Category: National

(NEW YORK) — Missouri death row inmate Marcellus Williams was executed by lethal injection Tuesday for the 1998 murder of Lisha Gayle, a former newspaper reporter who was found brutally stabbed in her suburban St. Louis home.

Williams, 55, died after 6:00 p.m. CDT at a Missouri state prison in Bonne Terre in Francois County, approximately 60 miles southwest of St. Louis, Williams’ lawyer confirmed to ABC News.

The capital punishment case saw national attention with Williams maintaining his innocence, the victim’s family opposing the execution and his prosecution submitting motions for appeals at every level.

“Marcellus Williams should be alive today. There were multiple points in the timeline when decisions could have been made that would have spared him the death penalty. If there is even the shadow of a doubt of innocence, the death penalty should never be an option. This outcome did not serve the interests of justice,” Wesley Bell, chief prosecutor for St. Louis County, said in a statement after the execution.

The United States Supreme Court denied two separate appeals to spare Williams’ life on Tuesday an hour ahead of his execution, despite the objection of Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.

Williams’ attorney Tricia Rojo Bushnell released a statement after SCOTUS’ decision, saying, “Tonight, Missouri will execute an innocent man Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams.”

“As dark as today is, we owe it to Khaliifah to build a brighter future. We are thankful to the St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney, for his commitment to truth and justice and all he did to try to prevent this unspeakable wrong. And for the millions of people who signed petitions, made calls, and shared Khaliifah’s story,” Bushnell said.

On Monday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and the state’s Supreme Court rejected a bid to halt the execution.

In a statement to ABC News, Parson said, “No jury nor court, including at the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court levels, have ever found merit in Mr. Williams’ innocence claims.”

“At the end of the day, his guilty verdict and sentence of capital punishment were upheld. Nothing from the real facts of this case have led me to believe in Mr. Williams’ innocence,” Parson added.

Williams was charged with first-degree murder in 1999 for the killing of Gayle, a social worker and former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He was found guilty in 2001.

Prosecutors in Williams’ original trial alleged he broke into Gayle’s home in August 1998 and stabbed her 43 times with a large butcher knife, according to court documents. Her purse and her husband’s laptop were stolen after the attack.

The kitchen knife used in the killing was left lodged in Gayle’s body, according to court documents. Blood, hair, fingerprints and shoe prints believed to belong to the perpetrator were found around the home.

Williams’ defense claimed that his DNA was never found on the murder weapon and two unidentified sources of DNA would lead investigators to the actual killer.

In DNA evidence discovered in August, it was found that the former prosecutor and investigator who litigated the original trial failed to wear gloves when handling the murder weapon, leaving their DNA on the knife, revealing the sources of the unidentified DNA, which did not belong to an unidentified killer.

In his statement Monday, Parson accused Williams’ attorneys of trying to “muddy the waters about DNA evidence” with claims that have previously been rejected by the courts.

“Nothing from the real facts of this case have led me to believe in Mr. Williams’ innocence,” Parson said.

Williams’ execution marks the third in Missouri this year and the 100th since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1989.

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(WASHINGTON) — Federal prosecutors have officially charged Ryan Routh with attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump, a source familiar with the matter confirms to ABC News.

The move was expected and previewed both by prosecutors in a court hearing yesterday and by Attorney General Merrick Garland in a news conference this afternoon.

The charging documents have not yet been officially updated on Routh’s court docket. He is expected to be arraigned on the charges in a court hearing Monday.

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(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — A former officer who pleaded guilty to charges connected to the death of Tyre Nichols became emotional during his testimony Tuesday in the federal trial of three ex-Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Nichols.

“I wish I would’ve stopped the punches. It hurts to watch. It hurts inside so much,” said Desmond Mills Jr., who cried during his testimony, according to WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom. “It felt bad every time the picture is on the screen to know I’m a part of that. I made his child fatherless. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know ‘sorry’ won’t bring him back, but I pray his child has everything he needs growing up.”

Mills struggled to speak after watching body camera video in court of Nichols being struck, according to WATN. Mills admitted to using his baton to hit Nichols three times.

“I was angry because I just [pepper] sprayed myself in the face,” Mills said, according to WATN. “I didn’t give him a chance to give me his hands.”

Justin Smith, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The officers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Mills and Emmitt Martin III, the two other officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.

Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’ plea agreement.

Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records.

When Mills was asked by the prosecution what threat Nichols posed during the officers’ encounter with Nichols as shown in the court through body camera footage, the ex-officer answered, “None,” according to WATN.

