Jay-Z files defamation lawsuit against former accuser, her attorneys
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(LOS ANGELES) — Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter filed a defamation suit Monday against an Alabama woman who claimed he raped her when she was 13 in a since-withdrawn civil lawsuit.
Carter’s lawsuit said the woman, identified as Jane Doe, timed her claim “to inflict maximum pain and suffering on Mr. Carter” to extort payments from him.
The lawsuit also named the woman’s attorneys, Tony Buzbee and David Fortney, whom Jay-Z alleged “were soullessly motivated by greed, in abject disregard of the truth and the most fundamental precepts of human decency.”
The woman initially claimed that Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs took turns sexually assaulting her when she was 13 at a party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. Both men denied the allegation.
Jane Doe withdrew her lawsuit last month after Carter raised questions about the veracity of her account and his attorney sought sanctions against Buzbee.
“Doe has now voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story. She has admitted that Mr. Carter did not assault her; and that indeed it was Buzbee himself … who pushed her to go forward with the false narrative of the assault by Mr. Carter in order to leverage a maximum payday,” Carter’s defamation lawsuit said.
“But the extortion and abuse of Mr. Carter by Doe and her lawyers must stop,” it continued.
In response, Buzbee released a statement saying, “Shawn Carter’s investigators have repeatedly harassed, threatened and harangued this poor woman for weeks trying to intimidate her and make her recant her story. She hasn’t, and won’t. Instead she has stated repeatedly she stands by her claims. These same group of investigators have been caught on tape offering to pay people to sue me and my firm. After speaking with Jane Doe today, it appears that the quotes attributed to her in the lawsuit are completely made up, or they spoke to someone who isn’t Jane Doe.”
He added, “This is just another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman that we will deal with in due course. We won’t be bullied or intimidated by frivolous cases.”
ABC News’ Jennifer Leong contributed to this report.
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(MOSCOW, Idaho) — University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger will be back in court on Wednesday for a high-stakes hearing to decide what evidence will be allowed at his trial, which is set to begin in August.
The judge is expected to hear arguments over what evidence should be presented to the jury, including Kohberger’s Amazon search history, witness descriptions and testimony about DNA.
Kohberger is accused of fatally stabbing Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle at the girls’ off-campus house in Moscow in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Chapin, Kernodle’s boyfriend, was sleeping over at the time.
Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the murders, was arrested in December 2022. He’s charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, and a not guilty plea has been entered on his behalf.
Among the evidence prosecutors want to include at trial is that Kohberger’s DNA was allegedly found on a knife sheath at the murder scene.
The murder weapon was never recovered, but prosecutors allege Kohberger bought a KA-BAR knife with a sheath and a sharpener on Amazon. The defense argued anyone in the family could have made that purchase on Amazon, but prosecutors said they have a witness who will testify it was Bryan Kohberger.
The prosecution also plans on critical testimony from the two roommates who survived the murders, including one roommate who said in the middle of the night she saw a man with “bushy eyebrows” walking past her in the house.
The defense wants that description banned during trial.
The defense argues the roommate’s account lacks credibility, pointing to her phone records showing she was on social media and checking job websites the morning after the murders — hours before 911 was called.
“When it comes to evidentiary hearings, the prosecution’s goal is trying to admit as much damning evidence as possible,” ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire said, while the defense tries “to limit how much evidence comes in that is detrimental to their case.”
The defense is also pushing for the death penalty to be taken off the table if Kohberger is convicted, citing what they say is Kohberger’s autism spectrum disorder.
(NANWALEK, ALASKA) — Two people are dead and another was seriously injured following a plane crash in Alaska on Monday, the Alaska Department of Public Safety told ABC News.
No details have been released as to what caused the crash.
“The Alaska State Troopers are on scene of a plane crash in Nanwalek,” the Alaska DPS said in a statement on Monday night. “Two adults were killed in the incident and one adult was seriously injured and medevaced to an Anchorage area hospital.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(ALBUQUERQUE) — A 13-year-old boy has been arrested for murder after police said he and two other juveniles intentionally ran down a bicyclist in New Mexico last year in a fatal hit-and-run that was filmed from inside the vehicle.
Police said they are still searching for the two other children — a 15-year-old boy who also faces a murder charge and a 12-year-old boy — in connection with the incident.
