Crime

The New York Times reports: After deliberations that stretched across three days and at one point appeared to reach an impasse, jurors convicted Mr. Avenatti of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, agreeing with accusations that he used a bogus letter to trick Ms. Daniels’s literary agent into sending him almost $300,000 in publisher’s payments meant for her. During the …

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports: A Delaware County man whose vociferous support of President Donald Trump at work prompted his coworkers to turn him into the FBI is facing up to six months behind bars after pleading guilty Friday to Capitol riot charges. Lawrence Earl Stackhouse III, 34, of Chester, told a federal judge that he illegally entered the Capitol, took …

Courthouse News reports: Federal prosecutors have reached a plea deal with a homeopathic doctor accused of peddling unapproved Covid-19 “immunization pellets” and selling phony vaccination cards she falsely claimed would satisfy immunization requirements for California schools. Juli Mazi appeared by video link before U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler on Thursday where she entered an initial plea of not guilty. Assistant …

Law & Crime reports: The New Jersey man who gave a self-incriminating interview on Jan. 6, telling a reporter that he was near Ashli Babbitt when she was shot outside the Speaker’s Lobby in the Capitol building, has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and is cooperating with the feds. Thomas Baranyi, 30, pleaded guilty Thursday to a single charge of …

Kansas City’s ABC News affiliate reports: A Gladstone man, who recently spoke in support of banning books from North Kansas City School District libraries that depicted sexual acts, is facing a felony charge of second-degree child molestation and a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree domestic assault. Ryan Utterback, 29, is also facing a misdemeanor charge of furnishing pornographic material or attempting …

The Associated Press reports: Attorneys for a man who killed four people in a shooting at a Nashville Waffle House said Monday that Travis Reinking believed the restaurant patrons and employees were government agents whom he had been commanded by God to kill. Reinking, 32, was naked save for a green jacket when he opened fire inside the restaurant on …

Birmingham’s CBS News affiliate reports: The State of Alabama believes it will finalize its protocol for executing death row inmates by nitrogen suffocation “within months.” In a federal court hearing held Friday afternoon, Richard Anderson, a lawyer representing the state attorney general’s office, said that while the state could not provide a “date certain,” officials believe an execution protocol using …

The New York Daily News reports: A pediatric nurse practitioner has been arrested for selling phony COVID-19 vaccine cards on Long Island — and her NYPD officer husband faces a departmental probe over his possible involvement in the scam, prosecutors and sources said. Julie DeVuono, 49, is accused of using her Amityville, L.I. practice, Wild Child Pediatric Healthcare, to obtain …

The Daily Beast reports: A Kansas man claiming he had been told by God to travel to Washington, D.C., to “lop off the head of the serpent in the heart of the nation” has been charged with threatening to assassinate President Joe Biden via a “fatal head wound,” according to a criminal complaint first obtained by The Daily Beast. On …

Tampa’s ABC News affiliate reports: The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said its undercover detectives have been using dating apps to track down a number of people suspected of buying and selling drugs in the area. A 6-month undercover sting, called “Swipe Left for Meth,” yielded more than 60 arrests, the agency said. Detectives also obtained warrants for eight people. The …

Courthouse News reports: Convicted “Tiger King” star Joe Exotic was resentenced Friday morning to 21 years in federal prison for trying to kill rival tiger enthusiast and docuseries co-star Carole Baskin, only a slight reduction from his original sentence of 22 years. U.S. District Judge Scott L. Palk lowered the sentence of Exotic aka Joseph Maldonado-Passage, 58, during a two-hour …

The Kansas City Star reports: A former Missouri Christian school teacher and her husband who said former President Donald Trump and the crowd contributed to the environment that led to the Capitol riot were sentenced Thursday to home detention and two years’ probation. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Zachary Wilson to 45 days of home detention and Kelsey Wilson …

From the Justice Department: A Nevada man made his initial appearance in federal court today for allegedly making multiple threatening phone calls to an election worker in the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office. Gjergi Luke Juncaj, aka Gjergj Juncaj, aka Gjurgi Juncaj, aka George Juncaj, 50, of Las Vegas, was arrested by the FBI yesterday in Las Vegas. According to …

The Detroit Free Press reports: Teenager Ethan Crumbley plans to pursue an insanity defense for his alleged role in the Oxford High School mass shooting that killed four Oxford students, injured seven others and devastated an entire community, according to a Thursday court filing. “Please take notice that … Ethan Crumbley intends to assert the defense of insanity at the …

The Associated Press reports: Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, one of the most powerful figures in state government for two decades before his conviction on corruption charges, has died in federal custody. He was 77. Silver died Monday, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke …

The Hartford Courant reports: A Norwalk city official faces a murder charge after she fatally shot her neighbor Thursday, police said. Ellen Wink, 61, of 18 Nelson Ave., was arrested at the scene and remained in custody early today on $1 million bail, they said. Police identified the victim as Kurt Lametta, 54, of 16 Nelson Ave. — the house …

From the Justice Department: Today, 60-year-old Paul Vernon Hoeffer pled guilty in federal court in Ft. Pierce to making threatening phone calls to two members of Congress and a district attorney. As part of the plea, Hoeffer admitted that in March 2019, he called a Congresswoman in Washington, D.C. and threatened to come a “long, long, way” to rattle her …

Law & Crime reports: A Utah cop who was once named Salt Lake City’s “Officer of the Year” has pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. Michael Lee Hardin joined the hundreds of Donald Trump supporters who overran police and breached the Capitol building in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden‘s win in the 2020 …

Milwaukee’s ABC News affiliate reports: Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois man acquitted of fatally shooting two men and wounding a third during street protests in Kenosha in 2020, is seeking the return of the gun and other property that police seized after his arrest. Rittenhouse’s attorney Mark Richards filed paperwork with the Kenosha County Circuit Court on Wednesday seeking the return …

The BBC reports: Former Pope Benedict XVI failed to act over four child abuse cases when he was archbishop of Munich, a German probe into the Catholic Church has alleged. Pope Benedict, then called Josef Ratzinger, held the position from 1977 to 1982. He has denied the accusations. But a new report into historical abuse allegations carried out by a …