guilty

Aug. 20 (UPI) — A North Carolina man on Tuesday pleaded guilty to a federal charge for racially harassing a group of people in a Charlotte pizza shop and threatening to kill them with a loaded military-style rifle.

The U.S. Justice Department announced that Maurice Hopkins, 32, had pleaded guilty to federal civil rights violations over a June 2024 incident in which he targeted a group of eight Indians over their race, color, religion and national origin. The incident occurred during the height of the 2024 election when federal authorities warned of increased threats of violence against minority communities.

Officers arrived at the pizza shop after receiving a call about Hopkins, who was making racial remarks to the group and said he “had something for them” and was going to “get his AR” after being asked to leave, according to a police affidavit.

A witness told police that Hopkins left and returned with a white four-door vehicle. The witness saw the red tip sight on the gun and tried unsuccessfully to distract Hopkins from going into the store. Hopkins then entered the store and pointed the rifle at customers, according to the document.

During the incident, Hopkins asked the victims if they were Americans, and then proceeded to call them terrorists, demand they speak English and told them to go back to their country, according to the Justice Department release. The victims fled through the pizza shop’s back door.

Hopkins’ sentencing date has not been set. He could face a maximum of 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to one charge of interference with federally protected activities.

Around the same time of the incident, federal prosecutors indicted the leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group that planned to kill minorities in New York City on New Year’s Eve. The group allegedly plotted to have a recruit dressed as Santa Clause hand out poisoned candy.

Earlier that year, a group of Massachusetts eight-graders were charged criminally for their participation in a “mock slave auction” and making racist comments at Black students on Snapchat.

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur faces up to 25 years in prison over the $40bn collapse of the TerraUSD and Luna tokens.

South Korean cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon has pleaded guilty to fraud in the United States in a case tied to the $40bn collapse of the TerraUSD and Luna tokens.

Kwon, the cofounder of Singapore-based Terraform Labs, entered the plea at the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, according to court filings.

Kwon admitted to one count of conspiring to commit commodities fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud, and one count of committing wire fraud.

As part of his plea, the crypto entrepreneur agreed to forfeit more than $19m in proceeds from his crimes, according to prosecutors.

Kwon had in January entered a plea of not guilty to nine counts in the case, including securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

“Do Kwon used the technological promise and investment euphoria around cryptocurrency to commit one of the largest frauds in history,” US Attorney Jay Clayton said.

“Kwon attracted tens of billions in funds to Terraform’s ecosystem by promising a self-stabilising stablecoin. By the time the markets discovered the ecosystem was unstable, it was too late: the system collapsed, and investors around the world suffered billions in losses.”

Kwon, who is due to be sentenced on December 11, faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

Kwon was extradited to the US in December 2024, following his arrest in Montenegro after spending months on the run from authorities.

A FOUR-year-old girl was tragically killed after a careless driver, 23, ploughed into the pavement.

Mayar Yahia was struck down on a Birmingham street while walking with her family after celebrating Eid.

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Horror unfolded on April 14 last year when Javonnie Tavener sped through a barrier in his Corsa.

He ploughed into the little girl, her mother Sara, and their neighbour on Upper Highgate Street.

She was an extraordinary young girl, only four-years-old, full of life and joy, and her absence leaves an irreplaceable void in our lives

Mayar’s grieving father

Paramedics tragically pronounced the tot dead at the scene, while Sara and her friend were rushed to hospital with serious injuries.

Three other pedestrians were also hurt in the crash.

Cops later detained and charged 23-year-old Tavener with causing death by careless driving, causing death whilst driving uninsured and two counts of causing serious injury by careless driving.

He pleaded guilty to all charges at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday this week.

The defendant has been remanded in custody while awaiting a sentencing date.

In a statement, released via West Midlands Police at the time of her death, Mayar’s grieving father said words failed to capture his grief.

He said: “It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that we share the devastating loss of our cherished daughter, Mayar.

