Free Republic

...In recent months, we have witnessed profound changes within Iranian church communities. Many who once participated in worship with passion are now wrestling with difficult questions, doubts, and even despair. Some have distanced themselves from the church, others are experiencing spiritual burnout, and many quietly carry the burden of grief and concern for their loved ones in Iran. A pressing question has emerged in many hearts: “How is it that we are under pressure from the Iranian government, and at the same time, this conflict has brought us no hope or relief?” These questions are real and cannot simply be...

Judge Tony Graf on Friday rejected a request from Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin to ban cameras in the courtroom during the duration of the trial. The judge also pushed Kirk’s assassin Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing to July 6. Judge Tony Graf Jr. pushed accused Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson’s preliminary hearing into July and rejected a bid to ban cameras from the courtroom, marking significant pretrial developments in the high-profile case. Graf moved the preliminary hearing to July 6 through July 10, and denied Robinson’s motion to ban cameras and electronic media from the courtroom, allowing continued media coverage as...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial is set to resume on Sunday after weeks in which Israel’s court system operated under emergency restrictions because of the war with Iran. The pause was not unique to Netanyahu’s case. Following the outbreak of the war on February 28, the Justice Ministry placed the courts under a “special emergency” format that sharply curtailed regular proceedings and left only urgent matters moving. That framework was extended several times, with the latest official notice stating that the emergency regime remained in place through Thursday. In the last hearings before the break, prosecutors were pressing him...

A Los Angeles jury found Wednesday that Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube harmed a young user with features designed to hook kids — in a bombshell verdict that “shakes Big Tech’s predatory business model to its core.” The high-profile case involved a 20-year-old woman who claimed she became dangerously obsessed with the apps at a young age because they were deliberately built to be addictive, using features like infinite scroll and autoplay. The tech giants were found liable for $3 million in damages. The multi-million-dollar judgment is likely to grow, as the jury of seven women and five men will...

Bill Cosby has been ordered to pay his rape accuser Donna Motsinger more than $19 million in damages after a jury found he had drugged and sexually assaulted her more than 50 years ago. A California jury announced the $19.25 million judgment on Monday during its third day of deliberations, per the New York Times. Motsinger first filed her civil lawsuit against the “Cosby Show” alum in Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2023. She alleged that Cosby, now 88, sexually assaulted her after giving her wine and a pill that left her unconscious following one of his comedy shows...

Us Hunter Biden now the sacrifiacl lamb for the Democrats to use?

NEW YORK CITY—Captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty during a historic arraignment in Manhattan where he faces an indictment on various conspiracy charges, as well as the potential for decades in prison. “I’m innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man, the president of my country,” Maduro said. The former dictator entered a Manhattan courtroom on Jan. 5 around 12:01 p.m. ET, and could be seen wearing his blue prison uniform. Both he and his wife wore headsets to hear translations of the proceedings. Their appearance in a Manhattan courtroom on Jan. 5 represented his rapid...

A Winchester man has been sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison for supplying the fentanyl that caused the fatal overdose of 30-year-old Calin Sender, marking one of the few fentanyl-related murder convictions in California, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said Quinn Aaron McKellips, 38, provided the lethal dose of fentanyl that killed Sender in January 2020. Evidence presented during trial showed McKellips had been selling multiple types of narcotics to Sender for several months before his death. Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said the sentence reflects the seriousness of the crime and...

Alleged gunman Luigi Mangione will be back in court Tuesday for a second day of testimony as the judge overseeing his state murder case weighs whether to throw out key evidence. On Monday, Judge Gregory Carro heard a 911 call a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania, made telling the dispatcher some customers were concerned the alleged killer of United Healthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson, who was fatally shot in Midtown Manhattan, was in the restaurant. Two corrections officers who work at SCI Huntingdon, the state prison where Mangione was held until he was extradited to New York to face charges,...

Freedom of speech will be under even greater threat if the British government is able to do away with jury trials for almost all cases because legal studies show a judge sitting alone is far more likely to convict defendants in free speech than juries, the Free Speech Union warns. The Free Speech Union warns the United Kingdom risks losing “a check on governmental power and arbitrary justice” in “the biggest assault on our liberties in 800 years” if the government is able to push ahead this week with plans said to be looking at abolishing the right to a...

