Paula Reed Ward stories, Page 2
Did self-defense or bruised ego lead to fatal shooting in Homewood?
The lawyer for a Homewood man on trial for shooting identical twins living in the same house as him told a jury Wednesday that his client acted in self-defense. Preslin Turner, 37, is charged with killing Therreus Lindsey, 27, and wounding Darius Lindsey last year following a fistfight among the...
50 days in solitary leads to $37K verdict for convicted murderer in Pa.
A convicted murderer serving a life sentence at the state prison in Greene County won a $37,500 jury verdict this week over allegations he was improperly held in solitary confinement for 50 days. In 2018, Maurice D. Able filed a federal lawsuit on his own behalf against the Pennsylvania Department...
Judge denies bail for McDonald man accused of shooting at police
An Allegheny County judge on Tuesday denied bail for a McDonald man accused of firing repeatedly at police officers last year during a suspected mental health crisis. Stephen Budai, 45, of McDonald is charged with four counts each of firing on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment...
Ex-Allegheny County health inspector, a Sikh man, claims he was forced to shave beard, files lawsuit
A Sikh man and former inspector with the Allegheny County Health Department is suing the agency in federal court alleging discrimination because of his beard, which he claims he was once forced to shave while at work. Navin Kohli, who served as an environmental health specialist, on Tuesday filed the...
West Newton man pleads guilty to accessing intimate images on hundreds of victims through their Snapchat accounts
A West Newton man pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to hacking into hundreds of individual Snapchat accounts, accessing intimate videos and images stored there and then trading them online. Michael Yackovich, 30, will be sentenced on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft by Chief...
Judge calls Pittsburgh crash death ‘textbook example’ of why DUI is illegal
No one showed up in court for either side. Not for the victim, a 33-year-old immigrant killed in Pittsburgh last year by a drunken driver. And not for the defendant, a 22-year-old woman who created a good life for herself and her twin sons despite a string of difficult life...
Lawsuit accuses Pittsburgh police of using Taser on autistic man without cause
A Pittsburgh man who is on the autism spectrum is suing city police, alleging they shocked him with a Taser and arrested him without cause two years ago. Kevin Matthew Dunn, 24, of Pittsburgh’s Westwood neighborhood said in the complaint filed last month in federal court that no criminal charges...
Federal judge shuts door on Justice Department effort to wrest transgender care data from UPMC
A federal judge in Pittsburgh on Monday denied a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to force UPMC to turn over anonymized records for minor patients who received gender-affirming care and sharply criticized the government for its stance on transgender Americans. “Its rhetoric regarding gender-affirming care reflects callous indifference,...
Driver in Pittsburgh fatal crash tries to throw out blood alcohol test results
A former Pittsburgh paramedic whose blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit when she struck and killed a woman on East Carson Street two years ago is trying to have her blood test thrown out. Sydney Richardson, 35, of Lincoln Place is charged with homicide by...
Pleasant Hills police probe bar brawl involving 4 off-duty Pittsburgh cops
Pleasant Hills police are investigating a brawl at the Pleasant Bar earlier this month involving four off-duty Pittsburgh police officers and an alleged victim who said he was smashed in the head with a beer bottle. Three of the four city officers, who have not been publicly named and were...
Yet another prosecutor’s exit from DA’s office could delay trial in McKeesport cop slaying
A continuing exodus of prosecutors from the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office could lead to a delay in the death penalty trial for a man accused of killing a McKeesport police officer three years ago. Jury selection in the case against Johnathan Morris was slated to begin on April 27...
Drunk driver who killed Harrison girl, 11, gets 3-6 months in jail
Her favorite color was blue. She enjoyed telling jokes to make people laugh. She was a devoted sister. She loved animals but especially her dog, Teddy. Roxanne Bonnoni was an 11-year-old girl whose life was cut short by a drunk driver. “God did not decide it was Roxanne’s time to...
2nd lawsuit filed by family of East Huntingdon man killed in Clairton Coke Works blastVideo
The wife of a Westmoreland County man killed in the Aug. 11 Clairton Coke Works explosion is suing for wrongful death. Danielle Menefee filed the complaint Friday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court against Nippon Steel North America Inc., which took over U.S. Steel in June; MPW Industrial Services Inc.,...
