Related video above: Court TV correspondent on courtroom atmosphere in Depp-Heard trial

A man purporting to be a member of the seven-person jury that deliberated in the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial made a series of posts on TikTok last week about what he claimed were his insights from the high-profile trial that captivated the world.

While some social media sleuths were quick to cast doubt on his account — including closely examining the pixelated image of what he claimed was juror paperwork he posted as alleged proof of his service — the man's eight videos posted to TikTok last Thursday and Friday generated much attention. Combined, the posts garnered more than 2 million views and were recirculated on YouTube and Instagram by large-scale content creators reaching exponentially more people before he deactivated the account sometime Friday evening after CNN Business' attempt to seek comment. TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

The Daily Mail circulated his remarks as an "exclusive," while also noting in the headline how little it knew about him: "Man claiming to be JUROR in Depp-Heard trial says moment Amber lied about donating divorce settlement sunk her case and that jury believed Johnny was physically abusive — but not the instigator." Daily Mail did not respond to a request for comment. Several other outlets similarly went forward with the story.

But the man behind the account isn't a resident of Virginia where the trial took place ---- and he did not, in fact, serve on the jury. In a text message Sunday, the man admitted it "was just a prank."

It is the latest development in how the defamation trial involving the two celebrities has been seized upon by content creators and influencers on TikTok, which spawned news cycles, revealed insight into the consciousness of users, and shone a light on what content is rewarded on social media.

According to Casey Fiesler, an assistant professor of information science at University of Colorado Boulder and a TikToker, TikTok tends to promote content that is controversial in some ways, or that the platform's algorithm has determined people want to see. Because the man pretending to have been a juror in the case said he believed Depp's story over Heard's, it reinforced beliefs held by Depp's supporters.

"People believe the things that they want to believe, absolutely," said Fiesler.

Posting under an account name "seekinginfinite," the faux juror stated in a TikTok that he wanted to remain anonymous for the time being but would "consider confirming my identity" in the future. His videos, in which he did not show his face, largely echoed common criticisms and observations made by social media creators throughout the course of the trial. He claimed that he grew "extremely uncomfortable" with Heard's eye contact with him so much so that he stopped looking at her while she testified. (Heard's frequent eye contact with the jury was one major topic of discussion during her time on the stand.) He claimed to have been a fan of Depp's lawyer, Camille Vasquez, who became such an internet sensation that one TikToker said she gave herself a tattoo of Vasquez.

"I just think she was really sharp and knew what she was doing and did it with purpose and integrity," said @seekinginfinite in one of the TikTok posts, responding to another user's question about what the jury thought of Vasquez. "All the business stuff aside, she wasn't too bad on the eyes."

Importantly, the TikToker made clear that he didn't believe Heard, validating a viewpoint that many spent weeks expressing on the platform: "Everything she was saying came off like [expletive]," he said in his original post, calling Heard a "crazy woman."

The man is in his late 20s and works as a cinematographer. He appears to have been in Hawaii during deliberations and post-verdict, based on Instagram posts. When asked Friday whether the purported juror badge posted by the TikToker user could plausibly be legitimate, a spokesperson for Fairfax County's Department of Public Affairs said it could not confirm based on the image shared on TikTok. Moreover, the spokesperson said it cannot confirm the identities of jurors who deliberated in the trial because they are under seal for one year. Jurors are, however, free to speak about their experience before then should they choose to do so.

Lending some credibility to his TikTok page was the fact that it wasn't an entirely new account spun up just for the purpose of claiming to be a juror — there were two earlier posts pertaining to travel. But CNN Business was able to trace back to the account's previous name and avatar for the TikTok account which linked to the man elsewhere online.

"I deleted everything"

Asked whether he served on the trial, he initially texted: "I'm sorry that is none of your business," before acknowledging that he was behind the account: "I deleted everything, leave me alone and don't spread my information please. I do not give you permission to use any of my information in any article," he said. "There's more important things to write about, such as mass shootings, climate change, war, etc."

It is unclear what he hoped to accomplish, or why he himself would devote time to posting about the trial given the other pressing societal issues. Asked what inspired him to post at all purporting to be a juror, he said: "I'm sorry but I'm not answering any more questions."

