California
Attorneys for suspect in Palisades Fire seek his release based on new evidence
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Defense attorneys for the man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles held a news conference Thursday to call for his release from jail in light of new evidence they say shows he is not responsible for the blaze.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was charged in October with starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. It began Jan. 7, 2025, in hillside neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu and killed 12 people.
Prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on Jan. 1 that burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up a week later. Rinderknecht has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys say he is being used as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the earlier blaze.
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment Thursday.
Rinderknecht’s attorney Steve Haney pointed to a newly released deposition in which a firefighter testified that he noticed the ground was still smoldering from the fire on Jan. 2 and alerted a supervisors that there were hot spots. That testimony was gathered as part of a lawsuit filed by fire victims against the city.
The lawsuit also included testimony from California state park ranger Christy Araujo confirming the firefighter’s account of the smoldering burn scar, according to Haney.
A battalion chief testified that he walked the perimeter of the burn area four times throughout the day and ensured all hot spots were out.
Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore, who was appointed in October, has said he is concerned about the differences in the firefighters’ testimonies and commissioned an independent report on how the Jan. 1 fire was handled.
Haney said this evidence was not available to the defense when Rinderknecht was indicted.
“This evidence calls into question not only the fundamental fairness for my client’s continued detention, but the very foundation of the charges themselves,” Haney said in a statement. “This is not a case about an individual causing a fire. This is a case about government agencies failing to do their jobs.”
He also said there was no evidence Rinderknecht started the Jan. 1 fire either, and that based on witness testimony, it was likely the blaze was ignited by fireworks.
Haney said Rinderknecht, who has been jailed for 150 days, should have never been indicted and should be released immediately. Due to federal procedural rules, Haney cannot file a motion to dismiss the indictment, but plans to file a motion next week to suppress all evidence in the case that was obtained through search warrants that lacked probable cause, he said.
“I’m calling upon the U.S. Attorneys,” Haney said. “I believe they have an ethical obligation ... to review this and dismiss the indictment.”
The next pretrial conference in the case is scheduled for April.
Mississippi
NCAA appeals to State Supreme Court, seeking to bar Trinidad Chambliss from playing in 2026
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The NCAA has filed an appeal in the eligibility case of Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
In the appeal, filed Thursday with the Mississippi Supreme Court, the NCAA argues that Chambliss has “exhausted his eligibility” to play Division I football because he has already played four seasons in a five-year period, the maximum allowed under NCAA rules.
A Mississippi judge last month granted Chambliss a preliminary injunction against college athletics’ governing body, giving him an extra year of eligibility that would allow him to play in 2026. The NCAA had previously denied Chambliss’ request for a waiver.
Chambliss began his college career at Ferris State in 2021, redshirted his first season and did not play in 2022 because of medical issues. He played two more seasons at the Division II school in Michigan, leading the Bulldogs to a national championship before transferring to Ole Miss before the start of last season.
The 23-year-old Chambliss led the Rebels to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Florida
Capitol rioter who was pardoned by Trump gets a life sentence for molesting 2 children
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida handyman who was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for molesting two children had been convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, is among several Jan. 6 defendants who have been charged with new crimes since Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Capitol rioters. On his first day back in the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the attack.
Johnson was convicted last month of two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child and one count of electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor, according to prosecutors in Hernando County, Florida. County Circuit Judge Stephen Toner handed down Johnson’s life sentence.
Sheriff’s deputies began investigating the child molestation allegations against Johnson in July 2025. One of his victims told investigators that the abuse started around April 2024, several months before Johnson was sentenced for his Capitol riot conviction.
Johnson told one of his victims that he expected to be compensated for being a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant and would be putting the child in his will to inherit any leftover money, according a sheriff’s office report.
“This tactic was believed to be used to keep (the child) from exposing what Andrew had done,” the report said.
Investigators found sexually explicit messages that Johnson exchanged with one of his victims on the Discord messaging app, according to Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson’s office.
