Ohio
Supreme Court denies appeal of ex-Ohio House speaker’s and lobbyist’s convictions in $60M scheme
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal racketeering convictions Monday of imprisoned former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and ex-lobbyist Matt Borges in the state’s long-running $60 million bribery scheme.
The high court’s ruling leaves in place a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati last May. Householder and Borges had appealed to justices after the lower court denied their requests for an en banc hearing before all active judges.
The Department of Justice secured Householder’s and Borges’ convictions in March 2023 after a yearslong investigation and a more than six-week trial.
Householder, now 66, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding a scheme illicitly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to elect allies, secure power, pass a $1 billion bailout of two of its affiliated nuclear plants and then defend the bill, known as House Bill 6, from a repeal effort.
Borges, 53, got a five-year sentence for helping undermine the repeal effort. A former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, he was released to a halfway house in Cincinnati in October, from which he’s to be released Nov. 12, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Alabama
Appeals court overturns $8.2M defamation win for Roy Moore
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An appeals court on Friday reversed an $8.2 million defamation verdict awarded to Alabama politician Roy Moore, who sued a super PAC over a 2017 political ad detailing misconduct accusations against him.
The panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Moore failed to prove the organization acted with malice, one of the legal standards for cases involving public figures. The three-judge panel vacated the defamation verdict and ordered the trial judge to enter a summary judgment in favor of Senate Majority PAC.
Moore, a former Republican judge known for his hard-line stances opposing same-sex marriage and supporting the public display of the Ten Commandments, lost the 2017 Senate race after his campaign was rocked by misconduct allegations against him. Leigh Corfman said that Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. Moore denied the accusation. Other women said Moore dated them, or asked them out on dates, when they were older teens.
Senate Majority PAC funded Highway 31, a group that ran a $4 million advertising blitz against Moore.
The lawsuit centered on one TV commercial that recounted accusations against Moore. Moore’s attorneys argued the ad, through the juxtaposition of statements and partial quotes from news articles, falsely implied he solicited sex from young girls at a shopping mall.
The ad including the written statements that “Roy Moore was actually banned from the Gadsden Mall .... for soliciting sex from young girls.” It continued with “one he approached was 14 and working as a Santa’s helper.”
The woman testified that Moore approached her and was probably flirting with her but that he did not solicit sex.
Judges found the PAC made a “negligent error at best” but that “is not a basis for a finding of actual malice.”
“The evidence discussed above is inadequate to support a finding of the necessary intent to defame for purposes of actual malice in a defamation-by-implication case,” U.S. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch wrote.
Jeff Wittenbrink, a lawyer representing Moore, said he was disappointed in the decision. He said they are considering asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.
“The Supreme Court may look at the whole doctrine of actual malice, because this is really an egregious overturning of a jury verdict of a public figure,” Wittenbrink said.
Ezra Reese, an attorney representing Senate Majority PAC, issued a statement calling the ruling a “total vindication of Senate Majority PAC.”
“Senate Majority PAC ran an advertisement that cited accurate reporting from major national news outlets detailing the women who bravely came forward with allegations about Moore’s inappropriate conduct,” Reese said. Reese said the PAC “told Alabama voters the truth” and “Alabama voters correctly decided that they did not want a disgusting creep like Roy Moore representing them in the United States Senate.”
Corfman and Moore also sued each other for defamation. A jury in 2022 deliberated for about three hours before ruling that neither side had proved its case during the emotionally charged trial in which both Moore and Corfman took the stand to testify.
Florida
Roommate charged with two counts of murder in death, disappearance of two USF students
A former University of South Florida student has been charged with killing his roommate and the roommate’s girlfriend — two doctoral students from Bangladesh who disappeared earlier this month, authorities said Saturday.
Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, is facing two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, students at USF, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. He made an initial court appearance Saturday in Tampa, where he was ordered held without bond. A hearing is set for April 28.
Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Frankland bridge Friday morning, but Bristy is still missing, Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said on Friday.
Abugharbieh, a native-born U.S. citizen, was initially taken into custody on Friday at his family’s home on preliminary charges that include unlawfully moving a dead body, failure to report a death, tampering with evidence, false imprisonment and battery. Online court records do not list an attorney for him. Messages were sent via email and phone to the public defender’s office in Hillsborough County.