Atlantic City’s Mayor Marty Small Sr. is expected to cruise to reelection — but will go on trial for allegedly abusing his teenage daughter next month, which could prevent him from taking office. The beleaguered Dem is facing a challenge from Republican Naeem Khan, a Garden State native and businessman who is seeking office because of “how badly [Atlantic City] is being managed,” according to his campaign website. If he wins as expected Tuesday, Small, 51, will be sworn into court on Dec. 1 — facing a slew of abuse charges — before he takes office in January. He will...

After coming under fire for not securing any murder convictions in the YSL RICO case, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis stood her ground on the overall effectiveness of her team on Thursday. “Crime is down,” Willis said during an interview with 11Alive in the lobby of Atlanta City Hall. “What my constituents say, who just voted [for] me by 68%, is, ‘She’s doing an amazing job.’” Her answer was in response to being questioned directly about her team’s inability to secure murder convictions for any of the eight defendants who were charged with murder in the sprawling racketeering case...

Christopher Schurr was a Grand Rapids Police Officer who got into a fight with Patrick Lyoya in the early morning of on April 4, 2022. During the struggle, Lyoya fought Schurr for control of Officer Schurr’s Taser and was fatally shot by the Officer during the scuffle.

A Manhattan judge on Friday shot down increasingly grey-haired Sean “Diddy” Combs’ bid to delay his sex trafficking trial by two months. The jailed music mogul had asked for opening statements in the closely watched case to be pushed back until July so that he’d have more time to chase down evidence to use in his defense. But Judge Arun Subramanian denied the request, noting that the 55-year-old music mogul has plenty of resources to properly prep for his May trial, including lawyers from four defense firms. “It is unclear why there isn’t sufficient time to prepare,” Subramanian said during...

In newly filed court documents, prosecutors say they will use evidence of an apparent knife purchase and a selfie that they believe link Bryan Kohberger to the murders of four University of Idaho students. Kohberger is charged in the murders of Mount Vernon native Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, who were stabbed to death in the early morning of Nov. 13, 2022, at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho.

Attorneys for the man suspected of killing rap icon Tupac Shakur want to delay next month’s trial, saying more time is needed for investigative work to ensure that Duane “Keffe D” Davis gets a fair trial. The motion filed Friday in a Nevada court provides insight into Davis’ defense, noting that a private investigator has identified witnesses who can testify that he was not at the scene of the 1996 shooting, nor was he in Las Vegas at the time. The motion also suggests that someone else may have orchestrated the shooting and that witnesses who could testify on the...

Now that President Trump is back in the White House, it’s time to take a victory lap and remind every smug liberal that their so-called “34-time convicted felon” narrative was always a sham. We knew it. You knew it. And now, with the truth coming to light, even some of them are starting to wake up. Because here’s the reality: That entire case was a disgraceful political hit job, and the most blatant abuse of the justice system we’ve ever seen. The Biden DOJ never even bothered to hide their corruption. They weaponized the courts like a banana republic, hoping...

Matthew Taylor Coleman, the California QAnon follower accused of killing his two small children with a speargun, is still incompetent to stand trial, his attorneys say — and they have only days to agree to a treatment plan for him. According to documents filed in federal court last month, attorneys on both sides have repeatedly asked the court to extend the deadlines for trial, because the 43-year-old is unable to help prepare his own defense. The next hearing is on Feb. 18, and the judge has said there will be no more extensions in the case. Feds are noting that...

US Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) sent “The View” host Sunny Hostin into a tizzy Monday when he asserted that President Trump’s New York City “hush money” trial had been politically motivated. Appearing on the far-left ABC chat show in his trademark hoodie, Fetterman started out by covering a wide range of topics with the hosts, from Hunter Biden to Trump’s pardon of the Jan. 6 rioters. The first-term senator had already rankled his fellow Democrats by visiting Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month — a meeting he called “overall, a positive experience” on “The View,” adding that he felt the...

FIRST ON FOX: A New York Court assigned a new judge to preside over the civil fraud case against President-elect Trump brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, seemingly replacing Judge Arthur Engoron, but hours later, the court put him back on the case, sources close to Trump's legal team told Fox News Digital. The case and the trial were handled by Judge Arthur Engoron, who was accused by Trump allies of acting with bias against the president-elect, his family and his company. Sources familiar told Fox News Digital the court sent out an automated email at around 12:45pm...