Category: National

(LOS ANGELES) — Lyle and Erik Menendez may become free men after spending decades behind bars for killing their parents.

Here’s a look at life in prison for the notorious brothers and three paths to potential freedom:

The case

Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted to buying shotguns and firing 16 rounds at Jose and Kitty Menendez inside the family’s Beverly Hills home in 1989.

Prosecutors alleged they killed their wealthy parents for money, but the defense argued they acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father.

The first trial, which had separate juries for each brother, ended in mistrials. In 1996, after the second trial — during which the judge barred much of the sex abuse evidence — Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted and both sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without parole.

Life in prison

Nery Ynclan, an ABC News freelance producer and an executive producer of “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” has visited Lyle Menendez multiple times at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

She stressed that Lyle and Erik Menendez have spent their decades in prison rehabilitating themselves, as well as helping other inmates.

“[Lyle] and his brother spent their whole adult lives trying to counsel other victims of sexual abuse and start programs at the prison,” she said. “Even though they had no chance of parole, they really felt that the prison system could be improved.”

Erik Menendez has provided hospice care to inmates, their attorney said, while for the last 20 years, Lyle Menendez’s fellow inmates have elected him as their representative with the prison administration, Ynclan said.

“He’s like a soft-spoken CEO who is very busy with multiple projects,” Ynclan said of Lyle.

“He wants to talk about prison reform,” Ynclan said. “He would talk to me about the college courses he was taking. … I was really impressed that someone in their early 50s, in prison without any chance of parole … would want to take calculus and statistics to continue bettering themselves.”

With freedom now a possibility, Ynclan described this as an “emotional and tense time” for Lyle Menendez.

“For the first time in decades, he actually feels like there’s a glimmer of hope that the two of them might get home to their families one day,” Ynclan said.

Path 1: Habeas corpus petition

One track to freedom is the brothers’ habeas corpus petition, which was filed last year for a review of new evidence not presented at trial.

One piece of evidence is allegations from Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who revealed in the 2023 docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” that he was raped by music executive Jose Menendez.

The second piece of evidence is a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse. The cousin testified about the alleged abuse at trial, but the letter — which would have corroborated the cousin’s testimony — wasn’t unearthed until several years ago, according to the brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos.

Through this petition, the court could change their convictions. The next hearing is set for Nov. 25.

Path 2: Resentencing recommendation goes before judge, parole board

A second path is through resentencing.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced in an Oct. 25 court filing that he was recommending the brothers’ sentence of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life.

Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, with the new sentence, they would be eligible for parole immediately, Gascón said.

The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account factors including the defendants’ ages, psychological trauma or physical abuse that contributed to carrying out the crime and their rehabilitation in prison.

“We appreciate what they did while they were in prison,” Gascón said at a news conference. “While I disapprove of the way they handled their abuse, we hope that they not only have learned — which appears that they have — but that if they get reintegrated into our community, that they continue to do public good.”

Gascón’s recommendation next goes in front of a Los Angeles Superior Court judge who will weigh factors including the crime, the brothers’ records while incarcerated and the positive impact they’ve had in prison, ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire said.

The judge will also review facts that were not available at the time of the brothers’ 1996 conviction, Buckmire said.

The judge might also consider “the science of young boys and young men being sexually assaulted,” Buckmire said. “How they respond, how they react to that abuse, and how that might not have been information that was readily available at the time of sentencing that could’ve changed the sentence.”

A hearing is set for December. If the judge agrees to resentencing, the case next goes to the parole board.

Even though the judge would have already evaluated the facts and factors, “the parole board is going to do their own investigation,” Buckmire said.

The brothers and their relatives will also get the opportunity to address the parole board, Buckmire said. In this case, the relatives are not just the family of the perpetrators, but also the family of the victims, “so they have their own rights based on both capacities,” Buckmire said.

One relative, their uncle, Milton Andersen, wants the brothers to stay behind bars, stating that he doesn’t believe they were abused and instead killed their parents out of greed.

But nearly two dozen family members are in support of the brothers and have been advocating for their release.

