A Massachusetts woman is on trial in a case where her lawyers argue that postpartum psychosis was the reason she killed her three children, aged 5 and younger. Opening statements in Lindsay Clancy's trial began Monday. Jurors are expected to hear evidence for weeks, including dueling views about her culpability and mental state. Clancy has pleaded not guilty and her attorney has laid out an insanity defense. Prosecutors argue she strangled Cora, Dawson, and Callan in well-planned murders in January 2023. At the time, she had been getting psychiatric care for about four months.

A judge in the nation’s capital has set a September trial date for a former Olympic canoe racer charged with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman scheduled a Sept. 28 trial for David Hearn during a hearing Monday. A grand jury indicted Hearn on a felony count of property destruction. Hearn has pleaded not guilty. The case against the Bethesda, Maryland, resident stems from a troubled multimillion-dollar renovation project championed by President Donald Trump, a Republican who claims vandals have damaged the pool. Hearn and his supporters say his prosecution is a politically motivated attempt by the Trump administration to scapegoat him.

Lawyers for Pamela Smart, who's serving life for orchestrating her husband's 1990 murder, are hoping that a New Hampshire judge will allow her latest petition for a new trial. The judge took the matter under advisement Monday after hearing arguments from the state to dismiss it. He planned to rule in 30 to 60 days. Smart was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began an affair with a 15-year-old student who later shot her husband. Her trial was one of the first in the nation to be broadcast live on television from start to finish.  Smart's lawyers argue that inaccurate transcripts of recordings misled the jury, among other issues. The state says most of the claims have been resolved.

The New York Times has filed a motion to quash subpoenas that the Justice Department served on journalists who reported on security concerns involving the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One, teeing up a significant court fight over press freedom and the government’s ability to force reporters to identify sources. The filing was made under seal Wednesday in the Southern District of New York, where the journalists were summoned in subpoenas delivered last Friday to testify before a federal grand jury. The Times’ senior vice president and deputy general counsel says the subpoenas “violate the constitutional rights of The Times and its journalists.”

Court records show writer E. Jean Carroll has been paid over $5.6 million that a jury awarded in her sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against President Donald Trump. The records show the payment was made Monday from an account where it had been held in escrow since the 2023 verdict. Her lawyer confirmed Tuesday that Carroll received it. Trump's lawyers have vowed to continue appealing to stop or reverse the payment. The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the verdict against Trump in the case, paving the way for the release of the money. The jury found Trump sexually abused Carroll in 1996, then defamed her after she spoke out in 2019. Trump denies the allegations.

Media advocates have reacted with alarm to subpoenas issued to five New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns about the new Air Force One. The move is seen as a dangerous and brazen escalation in President Donald Trump's campaign against media outlets that run content that angers him. The subpoenas demand the reporters testify before a federal grand jury this week. The National Press Club and the Committee to Protect Journalists are among the groups calling the Republican Trump administration's subpoenas an assault on press freedom. The Justice Department says reporters are not the targets — but leakers of classified information are.

A federal judge has ruled that E. Jean Carroll can collect $5.8 million held in escrow since a jury found that President Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed her. The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the 2023 civil verdict against Trump in the case, allowing the judge to release the money. Trump’s lawyers appealed but were denied an emergency order to block the payment from being made. The jury found Trump sexually abused Carroll in 1996, then defamed her after she spoke out in 2019. Trump denies knowing Carroll and accuses her of political motives.

Former Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan has been spared from prison for ushering a Mexican defendant out of her courtroom as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents waited in the hallway. A federal judge fined her $5,000 and cited her otherwise law-abiding life in issuing the sentence. Hannah Dugan resigned as a Milwaukee County judge after her obstruction conviction and had to move amid threats against her family. Her lawyers argued that President Donald Trump’s administration sought to crush her to ensure judicial compliance with courthouse arrests. She faced up to five years in prison Wednesday, but the judge cited her lifetime of public service.