New York
Man charged with cyberstalking a family member of murdered CEO of UnitedHealthcare
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York man has been charged with cyberstalking a family member of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly leaving threatening voicemails that expressed glee about the insurance executive’s killing, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Shane Daley, 40, is accused of placing multiple calls to Thompson’s family member after the shooting, justifying the killing and saying that the person deserved to die in a similar manner, according to a criminal complaint.
Daley, of Galway, New York, a small town north of Albany, was arrested and had an initial court appearance Wednesday. He was released with GPS monitoring and is scheduled back in court Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Albany said. Daley’s attorney, Samuel Breslin, said they are reviewing the allegations and evidence.
In a statement, Acting United States Attorney John A. Sarcone said that “Brian Thompson was gunned down in midtown Manhattan. Daley, as alleged, gleefully welcomed this tragedy and did all that he could to increase the Thompson family’s pain and suffering.”
Thompson was fatally shot outside a hotel in New York City in December by a man who was angered over what he viewed as corporate greed, according to prosecutors. The suspect, Luigi Mangione, has pleaded not guilty.
The killing of Thompson, who led one of the biggest health insurers in the U.S., resulted in a vast outpouring of public frustration with the country’s health care system. Many Americans reacted to the shooting by relaying personal stories about difficult experiences with insurance companies. Mangione himself has been lionized as a sort of vigilante hero by those who are critical of the insurance industry.
Illinois
Prosecutors won’t charge Chicago officers who fired nearly 100 times during deadly traffic stop
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago police officers from a tactical unit who fired their guns nearly 100 times during a 2024 traffic stop that killed a 26-year-old man won’t face criminal charges, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
“The decision is not reached lightly nor does it diminish the tragedy that occurred,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said at a news conference. “But to the question of whether the officers committed a crime under the Illinois Criminal Code, the answer is straightforward: They did not.”
The shooting that killed Dexter Reed, a Black man, raised questions about the use of force and the role of tactical officers who were involved. In Reed’s case, the five officers were dressed in plainclothes and drove unmarked cars as they surrounded Reed’s SUV on March 21, 2024.
Reed fired first, which Burke said was part of the “clear and overwhelming evidence” that led her to decide against pursuing charges. One of the five officers at the scene was immediately injured.
Burke said Reed fired 11 rounds in two bursts with a gun he obtained illegally.
Four officers shot back 96 times, even after Reed left the vehicle, fell to the ground and lay motionless. One officer alone fired 50 shots.
Reed was hit 13 times, including on his legs and chest, according to the Cook County medical examiner. The shooting and Reed’s death happened within roughly one minute.
Police have released little and at times conflicting information about what prompted the traffic stop. Initially police said officers had pulled Reed over for not wearing a seat belt. Later city attorneys said it was due to illegally tinted windows.
A message left Wednesday for the police union was not immediately returned.
The officers were placed on administrative leave. Chicago police said Wednesday that three remained on administrative duties while two were “inactive.” A spokesman declined to elaborate further.
Community activists called for them to be fired immediately in the killing of another young Black man.
Reed’s family has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, alleging “brutally violent” policing tactics, and they have called for the city to work harder to comply with a court-supervised reform plan prompted by a 2014 police shooting where officers shot Black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times.
Reed was a former high school and college basketball player with ambitions of being a sportscaster. Family remembered him as a kind, caring person who had experienced recent health problems, including recovering from a 2021 shooting, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The family alleged that the officers didn’t properly identify themselves as police during the West Side traffic stop; lacked reasonable suspicion to stop Reed; escalated the situation by immediately drawing guns, blocking his vehicle and shouting profanity-laced commands; and failed to provide timely medical care as Reed lay in the street.
Family members were disappointed in the decision not to file charges, according to attorney Andrew Stroth, who represents Reed’s family.
“We will continue to fight for justice,” Stroth said in a statement. “This case is about the pattern and practice of unconstitutional actions by tactical units within the Chicago Police Department.”
Chicago police declined to comment Wednesday, citing an ongoing investigation. But the department has generally addressed the work of the tactical officers, saying such units have been part of each district’s patrol for years. They are generally sent to areas with high crime patterns, working in uniform and sometimes in street clothes.
