Oregon senator predicts court battle over pipeline proposal

Rape case to be dropped against doctor who was on reality TV

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors are dropping charges that a doctor who appeared on a reality TV show and his girlfriend raped and drugged women in California after finding key video evidence never actually existed, an official said Tuesday. Orthopedic surgeon Grant Robicheaux of Newport Beach — who previously appeared on a Bravo TV... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, News, Sexual Abuse

Grant Robicheaux

Former Illinois legislator pleads innocent in bribery case

CHICAGO (AP) — Former Illinois state Rep. Luis Arroyo on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to bribery charges in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Arroyo, 65, a Chicago Democrat, resigned his seat Nov. 1, one week after he was accused of paying a bribe to a state senator in exchange for support of a gambling bill... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Fraud, News, Politics

Luis Arroyo

Arizona man accused of threatening congressman Adam Schiff

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A March 9 trial date has been set for an Arizona man accused of making a threatening phone call to California U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff last year. Federal court records released Tuesday said Jan Peter Meister was indicted on accusations that he called Schiff’s Washington office from Tucson around Oct. 1... Read More

Adam Schiff, Jan Peter Meister

udge: Mississippi parole officers ‘underpaid & overworked’

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — As Mississippi lawmakers seek ways to improve a prison system shaken by recent deadly violence, a related problem is looming: A judge said Tuesday that parole officers are “woefully underpaid and overworked.” Circuit Judge Prentiss Harrell said parole officers often handle hundreds of cases each. That has contributed to an increase... Read More

Prosecutor seeks end to lawsuit over fake subpoenas

New Orleans (AP) — Lawyers for the district attorney in New Orleans are asking a federal appeals court to end a lawsuit centered on his office having used fake subpoenas to coerce uncooperative witnesses. Attorneys representing Leon Cannizzaro and some of his staff were set to argue Wednesday that the prosecutors are legally immune from... Read More

Leon Cannizzaro

Trial to begin in stabbing death on San Francisco-area train

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A trial is beginning for a parolee charged with stabbing an 18-year-old woman to death on a California subway platform and wounding her sister, an attack that drew national attention. Opening statements are expected to begin Wednesday in the trial against John Lee Cowell, 29, a transient with a history of... Read More

John Lee Cowell

Accuser in LA case to testify at Weinstein’s NY rape trial

NEW YORK (AP) — One last accuser is expected to take the witness stand at Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial on Wednesday as prosecutors wind down the New York City case by highlighting an alleged assault that’s part of the disgraced movie mogul’s pending criminal charges in California. Model and actress Lauren Marie Young alleges Weinstein... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, News, Sexual Abuse

Harvey Weinstein

Youth parole officer kept job amid child abuse investigation

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A former employee of a New Hampshire youth detention center continued working with children in a state job for nine months after police began investigating allegations that he held a boy down while colleagues raped him in 1998. James Woodlock went on leave from his position as a juvenile probation and... Read More

James Woodlock

Texas A&M settles lawsuit claiming school hid Facebook posts

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M University won’t create filters on Facebook that target animal rights activists under a lawsuit settlement that ends another court case surrounding the First Amendment in the age of social media. Texas A&M, one of the nation’s largest public universities with more than 65,000 students, was sued in 2018... Read More

Criminal Justice News, News, Technology

Woman’s lawsuit seeks at least $15M from NAACP, former boss

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A woman who repeatedly told the national NAACP that her supervisor in the North Carolina conference had sexually harassed her is suing the national group and her former boss Jazmyne Childs is seeking at least $15 million for her emotional and mental distress that she says civil rights organization condoned through... Read More

Jazmyne Childs

Official disputes account of attempted suicide by inmate

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A top official in the Mississippi prison system says an attorney’s account that an inmate recently attempted suicide by hanging is “completely untrue.” Jeworski Mallett said in court papers filed Sunday that an inmate in the Mississippi State Penitentiary on Friday made “a makeshift pull-up exercise device out of what appeared... Read More

Jeff Bezos sued by girlfriend’s brother for defamation

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Sanchez, the brother of Jeff Bezos’s girlfriend, is suing the Amazon founder for defamation, alleging that Bezos and his team falsely told reporters that Sanchez provided nude photos of Bezos to The National Enquirer. In the complaint filed Friday night in Los Angeles, Sanchez, a Hollywood talent manager, says he... Read More

Jeff Bezos, Michael Sanchez

October criminal trial date set for Giuliani associates

NEW YORK (AP) — An October trial date was set Monday for two associates of Rudy Giuliani who are charged with making illegal campaign contributions. Lev Parnas was the only defendant among four men facing trial to be at a Manhattan courthouse when U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken set the Oct. 5 trial date.... Read More