Throughout the trial, the vocal majority on TikTok indicated support for Depp whose case centered around whether Heard had falsely and maliciously accused him of domestic abuse in an opinion piece in The Washington Post in 2018. Heard, for her part, countersued Depp — and after six weeks of hearing their cases, the jury ultimately found that both Depp and Heard had defamed each other, with Depp being awarded $15 million in damages and Heard just $2 million.

TikTok's algorithm works in such a way that it featured a never-ending rabbit hole of pro-Depp content, with many finding virality by posting favorable content to Depp. By nature of its algorithm, on TikTok, Fiesler pointed out, "the odds that someone with very few followers can have something go viral is higher [that on other platforms]."

"My first thought was, 'Why do people think this is real?'" said Fiesler. "At the same time, there were a lot of comments — clearly just people assuming that it was real, and there was certainly nothing to support that. There was no kind of evidence. It seemed to me that this is totally the kind of thing somebody would just do for views, for a joke or whatever."

Fiesler said there's incentive for creators to post content that people engage with — to get more views, followers and an eventual financial payoff if one's platform grows large enough.

For those who primarily consume their news through social media, the danger is in believing that what's shown is the full picture, said Fiesler. "One of the big challenges with misinformation on social media is its very, very hard to correct it," she added.

Kevin Spacey took a dramatic pause in his testimony Thursday and appeared to almost choke up as he recalled the “intimate” and “somewhat sexual” friendship he shared with a man now accusing the actor of violently groping him. He said he was “crushed” when he learned of the allegations.

“I never thought that (the man) I knew would ... 20 years later stab me in the back,” Spacey testified in his own defense in his sexual assault trial in what could be the most consequential speaking part of his life.

Spacey spoke in a calm voice and earnest demeanor — humorous, humble and self-deprecating at times — as he breezed over his career and then fast-forwarded to the early 2000s when he was in London working at the Old Vic Theatre.

Four men have accused the two-time Oscar winner of sexually assaulting them between 2001 and 2013, describing disturbing encounters that escalated from unwanted touching to aggressive crotch grabbing. One man who called Spacey a “vile sexual predator” said he passed out or fell asleep at the actor’s London flat and woke up to find the actor performing oral sex on him.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew has called Spacey a “sexual bully” who “delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable.”

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges that include sexual and indecent assault counts and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

One of his accusers said Spacey on several occasions over the years had touched his inner thigh, buttocks and crotch in unwelcome ways that made him uncomfortable.

The fondling culminated when the man was once driving Spacey and the actor grabbed his crotch so violently he almost ran off the road, the man had testified.

The alleged victim told police he warned Spacey to never do it again and threatened to knock him out.

“That never happened,” Spacey testified. “I was not on a suicide mission in any of those years.”

He described the relationship much differently, appearing wistful as he looked at a photo the man sent him from a mountainous trek he took to raise money for charity.

Spacey said the man was funny and charming and recalled their flirtatious time together, saying he probably took the lead in making physical contact: “I'm a big flirt.”

Slowly, the two men began touching each other, Spacey said, but it never went much further, because the man made it clear he didn't want that.

“He said things like, ‘This is new for me,’ so I think he may have been surprised by his reaction,” Spacey said. “The only thing he made clear was he didn’t want to go further than we were going and I respected that.”

Spacey's description of gentle stroking was in direct contradiction to what the alleged victims testified about. They said he caught them by surprise when he aggressively grabbed their privates through their clothing.

“It wasn’t like a caress," one man testified. "It was like a cobra coming out and getting hold.”

Spacey called that man's account “madness” and said it never happened. He also denied he made racially offensive remarks to the man during a rehearsal for a charity theater event.

Spacey poked a hole in the driver's story by calling the timing of the account into question. The man testified he was grabbed while driving Spacey in 2004 or 2005 to an annual gala that Elton John holds.

Spacey presented work schedules and itineraries that showed he was filming far away — once in Australia — those years. He said he only attended the event in 2001.

The man said he could have had the dates wrong, but that he remembered the groping incident being the last straw. He said he stopped spending time around him after that incident.

Spacey testified that the man still has photos of the two of them together posted on social media.

