Trump to plead not guilty in election interference case, waives right to be present at arraignment
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump has waived his right to be present at his arraignment in his federal election interference case and has authorized his attorney to enter a plea of not guilty on his behalf, according to a filing Tuesday.
Special counsel Jack Smith unsealed a new indictment last week related to Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The superseding indictment included the same charges but removed allegations related to Trump’s official acts as president in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
The court has not yet set a formal date for Trump’s new arraignment.
Both sides are due to appear in court on Thursday for a previously-scheduled conference in the case.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(PATERSON, N.J.) — As the search continued Sunday for a relative accused of stabbing a 4-year-old girl multiple times at the child’s New Jersey home, the father of the young victim said she’s fighting for her life and the attack left him “dumbfounded.”
The child remains in stable condition at Saint Joseph’s University Medical Center, where she is being treated for puncture wounds to her lung and liver and an injured diaphragm, according to her family.
“She couldn’t respond because she had tubes and everything down her, but she opened her eyes and when she heard my voice she started making eye contact trying to see me. That brought joy to me that she was responsive,” the girl’s father, Faherem LaSane, told ABC New York station WABC outside the hospital on Saturday afternoon.
LaShane said his daughter’s name is Amber, and described her as a happy girl with a big smile and an appetite to match.
The stabbing unfolded just after 4 p.m. on Friday in Paterson, New Jersey, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. Officers were called to the home for a domestic dispute and found the child stabbed multiple times, prosecutors said.
Police did not immediately identify the suspect, but Paterson council member Luis Velez told WABC that police are looking for the child’s aunt in connection with the incident.
The aunt was babysitting Amber while the girl’s mother was at the home caring for another child, relatives said.
Neighbor Keema James said she saw the mother emerge from the home holding the child, both covered in blood.
“She had a big gash on her forehead and she had her wrapped up,” James said of the victim in an interview with WABC.
LaShan said he was stunned when he received word of the stabbing and immediately rushed to the hospital to be at his daughter’s side.
“I was totally dumbfounded, and I was shocked because I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to believe it at all,” LaShan said.
A motive for the stabbing remains under investigation.
The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office asked anyone with information about the incident to contact its office.
(ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn.) — Two people are dead, and three were left injured after authorities say a man drove into the patio area of a tavern in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, on Sunday.
Authorities responded to a call of an incident at the Park Tavern in St. Louis Park around 8 p.m. local time.
According to a rep for the St. Louis Park Police, surveillance footage shows the driver going into the establishment’s parking lot, attempting to park and then driving into Park Tavern’s outside patio. Police have not released the video.
The incident left two dead and three injured. Information on the conditions of the injured individuals was not immediately available.
Police arrested the driver for criminal vehicular homicide.
The Minnesota State Patrol are performing a reconstruction of the incident, police said. An official said the investigation is ongoing.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The prosecutor and defense attorney delivered opening remarks Tuesday in the trial of Susan Lorincz — the Florida woman charged in the fatal shooting of her neighbor Ajike “AJ” Owens through a closed door — after a six-person jury was seated on Monday afternoon.
According to a June 6, 2023, statement from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), Lorincz shot Owens, a Black mother of four, through a closed door in the presence of her now 10-year-old son after Owens went to speak with Lorincz about a dispute over Owens’ children playing near her home. Lorincz called 911 after fatally shooting Owens and admitted to the shooting.
Lorincz, who is white, was arrested on June 6, 2023, and charged with first-degree felony manslaughter for fatally shooting Owens on June 2, 2023, in Ocala, Florida. She pleaded not guilty on July 10, 2023, and was held on a $150,000 bond. If convicted, Lorincz faces up to 30 years in prison, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Anthony Thomas, attorney for the family of Ajike Owens, told ABC News in a statement Tuesday that the family is “disappointed in the all-white jury that was selected to determine the outcome” of this case.
“We would have wanted the jury to be more diverse. But we believe in equal justice, so we are going to see what happens,” added family attorney Ben Crump in a statement to ABC News.
“I am keeping faith that justice will be served for my daughter, Ajike, that the jurors will not let Susan Lorincz get away with this,” Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, told ABC News.
During opening arguments, public defender Morris Carranza argued that Lorincz was acting in self-defense because she feared for her life, while Assistant State Attorney Adam Smith stressed that Owens was “unarmed” and fatally shot through a “locked” door. Carranza claimed that Owens told Lorincz that she was going to “kill” her, while Smith told jurors that they will be hearing from witnesses who were present during the confrontation who will deny this claim.
“The death of AJ Owens is a tragedy. There is no doubt about that, but what the evidence will show is that in her mind, in her soul, in her core, Susan Lorincz felt she had no choice,” Lorincz’s defense attorney said. “It was either Susan or AJ. Susan chose to defend herself.”
Lorincz’s attorney focused on the age difference between the 59-year-old Lorincz and the 35-year-old Owens, highlighted Lorincz’s health issues and also played for jurors Lorincz’s distressed 911 call on June 2, 2023, where she claimed that Owens tried to “break down” her door and admitted to shooting at the door.
“You can hear the absolute terror that she had,” Lorincz’s attorney said, referring to the 911 call.
Meanwhile, Smith disputed the claim that Owens was trying to “break” into Lorincz’s home and stressed that Owens, who approached Lorincz’s home to talk to her about the dispute with her children, was “unarmed” and was fatally shot through a “locked” front door after Lorincz called police to come to her home.
Smith argued that Owens “doesn’t try to break into” Lorincz’s home and was shot while she was “unarmed.”
“At the end of this case, you’re going to hear that the defendant Susan Lorincz, knowing the police would come, was in her apartment with her door locked and shot through that locked front door and killed Ajike Owens, who was unarmed,” Smith said.
“After the evidence is presented, we’re going to come back to you and ask that you find the defendant guilty,” he added.
Lorincz claimed in her June 6, 2023, interrogation interview with detectives — video of which was released by MCSO — that she was acting in self-defense when she shot Owens.
“She was saying, ‘I’m going to kill you,'” Lorincz claimed in the video.
“No one that we’ve interviewed so far has made any statements about her saying that she wanted to kill you,” one of the detectives told Lorincz.
Anthony Thomas, an attorney representing the family of Ajike Owens, told ABC News in a statement on Monday that two of Owens’ four children will be called to testify during the trial and are “determined to testify” on their mother’s behalf “despite their grief.”
“Unfortunately, yes, we have confirmed that they will be called to testify. This is an unimaginably painful experience for them, as they continue to grapple with the deep emotional wounds caused by losing their mother in such a violent way,” Thomas said.
According to Thomas, Isaac, 13, and Izzy (Israel), 10, who witnessed the shooting, could be called by prosecutors and the defense to testify this week.
“They do this out of profound love and respect for her, knowing that their voices are crucial in the pursuit of justice,” Thomas said. “They understand the gravity of this moment and want to ensure that their mother’s death is not in vain.”
Judge Robert W. Hodges of Florida 5th Judicial Circuit, who is presiding over the case, said that the trial is expected to conclude by Friday.