Quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberber's defense team brought up two DNA samples from unidentified males at the King Road home where he is accused of killing four University of Idaho undergrads, as part of their effort to have his arrest warrants thrown out.

Two unidentified male blood samples, one on a handrail and one on a glove outside, were recovered by investigators after the stabbing deaths of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncavles, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20 and Ethan Chapin, 20. Neither matched Kohberger, and they came from different subjects.

With the sources of both in question, defense attorney Anne Taylor told Ada County Judge Steven Hippler at a hearing last month that it could mean Kohberger, 30, is not related to the crime at all.

BRYAN KOHBERGER TRIAL: NEW REVELATIONS IN IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS CASE AS DEFENSE GRILLS LEAD DETECTIVE IN COURT

"That was an interesting piece of information," Boise-based defense attorney Edwina Elcox told Fox News Digital. "I think the defense tries to raise the issue and muddy the waters with it."

But in the pretrial stage, the judge seemed unconvinced that the presence of two other DNA samples would be a reason to throw out probable cause for Kohberger's arrest. Detectives made another damning find – a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen's body.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

"His DNA is still on the knife sheath though," Hippler told Taylor in court. "That's the problem, counsel."

Taylor argued that detectives had misled Latah County Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall with their probable cause affidavit by leaving out details about the other blood. Hippler drilled home the connection between the suspect and the DNA found under Mogen's body.

BRYAN KOHBERGER'S MENTAL HEALTH RECORDS GIVEN TO PROSECUTORS AS HE FIGHTS DEATH PENALTY

"How does that, even if disclosed, preclude a finding of probable cause when there's a DNA match between the DNA on the sheath and Mr. Kohberger?" Hippler asked. "Isn't that probable cause every day and twice on Sunday?" 

Taylor argued, "Not in this context." In pretrial motions she unsuccessfully attacked the FBI's investigative genetic genealogy work, which generated a lead that led police to Kohberger. She plans to further dissect the investigatory method at trial.

GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB

"What does a knife sheath at a scene mean?" Taylor posited. "That's going to be the ultimate question."

BRYAN KOHBERGER LOOKS TO DODGE DEATH PENALTY WITH PAGE FROM ‘CULT MOM’ LORI VALLOW'S PLAYBOOK

"If you're killed by a knife, it probably means a lot," Hippler replied. "Probable cause is not a proof beyond a reasonable doubt standard. It's a probable cause to think that this person might have done it. And I'm not sure how that direct DNA connection to a sheath found on or near one of the victims doesn't close the book on anything on probable cause after that."

But the samples could create reasonable doubt before a jury at trial.

"Of course they will try to use it, but where were the other male blood samples at the scene? What was the weight of the DNA?" said Linda Kenney Baden, a prominent New York defense attorney whose clients have included Casey Anthony and Aaron Hernandez. "All these are questions for the jury but do not preclude the sheath DNA being used both for the search warrant."

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

The location of these samples matters, she said. One was found on a handrail inside, another on a glove outdoors.

"Now if the same unknown DNA is in a bedroom and on a victim then it becomes more important, but not for probable cause for the search warrant," she said. 

Taylor will likely argue that the unknown blood came from one or more killers – who have no connection to her client, said David Gelman, a New Jersey-based defense attorney who has been following the case.

"Defense Counsel will pound that theory," he told Fox News Digital. "This is a theme of reasonable doubt they will use. It could actually be a powerful part of the defense."

After the hearing, Hippler said he had not yet decided whether the defense will receive a Franks hearing, which would allow Kohberger's team to attack the warrants in court.

Kohberger is scheduled for trial later this year. Before his defense successfully argued for a change of venue, Latah County Judge John Judge entered not guilty pleas on the suspect's behalf at his arraignment in May 2023.

Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted.

The Massachusetts woman accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend in a snowy collision has lost her Massachusetts Supreme Court appeal seeking to have her case tossed on the grounds of double jeopardy after a chaotic murder trial ended in a hung jury.

Karen Read, 45, is expected to go on trial for the second time as previously scheduled in April on charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident.

Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe died from blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia during a January snowstorm in Canton, Massachusetts, about 15 miles outside Beantown. Prosecutors say Read hit him with her SUV and fled the scene after a drunken fight. She claimed it was an elaborate cover-up and that she had left before he suffered any injuries. Jurors couldn't reach an agreement on which side to believe.

