Oklahoma
Murder charge is dropped against a 15-year-old for a high school football game shooting
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma prosecutor is dropping a murder charge against a 15-year-old who was accused in the fatal shooting of another teenager at a high school football game.
A witness who identified the teenager as the shooter who killed 16-year-old Cordae Carter has recanted their identification of the teen, Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Zemp Behenna said in a statement Friday.
Behenna said the charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled and that she has asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for assistance in collecting evidence.
“Based on their investigation, charges can be refiled in the future since there is no statute of limitations for murder,” Behenna said.
Carter died after being shot in August during the Del City-Choctaw high school game in Choctaw on the eastern outskirts of Oklahoma City.
Two other people were wounded by gunfire as players and officials scrambled off the field and panicked spectators hunkered down in the stands. One was a 42-year-old man who Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said was shot by one of the two off-duty Del City officers who accompanied the Del City team to the game.
Both of those officers were placed on paid leave, Del City police Chief Loyd Berger said at the time. A Del City police spokesperson did not immediately return a message Saturday for comment on the status of the Del City officers.
Choctaw Police Chief Kelly Marshall said at the time that seven Choctaw police officers also were at the game.
Washington
Supreme Court rejects an appeal from a former business partner of Hunter Biden
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a former business partner of presidential son Hunter Biden who was seeking to overturn his criminal conviction for securities fraud.
As is typical, the justices did not comment in leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that reinstated the fraud conviction of Devon Archer. A lower court judge had earlier set aside a jury verdict that found Archer guilty of fraud and ordered a new trial.
It was the second time the Supreme Court denied Archer’s appeal.
Hunter Biden was not involved in the effort to defraud the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe in a scheme that involved the sale of bonds, but participants in the fraud invoked his name to enhance their credentials, according to court records.
Archer was convicted in 2018. His conviction was overturned later that year before the court of appeals in New York reinstated it in 2020.
Biden and Archer had been business partners, and both served on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
New York
A diverse coalition owed money by Rudy Giuliani meets virtually for first bankruptcy hearing
NEW YORK (AP) — A group of people and businesses who say they are owed money by Rudy Giuliani gathered virtually Friday for the first court hearing since he declared bankruptcy last month after losing a defamation suit to two Georgia election workers.
During a two-hour Zoom hearing, an attorney for Giuliani told a U.S. bankruptcy judge that the former New York City mayor lacks the funds to pay the $148 million he owes the election workers for spreading a conspiracy about their role in the 2020 election. Others with claims against Giuliani should expect to wait as well.
“There’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” the attorney, Gary Fischoff, said, noting that Giuliani was making his living as a radio and podcast host while dealing with a wide range of “financial issues.”
The bankruptcy filing has brought forth a diverse coalition of creditors who previously sued Giuliani for unrelated issues.
In addition to the election workers, creditors include a supermarket employee who was thrown in jail for patting Giuliani’s back, two elections technology companies that he spread conspiracies about, a woman who says he coerced her into sex, several of his former attorneys, the IRS and Hunter Biden. Biden is suing Giuliani, saying he wrongly shared his personal data after obtaining it from the owner of a computer repair shop.
Giuliani’s bankruptcy filing last month came one day after a judge ordered him to immediately pay $148 million to Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss. The Chapter 11 declaration halted the judgment but also prevented Giuliani from challenging the verdict.
During Friday’s hearing, Giuliani’s attorney tried to convince the bankruptcy judge, Sean Lane, to temporarily lift a stay to allow him to appeal the judgment.
Lane agreed to the procedural step, with certain conditions, adding, “There is a legitimate concern here about the expenses and the cost and the delay.”
Some of Giuliani’s creditors have expressed concerns that he is taking advantage of the bankruptcy process to avoid paying his debts.
Noting that Giuliani has a “transactional relationship with the truth,” an attorney for a group of creditors, Abid Qureshi, urged the judge to set guardrails ensuring the litigation did not drag on unnecessarily.
And he hinted at possible conflict among those who say they are owed money by Giuliani, cautioning that the judge’s decision could carry “unintended consequences of a certain creditor jumping the queue.”
Ron Kuby, an attorney representing Daniel Gill, a ShopRite employee who is suing Giuliani for allegedly fabricating an assault against him, said there was “no disharmony among the creditors.”
The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31.
