Man appears in court over murder in Sticker near St Austell
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The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Families of slain University of Idaho students share emotions at Bryan Kohberger's sentencing
The families and loved ones of the four students stabbed to death in a home near the University of Idaho campus faced Bryan Kohberger during his sentencing in a Boise court Wednesday in an outpouring of grief, anger and even forgiveness. Judge Steven Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four life sentences without parole for four counts of first-degree murder in the brutal deaths of Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin early on Nov. 13, 2022. He was also given a 10-year sentence for burglary and assessed $270,000 in fines and civil penalties. He has waived his right to appeal. Kohberger pleaded guilty early this month, just weeks before his trial was to start, in a deal to avoid the death penalty. Prosecutors and defense attorneys had agreed on the sentence. Kohberger had a chance to speak in court but declined to do so. Many loved ones spoke through tears as they gave their emotional statements during Wednesday's hearing. Some addressed Kohberger directly, while others said they did not want to 'waste the words' on him. The prosecutor and judge also choked up at times as they spoke of the victims. Here's a look at the hearing in their words: Surviving roommates speak of their trauma Bethany Funke was one of two roommates to survive the night of the stabbings. In a statement read by a friend, she said the killings terrorized her and prompted her to sleep in her parents' room for almost a year. 'I have not slept through a single night since this happened. I constantly wake up in panics, terrified someone is breaking in or someone is here to hurt me, or I'm about to lose someone else that I love," Funke's statement said. 'For a long time I could barely get out of bed. But one day, I realized I have to live for them." Dylan Mortensen, the other surviving roommate, similarly said she had to sleep in her mom's bed and described panic attacks that hit her 'like a tsunami.' 'Sometimes I drop to the floor with my heart racing, convinced something is very wrong. It's far beyond anxiety. It's my body reliving everything over and over again,' she said, sobbing. What Kohberger couldn't take from her was her voice and her memories of her roommates, she said. "Those things are mine. They are sacred, and he will never touch them.' Families express array of emotions Scott Laramie, Mogen's stepfather, said the 'emotional wound will never fully heal.' 'Karen and I are ordinary people, but we lived extraordinary lives because we had Maddie,' he said, referring to his wife, Maddie's mother. 'As for the defendant, we will not waste the words. Nor will we fall into hatred and bitterness." An attorney for the family read a statement from Karen Laramie. 'Some may offer forgiveness for what the defendant has done. However, we cannot at this time, or perhaps ever," the statement said. "Nor will we ask for mercy for what he has done. His acts are too heinous.' Some other family members, meanwhile, said they forgave Kohberger. "Bryan, I'm here today to tell you I have forgiven you because I no longer could live with that hate in my heart,' said Kim Kernodle, Xana's aunt. 'Any time you want to talk and tell me what happened, get my number. I'm here, no judgment, because I do have questions that I want you to answer.' Cara Northington, Xana's mother, emphasized the importance of her faith. 'Jesus has allowed me to forgive you for murdering my daughter, without you even being sorry,' she said. The father of Madison Mogen read the last thing she had written him — a Father's Day card. In it, she said she couldn't wait to 'hang out again soon" and that she was proud of him. 'When I wasn't wanting to live anymore, she was what would keep me from not caring anymore,' Ben Mogen said, describing struggles with addiction. 'Knowing that she was out there and that she was just such a beautiful person kept me alive a lot of rough moments.' Steve Goncalves, Kaylee's father, taunted Kohberger for leaving his DNA on a knife sheath left near Mogen's body and getting caught despite being a graduate student in criminology at nearby Washington State University at the time. "You were that careless, that foolish, that stupid,' Steve Goncalves said. 'Master's degree? You're a joke.' Kohberger declines to speak When asked by the judge whether he wanted to speak, Kohberger responded: 'I respectfully decline.' Prosecutor chokes up showing photos of victims Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson's voice caught in his throat as he displayed photos of the victims, including one of all the roommates taken the day before the killings. Sobbing was heard in the courtroom and the judge used a tissue to dry his eyes. 'You can see all six of these dynamic, vibrant, loving, special, innocent faces, taken together just across the street from their residence and barely 12 hours before four of them would be brutally murdered in their sleep,' he said. Thompson acknowledged that the victim's families were split on how they felt about the plea deal. 'I respect the fact that of these fine, suffering people here, not everybody agreed with the decision we made,' he said. 'I accept that. It's my responsibility in the end. I recognize that that's the duty of the office that I hold.' Judge reflects on not knowing the motive 'No parent should ever have to bury their child,' Judge Steven Hippler said. 'Parents who took their children to college in a truck filled with moving boxes had to bring them home in hearses lined with coffins.' Hippler said he shared 'the desire expressed by others to understand the why," while also wondering whether focusing on the motive gave Kohberger agency and power. 'The need to know what is inherently not understandable makes us dependent upon the defendant to provide us with a reason, and that gives him the spotlight, the attention and the power he appears to crave," he said. "Yet even if I could force him to speak, which legally I cannot, how could anyone ever be assured that what he speaks is the truth?'
Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Dentist's terrifying plot to kill detective investigating his wife's 'poisoning' revealed at murder trial
Accused wife poisoner Dr James Craig asked his hardened former cellmate to help him find assassins to kill a detective and other inmates, the shackled felon told Craig's murder trial on Wednesday. Nathaniel Harris, currently incarcerated while awaiting trial on forgery and motor vehicle charges, told jurors he was testifying at the request of his 'wife,' Loretta - citing his 'moral compass' as another reason. Harris was housed for months in 2024 with Craig after the dentist's arrest in connection with the poisoning murder his wife, Angela, 43, who was repeatedly hospitalized with mystery symptoms before her death in March 2023 Prosecutors argue Craig killed her with a lethal mix of cyanide, arsenic and tetrahydrozoline, a chemical found in eyedrops, amidst financial troubles and a budding extramarital romance - and have added other charges stemming from his alleged activities behind bars. Bald, bearded and covered in tattoos, Harris repeatedly eyeballed Craig from the stand. He told the court how Craig had 'followed [him] around like a puppy' in jail, offering a 'blank check' for help arranging the hits and with other machinations the dentist was coming up with to clear his name. Harris also told the court he'd received nothing in exchange for his testimony - and had in fact turned down a probation offer. Craig spoke 'in detail' about Aurora Police Det. Bobbi Jo Olson - 'that she was out to get him ... that she was lying on him, fabricating evidence,' Harris testified. Jailhouse witnesses testified on Wednesday how Craig asked them to plant evidence - a fake journal of Angela's in which she professed to be suicide - as well as to kill other inmates and a lead detective on the dentist's case Craig also 'wanted me to get out and take pics of [another officer's] son getting off the school bus' for intimidation, Harris testified. Regarding Olson and other names Craig provided, Harris testified, 'he wanted me to source out somebody that could find and kill them. ' 'Before things got out of hand, I told him I would handle it,' Harris testified, explaining how he allegedly brushed off Craig. 'Because he was going to start talking to other people.' Craig had talked about paying $20,000 or more for help, he said. The dentist also told him about 'an F150 with $5,000 cash and a .308 sniper rifle,' Harris testified. Harris followed none of Craig's instructions, he said, and also hid within his legal mail a letter Craig had asked him to send his ex, Kasiani Konstantinidis. Harris repeatedly asked his own lawyer several times to come get the damning letter, with no result, he said. That's when he 'took matters into my own hands,' Harris testified. He called his current romantic partner, Loretta - described by Harris as his 'wife,' though the court heard he's still legally married to Konstantinidis - and told her to alert the prison to the letter. Sgt Nicholas Hudson, who works at the Arapahoe County Detention Facility, testified on Wednesday about receiving a phone call from Loretta. He set up a cell search the next day, ostensibly for drugs - not even telling his deputies that the real goal was to find the letter, he said. Hudson did not initially locate the letter and surreptitiously asked Harris for help. The felon told him where it was and that gave him permission to read it, he added. The officer read out portions of the letter, intended for Harris' ex-wife,to the court. It outlined 'roles' Craig wanted played by Harris' ex-wife, her sister and other women they'd recruit. Konstantinidis, the letter instructed, was to pretend to be 'a friend of Ang's ... how you met and how far back your friendship goes is up to you. Angela 'confided in you that she had used the threat of suicide in the past to try to manipulate me,' Hudson read. 'She also told you she was never serious about following through.' The recipient's sister was instructed to pretend to be another friend Angela met at a genealogical library - with the letter instructing her to go familiarize herself with the location to seem more believable. 'The next part is crucial,' the letter continued. 'The worst, dirtiest detective in the whole world is on my case. Her name is Bobbi Jo Olson. 'We have to discredit her.' The letter's solution to this was for someone to lie and say they'd reached out to Olson with information favorable to Craig but had been ignored. This 'role' player was to feed this story to investigators and/or the media. The letter also asked for Konstantinidis to find a person to discredit the office manager of his dental practice, Caitlin Romero, who testified earlier in the trial about noticing potassium cyanide in a personal package Craig had delivered to his workplace - and told her not to open. Romero had googled the symptoms of potassium cyanide, connected it with Angela Craig's mystery symptoms and raised the alarm with her managers - who soon told authorities. The letter asked for someone to claim they'd heard Romero bragging 'that she'd set me up in some way' or to make it 'sound like she fabricated evidence' or 'how she ordered the cyanide that killed Angela.' Confusingly, the letter wanted this