Free Republic

ST. LOUIS • Former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley was found not guilty Friday of murdering a man while on duty. St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson's highly anticipated verdict found a white former St. Louis police officer not guilty of first-degree murder and amed criminal action in the December 2011 shooting death of a black drug suspect after a high-speed pursuit and crash. Activists, with support from some of the city's black clergy, had pledged disruptive protests ahead of St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson's verdict.

A former middle school gym teacher was arrested Monday for a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Monday. Shawnetta D. Reece, 40, of Blairsville, was sexually involved with the student in 2013, the agency said in a news release. Reece was arrested after the Union County Sheriff’s Office received information on the alleged relationship, and asked the GBI to assist with the investigation. Shawnetta Reece Union County Jail “The student was moving from the 8th grade into the 9th grade during this time,” the news release stated. “As a result of the investigation, Reece...

A former middle school gym teacher was arrested Monday for a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Monday. Shawnetta D. Reece, 40, of Blairsville, was sexually involved with the student in 2013, the agency said in a news release. Reece was arrested after the Union County Sheriff’s Office received information on the alleged relationship, and asked the GBI to assist with the investigation. “The student was moving from the 8th grade into the 9th grade during this time,” the news release stated. “As a result of the investigation, Reece has been arrested for child...

An Oregon woman will likely receive 3 years of probation after smuggling booze aboard a commercial flight last year and licking and groping a fellow passenger, according to court documents. Heidi McKinney, 27, of suburban Portland, was arrested May 8, 2016, after the Alaska Airlines flight from Las Vegas landed at Portland International Airport. The victim at the time told authorities she had been touched on the breast and genitals by another female passenger. A federal grand jury originally indicted McKinney on a charge of abusive sexual contact. She ultimately pleaded guilty in March to assault with the intent to...

St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez has been found not guilty of all counts in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile. After 27 hours of deliberation spanning five days, the jury of seven men and five women, including two people of color, reached its verdict shortly after 2 p.m. Friday. It was read in court at 2:45 p.m. Castile’s family angrily stormed out as soon as the verdicts were read. After the first not guilty verdict was read for the manslaughter charge, defense attorney Earl Gray leaned over and squeezed Yanez’s shoulders.

Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp are back on — as a spy snapped the lovey-dovey couple slipping into the Art Cliff Diner on Martha’s Vineyard for breakfast! Two youngsters accompanied the casually dressed on-off pair to the quaint local restaurant. “Meg walked in, headed straight to a table in the corner, and sat with her back turned to all the other diners,” dished a spywitness. It’s the second time the couple has been spotted together recently. “They were just talking,” said the eyewitness. “They seemed friendly and civil.” The the 65-year-old “Small Town” singer and the 55-year-old rom-com sweetheart were...

Actor Antonio Sabato Jr. is running for Congress, challenging Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village), who represents the southern central coast and most of Ventura County, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. Attempts to reach the Republican candidate were unsuccessful Monday, but GOP strategist Charles Moran, who will serve as Sabato’s fundraiser, confirmed the run. Strategist Jeff Corless will serve as a top adviser. Sabato is a longtime actor best known for roles in “General Hospital” and “Melrose Place” and as a model for Calvin Klein underwear. In recent years he has appeared in several reality...

A Texas high school anatomy teacher has been arrested for allegedly having an improper relationship with a student. The Lockhart Police Department said 27-year-old Sarah Fowlkes of Lockhart High School "engaged in sexual contact" with a 17-year-old male student earlier this month. Police told NBC Austin affiliate KXAN Fowlkes turned herself in on Monday and bonded out later that day. Fowlkes' attorney Jason Nassour said, "You've got a young lady who was arrested on the statement of a 17-year-old kid with no corroborating evidence." Nassour said his client is smiling in her mug shot because she is innocent. He added...

An undocumented immigrant from Mexico has been arrested and charged with shooting a 15-year-old girl from Texas who was pregnant with the suspect's second child at the time of her slaying. Police in San Antonio say Jennifer Delgado was nine months pregnant when on Monday morning she was gunned down by Armando Rodrigo Garcia-Ramires, 35, who then tried to take his own life. Investigators say the victim already had a one-year-old son with Garcia-Ramirez, who at one time had been her stepfather.

“I stabbed an innocent woman to death earlier today. … It was absolutely fantastic. Murder gives me a high unlike any other. It feels like this crisp unreality, flashing and sparkling, adrenaline and shock.” While these lines might sound like the demented writings of John Wayne Gacy or perhaps Charles Manson, they actually appeared in what police said was a diary kept by a teenage girl named Pearl Moen, 18. She was mistaken about one thing, though — the woman she stabbed did not die. On Friday, Moen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted...

