Mississippi
FBI agents raided the office and business of a prosecutor, but no one is saying why
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The FBI on Wednesday raided a local prosecutor’s office and business in Mississippi’s capital city, although officials declined to say whether Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens is suspected of wrongdoing.
FBI agents spent hours searching a cigar bar owned by Owens in downtown Jackson. They also removed items from his office in the Hinds County Courthouse.
Marshay Lawson, the spokesperson for the FBI’s office in Jackson, said the reason for the search remains secret.
“The FBI is executing federal search warrants at multiple locations,” Lawson said. “The affidavit in support of the search warrants has been sealed by the court and so I am prohibited from commenting further.”
Owens also didn’t say what the raid was about.
“This morning, FBI agents came to our offices,” the second-term district attorney said in a statement. “We are fully cooperating with their efforts. The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office is fully functioning and continues its work on behalf of the citizens of Hinds County.”
Owens is listed as the manager and sole member of the company that owns the Downtown Cigar Co., which agents also searched. The business also has a state permit to act as a bar selling alcohol.
WAPT-TV reports that while the searches at Owens’ office and business were ongoing, two FBI agents also visited Jackson City Hall and spoke to the chief of staff for Mayor Chokwe Lumumba. The City Hall is across the street from the Hinds County Courthouse, where Owens has his office.
Before first being elected as district attorney in 2019, Owens had been the lead attorney in Mississippi for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a liberal-leaning group known for bringing lawsuits over issues including civil rights. Owens ran as a criminal justice reformer, saying he would focus on prosecuting violent crime while looking for alternatives to jail and prison for nonviolent offenders.
But Jackson has been challenged by the nation’s highest murder rate, by some accounts, and Owens received more funding from Republican lawmakers to hire more prosecutors. Republicans have expanded the state-run Capitol Police controlled by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to patrol all of Jackson and created a state-run court with judges that are appointed rather than elected.
Many Democrats have said those moves represent a white takeover of an overwhelming Black city and that more resources should be used for crime prevention. The law was upheld in federal court after an NAACP lawsuit, and the conflict has quieted somewhat in recent months.
In 2022, Owens was cited by the Capitol Police for simple assault, a misdemeanor, after police said he aimed and pointed a gun at a man from Hattiesburg who was visiting a woman in a downtown Jackson apartment.
Owens denied wrongdoing at the time.
New York
Senate passes bill to tighten legal standard Harvey Weinstein used to toss conviction
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The New York state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to explicitly allow evidence of prior sexual offenses in sex crimes cases, a move to change the legal standard Harvey Weinstein used to overturn his rape conviction.
The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 55-4. The proposal now moves to the state Assembly.
Lawmakers began pushing the measure weeks after the state’s high court tossed Weinstein’s conviction in a ruling that found a trial judge unfairly allowed women to testify about assault allegations that weren’t part of the criminal charges against Weinstein.
The state does allow such evidence in limited instances, such as to prove a motive or plan, but the rules are determined by existing legal precedent, rather than state law.
The bill would make clear that evidence of previous sexual offenses can be heard in sex crimes cases, even if those prior allegations are not directly part of the underlying criminal charges. The proposal would also give judges discretion to not allow such testimony if it would create “undue prejudice” against a defendant.
Sponsors of the bill said its language is similar to a standard used by the federal government and more than a dozen other states.
The Legal Aid Society, which provides free legal representation, has warned that the proposal would confuse jurors by allowing too much outside evidence at trials and would result in unfair convictions.
Weinstein has denied the charges against him in New York, which include allegedly raping an aspiring actor and sexually assaulting a production assistant. His 2020 conviction was a major moment in the #MeToo movement. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is seeking to retry him as soon as September.
The disgraced movie mogul has separately been convicted of rape in California and sentenced to 16 years in prison there. He remains jailed in New York.
New York
Wealthy self-exiled Chinese businessman goes on trial in alleged $1B fraud scheme
NEW YORK (AP) — A wealthy Chinese businessman who left China a decade ago and became a U.S.-based outspoken critic of his homeland’s Communist Party went on trial in New York on Wednesday for what prosecutors say were multiple frauds that cheated hundreds of thousands of people worldwide of over $1 billion.
Guo Wengui, 57, once believed to be among the richest people in China, sat with his lawyers in Manhattan federal court as jury selection began for a trial projected to last seven weeks. He pleaded not guilty after his March 2023 arrest for what prosecutors say was a five-year fraud scheme that began in 2018.
Judge Analisa Torres told dozens of prospective jurors crowded into a courtroom that they were being considered for a jury that will decide the fate of 12 criminal charges alleging that Guo operated four fraudulent investment schemes.
