Diddy Lawsuit Tossed as a Judge Calls the Claims "Odious," Anna Kepner's Stepbrother Jailed Until Trial, Tiger Woods DUI Records Fight

0:03 Kalaroga Shark Media. Good morning and welcome to Daily Crime Injustice. I'm Garrett Fisher. It's Friday, June nineteenth, twenty twenty six. Four updates today. No longer sit downs, just four cases we've been following that all move this week. A judge throws out a lawsuit against Sean Combs, and the reason why is going to bother some of you. Prosecutors go hunting for Tiger Woods's hospital records. A Miami boat crash trial flips to the defense and the people George Pino brought onto that boat are now the ones defending him.

0:43 And in the case that has haunted this show since November, Anna Kepner, the teenager accused of killing her, is finally behind bars. Let's get into it. We'll start with Sean Combe because there's a development on the civil side of his world that I want to walk through carefully. The headline and the reality don't quite line up. A federal judge in New York has dismissed a lawsuit brought against Combs by Don Richard. If that name rings a bell. Richard came up through MTV's Making the band. She was part of the group Dannity Kane, and later she was in an act with Combs called Diddy Dirty Money. She sued him back in twenty twenty four, in the wave of lawsuits that landed after his criminal case broke open.

1:31 Her complaint described emotional abuse, physical abuse, manipulation, being deprived of food and sleep, and watching him inflict the same on other people. Now here's the part I want you to hear. Clearly, the judge, Catherine polk Fala, did not dismiss this case because she decided the allegations were false. She dismissed it because of timing. In her order, she called the conduct Richard alleged, and I'm quoting the judge indisputably odious. But she also found that the alleged conducts stop back in twenty eleven or twenty twelve, and under New York law, the window to sue on most of those claims had already closed by twenty twenty one or twenty twenty two at the latest. Richard's lawyers tried to argue she'd lived in fear of Combs for years, which would pause that clock. The judge wasn't persuaded because Richard didn't allege he did anything new to her in the twelve or thirteen years before she filed suit. There was also a copyright claim over a song called Deliver Me.

2:34 That one got tossed because the two of them were legally co authors, and co authors can't sue each other over the work. So this is a dismissal on the statute of limitations. Look, I'm going to be honest with you. That's a real legal rule, and it exists for real reasons. Memories fade, evidence disappears, and people are entitled to know they won't be sued forever over something, but sit with what actually happened. He a judge looked at a set of allegations, called them odious in writing, and then said, the courthouse doors are closed anyway because too much time went by. That is the law working exactly as designed, and it can still feel like a door slamming on someone who says she spent years too afraid to walk through it. A dismissal on timing is not a finding that any of it was true, and it is not a finding that it wasn't. It just means a jury will never weigh in. Combs, for his part, is still in federal prison. On the conviction for transporting people for prostitution still appealing, and his lawyers are still pushing for an early release. Tiger Woods and the paper trail. Next Tiger Woods and a case that keeps moving the way DUI cases move when the defendant didn't give the state what it wanted at the scene, quick refresher back. On March twenty seventh, Woods crashed his land Rover on a Florida roadway, flipped it onto its trying to pass a truck towing a trailer. Nobody was hurt. He told deputies

4:04 he hadn't been drinking, but when they asked about substances, he allegedly said I took a few meaning medications and critically, he refused chemical testing. He is pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence with property damage and to that refusal. After his arrest, he was also allowed to leave the country for impatient treatment. Here's the thing about refusing the test. It doesn't make the question go away. It just sends the prosecution looking for the answer somewhere else. They already want a fight to get his prescription drug records, the names, the dosages, the warnings. Though the judge sealed those from public view. Now they filed again, and this time they want the medical records from the day of the crash itself, the treatment records from Cleveland Clinic, Martin South Hospital, any drug screens that were run, any statements Woods made to medical staff about alcohol or chemical substances, and the name of whoever performed that test. That is prosecutors building a chemical picture of that morning without the chemical test he declined to take. It's methodical, it's a little relentless, and it tells you exactly where this case is headed. His next court date is July seventh, and the court has made clear he is required to be there. We'll keep watching it. Stay with me when we come back. A Miami trial turns a corner you have to see to believe.

5:36 To Miami now and the trial of George Pino a case we have followed closely. So I'll keep the background tight and bring you to where it stands. The short version for anyone just joining. George Pino took his daughter and eleven of her teenage friends out on Biscayne Bay over Labor Day weekend twenty twenty two to celebrate her birthday. On the ride home, his boat slammed into a channel marker. Seventeen year old Lucy Fernandez, a senior at Our Lady of Lord's academy, was killed. Pino has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and vessel homicide. The state's theory is that he was reckless, accelerating on the wrong side of the channel, straight into a marker painted bright green so you couldn't miss it, and that he'd been drinking. The defense says it was a tragic accident on a route he'd run safely many times before this week. The trial hit its turning point on Monday after the medical examiner testified, and I'll be careful here because the testimony about how Lucy died is hard to hear. The state rested. The forensic pathologist told the jury that Lucy suffered blunt force injuries, that she may have been knocked unconscious in the crash and left unable to get out from under the overturned boat, and that she ultimately died from drowning. He also told the jury something the defense cannot argue around. There were no drugs and no alcohol in Lucy's system. She was seventeen.

