Talk of the Town
(NEW YORK) — Borge Brende stepped down as the head of the World Economic Forum Thursday following an independent review into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, marking the latest departure in a string of high-profile resignations by business and government leaders who were associated with the late sex offender.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione returns to court Friday for a fourth day of an evidence suppression hearing in the state case charging him with murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City sidewalk last year.
Testimony is expected to include two Altoona, Pennsylvania, patrolmen who were among more than a dozen officers at the McDonald’s where Mangione was arrested following the shooting.
One of them, Christy Wasser, is seen on body camera footage searching Mangione’s backpack and, later, is heard saying, “there’s a weapon.”
The defense is trying to exclude the contents of the backpack from Mangione’s trial, arguing police had no warrant and no reason to even touch it.
“He never acted belligerent, did he?” defense attorney Jacob Kaplan asked Patrolman Tyler Frye during Thursday’s proceedings. “No,” Frye answered.
“He never attempted to open is backpack at the McDonald’s, did he?” Kaplan asked. “No,” the patrolman responded.
The bag contained what prosecutors have described as the means and the motive for the alleged crime. Prosecutor says police retrieved a 3D-printed pistol used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which Mangione allegedly wrote, “The target is insurance. It checks every box.”
The hearing is expected to continue well into next week, though the judge on Thursday told both sides they were being “duplicative” and said that’s “not helping your case.”
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(NEW YORK) — A woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges she stabbed a mother changing her baby’s diaper inside a bathroom in Macy’s flagship store in New York City during the Christmas shopping season.
The woman, Kerri Aherne, 43, was charged with attempted murder, assault and child endangerment in connection with the Dec. 11 stabbing inside Macy’s Herald Square.
“As alleged, Kerri Aherne carried out a horrific and unprovoked stabbing of a mother who was simply caring for her 10-month-old baby. This tourist was attacked inside one of the city’s largest and most frequented department stores, posing public safety implications for employees, visitors, and New Yorkers alike,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
“I wish the victim a swift recovery,” Bragg said.
The 39-year-old victim was visiting New York from California. Prosecutors said she was changing her 10-month-old’s diaper in a seventh-floor bathroom when Ahere approached from behind and began stabbing her, unprovoked.
Aherne had purchased the knife at Macy’s moments before the attack, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, the victim eventually managed to grab the knife from Aherne and throw it to the other end of the bathroom. During the attack, the baby fell from the changing table onto the floor.
Aherne was restrained by the victim’s boyfriend and by store security workers until police officers arrived to arrest her on the scene.
The victim was taken to the hospital to be treated for two stab wounds to her back and lacerations to her arm and hand that required stitches. The baby was not hurt.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said that both the victim and her husband work for the LASD.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Aherne was previously arrested in Massachusetts for threatening to kill Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The woman told police she has been hospitalized for psychiatric problems.
Aherne was remanded into custody. She is next due in court on Feb. 11.
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(NEW YORK) — Accused killer Luigi Mangione must be given civilian clothes to wear for his court appearance next month, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Mangione is due in a Manhattan courtroom on Dec. 1, but his attorneys said he had nothing to wear.
“Mangione is currently housed in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and does not have civilian clothes to wear for the hearings,” defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo wrote in a court filing.
On Wednesday, Judge Margaret Garnett ordered the Bureau of Prisons to accept “2 suits; 3 shirts; 3 sweaters; 3 pairs of pants; 5 pairs of socks; and 1 pair of shoes (without laces)” and allow Mangione to wear those items when he is brought to court.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal and state charges in the December 2024 shooting death of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson.
He is due in court on the state charges and is expected to argue certain evidence should be suppressed. Judge Gregory Caro may also set a trial date.
This is not the first sartorial matter to be discussed in connection with Mangione’s prosecution. Handwritten notes were secreted inside a pair of argyle socks Mangione was permitted to wear during an earlier court appearance.
At the time, prosecutors complained Mangione was given special accommodations for his “fashion needs.”
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