“She was an extraordinary young girl, only four-years-old, full of life and joy, and her absence leaves an irreplaceable void in our lives.

“Among all, she held a special place in my heart.

“Words fail to capture the depth of our grief and the magnitude of this loss.

“However, we find solace and strength in the unwavering support and compassion shown by the police officers, our community, family, and friends.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you who have stood by our side, offering your love, prayers, and support during this incredibly difficult time.”

Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes, from WMP’S serious collision investigation unit, said: “Mayar was just four years old when her life was tragically taken away from her.

“She was walking back with her family and friends after celebrating Eid.

“Pedestrians should be afforded and be reassured of protection when walking on the pavement and a split-second decision by Tavener to overtake where he did has led to this tragic chain of events.

“I would urge all drivers to think about this incident and how those decisions can have such catastrophic consequences.”

The road where Mayar was killed is now set to be pedestrianised after a campaign led for safer streets and roads.

It will stop traffic from reaching a stretch of Upper Highgate Street near New Hope Community Park.

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July 28 (UPI) — Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez was convicted Monday of bribing a witness and procedural fraud, following several hours of sentencing in a case that spanned more than a decade.

He is the first former head of state in Colombia to face a criminal conviction.

“It can be concluded, based on the prosecution’s findings, that the criminal offense of bribery was sufficiently proven,” Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia said as she read the verdict.

During his presidency, Uribe implemented a policy known as “Democratic Security,” which reduced kidnapping and homicide rates and supported the demobilization of paramilitary and guerrilla forces.

However, Uribe also faced sharp criticism over alleged human rights violations and the demobilization of paramilitary groups with impunity. His presidency was further overshadowed by the “false positives” scandal, in which thousands of civilians were killed by the military and falsely labeled as guerrilla fighters killed in combat.

According to the investigation, between 2012 and 2018, imprisoned paramilitaries were paid and pressured to change their testimony linking Uribe to illegal armed groups.

Sergio Escobar, executive director of the Medellín Global Center for Strategic International Studies, said the ruling is “the result of a series of legal missteps by the former president himself and comes amid an increasingly politicized climate. Now that he’s been convicted, an appeal will follow, which takes us into October — when the statute of limitations on this case expires. Regardless, he will no longer be able to claim he is innocent.”

The case began in 2012, when then-Sen. Álvaro Uribe filed a complaint against Sen. Iván Cepeda Castro, accusing him of witness tampering in an effort to link Uribe to illegal armed groups. But the investigation soon took an unexpected turn.

The Supreme Court of Justice, which initially investigated Cepeda, found evidence that individuals close to Uribe had offered financial, legal and administrative benefits to former paramilitaries and guerrilla fighters in exchange for testimony against Cepeda.

In that context, Uribe was charged with manipulating evidence and misleading the justice system to influence judges and secure rulings favorable to his interests — in the very investigation he had initiated against Cepeda.

“This conviction is a blow to his political career. At the same time, it sends a strong message about equality before the law — even for the most powerful figures in the country,” said José Francisco Salvo, an attorney and member of the NGO Derechos Ciudadanos.

He added that political polarization continues to shape the national response. “Some see the conviction as a victory for justice, while Uribe’s supporters view it as political persecution and an attack by the left,” Salvo said.

On Monday afternoon in a post on Twitter, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio decried the conviction.

“Former Colombian President Uribe’s only crime has been to tirelessly fight and defend his homeland,” Rubio tweeted. “The weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges has now set a worrisome precedent.”

Trial that sparked debate over culture of sexual assault in Canadian hockey ends after judge says allegations not ‘credible’.

A Canadian judge has found that five former members of the country’s 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey team are not guilty of sexual assault, following a trial that roiled Canada.

Judge Maria Carroccia told a courtroom on Thursday that she did not find allegations of assault against the five men “credible or reliable”, according to Canada’s CBC News.

A lawyer for the complainant said the justice system had fallen short in both the way her client was treated on the stand and the conclusions drawn by the judge.

