True Crime

Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino -- the man who the L.A. County D.A. alleges killed 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez -- deserves the death penalty, one U.S congressman says ... and, he blames California Governor Gavin Newsom for making that impossible.

We spoke with U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) Wednesday about this case ... and, he tells us the moratorium on the death penalty instituted by Gov. Newsom in 2019 has had disastrous consequences.

Among them, Kiley says, the people of California voted to keep the death penalty legal ... and, the governor stepped in to override the rule, making criminals less afraid of committing major crimes. California Proposition 62 -- which would've repealed the death penalty -- failed back in 2016.

Bryan Kohberger's autism diagnosis may come up at his murder trial, but the state won't argue it elevated his alleged crimes to an even more severe level ... because a judge just ruled they can't.

Kohberger appeared in court Wednesday, and the conversation turned to his recent diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder ... which the judge made clear should not be used by the state of Idaho during the sentencing phase -- if he's found guilty -- as an "aggravating factor." BK's attorney argued the diagnosis should keep him from being sentenced to death.

An "aggravating factor" is a factor in the case which makes the crime even more heinous ... such as premeditation, committing the act in front of a child, or showing a lack of remorse, for example. So the judge is basically granting the defense's request.

Gary Michael Hilton is one of the oldest living serial killers in the country ... and now he's confessing for the first time to the murder that landed him on Death Row in Florida.

The 78-year-old Hilton -- AKA The National Forest Serial Killer -- sat down with Court TV's investigative reporter David Scott -- and TMZ has obtained an exclusive clip of their recent face-to-face interview ... and it's pretty damn wild!

But first, just to recap ... Hilton was convicted of killing four people during his monstrous 2007-2008 spree in three states: Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. He committed the murders in national parks and confessed to three of them, but he never copped to the fourth -- a nurse named Cheryl Dunlap, who was killed in 2007 in Leon County, Florida. That is, until now.

4:38 PM PT -- Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman tells TMZ ... "In denying parole for Sirhan Sirhan ... Governor Newsom took into account his young age at the time of the crime (24), his lack of any prior arrests or convictions, his difficult upbringing in the war-torn Middle East, his success in getting college degrees and engaging in rehabilitation in prison, his risk score which was the lowest on the scale, his age (77 years old), his diminished health, and the amount of time in prison (54 years).

He continues ... "Notwithstanding those factors, Governor Newsom stated that his lack of full insight into actions and taking complete responsibility for them overweighed the other facts to show that he remained an unreasonable risk of danger to society. Sirhan Sirhan never made up a self-defense defense, never suborned or attempted to suborn perjury, and never lied repeatedly at trial under oath."

He concludes ... "In contrast, while the Menendez brothers have many of the same positive characteristics of Sirhan Sirhan in favor of parole or resentencing, they have never accepted responsibility for lying about their self-defense defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury concerning their fabrications of stories of their father violently raping Lyle's girlfriend, their mother trying to poison the family, and their friend supposedly giving them a handgun the day before the murders. As a result, if Sirhan remains an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety, then so too do the Menendez brothers -- who have never come fully clean of their lies in over 30 years -- constitute an unreasonable risk of danger to the community."

Sirhan Sirhan's lawyer is calling out Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman ... saying the new D.A. is getting some bad information about RFK's alleged assassin.

Hochman's been trying to use the Sirhan case to keep the Menendez Brothers behind bars in their bid for freedom ... but Sirhan's attorney tells us Hochman is confused about some basic facts.

Angela Berry, who represents Sirhan, tells TMZ ... Hochman is pushing a common misperception about Sirhan when he says Sirhan admitted to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and then later claimed his innocence, and she says Hochman is making an unfair comparison to Erik and Lyle.

Henry Cejudo is convinced his actions at a hit-and-run incident last week helped save the suspect's life.

The wild scene, of course, all unfolded on Friday night in the UFC star's Phoenix neighborhood ... when he says he saw a group of young adults in a vehicle careening down his block at around 80 MPH.

Cejudo told TMZ Sports on Monday the car went airborne after it hit one of his neighbor's sprinkler systems ... and then it crashed through one of his other neighbor's houses.

Erik and Lyle Menendez are firing back at Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman ... telling him it's stupid to compare them to Sirhan Sirhan because they actually admitted to killing their parents.

The Menendez Brothers distance themselves from RFK's assassin in new legal docs where they push back on Hochman's motion to withdraw his predecessor’s motion to resentence them.

Hochman's on the record saying Erik and Lyle should not gain their freedom, comparing their case to the denial of parole for Sirhan ... but the brothers say there's no way to seriously put them on the same plane as Sirhan.

Erik and Lyle Menendez say they finally have something to look forward to as they inch closer to a possible release from prison, and they're revealing how they've evolved during their 35 years behind bars.

The brothers tell us why they are -- for the first time since 1990 -- hopeful for the future in our new special, "TMZ Presents: The Menendez Brothers: The Prison Interview" ... premiering tonight on FOX.

Lyle says the word hope is new for them, and Erik says he's striving to be a better person every day and finally beginning to like himself -- but the key for them will be whether the California parole board finds they no longer pose a danger to society.

President Trump's no-nonsense Attorney General Pam Bondi has made it clear she wants Luigi Mangione executed for allegedly committing murder — and, if she gets her way, the 26-year-old Ivy League grad faces a torturous fate, TMZ has learned.

TMZ interviewed University of Richmond Law Professor Corinna Lain, who provided us with a road map of what Luigi can potentially expect if he is federally convicted of stalking and murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The federal prosecutor presents aggravating factors to the court after a conviction, and the jury must unanimously agree on those factors before the judge decides whether to impose the death penalty. In federal cases, the death penalty typically results in lethal injection.

