Crime

A woman in Seattle has been charged with first-degree murder after she killed her father with an ice axe for refusing to shut off the lights in her house, police say.

Corey Burke, 31, allegedly told detectives that she was trying to convince her 67-year-old father, Timothy, to shut the lights off, but could not make him budge. She also told police that she had been in a highly emotional state due to the election, and felt that there was "something important" about Election Day, according to the Seattle Times.

Police were dispatched to the area she lived at around 8 p.m. November 5 after reports of someone breaking out the windows of a home. Burke then exited the house with blood on her face, and was taken to hospital for a mental health evaluation.

Police continued to search the home and found her father’s body in the basement, with wounds to his head and torso, according to the King County medical examiner’s report. A bloody silver-and-blue ice climbing axe was also recovered.

The day after the attack, Burke told detectives that she tripped and strangled her father with the axe, allegedly whispering to one that "I killed him,” the Seattle Times reports.

Timothy’s extensive injuries included wounds to his head and torso, 2-inch lacerations to his rib cage and a puncture near the base of his skull.

“Corey stated (when) her father started arguing with her, about the lights being shut off, that she ‘just freaked out,’” Seattle Detective Azrielle Brikey wrote in a report.

“The defendant told Detectives that she knew that she could not convince him to keep the lights off, so she went upstairs retrieved an ice axe and tripped her father, strangled him with the axe and her hands and then bit him and hit him several times in the head and side with the blunt and sharp ends of the ice axe,” a case summary by the prosecutor’s office read.

According to police, Timothy was something of a shut-in due to a number of health problems he was facing prior to his death and was living at his daughter’s home in Rainier Valley, Washington.

Mandy Rose Reynolds, 26, was found "dead beyond recognition" in April 2023. Her dog helped police identify her and her killer Derek Daigneault

Mandy Rose Reynolds, 26, was found burning and “dead beyond recognition" in April 2023 by authorities responding to a brush fire in Robinson, Texas, according to the McLennan County District Attorney's Office.

Her cousin, 29-year-old Derek Daigneault, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, Nov. 7, for her murder, the DA’s office said in a release last week.

The investigation began on April 5, 2023, after police found Reynolds’ body, initially unrecognizable, burning in a field next to a white dog that “barked frantically at officers and refused to leave the area of the body, but also refused to allow police to capture it,” according to the DA’s press release.

The next day, the dog was still at the location after the body had been removed, when a citizen notified animal control who tracked the dog’s owner through a chip on him. Police were then tipped off that the corpse likely belonged to Reynolds and learned the dog's name is Titan.

This information led police to Reynolds' residence, where they found all her belongings missing and her home completely empty, the DA’s office said. The victim’s car was also missing, prompting police to run her vehicle information on a license plate database. They determined that the car was in Wichita, Kan.

Wichita police, upon being notified about the vehicle, spotted Reynolds’ car on April 8, 2023, and encountered Daigneault, per the DA’s office. He fled the scene on foot and hid on a shelf in a grocery store where he was caught, police said.

Investigators discovered a handgun inside the car which matched the shell casing found inside the container where police say Reynolds’ body was burned.

HOUSTON - Gloria Williams was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Tuesday as part of a plea deal for her role in the tragic death of her son, bringing an end to a case that has haunted the Houston community and left a deep impact on her surviving children.

The sentencing concluded a lengthy legal battle and spared the three young children from testifying in court about their traumatic experiences.

Assistant District Attorney Edward Appelbaum expressed how he felt about the sentencing, stating, "Justice was served, 50 years is appropriate. The judge listened and considered all the evidence. We’re thankful that the kids did not have to go through another horrific deal."

Williams boyfriend, Brian Coulter, was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for killing Williams' 8-year-old son, Kendrick Lee.

According to court records, Coulter assaulted Lee in their apartment on the 3500 block of Green Crest Drive, near the Westpark Tollway. Prosecutors claims Coulter continued to live in the apartment with the boy’s decomposing body while Kendrick's siblings stayed in the room with him as well.

