Michael R. Sisak, Author at The Rapid City Post

NYPD cars are seen outside the Slamic Cultural Center of New York, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Kena Betancur)

New York City’s tab for police misconduct settlements: Nearly $800 million since 2019

March 2, 2026

New York City paid more than $117 million last year to settle police misconduct lawsuits in cases ranging from the violent arrests of protesters in 2020 to bad police work that led to wrongful convictions in the 1980s. That’s according to a newly published analysis of city data. Nearly $800 million in payouts were made over the last seven years. A total of $24.1 million went to two men who spent more than 20 years in prison after they were wrongly arrested and convicted for a fatal 1986 robbery in a midtown Manhattan robbery. And $5.75 million went to a man who said police blinded him in his left eye with a stun gun.

FILE - Attorney Marc Agnifilo, left, and Teny Geragos, right, for Sean "Diddy Combs, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Oct. 10, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

Harvey Weinstein hires Luigi Mangione and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers as his 3rd NY trial looms

February 25, 2026

Harvey Weinstein has hired Luigi Mangione and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers to represent him at his third New York rape trial, recasting his legal team after declining to end the matter with a guilty plea. The lawyers, Jacob Kaplan, Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos, confirmed the move in court papers Tuesday. They take over for Weinstein’s longtime lawyer, Arthur Aidala, who ceded his courtroom role to focus on the ex-studio boss’ appeals and pending civil matters. Kaplan was a member of Weinstein’s original defense team in 2018 and is expected to have a leading role in his defense at the third trial, which involves a charge that the Oscar-winning producer raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.

FILE - Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing, Thursday , Dec. 18, 2025, in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Luigi Mangione speaks out in protest as judge sets state murder trial for June 8

February 6, 2026

Luigi Mangione spoke out in court against the prospect of back-to-back trials in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The 27-year-old Mangione on Friday told the judge presiding of the New York case against him: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.” He made the remarks as court officers were escorting him out of the courtroom after the judge scheduled his state murder trial for June 8, three months before jury selection in his federal case.

DA seeks July trial in Luigi Mangione’s state murder case, with his federal trial slated for fall

January 28, 2026

Manhattan prosecutors are urging a judge to set a July 1 trial date in Luigi Mangione’s state murder case in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, two months before the slated start of jury selection in his federal death penalty case. In a letter Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann argued that the state’s interests “would be unfairly prejudiced by an unnecessary delay” until after the federal trial. The Manhattan district attorney’s office raised the scheduling issue days after U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said jury selection in the federal case will begin on Sept. 8, with the rest happening either in October or January, depending on whether she allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty.

FILE - Randy Santos, center, is arraigned in criminal court for the murder of four homeless men, Oct. 6, 2019, in New York. (Rashid Umar Abbasi/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Man who beat 4 people to death on NYC streets heard voices telling him to kill, lawyer says

January 27, 2026

A man on trial for bludgeoning four men to death with a metal bar as they slept on the New York City streets had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he left jail months earlier and was hearing voices telling him he needed to kill 40 people or he would die too. That is what Randy Santos’ lawyer told jurors on Tuesday during opening statements in his first-degree murder trial. Santos is asserting an insanity defense. Through his lawyers, he has acknowledged committing the 2019 Chinatown rampage. But, they argue, he is not criminally responsible because mental illness has polluted his mind with irrational thoughts and left him prone to violence. If they succeed, Santos could be sent to a psychiatric treatment facility instead of prison.

FILE - Dr. Phil McGraw, left, and his son, Jordan McGraw, arrive at the premiere of 'The Simpsons Movie' in Los Angeles, July 24, 2007. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

A TV show about the NYPD is now a legal drama starring the city and Dr. Phil’s son

January 22, 2026

A reality TV series meant to showcase the New York Police Department has spawned a legal showdown between city government and the show’s producer, Jordan McGraw — the son of TV’s Dr. Phil. The city has sued the younger McGraw this week for breach of contract and obtained a court order that blocks him, at least temporarily, from selling or disseminating any footage from the unfinished, Dr. Phil-hosted show, tentatively titled “Behind the Badge.” A hearing is scheduled for Friday in state court in Manhattan. A lawyer for Jordan McGraw and McGraw Media, says the lawsuit came as a surprise “as publication of any programming was not imminent.”

