35 film projects — including Ice Cube’s ‘Last Friday’ — receive California tax credits

• October 7, 2026

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced that 35 film projects, including the long-awaited next installment in Ice Cube’s “Friday” franchise, are receiving credits in the latest round of awards from the expanded California Film Commission’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program.

Twenty-eight of the 35 projects are independent productions, including 20 with budgets under $10 million, and state officials say the selections show “that California is uniquely tailored to support grassroots creativity.”

“What makes this latest round so exciting is the mix of independent filmmaking and iconic stories that are part of California’s cultural legacy,” California Film Commission Director Colleen Bell said. “From an emerging filmmaker bringing an ambitious new vision to life to the return of beloved franchises like ‘Last Friday,’ ‘Clueless’ and ‘The Rockford Files,’ these are stories with deep roots in California. Through our tax credit program, we’re helping bring these stories to the screen while keeping the jobs, investment, and production that bring them to life right here in California.”

The recipients include the following projects:

— “Last Friday” (New Line Cinema)

— “Michael 2” (working title) (Lionsgate)

— Untitled Paramount Crime Thriller (Paramount Pictures)

— “Leaves of Glass” (Pinstripes Studios)

— “Pure” (The Space Program)

— Untitled Mike Mills Film

— American Wolf (Sweet Humans Productions)

— Additional projects from Warner Bros. Studios and Pixar

“I’m thrilled to produce ‘Last Friday’ right here in Southern California, where our cast and crew lives,” said Ice Cube, the star, writer and producer of the upcoming film. “This story has been part of the fabric of South Los Angeles since our first film 31 years ago so producing the film here with more than 180 local cast and crew underscores the value of the California production incentive program. We’re thankful for the opportunity to stay local.”

Victoria Alonso and Tom Culliver, producers of “Leaves of Glass,” said their film was “set in the Chicano communities of Los Angeles, and it simply wouldn’t exist if we couldn’t shoot here. We are incredibly excited to showcase a side of Los Angeles rarely seen on camera, and work with the greatest crews in the world. We are deeply grateful to the California Film Commission for making this film possible.”

According to Newsom’s office, the expanded tax credit program has generated $7.2 billion in California production spending since July 2025 via 179 different projects.

Officials with the governor’s office said the 35 projects will deliver meaningful economic benefits for California, including $1.08 billion in direct production spending, $635 million in qualified spending (inclusive of qualified wages), $423 million in qualified wages, 5,453 cast and crew jobs, 24,842 background performers measured in days worked, and 1,049 total California shooting days.

Newsom’s announcement comes one day after Los Angeles-area members of Congress and entertainment industry unions called for passage of legislation that would create a federal tax credit for film and television productions made in the United States.

The governor also signed a bill last month that creates a first-of-its kind tax credit to support entertainment workers in all areas of post-production.

​ Orange County Register 

UCLA coaching staff all too familiar with Oregon’s elite offense

• October 7, 2026

“Zero picks all season!” UCLA safeties coach Anthony DiMichele yelled, with an expletive sprinkled in, during practice Wednesday.

The gauntlet was thrown at the Bruins’ defense to become the first team this season to intercept a pass by an Oregon quarterback, whether it be Dylan Raiola or Dante Moore.

That challenge was matched by the charismatic voice of Bob Chesney Sr., the father of the first-year UCLA head coach, who asked the No. 21 Bruins if they’d get more than the four interceptions they compiled in their 54-3 rout at Maryland. Chesney Sr. is a volunteer assistant who spent 53 years coaching high school football in Pennsylvania and regularly joins his son at practice.

“You’ve got great receivers coming up against you and an elite tight end, stable running backs that are elite and a Heisman candidate or two,” UCLA defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler said of the 13th-ranked Ducks. “Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to play against that? Schematically, they put a lot of obstacles in front of you. There’s a chip on our shoulder there, and we have to find a way to slow it down.”

Hitschler and many others on Bob Chesney’s staff are hoping to see different results after they came up short at James Madison in December in a 51-34 drubbing by Oregon in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Moore torched the JMU defense, called by Hitschler, on 19-of-27 passing for 313 yards and four touchdowns. Returning sophomore Jordon Davison rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, as the Dukes allowed 201 yards on the ground at 7.7 yards per carry.

