A week ago, Alain Robert scaled the New York Times Building to make a statement about the lack of government action on environmental issues (here's his website). Naturally, a stunt like that got Robert arrested, but a grand jury has dismissed the misdemeanor charges of trespassing, graffiti, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct. According to Robert's lawyer Daniel N. Arshack, who said jurors listened to Robert's explanation of how the climb was safe, two other charges......

The owner of Munchies Bodega in Brownsville Brooklyn, Salah Ahmad, was indicted by a grand jury on assault and other charges for bludgeoning teenager Bunkless Bovian with a hammer. Bovian was placed in a medically induced coma following the incident last month, but has since been released from Brookdale University Hospital. Initial accounts of the attack reported that Ahmad struck Bovian in the skull after a dispute over alleged shoplifting. Surveillance video later showed Ahmad......

Embattled City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has decided to proceed through the ongoing city slush fund scandal with the guidance of a defense attorney. Federal and City investigators are looking into the allocation of millions of dollars of budget money to fictional organizations. That money was then funneled to private groups, who often kicked back funds in the form of campaign contributions. Council Speaker Quinn said that the practice dates back to before her tenure......

A grand jury voted to indict Janet Redmond-Mercereau for the December murder of her husband. The Staten Island Advance says after keeping the police waiting for a few hours, she was accompanied by her lawyer when she turned herself in. Douglas Mercereau was a well-liked fire marshal who lived with his wife and daughters in the Oakwoodhome he grew up in. On December 4, Redmond-Mercereau, a high school teacher, had called 911 to report her......

The woman who is suspected of killing her fire marshal husband expects to be indicted. Grand jury proceedings will begin tomorrow, and Janet Redmond-Mercereau's attorney Mario Gallucci told WNBC, "It's a weak circumstantial case that we will fight aggressively...Janet can look forward to a long and satisfying life outside of prison." Douglas Mercereau was found dead in his Staten Island home on December 4 last year. The murder weapon was his service weapon, and he......

Undercover detective Hispolito Sanchez testified for a second day, with prosecutors playing the 911 call he made on November 25, 2006, the night police fatally fired at Sean Bell 50 times. Sanchez's colleagues detectives Michael Oliver and Gescard face manslaughter charges while detective Marc Cooper faces reckless endangerment charges in the bench trial at the Queens courthouse. Sanchez, who did not fire any of the 50 shots at Sean Bell or his friends, heard but......

Two white Staten Island cops were indicted today for an incident last Halloween in which they allegedly handcuffed a black egg-throwing teen and drove him to a dark, secluded marshland he was stranded (the handcuffs were taken off). Initially, the cops were also accused of stripping him down to his shorts and kicking him. The officers, Thomas Elliassen and Richard Danese, who are pleading not guilty, said they just wanted to "scare him" and later......

Yesterday, the Post reported City Councilman Dennis Gallagher, the Queens politican accused of raping a woman last summer, was offered a plea deal that would "keep him out of jail and off the sex-offender registry" and possibly force him to resign office. Gallagher, who has maintained the sex (which occurred in his Queens offices) was consensual, was indicted by a grand jury last summer, but the indictment was dismissed last month, because the judge felt......

The Brooklyn resident whose name caused him $2.1 million of trouble is still being held at Rikers, but a judge lowered his bail from $1 million to $10,000. Benjamin Lovell, a Keyspan Energy salesman with a bank account of $400, was dubious when a Commerce bank teller told him he had a $5 million account. But he withdrew $2.1 million after bank officials insisted the money was his. Of course, what really happened was Commerce......