Spacey began his testimony revisiting his start in theater and transition to the big screen, career, joking that his mother would say that he began acting the moment he emerged from the womb.

The American actor was one of the biggest stars of the silver and small screens when sexual misconduct accusations brought his career to a halt. If convicted, he could face a prison term that would doom his hopes of a comeback.

Spacey told German magazine Zeit in an article published last month: “There are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London.”

Spacey, who owns homes in London and the U.S., is free on unconditional bail.

Jurors began hearing testimony Wednesday in P.G. Sittenfeld's political corruption trial.

The former Cincinnati councilman is accused of agreeing to approve a downtown development in exchange for campaign donations.

In her opening statements, prosecutor Emily Glatfelter called Sittenfeld an "ambitious politician" who traded "power for money." She told jurors he betrayed the people of Cincinnati who he was elected to serve.

Much of the opening statements centered around 435 Elm Street, the vacant property at the heart of this trial.

The property is owned by former Bengal turned developer, Chinedum Ndukwe.

"Chin" as he was referred to in the courtroom was secretly working for the FBI. Ndukwe introduced Sittenfeld to two men, Rob and Bryan.

They were undercover agents pretending to be investors.

Prosecutors said over the course of 18 months, the so-called investors gave Sittenfeld $40,000 in campaign donations in exchange for helping to move the 435 elm street development forward.

Glatfelter told jurors Sittenfeld said, "I can deliver the votes" and "I can always get a vote on my left and on my right."

Defense attorney Charlie Rittgers started his opening statements telling the jury "everything in life requires context" and "partial truth is not truth at all."

435 Elm Street was on Sittenfeld's radar before he met Rob and Bryan, Rittgers said.

He said it was an eyesore and was draining the city of $400,000 a year.

Rittgers said Sittenfeld isn't denying the meetings with the so-called investors nor is he denying he received $40,000 in campaign contributions, but the defense said nothing Sittenfeld did was illegal.

Rittgers said during the "scheme," undercover agents were the ones to first bring up the form of payment and amount they'd give.

Rittgers said Sittenfeld "always did what was best for the City of Cincinnati."

Rittgers also told the jury, the FBI paid Ndukwe $27,000 for his role in the "scheme."

Former city councilman Kevin Flynn was the first witness to be called by prosecutors.

Flynn testified about the role of city council, duties of the city manager and mayor and veto power.

Former economic development director for the city, Phil Denning was the second witness to be called.

Denning's testimony centered around development agreements and 435 Elm Street.

He said he had a conversation with Sittenfeld where Sittenfeld asked about the process for Ndukwe to develop the property.

Prosecutors are expected to call Nathan Holbrook, special agent for the FBI, to the stand Thursday morning.

Holbrook's testimony is expected to last all day.

Nearly four years after Jeffrey Epstein's death, thousands of pages of records obtained by The Associated Press are shedding new light on the financier’s time behind bars and a frantic response by federal corrections officials to his death.

The documents, including emails between jail officials and psychological evaluations, offer a fuller picture of Epstein as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctionalnassar Center.

Epstein killed himself at the federal jail in 2019. In the days and weeks that followed, corrections officials struggled to explain how such a high-profile detainee had managed to take his own life.

The records show how he was moved from the jail’s general population to specialized housing and how he was briefly on suicide watch before being downgraded to psychiatric observation — his status when he killed himself.

Here are takeaways from the more than 4,000 pages of documents:

AN AGITATED INMATE

Epstein was anxious and despondent during much of his time in jail, prompting concern from jail guards and psychological experts about his mental state. He complained often about jail life, including poor sleep, constipation, the color of his uniform and his treatment by other detainees. The noise from a broken toilet in his cell left him sitting in the corner with his hands over his ears, according to one psychologist.

But despite his litany of complaints, Epstein insisted that he wouldn't take his own life. Even after he was discovered on his cell's floor with a strip of bedsheet around his neck and placed on suicide watch for 31 hours, he denied that he was contemplating suicide, which he said was against his Jewish religion. Plus, he added, he was a “coward” who didn’t like pain.

“He described having a ‘wonderful life,’’” a psychological evaluation stated. “He said ‘it would be crazy’ to take his life. He furthered, ‘I would not do that to myself.’”

