Man strangles coyote to death after it follows, attacks him: ‘I felt something watching me'
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CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Sentencing in 'extraordinary' revenge porn, sex assault case proceeds as convict absconds justice
A judge is now considering what sentence to hand down to a U.S. man convicted in Ottawa of sexually assaulting a young woman, then, after she had left him, embarking on a campaign of criminal harassment against her, her family and her former boyfriend, as well as publishing her intimate images online. It comes after David Bukoski was found to be absconding justice when he failed to show up in person to Superior Court Justice Adriana Doyle's judgment back in March, in which she found him guilty of eight of the 13 charges he faced in a case she called "unusual and extraordinary." The sentencing phase is proceeding in absentia. Bukoski's trial was mammoth, sitting for about 60 days over the course of three years. He had been given permission to attend virtually from his home in Pennsylvania while the evidence was heard due to his health problems, and even to testify remotely. That permission was revoked ahead of Doyle's judgment but he showed up online anyway, then failed to return at all after the lunch break. After the judgment, defence lawyer Mellington Godoy removed himself as counsel, given that Bukoski was found to be absconding and Doyle was signing a warrant for his arrest. Godoy participated in Wednesday's sentencing as an amicus curiae, or friend of the court. Bukoski has not been arrested for absconding. Sentencing is expected to be completed ahead of the arrest and extradition proceedings, which could take months. The Crown is asking for a 10-year prison sentence, among other orders. Godoy said the range is five years on the low end and 10 on the high end. 'Stole my teenage years' The now 25-year-old victim, who cannot be identified due to a routine publication ban protecting her, read a long impact statement in court Wednesday, with her support dog at her side and her family in the gallery behind her. She met Bukoski online just before she turned 13, when she was "impressionable, naive, and unaware of how vulnerable I truly was." He was around 18, "had power," and "knew exactly how to manipulate, how to exploit and how to keep control." She said the trauma inflicted on her as a child "stole my teenage years" and continues "to affect my relationships, my health, my trust in people and my ability to feel safe in the world." Bukoski sexually assaulted her in the summer of 2017. He took her virginity, forcefully penetrated her "and left me with no concept of what a positive or consensual sexual experience was supposed to feel like," she told court. As a result, her two subsequent long-term relationships have suffered. After she left him, Bukoski began his harassment and she contacted police. She told court that "unlike the abuse I had endured in silence since I was 13, this time it wasn't just directed at me — it spilled into every corner of my life." He sent unwanted food deliveries to her home, made threats against her family and targeted their workplaces, and contacted her school and employer. He hacked her online accounts and posted her private information online, including her Social Insurance Number, banking details, school records and her family's employment information. He faked his own suicide twice to torment her. After the first suicide hoax he posted her intimate images online and sent an email to her school accusing her of sleeping with teachers in exchange for grades. 'It was a multi-year trauma' Then Bukoski called in a fake threat involving her then boyfriend, who was arrested at gunpoint and held in custody for hours. Weeks later, the boyfriend's car was firebombed in the driveway of his family's home. Bukoski was charged in connection to an alleged firebombing plot and attempted murder — and a man testified that he had planted a bomb at Bukoski's behest — but Bukoski was found not guilty of all those charges. While the court found it probable that Bukoski provided information to the man and may have manipulated him, it ruled the evidence did not meet the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The man's testimony contained inconsistencies and there was no corroborating evidence linking Bukoski directly to the attack. The former boyfriend read his own victim impact statement Wednesday, saying he genuinely thought he was going to die when screaming police arrested him with their guns drawn, that the firebombing robbed him and his family of their sense of safety, and that the emotional scars haven't faded. "This wasn't just a period of stress or discomfort. It was a multi-year trauma. The defendant's actions hijacked my life. They invaded my home, my relationships, my ability to trust, my sleep, my mental health and my future," he said. Everything stopped when Bukoski was arrested in July 2018. Ending her statement, the assault victim said her mental health, education and career paths and ability to grow her family have all been negatively affected by Bukoski and the trauma he caused. The Crown is seeking about $30,700 in restitution for her. Won't return hacked email account Court heard Wednesday that Bukoski is continuing to prevent the victim from accessing her Gmail account, which the judge found he had hacked. While the court waited for the judge to come back to court to address the issue, Crown prosecutor James Cavanagh told the victim in the courtroom that Godoy had asked Bukoski for the password to the account earlier Wednesday, and that Bukoski had replied and declined. When Doyle returned, Cavanagh asked her to write an endorsement asking Google to consider returning the account to the victim's control. He said someone from the Crown's office would pass that on to Google, with whom the office apparently has a "good working relationship," according to assistant Crown prosecutor Matthew Brown. "I just don't like this person to continue to have a tie on my life," the victim told the judge, when asked for her comments. Doyle said she would write the endorsement. Doyle's sentencing decision is expected in September.
