Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance speaks with media at the airport before he departs, Sept. 14, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Haitian migrants residing in Springfield, Ohio, shared with ABC News their harrowing experiences of living in constant fear, expressing deep concerns about their safety that prevent them from venturing outside their homes.
In a town of more than 58,000 residents, threats of bombings and shootings led to the closure of city buildings and schools for several days. Wittenberg University canceled all activities on Sunday and classes on Monday as a precautionary measure.
James Fleurijean, a Haitian Community Help & Support Center member, stated that the continual spread of false and divisive statements from prominent politicians was fostering an environment of fear.
“I know some parents like for this period of time they’re trying to keep their children home, like, by the time they see how things gonna be, like, wait for a couple of weeks to see if things that are calm down, or if things gonna escalate,” Fleurijean said. “You see, that’s why, like some parents, they don’t even send their children to school, like, for this week.”
Politicians, including former President Donald Trump, have heightened their fears. At the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris last week, Trump claimed, “In Springfield, people are resorting to eating dogs, cats, and other household pets.”
Trump did not specify the ethnicity of the migrants he claimed were eating pets in Springfield, but on X, his running mate JD Vance continuously raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services.
“Kamala Harris dropped 20,000 Haitian migrants into a small Ohio town and chaos has ensued,” Vance said on X.
Vance appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and informed reporters that Ohio locals have been lodging complaints for at least a year now.
“I have heard firsthand from multiple constituents – people who made 911 calls a month ago, a year ago, who were making these complaints,” Vance said. “I trust my constituents more than I do the American media that has shown no interest in what’s happened in Springfield until we started sharing cat memes on the Internet.”
ABC News spoke with a 28-year-old Haitian man who wanted to remain anonymous. He said he had come to Springfield from New Jersey less than a year ago to search for work. While waiting for ABC News, a passerby yelled “TRUMP” at him, he said.
The man mentioned that he used to see a lot of Haitians on the street, but he doesn’t see them anymore. He believes they are afraid. He mentioned that the Haitian community has felt terrorized.
Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has dismissed the rumors about Haitian immigrants eating pets as nonsense. He says the discussion has to stop and the focus should be on moving forward, not dogs and cats.
“Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in,” DeWine said. “These Haitians came in to work for these companies. They’re very happy to have them there. And, frankly, that’s helped the economy.”
The majority of the 12,000 to 15,000 migrants who have arrived in Springfield over the past four years are from Haiti, according to the city of Springfield. These Haitian migrants left their country due to gang-related violence and poverty, in search of stability, safety, and job opportunities. They came to the U.S. under the Temporary Protected Status designation.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for a pretrial hearing, following his overturned sex crimes conviction, in New York City, July 19, 2024. (KENA BETANCUR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein’s criminal sexual assault case is scheduled to return on Wednesday to a Manhattan courtroom — and if Weinstein shows up he will be arraigned on a new indictment.
The charges remain sealed until Weinstein appears. The former movie mogul missed his last court date after being rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office presented to the grand jury allegations of three separate women who said Weinstein sexually assaulted them. Their allegations were not part of the initial trial of Weinstein that ended in a conviction, which was later overturned on appeal.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement earlier this year, when the conviction was overturned.
Weinstein has denied all claims of sexual misconduct, saying his encounters were consensual.
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Sept. 13, 2024. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Amid Florida’s state investigation into the apparent assassination attempt made against Donald Trump, Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told the former president additional planning and security procedures are needed for him to continue his golf outings.
Trump met with Rowe to discuss future protocol Monday afternoon, sources familiar with the briefing told ABC News.
Trump was encouraged by the acting director to give more or as much notice as possible for golf outings or any type of trip where he would be out exposed to the public.
With more notice, the USSS can request assets from local police to, for example, walk or search grounds before the Secret Service arrives and to station manpower at various locations, sources said.
It’s not clear what changes Trump may make to his golf schedule considering Rowe’s recommendation for increased security and planning.
On Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he signed an executive order to launch a state investigation into Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club, saying “we need trust and transparency.”
During a news conference, DeSantis said he has assigned the state investigation to the Office of Statewide Prosecutor under the supervision of state Attorney General Ashley Moody. The governor said the state has jurisdiction over the “most serious straightforward offense, which is attempted murder,” which could carry a life sentence if the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, is convicted.
DeSantis questioned the federal government’s ability to properly investigate and prosecute the second assassination attempt in two months on Trump.