After a lower court denied her motion to dismiss following the mistrial, she appealed to the state's highest court, which handed down a decision Tuesday rejecting her argument that jurors only deadlocked on one of the three charges. She wanted the remaining two thrown out.

WATCH KAREN READ: KILLER OR CONVENIENT OUTSIDER?

"The jury clearly stated during deliberations that they had not reached a unanimous verdict on any of the charges and could not do so," Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Serge Georges Jr. wrote in the court's 35-page decision.

Jurors told the judge in a series of notes that they were "deeply divided" over Read's guilt of murder and other charges and could not reach an agreement. 

"Only after being discharged did some individual jurors communicate a different supposed outcome, contradicting their prior notes," Georges wrote.

KAREN READ MISTRIAL PUTS COPS IN TOUGH SPOT, OPENS DOOR FOR ACCUSED KILLER OF BOYFRIEND OFFICER TO WALK FREE

Because the jurors broke their silence only after the trial, it was too late, the court ruled.

"Such posttrial disclosures cannot retroactively alter the trial's outcome -- either to acquit or to convict," Georges wrote. "Accordingly, we affirm the trial judge's denial of the motion to dismiss and the defendant's request for a posttrial juror inquiry."

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

Read's new trial is expected to be led by a special assistant prosecutor, Hank Brennan, who once represented the mobster James "Whitey" Bulger and has already begun trying to obtain unpublished records from Massachusetts reporters who have interviewed Read.

Read the court's decision

WATCH: DASHCAM FROM THE NIGHT JOHN O'KEEFE WAS FOUND DEAD

"I don't see how that was going to fly, because it was a mistrial, she wasn't found guilty or not guilty," said Paul Mauro, a former NYPD inspector and attorney. "Double jeopardy applies when you have a verdict. It's in the Constitution."

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

"This is settled law," he added. "This is not double jeopardy, I agree with the court. Let's get to a new trial and resolve this."

The new trial is scheduled to begin on April 1.

She is also facing a wrongful death lawsuit from O'Keefe's family.

Read, in a recent round of interviews, argued that she was framed by the real killers, whom she believes are other members of law enforcement O'Keefe got into a fight with after she dropped him off at the home of fellow Boston Police Officer Brian Albert. O'Keefe was found dead in the snow on Albert's front lawn.

GET THE LATEST FROM THE FOX NEWS TRUE CRIME HUB

Testimony from Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, one of the key investigators, severely hurt prosecutors in court.

Jurors were seen shaking their heads in court as Read's defense team read some of his text messages.

In them, he called Read a "wack job," a "babe … with no a--" and a "c---." He wrote that he wished she would kill herself and joked about looking for nude selfies while searching her phone.

Luxury real estate brokers Tal and Oren Alexander and their brother Alon pleaded not guilty in New York Friday to charges they conspired to sexually assault women in multiple states, and prosecutors said there are more than 60 alleged victims.

The Alexander brothers entered their pleas before U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan. Tal, 38, and his younger twin brothers, Alon and Oren, both 37, entered the courtroom dressed in tan, short-sleeved prison uniforms.

All three brothers were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and a separate count of sex trafficking of one woman by force, fraud or coercion. In addition, Tal was charged with the sex trafficking of a second victim. 

They would face life in prison if convicted.

ALEXANDER BROTHERS' ALLEGED VICTIMS RECOUNT TERRIFYING ATTACKS IN IMPACT STATEMENTS

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Espinosa said the government has interviewed more than 60 people who have reported being sexually assaulted by at least one of the brothers. Prosecutors previously alleged 40 victims.

Federal investigators said they examined iCloud accounts and Instagram and Facebook social media accounts for all three brothers, along with dating app accounts for Oren and Alon, who works as a security firm executive.

HIGH-PROFILE REAL ESTATE BROTHER MISSES HEARING AFTER MIX-UP IN IDENTICAL TWINS' SEX TRAFFICKING CASE

Searches of their New York and Miami homes turned up 19 devices like laptops, iPads, hard drives, thumb drives and SD cards, according to prosecutors. Also recovered was a Motorola cellphone and an Apple Watch. 

