Crime

New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator has determined that the fatal film-set shooting of a cinematographer by actor and producer Alec Baldwin last year was an accident. The office issued its determination after completing an autopsy of Halyna Hutchins and reviewing law enforcement reports. Some of those reports were made public Monday by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office. Prosecutors have not yet decided if any charges will be filed in the case. An FBI analysis of the revolver in Baldwin's hand during the Oct. 21 rehearsal suggested it was in working order at the time and would not have discharged unless the trigger had been pulled.

An attempt to qualify a recall election that could have ousted Los Angeles County’s progressive prosecutor from office has failed to make the ballot. County election officials said Monday that organizers failed to collect sufficient, valid petition signatures to place the recall before voters. Critics claimed District Attorney George Gascón was soft on crime, which he denied. The failed attempt comes after San Francisco voters in June recalled another prominent California criminal justice reformer, District Attorney Chesa Boudin. Los Angeles County is the most populous in the nation, with roughly 10 million residents.

The brother of retired NFL cornerback Aqib Talib turned himself in to authorities Monday after being identified by police as the suspect in the shooting death of a coach at a youth football game in Texas. Police in the Dallas-area city of Lancaster say that Yaqub Salik Talib is suspected in the Saturday night shooting that killed Michael Hickmon. Yaqub Talib’s attorney told The Associated Press that his client “regrets the tragic loss of life but self-surrendered this morning so that he may have the chance to say his side of the story.” Yaqub Talib is the brother of Aqib Talib, who announced his retirement in 2020.

A $100,000 reward is being offered in the case of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy found fatally shot along a dark stretch of road last week. “Horrified” by a string of shootings that have injured and killed several deputies in the state in recent weeks, on Monday the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association announced the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the killing of Wake County Sheriff’s Deputy Ned Byrd. Authorities say they're trying to learn why Byrd stopped there. The sheriff's office says there’s still an active investigation that now includes the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

R. Kelly’s musical accomplishments have been accompanied by a long history of allegations that he sexually abused women and children. Now the R&B singer faces a trial in Chicago on charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice. The trial comes after he was sentenced in June in federal court in New York to three decades behind bars on sex trafficking charges. While Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, has vehemently denied the allegations, his accusers testified that he subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.

Jury selection is underway at R. Kelly’s federal trial in his hometown of Chicago. The judge questioning would-be jurors is paying special attention to whether they watched a 2019 documentary about sex abuse allegations against the R&B singer. Kelly faces charges that he rigged his 2008 state child pornography trial by threatening and paying off a girl whom he allegedly filmed himself having sex with when he was around 30 and she was no older than 14. Jurors acquitted Kelly on all charges in that 2008 trial. Jury selection is expected to continue into Tuesday.

Strict anti-abortion laws that took effect in Oklahoma this year led to the quick shuttering of every abortion facility in the state. But questions remain for those who work directly with women who may seek their advice or help getting an abortion out of state. Clergy members, social workers and even librarians have raised concerns about being exposed to criminal or civil liability for even discussing the topic. University of Oklahoma law professor Joseph Thai says those fears are well founded. He describes Oklahoma’s anti-abortion laws as the strictest in the nation so far and sweeping in both substance and scope. The criminal provisions make it a felony to “advise" a woman or provide any means to help her get an abortion.

A crucial informant is on the witness stand in the trial of two men charged with scheming to kidnap the Michigan governor in 2020. Jurors heard Adam Fox declare, “That's it!” when he drove past Gretchen Whitmer's vacation home in 2020. Dan Chappel was driving the pickup truck and secretly recording conversations. Fox and Barry Croft Jr. are on trial for the second time on conspiracy charges. A jury in federal court in western Michigan couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict last April but acquitted two other men. Fox, Croft and four other men were arrested in October 2020, just weeks before the presidential election. The government said they were making plans to get money for an explosive.