All posts tagged: Sentence

Colorado Elections Clerk Released From Prison After Governor Commutes Sentence

Colorado Elections Clerk Released From Prison After Governor Commutes Sentence

Published by Sam Flores

DENVER (AP) — Tina Peters, the former county clerk convicted of participating in a scheme to chase election conspiracy theories promulgated by President Donald Trump, was released from state prison Monday after the president successfully pressured Colorado’s Democratic governor into commuting her sentence. Shortly after her release was confirmed by the Colorado Department of Corrections, Peters appeared on the program of Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser who was part of the right-wing campaign to free Peters. Gov. Jared Polis said he would shorten Peters’ sentence if she expressed regret about her actions. But in her interview with Bannon, Peters repeated the debunked conspiracy theory that voting machines cheated Trump out of reelection in 2020 and portrayed herself as a martyr to the effort to expose it. “I know that the Democrats are going to cheat, and no one is really addressing the problem that I spent my time in prison as retribution for,” Peters said. Multiple reviews, recounts and audits in the battleground states where Trump disputed his 2020 loss have all affirmed that …

Nicola Sturgeon: 'I'm Serving A Sentence For A Crime I Did Not Commit'

Nicola Sturgeon: 'I'm Serving A Sentence For A Crime I Did Not Commit'

Published by Sam Flores

Nicola Sturgeon speaking to BBC Nicola Sturgeon has told the BBC she is “serving a sentence for a crime I did not commit” in relation to her ex-husband’s embezzlement of SNP funds. Peter Murrell, chief executive of the Scottish National Party between 2001 and 2023, pleaded guilty to taking more than £400,000 from the SNP this week. He has been charged with embezzling funds from the party between August 2010 and October 2022. Arrested in 2023 and charged in 2024, Murrell has been remanded in custody and is set to be sentenced at the end of June. He made a series of extravagant purchases while he was SNP chief, including a £124,550 campervan for his own personal use. His then-wife Sturgeon was also arrested in 2024 and questioned by detectives, but was never charged with any offences. The former first minister of Scotland and ex-SNP leader has faced a barrage of criticism after she claimed she was completely unaware of her then-spouse Peter Murrell’s crimes. Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, Sturgeon said: “A lot of women find themselves …

Woman at center of sprawling Minnesota fraud case gets nearly 42-year prison sentence

Woman at center of sprawling Minnesota fraud case gets nearly 42-year prison sentence

Published by Sam Flores

MINNEAPOLIS — A judge on Thursday handed down an extraordinary prison sentence — nearly 42 years — to the former leader of a Minnesota nonprofit who was convicted in a staggering $250-million fraud case that helped ignite an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration. Aimee Bock ran Feeding Our Future, which had claimed it helped provide millions of meals to children in need during the pandemic. The U.S. Justice Department, however, said she was atop the “single largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.” “I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone,” Bock said in federal court. President Trump used the fraud cases against Bock and many others to initially justify a massive surge of federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter, leading to a pushback by residents and the deaths of two people. “Feeding Our Future operated like a cash pipeline, open to anyone willing to submit fraudulent claims and pay kickbacks,” prosecutors said in a court filing. Bock had long proclaimed her innocence but was convicted last year of conspiracy, …

A moment that changed me: My diagnosis seemed like a death sentence – how have I survived for another 40 years? | Aids and HIV

A moment that changed me: My diagnosis seemed like a death sentence – how have I survived for another 40 years? | Aids and HIV

Published by Sam Flores

On 21 February 1986, I was diagnosed HIV positive. I was 22. It was the day of my sister’s 21st birthday. That solemn Friday afternoon, my life changed for ever. We had planned a surprise party later that night. My sister was already seven months pregnant with my eldest niece, and I had gone to central London to find a card featuring a Black mother and child. Failing to find anything culturally appropriate, I decided to pop into the STD clinic in Chelsea to pick up my test results. I knew nothing about HIV or Aids; I’d never even heard of the acronyms until a week or so earlier. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t end up partying with my sister that night. Celebrating the promise of new life while contemplating my imminent death proved too much. I spent the next several days hiding away in a darkened room, crying uncontrollably. My initial instinct had been to wait to die, and for many years after my diagnosis, I did just that. That was the prognosis back then. My …