People raise signs during a news conference outside Greater New York Federal Building, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

NYC Council employee’s arrest sparks protests and a dispute over his immigration status

January 13, 2026

A New York City Council employee has been arrested in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The arrest has enraged city officials and prompted a protest outside the Manhattan detention center where he was held. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez was arrested Monday because he had long overstayed a tourist visa, had once been arrested for assault, and “had no legal right to be in the United States.” City Council Speaker Julie Menin disputed that. She told reporters that Rubio Bohorquez was legally authorized to work in the U.S. until October. Rubio Bohorquez is a data analyst for the city legislative body.

Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives at the U.S. Capitol Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in Washington, to brief top lawmakers after President Donald Trump directed U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Federal prosecutors slam Mangione lawyers’ ‘meritless’ claims about Bondi’s lobbying ties

January 7, 2026

Federal prosecutors are slamming Luigi Mangione’s lawyers for making what the government said were “meritless” and “misleading” claims about Attorney General Pam Bondi’s ties to a lobbying firm and her decision to seek the death penalty against Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Prosecutor Sean Buckley wrote in a court filing Wednesday that Mangione’s lawyers wrongly asserted last month that Bondi, a former partner at Ballard Partners, was continuing to receive income from the firm, whose clients include UnitedHealthcare’s parent company UnitedHealth Group. Buckley said Bondi does have a 401(k) account through Ballard “reflecting past, fully earned compensation,” but the firm agreed to stop making contributions when she left.

Miami Heat's Terry Rozier leaves Brooklyn federal court, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier asks judge to throw out betting charges

December 23, 2025

Lawyers for Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier are asking a judge to throw out sports gambling charges that have kept him off the court this season, arguing that the government overreached by turning a private dispute over bettors’ use of non-public information into a federal case. In a motion to dismiss made public on Tuesday, Rozier’s lawyers argue that the government’s theory of the case — that he prevented sportsbooks from making informed decisions about accepting certain bets — runs afoul of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrowed the federal wire fraud statute. Rozier was released on $3 million bond after pleading not guilty in federal court in Brooklyn on Dec. 8 to wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy charges.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro behind, pauses while speaking during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Luigi Mangione‘s lawyers say Bondi’s death penalty decision was tainted by conflict of interest

December 19, 2025

Luigi Mangione’s lawyers contend that Attorney General Pam Bondi’s decision to seek the death penalty against him in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was tainted by her prior work as a lobbyist at a firm that represented the insurer’s parent company. His lawyers argue in a court filing that Bondi was a partner at Ballard Partners before leading the Justice Department’s charge to turn Mangione’s federal prosecution into a capital case, creating a “profound conflict of interest” that violated his due process rights. They want prosecutors barred from seeking the death penalty and some charges thrown out. Messages seeking comment were left for the Justice Department and Ballard Partners.

Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (William Farrington /New York Post via AP, Pool)

Judge says he’ll rule in May on Luigi Mangione’s fight to exclude evidence from NY murder trial

December 18, 2025

Luigi Mangione’s pretrial hearing has wrapped up with a judge saying he plans to rule in May on what evidence prosecutors will be able to use in his New York trial for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Prosecutors rested their case Thursday after calling nearly 20 witnesses over three weeks, many of them police officers involved in Mangione’s December 2024 arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Mangione’s lawyers opted not to call any witnesses. Carro gave Mangione’s lawyers until Jan. 29 and prosecutors until March 5 to make written submissions summarizing their arguments. The judge said he’ll rule on May 18.

Luigi Mangione talks to a photographer as he appears in court in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

Judge says he’s hopeful hearing on Luigi Mangione trial evidence will end this week

December 16, 2025

A judge says he’s optimistic that a pretrial hearing in Luigi Mangione’s New York murder case will end this week. Judge Gregory Carro said Tuesday he’s hopeful abouyt wrapping up the proceeding by Thursday. The hearing is in its third week of testimony. Mangione is seeking to exclude items seized during his Dec. 9, 2024, arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania, including a gun and notebook that prosecutors say have tied him to the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson five days earlier in Manhattan. Prosecutors have called more than a dozen witnesses so far, with at least one more expected to appear after a recess on Wednesday.

FILE - This April 25, 2011 file photo shows United Parcel Service driver Albert Palafox in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

Purse pirates: UPS ripped off seasonal workers with unfair pay practices, lawsuit alleges

December 15, 2025

New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit accusing UPS of stealing tens of millions of dollars in pay from seasonal workers who help deliver packages during the busy holiday season. The lawsuit filed Monday alleges the shipping giant forced some workers to clock in well after their shifts began and deducted pay for lunch breaks they never took. The suit also alleges UPS repeatedly failed to properly compensate driver helpers who assist with deliveries, as well as seasonal support drivers who use their own vehicles to make deliveries. UPS issued a statement that it was aware of the lawsuit and said the allegation of intentionally underpaying workers was unfounded.

Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in New York. (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)

Bullets in Luigi Mangione’s bag convinced police that he was UnitedHealthcare CEO killing suspect

December 8, 2025

Moments after Luigi Mangione was put in handcuffs at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, a police officer searching his backpack found a loaded gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear. The discovery, recounted in court Monday as Mangione fights to exclude evidence from his state murder case in New York, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man wanted for killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier. Christy Wasser, a 19-year veteran of the Altoona police department, testified on the fourth day of a pretrial hearing as Mangione seeks to prevent prosecutors from using the magazine and other evidence she found in the bag, including a 9 mm handgun and a notebook that were located during a later search.

FILE - A subway approaches an above ground station in the Brooklyn borough of New York with the New York City skyline in the background, June 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

High school student, 18, charged with arson in fire that burned New York City subway passenger

December 5, 2025

A New York City high school senior has been jailed on a federal arson charge days after authorities say he set a fire that severely burned a sleeping subway passenger. Hiram Carrero was not required to enter a plea Friday during his arraignment in Manhattan federal court. The fire early Monday was the latest in a string of incidents of people being lit ablaze on public transit across the country. U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni ordered the 18-year-old Carrero detained, citing the “heinousness of the crime,” after prosecutors appealed a magistrate judge’s decision to release him to home confinement under his mother’s supervision.

This combination image shows Jim McGreevey, left, in Trenton, N.J., Jan. 10, 2023, and James Solomon, Nov. 25, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Frank Franklin II, file)

Ex-New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s comeback bid comes down to a runoff for Jersey City mayor

December 1, 2025

Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s bid for a political comeback comes down to a runoff election against an opponent who has denounced him and his scandal-stained exit from the governor’s office as the epitome of “politics of the past.” McGreevey and James Solomon are the last candidates standing in Tuesday’s race for mayor of Jersey City. The community is sometimes referred to as New York City’s sixth borough. Like last month’s elections in New York and elsewhere, the race has focused heavily on the cost of living. No candidate tallied more than 50% of the vote in the Nov. 4 general election, when seven people were on the ballot. Solomon, a city council member since 2017, finished first. McGreevey placed second. Both are Democrats.

Luigi Mangione, center, appears in court for an evidence hearing, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)

Luigi Mangione fights to exclude evidence from his trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO

December 1, 2025

Luigi Mangione has appeared in court seeking to bar evidence from his state trial over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Among the evidence the 27-year-old Mangione’s lawyers want to prevent the Manhattan district attorney’s office from presenting to jurors is a handgun that prosecutors say matches the one used in the Dec. 4, 2024, killing and a handwritten notebook in which they say Mangione described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive. Court officials say the hearings could take more than a week, meaning they would extend through Thursday’s anniversary of the attack. Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the killing.

A World Without Exploitation projection is seen on the wall of the National Gallery of Art calling on Congress to vote yes on the Epstein files transparency act in Washington, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

What to know about the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files

November 20, 2025

The clock is ticking for the U.S. government to open up its files on Jeffrey Epstein. After months of rancor and recriminations, Congress has passed and President Donald Trump has signed legislation compelling the Justice Department to give the public everything it has on Epstein — and it has to be done before Christmas. But even that might not be enough for the curious and the conspiracy minded. While there’s sure to be never-before-seen material in the thousands of pages likely to be released, a lot of Epstein-related records have already been made public, including by Congress and through litigation.

FILE - Luigi Mangione is escorted into Manhattan state court in New York, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, file)

A judge said Luigi Mangione could have a laptop to view evidence in jail. He still hasn’t gotten it

November 13, 2025

Months after a judge said Luigi Mangione could have a laptop in jail to review evidence, lawyers for the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson say the device has yet to be delivered. The delay, Mangione’s lawyers said in a court filing made public Thursday, is putting the 27-year-old suspect in a time crunch with little more than two weeks before an important hearing in his state murder case. Mangione, who is also facing a federal death penalty case, has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Brooklyn, since his arrest last December. He has pleaded not guilty.

