(NOTE CONTENT)In a Virginia courtroom today, attorneys for Amber Heard were unsuccessful in their motion to lobby Judge Penny Azcarate to dismiss the $50 million defamation lawsuit leveled against the actress by her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
As reported, Depp is alleging a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post that obliquely accused the actor of physical and sexual abuse, was not only false, but it devastated his reputation and career.
Attorneys for both parties took turns in oral arguments to the judge without the jury present, with Depp’s attorneys mounting a longer, point-by-point defense of why the case should proceed, including a recap of the testimony detailing how the ACLU helped Heard craft her controversial op-ed, and the abuse the Pirates of the Caribbean star allegedly suffered at the hands of the Aquaman actress.
“She even lied about the final insult left on the marital bed,” one of Depp’s attorneys added, regarding the testimony about the poop Depp’s camp says Heard left in their bedroom.
In the end, Judge Azcarate ruled for the plaintiff, Depp, noting, “if there is a scintilla of evidence that a reasonable juror could weigh, then the matter survives a motion to strike.”
She added, there is, “evidence that jurors could weigh that the [op-ed] statements were about the plaintiff, that the statements were published and that the statement was false,” and “that the defendant made the statement knowing it to be false or…made it so recklessly as to amount to willful disregard for the truth…”
The judge then declared the case will resume following a lunch break.
The Legal Defense Fund will hold its 34th National Equal Justice Awards (NEJAD) dinner, an event hosted to highlight the fund’s social justice advocacy and advancements and to celebrate Black community leaders who work to advance civil rights.
Of the honorees to be presented with special awards at the ceremony in New York on May 10, is legendary musician Stevie Wonder, who will be receive the inaugural Icon Award for his philanthropic contributions over the course of his career.
In a statement obtained by Billboard, the fund said Wonder will be honored “in recognition of his steadfast work throughout his illustrious career, spanning over half a century, which embodies LDF’s values and demonstrates his commitment to confronting the barriers that face Black Americans and other marginalized communities.”
Likewise, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, Nikole Hannah-Jones, will receive the Spirit of Justice Award in honor of her courage and dedication to civil rights, including her pioneering and groundbreaking collection of slavery stories illustrated in the 1619 project. LDF will also recognize their outgoing president, Sherrilyn Ifill, with the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Since the organization’s founding in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund has been an ardent defender of civil rights, advocating for the social, political, educational, and economic advancement of Black Americans,” LDF’s president and director-counsel, Janai S. Nelson, said. “Our honorees have unapologetically used truth as power. They have refused to back down when others tried to silence them. And they have held their convictions fiercely and been unyielding to false narratives. Most importantly, they have used truth to shape outlooks, inform mindsets, and touch souls.”
Former first lady Michelle Obama and civil rights activist Colin Kaepernick will attend the ceremony virtually, by sharing video messages that speak to this year’s theme of “Truth Is Power.”
Pride Month begins June 1, and Mariah Carey is giving her lambs plenty of new clothes to celebrate.
The “Fantasy” singer dropped her 2022 Pride Collection on Tuesday, which fans can purchase now on her official online store. Among the new, colorful goodies up for grabs are matching sweat sets, crop hoodies, muscle tanks, hats, water bottles, folding fans, rainbow neon lights and so much more.
Mariah also re-released a special vinyl edition of her 1999 Rainbow album, which features the songs “Thank God I Found You” and “Heartbreaker.” It’s retailing for $31.98 on Mariah’s store.
The singer commemorates some of those hit singles on special wardrobe pieces, such as an “Obsessed” crop hoodie and “Heartbreaker” tees and tank tops.
Mariah also celebrated the outfit she wore on the Rainbow album with an all-new body tee, which allows fans to wear a stylized version of Mariah’s body on both the front and the back, for $60.
Prices range between $15 and $115 on Mariah’s new merchandise set, which is available to purchase now.
(FLORENCE, Ala.) — The corrections officer and escaped murder suspect who have been missing for days had “a special relationship,” the local sheriff confirmed.
Inmate Casey White and Lauderdale County Assistant Director of Corrections Vicki White — who are not related — went missing from Florence, Alabama, on Friday.
“Investigators received information from inmates at the Lauderdale County Detention Center over the weekend that there was a special relationship between Director White and inmate Casey White,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said in a statement Tuesday. “That relationship has now been confirmed through our investigation by independent sources and means.”
Vicki White “participated” in the escape with Casey White, Singleton said Monday, adding, “Whether she did that willingly or she was coerced, threatened … not really sure.”