By lunchtime, half of them had been dismissed after they provided reasons why a lengthy trial would create a hardship. Still, it was likely that opening statements would occur Thursday.
Torres told the possible jurors that they will be partially anonymous, meaning they will be referred to in court only by their juror numbers, although defense lawyers, prosecutors and the judge and her staff will know their identities.
When Torres ruled last month that the jury would be partially anonymous, she noted that she had already concluded that Guo had demonstrated a willingness to tamper with judicial proceedings by posting videos and releasing social media encouraging followers to “persevere” with protests at homes and offices of a bankruptcy trustee and his lawyer.
Guo, who has been held without bail, left China in 2014 during a crackdown on corruption that ensnared individuals close to him, including a top intelligence official.
Chinese authorities accused Guo of rape, kidnapping, bribery and other crimes, but Guo said those allegations were false and designed to punish him for publicly revealing corruption as he criticized leading figures in the Communist Party.
While living in New York in recent years, Guo developed a close relationship with former President Donald Trump’s onetime political strategist, Steve Bannon. In 2020, Guo and Bannon announced a joint initiative to overthrow the Chinese government.
Earlier this month, Guo’s chief of staff, Yvette Wang, pleaded guilty to conspiring with Guo and others to fraudulently induce investors to send money through entities and organizations including Guo’s media company, GTV Media Group Inc., and his so-called Himalaya Farm Alliance and the Himalaya Exchange, in return for stock or cryptocurrency. She awaits sentencing in September, when she could face up to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors say hundreds of thousands of investors were convinced to invest more than $1 billion into entities Guo controlled.
When he was first charged in Manhattan, prosecutors identified him as “Ho Wan Kwok,” but they recently changed how they refer to him in court papers, saying “Miles Guo” is how he is commonly known.
Illinois
Man is found fit to go on trial in attacks that killed 4, injured 7
ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A man was found fit Thursday to stand trial on charges of killing four people and injuring seven others during a series of frenzied attacks in a neighborhood in Rockford, Illinois.
The judge had ordered a psychiatric evaluation in April for Christian Soto, 22, who is accused of stabbing, beating or driving over the victims in March. He is charged with first-degree murder and other counts.
Winnebago County Judge Debra Schafer said Thursday at Soto’s arraignment hearing that she had reviewed a doctor’s finding that he was fit for trial and said she agreed.
Soto’s attorney, Glenn Jazwiec, said his client was waiving a formal reading of the charges and pleading not guilty. Schafer ordered him to remain detained and set a July 24 status hearing for Soto, who appeared in court by video link.
He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder and home invasion with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors allege he killed Romona Schupbach, 63; Jacob Schupbach, 23; Jay Larson, 49; and Jenna Newcomb, 15, in the March 27 attacks in Rockford.
Authorities have said they haven’t determined a motive.
Winnebago County prosecutor J. Hanley has said Soto told police he had smoked marijuana with Jacob Schupbach and believed the drugs “were laced with an unknown narcotic” that made him paranoid.
Soto first fatally stabbed Schupbach and his mother, then beat, stabbed and used a truck to run over Larson, who was working as a mail carrier, authorities said. He next wounded three people inside one home and beat Newcomb, her sister and a friend with a baseball bat inside another home, according to authorities. The attacks happened within a matter of minutes.
Soto was arrested as he fled another home where he had stabbed a woman but had been slowed by a driver who stopped to intervene, authorities said.
Missouri
Prosecutors to seek death penalty in killing of court employee and police officer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri prosecutors said Wednesday that they intend to seek the death penalty against a Kansas City-area man who is charged with murder in the killings of a court employee who tried to serve an eviction notice on him and a police officer who responded.
Larry Acree, 70, of Independence, is accused of shooting court employee Drexel Mack on Feb. 29, plus two police officers who came to the scene, including Cody Allen, who was killed. Officers returned fire and arrested Acree, who suffered minor injuries.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s office filed a notice with the court saying the state will prove there are aggravating circumstances sufficient to warrant the death penalty. Acree is charged with 18 total counts including two of first-degree murder.
According to court papers, Acree owed delinquent taxes dating back to at least 2019. His 9-acre (3.6-hectare) property and three-bedroom home was sold last August for $260,000, and the new owner paid the taxes. A “Notice to Vacate” sign was posted at the property in February, and authorities have said Acree had no right to be there.
At a brief hearing Wednesday, Acree’s attorney, Edward Berrigan of the Missouri State Public Defender’s office, asked for a continuance so that the public defenders who handle death penalty cases could be reassigned, the Kansas City Star reported.
Acree’s next court date is set for July 10 in Independence, a suburb of Kansas City.
