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An Arizona death row inmate who spent 29 years behind bars has been released from prison PHOENIX -- An Arizona death row inmate whose convictions and death sentence in the 1994 death of a 4-year-old were thrown out was released from prison Thursday. Barry Lee Jones had spent 29 years behind bars for murder, child abuse and sexual assault convictions in the death of his girlfriend’s daughter. A Pima County judge ordered the release of Jones after approving a deal between his defense team and prosecutors, who said a medical re-examination of the case didn’t support a finding that Jones caused the girl’s injury. Jones pleaded guilty to a lesser murder charge. In early May 1994, Jones drove the child and her mother to a Tucson hospital, where the child was pronounced dead upon arrival. Her death was determined to have been caused by a small bowel laceration due to “blunt abdominal trauma.” Authorities had previously alleged that Jones had beaten and sexually assaulted the girl. The Ari...

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...

Five years after music superstar Aretha Franklin's death, her final wishes are still unsettled PONTIAC, Mich. -- Five years after her death, the final wishes of music superstar Aretha Franklin are still unsettled. An unusual trial begins next Monday to determine which of two handwritten wills, including one found in couch cushions, will guide how her estate is handled. The Queen of Soul, who had four sons, did not have a formal, typewritten will in place, despite years of health problems and efforts to get one done. But under Michigan law, it's still possible to treat other documents — with scribbles, scratch-outs and hard-to-read passages — as her commands. The dispute is pitting a son against other sons. Ted White II believes papers dated in 2010 should mainly control the estate, while Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin favor a 2014 document. Both were discovered in Franklin's suburban Detroit home, months after her death from pancreatic cancer in 2018 at age 76. “Does...

Rudy Farias, now 25, had been reported missing since March 6, 2015, and was found outside a church on June 29, police said. In a stunning twist, a Texas man who was found outside a church last week, eight years after his mother reported him missing as a teenager, had never been missing in the first place, Houston police announced at a news conference Thursday. Rudy Farias, now 25, had been reported missing the day after he disappeared while walking his dogs on March 6, 2015, according to police. MORE: Missing teen found after 8 years, police say He was found outside a church on June 29, police said. Police announced Thursday that "Rudy returned home the following day on March 8, 2015," but his mother allegedly kept deceiving police, insisting her son was missing. A billboard for Rudy Farias who went missing in 2015, when he was walking his two dogs, was found eight years later in Houston. KTRK Both Farias and his mother had interactions with police over the years , during ...

A 42-year-old Virginia man got to embrace his birth mother for the first time during a long-awaited family reunion in Valdivia, Chile WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON (AP) — "Hola, mamá.” What seems like an unremarkable greeting between mother and son was in this case anything but. Forty-two years ago, hospital workers took María Angélica González’s son from her arms right after birth and later told her he had died. Now, she was meeting him face-to-face at her home in Valdivia, Chile. “I love you very much,” Jimmy Lippert Thyden told his mother in Spanish as they embraced amid tears. “It knocked the wind out of me. ... I was suffocated by the gravity of this moment,” Thyden told The Associated Press in a video call after the reunion. “How do you hug someone in a way that makes up for 42 years of hugs?” His journey to find the birth family he never knew began in April after he read news stories about Chilean-born adoptees who had been reunited with their birth relatives with the help of ...

After nearly 30 years, Pennsylvania's new governor plans to end a contract with an organization that distributes funds to anti-abortion counseling centers HARRISBURG, Pa. -- For nearly 30 years, Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have approved millions of taxpayer dollars for an anti-abortion program. Now the state's new governor plans to end the contract as the organization that distributes those funds and other groups like it gain attention since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Pennsylvania plans to end on Dec. 31 its longstanding contract with the nonprofit Real Alternatives, the first organization in the nation to secure significant state and federal subsidies to support anti-abortion counseling centers. Under the program, Real Alternatives distributed the state and federal funds to dozens of Pennsylvania centers, including Catholic Charities, anti-abortion counseling centers and maternity homes, which provide support and housing for pregnant women. Democr...

A Tennessee man who wrote on social media about wanting to “take over the Capitol building” before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, where he threw a flagpole at a police officer’s head, has been sentenced to more than six years in prison WASHINGTON -- A Tennessee man who wrote on social media about wanting to “take over the Capitol building” before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, where he threw a flagpole at a police officer's head, was sentenced on Wednesday to more than six years in prison . Joseph Padilla, of Cleveland, Tennessee, was convicted in May of assault with a dangerous weapon, obstruction of Congress and other charges after a bench trial in Washington's federal court. Padilla has been behind bars since his February 2021 arrest. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, who found him guilty after the bench trial, ordered him this week to serve 6 1/2 years in prison. Prosecutors say Padilla, a former prison corrections officer, spent hours the day of the riot verbally and physically at...

Glynn Simmons, who was wrongfully convicted of murder, has officially had his case dismissed after 48 years. After 48 years, a man who says he was wrongfully convicted of murder has officially had his case dismissed. Glynn Simmons was 22 when he was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1974 death of Carolyn Sue Rogers at a local liquor store. Simmons is now 70. He received a death penalty sentence in 1975. However, his sentence was modified to life in prison in 1977 following a U.S. Supreme Court decision, according to Oklahoma County District Court Attorney Vicki Zemp Behenna. In April, Behenna requested that Simmons’ conviction be vacated and retried after a review of the case found that “a lineup and certain police reports that were available at the time were not turned over to the defense.” Behenna argued that the circumstances “cast a shadow over his right to a fair trial.” Glynn Simmons speaks with Paris Powell, another a death row survivor, at a meeting held by anti-death p...

Six years after a storm left most of the island without power, and ruined the land, some Boricuas have taken recovery efforts into their own hands with special projects. Six years after Hur rican e Maria swept through Puerto Rico, flooding whole towns and leaving 80% of the island without power, some residents and Business es have taken matters into their own hands and are taking care of the island's locals. Casa Pueblo, a 43-year-old nonprofit environmental group, is located in the town of Adjuntas and managed to keep its lights on after Hurricane Maria because it was run by solar power. The building, which had a solar power unit installed in 1999, became a community hub for people waiting weeks for the island’s grid operators to restore power. Arturo Massol-Deyá, the organization's executive director, told ABC News that he and others in the village have been promoting solar to other parts of the island in an attempt to cut down on Puerto Rico's dependence on fossil fu...

Chicago postal worker Kierra Coles mysteriously vanished five years ago. Police say it's an open but cold case. On Oct. 2, 2018, Chicago postal worker Kierra Coles vanished without a trace. The 26-year-old was about three months pregnant and over the moon to have her first baby, according to her mother, Karen Phillips. "She was so happy," Phillips told ABC News. "We just couldn't wait for her to experience the love between a mother and a child." But five years later, there's still no sign of Kierra Coles, and her mother is pushing for answers . "We're really not OK," Phillips said. Kierra Coles in an undated photo. National Missing and Unidentified Persons System "It's not like I found my daughter, I buried her, and we know where she is," she said. "I don't know if she's dead or alive, being harmed. ... We have to live through this every day." The Chicago Police Department classifies Coles' disap...