7:00 She did nothing wrong. Then on Tuesday Day, seven, the defense began calling its witnesses, and this is where it gets complicated in a very human way. Two of the young women who were on that boat took the stand for the defense. One testified that the day felt completely ordinary, that everyone was happy, just enjoying their time together. Another said she had ridden with Pino many times before and didn't feel the boat going any faster than usual, and that the crash came suddenly without warning. Both said they did not see Pino drinking. The defense also brought back a navigation expert who had testified for the prosecution, this time to walk the jury through a reenactment, and Pino's own wife took the stand. So you have survivors of the crash, girls who were Lucy's friends now testifying that the man at the wheel seemed fine to them. That is not a contradiction the jury can dodge. It's the whole case. The state is asking them to look at g data and physics. The defense is asking them to look at the people who were actually on that boat. Look, I'm not gonna tell you how to weigh that. That's the jury's job, and it's exactly why we have trials.

8:12 But here's what doesn't change no matter which way it goes. A seventeen year old went out to celebrate a birthday and never came home. The trial continues one more when we return, and it's the one I've been waiting to tell you. Anna Kepner's step brother is finally behind bars. Welcome back. We end today with Anna Kepner. And if you've been with this show since the fall, you know why we keep coming back to her. Anna was eighteen years old last November. She was on a carnival cruise with her blended family when she was found dead, her body concealed under a bed in the cabin she was sharing.

8:56 We've walked you through every step since the death certificate that ruled it a homicide, the slow federal investigation, and in the spring, the indictment of her sixteen year old step brother, Timothy Hudson, who was charged as an adult with first degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. He has pleaded not guilty. Here's the update. For months, Hudson was free living at a relative's house under court ordered conditions while the case worked its way along. That is over, a federal magistrate, Judge Edwin Torres, has now ordered him held in custody until trial, and the language in that order is striking. The judge wrote that the charges, even taken one at a time, describe a danger that no curfew, monitor or placement could be trusted to contain. He pointed to the strength of the government's evidence. Investigators say DNA from a rape kit match the defendant, and he used language you don't often see in a custody order, raising concern that the defendant could, in the judge's phrase, snap at any time. I want to be precise here because it matters. Timothy Hudson is sixteen, he has pleaded not guilty, and he is presumed innocent. The judge said exactly that in the very same order. A custody decision is about risk, not guilt. It is not a verdict. He'll be held first at a county jail in a unit approved for juveniles, with a mental health evaluation ordered and family visits allowed, and then moved to a federal juvenile facility in Miami

10:27 next month. His trial is set for September. But this show does not lead with the accused. We lead with her. Anna Kepner was eighteen. She was a cheerleader. She had a family that loved her and an entire life she never got to live, and the last people who should ever have been a threat to her were the people sharing her room. For seven months, her family has waited while the person accused of taking her life slept in his own bed at a relative's house. Today that changed. It is not justice. Justice comes in September in a courtroom in front of a jury. But it is something somebody finally said her name in that order and acted on it. Anna Kepner, say it with me, Anna Kepner, that's for for today. If something here landed with you, and I suspect the Combs ruling did do me a favor and share this episode, send it to one person who'd want to think it through with you. Word of mouth is how this show grows, and it matters more than any algorithm. And here's the question I keep turning over.

11:33 A judge looked at allegation she herself called odious and threw the case out anyway because too much time had passed. So should there be a clock on suing over this kind of abuse at all? Where's the line between protecting people from ancient claims and slamming the door on someone who says they were too afraid to come forward sooner. If you're listening on Spotify, drop a comment and tell me where you land. I read them. I'm Garrett Fisher. This has been Daily Crime and Justice until tomorrow. Do better. A note on today's cases. Sean Combs's civil suit from Dawn Richard was dismissed on statute of limitations grounds. The court did not rule on whether her allegations were true or false, and Combs has denied wrongdoing in the civil claims against him. He remains convicted on two counts of transporting people for prostitution, is appealing, and Court TV reports his scheduled release date as February twenty third, twenty twenty eight, a date that has been reported differently by other outlets.

12:34 Tiger Woods has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. The allegations against him are unproven, and his next hearing is set for July seventh. George Pino has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and vessel homicide and is presumed innocent. His trial is ongoing and no verdict has been reached. The names of some witnesses are spelled differently. Across outlets. Timothy Hudson, a juvenile charged as an adult, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is presumed innocent. The judge's order keeping him in custody is a finding about risk, not a determination of guilt, and his trial is scheduled for September. This program is for information and commentary only and is not legal advice.