“She’s obviously very disappointed with the verdict and very disappointed with Her Honour’s assessment of her honesty and reliability,” said Karen Bellehumeur, a lawyer for the complainant who is only known as EM due to a prohibition on publicising her identity. “She’s really never experienced not being believed like this before.”

The allegations of misconduct prompted debate over the culture of sexual assault within Canadian hockey, a favourite pastime of the North American country. But it also drew attention to the sceptical eye that authorities often cast on alleged victims.

Carroccia’s statement that she did not find evidence from the woman who was allegedly assaulted reliable prompted gasps in the courtroom, CBC reported.

All five men – Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, Carter Hart and Cal Foote – denied wrongdoing, stating that the alleged victim, EM, was a willing participant in sex acts at a hotel in London, Ontario, in 2018, following a team celebration.

The judge seemed to accept that claim, saying that the complainant had failed to establish that the encounter was “vitiated by fear”. She also said that the woman had a “tendency to blame others” when presented with inconsistencies in her memory of the night.

“Justice Carroccia’s carefully reasoned decision represents a resounding vindication for Mr McLeod and for his co-defendants,” said McLeod’s lawyer, David Humphrey.

Two previous juries in the case were dismissed, resulting in a trial where a single judge rendered a verdict.

The CEO of Hockey Canada and the organisation’s entire board of directors stepped down in October 2022 amid scrutiny of the alleged gang rape and an out-of-court settlement with the accuser.

One of the physicians who supplied ketamine to “Friends” star Matthew Perry appeared in a Los Angeles federal court Wednesday morning to plead guilty to multiple drug charges connected to the actor’s death.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia, known to Perry as “Dr. P.,” according to prosecutors, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of ketamine distribution. Plasencia, 43, supplied the drug to Perry through his live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, one of three defendants who pleaded guilty last year to their own connected charges.

“While Dr. Plasencia was not treating Mr. Perry at the time of his death, he hopes his case serves as a warning to other medical professionals and leads to stricter oversight and clear protocols for the rapidly growing at-home ketamine industry in order to prevent future tragedies like this one,” his lawyer, Karen L. Goldstein, said in a statement.

Goldstein said her client was “profoundly remorseful” for his role in supplying ketamine to Perry, who was vulnerable due to his history of addiction.

The doctor agreed in addition to the plea deal signed last month to give up his medical license within the next 30 to 45 days.

Plasencia faces up to 40 years in prison along with $2 million in fines. His voice was quiet during the hearing Wednesday, with Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett asking him to speak up as he relinquished his right to a jury trial.

Perry, 54, who was found in his Pacific Palisades home’s hot tub in October 2023, died from the acute effects of ketamine. Authorities allege the actor’s final dose, injected by Iwamasa, was sourced from the “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sangha, who pleaded not guilty and has a trial date set for Aug. 19.

Plasencia dabbed his face repeatedly with a cloth as prosecutors read out the charges, detailing how he sold the drug to Perry for thousands of dollars, sometimes administering it in the back of cars in parking lots.

Plasencia will remain out on bail until his sentencing on Dec. 3 on request from his defense lawyer, who argued that he is one of the primary caretakers of a 2-year-old son.

His Calabasas urgent care clinic, which remains open, requires patients to sign waivers that explain the charges against him.

Adolfo Macias, who was recaptured in June after escaping from a prison last year, will appear in a New York state court on Monday.

Ecuadorean gang leader Adolfo Macias Villamar, also known as “Fito”, is set to appear in a federal court in the United States, where he will plead not guilty to international charges of drug and weapons trafficking, his lawyer says.

The Ecuadorean government on Sunday extradited the notorious drug trafficker, a month after he was recaptured following a 2024 escape from a maximum-security penitentiary, the country’s prison authority said.

Macias, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, was serving a 34-year sentence at a prison in Guayaquil for a slew of crimes, including drug trafficking, organised crime, and murder.