DeSantis said Americans are still waiting to learn the motive for the first attempt on the former president’s life at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which a Secret Service sniper killed the suspect after he fired eight rounds with an AR-15-style rifle at Trump from the roof of a nearby building, investigators said. Trump suffered a bullet wound to the ear in the Butler incident and one rallygoer was killed and two were injured.
“In my judgment, it is not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law but not federal law,” DeSantis said.
The Department of Justice declined to comment when asked by ABC News for a response to DeSantis’ remarks.
Routh, a convicted felon, was arrested shortly after what FBI officials described as an “apparent assassination attempt” on Trump at the Republican presidential nominee’s Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Federal prosecutors announced Monday that the 58-year-old Routh has been charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Routh was allegedly lying in wait on the periphery of the golf course for nearly 12 hours when a Secret Service agent several hundred yards ahead of Trump spotted the barrel of a rifle poking out from the tree line and opened fire on the gunman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida said Monday. Routh allegedly ran to a car and drove off, leaving behind a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope and two bags, including a backpack, federal officials said.
A citizen helped catch Routh in neighboring Martin County after taking a photo of the suspect’s getaway car and giving it to police, officials said.
The FBI is leading the investigation of the incident and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida is prosecuting the case against Routh.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made his first on-camera remarks Tuesday addressing the suspected assassination attempt.
“I just want to note the FBI is continuing to investigate the apparent assassination attempt of the former president that occurred on Sunday in Florida,” Garland said. “We are grateful he is safe. The entire Justice Department, particularly the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office the Southern District of Florida, the National Security Division are all coordinating closely with our local, state law enforcement partners on the ground. We will all work together to tirelessly determine accountability in this matter. We will spare no resource in this investigation.”
On Monday, Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said at a news conference that the “U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Department of Justice would be unable to carry forth our mission without the invaluable assistance of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners.”
Acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe Jr. said Monday that Trump was never in the line of sight of the suspected gunman and that the suspect did not get off a single shot.
Trump praised the Secret Service for protecting him during a phone call on Tuesday with ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl.
“I’m fine. The Secret Service did a good job, actually,” Trump said.
Asked by Karl if he thought the Secret Service has a good handle on protecting him during a heightened threat environment in the final days of the presidential campaign, Trump said, “Yeah, I do. I think Secret Service is doing a good job, and they did a very good job the last couple of days. On that event, I thought they were excellent.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose agency oversees the Secret Service, also praised Trump’s protection detail during an event hosted by Politico on Tuesday.
“They should be commended,” Mayorkas said.
Mayorkas said agents from the Secret Service eliminated the threat quickly and the agency has increased the former president’s protection.
“We, the United States Secret Service, has indeed enhanced the former president’s security posture so that he is receiving a level of security commensurate with the fact that he’s a former president and on the campaign trail,” Mayorkas said.
Moody said the state investigation into the incident will be handled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol.
“The people of Florida deserve answers, and we will not stop until we know the truth and how we can best prevent similar attacks in Florida,” Moody said.
Moody said the state agencies will “investigate what happened when something went terribly wrong, when someone was allowed to remain on the periphery of a golf course in a tree line for 12 hours and get within 500 [yards]” of Trump.
Mark Glass, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said his agency will “hunt for the truth.”
“Florida is a law-and-order state and we will not sit idly by while anybody stonewalls information sharing amongst our law enforcement entities,” Glass said without elaborating. “We know that if we want answers, we’ve got to go get them.”
Routh is being held at Federal Detention Center Miami, according to the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator. He is expected to remain in custody there pending his detention hearing next Monday and likely his trial.
Sean “Diddy” Combs attends Sean “Diddy” Combs Fulfills $1 Million Pledge To Howard University At Howard Homecoming – Yardfest at Howard University on October 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs)
(NEW YORK) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is expected to learn Wednesday afternoon whether he will continue to be held without bail on charges including sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy.
The music mogul’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, appealed Judge Robyn Tarnofsky’s Tuesday decision to detain the 54-year-old pending trial. The appeal hearing is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Combs is alleged to have run an “enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and other crimes,” according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors said Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct” from 2008 to the present. The allegations mirror 11 civil complaints filed against him since 2023.
Explaining the decision to deny Combs bail, Tarnofsky said: “My concern is that this is a crime that happens behind closed doors.”
Federal prosecutors argued that Combs poses an ongoing threat to the community.