“In the messages, Johnson attempted to have the victim download another application for a more private conversation and encouraged the victim to delete their messages afterwards,” Gladson’s office said in a news release.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington sentenced Johnson in August 2024 to one year behind bars after he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges stemming from the riot. Johnson had asked to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming that he was pressured into it, but the judge rejected his request before sentencing.
Johnson, of Seffner, Florida, was carrying a bullhorn as he marched to the Capitol after attending Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House. He entered the building through an office window that other rioters had smashed, according to federal prosecutors. Johnson cursed and yelled at police officers after they used tear gas to disperse the mob of Trump supporters, prosecutors said.
Wyoming
Man accused of taking wolf he hurt with snowmobile into bar changes plea to guilty
A Wyoming man accused of hitting a wolf with a snowmobile before taping its mouth shut, showing off the wounded animal in a rural bar, then killing it expressed remorse Thursday and changed his plea to felony animal cruelty to guilty.
“I sincerely regret my actions and apologize to the community and my family,” Cody Roberts told District Judge Richard Lavery in Pinedale.
Lavery said he would review Roberts’ plea agreement with prosecutors before deciding whether to accept the deal.
Roberts, 44, initially pleaded not guilty. The trial was set to begin next Monday. Under the plea deal with prosecutors filed in court last week, Roberts would avoid trial and a penalty of as much as two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Instead, Roberts would pay a $1,000 fine and serve 18 months of probation. He would be prohibited from drinking alcohol, going into a bar or liquor store, and hunting or fishing while on probation.
The incident happened in February 2024 in Daniel, a town of about 150 people some 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Jackson. Condemnation and scrutiny of Wyoming laws followed wide circulation of photos showing the wolf with its mouth bound with tape.
Video showed the same animal lying on a floor, alive but barely moving.
Wyoming law gives wide leeway for people to kill wolves and other predators by a variety of means in the vast majority of the state. Roberts initially paid a $250 fine for illegal possession of wildlife but was indicted on the animal cruelty charge by a rare Wyoming grand jury last year.
Lavery said in the hearing his office had received “countless” phone calls and over 5,000 emails about the case but he had not taken or read them because of his duty to remain impartial.
Wisconsin
Man accused of setting fire to congressman’s office over TikTok ban gets 7 years in prison
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man who allegedly told police he tried to set fire to a Republican congressman’s office last year because he was angry that the lawmaker backed a bill requiring TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell off its U.S. operations was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison.
In addition to the prison time, Fond du Lac County Circuit Judge Tricia Walker sentenced 20-year-old Caiden Stachowicz to seven years of extended supervision, court records show.
Stachowicz, of Menasha, pleaded no contest to an arson charge in November. Prosecutors dropped burglary and property damage counts in exchange for Stachowicz’s no contest plea, which isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purposes of sentencing.
According to a criminal complaint, a police officer responded to a fire outside Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman’s office in Fond du Lac, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee, at around 1 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2025, and saw Stachowicz standing nearby.
He told the officer that he started the fire because he doesn’t like Grothman, according to the complaint. He initially planned to break into the office and start the fire inside. But he couldn’t break the window, so he poured gas on an electrical box behind the building and around the front of the building, lit a match and watched it burn, according to the complaint.
He said he wanted to burn down the office because the federal government was shutting down TikTok in violation of his constitutional rights and peace was no longer an option, the complaint states. He added that Grothman voted for the shutdown, but he didn’t want to hurt Grothman or anyone else.
Grothman voted for a bill in April 2024 that required TikTok’s China-based company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operation. The deadline was Jan. 19, 2025, but President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders prolonging it. TikTok finalized a deal two months ago to create an American version of the social video platform. Trump praised the deal.
Danielle Gorsuch, one of Stachowicz’s attorneys, told The Associated Press after the sentencing that the incident was the culmination of a mental health crisis for her client and stressed that no one was hurt.
“Caden took every caution to make sure no one was present in the building at the time of the incident, as he only wanted to hurt himself,” Gorsuch said. “He took responsibility from night one.”