The flight transporting Macias landed in New York state on Sunday night, the report said. His lawyer told the Reuters news agency that Macias “will plead not guilty” before the Brooklyn federal court on Monday.

Details of the handover to the US government and the extradition were not specified. The US government has yet to issue an official statement following the extradition.

The US Attorney’s Office had filed charges in April against Macias on suspicion of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms violations, including weapons smuggling.

The former taxi driver turned crime boss agreed in a Quito court last week to be extradited to the US to face the charges.

He is the first Ecuadorean extradited by his country since a new measure was written into law last year, after a referendum in which President Daniel Noboa sought the approval of moves to boost his war on criminal gangs.

Ecuador, once a peaceful haven between the world’s two top cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru, has seen violence erupt in recent years as rival gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.

Cult following

Soon after Macias escaped from prison in January 2024, Noboa declared Ecuador to be in a state of “internal armed conflict” and ordered the military and tanks into the streets to “neutralise” the gangs. The move has been criticised by human rights organisations.

As a drug lord, Macias cultivated a cult status among fellow gang members and the public.

While behind bars in 2023, he released a video addressed to “the Ecuadorian people” while flanked by armed men. He also threw parties in prison, where he had access to everything from liquor to roosters for cockfighting matches.

Macias’s Los Choneros has ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, Colombia’s Gulf Clan, which is considered the world’s largest cocaine exporter, as well as Balkan mafias, according to the Ecuadorian Organised Crime Observatory.

His escape from prison prompted widespread violence and a massive military and police recapture operation, including government “wanted” posters offering $1m for information leading to his arrest.

On June 25, Macias was found hiding in a bunker concealed under floor tiles in a luxury home in the fishing port of Manta, the centre of operations for Los Choneros. Noboa declared he would be extradited, “the sooner the better”.

“We will gladly send him and let him answer to the North American law,” Noboa told CNN at the time.

More than 70 percent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador’s ports, according to government data. In 2024, the country seized a record 294 tonnes of drugs, mainly cocaine.

July 21 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1861, the first major military engagement of the Civil War occurred at Bull Run Creek, Va.

In 1918, a German U-boat fired on the town of Orleans, Mass., on Cape Cod peninsula, damaging a tug boat and sinking four barges, and severely injuring one man. It was the only place in the United States to receive an enemy attack during World War I.

In 1925, the so-called Monkey Trial, which pitted Clarence Darrow against William Jennings Bryan in Dayton, Tenn., in one of the great confrontations in legal history, ended with John Thomas Scopes convicted and fined $100 for teaching evolution in violation of state law.

In 1969, U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, lifted off from the moon in the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle and docked with the command module Columbia piloted by Michael Collins.

In 1970, after 11 years of construction, the massive Aswan High Dam across the Nile River in Egypt was completed, ending the cycle of flood and drought in the Nile River region but triggering an environmental controversy.

In 2000, a report from special counsel John Danforth cleared U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and the government of wrongdoing in the April 19, 1993, fire that ended the Branch Davidian siege near Waco, Texas.

File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

In 2007, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final installment in the best-selling series, sold more than 8.3 million copies on its first day in bookstores.

In 2011, Greece continued efforts to climb out of a financial chasm with a second bailout pledge from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund worth $157 billion. Earlier, the nation dealt with its debt crisis with the help of a $146 billion loan package.

In 2024, President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid in the 2024 presidential race, formally endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris. Former President Donald Trump defeated Harris in November 2024 to win his second term in office.

File Photo by Melina Mara/UPI

July 19 (UPI) — A state senator from Minnesota has been found guilty of burglary and breaking into her stepmother’s home after a week-long trial.

A jury this week convicted State Sen. Nicole Mitchell of felony counts of burglary and possession of burglary or theft tools.

The 50-year-old lawyer and former Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard had claimed she was entering the home of her former stepmother Carol Mitchell with permission and was conducting a welfare check.