READ THE INDICTMENT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE

Their parents and Oren’s wife attended Friday’s hearing. 

The brothers are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, alongside disgraced rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs and the alleged killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Luigi Mangione.

The sordid accusations allege that the siblings used their wealth and positions to lure women to nightclubs and parties and other events before drugging them and sexually assaulting them.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Tal's attorneys, Deanna Paul and Milton Williams Jr., said the charges "are an overreach by the government."

"We have no doubt the evidence will prove that these are all false allegations and the Alexanders are innocent," they said.

Fox News Digital reached out to attorneys for Alon and Oren.

WEALTHY FLORIDA REAL ESTATE BROTHERS' 'TROPHIES' UNCOVERED AS JUDGE DENIES BAIL: FEDS

Their trial date is set for Jan. 5, 2026, and their next hearing is July 15, 2025.

Oren and Tal Alexander co-founded the real estate firm Official, which offers luxury listings in places like New York City, the Hamptons, Miami and Los Angeles, in 2022 after rising through the ranks at Douglas Elliman, one of the largest real estate brokerages in the country, according to prosecutors.

Their past clients include Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Liam Gallagher and Lindsay Lohan, according to CBS News.

Two potential witnesses who say they ran into OJ Simpson on June 12, 1994 – the night his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were brutally hacked to death outside her upscale condo – are sharing their stories in a new docuseries decades after they were left out of the ensuing murder trial.

One, who later sued prosecutors for libel, could have placed Simpson within a mile of the crime scene after she said she narrowly missed crashing into his SUV. 

The other said he saw Simpson acting oddly and dumping a wrapped item in a trash can at Los Angeles's largest airport 30 minutes later.

Due to his fame as a football star, a TV sports commentator and actor, he was highly recognizable at the time.

FBI RELEASES HUNDREDS OF PAGES ON OJ SIMPSON MURDER INVESTIGATION

Both appear in Netflix's new docuseries, "American Manhunt: O.J. Simpson."

The first is Jill Shively, who lived in Santa Monica at the time and encountered Simpson in a traffic altercation around 11 p.m. on the night of the murders. 

Less than a mile from the crime scene, Shively told investigators she nearly crashed into a white Ford Bronco with no headlights on.

"I could see who it was and I knew it was a football player, but I wasn't sure who," she elaborated to People Wednesday. "He was yelling at another driver, ‘Move, move.’ I recognized his voice because I had just seen a Naked Gun movie. It was O.J. Simpson." 

GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB 

OJ SIMPSON PROSECUTOR MARCIA CLARK DISSECTS EVOLVING MEDIA'S IMPACT ON TRIALS AND TRUE CRIME

Shively testified before the grand jury, then sold her story to the tabloid TV show "Hard Copy" for $5,000, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Her then-boyfriend also allegedly told prosecutors that she was a "felony probationer" and not a credible witness. She sued him and county officials over the latter claim but was never called to the stand at trial. 

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

The other is Skip Junis, who claimed to have seen Simpson arrive at Los Angeles International Airport around 11:30 p.m. the same evening.

PHOTOS: OJ SIMPSON THROUGH THE YEARS

As he was waiting to pick up his wife, he claimed, he saw Simpson get out of a limo with a duffle bag.

"O.J. went to a trash can and plopped the bag on top," Junis told People. "What was really peculiar is when he unzipped the bag, he pulled out a long item that was covered with a white rag or cloth and put it in the trash can."

A murder weapon was never found in connection with the case.

Simpson's lawyers had maintained that he was home at the time of the murders, waiting for a limo to LAX. He took a red-eye flight to Chicago for a golf outing but was asked to return to Los Angeles by police the next morning. 

Junis said he told police what he had seen but was not called to the witness stand during the trial.

"I think Marcia Clark forgot about me," he told the outlet, referring to the lead prosecutor on the case.

Clark declined to comment when contacted by Fox News Digital. She also declined to appear in the docuseries, according to Netflix. 

Simpson had an elite team of attorneys known as the "Dream Team" that included Johnnie Cochran, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Kardashian, Shawn Holley, Robert Shapiro and others. They ultimately convinced jurors of enough reasonable doubt to acquit Simpson in the murders.

