Seven men are charged with stealing millions from the homes of six professional athletes across the country, as reported by NPR. Court documents do not identify the victims by name, but the details are consistent with reported burglaries at the homes of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals. CNN adds that the suspects were apprehended after taking a selfie discovered by the FBI. Read on for more criminal law news.
NYC Pays Millions to Settle Misconduct Cases. New York City paid $206 million in 2024 to settle cases involving police and prosecutorial misconduct, according to this story from the NYT. The city settled 953 cases last year, with five settlements of at least $15 million each. Those included the cases of James Irons and Thomas Malik, who spent thirty years in prison for murder before they were exonerated by a judge last year; both were awarded about $16.3 million. The NYPD said 64 percent of the cases settled in 2024 involved wrongful convictions, and at least half of the wrongful conviction cases were around twenty years old.
Zizians Cult Leader Arrested. Maryland State Police on Sunday arrested Jack Lasota, 34, the apparent leader of a cultlike group known as the Zizians, as reported by the AP. Another member of the group, Michelle Zajko, 33, was also arrested. The Zizians have been implicated in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland in January as well as five other homicides nationwide. Lasota, who published a “dark and sometimes violent” blog under the name “Ziz,” appears to be the leader of the group, which allegedly consists of intelligent young computer scientists. Lasota and Zajko face multiple charges, including trespassing, obstructing, and firearm possession.
A$AP Rocky Acquitted of Felony Assault. The hip-hop performer Rakim Mayers, known as A$AP Rocky, was found not guilty by a jury in Los Angeles on Tuesday on two counts of felony assault with a semiautomatic weapon, as reported by the AP. Upon hearing the verdict, Rocky leapt from the defense table into the gallery, where he embraced Rihanna, the mother of his two children. Rocky had faced more than twenty years for the alleged shooting of a former friend, A$AP Relli, with whom – according to prosecutors – he had an altercation in November 2021. After a three-week trial, the jury deliberated for just three hours before finding Rocky not guilty on both counts.
Armed Civilians Patrol Ohio Town. Nearly two weeks after a tense standoff between neo-Nazi demonstrators and area residents, an armed group of civilians is still patrolling Lincoln Heights, a suburb of Cincinnati, per this story from the N&O. On Friday, February 7, a group of neo-Nazis conducted a rally on a nearby Interstate 75 overpass. Residents confronted the demonstrators, and the rally grew into a tense standoff. The demonstrators dispersed, but in the following days men with long guns, sometimes wearing masks and dressed in black, began patrolling Lincoln Heights, reputedly stopping cars and questioning drivers. Area residents were outraged by the perceived inaction by law enforcement to the neo-Nazi rally, prompting the neighboring Evendale Police Department to issue a public explanation that the neo-Nazis had not broken any laws.
Abolish the Police says Alabama Grand Jury. A grand jury has recommended abolishing the police department in the city of Hanceville, Alabama, based on rampant corruption, as reported by ABC and CBS. Hanceville, with a population of around three thousand, is about 45 miles north of Birmingham. Five police officers, including the police chief, have been charged with a variety of crimes arising from the mishandling of evidence from the department’s evidence room, which the investigation revealed was unsecured. The Cullman County grand jury found that the department failed to preserve and maintain evidence, making the evidence unusable. It also found that departmental negligence played a role in the 2024 death of a dispatcher who was found dead at work from a suspected drug overdose. Three of the officers have been charged with drug-related crimes, though none have been charged in the death of the dispatcher, which was ruled an accident.
Webinar Announcement. The NC Association of Chiefs of Police, along with the UNC School of Government and the North Carolina Judicial College, invite you to join a webinar on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, from 12:00 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. The webinar is entitled Policing Special Events: How to Prevent a New Orleans Style Tragedy. It will feature a panel of experienced law enforcement leaders talking about the unique threats and challenges posed by large special events such as festivals, street fairs, and sporting events. The webinar is free of charge, but you must register in advance to participate.