Detroit Lakes Police Department officers arrested Mitchell in April 2024 at the home in Becker Country, Minn., which is located 49 miles east of the state’s border with North Dakota.

Mitchell was carrying tools and a flashlight covered with a sock at the time of her arrest, which took place around 5 a.m. CDT after her stepmother called 911.

The former TV meteorologist testified in her own defense at trial, claiming she was conducting a wellness check on her stepmother Carol Mitchell, who is 72.

That story differed from the one she told police the night of the arrest when she said she was looking to retrieve items belonging to her father Roderick Mitchell who died in March 2023.

Mitchell was also dressed in all black and told police at the time “clearly I’m not good at this,” after officers found her.

“The defense has repeatedly classified this as a welfare check. You’ve seen all the evidence, the time of night, the outfit, the tools. What does your reason and common sense tell you?” Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald said during his closing address to jurors.

Mitchell is from Woodbury, Minn. and still lives there, where she represents the state’s District 47 after being elected in 2022.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a fellow Democrat, has not weighed in publicly since the verdict.

A felony conviction in Minnesota does not exclude a person from holding political office.

Republicans in the narrowly-divided state senate have previously called for Mitchell to resign and attempted to expel her from the legislature.

A sentencing date has not been announced but the felony convictions do come with the possibility of a prison sentence.

NORFOLK, Va. — A Virginia man pleaded guilty Friday in a federal case that accused him of stockpiling the largest number of finished explosives in FBI history and of using then-President Biden’s photo for target practice.

Brad Spafford pleaded guilty in federal court in Norfolk to possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle and possession of an unregistered destructive device, according to court documents. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for December.

Federal authorities said they seized about 150 pipe bombs and other homemade devices last fall at Spafford’s home in Isle of Wight County, which is northwest of Norfolk.

The investigation into Spafford began in 2023 when an informant told authorities that Spafford was stockpiling weapons and ammunition, according to court documents. The informant, a friend and member of law enforcement, told authorities that Spafford was using pictures of then-President Biden for target practice and that “he believed political assassinations should be brought back,” prosecutors wrote.

Two weeks after the assassination attempt of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2024, Spafford told the informant, “bro I hope the shooter doesn’t miss Kamala,” according to court documents. Former Vice President Kamala Harris had recently announced she was running for president. On around the same day, Spafford told the informant that he was pursuing a sniper qualification at the local gun range, court records stated.

Numerous law enforcement officers and bomb technicians searched the property in December.

Spafford stored a highly unstable explosive material in a garage freezer next to “Hot Pockets and frozen corn on the cob,” according to court documents. Investigators also said they found explosive devices in an unsecured backpack labeled “#NoLivesMatter.”

Spafford has remained in jail since his arrest in December. U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen ruled against his release in January, writing that Spafford has “shown the capacity for extreme danger.” She also noted that Spafford lost three fingers in an accident involving homemade explosives in 2021.

Spafford had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges in January. Defense attorneys had argued at the time that Spafford, who is married and a father of two young daughters, works a steady job as a machinist and has no criminal record.

Defense attorney Jeffrey Swartz said at Spafford’s January detention hearing that investigators had gathered information on him since January 2023, during which Spafford never threatened anyone.

“And what has he done during those two years?” Swartz said. “He purchased a home. He’s raised his children. He’s in a great marriage. He has a fantastic job, and those things all still exist for him.”

Investigators, however, said they had limited knowledge of the homemade bombs until an informant visited Spafford’s home, federal prosecutors wrote in a filing.

“But once the defendant stated on a recorded wire that he had an unstable primary explosive in the freezer in October 2024, the government moved swiftly,” prosecutors wrote.

Finley writes for the Associated Press.

Dan Serafini was a first-round draft pick from a prestigious private high school. He pitched professionally for 22 seasons and earned more than $14 million while with six Major League teams and two in the Japanese League.

Now he might spend the rest of his life in prison.

