Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. has settled with a woman who claims he raped her, averting a trial that was about to begin in New York City. The trial was scheduled to start with jury selection Tuesday morning. The woman says Gooding lured her into a hotel room by saying he had to change his clothing and then attacked her. Gooding maintained through his lawyers that it was consensual sex. The accuser was seeking $6 million in damages. Her attorney declined comment. Authorities have said at least 30 women have made sexual misconduct allegations against Gooding, accusing him of groping, unwanted kissing and other inappropriate behavior.
A former Playboy model who alleges Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her and another woman at his home in 1969 is suing the entertainer under a new California law that suspends the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims.
Actor Armie Hammer will not be charged after a long investigation of a woman’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2017, Los Angeles prosecutors said.
Jurors have found “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson guilty of two out of three counts of rape, and he could get 30 years to life in prison. The jury reached the verdict Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom, where Masterson was led out in handcuffs. It was the second trial for the 47-year-old actor, after a jury deadlocked in his first. Masterson has been convicted of raping two women at his home between 2001 and 2003. Prosecutors say he drugged the women so he could assault them, then used his prominence in the Church of Scientology to avoid consequences for decades.
A Los Angeles jury has found “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson guilty of two counts of rape and failed to reach a verdict on a third woman's sexual abuse allegations. A deadlocked jury led to a mistrial for Masterson at his first trial in December. At the new trial, the judge allowed prosecutors to directly assert that Masterson drugged the women before raping them. The new trial also brought a bigger role for the Church of Scientology. Masterson and the three women were all members at the time, and the women say the church kept them from going to authorities. Masterson and his attorneys have denied all the allegations. Masterson will be sentenced at a later date.
Jurors have found “That ’70s Show” star Danny Masterson guilty of two out of three counts of rape after prosecutors argued he drugged the women so he could assault them, then used his prominence in the Church of Scientology to avoid consequences for decades.
An Indiana board has decided to reprimand an Indianapolis doctor after finding that she violated patient privacy laws by talking publicly about providing an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim from neighboring Ohio. The state Medical Licensing Board voted that Dr. Caitlin Bernard didn’t abide by privacy laws when she told a newspaper reporter about the girl’s treatment in a case that became a flashpoint in the national abortion debate days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer. Board members chose to fine Bernard $3,000 for the violations, turning down a request from the attorney general’s office to suspend Bernard’s license.
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An advice columnist who won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation award against former President Donald Trump has filed an amendment to a second lawsuit against him, asking for another $10 million for remarks he made after the verdict. The amended lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court Monday by lawyers for E. Jean Carroll. Carroll defamation claims against Trump have proceeded in two separate lawsuits, one decided in a trial that just concluded, and another that previously dealt only with derogatory remarks that Trump made in 2019 while he was still president. That lawsuit, which has been tied up in still-unresolved legal appeals, is the one to which Carroll has added her new claims.
A lawsuit has been filed against medical transport provider American Medical Response West, saying the ambulance company’s lax oversight allowed a paramedic to sexually assault two women in their 80s while en route to a hospital. The suit filed last week in San Mateo County Superior Court also names American Medical Response, Inc., based in Colorado, as a defendant. Miguel Nieblas Ontiveros has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of forcible oral copulation. Attorney Anne Marie Murphy says he never should have been left alone with vulnerable patients. American Medical Response said it does not comment on pending litigation and that it is cooperating with law enforcement and prosecutors.
A major New York City hospital is facing allegations that hospital officials ignored a star physician’s rampant sexual abuse of patients for more than a decade. A civil suit filed by 19 former patients allege that Mount Sinai Beth Israel in Manhattan knew Dr. Ricardo Cruciani was abusive toward his patients, but failed to report him to law enforcement or licensing authorities. Mount Sinai Beth Israel had no immediate comment on the claims. Once a renowned pain doctor, Cruciani killed himself at New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex last August after a jury convicted him of 12 criminal counts, including rape.
