Inmate apprehended after ‘unlawfully’ walking away from Oklahoma prison
Oklahoma Department of Corrections
(OKLAHOMA CITY) — The search has ended for an inmate at an Oklahoma correctional facility who “unlawfully” walked away from prison, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
At approximately 8:25 p.m. on Monday, William D. Brainard, 44, was “determined to have unlawfully walked away” from the Clara Waters Correctional Center in Oklahoma City, the department of corrections said in a statement on Monday.
Brainard was apprehended by officials at 12:51 p.m. on Tuesday, the department of corrections told ABC News.
Brainard is serving a five-year sentence for burglary of the third degree and larceny of an auto, aircraft or other motor vehicle, according to the department of corrections website.
He was described as being 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing 215 pounds and has several tattoos — including one on his abdomen that reads “smile now cry later” and one on his arm that reads “love mom, corn fed, devil,” according to the wanted poster released by officials.
Brainard could also be found under the aliases of Dewayne W. Brainard, William Brainard or Corn F. Hillbilly, officials said.
The escaped inmate has also previously been sentenced for second-degree robbery, assault or battery with a dangerous weapon and distribution or possession with intent of a controlled dangerous substance, according to the corrections’ department website.
(LOS ANGELES) — Erik and Lyle Menendez’s much-anticipated resentencing hearing is underway, with lawyers set to battle over whether the brothers should get a lesser sentence, clearing the way for a potential release from prison.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos, who is pushing for their release, said he plans to call seven witnesses during the Tuesday and Wednesday proceedings, while the prosecution said it will call no witnesses.
Menendez cousin Anamaria Baralt was the first on the stand as Erik and Lyle Menendez watched via video from prison.
Through tears, Baralt pleaded with the judge to release her cousins, noting time is running out for them to be reunited with aging family members.
“They are very different men” than when they committed the murders, Baralt said, adding that “their transformation is remarkable.”
During cross-examination, Baralt told prosecutors that the brothers have taken full responsibility for the crimes and Lyle Menendez has admitted to asking a witness to lie at trial. But Baralt conceded they haven’t acknowledged some aspects of the case to her, as prosecutors argue the brothers haven’t admitted to the full extent of their crimes and cover-ups.
Erik and Lyle Menendez are serving life without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. They have the support of over 20 family members in their efforts to be freed after 35 years behind bars.
Their resentencing case gained momentum in October when then-Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced he supported a reduced sentence.
Gascón recommended the brothers’ sentences of life without parole be removed, and said 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, they’d be eligible for parole immediately under California law.
Gascón’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the brothers’ conduct in prison, saying they rehabilitated themselves and started programs to help other inmates.
In November, Gascón lost his reelection bid to Nathan Hochman, who in March filed a motion to withdraw the resentencing petition, calling the brothers’ claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies.” The judge denied Hochman’s request.
This resentencing hearing will be a face-off between Geragos and Hochman, who is trying to keep the brothers behind bars.
“The issue is not never for the resentencing,” Hochman told ABC News in an exclusive interview Monday night. “It’s not yet.”
“The Menendez brothers have failed to come clean with the full extent of their criminal conduct, their cover-up, their lies and their deceit,” Hochman said outside court Tuesday morning.
“When and if they do, and they do it sincerely,” Hochman said, they would be “ready for resentencing.”
Hochman continues to refuse to say whether he believes the brothers were sexually abused.
A hearing was held Friday to determine whether the resentencing case should include information from the California Board of Parole’s newly completed risk assessment, which was conducted as a part of a separate clemency path. The risk assessment came at the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom as a part of the brothers’ clemency bid; the brothers are pursuing multiple avenues to freedom, and the clemency path is separate from the resentencing path.
The risk assessment said Erik and Lyle Menendez pose a moderate risk to the community if they’re released.
The assessment revealed the brothers possessed illegal cellphones in prison, among numerous other violations, though many are not recent. However, Erik Menendez had a phone as recently as January of this year, which Hochman stressed was during the resentencing effort when he should have been on his best behavior.
The defense noted Erik Menendez had one write-up for violence 25 years ago and Lyle Menendez has had none.
Judge Michael Jesic indicated he will take some of the risk assessment into account for the resentencing case, but he added that the information in the assessment is preliminary and attorneys can’t question the psychologists who performed the examinations.
(SAN ANTONIO, Texas) — A Texas mother has been arrested and charged for allegedly buying ammunition and tactical gear for her son’s planned “mass targeted violence” at his middle school, officials said.
Ashley Pardo, 33, was arrested on Monday and charged with aiding in commission of terrorism after she allegedly provided ammunition and tactical gear to her son, whose behavior demonstrated plans for a “mass targeted violence” aimed at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio, according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News.
Back in January, Pardo’s son was first contacted in reference to “drawings of the local school he currently attended,” the affidavit said. These drawings included a map of the school — labeled “suicide route” — and the name of the school written beside a rifle, the affidavit said.
The son, who was not named in the affidavit, was contacted by officials at the time and described a “fascination with past mass shooters,” according to the affidavit.