Officers encountered Abugharbieh as they responded to a report of domestic violence at his family’s home, just north of the campus, and were able to move his relatives to safety. But then he barricaded himself inside and refused to come out. A SWAT team responded — along with a drone, a robot and crisis negotiators — before Abugharbieh came out with his hands up, apparently wearing nothing but a blue towel.
Limon and Bristy, both 27, were considering getting married, a relative said. They disappeared from campus on April 16. Limon was last seen at his home in an off-campus apartment complex where he lived with Abugharbieh. Bristy, who lived off campus, was last seen an hour later at a campus science building.
An autopsy is being done on the remains to determine the manner and cause of Limon’s death, and those results are expected Saturday morning, Maurer said Friday.
Abugharbieh had been a USF student but was not currently enrolled. University records showed he had attended the school from Spring 2021 through Spring 2023, and had pursued a BS in Management, a university spokesperson said.
Limon was studying geography, environmental science and policy, and Bristy was studying chemical engineering. She was a graduate of Noakhali Science and Technology University. The school, which spelled her last name as Brishti, said in a statement Saturday that she was a Ph.D. candidate and described her as a talented and promising student.
“Her sudden passing has deeply saddened all of us,” Vice Chancellor Mohammad Ismail said. “The university family pays deep respect to her memory. At the same time, we demand punishment for those involved in her death and compensation for the victim’s family.”
The search for Bristy continues. Anyone with information regarding her disappearance is asked to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Abugharbieh had several previous arrests, the sheriff’s office said. He was charged with battery and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling in September 2023, and with battery that May — both classified in court records as misdemeanors.
Court records show Abugharbieh entered into a diversion program for first-time offenders charged with misdemeanors. He completed the program in 2024 and the charges were discontinued. A phone call to his lawyer in that case was not immediately returned.
Hillsborough County Court records also showed two domestic violence petitions filed by a family member in 2023. A judge granted an injunction in one case and denied the other petition. He also was accused of traffic violations.
New York
Jury convicts man for 1993 killing following third trial in the case
A jury on Friday convicted a man in the 1993 killing of a woman near Buffalo, ending his third trial after a legal odyssey that has stretched on for decades.
Brian Scott Lorenz, 56, was originally convicted in 1994, along with another man, James Pugh, of murdering Deborah Meindl. The 33-year-old nursing student and mother of two had been stabbed dozens of times and strangled inside her home in Tonawanda that year. Her body was found by her 10-year-old daughter.
Both Lorenz and Pugh denied involvement in the killing. A judge in 2023 ordered new trials for the men, after new testing did not find their DNA at the crime scene, including on a knife used in the attack. The judge also said prosecutors withheld some evidence that could have helped the defense.
In December, prosecutors dropped their efforts to retry Pugh, just as a new trial was set to begin. They admitted they could no longer meet the burden of proof due to “our inability to present the same evidence deemed admissible in the original trial and the unavailability of critical witnesses more than 30 years later.”
While second trial of Lorenz last year ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked, prosecutors still pursued their case against him. Lorenz was quickly convicted Friday, following a two-week trial, on murder and burglary charges.
Lorenz’s lawyers, who have worked to exonerate him for years, plan to appeal the decision.
“It’s very, very scary,” said Ilann M. Maazel, one of Lorenz’s lawyers told The New York Times. “I think innocence should matter. I think the truth should matter.”
Representatives of Meindl’s family, including her sister and her youngest daughter, were in court on Friday to watch the proceedings. After the verdict, they thanked Erie County district attorney, Michael J. Keane.
Keane said in a statement: “This outcome is not just a legal victory: It is a testament to the persistence of truth and the unwavering commitment of dedicated public servants tasked with the pursuit of justice.”
Police began investigating Lorenz and Pugh on the theory that they killed Meindl during a home burglary. They were charged after Lorenz, then under arrest for another crime in Iowa, confessed to murdering Meindl and implicated Pugh. Lorenz later said it was a false confession.