“The defendant also poses a significant risk of obstructing justice,” prosecutors said. “During the course of the charged conduct, the defendant has attempted to bribe security staff and threatened and interfered with witnesses to his criminal conduct.”
“He has already tried to obstruct the Government’s investigation of this case, repeatedly contacting victims and witnesses and feeding them false narratives of events,” prosecutors added.
“There are simply no conditions that would ensure that the defendant’s efforts to obstruct and tamper with witnesses will stop,” prosecutors said.
Agnifilo asked the judge to release Combs on a $50 million bail package, disputing the prosecutors’ characterization of his client as a flight risk. The lawyer said Combs arrived in New York on Sept. 5 and “came here to face it.”
Agnifilo said Combs is trying to sell his private plane. Agnifilo said he took possession of his client’s passport and those of five of his relatives.
He also argued that when Combs took two trips — to a graduation party for one of his children and a whitewater rafting trip — “we told the government where he was going.”
“Trust has to be earned and we have earned it,” he told the judge.
In this July 10, 2023, file photo, a resident of the neighborhood takes a picture of a house with extensive damage along Peartree Ln in a gated community of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., the morning after several houses began sliding down a canyon. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, FILE)
(NEW YORK) — As the embattled cliffside city of Rancho Palos Verdes continues to face indefinite utility shutoffs due to landslide risk, a neighboring Southern California community has lost gas services this week.
Officials from Rolling Hills, an adjacent city on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, announced that SoCal Gas shut off services to 34 homes in the area on Monday.
Additionally, electricity company Southern California Edison announced 51 households are preparing to lose power indefinitely no later than Wednesday evening, according to a statement from Rolling Hills officials.
This means services could be shut off any time before Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. PT, according to officials who note the utility companies are responsible for notifying customers of their service status.
Mayor Leah Mirsch released a statement Monday, saying, “The safety and well-being of our residents remains the City’s top priority.”
“We are all impacted by the outages and are committed to holding the utility companies accountable – pushing them to implement solutions that will restore services both quickly and safely,” Mirsch added.
Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the Portuguese Bend area of Rancho Palos Verdes as SoCal Gas and Southern California Edison shut off services to nearly 250 residences due to broken pipes and power lines causing hazards.
Residents in the growing landslide zone, which officials said earlier this month had spread about 680 acres over the past year, were advised to leave the area following the loss of vital power.
Photos show foundational damage to multi-million dollar properties and the surrounding roadways have become a reality amid the increasingly shifting landscape.
Newsom said land movement in the area has “significantly accelerated following severe storms in 2023 and 2024.”
Larry Chung, vice president of electric utility company Southern California Edison (SCE), said during a community meeting this month that there’s “no timeframe” for power restoration in the impacted areas due to the instability of the land.
“We can not predict how much the slide will accelerate in the coming weeks and months,” Chung said.
The Rancho Pales Verdes Peninsula is located about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.
“There is no playbook for an emergency like this one,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents the area, said at a news conference on Sept. 1. “We’re sparing no expense. This is bigger than Rancho Palos Verdes. This land movement is so gigantic and so damaging that one city should not have to bear the burden alone.”
Hahn said at the time the county committed $5 million to respond to the disaster.
It has not been announced if L.A. County’s funding and Newsom’s executive order will extend to the Rolling Hills community.
Charlie Raine, a Rolling Hills resident, told ABC News affiliate KABC-TV he’s worried about his elderly neighbors in the wake of the shutoffs.
“There’s a lot of people that are dealing with this, and it’s overwhelming for them,” he told the outlet. “I’m somewhat capable of doing this for myself, certainly, and I feel sort of obligated to help other people try and get through this.”
Rolling Hills officials said the Rotary Club of Palos Verdes Peninsula is organizing donation efforts for residents who have been affected by the landslide.
Generator and solar installation permits are being expedited to support alternative power solutions, according to officials.
(NEW YORK) — Schools in a Kentucky country reopened Tuesday under heavy police guard for the first time since a massive search was launched for a suspect in an interstate shooting that injured five people 11 days ago.
As the suspect, 32-year-old Joseph Couch, remained on the loose Tuesday, the Laurel County Public Schools reopened campuses to its nearly 9,000 students.
“We will not live our lives in fear,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said during a news conference Tuesday.
The school district said in a statement that the reopening plan “prioritizes the safety of our students and staff.”
“The reopening plan provides enhanced security measures for bus transportation services, school campuses and extra-curricular activities,” the school district said.