The brothers testified witnessing the assault and being in the room when the 8-year-old died. His body was left in the room with his siblings for an extended period of time. One sibling explained that Coulter had beaten Kendrick over an incident involving water. Coulter allegedly became angry when Kendrick drank what Coulter saw as more than his share of water.

Only skeletal remains were found in the apartment when police arrived in October 2021, according to court documents.

Williams lived in the apartment with her son's decomposing body for months from November 2020 to March 2021, before she left her other children to live with the body alone, court reports revealed.

Williams was receiving $2,000 a month for three of her kids who are disabled, including Lee, but according to the prosecutor, Williams continued receiving money for the 8-year-old even after he was dead.

Afederal judge on Tuesday sentenced Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira to 15 years in prison.

Teixeria, a 22-year-old Air National Guardsman from Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to leaking highly classified military documents related to the war in Ukraine.

Prior to his sentencing on Tuesday, Teixeria spoke to the court and apologized for his actions, saying: "I wanted to say I'm sorry for all the harm that I brought and caused."

"I understand all the responsibility and consequences fall upon my shoulders alone and accept whatever that will bring," he added.

...

Teixeira's attorneys portrayed him as an autistic and socially isolated young man who spent the majority of his time online, particularly within his Discord community. They argued that, while his actions were criminal, he had no intent to "harm the United States." They also noted he had no previous criminal record.

Investigators in Wisconsin used genetic genealogy to solve a 50-year-old cold case this week, charging an 84-year-old Minnesota man with killing a woman who was found dead in 1974, authorities said.

Mary K. Schlais, 25, was found dead at an intersection in the township of Spring Brook, Wisconsin on February 15, 1974, according to the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office. Her death was ruled a homicide and the initial investigation revealed she had been hitchhiking to an art show in Chicago when she was killed, the agency said.

Jon Miller, of Owatonna, Minnesota, was arrested on Thursday after he “confirmed his involvement” with Schlais’ homicide, according to Dunn County Sheriff Kevin Bygd. He’s currently in custody in Steele County, Minnesota, and is awaiting extradition to Wisconsin, Bygd said.

“This is a huge victory for our agency,” Bygd said at a Friday news conference. It’s the first time the agency has used genetic genealogy to solve a case, the sheriff said.

For decades, detectives from multiple law enforcement agencies who were assigned to the homicide case received various leads and tips and conducted interviews, but no “viable” suspects were identified, according to the sheriff’s office.

Evidence was also examined and reexamined over the years, but it wasn’t until the agency started working with a team of genetic genealogists at Ramapo College in New Jersey in recent years, investigators were able to identify Miller as the suspect using genetic evidence, the department said.

Forensic genetic genealogy can generate leads for unsolved cases by analyzing DNA on top of traditional genealogy research, according to the US Department of Justice.

It combines forensic genetics, or DNA analysis, with conventional genealogy, or one’s family history, for human identification.

“Agencies can spend thousands and thousands of dollars sending DNA samples to private labs across the country to try and get results and we had a college very willing to step up and help us with this process,” Sheriff Bygd said.

Two sheriff’s investigators who have been working on the case, Dan Westland and Jason Stocker, said at the news conference they spoke with Schlais’ family, who expressed relief and gratitude for the investigation.

The sheriff’s office did not go into detail about what piece of DNA evidence investigators used to solve the case or the genetic genealogy process leading them to the suspect, saying they would leave it for Ramapo College representatives to address at their Monday news briefing.

At least 35 people were killed and 43 others sustained injuries after a man rammed his car into people at a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai which is hosting the country’s biggest annual air show this week.

Police detained a 62-year-old man suspected of hitting the joggers and speeding off on Monday evening, according to the state media. The alleged driver, identified as Mr Fan, drove his SUV through a barrier at Zhuhai Sports Centre in what local police say was a "serious and vicious attack". He is in a coma and being treated for wounds thought to be self-inflicted.

