Arbery's killers scheduled for August hate crimes sentencing

 Arbery's killers scheduled for August hate crimes sentencing

Sentencing is set for Aug. 1 for three white men convicted of federal hate crimes for chasing and killing Black man Ahmaud Arbery

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press

20 April 2022, 03:26

• 3 min read

3:42

Ahmaud Arbery’s 3 killers guilty of federal hate crimes

"The View" co-hosts react after a federal jury found Gregory McMichael, his son, Travis...

The Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- The white men convicted of hate crimes for chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery as he ran in their Georgia neighborhood have been scheduled for sentencing this summer in federal court.

U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood scheduled Aug. 1 sentencing hearings for all three men. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, each face a maximum penalty of life in prison in connection with the 2020 death of the 25-year-old Black man.

It's possible the sentencing date could change. Citing a scheduling conflict, Prosecutors asked the judge in a legal filing Tuesday to push back the hearings until sometime after Aug. 6.

The McMichaels and Bryan are already serving life sentences in Georgia after being convicted of murder in a state court last fall. The trio stood trial a second time in federal court, where they were found guilty in February of committing hate crimes after a jury concluded Arbery's killing was motivated by race.

The McMichaels armed themselves and used a pickup truck to chase Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020, after spotting him running in their neighborhood just outside the Georgia port city of Brunswick. Bryan joined the pursuit and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael blasting Arbery with a shotgun.

The McMichaels told investigators they suspected Arbery was a burglar and were trying to detain him for police. Travis McMichael said he opened fire in self-defense as Arbery threw punches and grabbed for his shotgun.

No arrests were made until more than two months after the killing, when the graphic cellphone video leaked online and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police. Arbery's death became part of a broader reckoning on racial injustice in the criminal legal system after a string of fatal encounters between Black people and police.

While the life sentences handed down in the state's murder case made the hate crimes trial that followed largely symbolic, federal prosecutors used the second trial to reveal how all three defendants had espoused racist views.

To back the hate crime charges, prosecutors showed the jury roughly two dozen text messages and social media posts showing Travis McMichael and Bryan repeatedly using racial slurs in text messages and social media posts.

Defense attorneys contended the McMichaels and Bryan didn’t chase and kill Arbery because of his race, but acted on their earnest, though erroneous, suspicion that Arbery had committed crimes in their neighborhood.

Crews work to save WWII destroyer taking on water in Buffalo

 Crews work to save WWII destroyer taking on water in Buffalo

A decommissioned World War II-era destroyer docked near downtown Buffalo in New York was taking on water and listing perilously

ByThe Associated Press

15 April 2022, 02:32

• 2 min read

The Associated Press

The vintage ship USS The Sullivans is listing to one side after taking on water overnight...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A decommissioned World War II-era destroyer docked near downtown Buffalo in New York was taking on water and listing perilously on Thursday.

Crews were working to keep the USS The Sullivans from sinking at its berth at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, where it had been open for tours. Part of the leaning vessel's deck had dipped below the waterline by midday.

“We’ve got a committed group down here. We’re not going to give up the ship and failure is not an option,” said park president Paul Marzello.

Marzello said they believe there was a breach on the right side of the hull Wednesday night. He said crews trying to stabilize the 79-year-old vessel are pumping out up to 13,000 gallons (49,210 liters) a minute.

“I think we’ve seen the worst, but I don’t know,” he said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native, tweeted that state agencies were on site and ready “to help revive this treasure and symbol of perseverance.”

The USS The Sullivans, a National Historic Landmark, was named in honor of the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa. The brothers were killed in action when the USS Juneau was sunk by the Japanese in the South Pacific during World War II.

More than $1 million was raised last year to repair the ship’s breached hull. Crews paused work over the winter and were to resume repairs Monday, Marzello said.

The USS The Sullivans is one of four decommissioned Naval vessels at the park.

Man guilty of killing wife, 3 kids, pet dog in Florida

 Man guilty of killing wife, 3 kids, pet dog in Florida

A physical therapist from Connecticut has been convicted of killing his wife, three young children and the family’s dog two years ago in central Florida

ByThe Associated Press

15 April 2022, 05:18

• 3 min read

The Associated Press

Anthony Todt testifies during his trial at the Osceola County Courthouse in Kissimmee, Fl...