A Heisman Trophy winner from USC nicknamed "Juice," Simpson went on to a stellar NFL career as a running back with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers. But after briefly flirting with Hollywood stardom, he became the most prominent U.S. figure to face murder charges after the brutal double stabbing left Brown Simpson and Goldman dead at her Brentwood condo.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

The two victims were not believed to have been romantically involved. 

Although he was acquitted in that case, Simpson later lost a civil lawsuit connected to the deaths. Years later, at the age of 61, he took part in an armed robbery to steal some of his own memorabilia. He served the minimum nine years of a 33-year sentence before receiving parole.

Simpson died last April after a private cancer battle. Near the end of his life, he remained in Las Vegas and returned to the public eye on X, posting reactions to current events.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Idaho lawmakers are moving to bolster their newly restored firing squad as the state's primary means of execution with eight current death row inmates and the capital murder trial of student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger approaching.

"I, along with many others, believe the firing squad is more certain, has less appellate issues, and is more humane than other forms of execution," Idaho state Rep. Bruce Skaug, who introduced the legislation, told Fox News Digital. "We had a botched lethal injection attempt in Idaho last year."

In March 2023, the state revived the firing squad as a backup option for when lethal injection, a troubled and increasingly controversial method of execution, is not available.

IDAHO SERIAL KILELR SURIVES LETHAL INJECTION ATTEMPT, PROMPTING RENEWED PUSH FOR FIRING SQUAD

Then last year, condemned serial killer Thomas Eugene Creech survived his lethal injection, prompting renewed interest in the firing squad.

The new move would make the firing squad the state's primary means of capital punishment – without any additional cost to taxpayers, since funding for the execution chamber was included in the previous bill.

Kohberger's defense, meanwhile has sought to have the death penalty taken off the table and is challenging warrants and DNA evidence used in his arrest.

Two days of hearings on defense motions in the quadruple murder case against University of Idaho student stabbings suspect ended without any official decisions but revealed new details ahead of his highly anticipated trial later this year. The judge is expected to deliver his decisions within a couple of weeks.

IDAHO'S MOVE TO RESURRECT FIRING SQUAD ‘MAKES SENSE’ AS ‘QUICKEST, SUREST’ DEATH PENALTY OPTION, EXPERT SAYS

Fordham Law School professor Deborah Denno, a leading expert on the death penalty in the U.S., previously told Fox News Digital that the firing squad is accepted as the most efficient and humane means of execution.

"We've had three modern firing squad executions, and they have gone off as intended, and the inmate has died quickly and with dignity," she said after Creech's failed execution. "So, I think that is something to emphasize."

Lethal injections have been plagued by mishaps, drug shortages and botched attempts. Creech was the fourth person to survive a lathe execution in just the last few years.

IDAHO GOVERNOR SIGNS LAW ALLOWING FIRING SQUAD EXECUTIONS

Denno has advocated for giving inmates a choice in their means of execution.

"I have a hunch that more inmates would choose firing squad," she told Fox News Digital, noting that Tennessee inmates have begun choosing electrocution over lethal injection when given the choice.

Only four states have an option for the firing squad, although its use is extremely rare, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which also describes lethal injections as the "most-botched" execution method.

Matt Mangino, a former Pennsylvania prosecutor who wrote a book on capital punishment, "The Executioner's Toll, 2010," said in the current political climate, he believes the new Idaho bill will pass.

IDAHO STUDENT MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER COULD FACE DEATH BY FIRING SQUAD UNDER PROPOSED LAW IF CONVICTED

Lethal injections look modern and even "clinical," he said, but can be far more gruesome than they appear. One of the drugs in the typical injection cocktail is a paralyltic meant to keep the condemned from writhing – for witness' comfort not their own. 

Idaho currently has eight death row inmates, including Creech, and is gearing up or a high-profile trial over the stabbing murders of four college students. Suspect Bryan Kohberger, a 30-year-old former criminology Ph.D. student, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Kohberger is scheduled for trial later this year in connection with the home invasion murders of Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, an Ethan Chapin, also 20.

The firing squad bill remains in committee. A hearing and public testimony has not yet been scheduled, Skaug said.

