Wrongful death suit
Jenner is sued by the stepchildren of Howe, who claim Jenner was ‘careless and negligent’ when he rear-ended her car, causing it to crash into another car, leading to her death in February. A source close to the investigation claims Jenner only had insurance coverage up to $250,000 at the time of the accident.
Six officers charged
Prosecutors file homicide, manslaughter and misconduct charges against police officers. State’s attorney Mosby, says officers abused Gray, arrested him without grounds and violated police procedure by putting him in handcuffs and leg restraints in the van without putting a seatbelt on him, as well as repeatedly failing to seek medical attention after he was injured. Mosby also says that the knife Gray was not a switchblade, was lawful, and that the officers had failed to establish probable cause for an arrest. Mosby:
We have probable cause to file criminal charges
Goodson is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office. Rice is charged with manslaughter, assault, misconduct in office and false imprisonment. Officer Porter and Sgt. White are each charged with manslaughter, assault and misconduct in office. Officers Nero and Miller are charged with assault, misconduct in office and false imprisonment.
10 sentenced to life
Ten people are sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the 2012 attack on Yousafzai. The assailant’s conviction and sentences follow a trial that included testimony from both sides, says the source.
Executed
Indonesia executes eight people for drug offenses including two Australians, Chan and Sukumuran who mere members of Bali 9. Filipino woman Mary Jane Veloso receives a last-minute temporary reprieve. Chan’s brother Michael:
I have just lost a Courageous brother to a flawed Indonesian legal system. I miss you already RIP my Little Brother
— Michael chan (@Changa5378) April 28, 2015
Australian pair’s lawyer:
I failed. I lost.
— Todung Mulya Lubis (@TodungLubis) April 28, 2015
Suspected Malaysian ISIS militants arrested
Malaysian police arrest 12 people, just one day before the country hosts a summit, for planning a terrorist attack by ISIS. Police also seize 20kg of ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, kerosene and remote-control devices. National police chief:
The suspects are believed to be planning to cause civil unrest in the country. They had planned to launch attacks in Malaysia on April 25 and April 26.
Tresspassing arrest
Roof is arrested for tresspassing after showing up in the parking lot of the Columbiana Center Mall. His ban from the mall is extended to three years.
Files suit against Columbia
Nungesser files suit against Columbia, saying that by allowing Sulkowicz to receive course credit for her protest, the school violated Title IX, a 1972 law mandating that federally funded education programs cannot discriminate against people based on sex. The suit alleges the university is complicit in allowing the harassment to commence, and did nothing to stop it, which according to the suit:
significantly damaged, if not effectively destroyed Paul Nungesser’s college experience, his reputation, his emotional well-being and his future career prospects.
The 54-page complaint includes more Facebook messages than were included in the Daily Beast article, including declarations of Sulkowicz’s love for Nungesser before and after the alleged rape. The lawsuit says Sulkowicz tried to get other women to accuse Nungesser of sexual assault, and that just days after Sulkowicz’s appeal was denied, she began getting advice from a publicist and Nungesser began being followed by the media. The accusers shared Nungesser’s name to a Columbia student reporter, and to the New York Post, despite a confidentiality agreement with Columbia. Nungesser’s lawyer:
Here, Columbia University, as an institution, was not only silent, but actively and knowingly supported attacks on Paul Nungesser, after having determined his innocence, legitimizing a fiction. Emma Sulkowicz is merely a footnote to this story, we already know that she cleverly crafted a story and rode it to celebrity on the back on [sic] someone found not responsible.
Sulkowicz responds:
It’s ridiculous that Paul would sue not only the school but one of my past professors for allowing me to make an art piece. [It is] ridiculous that he would read it as a ‘bullying strategy,’ especially given his continued public attempts to smear my reputation, when really it’s just an artistic expression of the personal trauma I’ve experienced at Columbia.
Fined $135,000
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) orders the bakery to pay $135,000 in damage to the lesbian couple for refusing to make them a wedding cake. BOLI statement:
The facts of this case clearly demonstrate that the Kleins unlawfully discriminated against the Complainants…Under Oregon law, businesses cannot discriminate or refuse service based on sexual orientation, just as they cannot turn customers away because of race, sex, disability, age or religion. Our agency is committed to fair and thorough enforcement of Oregon civil rights laws, including the Equality Act of 2007.
Given probation and fine
A federal judge sentences Petraeus to two years’ probation and a $100,000 fine for giving classified information to Broadwell. Petraeus:
I want to take this opportunity to apologize to those closest to me and others, including this court, for the pain my actions have caused.
