Washington
Appeals court: Judge lacked power to overturn ex-soldier Bowe Bergdahl’s military conviction
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge had no authority to overturn former U.S. Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl’s military conviction for deserting his post in Afghanistan before Taliban-allied forces abducted him and held him captive for nearly five years, an appeals court has ruled.
A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday ordered the dismissal of Bergdahl’s claims in district court. The panel said District Judge Reggie Walton in Washington lacked the jurisdiction to vacate Bergdahl’s court-martial conviction and sentence in 2023.
Bergdahl had sued in 2021, arguing that the punishment violated his Fifth Amendment due-process rights. Walton ruled that military judge Jeffrey Nance created a potential conflict of interest by failing to disclose his application for a position as an immigration judge in the Justice Department.
But the appeals court concluded that only military tribunals have the authority to vacate a court-martial judgment.
“Bergdahl’s claim thus conflicts with that longstanding limitation,” Circuit Judges Robert Wilkins wrote.
Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas also heard the appeal in Bergdahl’s case. Srinivasan and Wilkins were nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama. Katsas was nominated by Republican President Donald Trump.
Eugene Fidell, one of Bergdahl’s lawyers, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Wednesday.
Bergdahl, then a 23-year-old soldier from Hailey, Idaho, was stationed near Afghanistan’s Paktika Province in June 2009 when he left his post without permission to hike to headquarters to complain about what he viewed as poor leadership in his unit.
Bergdahl was captured by forces from the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network and repeatedly tortured before his release from captivity in 2014 as part of a prisoner swap that was sharply criticized by Trump and others while he was running for his first term as president.
Several U.S. service members were wounded during the search for Bergdahl, who was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after his release from captivity. He pleaded guilty to both charges in 2017 and was dishonorably discharged.
Prosecutors at his court-martial had sought 14 years in prison.
Pennsylvania
Police officer charged with voluntary manslaughter in killing of student
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania police officer who fatally shot a 22-year-old college student, who had ended up at the wrong house late at night and was waiting for friends to pick him up, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, 58, is charged in the Aug. 23 death of Glenwood Earl Pysher IV. The prosecutor said the officer had less-than-lethal options and did not need to resort to shooting Pysher during the encounter.
The Montgomery County Detective Bureau investigated the shooting and reviewed footage from Farrell’s body-worn camera, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.
“The investigation found that Cpl. Farrell had less-than-lethal options on his utility belt that he did not employ, including a taser. At the time of the shooting, the officer was a safe distance from Pysher behind a car, and the victim had his hands in the air and did not possess any type of weapon. Mr. Pysher was not a threat. This is not a legal use of deadly force, leading to the charge of Voluntary Manslaughter,” Steele said in a news release.
An attorney for Pysher’s family issued a statement thanking the prosecutor.
“The family is grateful for the work of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office and they are looking forward to justice in this horribly tragic, preventable and reckless conduct that took the life of their son,” said attorney Ken Fulginiti.
Farrell turned himself in to the Montgomery County Detectives on Tuesday and was awaiting arraignment by video, the district attorney’s office said. Bail was expected to be set at the arraignment, as well as the scheduling of a preliminary hearing.
Farrell was the first officer on the scene after a resident called 911 to report someone trying to break into the back door of a home. Farrell’s body-worn camera showed the officer walking down the driveway with his gun drawn, using its light to illuminate the way, the release says.
Standing behind a car in the driveway, Farrell saw Pysher on the home’s patio, near the back door. Farrell yelled, “Police, let me see your hands.” Then he yelled, “Hands up, hands up now, drop to the ground.”
Pysher is seen on video raising his hands as he began walking toward the officer and continuing to walk in that direction as the officer yelled, “Drop to the ground,” the release said. Farrell again yelled, “Drop to the ground,” then yelled, “Stop or I’ll...” But before he finished the sentence, Farrell fired two shots, hitting Pysher twice in the chest, the district attorney’s office said.
Pysher was 17 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) from the officer when he was shot, the release says.
The investigation found that Pysher had been out at several bars earlier in the evening to celebrate a friend’s 21st birthday. A designated driver drove the group to the home of the person whose birthday it was around 11 p.m., and Pysher left about half an hour later to walk half a mile to another friend’s house to keep drinking but ended up at the wrong house, the release says.
Pysher’s father has said he believes, based on what his son’s friends have told him, that his son tried to enter what he thought was his friend’s house.