Globe and Mail
4 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Boeing, U.S. Justice Department ask judge to approve deal allowing company to avoid prosecution
Boeing BA-N and the Justice Department on Wednesday asked a U.S. judge to approve an agreement that allows the company to avoid prosecution despite objections from relatives of some of the 346 people killed in two 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. The deal enables Boeing to avoid being branded a convicted felon and to escape oversight from an independent monitor for three years that was part of a plea deal struck in 2024 to a criminal fraud charge that it misled U.S. regulators about a crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX, its bestselling jet. Boeing argued the executive branch solely has the power to decide whether to bring or maintain a prosecution. 'Because it is entirely within the government's discretion whether to pursue a criminal prosecution, an agreement not-to-prosecute does not require court approval,' Boeing said, asking a judge to reject objections filed by the families and grant the government's motion to dismiss the charge. 'Disputing the government's considered assessment of litigation risk, the calculation of the maximum fine, or the appropriate mechanism for compliance oversight, do not demonstrate – even remotely – that the government was clearly motivated by considerations contrary to the public interest.' Boeing reaches deal with U.S. Justice department to avoid prosecution in 737 MAX fraud case The Justice Department said in a court filing it acted in good faith and in accordance with the law, agreeing to dismiss the case for an agreement 'that secures a significant fine, compliance improvements, and a substantial victim compensation fund.' The families cited Judge Reed O'Connor's statement in 2023 that 'Boeing's crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.' They argue dismissal is not in the public interest and obligations imposed on Boeing are not enforceable. If the government declined to move forward with the prosecution even if the court rejected the deal, O'Connor should appoint a special prosecutor, the families said. Boeing and the Justice Department both asked O'Connor to reject appointing a special prosecutor. Under the deal, Boeing agreed to pay an additional $444.5 million into a crash victims fund to be divided evenly per crash victim, on top of a new $243.6 million fine. Boeing in July 2024 agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Under the non-prosecution agreement, Boeing will pay $1.1 billion in total, including the fine, compensation to families and more than $455 million to strengthen the company's compliance, safety and quality programs. The vast majority of the families have settled civil suits with Boeing and collectively have been 'paid several billion dollars,' the Justice Department said.
Globe and Mail
5 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Man charged with killing former Minnesota House speaker Melissa Hortman due back in court after delay
The man charged with killing former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, is due back in federal court Thursday for a hearing that was put on hold after his lawyer said his client had been unable to sleep while on suicide watch. The hearing is expected to address whether Vance Boelter should remain in custody without bail and affirm that there is probable cause to proceed with the case. He's not expected to enter a plea. Prosecutors need to secure a grand jury indictment first, before his arraignment, which is when a plea is normally entered. An unshaven Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, was wearing a green padded suicide prevention suit and orange slippers when he was brought into court last Friday. Federal defender Manny Atwal then asked Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko to continue the hearing. She said Boelter had been sleep deprived due to harsh conditions in the Sherburne County Jail, making it difficult for them to communicate. 'Your honour, I haven't really slept in about 12 to 14 days,' Boelter told the judge then. And he denied being suicidal. 'I've never been suicidal and I am not suicidal now.' Biden, Harris and Walz attend funeral for and honour former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman Minnesota shooting suspect had dozens of potential targets, prosecutors say Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott, whose jail houses both county and federal prisoners, rejected Boelter's claims of poor conditions as absurd. 'He is not in a hotel. He's in jail, where a person belongs when they commit the heinous crimes he is accused of committing,' Brott said in a statement Friday. Boelter faces separate cases in federal and state court on charges of murder and attempted murder for what the state's chief federal prosecutor, Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, has called 'a political assassination' and 'a chilling attack on our democracy.' The feds are going first. Authorities say Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot to death in their home in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park in the early hours of June 14 by a man disguised as a police officer who was driving a fake squad car. Boelter also allegedly shot and seriously wounded state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, earlier that morning at their home in nearby Champlin. The Hoffmans are recovering, but Hortman's golden retriever, Gilbert, was seriously injured and had to be euthanized. Boelter surrendered near his home the night of June 15 after what authorities called the largest search in Minnesota history, a hunt of around 40 hours. Atwal told the court last week that Boelter had been kept in what's known as a 'Gumby suit,' without undergarments, ever since his first court appearance June 16. She said the lights were on in his area 24 hours a day, doors slammed frequently, the inmate in the next cell would spread feces on the walls, and the smell would drift to Boelter's cell. The attorney said transferring him to segregation instead, and giving him a normal jail uniform, would let him get some sleep, restore some dignity, and let him communicate better. The judge granted the delay. Boelter's lawyers have declined to comment on the charges themselves, which could carry the federal death penalty. Thompson has said no decision has been made whether to seek it. Minnesota abolished its death penalty in 1911. But Attorney General Pam Bondi has said from the start that the Trump administration will be more aggressive in seeking capital punishment. Prosecutors allege Boelter also stopped at the homes of two other Democratic lawmakers. They also say he listed dozens of other Democrats as potential targets, including officials in other states. Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views. But prosecutors have declined so far to speculate on a motive. Former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris joined the mourners at the Hortmans' funeral last Saturday. Gov. Tim Walz, Harris's running mate on the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket, eulogized Hortman as 'the most consequential speaker in Minnesota history.' Hortman served as speaker from 2019 until January. She then yielded the post to a Republican in a power-sharing deal after the House became tied in the 2024 elections, and became speaker emerita.