Casey White was charged with two counts of capital murder in September 2020 for the stabbing of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway, authorities said. He could face the death penalty if convicted, the sheriff said.
On Friday morning, Vicki White allegedly told her colleagues that she was taking Casey White to the Lauderdale County Courthouse for a “mental health evaluation,” though he didn’t have a court appearance scheduled, Singleton said. Vicki White violated policy by escorting Casey White alone, the sheriff said.
Vicki White also allegedly told her colleagues that she was going to seek medical attention after dropping the inmate off at court because she wasn’t feeling well, but Singleton said his office confirmed that no appointment was made.
Vicki White had been talking about retiring for the last few months and turned in her paperwork on Thursday, Singleton told ABC News. Friday — the day the two went missing — was set to be her last day at work, he said.
The U.S. Marshals Service is offering up to $10,000 reward for information leading to Casey White’s capture and a $5,000 reward for information leading to Vicky White.
Marty Keely, U.S. marshal for the Northern District of Alabama, noted that Casey White may stand out due to his height — he’s 6 feet, 9 inches tall. Anyone who sees them is urged to call 911, Keely said.
Singleton called Vicki White, a 17-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, “an exemplary employee.”
“The employees are just devastated,” the sheriff said. “Nobody saw this coming.”
In an interview with Apple Music’s Ebro Darden that will be posted in full later Tuesday, Justin Bieber says his next album is nearly finished, and reveals it includes a number of features — including one with none other than John Mayer.
In a clip of the interview posted on Billboard, Justin says he’s “wrapping up” his next album: “It’s almost done. I got a lot of cool features and it should be dropping not too long from now.”
Mentioning John Mayer as one of the features, Justin says he contributes a “wicked guitar solo,” adding, “He’s someone I’ve looked up to for a long time.”
Justin goes on to describe John laying down his solo, adding, “It was mind-blowing to be able to see him operate in his gifting like that…being able to see him first-hand, because he is on another level, like, it’s just insane.”
In the interview, Justin, now 28, also discusses his status as sort of an “elder statesman” of pop, and how it’s important for him to support, as he puts it, “the Kid LAROIs of the world…these young cats.” He says he’s committed to helping up-and-comers “get their music out there, because I know what it’s like to have this vision and want people to hear your music.”
The Blac Chyna/Kardashian-Jenner court saga has finally come to a close, and the ruling in Chyna’s defamation lawsuit sided in favor of the famous reality TV family.
The Los Angeles jury hearing the suit on Monday awarded no monetary damages to Blac Chyna, who was suing the family for allegedly detailing her career as a reality TV star.
According to People, Chyna showed up in court on Monday alongside her lawyer, Lynne Ciani. Ciani didn’t speak much about Chyna’s reaction to losing the lawsuit but did mention some key points in the case, including the fact that jurors had to re-deliberate on a couple of questions they had “accidently skipped.”
“I’ve never seen in my career before a jury have to go back and deliberate on four questions,” she said. “The victory is that Chyna did not physically abuse her fiancé, Rob [Kardashian].”
Monday’s decision was the end of a nearly two week-long trial initiated by Blac Chyna in 2017, when she sued Kris Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian for defamation and interference with her E! reality show, Rob & Chyna.
Upon leaving the courtroom, Blac Chyna was stopped from answering reporters’ questions. The Kardashian-Jenner family were not present in court, and instead attended the 2022 Met Gala in New York Monday night.
Billy Corgan has a word for people criticizing his voice. Or, rather, a finger representing two words.
In a recent Instagram post, the Smashing Pumpkins frontman shared a picture of himself onstage while raising his middle finger. Text across the image reads, “To the conspiracists about the state of my voice.”
While it’s unclear exactly who or what inspired Corgan’s ire, Pumpkins fans on Reddit theorize Corgan was responding to comments on his recent vocal performance of the song “X.Y.U.” during last weekend’s Beale Street festival, which featured some pretty intense screaming.
However, a quick perusal of the comments on the performance seem to be in favor of the screaming — perhaps Corgan’s middle finger was more of a triumphant eff-you to doubters rather than an angry one.
To hear Corgan’s voice in person, you can catch the Pumpkins’ ongoing Rock Invasion 2 tour, which finally kicked off this week after a two-year pandemic delay.
(MILFORD, Conn.) — Dozens of police officers from multiple states held a rally outside a Connecticut courthouse Tuesday as a white state trooper they contend was charged with manslaughter for doing his job was arraigned in the 2020 killing of a Black 19-year-old alleged carjacker.
