Latest news with #JaneDoe1
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sean 'Diddy' Combs Tells Judge He Will Not Testify at His Trial
After federal prosecutors completed six weeks of evidence and testimony backing up their indictment of hip-hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs on Tuesday, the defendant told the judge at his federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial that he will not be taking the stand to testify in his own defense. Federal prosecutors rested their case Tuesday afternoon after six weeks of testimony from Combs' ex-girlfriends, personal assistants, federal agents and various members of his once powerful media and music empire, which the feds argue was a 'criminal enterprise' used to traffic men and women and coerce others into sex marathons. The defense rested later in the afternoon without calling a single witness. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian asked how Combs was and whether he would be testifying at the trial where, if found guilty, he could face life in prison. More from The Hollywood Reporter The Sphere Worked Modern Magic on the Soundtrack for 'The Wizard of Oz' J-Pop Duo Yoasobi on Why Their Unique Concept Has Helped Lead to Global Success Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Make Casual Red Carpet Debut at His Tight End University's Opening Night 'I'm doing great, your honor,' Combs told Subramanian. 'I want to tell you thank you, you're doing an excellent job.' Combs then told the judge that he had 'thoroughly' discussed the pros and cons of testifying with his team of attorneys and ultimately decided against taking the stand. 'That is my decision, your honor. That is solely my decision,' he said adding to clarify, 'I mean, it's my decision with my lawyers…. My decision to make. I'm making it.' The judge asking the defendant directly if they wish to testify before the court is a formality and ensures that he is making the decision on his own. During the trial, Judge Subramanian had to admonish Combs for interactions with the jury. On several occasions during testimony, the defendant gestured at jurors following a successful cross-examination; prosecutors noted this to the judge as a form of testifying without cross-examination. Comb was threatened with removal from his trial if he did not stop the interactions. On Tuesday, the defense asked the judge to toss out the case, arguing that the charges were not proven by the prosecutors; this is also a formality in a criminal trial. Judge Subramanian has not yet issued a decision. Combs has pleaded not guilty to five counts contained in an indictment, including sex trafficking and racketeering. He has remained incarcerated without bail in Brooklyn after three judges concluded he would be a danger to the community and may potentially attempt to influence witnesses ahead of the trial. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Harvey Weinstein's "Jane Doe 1" Victim Reveals Identity: "I'm Tired of Hiding" 'Awards Chatter' Podcast: 'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
R. Kelly Seeks Release From Prison, Claiming Officers Tried to Have Him Killed by Fellow Inmate
R. Kelly, who is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence, is seeking to be released from prison, claiming jail officials attempted to solicit a fellow inmate to kill him. In a court filing on Tuesday, the disgraced R&B star asked a judge to be released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina. He's serving multiple decades after being convicted in two separate criminal cases for several sex crimes. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Shrinking' Actress and Music Supervisor Christa Miller on Pulling the Strings Behind the Scenes John Cusack, Nancy Sinatra, Ronnie Wood and More Pay Tribute to Brian Wilson: "The Maestro Has Passed" Sabrina Carpenter Announces New Album 'Man's Best Friend' Kelly claims a prison officer 'illegally accessed and stole a series of phone calls and emails' between the former musician and a woman and his attorney, according to the motion. He also alleges a former cellmate stole 'attorney-client correspondence' and shared the letters with prosecutors ahead of his trial in New York. To stop this information from being released, Kelly alleges that prison officials tried to have him killed. In the filing, Kelly alleges that a fellow inmate, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood gang, came up to him and 'disclosed that he was sent to FCI Butner by BOP officials who directed him to murder Mr. Kelly.' When he failed to go through with it, the filing claims the Aryan Brotherhood member also 'had his own life threatened.' Kelly's attorney, Beau Brindle, added in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter, 'R. Kelly's life is being threatened because of his decision to stand up and expose the violation of his constitutional rights made by corrupt prosecutors who use Bureau of Prisons officers and cooperating witnesses to facilitate these violations.' 'Once it became clear that he was uncovering evidence of the corruption underlying the charges in his federal cases, a white supremacist member of the Aryan Brotherhood was sent to murder him,' the statement continued. 'We are filing our motion to make sure that they cannot get away with it.' In response, Billboard reported that prosecutors filed their own documents asking the judge to strike Kelly's filing. 'Robert Kelly is a serial sexual predator,' prosecutors wrote in their filing. 'He even documented his sexual abuse of children on film — creating child pornography — such that the abuse would live on in perpetuity. That abuse and harassment continues with defendant's latest filing.' Kelly was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York in 2021 and found guilty of child pornography and enticing minors for sex in Chicago in 2022. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the New York case, and to 20 years for the Chicago case, with both sentences overlapping. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Harvey Weinstein's "Jane Doe 1" Victim Reveals Identity: "I'm Tired of Hiding" 'Awards Chatter' Podcast: 'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)