role-player to claim 'Caitlin said she did what she did because her bosses ... pushed her to do it and said they gave her a huge financial incentive to help them.' Konstantinidis took the stand later on Wednesday and testified during cross examination that it would be 'very accurate' to describe her ex as having 'a reputation for untruthfulness.' She said she'd been on the phone with Det. Olson when she received the letter in the mail, stopped opening it and left it outside under a mat to be picked up by law enforcement. Harris, however, was not the first former fellow inmate of Craig's to testify in the trial - and to claim the dentist solicited help with criminal plots from behind bars. Kacy Bohannon, who'd also been incarcerated with Craig in 2023, continued testimony he'd started late on Tuesday. He told jurors how Craig 'was going to rewrite a journal - it was supposedly [Angela's] - about committing suicide, about how bad life was ... and how she wanted to take her life. 'So he had asked if I would be able to go and ... get into his home and put this into his garage or put it into his pickup truck that was parked in the street,' Bohannon testified. Craig 'said he could get my bond paid ... and even throw in dental work,' Bohannon testified. The dentist even gave him a rough map of his home - but 'I walked right back to my cell and tore it up and flushed it,' Bohannon said. 'I didn't want any part of it once I realized what was going on,' he said. Bohannan, like Harris, testified that he'd received nothing in exchange for his testimony. He came forward after his release, he said, because 'I just had this feeling ... almost like sick. 'I just wasn't right, that I knew what he told me, and I felt like I needed to reach out and tell someone.'
Telegraph
28 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Five gang members convicted of murdering two people in drill rap video
Five gang members, including an illegal immigrant who should have been deported nine years ago, have been convicted of murdering two people during the filming of a drill rap video. Leonardo Reid, 15, and Klevi Shekaj, 23, died after they were mistaken for rival gang members at a gathering of 40 people in Elthorne Road, Islington, north London, on June 29 2023. Lorik Lupqi, 21, Jason Furtado, 28, Abel Chunda, 29, Xavier Poponne, 22, and Eden Clark, 31, were convicted of double murder on Wednesday following a 15-week trial at the Old Bailey. Lupqi, a Kosovan, and Furtado, a Portuguese national, were both on tags at the time of the killings. Furtado, born to Angolan parents, had a lengthy criminal record and the Home Office had first tried to deport him nine years ago. He launched at least two appeals against his deportation despite committing serious offences in the lead up to the murders. Lupqi fled to Kosovo after the attacks, but was extradited back to the UK last November. The five killers were also convicted of the attempted murder of Abdulla Abdullahi, 28. During the trial, the court heard that on the day of the murders a large group had gathered on the Elthorne Estate to record a music video for an artist called Tight Right Baby. Lupqi saw the gathering as an opportunity to attack the pair, and Furtado enlisted Chunda, Clark and Poponne. The three men, who were not at the original gathering, were taxied from Furtado's address in Canonbury, north London, to the estate, where they donned masks and armed themselves. Reid was stabbed in the chest, which penetrated his left lung and a major blood vessels, causing fatal blood loss. Shekaj was stabbed in the back, also puncturing his left lung. He was driven to Whittington Hospital by members of the public, but he died on arrival. Mr Abdullahi, who had walked past the video recording earlier that night, told police he was attacked by three or four masked people on his return to the area. He was struck with a machete on the right side of his body, on his head and right knee, the court was told. Jacob Hallam KC, for the prosecution, said: 'He thought he was going to die. He cannot say how long the attack lasted. He then heard one of the group say, 'leave him'.' Mr Abdullahi struggled home and collapsed outside his front door. After the 'murderous' attack, the taxi took Chunda, Poponne, Clark and Lupqi from the scene to Chunda's home address, the court was told. Lyrics recovered from Poponne's phone allegedly 'glorified' the killings, jurors heard, and contained details that could have only been known by the attackers. Shortly after the murders, Poponne changed his social media name to 'X3' in reference to the number of people he had stabbed, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. After the verdict, Det Insp Jim Barry said: 'Our team have remained focused on getting justice for those affected by this violent and unnecessary attack. 'This dangerous group of men will now spend a long time behind bars but the effect of what they did will be felt by the victim's shattered families for longer. 'I thank the members of the public who tried to help and save the lives of those injured and have assisted our team with enquiries. 'We will continue to tackle violent offenders and ensure that justice is bought for the safety of our communities.' The defendants will be sentenced on Sept 25 and 26.
