Crime
Four Missouri prison guards charged with murder, fifth with manslaughter in connection with death of black man
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Four Missouri prison guards were charged Friday with murder and a fifth with manslaughter in connection with the December death of a Black man who was pepper-sprayed, had his face covered with a mask and was left in a suffocating position while incarcerated, based on a criticism filed Friday.
A bunch of guards from the Department of Corrections’ Emergency Response Team were searching a housing unit for contraband items on Dec. 8, 2023, when 38-year-old Othel Moore Jr. was pepper-sprayed twice after which placed in a hood, leg bandages and a restraint chair, based on a news release from Cole County District Attorney Locke Thompson.
Moore was then moved to a separate housing unit, where he was left in a locked cell wearing a hood, a wrap and a chair for half-hour, based on Thompson and probable cause statements. Thompson said multiple people heard him say he couldn’t breathe.
Moore was eventually taken to the hospital wing, where he was pronounced dead. Thompson said the health worker ruled Moore’s cause of death as positional asphyxiation and his death was listed as a homicide. He confirmed the events were captured on prison surveillance.
“After reviewing all of the evidence, dozens of interviews and all of the reports, we determined that charges were warranted,” Thompson told The Associated Press.
The criticism charges Justin Leggins, Jacob Case, Aaron Brown and Gregory Varner with one count each of second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree assault. A fifth guard, Bryanne Bradshaw, has been charged with aiding and abetting manslaughter.
Thompson said those charged with murder face sentences of 10 to 30 years in prison.
Thompson said all five defendants are incarcerated. Multiple phone calls to numbers associated with the defendants and possible relatives weren’t returned Friday. Thompson said Case is the one person with a lawyer, but Thompson couldn’t discover the lawyer. A voicemail looking for comment from the corrections officers union was not immediately returned Friday.
Moore’s family attorney, Andrew Stroth, said Moore was bleeding from his ears and nose.
“There is a system, pattern and practice of racist and unconstitutional abuse within the Missouri Department of Corrections, and specifically at the Jefferson City Correctional Center,” Stroth said, adding, “This is George Floyd 3.0 in prison.”
After searching the cell for contraband items and stripping Moore to his boxer shorts, he was handcuffed behind his back and brought outside, based on testimony from Cole County Sheriff’s Office detectives.
According to the affidavit, Moore was ordered to stay silent. When he asked why, Leggins pepper-sprayed him.
“During a later interview with Leggins, he stated that he used pepper spray on the victim because he was not complying with commands to be quiet,” the detective wrote in the affidavit. “He then stated that he felt threatened because the victim turned toward him and ‘stepped’ or lunged at him.”
However, detectives wrote in a press release that the recording showed Moore only turning his head so he could speak.
Another officer, Case, sprayed Moore in the face a second time for what he said was a failure to comply, based on the affidavits. Officers then immobilized Moore’s legs using a restraint system referred to as WRAP UP.
The officers said they then put a spit mask on him because he was spitting at them, based on detectives. But other employees said Moore was spitting pepper spray from his mouth, based on the affidavits.
Detectives testified that multiple officers heard Moore scream for help after putting on the mask, and one officer heard Moore say he had asthma.
Moore was then taken to a different cell and was not checked on for one more 20 minutes, based on detectives. Department of Corrections staff didn’t evaluate or provide medical assistance to Moore until he lost consciousness, deputies wrote.
According to witness statements, Moore didn’t behave aggressively throughout the interrogation and followed commands.
On Friday, attorneys for Moore’s mother and sister filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officers and the Department of Corrections.
In a replica of the lawsuit released to the AP, Moore family lawyers described the Corrections Emergency Response Team, which worked with Moore, as “a group that uses coercive force to brutalize, intimidate, and threaten inmates.”
The lawsuit describes Moore’s death as part of a “systematic practice of instilling fear, inflicting pain, and using intimidation tactics.”
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The Missouri Department of Corrections issued a press release Friday saying Moore died in a restraint system that was intended to forestall injury to himself and others, and that the department had discontinued use of the system.
The corrections department also said that following a criminal investigation and its own internal review, 10 people involved in the incident “are no longer employed by the department or its contractors.”
The department said it “will not tolerate behavior or conditions that endanger the well-being of Missourians working or living in our facilities. The department has begun implementing body-worn cameras in maximum-security housing units in maximum-security facilities, starting with Jefferson City Correctional Center, to enhance both security and accountability.”
Oriel Moore, Othel Moore’s sister, said her family never had the possibility to see Othel Moore outside of prison after his childhood, which deepened their pain.
“He won’t be able to live his life, he doesn’t even know what it means to be a grown man because he’s been there since he was a kid,” Moore said. “He had plans. He wanted to be a productive member of society. He’s important. His life is important.”
Moore, who grew up in St. Louis, was serving a 30-year prison sentence for a number of charges.
The AP’s investigation into lethal force utilized by law enforcement documented dozens of deaths from 2012 to 2021 in which officers placed a mask or hood on someone before they died. But the devices were rarely cited as a cause or contributing factor.
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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