“He tried to open the doorknob and obviously startled the homeowner,” Glen Pysher told The Associated Press last week. “From what we understand, he announced, ‘Hey! Open the door!’ because he thought he was at his friend’s house.”
His son then sat down on the back porch and contacted his friends, who realized he was in the wrong place and set out to find him, the father said.
Florida
Tiger Woods pleads no contest to reckless driving charge over rollover crash
STUART, Florida (AP) — Tiger Woods pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge Wednesday following a rollover crash in March near his home in Florida where he initially was accused of driving under the influence.
Woods appeared in a courtroom in Martin County where he agreed to the reduced charge. A judge ordered that his driver’s license be suspended for five years.
Woods, 50, said little during the hearing and beforehand sat at the defense table, looking back at the courtroom gallery. He arrived at the courthouse with his girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, President Donald Trump’s former daughter-in-law.
She sat behind him during the hearing. Woods left the courthouse without addressing reporters.
He also pleaded no contest to refusing to submit to testing and was fined court costs, according to court documents.
A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but means the accused will offer no defense. The plea is treated as a conviction in the criminal justice system.
Woods was arrested after his SUV clipped a truck and rolled over on its side on a beachside residential road on Jupiter Island. A sheriff’s report said deputies found two pain pills in his pocket and he showed signs of impairment. He did a Breathalyzer test, which came out negative, but refused to take a urine test.
He had pleaded not guilty to the original DUI charge.
Neither Woods nor the person in the other vehicle were injured in the crash, according to officials. But his Land Rover caused $5,000 in damage to the truck, according to a police report. Woods had told a deputy that he was looking down at his phone and changing the radio station when he hit the truck.
Woods is among the most influential figures in golf, but his career has been derailed by multiple back and knee surgeries, car crashes and dependence on pain medication.
Woods has been involved in four crashes over the years. He took a leave from the golf tour after the 2009 crash and again after the latest crash and has yet to return to tournament play.
He left the United States to seek treatment at an inpatient treatment facility, according to court records.
Woods made his first public appearance since returning from treatment on June 23 when he introduced the PGA Tour’s plans to revamp its schedule for 2028. Woods remained as chairman of the tour’s Future Competition Committee after his arrest. He did not take questions during that appearance.
Arizona
Lawyer for hockey player who collapsed during workout searching for answers
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona State hockey player and St. Louis Blues draft pick is still hospitalized nearly two weeks after collapsing during an offseason workout and an attorney representing his family is searching for answers.
Defenseman Matthew Mayich is still incapacitated from an Aug. 20 on-campus workout and his condition is highly unlikely to change, according to attorney Rob Carey.
“He is twenty-one years old,” Carey told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. “His family is at his side, and they are grateful for the support they’ve received from the hockey community and from Matthew’s teammates.”
Mayich, in his first year with the program, collapsed during an outdoor workout on the first day of the fall 2026 semester, the first time the NCAA allows hockey teams to hold formal activities.
Carey said the outdoor workout on a hot desert day was unsuited for a first outdoor practice, particularly for athletes who hadn’t been in the Valley a full week, calling it “onerous” and “grueling.”
Carey said there were signs of trouble well before Mayich collapsed and that the workout lasted well over an hour, with no rest and one water break for some of the athletes.
“ASU’s only statement so far was to note that coaches and trainers were present to support their claim that this workout was nothing unusual,” Carey said. “It doesn’t. It just means ASU’s own people stood there and watched exactly what they dialed up, and had no problem with it, at least the head coach didn’t. We will find out down the road if other university employees realized the student-athletes were in jeopardy. I suspect some did.”
Arizona State has said it will conduct a thorough review.
“This is not an investigation where someone is suggesting something went wrong,” ASU athletic director Graham Rossini said in a radio interview last week. “We’re just reviewing the facts and understanding the scenario.”
Carey called for Arizona State to conduct an independent investigation and place those involved on administrative leave, along with confirm who authorized the workout and produce details on what was planned in the workout.
“Our focus right now is on our own investigation into what happened on August 20th,” Carey said. “Only when that is complete will we discuss the options available to the family. The family’s focus is on doing everything that can be done for their son and holding each other together.”
The Blues drafted Mayich in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL draft, but he never signed an entry-level contract. The Stoney Creek, Ontario, native played four seasons with the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League before playing at Clarkson University last season.
Mayich transferred to Arizona State for the upcoming season.