As Idaho student murders suspect Bryan Kohberger's trial approaches, his defense is drawing comparisons to another high-profile case that rocked the state, the murder trial of "cult mom" Lori Vallow, who, along with her fifth husband, killed her two children and his ex-wife in 2019.

She's scheduled to go on trial for two additional homicides in Arizona, the murders of her ex-husband Charles Vallow and a man named Brandon Boudreaux, who had been married to her niece.

Kohberger, accused of massacring four University of Idaho students in a 4 a.m. home invasion in November 2022, asked a Boise judge to punish prosecutors for their handling of discovery in his case.

IDAHO MURDERS SUSPECT BRYAN KOHBERGER IN COURT AS DEFENSE CHALLENGES PROSECUTION METHODS

The University of Idaho victims were Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. All four died of multiple stab wounds.

Police said they found a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen's body with DNA on it that led them to arrest Kohberger at his parents' house in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania. He was a Ph.D. student studying criminology at Washington State University at the time of the slayings.

The school is a 10-minute drive from the site of the crime.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

"Kohberger’s defense team is going to try every way possible to get the death penalty off the table," said Edwina Elcox, a Boise-based defense attorney who previously represented Vallow. "To accomplish that would be a massive win. But, at this stage, I do not think the defense’s arguments regarding discovery will accomplish that. However, they are clearly paving the way to raise this in the future. "

She said she could not comment on Vallow specifically due to their past attorney-client relationship.

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

Kohberger's defense last month asked for sanctions against the prosecution. Defense lawyers did not ask for those sanctions to include striking the death penalty, but, down the line, they could ask for more.

"There’s a strategic reason the defense is doing this. If the judge agrees that the prosecution hasn’t complied with its discovery obligations, he can sanction the prosecution, and one of those sanctions may be taking the death penalty off the table," said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who first noted the Vallow sanction earlier this month, when Kohberger's defense asked the judge to punish prosecutors for delays.

Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted, but in Vallow's Idaho murder trial, capital punishment was taken off the table after prosecutors missed a deadline.

BRYAN KOHBERGER DEFENSE WANTS PROSECUTION PUNISHED OVER DELAYS

GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB

"That’s what happened in the recent Lori Vallow doomsday ‘cult mom’ case in Idaho," Rahmani said. "The judge in that case removed the death penalty because of the prosecution’s delay in turning over evidence. Saving Kohberger’s life would be a huge win for the defense."

The defense only needs to convince one juror of reasonable doubt to upend the case, said David Gelman, a New Jersey-based defense attorney who is also following the case closely.

"Vallow uses reasonable doubt perfectly and keeps hounding that nobody can place her there," he said. "The Kohberger attorneys are doing the same thing."

Kohberger has been in court multiple times this week and is due back later Friday as he seeks to have key evidence tossed. His lawyers have also accused prosecutors of repeated delays in the discovery process.

IDAHO PROSECUTORS REJECT BRYAN KOHBERGER'S MANY ATTACKS ON SEARCH WARRANTS

"The bulk of the State’s expert disclosures fail to include opinions and reports. These inadequate disclosures greatly prejudice Mr. Kohberger who is obligated to submit defense guilt phase expert disclosures by January 23, 2025," Kohberger defense lawyers Anne Taylor, Jay Logsdon and Elisa Massoth wrote in a court filing in late December. 

The sanctions considered must be the exclusion of the experts or, at a bare minimum, an order compelling proper disclosure and an extension of Mr. Kohberger’s January 23, 2025 deadline."  

Without the disclosures, they argued, they have no idea what expert evidence to prepare to fight in court.

"In a perfect world, they would have had everything by now, but this case is so big that there’s always more discovery that comes up," Gelman said.

Judge Steven Hippler on Wednesday denied a defense motion to unseal documents related to some of the disputed DNA evidence in the case, agreeing with prosecutors that letting it out before trial could potentially influence the jury pool. 

"The best defense is a good offense, and I’m not surprised Kohberger’s team is aggressively going after the prosecution," Rahmani said. "Discovery is one way in criminal cases, which means the state has to turn over all of its evidence, including expert witness reports."

Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted. He faces four charges of first-degree murder and another of felony burglary.

Shortly before leaving office Monday, former President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Leonard Peltier, a far-left activist convicted in the 1975 murders of two FBI special agents, Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, who were gunned down in a shootout in South Dakota.

