By Adam Baskin: The highly popular Devin Haney will battle Regis Prograis for his WBC light welterweight belt on December 9th on DAZN pay-per-view at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.

ESPN reports that Prograis-Haney is a done deal, allowing the 24-year-old San Francisco-born native Devin to fight in front of his hometown boxing fans in the Bay Area for the first time in his eight-year professional career.

Will Fans be willing to pay?

There’s no word yet about the PPV asking price for fans to watch the Prograis vs. Haney event, but it could be a mistake for DAZN to make it too expensive. Pricing it in the $20 range wouldn’t upset fans too much, but it’s likely to be higher than that.

Fans already pay for the subscription rate for DAZN, and many will balk if they’re asking to pay in the $70 range to see Haney the belt-holder Prograis. Teofimo Lopez & Ryan Garcia are guys that fans wouldn’t mind paying to see Haney fight on PPV, but probably not Prograis.

It’s a questionable move for the organizers of the Prograis-Haney event to place it on DAZN PPV rather than regular non-PPV, as the 35-year-old Prograis (29-1, 14 KOs) isn’t a big name in the U.S. due to his lack of marquee names on his resume, coupled with the low visibility of his fights in the last four years.

Prograis looks shot at this career stage, made to order or Haney. It’s just lucky for Haney that Prograis hasn’t been forced to defend his WBC 140-lb title against #2 contender Gary Antuanne Russell (17-0, 17 KOs).

Haney would have all kinds of problems trying to beat Russell for the WBC belt, but he probably wouldn’t mess with him. He’s too dangerous. Devin and his dad, Bill Haney, are very calculated when picking out their opponents.

The success of this event will depend on whether Haney’s fanbase will be willing to pay to see him fight the aging Prograis, who, based on his last performance against Danielito Zorrilla, looks like he’s lost a few steps.

Haney holds the undisputed lightweight championship and is now moving up to 140 to begin the hard work of accomplishing that feat in that weight class, which could prove to be more challenging.

Becoming undisputed at 140 won’t be easy

There isn’t a George Kambosos Jr.-level champion at 140 for Haney to capture three belts at once, and he likely won’t be elevated to championship status outside of the ring like we saw when the WBC made him lightweight champion with their organization in 2021.

Haney is starting off low, choosing what some feel is the weakest link among the champions at 140 in Prograis. It’s believed that if Haney wins this fight to capture the WBC belt, he’ll face WBO champ Teofimo Lopez next.

Haney isn’t expected to face IBF champion Subriel Matias next because it’s too risky, and he could mess up his plans for a big-money bout against Teofimo.

Promoter Eddie Hearn said earlier this week that Haney’s fight with Prograis would be in a location that is unusual, and he was right. There aren’t too many high-level fights that take place in San Francisco, even though isn’t one of the biggest cities in California.

The Regis Prograis-Devin Haney WBC 140-pound title fight – originally planned for Oct. 28 in Las Vegas – is set for Dec. 9 at San Francisco’s Chase Center on DAZN PPV, sources told ESPN. Haney, the undisputed lightweight champion, lands a Bay Area homecoming for his attempt at…

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) September 9, 2023

The post Breaking: Regis Prograis Vs. Devin Haney Set For December ninth On DAZN PPV In San Francisco, California appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Hidden away on a strange subscription streaming service that you don’t actually have to subscribe to is a strange reality TV show that isn’t actually a reality show. Rather, it’s a show that’s been meticulously scripted, cast, and produced to emulate reality for one—and only one—of its cast members. The show is Jury Duty, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it concluded its Season 1 run a few weeks ago, around the same time that clips of its absurdly funny courtroom scenes unexpectedly blew up on TikTok and made a celebrity of its unwitting star, Ronald Gladden, who is now the main character of a series of fan edits all about the fact that he’s simultaneously nice and 6-foot-6.

In the Amazon Freevee hit, a fake court case is tried by fake lawyers in front of a fake jury made up of 11 actors and one nonactor. There is a courtroom full of people who know that the case is fake, the proceedings are scripted, and the judge is Ike Barinholtz’s dad. The twist, of course, is that there’s one juror who thinks it’s all real: Ronald, a deeply normal man from San Francisco who responded to a Craigslist ad asking for people interested in participating in a “documentary” while serving on a civil jury. Because of a paparazzi incident involving A-list sweetie James Marsden (playing a fictional bag-of-dicks version of James Marsden), the entire jury is forced to be sequestered for the duration of the two-week trial. It’s a genius concept teetering on an ethical tightrope, with precisely one human maintaining the balance.

Luckily, the series cast Ronald as its axis. He’s a man with a well of empathy, grace, and patience so deep that not even the universally mundane experience of jury duty, as written by former writers on The Office Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, can drain it. It’s all in the name of tricking a man into thinking he’s participating in the most ludicrous trial of all time and—oops!—making a little found family of freaks, geeks, and Marsdens along the way. It’s weird, and it’s lovely, and sometimes you feel a little weird about thinking that a prank is lovely at all, but thus is the power of a great protagonist. Thus is the power of Ronald.

Prank shows have existed as far back as the mid-20th century, when Candid Camera ran practical jokes on unexpecting civilians, and they remained a pop culture mainstay in the early aughts when Ashton Kutcher donned a Von Dutch hat to torment Justin Timberlake on Punk’d. But there’s nothing practical about an entire courtroom of actors staying in character for 16 days straight, and Ronald isn’t the butt of the joke here. He’s the hero of a story that’s being written based on the decisions that he makes, each one somehow more kind and generous than the one before.