Tuesday’s search for Couch continued to focus in the thick woods of the Daniel Boone National Forest, according to the Kentucky State Police.
Both state and federal teams have combed through at least 28,000 acres of the more than 700,000-acre national forest, but have yet to find any sign of Couch, officials said.
As the search continues in the national forest, officials said they are expanding the hunt for Couch to the communities surrounding the forest.
Beshear said additional state resources are being made available to help with the ongoing search efforts.
The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service are assisting in the search.
The search for the gunman began on Sept. 7, after police responded to reports that a dozen vehicles traveling on Interstate 75 near London, Kentucky, had been struck by gunfire, officials said.
The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said 20 to 30 shots were fired from a hillside near I-75’s exit 49.
Couch was initially named as a person of interest after deputies found his SUV abandoned on a forest road near exit 49, officials said. An AR-15 rifle Couch purchased in the hours before the shooting and investigators believe was used in the incident was also found in the woods near Couch’s vehicle along with a bag with Couch’s name written on it, officials said.
A day after the shooting, Couch was upgraded to the primary suspect. Investigators warned that Couch should be considered armed and dangerous.
In addition to searching the national forest, a tip prompted investigators this week to search a home in Laurel County, but found no evidence of Couch having been there, officials said.
Before the interstate shooting, according to the arrest warrant, a Laurel County 911 dispatcher received a call from a woman who alleged Couch texted her before the interstate shooting and “advised he was going to kill a lot of people. Well, try at least.” The text message was sent to the woman at 5:03 p.m. on Sept. 7, about a half-hour before the interstate shooting started, according to the arrest warrant.
“Couch sent another message to [the woman] that read, in part, ‘I’ll kill myself afterwards,'” according to the arrest warrant.
(NEW YORK) — An OceanGate whistleblower testified during a United States Coast Guard hearing into the deadly 2023 implosion of the Titan that he had “no confidence” in the way the experimental submersible was being built.
David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations for OceanGate, said he was known as a “troublemaker” in the tourism and expeditions company because he was so outspoken about his safety concerns — voiced years before five people were killed when the Titan catastrophically imploded during a deep-sea voyage to the Titanic wreckage in June 2023.
Lochridge said Tuesday during an ongoing Coast Guard hearing into the deadly implosion that he was hired in 2015 to in part work on the operations for the Titan but was ultimately not involved in its development. Lochridge said he was “phased out” after butting heads with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — one of the five people who died in the implosion.
When asked by the Marine Board of Investigation for the U.S. Coast Guard if he had confidence in the way the Titan was being built in 2017, Lochridge said, “No confidence whatsoever, and I was very vocal about that, and still am.”
Lochridge submitted a report in January 2018 outlining his concerns about the submersible’s carbon-fiber hull, including imperfections, after he said Rush asked him to inspect it.
“At the end of the day, safety comes first,” Lochridge said. “Yes, you’re taking a risk going down in a submersible, but don’t take risks that are unnecessary with faulty, and I mean faulty, deficient equipment.”
Lochridge testified Rush “liked to do things on the cheap.” Asked why the company resorted to cost-cutting measures, Lochridge said, “The desire to get to the Titanic as quickly as we could to start making profit.”
He said he did not know about the financial side of the company, but that “there was a big push to get this done.”
“A lot of steps along the way were missed,” he said.
Lochridge testified that Rush wanted to do manned testing of the first Titan prototype, though Lochridge recommended doing unmanned testing due to his concerns.
“I knew that hull would fail,” he said. “It’s an absolute mess.”
Lochridge was fired from OceanGate in 2018, days after submitting his report and attending an hourslong meeting with OceanGate executives, including Rush, ABC News previously reported. Documents reviewed by ABC News stated that it was clear Lochridge and Rush were “at an impasse” regarding the Titan hull, and “the only option was the termination of your employment.”
Lochridge testified Tuesday he was terminated because he was “anti-project.”
“I didn’t want to lose my job,” Lochridge said. “I wanted to go to Titanic. It was on my bucket list. I wanted to dive this, but dive it safely.”
Following his termination, Lochridge said he reached out to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in February 2018 with his concerns about public safety and was placed under the agency’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Recent Stories from ABC News
“I wouldn’t want to see anybody dying for the sake of going in a sub,” Lochridge said Tuesday. “It’s a magical place. I love it. I’m very passionate about what I do. If there’s risk like that, don’t do it.”
A defect was discovered in the first prototype of the carbon-fiber hull in 2019, and it was not used on Titanic missions, the Coast Guard said.