Initial investigations suggested the attack had been triggered by unhappiness over a divorce property settlement, police said. Because he is still in a coma, he has yet to be questioned.

Finland's first openly gay ice hockey player has been found dead in a suspected murder.

Janne Puhakka, 29, died in the home he shared with his Norwegian veterinarian partner, Rolf Nordmo, 65 in Henttaa, Espoo, on Sunday evening

Puhakka, who played for Espoo Blues and Espoo United before ending his career at the end of the 2017–2018 season, met Rolf in 2014 and quickly fell in love after chatting online for one week.

Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat has reported that Puhakka's case is being treated as a murder, with a suspect detained on the scene on suspicion of shooting Puhakka to death.

Sanna Marin, the former Finnish Prime Minister, is among those who have paid tribute to Puhakka. She took to Instagram to share an image of the former ice hockey player with a broken love heart emoji.

A 65-year-old man who is suspected of shooting Puhakka to death, has been detained by police, according to Finnish media.

Detective Inspector Matti Högman, told news agency STT there was 'reason to believe the suspect's actions were deliberate and cruel' and the 'suspect and victim knew each other'.

On Sunday evening, a bystander called the police to the couple's apartment after suspecting a violent crime.

Police are investigating the weapon and are exploring whether it is licensed.

The 29-year-old was the first Finnish ice hockey player who openly discussed his homosexuality.

At the start of his career, he hid his sexual identity from friends for fear of being stigmatised.

Janne and Rolf discussed their relationship in the Mirror in 2022, with the sports professional saying he kept his relationship private because he was 'scared of the way I would be perceived in the ultra-masculine sporting world'.

After chatting online in June 2014, Rolf flew three times from his home in Oslo to Helsinki, Finland, to see Janne.

At the time, Rolf told himself that the relationship wouldn't work because of their age gap, and told himself that it was 'just a summer fling'.

But the pair grew closer, and Rolf went on to visit Janne while he was working in Canada.

DULUTH, Minn. -- A Minnesota man shot and killed his wife and son, and his ex-partner and their son, before killing himself, authorities said Friday.

Duluth police have not determined a motive, but Police Chief Mike Ceynowa said at a news conference that the shooter, 46-year-old Anthony Nephew, had a "pattern of mental health issues."

Officers were first called to a home just after 2 p.m. Thursday, police said. They found Erin Abramson, 47, and Jacob Nephew, 15, dead from apparent gunshot wounds. Abramson and Anthony Nephew were previously involved in a relationship, Ceynowa said.

Later Thursday, police identified Anthony Nephew as the suspect and surrounded his home. When they entered, officers found the bodies of him, his 45-year-old wife Kathryn Nephew, and their 7-year-old son, Oliver Nephew.

Police said Anthony Nephew apparently shot himself.

Duluth, a city of nearly 90,000 residents, is roughly 135 miles (217 kilometers) north of Minneapolis.

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) supervisor told disaster relief workers in Florida to “avoid homes” with signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump, the agency confirmed Friday.

The FEMA official — Marn’i Washington — conveyed her edict both verbally and in a Microsoft Teams chat used by relief workers canvassing Lake Placid homes ravaged by Hurricane Milton last month, according to the Daily Wire.

“Avoid homes advertising Trump,” Washington wrote in a “best practices” memo to employees.

The order was the second bullet point in a list instructing workers to not go “anywhere alone,” practice “de-escalation,” stay hydrated and to “follow the rules.”

Defense lawyers for Marine veteran Daniel Penny, on trial over the death of homeless black man Jordan Neely, pushed for a mistrial on Thursday, citing testimony from a witness they deemed biased and accusing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s office of promoting an anti-white narrative. They protested the characterization of Penny as a “White vigilante” and opposed witness Johnny Grima’s courtroom statement labeling Penny a “murderer” and “abuser,” despite neither murder nor domestic abuse being among the charges.

Three people are dead following a shooting in a Detroit recording studio Tuesday night.

Police say officers on patrol were flagged down around 7 p.m. by two males saying someone inside a studio on the 15300 block of West McNichols Road had been shot.