Mills claimed that he wanted to leave the Memphis Police Department (MPD) by the time Bean joined the SCORPION unit, the MPD’s former crime suppression unit, which has since been disbanded, because he didn’t like the structure of the team, his former colleagues were inexperienced and the culture of the team was “go, go, go,” according to WATN.

“I just pulled the spray out and I sprayed Mr. Nichols,” Mills, who claimed Smith and Bean were already punching Nichols when he arrived on scene, said, according to WATN. “I failed to assess and analyze … just started spraying.”

Mills could be heard on body camera footage played in the court threatening to pepper-spray Nichols as the Memphis resident called out for his mother, according to WATN.

“I thought it would help and get handcuffs on him,” Mills said, according to WATN.

Mills said Martin and Haley were hostile toward citizens and he didn’t like what he saw, according to WATN. The ex-officer claimed their aggressive approaches resulted in them filing several response to resistance forms, which officers are required to fill out to explain their use of force while on the job.

Mills claimed Haley would come to work “amped up” from his pre-workouts, according to WATN. He said he talked to Haley about his inconsistent use of his body camera video, to which Haley allegedly told him, “F— that sh–.”

Mills said that Haley kicked a handcuffed suspect in the face the day before the Nichols’ encounter and didn’t report it, according to WATN.

“I was going to go along and hide it with the rest of the team,” said Mills, who also didn’t report Haley’s use of force, according to WATN.

The response to resistance form lists Mills as using chemical spray, but not Haley kicking the suspect, according to WATN.

Mills claimed Smith, who’s also on trial, told the unit that they needed to check on Martin’s mental state after he returned to work after being hit by a car on the job, according to WATN.

In court testimony last week, Martin, who was the first to spot Nichols, claimed that he was hit by a car in November 2022 and returned to work Jan. 3, 2023, according to WATN. Martin said he was scared, angry, eager to show he could still do the job and wanted revenge for being struck by a vehicle.

“I wanted some kind of revenge. I was seeing red,” Martin said, according to WATN

Body-camera footage shows that Nichols fled after police pulled him over on Jan. 7, 2023, for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him.

Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes later after tracking him down. After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition.

Nichols, 29, died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2023. Footage shows the officers walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground.

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that Nichols was driving recklessly. The incident triggered protests and calls for police reform.

The prosecution told ABC News earlier this month that they will not have any statements until after the trial. The defense attorneys did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.

The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit — a crime suppression unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. All of the officers were fired for violating MPD policies.

“It was ugly,” Mills said when asked by the prosecution why he didn’t tell his supervisor the truth about the Nichols encounter, according to WATN. “So, we didn’t tell lieutenant.”

ABC News’ Deena Zaru and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

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(PHILADELPHIA) — The University of Pennsylvania will impose major sanctions against Carey Law School professor Amy Wax, after an investigation concluded that she “engaged in ‘flagrant unprofessional conduct,'” which included “a history of making sweeping and derogatory generalizations about groups by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status.”

The university also found that Wax “on numerous occasions in and out of the classroom and in public, [made] discriminatory and disparaging statements targeting specific racial, ethnic, and other groups with which many students identify.”

The Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility released a report Tuesday confirming sanctions against the tenured professor, which includes a one-year suspension with half-pay, the loss of her named chair and an inability to represent Penn in public appearances, among other measures.

“Last year, a five-member faculty Hearing Board determined that Professor Amy Wax violated the University’s behavioral standards by engaging in years of flagrantly unprofessional conduct within and outside of the classroom that breached her responsibilities as a teacher to offer an equal learning opportunity to all students,” a university spokesperson told ABC News.

Wax has been under fire for years for her controversial language about minority groups, particularly Black and Asian populations.

Dean of Penn Carey Law School Ted Ruger had initiated governing sanctions against Wax in January 2022. A hearing board conducted an evaluation in May 2023 and confirmed misconduct from Wax, which she appealed.

The Senate Committee’s decision Tuesday strikes down Wax’s appeal, and Interim President J. Larry Jameson confirmed that he will be upholding this “final decision” and implementing the sanctions recommended.

Provost John L. Jackson, Jr. also issued a public reprimand Tuesday, telling Wax that it is “imperative” that she “conduct [herself] in a professional manner in [her] interactions with faculty colleagues, students, and staff,” which includes “refraining from flagrantly unprofessional and targeted disparagement of any individual or group in the University community.”