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- A physical therapist from Connecticut was convicted Thursday evening of killing his wife, three young children and the family's dog two years ago in central Florida.

A 12-member jury found Anthony Todt guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty. He was accused of killing his 42-year-old wife Megan, and his three children, Zoe, 4; Tyler, 11; and Alek, 13. The family’s dog, Breezy, was also found dead in the home. Prosecutors weren't seeking the death penalty, which means Todt will receive a mandatory life sentence.

Earlier Thursday during closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pinnell told the jury that Todt, 46, nonchalantly detailed the killings to investigators after his arrest at the family's home in Celebration, a community that is located close to Walt Disney World. He later claimed that he took the blame for his wife, who he said had killed the children and then herself.

“I was covering for my wife,” Todt, 46, told the jury when he took the stand in his defense on Wednesday. “Obviously, unsuccessfully. I had no clue how my kids died.”

But Pinnell told jurors Todt wanted to control the lives of his wife and children.

After his arrest, Todt told detectives that he and his wife had an agreement to kill their family so they could “pass over” together when the apocalypse — which they thought was imminent — arrived, Pinnell said Thursday, reiterating an assertion she also made in her opening statements.

The victims were killed sometime after they were last seen in mid-December 2019, prosecutors said. Their decomposing bodies were found wrapped in blankets at the home on Jan. 13, 2020. They had stab wounds and toxic amounts of Benadryl in their systems, according to autopsy reports.

The defense team maintained the state had not proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The medical examiner, they said, could not determine whether the children were suffocated or strangled, and said the stab wounds were likely inflicted after death.

“He came home to his kids being dead, his wife was alive but essentially dying, and stabbed herself in front of him," Assistant Public Defender Alesha Smith told jurors.

She said the state “is essentially picking and choosing when they want you to believe Mr. Todt and when they don’t,” she said.

But in her final words to the jury, Pinnell insisted that "there is no reasonable doubt in this case.''

Store owner to be returned to California in girl's shooting

 Store owner to be returned to California in girl's shooting

A Southern California shoe store owner accused of mistakenly shooting and wounding a 9-year-old girl when he opened fire at shoplifters has agreed to be returned from Nevada to face charges

ByThe Associated Press

15 April 2022, 11:25

• 2 min read

3:25

On Location: April 15, 2022

Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.

The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS -- A Southern California shoe store owner accused of shooting and wounding a 9-year-old girl when he opened fire at shoplifters agreed Thursday to be returned from Nevada to face charges in the case.

Police have said that Marqel Cockrell, 20, fled from the California desert city of Victorville in his car just after the girl, identified by family members as Ava Chruniak, was mistakenly hit by bullets on Tuesday as she waited to have her picture taken with a mall Easter bunny.

Cockrell, 20, stood in court and told a Las Vegas judge that he understood that California authorities had 30 days to extradite him. He was not represented by an attorney because Nevada does not provide lawyers for extradition cases.

Cockrell co-owns the shoe store Sole Addicts at the Mall of Victor Valley and was chasing two shoplifters about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when he fired shots that “instead hit the 9-year-old female victim,” Victorville police said in a statement.

The girl suffered three gunshot wounds, including two in an arm, her grandmother, Moraga-Saldarelli said. One of the bullets fractured an arm bone.

She was released from the hospital on Thursday but will require another operation to repair nerve damage, KCBS-TV reported.

“I will never forgive him. What he did to me is not OK," Ava told the station from her bed at home. “No one should have a gun in the mall."

Police have said that Cockrell drove from the mall before responding officers arrived after receiving reports of gunfire and that he was arrested in Nevada's Clark County, about a three-hour drive from Victorville.

Cockrell is being held at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas. Authorities have said he faces at least one attempted murder charge. Records do not indicate if he has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Family appeals after wrongful death suit tossed in Indiana

 Family appeals after wrongful death suit tossed in Indiana

The family of a Black man who was fatally shot by a white Indiana police officer in 2019 is appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of their wrongful death lawsuit

ByThe Associated Press

15 April 2022, 00:04

• 2 min read

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The family of a Black man who was fatally shot by a white Indiana police officer in 2019 is appealing a federal judge's dismissal of their wrongful death lawsuit.