FILE - Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan to be sentenced on his sexual assault conviction, Aug. 13 2025, in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Harvey Weinstein prosecutors say defense’s jury misconduct claims are ‘implausible’

November 12, 2025

Prosecutors are urging a judge to reject Harvey Weinstein’s claims that his June sexual assault conviction was marred by threats and bullying among jurors. The Manhattan district attorney’s office responded Wednesday after the disgraced movie mogul’s lawyers raised the issue last month. The defense submitted sworn affidavits last month from two jurors who said they regretted voting to convict Weinstein and only did so because others on the panel bullied them during five contentious days of deliberations. Prosecutors said the jurors’ claims were “inconsistent and implausible” and that they provided no legal basis for Weinstein’s lawyers to challenge his conviction. Judge Curtis Farber said he’ll rule on Dec. 22.

Trump asks Supreme Court to throw out E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million verdict

November 10, 2025

President Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out a jury’s finding in a civil lawsuit that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her. Trump’s lawyers argued in a lengthy filing with the high court Monday that allegations leading to the $5 million verdict were “propped up” by a “series of indefensible evidentiary rulings” that allowed Carroll’s lawyers to present “highly inflammatory propensity evidence” against him. Carroll, a longtime advice columnist, testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack in the dressing room at a luxury retailer.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella, Jr. speaks alongside FBI Director Kash Patel during a press conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in New York, announcing numerous arrests in illegal sports betting and poker game schemes. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Ex-NBA player Damon Jones pleads not guilty to selling injury secrets, profiting from rigged poker

November 6, 2025

Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones has pleaded not guilty to charges he profited from rigged poker games and provided sports bettors with non-public information about injuries to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Jones, a onetime teammate of James, said little Thursday during back-to-back arraignments in federal court in Brooklyn, letting his court-appointed lawyer enter not guilty pleas in a pair of cases stemming from last month’s federal takedown of sprawling gambling operations. Jones acknowledged he read both indictments and that he understood the charges and his bail conditions, which include his mother and stepfather putting up their Texas home as collateral for a $200,000 bond that will allow him to remain free pending trial.

Jersey City mayoral candidate Jim McGreevey, center, listens during a community event on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Jim McGreevey is back on the ballot, 21 years after scandal led him to resign as New Jersey governor

October 31, 2025

Two decades after resigning as New Jersey’s governor in scandal and stunning the political world as he declared “I am a gay American,” Jim McGreevey is back on the campaign trail for the first time. He’s running for mayor of Jersey City, the state’s second-largest city. He says he’s running because he’s concerned that the city where he was born and has lived again since 2015 is at a “tipping point,” with pricy downtown high-rises driving housing costs higher, young people struggling to find employment and underperforming schools leaving children behind. Some of McGreevey’s opponents have seized on the scandal, arguing that his conduct as governor should disqualify him with voters.

Journalist L. Vural Elibol receives medical assistance after being shoved by federal agents in immigration court on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)

Federal agents grab and shove journalists outside NYC immigration court, sending one to hospital

September 30, 2025

Federal agents grabbed and shoved journalists in a hall outside a New York City immigration court, sending one to the hospital. The episode Tuesday at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan is the latest clash between authorities enforcing President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and members of the public seeking to observe their actions. According to video and witnesses, a photographer identified as L. Vural Elibol of the Turkish news agency Anadolu hit his head on the floor after agents pushed one journalist off an elevator and shoved another into Elibol, knocking him to the ground. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the agents’ actions, saying they were being “swarmed by agitators and members of the press, which obstructed operations.”

Europe's Rory McIlroy celebrates after a putt on the 15th hole during their singles match on the Bethpage Black golf course at the Ryder Cup golf tournament, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, in Farmingdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Rory McIlroy calls out ‘unacceptable and abusive behavior’ from Bethpage fans at Ryder Cup

September 28, 2025

Rory McIlroy won the Ryder Cup and then called out the hostile New York crowd for “unacceptable and abusive behavior.” Over his five matches at Bethpage Black, McIlroy endured a torrent of insults about everything from his personal life to past failures on the golf course. People shouted out as he lined up to swing and putt. Someone threw a beer at his wife. Over his five matches at Bethpage Black, McIlroy endured a torrent of insults about everything from his personal life to past failures on the golf course. People shouted out as he lined up to swing and putt. Someone threw a beer at his wife.