“They are survivors and deserve a chance to rebuild their lives,” their cousin, Brian Andersen Jr., told reporters in October. “They’re no longer a threat to society.”

“If they were to come to my house, knock on my door, I would answer that door, I would welcome them in with huge hugs, my wife would make them a dinner and I’d give them a pillow and a place to sleep,” Andersen said.

A hearing before the parole board would likely take at least six months to schedule, according to the California Department of Corrections.

If the parole board recommends release, the final decision then goes to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Buckmire said.

If released on parole, the brothers would be subjected to monitoring and check-ins, Buckmire said. Parole often comes with conditions like maintaining a job and avoiding drugs, he said.

Path 3: Clemency

On Oct. 28, the Menendez brothers’ defense opened a third track to potential freedom by submitting a request to the governor for clemency.

The district attorney announced days later that he supports the brothers’ bid for clemency, which would commute their sentence or grant a pardon.

Newsom is first eligible to weigh in on the clemency application on Nov. 7. The governor’s office said this is a confidential process, Newsom is not required to review the application and there is no timeline for the review.

If the governor approves clemency, the case would still likely go before the parole board.

The governor’s office intends to treat this application “like any other case,” an official at the office said. “Nobody is getting special treatment.”

ABC News’ Matt Gutman and Ashley Riegle contributed to this report.

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The weather is forecast to be disguised as summer for Halloween in most of the Northeast.

As ghosts and goblins prepare to go trick-or-treating on Thursday, temperatures are expected to feel more like Labor Day than All Hallows’ Eve as an autumnal U.S. hot spell continues.

Potential high temperature records for the last day of October are forecast to be broken in several cities in the Northeast.

In New York City, temperatures Thursday could possibly reach 80 degrees, which would set a new record for the day. Records are also expected to fall in Philadelphia, Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., as those cities are also expected to breach the 80-degree mark.

Even the far Northeast will experience a warm Halloween as Burlington, Vermont, and Bangor, Maine, are forecast to heat up to 76 degrees. Down south, Charleston, South Carolina, could hit 84 degrees, while Raleigh, North Carolina, is forecast to get up to 81.

Temperatures in the Northeast are forecast to be around 30 degrees higher than last year’s Halloween, when New York City, Philadelphia and Boston were in the low 50s.

The balmy weather, however, will be short-lived.

A strong cold front is expected to move through the Northeast on Friday afternoon, bringing an end to record heat.

For the New York City Marathon on Sunday, the high temperature for the day is forecast to be 57, according to the National Weather Service.

The cold front is also expected to bring chilly temperatures, rain and snow to parts of the Great Lakes and upper Midwest. A winter weather advisory issued for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan includes the chance of measurable snow.

Elsewhere in the nation, a cold front responsible for severe weather from Oklahoma to Illinois on Wednesday is forecast to move east, producing strong to severe storms from western Texas to Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee, all the way to Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

As people across the Northeast were breaking out T-shirts and shorts amid record-breaking high temperatures this week, several inches of snow blanketed the mountaintops of Hawaii.

As firefighters in Colorado battled wildfires and meteorologists issued red-flag fire danger warnings, high elevations of Hawaii’s Big Island resembled the Rocky Mountains in winter.

Several inches of snow blanketed the summits of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, the tallest peaks in Hawaii and part of the state’s Volcanoes National Park.

“Due to winter weather conditions, the summit is currently closed for both day and overnight use, and permits for Mauna Loa Summit Cabin are temporarily on hold,” the Volcanoes National Park said in a statement on its Facebook page.

Meanwhile, in the actual Rockies, a major storm system moving in is expected to bring up to a foot of fresh snow. But elsewhere in Colorado, firefighters were dealing with what investigators suspect is a “human-caused” wildfire that spread to 166 acres near the town of Divide and was 80% contained on Wednesday.

The wintry weather expected for the Rockies was countered by record-breaking temperatures this week across a large part of the nation from Detroit, where it got up to 77 degrees on Wednesday, to Laredo, Texas, where the temperature was expected to hit 94, tying a daily record.