Burke said her office would not address questions on policing. “It is not this office’s role to examine or cast judgment on police tactics,” she said.
New Mexico
Failed political candidate gets 80 years for shootings at officials’ homes
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A failed political candidate was sentenced to 80 years in federal prison Wednesday for his convictions in a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
A jury convicted former Republican candidate Solomon Peña earlier this year of conspiracy, weapons and other charges in the shootings in December 2022 and January 2023 on the homes of four Democratic officials, including the current state House speaker.
Prosecutors, who had sought a 90-year sentence, said Peña has shown no remorse and had hoped to cause political change by terrorizing people who held contrary views to him into being too afraid to take part in political life.
Peña’s lawyers had sought a five-year sentence, saying their client maintains that he is innocent of the charges. They have said Peña was not involved in the shootings and that prosecutors were relying on the testimony of two men who bear responsibility and accepted plea agreements in exchange for leniency.
“Today was a necessary step toward Mr. Peña’s continued fight to prove his innocence,” said Nicholas Hart, one of Peña’s attorneys. “He looks forward to the opportunity to appeal, where serious issues about the propriety of this prosecution will be addressed.”
The attacks took place as threats and acts of intimidation against election workers and public officials surged across the country after President Donald Trump and his allies called into question the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors said Peña resorted to violence in the belief that a “rigged” election had robbed him of victory in his bid to serve in the state Legislature.
The shootings targeted the homes of officials including two county commissioners after their certification of the 2022 election, in which Peña lost by nearly 50 percentage points. No one was injured, but in one case bullets passed through the bedroom of a state senator’s 10-year-old daughter.
Two other men who had acknowledged helping Peña with the attacks had previously pleaded guilty to federal charges and received yearslong prison sentences.
Florida
Prosecutors clear sheriff’s deputy in arrest of Black man punched and dragged from car
Prosecutors will take “no further action” against a Florida sheriff’s deputy in the arrest of a Black college student pulled from his car and beaten by officers during a February traffic stop.
The actions of Officer D. Bowers of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office did not constitute a crime, according to an investigative report released by the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
A video showing officers punching and dragging William McNeil from his car sparked nationwide outrage, though Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters has said there’s more to the story than the cellphone video that went viral online and that McNeil was repeatedly asked to exit his vehicle.
In the investigative memo released Wednesday, prosecutors called the cellphone footage “incomplete in scope” and said Bowers made a lawful traffic stop when he pulled McNeil over and that Bowers’ use of force was justified.
“The State Attorney’s Office has reviewed this matter to determine whether any of Officer Bowers’ actions constitute a crime. We conclude they do not,” the report reads.
According to the report, Bowers stopped McNeil for failing to turn on his headlights and buckle his seatbelt, after seeing his SUV parked outside a house the officer was surveilling for “drug activity.”
Based on a review of officer body camera footage, interviews the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office conducted with the officers involved and statements by McNeil, prosecutors said Bowers gave McNeil a dozen “lawful commands,” which he disobeyed.
After Bowers pulled him over, McNeil questioned the stop and declined to provide his license and registration. Though he earlier had his car door open while talking with an officer, he later closed it and appeared to keep it locked for about three minutes before the officers forcibly removed him, the video shows.
“It is the officers’ body-worn camera footage that provides the additional needed context of the circumstances preceding, surrounding, and following McNeil’s arrest,” the report reads.
A statement from McNeil’s lawyers, Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, called the report clearing the deputy “little more than an attempt to justify the actions of Officer Bowers and his fellow officers after the fact.” Crump is a Black civil rights attorney who has gained national prominence representing victims of police brutality and vigilante violence.
“Frankly, we expected nothing less especially after Sheriff Waters announced their conclusions more than three weeks before the report was issued,” the statement said. “Since they are unwilling to seek justice, we will have to request that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate this incident and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.”
Previously, Crump has fiercely criticized prosecutors’ finding that officers did not commit any criminal wrongdoing, saying his client remained calm while the officers who are trained to deescalate tense situations were the ones escalating violence. Crump said the case harkened back to the Civil Rights movement, when Black people were often attacked when they tried to assert their rights.