A second carbon-fiber hull was subsequently made that was used on Titanic missions, including the doomed dive on June 18, 2023.
OceanGate suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the implosion.
The Coast Guard’s hearing into the implosion is scheduled to last two weeks. Lochridge is the only witness scheduled to testify on Tuesday.
During his testimony, Lochridge said he started being phased out of his duties after he inadvertently “embarrassed” Rush during a 2016 dive to the Andrea Doria shipwreck on OceanGate’s Cyclops 1 submersible.
Lochridge, a veteran submersible pilot, said he was meant to take several paying clients down to the wreck to take a 3-D model, but Rush wanted to pilot the dive instead. Lochridge said he objected, noting that the wreck is “dangerous” and that over a dozen people died during dives to the site at the time — and eventually persuaded Rush to let him go along.
He said Rush ended up getting the vessel stuck in the wreck and refused to relinquish control of the submersible to Lochridge until one of the crew members yelled at Rush to give Lochridge the PlayStation controller that piloted the vessel.
Lochridge said Rush threw the controller at his head and one of the buttons came off, though he testified that he was able to repair it and get them back to the surface.
After that, Lochridge said Rush stopped talking to him.
Lochridge testified he raised objections after OceanGate phased out its relationship with the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory in 2016. He said Rush decided to do all engineering for the Titan in-house.
Asked by the board why that was the case, Lochridge said, “Arrogance.”
He also testified the company only cared about making money and it wasn’t interested in scientific research.
“The whole idea behind the company was to make money, that’s it,” Lochridge said. “There was very little in the way of science.”
OceanGate sued Lochridge following his termination, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets. Lochridge alleged in a counterclaim lawsuit that he was fired for raising concerns about quality control.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Lochridge said he dropped his OSHA case and walked away from the lawsuits in late 2018 because he didn’t want to “put my family through any more of this,” financially and emotionally.
“It was going nowhere,” he said. “It was too much for us as a family.”
Lochridge and OceanGate settled the dispute out of court in November 2018. Lochridge said OSHA closed the case in December 2018 following the settlement agreement.
“I never paid a penny to OceanGate, I’m going to state that clearly,” Lochridge said Tuesday. “I gave them nothing, they gave me nothing.”
In his final remarks, Lochridge said he hopes the investigation will shed light on “why OSHA did not actively address my concerns.”
“I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented,” he said. “As a seafarer, I feel deeply let down and disappointed by the system that is meant to protect not only seafarers but the general public as well.”
ABC News has reached out to OSHA for comment. OSHA had previously declined to comment to ABC News on the case.
The Coast Guard hearing is scheduled to resume on Thursday, with testimony from the company’s former scientific director and a crew member who was on board OceanGate’s 2016 dive to the Andrea Doria shipwreck.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — “I wanted some kind of revenge. I was seeing red,” one of the former Memphis, Tennessee, officers who pleaded guilty to charges connected to the death of Tyre Nichols said on the witness stand Monday evening.
The federal trial of three former Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Nichols continued Tuesday morning after prosecutors called ex-officer Emmitt Martin III to the stand, according to WATN-TV, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom.
Martin, whose nickname on the force was “Full Can” for what prosecutors said was his use of pepper spray against suspects, started Tuesday’s testimony by watching the footage from the night of Nichols’ stop, WATN reported.
“They were assaulting him,” Martin said of his former partners. “I was already angry that he ran. I kicked him … They [his former partners] were holding him up. He was helpless.”
Martin admitted to kicking Nichols four times and punching him five times and said the Memphis resident remained passive even when officers were aggressive with him, according to WATN.
Martin testified at the trial of former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — who 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.
Martin and Desmond Mills Jr, the two other officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.
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. 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.
“You get your a– beat,” Martin said when prosecutors asked about a term his former unit used called the “run tax”, which referred to the consequences suspects paid for running from police, WATN reported.
Body camera video shows Martin tossing his camera so their confrontation with Nichols wouldn’t be recorded. Martin admitted to not using his body camera video and said he was unaware of the Skycop camera recording the incident above them until he saw it on the news, WATN noted.
“If I couldn’t justify, I would have to cover it up. I’m not going to tell on them [my partners] and they’re not going to tell on me. It was understood,” Martin said. “I lied.”
According to WATN, in police reports, narratives read that Nichol swung at officers and tried to grab Martin’s gun. Martin said he never saw that occur.
