JACKSON, Miss. — An airport worker who flew a stolen twin-engine plane erratically over north Mississippi for hours and threatened to crash into a Walmart store has died in federal prison while awaiting trial, federal authorities said Wednesday. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that Cory Wayne Patterson, 29, was found unresponsive Monday at …
A Chinese intelligence officer convicted of conspiring and attempting to steal sensitive trade secrets from a U.S. company was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in federal prison. The Justice Department had asked that Yanjun Xu, 42, get 25 years behind bars for his “very extensive” yearslong scheme to steal secrets from U.S. aviation companies. Xu “used …
After more than 35 years in prison, Mutulu Shakur, Tupac Shakur’s stepfather, will be released on parole on Dec. 16, when he’ll be able to spend what are expected to be his final days among family and friends. U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier in October approved a motion to release Shakur, an activist and holistic …
SAN DIEGO — In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, one man “dominated” the San Diego methamphetamine market as border restrictions hampered smuggling routes and the price of the drug “skyrocketed,” a federal prosecutor said Monday. Reyes Espinoza, who lived with his family in San Ysidro but also split time between Mexico and a rural …
LOS ANGELES — A Nigerian social media influencer who called himself Ray Hushpuppi and flaunted a lavish lifestyle fueled by his efforts to launder millions of stolen dollars was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles to more than 11 years in federal prison. Ramon Abbas, 40, also was ordered by a federal judge to pay $1.7 …
WASHINGTON — Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow visited jailed WNBA star Brittney Griner on Thursday, just weeks after a Russian court rejected her appeal of her nine-year sentence for drug possession. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a tweet that the American representatives “saw firsthand her tenacity and perseverance despite her present circumstances.” …
Scherer had no other choice; the jury in Cruz’s three-month penalty trial voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 to sentence him to death, but Florida law requires unanimity for that sentence to be imposed. The sentencing came after two days’ worth of parents, wives, siblings and other relatives of slain victims and some of the surviving …
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman. Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, watched Judge Elizabeth Scherer but showed no emotion as …
Following dramatic statements from victims and victims’ families, a Florida judge is expected to formally sentence Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz to life in prison without parole Wednesday for the 2018 campus massacre that killed 14 students and three staff members. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer is expected to follow the jury’s recommendation to spare the …
An American woman who led an all-female Islamic State battalion was sentenced to 20 years in prison Tuesday after she admitted to training dozens of women and girls in Syria for the militant group known as ISIS, federal authorities said. At a sentencing hearing Tuesday, the adult daughter of Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, accused her mother …