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(MEMPHIS, Tenn) — Graceland, the iconic Memphis home of the late Elvis Presley, is one of America’s most recognized residences, only second to the White House. That’s why the announcement of its public auction in May caused shock and confusion among the legendary musician’s fans.

Ultimately, this incident highlighted the rising issue of alleged deed fraud.

The scandal began last spring when Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC filed a lawsuit and announced a foreclosure sale for Graceland, claiming that Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’ daughter who died in 2023, had borrowed $3.8 million and used the property as collateral.

The actor Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s daughter, responded by filing a countersuit, seeking to enjoin the auction alleging fraud and claiming that Naussany Investments was nonexistent and had no rights to the property. This allegedly criminal plot to steal Graceland from under America’s nose caused outrage among Elvis fans.

The Memphis mansion is significant and widespread because it has been hallowed ground for generations of Elvis fans, from lovestruck teenagers in the 1950s to those inspired by his legacy today.

“People have been trying to take from Elvis since Elvis was Elvis,” Joel Weinshanker, managing partner of Elvis Presley Enterprises, told “GMA3” co-anchor Eva Pilgrim. “Elvis was a human being. He was a really good human being. He treated people really well. He lived here. He loved it here. He died here. He’s buried here. His parents are buried here. His daughter is buried here. Pick on somebody else. Have a heart, have a conscience. And even if you don’t have a heart or have a conscience — know that you won’t get away with it.”

The mansion was also home to Lisa Marie, Elvis’ only child. Her life in the spotlight and tragic death have fascinated the public since the day she was born — as the King of Rock and Roll’s princess.

Shortly after Elvis died in 1977, Lisa Marie became the sole heir to her father’s financially troubled estate, which at the time included only a few million dollars in cash and Graceland. Lisa Marie’s life seemed to stabilize when she married musician Danny Keough at the age of 20.

They had two children, Riley and Benjamin Keough. However, that stability didn’t last. She struggled with drug addiction, marriages to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage, and the tragic 2020. suicide of her son Benjamin.

“We could all feel it coming,” Riley Keough said in Lisa Marie memoir “From here to the Great Unknown.” “We all knew my mom was going to die of a broken heart.”

Lisa Marie fiercely defended her family’s legacy. One of her last actions was to approve director Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar-nominated 2022 film “Elvis,” insisting that it highlight how her father’s musical success was rooted in his appreciation for Black culture.

“He loved gospel music and would sit outside of the blues bars,” Lisa Marie said in an interview with ABC News. “He was influenced by and raised by this. We had this conversation with Baz that it was, you know, shown that that is — that’s where he got his influence from, that’s where it started for him.”

Lisa Marie made her final public appearance at the Golden Globes on Jan. 10, 2023, when Austin Butler won the best actor award for his portrayal of Elvis. Two days later, she died. Her cause of death was reported as complications from bariatric surgery she had undergone several years earlier.

Her funeral was held at Graceland with fans lining the streets, hauntingly reminiscent of how they grieved her father more than 45 years earlier.

“She was buried alongside her father and alongside her son at Graceland,” ABC’s Chris Connelly said. “You know, the home that she loved best.”

In a shocking revelation last May, a secret entity known as Naussany Investments claimed that Lisa Marie used Graceland as collateral to take out a $3.8 million loan and had not repaid it.

Consequently, the mysterious company announced its intention to auction the property off.

“It was not thoroughly implausible to imagine that Graceland might be on the block because of something that Lisa Marie had done when she was in arrears,” Connelly said.

Keough took her role as trustee of the estate seriously, with her lawyer Bradley Russell who filed a countersuit.

In the countersuit, Riley claimed that her mother did not borrow anything and that the loan documents are forgeries.

The investigation into the alleged fraud ranged far from the iconic mansion to Florida, where they an unlikely savior in notary Kimberly Philbrick lives. An alleged fake notary seal emerged as the potential smoking gun.

“We sent our private investigator out to find the notary public who allegedly notarized these documents in 2018 to interview her and to get an affidavit from her saying that this never happened, she never notarized anything,” Russell said.