Detroit Police Deputy Chief Jacqueline Pritchett says officers found a dead male and female inside the studio. Another male, found with gunshot wounds, was taken to the hospital, where he later died.

Police were initially searching for a suspect but later confirmed on Thursday that the shooting had been ruled a murder-suicide.

Ajudge will decide whether Bryan Kohberger will face the death penalty in his upcoming murder trial after the prosecution and defense debated the issue at a hearing on Thursday.

Kohberger, 29, is facing four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. He is accused of fatally stabbing University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus residence in 2022.

Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted. The defense has objected to the state's intention to seek the death penalty in a series of motions.

The prosecution and defense presented their arguments to District Judge Steven Hippler on Thursday. After listening to both sides, Hippler said he would take the matter under advisement and issue a ruling at a later date.

Anne Taylor, Kohberger's lawyer, argued that sitting on death row for decades without knowledge of if or how he will be executed could induce anxiety.

"I don't believe that our Constitution allows for us to move forward and make him sit on death row for years and years, and the way Idaho is doing it right now isn't really working," Taylor said. "It's not a realistic option, I think, to have him sit on death row and say Idaho's going to figure out how to kill you at some point in the future in a way that isn't cruel and unusual and a violation of rights."

Taylor noted that the primary method of execution in the state was lethal injection, but the state also approved use of the firing squad after experiencing difficulties obtaining the drugs needed to administer a lethal injection. She also argued that the firing squad has not been built yet.

The prosecution argued that there could be alternative methods of execution in the future.

"You don't know decades from now what an alternative might be, maybe they'll have a better argument decades from now on the method of execution because maybe there will be another method," Deputy Attorney General Jeffery Nye said.

The FBI said Thursday that it is investigating a number of "offensive and racist" text messages sent to Black people around the U.S.

"The FBI is aware of the offensive and racist text messages sent to individuals around the country and is in contact with the Justice Department and other federal authorities on the matter," the bureau said in a statement.

"As always, we encourage members of the public to report threats of physical violence to local law enforcement authorities," it added.

The Associated Press reported that the messages were sent to Black people, including women and children, in states including Alabama, California, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee. CNN reported that people in Maryland, New Jersey, and South Carolina also said they received texts.

The Federal Communications Commission also said it was looking into the matter, as did the Ohio attorney general's office, according to the AP.

NBC News reported that dozens of Black people around the country have said they received the messages, which were sent shortly after the 2024 presidential election.

President-elect Donald Trump won the race by notching 295 Electoral Votes, easily clearing the 270-vote threshold required to seal the presidency.

According to NBC, the text messages sent to Black people made references to slavery and included phrases like cotton-picking and plantations.

Some of the recipients were in college and high school, and some were in middle school, the AP reported.

One woman, Monèt Miller, told NBC News that she received a text on Wednesday morning, shortly after the election was called for Trump.

"Greetings Monet M, You have been selected to pick cutton [sic] at the nearest plantation," the text message said, per a screenshot provided to NBC. "Be ready at 12PM SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van, be prepared to be searched down once you've enter the plantation. You are in Plantation Group S."

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Saints fired coach Dennis Allen on Monday, a day after a loss at last-place Carolina extended the Saints' losing streak to seven games — their longest since 1999.

“DA is an excellent football coach,” Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said. ”This season, we've had an avalanche of injuries. It took its toll. DA has never offered excused. He fought each day for this organization and this team and that is what makes today disappointing."

The Saints named special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi the club's interim coach for the final eight games of what is expected to be the fourth straight season without a playoff berth for New Orleans (2-7).

Allen is 18-25 without a playoff appearance since taking over in 2022 after Sean Payton, the most successful coach in Saints history, began what turned out to be a one-season retirement from coaching.

Allen was promoted by general manager Mickey Loomis after a six-season tenure as New Orleans' defensive coordinator, a period that saw his unit ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in 2020 and 2021.

