When Judge Alvin Harrell III announced that the jury in the Joaquin Arambula child abuse trial had been selected, the 60 or so remaining members of the juror pool erupted in applause. “Jury selection will take longer than the actual trial,” Harrell quipped in his authoritative but light-hearted manner. The...
An Assembly Seat Isn't Worth What's Ahead for the Arambulas
Please, can someone close to Joaquin Arambula talk sense to the assemblyman? He's in desperate need of a lucid, heart-to-heart conversation from somebody close, somebody he respects. The High Cost of Winning There are no victories on the course Arambula is taking in his trial on misdemeanor child-abuse charges allegedly...
Release Approved for Coast Guard Officer Accused of Terror
GREENBELT, Md. — A Coast Guard lieutenant accused of being a domestic terrorist is entitled to be released from custody before his trial on firearms and drug charges, a federal magistrate said Thursday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Day noted that 50-year-old Christopher Hasson hasn't been charged with any terrorism related...
R. Kelly Out of Jail After Posting $100K in Sex Abuse Case
CHICAGO — R. Kelly walked out of a Chicago jail Monday after posting $100,000 bail that allows him to go free while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually abused four people dating back to 1998, including three underage girls. Hours earlier, the R&B star pleaded not guilty to the...
Judge Hearing Testimony on 2020 Census Citizenship Question
GREENBELT, Md. — A federal trial began Tuesday for lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census, a plan that a different court blocked last week. Former U.S. Census Bureau director John Thompson, the first plaintiffs' witness for the bench trial in Maryland, testified...
Gov. Brown Signs Bill Ending Bail Before Trial
SACRAMENTO — California will become the first state to eliminate bail for suspects awaiting trial under a bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Jerry Brown. The bill will replace bail with a risk-assessment system, although it's still unclear how the system will work. It will take effect in October 2019. Brown's...
Manafort Juror Says 1 Holdout Prevented 18-Count Conviction
WASHINGTON — A juror in Paul Manafort's financial fraud trial says a lone holdout prevented the jury from convicting the onetime Trump campaign chairman on all 18 counts. Jurors repeatedly tried to persuade the holdout to "look at the paper trail" but she insisted there was reasonable doubt, juror Paula...
Ex-Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort Guilty of 8 Charges
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort, the longtime political operative who for months led Donald Trump's winning presidential campaign, was found guilty of eight financial crimes Tuesday in the first trial victory of the special counsel investigation into the president's associates. A judge declared a mistrial on 10 other counts the...
California Lawmakers Consider Proposal to Eliminate Bail
SACRAMENTO — California would be the first state to completely end bail for defendants awaiting trial under a proposal unveiled Thursday that would create a new system to instead jail people based on their risk level. The plan calls for most suspects arrested for nonviolent misdemeanors to be released within...
Prosecutors: Paul Manafort Believed He Was Above the Law
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort orchestrated a multimillion-dollar conspiracy to evade U.S. tax and banking laws, leaving behind a trail of lies as he lived a lavish lifestyle, prosecutors said Tuesday as they laid out their case against the former Trump campaign chairman. Prosecutor Uzo Asonye told the jury during...