Massachusetts
Federal court denies Boston bomber’s request for new judge to oversee death sentence appeal
BOSTON (AP) — A federal court on Thursday denied a request by attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to remove the judge overseeing the protracted legal battle over his death sentence.
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument made by Tsarnaev’s lawyers that U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole should be recused from the case because, the lawyers contend, he is not impartial. During an August 2024 hearing, Tsarnaev’s attorneys pointed to what they said were comments O’Toole made about the case on podcasts and at public events during the appeals process.
In a two-page judgment released Thursday, appeals court judges ruled that O’Toole should continue to preside over the case, determining that “two panel discussions and a podcast in which Judge O’Toole discussed various aspects of organizing complex jury trials and the problems associated with social media in that context” did not constitute grounds for his removal.
One of O’Toole’s attorneys, David E. Patton, didn’t immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
A federal appeals court in March 2024 ordered O’Toole to investigate claims of juror bias by the defense and to determine whether Tsarnaev’s death sentence should stand. He was convicted of helping carry out the 2013 bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds of others near the marathon’s finish line.
It’s unclear when O’Toole might rule on the juror bias issue. If he finds that jurors should have been disqualified, he should vacate Tsarnaev’s sentence and hold a new penalty-phase trial to determine if Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death, the appeals court said.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence given to Tsarnaev after the 1st Circuit threw out the sentence in 2020. The circuit court found then that the trial judge did not sufficiently question jurors about their exposure to the extensive news coverage of the bombing.
The 1st Circuit took another look at the case after Tsarnaev’s lawyers urged it to examine issues the Supreme Court didn’t consider. Among them was whether the trial judge wrongly forced the trial to be held in Boston and wrongly denied defense challenges to the seating of two jurors who they claim lied during questioning.
Tsarnaev’s guilt in the deaths of those killed in the bombing was not at issue in the appeal. His lawyers have argued that Tsarnaev fell under the influence of his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in a gun battle with police days after the bombing.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted of all 30 charges against him. Prosecutors portrayed the brothers — ethnic Chechens who moved to the United States from Russia more than a decade ago — as full partners in a brutal and coldblooded plan to punish the U.S. for its wars in Muslim countries.
Federal court denies Boston bomber’s request for new judge to oversee death sentence appeal
BOSTON (AP) — A federal court on Thursday denied a request by attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to remove the judge overseeing the protracted legal battle over his death sentence.
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument made by Tsarnaev’s lawyers that U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole should be recused from the case because, the lawyers contend, he is not impartial. During an August 2024 hearing, Tsarnaev’s attorneys pointed to what they said were comments O’Toole made about the case on podcasts and at public events during the appeals process.
In a two-page judgment released Thursday, appeals court judges ruled that O’Toole should continue to preside over the case, determining that “two panel discussions and a podcast in which Judge O’Toole discussed various aspects of organizing complex jury trials and the problems associated with social media in that context” did not constitute grounds for his removal.
One of O’Toole’s attorneys, David E. Patton, didn’t immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
A federal appeals court in March 2024 ordered O’Toole to investigate claims of juror bias by the defense and to determine whether Tsarnaev’s death sentence should stand. He was convicted of helping carry out the 2013 bombing that killed three people and injured hundreds of others near the marathon’s finish line.
It’s unclear when O’Toole might rule on the juror bias issue. If he finds that jurors should have been disqualified, he should vacate Tsarnaev’s sentence and hold a new penalty-phase trial to determine if Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death, the appeals court said.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence given to Tsarnaev after the 1st Circuit threw out the sentence in 2020. The circuit court found then that the trial judge did not sufficiently question jurors about their exposure to the extensive news coverage of the bombing.
The 1st Circuit took another look at the case after Tsarnaev’s lawyers urged it to examine issues the Supreme Court didn’t consider. Among them was whether the trial judge wrongly forced the trial to be held in Boston and wrongly denied defense challenges to the seating of two jurors who they claim lied during questioning.
Tsarnaev’s guilt in the deaths of those killed in the bombing was not at issue in the appeal. His lawyers have argued that Tsarnaev fell under the influence of his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in a gun battle with police days after the bombing.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted of all 30 charges against him. Prosecutors portrayed the brothers — ethnic Chechens who moved to the United States from Russia more than a decade ago — as full partners in a brutal and coldblooded plan to punish the U.S. for its wars in Muslim countries.
Wisconsin
Man gets life in prison for killing and dismembering girl on first date
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Milwaukee man who killed a 19-year-old college student on their first date and spread her body parts around the area was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A jury convicted Maxwell Anderson in June of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, arson and hiding a corpse in connection with Sade Robinson’s death last year. He maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
During a sentencing hearing that was by turns somber, emotional and horrifying, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Laura Crivello repeatedly questioned how Anderson could commit such a heinous crime. Prosecutors related details of how Anderson cut up Robinson’s body and dumped one of her legs in a playground.
Robinson’s mother, Sheena Scarborough, said Anderson “messed the entire community up” and deserves no protection in prison.
“Judge, I’m asking this demon be respectfully returned back to hell as soon as possible,” Scarborough said.
Robinson’s father, Carlos Robinson, suggested to the judge that someone dismember Anderson.
“Everything that he did should be done to him,” he said. “No man should be able to live after what he did. That’s just how I feel. I can’t get past this. I can’t.”
First-degree intentional homicide in Wisconsin carries a mandatory life sentence. The only question for Anderson was whether the judge would allow him to seek parole.
Anderson’s attorney, Tony Cotton, asked the judge to make Anderson eligible for parole after 25 years. He argued that Anderson served in the U.S. Navy and suffers from obvious mental health issues.