Connecticut State Trooper Brian North, 31, appeared at a brief hearing in Superior Court in Milford, but did not enter a plea to a felony manslaughter charge stemming from the fatal shooting of Mubarak Soulemane.
North, who is free on $50,000 bail, did not speak at the hearing and a judge scheduled his next court date for June 2.
Soulemane’s mother, Omo Klusum Mohammed, attended the hearing and later said she and her family would not be intimidated from pursuing justice.
“I feel in my heart they were here to try to intimidate us,” Mohammed said at a post-hearing news conference outside the courthouse. “But there is no officer or any trooper who will intimidate us. We are here to stand for justice, and I’m here to stand for justice for my son, Mubarak Soulemane. And I hope and pray justice will be served and Brian North will go to jail.”
Mohammed vowed to attend every court hearing to ensure North is held accountable for her son’s death.
“We are here today for justice, justice for my son Mubarak Soulemane, who has been massacred by state Trooper Brian North,” Mohammed said.
Mohammed’s attorney, Stanford Rubenstein, added, “Ultimately, this case will be decided on the evidence. And I believe once pictures of the truth, video of what happened, is shown to a jury, they will come to the same conclusion I have: that this was an execution.”
North was arrested last month and charged in Soulemane’s death after the state inspector general released a lengthy report alleging North’s use of deadly force was not justified in the January 2020 shooting of Soulemane.
State Inspector General Robert Devlin Jr.’s investigation found that although Soulemane was allegedly armed with a steak knife, had stolen a Lyft rideshare vehicle and was apparently off his medication for schizophrenia, he was not a threat to North and other officers when he was shot multiple times.
Soulemane was killed when North allegedly fired seven times at him through the closed driver’s side window of a stolen Lyft vehicle after troopers stopped him and pinned him in on Interstate 95 in West Haven following a chase that reached speeds of 100 mph, according to the report.
Devlin’s investigation found that Soulemane was sitting behind the wheel of the car surrounded by troopers and officers from other agencies. He was trapped inside because North’s cruiser was blocking the driver’s side door.
An officer from the West Haven Police Department was bashing in the passenger-side window with a baton and another trooper was poised to deploy a stun gun on Soulemane when North opened fire as Soulemane reached into his pocket and pulled a knife, according to the report.
“Stated briefly, the investigation establishes that, at the time Trooper North fired his weapon, neither he nor any other person was in imminent danger of serious injury or death from a knife attack at the hands of Soulemane,” the inspector general concluded in his report. “Further, any belief that persons were in such danger was not reasonable. I therefore find that North’s use of deadly force was not justified under Connecticut law.”
But several dozen state police officers from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania who rallied in support of North outside the courthouse on Tuesday said they strongly disagree with Devlin’s findings.
Andrew Matthews, executive director of the Connecticut State Police Union, said he and other union members believe North should not have been charged.
“When our troopers are, what we believe, prosecuted for doing their job, we will defend them,” Matthews said at a news conference outside the courthouse prior to North’s hearing. “We will defend their actions when we believe that they are justified in doing and performing their duties to protect the public.”
Matthews said he and other members of the union felt “obligated” to rally around North, adding, “our troopers put their lives on the line every day to protect the public.”
“And when people make split-second decisions that others can review over and over again and form their own judgment of what they did or what they would have done, we have to stand up for our troopers,” Matthews said.
North’s attorney, Jeffrey Ment, declined to comment on the case, but said, “Trooper North appreciated the support of his brother and sister officers from not only Connecticut, but also from surrounding states.”
Maguire and Dunst in 2002 — Kevin Winter/Getty Images
It might be hard to believe, but director Sam Raimi‘s first Spider-Man film turns 20 Tuesday.
It technically wasn’t the first hit film to star a Marvel movie superhero and usher in the still-going wave of cinematic comics-based adventures — that honor, most experts agree, belongs to 1998’s Blade.
X-Men followed in 2000, but Raimi’s first of three Sony Pictures-produced Spidey films in 2002 became a benchmark — so much so that Tobey Maguire reprising his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe returning as Norman Osborne/The Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home helped push that film far past the billion-dollar mark worldwide.
Kirsten Dunst starred as Parker’s long-pined-for classmate, Mary Jane Watson, in Raimi’s trilogy. The original Spider-Man also gave fans Oscar-winner JK Simmons as Spidey-hating newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson — the latter another characterization so beloved it was brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Spider-Man went on to earn $825 million and set up Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 in 2004, which may have earned less but is widely considered by fans to to be the best of the trilogy, and one of the best comic movies ever made.
