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Jason Kurland was convicted of taking $103 million from clients. "Lottery lawyer" Jason Kurland promised his clients protection from swindlers but he ended up swindling them himself, a federal judge said Thursday as he sentenced Kurland to 13 years in federal prison for de fraud ing clients out of more than $107 million . "They were lucky winners, but when they got Mr. Kurland, they were losers," Judge Nicholas Garaufis said before handing down a sentence that was higher than what prosecutors sought. "When they won the lottery, they were very vulnerable," Assistant United States Attorney Olga Zverovitch said. "They needed guidance and they needed help. Instead, he exploited his clients ' trust." MORE: California Lottery says $2 billion Powerball winner is legitimate, amid claim ticket was stolen Kurland was convicted last July of fraud, conspiracy and unlawful monetary transactions. He steered his clients, winners of some of the biggest...

A judge has sentenced three people to more than 100 years each in prison for the fatal shooting of a former Indiana University football player who was gunned down during unrest following George Floyd's murder INDIANAPOLIS -- A judge Wednesday sentenced three people to more than 100 years each in prison for the fatal shooting of a former Indiana University Football player who was gunned down during unrest following George Floyd's murder. Marcus Anderson and Alijah Jones each were sentenced to 164 years in prison and Nakeyah Shields received a 108-year sentence in the May 2020 shooting death of Business man Chris Beaty. Anderson and Jones also were convicted of eight counts of armed robbery and Shields of seven robbery counts. All three have said they plan to appeal their convictions. Beaty, 38, was shot and killed May 30, 2020, in Indianapolis as he walked through an alley near his apartment building during violence that followed protests over Floyd’s death in Minneapoli...

Patrick Crusius, 24, pleaded guilty in February to dozens of federal hate crimes and firearms charges. The El Paso Walmart gunman was formally sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences for the racist 2019 massacre that killed 23 people and injured nearly two dozen others, according to El Paso ABC affiliate KVIA. Judge David Guaderrama handed down the sentence on Friday after hearing two days of emotional impact statements from victims and the family members of victims. The gunman , 24-year-old Patrick Crusius, pleaded guilty in February to dozens of federal hate crimes and firearms charges. El Paso Walmart shooting suspect Patrick Crusius pleads not guilty during his arraignment in El Paso, Texas, Oct. 10, 2019. Briana Sanchez/AP Crusius allegedly told investigators following his arrest that he set out to kill as many Mexicans as he could after driving from his home in Allen, Texas, about 650 miles east of El Paso, officials said. Twenty-two shooting victims died within days of the ...

Frank James, who opened fire on a crowded subway car in Brooklyn at rush hour, injuring 10 people, was sentenced to 10 life terms. Frank James will spend the rest of his life in prison after receiving 10 life sentences Thursday in Brooklyn federal court, one sentence for each victim of the April 2022 shooting aboard a subway car at rush hour. "I alone am responsible for that attack," James said in court. "They in no way deserved to have what happened to them." James had been charged with 10 counts of committing a terror attack on a mass transit system, after opening fire on a Manhattan-bound N train in Brooklyn on the morning of April 12, 2022. He pleaded guilty in January. FILE - New York City police and law enforcement officials lead subway shooting suspect Frank James, center, away from a police station in New York on April 13, 2022. James, who sprayed the inside of a New York City subway train with gunfire and then slipped away in a stunned crowd, is set to ...

Tory Lanez is set to appear in a courtroom on Tuesday morning, where he will be sentenced following his conviction for shooting and injuring Megan Thee Stallion. Rapper Tory Lanez is set to appear in a courtroom Tuesday morning in Los Angeles, where he will be sentenced for the July 2020 shooting that injured rapper Megan Thee Stallion. Lanez, who was convicted on Dec. 23, 2022, for shooting and injuring the hip hop artist, whose legal name is Megan Pet e, was initially set to be sentenced in January. The sentencing has been delayed several times after Lanez obtained new attorneys and filed a motion for a new trial. He faces up to 22 years and 8 months in prison. According to a motion filed by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office on May 23, a new California law would by default make Lanez’s sentence come in the “middle term” of the potential 22-year sentence, unless “circumstances in aggravation” were proven. But prosecutors argued in the motion for a harsher sentence for the r...