A LETTER TO ANOTHER SEX OFFENDER

Among the new revelations was an attempt by Epstein to reach out to another notorious pedophile: Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics team doctor convicted of sexually abusing scores of young athletes.

A letter sent by Epstein to Nassar was found returned to sender in the jail’s mail room weeks after Epstein’s death. “It appeared he mailed it out and it was returned back to him,” the investigator who found the letter told a corrections official by email. “I am not sure if I should open it or should we hand it over to anyone?”

The letter itself wasn't included among the documents turned over to the AP, which also don't indicate what became of the letter.

FINAL PHONE CALL

Epstein was found dead on the morning of Aug. 10, 2019. He had hanged himself with a bedsheet, according to the medical examiner. Hours earlier, he appears to have successfully deceived jail guards one last time by telling them he wanted to talk on the phone to his mother, who had been dead for 15 years.

A correctional officer escorted Epstein to a shower area at around 7 p.m., where he was permitted to make a 15 minute “social call.” Reports later indicated that he had phoned his 30-year-old girlfriend.

Weeks after his death, a jail warden questioned why an employee had failed to follow policy by allowing Epstein to make an unmonitored call.

MUDDLED RESPONSE

The documents shed light on the lurching response by the Bureau of Prisons in the critical hours of Epstein’s death.

In one email, a prosecutor involved in Epstein’s criminal case complained to an agency lawyer that it was “frankly unbelievable” that the agency was issuing public news releases “before telling us basic information so that we can relay it to his attorneys who can relay it to his family.”

In another email, the prosecutor wrote of getting “increasingly frantic calls” from Epstein’s lawyers.

“We need to know as soon as possible the very basic facts, such as time and cause of death at the absolute minimum,” wrote the prosecutor, whose name was redacted. “It has now been hours since this was reported publicly,” the prosecutor wrote, adding that it was “extraordinary frustrating to have to tell them that we have less information than the press.”

As news outlets began reporting details of the agency’s failings, a high-ranking federal prison official made the apparently baseless suggestion to the agency’s director that reporters must have been paying jail employees for information.

THE AFTERMATH

Epstein’s death touched off a wave of anger toward the Bureau of Prisons and questions about the operation of the Metropolitan Correctional Center. In an internal memo, officials blamed “seriously reduced staffing levels, improper or lack of training, and follow up and oversight” for the death.

Two guards who were supposed to be watching Epstein on the night of his death were found to have falsified records, admitting to napping and browsing the internet instead of monitoring the high-profile inmate.

The documents show other efforts to implement reforms, such as requiring jail captains to review footage, ensuring that guards are completing their rounds every 30 minutes. Jail officials said they would allow psychological experts to play a larger role in determining how housing decisions are made.

In some respects, the officials may have overcorrected. A memo sent to the Bureau of Prisons director shortly after Epstein’s death warned that wardens were “defaulting to leaving inmates on suicide watch longer than the psychologists have advised.”

By 2021, the Metropolitan Correctional Center had closed down. An investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general is still ongoing.

A jury on Friday decided Elon Musk didn’t deceive investors with his 2018 tweets about electric automaker Tesla in a proposed deal that quickly unraveled and raised questions about whether the billionaire had misled investors.

The verdict by the nine jurors was reached after less that two hours of deliberation following a three-week trial. It represents a major vindication for Musk, who spent about eight hours on the witness stand defending his motives for the August 2018 tweets at the center of the trial.

Musk, 51, wasn't on hand for the brief reading of the verdict, after making a surprise appearance earlier Friday for closing arguments that drew starkly different portraits of him.

Alex Spiro, Musk's attorney, declined to comment as he walked out of the courtroom following the verdicts.

The trial pitted Tesla investors represented in a class-action lawsuit against Musk, who is CEO of both the electric automaker and the Twitter service he bought for $44 billion a few months ago.

Shortly before boarding his private jet on Aug. 7, 2018, Musk tweeted that he had the financing to take Tesla private, even though it turned out he hadn’t gotten an iron-clad commitment for a deal that would have cost $20 billion to $70 billion to pull off.

