Michigan
Former teacher sentenced for illegal drugs
Christopher Michael Filiccia, a 47-year-old former Warren Lincoln High School teacher, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to attempted possession of analogues., according to Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido.
On Tuesday, November 25, 2025, Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Faunce sentenced Filiccia to 6 months probation requiring him to continue testing and his current counseling, and to attend AA/NA meetings. Filiccia was originally charged with Possession of Drugs. However, his exemplary rehabilitation efforts through counseling resulted in a plea agreement with his defense counsel. His efforts also impressed the judge at sentencing.
On Tuesday, December 31, 2024, Warren Police Officers observed Christopher Michael Filiccia park at the 7-11 at 12 Mile Road and Schoenherr. Shortly after, a truck driven by Deangelo Ramone Daniel parked next to Filiccia. The drug transaction took place in Daniel’s truck, and then both men left the parking lot in their vehicles. A traffic stop was immediately conducted on Filiccia. During the traffic stop, officers located the drugs Filiccia purchased.
New Zealand
A woman who murdered her 2 children and left them in suitcases is jailed for at least 17 years
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A woman in New Zealand who was convicted of murdering her two children and leaving their bodies in suitcases for years before they were discovered will spend at least 17 years in prison, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Justice Geoffrey Venning told Hakyung Lee at the High Court hearing in the city of Auckland that she would begin her sentence as a patient in a locked psychiatric facility, under New Zealand’s compulsory mental health treatment law. Lee must return to prison when she is well enough, the judge said.
A jury in September found Lee guilty of the murders of Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, rejecting a defense of insanity. Her lawyers on Wednesday argued for a reduced sentence because of her mental illness, saying their client felt shame for her crimes and had been isolated and threatened in jail.
However, the judge told Lee that while she was undoubtedly experiencing severe depression when she killed the children in 2018, her actions were deliberate and calculated, the news outlet Stuff reported. In New Zealand, a successful insanity defense requires a murder defendant to prove they were incapable of understanding what they were doing or that it was wrong.
The children’s remains were discovered after Lee stopped paying rental fees for an Auckland storage unit when she ran into financial difficulties in 2022. The locker’s contents were auctioned online and the buyers found the bodies inside.
Lee fled to South Korea after the killings, where she changed her name, before being extradited to face trial. She is a New Zealand citizen who was born in South Korea and went by the name Ji Eun Lee previously.
During the trial, Lee’s lawyers conceded that Lee had killed the children by giving them an antidepressant medication, but attorney Lorraine Smith said the deaths happened after her client “descended into madness,” local news outlets reported. Lee had always been “fragile,” said Smith, but her mental illness became worse after her husband’s death.
Those convicted of murder in New Zealand automatically receive a life sentence, with judges setting a minimum period of at least 10 years before the defendant can apply for parole. Lee must serve at least 17 years, Justice Venning ruled.
A prosecutor read out a statement by Lee’s mother, Choon Ja Lee, who spoke of her devastation at learning what had happened to the children.
After Wednesday’s hearing, New Zealand’s police acknowledged authorities in South Korea for their help with the investigation.
New York
Prosecutors will retry man in death of Etan Patz
NEW YORK (AP) — A notorious 1979 missing-child case is headed to trial a third time after New York prosecutors vowed Tuesday to retry the man whose murder conviction was recently overturned in the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
In a case that has long been gnarled by time and uncertainty, a new set of prosecutors now will need to bring back witnesses, elicit memories and try to persuade another jury that Pedro Hernandez lured and killed the boy as he walked to his school bus stop in New York City.
“After thorough review, the district attorney has determined that the available, admissible evidence supports prosecuting” Hernandez on murder and kidnapping charges, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Sarah Marquez wrote, adding that prosecutors “are prepared to proceed.”
Hernandez’s lawyers said they were deeply disappointed by prosecutors’ decision.
“We remain convinced that Mr. Hernandez is an innocent man. But we will be prepared for trial and will present an even stronger defense,” attorneys Harvey Fishbein and Alice Fontier said in a statement.
Hernandez is due in court Monday for a discussion of next steps. Under federal court rulings, jury selection for his retrial must begin by June 1, or he must be released from prison.
Etan’s father, Stan Patz, declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday. He had hailed Hernandez’ now-overturned conviction as “some measure of justice for our wonderful little boy, Etan.”
