Nevada
Tupac Shakur slaying suspect files appeal with Supreme Court to dismiss charges
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The man charged with ordering the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas is asking the Nevada Supreme Court to dismiss his murder charges.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis filed an appeal with the court Tuesday after a lower court judge upheld his charges.
Davis, the only man ever to be charged in Shakur’s killing, was arrested in September 2023. Other conspirators in the drive-by shooting have since died.
The 62-year-old has admitted in interviews and in his 2019 tell-all memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” that he provided the gun used in the shooting.
His attorney, Carl Arnold, said Davis’ constitutional rights were being violated.
“Mr. Davis cooperated with law enforcement over the course of more than a decade, relying on repeated assurances that his statements would not be used against him — yet those very statements now form the core of the State’s case,” Arnold said in a statement.
Arnold first filed a motion to dismiss the case in January of this year, alleging constitutional violations because of a 27-year delay in prosecution. He also said Davis had immunity agreements granted to him by federal and local authorities.
A district court judge upheld his charges, saying he was not protected from prosecution because he had not provided proof of those immunity deals and that the decades-long delay was not intentional.
According to the appeal, Davis was interviewed in 1998 and 1999 by federal prosecutors under the agreement that his statements would not be used to prosecute him. At the time, he denied knowing who was involved in Shakur’s killing.
He was interviewed again in 2008 and 2009 under the same conditions that he would not be prosecuted with his statements, according to the appeal. It was then that he described his “alleged involvement in the murder and identified the alleged shooter,” the appeal said.
Arnold said prosecutors had not presented any evidence connecting Davis to the slaying other than his own statements, which is not enough for a trial. He asked the Nevada Supreme Court to grant their motion to dismiss the case, or recognize that he was granted immunity from prosecution for the statements he made during law enforcement interviews.
Davis remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center. His trial is scheduled to begin in early February 2026.
Shakur’s death at 25 came as his fourth solo album, “All Eyez on Me,” remained on the charts, with about 5 million copies sold. Nominated six times for a Grammy Award, Shakur is still largely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time.
Massachusetts
Man sentenced to 26 months for attacking a flight attendant with a broken spoon
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man was sentenced Tuesday to 26 months in prison for attempting to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon and trying to open an airliner’s emergency door on a cross-country flight.
Francisco Severo Torres, of Leominster, pleaded guilty in May to one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon in the March 2023 disturbance on United Airlines Flight 2609 from Los Angeles to Boston.
U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris sentenced Torres to time served, which was just over 2 years. He also will be on supervised release for five years, during which he is prohibited from flying on a commercial aircraft.
According to prosecutor and witness accounts, Torres went on a midair rant and tried to stab a crew member with a modified metal spoon.
The plane was about 45 minutes from Boston when the crew received an alarm that a side door on the aircraft was disarmed, according to court documents. One flight attendant noticed the door’s locking handle had been moved.
Another saw Torres near the door and believed he had moved the handle. Cabin pressure during flight prevents airplane doors from opening.
Torres started loudly rambling that his father was Dracula, that he wanted to be shot so he could be reincarnated and that he would kill everyone on board, one passenger said. He punched a male flight attendant, who felt the metal spoon in Torres’ hand hit him on his shirt collar and tie three times, according to court documents. No one was injured.
Torres was eventually subdued and restrained by other passengers. He was arrested when the flight landed at Boston Logan International Airport, authorities said.
A lawyer for Torres could not be reached for comment.
Torres has spent time in mental health facilities, according to court records. The police chief in his hometown said officers have dealt with him several times since 2014, mostly over family issues and mental health episodes.
During one court appearance after his arrest, a federal judge ruled that Torres was not competent to stand trial and that he needed additional treatment. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein based her decision on a mental health evaluation of Torres and her own observations.
Hawaii
Judge dismisses wrongful death lawsuit in shooting of Black man
HONOLULU (AP) — A judge dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday brought by the widow of an unarmed Black man shot by Honolulu police in 2021.
The killing of Lindani Myeni on April 14, 2021, drew international attention, including from civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Myeni, 29, was a South African national who had recently moved to Hawaii, where his wife grew up.