Colorado Gov. Polis reduces sentence of Trump ally Tina Peters : NPR

Colorado Gov. Polis reduces sentence of Trump ally Tina Peters : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Tina Peters, former Mesa County, Colo., clerk, listens during her trial on March 3, 2023. Scott Crabtree/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP/Pool hide caption toggle caption Scott Crabtree/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP/Pool DENVER — Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis has reduced the state prison sentence of Tina Peters, a former county clerk convicted of tampering with election equipment, and said she would be released on parole June 1, 2026.  The controversial decision follows a months-long pressure campaign from President Trump and his administration to free Peters from state custody. In April, a state appeals court upheld Peters’ 2024 conviction but ruled that she should be re-sentenced, saying that the trial court judge who issued her nearly nine-year sentence improperly factored in her protected speech. Peters was convicted for her role in facilitating a security breach of Mesa County’s voting machines when she was clerk and recorder. The incident occurred six months after the 2020 election, as part of her effort to prove Trump’s baseless claims of a rigged election. Peters’ conviction and …

Prosecutors demand 7-year sentence for Sarkozy in Libya financing case

Prosecutors demand 7-year sentence for Sarkozy in Libya financing case

Published by Sam Flores

French prosecutors on Wednesday requested a seven-year prison sentence for former president Nicolas Sarkozy in an appeal trial on charges that he sought Libyan financing for his 2007 election. Sarkozy, France’s right-wing leader from 2007 to 2012, has always denied any wrongdoing but last year became modern France’s first former president to have gone to jail over the case, before he was released after 20 days pending his appeal trial. FRANCE 24’s Olivia Bizot reports from the courthouse in Paris. Source link

France’s ex-president Sarkozy escapes second ankle tag sentence

France’s ex-president Sarkozy escapes second ankle tag sentence

Published by Sam Flores

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will not serve time with an electronic ankle tag as punishment for illegal funding of his 2012 re-election bid, an informed source said Wednesday. Sarkozy, 71, has faced a raft of accusations since leaving office after a single term from 2007 to 2012. He has denied all allegations in all cases. Last year, he became modern France’s first-ever president to go to jail, serving 20 days in a case related to alleged Libyan funding in his 2007 election campaign. His appeal trial in the case is ongoing. He has also received two definitive convictions in other cases. In one of them, the country’s top court last year upheld a six-month term in the so-called “Bygmalion” case, finding he had overspent on his failed 2012 re-election bid with a PR firm called Bygmalion and then attempted to cover it up. Read moreLibya ‘corruption pact’: Sarkozy returns to court as his former right-hand man turns against him It was not clear at the time if he would have to wear an ankle …

Gun thug who carried out public execution of Stockbridge Village teen is trying to get his sentence reduced

Gun thug who carried out public execution of Stockbridge Village teen is trying to get his sentence reduced

Published by Sam Flores

A gun thug who carried out the public execution of a teenager is trying to get his prison sentence reduced. Connor Smith was one of two men who carried out the murder of 19-year-old Nyle Corrigan, who was fatally shot by the side of Boode Croft in Stockbridge Village in November 2020. Mr Corrigan was ambushed by Smith and Martin Wilson, who travelled to the scene on foot wearing masks and carrying a Glock self-loading pistol, before lying in wait for their target, who was on his electric bike. The two gunmen “called out” to Mr Corrigan before they shot him once in the back. Mr Corrigan died of his injuries surrounded by his family around 50 minutes later. Following the shooting the two gunmen escaped on the victim’s electric bike, which was later found discarded in Huyton. The two gunmen were convicted after trial in December 2024 and were both sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 32 years. They were also handed a sentence of 18 years for the possession of …