Jurors at Weinstein rape trial continue to focus on Sciorra

Catholic Church, Sexual Abuse

Another Catholic diocese seeks bankruptcy after abuse deals

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, six months after disclosing it had paid millions of dollars to people sexually abused as children by its clerics. The diocese joins at least 20 others across the United States in seeking protection from creditors through the federal bankruptcy system,... Read More

Criminal Justice News, News, Religion, Sexual Abuse

The Boy Scouts of America

Plaintiffs’ attorneys take aim at Boy Scouts’ `dark history’

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Like millions of other Americans in the 1950s and ’60s, Duane Ruth-Heffelbower spent his formative years learning to tie knots, build campfires and pitch tents with the Boy Scouts, whose wholesome, God-fearing reputation was burnished by Normal Rockwell’s magazine-cover paintings of fresh-faced Scouts, brave, courteous and cheerful. Though he’s no... Read More

Criminal Justice News, News, Sexual Abuse

NFL’s Saints head to court in Catholic Church email dispute

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints headed to court Thursday in a bid to block the release of hundreds of confidential emails detailing the behind-the-scenes public relations work the team did for the area’s Roman Catholic archdiocese amid its sexual abuse crisis. The request comes amid claims that the NFL team joined the... Read More

Criminal Justice News, News, Religion, Sexual Abuse, Sports

Catholic Church, NFL, Saints

Weinstein jurors focus on Sciorra as deliberations continue

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors planned to continue deliberating for a third day Thursday in Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial after so far focusing a lot of attention on actress Annabella Sciorra’s allegation that the once-heralded Hollywood mogul raped her in the mid-1990s. Sciorra’s allegation is too old to be charged on its own because... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, News, Sexual Abuse

The Boy Scouts of America

February 19, 2020

Boy Scouts seek bankruptcy, urge victims to step forward

The Boy Scouts of America urged victims to come forward Tuesday as the historic, 110-year-old organization filed for bankruptcy protection in the first step toward creating a huge compensation fund for potentially thousands of men who were molested as youngsters decades ago by scoutmasters or other leaders. The Scouts resorted to Chapter 11 in hopes... Read More

Business, Criminal Justice News, News, Sexual Abuse

February 19, 2020

Woman seeking Trump’s DNA fights his effort to delay suit

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for a woman who has accused President Donald Trump of raping her in the 1990s told a court Tuesday he’s trying “to stop the truth from ever coming out” by attempting to delay her defamation lawsuit and her effort to get his DNA. Trump’s attorneys have asked a court to... Read More

Criminal Justice News, News, Sexual Abuse

E. Jean Carroll

February 19, 2020

Jury back for second day of deliberations in Weinstein trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors are returning Wednesday for a second day of deliberations in a rape trial that could send Harvey Weinstein to prison for the rest of his life. The panel of seven men and five women had lots of questions Tuesday as they started weighing charges in the closely watched #MeToo case.... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, News, Sexual Abuse

Reworked charges in Chicago cite another R. Kelly accuser

CHICAGO (AP) — An updated federal indictment against R. Kelly unsealed Friday in Chicago includes sex abuse allegations involving a new accuser, adding to the jailed singer’s mounting legal challenges across three states. The 13-count superseding indictment doesn’t add more charges against Kelly. It includes multiple counts of child pornography and isn’t substantially different from... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, News, Sexual Abuse

R. Kelly

Disgraced religious order tried to get abuse victim to lie

MILAN (AP) — The cardinal’s response was not what Yolanda Martínez had expected — or could abide. Her son had been sexually abused by a priest of the Legion of Christ, a disgraced religious order. And now she was calling Cardinal Valasio De Paolis — the Vatican official appointed by the pope to lead the... Read More

Criminal Justice News, News, Religion, Sexual Abuse

Catholic Church

Jury to begin deliberating in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury is expected to begin deliberations Tuesday in Harvey Weinstein’s trial after often-emotional testimony from multiple women who accused him of sexual assault. The panel of five women and seven men will begin to weigh the evidence that Weinstein raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, News, Sexual Abuse

The Boy Scouts of America

Boy Scouts’ future uncertain after bankruptcy filing

Barraged by hundreds of sex-abuse lawsuits, the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday in hopes of working out a potentially mammoth victim compensation plan that will allow the 110-year-old organization to carry on. The Chapter 11 filing in federal bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware, sets in motion what could be one of... Read More

Business, Criminal Justice News, News, Sexual Abuse

February 17, 2020

Week 4 of Weinstein trial: Closing arguments, two universes

NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein grinned as he left court, and his lawyers said he was confident heading into what could be his last weekend of freedom as his New York City rape trial moves closer to a verdict. Jurors are set to start deliberating Tuesday, their task put off a day because court... Read More

Criminal Justice News, Entertainment, News, Sexual Abuse