LOMPOC, Calif. (KEYT) - The preliminary hearing for Lompoc City Councilman Steve Bridge’s fraud charges is expected to conclude today.

After several days’ worth of witness testimony, cross examination, and attorney arguments, plus a continuance due to a health issue, a conclusion is expected by this afternoon.

The prosecution has presented evidence and witness testimony that suggests Steve Bridge was deliberately practicing deceit by forging invoices to obtain city rebate money.

The city rebate program requires a licensed contractor to conduct the labor to be reimbursed by the rebates.

Audio recordings were presented in which Bridge admitted his forgery and downplayed the city rebates’ requirement that licensed contractors should do the labor.

The defense argued that the rebate application process was unclear about those requirements, but the prosecution countered with definitive language on the applications and outreach communications.

Judge Stephen Dunkle will decide whether or not there is enough evidence to hold Councilman Bridge to answer — if his honor’s decision is yes, the case will proceed toward trial.

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ISLA VISTA, Calif. ( KEYT ) - After a reported rape last weekend, the parents of the victim, an 18-year-old UC Santa Barbara freshman, are asking for help from the public to find the attacker. The victim has been identified as Jane Doe to protect her identity, and reported the assault to UC Police about an hour after the attack.

An alert went out last weekend about what was described by police as a violent sexual assault and strangulation.

Attorney Tyrone Maho, of Maho & Prentice, LLP, and the family’s investigator, Michael Claytor of Claytor Investigations are representing the student's family. They say at approximately 11:00 pm on Saturday, May 9, their daughter was violently attacked and the attacker is still at large.

They are asking anyone who may know about this or a Sigma Pi fraternity party scene prior to the attack to come forward with the information.

The family, through their attorney, Tyrone Maho of Maho Prentice, LLP, have reached out to Chancellor Dennis Assanis, requesting help.  They are asking for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department take over this investigation.   The family has been in contact with the UCSB Police Department so far, but due to their limited resources they are asking for the Sheriff’s Department to take over this investigation and find the attacker.

In 2025, Mayo and Claytor led a public outreach campaign to identify a person of interest in connection to the death of another student, 18-year-old Liz Hamel who died in a fall from a balcony on campus. That case has been under investigation by the UC Police at the time.

(More details, photos and video will be added here later today.)

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CNN

By Eric Levenson, CNN

(CNN) — The South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions Wednesday primarily focused on how a county clerk’s improper comments to the jury violated his right to a fair trial.

But the court’s 29-page ruling also offered “guidance” for prosecutors, advising them to reel in their use of Murdaugh’s financial crimes in a murder retrial.

That’s just one way a second trial could be different than the now-vacated 2023 trial. The retrial is likely to have less focus on financial evidence, a lack of surprise evidence or testimony, and may prove a challenge in finding impartial jurors, legal experts told CNN.

“If there’s a retrial, the whole case has to start again,” said Jessica Roth, a former prosecutor and professor at Cardozo School of Law in New York. “It’s a new trial from start to finish.”

Murdaugh’s attorneys said on NBC’s “Today” the defense has the advantage in a retrial.

“In a retrial, the statistics are in favor of the defendant because you have a lot more recorded testimony of witnesses,” attorney Jim Griffin said Thursday. “You get to impeach them with inconsistencies. It will be a totally different trial, I promise you.”

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said his office plans to retry Murdaugh on the murder charges “as soon as possible.” Prosecutors still have a window to ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider its decision or to appeal to the US Supreme Court, but lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said he expected a retrial ahead.

“I’m thinking right now what’s gonna happen is we’re gonna tee this thing up and do it again,” Waters told CNN’s Laura Coates.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling was the latest twist in the sprawling Murdaugh saga that has riveted the public and spawned true crime documentaries, podcasts and best-selling books.

Murdaugh, a prominent attorney from a South Carolina Lowcountry legal dynasty, was convicted by a jury of the murders of his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, in March 2023. Those convictions are no longer.

He remains in prison on dozens of financial crimes, serving concurrent state and federal sentences of 27 and 40 years.

The murder trial was the capstone to a remarkable fall from grace for the personal injury lawyer, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather served as the local prosecutor consecutively from 1920 to 2006.

Murdaugh was a partner at a powerful law firm with his name on it. But that prominence belied underlying issues, and the killings of his wife and son were followed by accusa

CNN

By Eric Levenson, CNN

(CNN) — The South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions Wednesday primarily focused on how a county clerk’s improper comments to the jury violated his right to a fair trial.

But the court’s 29-page ruling also offered “guidance” for prosecutors, advising them to reel in their use of Murdaugh’s financial crimes in a murder retrial.

That’s just one way a second trial could be different than the now-vacated 2023 trial. The retrial is likely to have less focus on financial evidence, a lack of surprise evidence or testimony, and may prove a challenge in finding impartial jurors, legal experts told CNN.

“If there’s a retrial, the whole case has to start again,” said Jessica Roth, a former prosecutor and professor at Cardozo School of Law in New York. “It’s a new trial from start to finish.”

Murdaugh’s attorneys said on NBC’s “Today” the defense has the advantage in a retrial.

“In a retrial, the statistics are in favor of the defendant because you have a lot more recorded testimony of witnesses,” attorney Jim Griffin said Thursday. “You get to impeach them with inconsistencies. It will be a totally different trial, I promise you.”

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said his office plans to retry Murdaugh on the murder charges “as soon as possible.” Prosecutors still have a window to ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider its decision or to appeal to the US Supreme Court, but lead prosecutor Creighton Waters said he expected a retrial ahead.

“I’m thinking right now what’s gonna happen is we’re gonna tee this thing up and do it again,” Waters told CNN’s Laura Coates.

The state Supreme Court’s ruling was the latest twist in the sprawling Murdaugh saga that has riveted the public and spawned true crime documentaries, podcasts and best-selling books.

Murdaugh, a prominent attorney from a South Carolina Lowcountry legal dynasty, was convicted by a jury of the murders of his wife, Maggie, and 22-year-old son, Paul, in March 2023. Those convictions are no longer.

He remains in prison on dozens of financial crimes, serving concurrent state and federal sentences of 27 and 40 years.

The murder trial was the capstone to a remarkable fall from grace for the personal injury lawyer, whose father, grandfather and great-grandfather served as the local prosecutor consecutively from 1920 to 2006.

Murdaugh was a partner at a powerful law firm with his name on it. But that prominence belied underlying issues, and the killings of his wife and son were followed by accusa