An Alabama prisoner received a life sentence on Thursday for escaping with the help of a jail official who ultimately took her own life as police closed in FLORENCE, Ala. -- An Alabama prisoner received a life sentence on Thursday for escaping with the help of a jail official who ultimately took her own life as police closed in following a manhunt across three states. Casey White, 39, told those gathered in the Lauderdale County courtroom that he felt like the most hated man in the world but that he wouldn't drag 56-year-old corrections officer Vicky White's name “through the dirt,” news outlets reported. He said Vicky White, who was not related to him, was the first person who cared about him in six years. He apologized for the escape , saying Vicky White’s only regret was leaving behind her family. “We just wanted a new life together because she knew the truth. I can handle the truth because I know who I am,” White said. “I chose this road. It’s cost me my life and freedom.”...

A school shooter serving a life sentence without parole for killing a first grader on a South Carolina playground when he was 14 is asking a judge to lessen his sentence so he can eventually get out of prison COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A school shooter serving a life sentence without parole for killing a first grader on a South Carolina playground when he was 14 is asking a judge to lessen his sentence so he can eventually get out of prison . Jesse Osborne's lawyer asked Judge Lawton McIntosh on Monday to reconsider his sentence so Osborne, now 21, could have some hope of freedom in his 50s or 60s. Attorney Frank Eppes said the judge didn't fully consider a psychologist's report that Osborne's lashed out because of abuse and can be rehabilitated. “Give Jesse some hope to live with,” Eppes said at a televised court hearing. Osborne himself asked for a chance at life outside a prison cell, apologizing to the family of 6-year-old Jacob Hall who he killed and everyone at the s...

Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence a convicted terrorist to multiple life sentences "to provide just punishment" for killing eight people. Sayfullo Saipov, the Uzbekistan native who planned and carried out a 2017 ISIS-inspired terror attack on the west side of Manhattan, deserves multiple life sentences "to provide just punishment" for killing eight people, federal prosecutors said Monday in a sentencing memorandum to the judge. Judge Vernon Broderick is scheduled to impose a sentence on Wednesday after more than two dozen relatives of victims deliver statements to the court. Most of them will be traveling from Argentina or Belgium, the native countries of the tourist victims. Saipov was convicted in January of all 28 counts he faced in connection to carrying out the deadly attack along a Hudson River bike path with a truck he had rented, but escaped the death penalty after jurors deadlocked on sentencing for the nine charges Saipov faced that were...

"Rust" first assistant director David Halls has been sentenced to six months unsupervised probation in connection with the fatal on-set shooting. The first assistant director for "Rust" has been sentenced to six months unsupervised probation as part of a plea deal in connection with the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. David Halls, 63, was charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon in connection with the October 2021 shooting on the Santa Fe set of the Western. Halls had handed a Colt .45 revolver to Alec Baldwin that fired while the actor was practicing a cross-draw, striking Hutchins. Attorneys for Halls and Baldwin have said neither knew there were any live rounds in the firearm. This aerial photo shows the movie set of "Rust" at Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe, N.M., on Oct. 23, 2021. Jae C. Hong/AP, FILE During a virtual plea hearing on Friday, Halls pleaded no contest to his misdemeanor charge. He answered the judge...

Prosecutors are recommending a life prison sentence for a co-leader of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan’s governor GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Prosecutors are recommending a life prison sentence for a co-leader of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan's governor, reminding a judge that social media posts and secretly recorded conversations revealed a chilling desire to spark a “reign of terror” in 2020. Barry Croft Jr. was due in federal court Wednesday, a day after key ally Adam Fox was sentence d to 16 years in prison after prosecutors also recommended a life sentence for his role in a scheme to snatch Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and galvanize their confederates toward civil war in other states. The conspirators were furious over tough COVID-19 restrictions that Whitmer and officials in other states had put in place during the early months of the pandemic, as well as perceived threats to gun ownership. Croft, a Delaware trucker, regularly wore a tri-cornered hat common duri...

A former supervisory correctional officer ordered detainee abuse as well as allowed a white supremacist assault of two Black pretrial inmates. A former supervisory correctional officer in Oklahoma was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for “abusing his position of power and authority to … facilitate an attack carried out by white supremacists on a Black inmate,” according to the Department of Justice. Former officer Matthew Ware, 53, from the Kay County Detention Center, violated the civil rights of three pretrial detainees held at the facility, according to a federal jury. Ware allegedly ordered lower-ranking correctional officers in May 2017 to move two Black pretrial detainees to a cell row housing white supremacist inmates whom Ware knew posed a danger to the detainees, according to court documents and the evidence presented in the trial. Later that same day, Ware gave office rs an order to unlock the jail cells of the two Black detainees and those of the white supremacist ...