Jay-Z and Beyoncé Dropped From Diddy 'Freak Off' Lawsuit, Church Easter Egg Hunt Turns Tragic, Black Man in Wheelchair Viciously Attacked in NYC and Other Crime Stories From the Week
What started as a community event celebrating Easter turned fatal at a Mississippi church. According to authorities, a deacon at the Empowerment Ministries Christian Center (EMCC) stepped in to defend a fellow church goer from an armed man, then tragedy struck. - Phenix S Halley Read More
Another day, another amended lawsuit... The weeks are counting down until Sean 'Diddy' Combs is set to stand trial for alleged sexual misconduct and racketeering, and in the mean time, his civil lawsuits just keep piling up. But while several A-list celebrities have been mentioned for allegedly participating in or witnessing the infamous 'Freak Offs,' one billionaire couple just came out to clear their names with damning receipts. - Phenix S Halley Read More
Sean 'Diddy' Combs has something up his sleeve with only three weeks until his trial begins. At seemingly the 11th hour, Combs' is trying to change his legal team in a major way. And with May 12 right around the corner, this move could prove vital to his defense strategy. - Phenix S Halley Read More
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Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Sri Lanka Catholics seek prosecution of sacked spy chief
Sri Lanka's Catholic Church on Monday demanded the criminal prosecution of the intelligence chief who was sacked for failing to prevent the 2019 Easter bombings that killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners. Church spokesman Cyril Gamini Fernando said they welcomed the dismissal days ago of Nilantha Jayawardena, who was head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) when jihadist suicide bombers attacked three churches and three hotels. "This (sacking) is for the negligence part of it, but we want the authorities to investigate Jayawardena's role in the attack itself," Fernando told reporters in Colombo. "We want a criminal prosecution." He said evidence presented before several courts and commissions of inquiry indicated that the SIS, under Jayawardena, had attempted to cover up the actions of the jihadists in the lead-up to the April 21 attacks. "Six years on, we are still looking for answers. We want to know the truth about who was behind the attack," he said. Jayawardena, 52, was dismissed Saturday from the police department, where he was the second most senior officer in charge of administration and on track to become the next inspector-general. Court proceedings have revealed that both military and police intelligence units were closely linked to the home-grown jihadists, and some had even been on the payroll of the intelligence services. The current ruling party, led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, had while in opposition accused Gotabaya Rajapaksa of orchestrating the attacks to win the 2019 presidential election. The once powerful Rajapaksa family has denied the allegations. The attacks occurred despite a warning from an intelligence agency in neighbouring India, which alerted Jayawardena 17 days before the devastating bombings. He was found guilty of ignoring a series of alerts. More than 500 people were also wounded in the bombings, Sri Lanka's worst jihadist attack on civilians. Jayawardena was removed from his position as SIS chief in December 2019 but was later promoted to deputy head of the police force, overseeing administration. However, he was placed on compulsory leave a year ago, pending the disciplinary inquiry, following repeated judicial orders to take action against him. aj/bb/rsc Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Mother jailed for killing four-month-old baby daughter
A mother who killed her four-month-old baby girl by violently shaking her has been jailed for 15 years. Melissa Wilband, 28, was found guilty by a jury of the manslaughter of Lexi Wilband, who collapsed at their home in Newent, Gloucestershire, in April 2020. Bristol Crown Court heard tests revealed how Lexi died following bleeding on her brain, likely caused by being violently shaken, both recently and on at least one earlier occasion. Lexi died at Bristol Children's Hospital, with a nurse holding her hand, on April 18 – six days after her collapse. Wilband's former partner, Jack Wheeler, 31, was acquitted of causing or allowing Lexi's death. Mr Wheeler had also been charged with Lexi's manslaughter but this was formally withdrawn during the trial after prosecutors offered no evidence against him. Passing sentence, Mr Justice Saini said he was satisfied Wilband had shaken Lexi twice. 'Lexi was about four-months-old when she died. She was a healthy baby,' he said. 'It is important that we recognise this is about her life being taken. 'You killed Lexi by violently shaking her at the family home in Newent. 'Lexi was killed by you when the country was in the first national Covid-19 lockdown. 'After the evening meal you were bathing Lexi and you shook Lexi, and immediately after this she went floppy. 'Your shaking of Lexi led to severe bleeding in her brain. 'I am sure on the evidence that Lexi had been shaken by you in another, less violent, incident before that Easter Sunday. 'Only you will know why you acted in the way you did. 'It is hard to imagine the pain that Lexi must have suffered both from the past violence and the violence that led to her death. 'She would have cried out in anguish.' During the trial, jurors were told that Wilband and Mr Wheeler were in a relationship for about three years, but Lexi was conceived with another man in early 2019. However, Wilband told Mr Wheeler, of Ledbury, Herefordshire, that he was the baby's biological father and presented him with a fake DNA certificate that claimed he was '100%' the 'farther' of her then-unborn child. A genuine DNA test after Lexi's birth in November 2019 confirmed that Mr Wheeler was not biologically related to her, but he remained with Wilband and brought up Lexi as if she were his own child. Jurors heard how Wilband, who had a volatile relationship with Mr Wheeler, took cocaine just six days after Lexi was born. On April 12 2020, Wilband made a 111 call from the new-build council house where she lived with Mr Wheeler and Lexi. She claimed Lexi had stopped breathing while in her bouncer chair. Lexi was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and was intubated, with Wilband asked if she would like to hold her baby before the procedure took place. She declined to do so. The infant was then transferred to Bristol Children's Hospital, where Wilband told medics that Mr Wheeler had been carrying Lexi in her bouncer chair and was swinging it. A decision was made to switch off Lexi's ventilator on April 17, following the results of an MRI scan. Jurors were told that Wilband spent three hours with Lexi that evening before leaving to go to sleep in a different part of the hospital. Jane Osborne KC, prosecuting, said Wilband was aware that her baby might die through the night but did not stay at her bedside. 'A staff nurse held Lexi's hand through the night and remained with her,' Ms Osborne said. 'On the morning of April 18, Lexi seemed to have longer pauses in her breathing. Ms Wilband was told to attend the ward. 'She arrived just after Lexi had ceased to show any signs of life and had stopped breathing.' A post-mortem examination gave Lexi's cause of death as bleeding to the brain, caused by a non-accidental traumatic event such as someone 'shaking her violently', Ms Osborne said. Further tests found the areas of bleeding in Lexi's eyes were 'too numerous to count', she added. Giving evidence, Wilband denied ever shaking Lexi and said she had a 'bad wrist' that meant she was physically unable to shake her, and sought to blame her partner. Mr Wheeler said he had no idea why Lexi had collapsed and denied carrying her in the bouncer chair.