“Dennis has been a part of our organization for many years," Saints owner Gayle Benson said, referring to Allen's initial stint as a defensive assistant with New Orleans from 2006 to 2010. “He has been extremely loyal and professional.

“All of this makes today very tough for me and our organization,” Benson added. “However, this decision is something that I felt we needed to make at this time.”

While the Saints continued to field one of the better defenses in the NFL during Allen's first two seasons as head coach, the offense has been erratic and often struggled in the late stages of close games.

This year, with new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak in charge, the offense began the season by scoring a stunning 91 points over consecutive victories in Weeks 1 and 2. Since then, however, the unit has struggled to produce while injuries to key players have mounted.

Center Erik McCoy, the Saints’ most accomplished offensive lineman, was the first to go down in Week 3 and hasn’t played since. Meanwhile, New Orleans has endured stints without quarterback Derek Carr, top receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed and veteran guard Cesar Ruiz, among others.

New Orleans entered Sunday’s loss to the Panthers without three of its top four cornerbacks on defense: Marshon Lattimore, Paulson Adebo and Kool-Aid McKinstry.

The head of an association that helped an American woman to die in a suicide capsule is being detained in Switzerland amid an inquiry into her death and reports that “strangulation” marks were found on her neck.

Florian Willet, president of the Last Resort, the right-to-die group that provided the capsule, has been in jail for more than a month after the unnamed 64-year-old woman became the first person to die in one by pressing a button that filled it with nitrogen.

Prosecutors want to determine whether he and other people involved had “selfish” motives. The woman had skull base osteomyelitis, a rare bone infection that a source close to the Last Resort suggested may have caused the neck marks.

It is legal to assist a suicide in Switzerland unless there are “selfish reasons” such as financial gain or revenge. The Last Resort, which is funded by donations, says it charged nothing for the use of its capsule except the cost of the nitrogen, 18 Swiss francs (£16). It says there are no grounds for suspecting self-serving motives.

Willet, who is German but lives in Switzerland, said beforehand that he thought he had a 10 per cent risk of being placed in detention, according to an account of the woman’s last hours in De Volkskrant, a Dutch newspaper — one of whose photographers was present when she got into the capsule.

The outlet said it had seen film taken by cameras, one inside the capsule, the other outside.

The woman is said to have pressed the button to fill the pod with nitrogen at 3.54pm and taken a deep breath. “Keep on breathing,” Willet, 47, said from outside the capsule. She lost consciousness after about 30 seconds.

The internal camera provided intermittent images, switching on in response to movement. It came on after 1 minute and 57 seconds and 2 minutes and 13 seconds, according to De Volskrant, which reported that Willet had told police these images coincided with body cramps.

Willet, who was standing beside the woman throughout the event, was heard by the newspaper telling Philip Nitschke, the pod designer, over a video call: “She’s still alive, Philip”. That was six and a half minutes after the user pressed the button to end her life.

Willet is said to have been confused by the sound of an alarm, thought to be a heart-rate monitor. The court heard how he continued to lean over the Sarco pod and peer inside until the alarm ceased.

He is reported to have said afterwards: “She really looks dead”.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper, and De Volkskrant said that an autopsy had discovered “strangulation” marks on the woman’s neck, prompting Peter Sticher, the public prosecutor in Schaffhausen, to extend the scope of the investigation to include the possibility of murder.

However, Sticher has refused to confirm the reports and De Volkskrant says the film taken by the external camera does not show the capsule being opened before the woman’s death.

The Last Resort and Exit International, the right-to-die association founded by Nitschke, described the allegation as “ridiculous and absurd” in a joint statement. Neue Zürcher Zeitung said “a person close” to the Last Resort said the woman’s skull base osteomyelitis may have caused the marks on her neck.

Hundreds of early ballots cast for the US presidential election have been burned in two suspected attacks in Washington and Oregon, exacerbating tensions ahead of next Tuesday’s knife-edge contest.

Police said on Monday that the fires in the two states were believed to be connected and that a vehicle involved had been identified, according to the Associated Press.