When a private investigator approached Philbrick at her workplace in Holly Hill, Florida, Philbrick said she was shocked to discover fraud had been committed in her name. She alleged that she knew right away something was off; she swore in an affidavit that it wasn’t her signature.

“Had I ever met Lisa Marie Presley? Did I sign the document? Did I notarize it? No, no, no,” Philbrick said.

Based on Philbrick’s affidavit, Keough’s lawyers hurried into court to prevent the sale of Graceland. A judge issued a temporary injunction the day before it was scheduled to be auctioned.

It took nearly three months longer to locate the alleged mastermind. In mid-August, Lisa Findley was arrested in the Ozarks. She was apprehended on Aug. 16, the 47th anniversary of Elvis’ death. Federal prosecutors charged the Missouri woman with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.

They alleged that Findley exploited the public and tragic events in the Presley family for her personal gain.

Investigators allege that Findley used aliases to create fraudulent loan documents and that she published a fake foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper, announcing plans to auction off Graceland to the highest bidder. Findley has pleaded not guilty and is in jail awaiting trial. She and her attorneys did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Keough expressed her intention to preserve Graceland as both a museum and a home, just as her mother would have wanted.

“Still to this day, people going through the house, and there’s just this, like sort of love that just doesn’t stop,” Keough said on WABC’s Live with Kelly and Mark in 2023. “And I really love that.”

ABC News Studios’ “IMPACT x Nightline: Stealing Graceland” streams on Hulu beginning Thursday, Oct. 31.

ABC News’ Ely Brown, Sasha Pezenik, Jared Kofsky and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — A type of baby powder distributed in 35 states and sold online through Amazon is being recalled due to potential contamination with asbestos.

The Dynarex Corporation said Monday that its earlier recall of Dynacare Baby Powder, initiated in September, had expanded from 12 states to 35, according to a company announcement on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.

The company said the recalled Dynacare Baby Powder products were sold on or after Jan. 18, 2024, in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin and online through Amazon.com.

The recalled products include both 4-ounce and 14-ounce sizes, according to Monday’s announcement.

Dynarex has instructed customers to immediately discontinue use of recalled Dynacare Baby Powder products and return them for a full refund. There have been no illnesses or adverse events reported to date in connection with the recall, according to Dynarex.

Questions about refunds and returns can be directed to Dynarex Corporation at 888-396-2739 or 845-365-8200 during business hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, or by email at recall@dynarex.com.

The company first announced the recall on Sept. 19 following “routine sampling” by the FDA, “which revealed that the finished products contained asbestos,” a known carcinogen, the company stated at that time.

“Upon further investigation, we have identified additional lots of products that may contain asbestos due to using the same bulk talc material,” Dynarex stated on Monday. “The company has ceased the distribution of the product as an investigation is proceeding to determine what caused the contamination of the talc.”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, asbestos “is a mineral fiber that occurs in rock and soil” that “has been used in a variety of building construction materials for insulation and as a fire retardant” and “in a wide range of manufactured goods.”

“Exposure to asbestos increases your risk of developing lung disease,” the EPA states. “That risk is made worse by smoking. In general, the greater the exposure to asbestos, the greater the chance of developing harmful health effects. Disease symptoms may take many years to develop following exposure.”

As Dynarex noted Monday, asbestos “is often found near talc, an ingredient in many cosmetic products.”

“If talc mining sites are not carefully chosen or if proper steps are not taken to adequately purify the talc ore, it may contain asbestos,” the company said.

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( Raleigh, N.C. ) — No good deed goes unpunished for election workers in North Carolina.

A thank-you present of pineapple-shaped cookies delivered to the Wake County Board of Elections prompted a hazmat response on Tuesday after election workers raised concerns about a suspicious package mailed from Hawaii.

“We are just on high alert with these things automatically,” Wake County elections specialist Danner McCulloh told ABC News, who cited recent incidents of suspicious packages containing powder sent to election offices across the country.

The Raleigh Police and Fire Departments quickly responded to the incident — which was treated as a hazmat situation — and bomb technicians X-rayed the package, according to Lt. Jason Borneo of the Raleigh Police Department.

