Latest news with #murderconspiracy
Al Arabiya
5 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Lori Vallow Daybell stoked tensions with judge in her Arizona murder conspiracy trials
Moments before the Idaho mother with doomsday beliefs was given two more life sentences in prison, she complained about jail conditions and the legal system, saying the rules of evidence do not allow two sides of the story. Judge Justin Beresky abruptly interrupted, saying: 'Actually, they do.' It was a moment that further highlighted the tension between Lori Vallow Daybell, who represented herself in two murder conspiracy cases in Arizona, and Beresky, who pulled no punches when the time came for him to address the court. Beresky said Vallow Daybell was not truthful when she claimed she was prevented from telling her side of the story and was unable to get a fair trial. The media attention she craved, he said, will fade into obscurity now that her trials are over. 'The amount of contemplation, calculation, planning, and manipulation that went into these crimes is unparalleled in my career,' said Beresky, who has been a Maricopa County Superior Court judge since 2017 and has presided over other high-profile cases. Friday's sentencing ended the legal saga of Vallow Daybell, 51, who will likely spend no time in an Arizona prison because she already was serving three life sentences in Idaho for killing her two youngest children and conspiring to kill a romantic rival. In Arizona, she was convicted of conspiring to kill her estranged husband Charles Vallow and her niece's ex-husband Brandon Boudreaux. Charles Vallow was fatally shot, while Boudreaux survived. Vallow Daybell maintained that she did nothing wrong and said the string of deaths were simply tragedies. She turned to her own religious beliefs in saying she believes she is among servants who Jesus is sending into prison to become warriors and who ultimately will be released to serve him. Beresky implied that she got the meaning wrong when she referenced a verse about prisoners going free. 'That is a verse about people that accept Jesus can be in prison and they will go free when they die and go to heaven, but it will take an act of God for you to go free,' the judge said. 'In short, you should never be released from prison.' Vallow Daybell's trials in Phoenix were infused with her religious beliefs, including that people in her life were possessed by evil spirits. She routinely sparred with Beresky, occasionally leaning over to consult with her advisory counsel. Charles Vallow's sister Kay Woodcock praised the judge's demeanor outside the courtroom. 'I don't think we could have had a better judge,' she said. 'He is a better man than a lot of people putting up with her like he did.' Mel McDonald, a retired Maricopa County judge who was not involved in the trials but watched them, said Beresky did an exceptional job of maintaining courtroom decorum and demonstrated extraordinary patience despite obstructive tactics from Vallow Daybell. 'He gives her latitude,' McDonald said. 'But he doesn't let her run wild.' Last month during the trial over the conspiracy to kill Boudreaux, Vallow Daybell falsely accused Beresky of yelling at her after he explained that her efforts to introduce favorable evidence about her character could open the door to jurors hearing about her convictions in Idaho and for Vallow's death. 'You don't need to talk to me that way,' Vallow Daybell said. 'Take her out,' Beresky told a security officer who led her from the courtroom. In defending herself, Vallow Daybell struggled with legal matters that most lawyers consider routine, such as lining up witnesses to testify. She insisted on exercising her speedy trial rights and rejected the judge's offer for later dates, yet complained about not having enough time to prepare. She also tried to get Beresky removed from the case, arguing that he was biased against her. In another moment emblematic of the tensions between judge and defendant, Beresky expressed skepticism during jury selection for her second Arizona trial when she claimed she was too sick to move forward. The proceedings were postponed for the day, but the trial continued with Beresky later saying there was no objective evidence to support her claims.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Yahoo
Attorney advocates two strategies to get murder plot case dismissed
Jun. 26—WILKES-BARRE — Past the one year deadline to bring to trial and not enough evidence to maintain a murder attempt conspiracy charge against Gregory Thomas Warren, his attorney argued Thursday. Attorney Sidney D. May presented to strategies during a motion's hearing before Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough in a strong effort to get charges of criminal conspiracy to commit criminal homicide and criminal use of communication facility dismissed against Warren. Warren, 42, of Bronx, N.Y., Gregory Duclaire, 41, of Plymouth, and Dashawn William Nelson, 30, of Kingston, were charged by Luzerne County detectives and the state Office of Attorney General with plotting to kill Elijah Jones, 27, of South Grant Street, Wilkes-Barre, according to court records. Investigators suspect Jones was targeted in retaliation of shooting a ta business Warren owned on South Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, several years ago. The murder plot was thwarted when Duclaire was apprehended on state parole violations by the Fugitive Apprehension Search Team with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Plymouth police, Wilkes-Barre police and U.S. Marshals in January 2024. May argued a criminal complaint charging Warren was filed Jan. 18, 2024, and nearly three months later, Warren was apprehended in New York City on April 8, 2024. By his calculations, May argued Warren should have been brought to trial within 365 days of when the criminal complaint was filed in January 2024. Assistant District Attorney Julian Truskowski who, along with Assistant District Attorney Jill Matthews are prosecuting, calculated the math and time noting delays to being Warren to trial were out-of-their control, specifically an issue in transporting Duclaire from the State Correctional Institution at Dallas for a court proceeding, and the preliminary hearing being postponed at least twice. May's other attempt to get charges dismissed against Warren is what he believes is a lack of evidence to support the offenses. Duclaire testified during the motion's hearing on behalf of Truskowski and Matthews, telling Vough that Warren orchestrated the murder plot and obtained a firearm. Vough said he will issue a ruling at a later date. A combined trial for Warren, Duclaire and Nelson is scheduled for September.