Appeals court: Judge lacked power to overturn ex-soldier Bowe Bergdahl’s military conviction
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge had no authority to overturn former U.S. Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl’s military conviction for deserting his post in Afghanistan before Taliban-allied forces abducted him and held him captive for nearly five years, an appeals court has ruled.
A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday ordered the dismissal of Bergdahl’s claims in district court. The panel said District Judge Reggie Walton in Washington lacked the jurisdiction to vacate Bergdahl’s court-martial conviction and sentence in 2023.
Bergdahl had sued in 2021, arguing that the punishment violated his Fifth Amendment due-process rights. Walton ruled that military judge Jeffrey Nance created a potential conflict of interest by failing to disclose his application for a position as an immigration judge in the Justice Department.
But the appeals court concluded that only military tribunals have the authority to vacate a court-martial judgment.
“Bergdahl’s claim thus conflicts with that longstanding limitation,” Circuit Judges Robert Wilkins wrote.
Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas also heard the appeal in Bergdahl’s case. Srinivasan and Wilkins were nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama. Katsas was nominated by Republican President Donald Trump.
Eugene Fidell, one of Bergdahl’s lawyers, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Wednesday.
Bergdahl, then a 23-year-old soldier from Hailey, Idaho, was stationed near Afghanistan’s Paktika Province in June 2009 when he left his post without permission to hike to headquarters to complain about what he viewed as poor leadership in his unit.
Bergdahl was captured by forces from the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network and repeatedly tortured before his release from captivity in 2014 as part of a prisoner swap that was sharply criticized by Trump and others while he was running for his first term as president.
Several U.S. service members were wounded during the search for Bergdahl, who was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after his release from captivity. He pleaded guilty to both charges in 2017 and was dishonorably discharged.
Prosecutors at his court-martial had sought 14 years in prison.
Pennsylvania
Police officer charged with voluntary manslaughter in killing of student
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania police officer who fatally shot a 22-year-old college student, who had ended up at the wrong house late at night and was waiting for friends to pick him up, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell, 58, is charged in the Aug. 23 death of Glenwood Earl Pysher IV. The prosecutor said the officer had less-than-lethal options and did not need to resort to shooting Pysher during the encounter.
The Montgomery County Detective Bureau investigated the shooting and reviewed footage from Farrell’s body-worn camera, the district attorney’s office said in a news release.
“The investigation found that Cpl. Farrell had less-than-lethal options on his utility belt that he did not employ, including a taser. At the time of the shooting, the officer was a safe distance from Pysher behind a car, and the victim had his hands in the air and did not possess any type of weapon. Mr. Pysher was not a threat. This is not a legal use of deadly force, leading to the charge of Voluntary Manslaughter,” Steele said in a news release.
An attorney for Pysher’s family issued a statement thanking the prosecutor.
“The family is grateful for the work of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office and they are looking forward to justice in this horribly tragic, preventable and reckless conduct that took the life of their son,” said attorney Ken Fulginiti.
Farrell turned himself in to the Montgomery County Detectives on Tuesday and was awaiting arraignment by video, the district attorney’s office said. Bail was expected to be set at the arraignment, as well as the scheduling of a preliminary hearing.
Farrell was the first officer on the scene after a resident called 911 to report someone trying to break into the back door of a home. Farrell’s body-worn camera showed the officer walking down the driveway with his gun drawn, using its light to illuminate the way, the release says.
Standing behind a car in the driveway, Farrell saw Pysher on the home’s patio, near the back door. Farrell yelled, “Police, let me see your hands.” Then he yelled, “Hands up, hands up now, drop to the ground.”
Pysher is seen on video raising his hands as he began walking toward the officer and continuing to walk in that direction as the officer yelled, “Drop to the ground,” the release said. Farrell again yelled, “Drop to the ground,” then yelled, “Stop or I’ll...” But before he finished the sentence, Farrell fired two shots, hitting Pysher twice in the chest, the district attorney’s office said.
Pysher was 17 to 20 feet (5 to 6 meters) from the officer when he was shot, the release says.
The investigation found that Pysher had been out at several bars earlier in the evening to celebrate a friend’s 21st birthday. A designated driver drove the group to the home of the person whose birthday it was around 11 p.m., and Pysher left about half an hour later to walk half a mile to another friend’s house to keep drinking but ended up at the wrong house, the release says.
Pysher’s father has said he believes, based on what his son’s friends have told him, that his son tried to enter what he thought was his friend’s house.