Musk's integrity was at stake at the trial as well part of a fortune that has established him as one of the world’s richest people. He could have been saddled with a bill for billions of dollars in damages had the jury found him liable for the 2018 tweets that had already been deemed falsehoods by the judge presiding over the trial.

Earlier Friday, Musk sat stoically in court during the trial’s closing arguments while he was both vilified as a rich narcissist whose reckless behavior risks “anarchy” and hailed as a visionary looking out for the “little guy."

The trial hinged on whether Musk's tweeting in 2018 misled Tesla shareholders, steering them in a direction that they argue cost them billions of dollars. The civil case centered on two tweets Musk posted Aug. 7, 2018 about a Tesla buyout that never happened.

The first tweet Musk declared he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. A few hours later, Musk sent another tweet indicating that the deal was imminent.

The tweets caused Twitter’s stock to surge during a 10-day period covered by the lawsuit before falling back after Musk abandoned a deal in which he never had a firm financing commitment, based on evidence presented during the trial.

Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer for the Tesla shareholders, urged the jurors to rebuke Musk for his “loose relationship with the truth.”

“Our society is based on rules,” Porritt said. “We need rules to save us from anarchy. Rules should apply to Elon Musk like everyone else.”

Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, conceded the 2018 tweets were “technically inaccurate.” But he told the jurors, “Just because it’s a bad tweet doesn’t make it a fraud.”

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, who presided over the trial, decided last year that Musk’s 2018 tweets were false and has instructed the jury to view them that way.

During roughly eight hours on the stand earlier in the trial, Musk insisted he believed he had lined up the funds from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take Tesla private after eight years as a publicly held company. He defended his initial August 2018 tweet as well-intentioned and aimed at ensuring all Tesla investors knew the automaker might be on its way to ending its run as a publicly held company.

“I had no ill motive,” Musk testified. “My intent was to do the right thing for all shareholders.”

Spiro echoed that theme in his closing argument.

“He was trying to include the retail shareholder, the mom and pop, the little guy, and not seize more power for himself," Spiro said.

Porritt, meanwhile, scoffed at the notion that Musk could have concluded he had a firm commitment after a 45-minute meeting at a Tesla factory on July 31, 2018, with Yasir al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund, given there was no written documentation.

A text message that al-Rumayyan sent later in August that is part of the trial evidence also indicated that the Saudi fund was only interested in learning more about Musk's proposal to take Tesla private at a time the company was valued at about $60 billion.

“Apparently a $60 billion financing commitment was obtained and no one wrote down a single word," Porritt said, while asserting that amount was larger than the combined economic output of Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador.

Spiro, though, pointed to Musk's track record helping to start and run a list of companies that include digital payment pioneer PayPal and rocket ship maker SpaceX, in addition to Tesla. The automaker based in Austin, Texas, is now worth nearly $600 billion, despite a steep decline in its stock price last year amid concerns that Musk's purchase of Twitter would distract him from Tesla.

Recalling Musk's roots as a South African immigrant who came to Silicon Valley to create revolutionary tech companies, Spiro described his client “as the kind of person who believes the impossible is possible."

Porritt put a different twist on Musk's mindset during his presentation. “To Elon Musk, if he believes it, or just thinks about it, it's true.”

In his concluding remarks, Porritt told jurors their decision boiled down to their answer to one question: “Do the rules apply to everyone, or can Elon Musk do whatever he wants and not face the consequences?"

“That '70s Show” star Danny Masterson was led out in handcuffs from a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday and could get 30 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty on two of three counts of rape at his second trial, in which the Church of Scientology played a central role.

Masterson's wife, actor and model Bijou Phillips, gasped when the verdict was read and wept as he was taken into custody, while a group of family and friends who sat stone-faced behind him throughout both trials.

The jury of seven women and five men reached the verdict after deliberating for seven days spread over two weeks. They could not reach a verdict on the third count, that alleged Masterson raped a longtime girlfriend. They had voted 8-4 in favor of conviction.

Masterson, 47, will be held without bail until he is sentenced. No sentencing date was set.

Chris Pizzello

“I am experiencing a complex array of emotions — relief, exhaustion, strength, sadness — knowing that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will face accountability for his criminal behavior,” one of the women, whom Masterson knew as a fellow member of the church and was convicted of raping at his home in 2003, said in a statement.

