Paradise News

Category: Metro

  • La. man pleads guilty to killing pregnant girlfriend and throwing her toddler son off bridge

    BATON ROUGE, La. (TCN) — A 25-year-old man could spend the rest of his life in prison after he pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend, who was pregnant with his child, and throwing her 2-year-old son off a bridge.

    WAFB-TV reports Brynnen Murphy entered the plea for two counts of manslaughter and one count of first-degree feticide. He faces a maximum of 95 years behind bars.

    Twenty-four-year-old Kaylen Johnson and her son, Kaden Johnson, were reported missing to the Baton Rouge Police Department on March 12, 2022, though they were last seen March 5, 2022. On March 14, 2022, Baton Rouge Police announced that detectives arrested Murphy on two counts of first-degree murder.

    According to WAFB, Murphy turned himself in to police and confessed to fatally shooting Kaylen Johnson during an argument and disposing of her body in a wooded area. After that, he reportedly took Kaden Johnson to a bridge and threw him into the water. The boy was still alive when it happened.

    WGMB-TV reports the East Baton Rouge Parish Medical Examiner determined that Kaylen Johnson died from multiple gunshot wounds and Kaden Johnson most likely died from hypothermia. Both deaths were ruled homicides.

    • Man who murdered pregnant girlfriend, threw 2-year-old off bridge takes guilty plea – WAFB
    • Baton Rouge Police Search for Missing Persons, 3/12/2022 – Baton Rouge Police Department
    • Arrest Made in Missing Persons Investigation, 3/14/2022 – Baton Rouge Police Department
    • EBR Coroner releases autopsy findings of mother, child found dead, 3/15/2022 – WGMB

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • 3 arrested after their 18-year-old brother starved to death while tied to a mattress

    CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (TCN) — Police arrested three brothers on multiple charges after their brother died while being held down with ratchet straps on his bed.

    According to the Cedar Rapids Police Department, on Nov. 9, 2024, officers responded to a call about a death at a home on Roemig Street Southwest. When they arrived, they located 18-year-old Ezekiel Baseme deceased.

    Detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division opened a case into his death, and on March 28, the police department announced Christian Baseme, 29, Pierre Baseme, 26, and Azane Baseme, 23, were arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter, assault causing bodily injury, and false imprisonment.

    They are in custody at the Linn County Correctional Center with bond set at $10,000.

    Court documents cited by KCRG-TV say Ezekiel Baseme had schizophrenia and went through a mental health episode a few days before his death. He reportedly threatened his relatives, attacked Christian Baseme, and made comments about suicide. According to KCRG, at one point, Ezekiel Baseme reportedly escaped the house by climbing out of a window and threatening his neighbors. One neighbor reportedly said they would shoot him.

    KCRG reports the victim previously asked his family to kill him.

    After the escape incident, the brothers allegedly tied Ezekiel Baseme to the bed because they became worried about his safety to himself and others. The brothers allegedly used rope at first, but Ezekiel Baseme freed himself. After that, they reportedly tied him with ratchet straps.

    Ezekiel Baseme allegedly refused to eat or drink for several days. When they untied him to give him water, he reportedly tried to fight them. He reportedly stopped breathing on Nov. 6, but his heart kept beating. By Nov. 9, he began to “swell and smell,” so they called authorities.

    The medical examiner concluded that Ezekiel Baseme died from “complications of probable starvation and dehydration in a setting of physical restraint.”

    MORE:

    • Three Arrested in November 2024 Death Investigation – Cedar Rapids Police Department
    • Starvation, dehydration determined as cause of death of 18-year-old Cedar Rapids man – KCRG
    • Three arrests made in death of 18-year-old in Cedar Rapids – KCRG

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Calif. man convicted of beating girlfriend’s mother to death with his bare hands and piece of glass

    SEASIDE, Calif. (TCN) — A 47-year-old man has been convicted of killing his girlfriend’s mother because he believed the victim’s daughter had been unfaithful.

    The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office announced March 28 that a jury found Kevin Hart guilty of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon in connection with the death of 65-year-old Jackie Robinson. He is set to be sentenced on May 7 and faces 26 years to life in prison.

    According to prosecutors, on May 5, 2023, Hart “became enraged about imagined infidelity by his girlfriend.” Hart reportedly directed his anger toward his girlfriend’s mother, Robinson, went into her home, and “brutally beat her to death.” KION-TV reports that Hart fatally attacked Robinson with his bare hands and a piece of glass.

    Seaside Police responded to the residence and located Hart covered in blood. He allegedly tried to fight officers but was taken into custody.

    Robinson was transported to a hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased.

    • Patterson Man Convicted of First-Degree Murder for Brutal Killing of Seaside Resident – Monterey County District Attorney’s Office
    • Man found guilty of first-degree murder from 2023 in Seaside; Monterey County DA’s Office – KION

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Can this mock jury predict Diddy’s verdict?

