PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland Thorns and U.S. team forward Sophia Wilson has announced she is pregnant.
Wilson, who previously went by her maiden name Smith, posted a photo of herself on Instagram on Wednesday holding a strip of sonogram photos while being embraced by her husband, Michael Wilson, a wide receiver for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals.
“Life just keeps getting sweeter,” her caption said.
Wilson, 24, was on the national team that won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics last summer. Fans dubbed the front line of Wilson, Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson “Triple Espresso.”
Wilson, who was also on the 2023 Women's World Cup squad, has played in 58 games with the national team, scoring 24 goals. She was named U.S. Soccer women's player of the year in 2022 and young player of the year in 2017.
Wilson was the top pick in the National Women's Soccer League draft in 2020 after helping Stanford to a victory over North Carolina in the 2019 NCAA College Cup championship. She scored three goals in the Cardinal’s semifinal victory over UCLA and was named the College Cup’s most valuable player.
In five seasons with the Thorns, she has scored 44 goals across all competitions. She was named the NWSL's most valuable player in 2022 after helping Portland win the league title.
“We are overjoyed to share that @sophiawilson and her husband Michael are expecting their first child! The Thorns are proud to support her through this incredible new chapter,” the team posted.
The Thorns open their 2025 season on March 15 at the Kansas City Current.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - United States national women's soccer team player Sophia Smith talks to reporters before a practice to prepare for a friendly match against South Korea, Friday, May 31, 2024, in Commerce City, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, file)
FILE - United States' Sophia Smith celebrates after scoring her side's first goal, during the women's Group B soccer match between the United States and Germany at the Velodrome stadium, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, file)
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York prison guard who failed to intervene as he watched an inmate being beaten to death should be convicted of manslaughter, a prosecutor told a jury Thursday in the final trial of correctional officers whose pummeling, recorded by body-cameras, provoked outrage.
“For seven minutes — seven gut-churning, nauseating, disgusting minutes — he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing,” special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick told jurors during closing arguments. The jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon.
Former corrections officer Michael Fisher, 55, is charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of Robert Brooks, who was beaten by guards upon his arrival at Marcy Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 9, 2024, his agony recorded silently on the guards' body cameras.
Fisher’s attorney, Scott Iseman, said his client entered the infirmary after the beating began and could not have known the extent of his injuries.
Fisher was among 10 guards indicted in February. Three more agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges in return for cooperating with prosecutors. Of the 10 officers indicted in February, six pleaded guilty to manslaughter or lesser charges. Four rejected plea deals. One was convicted of murder, and two were acquitted in the first trial last fall.
Fisher, standing alone, is the last of the guards to face a jury.
The trial closes a chapter in a high-profile case led to reforms in New York's prisons. But advocates say the prisons remain plagued by understaffing and other problems, especially since a wildcat strike by guards last year.
Officials took action amid outrage over the images of the guards beating the 43-year-old Black man in the prison's infirmary. Officers could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him.
Video shown to the jury during closing arguments Thursday indicates Fisher stood by the doorway and didn't intervene.
“Did Michael Fisher recklessly cause the death of Robert Brooks? Of course he did. Not by himself. He had plenty of other helpers,” said Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.
Iseman asked jurors looking at the footage to consider what Fisher could have known at the time “without the benefit of 2020 hindsight.”
“Michael Fisher did not have a rewind button. He did not have the ability to enhance. He did not have the ability to pause. He did not have the ability to get a different perspective of what was happening in the room,” Iseman said.
Even before Brooks' death, critics claimed the prison system was beset by problems that included brutality, overworked staff and inconsistent services. By the time criminal indictments were unsealed in February, the system was reeling from an illegal three-week wildcat strike by corrections officers who were upset over working conditions. Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed National Guard troops to maintain operations. More than 2,000 guards were fired.
Prison deaths during the strike included Messiah Nantwi on March 1 at Mid-State Correctional Facility, which is across the road from the Marcy prison. 10 other guards were indicted in Nantwi's death in April, including two charged with murder.
There are still about 3,000 National Guard members serving the state prison system, according to state officials.
“The absence of staff in critical positions is affecting literally every aspect of prison operations. And I think the experience for incarcerated people is neglect,” Jennifer Scaife, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, an independent monitoring group, said on the eve of Fisher's trial.
Hochul last month announced a broad reform agreement with lawmakers that includes a requirement that cameras be installed in all facilities and that video recordings related to deaths behind bars be promptly released to state investigators.
The state also lowered the hiring age for correction officers from 21 to 18 years of age.
FILE - This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows body camera footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., Dec. 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General office via AP, File)