A spokesperson for Grothman’s congressional office didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Attorneys for suspect in Palisades Fire seek his release based on new evidence
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Defense attorneys for the man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles held a news conference Thursday to call for his release from jail in light of new evidence they say shows he is not responsible for the blaze.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was charged in October with starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. It began Jan. 7, 2025, in hillside neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu and killed 12 people.
Prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on Jan. 1 that burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up a week later. Rinderknecht has pleaded not guilty, and his attorneys say he is being used as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the earlier blaze.
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment Thursday.
Rinderknecht’s attorney Steve Haney pointed to a newly released deposition in which a firefighter testified that he noticed the ground was still smoldering from the fire on Jan. 2 and alerted a supervisors that there were hot spots. That testimony was gathered as part of a lawsuit filed by fire victims against the city.
The lawsuit also included testimony from California state park ranger Christy Araujo confirming the firefighter’s account of the smoldering burn scar, according to Haney.
A battalion chief testified that he walked the perimeter of the burn area four times throughout the day and ensured all hot spots were out.
Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore, who was appointed in October, has said he is concerned about the differences in the firefighters’ testimonies and commissioned an independent report on how the Jan. 1 fire was handled.
Haney said this evidence was not available to the defense when Rinderknecht was indicted.
“This evidence calls into question not only the fundamental fairness for my client’s continued detention, but the very foundation of the charges themselves,” Haney said in a statement. “This is not a case about an individual causing a fire. This is a case about government agencies failing to do their jobs.”
He also said there was no evidence Rinderknecht started the Jan. 1 fire either, and that based on witness testimony, it was likely the blaze was ignited by fireworks.
Haney said Rinderknecht, who has been jailed for 150 days, should have never been indicted and should be released immediately. Due to federal procedural rules, Haney cannot file a motion to dismiss the indictment, but plans to file a motion next week to suppress all evidence in the case that was obtained through search warrants that lacked probable cause, he said.
“I’m calling upon the U.S. Attorneys,” Haney said. “I believe they have an ethical obligation ... to review this and dismiss the indictment.”
The next pretrial conference in the case is scheduled for April.
Mississippi
NCAA appeals to State Supreme Court, seeking to bar Trinidad Chambliss from playing in 2026
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The NCAA has filed an appeal in the eligibility case of Mississippi quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
In the appeal, filed Thursday with the Mississippi Supreme Court, the NCAA argues that Chambliss has “exhausted his eligibility” to play Division I football because he has already played four seasons in a five-year period, the maximum allowed under NCAA rules.
A Mississippi judge last month granted Chambliss a preliminary injunction against college athletics’ governing body, giving him an extra year of eligibility that would allow him to play in 2026. The NCAA had previously denied Chambliss’ request for a waiver.
Chambliss began his college career at Ferris State in 2021, redshirted his first season and did not play in 2022 because of medical issues. He played two more seasons at the Division II school in Michigan, leading the Bulldogs to a national championship before transferring to Ole Miss before the start of last season.
The 23-year-old Chambliss led the Rebels to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Florida
Capitol rioter who was pardoned by Trump gets a life sentence for molesting 2 children
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida handyman who was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for molesting two children had been convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Andrew Paul Johnson, 45, is among several Jan. 6 defendants who have been charged with new crimes since Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Capitol rioters. On his first day back in the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all 1,500-plus people charged in the attack.
Johnson was convicted last month of two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child and one count of electronically transmitting material harmful to a minor, according to prosecutors in Hernando County, Florida. County Circuit Judge Stephen Toner handed down Johnson’s life sentence.
Sheriff’s deputies began investigating the child molestation allegations against Johnson in July 2025. One of his victims told investigators that the abuse started around April 2024, several months before Johnson was sentenced for his Capitol riot conviction.
Johnson told one of his victims that he expected to be compensated for being a pardoned Jan. 6 defendant and would be putting the child in his will to inherit any leftover money, according a sheriff’s office report.
“This tactic was believed to be used to keep (the child) from exposing what Andrew had done,” the report said.
Investigators found sexually explicit messages that Johnson exchanged with one of his victims on the Discord messaging app, according to Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson’s office.