In April, the son was found researching the 2019 Christchuch mosque shooting in New Zealand — a tragedy that killed 51 people — on a school-issued computer, the affidavit said.
He was “subsequently suspended and later in the day attempted suicide with a straight razor causing significant injuries and requiring over 100 stitches,” the affidavit noted. The boy attended an alternative school until May 7, according to officials.
His grandmother, with whom he had been staying “on various occasions,” contacted police on Monday after she found her grandson “hitting a live bullet with a hammer,” the affidavit said.
The middle schooler told his grandmother he received the bullet from Pardo and that she had “guns and ammunition at her house,” according to the affidavit.
The grandmother told officials Pardo had been taking the boy to a local surplus store and bought him magazines, a tactical black vest “capable of concealing ballistic plates,” a tactical black helmet and various army clothing, the affidavit said.
On Monday, the boy told his grandmother he was “going to be famous” before being picked up by his mom and taken to school, according to officials.
The grandmother then looked through the boy’s bedroom, where she found magazines loaded with live rifle ammunition and pistol magazines loaded with live ammunition, the affidavit said.
She also found an “improvised explosive device” — a mortar-style firework wrapped in duct tape — among the boy’s belongings, the affidavit noted. The explosive device had the words “For Brenton Tarrant,” referencing the shooter in the 2019 mosque attack, along with multiple “SS” symbols and “14 words” — referencing white supremacy — written on it, according to the affidavit.
Along with the weaponry, the grandmother found a handwritten note referring to previous mass shootings, mass shooting suspects and the number of victims in each incident, the affidavit said.
Pardo had been aware of the threats made by her son, expressed to the school her support of his “violent expressions and drawings” and said she did not feel concerned for his behavior, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit noted that Pardo was purchasing the gear and ammunition for her son in exchange for babysitting his younger siblings.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Boston Thursday will consider pumping the brakes on a controversial Trump administration policy of removing migrants to countries where they have no prior connection without allowing them to raise concerns about their safety.
A group of noncitizens with final removal orders filed a federal lawsuit challenging the policy last month, arguing that being removed to countries like El Salvador, Honduras or Panama — despite having no connection to those countries — risks their safety and violates their rights.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, a Biden appointee who temporarily blocked the policy last month, will consider extending his order and certifying a class of noncitizens who would be protected from removal to a so-called third country.
“The need for preliminary injunctive relief in this case is vital,” lawyers representing the men argued in a recent court filing. “Indeed, it may be the difference between safety and torture, life and death, for many noncitizens, including ones who have been living and working in this country for decades.”
The hearing also comes as the Trump administration faces new allegations that they violated Judge Murphy’s order by removing more than a dozen migrants to El Salvador last month despite the judge’s order barring such transfers.
The plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit argue that the Department of Homeland Security’s policy results in the removal of migrants to third countries without providing them a chance to raise concerns about potentially being persecuted, tortured, or killed. In one instance, they allege that the Trump administration removed a Guatemalan man to Mexico without giving him the chance to raise concerns that he was previously raped there and now fears prosecution in that country.
“Defendants have resorted to violating noncitizens’ clear statutory rights to apply for protection from removal to countries where they face persecution or torture,” the lawyers wrote.
Lawyers with the Department of Justice have argued that Judge Murphy lacks the jurisdiction to intervene in DHS’ policies after a final order of removal has been issued by an immigration judge.
They have also argued that a preliminary injunction is no longer necessary because DHS implemented a new policy of getting “diplomatic assurances that aliens removed from the United States will not be persecuted or tortured,” or screening noncitizens for their eligibility for protections under the United Nations’ Convention Against Torture.
“As this Court indicated during the hearing on Plaintiffs’ motion, Defendants are entitled to issue guidance to satisfy any potential due process concerns. Defendants have now done so,” they argued.
But lawyers for the men who brought the lawsuit have argued that those measures are “woefully inadequate” and pointed to two recent examples where they allege that DHS potentially violated the court’s temporary order.
Two days after Judge Murphy blocked the deportations, the Trump administration announced that it had removed 17 alleged members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison. According to the plaintiffs, at least two of the men on those flights had final orders of removal to Venezuela and were never given the right to challenge their removal to El Salvador.
According to the plaintiff’s lawyers, one of those men is Maiker Espinoza Escalona, who entered the United States last year with his partner Yorely Bernal Inciarte and their one-year-old baby.
After the three turned themselves in to immigration authorities, they were separated, their family told ABC News. Inciarte has been detained at a detention center in El Paso, Texas, their baby has been in government custody, and Escalona is detained at CECOT in El Salvador, according to Inciarte’s mother.
The Trump administration alleged that Escalona is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, an accusation his family denies.
“They are liars,” said Inciarte’s mother Raida of the Trump administration. “I cannot believe that half of Venezuela is Tren de Aragua. That can’t be.”
“For them to be sent [to El Salvador] you have to investigate and prove they are what they are being accused of,” Raida said. “We’re distraught, I don’t wish this on anyone.”