Cotton acknowledged that Anderson has been convicted of multiple misdemeanor disorderly conduct counts in connection with domestic violence but they’re not significant offenses compared to most homicide defendants. He added that he has concerns about Anderson’s safety in prison.
“That is a real consideration,” Cotton said. “At the end of the day, there is not mob justice in this country.”
Anderson told the judge that he’s innocent and plans to appeal his convictions. He didn’t elaborate, although Crivello later noted that Anderson had told an investigator that some stranger must have kidnapped Robinson after she left his apartment following their date.
“I hope true justice will be delivered,” Anderson said Friday.
Crivello refused to offer Anderson a chance at parole. She dismissed Anderson’s claims of innocence, saying his view of reality “differs from the rest of the world.” Trailing off at times and shaking her head, she said he’s irredeemable, called his crimes “unconscionable” and likened the case to something out of a horror novel.
“It’s beyond imaginable to not know whether your child is dead or alive, and then learn they’re dismembered and disgraced, is beyond understanding,” she said.
She also sentenced Anderson to 7 1/2 years on the dismemberment count and a year and a half on the arson charge. Online court records indicate she dismissed the fourth count of hiding a corpse on Friday after Cotton argued Anderson can’t be convicted of both mutilating and hiding a corpse.
Anderson and Robinson met at bar in March 2024 a week before her death. Surveillance video and cellphone text and tracking records show they spent the late afternoon and early evening of April 1 drinking at two bars before heading back to Anderson’s apartment.
Photos on Anderson’s phone show Anderson groping Robinson as she lay face down on his couch. Prosecutors have argued she was incapacitated and couldn’t resist.
Surveillance video shows her car leaving his apartment early on the morning of April 2 and arriving at a park along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Prosecutors maintain that’s where he cut her body into pieces. He later burned her car behind an abandoned building and took a bus home.
New York
Suspect in NYC crypto kidnapping case released on $1 million bond
NEW YORK (AP) — A crypto investor charged with kidnapping an Italian man in a Manhattan townhouse for days in order to steal his Bitcoin was released Thursday on $1 million bond, according to prosecutors.
John Woeltz was fitted with an electronic monitor and ordered to home confinement during an appearance in Manhattan criminal court, said Rachel Best, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
He also had to surrender his passport and agreed to leave his apartment only for emergencies, doctor appointments and court appearances, she said.
Bragg’s office had opposed the bail request, saying he has the means to flee, including a private jet and a helicopter. Woeltz’s co-defendant, William Duplessie, remains in custody. Their next court date is in October, according to Best.
The two men have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon. Authorities have not identified the victim.
Prosecutors say that on May 6, Woeltz and Duplessie lured the man to a townhouse in Manhattan’s posh SoHo neighborhood by threatening to kill his family. Then, they tormented him with electrical wires, forced him to smoke from a crack pipe and at one point dangled him from a staircase five stories high, prosecutors said.
The man said he eventually agreed to hand over his computer password, then managed to flee after 17 days of captivity. When his captors went to retrieve the device, he ran barefoot and bloodied to the nearest police officer.
Woeltz’s lawyer declined to comment other than to confirm his client’s release Thursday. A lawyer for Duplessie didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The lawyers have previously argued that photos and videos show the accuser participated willingly in group sex, drug use and other activities and was able to come and go freely from the SoHo house.
Wisconsin
Fourth man accused in fatal dogpile outside hotel pleads guilty to felony murder
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The last of four Milwaukee hotel workers accused of killing a man by pinning him to the ground has pleaded guilty to being a party to felony murder.
Former Hyatt Hotel security guard Todd Erickson entered the plea in connection with D’Vontaye Mitchell’s death in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on Thursday morning, online court records indicate.
Erickson was set to go on trial on Aug. 11. He faces up to 15 years in prison when he’s sentenced Sept. 3. His attorney, Kerri Cleghorn, didn’t immediately return a voicemail left at her office.
Erickson’s plea moves a massive criminal case reminiscent of George Floyd’s death a step closer to resolution.
According to investigators, Mitchell ran into the Hyatt’s lobby in June 2024 and went into the women’s bathroom. Two women later told detectives that Mitchell tried to lock them in the bathroom.
Security guard Brandon Turner pulled Mitchell out of the bathroom and together with a guest dragged him out of the lobby onto a hotel driveway. Turner, Erickson, bellhop Herbert Williamson and front desk worker Devin Johnson-Carson continued to struggle with Mitchell before taking him to the ground and piling on top of him, according to a criminal complaint.
Hotel surveillance video shows Johnson-Carson holding Mitchell’s legs while Erickson, Turner and Williamson held down his upper body. They kept him pinned for eight to nine minutes. By the time emergency responders arrived, Mitchell had stopped breathing.
A medical examiner later determined that Mitchell was morbidly obese, suffered from heart disease, and had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system. The medical examiner concluded that he had suffocated and ruled his death a homicide.
Attorneys for Mitchell’s family have likened his death to the murder of Floyd, a Black man who died in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for about nine minutes. Floyd’s death sparked a national reckoning on racial relations.
Mitchell was Black. Court records identify Erickson as white and Turner, Williamson and Johnson-Carson as Black.
The four workers told investigators that Mitchell was strong and tried to bite Erickson, but they didn’t mean to hurt him. Ambridge Hospitality, the company that manages the Hyatt, fired all four of them in July 2024.
Turner, Williamson and Johnson-Carson were all charged with being a party to felony murder along with Erickson. Turner pleaded guilty to that count this past March. Williamson and Johnson-Carson both pleaded guilty to a reduced count of misdemeanor battery that same month. All three are set to be sentenced Sept. 3, the same day as Erickson.
