All articles tagged with #murder conviction
Former Sangamon County deputy Sean Grayson died in prison while serving a 20-year sentence for the 2024 murder of Sonya Massey after being denied medical release for stage-4 cancer. Massey’s family condemned the outcome, the prison board had denied early release, and Grayson’s case included body-cam footage of the confrontation that preceded the shooting. The conviction remains in effect."
Sean Grayson, a former Sangamon County sheriff's deputy convicted of murdering Sonya Massey in 2024, died in prison around noon on Aug. 23, 2026.
A Texas judge denied Karmelo Anthony's request for a new trial in his murder conviction, preserving a 35-year sentence after the defense argued prosecutors breached an off-record agreement and new undisclosed evidence surfaced.
A Texas judge denied Karmelo Anthony’s bid for a new trial in the Frisco track-meet stabbing, leaving his 35-year murder sentence in place; the defense argued rights were violated by courtroom restrictions, hearings held without Anthony present, and an unwritten agreement with prosecutors about evidence, but the ruling provided no detailed reasoning and Anthony will continue his appeal.
Australian court in Melbourne begins hearing Erin Patterson's appeal against her murder conviction for serving lethal mushrooms at a lunch that killed three relatives; her team argues a substantial miscarriage of justice and seeks overturning the verdict, while prosecutors appeal her sentence as too lenient; the two-day hearing is being live-streamed, with Patterson watching by video from prison and a panel of three judges to decide the outcome.
Attorneys for Karmelo Anthony filed an appeal seeking a new trial, alleging trial-access restrictions, an unwritten agreement to exclude certain evidence, and bias from a judge’s post-trial comments; they also request the judge’s recusal. The case concerns a 2025 fatal stabbing at a Frisco, Texas track meet, with Anthony (19 at filing; 17 at the time) convicted of murder after admitting to the stabbing but claiming self-defense, while prosecutors maintain the verdict was fair. The defense team is a high-profile pro bono group amid national attention tied to race.
Karmelo Anthony’s lawyers filed motions in his appeal of the 2025 Frisco murder conviction, urging a do-over with a different judge on claims of public-access violations and that he was prevented from testifying; if granted, the case would move to new post-trial proceedings. Anthony, 19 at the time, was sentenced to 35 years for fatally stabbing Austin Metcalf, and his high-profile, pro bono defense team is seeking to overturn the verdict.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, reinstated Pedro Hernandez’s 2017 murder conviction in the 1979 Etan Patz disappearance, overturning a Second Circuit ruling that had tossed the verdict over improper jury instructions. The Court said a 1996 federal law limits federal relief for state-court convictions. Hernandez confessed after waiving Miranda rights, though his lawyers argued coercion; Patz, 6, disappeared in Manhattan in 1979 and was never found. DA Alvin Bragg praised the ruling as delivering justice for the Patz family.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, reinstated Pedro Hernandez’s murder conviction in the Etan Patz case, reversing a Second Circuit decision that had voided the verdict over a jury instruction about an involuntary confession. The Court held that federal habeas relief cannot overturn a valid state-court conviction based on such questions about confession reliability. Hernandez’s lawyers expressed disappointment, while Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg praised the decision.
The Fox News First morning newsletter leads with reports that Austin Metcalf's family has received death threats following the murder conviction of Karmelo Anthony, and also notes other top headlines including courthouse skirmishes outside the verdict and surrounding political and policy developments.
Jurors convicted Karmelo Anthony of murder for the 2025 stabbing at a Frisco track meet, rejecting his self-defense defense and delivering a 35-year prison sentence. Anthony’s family says 'nobody wins,' while Metcalf’s father offers forgiveness; Anthony’s lawyers have filed an appeal as the case draws national attention.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court unanimously overturned Adam Montgomery’s second-degree murder conviction in the 2019 death of his daughter Harmony, ruling prosecutors failed to corroborate Kayla Montgomery’s testimony that he killed Harmony—finding the evidence supports only her account of events after the death. The decision remands the murder charge for possible retrial while upholding the other convictions (falsifying evidence, witness tampering, second-degree assault) and related sentences; Montgomery remains imprisoned for those convictions, with the corpse-abuse sentence suspended for 25 years.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court reversed Adam Montgomery’s second-degree murder conviction in Harmony Montgomery’s death, ruling the trial improperly joined the murder charge with the separate assault charge and highlighting stronger evidence for the July 2019 assault than for the December 2019 murder. The court left intact the other convictions (assault, abuse of a corpse, falsifying physical evidence, witness tampering), and Montgomery will remain imprisoned for those convictions. A parallel wrongful-death suit by Harmony’s mother was also decided in her favor earlier this week.
The Netflix documentary The Crash revisits the 2022 Strongsville, Ohio, crash that killed two men and led to Mackenzie Shirilla’s 15-years-to-life murder sentence. Prosecutors argued the high-speed impact showed intent to crash, citing no braking and threat-filled evidence, while Shirilla claims she cannot remember the incident and suggests a medical episode may have caused loss of consciousness. She remains incarcerated with an appeal denied and a parole hearing not until 2037, keeping the case a national point of contention as the public debates whether the conviction was justified.
Mackenzie Shirilla, then 17, drove a car into a brick building at 100 mph in Strongsville, Ohio, killing her boyfriend and his friend; prosecutors said the crash was intentional and she was convicted in 2023 on multiple counts of murder and related charges, receiving a life sentence with first eligibility for parole after 15 years. She remains incarcerated as her appeals have been denied, while her family maintains innocence. The case is spotlighted again by Netflix in the documentary The Crash, as victims’ families continue to grieve and pursue closure.