Florida
Ex-NFL star’s hearing for expected plea deal in attempted murder case postponed
MIAMI (AP) — Former NFL star wide receiver Antonio Brown’s court hearing where he was expected to accept a plea deal allowing him to avoid prison time in an attempted murder case was postponed Wednesday.
Brown arrived in a Miami courtroom Wednesday morning and was ready to plead no contest to aggravated assault and be sentenced to probation, his lawyer said. But a Florida judge said she was in the middle of another trial and not ready to go forward with the plea deal. The hearing was pushed back to Oct. 28.
Brown is accused of grabbing a handgun from a security staffer after a celebrity boxing match in Miami on May 16, 2025, and firing two shots at a man he had been in a fistfight with earlier, according to an arrest warrant. Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu told investigators one of the bullets grazed his neck.
Defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh said Brown was looking forward to putting the case behind him. Eiglarsh said the plea deal reached with prosecutors was too good to turn down and that it says Brown would not be considered a convicted felon.
“It’s a setback because it’s another month that my client has an ankle monitor on and doesn’t have closure, which everybody in this case wants,” Eiglarsh said after the hearing was postponed. He said he was “cautiously optimistic” the judge would agree to the terms.
Brown could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the original attempted murder charge. He has said on social media that he was defending himself from an attack and others were trying to steal jewelry from him.
Florida’s Stand Your Ground law allows people who believe they face death or serious injury to use deadly force to defend themselves without a duty to retreat.
Nantambu said after Wednesday’s postponed hearing that he hopes Brown will take advantage of the plea deal to “become a better person and be there for his family.”
“We want him to get the healing that he needs,” he said.
Richard Cooper, an attorney for Nantambu, said Nantambu forgave Brown and would not cooperate with law enforcement.
At one point in the court’s hallway, Brown slipped on a dark mask while talking to his attorney and then pulled it off before going into the hearing.
Brown, 38, spent 12 years in the NFL and was an All-Pro wide receiver who last played in 2021 for Tampa Bay, including winning a Super Bowl with quarterback Tom Brady.
Over the course of his career, much of it spent with Pittsburgh, he had 928 receptions for more than 12,000 yards and accounted for 88 total touchdowns, including punt returns and one pass.
During a 2021 game with Tampa Bay against the New York Jets, Brown took off his jersey, shoulder pads and gloves and ran off the field, leading to his release by the Buccaneers and effectively ending his career.
Brown has dealt with several legal problems over the years. He previously was accused of battery of a moving truck driver, several domestic violence charges, failure to pay child support and other incidents.
Brown was extradited in November 2025 from Dubai, where he has business interests, after an arrest warrant on the attempted murder charge was issued in June of the same year.
Washington
Fate of judge’s contempt probe over Trump administration deportation flights weighed
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge must end his “unlawful, unnecessary and futile” contempt investigation into whether the Trump administration ignored an order blocking the deportation of planeloads of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, a Justice Department attorney argued Tuesday before an appeals court that often appeared to be deeply skeptical of the government’s case.
Judges from the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard three hours of arguments in the latest chapter of a case that has been a recurring flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s escalating conflict with the federal courts.
Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate argued District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg has no basis or authority to continue with his inquiry because a prosecutor — not a judge — is responsible for investigating crimes.
“What’s gone off the rails in this case is that the district court has purported to investigate,” Shumate said.
In April, a divided panel of three D.C. Circuit judges ruled that Boasberg must end his “intrusive” contempt investigation of the Trump administration. But the questions posed at Tuesday’s hearing suggest that the full court of 11 judges could give Boasberg a green light to proceed with his inquiry. The judges didn’t indicate how soon they would rule.
Judge Patricia Millett questioned why Boasberg shouldn’t be allowed to continue with his inquiry so he can determine if other government officials merit additional scrutiny for possible criminal contempt.
“Are district courts allowed to decide if people have engaged in contempt in front of them?” asked Millett, who was nominated to the court by Democratic President Barack Obama.
“The district court loses the authority to investigate,” Shumate said.
“That’s not my question,” Millet interjected, raising her voice. “This is all about wordplay here on what you mean by the word ‘investigate.’”
On March 15, 2025, Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order barring the administration from transferring groups of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century law. After the order was entered, two planeloads of migrants protected by the order departed from the U.S. on their way to El Salvador, where they were locked up in one of the world’s most violent prisons.