“In the messages, Johnson attempted to have the victim download another application for a more private conversation and encouraged the victim to delete their messages afterwards,” Gladson’s office said in a news release.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington sentenced Johnson in August 2024 to one year behind bars after he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges stemming from the riot. Johnson had asked to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming that he was pressured into it, but the judge rejected his request before sentencing.
Johnson, of Seffner, Florida, was carrying a bullhorn as he marched to the Capitol after attending Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House. He entered the building through an office window that other rioters had smashed, according to federal prosecutors. Johnson cursed and yelled at police officers after they used tear gas to disperse the mob of Trump supporters, prosecutors said.
Wyoming
Man accused of taking wolf he hurt with snowmobile into bar changes plea to guilty
A Wyoming man accused of hitting a wolf with a snowmobile before taping its mouth shut, showing off the wounded animal in a rural bar, then killing it expressed remorse Thursday and changed his plea to felony animal cruelty to guilty.
“I sincerely regret my actions and apologize to the community and my family,” Cody Roberts told District Judge Richard Lavery in Pinedale.
Lavery said he would review Roberts’ plea agreement with prosecutors before deciding whether to accept the deal.
Roberts, 44, initially pleaded not guilty. The trial was set to begin next Monday. Under the plea deal with prosecutors filed in court last week, Roberts would avoid trial and a penalty of as much as two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Instead, Roberts would pay a $1,000 fine and serve 18 months of probation. He would be prohibited from drinking alcohol, going into a bar or liquor store, and hunting or fishing while on probation.
The incident happened in February 2024 in Daniel, a town of about 150 people some 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Jackson. Condemnation and scrutiny of Wyoming laws followed wide circulation of photos showing the wolf with its mouth bound with tape.
Video showed the same animal lying on a floor, alive but barely moving.
Wyoming law gives wide leeway for people to kill wolves and other predators by a variety of means in the vast majority of the state. Roberts initially paid a $250 fine for illegal possession of wildlife but was indicted on the animal cruelty charge by a rare Wyoming grand jury last year.
Lavery said in the hearing his office had received “countless” phone calls and over 5,000 emails about the case but he had not taken or read them because of his duty to remain impartial.
Wisconsin
Man accused of setting fire to congressman’s office over TikTok ban gets 7 years in prison
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man who allegedly told police he tried to set fire to a Republican congressman’s office last year because he was angry that the lawmaker backed a bill requiring TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell off its U.S. operations was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison.
In addition to the prison time, Fond du Lac County Circuit Judge Tricia Walker sentenced 20-year-old Caiden Stachowicz to seven years of extended supervision, court records show.
Stachowicz, of Menasha, pleaded no contest to an arson charge in November. Prosecutors dropped burglary and property damage counts in exchange for Stachowicz’s no contest plea, which isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purposes of sentencing.
According to a criminal complaint, a police officer responded to a fire outside Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman’s office in Fond du Lac, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee, at around 1 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2025, and saw Stachowicz standing nearby.
He told the officer that he started the fire because he doesn’t like Grothman, according to the complaint. He initially planned to break into the office and start the fire inside. But he couldn’t break the window, so he poured gas on an electrical box behind the building and around the front of the building, lit a match and watched it burn, according to the complaint.
He said he wanted to burn down the office because the federal government was shutting down TikTok in violation of his constitutional rights and peace was no longer an option, the complaint states. He added that Grothman voted for the shutdown, but he didn’t want to hurt Grothman or anyone else.
Grothman voted for a bill in April 2024 that required TikTok’s China-based company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operation. The deadline was Jan. 19, 2025, but President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders prolonging it. TikTok finalized a deal two months ago to create an American version of the social video platform. Trump praised the deal.
Danielle Gorsuch, one of Stachowicz’s attorneys, told The Associated Press after the sentencing that the incident was the culmination of a mental health crisis for her client and stressed that no one was hurt.
“Caden took every caution to make sure no one was present in the building at the time of the incident, as he only wanted to hurt himself,” Gorsuch said. “He took responsibility from night one.”
A spokesperson for Grothman’s congressional office didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