Aspinwall pharmacist to appear at State of the Union addressVideo
An Aspinwall pharmacy owner who has advocated for reform in his industry to protect community pharmacies against national monopolies will attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address as a guest of U.S. Rep. Chris DeLuzio. Jonathan Akanowicz owns Towne Drugs on Commercial Avenue in Aspinwall and has worked to change...
2nd lawsuit filed by family of East Huntingdon man killed in Clairton Coke Works blastVideo
The wife of a Westmoreland County man killed in the Aug. 11 Clairton Coke Works explosion is suing for wrongful death. Danielle Menefee filed the complaint Friday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court against Nippon Steel North America Inc., which took over U.S. Steel in June; MPW Industrial Services Inc.,...
Aspinwall pharmacist to appear at State of the Union address
An Aspinwall pharmacy owner who has advocated for reform in his industry to protect community pharmacies against national monopolies will attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address as a guest of U.S. Rep. Chris DeLuzio. Jonathan Akanowicz owns Towne Drugs on Commercial Avenue in Aspinwall and has worked to change...
Jury convicts security guard of voluntary manslaughter in Penn Hills club slaying
A jury on Monday found a security guard who shot and killed a woman at a Penn Hills after-hours club guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Chaz Jackson, 43, of Pittsburgh will be sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos on May 20. After the verdict was read, Jackson,...
Judge refuses to bar statement to police from accused baby killer in Shadyside homicide
A judge will not suppress a statement from a Pittsburgh homicide defendant to police that she dropped a baby “hard” a couple of times on the floor of a Shadyside home several hours before the child died. Nicole Virzi, 31, of San Diego is charged with killing her best friend’s...
Security guard at Penn Hills club claims gun went off by accident in fatal shooting
Chaz Jackson told the jury he was afraid for his life. When he heard shots inside Ballers Hookah Lounge and Cigar Bar in Penn Hills around 3 a.m. on June 2, 2024, Jackson, who worked security there, said he unholstered his gun, planning to act in self-defense. His friend grabbed...
Lawsuit claims Nippon failed to avert fatal Clairton Coke Works blast
A lawsuit filed by the sister of a man killed in an explosion at Clairton Coke Works last summer alleges that if owner Nippon Steel had addressed ongoing, known safety concerns at the facility when it took over U.S. Steel, her brother would still be alive. Trisha Lynn Quinn, the...
Police use blue bullets to link security guard to fatal shooting at Penn Hills club
The detectives told the jury they had never seen blue bullets at a crime scene. But when they got bullet fragments back from two victims shot at Ballers Hookah Lounge & Cigar Bar in Penn Hills nearly two years ago, scientists from the Allegheny County crime lab reported they had...
Liberian refugee’s killer sent to prison for Pittsburgh slaying
When Eddie Kimber was growing up in the West African nation of Liberia, he had difficulty breathing, struggled to gain weight and would easily become exhausted from minimal activity. Doctors couldn’t find what was wrong. But when Kimber’s family fled war there and entered a refugee program, his brother said...
Wilkinsburg man gets double life terms for killing woman and daughter, 4
A Wilkinsburg man who shot and killed a woman and her 4-year-old daughter in an act the judge called calculated and vicious will serve the rest of his life in prison. Marquise St. Julien-Givner, 23, was sentenced Tuesday to two consecutive life terms with no chance for parole for killing...
The Marc Fogel Story: Finding a new normal, and working through guilt; ‘We will be thankful for generations’
On Aug. 13, 2021, Marc and Jane Fogel pulled away from their white colonial-style home in Oakmont to drive to New York City. There, they boarded a plane to Moscow to begin their final year teaching at the Anglo-American School, an elite institution built for the children of western diplomats....
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The Marc Fogel story: Finding a new normal, and working through guilt; ‘We will be thankful for generations’
On Aug. 13, 2021, Marc and Jane Fogel pulled away from their white colonial style home where they’d lived on and off for 15 years in between international teaching assignments, to make the drive to New York City. There, they’d board a plane bound for Moscow to begin their tenth...
