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Cops search Marilyn Manson’s home amid sex crime allegations – media
30 Nov, 2021 07:39
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has reportedly executed a search warrant for the California home of provocateur musician Marilyn Manson, who is being investigated for multiple cases of alleged sexual assault.
The early Monday morning search was reported by several news outlets, citing their police sources, with celebrity gossip website TMZ breaking the news first. It said Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, was not home at the time.
Officers from the Special Victims Unit have seized media storage units, including hard drives, which will be analyzed as part of the ongoing investigation into Manson’s alleged sex crimes, according to TMZ.
Sources of other outlets confirmed the search, but didn’t explain why or how it was conducted.
The 52-year-old shock rocker was accused by multiple women of sexual and psychological abuse. He denied the allegations, calling them “horrible distortions of reality” and insisting that all his intimate relations were fully consensual.
In September, a judge tossed out a lawsuit brought against Manson by a Jane Doe who accused him of rape and battery. It was dismissed because the statute of limitations for the alleged crimes had expired.
His other accusers include actress Evan Rachel Wood, actress Esme Bianco, model Ashley Morgan Smithline, and former assistant Ashley Walters.
CNN suspends Chris Cuomo for helping brother in scandal
David Bauder
The Associated Press
Published Tuesday, November 30, 2021 6:44PM EST
NEW YORK -- CNN indefinitely suspended anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday after details emerged about how he helped his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to face charges of sexual harassment earlier this year.
The network said documents released by New York's attorney general Monday indicated Cuomo took a greater level of involvement in his brother's efforts than CNN executives previously knew.
"As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation," the network said.
The CNN anchor pressed sources for information on his brother's accusers and reported back to the governor's staff, and was active in helping craft their response to the charges, according to emails and a transcript of his testimony to investigators working for state Attorney General Letitia James. Her office found Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women.
Chris Cuomo previously acknowledged talking to his brother and offering advice when the governor faced harassment charges. But the information released Monday revealed far more details about what exactly Chris Cuomo did. Andrew Cuomo resigned in August to avoid a likely impeachment trial.
Cuomo's program, which airs at 9 p.m. Eastern time on weeknights, averaged 1.3 million viewers, narrowly outpacing Anderson Cooper as CNN's most popular show, according to the Nielsen company. Like many cable newscasts, viewership is down significantly after being swollen during the election year.
Cuomo appeared on his program on Monday night, talking about COVID-19 and politics without mentioning his own issues. There was no immediate response to a request for comment sent to Cuomo and the lawyer who represented him during this summer's testimony.
During the first two months of the pandemic, Cuomo interviewed his brother on the air a number of times. It was a hit with viewers, although it violated CNN's policy of not having Cuomo report on his brother, and was a programming choice that has grown worse with time and additional revelations.
Chris Cuomo frequently consulted with his brother's aides when Andrew was fighting the charges last May, sometimes disagreeing with their advice.
"This is my brother, and I'm trying to help my brother through a situation where he told me he did nothing wrong," Cuomo testified last July to investigators at the attorney general's office.
He has said he did nothing to influence his own network's coverage of the story.
Cuomo also said he reached out to other journalists to find out whether they were writing stories about his brother, most notably seeking information on what Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker was writing. He acknowledged he didn't tell CNN he was doing this, and characterized his actions as nothing out of the ordinary for a journalist.
Critics have called on CNN to take action following the attorney general's release, with David A. Graham of The Atlantic saying Cuomo should resign -- or be fired by CNN if he doesn't.
After it was first revealed last May by The Washington Post that Cuomo had consulted with his brother's aides, CNN released a statement saying that his actions were inappropriate, but it did not discipline him.
Cuomo, a lawyer, is 13 years younger than Andrew Cuomo, who he has described as his best friend. They are the sons of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who was in office from 1982 to 1996.
He worked for several years at ABC News, joining CNN in 2013 as co-host of the network's morning show.
A veteran TV executive, Shelley Ross, wrote a column for The New York Times in September saying Cuomo had groped her at a party 16 years ago. Cuomo (presumably Chris) told the newspaper that "I apologized to her then, and I meant it."
Supreme Court asked to overturn ruling that freed Bill Cosby
29 Nov, 2021 23:29
Prosecutors have urged the US Supreme Court to review a decision that overturned the sexual assault conviction of comedian and actor Bill Cosby, arguing that the ruling was based on a questionable non-prosecution deal.
A petition filed on Monday by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele asked the court to take another look at the ruling that freed Cosby in June, the Associated Press reported. While a judge had accepted that Cosby was immune from prosecution under a deal made in exchange for testimony in a previous civil suit, Steele questioned the legitimacy of the deal and insisted that Cosby was eligible to be charged after all.
The only evidence of the supposed non-prosecution deal is a 2005 press release from the then-Montgomery County DA, Bruce Castor, who noted that he did not have sufficient evidence to charge Cosby at the time. However, Castor created some ambiguity with the statement, as he added that his office would “reconsider this decision should the need arise,” a passage that’s been disputed for years by lawyers on both sides.
While the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ultimately agreed that Cosby was immune from prosecution and should have never been tried, Steele insisted that Castor’s press release should not be treated as an immunity agreement, and would set a worrying precedent if it were accepted as such.
“This decision as it stands will have far-reaching negative consequences beyond Montgomery County and Pennsylvania. The US Supreme Court can right what we believe is a grievous wrong,” Steele said.
The DA’s attempt to revive the case will likely face an uphill battle, as the Supreme Court accepts fewer than 1% of all petitions filed, according to AP.
Cosby, now 84, was among the first celebrities convicted of a sex crime during the ‘#MeToo’ campaign, which saw a number of big names in Hollywood accused of sexual assault or misconduct, some later charged. Though he continues to deny all wrongdoing, he was found guilty of drugging and molesting a college sports administrator, Andrea Constand, in 2018, before being freed last June, at which point he had served nearly three years of a 10-year sentence. Cosby’s legal problems did not end there, however, as he was sued by another sexual assault accuser just months after his release from prison, a case that is still ongoing.
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