After the package was deemed to not be a threat, officials opened the package to learn it was full of pineapple-shaped cookies from the Honolulu Cookie Company. The package, which was mailed from a Hawaii address, also included a handwritten thank-you note, according to a Raleigh Fire Department spokesperson.

The operations at Wake County Board of Elections were not impacted during the incident, a county spokesperson said. According to McCulloh, a person who heard a radio story about Wake County decided to send the cookies unannounced to thank election workers.

“It was a kind gesture,” McCulloh said, though he recommended against others sending cookies to his office.

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(WASHINGTON) — Last week, during a world-renowned law enforcement conference in Boston, two FBI agents briefed dozens of police chiefs and sheriffs on the wide array of threats to government officials, poll workers, candidates and voters that the FBI has been seeing in the days before next week’s presidential election.

The closed-door briefing, described to ABC News, lasted nearly an hour, highlighting not only physical threats tied to the election but also efforts by Russia and other foreign adversaries to convince Americans that the election results can’t be trusted.

When the FBI officials finished their briefing at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference, there was only one question from the audience: What do the agents have to say about “2,000 Mules,” a two-year-old documentary that claims to expose widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election?

The film has been widely debunked, and its distributor went so far as to remove it from its platforms earlier this year.

In response to the audience member’s question, the agents said they hadn’t seen the film and couldn’t comment on it if they had.

Still, the exchange reflects how conspiracy theories about elections — and the FBI’s alleged efforts to tip their outcomes — have become so embedded in parts of America that even some law enforcement officials wonder about them — even after they’ve been refuted.

Current and former FBI officials say that the penetration of false narratives has put the FBI in the tough position of trying to defend election officials and voters against myriad threats, while also having to defend the FBI itself in ways it’s never had to before.

“It speaks to just the volume of conspiracy theories … [and] the divisiveness that we’re seeing across the country that the FBI has to navigate,” said Eric Miller, who as a supervisory special agent in the FBI’s Washington, D.C., field office until 2021, oversaw a squad that investigated election crimes and public corruption.

The FBI told ABC News in a statement that its mission is “to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution,” and that its people work “every day to fulfill these promises without fear or favor.”

‘A different environment’

As with every election, the FBI is expected to investigate election-related threats, allegations of ballot fraud, suspected foreign interference, and other reported attempts to disrupt the election process.

“In keeping with our standard Election Day protocol, FBI headquarters will stand up a National Election Command Post to provide a centralized location for assessing election-related threats … [and to] track status reports and significant complaints from FBI field offices,” the FBI said in its statement to ABC News.

But while the bureau’s responsibilities will be the same as always, some feel this year’s election presents an unprecedented challenge.

“This is a different environment than we’ve ever had to deal with,” a former senior FBI official who was involved in the FBI’s election-related operations in 2016 and 2020 told ABC News.

As voters head to the polls, they’re casting their ballots nearly four years after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop Congress from certifying the last presidential election. Just four months ago, a Pennsylvania man nearly assassinated former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally, and three weeks ago the FBI arrested an Afghan immigrant in Oklahoma for plotting an Election Day terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS.

Federal authorities also continue to warn that other “threat actors” are “likely to leverage claims of election fraud” to foment election-related violence, as a Department of Homeland Security assessment put it earlier this week. According to officials, Iran is determined to assassinate Trump and some of his former top advisers, Russia won’t back down in its malicious campaign to sow chaos and influence the election, and China is trying to hack the phones of both political parties.

‘A challenging spot’

Meanwhile, the FBI has itself been accused by Trump and his allies of trying to influence the election, through its investigations of Trump, its search of his Mar-a-Lago estate, and the Justice Department’s handling of cases tied to President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

“It’s called election interference. It’s called the weaponization of the FBI,” Trump said at a campaign event in Georgia last week. The former president has reportedly vowed to fire FBI Director Chris Wray if he wins reelection — even though it was Trump himself who picked Wray to lead the bureau in 2017.

The FBI has strongly disputed that it’s influenced by politics in any way.

