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Here's a good idea: Let's get in the middle of a religious conflict in Nigeria

After the U.S. military launched airstrikes on sites in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday, President Trump said the targets were Islamic State terrorists “who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians,” reported The New York Times.

But analysts say that the situation on the ground is more complicated.

Sokoto State, which was hit by more than 16 Tomahawk missiles early Friday, is populated overwhelmingly by Muslims, who bear the brunt of terrorist attacks there, according to analysts and groups that monitor conflict. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto said recently that the area does “not have a problem with persecution” of Christians.

And analysts are divided over the existence of ties between insurgent groups in Sokoto and the Islamic State.

Some analysts say that the violent attackers in Sokoto, who are colloquially known as the Lakurawa, have links to the Islamic State’s Sahel Province branch, which is mostly farther north and west, in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

But other analysts say evidence of those links is inconclusive, as the identity of the Lakurawa group remains very murky. Its militants have operated in Sokoto and other Nigerian states for years, winning popularity by fighting local bandits at first and then turning on the rural population.

Even as the Nigerian authorities have disputed Mr. Trump’s claims about a Christian “genocide,” they have chosen to respond to his threats by cooperating with his administration. Nigeria has taken the opportunity to use U.S. firepower against insurgents that have plagued rural communities in the country’s northwest.

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Trump administration ignores the First Amendment this holiday season

The Trump administration celebrated Christmas on Thursday by posting a series of religious messages from official government accounts, using language that drew criticism from those who pointed to the country’s separation of church and state.

While many lawmakers in both parties posted universal messages of love, joy and peace on the holiday, a number of cabinet members and agencies made references to Jesus and the religious meaning of Christmas.

“Today we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote. “May His light bring peace, hope, and joy to you and your families.”

Posts by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Homeland Security Department and the Labor Department followed in a similar vein.

“The joyous message of Christmas is the hope of Eternal Life through Christ,” Mr. Rubio said.

“Let Earth Receive Her King,” the Labor Department said.

Apparently, the Trump administration is a “proponent” of only some of the First Amendment. The separation of church and state is a core US principle, rooted in the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, meaning the government can't establish a religion or favor one over others, ensuring neutrality and protecting religious freedom for all, including non-believers, through a metaphorical "wall of separation".

Government officials have traditionally steered clear of such overtly religious language, as the Constitution bans an official state religion. The First Amendment’s establishment clause prohibits the government from establishing a religion or favoring one religion over another, while the free exercise clause protects the religious expression of all faiths.

In response to a request for comment, a White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, issued a short statement, saying: “Who are the critics? You? And Merry Christmas!”

One of the most extensive Christmas messages was posted by the Homeland Security Department on Christmas Eve. It read, “We are blessed to share a nation and a Savior,” and included a video that featured images including the American flag, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, President Trump and a Nativity scene, along with the words “Remember the miracle of Christ’s birth.”

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 Merry Christmas!

CREATORS: A Wild and Weird Year of True Crime

Matthew T. Mangino
CREATORS
December 23, 2025

Mark Twain once remarked that "Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn't." This quip was no more evident than in courtrooms across the country this year.

"True Crime" had a banner year. There were cases with celebrities and surprises; mothers and sons; conspiracies and crazies.

Let's start with the celebrity. Sean "Diddy" Combs is a bona fide star, a highly successful music artist who has won multiple Grammys. Prosecutors accused Combs of leading a criminal enterprise that used threats, violence, forced labor, bribery and other crimes to force women to engage in drug-fueled sex acts with male escorts called "Freak Offs."

Diddy was charged by the federal government with racketeering and related sex trafficking charges. He endured a salacious eight-week trial.

Although he was acquitted of major sex trafficking and racketeering charges, it was a pyrrhic victory. He was sentenced in October of 2025 to more than four years in prison and a $500,000 fine on two counts of using transportation for prostitution.

The surprise. In the early morning of Nov. 13, 2022, four University of Idaho students, Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21 and Madison "Maddie" Mogen, 21, were brutally murdered in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho.

The crime shocked the nation as police gathered evidence and hunted for a suspect. More than a month later, they arrested Bryan Kohberger, a graduate criminology student at Washington State University.

Kohberger maintained his innocence, claiming he was out for a drive at the time of the murders. Prosecutors said they found DNA evidence, surveillance video and cellphone records implicating Kohberger.

At first, Kohberger and his attorneys wanted to rush to trial, then they geared up for a contentious series of pretrial motions.

Shockingly, on the eve of a pretrial hearing, Kohberger admitted to killing all four students to avoid a potential death sentence. He was sentenced to consecutive life terms for each murder.

The Conspiracy. Karen Read was accused of running over her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, John O'Keefe. It was her second trial; the first ended with a hung jury.

Prosecutors argued Read struck O'Keefe with her SUV in a snowstorm, while the defense claimed she was framed in a law enforcement cover-up and that O'Keefe died because of a beating by drunken partygoers.

