NYC Mayor Eric Adams seeks dismissal of bribery charge brought by ‘zealous’ prosecutors
(NEW YORK) — The bribery charge against New York Mayor Eric Adams is “extraordinarily vague” and brought by “zealous prosecutors” who spent years “casting about” for something to support a criminal case against the mayor, a defense attorney said Monday in a new court filing.
Federal prosecutors accused Adams of accepting more than $100,000 in airline upgrades and luxury hotel stays from Turkey and, in 2021, when a Turkish official told Adams it was “his turn,” Adams allegedly pressured the New York City Fire Department to rush a safety inspection of the new Turkish consulate in Manhattan.
Adams was arraigned on the charges on Friday. He pleaded not guilty one day after the indictment was unsealed.
The mayor’s attorney, Alex Spiro, argued on Monday that the alleged scheme “does not meet the definition of bribery” because the indictment does not say Adams agreed to perform any official act in exchange for the travel perks.
“Rather, it alleges only that while serving as Brooklyn Borough President — not Mayor or even Mayor-elect — he agreed generally to assist with the ‘operation’ or ‘regulation’ of a Turkish Consulate building in Manhattan, where he had no authority whatsoever,” Spiro wrote in a motion to dismiss the bribery count.
The defense suggested what Adams is accused of doing is routine, not criminal.
“That extraordinarily vague allegation encompasses a wide array of normal and perfectly lawful acts that any City official would undertake for the consulate of important foreign nation,” the motion said. “The three innocuous messages Adams allegedly sent to the Fire Commissioner here fall far short of the kind official act necessary for bribery.”
Adams has pleaded not guilty to all five counts he faces. He is due back in court on Wednesday.
Spiro said the other four counts should also be dismissed.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — The legal team of Sean Grayson, the former deputy charged with fatally shooting Illinois mother Sonya Massey in her home, notified the court Monday during his first pretrial hearing that they filed a request for an appeal with the Illinois Appellate Court last week following a lower court’s decision to deny Grayson’s pretrial release, according to Grayson’s lawyer.
Grayson has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death after she called 911 to report a prowler. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in custody.
A review by Illinois State Police found Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force. He was fired from his position with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office on July 17, the same day the charges were filed against him.
Grayson’s defense team requested his pretrial release from jail twice. In their latest request, the team argues in a motion filed earlier this month that he is currently under cancer treatment and will not receive adequate care in the Menyard County Jail, where Grayson is currently being held. They also stated that he does not pose a threat to Massey’s family.
Judge Ryan Cadagin denied the requests on July 18 and Aug. 9, according to the circuit court.
“Mr. Grayson is not being treated any differently than any other defendant that walks into the courthouse this morning, or is in custody, as well for a felony and they’re detained,” Mark Wykoff, Grayson’s attorney, told reporters at the circuit court after the hearing.
Wykoff said it could take up to three to four months for a decision to come out of the appellate court. If the appellate court approves the appeal, the defense can then petition the Illinois Supreme Court to review the appellate court’s decision, according to the Illinois Courts website.
In Monday’s hearing, the defense requested more time for discovery — the exchange of information between the prosecution and defense about witnesses and evidence they’ll present at trial, according to the court. Cadagin granted their request and ordered a status hearing for Oct. 21.
Grayson’s job with Sangamon County was one of six different police jobs he held over the past four years.
Prior to his employment with Sangamon, Grayson worked at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office for just under a year. According to audio files obtained by ABC News, Grayson’s then-boss, Logan County Chief Deputy Nathan Miller, expressed concerns over Grayson violating department policy and submitting inaccurate reports while discussing his mishandling of a traffic case.
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who announced he will retire at the end of August in connection to hiring Grayson, previously told ABC News that Sangamon County was not aware of this incident when Grayson was hired. Without knowledge of his disciplinary issues at Logan County, Campbell said that Grayson presented no red flags.
“Some individuals would rather see our community divided and in turmoil, than allow me to continue serving as Sheriff,” he said. “The health of me and my family, the Sheriff’s Office, and our community has to be my priority.”
Prior to Grayson’s time in public law enforcement, he was discharged from the U.S. Army for unspecified “misconduct (serious offense),” according to documents obtained by ABC News.
ABC News also learned that Grayson was charged with two DUI offenses in Macoupin County, Illinois, in August 2015 and July 2016, according to court documents.
Grayson, 30, and a second, unnamed deputy responded to Massey’s 911 call on July 6 reporting a possible intruder at her Springfield home.
Body camera footage shows Massey, who was unarmed, telling the two responding deputies, “Please, don’t hurt me,” once she answered their knocks on her door. Grayson responded, “I don’t want to hurt you, you called us.”
Later in the video, while inside Massey’s home as she searches for her ID, Grayson points to a pot of boiling water on her stove and says, “We don’t need a fire while we’re in here.”
Massey then pours the water into the sink and tells the deputy, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Grayson then shouts at Massey and threatens to shoot her, the video shows, and Massey apologizes and ducks down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rises, at which time Grayson shoots her three times in the face, the footage shows.
Grayson said he feared for his life during his encounter with Massey, according to documents released by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in August.
“While on scene, I was in fear Dep. (redacted) and I were going to receive great bodily harm or death. Due to being in fear of our safety and life, I fired my duty weapon,” Grayson wrote in his field case report.
The Menard County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Grayson “is not receiving any preferential treatment, nor being afforded any privileges or benefits not afforded to other inmates of the Menard County Jail.”