“[W]e remain firmly committed to carrying out our mission while protecting the civil liberties of the citizens we serve,” the FBI said in its statement to ABC News.

The politically-charged atmosphere has led the FBI to become a target of violence. In 2022, after the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, an Ohio man reportedly issued an online “call to arms” and then opened fire at the FBI’s field office in Cincinnati.

Several months later, authorities arrested two Tennessee men for allegedly plotting attacks on FBI agents in Knoxville. And earlier this year, a South Carolina man who reportedly espoused right-wing conspiracy theories rammed his vehicle into a gate at the FBI’s office in Atlanta.

The FBI is in “an awkward, challenging spot,” the former senior FBI official said.

’24/7 command post’

According to FBI officials, the bureau has spent months “engaged in extensive preparations” for Election Day.

“As always, we are working closely with our federal, state, and local partners so everyone involved with safeguarding the election has the information and resources necessary to respond in a timely manner to any criminal violations that may arise,” the FBI said in its statement.

FBI headquarters is planning to keep its National Election Command Post operational until at least Nov. 10, reflecting how authorities are concerned about what might happen even after the polls close on Nov. 5. The command post will include senior officials from the FBI’s counterterrorism, criminal, counterintelligence and cyber divisions.

And FBI leadership has told each of the agency’s 55 field offices to set up their own form of a “24/7 command post” — though what that actually looks like in each case will vary depending on the office’s size and location, and any developments in the field, ABC News was told.

“Some of it is a ‘command post’ in the sense of making sure if something happens, we have the requisite people there,” including lawyers and leaders who can make quick decisions, the former FBI official explained. “It’s not [necessarily] like a command post you see on TV with 20 people in a room monitoring the TVs and the security cameras.”

As described to ABC News, the FBI field offices will be prepared to receive any reports of threats or criminal conduct from state or local officials, including election boards and law enforcement agencies. The field offices will then triage the reports and send them to the command post at FBI headquarters, where the information will be cross-referenced with classified intelligence and information coming in from other field offices.

“The Phoenix field division is not going to know what is going on in Chicago at the same time,” Miller said, so “that allows the FBI to see patterns of threat activity” and determine if something bigger might be unfolding across the country.

The command post would then “provide guidance to FBI field offices” and “coordinate any FBI response to any election-related incident,” the FBI said in its statement.

Based on the current environment, “we expect our federal law enforcement agencies to be on standby for an election that years ago would be no problem whatsoever,” the former FBI official said.

“You hope someday the bureau doesn’t need to do a command post,” he said. “Maybe that day will come — but that day is not now.”

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(AUSTIN, Texas) — A 28-year-old Texas woman died in 2021 after her abortion care was delayed for over 40 hours as she was having a miscarriage, according to a new story from ProPublica.

Josseli Barnica was told that it would be a “crime” to intervene in her miscarriage because the fetus still had cardiac activity, despite her 17-week pregnancy already resulting in a miscarriage that was “in progress,” according to medical records obtained by ProPublica.

The medical team told Barnica that she had to wait until there was no heartbeat due to Texas’ new abortion ban, Barnica’s husband told ProPublica.

Despite Texas enacting several abortion bans after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, it was the first state to restrict the procedure by enacting a law that permitted citizens to sue physicians who provide abortion care after six weeks of pregnancy — before most women know they are pregnant — for $10,000.

Anyone who “aided and abetted” an abortion, by actions such as driving a woman to obtain abortion care, could also be sued.

Forty hours after Barnica had arrived at a Texas hospital, physicians could not detect fetal cardiac activity and she was given medication to speed up her labor, according to the report. She was discharged about eight hours later, according to ProPublica.

She continued bleeding but when she called the hospital she was told that was expected, the story said. When the bleeding grew heavier two days later, she rushed back to the hospital, according to ProPublica.

Three days after she passed the pregnancy, Barnica died of an infection, according to ProPublica.

More than a dozen medical experts who reviewed the medical records told ProPublica that her death was preventable.

