Crime

Pittsburgh’s ABC affiliate reports: Bill Cosby has been charged with sexual assault more than a decade after a former Temple University employee told police the comedian drugged and violated her at his home near Philadelphia. It’s the first criminal charge against Cosby over his conduct with women, which has received new scrutiny in the past year. The Montgomery County prosecutor …

TMZ reports: “Glee” star Mark Salling has just been arrested for possessing child porn, TMZ has confirmed. We’re told the LAPD’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force obtained a warrant and served it Tuesday morning, as first reported by the TV show “Crime Watch Daily.” We’re told cops searched Salling’s computer at his Sunland home and found hundreds of images. …

The drunk driving Texas teenager who avoided prison for killing four people with his now-infamous “affluenza” defense has been captured with his mother in Puerto Vallarta. Ethan Couch, 18, and his mother had been the targets of an international manhunt after he failed to comply with his probation stipulations. From the BBC: Officials in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office …

UPDATE BELOW. Philadelphia’s NBC affiliate reports: A man armed with a sledgehammer began pounding away at a Center City crosswalk that celebrates Philadelphia’s LGBT community as shocked onlookers watched Monday night. The guy just began hammering away at 13th and Locust streets in the neighborhood, commonly called the Gayborhood, around 10:25 p.m. An onlooker captured cellphone video of the hammering …

Despite raising over $500K via Christian crowdfunding campaigns, Oregon’s anti-gay bakery refused to pay its fine. Until today: The co-owner of a Gresham bakery that refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple delivered a $136,927 check that covers the couple’s damages following the January 2013 incident. Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, …

Last week following the conviction of Kathryn Knott in the gay-bashing of a Philadelphia couple, one of the jurors conducted an “Ask Me Anything” thread about the trial on Reddit. This might have been contrary to the judge’s orders and Knott’s attorneys are hoping to capitalize on that. Via LGBTQ Nation: In the thread, which has since been deleted, [Ari] …

The International Business Times reports: Italian police have arrested an alleged paedophile priest amid media accusation he was protected by the local bishop. Detectives allege father Antonello Tropea, 44, used gay dating app Grindr to groom teenage boys who he then paid for clandestine encounters in the southern Calabria region. Tropea was held on 18 December at the end of …

Longtime readers will surely remember this case. Via Reuters: A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of a Mennonite minister accused of helping a woman flee to Nicaragua with her daughter to evade court orders giving her former lesbian partner visitation rights. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld the conviction of Kenneth Miller, …

The jury forewoman and other jurors in Kathryn Knott’s gay-bashing trial say that they saw right through her lies. Philly.com reports: Three jurors spoke to reporters outside the courthouse. They all expressed sympathy for the victims — Zachary Hesse, 29, and his boyfriend, Andrew Haught, 28. Joan Bellinger, 67, the jury forewoman, said the jurors all believed Knott punched Hesse …

After three days of deliberations a Philadelphia jury today found Kathryn Knott guilty in the brutal September 2014 attack on a gay couple. The jury found Knott guilty of simple assault, two counts of reckless endangerment, and conspiracy. She was found not guilty of aggravated assault. Story developing…. UPDATE: Philly.com reports: A Philadelphia jury Friday found Kathryn Knott guilty of …

Twitter was very amused. Via Slate: In the most 2015-esque news of 2015, the FBI just tweeted that it did not seize the single-copy Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin when it arrested “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli on securities fraud charges earlier Thursday. Please pause before continuing to consider how little of that sentence would have been …

Via the Philly Voice: The jury in the assault trial of Kathryn Knott on Friday will deliberate a third day as it works to reach a verdict. Judge Roxanne Covington honored the jury’s request for dismissal around 4:20 p.m. Thursday, the second full day of deliberations following four days of testimony. Not long after beginning its second day of deliberations, …

This morning the jury in Philadelphia’s trial for accused gay-basher Kathryn Knott once again sent requests to the judge. The Philly Voice reports: The jury requested police statements given by Knott and Elizabeth Foley, a defense witnesses who was among Knott’s group of 15 people on the night of the incident. However, Knott never gave a statement to police. Her …

Whoa. Bloomberg Business reports: A boyish drug company entrepreneur, who rocketed to infamy by jacking up the price of a life-saving pill from $13.50 to $750, was arrested on securities fraud related to a firm he founded. Martin Shkreli, 32, ignited a firestorm over drug prices in September and became a symbol of defiant greed. The federal case against him …

The Baltimore Sun reports: Judge Barry G. Williams on Wednesday declared a mistrial in the trial of Officer William G. Porter on all four counts. Porter, 26, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office in the April arrest and death of Freddie Gray. Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby charged Porter and five other …

The Philadelphia jury in the case of alleged gay-basher Kathryn Knott began its deliberations today. According to reporters tweeting from inside the courtroom, this afternoon the jury asked to re-watch surveillance videos that captured Knott and her group on the Center City sidewalk near where the attack took place. The jury also wants to review the victims’ statements to police.  …

The Miami Herald reports: Lured to the United States with the promise of easy money, the slender young man from Hungary spent more than a year confined to bedrooms in New York and Miami — forced to have sex with men around the clock. His captors raped him. One of the ringleaders, who sometimes wielded a sword, threatened him and …

On the final day of her trial, today accused gay-basher Kathryn Knott denied having taken part in the September 2014 attack on a Philadelphia gay couple. Via Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate: Knott, leaving a birthday celebration with a large group of friends, said that she ran toward the fight initially to try to defuse it. Two male co-defendants have pleaded guilty …

Just last week the Democratic former state Assembly majority leader was found guilty of corruption. Aaaand here we go again, but this time it’s the guy who voted against same-sex marriage. The New York Times reports: Dean G. Skelos, the former majority leader of the New York Senate, and his son were found guilty of federal corruption charges on Friday, …

Alleged gay-basher Kathryn Knott had a bad day in court today. Philly.com reports: A second witness to a group assault on a gay couple in Center City last year Friday implicated Kathryn Knott as the woman who punched one of the victims. Knott, 25, of Southampton, Bucks County, who is not in custody and has pleaded not guilty, is on …