Cornelius van der Walt, a lover of the sky, was as adventurous as he was responsible. Everything needed to be safe, and done in a particular way. He was the guy to trust, said John Vanca, his best friend and business partner. When Mr. van der Walt, 37, and three others died in a hot-air…
Mike Parson, the governor of Missouri, said on Monday that he would not commute the death sentence of Brian Dorsey, who pleaded guilty to murdering Ben and Sarah Bonnie in 2006 and is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday unless the courts intervene. “The pain Dorsey brought to others can never be rectified, but carrying…
During his closing argument in the 2004 murder trial of Brenda Andrew in Oklahoma, a prosecutor dangled her thong underwear before the jury. She had packed the undergarment for a trip to Mexico a few days after her estranged husband was killed. The prosecutor, Gayland Gieger, said the item was strong evidence that Ms. Andrew…
A 16-year-old student in a small Oklahoma town outside Tulsa died after what the police said was a “physical altercation” in a high school bathroom, drawing outrage from gay and transgender rights groups who said the student was attacked because of their gender identity. The student, known to peers as Nex Benedict, often used the…
Prosecutors charged a Detroit police officer with manslaughter on Tuesday, accusing him of fatally punching a 71-year-old man during a confrontation. The officer, Juwan Marquise-Alexander Brown, 29, has since been fired by the Detroit Police Department. On Sept 1., Mr. Brown was sent to investigate a complaint of disorderly conduct against Daryl Vance, a Detroit…
It was, at first, the usual kind of interaction that takes place at dueling rallies. An argument between two opposing protesters, each firm in his beliefs. But the encounter this month in a suburb just northwest of Los Angeles would end in tragedy, with one of the men on the concrete, suffering a head injury…
A second Colorado police officer has been acquitted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young, unarmed Black man whose case attracted national attention and became central to debates about police brutality and race. A jury on Monday found Nathan Woodyard, who was the first officer to stop Mr. McClain as he walked home…
Nine sheriff’s deputies in Memphis have been indicted in the death of a man with mental health problems who died in custody last fall after being stomped, punched and pinned down, a sheriff and lawyer said on Wednesday night, the latest case to draw attention to how law enforcement responds to a person in mental…
Thousands of attendees of the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert faced the prospect of more rain on Sunday after a stretch of heavy precipitation that has tested the resolve of its free-spirited participants as most have been stuck at the site and forced to conserve food and water. The police on Sunday were…
After it was announced on Friday that the singer and songwriter Jimmy Buffett had died, a wave of tributes came from his lifelong fans, including presidents, actors and at least one sports team. News of the “Margaritaville” singer’s death was published in a statement on his website; it did not say where he died or…