Boasberg gave a verbal order for the aircraft to turn around. The administration denied violating it or a subsequent written order, but Boasberg has said the Trump administration may have acted in bad faith by trying to rush Venezuelan migrants out of the country.
The administration has said then- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was responsible for the transfer decision. On Tuesday, however, D.C. Circuit judges suggested that Boasberg should be able to identify other possible targets for a contempt investigation before referring the matter to a prosecutor.
The case represents a major front in an escalating conflict between Trump and the federal judiciary, which has often blocked some of the president’s most ambitious and legally dubious initiatives. In case after case, the administration has demonstrated an unprecedented willingness to skirt or even defy court orders.
Judge Cornelia Pillard, also an Obama nominee, said it undermines courts’ authority if the executive branch treats judicial orders as “optional” and is allowed to ignore them “with impunity.”
“The separation of powers respects the separate and co-equal authority of the different branches,” she said. “Really, at bottom what this case is about is whether (federal) courts are at the mercy of the executive.”
Pillard asked Shumate if he could help her “feel more comfortable” about the administration’s perspective on that issue. Shumate said the department is “always advising our clients to comply with court orders.”
“It’s also the right thing to do,” he said. “We have to respect court orders, and the government in this case did comply with the order. I know there may be disagreement on that.”
The Justice Department says it didn’t violate Boasberg’s order “as it was best construed” and accuses the Obama-nominated judge of pursuing the contempt inquiry “with myopic and single-minded determination.”
American Civil Liberties Union attorneys say the government’s decision to ignore Boasberg’s order had “devastating consequences” for the migrants who were flown to El Salvador and held for months in a mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
“Plaintiffs’ four months at CECOT were nothing short of barbaric,” ACLU attorneys wrote. “They were subjected to horrific physical and psychological abuse, and deprived of food, water, and medical care. They were regularly severely beaten by guards and subjected to other physical abuse, including being shot at close range with rubber bullets.”
Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump nominee who wrote the panel’s majority opinion in April, said she couldn’t find a case in which a criminal contempt ruling was upheld under comparable circumstances.
“I don’t think that should be a point in the government’s favor,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt responded. “The reason is because no prior (Justice Department) or administration has ever taken these kind of egregious actions.”
Trump has called for impeaching Boasberg, and the Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint accusing Boasberg of making improper public comments about Trump and his administration. In a rare rebuke, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts publicly rejected calls for Boasberg’s impeachment.
California
Woman accused of shooting at Rihanna’s home is mentally fit for trial, judge says
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman accused of spraying bullets at Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s home, hitting a trailer the celebrity couple was inside and a nursery their kids were in, was found mentally competent by a judge on Tuesday to stand trial.
Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, 36, of Orlando, Florida, has pleaded not guilty to trying to murder Rihanna and to more than a dozen other felony charges stemming from the shooting in March. No one was injured, but bullets tore through an Airstream trailer that the singing superstar and A$AP Rocky were in. Shots also struck the wall of a nursery where their small children were at the time.
“Criminal proceedings are reinstated,” Judge Maria Cavalluzzi said at a very brief hearing in Los Angeles County court after months of psychiatric evaluations.
Ortiz appeared behind glass in a custody area of the courtroom, wearing yellow jail clothes and handcuffs. She didn’t speak during the hearing. She could get life in prison if convicted of all the charges.
There was no direct discussion of the mental evaluations in court, and case documents that include such details have been sealed. Ortiz has been returned to the regular criminal court process, which had been suspended shortly after it began. She was ordered to appear at a hearing Wednesday.
Attorneys for both sides declined comment outside court after the hearing.
Police and prosecutors allege that Ortiz drove a Tesla up to the Beverly Hills-area property of Rihanna and her rapper partner on March 8, pointed an AR-15 style rifle out the window and fired at least 20 rounds toward the property and a neighboring house.
Investigators found bullet holes in the trailer and on the exterior wall of the home’s second-floor nursery, where the three kids were with their nanny.
Investigators said that after her arrest later that day, Ortiz said: “I wasn’t attempting murder.”
Ortiz is charged with 10 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, one for each of the people on the two properties. She’s also charged with three counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle or dwelling.
Ortiz had no prior police record, authorities said. Public records show she had been a licensed speech pathologist for more than a decade.
Authorities have not discussed a motive or described any connection between Ortiz and Rihanna. Her lawyers have not offered comment on her beyond her not guilty plea and procedural issues.
A nine-time Grammy Award winner, Rihanna has had 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “We Found Love,” “Work,” “Umbrella” and “Disturbia.”