Jury Duty also isn’t reality TV, not exactly. But it is what reality TV has long been accused of being: scripted stories crafted by producers and enacted by an all too willing cast. That kind of reality TV as we know it—The Real Housewives, The Bachelor, The Hills—typically runs on villains. Lisa Rinna says Yolanda Hadid has Munchausen syndrome (well, she repeats that Yolanda Hadid may have Munchausen syndrome), and that’s enough fodder to propel an entire season of television because the reactions to that bomb, whether it was planted by a producer or not, are very real. Gary King pathologically hits on every stewardess who steps foot on a Below Deck Sailing Yacht boat, and we’ve got a season-long love triangle on our hands, no script necessary. Reality TV is all about casting the right antagonists because the best reality TV is all about watching people perform at the wildest peaks of human behavior. And, typically, the bad peaks are the most interesting. Jury Duty, though, posits that if you make the surroundings absurd enough, and if you cast characters so specific that you really believe their whole deal is being “the owner of two gumball machines and one sticker machine” or the inventor of bespoke chair pants (#chants), and if you make the only real asshole in the room an A-list actor showing off his under-explored comedic chops, then a person exhibiting the absolute best of human behavior might be just as interesting as people behaving badly. And way funnier.

There’s a moment in Episode 3 when you know that Jury Duty is something beyond just a marathon prank show. A character named Todd (played with unbelievable specificity by David Brown, who currently has just a handful of acting credits to his name, and who I think might be a genius) has clearly been cast to frustrate Ronald—the Dwight to Ronald’s Jim. He’s an oddball inventor obsessed with hacking the human body’s potential, and he’s staying in the room adjoining Ronald’s. Todd immediately comes up with a secret code of knocks they should use to communicate that he puts on a note and slips under the door into Ronald’s room in the middle of the night. But Ronald doesn’t ignore Todd; he doesn’t tease him for wanting to be his friend or try to make him act more normal. He shows him A Bug’s Life, the 1998 Pixar film, which, per Ronald, “is about this bug making these inventions. … He’s trying to introduce technology into their lives, and that’s exactly what Todd is wanting to do.” Ronald thinks it’s really cool that Todd is passionate about his inventions, including but not limited to a Bluetooth headphone shaped like a human ear and a removable extra row of teeth to help him eat faster, like a shark. Ronald wants to let Todd know that he might feel misunderstood, like the bug from the 1998 Pixar film A Bug’s Life, but Ronald gets it: “All [Todd’s] trying to do is just help in his own way.”

Watching these two grown men watch a Pixar film together—one in character, and one so earnest it hurts—is enough to make you weep. Because just as shocking as, say, Erika Jayne’s outsized response to being called a liar on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is Ronald’s outsized acceptance of his strange and often high-maintenance fellow jurors.

And like most reality shows, Jury Duty invites its audience to reflect on what we might do if thrust into these same situations … and I’ll tell ya: What’s reflected back to me is not pretty! I am no Ronald. First of all, I cannot imagine looking at a stack of DVDs in a sequestration room and deciding to revisit A Bug’s Life. But also, I can pinpoint about 30 times through the course of Jury Duty’s eight episodes when I would have called shenanigans out of sheer frustration and impatience. A list of things that, on any given day, could annoy me enough to make me assume I’ve been cast in some elaborate prank because there’s no way this could really be happening to me might include someone walking too slowly in front of me on the sidewalk; someone passing me on the sidewalk; anyone not walking the exact same speed that I have decided to walk that day, from the exact distance that I deem appropriate.

But nothing annoys Ronald—he is positively overrun with empathy and grace for the people he has been placed in a jury box with. The meanest thing he ever does is accidentally tell James Marsden that he heard Sonic wasn’t a very good movie before realizing that Marsden is in Sonic. But then he watches Sonic that night and tells Marsden the next morning that it’s hilarious to make up for it. (Marsden asks whether he streamed it or bought it because if he bought it, Marsden would get a dollar. It is my greatest hope that Marsden improvised that line.) There’s plenty to marvel over when it comes to how on earth the Jury Duty team pulled this incredible feat of scripted reality TV off, but there were also quite a few times the jig absolutely would’ve, could’ve, and by all means should’ve been up if not for its hero’s winning enthusiasm (and occasional yet pleasant pop culture naivete). Here are Jury Duty’s breaking points, ranked from least to most egregious.

Casting Sewage Joe

Something is going to happen when you first try to get other people to watch Jury Duty. They’ll watch the trailer, look at the poster, or listen to only half of your thoughtful and persuasive argument, and then they’ll say: “OK, this dude would immediately recognize James Marsden and know that these are actors.” At which point you’ll explain (again) that he’s supposed to recognize Marsden, who has put aside all actorly ego to play an outlandish narcissist version of himself, throwing Ronald even further off the scent that this situation might be fake …

Instead, the actual casting hiccup comes when Kirk Fox shows up in the jury box, at which point I think almost any human with a television would be like, “Wait, is that Sewage Joe?” Most of these other perfect, amazing, genius comedic actors aren’t (excuse me, weren’t) household faces, but Sewage Joe from Parks and Recreation? The guy who’s constantly telling Leslie Knope she’s got a bangin’ dumpster? I’m sorry, but Ronald, who later fanboys to Marsden about fellow Parks and Rec standout Ben Schwartz, didn’t recognize Sewage Joe, a “that guy” if ever there was one? I guess we’ll just chalk this one up to facial blindness.

Noah’s Family Guy Offense

One of the most delicious behind-the-scenes reveals in the final episode is that the writers had plotted for Noah (Mekki Leeper, also a writer on the show) to lure Ronald into repeating a Family Guy plot wherein Peter claims to be racist to get out of jury duty, but they ultimately scrapped it because it was too outlandish—only for Ronald to get there totally on his own. The look of delight on Leeper’s face when Ronald offers the Family Guy plot up as a way to get out of jury duty (but insists it’s not a suggestion!) is topped only by Ronald’s look of pure horror when Noah looks over at him and then rattles off, “Uh, I’m a racist” when asked why he can’t serve on the jury. The fact that Noah never publicly seems to blame this on Ronald is, I can assume, the only reason Ronald did not go running for the hills.