Los Angeles Times
17-07-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Even if you think Sean Combs is guilty, his conviction should give you pause
The verdict against Sean 'Diddy' Combs early this month sent shock waves through the feminist community. Despite harrowing testimony and video evidence of violence, jurors acquitted him of sex trafficking and racketeering. Combs and his team celebrated, while many Americans mourned the death of #MeToo. There was some consolation for those who wanted Combs held accountable: The disgraced rapper was found guilty of violating the Mann Act by transporting male sex workers across state lines for prostitution, for which he could face up to 20 years in prison. Important questions abound about the sex trafficking and racketeering charges — not only whether the jury applied the law justly based on the evidence of the case, but also whether the federal government should have used the sex trafficking and racketeering statutes to bring charges, whether those laws should cover the conduct at issue and what it all means for women's equality. These make for rich debates. My point is narrower: We should not celebrate the government's successful use of the Mann Act nor its excessive penalties for acts related to consensual commercial sex. This is a poor mechanism to make up for a jury's reluctance to convict on more serious charges. The act does not require coercion, and anyone involved in the transportation of the sex workers could have been charged. If the government earnestly enforced the act, federal courts would be too clogged to function. Let's be clear about how this works. If two people drive from San Diego to Los Angeles to engage in sex work, they have committed no crime, although a later act of exchanging sex for money could be a minor misdemeanor. Now imagine the same people drive from California to Las Vegas. Even if sex never occurs and money never changes hands, each has committed two Mann Act violations — as transporter and as accomplice — warranting up to 20 years in prison (10 years for each offense). Is there some moral distinction between traveling to Los Angeles versus Las Vegas? The only difference is that the federal government has jurisdiction over interstate activity, and so crossing state lines triggers federal power. In 1910, the government — largely for racist, xenophobic and patriarchal reasons — seized that power through the Mann Act. Officially titled the White-Slave Traffic Act, the law prohibited transporting women for prostitution or any other 'immoral purpose.' It was later amended to apply to the transportation of men as well, and 'immoral purpose' was replaced with 'any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense.' Prosecutors often employ easier-to-prove charges when they anticipate struggling to secure convictions on more serious offenses. For instance, when proving intent to commit burglary is difficult, they may fall back on 'possession of burglary tools.' But even putting aside the many civil libertarian and constitutional objections to such practices, the Mann Act has proven a particularly pernicious 'make-up' crime. The act was born of a time of widespread hostility to immigration, moralist backlash to sexually progressive urban culture and anxiety that rural wives and daughters would flee to cities in search of liberation. Like an early QAnon, the media and the public fixated on fictional epidemics of white girls being coaxed or kidnapped by foreign men and unscrupulous women into a life of sexual slavery in 'dens of iniquity.' One supporter of the act queried, 'Shall we defend our American civilization or lower our glorious flag to the most despicable foreigners — French, Irish, Italians, Jews and Mongolians?' The law's namesake James Mann seized the opportunity to characterize enslavement as something minorities do to whites, declaring that prostitution was 'much more horrible than any black-slave traffic ever was in the history of the world.' Although passed in the name of saving women, the act became a tool for prosecuting them. In 1915, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. approved the prosecution of transported women, such as 'professional prostitutes,' urging that we 'abandon the illusion that the woman always is the victim.' In the infamous 1930s Scottsboro Boys case, white women feared they might be prosecuted under the Mann Act and so fabricated rape claims against Black teens. As Mann Act enforcement intensified and helped give rise to the modern FBI, agents targeted interracial couples to deter race-mixing. Law enforcement also focused on suspected mobsters and political opponents vacationing with their girlfriends, celebrities like Charlie Chaplin and prominent Black men including heavyweight champ Jack Johnson, whom racists of the time condemned as audaciously flaunting his relationships with white women. Prosecuted in 1913, he was granted a posthumous presidential pardon in 2018. Historian Anne Gray Fischer notes that by the end of the Progressive Era, 'white slavery' had simply become 'a euphemism for interracial sex.' Why does all of that history matter if today's prosecutors are using the law against people who many think should be convicted of something? The drafters of the 1962 Model Penal Code addressed this directly. They described the Mann Act as 'an extraordinary incursion of the federal government into the field of regulating local morals' and a prime example of a 'dead letter' law. Such laws enable prosecutors 'to decide for themselves who shall be subjected to penal sanctions and why' and thus 'lend themselves to discriminatory enforcement, e.g., where the parties involved are of different races.' Combs should be held accountable for his abusive and exploitative conduct. But we should not cheer the practice of federal prosecutors choosing whom to punish based on politics, press or public pressure and dusting off overbroad, archaic laws. Their very existence should trouble us. Aya Gruber is a professor of law at USC Law School and author of the forthcoming book 'The Crime of Sex.'