Hernandez, now 64, worked at a nearby corner store when Etan disappeared on May 25, 1979. It was the first day his mother let him make the roughly block-long trip to the bus stop by himself. The first-grader’s body was never found, but he was legally declared dead in 2001, at his family’s request.
His case fueled a national focus on child disappearances and abductions. Etan was one of the first to appear on milk cartons, and his parents helped successfully advocate for a national hotline and other steps to help report and rescue vanished youngsters. The anniversary of Etan’s disappearance became National Missing Children’s Day.
The case affected parenting, as well as policing, contributing to a cultural shift toward tighter supervision of American kids.
Hernandez didn’t become a suspect until decades later, when authorities learned that he had made various, somewhat inconsistent statements to confidants over the years about having killed a child or person in New York.
Hernandez then told police in 2012 he had strangled Etan after offering him a soda and enticing him into the store basement. “Something just took over me,” Hernandez told authorities on video.
With no physical evidence, the confession was crucial. His lawyers said it was delusional, false and made under pressure from police bent on closing a decades-old case.
Hernandez had been diagnosed with a mental disorder, has a very low IQ and was on antipsychotic medication. Police questioned him for about seven hours without reading him his rights or recording the interaction — those steps were taken only after, according to police, he implicated himself for the first time.
Hernandez’s first trial ended in a hung jury, because of one member’s misgivings about the defendant’s mental health and hourslong police questioning. Hernandez was convicted at a 2017 retrial and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
A federal appeals court ruled in July that his conviction was tainted by a judge’s “clearly wrong” response to a 2017 jury question about Hernandez’s confessions.
The question was whether jurors had to disregard Hernandez’s recorded confessions if they concluded the first, unrecorded admissions were coerced. The jury was told the answer was simply “no.”
It should have been “maybe,” with an explanation of options and legal principles for assessing such situations, the appeals judges said. They ordered his release unless his retrial begins “within a reasonable period,” leaving a lower court judge to specify how long. She then set the deadline at June 1.
Georgia
New prosecutor won’t pursue charges against Trump and others in election interference case
ATLANTA (AP) — The prosecutor who recently took over the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others said in a court filing Wednesday that he has decided not to pursue the case further.
Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, took over the case last month from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was removed over an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she chose to lead the case.
After Skandalakis’ filing, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued a one-paragraph order dismissing the case in its entirety.
It was unlikely that legal action against Trump could have moved forward while he is president. But 14 other defendants still faced charges, including former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, applauded the case’s dismissal: “The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified DA Fani Willis is finally over. This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare.”
After the Georgia Supreme Court in September declined to hear Willis’ appeal of her disqualification, it fell to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council to find a new prosecutor. Skandalakis said last month that he reached out to several prosecutors, but they all declined to take on the case. McAfee set a Nov. 14 deadline for the appointment of a new prosecutor, so Skandalakis chose to appoint himself rather than allow the case to be dismissed right away.
He said Willis’ office had only recently delivered the case file — 101 boxes and an eight-terabyte hard drive — and he hadn’t had a chance to review everything yet. Citing the public’s “legitimate interest in the outcome of this case,” he said he wanted to assess the evidence and decide on the appropriate next steps.
Skandalakis, who has led the small, nonpartisan council since 2018, said in a court filing last month that he will get no extra pay for the case but that Fulton County will reimburse expenses. He previously spent about 25 years as the elected Republican district attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit, southwest of Atlanta.
Willis announced the sprawling indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, using the state’s anti-racketeering law to allege a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia.
Defense attorneys sought Willis’ removal after one revealed in January 2024 that Willis had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to lead the case. The defense attorneys alleged a conflict of interest and said Willis profited from the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations the pair took.
During an extraordinary hearing the following month, Willis and Wade testified about the intimate details of their relationship. They said the romance didn’t begin until after Wade was hired and that they split the costs for vacations and other outings.
The judge rebuked Willis for a “tremendous lapse in judgment” but found no disqualifying conflict of interest, ruling she could stay on the case if Wade resigned, which he did hours later.
Defense attorneys appealed, and the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the case in December 2024, citing an “appearance of impropriety.” The state Supreme Court declined to hear Willis’ appeal.