    As music mogul Diddy awaits trial for charges of racketeering, conspiracy, and sex trafficking, TMZ takes a closer look at the possible defense in their documentary “TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy.” Is the case a slam dunk, or will the jury surprise prosecutors?

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Alleged victim of real estate mogul Oren Alexander shares her story

    Real estate moguls and brothers Oren Alexander, Alon Alexander, and Tal Alexander face multiple charges after allegedly sexually assaulting and trafficking women for more than a decade. “True Crime News” sits down with one of the defendants’ alleged victims, Maria Suska, who shares her purported experience with Oren Alexander about 10 years ago.

    Source: True Crime Daily

  • Judicial Watch Update: New Numbers Show Over Five Million Names Cleaned from Voter Rolls Nationwide

    Kentucky Removes 735,000 from Voter Rolls since 2019, NYC Removals Now Total 918,139

    (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that its analysis and use of voter registration lists has led to lawsuits and legal actions under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) that have resulted in the removal of five million names from voter rolls in nearly a dozen states and localities over the last several years.

    Recently, the Commonwealth of Kentucky reported that 735,000 ineligible voter registrations have been removed from its voter rolls since 2019 by the State Board of Elections as part of its 2018 consent decree settling a lawsuit by Judicial Watch. 

    As part of its 2022 settlement, New York City alone has removed 918,139 ineligible names from its rolls: recent data show 477,056 removals between March 2023 and February 2025, which is in addition to the 441,083 previously reported removals.

    These latest developments come as a result of Judicial Watch’s 2017 lawsuit against Kentucky under the NVRA (Judicial Watch, Inc. and the United States of America v. Alison Lundergan Grimes, et al. (No. 3:17-cv-00094)) and its 2022 lawsuit against New York City that pointed out that it had removed only 22 names under the federal law over six years (Judicial Watch v Valentine et al. (No.1:22-cv-03952)).

    In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that such removals are mandatory.

    In May 2022, Los Angeles County confirmed the removal of 1.2 million ineligible names from its rolls as part of a settlement in a federal lawsuit Judicial Watch filed in 2017. (Legal pressure from Judicial Watch ultimately has led to the removal of ineligible names from voter rolls in New York, California, Pennsylvania, Colorado, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio.)

    Other voter roll clean-up lawsuits by Judicial Watch continue in Illinois, Oregon, and California.

    “Judicial Watch’s clean-up of over five million dirty names from voter rolls is a historic achievement for clean elections. I have no doubt that Judicial Watch’s election integrity heavy lifting helped stop the steal in 2024,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “But there are millions of more names to be removed from voting rolls, which is why we are in federal court in three states.”

    Judicial Watch is a national leader in voting integrity and voting rights.

    Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit declined to rehear its previous ruling in which it agreed with Judicial Watch that it was unlawful for Mississippi to count ballots that arrived after Election Day.

    Judicial Watch in March 2025 filed a federal lawsuit against California on behalf of U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa to prevent state election officials from extending Election Day for seven days beyond the date established by federal law. California counts ballots received up to seven days after Election Day.

    Also in March, Judicial Watch sent a notice letter to Lt. Governor Deidre M. Henderson, notifying her that Utah is currently in violation of the NVRA’s public disclosure requirements. The notice letter warns of a lawsuit after 90 days if the issues are not resolved.

    ###

    Source: Judicial Watch

  • “The Gravy Train is Over”—HUD, DHS Team up to End Subsidized Public Housing for Illegal Immigrants

    Over half of illegal immigrant households in the United States use at least one taxpayer-funded welfare program, according to congressional testimony provided recently by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and it costs the government tens of billions of dollars establishing that clamping down on the unprecedented flow of migrants is only the first step to mitigate the damage of the Biden administration’s disastrous open border polices. One major area of concern is government-subsidized public housing, which became available to illegal aliens under policies established by the previous administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

    To reverse the damage amid a nationwide affordable housing crisis, two key government agencies have teamed up to crackdown on illegal immigrants benefitting from taxpayer-funded public housing. Trump HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to end the wasteful misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to benefit illegal aliens instead of American citizens, especially veterans in need. Under the agreement HUD will provide a full-time staff member to assist in operations at the Incident Command Center (ICC), creating an interagency partnership to facilitate data sharing and ensure taxpayer-funded housing programs are not used to harbor or benefit illegal aliens. “We will safeguard precious taxpayer resources, and we will stop the harmful practices of the former Biden Administration, which favored and prioritized illegal aliens over American citizens in the expenditure of housing funds and subsidies,” the HUD-DHS MOU states.

