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Alabama woman appeals conviction on false abduction claim after seeing toddler on road

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Alabama woman appeals conviction on false abduction claim after seeing toddler on road
  • An Alabama woman is appealing her conviction in municipal court after being accused of falsely reporting to the police that she had been abducted. 
  • The appeal aims to avoid a year-long jail sentence that prosecutors are pushing for.
  • The woman’s story revolved around her claiming to have been kidnapped after stopping to assist a toddler found wandering near a highway.

An Alabama woman accused of falsely telling police she was abducted after stopping to check on a toddler wandering along the highway is appealing her municipal court conviction in an effort to avoid a yearlong jail sentence sought by prosecutors.

A municipal judge on Wednesday found Carlee Russell, 26, guilty of misdemeanor charges of false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident. The guilty judgement came after Russell’s attorneys agreed to “stipulate and appeal” the case — a legal maneuver to move the case to circuit court where proceedings will start anew.

Russell’s summer disappearance — and her story of being abducted after stopping her car to check on the child — captivated the nation before police called it a hoax.

Flanked by her family and attorneys, Russell made her first court appearance Wednesday amid a heavy media presence, news outlets reported.

Defense attorney Richard Jaffe said in a telephone interview they do not think jail time is appropriate. He said they agreed to an arrangement called “stipulate and appeal.” It is a court agreement in which a defendant acknowledges the evidence against them, a guilty decision is entered and the case is appealed to the circuit court.

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“We’ve requested a jury trial. That gives us an opportunity between now and then to explore all of our options and to try to work something out with the prosecution that does not involve jail time but does involve a fair restitution amount,” Jaffe said.

News outlets reported that prosecutors are seeking a year of jail time. Russell’s attorneys said they don’t think she should serve jail time for a misdemeanor offense.

“We don’t think jail time for a first-offender with a class A misdemeanor is reasonable because that just doesn’t happen,” Jaffe said.

A woman who is accused of falsely reporting she was abducted after seeing a child on road seeks to avoid jail by appealing her conviction. 

Jaffe said he understands that state prosecutors want jail time as a deterrent to potential future hoaxes. But he added that a conviction, restitution and the publicity surrounding the case will also have a deterrent effect.

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Russell disappeared on July 13 after calling 911 to report a toddler beside a stretch of interstate. She returned home two days later and told police she had been abducted and forced into a vehicle. Police began quickly casting doubt on Russell’s story. Her attorney had issued a statement through police acknowledging there had been no kidnapping and that she never saw a toddler. Russell in the statement apologized to law enforcement and the volunteer searchers who had been looking for her.

“We ask for your prayers for Carlee, as she addresses her issues and attempts to move forward, understanding that she made a mistake in this matter. Carlee again asks for your forgiveness and prayers,” Emory Anthony said in the July statement.

Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis previously said he was frustrated that Russell was only being charged with two misdemeanors despite the panic and disruption she caused. But he said the law did not allow for enhanced charges.

Sherri Papini in California was sentenced to 18 months in prison for lying to federal agents and staging her 2016 fake abduction, which led to a three-week, multi-state search.

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Federal judge strikes down Biden admin's Title IX rewrite

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Federal judge strikes down Biden admin's Title IX rewrite

A federal judge in Kentucky blocked the Biden administration’s attempt to redefine sex in Title IX as “gender identity,” striking down the change nationwide.

The U.S. District Court Eastern District of Kentucky Northern Division made the ruling in Cardona v. Tennessee on Thursday.

Transgender flag and split with track finish line. (Getty Images)

“Another massive win for TN and the country!” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a post on X. “This morning, a federal court ruled in our favor and vacated the Biden admin’s radical new Title IX rule nationwide.

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“The court’s order is resounding victory for the protection of girls’ privacy in locker rooms and showers, and for the freedom to speak biologically-accurate pronouns.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., released a statement on the ruling.

“It is clear the Biden-Harris administration completely lost its way on Title IX. They betrayed the original intent of Title IX by removing longstanding protections that ensured fairness for women and girls. Good to see this harmful regulation overturned,” he said. “With President Trump and a Republican majority in Congress, we will ensure women and girls have every opportunity to succeed on the field and in the classroom.”