Unfounded claims about Indiana University’s sex research institute, its founder and child sex abuse have been so persistent over the years that when the Legislature prohibited the institute from using state dollars, one lawmaker hailed the move as “long overdue.” Now, funding from the university remains unclear, but the largely symbolic move does not halt the Kinsey Institute’s work, which ranges from studies on sexual assault prevention to contraception use among women. Researchers tell The Associated Press the Republican-dominated Legislature’s February decision is based on an enduring, fundamental misunderstanding of their work. They say it's a false narrative they cannot shake despite efforts to correct such misinformation.
Rhode Island governor signs bill to fund abortion coverage for state workers and Medicaid recipients
Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee has signed a bill into law that would let state funds be used to pay for health insurance plans that cover state workers and Medicaid recipients seeking abortions. The signing ceremony was held Thursday almost immediately after the Rhode Island Senate approved the measure. The 24-12 vote followed less than an hour of debate. The democratic governor says he is proud to sign the bill and include related funding in his state budget proposal. Opponents say the state shouldn’t require state taxpayers to cover the cost of abortions.
Jurors have finished their first day of deliberations without reaching a verdict at the rape retrial of “That ‘70s Show” actor Danny Masterson. The jury of seven men and five women got the case Wednesday morning after prosecutors finished their rebuttal to the defense’s closing argument. The 47-year-old Masterson could get more than 40 years in prison if jurors find him guilty of raping three women between 2001 and 2003. Prosecutors say he drugged the women before assaulting them and used his status in the Church of Scientology to avoid consequences. Masterson's defense lawyer says the women's stories are so full of inconsistencies that they lack all credibility.
The jury of seven women and five men got the case when prosecutors finished their rebuttal after all-day closing arguments a day earlier.
A prosecutor at the trial of actor Danny Masterson says he drugged women so he could rape them, then used his prominence in the Church of Scientology to avoid consequences. Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Ariel Anson urged jurors during closing arguments at Masterson's trial Tuesday to find the former “That ’70s Show” star guilty of raping three women between 2001 and 2003. A mistrial came in Masterson’s first trial in December when jurors deadlocked on all three counts. Masterson's attorney told jurors that inconsistencies in the women's stories are essential to judging their credibility. He continues his closing argument later Tuesday.
A civil jury's finding that former President Donald Trump sexually assaulted a writer in the 1990s comes at what one scholar calls an “ambiguous moment” for American women. Columnist E. Jean Carroll is savoring the civil court judgment that orders Trump to pay her $5 million in damages. Yet few call the verdict a death knell for his political career. UCLA gender studies professor Juliet Williams believes millions of women would support Trump in 2024 to promote their personal interests. Twenty-five-year-old Cassandra Nuñez, of Los Angeles, calls Trump’s defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016 “a double whammy” for women given Clinton’s loss and Trump’s behavior.
Former President Donald Trump dug in on his lies about the 2020 election during a tense CNN town hall. He also downplayed the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, and repeatedly insulted the woman whom a civil jury this week found him liable of sexually abusing and defaming. During the contentious back-and-forth Wednesday night in early-voting New Hampshire, Trump also refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russian aggression and said the U.S. “might as well” default on its debt obligation, despite the potential devastating economic consequences. The former president was cheered on and applauded by an audience of Republican and unaffiliated voters.
E. Jean Carroll told "CNN This Morning" on Wednesday that it was a "great moment" as a Manhattan federal jury read off a verdict in a civil case finding that Donald Trump sexually abused her in the spring of 1996 and awarded her $5 million for battery and defamation.
There were more than 8,942 reports of sexual assaults involving service members during the 2022 fiscal year, up from 8,866 the year before.
There were more than 8,942 reports of sexual assaults involving service members during the 2022 fiscal year, up from 8,866 the year before.
Jury selection is set to start Tuesday in the case filed by former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.
South Sudan's women face sexual violence and the world's highest maternal mortality rate. Half are married before age 18.
The actor turned alleged cult leader is accused of sexually assaulting young Indigenous girls during a period spanning two decades.
The staffer's battery and defamation lawsuit was filed in Virginia, where Schlapp lives, and seeks more than $9 million in damages.