Karas on Crime

Live Chat With Beth
2016-07-20 20:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York)

Bill Cosby Arraignment in Sexual Assault Case in PA
2016-07-20 09:00 - 17:00

Hearing in Charles Merritt
2016-07-19 09:00 - 17:00
The defense team for Charles Merritt says that AT&T did not comply with their requests to turn over phone records. In the most recent hearing on July 8, the defense argued that AT&T’s reasons for not providing the records were inadequate. The judge has asked a representative of AT&T to appear at today’s hearing presumably to answer more questions.

Corey Batey Sentencing
2016-07-15 09:00 - 17:00
Former Vanderbilt University student and football player, Corey Batey faces 15 to 25 years in prison for rape and other charges related to a June 2013 assault of an unconscious fellow student. Three others were also charged. The cases were severed for trial.

Jody Herring Hearing
2016-07-12 08:30 - 12:00
Herring is charged with four counts of murder in Vermont. She killed a social worker apparently over a child custody matter. She also killed three family members. Today is a status conference in Barre, VT at which the judge may set a trial date.

Mark Sievers in Court at DCF Hearing for Daughters
2016-07-11 15:00 - 17:00
Mark Sievers and his attorney will be in court this afternoon. He recently lost parental rights to his grade school daughters. Custody was awarded to the girls’ maternal grandmother instead of Sievers’s mother. Apparently some issues arose regarding the maternal grandmother, Mary Ann Grove. The judge is expected to speak to the girls today to hear their complaints. The hearing involves the Department of Children and Families. His next appearance regarding the murder case is July 27, 2016.

Pedro Hernandez Ruling Expected On or Before This Date
2016-07-11 09:00 - 17:00
Judge Max Wiley is expected to rule on some pretrial evidentiary matters today (or before) in this murder case. Hernandez is accused of murdering 6-year-old Etan Patz on May 25, 1979 in lower Manhattan. Jury selection should begin on Sept. 6 or 7.

Hearing in Charles Merritt (McStay Family) Murder Case
2016-07-08 09:00 - 17:00

Live Chat with Beth at 8 pm ET
2016-07-07 20:00 - 21:00

Hearing in Bill Cosby's Pennsylvania Case
2016-07-07 13:00 - 17:00

Lt. Brian Rice/Baltimore Cop--Opening Statements in Bench Trial
2016-07-07 09:30 - 17:00

Oscar Pistorius Sentencing
2016-07-06 08:00 - 17:00
Blade runner Oscar Pistorius will learn his sentence today for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeve Steenkamp, on Feb. 14, 2013. An appellate court had thrown out the previous conviction for South Africa’s version of what we call manslaughter and his 5-year sentence. The high court, instead, found him guilty of murder where he faces at least 15 years in prison. He served one year of the original five years. The judge, however, could find mitigating circumstances to justify a sentence less than 15 years.

Baltimore Cop/Brian Rice--Trial
2016-07-05 09:00 - 17:00
Rice’s trial is now scheduled to begin today following the decision on March 8 from the MD Court of Appeals. The state’s highest court reversed Judge Williams’s order disallowing the testimony of Officer Porter. Porter will now be compelled to testify against Rice. Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson’s trials have already passed. Each waived a jury and each was acquitted by Judge Williams. Today, hearings will be conducted. Lt. Rice waives a jury today. Opening statements will be Thursday morning.

Live Chat with Beth at 6 pm EST
2016-06-29 18:00 - 19:00

Verdict to be Delivered in Goodson (Freddie Gray) Trial
2016-06-23 09:00 - 17:00
Judge Williams is expected to render a verdict in the murder trial of Baltimore Officer Caesar Goodson, one of six officers charged in Freddie Gray’s death on April 19, 2015. Goodson faces one count of depraved heart murder, three counts of manslaughter and one count each of second degree assault, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment.

Live Chat with Beth
2016-06-20 21:00 - 22:00
Chat live with Beth at 9:00 p.m. ET!

Oscar Pistorius Sentencing Hearing -- Day 3
2016-06-15 09:00 - 17:00

Oscar Pistorius Sentencing Hearing -- Day 2
2016-06-14 09:00 - 17:00

Oscar Pistorius Sentencing
2016-06-13 09:00 - 17:00
Oscar Pistorius lost his right to appeal a murder conviction last month. He faces sentencing this week. The court set aside the entire week for the sentencing hearing. At his trial in 2014 for the 2013 shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, the judge convicted him of a lower version of homicide called culpable homicide and sentenced him to 5 years in prison. The prosecution appealed. The higher court found the trial court’s reasoning was flawed in finding that Pistorius was merely negligent; the verdict was enhanced to murder. Pistorius could be sentenced to 15 years.

Caesar Goodson/Baltimore Cop Bench Trial Begins
2016-06-09 09:30 - 17:00

Brandon Vandenburg Jury Selection to Begin
2016-06-08 09:00 - 17:00
Jury selection is set to begin today in the rape trial of former Vanderbilt University student, Brandon Vandenburg. Co-defendant Corey Batey was convicted of rape in April 2016; his sentencing is scheduled for July 15, 2016. (He faces 15 to 25 years on the most serious charge.) Batey, Vandenburg, along were two other former students still awaiting trial, were accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious female student on June 23, 2013, and video recording the assault. A jury is being selected in Memphis.

Live Chat with Beth & Fran Norton
2016-06-07 21:00 - 22:00
Fran Norton is a Star News reporter in Wilmington, NC who is covering some interesting murder cases.

Jerry Sandusky Hearing
2016-06-06 09:00 - 17:00

Caesar Goodson Trial/Baltimore Cop
2016-06-06 09:00 - 17:00
Caesar Goodson’s murder trial is scheduled to begin today. He is the only Baltimore officer of the six charged in Freddie Gray’s death in April 2015 to face murder charges. Goodson was the driver of the van that transported Gray. It was during the ride that Gray, unrestrained in the back of the van, suffered a fatal spinal injury.

Angelika Graswald Hearings
2016-06-06 09:00 - 17:00
Suppression hearings in Graswald’s case are scheduled to begin. A Huntley hearing is to suppress statements.

Charles Merritt Hearing
2016-06-03 09:00 - 17:00

6 p.m. ET--Live Chat with Beth
2016-06-01 18:00 - 18:30
Chat live with Beth on the Live Chat page (see top menu) at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Bill Cosby Preliminary Hearing
2016-05-24 09:30 - 17:00
Bill Cosby’s preliminary hearing in Norristown, PA is scheduled for today. It had been scheduled for March but was stayed while Cosby appealed the judge’s decision not to dismiss the aggravated indecent sexual assault charge. It is alleged that he assaulted Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, at his home in Montgomery County, PA in 2004. Newly-elected District Attorney Kevin Steele filed the charges last December. Bruce Castor, the DA at the time the allegations were reported in 2005, chose not to file charges.

Bashara Post-Conviction Hearing Resumes
2016-05-24 09:00 - 17:00

NY v. Pedro Hernandez
2016-05-23 09:30 - 17:00
Pedro Hernandez is charged with the 1979 murder of 6-year-old Etan Patz. He was not arrested until 2012. A jury deadlocked 11-1 for conviction at his first trial in 2015. He is facing a retrial in September. Today is a control date.