Chicken theft lawsuit
Karo sues Kunis for allegedly stealing her chicken as a child.
She [Kunis] fessed up to the chicken theft telling me, ‘Kristina, you can have any other chicken as a pet, you have a whole chicken farm.’
Court reverses obstruction conviction
Court throws out obstruction of justice conviction., saying a meandering answer to a question about steroid use has nothing to do with the case and cannot be used to convict him. Lawyer:
The real significance is the damage that it undid. It’s no longer a federal crime if you manage to falter or stumble or get off track while testifying before a grand jury.
‘Seduced’ by ISIS
A 16-year-old South Carolina boy is sentenced to five years in juvenile prison on a gun charge related to plans to join ISIS. A solicitor with the 16th Circuit describes the teen as
. . . wholeheartedly sincere in his beliefs, and we are very concerned for the safety of the community and the country . . . He had a plan to randomly shoot American soldiers. [The boy] embraced the ideology [of ISIS]. [He was] seduced by the radical ideology known in the Middle East as ISIS. He wanted to join.
The teen apologizes in court.
I just regret it. If I get out, I will be a completely different person. I want to change everything I did and go back and have a nice life.
Jailed
Mursi is sentenced and jailed for 20 years along with 12 Muslim Brotherhood members on charges of violence, kidnapping, and torture. They are acquitted on charges of murder. They plan to appeal. After the reading of the verdict, they chant,
God is Greatest.
Mursi still faces charges in four additional cases.
Pleads guilty
Rudd pleads guilty to charges of threat to kill, as well as possession of cannabis and methamphetamine. A second threat to kill charge is dropped. The court summary states,
As a result of threats made by the defendant, the victim was genuinely very fearful for his safety.
Rudd’s lawyer states the primary charge
. . . essentially revolved around an angry phone call – that was it.
Penalty phase begins
The penalty phase in the Tsarnaev trial begins with jurors deliberating life without parole or death by lethal injection. Victims of the 2013 bombing are divided over the sentencing options. Harvard Law School professor, Nancy Gertner predicts:
He’s going to be on death row for decades. There will be multiple appeals. Looking at it realistically, he’s going to die in prison one way or the other.
DUI arrest
Abdulazeez is arrested on a first-time DUI charge in Hamilton County. According to the police report, Abdulazeez is pulled over after he fails to maintain the lane and is driving under the speed limit. The officer notes he was acting lethargic and slurring his speech. Officers smell marijuana. He had droopy eyelids and a white powdery residue under his nose. Abdulazeez tells officers that he had been around friends who were drinking and using marijuana and tells police he had crushed caffeine pills and snorted them. He shows signs of impairment during a field sobriety test, but refuses a blood test and officers obtain a warrant to draw blood. He is scheduled to appear back in court at the end of the month.
ISIS plotters charged
Six Minnesota men are charged in a plot to travel to Syria in order to support ISIS. The men are charged with conspiracy and attempting to provide materials to support a foreign terror group. They are associated with three other Minnesota men recently charged with similar crimes. Federal prosecutors state ISIS and other terror organizations actively recruit from the Somali community in Minnesota, the largest such community in the United States.
We have a terror recruiting problem in Minnesota.
The six men are Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19; Abdurahman Yasin Daud, 21; Adnan Abdihamid Farah, 19; Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21; Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19; and Guled Ali Omar, 20.
What this case shows is that the person radicalizing your son, your brother, your best friend may not be a stranger. It may be their best friend right here in town.
On suicide watch
Hernandez is placed on suicide watch at his Massachusetts prison. Hernandez has been held at MCI Cedar Junction since his conviction. It is not an uncommon move by prisons, especially when an inmate has recently been handed a long sentence. Hernandez is separated from other inmates.
Uber driver shoots gunman
A unnamed Uber driver, who had a concealed-carry gun license, fires six shots, wounding 22-year-old Everardo Custodio, who had pulled a handgun out and started firing at the crowd of people walking in Chicago at midnight. It is still unknown whether Custodio he was trying to target any one person. Responding officers found Custodio lying on the ground, bleeding, Quinn said. No other injuries were reported. No charges are filed against the driver.
Charged
Hughes appears in federal court this afternoon, and is charged with one count of knowingly operating an aircraft not properly registered and one count of violating national air defense space. He wears his U.S. Postal uniform. He also has to wear court earphones so he can hear. In total, he faces four years in prison, plus fines. The judge releases him on his own recognizance with a series of conditions: He must stay away from any type of aircraft, he must report to pretrial services in Tampa once a week and he must be confined to his home in Florida. His next appearance is scheduled for May 8.