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Court orders 4 Milwaukee men to stand trial for killing man outside hotel lobby

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Four Milwaukee hotel employees accused of killing a man in June by pinning him to the bottom must stand trial on a murder charge, a court official ordered Monday.

Hyatt hotel security guards Todd Erickson and Brandon Turner, in addition to baggage handler Herbert Williamson and front desk clerk Devin Johnson-Carson, are charged with accessory after the very fact to murder in reference to the crime. (*4*)Death of D’Vontaye Mitchell.

If convicted, each faces up to 15 years and nine months in prison.

D’Vontaye Mitchell’s family protests Monday, Aug. 5, outside the District Attorney’s Office. (Photo Source: Screenshot/YouTube.com/FOX6 News Milwaukee)

Mitchell’s family’s attorneys compared his death to murder George Floyda black man who died in 2020 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for about nine minutes. Mitchell was also black. Court documents discover Erickson as white, and Turner, Williamson and Johnson-Carson as black.

Milwaukee County District Court Commissioner Rosa Barillas committed all 4 to trial after a joint preliminary hearing. Court commissioners are attorneys hired by Wisconsin judges to conduct pretrial hearings and other administrative duties.

All 4 are scheduled to give statements on Thursday morning.

Johnson-Carson’s attorney, Craig Johnson, said he disagreed with the choice to proceed the case and intends to dispute any connection between Johnson-Carson’s actions and Mitchell’s death.

“This situation was a tragedy, but not every tragedy has a villain and not every tragedy is a crime,” the attorney said in an email to The Associated Press. “Mr. Johnson-Carson was responding to a volatile and potentially dangerous situation that could have endangered the safety of hotel staff and guests. His actions were not a crime and did not contribute to Mr. Mitchell’s death.”

Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office (*4*)ruled Mitchell’s death a homicide.

Attorneys for Erickson and Turner didn’t respond to messages searching for comment. Contact information for Williamson’s attorney, listed in online court documents as Theodore O’Reilly, couldn’t immediately be found.

Mitchell died on June 30. According to the criminal grievance, surveillance and bystander footage shows Mitchell running into the lobby of a downtown hotel that afternoon and entering a women’s restroom. Two women later told investigators that Mitchell tried to lock them in the lavatory.

Turner and a hotel guest dragged Mitchell out of the constructing and onto the hotel driveway, the grievance said. Turner, Erickson, Williamson and Johnson-Carson pinned Mitchell down for eight to nine minutes, while Mitchell begged them to stop and complained he couldn’t breathe.

Williamson told investigators he put his knee on Mitchell’s back, adding that Mitchell was forceful, couldn’t calm down and tried to bite Erickson.

Turner told investigators he thought Mitchell was on drugs, Erickson told them he did nothing to intentionally hurt or kill Mitchell, and Johnson-Carson told them not one of the hotel employees thought Mitchell had stopped respiratory, according to the grievance. Johnson-Carson added that at one point he told Williamson to stop pushing, and Williamson stopped.

When police and emergency services arrived, Mitchell was still motionless, the grievance said.

According to the grievance, the Milwaukee County Coroner’s Office determined that Mitchell suffered from morbid obesity and heart disease, and had cocaine and methamphetamine in his system.

After reviewing video of the incident, Assistant Medical Examiner Lauren Decker determined that Mitchell suffered “restraint asphyxiation” due to the employees holding his legs, arms, back and head, essentially stopping Mitchell from respiratory.

Aimbridge Hospitality, the corporate that manages the hotel, laid off 4 employees in July.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced Monday that Mitchell’s family had reached a confidential settlement with Hyatt. Aimbridge Hospitality officials confirmed the agreement.

“The settlement announced today is the result of honest discussions with representatives of D’Vontaye Mitchell’s family to provide the family with comfort in their grieving this tragic loss,” Ambridge Hospitality said in a press release.

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Sean “Diddy” Combs faces five new sexual assault trials

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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.

Lawyers for Sean

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.

Prosecutors say Sean

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Founder of an AI Tech startup accused of fraud and combining numbers with investors

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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.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Prosecutors say Sean “Diddy” Combs is trying to obstruct justice by heading to prison

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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.

Whoopi Goldberg says she can't afford to take a break from work

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.

Mary J. Blige and Giuseppe Zanotti announce a new release from their boot collaboration

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.

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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