    The agencies will collaborate to facilitate and coordinate efforts to place Americans first by establishing lines of communications and developing joint measures to accomplish President Trump’s directive to protect Americans and their resources. “Further, we will work together to identify criminal aliens who prey upon and victimize the American people,” the MOU reads. “By working more closely together and with greater collaboration, we will identify illegal aliens who are ineligible for Federal housing assistance and take remedial measures to end this waste and abuse, including referral for immigration enforcement actions.” A few days later HUD also announced that illegal immigrants would no longer qualify for government-backed mortgages through a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program that lends to “non-permanent residents.” The new policy ensures that illegal aliens cannot access FHA-insured financing and refocuses the use of taxpayer-funded federal housing programs to benefit U.S. citizens.

    DHS Secretary Noem points out that the Biden administration prioritized illegal aliens over American citizens, including by giving them taxpayer-funded housing. “Not anymore,” she says in the press release announcing the new HUD partnership. “The entire government will work together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally.” The DHS Secretary further warns that the gravy train is over for those in the country illegally. “If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now,” Noem said. HUD Secretary Turner assures his agency’s new agreement with DHS will leverage resources to ensure American people are the only priority when it comes to public housing.

    Uncle Sam spends a whopping $42 billion to provide illegal immigrants with an array of welfare services, according to CIS figures presented to Congress less than a year ago. This includes housing, food, healthcare, public education, and other social services. As an example of the toll this is taking on local communities, CIS revealed that the city of New York has spent or expects to spend $12 billion over the next three years on housing, food, health care, and other services for recently arrived illegal immigrants. Chicago spent around $361 million to accommodate recently arrived migrants, the District of Columbia about $36.4 million and Denver approximately $180 million, more than triple what it spends on the homeless. A few years ago, Judicial Watch reported on a congressional probe that determined the cost of illegal immigration is greater than the annual gross domestic product of 15 states.

    Source: Judicial Watch

  • Latest SQE1 sitting sees 56% pass

    Up from a record low of 44%

    The report on the latest SQE1 sitting has been released, showing an overall pass rate of 56% — up slightly on last summer’s record low of 44%.

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) reported that 6,718 candidates completed both parts of SQE1 in the January sitting this year.

    The pass rate data

    Of these, 5,908 were first-time candidates, achieving a slightly higher pass rate of 60%. Interestingly, qualified lawyers — presumably mostly those qualified in overseas jurisdictions — had a lower pass rate than those not yet qualified: 52% compared to 62%.

    Pass rate data for qualified lawyers

    In February, Legal Cheek reported a record high pass rate for SQE2, at 81%. Candidates must pass SQE1 to sit SQE2.

    Earlier this week, the Legal Services Board announced it has given the SRA until Autumn to publish pass rate information from across the different SQE providers. This has come after a series of delays.

    Last week, Legal Cheek highlighted one candidate’s experience after failing the challenging SQE where the top 20 firm which had sponsored her as an incoming trainee was seeking to clawback funding – on top of rescinding her training contract.

    The SQE Hub: Your ultimate resource for all things SQE

    The post Latest SQE1 sitting sees 56% pass appeared first on Legal Cheek.

    Source: Legal Cheek

  • Reed Smith retains 10 out 15 NQ solicitors as it confirms trainee salary rises

    Announced after record revenues

    Reed Smith has retained 67% of its London trainees, with ten newly qualified (NQ) solicitors from a cohort of fifteen staying on in permanent roles.

    Four will join the energy and natural resources industry team, with two apiece joining the finance and global corporate teams. The remaining two NQs will join transportation and global commercial disputes.

    The Legal Cheek Firms Most List shows NQs will start on a salary of £125,000 before any bonuses.

    Alongside the retention figures, Reed Smith has announced a £3,000 pay increase for both first and second-year trainees, raising salaries to £53,000 and £58,000 respectively. This represents a 6% rise for first year trainees and a 5.5% increase for second years.

    The 2025 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

    David Ashmore, training principal at the firm, commented:

    “Congratulations to our new class of associates. They are hugely talented and will become the bedrock of the next generation of the firm. We are proud to be investing in their development and look forward to seeing their careers grow with the firm.”

    Legal Cheek recently reported record global revenueS for Reed Smith in 2024, surpassing $1.5 billion (£1.2 billion), while profit per equity partner PEP grew to $1.8 million (£1.4 million). This was underpinned by strong recovery for the firm’s London office since the Covid-19 pandemic, where revenue per London lawyer shot up nearly 30% to almost $950,000 (£732k).

    The post Reed Smith retains 10 out 15 NQ solicitors as it confirms trainee salary rises appeared first on Legal Cheek.

    Source: Legal Cheek

  • The hunt for the Gilgo Beach serial killer

    The Gilgo Beach murders remained a mystery for years after several human remains were found scattered in the area. Then, Rex Heuermann’s arrest broke the case open. The new Netflix docuseries “Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer” explores the police department’s hunt for the killer and how they ultimately landed on Rex.

    Source: True Crime Daily