Here's the first look at Jason Clarke in character as Alex Murdaugh on the set of an upcoming Hulu series about some infamous murders.

Jason is starring in "The Murdaugh Murders" alongside Patricia Arquette as Alex's wife, Maggie Murdaugh.

Hulu's limited series is based off Mandy Matney's investigative reporting on the Murdaugh murder case ... and it's being filmed at Assembly Studios in Atlanta.

An Illinois teacher accused of sexually assaulting one of her 15-year-old students was caught on video telling cops she was going to throw up while being arrested for the alleged crime.

Newly released police body cam footage shows Christina Formella weeping and hyper-ventilating in the backseat of a patrol car after she was cuffed by an officer in Downers Grove, Illinois, on March 16.

The officer secures Formella's seatbelt and asks her if she wants a tissue. Formella responds that she feels sick and the cop offers to get her a barf bag, calling in the request over the radio. Formella continues to cry in the back seat, turning hysterical right before our eyes.

A doctor who allegedly tried to kill his wife by pushing her off a cliff in Hawaii harbored "extreme jealousy" and once accused her of having an affair ... at least according to his spouse.

Gerhardt Konig -- a 46-year-old anesthesiologist who works on Maui -- is accused of trying to murder his wife Arielle last month during a scenic stroll on Oahu.

He was charged Wednesday with second-degree attempted murder -- prosecutors say he attacked his wife at the famous Pali Lookout -- and on Thursday she filed for court-ordered protection.

10:40 AM PT -- Luigi Mangione's attorney Karen Agnifilo tells TMZ ... “By seeking to murder Luigi Mangione, the Justice Department has moved from the dysfunctional to the barbaric. Their decision to execute Luigi is political and goes against the recommendation of the local federal prosecutors, the law, and historical precedent. While claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the pre-meditated, state-sponsored murder of Luigi.

By doing this, they are defending the broken, immoral, and murderous healthcare industry that continues to terrorize the American people. We are prepared to fight these federal charges, brought by a lawless Justice Department, as well as the New York State charges, and the Pennsylvania charges, and anything else they want to pile on Luigi.

This is a corrupt web of government dysfunction and one-upmanship. Luigi is caught in a high-stakes game of tug-of-war between state and federal prosecutors, except the trophy is a young man’s life.”

Bad news for Luigi Mangione -- U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is pushing for the death penalty in his case.

In a statement Tuesday, Pamela reminded everyone of Mangione’s alleged crime -- the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson -- calling it a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.

Pamela's now ordered Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky to pursue the death penalty ... saying it aligns with President Trump’s agenda to crack down on violent crime and "Make America Safe Again."

Virginia Giuffre, who accused the now-deceased Jeffrey Epstein of sex trafficking, has shared a troubling IG post from a hospital ... claiming docs have told her she has 4 days to live -- now down to 3 -- after an apparent car crash.

In a Sunday IG post, Giuffre shared a photo of her bruised face from her hospital bed ... asserting in the caption that she went into renal failure after a school bus crashed into her at a whopping "110km" (68 miles per hour) while she was slowing down for a turn.

Giuffre claimed her injuries were so severe that doctors gave her just days to live and transferred her to a specialist urology hospital ... but despite supposedly being at death’s door, she still managed to muster up the strength to update her IG followers.

Robert Kardashian's signed and inscribed Bible which was gifted to O.J. Simpson as a token of friendship that Kim Kardashian wanted to pay $15K for has sold at auction for a whopping amount of money ... TMZ has confirmed.

Malcolm LaVergne, the special administrator of O.J.'s estate, tells TMZ ... the Bible of the former lawyer sold at auction for $80,276. He says he doesn't know who the lucky buyer is but notes that whether you loved O.J. or hated him it's clear "his legacy endures."

The estate's auction brought in an estimated $300K in sales. Other items that sold included a personally signed and framed photo of O.J. and former President Bill Clinton which went for over $18K. Also sold was a replica of O.J.'s 1968 Heisman Trophy for $42,700.

The woman who shot and killed Selena Quintanilla will not be freed from behind bars ... because she just got denied parole.

The decision came down Thursday when a parole board in Texas denied Yolanda Saldivar's bid for freedom ... citing the violent nature of her crime and claiming she still poses a "continuing threat" to the community.

Yolanda worked for Selena until March 9, 1995 when Selena's dad fired her after accusing her of embezzling money from the Tejano star's clothing company, which was planning to open a boutique in Monterrey, Mexico.

9:56 AM PT -- Yella Beezy's lawyers, Toby Shock and John F. Gussio, are now speaking out about the case, telling TMZ ... they attended a court hearing today with Yella and, during the proceeding, the prosecutor entered the shooting video into evidence and introduced a couple of new arrest affidavits for codefendants. The prosecutors also asked the court to allow a witness to testify that Yella was one of the key people who allegedly supplied money to the accused shooter, Kewon White, to do the hit on Mo3.

The attorneys also said they were "gratified" the judge lowered Yella's bail to $750,000 from $2 million, citing a lack of evidence against him and other factors. They summed it up by saying ... "We look forward to fighting the case in court — Yella denies the charges."

Video of rapper Mo3's shooting death is surfacing for the first time ... and you see him being chased down in broad daylight by a hitman.

Prosecutors in Texas just released footage of Mo3's November 2020 killing, and the video picks up with Mo3 stopping his car in the middle of Interstate 35 in Dallas ... getting out of his ride and running for his life.

The masked gunman stops his car a few yards in front of Mo3 ... and with traffic whizzing by, both men get out and start running down I-35.