ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A South Carolina man was sentenced to life in prison Monday for gunning down a New Mexico state police officer who had stopped to help him.
The sentence stemmed from an agreement Jaremy Smith reached with federal prosecutors earlier this year. He had pleaded guilty to charges that included carjacking resulting in death, using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, and possession of a stolen firearm.
He also is facing multiple charges in South Carolina, where he is accused of carjacking a woman and killing her before driving her car cross country. It was the gun he had stolen from the woman's roommate that authorities say he used to shoot the officer.
While then- U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland opted at the time to not pursue the death penalty against Smith, it could be on the table with the pending state case in South Carolina, federal prosecutors have said.
The fatal shooting of Officer Justin Hare happened before dawn on March 15, 2024, along Interstate 40 near the community of Tucumcari. The killing set off a search for Smith, who was wounded and captured two days later in Albuquerque after authorities got a tip from a gas station clerk.
Ryan Ellison, the newly appointed U.S. attorney for the district of New Mexico, said Smith’s actions left a trail of destruction across state lines.
“Officer Justin Hare, a hero who saw someone in need and selflessly stepped in to help, paid the ultimate price,” Ellison said in a statement. “We honor his memory by ensuring that Jaremy Smith will never again be able to endanger the lives of others.”
According to a criminal complaint, Hare was dispatched to help someone in a white BMW. He parked behind it and a man approached his patrol car on the passenger side. The two then began talking about a flat tire, and the officer offered Smith a ride to a nearby town because no repair shop was open at that hour.
Seconds later, Smith shot Hare, then went to the driver’s side and waited until traffic passed to shoot the officer again, according to dash camera video that was released as part of the investigation.
Authorities said Smith then pushed the officer into the passenger seat and drove away. Court records state the officer can be heard gasping for air on a body camera recording, and the duress signal on his radio was activated, alerting other officers.
Hare was found about an hour later, alive but fatally injured on the side of the road. The 35-year-old father had been with the state police agency since 2018.
State Police later learned the BMW had been reported missing in South Carolina and belonged to a woman who was killed there — Phonesia Machado-Fore, a 52-year-old paramedic. Her body was found in a neighboring county, still wearing pajamas and house slippers, and her wrists showing signs that she had been bound.
Authorities had used cellphone data and the car's GPS location data to track Smith and Machado-Fore's movements.
Authorities had said Smith had a long criminal history. A review of South Carolina Department of Corrections records showed he spent time in prison for attempted armed robbery and hostage-taking before being released on parole in Marion County in December 2023. The records also showed numerous infractions while he was incarcerated from possessing a weapon to attacking or attempting to injure employees and inmates.
Associated Press writer Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
FILE - The remains of New Mexico State Police officer Justin Hare are carried in to Legacy Church in Albuquerque, N.M., for his funeral services on March 27, 2024. (Jon Austria/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, File)
FILE - New Mexico Department of Public Safety Secretary Jason Bowie stands at the podium flanked by state and federal officials as charges are announced in the March 15 killing of New Mexico State Police Officer Justin Hare, during a joint news conference in Albuquerque, N.M., on March 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)
Senate Republicans narrowly voted down a Democratic resolution that would have blocked global tariffs announced by President Donald Trump earlier this month, giving the president a modest win as lawmakers in both parties have remained skeptical of his trade agenda.
And after months of tense negotiations, the U.S. and Ukraine signed a deal that's expected to give Washington access to the country’s critical minerals and other natural resources, an agreement Kyiv hopes will secure long-term support for its defense against Russia.
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Administration officials say they’re seeking a permanent home at the State Department for a memorial honoring fallen staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The memorial bears the names of 99 USAID and other foreign assistance workers killed in the line of duty around the world.
The Trump administration has dismantled USAID and terminated most of its programs and staff, accusing its humanitarian and development work of being wasteful and out of line with Trump’s agency. Past presidents since John F. Kennedy argued that working for a more stable and prosperous world benefited U.S. security.
The State Department says workers removed the memorial from the former USAID headquarters Wednesday. It’s being held in a temporary location, the agency said.
Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller says former Vice President Kamala Harris’ criticism of Trump are a “great reminder to the American people of just how blessed we all are that the leader sitting in the Oval Office today is President Donald Trump and not President Kamala Harris.”
“It would have been the end of America,” Miller said at a briefing with reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Harris said in a speech Wednesday night that Trump’s tariffs are “clearly inviting a recession.”
Miller countered that, “The only things Americans want to hear from Kamala Harris is an apology” for less strict immigration policies and enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border, which he said was “unforgivable.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added, “I think I speak for everyone at the White House, we encourage Kamala Harris to continue going out and do speaking engagements.”
The planned negotiations between Iran and the United States this weekend over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program have been postponed, Oman announced Thursday.
A message online from Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi made the announcement in a post on the social media platform X.
“For logistical reasons we are rescheduling the US Iran meeting provisionally planned for Saturday May 3rd,” he wrote. “New dates will be announced when mutually agreed.”
Al-Busaidi did not elaborate. Iran and the U.S. did not immediately acknowledge al-Busaidi’s comments.
The talks Saturday were to be held in Rome.
▶ Read more about nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran
A top White House official is defending Trump’s acknowledgement that steep tariffs on China might lead to fewer goods on the shelves at higher prices.