Peltier's most recent bid for parole failed in July. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both denied clemency requests for him, but he had supporters among other prominent Democrats, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

The move outraged the FBI Agents Association and came days after outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a letter to Biden urging him not to free the killer.

"The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) is outraged by President Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a convicted cop killer responsible for the brutal murders of FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams," FBIAA President Natalie Bara told Fox News Digital. "This last-second, disgraceful act by then-President Biden, which does not change Peltier’s guilt but does release him from prison, is cowardly and lacks accountability. It is a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen Agents and is a slap in the face of law enforcement."

DOJ PANEL DENIES PAROLE FOR FAR-LEFT ACTIVIST CONVICTED IN SLAYINGS OF 2 FBI AGENTS

On Jan. 10, Wray implored Biden not to do it.

"I hope these letters are unnecessary, and that you are not considering a pardon or commutation," Wray wrote. "But on behalf of the FBI family, and out of an abundance of caution, I want to make sure our position is clear: Peltier is a remorseless killer, who brutally murdered two of our own – Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. Granting Peltier any relief from his conviction or sentence is wholly unjustified and would be an affront to the rule of law."

Peltier, now 80 and in poor health, is serving two consecutive life sentences for the slayings, plus another seven years for an armed escape attempt. He repeatedly failed to appeal his case. His supporters feared he would die in prison and looked to President Biden to set him free.

"For nearly 50 years, no fewer than 22 federal judges, multiple parole boards, and six presidential administrations have evaluated the evidence and considered Peltier’s arguments," Wray wrote. "Each has reached the same conclusion: Peltier’s claims are meritless and his convictions and sentence must stand."

Biden overruled him.

PRESIDENT BIDEN PARDONS HIS SIBLINGS JUST MINUTES BEFORE LEAVING OFFICE

It's the latest in a string of pardons, commutations and sweetheart plea deals Biden has given to convicted murderers on his way out of office. He took 37 out of 40 federal inmates off of death row, and his attorney general, Merrick Garland, took the death penalty off the table for a brutal MS-13 leader responsible for seven murders. Two victims, teen high school girls, were massacred with machetes and baseball bats.

He also gave last-minute preemptive pardons to his family members and allies, including his siblings, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley and members of the January 6 Committee. He had previously pardoned his son, Hunter.

Read FBI Director Wray's letter to Biden on Leonard Peltier:

Haaland praised Peltier's commutation.

"I am beyond words about the commutation of Leonard Peltier," she wrote on X. "His release from prison signifies a measure of justice that has long evaded so many Native Americans for so many decades."

TEEN MS-13 VICTIM'S FATHER SLAMS LAST-MINUTE BIDEN DOJ PLEA DEAL

On June 26, 1975, Williams and Coler were looking for a group of armed robbery suspects in the Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Although Peltier wasn't one of them, he was traveling in a vehicle that caught the agents' attention.

The agents weren't aware that Peltier was also the subject of an arrest warrant for the attempted murder of an off-duty police officer in Wisconsin.

According to court documents, Williams warned Coler over the radio that someone in the vehicle was about to start shooting at them. Gunfire erupted. Both agents were wounded. According to the FBI, both agents were executed with point-blank gunshots to the head from Peltier's AR-15.

Coler, originally from Bakersfield, California, had been an LAPD officer before joining the FBI in 1971. Williams was also a California native, from Glendale. He joined the FBI in 1972.

"The pardon of Leonard Peltier is not an act of justice but an abandonment of it," said Nicole Parker, a former FBI agent who lost two colleagues of her own to line-of-duty violence.

"I myself lost my dearest friend and colleague, FBI Special Agent Laura Schwartzenberger, and Special Agent Daniel Alfin when they were murdered February 2, 2021, executing a search warrant to stop a child predator," she told Fox News Digital. "The crushing heartbreak of losing mighty warriors who selflessly protect others is indescribable."

Four men were arrested in their deaths, but only Peltier was convicted, according to the FBI. The government dropped charges against James Eagle, the robbery suspect Williams and Coler were looking for at the start of the shootout. Two other men, Robert Robideau and Darrelle Butler, were acquitted at trial in 1976. 

After his release from federal prison, he is expected to be placed on house arrest.