Tim’s Origami Cranes

Hands down, the first funniest thing to happen in this show full of the funniest things is when one of the jurors, Tim (Brandon Loeser, an actual stuntperson), falls off a bookshelf and has to be removed from the case. Sitting with the rest of the jury, talking to the “documentary” producers, Ronald slowly realizes that every single one of the other jurors has made a meaningful connection with Tim over the course of a few days—a connection so meaningful that Tim gifted an origami crane to each of the other jurors except Ronald. Ronald tells the group that he’s mostly exchanged simple pleasantries with Tim, but we know that they have had one deeper exchange: the one when Tim passed by Ronald and told him that he was gonna go “rub one out” in the bathroom. Ronald uncomfortably chirped back, “Yep, do it while you have the time!” Even in the face of courthouse masturbation, Ronald is unerringly supportive.

The Warehouse

Episode 5 of Jury Duty is one of the most chaotic episodes of television I’ve ever seen, and I’m currently watching the Roy children compete to be Daddy’s biggest little idiot each week on Succession. It ends at Margaritaville, where the jurors run up a check that Marsden then agrees to pay in exchange for Ronald arm wrestling him. But it starts with a moment in the warehouse that causes the always calm and collected Ronald to exclaim, “What the fuck is going on?!”

Throughout the eight episodes, Ronald is unexpectedly very into the nearly incomprehensible court proceedings, and fellow juror Lonnie (Ishmel Sahid) matches him beat for beat on their amateur investigator shit. When they’re let loose in the warehouse to explore the scene of the alleged accident, they wander up to a storage room that is filled with strange chemical smells, discarded T-shirts that the prosecution said were lost, a slew of creepy mannequins … and Todd, hidden in the dark among the mannequins, “seeing what facts about them [he] could discern.” Lonnie seems legitimately mad at Todd for creeping around in the dark, causing Todd to panic and leading Ronald to stop hysterically laughing long enough to reassure Todd that it’s fine, there’s nothing to worry about. Truly, the only thing keeping this man from noticing that he’s living inside an SNL skit is his pathological desire to make others feel better. What is his deal?!

Lunch

I admit that the ranking of this one could be subjective. But as a work-from-home little weirdo myself, my truest hell is rallying a group of strangers to make a Panera Bread order in a timely manner. Doing it every day for 16 days might not be enough to make me realize I’m in a Truman Show–style human experiment, but it would be enough for me to jimmy open a bathroom window and take whatever fine comes with being in contempt of court. (The fact that the judge made Ronald foreperson because he thought he made the final lunch order? I’m absolutely seething.)

The Inept Defense

Not all breaking points on Jury Duty are about questioning your own reality or battling your own ethics—some are just about wondering how the hell Ronald didn’t laugh. A defining feature of the fake trial is that the defense is a disaster. The defendant’s lawyer (Evan Williams, also a writer on the show, also a real attorney) spends what feels like days hyping up an animated reenactment video that will rival the one the prosecution showed in their opening statement. But then he has the jury watch a video on his iPad that looks like a game of Minecraft got stuck in the Upside Down, before he mutters, “I’m gonna have to have a talk with my nephew.”

It’s later revealed that the actors hadn’t seen the video before filming with Ronald, which is why they’re all on the verge of breaking into laughter. But not Ronald—no, he’s just disappointed that the defense wasn’t able to come up with better arguments.

Genevieve Telford Warren

The first time I ever caught wind of Jury Duty, it was from a TikTok of Genevieve Telford Warren (Lisa Gilroy, my god) explaining her occupation as a social media brand ambassador who does brand negotiations for her dog and is also a corporate, personal, and public DJ, as well as a dormant certified lash tech and an occasional actor and model.

Everything Gilroy does in her few moments on the stand is so perfectly calibrated and hilarious. She uses the word “also” like an artist uses a paintbrush, and it’s bonkers that she’s doing it in one take for the sake of one guy who doesn’t know she’s acting. It is simply incredible that Ronald doesn’t laugh during any of her testimony or immediately ask, “Say, is this witness actually a skilled front-facing-camera comedian, and am I being elaborately Punk’d right now?” Gilroy deserves an Emmy just for the way that she explains three alternating skull emojis as “bones with more bones, and then just the bones, and then bones with other bones.”

Lisa Gilroy rules! Thanks for watching!

— ross kimball (@therosskimball) April 30, 2023

Marsden’s Audition Tape

Almost all the top moments that would have caused me to personally hit fake jury duty with a real “smell ya later” involve fake James Marsden. He’s the cast’s only true antagonist, and even Ronald gets frustrated with him at times—but he almost always gives Marsden a second chance. During one of their days off, Ronald even agrees to help him with an audition tape for the alleged Quentin Tarantino Western he won’t shut up about. And I genuinely think that whatever immunity Ronald has to secondhand embarrassment should be studied and reproduced en masse. For me personally, taking a little of whatever he’s got would certainly make watching The Bachelor a lot easier.

It’s not that Marsden is bad during the taping—he’s actually kind of incredible just rattling off lines from a heinous fake script. It’s that he keeps giving Ronald acting notes that Ronald then willingly applies to this little scene. A scene that includes lines like “It’s important to feel stuff, Caleb.” It is important to feel stuff, and I feel horrified by how long Ronald has to run lines with fake Marsden—especially because of the more horrifying things that are happening in between …

Noah’s Soaking

While James and Ronald are rehearsing his audition, they’re frequently interrupted by Noah, who by that point has drunkenly broken up with his girlfriend after seeing a photo of her with another man with an erection that was highly analyzed by the sharpest-eyed jury in this fake courthouse. The breakup finally gives Jeannie (Edy Modica, effortlessly hilarious) her chance to cash in on the crush on Noah she’s been harboring since she first spotted him in the waiting room and correctly assessed that he looks like Christopher Robin. It’s never directly said that Noah is a member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, but between his short-sleeve dress shirts, tie pins, and knowledge of soaking, it’s more than implied. (Yes, that soaking!)