Wax and her lawyer, David Shapiro, did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

In a 2023 op-ed in the Daily Pennsylvanian, Shapiro defended her remarks by saying, “Professor Wax teaches a conservative thought seminar, and she is vocal on social media in expressing conservative ideas.”

“My client must defend herself against scurrilous charges of ‘racism’ and ‘white supremacy’ because, as a white Jewish conservative, she dared to question the liberal orthodoxy about the lives of many African Americans,” Shapiro added. He also went on to attack the university for what he considered to be hypocritical policies.

While Penn’s sanctions constitute major action against a tenured faculty member, students had previously expressed desire for Wax to be fired.

Law student Soojin Jeong told ABC News in 2022 that Wax’s comments were “egregious,” and added, “we really need to fire Amy Wax.”

Also speaking to ABC News in 2022, law student Apratim Vidyarthi pointed to the double standard. “If I had said something like that, or you said something like that, or an NFL coach said something like that, they’d be fired off the bat,” he said.

Students had advocated for Wax to be suspended while the investigation was ongoing. Vidyarthi told ABC News in 2022 that Wax “shouldn’t be allowed to come on campus, she shouldn’t be allowed to interact with students while this investigation is ongoing.”

Jeong and Vidyarthi helped write a petition calling for university action against Wax, in which they stated that “Wax’s racist comments have become a semi-annual ritual that receives temporary furor and temporary consequences.”

In one example cited by the students, Wax in an April 2022 Fox News interview disparaged Indian Americans and said “on some level, their country is a s–thole.”

In December 2021, Wax told Brown University professor Glenn Loury on his podcast “The Glenn Show” that “as long as most Asians support Democrats and help to advance their positions, I think the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration.”

Wax also told Loury in 2017, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Black student graduate in the top quarter of the class, and rarely, rarely in the top half,” calling this a “very inconvenient fact.”

In the letter from June 2022 initiating the disciplinary action against Wax, she was also accused of making homophobic and sexist remarks, including “commenting in class that gay couples are not fit to raise children” and telling students that “women, on average, are less knowledgeable than men.”

Wax has repeatedly defended her rhetoric as free speech.

“Make no mistake, the goal and effect of these charges is to demolish – to totally gut – the protections for extramural speech and free faculty expression, and to drive dissenters like me out of the academy,” she told free speech advocacy group FIRE Faculty Network last year.

ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

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(SACRAMENTO) — School districts, county offices of education and charter schools in California will now be required to limit or ban the usage of smartphones in schools under a new state law after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill on Monday.

The new law requires schools to develop and put in place a plan to restrict or even ban cellphone usage in schools by July 1, 2026, and update it every five years.

“There is growing evidence that unrestricted use of smartphones by pupils at elementary and secondary schools during the school day interferes with the educational mission of the schools, lowers pupil performance, particularly among low-achieving pupils, promotes cyberbullying, and contributes to an increase in teenage anxiety, depression, and suicide,” the bill said.

“Research demonstrates that the use of cell phones by pupils during school operating hours can create significant distractions resulting in negative effects on their academic performance and mental health. Additionally, the presence of cell phones and related technologies in classrooms may not only detract from pupils’ academic performance, but also contribute to higher rates of academic dishonesty and cyberbullying,” the bill said.

Newsom had been calling for limits on student cellphone usage in schools for months.

“We know that excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues – but we have the power to intervene. This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not their screens, when they’re in school,” Newsom said in a statement.

In an August letter to schools, he urged California lawmakers to restrict phone use. The Los Angeles Unified School District — the second largest district in the U.S. — and Santa Barbara Unified have already implemented restrictions on the use of cellphones in schools.

Students will still be allowed to use phones in cases of emergency or in response to threats of danger, with permission from a teacher or school administrator, if a doctor determines a student needs a smartphone for their health or wellbeing or if it is required as part of an individualized education program.

Newsom signed a bill in 2019 granting districts the authority to regulate the use of the devices during school hours.

Newsom previously argued that reducing the use of phones in class leads to improved concentration, better academic outcomes, and enhanced social interactions.

Public health leaders have recently said social media platforms are contributing to a mental health crisis among young people. Last June, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy called for a warning label to be added to social media platforms as they can be associated with significant mental health harm for adolescents.

Virginia also announced it will restrict cellphone use in public K-12 schools. Restrictions in that state are set to go into effect starting in 2025.

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(NEW YORK) — Caroline Ellison, a key witness in the conviction of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday for her role in one of the largest financial frauds in history.