Murder charge is dropped against a 15-year-old for a high school football game shooting
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma prosecutor is dropping a murder charge against a 15-year-old who was accused in the fatal shooting of another teenager at a high school football game.
A witness who identified the teenager as the shooter who killed 16-year-old Cordae Carter has recanted their identification of the teen, Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Zemp Behenna said in a statement Friday.
Behenna said the charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can be refiled and that she has asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for assistance in collecting evidence.
“Based on their investigation, charges can be refiled in the future since there is no statute of limitations for murder,” Behenna said.
Carter died after being shot in August during the Del City-Choctaw high school game in Choctaw on the eastern outskirts of Oklahoma City.
Two other people were wounded by gunfire as players and officials scrambled off the field and panicked spectators hunkered down in the stands. One was a 42-year-old man who Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said was shot by one of the two off-duty Del City officers who accompanied the Del City team to the game.
Both of those officers were placed on paid leave, Del City police Chief Loyd Berger said at the time. A Del City police spokesperson did not immediately return a message Saturday for comment on the status of the Del City officers.
Choctaw Police Chief Kelly Marshall said at the time that seven Choctaw police officers also were at the game.
Washington
Supreme Court rejects an appeal from a former business partner of Hunter Biden
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a former business partner of presidential son Hunter Biden who was seeking to overturn his criminal conviction for securities fraud.
As is typical, the justices did not comment in leaving in place a federal appeals court ruling that reinstated the fraud conviction of Devon Archer. A lower court judge had earlier set aside a jury verdict that found Archer guilty of fraud and ordered a new trial.
It was the second time the Supreme Court denied Archer’s appeal.
Hunter Biden was not involved in the effort to defraud the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe in a scheme that involved the sale of bonds, but participants in the fraud invoked his name to enhance their credentials, according to court records.
Archer was convicted in 2018. His conviction was overturned later that year before the court of appeals in New York reinstated it in 2020.
Biden and Archer had been business partners, and both served on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
New York
A diverse coalition owed money by Rudy Giuliani meets virtually for first bankruptcy hearing
NEW YORK (AP) — A group of people and businesses who say they are owed money by Rudy Giuliani gathered virtually Friday for the first court hearing since he declared bankruptcy last month after losing a defamation suit to two Georgia election workers.
During a two-hour Zoom hearing, an attorney for Giuliani told a U.S. bankruptcy judge that the former New York City mayor lacks the funds to pay the $148 million he owes the election workers for spreading a conspiracy about their role in the 2020 election. Others with claims against Giuliani should expect to wait as well.
“There’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” the attorney, Gary Fischoff, said, noting that Giuliani was making his living as a radio and podcast host while dealing with a wide range of “financial issues.”
The bankruptcy filing has brought forth a diverse coalition of creditors who previously sued Giuliani for unrelated issues.
In addition to the election workers, creditors include a supermarket employee who was thrown in jail for patting Giuliani’s back, two elections technology companies that he spread conspiracies about, a woman who says he coerced her into sex, several of his former attorneys, the IRS and Hunter Biden. Biden is suing Giuliani, saying he wrongly shared his personal data after obtaining it from the owner of a computer repair shop.
Giuliani’s bankruptcy filing last month came one day after a judge ordered him to immediately pay $148 million to Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss. The Chapter 11 declaration halted the judgment but also prevented Giuliani from challenging the verdict.
During Friday’s hearing, Giuliani’s attorney tried to convince the bankruptcy judge, Sean Lane, to temporarily lift a stay to allow him to appeal the judgment.
Lane agreed to the procedural step, with certain conditions, adding, “There is a legitimate concern here about the expenses and the cost and the delay.”
Some of Giuliani’s creditors have expressed concerns that he is taking advantage of the bankruptcy process to avoid paying his debts.
Noting that Giuliani has a “transactional relationship with the truth,” an attorney for a group of creditors, Abid Qureshi, urged the judge to set guardrails ensuring the litigation did not drag on unnecessarily.
And he hinted at possible conflict among those who say they are owed money by Giuliani, cautioning that the judge’s decision could carry “unintended consequences of a certain creditor jumping the queue.”
Ron Kuby, an attorney representing Daniel Gill, a ShopRite employee who is suing Giuliani for allegedly fabricating an assault against him, said there was “no disharmony among the creditors.”
The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31.
