Free Republic

LOS ANGELES — Jurors convicted a Southern California judge of second-degree murder on Tuesday for fatally shooting his wife while the couple argued and watched television at home. Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, 74, was on trial for the 2023 death of his wife Sheryl, 65, in their Anaheim Hills home. Ferguson took the stand in his own defense, admitting to shooting his wife but saying it was an accident. Jurors reached their decision Tuesday afternoon, a day after deliberations began. After the verdict was read in court, Ferguson was given a moment to hug his son before...

A former US Postal Service worker was convicted of stealing around $1.6 million in checks to fund a “lavish lifestyle that included international travel, stays at luxury hotels, and purchases at gentlemen’s clubs,” federal prosecutors said. Hachikosela Muchimba, 44, of Washington, DC, was found guilty by a federal jury last week on charges of mail theft and bank fraud, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. “According to court documents, between December 2020 and March 2023, Muchimba was an employee of the US Postal Service when he executed a scheme to steal US Treasury checks and...

Portland’s lame-duck Democratic district attorney is angling to reduce the sentences of several violent criminals, including a convicted murderer, days before his tough-on-crime replacement takes office. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt, who was voted out of office on Election Day, petitioned an Oregon judge on Monday to reconsider the sentences of eight individuals – which could result in reduced charges and see the convicts freed from prison, according to Oregon Live. “These have all the appearance of a last-minute giveaway,” Multnomah County District Attorney-elect Nathan Vasquez, the Republican-turned-independent who defeated Schmidt, told the outlet. “They’re extremely violent individuals who...

A convicted bank robber freed early from federal prison on a “compassionate release” program is heading back to the slammer for the same crime for which he was originally sent away. Markham David Bond was found guilty by a federal jury in Los Angeles on Thursday on one count of interference with commerce by robbery, one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, according to the US Department of Justice. Bond, 61, robbed a Brinks courier at gunpoint in a Chase bank parking...

A man convicted of attempted murder has been found to have been a serial violent criminal who was supposed to have been deported at the time he committed the crime - but he had lodged an appeal which meant he could remain free in the country. Link to transcript below video.

New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez was found guilty Tuesday of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes — including 1-kilogram gold bars — in exchange for using his powerful post to enrich and protect three businessmen and the Egyptian and Qatari governments. The bombshell jury verdict was delivered in Manhattan federal court after about 12½ hours of deliberations spread over three days. It capped a nine-week trial that revealed how the senator leveraged his position as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to cater to the whims of men who showered him and his wife with...

Hunter Biden's law license has been suspended in Washington DC due to his criminal conviction in his federal gun charge case. According to a letter obtained by Politico reporter Kyle Cheney, the DC bar decided to suspend his license after he was found guilty in the Delaware trial. [embedded copy of letter] The letter sent to Hunter Biden read, "On consideration of an accurate copy of the indictment and jury verdict form filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware demonstrating that the respondent was found guilty of three felony counts and it appearing that the...

The man who attacked Paul Pelosi, the husband of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), was convicted by a jury in California on Friday on five charges. In May, David DePape was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a federal judge after being convicted by a jury in November 2023 of attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer at the Pelosis’ home in California. DePape was found guilty of “aggravated kidnapping, first-degree burglary, false imprisonment, threats against an elected official or their family, and preventing or dissuading a witness by force or threat,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke...

President Joe Biden is “so proud” of his son, he said Tuesday after a jury convicted Hunter Biden of all three gun charges. Joe Biden claimed on June 3 that his son would not receive a presidential pardon, though some political pundits doubted that promise. “As I said last week, I am the president, but I am also a dad. Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today,” Biden said in a statement. “So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you...

emocrat Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) followed the strategy of his colleagues and the establishment media in touting former President Donald Trump as a “convicted felon,” slyly making the mention during Dr. Anthony Fauci’s testimony before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Monday. Raskin defended Fauci at the beginning of the hearing, asking Fauci if he has spent his entire life “trying to determine the causes of infectious diseases” and stop them from affecting the American people. “Yes, I have,” Fauci responded. “Well, Dr. Fauci. I want to join my colleague from Florida and apologize that some of our...

