Indicted
Missouri indicts Berrett for charging $476,000 on his corporate credit card for online strippers. Berrett used his company’s credit card to fund his sexscapades and file fraudulent expenses. He charged his corporate card $100,000 for tokens – good for 2,200 visits – to chat with women, watch them strip naked and masturbate via webcams on the sex site MyFreeCams.com. He lavished his favorite strippers with gifts — chocolates, flowers, electronic equipment, wine, shoes, a TV, a handbag, a laptop computer and an iPod. He also sent $26,800 to help a stripper with her college tuition bill, new tires and parents’ utilities. Berrett also charged $131 on the company card to purchase a Fleshlight sex toy for himself.
Life sentence
Phillips is sentenced to life in prison for the crime of accessory before the fact of murder and soliciting a minor to commit a felony. The jury takes two hours to decide. Prosecutors:
No family should have to endure what the Phillips family has had to endure. They have not been able to wake up from this nightmare and they still miss Jamil tremendously. Hopefully, this verdict will give them some closure and allow them to begin the healing process. I also hope it sends a clear message horrific, premeditated acts of murder will not be tolerated on the streets of Abbeville County or anywhere else in the Eighth Circuit.
Forced to testify
The California Supreme Court denies Cosby’s petition to review Huth’s suit, which means the civil suit can continue to the trial phase. Huth claims that Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974 when she was 15 years old. Cosby’s attorneys had sought dismissal of Huth’s lawsuit on procedural grounds, arguing that she lacked required certification from a mental health professional to support her claims, and claiming she sued him only after failing to extort money from him to buy her silence. Her case is the only one of four that are seeking damages for sexual misconduct — the other three are for defamation. Allred says she will take Cosby’s deposition under oath within the next 30 days, and videotape it:
We are looking forward to Mr. Cosby answering questions under oath at his deposition. It’s a very big victory.
Arrest after hiding three days under bed
Hubbard is arrested after spending three days hiding under a bed in the spare bedroom. He had entered the home while the homeowner is taking out the garbage. He is arrested for burglary and electricity he uses to charge four cellphones. Homeowner:
He was hiding upstairs underneath the bed, in my daughter’s bedroom. He used to date my daughter five years ago. It didn’t end well. He didn’t say why he came back. He just picked our house to hide out in. He didn’t have a home to live in…I haven’t heard from him in five years. [I] wasn’t scared. I was just angry…I don’t think he was eating. I think he just had water under the bed…Stay away from this house and never come back.
Two teens detained
Police detain two teenagers in deaths of five family members in eastern Oklahoma. All nine people at crime scene members of same family. Five dead, one is in critical condition, one child is OK, and two teens in police custody. Police:
It appears that the two suspects fled out the door sometime during our arrival. We had a K-9 track and they were apprehended.
EU sues Hollywood studios
After an 18-month investigation, the European Union issues anti-trust lawsuit against Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros, as well as Britain and Ireland’s Sky TV. The suit specifically calls into question copyright laws which allow Hollywood studios to sell their content individually to national markets, creating a divided European market in defiance of EU rules, according to the commission. Specifically, subscribers to the Sky TV’s network of channels are blocked from accessing its offerings of films and TV series outside Britain and Ireland. Competition Commissioner Vestager:
European consumers want to watch the pay-TV channels of their choice regardless of where they live or travel in the EU. Our EU economy Internet antitrust investigation shows that they cannot do this today. We believe that this may be in breach of EU competition rules. The studios and Sky UK now have the chance to respond to our concerns.
NBC and Warner said they were in talks with the Commission. Fox declined to comment.
Stopped from leaving Phillippines
Brown is held in Philippines pursuant to Department Of Justice order that forbids him to leave the country. Officials prevent his private jet from departing from Manila’s international airport. The action is taken to compel him to pay back money that promoters say ius owed to them after he failed to appear for a previous appearance.
Charged with federal hate crimes
Roof is charged with 33 counts of hate crimes by a federal grand jury. The indictment says he targeted the victims on the basis of race, in a house of worship, “in order to make his attack more notorious”. Attorney General Lynch says the federal government has not decided if it will seek the death penalty if Roof is convicted and that officials will consider factors including the wishes of the families of the shooting victims. Lynch:
The parishioners had Bibles. Dylann Roof had his .45 caliber Glock pistol and eight magazines loaded with hollow point bullets.
Nungesser amends complaint
Nungesser amends his complaint against Columbia (document) with extra details, including that he repeatedly contacted the university to find out if Sulkowicz would be allowed to carry the mattress to his graduation:
In the weeks and months before graduation, Paul reached out repeatedly to Columbia administrators, requesting detailed information regarding whether Defendant Columbia would allow Emma to carry the mattress at the graduation ceremony. Despite repeated requests, Defendant Columbia refused to provide him with any information…
The complaint says that Sulkowicz asked twice to take the mattress to the graduation, and was denied, but that she took it anyway and the university did not stop her. The complaint also mentions threats against Nungesser by Sulkowicz (“it’s not safe for him to be on this campus”) and her friends, and says that the male student that Nungesser was cleared of touching is going to produce an interpretative dance about his claim.