“These experts said that there was a good chance she might have survived if she’d been treated earlier,” Kavitha Surana, the reporter who wrote the story for ProPublica, told ABC News Live. “No one can say for sure where the sepsis developed. But 40 hours with your cervix wide open in a hospital, that is not the standard of care to require someone to take that risk.”

After Roe was overturned, a stricter ban went into effect, penalizing doctors found guilty of providing abortions with up to 99 years in prison and fines up to $100,000.

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(NEW YORK) — Opening statements will begin Friday in the trial of subway rider Daniel Penny charged in the May 2023 choking death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man, in a New York City subway car.

The jury was seated Wednesday. The trial is expected to last between four and six weeks, according to Judge Max Wiley.

Penny, a former Marine, has pleaded not guilty to the charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death.

Wiley denied Penny’s bid to dismiss his involuntary manslaughter case in January.

Penny put Neely, 30, in a fatal chokehold “that lasted approximately 6 minutes and continued well past the point at which Mr. Neely had stopped purposeful movement,” prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have said.

Penny’s attorneys said they were “saddened at the loss of human life” but that Penny saw “a genuine threat and took action to protect the lives of others,” arguing that Neely was “insanely threatening” to passengers aboard the F train in Manhattan.

Witness accounts differ on Neely’s behavior on the train, prosecutors say.

They note that many witnesses relayed that Neely expressed that he was homeless, hungry and thirsty, and most of the witnesses recount that Neely indicated a willingness to go to jail or prison.

Some witnesses report that Neely threatened to hurt people on the train, while others did not report hearing those threats, according to police sources.

Some witnesses told police that Neely was yelling and harassing passengers on the train; however, others have said though Neely had exhibited erratic behavior, he had not been threatening anyone in particular and had not become violent, police sources also told ABC News following the incident.

Some passengers on the train that day said they didn’t feel threatened — one “wasn’t really worried about what was going on” and another called it “like another day typically in New York. That’s what I’m used to seeing. I wasn’t really looking at it if I was going to be threatened or anything to that nature, but it was a little different because, you know, you don’t really hear anybody saying anything like that,” according to court filings by the prosecution.

Other passengers described their fear in court filings. One passenger said they “have encountered many things, but nothing that put fear into me like that.” Another said Neely was making “half-lunge movements” and coming within a “half a foot of people.”

Neely, who was homeless at the time of his death, had a documented mental health history and a history of arrests, including alleged instances of disorderly conduct, fare evasion and assault, according to police sources.

Less than 30 seconds after Penny allegedly put Neely into a chokehold, the train arrived at the Broadway-Lafayette Station: “Passengers who had felt fearful on account of being trapped on the train were now free to exit the train. The defendant continued holding Mr. Neely around the neck,” said prosecutor Joshua Steinglass in a court filing against Penny’s dismissal request.

According to prosecutors, footage of the interaction, which began about 2 minutes after the incident started, captures Penny holding Neely for about 4 minutes and 57 seconds on a relatively empty train with a couple of passengers nearby.

Prosecutors said that about 3 minutes and 10 seconds into the video, Neely ceases all purposeful movement.

“After that moment, Mr. Neely’s movements are best described as ‘twitching and the kind of agonal movement that you see around death,'” the prosecutor said.

The defense argued Penny had no intent to kill, but Steinglass noted that the second-degree manslaughter charge only requires prosecutors to prove Penny acted recklessly, not intentionally.

“We are confident that a jury, aware of Danny’s actions in putting aside his own safety to protect the lives of his fellow riders, will deliver a just verdict,” Penny’s lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, said after Penny’s request to dismiss the charge was denied.

In a past statement to ABC News, an attorney representing Neely’s family said, “This case is simple. Someone got on a train and was screaming so someone else choked them to death. Those two things do not and will never balance. There is no justification.”

“Jordan had the right to take up his own space. He was allowed to be on that train and even to scream. He did not touch anyone. He was not a visitor on that train, in New York, or in this country,” attorney Donte Mills said.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is supporting the Menendez brothers’ new effort to petition California Gov. Gavin Newsom for clemency, which would reduce their sentence or grant a pardon, ABC News has learned.