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Lawyers for Donald Trump and special counsel Jack Smith disagree on how to proceed with the former president’s election interference case, both sides said in a joint filing late Friday.
On the heels of this week’s superseding indictment in which Smith adjusted the case’s original charges to respect the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity, Smith, in Friday’s filing, declined to propose a timeline for the case — telling the court that “decisions on how to manage its docket are firmly within its discretion” — while Trump’s lawyers proposed delaying any in-person proceedings until after the November election.
Trump last August pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election to remain in power. Last month, in a blockbuster decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office.
Smith, in Friday’s joint filing, urged U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to address the Supreme Court’s immunity decision “first and foremost,” while Trump’s lawyers asked the court to immediately consider dismissing the case based on the legality of Smith’s appointment before turning to the immunity issue.
“The parties recognize the types of motions and briefing anticipated in pre-trial proceedings but have differing views on how the Court should schedule these matters and the manner in which they are to be conducted,” the filing said.
Rather than propose in-person evidentiary hearings — which could have resulted in a so-called “mini-trial” ahead of the election — Smith urged the court to accept written briefs about presidential immunity to “distinguish [Trump’s] private electioneering activity from official action.” If Trump’s team filed motions on other issues, Smith asked the court to consider those issues simultaneously with the immunity issue.
Such a schedule could quickly address the question of presidential immunity and position the case to proceed to trial, though Trump is likely to appeal his immunity claim if Chutkan rules against him.
“The Government is prepared to file its opening immunity brief promptly at any time the Court deems appropriate,” the filing said.
Trump’s lawyers asked Chutkan to first consider whether Smith’s appointment as special counsel and funding are constitutional — the issue that led a Florida judge to dismiss the former president’s classified documents case last month — before considering whether to dismiss the indictment based on presidential immunity. Defense lawyers proposed holding a hearing about Smith’s appointment in December followed by a non-evidentiary hearing about immunity in late January.
“We believe, and expect to demonstrate, that this case must end as a matter of law,” Trump’s attorneys said in the filing.
Defense lawyers also signaled that they plan to argue the indictment should be dismissed because the grand jury heard evidence related to then-Vice President Mike Pence’s role in the 2020 vote certification process, which they believe is subject to presidential immunity.
“If the Court determines, as it should, that the Special Counsel cannot rebut the presumption that these acts are immune, binding law requires that the entire indictment be dismissed because the grand jury considered immunized evidence,” the filing said.
Chutkan had earlier scheduled a Sept. 5 status conference to chart a path forward for the long-delayed case, which has not seen an in-person proceeding since last year.
The Jan. 6 developments are just part of the flurry of legal activity Trump faces in the final months before the election.
On Monday, prosecutors in the special counsel’s office appealed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon decision to dismiss the charges in Trump’s classified documents case.
Trump is also scheduled to be sentenced in New York on Sept. 18 after he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The former president has mounted multiple efforts to delay the sentencing, including a last-minute attempt to remove the case to federal court.
“At that potential sentencing, President Trump faces the prospect of immediate and unlawful incarceration under New York law, which could prevent him from continuing to pursue his leading campaign for the Presidency,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a filing Thursday.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Monday charged two California individuals who were alleged leaders of a white supremacist group that wanted to ignite a race war in the United States and allegedly plotted to kill “high value” targets and incite its followers to carry out terror attacks around the globe.
Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison allegedly became leaders of a group that deemed itself “Terrorgram” and was formed on the encrypted social media site.
The two were charged with a host of federal crimes including solicitation of the killing of a federal official, doxing federal officials and making interstate threats.
“The defendant’s goal, the indictment charges, was to ignite a race war, accelerate the collapse of what they viewed as an irreparably corrupt government and bring about a white ethno state. As the indictment lays out, defendants use the internet platform Telegram to post messages promoting their white supremacist accelerationism,” Kristen Clarke, the DOJ’s head of its Civil Rights Division, said during a press conference Monday.
The indictment alleges that the group “solicited terrorist attacks” including on alleged “enemies,” on government infrastructure, and on “high value” targets such as politicians and government figures.
“The List,” according to the indictment, includes U.S. senators, federal judges, U.S. attorneys and local officials.
When disseminating the so-called list, Allision allegedly included comments like “take action now” and “do your part.”
In at least three separate instances detailed by prosecutors in the indictment, users of the group have allegedly moved forward in carrying out violent attacks inspired by the group chat.
One user was a 19-year-old from Slovakia who killed two people at an LGBT bar in Bratislava before killing himself, according to the DOJ. The indictment alleges that the attacker sent a manifesto directly to Humber, which Humber later purportedly narrated and turned into an audiobook.
Both Humber and Allison later allegedly took credit for the attack and celebrated the attacker as the group’s “first Saint,” according to the indictment.
A separate case highlighted in the indictment involved the arrest in July of 18-year-old Andrew Taskhistov of New Jersey who was allegedly incited to plot an attack on an energy facility through his membership in the group. A third case highlighted in the indictment involved an 18-year-old from Turkey who allegedly livestreamed himself stabbing five people outside a mosque and later shared multiple publications from the group.
Part of the group’s alleged strategy was to target critical infrastructure, according to the DOJ.
Humber and Allison also allegedly created a documentary that celebrated racist incidents around the country from 1968 on, according to the indictment.
The pair also allegedly stressed the need to be covert about their operations and, according to the indictment.
No attorney information for Humber or Allison was immediately available.