After police arrested a 14-year-old in a fatal St. Paul stabbing last month, a 17-year-old now is also accused, according to court documents filed this week.

Jay’Mier K. Givens, 19, of St. Paul, was killed in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood in March. An autopsy found he’d been stabbed 22 times, with most of the wounds to his back and one to his neck.

Officers responded about 11:30 p.m. March 31 to Sixth Street near Birmingham Street. Givens was found collapsed near an address he wasn’t connected with, police have said.

Investigators talked with Givens’ family and they said he came home about 9 p.m. on March 31, and left later in the evening “to smoke” with friends who were said to be “Jeremy” and another teen, according to a juvenile petition filed Monday against the 17-year-old.

Police were also told the two teens stayed at a residence a few blocks from where Givens was found. They identified Jeremy Joe Davila and a 14-year-old as residents of the address.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Davila with aiding and abetting intentional second-degree murder, not premediated. Davila turned 17 on March 31, the day of the homicide.

Teen says they texted victim to meet

Givens’ cellphone showed he received a call at 10:04 p.m. on March 31. There were also multiple text messages between 10:07 and 10:34 p.m., during which someone from the number said they had a stolen Kia vehicle and wanted Givens to come “smoke n chill.”

After police arrested the 14-year-old for a second time, he said they’d texted Givens and “fabricated the story about the stolen Kia … because they knew it would interest” Givens. He stated, “that was a coverup” and “there was no car.”

The mother of Davila, who was also the foster mother of the 14-year-old, told police she hadn’t seen either teen since April 1, the day that Davila told the family they needed to leave “because it was not safe” and saying something about retaliation, according to the petition.

Investigators interviewed the 14-year-old’s girlfriend, who first said she only “knew of” Givens. She later told police that Givens threatened over Snapchat to kill her 1½-year-old son, according to the petition.

The 14-year-old told police that on March 31 — when he, Davila and Givens had met up and were smoking marijuana — he asked Givens “why he said that stuff” about his girlfriend’s son, who he regarded as his “stepson.”

He said Givens pulled a knife on him. Davila, who the 14-year-old said always carried a knife, pulled a knife “and stepped in to protect” him, the petition said of the teen’s account.

The 14-year-old said Davila stabbed Givens, which caused Givens to drop his knife, the petition continued. He said he took Givens’ knife and also stabbed Givens.

Knives, clothing found in basement rafters

Police located surveillance footage in a large perimeter around the crime scene. Three people were seen walking in the area starting at 10:51 p.m. on March 31. At 11:08 p.m., surveillance footage showed three people coming from a wooded area west of Harding High School and crossing over Sixth Street to the area where Givens was later found unresponsive. At 11:10 p.m., surveillance video showed two people running from the area.

On April 8, police carried out a search warrant at the address linked to Davila and the 14-year-old on Margaret Street between Hazelwood and Germain streets. They found two knives hidden in basement rafters. The knives have been submitted to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for forensic analysis.

Police located two sets of clothing hidden in the rafters, and they matched the clothing that the two people were seen wearing in surveillance footage.

Police arrested the 14-year-old at his school on April 8. He said he and Davila met Givens between their homes on March 31, but had gone their separate ways.

The 14-year-old was released without charges on April 11, before he was arrested again last Thursday.

On April 30, Davila’s mother turned him over to law enforcement on a previously issued “probable cause pick-up and hold.” She said she hadn’t seen or heard from her son between April 1 and April 29.

14-year-old’s journal described murder, officials say

Davila told police various accounts of what happened on March 31 and none initially involved Givens. He later said he and the 14-year-old met with Givens that night; he said he didn’t remember how he got home. He also said he didn’t know anything about the knives that were found in the rafters.

When police went to arrest the 14-year-old last Thursday at his temporary foster home, his foster parents said he’d “grown anxious in recent days” and they provided him with a notebook so he could write his thoughts. Police obtained a search warrant and found the notebook.

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The petition said there were “multiple pages of writing describing the circumstances” of Givens’ murder, including the words, “Why you aint fight for yo life when I poke u wit dis knife.”

When investigators were talking to the 14-year-old, he asked to call his biological mother. Police called her on speakerphone. She asked her son about the passages in the notebook and he said, “I wrote what I think happened” and told investigators that it “wasn’t supposed to play out like that,” according to the petition.

Davila remains in custody and the county attorney’s office is seeking to have his case moved to adult court. His attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment Wednesday.

A Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman said he couldn’t provide information about the 14-year-old due to Minnesota data privacy laws.

By ADRIAN SAINZ

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Three former Memphis were acquitted Wednesday of state charges, including second-degree murder, in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he ran away from a traffic stop in 2023.

A jury took about 8 1/2 hours over two days to find Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith not guilty on all charges after a nine-day trial in state court in Memphis.

The three defendants still face the prospect of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother just steps from his home. Nichols died Jan. 10, 2023, three days after the beating.

Former Memphis officer Desmond Mills Jr., who was also charged in Nichols’ death, testified as a prosecution witness.

Mills and another officer involved in the beating, Emmitt Martin, have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and are not standing trial under deals with prosecutors. They also pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending.

The officers had been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Jurors deliberated for a second day on Wednesday in the trial of three former Memphis police officers charged with murder in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols.

The 12-person jury began deliberating Tuesday in the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges including second-degree murder. They already face the possibility of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a Jan. 7, 2023, traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers who are also Black caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit Nichols with a police baton, struggling to handcuff him as he called out for his mother near his home.

Footage of the beating captured by a police pole camera also showed the officers milling about, talking and laughing as Nichols struggled. His death led to nationwide protests, calls for police reforms in the U.S., and intense scrutiny of police in Memphis, a majority-Black city.

The jury for the state trial was chosen in Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga, after Judge James Jones Jr. ordered the case be heard from people outside of Shelby County, which includes Memphis. Defense lawyers for the officers had argued that intense publicity made seating a fair jury difficult.

The officers are charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. Jurors can also decide to convict on lesser charges.

Demetrius Haley, left, Tadarrius Bean, and Justin Smith, Jr., rear, three former Memphis Police Department officers charged with fatally beating Tyre Nichols in 2023, sit in the courtroom during their trial, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, Pool)

Prosecutors have argued that the officers used excessive force in trying to handcuff Nichols and were criminally responsible for each others’ actions. The officers also had a duty to intervene and stop the beating and tell medical personnel that Nichols had been struck in the head, but they failed to do so, prosecutors said.

Former Memphis officers Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin also were charged in the case. They have agreed to plead guilty to the state charges and are not standing trial. They already pleaded guilty in federal court, where sentencing for all five officers is pending.

During the trial, defense attorneys refuted accusations that the officers used unnecessary force to subdue Nichols. They argued that Nichols was actively resisting arrest by running away and failing to give his hands to officers so that he could be handcuffed. They also say their use of force complied with police department policies.

Mills testified that he regrets his failure to stop the beating, which led to Nichols’ death three days later from blunt-force trauma. Dr. Marco Ross, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, testified that Nichols suffered tears and bleeding in the brain.

Defense attorneys have said the officer who acted with the most violence was Martin, who kicked and punched Nichols several times in the head but is not standing trial.

Mills said Nichols was actively resisting arrest and not complying with orders to present his hands to be cuffed. But Mills also admitted Nichols never punched or kicked any officers.

The five officers were part of a crime suppression team called the Scorpion Unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. The team targeted drugs, illegal guns and violent offenders to amass arrests, while sometimes using force against unarmed people

The trial comes months after the U.S. Justice Department said in December that a 17-month investigation found that the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people.

By GARY D. ROBERTSON

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Republican challenger for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat conceded last November’s election on Wednesday to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs, two days after a federal judge ruled that potentially thousands of disputed ballots challenged by Jefferson Griffin must remain in the final tally.

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In a statement provided by his campaign to The Associated Press, Griffin said he would not appeal Monday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Myers, who also ordered that the State Board of Elections certify results that show Riggs is the winner by 734 votes from over 5.5 million ballots cast in the race.

Griffin’s decision sets the stage for Riggs to be officially elected to an eight-year term as an associate justice.

“While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case,” Griffin said. “I will not appeal the court’s decision.”

Myers delayed carrying out his order for seven days in case Griffin wanted to ask the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review his decision. Democrats, meanwhile, had called on Griffin to accept defeat.

Riggs is one of two Democrats on the seven-member state Supreme Court, and winning improved the party’s efforts to retake a court majority later in the decade. Griffin is a state Court of Appeals judge whose term ends in 2028.

“I wish my opponent the best and will continue to pray for her and all the members of our court system here in North Carolina. I look forward to continuing to serve the people of North Carolina,” Griffin said.

