Tag Archives: pleads not guilty

Actress Lori Loughlin pleads not guilty in college admissions case

FILE PHOTO: Actor Lori Loughlin, and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, leave the federal courthouse after facing charges in a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., April 3, 2019. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) – Actress Lori Loughlin said on Monday she will plead not guilty to charges that she participated in what prosecutors say was the largest college admissions scandal uncovered in U.S. history.

Loughlin, who starred in the television sitcom, “Full House,” and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli filed papers in federal court in Boston seeking to waive their personal appearances at an arraignment hearing and have not guilty pleas entered on their behalf.

They are among 50 people accused of participating in a scheme that allowed wealthy parents to use cheating and bribes to help their children secure spots at universities like Yale, Georgetown and the University of Southern California (USC).

California college admissions adviser William “Rick” Singer has pleaded guilty to charges that he facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and bribed coaches at universities to falsely present the parents’ children as athletic recruits.

Loughlin, 54, and Giannulli agreed with Singer to pay $500,000 to have their two daughters named as recruits to USC’s crew team, prosecutors said, even though they did not row competitively, to help them gain admission.

The couple and several other parents were originally charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Prosecutors secured an indictment on April 9 that included an additional charge of conspiring to commit money laundering.

In all, 33 parents have been charged in the college admissions scandal. Of those, 14 have agreed to plead guilty, including “Desperate Housewives” TV star Felicity Huffman.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Pittsburgh synagogue massacre suspect pleads not guilty

FILE PHOTO: People pray at a makeshift memorial near the Tree of Life synagogue following Saturday's shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 31, 2018. REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton

By Chriss Swaney

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – The man charged with opening fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue and killing 11 worshipers pleaded not guilty on Thursday in federal court to all 44 counts against him, including hate crimes and firearms offenses.

Robert Bowers, 46, an avowed anti-Semite, appeared defiant and determined in court. Dressed in a red jumpsuit and with a bandaged left arm, he walked into the courtroom with what appeared to be a swagger.

He spoke little, other than to say he understood the charges against him, and that some of them could result in the death penalty, followed by entering a plea of “not guilty.”

Bowers was injured during a shootout with police during the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood in what is believed to be the worst anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. He had appeared in court on Monday shackled to a wheelchair.

His appearance in court on Thursday came as funerals for three more victims were planned during the day.

Funerals will be held for Sylvan Simon, 86, his wife, Bernice, 84, and for Richard Gottfried, 65.

Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty against Bowers.

He is accused of bursting into the synagogue and opening fire with a semi-automatic rifle and three pistols in the midst of the Sabbath prayer service as he shouted “All Jews must die.”

Six people, including four police officers, were wounded before the suspect was shot by police and surrendered.

The attack, following a wave of pipe bombs mailed to prominent Democrats and other Trump critics, has heightened national tensions days ahead of U.S. congressional elections on Tuesday that will decide whether U.S. President Donald Trump loses the Republican majority he now enjoys in the Senate and House.

The Pittsburgh massacre also has fueled a debate over Trump’s rhetoric and his self-identification as a “nationalist,” which critics say has led to a surge in right-wing extremism and may have helped provoke the synagogue bloodshed.

The Trump administration has rejected the notion that he has encouraged white nationalists and neo-Nazis who have embraced him, insisting he is trying to unify Americans, even as he continues to disparage the media as an “enemy of the people.”

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Larry King and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Immigrant accused of killing Iowa student pleads not guilty

FILE PHOTO: Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24, charged of Murder in the First Degree, is seen in this booking photo released by Iowa Department of Public Safety in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., August 21, 2018. Courtesy Iowa Department of Public Safety/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

(Reuters) – The accused killer of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts, whose disappearance produced national headlines, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder at a court appearance on Wednesday.

Cristhian Bahena Rivera, a 24-year-old farm worker from Mexico accused of stabbing 20-year-old Tibbetts, appeared in a black-and-white striped jumpsuit at his arraignment in Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa.

“Mr. Rivera pleads not guilty,” his lawyer Chad Frese told the judge as Rivera listened through black headphones to a translator.

District Court Judge Joel Yates set his trial for April 16. Rivera was ordered held on $5 million bail at a previous court appearance.

Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student, vanished while jogging on July 18, and her body was found about a month later in a field near Brooklyn, Iowa.

Law enforcement officials told reporters that Rivera was in the country illegally. His defense lawyer has said in a court filing that Rivera had legal status.

The case further fueled a national debate over illegal immigration and crime, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying Tibbetts’ death was a result of weak immigration laws.

In an opinion piece for the Des Moines Register earlier this month, Tibbetts’ father, Rob Tibbetts, called on politicians not to “distort” her death to advance views “she believed were profoundly racist.”

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Joseph Ax and Bill Berkrot)