"Agents Coler and Williams gave their lives in service to this nation, and their families continue to bear the heavy burden of that sacrifice," Bara said. "The loss of these heroes is felt as deeply today within the FBI family as it was in 1975. Leonard Peltier has never expressed remorse for his actions. Special Agents Coler and Williams were stolen from their families, robbed of the chance to share precious time and milestones with their loved ones. Leonard Peltier should not have been granted a mercy he so cruelly denied to the Coler and Williams families."

PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA – An Army major general testified Friday he would have hired U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young, the plaintiff in a high-stakes defamation lawsuit against CNN, before the controversial network report involving him, but not after it aired, saying it made him "too risky."

Young alleges CNN smeared him in a November 2021 report that first aired on "The Lead with Jake Tapper," suggesting he illegally profited off desperate people trying to flee Afghanistan following the Biden administration's military withdrawal, implying he was involved in "black market" dealings and ruining his professional reputation as a result.  

Major Gen. James V. Young, who is not related to the plaintiff, was the first expert witness to take the stand to share his military and intelligence experience, including his knowledge of Afghanistan leading up to the withdrawal and his thoughts on the aftermath.

He testified that he holds a security clearance but hasn't worked in over a year. On Thursday, a document showing the plaintiff renewed his security clearance caused courtroom chaos when CNN's legal team implied that it contradicted testimony that the plaintiff hasn't worked since the CNN segment aired. 

CNN DEFAMATION TRIAL: NAVY VETERAN RESCUED 22 WOMEN FROM AFGHANISTAN BUT NETWORK ‘LEFT THAT OUT’ OF REPORT

Maj. Gen. Young also explained how he would often delete messages related to evacuations, which is something CNN's legal team has repeatedly scolded the plaintiff for doing. Additionally, he thought the prices the plaintiff was charging corporations for evacuations from Afghanistan were "reasonable" after CNN labeled such pricing "exorbitant." 

"We couldn't have done what we did for free," he said.

When asked whether he would hire the plaintiff after watching the CNN segment, he replied "no." When he was asked why, that sparked an immediate objection from CNN's defense team that led to a sidebar with Judge William Henry. 

Henry ordered plaintiff attorney Kyle Roche to rephrase the question to ask why Maj. Gen. Young's firm wouldn't retain the plaintiff's services, to which he responded the CNN segment created "risk" and could harm the reputation of anyone who hired the plaintiff. 

"I would see someone like this as way too risky for our operation to be associated with," Maj. Gen. Young said. 

CNN DEFAMATION TRIAL: JUDGE IMPOSES FINE FOR PERSONAL JABS AFTER CHAOS ERUPTS IN COURT

Maj. Gen. Young had said the plaintiff would be seen as the "best of the best" prior to the CNN report if he had working relationships with high-profile intelligence leaders such as Leon Panetta and Jeremy Bash, who were listed on a document describing a project he testified to working on.

CNN's lead counsel David Axelrod, not to be confused with the CNN political commentator, grilled the witness over whether he inquired about the plaintiff's qualifications with anyone in the military or in the intelligence community before the trial, which he admitted he had not. He also testified that he had never met or had any knowledge of the plaintiff and was being paid to speak as an expert witness.

After a recess, Axelrod pressed Maj. Gen. Young on his comments about not hiring the plaintiff after the CNN segment, asking whether he would let a hypothetical 16-year-old girl die in Afghanistan because of not wanting to hire the plaintiff simply due to the report.

"We'd try other methods," Maj. Gen. Young responded. 

NAVY VETERAN WARNED CNN REPORTER HE WOULD ‘SEEK LEGAL DAMAGES’ IF ‘INACCURATE’ STORY WAS PUBLISHED

Maj. Gen. Young later told Axelrod he would not hire the plaintiff even after CNN issued its on-air correction. However, Axelrod pressed him on how he had not asked anyone about whether they would hire him after CNN's report. The witness replied he was giving his own "professional opinion."

In a brief redirect line of questioning from Roche following the cross-examination, Maj. Gen. Young was asked whether there was anything "unethical" about the plaintiff's work in Afghanistan, to which he answered "no."

Asked whether he would have hired the plaintiff had the CNN segment not aired, Maj. Gen. Young replied "sure."