FILE - President Donald Trump tees off during the opening ceremony for the Trump International Golf Links golf course, near Aberdeen, Scotland, July 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Donald Trump heads to the Ryder Cup, embraced by a golf world that once shunned him

September 25, 2025

Four years ago, President Donald Trump was persona non grata in the golf world, ostracized from the sport he loves in the wake of the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. The PGA of America pulled his chance to host its major championship and officials in his hometown, New York City, tried ousting his company from the golf course it had hired him to run. On Friday, Trump will be front and center at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black on Long Island — welcomed to the first day of competition by the very powers that once shunned him. The Ryder Cup is run by the PGA of America, the organization that yanked its 2022 PGA Championship from his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course.

United States' Eli Manning watches his tee shot on the first hole during the celebrity Ryder Cup golf tournament, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, on the Bethpage Black golf course, in Farmingdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Big laughs and a birthday serenade as US beats Europe in Ryder Cup’s celebrity showdown

September 24, 2025

Eli Manning landed a fade within 5 feet but missed the putt, Bobby Flay cooked up a birdie, John McEnroe and José Andrés mugged for pictures with red, white and blue-clad fans and Catherine Zeta-Jones curtseyed on the tee box as the crowd serenaded her on the eve of her 56th birthday. Those were the scenes Wednesday at the All-Star Celebrity Matches at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, an 11-hole event pitting U.S. and European stars from the stage, screen, sports and culinary worlds — even Hogwarts. The U.S. won 25 to 19, earning early bragging rights before the pros tee it up on Friday.

Luigi Mangione is escorted into Manhattan state court in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Luigi Mangione’s lawyers want death penalty off the table in UnitedHealthcare CEO murder case

September 20, 2025

Luigi Mangione’s lawyers are urging a judge to bar federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. They argued in court papers Saturday that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle and by publicly declaring their desire to see him executed. Fresh from a legal victory that eliminated terrorism charges in Mangione’s state murder case, his lawyers are now fighting to have his federal case dismissed. They cited U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s declaration prior to his April indictment that capital punishment is warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.” Federal prosecutors have until Oct. 31 to respond. Mangione has pleaded not guilty.

FILE - In this Dec. 31, 2011 file photo, the crowd packs New York's Times Square during the New Year's Eve celebration as seen from the Marriott Marquis hotel. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Appeals court keeps New York’s gun restrictions in place, including Times Square and subway ban

September 19, 2025

A federal appeals court has effectively upheld a state law in New York that bars firearms in “sensitive” locations including Times Square, the New York City subway system and commuter trains. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court judge’s 2023 ruling that allowed the state law to remain in effect after several gun owners filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of some restrictions. The gun owners appealed after they were denied a preliminary injunction that would have blocked the enforcement of provisions allowing authorities to declare Times Square a “Gun Free Zone,” ban open carry and require a special permit to carry guns in New York City. A lawyer for the plaintiffs said the decision was disappointing, but not unexpected.

FILE - Luigi Mangione, accused of fatally shooting the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City and leading authorities on a five-day search, appears in court for a hearing, Feb. 21, 2025, in New York. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool, File)

Luigi Mangione due in court amid double jeopardy fight in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing

September 15, 2025

Luigi Mangione is due in court as his lawyers push to have his state murder charges thrown out in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. They argue ahead of Tuesday’s hearing that the New York case and a parallel federal death penalty prosecution amount to double jeopardy. Also to be decided: a trial date and whether the state case or federal case will go first. It’s Mangione’s first court appearance in the state case since February. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors want the judge to force Mangione’s lawyers to state whether they’ll pursue an insanity defense or introduce psychiatric evidence of any mental disease or defect he may have. Carro could either rule on those requests on Tuesday or schedule additional hearings.

FILE - New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference outside Manhattan federal court in New York, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

New York attorney general asks court to reinstate President Trump’s massive civil fraud penalty

September 4, 2025

New York’s attorney general is moving to have the state’s highest court reinstate President Donald Trump’s staggering civil fraud penalty. Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday appealed a lower-court decision that slashed the potential half-billion-dollar fine to $0. James’ office filed a notice of appeal with the state’s Court of Appeals, seeking to reverse the mid-level Appellate Division’s ruling last month that the penalty violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban on excessive fines. James, a Democrat, had previously said she would appeal. Trump, a Republican, filed his own appeal last week. He’s asking the Court of Appeals to throw out business-related punishments that the Appellate Division left in place.

