Crime
Missouri judge overturns murder conviction of man sentenced to more than 30 years in prison
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Missouri judge on Monday overturned the conviction of Christopher Dunn, who spent more than 30 years in prison for a murder he long said he didn’t commit.
The ruling will likely free Dunn from prison, nevertheless it was not immediately clear when that will occur. He is serving a life sentence without the chance of parole.
Saint Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser’s decision got here weeks after he presided over a three-day hearing on Dunn’s fate.
Dunn, now 52, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1990 shooting death of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. St. Louis District Attorney Gabe Gore filed a motion in February to overturn the conviction. A hearing was held in May.
Sengheiser wrote in his ruling that “the district attorney presented clear and convincing evidence of ‘actual innocence,’ which undermines the basis for Dunn’s conviction because, in light of the new evidence, no juror acting reasonably would have voted to find Dunn guilty of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Dunn’s attorney, Midwest Innocence Project executive director Tricia Rojo (*30*), said she was “overjoyed” with the judge’s decision.
“Chris now looks forward to spending time with his wife and family as a free man,” (*30*) said in an announcement.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office opposed the trouble to overturn Dunn’s conviction. Lawyers for the state argued at a hearing in May that the initial statements of two boys on the scene who identified Dunn because the shooter were correct, although they later recanted them as adults.
“This verdict was correct and should be upheld,” Deputy Attorney General Tristin Estep said on the hearing.
Spokeswoman Madeline Sieren said the Attorney General’s Office will appeal.
The decision in Dunn’s case got here days after Sandra Hemme was free of a western Missouri prison after serving 43 years for murder that a judge found unconvicted. Bailey’s office also opposed Hemme’s release.
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A Missouri law passed in 2021 allows prosecutors to request hearings once they see evidence of a wrongful conviction. While Bailey’s office doesn’t have to oppose such actions, he also opposed one other motion in St. Louis that led to Lamar Johnson’s release last yr after serving 28 years for a murder case in which a judge ruled he was wrongfully convicted.
Rogers was shot May 18, 1990, when a gunman opened fire while he was with a bunch of other teenage boys outside a house. DeMorris Stepp, 14, and Michael Davis Jr., 12, each initially identified Dunn because the shooter.
In a taped interview played on the trial, Davis said he lied because he thought Dunn was related to a rival gang.
Stepp’s story has modified several times over the years, Gore said on the hearing. Most recently, he said he didn’t see Dunn because the shooter. Gore said one other judge had previously found Stepp to be “a completely unreliable witness” and urged Sengheiser to ignore him entirely.
Dunn said he was at his mother’s house on the time of the shooting. Childhood friend Nicole Bailey testified that she spoke to him on the phone that night and that he was on the phone at his mother’s house.
Estep, the deputy attorney general, said the alibi was not credible and Dunn’s story had modified again and again over the years. Dunn didn’t testify on the trial.
The 2021 law led to the discharge of two men who had spent many years in prison. In addition to Johnson, Kevin Strickland was freed in 2021 after more than 40 years for 3 slayings in Kansas City, after a judge ruled he was wrongly convicted in 1979.
Next month shall be the subsequent trial for Marcellus Williams, who narrowly escaped lethal injection and now faces one other execution.
St. Louis County District Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in January to overturn Williams’ conviction in the 1998 fatal stabbing of Lisha Gayle. Bell’s motion stated that three experts determined Williams’ DNA was not on the handle of the butcher knife used in the slaying.
Williams was hours away from execution in 2017 when then-Gov. Eric Greitens halted it and appointed a commission to investigate his claim of innocence. The commission never issued a ruling, and Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican like Greitens, disbanded it last yr.
This month, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that Parson had the appropriate to dissolve the board and set a brand new execution date of Sept. 24.
Crime
Sean “Diddy” Combs faces five new sexual assault trials
Several more plaintiffs got here forward this week accusing rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual abuse. On November 19, three men and two women filed separate complaints against the Bad Boy Records founder through Tony Buzbee, a lawyer who previously said he would represent greater than 100 clients accusing Combs of misconduct.
“For years, Combs and his companies have engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of violence against women, men and minors,” the entire complaints read: in keeping with People magazine. “This abuse was at times verbal, emotional, physical and sexual. As part of his pattern of molestation, Combs manipulated both men and women into participating in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity, with both prostitutes and unsuspecting partygoers.”
The new plaintiffs include an unidentified man who claims the rapper sexually assaulted him when he was 39 years old. At a house party in New York in 2022, the plaintiff alleged that he was given a drink that left him feeling disoriented and uncontrolled. his body, which ultimately caused him to lose consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, he recalls being in a “dark bedroom with black walls, on a bed with black sheets”, where he realized that Combs was “sodomizing him”. The plaintiff claims he fought with the rapper before leaving the party.
Other male plaintiffs, including an unnamed former actor, remember feeling disoriented, passing out and waking up as Combs sexually assaulted them. With allegations dating back to 2001, all five complaints said Combs’ alleged abuse was “shockingly typical” since the star believed he was “above the law.”
