Michigan
Voter who was registered but denied a ballot settles lawsuit for $20,000
DETROIT (AP) — A community in western Michigan has agreed to a $20,000 settlement in a lawsuit by a woman who was turned away from her polling place in 2022 despite registering online to vote, her attorneys said Monday.
Ashleigh Smith made many trips to her polling place in Muskegon County but was told that her address wasn’t turning up in an electronic roster of voters and that she wouldn’t be given a ballot on Nov. 8, 2022.
By the evening, Holton Township Clerk Jill Colwell-Coburn told Smith “she was sorry but that there was nothing more she could do,” the lawsuit alleged.
Smith said she had a voter registration receipt and a sticker to put on her driver’s license to show her new address.
Smith could have been given a provisional ballot, which would have given local officials a few days to try to clear up the problem. The township also could have offered to simply register her again on the spot, attorney Mark Brewer told The Associated Press.
They “acted in good faith and with a reasonable belief that their actions were in compliance with all applicable statutory and common law,” lawyer Bogomir Rajsic III said in a March court filing.
New York
Combs faces new sex assault allegations in woman’s lawsuit
Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with new sexual assault allegations Friday as a woman filed a lawsuit in New York saying she was repeatedly raped and drugged at the music mogul’s homes and became pregnant after one of the encounters.
It’s the latest of several similar lawsuits by women against Combs, who also was arrested last week on a federal sex trafficking indictment.
The lawsuit was filed against Combs, his companies and several associates and seeks undisclosed damages for physical injuries, severe emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety and other harms. A lawyer for Combs, his company and one of his representatives did not immediately return emails seeking comment Friday.
The woman in the latest lawsuit, identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe, accuses Combs of sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious from drugs, and it alleges Combs and his acquaintances recorded sexual encounters without her permission. She says that she met Combs overseas in fall 2020 and that the assaults and harassment continued through July this year.
Doe says she often was coerced and harassed into traveling to Combs’ homes in New York, Los Angeles and Miami and other cities, including monthly in 2021 and 2022.
“At every visit, (Combs) would make her ‘perform a show’ for him and would ply her with alcohol and substances until she passed out — she would wake up with bruising and injuries but with no recollection of how she sustained her injuries,” the lawsuit says.
In a July 2022 encounter with Combs at his Los Angeles home, the woman alleges in the lawsuit, she was forced to ingest drugs she believes included ketamine and blacked out. She later took a pregnancy test and told Combs it was positive, she says. A Combs associate repeatedly demanded she get an abortion, and she had a miscarriage, she asserts.
This past July, Doe says, Combs “commanded” her to go to his home in Miami, where she alleges Combs shoved two pills in her mouth. She says that the next morning, she felt ill and confused and could not remember what had happened the night before, and that the bedroom was in disarray.
Doe, being represented by attorneys Marie Napoli and Joseph Ciaccio, also alleges Combs and his associates tracked her location and monitored her conversations. She says Combs discouraged her from working and gave her an “allowance” that he used to control her.
On Tuesday, another woman sued Combs, alleging that the music mogul and his head of security raped her and recorded it on video at his New York recording studio in 2001.
Combs remains jailed without bail in New York on the federal charges alleging he ran a vast network that facilitated sexual crimes and committed shocking acts of violence, using blackmail and other tactics to protect Combs and those close to him.
He pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. His attorney said he is innocent and will fight to clear his name.
Earlier this month, Combs admitted that he beat his ex-girlfriend Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016 and apologized after CNN released video of the attack.
Combs, 54, is one of the best-known music executives, producers and performers across hip-hop, having won three Grammys and worked with artists such as Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112. He founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, the influential fashion line Sean John, a vodka brand and the Revolt TV network. He sold off his stake in the latter company in June of this year.
New Mexico
Movie armorer’s conviction upheld in fatal shooting
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge on Monday upheld an involuntary manslaughter conviction against a movie armorer in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust.”
Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed asked a court to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter conviction or convene a new trial in the shooting death, alleging misconduct and suppression of evidence by law enforcement.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer halted and ended Baldwin’s trial in July based on misconduct of police and prosecutors and their withholding evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set outside Santa Fe.
Gutierrez-Reed was convicted by a jury in March in a trial overseen by Marlowe Sommer, who later sentenced her to the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed already has an appeal of her involuntary manslaughter conviction pending in a higher court.
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust” and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys argued that her case should be reconsidered because prosecutors failed to share evidence that might have been exculpatory.