The ruling came months after the Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration’s emergency request to enforce portions of a new rule that would have included protections from discrimination for transgender students under Title IX.

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The sweeping rule was issued in April and clarified that Title IX’s ban on “sex” discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and “pregnancy or related conditions.”

The rule took effect Aug. 1, and, for the first time, the law stated that discrimination based on sex includes conduct related to a person’s gender identity.

UPenn athlete Lia Thomas at nationals

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, left, and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after finishing tied for 5th in the 200 Freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

It led to more than two dozen attorneys general suing over the rule, arguing it would conflict with some of their state laws that block transgender students from participating in women’s sports.

“When Title IX is viewed in its entirety, it is abundantly clear that discrimination on the basis of sex means discrimination on the basis of being a male or female,” the court’s opinion read. “As this Court and others have explained, expanding the meaning of ‘on the basis of sex’ to include ‘gender identity’ turns Title IX on its head.

“While Title IX sought to level the playing field between men and women, it is rife with exceptions that allow males and females to be separated based on the enduring physical differences between the sexes.”

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Kristen Waggoner, president, CEO and general Counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement the ruling was a “colossal win for women and girls” in the U.S.

“The Biden administration’s radical attempt to redefine sex not only tossed fairness, safety, and privacy for female students out the window, it also threatened free speech and parental rights,” she added. “With this ruling, the federal court in Kentucky rejected the entire Biden rule and the administration’s illegal actions. We are thankful for the leadership of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and other state attorneys general who challenged this blatant overreach alongside our courageous clients. 

“This ruling provides enormous relief for students across the country, including our client who has already suffered harassment by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. The U.S. Supreme Court can further protect girls like our client by granting cases brought by the ACLU against West Virginia and Idaho laws that protect women’s sports.”

The decision came as Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., is set to push the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act to the Senate Floor.

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A procedural vote on it will happen on Friday.

Fox News’ Julia Johnson and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.



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Laken Riley Act roils NJ governor’s race as 2 Dems skip roll: ‘The more someone campaigns the less they vote'

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Laken Riley Act roils NJ governor’s race as 2 Dems skip roll: ‘The more someone campaigns the less they vote'

Two Democrats in the 2025 race to succeed term-limited New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy did not cast votes this week in Congress on the Laken Riley Act, leading them to be lambasted by gubernatorial candidates from both parties.

The House Clerk’s office recorded Reps. Mikie Sherrill of Essex and Josh Gottheimer of Bergen County recorded as “not voting” on the landmark bill, which would require illegal immigrants convicted of theft-related crimes be detained by municipal and state authorities.

The bill takes its name from a young woman murdered by an illegal immigrant in Georgia who had been previously arrested and released on lesser charges.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop exclaimed, “This is cowardly,” in an X post.

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Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Rep Josh Gottheimer (Getty)

“We lose elections when we don’t have any core convictions… when we can’t explain why we have a view and why we believe in it. Hiding is not an answer that wins elections,” the Democrat said.

“Mikie and Josh are the same again – If you don’t have the courage to vote for a bill then what does that say about your courage to lead as Governor?” Fulop added.

Meanwhile, former Republican Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli slammed the two lawmakers from their right.

“Shame on [Josh and Mikie] for gutlessly ducking a vote on the Laken Riley Act today,” said Ciattarelli.

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On X, Ciattarelli said Riley “fought till her last breath against a murderous illegal immigrant, but Josh/Mikie didn’t have the courage to stand up to their extreme far left base.”

Ciattarelli ran against Murphy in 2021 and nearly defeated him by Garden State standards, losing by less than three points. In November, President-elect Trump only lost the state by four points, leading the GOP to signal their optimism about flipping Trenton red this fall.

When the bill last came up for a vote, Gottheimer voted “yea,” and a spokesman told the Philadelphia Inquirer he would have supported the bill this week if he had voted.

New Jersey’s three Republican congressmen – Reps. Christopher Smith, Jeff Van Drew and Tom Kean Jr. – all voted for the Laken Riley Act.

Democratic Reps. Nellie Pou, Frank Pallone, Herbert Conaway, LaMonica McIver, Donald Norcross and Rob Menendez Jr. all voted against it.

