Crime

The trial has finally begun for Elliot Morales, who bragged and laughed to arresting officers after gunning down a gay black man, Mark Carson, on a West Village corner in May 2013. The New York Daily News reports: The best friend of a 32-year-old gay man killed by a hate-filled sicko in the West Village in 2013 tried in vain …

The Associated Press reports: A judge on Friday sent the Texas teenager who used an “affluenza” defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck to adult court, raising the possibility that he could get jail time for the 2013 crash that killed four people. Ethan Couch was 16 at the time of the crash. During his juvenile trial, a defense expert invoked …

Over 600K views at this writing. From the Sydney Morning Herald: Comedian Tim Minchin has taken aim at Cardinal George Pell in a provocative song in which he calls Australia’s highest-ranking cleric in the Catholic Church scum, a coward and a pompous buffoon. The musical attack aired on Network Ten’s The Project on Tuesday night and immediately attracted a swell …

CBS News reports: A federal grand jury in Nevada indicted Cliven Bundy and four others on 16 charges related to an armed standoff near his ranch in 2014 over unpaid grazing fees. Ammon Bundy, of Idaho, Ryan Bundy, of Nevada, Ryan Payne, of Montana, and Peter Santilli of Ohio, were also indicted by the Nevada grand jury Wednesday. The charges …

Oh, brother. From the Philadelphia Voice: Kathryn Knott is asking Judge Roxanne Covington to grant her a resentencing hearing. Attorney Bill Brennan, who replaced Knott’s former defense attorney Louis Busico, filed a motion for reconsideration Wednesday with the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Brennan said late Wednesday afternoon that he is requesting the court consider alternatives to incarceration, contending that …

JUSTICE! Philly.com has the news: A Philadelphia Common Pleas judge on Monday sentenced Kathryn Knott, 25, of Bucks County, to 5-10 months in jail for participating in an attack on a gay couple in Center City in 2014. Knott, of Southampton, wept heavily when Judge Roxanne Covington announced her sentence. Her parents rose to console her. She was convicted by …

The infamous dildo-hating Oregon militant has been denied bail until the judge is convinced that he isn’t a potentially murderous flight risk. The Associated Press reports: U.S. Magistrate Eileen Willett explained her decision by saying Jon Eric Ritzheimer had weapons in his possession when he took part in the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Ritzheimer faces a charge of …

NBC News reports: A federal grand jury has indicted several people involved in the anti-government protest at an Oregon wildlife sanctuary, where a handful of holdouts continued to occupy the site overnight Wednesday. Federal prosecutor Geoff Barrow told the AP on Wednesday that the indictment involves the people arrested so far “and others,” perhaps a reference to the four people …

The New York Daily News reports: “Pharma bro” went to Washington — and for once, he shut up. Reviled ex-executive Martin Shkreli smirked his way through a congressional hearing about his infamous drug price-gouging Thursday morning, but hid behind the Fifth Amendment to avoid every single question — even one about the Wu-Tang Clan. The hearing committee quickly got fed …

Last month a federal appeals court upheld the conviction and today, finally, there’s a little bit of justice for lesbian mom Janet Jenkins. Via the Associated Press: A Mennonite pastor convicted of helping a former Vermont woman flee the country rather than share custody of her child with her former same-sex partner has been ordered to prison. On Monday, the …

St. Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, and New Orleans have been ranked among the world’s 50 most violent large cities based on homicides per 100,000 residents. Brazil has a staggering 21 cities on the list. From the Daily Mail: Latin America features highly in the ranking, released by Mexico’s Citizens’ Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice, as it is home to …

Take it away TMZ: Ghostface Killah from Wu-Tang Clan just made a BIG mistake by mocking Martin Shkreli … according to Shkreli who’s now making a slew of threats against Ghost. TMZ obtained a video the pharma exec recorded while wearing his hardest sport coat, with 3 masked men standing behind him. Shkreli, who dropped $2 mil for Wu-Tang’s one-of-a-kind …

Seattle’s ABC affiliate reports: A 40-year-old woman was critically injured Thursday when she was shot in the chest inside a Renton movie theater, police said. The shooting happened at around 8 p.m. at a movie theater at The Landing in Renton during a showing of the film “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.” “It got about 15-20 minutes into …

According to statistics just issued by British police agencies, the number of reported Grindr and Tinder-related crimes have soared by 700% in the last two years. Last year Grindr was named in 135 police reports. BT.com reports: The number of alleged crimes potentially involving people’s use of dating apps Tinder and Grindr has increased more than seven-fold in the past …

This was definitely the most surreal news on the net last night. CBS News reports: The recapture of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman took a surprise, Hollywood twist when a Mexican official said security forces located the whereabouts of the world’s most-wanted trafficker thanks to a secret interview with U.S. actor Sean Penn. Penn’s interview with Guzman, who has …

ABC News reports: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto tweeted today that the infamous drug lord known as “El Chapo” has been captured. “Mission accomplished: We have him. I want to inform the Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman Loera has been detained,” the tweet states, originally in Spanish. No further details have been released. Guzman escaped from the Altiplano prison near Mexico …

Ooh, papa toony! Via Right Wing Watch: Yesterday on “The Liberty Roundtable” radio program, Ammon Bundy defended his seizure of a federal building in Oregon, claiming that the Bible supports his militia’s actions. He explained that the federal government is wrongly prohibiting economic development on the property he seized, insisting that God would rather have the land be developed: “We …

Reported yesterday by the Associated Press: The son of Alabama’s chief justice has pleaded not guilty to drug charges. Court documents show Caleb Moore pleaded not guilty on Dec. 21 to two counts. Moore, who is 25, faces charges of felony possession of the prescription medication alprazolam and misdemeanor marijuana possession. Caleb Moore was arrested in March in Troy. Police …

The mother of “affluenza” teen Ethan Couch is now in US custody. Her son remains in Mexico, where he is fighting extradition. Via Mashable: Tonya Couch arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from Mexico in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and was taken in handcuffs through the terminal to an unmarked Dodge Charger early Thursday …

The so-called affluenza teen and his mother are fighting extradition from Mexico and have been granted a temporary stay. The Daily Mail reports: Affluenza teen Ethan Couch has won a temporary stay against his deportation back to the United States, according to officials. The controversial decision comes after the killer drink-driver and his mother Tonya filed papers to fight their …