Ex-NFL star’s hearing for expected plea deal in attempted murder case postponed
MIAMI (AP) — Former NFL star wide receiver Antonio Brown’s court hearing where he was expected to accept a plea deal allowing him to avoid prison time in an attempted murder case was postponed Wednesday.
Brown arrived in a Miami courtroom Wednesday morning and was ready to plead no contest to aggravated assault and be sentenced to probation, his lawyer said. But a Florida judge said she was in the middle of another trial and not ready to go forward with the plea deal. The hearing was pushed back to Oct. 28.
Brown is accused of grabbing a handgun from a security staffer after a celebrity boxing match in Miami on May 16, 2025, and firing two shots at a man he had been in a fistfight with earlier, according to an arrest warrant. Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu told investigators one of the bullets grazed his neck.
Defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh said Brown was looking forward to putting the case behind him. Eiglarsh said the plea deal reached with prosecutors was too good to turn down and that it says Brown would not be considered a convicted felon.
“It’s a setback because it’s another month that my client has an ankle monitor on and doesn’t have closure, which everybody in this case wants,” Eiglarsh said after the hearing was postponed. He said he was “cautiously optimistic” the judge would agree to the terms.
Brown could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the original attempted murder charge. He has said on social media that he was defending himself from an attack and others were trying to steal jewelry from him.
Florida’s Stand Your Ground law allows people who believe they face death or serious injury to use deadly force to defend themselves without a duty to retreat.
Nantambu said after Wednesday’s postponed hearing that he hopes Brown will take advantage of the plea deal to “become a better person and be there for his family.”
“We want him to get the healing that he needs,” he said.
Richard Cooper, an attorney for Nantambu, said Nantambu forgave Brown and would not cooperate with law enforcement.
At one point in the court’s hallway, Brown slipped on a dark mask while talking to his attorney and then pulled it off before going into the hearing.
Brown, 38, spent 12 years in the NFL and was an All-Pro wide receiver who last played in 2021 for Tampa Bay, including winning a Super Bowl with quarterback Tom Brady.
Over the course of his career, much of it spent with Pittsburgh, he had 928 receptions for more than 12,000 yards and accounted for 88 total touchdowns, including punt returns and one pass.
During a 2021 game with Tampa Bay against the New York Jets, Brown took off his jersey, shoulder pads and gloves and ran off the field, leading to his release by the Buccaneers and effectively ending his career.
Brown has dealt with several legal problems over the years. He previously was accused of battery of a moving truck driver, several domestic violence charges, failure to pay child support and other incidents.
Brown was extradited in November 2025 from Dubai, where he has business interests, after an arrest warrant on the attempted murder charge was issued in June of the same year.
Washington
Fate of judge’s contempt probe over Trump administration deportation flights weighed
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge must end his “unlawful, unnecessary and futile” contempt investigation into whether the Trump administration ignored an order blocking the deportation of planeloads of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, a Justice Department attorney argued Tuesday before an appeals court that often appeared to be deeply skeptical of the government’s case.
Judges from the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard three hours of arguments in the latest chapter of a case that has been a recurring flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s escalating conflict with the federal courts.
Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate argued District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg has no basis or authority to continue with his inquiry because a prosecutor — not a judge — is responsible for investigating crimes.
“What’s gone off the rails in this case is that the district court has purported to investigate,” Shumate said.
In April, a divided panel of three D.C. Circuit judges ruled that Boasberg must end his “intrusive” contempt investigation of the Trump administration. But the questions posed at Tuesday’s hearing suggest that the full court of 11 judges could give Boasberg a green light to proceed with his inquiry. The judges didn’t indicate how soon they would rule.
Judge Patricia Millett questioned why Boasberg shouldn’t be allowed to continue with his inquiry so he can determine if other government officials merit additional scrutiny for possible criminal contempt.
“Are district courts allowed to decide if people have engaged in contempt in front of them?” asked Millett, who was nominated to the court by Democratic President Barack Obama.
“The district court loses the authority to investigate,” Shumate said.
“That’s not my question,” Millet interjected, raising her voice. “This is all about wordplay here on what you mean by the word ‘investigate.’”
On March 15, 2025, Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order barring the administration from transferring groups of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century law. After the order was entered, two planeloads of migrants protected by the order departed from the U.S. on their way to El Salvador, where they were locked up in one of the world’s most violent prisons.
Boasberg gave a verbal order for the aircraft to turn around. The administration denied violating it or a subsequent written order, but Boasberg has said the Trump administration may have acted in bad faith by trying to rush Venezuelan migrants out of the country.