“You learn from every opportunity and every game,” Hitschler said of the season-ending defeat more than 10 months ago. “Win or lose, any good coach or any system is going to learn from previous mistakes. Obviously it wasn’t good enough when we played them last year and would love to play them again last year, but that’s not how it works. It’s one and done, and you’re knocked out. It is what it is. Regain, reload and gain a group of new guys, and let’s see how we can attack them slightly differently or hit them again.”

The sense of urgency from Hitschler came out. He was overheard yelling at his defense, commanding more effort.

“Every day there’s a lot of intensity of practice,” Hitschler said. “You win Tuesday through Friday, you tend to win the game on Saturday. Just crossing our i’s, dotting our t’s, and let’s see what we can do to slow down this offense.”

UCLA (4-0, 2-0 Big Ten) enters as an 11.5-point underdog – the first time it hasn’t been favored this season – Saturday in Eugene. Each team comes off a bye, with UCLA having plenty of high notes in its 51-point road throttling of the Terrapins. The Ducks (3-1, 1-0) went home winners Sept. 26 after a 41-27 defeat of USC.

Saint Paul returns to Eugene

Along with UCLA’s familiarity on defense comes the spotlight on Oregon transfer wide receiver Jalen Saint Paul, who committed to the Ducks in February 2024 before announcing he was heading to Westwood in May 2025. He didn’t record any statistics in Eugene.

After playing in two games with no receptions for the Bruins last season, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound junior from Carlsbad High caught two passes from Nico Iamaleava for 11 yards in the 28-10 victory over San Diego State on Sept. 12.

Bruins offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy believes Saint Paul has made strides since joining UCLA and could be a precursor to a successful reunion for the former Duck returning to Autzen Stadium.

“He’s been coming on really strong,” Kennedy said. “He’s been coming on really strong. He’s earned reps. First game he didn’t play as much. Each game he’s taken steps for a young guy. It speaks to his preparation and his intelligence level because we do move receivers. We have them play the inside and the outside, and it’s not easy. For him to pick that up and gain the trust. It’s huge. He’s gaining the trust of (Iamaleava), and that’s a huge piece of their chemistry.”

​ Orange County Register 

The high cost of California’s proposed billionaire tax

• October 7, 2026

California’s billionaire tax is being sold to voters as a way to make the state’s wealthiest residents pay a fairer share, using most of the tax revenue for healthcare. Less understood are the assumptions behind Proposition 40 about how much billionaires already pay in taxes, how they manage their wealth and how they will respond to a new 5% levy.

Once those estimates are corrected, experts project the wealth tax could ultimately cost California $24.7 billion more than it raises. My new report for the Independent Institute takes a closer look at the research behind the “2026 Billionaire Tax Act.”

Here’s what went wrong: 

Start with a basic question: How much do billionaires pay in taxes? Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, economists who helped write the billionaire tax proposal, estimated that the nation’s wealthiest households face comparatively low overall tax rates.

But economist David Splinter of the Joint Committee on Taxation reached a different result after adjusting their estimates for double-counted income and other data errors. For example, while Saez and Zucman estimated the nation’s 400 wealthiest households paid an overall tax rate of 24% between 2018 and 2020, Splinter’s corrected estimate was 38%. This is a 14-point difference in one of the central figures used to make the case that billionaires are undertaxed.

The same issue arises with another argument that the super wealthy can avoid income taxes by borrowing against their assets through a strategy known as “buy, borrow, die.” The idea is that rich people can fund their lifestyles by borrowing against appreciating assets instead of selling them and triggering capital gains taxes. When they die, their heirs inherit those assets at a stepped-up basis, eliminating taxes on unrealized gains. Recent research suggests the strategy is uncommon. New borrowing accounted for only 2.4 percent of total economic income for the top 0.01 percent of wealth holders in 2022.

In reality, the U.S. has a highly progressive tax system in which the top taxpayers pay a very high percentage of their income in tax. Data assembled by the Cato Institute shows that the rich pay the vast majority of federal taxes. The bottom 50 percent of taxpayers, by contrast, account for just 3 percent of federal income tax revenue.

These estimates matter because they affect how much Proposition 40 would actually raise. Another central issue is how billionaires will respond. For over a decade, California has experienced net domestic outmigration. Wealthier residents face fewer barriers to relocating to jurisdictions that offer more favorable conditions. When a government becomes overly punitive to the rich, they can just leave. In fact, capital flight in response to the proposed billionaire tax has already begun.

