Latest news with #murderTrial
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Convent man facing life sentence in 2021 fatal shooting case
ST. JAMES PARISH, La. (WGNO) — A man convicted of a double shooting that left a woman dead in 2021, has been found guilty. According to documents filed with District Attorney Ricky Babin's office, 36-year-old Carlos Washington was found guilty as charged on counts of: Second-degree murder Attempted second-degree murder Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon Second-degree cruelty to a juvenile Resident safe, suspect injured in alleged Bogalusa arson incident On Jan. 7, 2021, St. James Parish Sheriff's Office deputies were called to a Convent area home after Washington shot two people and barricaded himself inside with his 6-year-old son and a gun. In an attempt to get inside the home, Washington reportedly fired a shot at officers resulting in a stand-off. Moments later, he exited the home and was taken into custody. Officers entered to find Washington's mother, Anita Jacobs, dead of an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Causeway Bridge southbound lanes reopen after crash His step-father was also wounded in the incident and treated at a hospital. Washington was booked into the St. James Parish Jail and on Thursday, June 26, 2025, a jury found him guilty as charged. Sentencing is set for Aug. 25. He faces a mandatory life sentence for the second-degree murder trend already identified among 'Generation Beta' babies, BabyCenter claims Eight people shot within nine hours in New Orleans Two dead in Lower Ninth Ward homicide investigation Boil water advisory issued in New Orleans after 30″ main break How do the chemicals in sunscreen protect our skin from damage? Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Fox News
Karen Read trial jury foreman calls on FBI to investigate Boston police officer's death
The jury foreman in the Karen Read retrial called on the FBI to take its own look into the death of Boston Police Department officer John O'Keefe. Jurors on June 18 found Read not guilty of second-degree murder, but found her guilty of operating a vehicle while under the influence with a blood-alcohol level of .08% or greater. Juror No. 1 told the Boston Herald that the FBI should do its own investigation into O'Keefe's death. "There are so many holes that need to be filled," Juror No. 1 said. "Now that the FBI knows Karen Read is not a suspect, something happened, and multiple jurors feel that way." The juror, who asked to remain anonymous, said the FBI should "get justice for John O'Keefe." "No one local should be involved in the investigation," the juror said. "It was lazy police work… and we should start some type of investigation of what went on in that house." Special prosecutor Hank Brennan, following the verdict, requested Read be sentenced to one year of probation and enrollment in the 24D outpatient program, which is routine for a first drunken driving offense. The not guilty verdict on the top charge of second-degree murder came following nearly a month of testimony and four days of jury deliberation. Prosecutors accused Read of killing O'Keefe, her boyfriend, on Jan. 29, 2022, while she was driving her car drunk during a blizzard. O'Keefe's body was found lying in the snow during the early morning hours of Jan. 29. Kerry Roberts and Jennifer McCabe testified against Read, saying she was panicked when she called them on Jan. 29 to tell them that O'Keefe was missing. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB In court, McCabe alleged that Read repeatedly said, "I hit him" on the morning that O'Keefe went missing. Timothy Nuttall, a paramedic, said he overheard Read saying "I hit him" three times. According to witnesses, Read and O'Keefe were out drinking on the night of Jan. 28 with friends, including McCabe. The couple was invited to an after-party at Brian Albert's house, but they didn't attend. SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER Read's defense team maintained during the trial that Read never hit O'Keefe, instead blaming his injuries on an altercation with other men at the after-party. According to witnesses who testified in court, while Read's car was outside Albert's house, she and O'Keefe weren't seen at the after-party. Read told reporters that she saw O'Keefe enter the house prior to her driving away. Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI for comment.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson face charges in Crystal Rogers murder trial. What to know
Brooks Houck, the man accused of killing Crystal Rogers will stand trial alongside an alleged co-conspirator starting June 24, roughly a decade after the mother suddenly disappeared from a small town in rural Kentucky. Houck, 43, is charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence in the case. Joseph Lawson, 34, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence — the same charges his father, Steven Lawson, was convicted for in late May 2025. Here is what to know about the high-profile case and upcoming trial: Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five children, went missing around July 3, 2015, from Bardstown. Her car was found a few days later abandoned on Bluegrass Parkway with her keys, phone and purse inside. Rogers was not known to go anywhere without her children, according to the FBI. Rogers' body has never been found, but she is presumed dead