Karas on Crime

Todd Kendhammer Trial
2017-12-04 09:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
The murder trial of Todd Kendhammer accused of bludgeoning his wife to death in Wisconsin is set to begin today. The judge set aside Dec. 4 to 15 for the trial.

Bill Cosby Retrial
2017-11-06 09:00 - 17:00
Bill Cosby’s retrial for alleged sexual assault of Andrea Constand in 2004 is scheduled to begin today with jury selection.

Robert Durst Preliminary Hearing
2017-10-17 09:00 - 17:00
Durst is scheduled to be in court for a preliminary hearing. The prosecution is expected to present enough evidence to establish probable cause that Durst murdered his friend, Susan Berman, in December 2000. If the evidence is sufficient, Durst will be bound over for trial.

Trial of Man Accused of Killing Jessica Chambers
2017-10-09 09:00 - 17:00
A man accused of murdering Jessica Chambers, 19, by setting her car on fire in December 2014 in Mississippi, is scheduled for trial today. Quinton Tellis faces capital murder charges. He was indicted in February 2016.

Second Slenderman Trial
2017-10-02 09:00 - 17:00
The trial of Morgan Geyser, accused of attempted first degree murder, for stabbing a friend 19 times in order to please a fictional, online character known the “Slenderman” is scheduled to begin today. Co-defendant Anissa Weier’s trial was scheduled for September 11 in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Both girls were 12 when they stabbed Payton Leutner. Leutner has recovered from her injuries. The defendants are being tried as adults.

Charles Merritt: McStay Family Murder Trial
2017-09-25 09:00 - 17:00
A tentative date has been set for Charles “Chase’ Merritt who is accused of murdering the McStay family of four in February 2010. He faces 4 counts of capital murder. The bodies were found in shallow graves in San Bernardino County in November 2013. Merritt had a business relationship with Joseph McStay.

Shayna Hubers Retrial--Moved to Jan. 2018
2017-09-18 09:00 - 17:00
Hubers is accused of fatally shooting her boyfriend Ryan Poston on Oct. 12, 2012 in Kentucky. She was convicted in 2015 but given a new trial when it was learned that one of the jurors was a felon. The retrial is originally set for today but is now rescheduled for January 2018.

First Trial in Holly Bobo Murder
2017-09-11 09:00 - 17:00

First Slenderman Trial
2017-09-11 09:00 - 17:00
The trial of Anissa Weier, accused of attempted first degree murder, for stabbing a friend 19 times in order to please a fictional, online character known the “Slenderman” is scheduled to begin today. Co-defendant Morgan Geyser’s trial is scheduled for October 2 in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Both girls were 12 when they stabbed Payton Leutner. Leutner has recovered from her injuries. The defendants are being tried as adults.

Angelika Graswald Trial (Death on the Hudson)
2017-08-15 09:00 - 17:00
The second-degree murder trial of Angelika Graswald was scheduled to begin today. She was accused of letting her fiance drown in the Hudson River when his kayak took on water. Did she intentionally not assist him so he wouldn’t drown? The State says she admitted to acts that created a risk to Vincent Viafore’s life but the defense says she made false admissions. Viafore drowned on April 19, 2015. His body was found more than a month later in the Hudson River in update New York State. If convicted, Graswald faced 25 years to life in prison. UPDATE: On July 24, 2017, Graswald pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide, a low level felony that carried 1-1/3 to 4 years in prison. She should be out by December.

PSU Hazing Death Preliminary Hearing Continued
2017-08-10 08:30 - 17:00
The preliminary hearing against a Penn State University fraternity and 18 students for the hazing death of a student last February continues today and into tomorrow, if necessary. The hearing was begun in June and adjourned to today.

Michelle Carter Sentencing
2017-08-03 09:00 - 17:00
Michelle Carter is to be sentenced today. She faces up to 20 years. On June 16, 2017, a Massachusetts judge convicted 20-year-old Michelle Carter of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to commit suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. The encouragement was via text messages. Carter waived her right to trial by jury and opted for the judge to decide.

Jody Herring Trial
2017-08-01 09:00 - 17:00
UPDATE: Herring pled guilty to murder on July 6, 2017. She faces a minimum of 55 years in prison. A sentencing hearing that could last up to five days may take place in October. (This was a tentative trial date for Herring, accused of murdering a social worker and three relatives in Vermont.)

Robert Durst Hearing
2017-07-24 09:00 - 17:00
More witnesses will testify in a pretrial hearing in Robert Durst’s murder case in Los Angeles. Durst is accused of fatally shooting his close friend Susan Berman allegedly to silence her from speaking to authorities about the disappearance of his first wife Kathleen in 1982.