New York Times
11-06-2025
- New York Times
After N.Y. Verdict, Weinstein's Prior California Conviction Still Stands
In addition to his conviction on Wednesday in Manhattan, Harvey Weinstein has been convicted of similar charges in a criminal case in California. In that case, brought by prosecutors in Los Angeles in January 2020, Mr. Weinstein was accused of rape and other crimes, convicted and ultimately sentenced to 16 years in prison. Mr. Weinstein appealed his California conviction last year, arguing that he did not receive a fair trial. Mr. Weinstein's lawyer in California said the new conviction in Manhattan would not stop his legal team from appealing the earlier conviction. 'We continue to fight,' said the lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean. 'This doesn't change the strength of the appeal, which is strong and compelling. We will continue to fight till the bitter end.' The California prosecution, in Los Angeles Superior Court, focused in part on allegations that Mr. Weinstein raped a woman identified as Jane Doe 1 in a hotel room in February 2013. He was convicted in December 2022 of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object. But he was acquitted on four other counts. That conviction followed Mr. Weinstein's first conviction in New York, in 2020, which resulted in a 23-year prison sentence. The judge in Los Angeles sentenced him to 16 years in prison, which was to be served after he completed his New York prison term. The Queens district attorney, whose office handles rearrests from Rikers Island, said last year that Mr. Weinstein will be returned to California following his latest New York case and would serve the California sentence first. New York's highest court overturned his 2020 conviction in Manhattan after determining that the trial judge had erred when he let several women testify that Mr. Weinstein had assaulted them, even though their accusations were not part of the charges brought against him. In the Los Angeles case, prosecutors called 44 witnesses, including four women who said they had been assaulted by Mr. Weinstein and who were allowed to testify to show a pattern of abuse, though their accounts were not tied to the charges. At his sentencing, Mr. Weinstein pleaded for leniency, telling the judge that the case against him was not solid and did not justify a long prison term. 'I tried all my life to bring happiness to people,' Mr. Weinstein said in court. 'Please don't sentence me to life in prison. I don't deserve it.'
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Prince Harry Loses Appeal Over U.K. Security Detail After Barristers Argued His Life Was 'At Stake'
Prince Harry has lost a legal challenge over the level of security he is permitted while in the U.K. The Duke of Sussex had appeared in court last month to appeal the decision to downgrade his taxpayer-funded security arrangements while in Britain, describing the country as 'central to the heritage' of his children, Archie and Lilibet, who he shares with wife Meghan Markle. More from The Hollywood Reporter Cinemark Swings to First-Quarter Loss Amid "Suppressed Box Office Environment" Timothée Chalamet to Receive Italian Award for "Cinematic Excellence" Russell Brand Granted Bail at First London Court Hearing on Rape, Sexual Assault Charges 'I want them to feel at home as much as where they live at the moment in the U.S.,' he said in 2023. 'That cannot happen if it's not possible to keep them safe when they are on U.K. soil.' When Harry and Meghan Markle confirmed they would be stepping back from their duties as senior members of the royal family in 2020, the Royal and VIP Executive Committee (Ravec) decided the couple would no longer be given the 'same degree' of protection when in the country. Harry's barristers said the duke had been 'singled out' for 'inferior treatment' and that his safety, security and life were 'at stake.' The new arrangement meant that the Sussexes would instead receive a cheaper, 'bespoke' security service, necessitating that they give 30 days' notice of any plans to come to the U.K. and that each visit be assessed for threat levels. On Friday, the duke lost his appeal challenging the decision. High court judge Geoffrey Vos said the arguments put forward on behalf of Harry were 'powerful' and said it was 'plain' he had felt 'badly treated' by the system. But, he added, there was no legal basis to challenge Ravec's decision. 'The conclusion in my judgement… was that the Duke of Sussex's appeal would be dismissed,' he said on Friday. Prince Harry now lives with the Duchess of Sussex and their two children in Montecito, California. His returns to his native U.K. have been few and far between since their move to the west coast of the U.S., including a memorial service for his uncle, Robert Fellowes, in August 2024, the Platinum Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth in June 2022 and that same year, in September, her funeral. Harry did attend the coronation of his father, King Charles III in May 2023, but Meghan did not join. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Harvey Weinstein's "Jane Doe 1" Victim Reveals Identity: "I'm Tired of Hiding" 'Awards Chatter' Podcast: 'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wisconsin parents claim school punished daughters for refusing to change in front of trans student