by investigators. Houck was Rogers' boyfriend at the time of her disappearance and is the father of her youngest child. He was named a suspect early in the investigation, but he was not arrested until September 2023. Houck is charged with murder "by intentionally or under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life wantonly causing the death of Crystal Rogers," according to court records. He has told investigators that he last saw Rogers alive when they visited his family's farm the night before she disappeared. He has denied involvement in the disappearance and has pleaded not guilty. Houck is connected to his co-defendants through his work as a prominent real estate businessman in Nelson County. He is a current officer for Houck Rentals in Bardstown, according to Kentucky Secretary of State records. Both Lawsons have worked for him in the past. Joseph Lawson, Steven Lawson's son, was arrested in September 2023. He was the first person arrested in the case. He has pleaded not guilty to his charges. Houck and Lawson will stand trial in Bowling Green, the county seat of Warren County. Steven Lawson's trial was also held in Warren County. Judge Charles Simms III ordered both trials take place there following motions by all three defendants to move court proceedings outside of Nelson County. The co-defendants argued that keeping the trial in Nelson County would impede their rights to a fair and impartial trial because the publicity and news coverage the case has received could lead to a prejudiced jury pool. Selecting a fair jury is among the biggest challenges in a high-profile case such as this, University of Louisville law professor Russell L. Weaver told The Courier Journal. "You really just need people who agree that they will listen to the evidence and decide the case based on the evidence, and not based upon what they heard in the media," he said. A jury found Steven Lawson guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence May 30 in connection with Rogers' disappearance and recommended a 17-year sentence. His sentencing is set for Aug. 6 in Nelson County. Steven Lawson admitted his guilt to the tampering with physical evidence charge during trial, claiming he helped his son move Rogers' car by picking him up from the side of Bluegrass Parkway when the car "broke down." He testified that he was unaware of why his son was moving the car or of any conspiracy to murder Rogers, however. Prosecutors, meanwhile, called him an "essential partner" in the alleged murder. No other individuals have been charged in the case, though special prosecutor Shane Young hinted at the possibility of future developments during the first trial. Young name dropped Brooks Houck's brother and mother — Nick and Rosemary Houck — as alleged co-conspirators. Nick Houck was employed by the Bardstown Police Department at the time of Rogers' disappearance and was fired for allegedly interfering in the investigation, according to court records. At Houck's arraignment in October 2023, Young said investigators had recovered a gun sold by Nick Houck under an assumed name that could be a match for the murder weapon in the killing of Rogers' father, Tommy Ballard. Ballard was killed 16 months after Rogers' disappearance while getting ready for a hunting trip with his 12-year-old grandson on family property next to Bluegrass Parkway in Bardstown. Ballard was shot once in the chest, instantly killing him, according to a report from the FBI. No one has been charged in his death, and Kentucky State Police officials have said they do not believe his grandson to be a suspect. During that arraignment, Young also said Houck had family members record secret grand jury proceedings in 2015, The Courier Journal reported. It is unclear where investigations into Nick and Rosemary Houck currently stand. Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at kbaarlaer@ or @bkillian72 on X. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Crystal Rogers case: Brooks Houck, Joseph Lawson trial starts in June
CBS News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Karen Read attorney Alan Jackson fires back at Hank Brennan for comments on jury's verdict
Karen Read's lead attorney, Alan Jackson, has accused special prosecutor Hank Brennan of ethical violations for attacking the jury's verdict. Read was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter last week in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe. Brennan waited five days to comment on the verdict. In a statement Monday, he said he was disappointed with it and that there was "only one person" responsible for O'Keefe's death. Brennan also condemned "witness abuse" in the case. Jackson fired back Tuesday with a long response, saying Brennan, "in an egregious breach of prosecutorial ethics, has tried to publicly shame and discredit that very jury." "For him to attempt to supplant his personal views for that of the jury is a desperate attempt to save face in the wake of a unanimous rejection of the prosecution's case," Jackson said in a statement. "The only job of an ethical prosecutor is to seek the truth in a just and fair manner. The Commonwealth fell wildly short of that responsibility. Theirs was not an effort to find justice for John O'Keefe. Rather, it was a personal vendetta against Karen Read by DA Michael Morrissey and his hand-picked prosecutors-and it cost the people of Norfolk County millions." Morrissey has said very little about the verdict. In a brief statement to WBZ-TV he would only say "The jury has spoken." Read is now facing a civil wrongful death lawsuit that was filed by O'Keefe's family in Plymouth Superior Court in August 2024.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Karen Read juror reveals single piece of evidence that convinced jury she was innocent