Noah first interrupts James and Ronald to ask Ronald to wingman for him while talking to Jeannie (this is when Ronald gives his now notorious full-door lean, and if this man had any sense of how wonderful he is, he’d know that no real person would ever want to ask for his help trying to get the girl). Unfortunately, he wingmans a little too close to the sun, and now Jeannie wants to get more comfortable with Noah. Soon, Noah is frantically explaining the infamous act of “soaking” to Ronald and Marsden, who interprets it as “parking the car in the garage” while someone else bounces on the bed. Ronald says he’s willing to support Noah in any way he can, “short of me jumping on the bed.” At which point, Marsden agrees to jump on the bed while Noah parks his car in Jeannie’s garage …

To which Ronald is just like, sure, this seems normal, and wraps up their self-tape, sending the star of The Notebook on his way to help two strangers have sex. (Ronald actually does say, “This seems like a reality TV show” a number of times throughout production, but never with enough force to make the producers come out of their little hidey-holes and say, “OK, you got us there!”)

Marsden’s Giant Shit

If you can believe it, there is a C-plot at play during the soaking and audition scenes. The first time Noah interrupts, James goes into the bathroom and doesn’t come out for a long time. When Ronald comes back to his hotel room, there’s an awful smell, and Marsden says he wasn’t able to take a leak because, unfortunately, the toilet was full of giant, unflushable turds. The smell forces them to relocate, and when a plumber later shows up to get Ronald’s room key, James Marsden blames the giant shit on Ronald. He goes on to explain that, yes, he did clog the toilet, but he can’t risk a tabloid running that story, so Ronald takes the blame for James Marsden’s giant shit. Ronald does not even like this guy! (Although he does respect him as an actor, and gets him to sign a copy of Sex Drive, perhaps the only James Marsden movie I’d never heard of, now available to stream on—you guessed it—Freevee.)

Todd’s Chair Pants

There is nothing funnier on Jury Duty—and maybe nothing funnier in the world—than Todd revealing, wrestling with, and then ultimately removing his chair pants … the chair built into his pants … his chants. Which is to say that if I ever saw something this funny happening in my real life, I might have to pause and wonder, “Am I being Jury Duty’d right now?”

But not Ronald. He doesn’t laugh at Todd as he painfully folds himself into the van (the only challenge of chair pants is interacting with other chairs); he doesn’t question his own reality as he calmly explains to the courthouse security guard that the crutches attached directly to Todd’s butt are “a chair for him.” He just shows Todd A Bug’s Life and gives him a mall makeover complete with a Members Only jacket to make him feel more confident. After Todd’s been forced to remove his DIY exoskeleton in a very public corner of the juror’s box, Ronald tells him that he shouldn’t be embarrassed: “You take some risks—not all of ’em pay off,” he simply and kindly puts it.

You can’t really know how you’ll handle a situation until you’re in it. That’s why most people watch reality TV—to get a taste of life’s many potential scenarios without actually having to risk surviving on rice for 30 days, or living in a house with six strangers, or working alongside Jax Taylor at a restaurant owned by Lisa Vanderpump. Would you triumph in those situations? Would you go full Lisa Rinna, wield a broken wine glass, and throw bacon turkey bravo sandwiches around the sequestration room until someone tells you if you’ve been put into a jury duty simulation costarring James Marsden? Would you support a new friend in his quest to never not be wearing a chair? Ronald Gladden can actually answer these questions now—and based on his stunningly compassionate reactions to all of the above, it’s safe to say that he availed himself better than maybe any other human could.

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The post Rating the Breaking Factors and Moral Dilemmas of ‘Jury Responsibility’ appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Hossein Nayeri will testify in Orange County Superior Court on March 13, 2023. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A convicted torturer and former international fugitive accused of plotting a daring escape from an Orange County jail in 2016 was sentenced to two years and eight months behind bars on Friday, March 24, for his role in the headline-grabbing prison break sentenced.

A week after an Orange County Superior Court jury found Hossein Nayeri guilty of taking part in the brazen breakout from Santa Ana’s Central Men’s Penitentiary and also found him guilty of stealing a van while on the run, Nayeri’s lengthy legal process appears to have come to an end.

This case is unlikely to affect Nayeri very much – he has already been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Over the past decade, Nayeri, now 44, has become one of Orange County’s most notorious inmates, a man whom District Attorney Todd Spitzer recently called “one of America’s most dangerous criminals,” whom previous prosecutors have called a “psychopath,” a “really diabolical criminal” and compared to the fictional Hannibal Lecter.

Orange County Superior Court Justice Larry Yellin, who was just a block from where the escape took place, cited the sophisticated nature of the prison break while handing down the maximum sentence actually available under current state law. Yellin also dismissed several remaining drug-related cases filed against Nayeri while he was behind bars.

“‘Shawshank Redemption’ didn’t have anything against you guys,” Yellin told Nayeri, referencing a dogged prison escape in the 1994 film. “It played out like a movie.”

Nayeri did not speak during Friday’s hearing. He kept his eyes downcast as he sat next to his attorney and kept his hands in his suit pockets as he was led in and out of the courtroom.

Nayeri has openly admitted to escaping prison with two fellow fugitives, starting an intense week-long manhunt that ended with all three men being recaptured. But during his trial, Nayeri repeatedly denied kidnapping and holding against his will an independent cab driver who had driven the three to various hotels in Southern California and the Bay Area while fleeing.

Nayeri was already serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole prior to his most recent trial for plotting one of Orange County’s most violent and shocking crimes in recent memory.

In 2012, Nayeri and two high school friends kidnapped the owner of a marijuana dispensary and brutally tortured him when they tried to get him to wire a non-existent $1 million they believed to be in the Mojave – Desert had buried. They beat him with plastic hoses, cursed at him and burned the man with a blowtorch before severing his penis and leaving him tied up in the desert. A woman who was also kidnapped escaped and found a police officer who probably saved their lives. The missing body part was never found.

Nayeri fled to his native Iran before police identified him as a suspect. His then-wife – who was working with the police unbeknownst to Nayeri – persuaded him to travel to another country where he could be arrested and extradited to the United States.

