Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Lawyer Michael Avenatti on Friday sought to undermine the credibility of porn star Stormy Daniels, the U.S. government's star witness against him at his fraud trial, by challenging her belief in paranormal activity and professed ability to speak with dead people.
In five hours of cross-examining his former client, Avenatti tried to undercut the government's claim that he had embezzled nearly $300,000 from Daniels, who he represented in lawsuits against former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Avenatti, 50, has pleaded not guilty to fraud and identity theft, and has portrayed his dispute with Daniels as a disagreement over legal fees. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 22 years in prison.
Daniels had described herself in testimony as an actress, writer and director working on a documentary-style TV show, "Spooky Babes," where she and others investigated paranormal activity.
"How do you speak with the dead?" Avenatti asked Daniels on the fifth day of his trial.
"I don't know, it just happens sometimes," the 42-year-old answered, adding that she used "cards" and "meditation" and sometimes recorded the conversations.
Daniels also said she considered herself a "medium" who could communicate with nonliving spirits, and said "yes" when Avenatti asked if she had experienced "poltergeist phenomenon."
The exchanges came after Daniels testified on Thursday that Avenatti "stole from me" by diverting $300,000 from her book contract to an account of his own.
Avenatti rose to fame in 2018 when Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, hired him to help her get out of a nondisclosure agreement with Trump.
Daniels is known for receiving $130,000 in hush money from former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen to keep quiet before the 2016 election about sexual encounters she said she had with Trump. The former president has denied having sex with Daniels.
After jurors left the courtroom on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Sobelman said the prosecution intended to rest its case on Monday, and Avenatti said he was "strongly leaning in favor" of testifying in his own defence.
Avenatti took over his defence on Tuesday from two federal public defenders, citing a "breakdown" in their relationship. Those lawyers remain on the case as "standby" counsel.
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, who presides over the case, said that should Avenatti decide to testify, he could write out questions for one of those lawyers to read. Avenatti said that would be his preferred approach.
It is risky for criminal defendants to testify in their own defence, because it exposes them to potentially aggressive cross-examination by prosecutors.
Before Daniels testified on Friday, Furman rejected Avenatti's objection to prosecutors' alleged failure to turn over some evidence.
Avenatti used the same objection to win a mistrial last August in California, where he faced separate fraud changes, but Furman said it had no bearing on the Daniels case.
"This is a red herring, a distraction, smoke and mirrors," Furman said, also outside jurors' presence.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Jonathan Oatis)
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.