Authorities have said Myeni was acting strangely and entered a home uninvited, and a frightened tourist staying there called 911. Myeni punched responding officers, leaving one with facial fractures and a concussion, Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm said previously.
Police tried other deterrence methods, including deploying a stun gun that was not effective on Myeni, before an officer fired a volley of three shots, Alm said in finding that the officers’ use of force was justified. Myeni continued punching an officer even after he was shot once in the chest, Alm said.
Honolulu attorneys had recommended paying $1.5 million to settle the lawsuit last year, but it never went to a vote before the full city council and the case went to trial.
Trial started July 14 and testimony included Myeni’s widow, Lindsay Myeni, taking the stand, according to her lawyers. Plaintiffs rested their case Friday.
The city filed a motion for dismissal that same day, arguing that no evidence was presented showing that the officers acted with malice and are immune from liability.
Judge Karin Holma granted the motion Tuesday, according to court records.
Her ruling came after seven days of testimony including video of the incident showing an officer “hiding behind a flashlight and refusing to say he was a police officer,” according to a statement from lawyers representing Myeni’s widow.
“While we wish the jury could have decided this, at least the appellate court can now review the record,” attorney James Bickerton said in the statement.
A mistrial would have also been possible in the case because three jurors were sick with Covid, said another Myeni attorney, Bridget Morgan-Bickerton.
According to an addendum to Myeni’s autopsy report, which was obtained by The Associated Press in 2023, Myeni was a former professional rugby player who suffered from a degenerative brain disease often found in football players and other athletes subjected to repeated head trauma.
Brain tissue was sent to the Boston University CTE Center, which found Myeni suffered from stage three chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Commonly known as CTE, the disease can only be diagnosed posthumously.
Arkansas
Judge blocks law barring pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge temporarily blocked on Monday Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation law that would have prohibited pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies in the state.
U.S. District Judge Brian Miller issued a preliminary injunction against the law restricting pharmacy benefit managers, who run prescription drug coverage for big clients that include health insurers and employers that provide coverage.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the restriction into law earlier this year, and it was set to take effect Aug. 5. CVS and Express Scripts had sued the state over the law.
The law, Miller wrote, “appears to overtly discriminate against plaintiffs as out of state companies and the state has failed to show that it has no other means to advance its interests.”
Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin said he respected the court’s decision and planned to appeal.
Supporters of the Arkansas law have said it’s needed because pharmacy benefit managers are forcing independent pharmacies, especially those in rural areas, to close. CVS and Express Scripts in their lawsuits said the restriction would have devastating effects on consumers if it was allowed to take effect.
CVS, which ran TV ads urging Sanders to veto the legislation, has said it would have to close its 23 retail pharmacies in the state if the law takes effect. The company said it was pleased with the decision.
“We continue to be focused on serving people in Arkansas and are actively looking to work together with the state to reduce drug prices and ensure access to pharmacies,” CVS said in a statement.
Arkansas is among several states where lawmakers have taken up efforts to regulate pharmacy benefit managers.
California
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs asks for release on a $50M bond ahead of sentencing
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is asking a judge to free him on a $50 million bond while he awaits sentencing in October after a jury found him not guilty of the most serious federal charges he faced earlier this month.
In a court filing Tuesday, Combs’ lawyer argued that conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn are dangerous, noting that others convicted of similar prostitution-related offenses were typically released before sentencing.
“Sean Combs should not be in jail for this conduct,” Marc Agnifilo said. “In fact, he may be the only person currently in a United States jail for being any sort of john, and certainly the only person in jail for hiring adult male escorts for him and his girlfriend.”
Prosecutors have previously insisted he remains a flight risk.
Combs, 55, faces up to a decade in prison on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, for sexual encounters. A conviction on racketeering conspiracy or sex trafficking could have put one of hip-hop’s celebrated figures in prison for life.
Immediately after he was acquitted on July 2, Agnifilo had asked that Combs be released on bond.
But Judge Arun Subramanian denied it, saying Combs at the time had not met the burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence a “lack of danger to any person or the community.”