The ex-officer 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 and eager to show he could still do the job and wanted revenge for being struck by a vehicle.
On Jan. 7. 2023, the night Nichols was pulled over, Martin said he saw Nichols speeding and changing lanes without a signal, WATN reported. The former officer said he ran Nichols’ license plate and it came back clean. Martin claimed that he switched to car-to-car radio channels and reached out to Haley, who said he would take the lead on apprehending Nichols.
Prosecutors noted that Martin and Haley were called the “Smash Brothers,” according to WATN.
Martin said he blocked Nichols’ car once he caught up to him — a maneuver department policy designates only for felonies — resulting in Martin escalating it to a felony stop even though it wasn’t, WATN reported.
Martin claimed that he and Haley both approached Nichols’ vehicle with guns drawn and Haley pulled him out, WATN noted.
“No, never got a chance to,” Martin said when asked if he gave Nichols any reasons for why they pulled him over, according to WATN. “Just didn’t.”
“You can be charged by the department and possibly [end up] here,” Martin said when prosecutors asked what his police training taught him about use of force, WATN reported.
Martin said they should’ve analyzed the situation first and gotten control of Nichols’ hands, WATN noted. He added that conflicting commands were given to Nichols during the arrest.
Body-camera footage shows that Nichols fled after police pulled him over for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him. Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes after. Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, 2023 — three days later. Footage shows the officers walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground. The incident triggered protests and calls for police reform.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that Nichols was driving recklessly.
The prosecution told ABC News Thursday 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.
SCORPION’s goal was to get guns and drugs off the street. Martin said that officers were picked based on productivity and remaining a member of the team depended on their statistics, WATN reported. Martin said they had zero arrests the night he spotted Nichols and they were told that if one officer had hands on someone that everyone had to have hands on them, WATN noted.
The trial was paused for lunch and Martin’s testimony continued after, according to WATN.
Evidence photo shows Brendan Banfield and his au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes. (Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office)
(NEW YORK) — A grand jury has indicted 39-year-old Brendan Banfield in the stabbing death of his wife and murder of another man in the couple’s bedroom 19 months after the killing, according to Virginia’s Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Office.
Banfield is accused of fatally stabbing 37-year-old Christine Banfield and shooting Joseph Ryan, 38, in February 2023.
Banfield’s charging in the case comes months after the family’s 24-year-old live-in au pair was charged in the case.
“We know Brendan Banfield and Juliana Magalhaes, the family au pair, were involved in a romantic relationship at the time of the murders,” Fairfax Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a press conference Monday.
Banfield was indicted on four charges of aggravated murder and one charge for the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He is accused of the premeditated murder of the two.
If convicted, he could face a life sentence without the possibility of parole. For the firearm charge, he could face a mandatory minimum of three years.
“The great investigative work of the Fairfax County Police Department led us to new information which was instrumental in securing today’s indictment,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said during the press conference.
Investigators would not reveal what new information led to Monday’s arrest.
ABC News has reached out to an attorney for Brendan Banfield for comment.
The Banfield couple were married and living in their family home with their then-4-year-old daughter at the time of the murders.
Police responded to a 911 call from the home on Feb. 24, 2023, and found Ryan dead in an upstairs bedroom as a result of gunshot wounds. Christine Banfield was stabbed.
She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to police.
Police said they recovered two firearms and a knife from the home at the time of the murder.
Police also carried out another search warrant at Banfield’s house on Monday.
Magalhaes has been in custody since her arrest, according to police. Her trial is scheduled to begin in November.
The two are being held in the same adult detention center, according to Descano.
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court in New York on Tuesday upheld the sex crimes conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associated of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ghislaine, in March, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for recruiting and grooming the underage girls who Epstein sexually abused, arguing she was immunized by an agreement federal prosecutors in Florida arranged with Epstein in 2007.
On Tuesday, the appeals court ruled that Maxwell was not covered by Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement and said the alleged crimes fell within the statute of limitations.
Maxwell’s attorneys had argued that she was made a “proxy” for Epstein, who died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial, to “satisfy public outrage” about his conduct.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 after prosecutors said that, from 1994 to 2004, she worked together with Epstein to identify girls, groom them, and then transport them to Epstein’s properties in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and elsewhere. The girls — some of whom were as young as 14 years old — were then sexually abused, often under the guise of a “massage,” prosecutors said.
Maxwell is currently incarcerated in a low-security prison in Tallahassee and eligible for release in 2037.