FILE - E. Jean Carroll exits the New York Federal Court after former President Donald Trump appeared in court, Sept. 6, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)

Trump plans to ask Supreme Court to toss E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million abuse and defamation verdict

September 3, 2025

President Donald Trump will soon ask the Supreme Court to throw out a jury’s finding in a civil lawsuit that found that he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her. Trump’s lawyers previewed the move in paperwork asking the high court to extend its deadline for challenging the $5 million verdict from Sept. 10 to Nov. 11. Trump “intends to seek review” of “significant issues” arising from the trial and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ subsequent decisions upholding the abuse and defamation verdict. Trump has denied Carroll’s allegations.

FILE - Former President Donald Trump attends the closing arguments in the Trump Organization civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York, Jan. 11, 2024. (Shannon Stapleton/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Trump asks court to toss remaining civil fraud penalties after getting his massive fine thrown out

August 26, 2025

Days after getting his massive civil fraud penalty thrown out, President Donald Trump asked New York’s highest court on Tuesday to overturn his other punishments, including a multiyear ban on him and his two eldest sons holding corporate leadership positions. Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the state’s Court of Appeals, seeking to erase the remaining effects of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit, which alleges he inflated his net worth on financial paperwork given to banks and insurers. It’s the first of a pair of expected appeals after a five-judge panel of the state’s mid-level Appellate Division last week overturned Trump’s monetary penalty.

FILE - Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom before the start of closing arguments in his civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Jan. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool, File)

What’s next after a court cut Donald Trump’s $515 million fine to $0

August 22, 2025

President Donald Trump was quick to declare “TOTAL VICTORY” after a New York appeals court threw out a civil fraud penalty that stood to cost him more than a half-billion dollars. But Thursday’s ruling overturning the key punishment in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit isn’t the last word. James, a Democrat, has vowed to appeal to the state’s highest court. Trump still faces other punishments as a result of the lawsuit — including a ban on him and his two eldest sons holding corporate leadership positions for a few years — and could appeal in an attempt to get those reversed.

FILE - This photo from Tuesday May 3, 2011, shows the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse where the Second Circuit Court of Appeals is located in New York's lower Manhattan. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Appeals court overturns right-wing influencer’s conviction for spreading 2016 election falsehoods

July 9, 2025

A federal appeals court has overturned a self-styled right-wing propagandist’s conviction for spreading falsehoods on social media in an effort to suppress Democratic turnout in the 2016 presidential election. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered a lower court to enter a judgment of acquittal for Douglass Mackey, finding that trial evidence failed to prove the government’s claim that the 36-year-old Florida man conspired with others to influence the election. Mackey was convicted in March 2023 in federal court in Brooklyn on a charge of conspiracy against rights after posting false memes that said supporters of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton could vote for her by text message or social media post.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to sign a bill blocking California's rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Appeals court won’t reconsider ruling that Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll $5M in sex abuse case

June 13, 2025

A federal appeals court won’t reconsider its ruling upholding a $5 million civil judgment against President Donald Trump in a civil lawsuit alleging he sexually abused a writer in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. In an 8-2 vote, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Trump’s petition for the full appellate court to rehear arguments in his challenge to the jury’s finding that he sexually abused advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and defamed her with comments he made in October 2022. Carroll testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack after they playfully entered the store’s dressing room. Trump denies the allegation.

A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments in Trump’s bid to erase his hush money conviction

June 10, 2025

President Donald Trump’s quest to erase his criminal conviction is heading to a federal appeals court. A three-judge panel in Manhattan is set to hear arguments Wednesday in the Republican’s long-running fight to get the New York case moved from state court to federal court. Trump is asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene after a lower-court judge twice rejected the move. If the case is transferred to federal court, he could then seek to have the verdict thrown out on presidential immunity grounds. It’s one way he’s trying to get last year’s hush money verdict overturned.

FILE - Luigi Mangione, accused of fatally shooting Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, appears in Manhattan state court in New York, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP, File

Suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing said he ‘had it coming,’ according to prosecutors

June 4, 2025

Six weeks before UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel last December, Luigi Mangione mused about rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel” and expressed that killing the executive “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming.” Manhattan prosecutors revealed the comments in a court filing Wednesday. The Manhattan district attorney’s office quoted extensively from Mangione’s handwritten diary as they fight to uphold his state murder charges. Mangione’s lawyers want the state case thrown out, arguing that those charges and a parallel federal death penalty case amount to double jeopardy. The 27-year-old Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases. No trial dates have been set.

Michael R. Sisak.

Michael R. Sisak

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