Crime

Chud the Builder’s attorney is pushing back hard against accusations he’s racist just for representing the controversial streamer in court.

Attorney Jake Fendley released a lengthy statement after backlash over defending Chud -- legal name Dalton Eatherly -- insisting that representing someone accused of racist behavior does not make him racist himself.

Fendley said he’s represented clients from all walks of life and called it awful that people are labeling him racist over doing his job as a criminal defense attorney. He also pointed to his family history and legal background while defending his decision to take the case.

Influencer Gabbie Gonzalez unsuccessfully tried to get a former MMA fighter to intimidate her baby daddy, Jack Avery ... before she decided to look for a hit man to take him out, according to the criminal complaint. 

According to court docs obtained by TMZ, Gabbie and her pal Kai Cordrey, who is also charged over the alleged scheme to have a hit man kill Jack, went to Dustin Barca, a former professional fighter and boxing trainer. Dustin has a 4-0 record in his pro career. 

Gabbie and Kai tried to convince Dustin on March 23, 2021, to threaten, scare, or force Jack to leave Kauai, per the criminal complaint. 

The alleged plot to kill Jack Avery wasn't supposed to look like a murder at all ... at least according to cops, who say Gabbie Gonzalez talked about making it look like a deadly car crash.

That particular part of the alleged plot is interesting because, as it turns out, Gabbie's accused co-conspirator in the murder for hire plot is her father, Francisco Gonzalez ... who is a longtime personal injury lawyer. Police say Francisco actually bankrolled the alleged hit.

According to court docs, obtained by TMZ, investigators say a witness told them Gabbie and her friend Kai Cordrey discussed the alleged hit as "potentially going down in Los Angeles and being made to look like a car accident."

Rough day for TikTok star Gabbie Gonzalez ... she was hit with three criminal charges as part of an alleged conspiracy to kill her famous baby daddy singer, her bail was set at $2 million and she's barred from going near her 7-year-old daughter.

Gabbie just went in front of a judge in a Los Angeles County courthouse. She was cuffed and in a blue hoodie and her family watched as a judge scheduled a Thursday arraignment.

Prosecutors allege Gabbie cooked up a murder-for-hire plot with her father, Francisco Gonzalez, while she was going through a nasty custody battle with boy band singer Jack Avery. A judge also issued a protective order preventing her from contacting him or their kid.

Steve Shirilla is pushing back on the firestorm surrounding Netflix's documentary about his daughter ... insisting his comments about marijuana were twisted and people have misunderstood what he was trying to say.

Check it out ... Steve joined us on “TMZ Live” after being placed on paid leave from his Ohio Catholic school teaching job following backlash over "The Crash" ... centered around his daughter, Mackenzie Shirilla, who was convicted of murder in the 2022 crash that killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan.

A major point of controversy has been Steve's remarks in the doc about Mackenzie smoking marijuana as a teenager ... but he says that interpretation is off base ... telling us the filmmakers condensed days of interviews into a few short sound bites and left out important context.

Ghislaine Maxwell can't rely on President Donald Trump to secure her release from prison ... because his acting Attorney General says he will not recommend pardoning Maxwell.

Todd Blanche -- who took over the DOJ in earlier April after POTUS fired AG Pam Bondi -- testified before Congress Tuesday ... and the infamous Epstein files came up.

Senator Chris Van Hollen pressed Blanche on whether he'd meet with Epstein's victims -- he said he has -- before asking him if he'd commit to not pardoning any person named in the files.

Two teenagers are suspected of shooting up the San Diego Islamic Center, killing three before taking their own lives, and cops say one of the boys' mothers told them he was suicidal and her guns and car were missing hours before the attack.

San Diego police say one of the suspects is a 17-year-old San Diego high school student ... and his mom called them to report a runaway juvenile who left with a companion dressed in camouflage.

Cops say they were interviewing the mother and searching for the teen when the first shots rang out Monday at San Diego's largest mosque.

Joseph Duggar scored a big win in his Florida criminal case ... because a judge signed off on letting his legal team grill the investigators involved in the child abuse probe.

According to new court docs, obtained by TMZ, a Florida judge ruled Monday that Duggar's attorneys can depose witnesses tied to the investigation -- including reps from the Department of Children & Families, the Child Protection Team and the Children's Advocacy Center -- even though many of those records are typically protected by confidentiality laws.

The order also forces agencies involved in the case to turn over evidence the prosecution could use at trial ... including videos, audio recordings, reports and physical evidence. Duggar's defense team will now be allowed to view, examine, and copy that material that may be used by prosecutors before the case heads to trial.