Supreme Court denies appeal of ex-Ohio House speaker’s and lobbyist’s convictions in $60M scheme
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal racketeering convictions Monday of imprisoned former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and ex-lobbyist Matt Borges in the state’s long-running $60 million bribery scheme.
The high court’s ruling leaves in place a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati last May. Householder and Borges had appealed to justices after the lower court denied their requests for an en banc hearing before all active judges.
The Department of Justice secured Householder’s and Borges’ convictions in March 2023 after a yearslong investigation and a more than six-week trial.
Householder, now 66, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for masterminding a scheme illicitly funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to elect allies, secure power, pass a $1 billion bailout of two of its affiliated nuclear plants and then defend the bill, known as House Bill 6, from a repeal effort.
Borges, 53, got a five-year sentence for helping undermine the repeal effort. A former chair of the Ohio Republican Party, he was released to a halfway house in Cincinnati in October, from which he’s to be released Nov. 12, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
Alabama
Appeals court overturns $8.2M defamation win for Roy Moore
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An appeals court on Friday reversed an $8.2 million defamation verdict awarded to Alabama politician Roy Moore, who sued a super PAC over a 2017 political ad detailing misconduct accusations against him.
The panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Moore failed to prove the organization acted with malice, one of the legal standards for cases involving public figures. The three-judge panel vacated the defamation verdict and ordered the trial judge to enter a summary judgment in favor of Senate Majority PAC.
Moore, a former Republican judge known for his hard-line stances opposing same-sex marriage and supporting the public display of the Ten Commandments, lost the 2017 Senate race after his campaign was rocked by misconduct allegations against him. Leigh Corfman said that Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. Moore denied the accusation. Other women said Moore dated them, or asked them out on dates, when they were older teens.
Senate Majority PAC funded Highway 31, a group that ran a $4 million advertising blitz against Moore.
The lawsuit centered on one TV commercial that recounted accusations against Moore. Moore’s attorneys argued the ad, through the juxtaposition of statements and partial quotes from news articles, falsely implied he solicited sex from young girls at a shopping mall.
The ad including the written statements that “Roy Moore was actually banned from the Gadsden Mall .... for soliciting sex from young girls.” It continued with “one he approached was 14 and working as a Santa’s helper.”
The woman testified that Moore approached her and was probably flirting with her but that he did not solicit sex.
Judges found the PAC made a “negligent error at best” but that “is not a basis for a finding of actual malice.”
“The evidence discussed above is inadequate to support a finding of the necessary intent to defame for purposes of actual malice in a defamation-by-implication case,” U.S. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch wrote.
Jeff Wittenbrink, a lawyer representing Moore, said he was disappointed in the decision. He said they are considering asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision.
“The Supreme Court may look at the whole doctrine of actual malice, because this is really an egregious overturning of a jury verdict of a public figure,” Wittenbrink said.
Ezra Reese, an attorney representing Senate Majority PAC, issued a statement calling the ruling a “total vindication of Senate Majority PAC.”
“Senate Majority PAC ran an advertisement that cited accurate reporting from major national news outlets detailing the women who bravely came forward with allegations about Moore’s inappropriate conduct,” Reese said. Reese said the PAC “told Alabama voters the truth” and “Alabama voters correctly decided that they did not want a disgusting creep like Roy Moore representing them in the United States Senate.”
Corfman and Moore also sued each other for defamation. A jury in 2022 deliberated for about three hours before ruling that neither side had proved its case during the emotionally charged trial in which both Moore and Corfman took the stand to testify.
Florida
Roommate charged with two counts of murder in death, disappearance of two USF students
A former University of South Florida student has been charged with killing his roommate and the roommate’s girlfriend — two doctoral students from Bangladesh who disappeared earlier this month, authorities said Saturday.
Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, is facing two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, students at USF, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. He made an initial court appearance Saturday in Tampa, where he was ordered held without bond. A hearing is set for April 28.
Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Frankland bridge Friday morning, but Bristy is still missing, Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said on Friday.