Firefighters went to the scene after smoke was reported coming from a ballot drop box in the city of Vancouver in Washington state at 6.30am on Monday, according to local media.

KATU, a local television channel, reported capturing footage of responders releasing a pile of burning ballots to the ground. The ballots continued to smolder after the flames had been doused.

Hundreds of ballots were believed to have been inside when smoke was reported billowing from the box, which had last been emptied at 8am on Sunday. KATU reported that only a few of the ballots deposited there after that had been saved.

The elections auditor for Clark county, the local authority administering the boxes, said voters who had cast their ballots into it after 11am could seek new voting documents at a link on the county’s election webpage.

“I didn’t murder two little girls. I wasn’t involved in killing two little girls,” Allen told police in the interviews.

But correctional officers at Westville Correctional Facility told jurors that Allen changed his tune in prison.

The so-called “confessions” of Richard Allen have long been known with prosecutors previously detailing how Allen made more than 60 confessions during his long stint behind bars. The defense has repeatedly claimed Allen was suffering from mental anguish and made the “confessions” due to the stress, strain and mental breakdowns he suffered while being kept in terrible conditions.

The defense pointed out how Allen’s mental state was unstable and pressed on this by pointing out how numerous confessions made by Allen weren’t even factually accurate or were to crimes that never happened, such as claiming to have murdered his grandchildren. Allen’s mental instability also extended to strange acts, such as smearing feces on the walls of his cell, his attorneys said.

In opening arguments, the prosecution stated that Allen made confessions that included information “only the killer would know.”

Tuesday afternoon was the first testimony into any of these numerous confessions.

John Galipeau, the former warden of Westville prison, took the stand. He told jurors about Allen’s time in prison and how he was in an observation cell. Allen also spent time on suicide watch during his stay at Westville.

Allen was housed in Westville Correctional Facility for 13 months. His attorneys have repeatedly argued that he was treated poorly and called a “baby killer” during his stay, which led to his mental decline. A judge once disagreed, however, and found Allen was “treated more favorably” than other inmates.

Galipeau said Allen was allowed to shower three times a week, provided three sets of clothing, had access to tablets and was allowed recreation time five days a week in an indoor rec room. While on suicide watch he would get a medical check daily.

The former warden told jurors about how on March 5, 2023, Allen wrote a request for an interview that included him stating he wanted to confess to killing Abby and Libby.

MADISON COUNTY, Ind. — A former Republican candidate running for an Indiana seat in the U.S. House of Representatives has been arrested and charged with stealing several election ballots during a recent voting machine test.

Larry L. Savage Jr., a candidate in the Republican 5th District primary held earlier this year, was arrested Tuesday morning by Madison County authorities and charged with destroying/misplacing a ballot and theft. He has since been released on a $500 cash bond.

The charges filed against Savage, a 51-year-old Anderson resident and precinct committeeman, stem from an incident on Oct. 3 in which two election ballots went missing at the Madison County Government Center during testing of the local voting machines.

Court documents show county officials began testing voting machines at 10 a.m. on Oct. 3, an event open to the public. Several citizens attended the tests and were allowed to run “test” ballots through the machines assigned to their county.

Despite being marked “test,” the ballots were still officially tracked and counted by the State and included real candidate names as well as differing votes. After testing, officials found one straight-Republican ballot and one write-in ballot were missing.

A review of security footage, which was subsequently being live-streamed online, showed Savage handling the two missing ballots. He can also be heard confirming with an election official that these are “absolutely, totally real ballots.”

In the video Savage can be seen looking around the room before folding up two ballots and putting them in his sweatshirt pocket.

The mother of a teenager who killed himself after becoming obsessed with an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot now accuses its maker of complicity in his death.

Megan Garcia filed a civil suit against Character.ai, which makes a customizable chatbot for role-playing, in Florida federal court on Wednesday, alleging negligence, wrongful death and deceptive trade practices. Her son Sewell Setzer III, 14, died in Orlando, Florida, in February. In the months leading up to his death, Setzer used the chatbot day and night, according to Garcia.