Man charged with cyberstalking a family member of murdered CEO of UnitedHealthcare
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York man has been charged with cyberstalking a family member of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly leaving threatening voicemails that expressed glee about the insurance executive’s killing, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Shane Daley, 40, is accused of placing multiple calls to Thompson’s family member after the shooting, justifying the killing and saying that the person deserved to die in a similar manner, according to a criminal complaint.
Daley, of Galway, New York, a small town north of Albany, was arrested and had an initial court appearance Wednesday. He was released with GPS monitoring and is scheduled back in court Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Albany said. Daley’s attorney, Samuel Breslin, said they are reviewing the allegations and evidence.
In a statement, Acting United States Attorney John A. Sarcone said that “Brian Thompson was gunned down in midtown Manhattan. Daley, as alleged, gleefully welcomed this tragedy and did all that he could to increase the Thompson family’s pain and suffering.”
Thompson was fatally shot outside a hotel in New York City in December by a man who was angered over what he viewed as corporate greed, according to prosecutors. The suspect, Luigi Mangione, has pleaded not guilty.
The killing of Thompson, who led one of the biggest health insurers in the U.S., resulted in a vast outpouring of public frustration with the country’s health care system. Many Americans reacted to the shooting by relaying personal stories about difficult experiences with insurance companies. Mangione himself has been lionized as a sort of vigilante hero by those who are critical of the insurance industry.
Illinois
Prosecutors won’t charge Chicago officers who fired nearly 100 times during deadly traffic stop
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago police officers from a tactical unit who fired their guns nearly 100 times during a 2024 traffic stop that killed a 26-year-old man won’t face criminal charges, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
“The decision is not reached lightly nor does it diminish the tragedy that occurred,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said at a news conference. “But to the question of whether the officers committed a crime under the Illinois Criminal Code, the answer is straightforward: They did not.”
The shooting that killed Dexter Reed, a Black man, raised questions about the use of force and the role of tactical officers who were involved. In Reed’s case, the five officers were dressed in plainclothes and drove unmarked cars as they surrounded Reed’s SUV on March 21, 2024.
Reed fired first, which Burke said was part of the “clear and overwhelming evidence” that led her to decide against pursuing charges. One of the five officers at the scene was immediately injured.
Burke said Reed fired 11 rounds in two bursts with a gun he obtained illegally.
Four officers shot back 96 times, even after Reed left the vehicle, fell to the ground and lay motionless. One officer alone fired 50 shots.
Reed was hit 13 times, including on his legs and chest, according to the Cook County medical examiner. The shooting and Reed’s death happened within roughly one minute.
Police have released little and at times conflicting information about what prompted the traffic stop. Initially police said officers had pulled Reed over for not wearing a seat belt. Later city attorneys said it was due to illegally tinted windows.
A message left Wednesday for the police union was not immediately returned.
The officers were placed on administrative leave. Chicago police said Wednesday that three remained on administrative duties while two were “inactive.” A spokesman declined to elaborate further.
Community activists called for them to be fired immediately in the killing of another young Black man.
Reed’s family has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, alleging “brutally violent” policing tactics, and they have called for the city to work harder to comply with a court-supervised reform plan prompted by a 2014 police shooting where officers shot Black teenager Laquan McDonald 16 times.
Reed was a former high school and college basketball player with ambitions of being a sportscaster. Family remembered him as a kind, caring person who had experienced recent health problems, including recovering from a 2021 shooting, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The family alleged that the officers didn’t properly identify themselves as police during the West Side traffic stop; lacked reasonable suspicion to stop Reed; escalated the situation by immediately drawing guns, blocking his vehicle and shouting profanity-laced commands; and failed to provide timely medical care as Reed lay in the street.
Family members were disappointed in the decision not to file charges, according to attorney Andrew Stroth, who represents Reed’s family.
“We will continue to fight for justice,” Stroth said in a statement. “This case is about the pattern and practice of unconstitutional actions by tactical units within the Chicago Police Department.”
Chicago police declined to comment Wednesday, citing an ongoing investigation. But the department has generally addressed the work of the tactical officers, saying such units have been part of each district’s patrol for years. They are generally sent to areas with high crime patterns, working in uniform and sometimes in street clothes.