The administration has said then- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was responsible for the transfer decision. On Tuesday, however, D.C. Circuit judges suggested that Boasberg should be able to identify other possible targets for a contempt investigation before referring the matter to a prosecutor.
The case represents a major front in an escalating conflict between Trump and the federal judiciary, which has often blocked some of the president’s most ambitious and legally dubious initiatives. In case after case, the administration has demonstrated an unprecedented willingness to skirt or even defy court orders.
Judge Cornelia Pillard, also an Obama nominee, said it undermines courts’ authority if the executive branch treats judicial orders as “optional” and is allowed to ignore them “with impunity.”
“The separation of powers respects the separate and co-equal authority of the different branches,” she said. “Really, at bottom what this case is about is whether (federal) courts are at the mercy of the executive.”
Pillard asked Shumate if he could help her “feel more comfortable” about the administration’s perspective on that issue. Shumate said the department is “always advising our clients to comply with court orders.”
“It’s also the right thing to do,” he said. “We have to respect court orders, and the government in this case did comply with the order. I know there may be disagreement on that.”
The Justice Department says it didn’t violate Boasberg’s order “as it was best construed” and accuses the Obama-nominated judge of pursuing the contempt inquiry “with myopic and single-minded determination.”
American Civil Liberties Union attorneys say the government’s decision to ignore Boasberg’s order had “devastating consequences” for the migrants who were flown to El Salvador and held for months in a mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
“Plaintiffs’ four months at CECOT were nothing short of barbaric,” ACLU attorneys wrote. “They were subjected to horrific physical and psychological abuse, and deprived of food, water, and medical care. They were regularly severely beaten by guards and subjected to other physical abuse, including being shot at close range with rubber bullets.”
Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump nominee who wrote the panel’s majority opinion in April, said she couldn’t find a case in which a criminal contempt ruling was upheld under comparable circumstances.
“I don’t think that should be a point in the government’s favor,” ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt responded. “The reason is because no prior (Justice Department) or administration has ever taken these kind of egregious actions.”
Trump has called for impeaching Boasberg, and the Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint accusing Boasberg of making improper public comments about Trump and his administration. In a rare rebuke, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts publicly rejected calls for Boasberg’s impeachment.
California
Woman accused of shooting at Rihanna’s home is mentally fit for trial, judge says
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman accused of spraying bullets at Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s home, hitting a trailer the celebrity couple was inside and a nursery their kids were in, was found mentally competent by a judge on Tuesday to stand trial.
Ivanna Lisette Ortiz, 36, of Orlando, Florida, has pleaded not guilty to trying to murder Rihanna and to more than a dozen other felony charges stemming from the shooting in March. No one was injured, but bullets tore through an Airstream trailer that the singing superstar and A$AP Rocky were in. Shots also struck the wall of a nursery where their small children were at the time.
“Criminal proceedings are reinstated,” Judge Maria Cavalluzzi said at a very brief hearing in Los Angeles County court after months of psychiatric evaluations.
Ortiz appeared behind glass in a custody area of the courtroom, wearing yellow jail clothes and handcuffs. She didn’t speak during the hearing. She could get life in prison if convicted of all the charges.
There was no direct discussion of the mental evaluations in court, and case documents that include such details have been sealed. Ortiz has been returned to the regular criminal court process, which had been suspended shortly after it began. She was ordered to appear at a hearing Wednesday.
Attorneys for both sides declined comment outside court after the hearing.
Police and prosecutors allege that Ortiz drove a Tesla up to the Beverly Hills-area property of Rihanna and her rapper partner on March 8, pointed an AR-15 style rifle out the window and fired at least 20 rounds toward the property and a neighboring house.
Investigators found bullet holes in the trailer and on the exterior wall of the home’s second-floor nursery, where the three kids were with their nanny.
Investigators said that after her arrest later that day, Ortiz said: “I wasn’t attempting murder.”
Ortiz is charged with 10 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, one for each of the people on the two properties. She’s also charged with three counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle or dwelling.
Ortiz had no prior police record, authorities said. Public records show she had been a licensed speech pathologist for more than a decade.
Authorities have not discussed a motive or described any connection between Ortiz and Rihanna. Her lawyers have not offered comment on her beyond her not guilty plea and procedural issues.
A nine-time Grammy Award winner, Rihanna has had 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “We Found Love,” “Work,” “Umbrella” and “Disturbia.”