“A dangerous AI chatbot app marketed to children abused and preyed on my son, manipulating him into taking his own life,” Garcia said in a press release. “Our family has been devastated by this tragedy, but I’m speaking out to warn families of the dangers of deceptive, addictive AI technology and demand accountability from Character.AI, its founders, and Google.”

In a tweet, Character.ai responded: “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of one of our users and want to express our deepest condolences to the family. As a company, we take the safety of our users very seriously.” It has denied the suit’s allegations.

Setzer had become enthralled with a chatbot built by Character.ai that he nicknamed Daenerys Targaryen, a character in Game of Thrones. He texted the bot dozens of times a day from his phone and spent hours alone in his room talking to it, according to Garcia’s complaint.

Garcia accuses Character.ai of creating a product that exacerbated her son’s depression, which she says was already the result of overuse of the startup’s product. “Daenerys” at one point asked Setzer if he had devised a plan for killing himself, according to the lawsuit. Setzer admitted that he had but that he did not know if it would succeed or cause him great pain, the complaint alleges. The chatbot allegedly told him: “That’s not a reason not to go through with it.”

The Texas Supreme Court halted Robert Roberson’s scheduled execution late Thursday night, following an extraordinary series of legal twists and turns spurred by a bipartisan group of state lawmakers.

The legislators, including influential members of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, deployed a sequence of jiu-jitsu-like moves to give Roberson a chance to prove his innocence. Their efforts centered around a first-of-its-kind statute in Texas that allows people incarcerated based on flawed forensics to challenge their convictions.

“The vast team fighting for Robert Roberson — people all across Texas, the country, and the world — are elated tonight that a contingent of brave, bipartisan Texas lawmakers chose to dig deep into the facts of Robert’s case that no court had yet considered and recognized that his life was worth fighting for,” Roberson’s lawyer, Gretchen Sween, said in a statement. “He lives to fight another day and hopes that his experience can help improve the integrity of our criminal legal system.”

Roberson was sent to death row in 2003 for killing his 2-year-old daughter Nikki. Medical professionals attributed the child’s death to so-called shaken baby syndrome, or SBS: a diagnosis based on the belief that a certain combination of injuries found in a baby or toddler could only be caused by violent shaking. This theory has since been disproven by scientific research. Across the country, 34 people convicted based on SBS have been exonerated, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.

Roberson, who insists he is innocent, challenged his conviction using the state’s so-called junk science law. But Texas courts ignored the overwhelming evidence undermining the state’s case against him, greenlighting his execution on October 17. As that date approached, Roberson gained the support of a bipartisan group of more than 80 Texas lawmakers, who implored both the board and the courts to spare his life.

North Korean authorities have been punishing doctors who carry out abortions and the providers of contraceptives amid a drive by the country to boost its birthrate, according to a recent report.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) cited a medical field source in the northern province of Ryanggang, which borders China, in its article. The source, who requested anonymity for their own safety, said the head of the obstetrics and gynecology department of Paegam County Hospital was put on trial for having conducted at-home abortions.

The doctor, who conducted one abortion at home that resulted in the death of a woman, was sentenced to five years in prison, according to RFA. His trial was held in a conference room at a medical university hospital.

North Korea's fertility rate, or the number of babies expected per woman's lifetime, dropped to 1.8 births per woman last year, according to estimates by the United Nations Population Fund. A fertility rate of 2.1 is considered the minimum rate necessary for a population to sustain itself over time.

A California man has been charged with drugging and sexually assaulting nine women, including one woman who died from the drugs, prosecutors said Friday.

Michael DiGiorgio, 50, faces multiple charges including murder, rape by use of a drug and furnishing a controlled substance, according to court records obtained by CNN.

He is being represented by the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, according to court records, and CNN has reached out to his attorney for comment Friday and overnight into Saturday.

DiGiorgio is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting the women between May 2019 and November 2021 at his homes in Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach, prosecutors said, and investigators believe more victims may come forward.