news
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Detroit Man, Wrongly Convicted of Murder as a Teen, to Be Released
A Detroit 23-year-old, who was wrongly convicted of murder as a young teen, will soon be a free man again, prosecutors announced Tuesday, USA Today reports. Davontae Sanford wrongfully pleaded guilty to killing four people in a drug den on the city’s Northeast side when he was just 14. In 2008 he was convicted and…
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5 Guards at NYC’s Rikers Island Convicted in Brutal Beating of Inmate
A former chief for security and four other officers at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex have been convicted of felony charges in the brutal beating of an inmate, CBS News reports. Former Assistant Chief for Security Eliseo Perez and officers Alfred Rivera, Tobias Parker, Jose Parra and David Rodriguez were convicted Tuesday of charges,…
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Hillary Clinton Claims Victory as 1st Woman to Claim Presidential Nomination of Major Party
Hillary Clinton has officially staked her claim as the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, taking her place in history as the first woman to claim the presidential nomination of a major U.S. party after capturing primary victories in California, New Mexico, South Dakota and New Jersey Tuesday, Al-Jazeera reports. “Thanks to you, we’ve reached…
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Black Students Nearly 4 Times as Likely to Be Suspended: Report
Black students are almost four times as likely as white students to receive one or more out-of-school suspensions, new federal data released on Tuesday shows (pdf), underlining the grave disparity that still exists within the U.S. education system. The 2013-2014 Civil Rights Data Collection survey looked at 16,758 school districts, encompassing 95,507 schools and 50,035,744…
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Ill. School Bus Monitor Denies Hitting 8-Year-Old Boy With Special Needs
A 68-year-old Illinois woman, a former bus monitor for the First Student bus company, denies slapping and hitting an 8-year-old boy with special needs from the Naperville area of suburban Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports. The incident, which reportedly occurred in April, prompted an investigation, and now she is facing charges of misdemeanor battery. “This is…
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Helen Chavez, Widow of Civil Rights Icon Cesar Chavez, Dies at 88
Helen Chavez, the widow of civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, died Monday at a hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., at the age of 88, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to a statement from the Cesar Chavez Foundation, Helen Chavez died of natural causes, surrounded by family. Chavez was known for helping her husband with the…
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Chicago Father Charged With Murder in Death of 2-Month-Old Son
Brandon Holman, a Chicago father, is facing charges of first-degree murder in the death of his 2-month-old son over the weekend, the Chicago Tribune reports. The child, identified as Bryson Holman, died of multiple abuse injuries after he was found at his home Saturday, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled after an autopsy. Brandon Holman…
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Los Angeles Serial Killer the 'Grim Sleeper' Should Be Sentenced to Death, Jury Decides
A Los Angeles jury has decided that the serial killer known as the “Grim Sleeper” should face the death penalty for murdering nine women and a teenage girl in a 23-year killing spree, the Associated Press reports. Lonnie Franklin Jr., a 63-year-old former city trash collector and garage attendant for the city’s Police Department, was…
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Brian Banks, Wrongly Convicted of Rape as a Teen, Calls Stanford Case One of ‘Privilege’
By now we are all familiar with the outrage sweeping the nation since a Santa Clara County, Calif., judge sentenced Stanford swimmer Brock Turner to six months in county jail after the 20-year-old was convicted of raping an unconscious and intoxicated woman in 2015. However, Brian Banks, a once-promising high school football player who was…