Each morning during the trial, on her way into the courthouse, Read waived and interacted with throngs of adoring supporters. The trial lasted eight weeks, with over 30 days of testimony from nearly 50 witnesses.

Read was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter and guilty of Operating a Motor Vehicle While Under the Influence. She was sentenced to one year of probation.

The mother and son. Charlie Adelson, a Florida dentist, was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of Dan Markel, a Florida State Law University Professor, and his sister Wendi Adelson's estranged husband. The killings were carried out by Charlie's girlfriend and her new lover.

The murder was allegedly motivated by a child custody dispute between Wendi and Markel.

Wendi denied any involvement, but guess who was indicted after Charlie was convicted, their mom, Donna Adelson. Prosecutors alleged that she was the mastermind, using her wealth and influence to hire hitmen, while the defense argued insufficient evidence and pointed the finger at other culprits.

Adelson, like her son, was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation. The 75-year-old Donna was sentenced to life in prison plus two 30-year consecutive prison terms.

The Crazies. Lori Vallow Daybell was the subject of multiple, separate trials in Idaho and Arizona, where she was convicted of murdering her two children and conspiring to murder her husband's first wife. As for this year, in April, she was convicted of conspiring to murder her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, who was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox. In June, she was found guilty of conspiring to murder her niece's ex-husband, who survived a drive-by shooting. Vallow represented herself during her last trial.

She is currently serving consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole.

That's a wrap for 2025. Stay tuned for next year.

Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book The Executioner's Toll, 2010 was released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewTMangino

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Mangione's attorney allege AG Bondi has a conflict of interest

Luigi Mangione's lawyers contend that Attorney General Pam Bondi's decision to seek the death penalty against him in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was tainted by her prior work as a lobbyist at a firm that represented the insurer's parent company, reported The Associated Press.

Bondi was a partner at Ballard Partners before leading the Justice Department's charge to turn Mangione's federal prosecution into a capital case, creating a "profound conflict of interest" that violated his due process rights, his lawyers wrote in a court filing late Friday. They want prosecutors barred from seeking the death penalty and some charges thrown out. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9.

By involving herself in the death penalty decision and making public statements suggesting that Mangione deserves execution, Bondi broke a vow she made before taking office in February that she would follow ethical regulations and bow out of matters pertaining to Ballard clients for a year, Mangione's lawyers said.

They argued Bondi has continued to profit from her work for Ballard — and, indirectly, from its work for UnitedHealth Group — through a profit-sharing arrangement with the lobbying firm and a defined contribution plan it administers.

The "very person" empowered to seek Mangione's death "has a financial stake in the case she is prosecuting," his lawyers wrote. Her conflict of interest "should have caused her to recuse herself from making any decisions on this case," they added.

Messages seeking comment were left for the Justice Department and Ballard Partners.

Bondi announced in April that she was directing Manhattan federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, declaring even before Mangione was formally indicted that capital punishment was warranted for a "premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America."

Thompson, 50, was killed Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group's annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say "delay," "deny" and "depose" were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, 27, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. He has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges. The state charges carry the possibility of life in prison. Neither trial has been scheduled.

Friday's filing put the focus back on Mangione's federal case a day after a marathon pretrial hearing ended in his fight to bar prosecutors in his state case from using certain evidence found during his arrest, such as a gun that police said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which he purportedly described his intent to "wack" a health insurance executive. A ruling isn't expected until May.

Mangione's defense team, led by the husband-and-wife duo of Karen Friedman-Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, zeroed in on Bondi's past lobbying work as they seek to convince U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett to rule out capital punishment, throw out some charges and exclude the same evidence they want suppressed from the state case.

In a September court filing, Mangione's lawyers argued that Bondi's announcement that she was ordering prosecutors to seek the death penalty — which she followed with Instagram posts and a TV appearance — showed the decision was "based on politics, not merit." They also said her remarks tainted the grand jury process that resulted in his indictment a few weeks later.

Bondi's statements and other official actions — including a highly choreographed perp walk that saw Mangione led up a Manhattan pier by armed officers, and the Trump administration's flouting of established death penalty procedures — "have violated Mr. Mangione's constitutional and statutory rights and have fatally prejudiced this death penalty case," his lawyers said.

In a court filing last month, federal prosecutors argued that "pretrial publicity, even when intense, is not itself a constitutional defect."

Rather than dismissing the case outright or barring the government from seeking the death penalty, prosecutors argued, the defense's concerns can best be alleviated by carefully questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case and ensuring Mangione's rights are respected at trial.

"What the defendant recasts as a constitutional crisis is merely a repackaging of arguments" rejected in previous cases, prosecutors said. "None warrants dismissal of the indictment or categorical preclusion of a congressionally authorized punishment."

