Court Trials

Johnny Depp was denied permission to appeal a High Court ruling that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard on Thursday. In the 2020 trial, the judge found that the newspaper The Sun calling Depp a "wife beater" was "substantially true" and he assaulted his ex-wife and put her "in fear for her life".

A federal grand jury has indicted six men – Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta – with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the U.S. attorney’s office for western Michigan said on Thursday. Harris's lawyer, Parker Douglas, stated his client pleaded guilty as "there was no actual conspiracy to kidnap Governor Whitmer."

Takahiro Shiraishi, who admitted to the murder of nine people he had befriended on Twitter, has been sentenced to death in Japan. Shiraishi strangled and dismembered eight women and one man over the course of three months. All of his victims had expressed suicidal thoughts prior to their death on Twitter, but "none of the nine victims consented to be killed, including by silent consent" so the the judge, Naokuni Yano, found.

The Christchurch mosque gunman and far-right terrorist Brenton Tarrant has been sentenced to life without parole in a Christchurch court on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one charge of terrorism. Tarrant is the first person in New Zealand's history to be convicted of terrorism and to receive life with parole.

"As far as I am able to gauge you are empty of any empathy to your victims," said Justice Cameron Mander. "Your crimes are so wicked that even if you are detained until you die, it will not exhaust the requirements of punishment."

On March 15, 2019, Tarrant opened fire on two mosques in Christchurch, killing 51 Muslim worshipers and injuring 40.

US District Judge Loretta Preska has ruled to unseal case documents involving Ghislaine Maxwell. The documents, which relate to a 2015 defamation case filed by Virginia Giuffre, also include a deposition from Maxwell in which she denies having any knowledge of Epstein's scheme to recruit underage girls for sex.

Maxwell's legal team was given a week to appeal Judge Preska's decision.

Apple has won the appeal against the European Commission over whether the company owed €13 billion in Irish taxes. The European Union's general court ruled that the European Commission wasn't able to prove that Apple had gotten an advantage by the Irish government.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein has rejected a proposed $19 million settlement for the women who accused former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse and harassment. Hellerstein stated the offer failed to compensate many of the victims who allege they were sexually assaulted or raped by Weinstein.

Hellerstein said: "Not every woman was captured in the same way, Your settlement would create inequality among all of those people.".

On Tuesday, the New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that a $19 million settlement had been reached in a 2018 civil rights lawsuit on behalf of multiple women against former film producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein.

"Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company failed their female employees. After all the harassment, threats, and discrimination, their victims are finally receiving some justice," so James in a statement. The sum of $18,875,000 will be distributed among "women who experienced a hostile work environment, sexual harassment, and gender-based discrimination while working at The Weinstein Company, as well as sexual abuse by Harvey Weinstein."

Douglas H. Wigdor and Kevin Mintzer, two attorneys for several of Weinstein's victims called the settlement a "complete sellout" and said they were surprised "that the Attorney General could somehow boast about a proposal that fails on so many different levels."

Chief of staff of the Democratic Republic of Congo Vital Kamerhe was found guilty in $50 million corruption and embezzlement case. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail with forced labour. Kamerhe was also disqualified from voting and holding a public office for ten years and faces financial penalties and confiscations of various assets. Samith Jammal, one of Kamerhe's collaborators, was also jailed.

Judge Raphael Yanyi was presiding over the trial of Vital Kamerhe, chief of staff and ally of DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi. Police had reported Yanyi died of a heart attack. An autopsy has found "he died a violent death, due to the blows of sharp points or knife-like objects, which were thrust into his head". The justice ministry has now launched a murder investigation.