Burke said her office would not address questions on policing. “It is not this office’s role to examine or cast judgment on police tactics,” she said.
New Mexico
Failed political candidate gets 80 years for shootings at officials’ homes
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A failed political candidate was sentenced to 80 years in federal prison Wednesday for his convictions in a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
A jury convicted former Republican candidate Solomon Peña earlier this year of conspiracy, weapons and other charges in the shootings in December 2022 and January 2023 on the homes of four Democratic officials, including the current state House speaker.
Prosecutors, who had sought a 90-year sentence, said Peña has shown no remorse and had hoped to cause political change by terrorizing people who held contrary views to him into being too afraid to take part in political life.
Peña’s lawyers had sought a five-year sentence, saying their client maintains that he is innocent of the charges. They have said Peña was not involved in the shootings and that prosecutors were relying on the testimony of two men who bear responsibility and accepted plea agreements in exchange for leniency.
“Today was a necessary step toward Mr. Peña’s continued fight to prove his innocence,” said Nicholas Hart, one of Peña’s attorneys. “He looks forward to the opportunity to appeal, where serious issues about the propriety of this prosecution will be addressed.”
The attacks took place as threats and acts of intimidation against election workers and public officials surged across the country after President Donald Trump and his allies called into question the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors said Peña resorted to violence in the belief that a “rigged” election had robbed him of victory in his bid to serve in the state Legislature.
The shootings targeted the homes of officials including two county commissioners after their certification of the 2022 election, in which Peña lost by nearly 50 percentage points. No one was injured, but in one case bullets passed through the bedroom of a state senator’s 10-year-old daughter.
Two other men who had acknowledged helping Peña with the attacks had previously pleaded guilty to federal charges and received yearslong prison sentences.
Florida
Prosecutors clear sheriff’s deputy in arrest of Black man punched and dragged from car
Prosecutors will take “no further action” against a Florida sheriff’s deputy in the arrest of a Black college student pulled from his car and beaten by officers during a February traffic stop.
The actions of Officer D. Bowers of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office did not constitute a crime, according to an investigative report released by the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
A video showing officers punching and dragging William McNeil from his car sparked nationwide outrage, though Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters has said there’s more to the story than the cellphone video that went viral online and that McNeil was repeatedly asked to exit his vehicle.
In the investigative memo released Wednesday, prosecutors called the cellphone footage “incomplete in scope” and said Bowers made a lawful traffic stop when he pulled McNeil over and that Bowers’ use of force was justified.
“The State Attorney’s Office has reviewed this matter to determine whether any of Officer Bowers’ actions constitute a crime. We conclude they do not,” the report reads.
According to the report, Bowers stopped McNeil for failing to turn on his headlights and buckle his seatbelt, after seeing his SUV parked outside a house the officer was surveilling for “drug activity.”
Based on a review of officer body camera footage, interviews the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office conducted with the officers involved and statements by McNeil, prosecutors said Bowers gave McNeil a dozen “lawful commands,” which he disobeyed.
After Bowers pulled him over, McNeil questioned the stop and declined to provide his license and registration. Though he earlier had his car door open while talking with an officer, he later closed it and appeared to keep it locked for about three minutes before the officers forcibly removed him, the video shows.
“It is the officers’ body-worn camera footage that provides the additional needed context of the circumstances preceding, surrounding, and following McNeil’s arrest,” the report reads.
A statement from McNeil’s lawyers, Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, called the report clearing the deputy “little more than an attempt to justify the actions of Officer Bowers and his fellow officers after the fact.” Crump is a Black civil rights attorney who has gained national prominence representing victims of police brutality and vigilante violence.
“Frankly, we expected nothing less especially after Sheriff Waters announced their conclusions more than three weeks before the report was issued,” the statement said. “Since they are unwilling to seek justice, we will have to request that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate this incident and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.”
Previously, Crump has fiercely criticized prosecutors’ finding that officers did not commit any criminal wrongdoing, saying his client remained calm while the officers who are trained to deescalate tense situations were the ones escalating violence. Crump said the case harkened back to the Civil Rights movement, when Black people were often attacked when they tried to assert their rights.