A second woman, a former girlfriend, whose count left the jury deadlocked, said in the statement: “While I’m encouraged that Danny Masterson will face some criminal punishment, I am devastated that he has dodged criminal accountability for his heinous conduct against me.”

A spokesperson for Masterson declined comment, but his attorneys will almost certainly appeal.

After a deadlocked jury led to a mistrial in December, prosecutors retried Masterson, saying he forcibly raped three women in his Hollywood Hills home between 2001 and 2003. They told jurors he drugged the women’s drinks so he could rape them. They said he used his prominence in the church — where all three women were also members at the time — to avoid consequences for decades.

“We want to express our gratitude to the three women who came forward and bravely shared their experiences," Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement after the verdict Wednesday.

Masterson did not testify, and his lawyers called no witnesses. The defense argued that the acts were consensual, and attempted to discredit the women’s stories by highlighting changes and inconsistencies over time, which they said showed signs of coordination between them.

“If you decide that a witness deliberately lied about something in this case,” defense attorney Philip Cohen told jurors, going through their instructions in his closing argument, “You should consider not believing anything that witness says.”

The Church of Scientology played a significant role in the first trial but arguably an even larger one in the second. Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo allowed expert testimony on church policy from a former official in Scientology leadership who has become a prominent opponent.

The church said in a statement after the verdict that the “introduction of religion into this trial was an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment and affects the due process rights of every American. The Church was not a party to this case and religion did not belong in this proceeding as Supreme Court precedent has maintained for centuries.”

Tensions ran high in the courtroom between current and former Scientologists, and even leaked into testimony, with the accusers saying on the stand that they felt intimidated by some members in the room.

Actor Leah Remini, a former member who has become the church’s highest-profile critic, sat in on the trial at times, putting her arm around one of the accusers to comfort her during closing arguments.

Remini said on Twitter that the two guilty verdicts in the retrial are “a relief. The women who survived Danny Masterson’s predation are heroes. For years, they and their families have faced vicious attacks and harassment from Scientology and Danny’s well-funded legal team," she posted. "Nevertheless, they soldiered on, determined to seek justice.”

Video below: A-List celebrities associated with the Church of Scientology

The alleged harassment, which the church denies engaging in, is the subject of a civil lawsuit filed by two of the accusers.

The Scientology statement said “there is not a scintilla of evidence supporting the scandalous allegations that the Church harassed the accusers.”

Founded in 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology has many members who work in Hollywood. The judge kept limits on how much prosecutors could talk about the church, and primarily allowed it to explain why the women took so long to go to authorities.

The women testified that when they reported Masterson to church officials, they were told they were not raped, were put through ethics programs themselves, and were warned against going to law enforcement to report a member of such high standing.

“They were raped, they were punished for it, and they were retaliated against,” Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller told jurors in his closing argument. “Scientology told them there’s no justice for them. You have the opportunity to show them there is justice.”

The church called the “testimony and descriptions of Scientology beliefs” during the trial “uniformly false.”

“The Church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone — Scientologists or not — to law enforcement,” the statement said.

Next week Olmedo will hold a hearing to determine how a lawyer who represents the Church of Scientology had evidence that the prosecution had shared with the defense. The evidence involved links that the lawyer accidentally included in an email to Mueller.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they’ve been sexually abused.

Testimony in this case was graphic and emotional.

The two women whose testimony led to Masterson's conviction said that in 2003, he gave them drinks and that they then became woozy or passed out before he violently raped them.

The third, Masterson’s then-girlfriend of five years whose count left the jury deadlocked, said she awoke to find him raping her, and had to pull his hair to stop him.

Olmedo allowed prosecutors and accusers to say directly in the second trial that Masterson drugged the women, while only allowing the women to describe their condition in the first trial.

Masterson was not charged with any counts of drugging, and there was no toxicology evidence to back up the assertion.

The charges dated to a period when Masterson was at the height of his fame, starring from 1998 until 2006 as Steven Hyde on Fox’s “That ’70s Show” — the show that made stars of Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis and Topher Grace.

Masterson had reunited with Kutcher on the 2016 Netflix comedy “The Ranch,” but was written off the show when an LAPD investigation was revealed in December 2017.