Ellison, 29, a former crypto executive, had pleaded guilty to multiple charges in connection with the federal fraud and conspiracy case involving the crypto trading platform. She cooperated with prosecutors and was a key witness during the trial last year of Bankman-Fried, her former boyfriend.

Ellison — who was the co-chief executive of Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s companion hedge fund — testified over three days during the trial, telling the court she committed fraud with her former on-again, off-again boyfriend and at his direction.

Bankman-Fried was ultimately found guilty on all counts for defrauding FTX customers out of $8 billion and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

During Ellison’s sentencing hearing in New York Tuesday afternoon, Judge Lewis Kaplan called her cooperation with the government “very, very substantial” and noted a “fundamental distinction” between Ellison and Bankman-Fried.

“She cooperated and he denied the whole thing,” Kaplan said. “I’ve seen a lot of cooperators in 30 years here. I’ve never seen one quite like Ms. Ellison.”

Still, the judge said even extraordinary cooperation could not be a “get out of jail free card.”

The judge called out another distinction between Ellison and Bankman-Fried.

“You are genuinely remorseful,” Kaplan said. “He’s sorry the gamble he took didn’t work out and he’s really sorry he got caught.”

Before the judge handed down the sentence, Ellison stood at a podium and apologized.

“I want to apologize most of all to the victims,” Ellison said, sniffling through tears. “Not a day goes by when I don’t think about all the people I hurt.”

Ellison said she was “deeply ashamed” by her conduct that enabled what the defense conceded was an “enormous and extraordinary fraud.”

It exposed Ellison to 110 years in prison, but her attorney sought a sentence without prison time.

“She has recovered her moral compass,” defense attorney Anjan Sahni said in court. “Caroline Ellison is a good person who, at 29 years old, can still make a positive impact on the world.”

Prosecutors agreed.

“Caroline Ellison deserves leniency,” Assistant United States Attorney Danielle Sassoon said. “A lenient sentence is also what is just.”

Sassoon noted Ellison consistently told the truth and never shied from her own culpability.

“This was a powerful contrast with Bankman-Fried’s testimony,” Sassoon said.

Ahead of her sentencing, Ellison’s attorneys urged Kaplan to be lenient, arguing Ellison “unflinchingly acknowledged her own wrongdoing, without minimization, blame shifting or self-pity.”

“She time and again proved herself an enormously credible and important cooperating witness” against Bankman-Fried, they added.

Federal prosecutors agreed Ellison provided “extraordinary cooperation that was crucial to the Government’s successful prosecution” of Bankman-Fried.

“Although she did not blow the whistle on any misconduct before FTX’s collapse, she came clean prior to FTX’s declaring bankruptcy to her employees on November 9, 2022,” Sassoon wrote in a letter to the judge. “Ellison approached her cooperation with remarkable candor, remorse, and seriousness.”

Prosecutors declined to make a specific sentencing recommendation in their filing. Defense attorneys suggested a sentence in line with a recommendation from probation officials of time served plus three years supervised release.

“Caroline poses no risk of recidivism and presents no threat to public safety. It would therefore promote respect for the law to grant leniency in recognition of Caroline’s early disclosure of the crimes, her unmitigated acceptance of responsibility for them, and — most importantly — her extensive cooperation with the government,” Sahni wrote in a letter to the judge.

Sahni outlined Ellison’s “complex” relationship with Bankman-Fried that began when the two met at Jane Street Capital in 2015 when she was an intern and he was a junior trader. He said their “on-again-off-again, sometimes-secret relationship” had “warped” her moral compass and led her to take actions “that she knew to be wrong, helping him steal billions.”

During Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing in March, Judge Kaplan also ordered that he forfeit $11 billion that the government can use to compensate victims.

The former crypto billionaire has filed an appeal to overturn his conviction.

Two former FTX executives who also pleaded guilty in the case — former director of engineering Nishad Singh and co-founder Gary Wang — are set to be sentenced in October and November, respectively.

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(WASHINGTON) — Hate crimes motivated by gender-identity and sexual orientation rose from 2022 to 2023, according to FBI data, sparking concern among LGBTQ advocates about the potential impact of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation.

“Today’s abysmal FBI report highlights that it is still dangerous to be LGBTQ+ in this country,” said Brian K. Bond, CEO of LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG National. “Our LGBTQ+ loved ones need both our compassion and our action to make our communities safe and our laws inclusive, so every LGBTQ+ person can be safe, celebrated, affirmed and loved everywhere in the U.S.”