Queens City Councilman Dennis Gallagher, whose office was raided last July after rape allegations and was indicted by a grand jury in August, is smiling - for now. A judge dismissed the indictment, believing the defense's claim that the "grand jury process was compromised." The jurors had complained the prosecutors were trying to make Gallagher look "foolish." Gallagher, who is married, admitted he had an affair with the 52-year-old accuser but said it was consensual;......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a homicide on Boyland St. in Brooklyn, a person under a train at 116th St. and Douglass Blvd. in Manhattan, and a body found on West 91st St. in Manhattan. Martha Stewart is still mad over the public spat she had with Donald Trump in 2005 over her The Apprentice spin-off series. We bet she prepares a wonderful cold revenge dish. Police are searching for a man who attacked......

As a counterpoint to the tale of the mugging in pre-gentrification Bushwick (or East Williamsburg) in New York magazine, we bring you this mugging story from gentrified Park Slope. From the Morgan L station to the popular Grand Army Plaza stop, a woman gave a first person account of being mugged on Sunday with Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. The woman says she had left the subway station around 10:30PM at night. While she......

Prosecutors having intimate relationships with defense lawyers happens on TV shows all the time, but a real life drama is playing out in Brooklyn. Former prosecutor Sandra Fernandez, accused of using her position in the Brooklyn DA's office to give information to her defense lawyer fiance, was arraigned on 12 counts of criminal charges. Fernandez allegedly ran criminal history and motor vehicle checks on three prosecution witnesses in cases handled by fiance - and now......

Beginning at 10:30PM last night and through 5AM this morning, family, friend and other supporters gathered in Queens to remember Sean Bell, the 25-year-old man who was shot by undercover police the night before his wedding a year ago. Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre-Bell, told the crowd, "I want justice, but no matter what happens, it won't bring Sean back." The Reverend Al Sharpton, who also attended the overnight vigil, said, "This time a year ago,......

On November 25, 2006, groom-to-be Sean Bell and his friends were leaving the Kalua nightclub in Queens when undercover police confronted them. In the confusion that ensued (the police thinking the men were armed or were going to the car to retrieve a gun, uncertainty over whether the police identified themselves leading Bell and his friends to think they were being carjacked) five undercover cops fired 50 times at Bell's car. His friends Joseph......

Controversial publisher Judith Regan dropped a 70-page lawsuit on her old bosses at Harper Collins and News Corp yesterday. The $100 million defamation suit claims she was the victim of a smear campaign in order to protect Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid (read: Rupert Murdoch's political agenda). She states they asked her to lie to federal investigators about her one-time lover and former police commish, Bernard Kerik (who at the time was working with Regan on......

The police arrested a man for the killing of a poker player during a robbery earlier this month. On November 2, a group of robbers held up a secret poker club in an office building at Fifth Avenue and 28th Street. During the chaos, one of the robbers "accidentally" fired a gun, killing Frank DeSena (pictured), a math teacher at the Steven Institute of Technology in NJ. The robbers were wearing masks, making the police......

New York magazine has an extraordinary cover story on the life of Brooke Astor, months after the "doyenne" of the city's social scene passed away. It is a sordid tale of jealousy, greed, enmity, conflicting agendas, and familial conflict worthy of the most outlandish soap opera. Her son Tony is now under i investigation by a grand jury and control of her estate has passed to Astor's friend Annette de la Renta. The litany of......

A grand jury voted to indict former police commissioner Bernard Kerik on federal corruption charges yesterday and, this morning, he surrender to the FBI in White Plains. The indictment was sealed, but the 16 counts include charges of "conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, tax fraud and making false statements." The U.S. Attorney's office, which sought the indictment, and the FBI are giving a press conference now; U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York......

The U.S. Attorney's office will be asking a grand jury to indict former police commissioner Bernard Kerik on tax evasion, corruption, and conspiracy charges. Kerik has reportedly made arrangements to surrender tomorrow, instead of being arrested by U.S. marshals. Kerik's dealings have also been questioned, even back when his friend Rudy Giuliani was mayor, but his past became a big story when President Bush nominated him for Secretary of Homeland Security in 2004, only for......