Once in local custody, Nayeri was housed in a dorm-like unit within the Men’s Central Jail, part of the Central Jail Complex located next to the Sheriff’s Department Headquarters in the Civic Center near downtown Santa Ana.

Nayeri worked for months with other inmates – including his later fellow fugitives Bac Tien Duong and Jonathan Tieu – on an escape plan. Nayeri would film it on a contraband cellphone.

The inmates cut through 1/2-inch steel bars to gain access to the installation tunnels. They made makeshift ropes out of bed sheets to get to the prison roof. On at least two occasions, they made their way to the roof so they could use the makeshift ropes to haul up backpacks full of supplies, including real ropes and cell phones. Duong had tricked a friend into taking the contraband right in front of the jail.

On January 22, 2016, in the early hours of the morning, the three men used the ropes to rappel from the five-story prison and then slipped into a Santa Ana neighborhood.

Nayeri continued to call the shots, prosecutors said.

The refugees were picked up by a friend of Duong’s. Then, prosecutors say, they contacted an unsuspecting, unlicensed cab driver named Long Ma, who would testify driving the men to Rosemead before they pointed a gun at him.

Ma described the fugitives who held him against his will for five days as they moved from a series of hotels, first in Rosemead and then to San Jose, in both Ma’s vehicle and a van Duong, the Duong in Los Angeles had stolen. Tensions between Nayeri and Duong exploded in a violent altercation in a Bay Area hotel room over whether to kill the cab driver, prosecutors say. Ma credited Duong with saving his life and said he talked Duong into driving the two back to Orange County so Duong could turn himself in.

A day later, Nayeri and Tieu were arrested in San Francisco.

In his testimony, Nayeri described the cab driver not as an involuntary kidnapping victim — but as an accomplice who agreed to take the Southern California fugitives away and house them when they tried to evade law enforcement for $10,000.

Nayer’s original plan to have an unnamed man pick him up outside the jail and take him to Los Angeles International Airport with a passport and plane ticket to Turkey fell through when the alleged accomplice “ghosted” him. Nayeri said he had no choice – he would stay with Duong and Tieu.

Nayeri denied that the fugitives had a gun and claimed they made the trip to the Bay Area so Ma could speak to family members and see if they could accommodate the three men. Nayeri said his fight with Duong came after learning Duong stole the van in Los Angeles rather than buying it, potentially drawing more attention to the fugitives. Nayeri’s attorney told jurors that the cab driver decided to go with Duong after realizing he could make more money by collecting part of the reward for capturing the fugitives, which had swelled to $200,000.

In court, Assistant District Attorney David McMurrin repeatedly challenged Nayeri’s story — pointing to Internet searches for shooting ranges that at least one of the men had done in the Bay Area. The prosecutor also noted that after Nayeri and Tieu were arrested, 17 bullets were found in a plastic bag inside the van, with the van owner saying he completely evacuated the vehicle before it was stolen.

McMurrin told jurors that Nayeri and the others needed the cab driver: He had ID they could use to check into hotel rooms and pick up money orders, including cash Nayeri’s grandmother had cabled from Iran.

The taxi driver was often combative and outraged during his own testimony at Nayeri’s recent trial, sometimes contradicting statements he had made at a previous trial and during police interviews, including his description of the reported firearm.

Nayeri was acquitted of the kidnapping charge, which carried the heaviest penalty of the trial, a potentially life sentence.

But Nayeri had already been found guilty of kidnapping and torturing the owner of the marijuana dispensary that landed him behind bars in the first place, and had been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences plus an additional seven years in prison.

Prosecutors and attorneys representing Nayeri’s co-defendants in both the torture and prison escape trials have portrayed him as a master manipulator. Nayeri spent much of his testimony in both trials alternating between calmly denying he was a mastermind and verbally battling with prosecutors.

Duong had previously been convicted for his role in the prison escape, as well as the car theft and kidnapping. Ma, who credits Duong with saving his life, asked that Duong show mercy. A judge sentenced Duong to 20 years in prison last year.

Tieu is still awaiting the jailbreak trial.

The post ‘Actually diabolical legal’ will get extra time for breaking out of California jail appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Hossein Nayeri was sentenced to an additional two years and eight months in prison on Friday, March 24, 2023 in Santa Ana, Calif. after being convicted of escaping an Orange County jail and a related theft auto. At the time of his escape from prison, he was awaiting trial for kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, for which he has since been convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A convicted torturer and former international fugitive accused of plotting a daring escape from an Orange County jail in 2016 was sentenced to two years and eight months behind bars on Friday, March 24, for his role in the headline-grabbing prison break sentenced.

A week after an Orange County Superior Court jury found Hossein Nayeri guilty of taking part in the brazen breakout from Santa Ana’s Central Men’s Penitentiary and also found him guilty of stealing a van while on the run, Nayeri’s lengthy legal process appears to have come to an end.

This case is unlikely to affect Nayeri’s future much – he has already been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Over the past decade, Nayeri, now 44, has become one of Orange County’s most notorious inmates — a man whom District Attorney Todd Spitzer recently called “one of America’s most dangerous criminals,” whom previous prosecutors have labeled a “psychopath” and a “really demonic one.” Criminals” and compared to the fictional Hannibal Lecter.