BBC News
24-06-2025
- BBC News
Crime boss James Harding guilty of murder plot and importing cocaine
A drug baron has been found guilty of importing millions of pounds of cocaine into the UK and planning the murder of a rival after police cracked his mobile phone Harding, 34, from Alton in Hampshire but who was based in Dubai, was the leader of a "sophisticated and successful" criminal syndicate that made more than £5m in just 10 weeks from distributing drugs across the UK in who gave his profession as a sales executive of luxury watches, lived a luxury lifestyle in the United Arab Emirates driving Lamborghini and Bugatti sports cars and staying at five star hotels, his Old Bailey trial has been adjourned for a date to be set. Harding's second-in-command, Jayes Kharouti, 39, from Epsom, Surrey, was also convicted of conspiracy to murder, having already pleaded guilty to importing cocaine before the trial April 2020 both men had discussed using a gunman to shoot an unnamed drugs courier from a rival crime network and to rob their pair used "EncroChat" encrypted phones to communicate, believing they were "impregnable to any access by law enforcement", said prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC. Harding and Kharouti had used nicknames, known as "handles", during their EncroChat conversations, with Harding calling himself "thetopsking" and his right hand man Kharouti using the name "besttops".Seizures of cocaine to which the defendants referred in their EncroChat calls proved "the drugs being talked about were real, the stakes high and the communications serious," the trial 50 importations of drugs were made into the UK, with a total weight of one tonne, between April and June calls revealed that in April and May 2020 "thetopsking" and "besttops" discussed the robbery of a courier, locations and the use of a bike and a gun to carry it out.A hitman was recruited who was provided with a firearm and ammunition to carry out the "full M" - a murder - the court heard.A man was identified for the task who had a previous conviction for manslaughter."The fact he did so underlines that this was a true conspiracy to murder someone the drugs importers had a problem with and wanted to put permanently out of business," said Mr Atkinson. Another man, Peter Thompson, aged 61, pleaded guilty on 4 November 2021 to the illegal importation of cocaine and possession of a firearm and showed that a firearm was available to be used in the murder planned by Harding and Kharouti, the prosecution trial heard that in 2020 a French police force identified a way to capture information from the EncroChat communications system and information about "thetopsking" and his associates was provided to UK was arrested at Geneva Airport in Switzerland on 27 December 2021 and then extradited to the UK in May 2022 to stand meanwhile fled to Turkey in 2020, but was also extradited back to the UK. 'Scared of being attacked' Giving evidence in his defence, Harding claimed he was not "thetopsking", but was instead in a relationship with a man who used that claimed he had been too "ashamed" to admit to the relationship but said going on trial had forced him to reveal it and that the "thetopsking" was in fact the father of Harding's ex-partner's also admitted that he had previously pleaded guilty to drugs offences and possession of fake ID documents and had been jailed in 2019 Harding claimed he moved to Dubai where "thetopsking" was told the trial he could not identify "thetopsking" because he was scared of being other men - Calvin Crump, 29, and Khuram Ahmed, 39 - pleaded guilty on 28 February 2024 to their involvement in a cocaine importation conspiracy. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Telegraph
24-06-2025
- Telegraph
Drug kingpins smuggled millions of pounds of cocaine and plotted murder
A pair of drug kingpins plotted to murder a rival and smuggled millions of pounds worth of cocaine into the UK. James Harding, 34, and his 'loyal right-hand man' Jayes Kharouti, 39, ran a vast criminal empire that made £5 million in profits from importing drugs over 10 weeks in 2020 alone. They tried to recruit a hitman to put an unnamed rival courier 'permanently out of business', arming the would-be killer with a gun and ammunition for the 'full M' – a murder, the court was told. On Tuesday, they were found guilty of conspiracy to murder, while Harding was also convicted of conspiring to import cocaine, which Kharouti, of Epsom, Surrey, had admitted. They were remanded into custody to be sentenced on Thursday. Three other members of the organised crime group had previously admitted drugs offences. Their Old Bailey trial was held amid heightened security, with an armed police escort to and from the central London court and prison. At the time the pair attempted to recruit the hitman, Harding, who claimed to be a high-end watch sales executive, was living in luxury in Dubai, staying in five-star hotels and driving Bugatti and Lamborghini sports cars. The plot was scuppered by Scotland Yard officers who accessed the defendants' discussions on EncroChat and trawled through thousands of messages. They were handed the data after French police smashed the encryption code to the service, which is favoured by the criminal underworld. Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC told the trial the defendants discussed on EncroChat importing a tonne of cocaine over a period of 10 weeks. The pair discussed the robbery of a drugs courier and Kharouti reported back on whether six or seven kilograms of cocaine had been delivered to a client the day before. Mr Atkinson said it was Harding who first raised the idea of a 'cryp robbery' - taking drugs from a courier - which became a plan to kill a courier instead. The defendants discussed how and where the murder would take place, with Kharouti offering the potential hitman £100,000, the court was told. Kharouti kept his boss informed about the plan, which would involve a 'double tap' shot to the head and chest. The alleged hitman was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in the early hours of June 3 2020, which the defendants were unaware of. Kharouti increased the offer to £120,000, but an EncroChat user trying to locate an individual for him said the price should be no less than £200,000, the court was told. Harding, who had previous convictions for drugs and false documents, was arrested at Geneva airport on December 27 2021 and extradited from Switzerland. Kharouti was extradited from Turkey to the UK on June 25 last year. The case formed part of a wider operation targeting criminals who used EncroChat. Detective Chief Inspector Jim Casey, who led the investigation, said: 'This conviction sends a clear message: no matter how sophisticated the methods, criminals cannot hide behind encrypted software. 'This operation dismantled a major supply chain and is a testament to the relentless work of our officers. 'We monitored their drug-dealing activity but then we saw the group discussing the contract killing of a rival. We moved fast to protect those in danger. 'Harding and Kharouti planned to kill, we stopped that and put them before the courts.' Detective Inspector Driss Hayoukane, who oversaw the Met's EncroChat operation, said: 'Thanks to the tenacity and commitment from Met officers, over 500 criminals have been successfully convicted since the EncroChat platform was cracked back in 2020, leading to well over 5,000 years of sentences being handed down to those involved.' Previously, Calvin Crump, 29, of Redhill, Surrey; Khuram Ahmed, 38, of Slough; and Peter Thompson, 61, of south-west London, had admitted the cocaine conspiracy charge, while Thompson also pleaded guilty to possession a pistol. A man alleged to have been the proposed hitman was cleared.
CBS News
19-06-2025
- CBS News
Mexican Mafia members charged in murder conspiracy of rapper, LA County DA says
Los Angeles prosecutors charged 19 alleged members and associates of the Mexican Mafia with a years-long conspiracy to murder a rapper, according to the FBI. The FBI and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators said the conspiracy began in December 2022 after the rapper slighted the criminal syndicate. The plan to kill the man involved several high-ranking associates of the Mexican Mafia incarcerated in the LA County Jail, according to the FBI. "This investigation highlights the far-reaching and violent influence of criminal gang organizations operating behind bars to orchestrate attacks that endanger the safety of those in our custody and in our communities," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. After a Mexican Mafia member sanctioned the killing, an armed associate allegedly went to the victims' home after another alleged co-conspirator used social media to track down the rapper's location. FBI investigators said the criminal syndicate couldn't find the rapper at his family's home because he was incarcerated in the LA County Jail. Once they learned he was in the facility, Mexican Mafia members in the jail allegedly tried to kill the victim. While he was hospitalized, the rapper survived the attack and authorities released him from jail days later. The suspects allegedly continued the murder conspiracy after the rapper was freed. "We will not tolerate organized crime using our jails and prisons as a haven for violence," LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. "When individuals on the outside conspire with those inside to carry out attacks, they threaten the safety and integrity of our correctional system." While 18 of the alleged Mexican Mafia members have been apprehended, the FBI said one of the suspects, Joshua Euan, 37, remains at large. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at