She was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation. Gutierrez-Reed also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited. A proposed plea agreement is awaiting court review.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Voter who was registered but denied a ballot settles lawsuit for $20,000
DETROIT (AP) — A community in western Michigan has agreed to a $20,000 settlement in a lawsuit by a woman who was turned away from her polling place in 2022 despite registering online to vote, her attorneys said Monday.
Ashleigh Smith made many trips to her polling place in Muskegon County but was told that her address wasn’t turning up in an electronic roster of voters and that she wouldn’t be given a ballot on Nov. 8, 2022.
By the evening, Holton Township Clerk Jill Colwell-Coburn told Smith “she was sorry but that there was nothing more she could do,” the lawsuit alleged.
Smith said she had a voter registration receipt and a sticker to put on her driver’s license to show her new address.
Smith could have been given a provisional ballot, which would have given local officials a few days to try to clear up the problem. The township also could have offered to simply register her again on the spot, attorney Mark Brewer told The Associated Press.
They “acted in good faith and with a reasonable belief that their actions were in compliance with all applicable statutory and common law,” lawyer Bogomir Rajsic III said in a March court filing.
New York
Combs faces new sex assault allegations in woman’s lawsuit
Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with new sexual assault allegations Friday as a woman filed a lawsuit in New York saying she was repeatedly raped and drugged at the music mogul’s homes and became pregnant after one of the encounters.
It’s the latest of several similar lawsuits by women against Combs, who also was arrested last week on a federal sex trafficking indictment.
The lawsuit was filed against Combs, his companies and several associates and seeks undisclosed damages for physical injuries, severe emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety and other harms. A lawyer for Combs, his company and one of his representatives did not immediately return emails seeking comment Friday.
The woman in the latest lawsuit, identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe, accuses Combs of sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious from drugs, and it alleges Combs and his acquaintances recorded sexual encounters without her permission. She says that she met Combs overseas in fall 2020 and that the assaults and harassment continued through July this year.
Doe says she often was coerced and harassed into traveling to Combs’ homes in New York, Los Angeles and Miami and other cities, including monthly in 2021 and 2022.
“At every visit, (Combs) would make her ‘perform a show’ for him and would ply her with alcohol and substances until she passed out — she would wake up with bruising and injuries but with no recollection of how she sustained her injuries,” the lawsuit says.
In a July 2022 encounter with Combs at his Los Angeles home, the woman alleges in the lawsuit, she was forced to ingest drugs she believes included ketamine and blacked out. She later took a pregnancy test and told Combs it was positive, she says. A Combs associate repeatedly demanded she get an abortion, and she had a miscarriage, she asserts.
This past July, Doe says, Combs “commanded” her to go to his home in Miami, where she alleges Combs shoved two pills in her mouth. She says that the next morning, she felt ill and confused and could not remember what had happened the night before, and that the bedroom was in disarray.
Doe, being represented by attorneys Marie Napoli and Joseph Ciaccio, also alleges Combs and his associates tracked her location and monitored her conversations. She says Combs discouraged her from working and gave her an “allowance” that he used to control her.
On Tuesday, another woman sued Combs, alleging that the music mogul and his head of security raped her and recorded it on video at his New York recording studio in 2001.
Combs remains jailed without bail in New York on the federal charges alleging he ran a vast network that facilitated sexual crimes and committed shocking acts of violence, using blackmail and other tactics to protect Combs and those close to him.
He pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. His attorney said he is innocent and will fight to clear his name.
Earlier this month, Combs admitted that he beat his ex-girlfriend Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016 and apologized after CNN released video of the attack.
Combs, 54, is one of the best-known music executives, producers and performers across hip-hop, having won three Grammys and worked with artists such as Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112. He founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, the influential fashion line Sean John, a vodka brand and the Revolt TV network. He sold off his stake in the latter company in June of this year.
New Mexico
Movie armorer’s conviction upheld in fatal shooting
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge on Monday upheld an involuntary manslaughter conviction against a movie armorer in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust.”
Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed asked a court to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter conviction or convene a new trial in the shooting death, alleging misconduct and suppression of evidence by law enforcement.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer halted and ended Baldwin’s trial in July based on misconduct of police and prosecutors and their withholding evidence from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set outside Santa Fe.
Gutierrez-Reed was convicted by a jury in March in a trial overseen by Marlowe Sommer, who later sentenced her to the maximum 18-month penalty. Gutierrez-Reed already has an appeal of her involuntary manslaughter conviction pending in a higher court.
Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust” and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys argued that her case should be reconsidered because prosecutors failed to share evidence that might have been exculpatory.
She was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation. Gutierrez-Reed also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where firearms are prohibited. A proposed plea agreement is awaiting court review.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