Pike County suspect George "Billy" Wagner III appeared in court Wednesday for a status hearing.

It was the first hearing for former Brown County Common Pleas Court Judge Alan Corbin who will preside over the trial. The Ohio Supreme Court appointed Corbin to hear the case following the retirement last month of Pike County Common Pleas Judge Randy Deering.

During Wednesday's hearing, Corbin alluded to a possible trial date in early 2024. He said that will give counsels time to gather documents and records from the trial of Billy's son, George Wagner IV, including the transcript from that trial, which could top 15,000 pages.

Earlier this year, one of Billy Wagner's attorneys said the 51 year-old looks forward to taking his case to trial and said the trial will be much different than that of his son, George.

In November, a jury found George Wagner guilty of 22 counts, including eight aggravated murder charges. The verdict came after less than eight hours of deliberations, ending a nearly three-month-long trial.

George Wagner was sentenced to life in prison without parole on all eight counts of aggravated murder for each victim in the Pike County killings.

He was also sentenced on counts of conspiracy, aggravated burglary, and tampering with evidence. Those sentences ranged from 10 months to eight years.

In addition, the now retired Deering sentenced George Wagner to 81 years on firearms specifications, to be served consecutively with his prison sentence on his charges.

Billy's wife, Angela, and their other son, Jake, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and other charges in a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.

Investigators say the murders were motivated by a custody dispute between the Wagner and Rhoden families.

Witnesses continue to present evidence in the trial for one of the officers who was involved in the deadly raid of Breonna Taylor's apartment on March 2020.

Brett Hankison, now a former Louisville police officer, fired 10 shots in the raid, none of which hit Taylor, but prosecutors said they endangered the couple and child who lived next door.

During opening arguments Wednesday, prosecutors told jurors the case is not about the killing of Taylor, who was Black, or police decisions that led to the raid.

“Breonna Taylor should not have died that night,” said Barbara Maines Whaley, a prosecutor with the Kentucky attorney general's office. Whaley told jurors the city of Louisville paid millions in a civil suit, “but the money did not bring her back. Nothing will.”

Hankison is charged with three counts of wanton endangerment, a felony with a range of one to five years in prison.

Hankison's attorney, Stewart Mathews, told jurors that when the gunfire began, Hankison “was attempting to defend and save the lives of his fellow officers" and followed his police training.

He said Hankison’s shooting was justified during a chaotic scene lasting just 10 to 15 seconds.

Taylor, 26, worked as an emergency medical tech and was settling down for bed on March 13, 2020, when officers kicked in her door. They drew fire from Taylor’s boyfriend, who thought an intruder was breaking in. Two officers at the door returned fire, killing Taylor.

Taylor’s neighbor, Cody Etherton, was first on the stand and testified that he was nearly hit by Hankison's bullets in the apartment next door.

Several Louisville police officers who were with Hankison the night of the raid testified they served the warrant at Taylor's ground floor apartment as “knock and announce,” even though a no-knock warrant was approved. Several officers said they knocked at the address for minutes longer than usual.

Sgt. Michael Campbell testified that just before the shooting began, he was standing with Hankison, but like his colleagues, testified that he couldn’t tell what Hankison did.

“I don’t remember where he was at that point. I didn’t see him shoot,” Campbell said.

Hankison fired five of the bullets through the glass door and several more through a bedroom window.

Myles Cosgrove, who fired the bullet that killed Taylor, is scheduled to appear as a witness in Hankison's trial. The other officer present that night, former LMPD detective Jonathan Mattingly, has said he will plead the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify, citing the pending U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the LMPD.