Gascón plans to submit a letter to that effect by the end of the day Wednesday.

Lyle and Erik Menendez have spent nearly 35 years in prison for the 1989 murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.

Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced in 1996 to two consecutive terms of life without parole.

While prosecutors alleged they killed their parents for money, the defense argued the brothers acted in self-defense following years of sexual abuse by their father.

Besides the new clemency route, the brothers have two other possible tracks to freedom.

One path is through resentencing.

Gascón announced last week that he was recommending the brothers’ sentence of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life.

Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, with the new sentence, they would be eligible for parole immediately, Gascón said.

“We appreciate what they did while they were in prison,” Gascón said at a news conference of the brothers. “While I disapprove of the way they handled their abuse, we hope that they not only have learned — which appears that they have — but that if they get reintegrated into our community, that they continue to do public good.”

Gascón’s recommendation will go before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, and if the judge agrees, the decision will next be in the hands of a parole board.

The second possible track for release is the habeas corpus petition filed last year for a review of new evidence not presented at trial.

One piece of evidence is allegations from a former member of the boy band Menudo, who is alleging he was sexually abused by music executive Jose Menendez.

The second piece of evidence is a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse. The cousin testified about the alleged abuse at trial, but the letter — which would have corroborated the cousin’s testimony — wasn’t unearthed until several years ago, according to the brothers’ attorney, Mark Geragos.

Through this petition, the court could reverse the convictions or reopen proceedings.

Officials in the DA’s office told ABC News they are “keeping an open mind” to reducing the conviction to a lesser charge based on the new evidence.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Authorities warned of the potential for more attacks on ballot boxes after a series of arson incidents in Oregon and Washington state.

Ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, were set on fire with incendiary devices early Monday, police said. Authorities believe the two incidents, as well as a similar incident that occurred earlier this month in Vancouver, are connected.

“Investigators believe it is very possible the suspect intends to continue these targeted attacks across the area,” Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Benner described the suspect sought in the three incidents as a white male between the ages of 30 and 40 with “balding or very short hair,” a thin face and medium to thin build.

“We believe this suspect has a wealth of experience in metal fabrication and welding,” Benner said.

Police are seeking one suspect in the case, Benner said.

Portland Police Chief Bob Day said that without a suspect in custody they “have to assume that there are other events that are likely to occur,” but that he is encouraged by the progress in the investigation so far.

Police had previously released photos of a suspect vehicle being sought in connection with the incidents. The vehicle is believed to be a Volvo S-60 from 2001 to 2004 with a tan or light-gray interior. The vehicle has dark wheels, unpainted body trim and no front license plate, police said.

The FBI is investigating the incidents, an agency spokesperson said.

Benner said police intend to add extra patrols around ballot boxes in the wake of the attacks. Officers will also have “high visibility” in terms of their presence next week, Day said.

The most recent incidents occurred early Monday, when two ballot boxes were set on fire with incendiary devices that had been attached to them, police said.

Three ballots were damaged in the Portland incident, while fire suppressant prevented further damage, election officials said. Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott told ABC News that 409 ballots inside the ballot box “were undamaged” and preserved thanks to the fire suppressant.

Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told ABC News on Wednesday that the county has identified 475 damaged ballots in the Vancouver incident. The ballot box had a fire suppression device, which did appear to work very well, he said.

It is unclear at this time how many ballots were completely destroyed, he said.

Election officials in both states said they would ensure impacted voters have replacement ballots in time.

Monday’s incident is similar to an incident that occurred on Oct. 8 in Vancouver, in which a ballot box was set on fire, police said.

The incendiary device used in that incident had “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine” on it, two sources familiar with the ongoing investigation told ABC News.

The two subsequent devices, set off in the early hours of Monday morning in Vancouver, Washington and nearby Portland, Oregon, carried the slogan “Free Gaza,” according to the sources.

One of the sources told ABC News it was unclear whether these markings reflect the views of a pro-Palestine activist — or if it was an individual trying to manipulate existing divisions in the U.S.

ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Lucien Bruggeman and Chris Boccia contributed to this report.

 

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