“That said, Mr. Combs vehemently and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,” attorney Erica Wolff added in a press release. “He looks forward to proving his innocence and defending himself in court where the truth will be determined by evidence, not speculation.”
Combs is currently in federal custody awaiting trial on criminal charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. The star’s trial is scheduled to happen in May 2025.
Crime
Founder of an AI Tech startup accused of fraud and combining numbers with investors
Joanna Smith-Griffin, 33, CEO of startup AllHere Education, Inc. dealing with AI education accused of defrauding investors.
The Southern District of New York prosecuted Smith-Griffin securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The grand jury indictment alleged that Smith-Griffin lied concerning the education platform’s funds and posed as a financial consultant to supply false information to investors. While acting as a financial consultant for AllHere Education, Smith-Griffin is accused of falsifying the corporate’s financial records mislead potential investors and inflate the worth of her company and its revenues.
AllHere Education is an AI-powered learning platform utilized in primary and secondary schools. Smith-Griffin has had little success integrating the K-12 platform into individual school districts in California and Georgia. However, the principal didn’t secure long-term contracts with school districts. She used these short-term partnerships to misrepresent to investors the reach and financial success of AllHere Education.
Smith-Griffin told potential AllHere investors that AllHere generated about $3.7 million in revenue in 2020, about $2.5 million in money and has major school district customers similar to New York City Department of Education (“NYC DOE”) and Atlanta Public Schools. In fact, AllHere generated roughly $11,000 in revenue in 2020, had roughly $494,000 in money, and had no contracts with many of the clients it represented, including the NYC DOE and Atlanta Public Schools.
Smith-Griffin continued to boost capital to support the startup, raising one other $10 million in funding. When the corporate collapsed financially, Smith-Griffin allegedly used the money injection to pay for an extravagant three-day wedding in Florida and a residence in North Carolina.
FBI Deputy Director James E. Dennehy commented on Smith-Griffin’s decision to prioritize her personal aspirations over the needs of an educational platform.
“Her alleged actions impacted the potential to improve the learning environment in core school districts by selfishly prioritizing personal expenses,” he said.
Smith-Griffin faces a compulsory two years in prison for the identity theft charge and a maximum of 20 years for every fraud charge. AllHere Education is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Crime
Prosecutors say Sean “Diddy” Combs is trying to obstruct justice by heading to prison
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was trying to reach potential witnesses and influence public opinion while in prison in a bid to influence potential jurors in an upcoming sex trafficking trial, prosecutors said in a court filing during which they urged a judge to deny his latest bail request.
The government charges were filed Friday evening in federal court in Manhattan, which opposed the music mogul’s latest offer of $50 million bail. A bail hearing is scheduled for next week.
Prosecutors wrote that a review of recorded phone calls Combs made while in prison shows that he asked relations to contact potential victims and witnesses and urged them to create a “narrative” to influence the jury pool. They say he also encouraged the use of promoting strategies to influence public opinion.
“The defendant has demonstrated time and time again – even while in custody – that he’ll flagrantly and repeatedly disregard the foundations so as to improperly influence the consequence of his case. In other words, the defendant has demonstrated that he can’t be trusted to abide by the terms and conditions,” prosecutors wrote in a press release containing redactions.
Prosecutors wrote that from his behavior it might be inferred that Combs wanted to blackmail victims and witnesses into remaining silent or providing testimony helpful to his defense.
Combs’ lawyers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prosecutors said Combs, 55, began breaking the foundations almost immediately after being taken into custody Metropolitan Prison Center in Brooklyn after his September arrest.
He pleaded not guilty to the costs brought against him he abused and molested women for years with the assistance of a network of collaborators and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
Two judges found he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.
His lawyers recently filed a 3rd bail application after rejecting two previous attempts, including a $50 million bail offer.
In their motion, they cited modified circumstances, including latest evidence, that they believed justified Combs’ release so he could higher prepare for his May 5 trial.
However, prosecutors said defense lawyers created the most recent bail proposal based on evidence provided to them by prosecutors, and the brand new material was already known to defense lawyers after they submitted previous bail applications.
In their presentation to the judge, prosecutors said Combs’ behavior in prison shows he must remain locked up.
For example, they said, Combs asked relations to plan and execute a social media campaign around his birthday “with the intent of influencing a potential jury in this criminal proceeding.”
He encouraged his children to post a video on their social media accounts of them gathering to have a good time his birthday, he added.
He then monitored statistics on the jail, including audience engagement, and “explicitly discussed with the family how to ensure the film would have the desired impact on potential jury members in this case,” they said.
The government also alleged that Combs made clear in other conversations that he intended to anonymously publish information that he believed would help him defend against the costs.
“Defendant’s efforts to impede the fairness of these proceedings also include his persistent efforts to contact potential witnesses, including victims of violence, who could provide strong testimony against him,” prosecutors wrote.
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