Serafini, 51, was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the 2021 shooting death of his father-in-law, Robert Gary Spohr, 70. He also was found guilty of the attempted murder of Spohr’s wife, Wendy Wood, and first-degree burglary.

Serafini entered the Spohrs’ Lake Tahoe home June 5, 2021, where prosecutors said he secretly waited with a .22 caliber gun for several hours for the victims to return before ambushing them. Two children, ages 3 years and 8 months, were in the home at the time.

“The guilty verdicts come after a six-week trial during which the jury heard testimony from dozens of witnesses and the presentation of physical evidence, including digital, cell phone, and other forensic evidence,” according to a Facebook post from the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.

According to evidence presented at trial, when the Spohrs arrived, Serafini shot both of them in the head and fled the house. Wood survived and called 911. She died by suicide in 2023.

Two years later police arrested Serafini and his nanny-turned-lover, Samantha Scott, 33. Scott pleaded guilty in February to an accessory charge.

Serafini’s motive centered on a $1.3-million dispute over the renovation of a ranch, according to prosecutors. Serafini, prosecutors said, hated his in-laws and had written “I’m gonna kill them one day” in a text message mentioning $21,000, according to ABC News Sacramento affiliate KXTV. The victims had given $90,000 to Serafini’s wife, Erin, the day of the shootings.

“It’s been four years since my mom and dad were shot, and it’s been four years of just hell,” said Adrienne Spohr, the victims’ daughter and Serafini’s sister-in-law, said after the verdict.

Adrienne Spohr was heard gasping and crying along with others in the courtroom when the verdict was read aloud, according to KXTV. Serafini shook his head in disagreement.

The mandatory minimum for first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement is 25 years to life, but could increase to 35 years depending on how the charges are applied.

“My parents had been incredibly generous to Daniel Serafini and Erin Spohr throughout their marriage,” Adrienne Spohr said earlier in the trial.

The Minnesota Twins made Serafini their first-round draft pick in 1992 out of Junipero Serra High in San Mateo, Calif., the same school all-time home run king Barry Bonds attended. Serafini made his big league debut in 1996 with the Twins and pitched in parts of seven seasons with the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies.

Serafini pitched in Japan from 2004 to 2007 before returning to the U.S. He was suspended for 50 games in 2007 for using performance-enhancing drugs that he blamed on medication he took in Japan. He also pitched for Italy in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

On June 28, 2015, Serafini’s bar in Sparks, Nev., was featured on an episode of “Bar Rescue.” The bar’s named was changed from the Bullpen Bar to the Oak Tavern as part of the makeover, but not before his financial woes were described as blowing through $14 million in career earnings and taking a $250,000 loan from his parents.

Serafini’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 18. He will remain in custody without bail until then.

“At this point, our focus is on the sentencing and making sure that Dan Serafini never sees the outside of a jail ever again,” Adrienne Spohr said.

July 11 (UPI) — R&B singer Chris Brown pleaded not guilty Friday to new charges related to an alleged assault at a London nightclub in 2023.

Brown entered the plea at Southwark Crown Court in London in response to charges related to the incident of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and with having an offensive weapon. He is slated to make his next appearance in court on October 24.

The alleged “offensive weapon” was a bottle of tequila, which Brown ostensibly used to attack music producer Abraham Diaw in February of 2023 with a bottle of tequila at Tape nightclub in London. He was then arrested in May on charges related to the incident and was then held in custody for almost a week before being released on $6.7 million bail.

Co-defendant Omololu Akinlolu, who performs under the name HoodyBaby, has also pleaded not guilty to causing actual bodily harm, and had previously entered a not guilty plea to the charge of attempted grievous bodily harm.

Under conditions of his bail, Brown must reside in the United Kingdom until his trial, but despite having his passport confiscated, the bail conditions do allow him to tour and perform, meaning he can have his passport for travel to shows. Brown ended a string of European shows last week and is slated to begin the North American leg of his current “Breezy Bowl XX” world tour later this month.