While the Associated Press declared over 4,800 winners in the 2024 general election, the North Carolina Supreme Court election was the last race nationally that was undecided.

Riggs said in a news release Wednesday that she was “glad the will of the voters was finally heard.”

“It’s been my honor to lead this fight — even though it should never have happened — and I’m in awe of the North Carolinians whose courage reminds us all that we can use our voices to hold accountable any politician who seeks to take power out of the hands of the people,” she said.

Myers ruled that Griffin’s efforts after the Nov. 5 election to remove from the election total ballots that state appeals courts agreed were ineligible under state law would have damaged federal due process or equal protection rights of affected voters had they been implemented.

A protester listens to speeches during a rally for Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)

Griffin filed formal protests that initially appeared to cover more than 65,000 ballots. Ensuing state court rulings whittled the total to votes from two categories, covering from as few as 1,675 ballots to as many as 7,000, according to court filings. Griffin hoped that removing ballots he said were unlawfully cast would flip the outcome to him.

Democrats and voting rights groups had raised alarm about Griffin’s efforts, which in one category of ballots had only targeted six Democratic-leaning counties. They called it an attack on democracy that would serve as a road map for the GOP to reverse election results in other states. Griffin said Wednesday that his legal efforts were always “about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted.”

Most of the ballots that state appeals courts found ineligible came from military or overseas voters who didn’t provide copies of photo identification or an ID exception form with their absentee ballots. The appeals courts had permitted a 30-day “cure” process for those voters so their ballots could still count if they provided ID information.

Myers, who was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump, agreed with Riggs and her allied litigants that the “retroactive invalidation” of those ballots violated the rights of service members, missionaries, or others working or studying abroad who cast their ballots under the rules for the 2024 election.

“You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them after the game is done,” Myers wrote in his order.

The other category of ballots was cast by overseas voters who have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were declared North Carolina residents. A state law had authorized those people to vote in state elections, but state appeals courts said it violated the state Constitution. Myers wrote that there was no process for people mistakenly on the list to contest their ineligibility, representing “an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.”

Griffin said Wednesday the rulings of state appeals judges still recognized that the state election board failed to follow laws and the state constitution.

“These holdings are very significant for securing our state’s elections,” he said.

By JOSH FUNK

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it plans to upgrade the technology used to get radar data to air traffic controllers directing planes to the troubled Newark, New Jersey, airport, and improve staffing to alleviate problems that have caused hundreds of flights to be canceled there.

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At the same time, the agency plans pursue a broader multibillion-dollar plan that will be announced Thursday for long-overdue upgrades to the nation’s air traffic control system.

A January midair collision between a passenger jet and Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people, followed by a string of other crashes and mishaps, raised alarms about aviation safety and prompted officials to reexamine the system.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says flying remains the safest way to travel because of existing precautions, but the problems in Newark demonstrate the desperate need for upgrades.

“We are on it. We are going to fix it. We are going to build a brand new system for all of you and your families and the American people,” Duffy said.

The radar system air traffic controllers in Philadelphia use to direct planes in and out of the Newark airport went offline for at least 30 seconds on April 28. That facility relies on radar data sent over lines from New York that may have failed. Some of those lines are old copper phone lines instead of much more reliable fiber optic lines that can handle more data. The reason the FAA is relying on those lines is because the agency moved the Newark controllers out of the New York facility to Philadelphia last summer to address staffing issues.

The FAA says it plans to replace any old copper wires with fiber optics and add three new data lines between its New York facility and Philadelphia. The agency is also working to get additional controllers trained and certified.

It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly either of those steps will be completed, but Duffy has said he hopes the situation in Newark will improve by summer. Several controllers remain on extended trauma leave after the radar outage.

In the meantime, the FAA has slowed traffic in and out of Newark to ensure flights can be handled safely, leading to cancellations. On Wednesday, Newark led the nation in cancellations with 41 canceled departures and 43 canceled arrivals, according to FlightAware.com. That’s even after United Airlines cut 35 flights a day from its schedule at the airport starting last weekend.

“We’ve slowed down the traffic. Safety is our mission. We love efficiency, but safety is critical for us. And so, if we feel like there’s issues in the airspace, we’ll slow it down,” Duffy said. “We’re looking at bringing in all of the airlines that serve Newark and having all of them with all of us have a conversation about how do we manage the flights out of Newark.”