Combs is the latest celebrity inmate to be locked up at MDC Brooklyn, the only federal jail in New York City, joining a list that includes R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
Tupac Shakur slaying suspect files appeal with Supreme Court to dismiss charges
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The man charged with ordering the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas is asking the Nevada Supreme Court to dismiss his murder charges.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis filed an appeal with the court Tuesday after a lower court judge upheld his charges.
Davis, the only man ever to be charged in Shakur’s killing, was arrested in September 2023. Other conspirators in the drive-by shooting have since died.
The 62-year-old has admitted in interviews and in his 2019 tell-all memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” that he provided the gun used in the shooting.
His attorney, Carl Arnold, said Davis’ constitutional rights were being violated.
“Mr. Davis cooperated with law enforcement over the course of more than a decade, relying on repeated assurances that his statements would not be used against him — yet those very statements now form the core of the State’s case,” Arnold said in a statement.
Arnold first filed a motion to dismiss the case in January of this year, alleging constitutional violations because of a 27-year delay in prosecution. He also said Davis had immunity agreements granted to him by federal and local authorities.
A district court judge upheld his charges, saying he was not protected from prosecution because he had not provided proof of those immunity deals and that the decades-long delay was not intentional.
According to the appeal, Davis was interviewed in 1998 and 1999 by federal prosecutors under the agreement that his statements would not be used to prosecute him. At the time, he denied knowing who was involved in Shakur’s killing.
He was interviewed again in 2008 and 2009 under the same conditions that he would not be prosecuted with his statements, according to the appeal. It was then that he described his “alleged involvement in the murder and identified the alleged shooter,” the appeal said.
Arnold said prosecutors had not presented any evidence connecting Davis to the slaying other than his own statements, which is not enough for a trial. He asked the Nevada Supreme Court to grant their motion to dismiss the case, or recognize that he was granted immunity from prosecution for the statements he made during law enforcement interviews.
Davis remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center. His trial is scheduled to begin in early February 2026.
Shakur’s death at 25 came as his fourth solo album, “All Eyez on Me,” remained on the charts, with about 5 million copies sold. Nominated six times for a Grammy Award, Shakur is still largely considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time.
Massachusetts
Man sentenced to 26 months for attacking a flight attendant with a broken spoon
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man was sentenced Tuesday to 26 months in prison for attempting to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon and trying to open an airliner’s emergency door on a cross-country flight.
Francisco Severo Torres, of Leominster, pleaded guilty in May to one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon in the March 2023 disturbance on United Airlines Flight 2609 from Los Angeles to Boston.
U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris sentenced Torres to time served, which was just over 2 years. He also will be on supervised release for five years, during which he is prohibited from flying on a commercial aircraft.
According to prosecutor and witness accounts, Torres went on a midair rant and tried to stab a crew member with a modified metal spoon.
The plane was about 45 minutes from Boston when the crew received an alarm that a side door on the aircraft was disarmed, according to court documents. One flight attendant noticed the door’s locking handle had been moved.
Another saw Torres near the door and believed he had moved the handle. Cabin pressure during flight prevents airplane doors from opening.
Torres started loudly rambling that his father was Dracula, that he wanted to be shot so he could be reincarnated and that he would kill everyone on board, one passenger said. He punched a male flight attendant, who felt the metal spoon in Torres’ hand hit him on his shirt collar and tie three times, according to court documents. No one was injured.
Torres was eventually subdued and restrained by other passengers. He was arrested when the flight landed at Boston Logan International Airport, authorities said.
A lawyer for Torres could not be reached for comment.
Torres has spent time in mental health facilities, according to court records. The police chief in his hometown said officers have dealt with him several times since 2014, mostly over family issues and mental health episodes.
During one court appearance after his arrest, a federal judge ruled that Torres was not competent to stand trial and that he needed additional treatment. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein based her decision on a mental health evaluation of Torres and her own observations.
Hawaii
Judge dismisses wrongful death lawsuit in shooting of Black man
HONOLULU (AP) — A judge dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday brought by the widow of an unarmed Black man shot by Honolulu police in 2021.
The killing of Lindani Myeni on April 14, 2021, drew international attention, including from civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Myeni, 29, was a South African national who had recently moved to Hawaii, where his wife grew up.