FBI agents raided the office and business of a prosecutor, but no one is saying why
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The FBI on Wednesday raided a local prosecutor’s office and business in Mississippi’s capital city, although officials declined to say whether Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens is suspected of wrongdoing.
FBI agents spent hours searching a cigar bar owned by Owens in downtown Jackson. They also removed items from his office in the Hinds County Courthouse.
Marshay Lawson, the spokesperson for the FBI’s office in Jackson, said the reason for the search remains secret.
“The FBI is executing federal search warrants at multiple locations,” Lawson said. “The affidavit in support of the search warrants has been sealed by the court and so I am prohibited from commenting further.”
Owens also didn’t say what the raid was about.
“This morning, FBI agents came to our offices,” the second-term district attorney said in a statement. “We are fully cooperating with their efforts. The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office is fully functioning and continues its work on behalf of the citizens of Hinds County.”
Owens is listed as the manager and sole member of the company that owns the Downtown Cigar Co., which agents also searched. The business also has a state permit to act as a bar selling alcohol.
WAPT-TV reports that while the searches at Owens’ office and business were ongoing, two FBI agents also visited Jackson City Hall and spoke to the chief of staff for Mayor Chokwe Lumumba. The City Hall is across the street from the Hinds County Courthouse, where Owens has his office.
Before first being elected as district attorney in 2019, Owens had been the lead attorney in Mississippi for the Southern Poverty Law Center, a liberal-leaning group known for bringing lawsuits over issues including civil rights. Owens ran as a criminal justice reformer, saying he would focus on prosecuting violent crime while looking for alternatives to jail and prison for nonviolent offenders.
But Jackson has been challenged by the nation’s highest murder rate, by some accounts, and Owens received more funding from Republican lawmakers to hire more prosecutors. Republicans have expanded the state-run Capitol Police controlled by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves to patrol all of Jackson and created a state-run court with judges that are appointed rather than elected.
Many Democrats have said those moves represent a white takeover of an overwhelming Black city and that more resources should be used for crime prevention. The law was upheld in federal court after an NAACP lawsuit, and the conflict has quieted somewhat in recent months.
In 2022, Owens was cited by the Capitol Police for simple assault, a misdemeanor, after police said he aimed and pointed a gun at a man from Hattiesburg who was visiting a woman in a downtown Jackson apartment.
Owens denied wrongdoing at the time.
New York
Senate passes bill to tighten legal standard Harvey Weinstein used to toss conviction
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The New York state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to explicitly allow evidence of prior sexual offenses in sex crimes cases, a move to change the legal standard Harvey Weinstein used to overturn his rape conviction.
The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 55-4. The proposal now moves to the state Assembly.
Lawmakers began pushing the measure weeks after the state’s high court tossed Weinstein’s conviction in a ruling that found a trial judge unfairly allowed women to testify about assault allegations that weren’t part of the criminal charges against Weinstein.
The state does allow such evidence in limited instances, such as to prove a motive or plan, but the rules are determined by existing legal precedent, rather than state law.
The bill would make clear that evidence of previous sexual offenses can be heard in sex crimes cases, even if those prior allegations are not directly part of the underlying criminal charges. The proposal would also give judges discretion to not allow such testimony if it would create “undue prejudice” against a defendant.
Sponsors of the bill said its language is similar to a standard used by the federal government and more than a dozen other states.
The Legal Aid Society, which provides free legal representation, has warned that the proposal would confuse jurors by allowing too much outside evidence at trials and would result in unfair convictions.
Weinstein has denied the charges against him in New York, which include allegedly raping an aspiring actor and sexually assaulting a production assistant. His 2020 conviction was a major moment in the #MeToo movement. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is seeking to retry him as soon as September.
The disgraced movie mogul has separately been convicted of rape in California and sentenced to 16 years in prison there. He remains jailed in New York.
New York
Wealthy self-exiled Chinese businessman goes on trial in alleged $1B fraud scheme
NEW YORK (AP) — A wealthy Chinese businessman who left China a decade ago and became a U.S.-based outspoken critic of his homeland’s Communist Party went on trial in New York on Wednesday for what prosecutors say were multiple frauds that cheated hundreds of thousands of people worldwide of over $1 billion.
Guo Wengui, 57, once believed to be among the richest people in China, sat with his lawyers in Manhattan federal court as jury selection began for a trial projected to last seven weeks. He pleaded not guilty after his March 2023 arrest for what prosecutors say was a five-year fraud scheme that began in 2018.
Judge Analisa Torres told dozens of prospective jurors crowded into a courtroom that they were being considered for a jury that will decide the fate of 12 criminal charges alleging that Guo operated four fraudulent investment schemes.