Though violent crime is down about 3% overall from 2022 to 2023, hate crimes are up across the U.S., according to the FBI’s statistics.

Sexual orientation and gender identity were the third and fourth most prevalent bias motivation in 2023, behind race/ethnicity and religion.

The FBI counted 2,936 incidents related to sexual-orientation and gender-identity bias in 2023 – up roughly 8.6% from about 2,700 in 2022.

Sexual orientation, excluding heterosexuality, was the motivation for 2,389 incidents in 2023 – up from about 2,188 in 2022, and about 1,300 in 2021, according to FBI data report.

The FBI report also shows gender identity-based incidents have been on the rise for several years, from 307 offenses in 2021, to 515 in 2022 to 547 in 2023.

“Every lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer person in this country should be free to live their lives without fear that we’ll be the target of a violent incident purely because of who we are and who we love,” said Kelley Robinson, the president of Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organizations.

Sexual orientation and gender identity-based incidents have made up a larger portion of recorded hate crimes as well, respectively making up 18.1% and 4.1% of hate crimes in 2023 compared to 15.7% and 3.6% in 2022.

Research has shown that people in the LGBTQ community have higher rates of hate crime victimization than non-LGBTQ people.

In June 2023, Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States, which is still in effect, citing an increasingly hostile environment and the record-breaking wave of legislation impacting the LGBTQ community.

The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking 530 anti-LGBTQ bills and policies in the U.S. in the 2024 legislative session, including transgender care restrictions, school content restrictions, bans on changes to gender markers, and more. The vast majority of them — 343 bills — have been defeated.

“As hate targeting LGBTQ people continues to rise, we remain committed to pushing back on the dangerous narratives and extremist groups that are responsible for these attacks,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement to ABC News. “We must continue to uplift the voices of LGBTQ people and all others impacted by this violence.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case on Tuesday granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request to file a 180-page brief on presidential immunity, including potential new evidence in the case.

Smith faces a Thursday deadline to file his opening brief about how the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity applies to the former president’s criminal case.

Smith had sought the judge’s permission to file an oversized brief, including more than 30 pages of exhibits. Filings are normally limited to 45 pages.

While U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is allowing the lengthy filing, the materials will likely be filed under seal — with a public version likely to be released, with redactions, at a later date.

Trump’s lawyers had opposed the request, calling the proposed filing a “monstrosity” and a “biased list of grievances” and arguing that the filing would allow prosecutors to unfairly publicize evidence.

Trump last year pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power.

In July, the Supreme Court ruled in blockbuster decision that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office — effectively sending the case back to Chutkan to sort out which charges against Trump can stand.

Chutkan subsequently ruled that Smith can file a comprehensive brief supporting his presidential immunity arguments by this Thursday.

The judge, in granting the government’s request for an oversized brief, said that the unique challenge of applying the Supreme Court’s ruling justifies the unusually long document.

“The length and breadth of the Government’s proposed brief reflects the uniquely ‘challenging’ and factbound nature of those determinations,” Judge Chutkan wrote.

In the same order, Judge Chutkan denied Trump’s request to reconsider her schedule addressing the immunity issue.

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(NEW YORK) — A former OceanGate employee got emotional while remembering the people killed in the catastrophic implosion of the company’s Titan submersible during a hearing on the incident Tuesday.

“I had the privilege of knowing the explorers whose lives were lost,” Amber Bay, former OceanGate director of administration, said during the U.S. Coast Guard hearing. “There’s not a day that passes that I don’t think of them, their families and their loss. It’s been a difficult year for them, for all of us.”

OceanGate co-founder and CEO Stockton Rush, French explorer Paul Henri Nargeolet, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman, were killed when the Titan imploded during a deep-sea voyage to the Titanic wreckage in June 2023.

Bay said she believes the teenager was the youngest person to ever dive on the Titan, and that there were “no true misgivings” about his age ahead of the dive.

“Stockton had spoke to the family directly on a few occasions and met with them personally,” she said. “So there was no concerns once they had been spoken with and understood. Everyone understood and was ready and excited to dive.”

Bay started working for OceanGate in December 2018. She said part of her duties included the care of the “mission specialists” — what the company called those who paid to go on dives — during expeditions.

She described a mission specialist, who paid $250,000 for the Titan dive, as someone who was “curious about deep-sea exploration” and understood that “this wasn’t a luxury trip.”

