Hastert attorney says guilty plea is coming
CHICAGO – Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert intends to plead guilty in a hush-money case linked to allegations of sexual misconduct, a defense attorney said Thursday, a move that could ensure that any secrets from his days as a high school wrestling coach are never revealed in public.
A written plea agreement should be completed by Monday, attorney John Gallo told a federal judge during a brief status hearing. At the attorney’s request, the judge set Oct. 28 as the date for the 73-year-old Illinois Republican to change his plea.
Neither Gallo nor prosecutors offered details about any possible deal, including which counts Hastert would plead guilty to or whether the man who was once second in the line of succession for the presidency would go to prison. Hastert did not attend Thursday’s hearing.
He faces one count of breaking banking laws and one count of lying to the FBI about agreeing to pay $3.5 million to someone referred to in the indictment only as “Individual A.” The money was supposedly to hide claims of unspecified past misconduct.
Diverging accounts given in sons’ beatings
NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. – Parents charged with beating their teenage son to death inside a church are giving diverging versions of what happened, though lawyers for both said Thursday the couple hadn’t intended the brutality that unfolded.
An attorney for the mother, Deborah Leonard, said she felt helpless to stop an “intervention” that spiraled into severe punishment by others at Word of Life church. But a lawyer for the father, Bruce Leonard, said the incident stemmed from a family meeting that had nothing to do with the church.
Police have said a spiritual counseling session devolved into violence Sunday night at the Word of Life Christian Church, as members tried to get Lucas Leonard, 19, and his 17-year-old brother, Christopher, to confess sins and seek forgiveness.
After hours of being pounded with fists and kicked, the elder teen died and his brother was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Trump and Carson demand 2-hour debate
WASHINGTON – Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson are threatening to boycott the next GOP debate over its proposed format, underscoring a rare political alliance between the leading outsider candidates.
In a joint letter to CNBC’s Washington bureau chief Thursday, the billionaire businessman and retired neurosurgeon told the hosting network they will not appear at the Oct. 28 debate unless it’s capped at two hours with commercials and the candidates are allowed to speak directly to the camera at its opening and close.
Ed Brookover, a senior Carson campaign strategist, said the campaigns were caught off-guard when CNBC sent them an email Wednesday outlining debate rules that the candidates had not agreed to. The agenda included two hours of debate time plus four commercial breaks and no opening or closing statements.
Authorities retrace Odom’s brothel visit
LAS VEGAS – Authorities are retracing Lamar Odom’s $75,000 visit to the brothel where he was found unconscious as the former NBA and reality TV star remains hospitalized and the Kardashian team spars with the brothel’s owner over media attention surrounding the ordeal.
There’s been no official word on Odom’s condition, but the Rev. Jesse Jackson visited him Wednesday and said he’s on life support.
Nye County law enforcement and brothel officials said Odom’s incident was a rarity for the Love Ranch, in the rural community of Crystal, and have summed it up as a possible drug-related medical episode.
Odom was found unconscious at the brothel Tuesday with white and reddish substances coming from his nose and mouth. His breathing was consistent, but he seemed to be in a deep sleep-like state.
Another baby tossed from NYC window
NEW YORK – A 6-month-old girl died Thursday after being tossed from a sixth-floor window of an apartment building, witnesses and police said, the third child killed that way in the city in three months.
The New York Police Department said a 27-year-old woman believed to be the infant’s mother was in the Bronx apartment with four children at the time. The woman was taken from the home in the Fordham Heights neighborhood to a hospital for an evaluation. No charges have been filed. Police identified her as Tenisha Fearon.
A witness told WABC that Fearon had been dangling the child outside of the window. “And then that’s when the neighbors started screaming, `No, no, no, no!”’ Lizette Rodriguez said. “They were yelling at her: `Don’t do it! Think about it.”’
Rodriguez said the woman said, “`I’m going to throw the baby out the window,’ and the woman was screaming, `We’re all gonna die!’ And that’s when I figured, OK, this is time to call 911.” She said she heard the baby hit the ground while she was dialing.
Associated Press