By lunchtime, half of them had been dismissed after they provided reasons why a lengthy trial would create a hardship. Still, it was likely that opening statements would occur Thursday.
Torres told the possible jurors that they will be partially anonymous, meaning they will be referred to in court only by their juror numbers, although defense lawyers, prosecutors and the judge and her staff will know their identities.
When Torres ruled last month that the jury would be partially anonymous, she noted that she had already concluded that Guo had demonstrated a willingness to tamper with judicial proceedings by posting videos and releasing social media encouraging followers to “persevere” with protests at homes and offices of a bankruptcy trustee and his lawyer.
Guo, who has been held without bail, left China in 2014 during a crackdown on corruption that ensnared individuals close to him, including a top intelligence official.
Chinese authorities accused Guo of rape, kidnapping, bribery and other crimes, but Guo said those allegations were false and designed to punish him for publicly revealing corruption as he criticized leading figures in the Communist Party.
While living in New York in recent years, Guo developed a close relationship with former President Donald Trump’s onetime political strategist, Steve Bannon. In 2020, Guo and Bannon announced a joint initiative to overthrow the Chinese government.
Earlier this month, Guo’s chief of staff, Yvette Wang, pleaded guilty to conspiring with Guo and others to fraudulently induce investors to send money through entities and organizations including Guo’s media company, GTV Media Group Inc., and his so-called Himalaya Farm Alliance and the Himalaya Exchange, in return for stock or cryptocurrency. She awaits sentencing in September, when she could face up to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors say hundreds of thousands of investors were convinced to invest more than $1 billion into entities Guo controlled.
When he was first charged in Manhattan, prosecutors identified him as “Ho Wan Kwok,” but they recently changed how they refer to him in court papers, saying “Miles Guo” is how he is commonly known.
Illinois
Man is found fit to go on trial in attacks that killed 4, injured 7
ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) — A man was found fit Thursday to stand trial on charges of killing four people and injuring seven others during a series of frenzied attacks in a neighborhood in Rockford, Illinois.
The judge had ordered a psychiatric evaluation in April for Christian Soto, 22, who is accused of stabbing, beating or driving over the victims in March. He is charged with first-degree murder and other counts.
Winnebago County Judge Debra Schafer said Thursday at Soto’s arraignment hearing that she had reviewed a doctor’s finding that he was fit for trial and said she agreed.
Soto’s attorney, Glenn Jazwiec, said his client was waiving a formal reading of the charges and pleading not guilty. Schafer ordered him to remain detained and set a July 24 status hearing for Soto, who appeared in court by video link.
He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder and home invasion with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors allege he killed Romona Schupbach, 63; Jacob Schupbach, 23; Jay Larson, 49; and Jenna Newcomb, 15, in the March 27 attacks in Rockford.
Authorities have said they haven’t determined a motive.
Winnebago County prosecutor J. Hanley has said Soto told police he had smoked marijuana with Jacob Schupbach and believed the drugs “were laced with an unknown narcotic” that made him paranoid.
Soto first fatally stabbed Schupbach and his mother, then beat, stabbed and used a truck to run over Larson, who was working as a mail carrier, authorities said. He next wounded three people inside one home and beat Newcomb, her sister and a friend with a baseball bat inside another home, according to authorities. The attacks happened within a matter of minutes.
Soto was arrested as he fled another home where he had stabbed a woman but had been slowed by a driver who stopped to intervene, authorities said.
Missouri
Prosecutors to seek death penalty in killing of court employee and police officer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri prosecutors said Wednesday that they intend to seek the death penalty against a Kansas City-area man who is charged with murder in the killings of a court employee who tried to serve an eviction notice on him and a police officer who responded.
Larry Acree, 70, of Independence, is accused of shooting court employee Drexel Mack on Feb. 29, plus two police officers who came to the scene, including Cody Allen, who was killed. Officers returned fire and arrested Acree, who suffered minor injuries.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s office filed a notice with the court saying the state will prove there are aggravating circumstances sufficient to warrant the death penalty. Acree is charged with 18 total counts including two of first-degree murder.
According to court papers, Acree owed delinquent taxes dating back to at least 2019. His 9-acre (3.6-hectare) property and three-bedroom home was sold last August for $260,000, and the new owner paid the taxes. A “Notice to Vacate” sign was posted at the property in February, and authorities have said Acree had no right to be there.
At a brief hearing Wednesday, Acree’s attorney, Edward Berrigan of the Missouri State Public Defender’s office, asked for a continuance so that the public defenders who handle death penalty cases could be reassigned, the Kansas City Star reported.
Acree’s next court date is set for July 10 in Independence, a suburb of Kansas City.
