cases. 

“There has never been a discussion or decision by this court to exclude the public for these proceedings, and quite the opposite is true,” the judge said, adding that there will be an overflow room for the trial. 

Carro noted that more than 80 media organizations have signaled plans to cover the trial. 

“There will be less room for the public because of that, but there will be room for the public,” he said.

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(GARFIELD COUNTY, Colo.) — The oldest son of Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., was arrested on charges of sexual exploitation of a child, authorities said Monday.

Tyler Boebert, 21, of New Castle, Colorado, was arrested Sunday on a warrant on “multiple charges,” the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.

Court records show he was arrested on five felony counts, including three counts of sexual exploitation of a child and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The arrest follows an investigation conducted by the sheriff’s office and the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, according to the sheriff’s press release.

Tyler Boebert’s bond was set at $10,000, which he posted the same day, the sheriff’s office said. His next court appearance is set for Aug. 19, court records show.

Attorney information for Tyler Boebert was not immediately available.

“I love my son,” Rep. Boebert said in a statement to ABC News. “We take these allegations very seriously and pray for everyone affected during this challenging time.”

-ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Five 17-year-old boys died when their vehicle went off a cliff in Colorado and crashed, authorities said.

The crash occurred in a residential area of Grand Junction late Saturday, according to the Mesa County Coroner’s Office.

Police and fire personnel responded shortly before 8 a.m. local time Sunday to a report of a possible vehicle that drove off the edge of a cliff in the 2000 block of Lookout Lane, according to the Grand Junction Police Department. They located the crashed vehicle on the hillside, police said.

All five victims were pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. 

“Initial investigation indicates the vehicle was traveling southbound on Lookout Lane when it veered off the roadway and down the steep incline of the hillside,” the Grand Junction Police Department said in a release on Sunday.

Speed is being considered as a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation, police said.

First responders from multiple agencies worked to recover the bodies from the crash site. All five teens died from injuries sustained in the crash, the coroner’s office said in a statement Monday.

The driver, front seat passenger and a third occupant were wearing their seatbelts, while the two other occupants were not and were ejected from the vehicle, according to the coroner’s office.

The teens were residents of Grand Junction, according to the coroner’s office, which did not publicly identify them, citing a policy not to release the names of minors.

“Our hearts are heavy following the tragic losses this weekend,” the police department said.  

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(WASHINGTON) — The same legal team that successfully challenged President Donald Trump’s first bid to end birthright citizenship is asking a federal judge to clarify that the Supreme Court’s ruling also blocks a second executive order attempting to target specific children who Trump says are exempt from becoming Americans at birth. 

Trump’s second birthright order — signed last week as a response to the high court’s June ruling — attempts to deny citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to an “alien enemy,” or a “foreign government employee,” or a parent who “engaged in a commercial transaction” to obtain citizenship or who are born in a territory where citizenship is not conferred by statute. 

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, representing a class of potentially affected immigrant families, filed a motion in federal district court in New Hampshire on Tuesday seeking a declaratory order that the new order effectively defies the Supreme Court. 

“Nothing requires this Court to countenance the continued assault on this foundational constitutional principle or issue an endless string of EO-specific injunctions,” the attorneys wrote. “The court should make clear that [Trump] may not take away class members’ birthright under the auspices of these or any other executive actions.” 

The Supreme Court did confirm four categories of children born on U.S. soil who would not automatically become citizens:  the children of ambassadors, those born on foreign public ships, those born to enemies occupying American territory and members of Indian tribes. But its 6-3 decision left little room for additional exemptions. 

Court precedent “indicated that the four exceptions were a closed set,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurring opinion, “meaning that there can be no additional exceptions recognized based on subsequent circumstances or developments. And the decision has consistently been read that way.”

Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion explained that the key determinant of citizenship was “fixed by the place of nativity, irrespective of parentage.”  

The administration argues that the categories specified in Trump’s second executive order are acceptable exemptions from birthright citizenship under the legal interpretation presented by Roberts.

The president’s executive order is set to take effect on Sept. 6. 

The ACLU argued in its motion to the court that none of those specified exemptions appear in the Constitution or federal citizenship law and seeks to block the order.

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(NEW YORK) — Robert Gilman, a U.S. citizen and former Marine, has been freed from detention in Russia on humanitarian grounds, a State Department spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. 

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

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(NEW YORK) — Accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione is in a packed Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday for the last scheduled pre-trial conference before jury selection begins next month in his state murder case. 

The last two rows of the courtroom were filled with about 20 Mangione supporters, some wearing shirts declaring his innocence or calling for expanded courtroom access. 

Tuesday’s appearance could be the last time Mangione is seen in public before jury selection starts on Sept. 8, and the conference is one of the final opportunities for prosecutors and defense attorneys to finalize details of the high-profile trial. 

Judge Gregory Carro began the hearing by shooting down the defense’s claims that access to the trial was limited or that prosecutors were involved in dictating the coverage plans. He told prosecutors that this was not the court’s “first rodeo” when it comes to high-profile cases. 

“There has never been a discussion or decision by this court to exclude the public for these proceedings, and quite the opposite is true,” the judge said, adding that there will be an overflow room for the trial. 

Prosecutors allege Mangione gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in an assassination-style killing on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty in separate state and federal cases, and faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in his state murder case. 

In the two months since Mangione last appeared in state court, his defense lawyers abruptly withdrew plans to argue he was experiencing an “extreme emotional disturbance” as he allegedly killed Thompson. The rare psychiatric defense would have involved Mangione’s lawyers arguing he experienced a “profound loss of self-control” at the time of the alleged murder and that he should be convicted of the lesser crime of manslaughter, which carries a 25-year maximum sentence. 

Mangione’s lawyers withdrew their notice about the planned defense after the judge said his lawyers would have to turn over Mangione’s psychiatric records if they chose that route. 

Mangione’s lawyers and federal prosecutors in Manhattan also discussed a possible guilty plea in his federal case in June, sources previously told ABC News. The sources said it was not clear how close the two sides came to an agreement before the negotiations stopped, and Mangione’s federal trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 5. 

Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office have said they would push for a stiffer sentence in his state murder case if Mangione were to plead out of the federal case. 

“Any guilty pleas in these matters must account for the seriousness of defendant’s offenses, the loss of an innocent life, the impact of those crimes on the victim’s family, and the other state interests that are implicated, including the sanctity of life principle that underpins the state homicide charges,” prosecutor Joel Seidermann wrote in July. 

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(GARFIELD COUNTY, Colo.) — Tyler Boebert, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s oldest son, has been arrested on charges of sexual exploitation of a child, according to the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.

Boebert of New Castle, Colorado, was arrested Aug. 9 on a warrant charging him with sexual exploitation of a child as well as “multiple other charges,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Boebert’s bond was set at $10,000, which he posted the same day, the sheriff’s office said.

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

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