Former teacher sentenced for illegal drugs
Christopher Michael Filiccia, a 47-year-old former Warren Lincoln High School teacher, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty to attempted possession of analogues., according to Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido.
On Tuesday, November 25, 2025, Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Faunce sentenced Filiccia to 6 months probation requiring him to continue testing and his current counseling, and to attend AA/NA meetings. Filiccia was originally charged with Possession of Drugs. However, his exemplary rehabilitation efforts through counseling resulted in a plea agreement with his defense counsel. His efforts also impressed the judge at sentencing.
On Tuesday, December 31, 2024, Warren Police Officers observed Christopher Michael Filiccia park at the 7-11 at 12 Mile Road and Schoenherr. Shortly after, a truck driven by Deangelo Ramone Daniel parked next to Filiccia. The drug transaction took place in Daniel’s truck, and then both men left the parking lot in their vehicles. A traffic stop was immediately conducted on Filiccia. During the traffic stop, officers located the drugs Filiccia purchased.
New Zealand
A woman who murdered her 2 children and left them in suitcases is jailed for at least 17 years
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A woman in New Zealand who was convicted of murdering her two children and leaving their bodies in suitcases for years before they were discovered will spend at least 17 years in prison, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Justice Geoffrey Venning told Hakyung Lee at the High Court hearing in the city of Auckland that she would begin her sentence as a patient in a locked psychiatric facility, under New Zealand’s compulsory mental health treatment law. Lee must return to prison when she is well enough, the judge said.
A jury in September found Lee guilty of the murders of Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, rejecting a defense of insanity. Her lawyers on Wednesday argued for a reduced sentence because of her mental illness, saying their client felt shame for her crimes and had been isolated and threatened in jail.
However, the judge told Lee that while she was undoubtedly experiencing severe depression when she killed the children in 2018, her actions were deliberate and calculated, the news outlet Stuff reported. In New Zealand, a successful insanity defense requires a murder defendant to prove they were incapable of understanding what they were doing or that it was wrong.
The children’s remains were discovered after Lee stopped paying rental fees for an Auckland storage unit when she ran into financial difficulties in 2022. The locker’s contents were auctioned online and the buyers found the bodies inside.
Lee fled to South Korea after the killings, where she changed her name, before being extradited to face trial. She is a New Zealand citizen who was born in South Korea and went by the name Ji Eun Lee previously.
During the trial, Lee’s lawyers conceded that Lee had killed the children by giving them an antidepressant medication, but attorney Lorraine Smith said the deaths happened after her client “descended into madness,” local news outlets reported. Lee had always been “fragile,” said Smith, but her mental illness became worse after her husband’s death.
Those convicted of murder in New Zealand automatically receive a life sentence, with judges setting a minimum period of at least 10 years before the defendant can apply for parole. Lee must serve at least 17 years, Justice Venning ruled.
A prosecutor read out a statement by Lee’s mother, Choon Ja Lee, who spoke of her devastation at learning what had happened to the children.
After Wednesday’s hearing, New Zealand’s police acknowledged authorities in South Korea for their help with the investigation.
New York
Prosecutors will retry man in death of Etan Patz
NEW YORK (AP) — A notorious 1979 missing-child case is headed to trial a third time after New York prosecutors vowed Tuesday to retry the man whose murder conviction was recently overturned in the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
In a case that has long been gnarled by time and uncertainty, a new set of prosecutors now will need to bring back witnesses, elicit memories and try to persuade another jury that Pedro Hernandez lured and killed the boy as he walked to his school bus stop in New York City.
“After thorough review, the district attorney has determined that the available, admissible evidence supports prosecuting” Hernandez on murder and kidnapping charges, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Sarah Marquez wrote, adding that prosecutors “are prepared to proceed.”
Hernandez’s lawyers said they were deeply disappointed by prosecutors’ decision.
“We remain convinced that Mr. Hernandez is an innocent man. But we will be prepared for trial and will present an even stronger defense,” attorneys Harvey Fishbein and Alice Fontier said in a statement.
Hernandez is due in court Monday for a discussion of next steps. Under federal court rulings, jury selection for his retrial must begin by June 1, or he must be released from prison.
Etan’s father, Stan Patz, declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday. He had hailed Hernandez’ now-overturned conviction as “some measure of justice for our wonderful little boy, Etan.”