• Hossein Nayeri listens to Judge Larry Yellin during sentencing Friday March 24, 2023 in Santa Ana, California. Nayeri was sentenced to an additional two years and eight months in prison after being convicted of escaping an Orange County jail and a related theft auto. At the time of his escape from prison, he was awaiting trial for kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, for which he has since been convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

• Hossein Nayeri listens as his attorney Michael Goldfeder speaks in court during the sentencing hearing in Santa Ana, California on Friday, March 24, 2023. Nayeri was sentenced to an additional two years and eight months in prison after being convicted of escaping an Orange County jail and a related theft car. At the time of his escape from prison, he was awaiting trial for kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, for which he has since been convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

• Judge Larry Yellin speaks to Hossein Nayeri during sentencing on Friday, March 24, 2023 in Santa Ana, Calif. Nayeri was sentenced to an additional two years and eight months in prison after being convicted of escaping an Orange County jail and a related theft auto. At the time of his escape from prison, he was awaiting trial for kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, for which he has since been convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

• Hossein Nayeri (seated, left) listens as his attorney Michael Goldfeder speaks in court on Friday, March 24, 2023 during the sentencing hearing in Santa Ana, California. Nayeri was sentenced to an additional two years and eight months in prison after his conviction. Escape from an Orange County jail and a related theft car. At the time of his escape from prison, he was awaiting trial for kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, for which he has since been convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

• Hossein Nayeri speaks briefly with his attorney, Michael Goldfeder, following the sentencing in Santa Ana, Calif., Friday, March 24, 2023. Nayeri was sentenced to an additional two years and eight months in prison after being convicted of escaping an Orange County jail for a related auto theft. At the time of his escape from prison, he was awaiting trial for kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, for which he has since been convicted and sentenced to multiple life terms. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Orange County Superior Court Judge Larry Yellin Friday, just a block from where the escape took place, cited the sophisticated nature of the jailbreak while handing out the effectively maximum penalty available under current state law .

“‘Shawshank Redemption’ didn’t have anything against you guys,” Yellin told Nayeri, referencing a dogged prison escape in the 1994 film. “It played out like a movie.”

Nayeri did not speak during Friday’s hearing. He kept his eyes downcast as he sat next to his attorney, hands tucked in his suit pockets as he was led in and out of the courtroom.

Nayeri has openly admitted to escaping prison with two fellow fugitives, starting an intense week-long manhunt that ended with the re-arrest of three men. But during his trial, Nayeri repeatedly denied kidnapping and holding against his will an independent cab driver who had driven the three to various hotels in Southern California and the Bay Area while fleeing.

Prior to his most recent trial, Nayeri was already serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole for plotting one of Orange County’s most violent and shocking crimes in recent memory. In 2012, Nayeri and two high school friends abducted a marijuana dispensary owner from his Newport Beach home.

They wanted him to hand over a non-existent $1 million they believed he had buried in the Mojave Desert. They beat him with plastic hoses, cursed at him and burned the man with a blowtorch before severing his penis and leaving him tied up in the desert. A woman who was also kidnapped escaped and found a police officer who probably saved their lives. The missing body part was never found.

Nayeri fled to his native Iran before police identified him as a suspect. His then-wife – who was working with the police unbeknownst to Nayeri – persuaded him to travel to another country where he could be arrested and extradited to the United States.

Once in local custody, Nayeri was housed in a dorm-style unit at the Men’s Central Jail, part of the Central Jail Complex adjacent to the Sheriff’s Department Headquarters in the Civic Center near downtown Santa Ana.

Nayeri worked for months with other inmates – including his later fellow fugitives Bac Tien Duong and Jonathan Tieu – on an escape plan. Nayeri filmed the escape using a smuggled cell phone.

The inmates cut through 1/2-inch steel bars to gain access to the installation tunnels. They made makeshift ropes out of bed sheets to get to the prison roof. On at least two occasions, they made their way to the roof so they could use the makeshift ropes to haul up backpacks full of supplies, including real ropes and cell phones. Duong had tricked a friend into taking the contraband right in front of the jail.

On January 22, 2016, in the early hours of the morning, the three men used the ropes to rappel from the five-story prison and then slipped into a Santa Ana neighborhood.

Nayeri continued to call the shots, prosecutors said.

The refugees were picked up by a friend of Duong’s. Then, prosecutors say, they contacted an unsuspecting, unlicensed cab driver named Long Ma, who would testify driving the men to Rosemead before they pointed a gun at him.

Ma said the escapees held him against his will for five days while moving between hotels, first in Rosemead and then north to San Jose in Ma’s vehicle and a Van Duong he stole in Los Angeles. Tensions between Nayeri and Duong exploded in a violent altercation in a Bay Area hotel room over whether to kill the cab driver, prosecutors say. Ma credited Duong with saving his life and said he talked Duong into driving the two back to Orange County so Duong could turn himself in.

A day later, Nayeri and Tieu were arrested in San Francisco.

In his testimony, Nayeri described the cab driver not as a kidnapping victim — but as an accomplice who agreed to take the fugitives away from Southern California and house them as they attempted to evade law enforcement for $10,000.

Nayer’s original plan to have a man pick him up outside the jail and take him to Los Angeles International Airport with a passport and plane ticket to Turkey fell through when the alleged accomplice “ghosted” him. Nayeri said he had no choice then – he would stay with Duong and Tieu.

Nayeri denied that the fugitives had a gun and claimed they made the trip to the Bay Area so Ma could speak to family members and see if they could accommodate the three men. Nayeri said his fight with Duong actually happened after learning Duong stole the van in Los Angeles rather than buying it, potentially drawing more attention to the fugitives. Nayeri’s lawyer told jurors that the taxi driver decided to go with Duong after realizing he could make more money by collecting part of the reward for capturing the fugitives; it had grown to $200,000.

In court, Assistant District Attorney David McMurrin repeatedly challenged Nayeri’s story — pointing to internet searches at least one of the men in the Bay Area had made for shooting ranges. The prosecutor also noted that after Nayeri and Tieu were arrested, 17 bullets were found in a plastic bag inside the van, with the van owner saying he completely evacuated the vehicle before it was stolen.

McMurrin told jurors that Nayeri and the others needed the cab driver: He had ID they could use to check into hotel rooms and pick up money orders, including cash Nayeri’s grandmother had cabled from Iran.

During his own testimony at Nayeri’s recent trial, the taxi driver was often combative and outraged, sometimes contradicting his testimonies at a previous trial and in police interviews, including his description of the reported firearm.

Nayeri was acquitted of the kidnapping charge, which carried the heaviest penalty of the trial, a potentially life sentence.

