Chris Francescani
Journalist
@ABCNews
PROJECTS
ABC
Analysis: How Bill Cosby's defense team's vicious strategy backfired
Employing a vicious defense strategy that sought to exploit race, gender, age and social activism, Cosby’s defense team went low early and kept on going -- launching stunning, mostly unfounded broadsides against the judge, the prosecutor, the witnesses and the jurors -– and openly mocked the widely accepted scholarship of a renowned expert on sexual assault.
ABC
Cosby defense expert reveals he Googled side effects of Benadryl for report
In the roughest day yet for Bill Cosby’s defense team, a so-called toxicology expert acknowledged on the stand on Thursday that he had Googled data for his expert report, that his sole active license was a driver’s license and that one of the scholarly publications he listed on his curriculum vitae was in fact a letter to the editor.
ABC
Cosby judge will allow 5 additional accusers to testify against the comedian
In a crucial pre-trial ruling that could help determine the fate of comedian Bill Cosby, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Thursday that he will allow five additional accusers to testify about allegedly being drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby over the years.
ABC
Surveillance video of Pulse nightclub shooting shown in court
Jurors in the federal terrorism trial of Noor Salman, the wife of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, got a gripping sense of the brutality of the 2016 massacre as they watched eerily-silent black-and-white security footage of the killer pacing through gaps in a sea of bodies on the club’s dance floor, firing slugs indiscriminately into anything that moved.
ABC
Key ruling still undecided as Bill Cosby braces for retrial
Two days of key pretrial hearings in the felony sexual assault case against comedian Bill Cosby ended on Tuesday without a ruling on one the most critical issues at stake: whether or not as many as 19 additional Cosby accusers should be allowed to testify for the prosecution at a trial that begins this month.
ABC
Reporters rescued after boat crash, clinging to tree branches in hurricane-battered bayou
In a harrowing survival story emerging from Hurricane Harvey’s assault on southeast Texas, a pair of journalists documenting a seemingly routine civilian boat rescue survived near-electrocution and blunt force trauma, and clung to tree branches for 18 hours through hallucinations and relentless rainstorms before being rescued by chance late Tuesday morning.
ABC
Bill Cosby's fate could turn on a pivotal court decision expected next week
The Pennsylvania judge at the center of the criminal retrial of comedian Bill Cosby on sexual assault charges could rule as soon as early next week on a critical motion that may reshape the Commonwealth’s case as it heads into jury selection later this month.
"I think the outcome [of the case] virtually turns on that ruling," said Yale Law School professor Steven B. Duke.
ABC
Veteran NY news editor Mark Mooney wrote his own heartbreaking obituary before dying of cancer at 66
Mark Mooney, a veteran New York reporter, editor and author whose cool head, easy charm and love of the craft made him a revered mentor in numerous newsrooms, died at 66 of cancer.
Mooney wrote his own obituary, “My last byline,” which was published by his wife on the day of his death.
Mooney’s news career stretched from the age of typewriter ribbons to Twitter, and he worked for a variety of outlets, including the United Press International wire service, The New York Post, the New York Daily News, ABC News and CNNMoney.
ABC
Roy Moore accuser: I got him banned from the mall
An Alabama woman who has accused Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually harassing her in the late 1970s said he was banned from the mall where she worked after she complained about his repeated, unwanted advances toward her.
“I went to my manager and talked to him about it and asked him, basically, what could be done,” Becky Gray told ABC News late Wednesday night. “Later on, he…came back through my department and told me that [Moore] had been banned from the mall.”
ABC
Inside the explosive Cosby jury deliberations that almost came to blows - ABC News
“If we kept going, there was definitely going to be a fight, a juror told ABC News in an exclusive interview. "They had five sheriff’s deputies at the door, and they could hear us and they kept coming in because they thought we were already fighting.”
“People couldn’t even pace” in the smaller room, the juror said. “They were just literally walking in circles where they were standing because they were losing their minds. People would just start crying out of nowhere. We wouldn’t even be talking about [the case], and people would just start crying."
NBC
Brazillian Superhackers Lurking Just Out of Sight At Summer Olympics - NBC News
Tourists flocking to Rio are descending into what security experts describe as one of the most potent cybercrime hotspots in the world, where a new generation of young hackers is perfecting and unleashing a spectrum of online attacks in and outside of the country.
NBC
ITT Tech and the 'CSI Miami Pitch' - NBC News
An ongoing dispute over the criminal justice program at ITT's Tallahassee, Florida campus offers a glimpse into a system where taxpayer dollars have supported a network of trade schools widely criticized for deceptive recruitment practices and an often low-quality education. It also provides some indication of how ITT survived years of scrutiny, withering criticism and a growing raft of lawsuits before shutting down.
NBC
Why The Feds Are So Alarmed About the New York Dam Hack - NBC News
In recent years, independent "white-hat" security researchers have shown they can access cities' traffic control systems and license plate reader networks, sports stadiums, car washes, a hockey rink in Denmark, a Texas water plant, the particle-accelerating cyclotron at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, even an Olympic arena.
The Daily Beast
Nobel Prize Committee Defends Bob Dylan At Award Ceremony - The Daily Beast
Under fire for awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature to Bob Dylan, the Swedish Academy came out swinging at Saturday’s ceremony with a spirited defense of the man and his music.
NBC
Ransomware Hackers Blackmail U.S. Police Departments - NBC News
Cybercriminals who have forced U.S. hospitals, schools and even small cities to pay hundreds of millions in blackmail or see their files destroyed are now targeting the most unlikely group of victims: U.S. police departments. And the attacks are putting federal law enforcement officials in a nearly impossible position.