In the event Hunter is convicted of the IRS and/or Gun violations, is it possible for Joe Biden to pardon him while he is President. It is my understanding both are Federal crimes which the President has the ability to pardon.

President Trump was back in a Manhattan court on Monday in Alvin Bragg’s Soviet-style ‘hush money’ lawfare trial. The prosecutors earlier Monday rolled out their ‘star witness’ Michael Cohen, a convicted perjurer, to take the witness stand. Cohen shocked the public when he admitted he stole tens of thousands of dollars from Trump and lied to Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg. After the prosecution rested their case, Trump’s defense team called attorney Robert Costello to the witness stand.

Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly predicted former President Trump will be easily convicted in the hush money case he faces in connection with adult film star Stormy Daniels. “Oh, he’s getting convicted. I don’t really think there’s a lot of mystery about that,” Kelly said Tuesday during an appearance on NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live.” “He shouldn’t, but he’s going to get convicted. The jury’s going to hate him.” “Manhattan went 92 percent, between 87 and 92 percent for Joe Biden,” she told host Dan Abrams. “That’s where this is going to be tried. These are not Trump lovers.”

The DC Council has appointed a patrolled murderer to the city commission charged with setting guidelines for prison sentences. On Tuesday, twelve members of the commission that drafts and modifies criminal sentencing guidelines voted to elect convicted murderer Joel Castón to the 17-person board

CHICAGO — An 18-time convicted felon on probation for being part of the “Puffy Coat Bandit” theft ring was arrested Sunday after he committed the exact same crime that he’s on probation for, according to prosecutors: stealing a man’s credit cards and using them almost immediately to buy things at Target. During an initial appearance this week, Judge Susana Ortiz released Jerome Sharp, 30, with a nighttime curfew. He was not detained for violating probation. One year ago, the “Puffy Coat Bandits” were the talk of the town as they slithered through restaurants in their bulky winter coats, stealing phones,...

CHICAGO — Last winter, they prowled restaurants and bars, stealing customers’ phones, wallets, and purses while wearing black puffy winter coats that quickly earned them a headline-friendly nickname: the “Puffy Coat Bandits.” Lincoln Park and the Near North Side businesses were especially hard hit. Chicago police made two arrests, including 15-time convicted felon Jerome Sharp, dubbed a “ringleader” of the operation by downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd). Sharp has now pleaded guilty to three felonies, two related to the “Puffy Coat Bandit” allegations, making him an 18-time convicted felon. He was sentenced to—brace yourself—probation in all three cases. ... Last...

A Chicago woman has been left brain dead after she was viciously beaten by an eight-time felon, police said. The woman, 61, who has not been identified, was riding the CTA Red Line on January 4 when she was targeted by two men - one of whom was allegedly convicted criminal Mijawon Johnson, 36. As they attempted to steal her purse, Johnson pinned the woman to a seat and repeatedly punched and stomped her head and stomach, and jumped on her 'with all of his weight', prosecutors said. Johnson was on parole for armed robbery at the time of the...

A California man — a convicted felon out on probation — is facing multiple murder charges after he allegedly went on a shooting rampage that took the lives of his current and former girlfriends in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to authorities. Officers say Louis Peter Hernandez, 41, entered a home Nov. 25 in Fontana, and allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend along with one other person inside the home. Hernandez then allegedly traveled to Riverside County and shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, according to a release from the San Bernadino County District Attorney. Authorities added there's also an...

A 16-time convicted felon has received probation after being charged with stealing purses from a 74-year-old cancer patient and a nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as the COVID pandemic swept into the city last year. Prosecutors initially charged Darryl Berry, 59, with multiple counts of theft and identity theft for the crimes that allegedly took place in April and June 2020. Berry was arrested at Northwestern after hospital security recognized him on the premises in August last year. In the first theft, while the hospital had limited staffing and few visitors due to the COVID pandemic, Berry entered the hospital...

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said Wednesday that he would support the Republican nominee for president in 2024, even if that meant backing former President Trump as a hypothetical convicted felon. In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Sununu defended his position by pointing to voter sentiment on the issue and to what he views as President Biden’s poor performance. Asked whether he would still support Trump if he’s a convicted felon and also the GOP nominee, Sununu said, “Look, I think, right now, most of America looks like they would, they would vote for him, because he’s winning...