Dalia Dippolito Sentencing
2017-07-21 09:00 - 17:00
Dalia Dippolito faces up to 30 years in prison for hiring a hitman to kill her husband. She is scheduled to be sentenced today.

Angelika Graswald Pretrial Conference
2017-07-17 14:00 - 17:00
Graswald is charged with second degree murder for the drowning death of her fiance Vince Viafore on April 19, 2015 while the couple was kayaking on the Hudson River in New York. This could be the final pretrial conference before her August 15, 2017 trial.

Mark Sievers/Jimmy Rodgers Hearing
2017-07-14 08:30 - 12:00
A case management hearing is scheduled for today at 8:30 am in Fort Myers, FL (Lee County) in the capital murder case of Mark Sievers, accused of hiring Jimmy Rodgers and Curtis Wayne Wright to murder his wife Teresa, a popular physician in the community.

First Trial in Holly Bobo Murder
2017-07-10 09:00 - 17:00
The trial of Zachary Adams, the first of three men accused of murdering Holly Bobo in 2011 in Tennessee, was scheduled to begin today. It has been rescheduled for September 11, 2017.

Angelika Graswald Hearing
2017-06-20 09:00 - 17:00
A hearing is set for today as attorneys prepare for an August trial. Graswald is charged with second-degree murder in the drowning death of her fiance Vincent Viafore on April 19, 2015.

Adnan Syed Appellate Argument
2017-06-08 09:00 - 13:00
A Maryland Court of Appeals will hear argument on Syed’s appeal that he be granted bail pending a new trial.

Bampumim Teixeira Court Appearance
2017-06-08 09:00 - 10:00
This is the first court appearance since Teixeira’s hospital arraignment. He is being held without bond on two counts of murder for the May 5, 2017 murder of two Massachusetts physicians who were engaged to be married. Richard Field, 49, and Lina Bolanos, 38, both anesthesiologists, were found with their throats slit and their hands tied.

Michelle Carter Trial
2017-06-05 09:00 - 17:00
Michelle Carter is charged with manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide via text messages. She was not with him when he killed himself by carbon monoxide poisoning in 2014 in Massachusetts. Both were teens at the time. Carter is now 20 years old. The trial was continued to today from March 6.

Bill Cosby Trial
2017-06-05 09:00 - 17:00
In November 2016, the judge set this date for trial, noting that it could move up. Cosby is charged with the 2004 sexual assault of a Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, whom he allegedly drugged before assaulting.

Dalia Dippolito Retrial
2017-06-02 09:00 - 17:00

Michael Slager Federal Civil Rights Trial
2017-05-01 09:00 - 17:00
The federal civil rights trial of former North Charleston, South Carolina police officer Michael Slager was scheduled to begin today. Slater shot and killed motorist Walter Scott in April 2015 after Scott ran away during a routine traffic stop. Slager accepted a plea deal rather than go to trial. He pled guilty to violating Scott’s civil rights and will be sentenced up to 25 years later this year. The state charges were dropped as a condition of the plea agreement.

Robert Durst Control Date
2017-04-25 09:00 - 17:00
Today is the next court date in Durst’s California murder case. He’s charged with shooting his close friend, Susan Berman, in the back of the head in December 2000 to silence her from talking to authorities about the disappearance (and presumed murder) of Durst’s first wife, Kathy, in 1982.

Angelika Graswald Kayak Drowning Case
2017-04-06 09:00 - 17:00
Graswald, 37, is due back in court today after filing notice of intent to use psychiatric evidence at trial. That notice was filed a week before jury selection was to begin last month. The state was to have her evaluated by their own psychiatric witness. A new trial date could be set today.

Trial of One Defendant in 2011 Holly Bobo Murder
2017-04-03 09:00 - 17:00
The trial of at least one of the 3 men accused of murdering Holly Bobo is expected to begin today. As I write this (in Nov. 2016), the judge has not ruled on a motion to sever the trials nor has he stated which defendant will go to trial first.

Jeffrey Rackover & Lawrence Dilione/Control Date
2017-03-07 09:00 - 12:00
Rackover and Dilione are charged with crimes related to the death of Joseph Communale in Rackover’s upper east side Manhattan apartment. Neither has yet been charged with murder. Communale’s body was found in a shallow grave in New Jersey. Today is a control date, I suspect, to determine whether the DA has elevated the charges to murder.

Michelle Carter Trial Continued
2017-03-06 09:00 - 17:00
Michelle Carter is charged with manslaughter for encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide via text messages. She was not with him when he killed himself by carbon monoxide poisoning in 2014 in Massachusetts. Both were teens at the time. Carter is now 20 years old. The trial was scheduled to begin today but has been rescheduled for June 5.