A Facebook Marketplace meetup over Corvette seats turned deadly ... and now the man convicted of pulling the trigger will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Omar Brogdon was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2024 killing of Orhan Hosic in Michigan's Genesee County. Prosecutors say Hosic had arranged to meet Brogdon at his Fenton Township apartment to sell two Corvette car seats through Facebook Marketplace ... but the deal ended in gunfire.

Investigators say Hosic was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds inside his apartment on July 6, 2024. Authorities later tracked Brogdon down in the Detroit area weeks later ... where cops say they recovered the Corvette seats and multiple weapons from his garage.

Jonathan Andic -- the son of fashion mogul Isak Andic -- has been arrested for allegedly murdering Isak ... according to several prominent outlets in Spain.

Here's the deal ... Isak died in late 2024 after falling off a cliff in the Montserrat mountains near Barcelona. He was hiking with Jonathan and several other family members at the time -- though the newspaper El País reported he was only with Jonathan at the time of the fall.

Jonathan became the subject of a homicide investigation last year ... and, on Tuesday, he was taken into custody in Barcelona -- with photographers capturing authorities taking him away.

Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS underwear line helped get a cocaine smuggler convicted in England and sentenced to prison for more than 10 years, authorities said.

Jakub Jan Konkel will spend the next 13 years and six months in The Big House after his sentencing Monday in Chelmsford Crown Court in the county of Essex, England. And Kim’s famous underwear and clothing line played a role in Konkel’s downfall.

According to police ... last September, Konkel boarded a ferry with his trailer truck in the Hook of Holland, The Netherlands, and was transported to Port of Harwich in Essex.

O.J. Simpson secretly believed he owed his freedom to Mark Fuhrman after his acquittal in his famous 1995 double murder trial -- while also thinking the then-LAPD detective was a total racist, according to The Juice's attorney.

Malcolm LaVergne, OJ's longtime lawyer and executor of his estate, tells TMZ ... "Privately, O.J. was very thankful for Mark Fuhrman because Mark Fuhrman blew up the case for prosecutors" during O.J.'s 1995 trial for the savage murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman, in Los Angeles. LaVergne pointed out O.J. saw Fuhrman as his "get out of jail free card."

As we first reported, Fuhrman died from throat cancer Tuesday in Idaho, where he moved after retiring from the Los Angeles Police Department in August 1995.

LaVergne also said O.J. didn't care much for Fuhrman, viewing him as a racist after his repeated use of the n-word was revealed during the O.J. trial.

Former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman, who discovered the bloody glove in the O.J. Simpson murder case and later torpedoed the prosecution with his use of the n-word, is dead ... TMZ has learned.

Sources tell TMZ ... Mark died from an aggressive form of throat cancer, which he was diagnosed with last year. Mark had been hospitalized for about a week before he died. He had done some cancer treatment ... but made the final decision to stop. There won't be a funeral.

Mark had been living in Idaho and the Kootenai County Coroner Office tells us Mark died May 12.

Mark Fuhrman's longtime professional partner is remembering the former LAPD detective as far more than the controversial figure many came to know during the O.J. Simpson trial ... saying the man she worked beside was brilliant, funny and deeply misunderstood.

Lynda Bensky -- who worked with Fuhrman for 28 years covering high-profile murder cases for Fox News -- tells TMZ the two traveled constantly together as contracted analysts ... and she says crowds would regularly approach him to thank him for his work as a detective.

Bensky says Fuhrman handled the fallout from the Simpson case "with grace" ... adding she believed he was unfairly targeted by the defense team.

Ron Goldman's father and Nicole Brown Simpson's sister are mourning the loss of a central figure in the O.J. Simpson murder case ... former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman.

Ron's dad, Fred Goldman, tells TMZ ... "Anytime anyone dies, it’s a shame."

Nicole's sister, Tanya Brown, tells TMZ ... "This is a big one and a huge loss."

Mark infamously discovered the bloody glove in the O.J. murder case and later torpedoed the prosecution when the defense proved he'd used the n-word. He died Tuesday in Idaho after a battle with throat cancer.

Former LAPD detective Tom Lange is reacting to the death of Mark Fuhrman with respect and reflection ... despite the two famously butting heads over the years in the wake of the O.J. Simpson murder case.

Lange tells TMZ he was "shocked" and "very sorry" to hear about Fuhrman's passing ... calling the news "terrible." He also gave Fuhrman credit for the role he played during one of the most infamous murder investigations in American history.

"Mark was a cop, he was there, he did his job ... got to give him credit for that," Lange told us.