While Raimi’s 2007 Spider-Man 3 was a financial success, the critics were less than kind — including Raimi himself, who recently called it “awful.” The director stepped back from the genre after that film, until recently, when Marvel Studios hired him for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. That film, which opens Friday, is so far receiving very positive reviews.
(NEW YORK) — An unprecedented leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion on abortion is putting a new spotlight on what could happen if the court overturns Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that made abortion a federally protected right in the United States.
The document, obtained by Politico, shows the Supreme Court’s conservative majority of justices are ready to overturn nearly 50 years of established abortion rights precedent via the Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a case the court heard last year and is expected to rule publicly on by the end of June.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” writes Justice Samuel Alito, the opinion’s apparent author, in a copy of the draft posted online Tuesday night.
Chief Justice John Roberts called the leaked draft a “singular and egregious breach” of trust in a statement issued Wednesday.
Here are five things to know about the leaked draft, the Mississippi case and what is expected to happen to abortion access in the U.S. if Roe is overturned.
1. The Mississippi case centers on a 15-week abortion ban.
In the case, the state of Mississippi is arguing to uphold a law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, while Jackson Women’s Health, Mississippi’s lone abortion clinic, argues the Supreme Court’s protection of a woman’s right to choose the procedure is clear, well-established and should be respected.
Since the Roe v. Wade ruling and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling that affirmed the decision, the court has never allowed states to prohibit the termination of pregnancies prior to fetal viability outside the womb, roughly 24 weeks, according to medical experts.
Mississippi, through its state health officer, Dr. Thomas E. Dobbs, an infectious disease physician, argues Roe and Casey were wrongly decided and that each state should be allowed to set its policy.
2. How the draft ruling became public remains a mystery.
The leak of the draft ruling on a high-stakes issue like abortion is being described as an extraordinary breach of protocol and tradition for the Supreme Court, whose nine justices and their clerks are known for being extremely discreet.
The document, which Politico said it obtained from a “person familiar with the court’s proceedings,” is marked “first draft” and dated Feb. 10, 2022 — two months after oral arguments were heard in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
“The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion,” the draft states. “Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”
Following the publication of the draft, Chief Justice Roberts announced he has directed the Marshal of the Court — its chief operations and security officer — to investigate the leak.
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” Roberts said in a statement. “We at the Court are blessed to have a workforce — permanent employees and law clerks alike — intensely loyal to the institution and dedicated to the rule of law.”
“Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court. This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here,” he said. “I have directed the Marshal of the Court to launch an investigation into the source of the leak.”
3. The draft ruling is not a final Supreme Court decision.
The drafting of Supreme Court opinions is a fluid and dynamic process, sources familiar with the internal operations have told ABC News.
The leaked document is part of that fluid process and is not the court’s final ruling.
Though the document is from February, an unnamed source familiar with the deliberations told Politico that Justices Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett all initially supported a ruling siding with Mississippi and “that line-up remains unchanged as of this week.”
A Wall Street Journal editorial this month suggested that Chief Justice John Roberts, known for his passion for established precedent and the court’s reputation, may try to convince one of his conservative colleagues to join him in a narrower opinion that would not completely overturn Roe v. Wade.
4. Overturning Roe v. Wade would give power to the states.
If the Supreme Court rules to overturn Roe v. Wade, the power to decide abortion access would rest with the elected leaders of each state.
As of today, more than half of the nation’s 50 states are prepared to ban abortion if Roe is overturned, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization.
Twenty-one states already have laws on the books that would immediately ban abortion if Roe were overturned. Five additional states are likely to ban abortion should Roe be overturned, the Guttmacher report said.
Because the states that plan to ban abortion are focused in specific geographic regions, including the South, the expected effect is that women will have to travel much longer distances, at a greater cost and inconvenience, to seek abortion care, according to Elizabeth Nash, interim associate director of state issues at the Guttmacher Institute.
On the other side, states that support abortion rights, like California, Connecticut and New York, are also ones to watch if Roe is overturned because they could fortify laws that enhance and protect abortion access in their states, experts say.
5. Abortion remains legal in all 50 states as of now.
Abortion rights advocates are messaging to people that abortion is currently legal in all 50 states.
Though many states over the past several decades have passed laws that limit abortion access — as seen most recently in Oklahoma, Florida and Texas — Roe v. Wade, which made access to abortion a constitutional right, currently remains the law of the land.