Police officer Sean Sawyer was released and not charged after confessing to shooting an unarmed man in Harlem during a road argument early Sunday morning. The Manhattan DA's office claimed that Sawyer could have been acting in self-defense, because the other driver, Jayson Tirado, suggested he had a gun when he gestured and yelled at Sawyer. DA Robert Morgenthau said the "case is under investigation and is going to go to a grand jury. When......

The Staten Island District Attorney's office has dropped hate crime charges against two young white men accused of beating a black man in Mariners Harbor. SI DA Daniel Donovan said, "At this point I believe the evidence provided to my office by the police is legally insufficient to support hate-crime charges." Skylar McCormick was allegedly punched, kicked, beaten and threatened with a baseball bat Tuesday night after he touched Daniel Avissato's Cadillac. Avissato and Mark......

The Wind That Shakes The Barley (directed by Ken Loach) Nominated for BAFTAs, beloved at Cannes and ignored by the Oscars, Ken Loach's movies get great treatment overseas but are barely a blip on the radar of American movie audiences. It's a crying shame too because Loach has the ability to elicit almost documentary-like, naturalistic performances from his actors and his working class, social justice narratives are always provocative. His most recent movie, The Wind......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a home invasion robbery on Lincoln Ave. in Brooklyn, a hostage situation on Duane Ct. on Staten Island, and a sexual assault on West 153rd St. and Macombs Pl. in Manhattan. "Live Free or Die Hard" director Len Wiseman is slated to direct a remake of "Escape From New York," with Gerard Butler ("300") assuming the role of Snake Plissken, who was originally played by Kurt Russell. The Bronx......

Last month Remy Ma, after a night out at Pizza Bar in the Meatpacking District, shot her friend Makeda Barnes-Joseph. Oops. The 23-year old survived the rapper's wrath, and Remy Ma went to Riker's. The altercation began after Barnes-Joseph was believed to have stolen $3,000 from Remy Ma, something that is still unconfirmed. According to the victim, instead of calling 911 after the shooting, Remy went through her purse while she bled from two shots......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person under a train at New Utrecht Ave. and 62nd St. in Brooklyn, a man overboard approximately 23 miles south of Floyd Benett Field (lower bay), and a shooting on East 13th St. and Ave. B. in Manhattan. A grand jury is deciding whether the off-duty cop who shot a man during a fender-bender will be charged. A 23-year-old former aide of Councilman Dennis Gallagher testified before a......

Supreme Court Justice Jill Konviser has ruled that the three men charged in the murder of Michael Sandy can be charged with murder as a hate crime. Last October, Anthony Fortunato, John Fox, and Ilya Shurov had lured Michael Sandy through a gay chat room to meet them near the Belt Parkway. When Sandy arrived, they robbed and beat him, causing him to flee into the highway and get hit by a car. Sandy was......

NY1 is reporting that City Councilman Dennis Gallagher has been indicted on rape charges by a Queens grand jury. Yesterday, the Queens City Councilman told the grand jury the sex was consensual. The alleged rape took place on July 8. A 52-year-old woman claims that Gallagher took her back to his Middle Village office and sexually assaulted her. The 43-year-old Gallagher cooperated with the police, giving a DNA sample. He is married, but his neighbors......

After Attorney General Cuomo found that Governor Spitzer's staffers were using state police records to attack rival Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, everyone agrees on one thing: It's very bad for Governor Spitzer. In a nutshell, Spitzer's aides, including communications director Darren Dopp, leaked information about possible misuse of state aircraft by Bruno to the Albany paper, the Times Union. Spitzers' aides later claimed that they were investigating Bruno's use of state aircraft because......

People close to the case of Brooke Astor and the possible mishandling of her estate by her son Anthony Marshall say that they have been contacted by the Manhattan DA's office and told they could expect a grand jury to be convened as soon as September. The grand jury will be investigating whether Marshall fraudulently made changes to his mother's will that enriched him personally, while she was suffering from a state of reduced mental......