But Nayeri had already been convicted of kidnapping and torturing the owner of the marijuana dispensary that got him behind bars in the first place, earning him those two consecutive life sentences plus an additional seven years behind bars.

Previously, Duong was convicted for his role in escaping prison, stealing a car and kidnapping. Ma, who credits Duong with saving his life, asked that Duong show mercy. A judge sentenced Duong to 20 years in prison last year.

Tieu is still awaiting the jailbreak trial.

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E-commerce giant Amazon will close eight of its Amazon Go stores in Seattle, San Francisco and New York. The move comes as part of the company’s effort to reduce costs and realign its retail strategy in a difficult economic environment.

The closures were first reported by GeekWire, and an Amazon spokesperson confirmed the news to TechCrunch. The eight stores are scheduled to remain open until April 1, 2023.

Valuation of the portfolio

Amazon said that like any physical retailer, it regularly evaluates its store portfolio and makes optimization decisions as needed. A company spokesman said: “In this instance, we have decided to close a small number of Amazon Go stores in Seattle, New York City and San Francisco. We remain committed to the Amazon Go format and operate more than 20 Amazon Go stores across the US and will continue to learn which locations and features customers resonate with best as we continue to develop our Amazon Go stores.”

The company introduced its first checkout-free location near its Seattle headquarters in 2016. Amazon has since expanded the concept to include more stores in the United States.

Amazon isn’t the only company looking to streamline its retail operations amid economic uncertainty. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Amazon was pausing the expansion of Amazon Fresh Grocery Stores to consider how to make the stores more competitive with mainstream supermarkets.

Continuous growth

Despite the closures, Amazon remains committed to its checkout-free grocery stores and other new concepts. The company recently opened a new Amazon Go store in Puyallup, Washington and plans to continue expanding the brand.

The move to close the eight stores comes a year after Amazon announced it would close 68 brick-and-mortar retail stores in the United States and the United Kingdom. These closures included the Amazon Books bookstores, pop-up shops in various markets, and the 4-star stores where customers could buy popular and highly rated products on Amazon.com.

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Sources:

To ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this article, we have consulted the following sources:

• TechCrunch: Amazon is closing eight Amazon Go stores in Seattle, San Francisco and New York
• GeekWire: Amazon is closing eight Amazon Go stores in Seattle, San Francisco and New York
• Bloomberg: Amazon pauses expansion of Amazon Fresh Grocery Stores as it evaluates business

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SAN FRANCISCO, October 27, 2021 / PRNewswire / – Prologis, Inc., (NYSE: PLD), the global leader in logistics real estate, today hosted a thought leadership event and launched a new e-magazine, both of which address today’s supply chain problems: Transportation Innovation , Renewable energy initiatives and labor shortages.

Prologis’ new digital publication, GROUNDBREAKERS, introduces some of today’s most influential thought leaders who share groundbreaking approaches to redefining global logistics in its first edition.

Groundbreakers 2021: breaking new ground
The event was fueled by a conversation between UPS CEOs Carol Tomé and Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam and moderated by Susie Gharib, Anchor and Senior Special Correspondent, Fortune. Best selling author Michael Lewis Final remarks given.

“The pandemic changed everything,” said Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam. “Not only did it accelerate trends at work, it also exposed the fragility of the global supply chain, optimized for efficiency rather than resilience. The old methods worked – until they didn’t. The leaders we’ve heard of today are at the forefront of this exciting new world. “

About the GROUNDBREAKERS magazine
The new GROUNDBREAKERS magazine from Prologis features an overview of macro trends in the industry and in-depth research on new technologies, trends and innovations from logistics leaders around the world.

The opening edition features 14 thought leaders who are redefining global logistics and driving the needle forward in the global economy. In times of radical change, these leaders have brought themselves to the top of their respective fields through innovation, investment and management, turning the most impressive demand scenario in history into an extraordinary opportunity.

The 14:

• Carol Tomé, CEO, UPS
• Jack Kennedy, Co-Founder and CEO, Platform Science
• Maria Flynn, CEO, Jobs for the Future (JFF)
• Gayle tait, President and COO, Trove
• Sidney “Sid” Brown, CEO, NFI
• Craig Fuller, Founder and CEO, FreightWaves
• long darla, Deputy Chairman, Managing Director, National Partners, CBRE
• Charles van der Steene, Regional Head of Sales and Marketing, North America, Maersk
• Mike Wilson, Executive Vice President Latin America and Global Logistics Manufacturing Services, DSV Global Transport and Logistics
• Mike Kaufmann, Chief Executive Officer, Cardinal Health
• Akira Higashi, Parts and Service Manager, Daikin
• Marie-Christine Lombard, CEO, GEODIS
• Jean-Paul Mochet, President of Monoprix and Franprix, The Casino Group
• Rick Faulk, CEO, Locus Robotics

Recommended GROUNDBREAKERS articles:
“The future of trade”
“Not your father’s camp”
“The Green Machine”
“Dancing with Robots”

Read the entire magazine here.

ABOUT PROLOGIS
Prologis, Inc. is the world’s leading provider of logistics real estate with a focus on high-growth, high-barrier markets. As of September 30, 2021, the company owned real estate and development projects that were 100% or through co-investment ventures expected to total approximately 994 million square feet (92 million square meters) in 19 countries. Prologis rents modern logistics facilities to a diverse customer base of around 5,500 customers, mainly in two main categories: business-to-business and retail / online fulfillment.