In all, more than 30 witnesses are slated to testify in a trial expected to last two to three weeks.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Trial begins for former cop involved in deadly Breonna Taylor raid nearly 2 years after her death

Updated: 12:46 PM EST Feb 23, 2022

Brett Hankison's defense attorney put it succinctly during jury selection on Tuesday."Breonna Taylor has nothing to do with the charges against Brett Hankison this morning, and yet, she has everything to do with it," said Stew Matthews, as he questioned prospective jurors.Hankison is facing three counts of wanton endangerment, but those charges are not for Taylor's death. They are for shots fired into a neighboring apartment with three people inside.Hankison was one of three Louisville officers serving a no-knock search warrant on Taylor's apartment on March 20, 2022. When they entered, Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker – who says he did not know the men entering his home were police officers – fired a single shot. The officers fired back and Taylor, who was behind Walker, was hit six times, police say. The bullet that killed her was fired by Myles Cosgrove, another officer who was present that night, according to the investigation that ensued.Cosgrove is scheduled to appear as a witness in Hankison's trial. The other officer present that night, former LMPD detective Jonathan Mattingly, has said he will plead the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify, citing the pending U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the LMPD.In all, more than 30 witnesses are slated to testify in a trial expected to last two to three weeks."The commonwealth has the burden of proof in a criminal case and we gladly accept that burden of proof," said Barbara Whaley, the special prosecutor handling the case.Opening arguments are scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Three Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights sat by and “chose to do nothing” as Floyd pleaded for air and then went silent, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday at the start of closing arguments in their trial.

Prosecutor Manda Sertich singled out each former officer — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — as the state wrapped up its monthlong case.

All three are charged with depriving Floyd of his right to medical care as Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes. Lane held the 46-year-old Black man’s feet, Kueng knelt on his back and Thao held back bystanders.

Kueng and Thao are also charged with failing to intervene to stop Chauvin during the May 25, 2020, killing that triggered protests worldwide and a reexamination of racism and policing.

“Make no mistake, this is a crime.” Sertich told jurors.

Chauvin pleaded guilty in the federal case in December, months after he was convicted of state murder and manslaughter charges.

Closing arguments in the current trial were expected to take most of Tuesday before the case goes to the jury, which appears to be mostly white.

The trial was wrapping up just as another major civil rights trial in Georgia resulted in the conviction of three white men on hate crimes charges in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was chased and shot in February 2020.

In the Minnesota trial, prosecutors have argued that the officers violated their training by not rolling Floyd onto his side or giving him CPR. They said at the start of the trial that the officers stood by as Chauvin slowly killed Floyd in front of them.

They presented weeks of testimony and evidence about the officers’ training, arguing that they knew they had a duty to intervene to stop Chauvin and render medical aid. Prosecutors have argued that Floyd’s condition was so serious that even bystanders without basic medical training could see he needed help.

Defense attorneys argued that the Minneapolis Police Department’s training was inadequate. They also attacked a police culture that they said teaches officers to defer to their seniors, saying that Chauvin called all the shots at the scene. Lane and Kueng, who were both rookies, argued that they deferred to Chauvin.

Lane testified that he asked twice if Floyd should be rolled over but was rebuffed, and that he held his position because an ambulance was on the way.

Kueng testified that Chauvin was his former training officer and that he had considerable sway over his career. He said he trusted Chauvin’s advice.

Thao testified that he was watching the bystanders and he trusted that the officers behind him were caring for Floyd.

At the start of the monthlong trial, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson selected 18 jurors, including six alternates. Fifteen people now remain — 12 who will deliberate and three alternates. The court did not release demographic information, but the jury appeared largely white, with one woman who appeared to be of Asian descent, among the 12 expected to deliberate.

Lane, who is white, Kueng, who is Black, and Thao, who is Hmong American, also face a separate trial in June on state charges alleging that they aided and abetted murder and manslaughter.

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Avenatti was convicted by a jury on charges that he cheated porn actor Stormy Daniels out of nearly $300,000 that she was supposed to get for writing a book about an alleged tryst with former president Donald Trump.

The verdict was returned Friday at a federal court in New York.

The result was the culmination of an unusual trial in which Avenatti acted as his own lawyer and got to cross-examine Daniels about her belief in ghosts.

Earlier Friday, the jury foreperson told Judge Jesse Furman that a juror was acting on feelings and emotions. The judge reminded jurors of his original legal instructions and their pledge to consider the evidence. A short time later, Avenatti was found guilty.

The disgraced lawyer now reportedly faces up to 22 years in prison for Friday's conviction of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Avenatti still faces other legal problems. He has yet to begin serving a 2 1/2 year prison sentence he received in 2020 for trying to extort up to $25 million from sportswear giant Nike.

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