Wisconsin
Man convicted of killing father and daughter
MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) — A jury in Manitowoc County has convicted a man in the slayings of a father and daughter.
Karl Hess took the stand in his own defense Thursday and testified he fatally shot Richard Miller after discovering that Miller had killed his daughter.
The 37-year-old defendant said he lied to police when he earlier confessed to killing Miller and 19-year-old Jocelyn Miller.
Hess said he went the Miller's house in Manitowoc armed with a gun in September 2018 to talk to his friend because he was upset about an illegal business proposition, WLUK-TV reported.
Hess testified Miller took the gun and shot Jocelyn, so he shot Miller.
In his earlier confession, police say Hess told them he needed money and believed Miller had cash in his home. Hess said he shot Richard twice before finding Jocelyn hiding in a bedroom and killing her, according to police documents.
The jury on Thursday convicted Hess on two counts of first-degree intentional homicide.
Sentencing is set for Aug. 13.
Washington
Man sentenced to 21 years for sex trafficking
EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — An Everett pimp with a violent history must serve 21 years behind bars for sex trafficking, a King County judge ruled this week.
Bernard Gordon, 33, profited off illicit sex workers in the Seattle area, according to records filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle.
After a trial that lasted five weeks, a jury found Gordon guilty in April of human trafficking, promoting prostitution and leading organized crime, the Daily Herald reported.
Gordon was arrested in 2019 on Evergreen Way in Everett when he tried to "set up an appointment" with an undercover detective posing as a prostitute, according to prosecutors.
He then got into a Cadillac with two women inside and officers pulled over the car. The driver told police that Gordon was her pimp and that he often became violent to keep her working, prosecutors said.
Gordon was booked into Snohomish County Jail for investigation of promoting prostitution. His case was later transferred to King County related to alleged crimes there, prosecutors said.
Deputy prosecutor Benjamin Gauen described Gordon's history of violence against women in a sentencing memorandum, saying he targeted
vulnerable young women to prostitute for him.
"But there was always a steep cost, Gauen wrote. "The victims had to make him money by selling their bodies along Aurora Avenue North."
Defense attorney J.T. Hicks asked King County Superior Court Judge Sandra Widlan for a lesser sentence, arguing the women were "street wise" and had no fear of standing up to Gordon. Hicks also argued there wasn't enough evidence to prove Gordon led organized crime.
California
Judge keeps India terror attack suspect in US custody
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Chicago businessman will remain in the United States as a federal judge in Los Angeles weighs whether he will be extradited to India for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack that killed more than 160 people.
Tahawwur Rana (tuh-HOW'-ur RAH'-nah), a Pakistani-born Canadian, is wanted by Indian authorities for his alleged involvement in the deadly attacks that are sometimes referred to as India's 9/11. An Indian warrant for his arrest was issued in August 2018.
Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian on Thursday ordered the defense attorneys and prosecutors to file additional documents by July 15. Rana will remain in federal custody.
Indian authorities allege that Rana conspired with his childhood friend David Coleman Headley to assist the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, or "Army of the Good," in the orchestration of the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people, injured more than 200 and caused $1.5 billion in damage.
Headley and Rana attended military high school in Pakistan together. Rana's immigration law center in Chicago, as well as a satellite office in Mumbai, was allegedly used as a front for their terrorism activities between 2006 and 2008, prosecutors say.
Rana's attorneys said their client was not aware of Headley's terrorism plot and was merely trying to help his childhood friend and set up a Mumbai business office. They also said Headley is a serial liar who has deceived the U.S. government multiple times in several criminal cases, and his testimony should not be viewed as credible. The attorneys alleged that Headley had used Rana to further his terrorism efforts without Rana's knowledge.
Rana's two daughters attended the hearing. They declined to comment, as did his lawyers.
Rana wore a white jumpsuit and black glasses, as well as a mask at the hearing. His ankles were shackled.
Only one of the 10 Mumbai terrorists survived the four-day rampage and went on trial. He was convicted, sentenced to death in India and hanged.
In 2011, Rana was convicted in federal court in Illinois of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism in Denmark for a thwarted plot to attack a Danish newspaper to retaliate for its publication of cartoons that depicted the Prophet Mohamed in 2005. The cartoons angered many Muslims because pictures of the prophet are prohibited in Islam.
U.S. prosecutors, however, failed to prove that Rana had directly supported the Mumbai attacks. Rana's defense attorneys, in court papers, say because he has been acquitted of the Mumbai-related charges in the U.S., extraditing him to India would be tantamount to double jeopardy.
Rana was sentenced to a 14-year prison term in Denmark-related case, but his punishment was reduced to time served in June 2020 after he claimed he had contracted the coronavirus in a federal California prison, court documents show. He was ordered released but was held on an immigration detainer so he could not return to Canada to avoid the Indian extradition request.
