R. Kelly to get appeal assistance from attorney who helped Cosby
Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly’s legal team got a shot in the arm Friday as a high-profile attorney who won an appeal of Bill Cosby’s sex abuse case has signed on to challenge Kelly’s racketeering conviction in New York.
Jennifer Bonjean, a New York-based attorney whose legal career began in Chicago, filed her appearance in Kelly’s case in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, where Kelly was convicted last month of racketeering and sex abuse charges.
Bonjean told the Tribune she will spearhead Kelly’s post-conviction motions and, should U.S. District Judge Anne Donnelly deny Kelly a new trial, work on an appeal before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The post-trial motions are due on Monday, but Bonjean has asked for a two-month extension.
Bonjean was the driving force behind Cosby’s appeal of his sex crimes conviction in Pennsylvania and wound up winning the actor’s stunning release from prison. She said she’s “looking forward to getting familiar with the record” in Kelly’s case, which was anchored by Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act charges that she called a “kitchen sink approach.”
Kelly, 54, was convicted on Sept. 27 of racketeering conspiracy charges alleging he used his music career to further a criminal enterprise. The jury found him guilty of 12 individual illegal acts, including sex with multiple underage girls as well as a 1994 scheme to bribe an Illinois public aid official to get a phony ID for 15-year-old singer Aaliyah so the two could get married.
—Chicago Tribune
NYC mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa hit by cab, breaks arm
NEW YORK — A cab slammed into Republican mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa in Midtown Manhattan on Friday, leaving him with a broken arm and bruises all over his body — but the red beret-wearing candidate took the crash in stride.
“I’ve been shot by the mob, recovered, took a licking came back ticking, been attacked many times. So this is just within the normal course of what my life has brought me,” a slightly dazed Sliwa said as he exited Lenox Hill Hospital on the Upper East Side with his left arm in a sling.
“I’m like a cat that has nine lives. I think I’ve used up my eighth,” added the eccentric Guardian Angels founder and animal rights enthusiast, who was still wearing his signature red beret.
The crash — which came just four days before the city’s mayoral election — went down on the corner of 50th Street and Sixth Avenue after Sliwa jumped out of his campaign van to walk over to WABC radio’s nearby studio for an interview.
Sliwa, who’s considered a long shot in Tuesday’s election against Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams, went ahead with the radio hit despite the incident.
—New York Daily News
Boise police identify officer who fired at mall shooter
BOISE, Idaho — Police have identified the officer who fired at the suspect in Monday’s mall shooting as C. Dance, according to a Boise Police Department news release on Friday.
Dance joined the department in May, according to the release. He is on paid administrative leave, which is standard after a “critical incident.”
The suspect, Jacob Bergquist, died Tuesday in a hospital after killing two people at Boise Towne Square and injuring four others, including Dance.
Dance drove up to the scene on a motorcycle, according to BPD. He saw Bergquist firing in his direction, laid his motorcycle down and took cover behind it. Bergquist fired west toward North Milwaukee Street, where a victim was shot and injured.
Two other officers drove up to the scene in a patrol vehicle, according to BPD. They saw someone matching the description of the suspect “behind a business” in the 500 block of Milwaukee. Bergquist began firing at the vehicle. The officer continued driving and fired back at Bergquist before Bergquist ran behind a large trash bin and officers heard an additional shot fired.
Police are still investigating Bergquist’s motives, specifically “looking into questions of whether he may have targeted anyone for any specific reason.”
—Idaho Statesman
Indicted Capitol Police officer resigns from force
WASHINGTON — Michael A. Riley, the Capitol Police officer who faces charges for obstructing the investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection after deleting Facebook communications between him and a man who was charged with entering the Capitol, resigned from the department this week, his lawyer said in a statement.
Riley served more than 25 years on the force and was working as an officer on the K-9 unit during Jan. 6. He is the first Capitol Police officer charged in relation to the Capitol attack, where a mob supporting former President Donald Trump stormed the seat of American government to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. More than 140 police officers were injured in the riot.
“After a distinguished 26-year career during which he was named nationwide ‘Officer of the Month’ by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (2011) and ‘Officer of the Year’ by the Capitol Hill Executive Service Club & National Exchange Club (2010), Officer Michael A. Riley has resigned his position with the U.S. Capitol Police,” Riley’s lawyer, Christopher Macchiaroli, said in a statement.
Riley and the man he communicated with on Facebook did not know each other, but were both avid fishermen and belonged to related Facebook groups. On Jan. 1, 2021 that man accepted a friend request from Riley. Riley was on duty outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 and responded to reports of an explosive device near the complex. The next day, Riley contacted the man, who had posted videos and photographs of himself showing he had been among those inside the Capitol during the riot, according to the indictment.
—CQ-Roll Call