Authorities have said Myeni was acting strangely and entered a home uninvited, and a frightened tourist staying there called 911. Myeni punched responding officers, leaving one with facial fractures and a concussion, Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm said previously.
Police tried other deterrence methods, including deploying a stun gun that was not effective on Myeni, before an officer fired a volley of three shots, Alm said in finding that the officers’ use of force was justified. Myeni continued punching an officer even after he was shot once in the chest, Alm said.
Honolulu attorneys had recommended paying $1.5 million to settle the lawsuit last year, but it never went to a vote before the full city council and the case went to trial.
Trial started July 14 and testimony included Myeni’s widow, Lindsay Myeni, taking the stand, according to her lawyers. Plaintiffs rested their case Friday.
The city filed a motion for dismissal that same day, arguing that no evidence was presented showing that the officers acted with malice and are immune from liability.
Judge Karin Holma granted the motion Tuesday, according to court records.
Her ruling came after seven days of testimony including video of the incident showing an officer “hiding behind a flashlight and refusing to say he was a police officer,” according to a statement from lawyers representing Myeni’s widow.
“While we wish the jury could have decided this, at least the appellate court can now review the record,” attorney James Bickerton said in the statement.
A mistrial would have also been possible in the case because three jurors were sick with Covid, said another Myeni attorney, Bridget Morgan-Bickerton.
According to an addendum to Myeni’s autopsy report, which was obtained by The Associated Press in 2023, Myeni was a former professional rugby player who suffered from a degenerative brain disease often found in football players and other athletes subjected to repeated head trauma.
Brain tissue was sent to the Boston University CTE Center, which found Myeni suffered from stage three chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Commonly known as CTE, the disease can only be diagnosed posthumously.
Arkansas
Judge blocks law barring pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge temporarily blocked on Monday Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation law that would have prohibited pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies in the state.
U.S. District Judge Brian Miller issued a preliminary injunction against the law restricting pharmacy benefit managers, who run prescription drug coverage for big clients that include health insurers and employers that provide coverage.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the restriction into law earlier this year, and it was set to take effect Aug. 5. CVS and Express Scripts had sued the state over the law.
The law, Miller wrote, “appears to overtly discriminate against plaintiffs as out of state companies and the state has failed to show that it has no other means to advance its interests.”
Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin said he respected the court’s decision and planned to appeal.
Supporters of the Arkansas law have said it’s needed because pharmacy benefit managers are forcing independent pharmacies, especially those in rural areas, to close. CVS and Express Scripts in their lawsuits said the restriction would have devastating effects on consumers if it was allowed to take effect.
CVS, which ran TV ads urging Sanders to veto the legislation, has said it would have to close its 23 retail pharmacies in the state if the law takes effect. The company said it was pleased with the decision.
“We continue to be focused on serving people in Arkansas and are actively looking to work together with the state to reduce drug prices and ensure access to pharmacies,” CVS said in a statement.
Arkansas is among several states where lawmakers have taken up efforts to regulate pharmacy benefit managers.
California
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs asks for release on a $50M bond ahead of sentencing
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is asking a judge to free him on a $50 million bond while he awaits sentencing in October after a jury found him not guilty of the most serious federal charges he faced earlier this month.
In a court filing Tuesday, Combs’ lawyer argued that conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn are dangerous, noting that others convicted of similar prostitution-related offenses were typically released before sentencing.
“Sean Combs should not be in jail for this conduct,” Marc Agnifilo said. “In fact, he may be the only person currently in a United States jail for being any sort of john, and certainly the only person in jail for hiring adult male escorts for him and his girlfriend.”
Prosecutors have previously insisted he remains a flight risk.
Combs, 55, faces up to a decade in prison on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, for sexual encounters. A conviction on racketeering conspiracy or sex trafficking could have put one of hip-hop’s celebrated figures in prison for life.
Immediately after he was acquitted on July 2, Agnifilo had asked that Combs be released on bond.
But Judge Arun Subramanian denied it, saying Combs at the time had not met the burden of showing by clear and convincing evidence a “lack of danger to any person or the community.”
Combs is the latest celebrity inmate to be locked up at MDC Brooklyn, the only federal jail in New York City, joining a list that includes R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
