logo
5 charged in assault that left a transgender girl with a broken jaw in D.C. juvenile detention center

5 charged in assault that left a transgender girl with a broken jaw in D.C. juvenile detention center

Yahoo21 hours ago
A transgender girl housed in a male unit at Washington, D.C.'s Youth Services Center was hospitalized with a broken jaw after a fight last week that also injured another teen, D.C.'s NBC affiliate WRC reports.
Keep up with the latest in + news and politics.
The two separate fights broke out on July 7 at the Northeast D.C. juvenile detention facility, which was overcapacity by 17 people that day and remains so as of Monday, according to government data. Five teens have been charged in connection with the assault involving the transgender girl, the station reports.
Related: Trump will ban trans women from women's prisons by removing trans inmates from rape protections
The Youth Services Center is the District's secure detention facility for male and female youth held by court order from the D.C. Superior Court's Family Court Division. The 88-bed facility provides 24-hour care, custody, and supervision, housing youth awaiting court proceedings, those adjudicated, and those pending further court action, as well as youth charged as adults, according to the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.
It remains unclear whether DYRS has a policy for housing transgender youth in juvenile detention.
The Advocate has contacted DYRS, the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the office of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Lindsey Appiah for comment.
This story is developing.
This article originally appeared on Advocate: 5 charged in assault that left a transgender girl with a broken jaw in D.C. juvenile detention center
Trump will ban trans women from women's prisons by removing trans inmates from rape protections
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

New text messages fuel Alex Murdaugh's push for new trial
New text messages fuel Alex Murdaugh's push for new trial

Fox News

time13 minutes ago

  • Fox News

New text messages fuel Alex Murdaugh's push for new trial

Newly uncovered text messages between disgraced former attorney Alex Murdaugh and his alleged drug dealer could have dramatically altered the defense's trial strategy and possibly prevented a conviction, according to lead defense attorney Dick Harpootlian. Harpootlian, a veteran South Carolina defense attorney and former state senator, told Fox News Digital that the texts between Murdaugh and Curtis "Eddie" Smith, revealed recently by FITSNews, were not provided to the defense during the trial. Their absence, he said, may have contributed to a key decision not to call Smith to the stand. "One of the big decisions in any trial like this is who you call as witnesses," Harpootlian explained. "We were not aware of these texts. Had we been, it may have made a difference in our decision. These messages offer new insight into the timeline of drug distributions, some of them happening the very week of the murders." Smith, alleged to have been Murdaugh's primary drug supplier, has not been prosecuted, despite what Harpootlian described as evidence suggesting he may have been one of the largest OxyContin distributors in the Palmetto state. "Everybody else who was indicted pleaded guilty — except Eddie Smith," he said. The text messages show that Smith and Murdaugh conversed in the days leading up to Murdaugh's murder of his wife Maggie and his youngest son, Paul, on June 7, 2021, on their family's hunting estate in Colleton County, South Carolina. "Hey Brother i need to come get the chech (sic) you got one with you or are you going to be around later," Smith texted Murdaugh on June 3, four days before the slayings. Murdaugh replied that he would be back that afternoon and that he "had to deal with some bulls**t this morning." "Ok Brother just give me a holler," Smith texted, later adding, "Leaving the house now." The day before the murders, Murdaugh texted Smith, "Call me back." Within a span of two minutes the morning after the murder, Smith texted Murdaugh, "Tell me what I heard is not true," and, "Call me please." Those texts went unreturned, and around 6:30 p.m., and Smith cryptically texted Murdaugh, "At fishing hole." After that message also went unreturned, he texted, "803 *** **13 it will not go through on my phone." "Those texts, the ones we don't have, indicate a little more of the timeline of those distributions, and some of them are the week of the murder," Harpootlian said. "And we were not aware of those. Had we been aware of these, it may have made a difference in our decision not to call Eddie Smith to the stand." He also expressed concern that Smith had not been prosecuted for his alleged role in selling drugs to Murdaugh. "And he has not been prosecuted. [He's] wandering the streets, I heard maybe out of the state, and we're perplexed why Eddie Smith has been given this preferential treatment when once Alex was convicted, there was no reason not to go ahead and prosecute him," said Harpootlian. "Everybody else has pleaded guilty. Everybody else that was indicted has pleaded guilty except Eddie Smith. Now these texts would have given us additional information we believe, and I've talked to [co-counsel] Jim Griffin. It might have made the difference in us calling him to the stand or not calling him to the stand. So yes, they're important." Murdaugh is already appealing his conviction, based in large part on accusations of jury tampering by Colleton County Clerk of Court Becky Hill. She was arrested and charged with obstructing justice and misconduct in that incident. She was also charged with perjury in Richland County in relation to the case, after allegedly lying to State Supreme Court Justice Jean Toal during 2024 appellate proceedings. "We have an appeal based on errors made by the judge during the trial, and of course, the attempt by — or maybe she did — the efforts by the Clerk of Court, Becky Smith, to fix the jury. And that's a huge issue," said Harpootlian. "Many of the people we've had look at the appeal believe we have a substantial chance of getting a new trial, just based on the jury tampering." He said if they do not win a new trial, there is a possibility that they will file a habeas petition seeking to have the conviction vacated on the same grounds. "The state's brief on the underlying appeal is due Aug. 8," he said. "We have up to 30 days to reply. Then the Supreme Court decides whether to have argument, whether to grant it, whether deny it, and that could take months," he said, adding that if the appeal is granted Murdaugh will get a new trial. Harpootlian says he expects the state's high court to have a ruling on the appeal by early next year at the latest. "And again, there are all kinds of debates about the evidence and how it was allowed in by the trial judge and whether it should have been excluded or allowed in. And those certainly are important. And we think there's several of them, individually, would give us a new trail," he said. "But more important is a judge, former Chief Justice of Supreme Court, had an evidentiary hearing on Becky Hill's conduct in which she found: A) Becky Hill was not credible, and B) that Becky Hill did attempt to influence jurors to convict Alex Murdoch. She told several of her coworkers that she was writing a book, and it would be better for book sales if Alex was convicted. So we think that, and there is no clear state precedent on whether that's enough, but there's a clear federal precedent that we should get a new trial. So again, I think we should hear something before the end of the year or early next year." A retrial would likely look very different, Harpootlian said. With Murdaugh having already pleaded guilty to financial crimes, that aspect would be excluded, narrowing the scope to forensic and factual evidence. The lead attorney believes Murdaugh has a strong defense. "We had a six-week trial last time because of the financial misconduct. That won't happen again," Harpootlian said. "And when you look solely at the forensic evidence, I believe it overwhelmingly proves Alex did not kill Paul and Maggie." The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, which led the investigation, and Prosecutor Creighton Waters did not return comment requests.