Headley ultimately testified against Rana in the Illinois case after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder. As part of his plea deal, he can't be extradited to India.
Kentucky
Man gets another life sentence for store killings
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A white man convicted of fatally shooting two Black shoppers at a Kentucky grocery store was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge.
During the sentencing Thursday, U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom told Gregory Bush that she hopes he learns to "reject" the "hate and bigotry" that led to the murders.
The victims, Maurice Stallard and Vickie Jones, "were targeted specifically because of the color of their skin," Boom said.
Bush had already been sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty but mentally ill to state charges related to the shootings at a Kroger in suburban Louisville in 2018. On Thursday, Boom added a federal sentence of life in prison along with 10 years of additional confinement for gun and hate crimes, news outlets reported.
Given the chance to speak, Bush said Thursday he was "so sorry that this happened. I'm so sorry."
Bush, who has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, said he was off his medication and "hearing voices" and "demons" that told him to kill his biracial son.
Bush was facing a minimum punishment of 30 years in prison but not the death penalty after pleading guilty to two counts of a hate crime resulting in death, three counts of using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and one count of a hate crime with attempt to murder.
Investigators said the two victims had never met Bush.
Police and prosecutors had previously confirmed that Bush also told an armed person outside the store to not "shoot me (and) I won't shoot you. Whites don't shoot whites."
Bush previously pleaded guilty but mentally ill in a state court to two counts of murder, criminal attempted murder and wanton endangerment in connection with the shooting.
Police said Bush first stopped at a historically Black church nearby before heading with his handgun to the busy grocery store.
Bush walked into the store, pulled a gun from his waist and shot a man in the back of the head, then kept shooting him multiple times, according to an arrest report. The report said Bush reholstered his gun, walked outside and killed a woman in the parking lot. Each victim died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Washington
Judge appears skeptical over effort to dismiss Dominion suit
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday appeared skeptical of arguments to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over baseless 2020 election claims made by Trump allies Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and the MyPillow Guy.
The voting system company sued the trio for $1.3 billion each after they claimed the company rigged the election for Democrat Joe Biden. Those claims, along with falsehoods from former President Donald Trump and others, helped spur a violent mob into storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, in a failed effort to stop the certification of Biden's victory.
The three persisted making the accusations even after government officials, both Republican and Democrat, and Trump's own attorney general said there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Dominion's voting equipment was used in several key battleground states.
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols heard arguments made by attorneys for Powell, Giuliani and Mike Lindell, CEO of Minnesota-based MyPillow, that the case should be dismissed. The attorneys argued the speech was protected by the First Amendment, that Dominion should be considered a government agency because it provided voting equipment for elections and treated like a public figure. And in some cases, attorneys said, the statements made about Dominion were true — and therefore couldn't be considered malicious.
Nichols told the attorneys that the public debate over election security is "not the same as saying a particular company intentionally committed voter fraud."
Powell and Giuliani, both lawyers who filed election challenges on Trump's behalf, and Lindell made various unproven claims about the voting machine company, including that the company was created in Venezuela to rig elections for the late leader Hugo Chavez and that it has the ability to switch votes. Dominion has also sued Fox News and conservative media outlets over the same claims.
Dominion attorneys said that the three made purposeful and specific false claims aimed at defaming the voting company and that the claims persisted even after their legal claims challenging the election failed.
"These were statements made in press conferences, in rallies, on social medial, on television ... including after the very lawsuits they're referencing to the court were dismissed," attorney Tom Clare said.
Powell and Lindell appeared in court; Giuliani, whose law license was suspended in New York on Thursday after a panel found he'd made false statements about the election, did not.
There was no widespread fraud in the election, which a range of election officials across the country, including Trump's attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed. Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states crucial to Biden's victory, also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states.
Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies were dismissed by judges, including two tossed by the Supreme Court, which includes three Trump-nominated justices.
The judge plans to rule at a later date.
Nevada
Protester guilty of breaking US courthouse window in Reno
RENO, Nev. (AP) — A man accused of breaking a window in the federal courthouse in downtown Reno during a protest tied to the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer last year faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to destruction of government property.
Police arrested Keith Moreno, 28, Reno, last June based on witness statements and news video footage that showed him among a crowd of 30 to 40 protesters at the courthouse on May 30, 2020.
One witnesses said Moreno later bragged about throwing a cigarette receptacle through the courthouse window and another said he was "bragging that he busted out a city hall window and the cops are not smart enough to find him," FBI special agent Christopher Johnson said in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.
Prosecutors say the cigarette cannister weighed about 23 pounds (10 kilograms) and that Moreno also threw a rock through a window. Seven windows were broken or damaged, Johnson said.
Moreno pleaded guilty Thursday to one criminal count and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge William Shubb on Sept. 16. In additional to prison time, he faces up to a $250,000 fine and restitution estimated in excess of $5,000.
