ICE agent charged in nonfatal shooting of Venezuelan immigrant in MinneapolisLaura Romero
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Minnesota prosecutors on Monday announced charges against a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the nonfatal shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis earlier this year.
The federal agent, Christian Castro, was charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, according to the Hennepin County attorney.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Alex Murdaugh, convicted of killing his wife and youngest son, listens as his attorneys Dick Harpootlian, left, and Phil Barber speak during a judicial hearing at the Richland County Judicial Center in Columbia, South Carolina, on Jan. 29, 2024. (Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of Alex Murdaugh, who was found guilty of killing his wife and younger son, finding that the court clerk’s “improper external influence” on the jury denied him a fair trial.
Murdaugh’s wife, Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh, 52, and younger son, Paul Murdaugh, 22, were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds near the dog kennels at the family’s hunting estate in 2021.
Murdaugh was convicted in 2023 of murdering them following a six-week trial, with jurors deliberating for nearly three hours before reaching a guilty verdict.
The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Murdaugh must have a new trial, citing the actions of former Colleton County Clerk of Court Mary Rebecca “Becky” Hill, the court clerk who served during the double murder trial.
Hill “egregiously attacked Murdaugh’s credibility and his defense, thus triggering the presumption of prejudice, which the State was unable to rebut,” the court’s opinion stated. “As noted at the outset, Hill’s shocking jury interference was accomplished outside the presence and knowledge of the outstanding trial judge and superbly competent and professional counsel for the State and the defense.”
In a footnote, the justices said they “commend the post-trial court, which inherited Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial and was placed in the unenviable position of evaluating unprecedented jury interference by a clerk of court within the context of a murky area of law.”
Following the decision, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said his office will “aggressively” seek to retry Alex Murdaugh for the murders “as soon as possible.”
“Let me be clear — this decision does not mean Murdaugh will be released,” Wilson said in a statement. “He will remain in prison for his financial crimes. No one is above the law and, as always, we will continue to fight for justice.”
Murdaugh was also convicted on several financial crimes following the murder trial and is serving a 27-year sentence on state charges and a 40-year sentence on federal charges related to those crimes.
In the murder trial, prosecutors made the case that Alex Murdaugh, who comes from a legacy of prominent attorneys in the Lowcountry region, killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and distract from his financial wrongdoings, while the defense argued that police ignored the possibility that anyone else could have killed them.
Murdaugh has continued to maintain his innocence. His defense alleged that jury tampering and evidentiary errors — including the inclusion of his financial crimes — denied him a fair trial.
Murdaugh’s attorneys contend that Hill tampered with the jury by “advising it not to believe Murdaugh’s testimony and other defense evidence, pressuring it to reach a quick guilty verdict, misrepresenting information to the trial court in an attempt to have the court remove a juror she believed to favor the defense.”
During oral arguments before the state Supreme Court justices on the matter in February, the defense alleged that Hill tampered with the jury to ensure a guilty verdict because, they claimed, it would help her sell more copies of a book she would go on to write about the high-profile case.
Murdaugh’s defense claimed that Hill influenced the verdict through remarks heard by some jurors during the trial, including in one instance to watch Murdaugh’s body language during his testimony, according to court filings.
“The clerk of court allowed public attention of the moment to overcome her duty,” Murdaugh’s attorney, Dick Harpootlian, said during the February hearing.
Lead prosecutor Creighton Waters countered during the hearing that Hill made a “few fleeting comments” over the course of a six-week trial that included nearly 90 witnesses and almost 600 exhibits, arguing that they weren’t enough to influence the verdict.
Chief Justice John Kittredge called Hill a “rogue clerk of court” during the hearing and said he wanted to make note that the “overwhelming majority” of clerks in the state are “dedicated, conscientious public servants” who “do not act like this.”
Hill resigned as the Colleton County clerk of court in March 2024, amid the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s investigation into allegations she may have abused her government position for financial gain.
She pleaded guilty in December 2025 to obstruction of justice, perjury and misconduct in office for showing photographs that were sealed court evidence to a reporter during the trial and then later lying about doing so on the stand during a hearing related to Murdaugh’s bid for a new trial.
The charges did not allege any jury tampering, and she denied any tampering with the jury during her testimony.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Virginia Lieutenant Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) speaks during a news conference on June 4, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced plans to take down a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) –Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax fatally shot his wife, Cerina, in their home before taking his own life, police said Thursday.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis told reporters that there was an “ongoing domestic dispute surrounding a complicated, messy divorce.”
Police responded to a domestic call at the couple’s Annandale, Virginia, home in January, Davis said, but no charges were filed from that incident. The couple were separated but still living together inside the house, according to Davis.
“Former Lt Gov Fairfax was recently served some paperwork associated with an upcoming court proceeding that apparently led to this incident last night,” he said.
Davis said that the shooting took place around midnight and the couple’s two teenage children were inside the home.
Their son, the eldest child, called 911, according to Davis.
“[It’s] a traumatic event for those children to live through,” he said.
Fairfax served as the state’s lieutenant governor between 2018 and 2022.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(NEW YORK) — A large swath of the country is expected to face dangerous heat and fire weather conditions this weekend, forecasts show.
The National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings for more than 47 million Americans from the Great Plains to the Southeast on Saturday due to widespread critical fire weather danger.
Wind gusts in the Plains are expected to reach 30 to 60 mph on Saturday. Combined with very low humidity and dry fuels, conditions could be conducive for rapid wildfire growth and spread.
Gusty winds and dry conditions will also be in place from the Gulf Coast inland across the Southeast, including cities such as Lake Charles, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Tallahassee, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; and Asheville, North Carolina.
Meanwhile, a temperature roller coaster is expected in other parts of the country this weekend.
A cooldown has swept across the Midwest and Northeast following warm spring days earlier in the week.
Places in the Midwest and Northeast, like Chicago and New York City, will be noticeably cooler for Saturday, but will rebound to seasonable highs by the beginning of the new workweek.
In some regions, temperatures on Saturday will be at least 10 to 20 degrees cooler than Friday — following record high temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday and seasonably warm temperatures on Friday — forecasts show.
On Friday, some regions in the mid-Atlantic broke or tied their daily record highs for March 27, including Savannah, Georgia, which reached 89 degrees Fahrenheit, and Columbia, South Carolina, which reached 88 degrees.
As March wraps up, a pattern change will bring likely warmer than normal temperatures for the eastern half of the nation and near normal temperatures for the western half for the beginning of April.
But record-shattering heat will continue in the Southeast, with no relief coming this weekend.
Friday saw another day of record-breaking temperatures.
Phoenix reached 102 degrees; Death Valley reached 101 degrees; and Tucson, Arizona, reached 98 degrees.
Daily record highs are possible again this weekend for Las Vegas and Phoenix.
Between March 15 and March 26, more than 100 monthly records were broken or tied, and 700 daily records were broken or tied across the country, according to the National Weather Service.
Since March 1, there have been more than 1,100 daily records broken or tied across the nation.