FORWARDING STATEMENTS
Statements in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industries and markets in which we operate and on the beliefs and assumptions of management. Such statements involve uncertainties that could materially affect our financial results. Words such as “expects,” “expects,” “intends,” “planet,” “believes,” “aims” and “estimates,” including variations on such words and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements that are typically not historical Are nature. All statements relating to operational performance, events or developments that we expect or expect to occur in the future – including statements regarding rental and occupancy growth, development activities, contribution and disposal activities, general terms and conditions in The geographic areas in which we operate, our debt, capital structure and financial condition, our ability to establish new co-investments and the availability of capital in existing or new co-investments – are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Although we believe that the expectations expressed in forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we cannot guarantee that our expectations will be met. seek statements. Some of the factors that may affect outcomes and outcomes include, but are not limited to: (i) national, international, regional, and local economic and political climates; (ii) changes in global financial markets, interest rates and exchange rates; (iii) increased or unexpected competition for our properties; (iv) risks associated with the acquisition, sale and development of real estate; (v) maintaining real estate investment trust status, tax structuring and changes in income tax laws and rates; (vi) availability of funding and capital, the amount of debt we maintain and our credit ratings; (vii) risks associated with our investments in our co-investment companies, including our ability to create new co-investment companies; (viii) international business risks, including currency risks; (ix) environmental uncertainties, including risks of natural disasters; (x) risks related to the current coronavirus pandemic; and (xi) the additional factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in our reports on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document, unless required by law.

SOURCE Prologis, Inc.

similar links

https://www.prologis.com

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The debut GROUNDBREAKERS Magazine brings together industry insights and commentary

SAN FRANCISCO, October 27, 2021 / PRNewswire / – Prologis, Inc., (NYSE: PLD), the global leader in logistics real estate, today hosted a thought leadership event and launched a new e-magazine, both of which address today’s supply chain problems: Transportation Innovation , Renewable energy initiatives and labor shortages.

Prologis’ new digital publication, GROUNDBREAKERS, introduces some of today’s most influential thought leaders who share groundbreaking approaches to redefining global logistics in its first edition.

Groundbreakers 2021: breaking new ground
The event was fueled by a conversation between UPS CEOs Carol Tomé and Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam and moderated by Susie Gharib, Anchor and Senior Special Correspondent, Fortune. Best selling author Michael Lewis Final remarks given.

“The pandemic changed everything,” said Prologis CEO Hamid Moghadam. “Not only did it accelerate trends at work, it also exposed the fragility of the global supply chain, optimized for efficiency rather than resilience. The old methods worked – until they didn’t. The leaders we’ve heard of today are at the forefront of this exciting new world. “

About the GROUNDBREAKERS magazine
The new GROUNDBREAKERS magazine from Prologis features an overview of macro trends in the industry and in-depth research on new technologies, trends and innovations from logistics leaders around the world.

The opening edition features 14 thought leaders who are redefining global logistics and driving the needle forward in the global economy. In times of radical change, these leaders have brought themselves to the top of their respective fields through innovation, investment and management, turning the most impressive demand scenario in history into an extraordinary opportunity.

The 14:

• Carol Tomé, CEO, UPS

• Jack Kennedy, Co-Founder and CEO, Platform Science

• Maria Flynn, CEO, Jobs for the Future (JFF)

• Gayle tait, President and COO, Trove

• Sidney “Sid” Brown, CEO, NFI

• Craig Fuller, Founder and CEO, FreightWaves

• long darla, Deputy Chairman, Managing Director, National Partners, CBRE

• Charles van der Steene, Regional Head of Sales and Marketing, North America, Maersk

• Mike Wilson, Executive Vice President Latin America and Global Logistics Manufacturing Services, DSV Global Transport and Logistics

• Mike Kaufmann, Chief Executive Officer, Cardinal Health

• Akira Higashi, Parts and Service Manager, Daikin

• Marie-Christine Lombard, CEO, GEODIS

• Jean-Paul Mochet, President of Monoprix and Franprix, The Casino Group

• Rick Faulk, CEO, Locus Robotics

Recommended GROUNDBREAKERS articles:
“The future of trade”
“Not your father’s camp”
“The Green Machine”
“Dancing with Robots”

The story goes on

Read the entire magazine here.

ABOUT PROLOGIS
Prologis, Inc. is the world’s leading provider of logistics real estate with a focus on high-growth, high-barrier markets. As of September 30, 2021, the company owned real estate and development projects that were 100% or through co-investment ventures expected to total approximately 994 million square feet (92 million square meters) in 19 countries. Prologis rents modern logistics facilities to a diverse customer base of around 5,500 customers, mainly in two main categories: business-to-business and retail / online fulfillment.

FORWARDING STATEMENTS
Statements in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industries and markets in which we operate and on the beliefs and assumptions of management. Such statements involve uncertainties that could materially affect our financial results. Words such as “expects,” “expects,” “intends,” “planet,” “believes,” “aims” and “estimates,” including variations on such words and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements that are typically not historical Are nature. All statements relating to operational performance, events or developments that we expect or expect to occur in the future – including statements regarding rental and occupancy growth, development activities, contribution and disposal activities, general terms and conditions in The geographic areas in which we operate, our debt, capital structure and financial condition, our ability to establish new co-investments and the availability of capital in existing or new co-investments – are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Although we believe that the expectations expressed in forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we cannot guarantee that our expectations will be met. seek statements. Some of the factors that may affect outcomes and outcomes include, but are not limited to: (i) national, international, regional, and local economic and political climates; (ii) changes in global financial markets, interest rates and exchange rates; (iii) increased or unexpected competition for our properties; (iv) risks associated with the acquisition, sale and development of real estate; (v) maintaining real estate investment trust status, tax structuring and changes in income tax laws and rates; (vi) availability of funding and capital, the amount of debt we maintain and our credit ratings; (vii) risks associated with our investments in our co-investment companies, including our ability to create new co-investment companies; (viii) international business risks, including currency risks; (ix) environmental uncertainties, including risks of natural disasters; (x) risks related to the current coronavirus pandemic; and (xi) the additional factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in our reports on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document, unless required by law.

Prolog. (PRNewsFoto / Prologis, Inc.) (PRNewsFoto / Prologis, Inc.)

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/prologis-hosts-inaugural-breaking-new-ground-event-at-global-headquarters-in-san-francisco-301410421.html

SOURCE Prologis, Inc.

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