Trump said children maybe “will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls. And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally.”
Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller insisted Thursday that the president was “making the point that I think almost every American consumer agrees with.”
In a briefing with reporters, Miller said dolls made in the U.S. had higher quality standards than ones from China that he said could contain lead paint.
“Yes, you’d probably be willing to pay more for a better-made American product,” Miller said.
China’s state broadcaster has claimed in a social media post that the Trump administration has been seeking contact with Beijing through multiple channels to start negotiations over tariffs.
In a climbdown, the post by China Central Television says there’s no need for China to talk with the U.S. before the U.S. takes any substantive act but also said “there is no harm” for contact.
“China needs to observe or even force out the true intent on the U.S. side to stay proactive in the talks,” reads the post.
Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, said she also understands “it’s getting close” for talks between the two sides but such talks will be at the working level, not yet between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
There’s trouble as House Republicans race to build Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, especially over its trillions in costs and potential Medicaid changes.
Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, tax writing committee chairman Rep. Jason Smith and the chairman handling health programs, Brett Guthrie, are meeting with Trump.
Trump’s administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysmorphia.
The Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government’s abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod.
This new “best practices” report is in response to an executive order Trump issued days into his second term that says the federal government must not support gender transitions for anyone under age 19.
“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”
▶ Read more about the Trump administration’s stance on transgender health care
After months of tense negotiations, the U.S. and Ukraine signed a deal that’s expected to give Washington access to the country’s critical minerals and other natural resources, an agreement Kyiv hopes will secure long-term support for its defense against Russia.
According to Ukrainian officials, the version of the deal signed Wednesday is far more beneficial to Ukraine than previous versions, which they said reduced Kyiv to a junior partner and gave Washington unprecedented rights to the country’s resources.
The deal covers minerals, including rare earth elements, but also other valuable resources, including oil and natural gas, according to the text released by Ukraine’s government.
It doesn’t include resources that are already a source of revenue for the Ukrainian state. In other words, any profits under the deal are dependent on the success of new investments. Ukrainian officials have also noted that it doesn’t refer to any debt obligations for Kyiv, meaning profits from the fund will likely not go toward the paying the U.S. back for its previous support.
▶ Read more about the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal
To understand the Justice Department’s struggles in representing President Trump’s positions in court, look no further than a succession of losses last week that dealt a setback to the administration’s agenda.
In orders spanning different courthouses, judges blocked a White House plan to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, ruled the Republican administration violated a settlement agreement by deporting a man to El Salvador and halted directives that threatened to cut federal funding for public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
That’s on top of arguments in which two judges expressed misgivings to a Justice Department lawyer about the legality of Trump executive orders targeting major law firms and a department lawyer’s accidental filing of an internal memo in court questioning the Trump administration’s legal strategy to kill Manhattan’s congestion toll — a blunder the Transportation Department called “legal malpractice.”
▶ Read more about the Justice Department’s courtroom losses
Consumers can expect higher prices and delivery delays when the Trump administration ends a duty-free exemption on low-value imports from China Friday.
The expiration of the so-called de minimis rule that has allowed as many as 4 million low-value parcels to come into the U.S. every day — mostly from China — is also forcing businesses that have built their models on sourcing production in China to rethink their practices in order to keep their costs down.
But some might actually benefit from the termination of the duty exemption. For instance, companies that make their goods in the U.S. may feel relief from the competition of cheap Chinese imports, and likely experience a brighter sales outlook.
The move, which applies to goods originating from mainland China and Hong Kong, comes on top of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs totaling 145% on China. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs of 125% on the U.S., fueling a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Sellers are already seeing cautious consumers.
▶ Read more about the end to the de minimis rule
Former Vice President Kamala Harris used a high-profile speech to sharply criticize Trump amid speculation about whether she will mount another presidential campaign or opt to run for California governor.
In her most extensive public remarks since leaving office in January following her defeat to Trump, Harris said Wednesday she’s inspired by Americans fighting Trump’s agenda despite threats to their freedom or livelihood.
Before Wednesday, Harris had barely mentioned Trump by name since she conceded defeat to him in November.
In a 15-minute speech, she spoke to the anxiety and confusion that have gripped many of her supporters since Trump took office but discouraged despair.
Trump went after Harris in a campaign-style rally Tuesday marking his 100th day in office. He sarcastically called her a “great border czar” and a “great candidate,” and repeated some of the applause lines he routinely delivered during the campaign.
▶ Read more about Harris’ remarks
Senate Republicans narrowly voted down a Democratic resolution Wednesday that would have blocked global tariffs announced by Trump earlier this month, giving the president a modest win as lawmakers in both parties have remained skeptical of his trade agenda.
The 49-49 vote came weeks after the Senate approved a resolution that would have thwarted Trump’s ability to impose tariffs on Canada. That measure passed 51-48 with the votes of four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky. But McConnell — who has been sharply critical of the tariffs but had not said how he would vote — and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse were absent Wednesday, denying Democrats the votes for passage.
▶ Read more about the vote and resolution
President Donald Trump speaks about investing in America in the Cross Hall of the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump waves after speaking about investing in America in the Cross Hall of the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks during an event about investing in America in the Cross Hall of the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