Before Jan. 1, 2026, the cutoff for determining residency under the wealth tax, six billionaires left the state. In doing this, they took $27 billion of potential tax revenue with them, or more than one-fourth of the wealth tax’s projected revenue. When the wealthy leave, California also loses investment in local businesses and jobs.

Scholars at the Hoover Institution estimate that the permanent loss of income tax revenue from billionaires who leave California would ultimately outweigh the money raised by the tax, leaving the state $24.7 billion worse off over time. Voters will have the chance to decide in November if they want to tax away the foundations of economic prosperity. 

Risking capital flight and setting a dangerous tax precedent based on a misperception of the state and national tax systems is reckless, especially when it could drive away not only billionaires but millionaires and people who aspire to become one. 

Kristian Fors is a policy analyst at the Libertas Institute, Utah’s free-market think tank, and a research fellow at the Oakland-based Independent Institute. He is the author of “Flawed Research and Real Economic Damage: Examining California’s Proposed Billionaire Wealth Tax.”

​ Orange County Register 

HBCUs are underfunded. A legal effort starting in Missouri seeks to fix it

• October 7, 2026

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and COLLIN BINKLEY

An effort to address decades of underfunding at some historically Black colleges and universities kicked off Wednesday with a lawsuit against the state of Missouri.

Students and graduates of Lincoln University in the state’s capital of Jefferson City allege the lack of financial resources undercut their education and devalued their degrees.

More than a dozen other states are in the crosshairs of a newly formed group called the 1890 Project.

“It is very unfortunate that we still live in a climate where, depending on the color of one’s skin, one gets precedence over the other,” said Lincoln graduate Jeanneth Johnson, a 54-year-old from the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

The University of Missouri system and the governor’s office both said in written statements that they couldn’t comment on pending litigation.

HBCUs missed out on money

Back in 2023, the administration of then-President Joe Biden found HBCUs in 16 states had missed out on $12.6 billion in funding over the last three decades. The finding and an ensuing call for the governors in those states to boost spending came one year after members of Congress also raised concerns.

At issue is the funding of land-grant universities. The first batch was established in 1862 under the Morrill Act, which gave public lands to states to pay for colleges that focused on educating students in practical fields like agriculture and engineering.

It was a departure from traditional colleges at the time, which focused mostly on classical subjects for the elite, such as Latin, Greek, philosophy and theology. But the law’s namesake, Justin Smith Morrill, a senator from Vermont, believed higher education should be accessible to all social classes.

In the wake of the Civil War, Morrill, an abolitionist, called for an update to the act. Passed in 1890, the new law required states either to open their land grants to students of all races or establish separate land grant schools for Black students.

Missouri, a border state that allowed slavery but fought with the Union during the Civil War, wasn’t about to open its flagship University of Missouri campus in Columbia to Black students. To meet the new requirement, it looked toward what was then called Lincoln Institute, which a Black Union Army unit started at the end of the war by pooling their wages.

Seventeen other mostly former Confederate states and border states established 18 other land grant schools for Black students. They included Tuskegee University, the only private 1890 land grant.

Federal law requires an equitable distribution of state funding for all of a state’s land-grant universities — whether HBCU or otherwise. But the 2023 Biden administration analysis found that only two states funded traditional and HBCU land-grants equitably — Delaware and Ohio. Lincoln University alone was underfunded by $361 million from 1987 through 2020, the newly filed lawsuit says, citing federal numbers.

Today, Lincoln’s enrollment has fallen to around 2,200 students, down from around 3,400 in 2011 and just a fraction of the approximately 32,000 enrolled on the University of Missouri’s Columbia campus, which was roiled by protests in 2015 over racial injustice, leading to the resignation of two top administrators.

“We’re not saying they should be funded equally, but they should be funded on parity,” said Don Calloway, a former Missouri state lawmaker who leads the 1890 Project. “And the feds funded Lincoln with the proper parity. The problem is that the state made an intentional choice not to match the federal appropriation. And that’s where Lincoln really was cheated.”

He blames millions in deferred maintenance on some of Lincoln’s enrollment woes.

Calloway said he also is talking to state’s attorneys general in several other states, including Virginia, Arkansas, Maryland, North Carolina, Alabama and Georgia. Over the decades, lawsuits also have been filed in several of those states over underfunding of HBCUs, including one in Maryland that led to a $577 million settlement.

