law

Angelina Jolie questioned the judge presiding over her and Brad Pitt’s divorce because she was “concerned that something untoward was happening.” Jolie filed court papers to have the private judge disqualified from their case after her lawyer Samantha Bley DeJean discovered Judge John W. Ouderkirk had an ongoing professional and financial relationship with Pitt’s attorneys …

The Portland district attorney will only be pressing charges against rioters arrested for assault, theft and property damage, opting to drop lesser charges, including rioting and disorderly conduct, that have come out of months of violent protests in the city, the office announced Tuesday. “As prosecutors, we acknowledge the depth of emotion that motivates these …

The Minnesota Freedom Fund, which was inundated with donations intended to bail out protesters after the police custody death of George Floyd, has since bailed several individuals accused of violent crimes, including a convicted rapist. The nonprofit bail fund received $35 million in donations in the wake of Floyd’s death, well above the roughly $100,000 …

In the wake of calls to address racism and police brutality, some black and Latino lawmakers in New York and New Jersey are urging their colleagues to pump the brakes on proposals to slash police department budgets. City councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, a liberal Democrat who represents a West Bronx district where over half of residents …

Members of Black Lives Matter Chicago held a rally on Monday night in support of more than 100 people arrested following widespread looting and rioting in the city the night prior. Speaking at the rally outside a police station in the South Loop where organizers said the suspected looters are in custody, organizer Ariel Atkins …

Rose McGowan beat legal eagle Jose Baez in court last week. Page Six exclusively reported that Baez sued the actress for defamation earlier this year after she slammed him on Twitter and in comments to the Daily Beast, the New York Times and CNN, including calling him a “truly terrible human and a disgrace of …

Will Smith’s movie-production company and Warner Bros. have ended a legal battle that threatened the release of their “King Richard” biopic about Richard Williams, the father of tennis powerhouses Venus and Serena Williams. A multimillion dollar breach of contract lawsuit alleged that Richard Williams cut a deal to be portrayed by Smith in the upcoming …

Homicide rates in 20 major American cities in June jumped 37 percent from the previous month, compared with a six percent increase over the same period in 2019, University of Missouri criminologist Richard Rosenfeld told the New York Times on Tuesday. The unusual spike in homicides and aggravated assault comes as overall crime in most …

Seattle police chief Carmen Best resigned on Monday evening after the city council voted to cut some funding to the police budget and eliminate jobs for 100 officers. Best, who is Seattle’s first African American police chief, will be retiring after 28 years on the force. Her retirement comes after police were told to stand …

McDonald’s sued its former CEO Steve Easterbrook on Monday, accusing him of lying about sexual relationships he had with three subordinates before he was fired over a separate romance last year. The fast-food giant discovered “dozens of nude, partially nude, or sexually explicit” photos and videos in Easterbrook’s corporate email account, proving he had the …