Courts Reporter

Molly Crane-Newman

Molly Crane-Newman covers the state and federal courts in Manhattan for the Daily News, reporting on criminal and civil justice procedures impacting the lives and safety of all New Yorkers. She follows former President Donald Trump's New York cases and documented gavel-to-gavel the high-stakes trials of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Harvey Weinstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell. She joined The News in 2015 after moving to the city from her native Dublin, Ireland.

The decision was announced by prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office at a hearing attended by Weinstein and Jessica Mann, one of two women who he was found guilty of abusing more than four years ago.

Crime and Public Safety |
Manhattan DA will retry Harvey Weinstein after appeals court overturns NY rape conviction

May 1, 2024 at 7:01 p.m.

The decision was announced by prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office at a hearing attended by Weinstein and Jessica Mann, one of two women who he was found...

Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he arrive to court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 30, 2024 in New York City. (Eduardo Munoz-Pool/Getty Images)

New York News |
Trump fined $9,000 for hush money trial gag order violations, threatened with jail

May 2, 2024 at 3:42 p.m.

Donald Trump was held in criminal contempt for violating a gag order prohibiting him from commenting on participants in his Manhattan hush money case and fined $9,000 as his proceedings entered...

Former President Donald Trump attends his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 26, 2024. (DAVE SANDERS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Local News |
Trump spends Melania’s birthday at NYC hush money trial as testimony on trysts continues

April 27, 2024 at 8:13 a.m.

Donald Trump on Friday spent his wife’s 54th birthday at his Manhattan hush money trial listening to longtime confidantes shed light on his alleged extramarital liaisons and efforts to hide them from...

Donald Trump never mentioned worrying about his wife getting wind of his alleged trysts with porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal — only his future in politics, a Manhattan jury heard Thursday during explosive testimony at the former president’s hush-money trial.

Crime and Public Safety |
Pecker at hush money trial says Trump feared trysts would hurt image, but didn’t mention Melania

April 27, 2024 at 8:15 a.m.

Donald Trump never mentioned worrying about his wife getting wind of his alleged trysts with porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal — only his future in politics, a...

Seized ghost guns are on display at a press conference at the Queens District Attorney's office, Dec. 9, 2021 in Queens. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)

Crime and Public Safety |
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg puts YouTube on notice for online ghost gun tutorials

April 24, 2024 at 7:44 p.m.

Bragg said the site’s algorithm has persistently pushed ghost gun content despite warnings by gun safety groups in recent years, often in violation of their own community guidelines.

Local News |
Pecker’s bombshell testimony at hush money trial detailed media manipulation to help Trump win

April 24, 2024 at 8:49 p.m.

David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media, Inc., or AMI, detailed how he, together with Donald Trump and his former fixer, Michael Cohen, conspired to exploit AMI’s cadre of celebrity gossip tabloids...

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan heard arguments from prosecutors on Tuesday requesting that Trump be held in criminal contempt for almost a dozen violations of his order prohibiting Trump from publicly attacking trial participants.

Crime and Public Safety |
Trump faces potential punishment for violating gag order in hush money trial

April 23, 2024 at 9:09 p.m.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan heard arguments from prosecutors on Tuesday requesting that Trump be held in criminal contempt for almost a dozen violations of his order prohibiting Trump...

Former President Donald Trump looks on at Manhattan Criminal Court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs in New York on April 22, 2024. (ANGELA WEISS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

New York News |
Donald Trump’s hush-money scheme was ‘election fraud, pure and simple,’ prosecutors charge in opening statements

April 26, 2024 at 7:01 p.m.

The ruse central to the first-ever criminal case against an ex-U.S. president started with three men in a room at Trump Tower in August 2015, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo...

Trump returned to the lower Manhattan courthouse Friday for the fourth day of proceedings after a jam-packed first week searching for a jury, complaining how the gag order that requires him to stay mum on witnesses, the jury and court staff and their family makes the trial “unfair.”

Crime and Public Safety |
Jury selection completed at Trump hush money trial in NYC; opening arguments Monday

April 20, 2024 at 11:42 a.m.

Trump returned to the lower Manhattan courthouse Friday for the fourth day of proceedings after a jam-packed first week searching for a jury, complaining how the gag order that requires...

The 12 New Yorkers who will decide whether or not Donald Trump is a felon before this year’s presidential election were seated during a dramatic day of proceedings Thursday.

Crime and Public Safety |
Full jury selected for Trump hush money trial

April 18, 2024 at 10:53 p.m.

The 12 New Yorkers who will decide whether or not Donald Trump is a felon before this year’s presidential election were seated during a dramatic day of proceedings Thursday.

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