A 24-year-old former substitute teacher from Iowa who was arrested in July after admitting to a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student says he had swept her off her feet with love notes scribbled on Post-Its. Mary Beth Haglin, of Cedar Rapids, has been charged with misdemeanor sexual exploitation by a school employee in connection to her six-month tryst with a male student at Washington High School. On Wednesday, Haglin pleaded not guilty to the charge in writing, and her trial date has been set for November 14. If convicted, she could face up to two years in prison and...

Interpol is on the hunt for a former Playboy model who is trying to avoid prison for her role in a honeypot murder plot of a mob boss. Slobodanka Tosic, 30, a former Miss Bosnia who was a Serbian Playboy cover model in 2008, disappeared over the summer after an appeals court upheld a March conviction for her role in the 2006 attempted assassination of mafia boss Djordje Zdrale. Tosic was arrested last year and charged as an accomplice in the attempted murder of Zdrale, who is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence in Serbia for involvement in organized crime....

It took some time, but the United States now has a gold medalist in women's wrestling. And to earn it, Helen Maroulis had to beat a woman who knows a thing or two about gold medals: Japan's Saori Yoshida, a 13-time world champion and three-time reigning Olympic champion. It was a gold medal showdown that the wrestling world had been looking forward to for a long time. Maroulis, the reigning world champion at 55kg, versus Yoshida, the reigning world champion at 53kg. The first period ended with Yoshida leading 1-0 after Maroulis failed to convert when put on the 30-second...

STOCKHOLM – She was off duty and wearing a bikini but that didn't stop Swedish police officer Mikaela Kellner from catching a suspected thief. A photo of Kellner pinning the suspect to the ground was trending on social media in Sweden this week.

A substitute teacher accused of having sex with a student is blaming education officials for her illegal indiscretions — claiming they failed to stop her, and “allowed” the relationship to blossom.In a series of interviews with reporters in Iowa, 24-year-old Mary Beth Haglin admitted to having sex with a 17-year-old boy for much of the 2015-16 academic year — and accused Cedar Rapids Community School District of complicity. “These people all knew what was going on, and yet they turned a blind eye because they wanted to protect their school. They didn’t want it to get into the limelight,” Haglin...

Baltimore police lieutenant cleared in Freddie Gray death By David K. Li July 18, 2016 | 10:42am Baltimore police lieutenant cleared in Freddie Gray death A Baltimore judge on Monday cleared the highest-ranking cop tied to Freddie Gray’s death. Lt. Brian Rice was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in a bench trial before Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams. Prosecutors had blamed Rice for Gray’s death because he did not put a seat belt on the prisoner when Gray was loaded into the back of a police van. Gray, 25, died from spinal cord injuries he...

Fox News chief White House correspondent Ed Henry will not be appearing on the channel for the time being, following a report in In Touch Weekly that he cheated on his wife with a Las Vegas hostess. “We recently became aware of Ed’s personal issues and he’s taking some time off to work things out,” a Fox News spokesperson told POLITICO in a statement. Henry joined Fox News in 2011 as chief White House correspondent. He was previously the White House correspondent for CNN.

Former Calvin Klein model Antonio Sabato Jr. told Outnumbered today he supports Donald Trump 100% because he can trust him… And you can’t trust Ted Cruz. Antonio Sabato, Jr: I think Cruz wouldn’t be in the fight if it wasn’t for Trump at this point. If Trump wasn’t in the race at all I don’t think you’d see Cruz. I think maybe a Rubio at this point. I think Trump will win New York and he will win California. Then we’ll see in June what happens after that. It’s tough for Trump. His party doesn’t want him. The Democrats don’t...

Aconservative super PAC is trying to swing Utah voters against Donald Trump in tonight's caucus by slut-shaming his wife Melania Trump. The ad, circulated on social media, shows the former model in a nude 2000 GQ photo shoot with the words: 'Meet Melania Trump, your next First Lady. Or you could vote for Ted Cruz on Tuesday.' Cruz, who has a precarious 50.1per cent polling average, needs to win a majority backing in order to take all 40 of Utah's delegates. Republican strategist Liz Mair, who founded the super PAC Make America Awesome, said that the ads have been targeting...

A small-town Alabama high school cheerleading coach was arrested on Tuesday on charges that she had a sexual relationship with a male student. The teacher is Katherine Nelson, reports The Birmingham News. Nelson, 29, is an English teacher at Brookwood High School in Brookwood, Ala. (pop: 1,828), just east of Tuscaloosa. She also coaches cheerleading and golf, and directs musical theater. The charge against the married teacher is engaging in a sex act with a student under the age of 19 (while also a school employee). Investigators say the sex occurred back during the 2012-2013 school year. The age of...