Master tenant says guilty in fatal fire
OAKLAND, Calif. -- The master tenant of a San Francisco Bay Area warehouse where 36 people perished when a fire ignited during a 2016 dance party pleaded guilty Friday, avoiding a second trial after the first ended in a hung jury.
Derick Almena, 50, pleaded guilty to 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter in exchange for a 12-year sentence. Already free on bail, Almena likely won't return to jail because of the nearly three years he already spent behind bars and credit for good behavior.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson scheduled sentencing for March 8, when she will determine whether he will pay restitution, continue to be monitored electronically at his home in rural Northern California and be subject to supervised probation.
Prosecutors say Almena was criminally negligent when he illegally converted the industrial Oakland warehouse into a residence and event space for artists dubbed the "Ghost Ship," stuffing the two-story building with flammable materials and extension cords. It had no smoke detectors or sprinklers.
The Dec. 2, 2016, fire broke out at the warehouse during an electronic music and dance party, moving so quickly that victims were trapped.
Filing seeks Kentucky AG impeachment
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A petition seeking the impeachment of Kentucky's attorney general was filed Friday by three grand jurors who criticized his handling of an investigation into Breonna Taylor's shooting death by police.
The petition's allegations against Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron include breach of public trust and failure to comply with his duties as the state's chief law enforcement official. They do not accuse him of any crimes, but impeachment is not considered a criminal proceeding.
Cameron was the special prosecutor who investigated the actions of the Louisville police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Taylor last year. The investigation culminated in a grand jury ruling that did not charge any of the officers in the Black woman's death. The shooting sparked protests in Louisville alongside national protests over racial injustice and police misconduct.
Cameron had said at a news conference that the grand jury had agreed that the officers who shot Taylor were justified because they were fired at by Taylor's boyfriend. Officers fired 32 rounds into the home, five of which struck Taylor.
The three grand jurors said they did not agree and wanted to explore criminal charges, but said they were denied because Cameron's prosecutors believed none of those charges would stick.
Bill seeks to remove ex-senator's statue
RICHMOND, Va. -- A panel of Virginia legislators advanced a bill Friday to remove a statue of Harry F. Byrd Sr., a staunch segregationist, from the state Capitol grounds.
The decision came amid a years-long effort in history-rich Virginia to rethink who is honored in the state's public spaces. Byrd, a Democrat, served as governor and U.S. senator. He ran the state's most powerful political machine for decades until his death in 1966 and was considered the architect of the state's racist "massive resistance" policy to public school integration.
The bill moved out of the House committee on a party-line vote of 13-5, with all Republicans voting against it. It still must clear both chambers of the General Assembly, but with Democrats controlling the statehouse and Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam backing the measure, it is almost certain to pass.
Northam highlighted the bill in an address to lawmakers earlier this month, saying the state should no longer celebrate a man who fought integration.
In the 1950s, Byrd's political machine implemented a series of official state policies that opposed court-ordered public school integration and even closed some public schools rather than desegregate them.
Lawyers' group calls for Giuliani probe
NEW YORK -- A lawyers' group filed an ethics complaint against Rudy Giuliani with New York's courts, calling for him to be investigated and his law license suspended over his work promoting former President Donald Trump's allegations over the 2020 election.
Lawyers Defending American Democracy, which includes former judges and federal attorneys among its members, sent the complaint to the Attorney Grievance Committee of the state's court system saying Giuliani had violated the rules of professional conduct.
"Giuliani has spearheaded a nationwide public campaign to convince the public and the courts of massive voter fraud and a stolen presidential election," the complaint said.
The complaint called for the committee to investigate Giuliani's conduct, including his comments at a rally before rioters stormed into the U.S. Capitol, and to suspend his law license immediately while any investigation is being done.
The New York State Bar Association separately has opened an inquiry into whether he should be expelled from that organization, which is a voluntary membership organization.