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Republican Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia – who is not running for governor – torched the pair on Wednesday with a quip:

“The Road to Drumthwacket is paved with flat squirrels who couldn’t make a decision,” she said, referring to the historic governor’s mansion near Princeton.

State Sen. Jon Bramnick, a GOP gubernatorial candidate, told Fox News Digital on Thursday that a lawmaker’s first responsibility is to their constituents, not their next campaign.

“I think you have to have campaign activities come secondary to your responsibility,” Bramnick said when asked about Gottheimer’s and Sherrill’s non-votes.

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“The key question is – if you’re going to run – campaign activities must be secondary to your voting,” adding that systemically it seems “the more [someone] campaigns the less they vote.”

Bramnick, who is also an attorney in Plainfield, added that he couldn’t assume what was on the two Democrats’ minds in terms of their vote, but that immigration is a hot issue and often difficult to navigate.

State Sen. Jon Bramnick recently spoke out about drone sightings in New Jersey.

State Sen. Jon Bramnick recently spoke out about drone sightings in New Jersey. (Bobby Bank/Getty Images | Doug Hood/Asbury Park Press)

With the Laken Riley Act scoring 48 Democratic “yea’s,” Bramnick said immigration is a bipartisan issue.

If elected governor, he said he would “follow the law” when asked how he would approach President-elect Trump or border czar-designate Tom Homan.

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“Unfortunately, the Congress hasn’t done anything to [create] a path to citizenship for people who may have an opportunity to stay here,” he said, discussing those who have lived in the U.S. for many years as otherwise law-abiding members of their communities.

“If America doesn’t like the law, change it,  but state-by-state shouldn’t change the law based on how they feel on the issue.”

Sherrill and Gottheimer did not immediately respond to inquiries made via their campaigns.

Another Democrat in the race, Ras Baraka – mayor of the state’s largest city, Newark – also did not respond.

Baraka, however, separately indicated he would have voted against the Laken Riley Act if he were in Congress.

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Apalachee High School student arrested for allegedly bringing gun to campus months after deadly mass shooting

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Apalachee High School student arrested for allegedly bringing gun to campus months after deadly mass shooting

The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office said a 14-year-old student was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly brought a gun to Apalachee High School, the same Georgia school where two students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting in September.

At approximately 2:02 p.m., school resource officers arrested the student without incident.

“The student was cooperative and compliant when encountered by law enforcement officers, and there have been no reports of the student threatening anyone with the gun,” the sheriff’s office said.

The boy, who was not named due to his age, has since been transported to a youth detention center.

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Law enforcement responded to Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., Sept. 4, 2024, after a mass shooting. (Christian Monterrosa/AFP)

The boy was charged with theft, being a minor in possession of a gun and possessing a weapon on school grounds. 

Officials didn’t say what type of gun was seized or how the child acquired the gun.

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A memorial to the shooting victims at Apalachee High School entry

A memorial is placed at Apalachee High School to commemorate the school’s shooting victims Sept. 7, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (The Washington Post/Contributor)

In response to the incident, the Barrow County School System canceled Thursday’s classes at the high school and called for a meeting to discuss immediate safety enhancement options.

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“We understand this brings up many different feelings in each of us,” the school system said. “We will update you all following the board meeting tomorrow with any changes regarding school procedures.” 

COLT GRAY PLEADS NOT GUILTY, DEMANDS JURY TRIAL 

Colin Gray (L) and Colt Gray (R)

A Barrow County grand jury indicted 14-year-old Colt Gray and his father, Colin Gray.  (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson/Barrow County Sheriff’s Office)

On Sept. 4, 14-year-old student Colt Gray allegedly opened fire at Apalachee High School, killing two teachers and two students.

Teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, were killed.

Gray has since been indicted on 55 counts as an adult, including 25 counts of aggravated assault. He has pleaded not guilty and faces a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole or life with the possibility of parole if convicted.

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His father, Colin Gray, who was arrested and charged with buying the semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting and giving it to Colt for Christmas, is facing 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter. He has also pleaded not guilty. 

Georgia is one of 42 states in the U.S. that holds parents criminally responsible for their children.

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