DEVELOPING Person on fire outside Trump's hush money trial rushed away on a stretcher
A person who was on fire in a park outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place has been rushed away on a stretcher.
Donations for an Iowa teenager poured in on Thursday, doubling the US$150,000 amount a court ordered her to pay the family of a man whom she killed after he allegedly sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions.
As of Thursday morning, a GoFundMe fundraiser for Pieper Lewis, 17, had raised more than $340,000, well past its $200,000 goal, less than two days after a judge sentenced the Des Moines teen in the killing of her accused rapist, whom she stabbed to death in 2020.
"As the donations have increased, I am overjoyed with the prospect of removing this burden from Pieper," said Leland Schipper, her former high school math teacher, who set up the page to help pay the restitution and for her education.
Lewis pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury in June 2021, a year after she killed Zachary Brooks, 37, in Des Moines. Lewis was 15 years old and homeless when she met Brooks in May 2020.
Lewis said she was a victim of sex trafficking and that Brooks sexually assaulted her on the night they met and again the night she stabbed him to death in a fit of rage while he slept.
"My story can change things. My story has changed me," Lewis said during her sentencing hearing on Tuesday. "The events that took place on that horrific day cannot be changed, as much as I wish I could."
During the hearing, Polk County District Judge David Porter sentenced Lewis to five years probation and ordered her to perform 1,200 hours of community service. He also ordered her to pay $150,000 to Brooks' family, saying he was bound by Iowa law to require her to pay restitution, the Des Moines Register reported.
Her attorneys were considering appealing the restitution order. The office of Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said donations can be used to pay the restitution, the Des Moines Register reported.
Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; editing by Jonathan Oatis
A person who was on fire in a park outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place has been rushed away on a stretcher.
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Police in Sault Ste. Marie charged a 22-year-old man with animal cruelty following an attack on a dog Thursday morning.
The Senate legal affairs committee has rejected a motion calling for members to take a $50,000 field trip to the African Lion Safari in southern Ontario to see the zoo's elephant exhibit.
Ontario Provincial Police have landed a suspect following a fishy theft in Beachburg, Ont.
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
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.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.