Hernandez, now 64, worked at a nearby corner store when Etan disappeared on May 25, 1979. It was the first day his mother let him make the roughly block-long trip to the bus stop by himself. The first-grader’s body was never found, but he was legally declared dead in 2001, at his family’s request.
His case fueled a national focus on child disappearances and abductions. Etan was one of the first to appear on milk cartons, and his parents helped successfully advocate for a national hotline and other steps to help report and rescue vanished youngsters. The anniversary of Etan’s disappearance became National Missing Children’s Day.
The case affected parenting, as well as policing, contributing to a cultural shift toward tighter supervision of American kids.
Hernandez didn’t become a suspect until decades later, when authorities learned that he had made various, somewhat inconsistent statements to confidants over the years about having killed a child or person in New York.
Hernandez then told police in 2012 he had strangled Etan after offering him a soda and enticing him into the store basement. “Something just took over me,” Hernandez told authorities on video.
With no physical evidence, the confession was crucial. His lawyers said it was delusional, false and made under pressure from police bent on closing a decades-old case.
Hernandez had been diagnosed with a mental disorder, has a very low IQ and was on antipsychotic medication. Police questioned him for about seven hours without reading him his rights or recording the interaction — those steps were taken only after, according to police, he implicated himself for the first time.
Hernandez’s first trial ended in a hung jury, because of one member’s misgivings about the defendant’s mental health and hourslong police questioning. Hernandez was convicted at a 2017 retrial and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
A federal appeals court ruled in July that his conviction was tainted by a judge’s “clearly wrong” response to a 2017 jury question about Hernandez’s confessions.
The question was whether jurors had to disregard Hernandez’s recorded confessions if they concluded the first, unrecorded admissions were coerced. The jury was told the answer was simply “no.”
It should have been “maybe,” with an explanation of options and legal principles for assessing such situations, the appeals judges said. They ordered his release unless his retrial begins “within a reasonable period,” leaving a lower court judge to specify how long. She then set the deadline at June 1.
Georgia
New prosecutor won’t pursue charges against Trump and others in election interference case
ATLANTA (AP) — The prosecutor who recently took over the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others said in a court filing Wednesday that he has decided not to pursue the case further.
Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, took over the case last month from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was removed over an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she chose to lead the case.
After Skandalakis’ filing, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued a one-paragraph order dismissing the case in its entirety.
It was unlikely that legal action against Trump could have moved forward while he is president. But 14 other defendants still faced charges, including former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, applauded the case’s dismissal: “The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified DA Fani Willis is finally over. This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare.”
After the Georgia Supreme Court in September declined to hear Willis’ appeal of her disqualification, it fell to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council to find a new prosecutor. Skandalakis said last month that he reached out to several prosecutors, but they all declined to take on the case. McAfee set a Nov. 14 deadline for the appointment of a new prosecutor, so Skandalakis chose to appoint himself rather than allow the case to be dismissed right away.
He said Willis’ office had only recently delivered the case file — 101 boxes and an eight-terabyte hard drive — and he hadn’t had a chance to review everything yet. Citing the public’s “legitimate interest in the outcome of this case,” he said he wanted to assess the evidence and decide on the appropriate next steps.
Skandalakis, who has led the small, nonpartisan council since 2018, said in a court filing last month that he will get no extra pay for the case but that Fulton County will reimburse expenses. He previously spent about 25 years as the elected Republican district attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit, southwest of Atlanta.
Willis announced the sprawling indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, using the state’s anti-racketeering law to allege a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia.
Defense attorneys sought Willis’ removal after one revealed in January 2024 that Willis had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to lead the case. The defense attorneys alleged a conflict of interest and said Willis profited from the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations the pair took.
During an extraordinary hearing the following month, Willis and Wade testified about the intimate details of their relationship. They said the romance didn’t begin until after Wade was hired and that they split the costs for vacations and other outings.
The judge rebuked Willis for a “tremendous lapse in judgment” but found no disqualifying conflict of interest, ruling she could stay on the case if Wade resigned, which he did hours later.
Defense attorneys appealed, and the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the case in December 2024, citing an “appearance of impropriety.” The state Supreme Court declined to hear Willis’ appeal.