Mangione's lawyers said they want to investigate Bondi's ties to Ballard and the firm's relationship with UnitedHealth Group and will ask for various materials, including details of Bondi's compensation from the firm, any direction she's given Justice Department employees regarding the case or UnitedHealthcare, and sworn testimony from "all individuals with personal knowledge of the relevant matters."

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Medical examiner admits he was wrong on shaken baby syndrome

In the summer of 2024, Dr. Bruce Levy, the former chief medical examiner of Tennessee, got a call asking whether he remembered the death of a baby boy, Alex Maze.

The name, from nearly 25 years earlier, faintly stirred Levy’s memory. Levy had conducted an autopsy on the 19-month-old boy, and he had concluded that Alex’s death was a homicide, the result of being violently shaken.

Levy’s testimony was critical in helping Nashville prosecutors secure a murder conviction against Alex’s father, Russell Maze, who was sentenced to life in prison.

For decades, Maze has denied abusing his son. He had been home alone with Alex in May 1999 when the baby suddenly stopped breathing. At the hospital, a pediatrician who specialized in identifying child abuse found what she said were clear signs that Alex was the victim of shaken baby syndrome. Levy later agreed.

Now, decades later, Levy was being asked to re-examine Alex’s death amid an initiative in Nashville investigating potential wrongful convictions. Intrigued, Levy said yes.

This month, in his first public comments on the case, Levy told NBC News that after having received information he never knew about Alex’s medical history, he came to a startling conclusion: He was wrong about Alex’s being abused, and he believes Maze is innocent.

“I have to remember that I’m not perfect and I can make mistakes,” Levy said. “And the best that I can do, is when I come to realize that, is to admit that I have made a mistake and try to do what I can to rectify that.”

Thousands of caregivers have been arrested based on the long-held medical belief that three symptoms — brain swelling, bleeding in the brain and bleeding behind the eyes — indicate that a young child was deliberately shaken.

But in the decades since Maze was convicted, there has been a growing acknowledgment among experts that the symptoms once believed to be proof of shaken baby syndrome, also known as abusive head trauma, can appear in children for other reasons, like complex medical conditions. And with that shift in understanding, a movement has been growing to re-examine — and potentially reverse — some shaken baby convictions, particularly when the evidence of abuse now appears questionable.

In October, NBC News’ “The Last Appeal” podcast investigated the high-profile case of Robert Roberson, a condemned man on Texas’ death row who was convicted of fatally shaking and abusing his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki, in 2002. On Oct. 9, Texas’ highest criminal court halted the latest attempt to execute Roberson, sending his case back to a lower court for another review. “We are confident that an objective review of the science and medical evidence will show there was no crime,” Gretchen Sween, Roberson’s attorney, said at the time.

Maze is still waiting for a similar breakthrough.

After he reviewed Maze’s case, Levy wrote an affidavit in September 2024 recanting his homicide finding and determining that Alex had succumbed to a “natural” death. He joined an ongoing effort by the Nashville district attorney’s office, which has been working to free Maze.

Levy reclassified Alex's cause of death as "undetermined" and manner of death as "natural" in 2024. Alex's legal name was Bryan.Courtesy Kaye Maze

Yet despite supporters in law enforcement and forensics fighting for his release, Maze remains behind bars. Since last year, both the trial court and the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals have declined to vacate his conviction. Maze’s struggle is emblematic of the uphill climb parents face when they try to combat charges of shaking their babies.

The latest decisions were yet another disappointment for Maze’s wife, Kaye, who has never wavered in her belief in her husband’s innocence. She was not home when Alex stopped breathing in 1999, but like her husband, she was also charged. She accepted what is called an Alford plea, allowing her to maintain her innocence and stay out of prison while pleading to reckless aggravated assault. She remains a convicted felon.

Her home in East Tennessee, where she moved to be closer to her husband’s prison, is filled with framed pictures of Russell and Alex, their buoyant expressions frozen in time.

A collection of family photos at Kaye Maze's home in East Tennessee.Juan Diego Reyes for NBC News

“We had a whole life planned out,” Kaye told NBC News in her first interview about the ordeal. “You know, you have a baby with so much hope, so much promise. And to have it all just ripped away from you is just — it’s sorrow and anger. And anger is pretty high up there.”

The Tennessee Department of Correction declined to make Russell Maze available to comment in person or by phone.

The Mazes’ experience as parents was fraught from the very beginning.

Alex was born prematurely in March 1999, weighing just 3 pounds, 12 ounces. He spent his first days in a neonatal intensive care unit for ailments including jaundice, anemia and a racing heart rate.

The Mazes, in their 30s, were vigilant first-time parents. Russell worked for a trucking company, and Kaye picked up a couple shifts as a vendor at a music festival. Alex was sent home from the hospital wearing a heart monitor. The Mazes took him to doctors seven times over the next three weeks, Kaye said.

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