Two weeks until release
Jones, the youngest murder convict in the U.S history will be released in two weeks from a Florida prison after an eighteen-year sentence. He and his 13-year old sister were responsible for the murder of their father’s girlfriend. Jones has became an ordained minister in prison. He will remain on probation for the rest of his life.
Seeks sanctions against Constand
Cosby files legal documents seeking court sanctions against Andrea Constand for her alleged breach of their confidentiality agreement. The filing says Constand’s request to open the entire Cosby settlement is an “obvious attempt to smear” the performer and says she should be sanctioned for leaking the nearly 1,000-page deposition transcript to the New York Times. Cosby’s filing also says that the deposition excerpts so far unsealed by the judge contain no testimony that he engaged in any non-consensual sex or gave anyone Quaaludes without their knowledge or consent.
Reading the media accounts, one would conclude that Defendant has admitted to rape. And yet Defendant admitted to nothing more than being one of the many people who introduced Quaaludes into their consensual sex life in the 1970s.
Must hand over NY user info
A state appeals court says Facebook cannot challenge search warrants used by New York prosecutors in 2013 to get information from the site on hundreds of users suspected of Social Security fraud, including police officers and firefighters who allegedly feigned illness in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The court rules the warrants can only be challenged by the individual defendants. Prosecutors said Facebook pages showed public employees who claimed to be disabled riding jet skis, playing golf and participating in martial arts events. Prosecutors have secured nearly $25 million from people who were targets in the probe. DA spokesperson:
In many cases, evidence on their Facebook accounts directly contradicted the lies the defendants told to the Social Security Administration.
Facebook is considering an appeal.
Pleads not guilty
Sentsov pleads not guilty to terrorism charges relating to giving gifts of food to Ukrainian troops in Crimea, and attending anti-Crimea annexation protests. The Russian government says he is an affiliate of the Ukrainian activist group, Right Sector. The charges carry a penalty of life imprisonment, but prosecutors have offered Sentsov a 20-year term. Sentsov says he was tortured and does not consider the Russian court a court at all.
Eyewitness video
An eye witness shares a YouTube video showing Bland as she is roughly removed from her car, handcuffed on the ground and arrested on suspicion of assaulting a public servant, a felony charge.
Pleads not guilty
Webb pleads not guilty to federal racketeering and bribery charges in connection with a massive corruption scandal. He surrenders his passports and is released on $10 million bond. He will be confined to a home in New York and subject to electronic monitoring.
Charged with war crimes
Habre is charged with numerous war crimes that resulted in the deaths of 40,000 people. This is the first time he is before a court for crimes that span a period of twenty years. Victim:
I want to look him in the face and ask him why I was kept rotting in jail for three years, why my friends were tortured and killed.
Guilty verdict
The jury find Holmes guilty in 165 charges in the deaths of 12 people at the Aurora theater. In closing statements the prosecution argues against Holmes’ insanity defense:
That is logical. That is rational, and that is anything — anything — but psychotic. That guy was sane beyond a reasonable doubt, and he needs to be held accountable for what he did.
The jury deliberates for 13 hours over two days before rejecting pleas from defense lawyers that Holmes had a severe mental illness and was not legally responsible for his actions. As Judge Samour reads the 165 counts against Holmes, the defendant stands silently between his lawyers, staring straight ahead, with his hands tucked into his pants.
Holmes’ family speak of bias against their son.
We do not know how many victims of the theater shooting would like to see our son killed. But we are aware of people’s sentiments. We have read postings on the Internet that have likened him to a monster. He is not a monster. He is a human being gripped by a severe mental illness.
The district attorney in suburban Arapahoe County is seeking the death penalty, and the jury will begin weighing the toll and nature of Mr. Holmes’s actions to decide whether to send him to prison for life or to Colorado’s death row.Smour
Arrested in Miami
Tomic is asked three times by security guards to turn down loud music in his penthouse suite at Miami at the W South Beach Hotel. He refuses to obey and they call the police. He refuses to leave the room and resists arrest. He spends the night in a jail cell and pays $2000 bail to get out.
It was definitely my fault
Guards took 18 minutes to respond
Mexican authorities reveal it took 18 minutes for guards to respond after surveillance cameras sounded the alarm that Guzman was no longer in his cell, giving Guzman a good head start on his escape. Prosecutors are investigating whether the prison’s protocols were properly followed and are holding 22 prison officials for questioning.
Found guilty
Holmes is found guilty for his actions in the 2012 shooting which killed 12 people and injured 70. A jury deliberates for 13 hours over two days before rejecting pleas from defense lawyers that Holmes had a severe mental illness and was not legally responsible for his actions. As Judge Samour reads the 165 counts against Holmes, the defendant stands silently between his lawyers, staring straight ahead, with his hands tucked into his pants.
The district attorney in suburban Arapahoe County is seeking the death penalty, and the jury will begin weighing the toll and nature of Mr. Holmes’s actions to decide whether to send him to prison for life or to Colorado’s death row.