What did Ron Howard, director of 'Hillbilly Elegy' say about JD Vance?
He's concerned.

Ron Howard was likely never going to vote for Donald Trump, calling the
former president at one time a "self-serving, dishonest, morally bankrupt
ego maniac." Nevertheless, the 70-year-old Oscar-winning filmmaker has
been trending again after recent comments he made about JD Vance.

Howard knew Vance long before the Ohio senator accepted Trump's offer to
become the Republican vice presidential running mate. He helped turn
Vance's memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy" into a film, serving as its director in
2020.
What did Ron Howard say about JD Vance?

During a recent interview with Variety at the Toronto International Film
Festival, Howard said he was "surprised and concerned" with "a lot of the
rhetoric" coming out of Trump and Vance's 2024 campaign.

"There was no version of me voting for Donald Trump to be president
again, whoever the vice president was," he said. "But given the
experience that I had then, five (or) six years ago, yeah, I'd say that
I've been surprised."

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The JD Vance he knew four years ago wasn't involved in nor claimed to be
particularly interested in politics, Howard said in a recent interview
with Deadline, while adding the subject of politics wasn't discussed in
length during the making of the film.

"We've got to get out and vote, for whomever," he told Variety. "But be
thoughtful, listen to what the candidates are saying today � that's
what's really relevant, who they are today � and make a decision, an
informed one."
How to watch 'Hillbilly Elegy'

The film "Hillbilly Elegy" is available to watch on Netflix, which
acquired the movie's distribution rights in 2019, according to People
Magazine. It appeared in select theaters in November 2020 before moving
to the streaming platform later that month.
What is 'Hillbilly Elegy' about?

"Hillbilly Elegy" is a movie adaptation of Vance's 2016 memoir, released
by HarperCollins Publisher, which chronicles Vance's childhood in the
poor Rust Belt town of Middleton, Ohio. Both the film and book address
issues touching on poverty, substance abuse addiction and the struggles
of white working-class families.

"An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown,
where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own
future," according to a film summary on Netflix. The movie is rated R for
mature themes that include child and domestic abuse.

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Indiana

The man convicted of kidnapping a woman from Uptown Minneapolis, raping her and driving her to a remote location in Scandia was sentenced Thursday in Hennepin County District Court to life in prison without parole.

Deonte Lawson, 24, of Minneapolis, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct — one through fear of great bodily harm and the other through force with an accomplice — and one count of kidnapping.

After a two-week trial, a jury returned the guilty verdicts on May 9 after three hours of deliberation.

https://i0.wp.com/www.twincities.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Deonte-Darnell-Lawson-mug.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1
Undated courtesy photo, circa May 2019, of Deonte Darnell Lawson. Lawson, convicted of kidnapping a woman from Uptown in Minneapolis, raping her and driving her to a remote Washington County location was sentenced to life in prison without parole, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced Thursday, May 16, 2019. Deonte Lawson, 24, of Minneapolis, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct one through fear of great bodily harm, and the other through force with an accomplice and one count of kidnapping. He had been indicted by a grand jury under state statutes that allow for the life sentence for particularly heinous sex crimes or a pattern of sex crimes. (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)

At Thursday’s sentencing, an impact statement written by the woman Lawson attacked was read in court. In her statement, she detailed the damage Lawson had caused her, including “taking away her drive and outgoing personality and replacing it with anxiety, post-traumatic stress syndrome and other physical and emotional scars,” according to a news release from the Hennepin County attorney’s office. She told the judge to give him the maximum penalty.

“I am smarter, braver and stronger than Mr. Lawson ever counted on,” she wrote in her statement. “I am a survivor. And I know I am not his first victim, but I am going to make damn sure I am his last. Mr. Lawson is nothing more than a monster. I looked him in the eyes during my testimony and I saw the cold, evil, lifelessness I remember seeing in October 2017.”

The woman was getting something out of the trunk of her car parked outside her Uptown apartment late Oct. 15 or early Oct. 16 when Lawson, Darrius Freeman and Wayne Armstrong forced her into the back seat of her car at gunpoint.

They used her credit cards to pay for food at White Castle and then took her to a secluded wooded area, where they took turns sexually assaulting her, according to the criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.

Afterward, as they made their way toward Washington County, the woman feared for her life and convinced the driver that they needed to stop for gas, the complaint said.

When they stopped to refuel at a gas station on Manning Trail in Scandia, she ran barefoot from the vehicle into nearby woods.

Though one of her attackers followed, he eventually gave up, and the three drove away, the complaint said.

Tenants who lived above the gas station let the woman use their cellphone to call for help.

Based on her description of her assailants and surveillance video captured at locations where her stolen credit cards were used, police were able to produce photos of the men involved.

The DNA of Lawson, Armstrong and Freeman connected them to the crime.

Armstrong, who was 17 at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Lawson, but was not called. He will be sentenced as an adult Friday and is expected to get 12 years in prison.

Freeman, who was 16 at the time, also pleaded guilty and did testify against Lawson. He will be sentenced at the end of the month and also will receive 12 years.

https://www.twincities.com/2019/05/16/man-sentenced-to-life-for-uptown-minneapolis-abduction-rape-woman-escaped-in-washington-county/