Nbcs Kristen Dahlgren is outside the federal courthouse in boston. Kristen, this was a 32count indictment. Break down the findings for us. Some of the murders he was found guilty of, some of them he was not. Reporter yeah, these they all fell sort of under this racketeering charge, which is a catch all. There were 19 murders. He was found guilty of committing or being coconspirator in 11 of them. This all during the time when he was reported to be an fbi informant. Were now hearing outside of the courthouse from some of the victims families. We heard from pat donahue. Her husband michael was one of the murders that was proven in this case. She says today she really feels like she got justice. We also heard from steven davis. Hes been very vocal through all of this. His sister debra was murdered, but that was the one charge that was found no finding. So it wasnt proven or not proven. The jury just couldnt reach a finding on that. So he was understandably disappointed. He said, though, y
Turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner. Make no mistake, this decision is a massive rebuke to city officials like mayor michael bloomberg, who today was still defending this discriminatory policy. How do you think this ruling at all threatens your overall legacy . I dont know. Almost 12 years now where people have walked the streets of new york city without having to look over their shoulder. I suspect thats probably a pretty good legacy. Well, maybe some people can walk the streets without looking over their shoulder, but thats often not true for people of color in new york and other cities across the country. Minorities are constantly being harassed by police, even when they have done nothing wrong. He grabbed me off the walk and he is oh, youre doing graffiti. And thats when he put the cuffs on me. So when he turned me around and im seeing the wall, how am i doing graffiti if its black and i have a pink highlighter i
We begin with 30 years of tough on policies and laws starting to unrival. Sea change movement for criminal justice and race. Today speaking to the american bar association, attorney general eric holder announced in lowlevel nonviolent drug cases federal prosecutors will be instructed to leave out the amount of an illegal substance in their criminal complaint in order to avoid triggering federal mandatory minimums. A move that could be the start of a truly Seismic Shift in federal drug policy. In new york, a landmark decision on the stop and frisk practice of the nypd. This morning the Federal District judge found nypd stop and Frisk Program violates the Constitutional Rights of people of color in new york. Writing that the nypd carries out more stops where there are more black and hispanic residents echbd whresident s when other relevant variables are held. The census track predicts the stop rate above and beyond the crime rate. The city, through the nypd, has a policy of incorrect rac
Like the cuts in early voting that led to waits of eight hours or more to cost a ballot in florida. Huge democratic pushback and uproar over the changes in the voting laws, efforts in the republicancontrolled states to make voting harder did get rolled back somewhat. They were subject to a lot of human cry. Now in the relative calm of this late summer in an odd numbered nonelection year, it is the state of North Carolina that has gone further than any other state in the country. In the name of supposedly cracking down on voter fraud, which is never to any significant extent been proven or even seriously alleged in that state, North Carolina republicans will now ban you from voting unless you can show new documentation that you never had to show before. And that hundreds of thousands of legal voters in North Carolina do not have. And, of course, those voters who will not be allowed to vote without that documentation now, they, of course, are disproportionately minority and disproportion
The elaborate proposal that had the wouldbe bride crying tears of joy. From nbc news, this is today with matt lauer and Savannah Guthrie. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today on a wednesday morning. I am matt lauer. I am Savannah Guthrie. Everybody needs a personal fan today. If you look at the map its hard to believe, twothirds of the country with temperatures over 90 degrees, and isnt the heat wave getting longer now. Yeah, its into saturday. Its a heat wave we have not seen in about 16 years. And i was at the stadium last night, and it was an oven in the stadium. Lets get right to nbcs tom costello, who is sizzling away in washington. Good morning to you. Good morning. Already 81 degrees here in washington, and its 7 00 and we are headed to 97 degrees, and high humidity today, and orange air quality, and if you have asthma they suggest you stay inside. The heat wave has a huge grip on much of the country and its supposed to only get hotter. Summertime, and living is anything bu