Eric Logan’s relatives argue in their appeal filed this week in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that the judge was incorrect to dismiss the suit and that he should have considered evidence regarding former South Bend police Sgt. Ryan O’Neill’s credibility and policing standards, the South Bend Tribune reported.

“Some of the decisions that were made by the judge in weighing the evidence in this matter, were outside his purview,” said Brian Coffman, an attorney representing the O’Neill family. “That is up to a jury to weigh those facts and decide what actually happened in this incident.”

Logan's family sued the city of South Bend and O’Neill over the June 2019 shooting. O’Neill said the 54-year-old Logan refused his orders to drop a knife as the officer investigated a report of a person breaking into cars.

Last September, U.S. District Judge Damon Leichty dismissed the suit, ruling that O’Neill acted reasonably when Logan moved toward him with a hunting knife raised over his head.

The family's lawsuit said O’Neill used excessive force and that Logan had thrown the knife before the officer shot him twice.

A special prosecutor ruled that O’Neill, who resigned weeks after Logan’s killing, was justified in the shooting. O’Neill was sentenced in October 2020 to probation after pleading guilty to a charge related to an earlier on-duty sexual encounter.

The fallout from Logan’s killing snarled then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign. Buttigieg, who is now President Joe Biden’s transportation secretary, had to step away from the campaign trail to face angry residents at an emotional town hall in South Bend.

Police: Officer shoots man who pointed gun during pursuit

 Police: Officer shoots man who pointed gun during pursuit

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says police fatally shot a man who pointed a gun at an officer during a pursuit

ByThe Associated Press

15 April 2022, 00:06

• 1 min read

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Police fatally shot a man who pointed a gun at an officer during a pursuit Thursday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.

The man was seen driving erratically near a high school and a deputy with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office attempted to make a traffic stop, the bureau said in a statement. The driver reportedly fired shots out the window and fled, firing more shots as he encountered more officers, the statement said. At one point, he drove into the yard of a residence, exited the vehicle and ran behind a home.

An officer with the Bristol Police Department attempted to make contact, but the man reportedly pointed a gun at the officer and the officer fired, killing the man, the statement said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured.

Agents with the bureau are working to independently determine the events that led to the shooting. No further details were immediately released.

2 bird flu cases confirmed in US zoos as virus spreads

 2 bird flu cases confirmed in US zoos as virus spreads

Two cases of bird flu have been confirmed in U.S. zoos, but officials said they won’t order widespread euthanasia of zoo birds the way they have on farms

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press

15 April 2022, 01:03

• 2 min read

3:25

On Location: April 15, 2022

Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.

The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. -- Two cases of bird flu have been confirmed in U.S. zoos, but officials said they won't order widespread euthanasia of zoo birds the way they have on farms.

U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman Mike Stepien declined to release any details about the zoo cases Thursday, including which two zoos were involved.

Many zoos across the country have closed down their aviaries and moved birds inside whenever possible to help protect them from avian influenza that officials believe is primarily being spread by the droppings of wild birds.

At many zoos, penguins might be the only birds visitors can see because they are generally kept inside behind glass where they are shielded from the virus.

Nearly 27 million chickens and turkeys have been slaughtered in 26 states to limit the spread of bird flu during this year's outbreak. Officials order entire flocks to be killed when the virus is found on farms.

Stepien said zoos work with state veterinary officials when the virus is found, but unlike farms, zoos are generally allowed to isolate and treat an infected bird as long as they take precautions to protect the other birds in their collections.

Health officials emphasize that bird flu doesn't jeopardize food safety because infected birds aren't allowed into the food supply and properly cooking meat and eggs to 165 degrees Fahrenheit will kill any viruses. The disease also doesn't represent any immediate public health threat, and no human cases have been found in America.

This year's outbreak is the worst one since 2015 when roughly 50 million chickens and turkeys were slaughtered because of the virus. Stepien said that there were very few bird flu cases in captive wild birds in 2015 and none in large zoos, and no wild birds at zoos were euthanized that year.