“As Stockton put it, there was no chocolate on the pillow,” she said. “They were invited to be involved and take an active role as much as possible as they wanted to.”

Towing concerns

Bay said she was present for all Titan missions in 2021 and 2022, as well as the first three in 2023 — missing the fourth and fifth, which would turn out to be the last, due to a family obligation.

OceanGate utilized the Horizon Arctic as its support ship in 2021 and 2022, though the vessel was no longer available in 2023 so they started utilizing the Polar Prince, she said. The 2023 missions started earlier in the year than previous missions due to the Polar Prince’s availability, she said.

Asked if she had any concerns about towing the Titan the 370 nautical miles to the Titanic wreck site, she said, “Certainly.”

“I think anybody would have, you know, concerns that this was going to be more challenging and more difficult in some aspects,” she said. “Stockton assured us that he was up for the challenge and the team was up for the challenge.”

She noted differences in the weather and water conditions on the 2023 missions compared to previous years.

“The seas were much higher than earlier on, than I remember being on the Horizon Arctic,” she said. “It was much colder. There’s a lot of rain.”

Asked if the Titan was ever damaged during the towing that year, she said she believed the vessel lost or damaged a fairing — a plastic cover that goes over the sub, “just like a car bumper.” She said on one or two occasions the platform also took on water and started to list.

Bay refutes prior witness testimony

A former OceanGate contractor who testified during the hearing last week, Antonella Wilby, told investigators about a conversation she had with Bay about a 2022 dive, during which passengers heard a loud bang as the Titan was ascending.

Wilby testified that when she brought up a customer’s concerns about the loud bang to Bay, Bay told her, “You have a bad attitude. You don’t have an explorer mindset. You know, we’re innovative and we’re cowboys, and a lot of people can’t handle that.”

Asked to explain those remarks on Tuesday, Bay refuted the testimony.

“I don’t believe that either of those statements is exactly what I had said,” she said.

She said Wilby’s concerns were “looked into and notated,” though she had no knowledge of what she was specifically referencing.

Bay said she did not deal with safety concerns and would refer people to the head of engineering, the director of operations and Rush.

“I did ask her if she did have concerns, to bring those up to those particular people,” Bay said.

She said she believed OceanGate staff felt comfortable raising safety concerns with Rush.

“I wasn’t witness to those types of meetings, but I was witness to people saying, ‘Oh yeah, I talked to Stockton about that today,'” she said.

OceanGate’s financial problems

At the beginning of 2023, OceanGate’s finances were “getting very tight,” and employees were asked to have their paychecks deferred once, Bay said.

“We were looking to make ends meet, and if we were able to defer our paychecks, there was an offer that Stockton had derived — I believe with an attorney or whomever — that we could delay our paychecks and be paid a small amount of interest and recaptured at a specific time,” she said.

She said she and Rush delayed their paychecks once.

Phil Brooks, the former engineering director of OceanGate, testified on Monday that he left the company in February 2023 in part due to the financial issues.

“It was clear that the company was economically very stressed,” he said.

OceanGate suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the deadly implosion.

The two-week hearing on the incident is scheduled to run through Friday.

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(GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C.) — The son of Ryan Routh, the man arrested in connection with the second apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, has been taken into custody on federal charges of possessing child pornography.

Investigators say they discovered “hundreds” of files with child pornography during a search of Oran Routh’s residence in Guilford County, North Carolina, on Saturday conducted “in connection with an investigation unrelated to child exploitation.”

The two charges he faces include receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

The “unrelated investigation” referred to Routh’s father — who remains in custody after a judge ordered him detained pending trial Monday — a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Carolina confirmed to ABC News.

Investigators said the pornography was found on a Samsung Galaxy Note device located inside Oran Routh’s primary bedroom in the residence, as well as another Galaxy Note device in Routh’s possession.

“A review of the SD card located in Device-1 revealed that it contained hundreds of child pornography files,” prosecutors wrote in the criminal complaint. “These files include videos from a known child pornography series created outside the state of North Carolina.”

The complaint included graphic descriptions of the videos and a chat from July in which Oran Routh allegedly responded to someone advertising the content for sale.

Oran Routh will make an initial appearance in North Carolina federal court later Tuesday.

He does not yet have an attorney listed for him.

His father, Ryan Routh, 58, has been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number for the incident that took place at Trump International Golf Club on Sept. 15. Prosecutors said Monday they intend to ask a grand jury to consider a charge that Ryan Routh attempted to assassinate Trump.

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