The victim, 63-year-old Scott Habermehl, was riding in a bike lane the morning of May 29, 2024, while commuting to work when he was struck in a hit-and-run, police said.
Police said there were no witnesses who saw the vehicle flee, and investigators were unable to find any surveillance footage of the incident.
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said the case likely would have gone unsolved — until video taken from inside the vehicle of the incident was posted on social media.
The video, which police released on Tuesday, is “extremely disturbing,” Medina said.
“You hear the discussion of, they see the guy on the bike, and they make the decision that they’re going to strike him, they’re just going to bump him, and they murdered this individual,” Medina said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“We’ve all looked at it, and it is just horrific that this could be done to another human being,” he said.
Police got a new lead on the case in February, after two juveniles reported the video, one to a parent and the other to a middle school official in Albuquerque, according to Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock with the Albuquerque Police Department’s criminal investigation division.
“The video had been posted to Instagram showing three individuals in a car purposely running over a cyclist,” Hartsock said during the press briefing.
Officers determined the video was from the May 29, 2024, hit-and-run, and were able to identify the three individuals in the car, which is believed to have been stolen, police said. They were “literally laughing about what they had just done as they fled,” Hartsock said.
In the video, someone can be heard asking, “Are you guys recording it?”
The back passenger, who police said is believed to be the 15-year-old, says to “just bump him, brah” after the car accelerates.
“Like bump him?” the driver responds.
“Yeah, just bump him. Go like 15, 20,” the back passenger says.
The video released by police ends just before the collision.
The three juveniles are believed to be friends, Medina said. Authorities believe the 13-year-old was driving the car at the time.
Police obtained murder arrest warrants for the two teenagers late last week, Hartsock said.
The 13-year-old was taken into custody on Monday and booked into a juvenile detention center, police said. He had been on juvenile probation following an arrest by Albuquerque police last year, police said. He was arrested on an open count of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death and unlawful possession of a handgun by a person, police said.
Police are asking for the public’s help in locating the two other juveniles. Hartsock urged the 15-year-old, who faces the same charges as the other teen, to turn himself in.
The 12-year-old is a missing person out of Torrance County and is listed as a runaway, police said. He is too young to be charged and booked into a correctional facility, police said.
“We hope that the rest of the system is able to deal with this individual and make sure there’s consequences for what they have done, and make sure that they’re rehabilitated if it’s possible,” Medina said.
The 12-year-old was seen holding a firearm in the video, according to police. Medina said it is unclear what happened to the weapon.
The boy was 11 at the time of the incident, Medina said, calling the young age “surprising.”
“All of us that have kids in here, think of your 11-year-old out doing this. It is just mind-boggling,” Medina said.
The chief said they believe they have tracked down the vehicle involved in the incident.
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller called the incident “unimaginable.”
“It’s something that, on the one hand, is incredibly heartbreaking because of their age and how they’re caught up in the cycle of violence,” he said at the briefing. “On the other hand, this is absolutely terrifying.”
The juveniles are not believed to have known the victim, Medina said, noting, “It seems random.”
Habermehl worked at Sandia National Labs and is survived by his wife and two sons, according to his obituary.
“Scott took great joy in sharing his hobbies with his sons, whether it was playing baseball in the yard, biking through the Bosque, hiking in his beloved Rocky Mountains, or skiing with them in the backcountry,” the obituary stated.
Medina asked for privacy for the family at this time.
“They, in a way, suffered the first time, feeling that this individual was the victim of a motor vehicle death,” he said. “Now, with the new information that’s come out, I’m sure it ripped open new wounds.”
Keller remembered Habermehl as a “stand-up member of the Sandia Labs community” who was “well-accomplished and loved by folks in his community out in Corrales.”
The mayor commended the police department on its investigation.
“Now we know what happened, we can at least tell the truth about what happened to Scott,” Keller said. “That truth involves a truth we all have to hold ourselves accountable to, which is we each have a role to play. And in this case, there are dozens and dozens of ways, dozens of cracks that this child, these children, fell through. But that is never an excuse.”
“We have to commit to do more and all of us have an answer of what we think would improve this criminal justice system, and for us, we know that our first step is actually to catch these remaining two individuals,” he continued.