A civilian court of appeals says ex-Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin ‘had full legal authority’ to withdraw the plea agreement.

Washington, DC – An appeals court in the United States has validated the decision of former Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin to withdraw a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001.

A panel of judges at the Washington, DC-based federal court of appeals ruled on Friday that Austin “had full legal authority” to revoke the plea agreement for Mohammed and two other defendants.

That deal would have spared Mohammed the possibility of the death penalty in exchange for a plea of guilty.

Friday’s decision will prolong a decades-long legal saga for Mohammed, who has been imprisoned at a notorious detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since he was captured in Pakistan in 2003.

Austin revoked the deal in August of last year, saying that the US public and victims’ families “deserve the opportunity to see” the case brought to trial before a military commission — an alternative justice system established for Guantanamo detainees.

But any trial is likely to be fraught with challenges — including questions about evidence obtained by torture — and will take years, extending the legal limbo for the Guantanamo detainees.

A military judge reinstated the plea agreements in November, and a military appeals court affirmed the decision one month later.

The administration of former President Joe Biden then took the case to a federal civilian court of appeals.

Lawyers for defendants like Mohammed argued that Austin was too late to revoke the agreements, parts of which were already materialising.

But the court of appeals in Washington, DC, ultimately ruled that Austin was right to wait for the outcome of the plea negotiations before revoking the deals.

Writing on behalf of the court’s majority, Judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao said that preventing the withdrawal of the deal would have sent the message that plea agreements are “irrevocable upon signing”.

“The Secretary acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment,” the ruling read.

However, dissenting Judge Robert Wilkins decried the decision as revoking a contract that was already in effect.

He likened nixing the plea agreement to refusing to pay a painter who has already finished parts of the work stipulated in a home repairs contract.

For years, rights groups have called for shutting down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, known as Gitmo.

The prison opened in 2002 to house prisoners from the so-called “war on terror” following the attacks in the US on September 11, 2001.

Detainees were arrested in countries across the world on suspicions of ties to al-Qaeda and other groups. Many endured torture at secret detention facilities, known as black sites, before being transferred to Guantanamo.

At Gitmo, civil liberty advocates say detainees had few legal rights. Even those cleared for release through the military commissions remained imprisoned for years, with no recourse to challenge their detention.

The detention facility once housed nearly 800 Muslim men and teenage boys. Now only 15 prisoners remain at the prison; three are eligible for release.

July 11 (UPI) — A retired lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Army has pleaded guilty to transmitting classified national defense information concerning Russia’s war in Ukraine via a foreign dating app to a person claiming to be a woman living in the war-torn country.

The Justice Department said David Slater, 64, of Nebraska pleaded guilty Thursday and faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 on Oct. 8 when he is scheduled for sentencing.

“David Slater failed in his duty to protect this information by willingly sharing national defense information with an unknown online personality despite having years of military experience that should have caused him to be suspicious of that person’s motives,” U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods of the District of Nebraska said in a statement.

According to federal prosecutors, after retiring from the Army, Slater was hired as a civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force assigned to the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base and held a Top Secret security clearance from August 2021 to April 2022.

Court documents state that in his position, Slater attended top-secret classified briefings on the Russia-Ukraine war and conspired to transmit information he learned over an unnamed foreign dating app to a person who claimed to be a woman living in Ukraine.

The purported woman called Slater her “secret informant lover” and her “secret agent” and asked him to send her sensitive classified information.

The quantity and the frequency with which information was exchanged was not revealed, but the Justice Department did confirm that “Slater did, in fact, transmit classified national defense information to her, including regarding military targets and Russian military capabilities relating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Ovidio Guzman Lopez plans to change his not guilty plea during a hearing after arrest in 2023.

A son of the infamous Mexican drug cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is expected to plead guilty in a wide-ranging United States drug trafficking case at a court hearing in Chicago.

