THOMPSON FALLS, Mont. (AP) â For a moment, the entire courtroom froze.
Judge Amy Eddy had spent the last several minutes winding her way through a painstakingly detailed explanation of her impending decision, touching on each argument she had been presented with while alternately glancing at prosecutors, defense attorneys and Rachel Ann Bellesen, the 37-year-old mother of four sitting stoically with the weight of the last seven months dangling over her head.
Then two heavy words knifed through the tension in the crowded room: âwith prejudice.â
When the power of those words eventually sunk in, Bellesen leaned back in her chair, opened her mouth wide and let out a long-stifled sigh, expelling much of the fear, anger and horror sheâd been carrying for the 229 days since she said she killed her ex-husband in self-defense.
Juan Pablo Arengo comienza a disputar la serie de playoffs ellitoral.com.ar - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ellitoral.com.ar Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Leona Abdullah-Ward dreamed of having her own dance studio for more than a decade. Sheâd taught fitness classes at Hillside Community Center after retiring in 2000 from the Army, but sheâd never had a place of her own.Â
In 2019, things came together. Abdullah-Ward acquired a space on East Pikes Peak Avenue, started teaching therapeutic dance and watched her clientele grow.Â
Then the pandemic hit, and COVID-19 restrictions forced Abdullah-Ward to close her doors suddenly in March 2020. Her space at the Park Hill Shopping Center would remain shuttered for six months.Â
In September, Abdullah-Ward was finally permitted to bring in clients, with safety precautions. She took temperatures, only had 15 clients at a time with proper social distancing, and cleaned every surface â but people were still worried about the virus. They didnât show up the way they did before. Â
Died: April 26th, 2021
Rory Young, who has died aged 49, was a wildlife protector and conservationist who believed passionately that the future of the Earth, and of mankind, was dependant on protecting the planetâs bio-diversity.
His devotion to this cause led to him being murdered in Burkina Faso, a fate he met when a wildlife ranger patrol he was guiding was attacked by gunmen with Nusrat al-Islam, a Saharan affiliate of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The attackers took him captive, along with two Spanish journalists, David Beriain and Roberto Fraile. A member of the Burkinabe armed forces was also missing after the melee.