Trump's $100B AI Shockwave: Nvidia Back in China, Coal Back on the Grid
Trump's $100B AI Shockwave: Nvidia Back in China, Coal Back on the Grid

Yahoo

time16 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Trump's $100B AI Shockwave: Nvidia Back in China, Coal Back on the Grid

The Trump administration is preparing a full-court press on artificial intelligence, with a major policy address scheduled for July 23 titled Winning the AI Race. It's expected to be Trump's most detailed take on the technology to date. The event is backed by White House AI and crypto advisor David Sacks and his All-In podcast co-hosts. Behind the scenes, a sweeping AI action plan is nearing completionbuilt with heavy industry inputand could soon be cemented by executive order. The blueprint focuses on cutting red tape, expanding energy access for data centers, and getting federal buy-in on a more streamlined, pro-growth regulatory regime. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with NVDA. One of the headline shifts: the U.S. now plans to allow AI chipmakers to resume some exports to China. That includes Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)'s H20 chips, a move seen as a significant win for CEO Jensen Huang, who has been openly critical of prior export bans. Huang met privately with Trump in Washington last week, where discussions reportedly focused on boosting U.S. AI competitiveness. For Nvidia and AMD, this could reopen a multi-billion-dollar channel that had been shut off earlier this year. The reversal comes amid growing concern over China's rapid AI developmenthighlighted by DeepSeek's surprisingly cheap R1 model that raised eyebrows across Wall Street in January. Energy is also taking center stage. With AI data centers projected to more than double their share of U.S. electricity demand by 2035from 3.5% to 8.6%the Trump team is calling for expanded use of coal, gas, and nuclear power. Earlier this year, Trump helped broker a $100 billion data center investment involving SoftBank, Oracle, and OpenAI. Meanwhile, a controversial bid to preempt state AI laws for a decade was ultimately stripped from the recent tax package, but not before it gained vocal support from tech investors like Marc Andreessen and Joe Lonsdale. Taken together, Trump's AI agenda is shaping up to be aggressive, industry-led, and laser-focused on outpacing China. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

TNB Tech Minute: Trump Touts Billions in Investments to Create AI Hub in Pennsylvania - Tech News Briefing
TNB Tech Minute: Trump Touts Billions in Investments to Create AI Hub in Pennsylvania - Tech News Briefing

Wall Street Journal

time16 minutes ago

  • Wall Street Journal

TNB Tech Minute: Trump Touts Billions in Investments to Create AI Hub in Pennsylvania - Tech News Briefing

Full Transcript This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated. Julie Chang: Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Tuesday, July 15th. I'm Julie Chang for The Wall Street Journal. President Trump touted billions of dollars in investments from some of the world's biggest companies to create an artificial intelligence hub in Pennsylvania. Trump made the announcement during an AI and energy summit at Carnegie Mellon University earlier today. Google said it would put $25 billion into data centers and related infrastructure in the state and the surrounding region over the next two years. Private equity firm Blackstone promised another $25 billion and AI startup CoreWeave announced a $6 billion investment. Plus, Apple has struck a deal with MP Materials to buy $500 million worth of rare earth magnets. The move helps the iPhone maker expand its US supply chain. MP will supply Apple with magnets it produces in a Texas facility and use recycled materials processed at a site MP will build in California. Such magnets are used in iPhones as well as audio equipment and microphones inside various Apple products. MP said shipments are expected to begin in 2027. Finally, Tesla's VP of Sales, Service, and Delivery in North America has left the company. That's according to people familiar with the matter. Troy Jones had been with the electric car maker for 15 years. It's the latest high-level departure at Tesla. Less than a month ago top aid to CEO Elon Musk and top AI executive Omead Afshar left the company. Tesla has been facing declining sales and shrinking margins amid increased competition and pressure on its brand stemming from Musk's stint in politics. And that wraps up your TNB Tech minute for today. Join us again tomorrow morning for your next quick tech update.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store