“He tried to open the doorknob and obviously startled the homeowner,” Glen Pysher told The Associated Press last week. “From what we understand, he announced, ‘Hey! Open the door!’ because he thought he was at his friend’s house.”
His son then sat down on the back porch and contacted his friends, who realized he was in the wrong place and set out to find him, the father said.
Florida
Tiger Woods pleads no contest to reckless driving charge over rollover crash
STUART, Florida (AP) — Tiger Woods pleaded no contest to a reckless driving charge Wednesday following a rollover crash in March near his home in Florida where he initially was accused of driving under the influence.
Woods appeared in a courtroom in Martin County where he agreed to the reduced charge. A judge ordered that his driver’s license be suspended for five years.
Woods, 50, said little during the hearing and beforehand sat at the defense table, looking back at the courtroom gallery. He arrived at the courthouse with his girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, President Donald Trump’s former daughter-in-law.
She sat behind him during the hearing. Woods left the courthouse without addressing reporters.
He also pleaded no contest to refusing to submit to testing and was fined court costs, according to court documents.
A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but means the accused will offer no defense. The plea is treated as a conviction in the criminal justice system.
Woods was arrested after his SUV clipped a truck and rolled over on its side on a beachside residential road on Jupiter Island. A sheriff’s report said deputies found two pain pills in his pocket and he showed signs of impairment. He did a Breathalyzer test, which came out negative, but refused to take a urine test.
He had pleaded not guilty to the original DUI charge.
Neither Woods nor the person in the other vehicle were injured in the crash, according to officials. But his Land Rover caused $5,000 in damage to the truck, according to a police report. Woods had told a deputy that he was looking down at his phone and changing the radio station when he hit the truck.
Woods is among the most influential figures in golf, but his career has been derailed by multiple back and knee surgeries, car crashes and dependence on pain medication.
Woods has been involved in four crashes over the years. He took a leave from the golf tour after the 2009 crash and again after the latest crash and has yet to return to tournament play.
He left the United States to seek treatment at an inpatient treatment facility, according to court records.
Woods made his first public appearance since returning from treatment on June 23 when he introduced the PGA Tour’s plans to revamp its schedule for 2028. Woods remained as chairman of the tour’s Future Competition Committee after his arrest. He did not take questions during that appearance.
Arizona
Lawyer for hockey player who collapsed during workout searching for answers
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona State hockey player and St. Louis Blues draft pick is still hospitalized nearly two weeks after collapsing during an offseason workout and an attorney representing his family is searching for answers.
Defenseman Matthew Mayich is still incapacitated from an Aug. 20 on-campus workout and his condition is highly unlikely to change, according to attorney Rob Carey.
“He is twenty-one years old,” Carey told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. “His family is at his side, and they are grateful for the support they’ve received from the hockey community and from Matthew’s teammates.”
Mayich, in his first year with the program, collapsed during an outdoor workout on the first day of the fall 2026 semester, the first time the NCAA allows hockey teams to hold formal activities.
Carey said the outdoor workout on a hot desert day was unsuited for a first outdoor practice, particularly for athletes who hadn’t been in the Valley a full week, calling it “onerous” and “grueling.”
Carey said there were signs of trouble well before Mayich collapsed and that the workout lasted well over an hour, with no rest and one water break for some of the athletes.
“ASU’s only statement so far was to note that coaches and trainers were present to support their claim that this workout was nothing unusual,” Carey said. “It doesn’t. It just means ASU’s own people stood there and watched exactly what they dialed up, and had no problem with it, at least the head coach didn’t. We will find out down the road if other university employees realized the student-athletes were in jeopardy. I suspect some did.”
Arizona State has said it will conduct a thorough review.
“This is not an investigation where someone is suggesting something went wrong,” ASU athletic director Graham Rossini said in a radio interview last week. “We’re just reviewing the facts and understanding the scenario.”
Carey called for Arizona State to conduct an independent investigation and place those involved on administrative leave, along with confirm who authorized the workout and produce details on what was planned in the workout.
“Our focus right now is on our own investigation into what happened on August 20th,” Carey said. “Only when that is complete will we discuss the options available to the family. The family’s focus is on doing everything that can be done for their son and holding each other together.”
The Blues drafted Mayich in the sixth round of the 2023 NHL draft, but he never signed an entry-level contract. The Stoney Creek, Ontario, native played four seasons with the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League before playing at Clarkson University last season.
Mayich transferred to Arizona State for the upcoming season.
