N
Attorney

No charges will be filed in nonbinary teen Nex Benedict’s death, Oklahoma district attorney says

An Oklahoma district attorney declined to file charges in connection with the death of nonbinary teenager Nex Benedict, officials said Thursday.

Benedict, a 16-year-old student at Owasso High School near Tulsa, died by suicide on Feb. 8, one day after a fight in a high school bathroom.

“Based upon the investigation of the Owasso Police Department, I am in agreement with their assessment that the filing of juvenile
charges are not warranted,” Tulsa County District Attorney Stephen A. Kunzweiler said in a statement.

“From all of the evidence gathered, this fight was an instance of mutual combat,” Kunzweiler wrote. “I do not have a reasonable belief that the State of Oklahoma could sustain its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt if charges were presented for prosecution.”

1709077692079.png
Nex Benedict.

CBS News


Benedict, who identified as nonbinary and used they/them pronouns, was sent to a hospital by a school nurse immediately following the fight. Benedict, while in the hospital, spoke to police officers and told them the bathroom fight had started when three girls harassed them. Benedict responded by throwing water at the girls, which sparked the fight.

Owassa police during their investigation discovered brief notes written by Benedict that appeared

…
Read More
O
Attorney

O’Neill Burke, Harris too close to call – NBC Chicago

Many races in Tuesday’s election have been called, although some races and referendums remain outstanding. You can see live election results from the Illinois Primary here.

One day after the Illinois primary election, the race for who will be the Democratic Party’s nominee for Cook County State’s Attorney remains too close to call.

As of 5 am Wednesday, Eileen O’Neill Burke had a narrow lead over Clayton Harris. With 99% of precincts reporting, they’re separated by roughly 9,000 votes.

The Chicago Board of Elections noted that mail-in ballots are continuing to be processed.

“Per Illinois election code, all late-arriving but properly postmarked (by March 19th) vote-by-mail ballots have a two-week period to be counted – and that would bring us to April 2nd,” CBOE director of public information Max Bever said.

Bever noted however that the vast majority of vote-by-mail ballots came back on election day or night, and the immediately Wednesday and Thursday following.

“By the time those are processed and included into the unofficial results, we may have a much clearer picture by this weekend,” Bever said, of the race.

Earlier in the day, Bever noted that Chicago’s voter turnout was “shockingly low,” saying that only 20% of

…
Read More