Court records for Ovidio Guzman Lopez indicate he intends to change his not-guilty plea as part of a deal with federal prosecutors at the hearing on Friday.

If confirmed, it would be the first time one of El Chapo’s sons has struck such an agreement.

Federal prosecutors allege that Ovidio and his brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, who became known locally as Los Chapitos, led a powerful faction of the notorious Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

They are accused of masterminding a major fentanyl trafficking operation that funnelled what prosecutors described as a “staggering” amount of the synthetic opioid into the US. The US has suffered a major opioid crisis in the last few decades, which has resulted in large numbers of deaths, addiction, and lawsuits.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is currently serving a life sentence in a US federal prison following a 2019 conviction. After his capture, Ovidio Guzman Lopez and his siblings reportedly took on key leadership roles within the cartel.

Ovidio Guzman Lopez was arrested by Mexican authorities in early 2023 and extradited to the US months later. He originally pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms charges.

His brother, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, and longtime cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada were arrested in Texas in 2024 after arriving on a private plane. Both men have pleaded not guilty to multiple charges.

Their high-profile capture set off a wave of violence across Sinaloa as rival factions scrambled for control, vying for control of routes used to produce and transport narcotics, including fentanyl, that are often destined for the US.

The groups are split between members loyal to the Sinaloa Cartel cofounders, “El Chapo” Guzman and Zambada.

Australian woman Erin Patterson is guilty of murdering three relatives with a toxic mushroom lunch, a jury has found.

The 50-year-old has also been found guilty of the attempted murder of the sole guest who survived the beef Wellington meal in 2023.

Patterson’s much-watched trial in the small Victorian town of Morwell heard evidence suggesting she had hunted down death cap mushrooms sighted in nearby towns, before trying to conceal her crimes by lying to police and disposing of evidence.

Her legal team had argued she unintentionally foraged lethal fungi, then “panicked” upon accidentally poisoning family members she loved. The jury on Monday ruled she did it intentionally.

Three people died in hospital in the days after the meal on 29 July 2023: Patterson’s former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.

Local pastor Ian Wilkinson – Heather’s husband – recovered after weeks of treatment in hospital.

Patterson’s estranged partner Simon Patterson had also been invited to the lunch but pulled out at the last minute. She was originally accused of attempting to murder him too – on several occasions – but those charges were dropped on the eve of the trial and the allegations were not put to the jury.

The case captured the world’s attention, becoming one of the most closely watched trials in Australian history.

Over nine weeks, the Victorian Supreme Court heard from more than 50 witnesses – including Patterson herself. Detectives described rifling through her garbage bins for leftovers, doctors outlined the gradual but brutal decline of the victims’ health, and Patterson’s estranged husband emotionally explained the souring nature of their relationship.

The only thing the case was missing was a motive – something key to Patterson’s defence.

Prosecutors argued Patterson had faked a cancer diagnosis to coax the guests to her house, then poisoned them and feigned illness to ward off suspicion.

She admitted to lying to police and medical staff about foraging for wild mushrooms, dumping a food dehydrator used to prepare the meal, and repeatedly wiping her mobile phone – all evidence of her guilt, prosecutors said.

From the witness box, Erin Patterson told the court she loved her relatives and had no reason to harm them.

She repeatedly denied intentionally putting the poisonous fungi in the meal, and said she realised days after the lunch that the beef Wellingtons may have accidentally included dried, foraged varieties that were kept in a container with store-bought ones.

She also told the court she had suffered from bulimia for years, and had made herself throw up after the beef Wellington meal – something her defence team said explained why she did not become as sick as the others who ate it.

The lie about having cancer was because she was embarrassed about plans to get weight-loss surgery, Ms Patterson said. She also claimed she didn’t tell authorities the truth about her mushroom foraging hobby because she feared they might blame her for making her relatives sick.

Ultimately, after a week of deliberation, the jury decided: returning four guilty verdicts which could see Patterson spend the rest of her life in jail.