FIRST ON FOX– Two Wisconsin parents have filed a civil rights complaint after they claimed their daughters were forced to share a locker room with a biological male transgender student and faced academic penalties for attempting to avoid undressing in front of the student. The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed a Title IX complaint on behalf of the parents with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) and with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi against Westosha Central High School for "endangering the safety and privacy of multiple female students." The complaint, shared first with Fox News Digital, claims that Westosha Central High allowed a male student to share a locker room for gym class with female students and allegedly punished students who attempted to avoid changing in front of the male student. The complaint was brought by two parents of female students in the class. One of the parents said he ended up pulling his daughter out of the school because of the situation. Illinois Mother Files Civil Rights Complaint, Says Daughter Nearly Forced To Change In Front Of Trans Student "Parents send their kids to school so they can learn in a safe environment, but that's not what happened here. My daughter was punished for standing up for her own privacy and safety. The district's misplaced priorities left us no choice but to leave the school," former Westosha parent Nicholas Puchter said. Read On The Fox News App The complaint states that at the beginning of the second semester last December, two female students, "Jane Doe 1" and "Jane Doe 2," began a new physical education class where they became aware that a male transgender student would be allowed to change in the girls' locker room. "While some girls could use the few available toilet stalls to change in privacy and away from the gaze of the male student, others could not because of the limited time offered for changing. The result was a crowded and uncomfortable environment where many girls felt pressured into an inadequate choice between exposure and tardiness," the complaint states. After Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 expressed "discomfort and embarrassment" at being required to undress in front of a male student to their gym teacher, the complaint claims they were told "not to worry about it" and that it would be considered "bullying," to not allow the transgender student to use the girls' locker room. Conservative School Board In Blue State Asking Trump Admin To Intervene On Gender Policy The complaint says the parents of the two girls also called the school's administration office to demand they address the issue. However, the transgender student was still allowed to change in the same locker room, the complaint claims. During the winter break, Westosha also sent a letter to families, claiming that "no reports of inappropriate locker room behaviors were made to school personnel or law enforcement" but regardless, the school said it had "taken steps to ensure all students feel safe and comfortable in the locker room." The complaint says that Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 faced academic penalties when they attempted to avoid changing in front of the transgender student. Jane Doe 1 allegedly "received multiple unexcused absences attempting to avoid the leering gaze of a male student in the locker room." Hhs' Civil Rights Office Finds Maine In Violation Of Title Ix For Allowing Biological Males In Women's Sports In one instance, Jane Doe 1 tried to sit in the girls' bathroom outside the locker room to avoid the male student when a teacher "yelled" at her for skipping class and forced her to return to PE class, the complaint says. Jane Doe 2 was also marked absent on multiple occasions because she would wait for an empty stall to change clothes for class. Although her absences were excused after her father called the school, she still received a failing grade in the class, the complaint says. Her family ultimately chose to pull her out of Westosha, which is located in Paddock Lake, a village in Kenosha County bordering Illinois. WILL accuses the school of violating Title IX protections by failing to "take meaningful action to accommodate" or address the students' concerns and creating an environment where female students' participation in gym class was hindered. WILL is asking the Department of Justice and Department of Education to investigate these claims and "act swiftly to remedy unlawful policies and practices, and order appropriate relief." WILL Associate Counsel Lauren Greuel provided the following statement: "When schools like Westosha force girls into an inadequate choice between exposing themselves to a male student or academic penalties, they abandon all common-sense and their core mission. The law requires protections for girls to have the same educational opportunities as their male peers. The decision to punish these girls for protecting themselves must be promptly investigated by the Department of Education. We ask the department to consider the allegations in our complaint and quickly remedy these unlawful policies and practices." In response to the complaint, the Department of Justice told Fox News Digital, "Forcing girls to compete against and share locker rooms with boys is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous. The Department of Justice will protect women and continue to vigorously defend President Trump's executive actions, including the Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports executive order." Wetosha Central High and the Department of Education did not respond to Fox News Digital's requests for article source: Wisconsin parents claim school punished daughters for refusing to change in front of trans student