A juror in the retrial of Karen Read has said the fact police never searched the home where her boyfriend died was the main reason they acquitted her of murder. Read, 45, was accused of drunkenly ramming her SUV into former Boston cop John O'Keefe, and leaving him to die in blizzard conditions on January 29, 2022. Juror #1, the foreman, told The Boston Heral that the fact that investigators never searched the home where O'Keefe died was pivotal in their decision to acquit. The anonymous juror told the outlet it was 'shoddy work' and a 'red flag' by the authorities. They said: 'If that body was on my front steps, I know my house would have been stormed.' Text messages from Trooper Michael Proctor sent about Read were also shown to have a bias, the person said. 'It all seemed like a lot of wishy-washy privilege. We had to look at the evidence, and a lot of it didn't make sense. 'There was no meat! No a-ha moment. No one proved there was a collision — even with all that jargon. And all the jurors agreed.' The juror said that the panel all went their separate ways after the trial but have agreed to meet soon to discuss the case. Read long maintained her innocence and insisted that she was framed by his police officer friends who were inside the house where he was found dead. The jury ultimately returned a not guilty verdict on the charges of murder and leaving the scene resulting in death on Wednesday. However, Read was found guilty of operating under the influence and was sentenced to probation. Read had already faced the charges at a trial last year. But after five days of deliberations, Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial as the jurors remained split on whether she intentionally killed her boyfriend. Prosecutors had argued Read was drinking with O'Keefe and a group of his friends at the Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton - about 14 miles south of Boston - when they were invited to an afterparty at his friend Brian Albert's home. Read had even admitted to having several alcoholic drinks beforehand, but said she decided to drop O'Keefe off at the afterparty before she returned to his house. According to Read's version of events, she woke up at 4am to find that O'Keefe never returned home, leading her to frantically drive out to try and find him. After finding O'Keefe's body outside the home - which party attendees claimed he never entered - first responders on the scene alleged that Read repeatedly told them she hit him while in a panicked state. The prosecutors then argued that Read was a scorned lover who chose to leave O'Keefe dying in the snow, after striking him with her SUV. O'Keefe's cause of death was ultimately listed as blunt force trauma and hypothermia after police say he was left outside in a blizzard. The couple had been dating for two years at the time and were said to be having arguments in their relationship. Read's defense team, though, suggested O'Keefe was beaten, bitten by a dog, then left outside a home in the Boston suburb in a conspiracy orchestrated by the police that included planting evidence - the taillights the police had found. They argued that investigators focused on Read because she was a 'convenient outsider' who saved them from having to consider law enforcement officers as suspects. At the center of their argument were claims that the investigation was inappropriately handled by dishonorably discharged State Trooper Michael Proctor, who sent vulgar text messages about Read. He was fired over texts that included calling Read a 'whack job' and a 'c***.' In other messages, he joked about rummaging through her phone for nude photos during the investigation, and remarked that she had 'no a**.' The case - and the suggestion that there was a police coverup - captivated America, as Read gained a cult following from the widespread social media coverage and hit HBO documentary of the case. The 'Free Karen Read' supporters were such a presence at her trial that the judge ordered they be kept 500 feet away from the courthouse and banned attendees inside the court from wearing pink, a color that they wore to show support for Read. In brief remarks following the verdict, Read thanked her lawyers and her fans. 'I could not be standing here without these amazing supporters who have supported me and my team financially and more importantly emotionally for almost four years,' she said. 'No one has fought harder for justice for John O'Keefe than I have. Than I have, and my team.' But O'Keefe's loved ones - including the party host Brian Albert - condemned the not guilty verdict as a 'miscarriage of justice.' 'Today, our hearts are with John and the entire O'Keefe family. They have suffered through so much and deserved better from our justice system,' they said in a statement. 'While we may have more to say in the future, today we mourn with John's family and lament the cruel reality that this prosecution was infected by lies and conspiracy theories spread by Karen Read, her defense team, and some in the media. 'The result is a devastating miscarriage of justice.'