Alex Marquardt, the correspondent who led the CNN segment at the center of the defamation case, is expected to testify on Monday. 

The trial is being streamed live on Fox News Digital. 

New Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman's office is pushing back against a "meritless" claim of a potential conflict of interest in the Menendez brothers’ case amid reports that their relatives are looking to have their potential resentencing handled by the state attorney general's office instead of county prosecutors.

"The conflict of interest issue, raised to the media first before it was raised to the District Attorney’s Office, is meritless," a DA spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "All Menendez victim family members who want the opportunity to personally speak with the District Attorney before any final decisions are made have been invited to do so and these discussions should be completed in the coming weeks."

Hochman's predecessor, former DA George Gascon, had allegedly met only with relatives who supported the brothers' freedom and not their 90-year-old uncle, Milton Andersen. He has opposed any leniency for his nephews, who were convicted of shotgunning their parents, who were Andersen's sister and brother-in-law, in their Beverly Hills living room in the late 1980s.

MENENDEZ BROTHERS RESENTENCING PUSHED BACK, JUDGE EYES LATE JANUARY

Erik and Joseph "Lyle" Menendez snuck up behind their parents, Jose and Mary "Kitty" Menendez, and opened fire on Aug. 20, 1989. The brothers went on a $700,000 spending spree as investigators initially suspected a mob hit, but they were eventually arrested.

Their first trial ended with a hung jury, and they were later convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole – a punishment they are hoping to have reduced under California's new resentencing law.

Andersen and Kitty's sister, Joan Andersen VanderMolen, 92, is among two dozen other relatives who support freedom for the brothers. There has also been public support for their release after a series of documentaries explored their claims of child abuse at the hands of their father, a former RCA Records executive.

WATCH ON FOX NATION: MENENDEZ BROTHERS: VICTIMS OR VILLAINS?

Their attorney also says new evidence bolsters their case: Roy Rosello, a member of the 1980s boy band Menudo, came forward with his own allegations of abuse against Jose Menendez last year. And a letter, purportedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murders, could support some of the latter's trial testimony about Jose Menendez. Cano died in 2003, and the letter's authenticity has been called into question in court filings.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X

Andersen VanderMolen's attorney, Bryan Freedman, plans to ask for their potential resentencing to be transferred to the California Attorney General's Office after a supportive Los Angeles district attorney lost his re-election bid, according to ABC News. 

In the final weeks of his term, Gascon pushed for a resentencing that could have led to the brothers' freedom under a new California law. But he lost in a landslide to Hochman, an independent, who said he would fully review the facts of each brother's case before taking a stance.

Freedman is claiming there is a conflict of interest because Andersen's former attorney, Kathleen Cady, has taken a job in Hochman's office, according to the ABC report.

LYLE MENENDEZ, WHO SHOTGUNNED PARENTS TO DEATH WITH BROTHER, PLANS FOR LIFE AFTER PRISON

Cady, who spent decades as a deputy district attorney before becoming a victims' rights advocate, will become director of the LA County DA's Bureau of Victim Services on Jan. 6. She declined to comment, citing her new role. She no longer represents Andersen.

The brothers claimed self-defense, arguing they killed their father because they were afraid he would kill them if they planned to expose him as a child molester.

But they also unloaded so many shells into their mother that they had to go outside and get more before finishing her off as she tried to crawl to safety.

SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER

THE MENENDEZ BROTHERS: MONSTERS OR MISUNDERSTOOD?

Andersen vehemently opposed the idea of reducing their sentences and said in a statement to Fox News Digital this year that he does not believe the brothers' claims of sexual abuse at the hands of their father.

"Mr. Andersen loved his sister deeply and mourns her every day," his new attorney, R.J. Dreiling, told Fox News Digital in a statement. "He appreciates that the new DA seems genuinely committed to reviewing all the evidence, listening to everyone impacted by his sister’s murder, and ensuring justice is served."

A separate habeas corpus petition is making its way through the court, which would be an additional path to freedom for the brothers if successful. That petition relies on the Cano letter and Rosello's allegations.

Gov. Gavin Newsom also declined to grant a clemency petition for the brothers – at least for now – stating he would defer to Hochman's pending review of the case before making a decision.