Abugharbieh, a native-born U.S. citizen, was initially taken into custody on Friday at his family’s home on preliminary charges that include unlawfully moving a dead body, failure to report a death, tampering with evidence, false imprisonment and battery. Online court records do not list an attorney for him. Messages were sent via email and phone to the public defender’s office in Hillsborough County.
Officers encountered Abugharbieh as they responded to a report of domestic violence at his family’s home, just north of the campus, and were able to move his relatives to safety. But then he barricaded himself inside and refused to come out. A SWAT team responded — along with a drone, a robot and crisis negotiators — before Abugharbieh came out with his hands up, apparently wearing nothing but a blue towel.
Limon and Bristy, both 27, were considering getting married, a relative said. They disappeared from campus on April 16. Limon was last seen at his home in an off-campus apartment complex where he lived with Abugharbieh. Bristy, who lived off campus, was last seen an hour later at a campus science building.
An autopsy is being done on the remains to determine the manner and cause of Limon’s death, and those results are expected Saturday morning, Maurer said Friday.
Abugharbieh had been a USF student but was not currently enrolled. University records showed he had attended the school from Spring 2021 through Spring 2023, and had pursued a BS in Management, a university spokesperson said.
Limon was studying geography, environmental science and policy, and Bristy was studying chemical engineering. She was a graduate of Noakhali Science and Technology University. The school, which spelled her last name as Brishti, said in a statement Saturday that she was a Ph.D. candidate and described her as a talented and promising student.
“Her sudden passing has deeply saddened all of us,” Vice Chancellor Mohammad Ismail said. “The university family pays deep respect to her memory. At the same time, we demand punishment for those involved in her death and compensation for the victim’s family.”
The search for Bristy continues. Anyone with information regarding her disappearance is asked to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Abugharbieh had several previous arrests, the sheriff’s office said. He was charged with battery and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling in September 2023, and with battery that May — both classified in court records as misdemeanors.
Court records show Abugharbieh entered into a diversion program for first-time offenders charged with misdemeanors. He completed the program in 2024 and the charges were discontinued. A phone call to his lawyer in that case was not immediately returned.
Hillsborough County Court records also showed two domestic violence petitions filed by a family member in 2023. A judge granted an injunction in one case and denied the other petition. He also was accused of traffic violations.
New York
Jury convicts man for 1993 killing following third trial in the case
A jury on Friday convicted a man in the 1993 killing of a woman near Buffalo, ending his third trial after a legal odyssey that has stretched on for decades.
Brian Scott Lorenz, 56, was originally convicted in 1994, along with another man, James Pugh, of murdering Deborah Meindl. The 33-year-old nursing student and mother of two had been stabbed dozens of times and strangled inside her home in Tonawanda that year. Her body was found by her 10-year-old daughter.
Both Lorenz and Pugh denied involvement in the killing. A judge in 2023 ordered new trials for the men, after new testing did not find their DNA at the crime scene, including on a knife used in the attack. The judge also said prosecutors withheld some evidence that could have helped the defense.
In December, prosecutors dropped their efforts to retry Pugh, just as a new trial was set to begin. They admitted they could no longer meet the burden of proof due to “our inability to present the same evidence deemed admissible in the original trial and the unavailability of critical witnesses more than 30 years later.”
While second trial of Lorenz last year ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked, prosecutors still pursued their case against him. Lorenz was quickly convicted Friday, following a two-week trial, on murder and burglary charges.
Lorenz’s lawyers, who have worked to exonerate him for years, plan to appeal the decision.
“It’s very, very scary,” said Ilann M. Maazel, one of Lorenz’s lawyers told The New York Times. “I think innocence should matter. I think the truth should matter.”
Representatives of Meindl’s family, including her sister and her youngest daughter, were in court on Friday to watch the proceedings. After the verdict, they thanked Erie County district attorney, Michael J. Keane.
Keane said in a statement: “This outcome is not just a legal victory: It is a testament to the persistence of truth and the unwavering commitment of dedicated public servants tasked with the pursuit of justice.”
Police began investigating Lorenz and Pugh on the theory that they killed Meindl during a home burglary. They were charged after Lorenz, then under arrest for another crime in Iowa, confessed to murdering Meindl and implicated Pugh. Lorenz later said it was a false confession.