Missouri is the first legal target

But those lawsuits mostly focused on state-level funding disparities between all HBCUs and non-HBCUs. There are dozens of HBCUs that aren’t 1890s land grants, often started by nonprofits and religious groups. Calloway said his legal strategy is focused just on the 1890s schools.

“We expect to negotiate and/or litigate in multiple jurisdictions over the next year,” he said. “Missouri is the first.”

Herbert Kitchen, a plaintiff whose great-great-grandfather, Caleb Lindsey, was one of the soldiers whose pay founded Lincoln, recalled his residence hall frequently was without heat and hot water when he was a student at Lincoln in the 1980s. Rumors were swirling that the school might close, and he said some employers looked at his degree as “second rate.”

Kitchen, a retired California community college administrator, thinks of his great-great grandfather as he fights for Lincoln, a school generations of his family have attended.

“I am,” he said, “the hope and dream that my great-grandfather had when he was a slave.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

​ Orange County Register 

Appeals court says Atlanta family cannot take the government to trial for a mistaken FBI raid

• October 7, 2026

By SUDHIN THANAWALA

ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta family cannot take the federal government to trial for a mistaken FBI raid on their home in 2017, but they can seek to hold the agent who led the SWAT team liable, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

FBI agents broke down the front door of Trina Martin’s Atlanta home before dawn on Oct. 18, 2017, stormed into her bedroom and pointed guns at her and her then-boyfriend as her 7-year-old son screamed for his mom from another room.

The agents quickly realized they had the wrong house and left, but Martin and her boyfriend at the time, Toi Cliatt, said they were left traumatized, and they sued the government and the agent. The U.S. Supreme Court revived their lawsuit last year.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday the government was shielded from liability under an exception to a federal law that allows lawsuits over wrong-house raids. But the panel reversed a decision that gave the agent immunity.

“Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, a reasonable jury could fairly conclude” that the agent had “failed to engage in reasonable efforts to avoid error, and therefore, violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights,” the judges said.

Jenna Sellitto, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Atlanta office, said the agency does not comment on personnel matters.

The FBI team quickly apologized after the raid and left for the right place, with the team leader later saying that his personal GPS device had led him to the wrong address. The FBI was looking for a suspected gang member a few houses away.

Martin and Cliatt’s lawsuit accused the agents of assault and battery, false arrest and other violations.

Their attorney, Patrick Jaicomo, said in a phone interview his clients felt good about Wednesday’s ruling.

The decision on immunity for the agent was a clear win, but there was also reason to be hopeful about the ruling in favor of the government, he said.

That decision was based on 11th Circuit precedent, and the judges wrote separately to encourage the full appeals court to revisit those earlier decisions. Jaicomo, senior attorney with the nonprofit Institute for Justice in Arlington, Virginia, said he plans to seek that review, opening up the possibility that his clients could eventually be allowed to take the government to trial as well.

​ Orange County Register 

What we’ve learned about the Lakers after 2 preseason games

• October 7, 2026

It might have been just the Lakers’ second preseason game, but Coach JJ Redick still had the expectation that his players would implement their scripted game plan.

Fifty-two seconds into Tuesday night’s loss to the Golden State Warriors, however, Redick called timeout.

What he saw during the first half – despite being without Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler and four other players – was “unacceptable,” Redick told reporters after the 124-98 defeat.

How the Lakers started the game was “insane,” Redick added during his postgame press conference.

There were the highs of end-to-end domination from the Lakers – as seen in their 127-103 triumph over the Sacramento Kings on Monday night – but also a dive into what the Lakers could look like without their stars in the equation.

With their regular-season opener against the Warriors two weeks away on Oct. 21 at Crypto.com Arena, here’s what we have learned about how the Lakers could play with nine new players on the roster and a fresh defensive identity to boot.

DEFENSIVE PRESSURE

Over the past two weeks, the Lakers have emphasized the importance of defensive disruption. Multiple team personnel had referenced wings Ziaire Williams, Adou Thiero and Matisse Thybulle leading the way defensively during training camp.

Reaves, during practice last week, said going up against the trio of wings was simply “not fun.”

The Kings felt that from the get-go. Williams and Thybulle – presumably competing for a starting lineup spot next to Doncic, Reaves, Kessler and likely guard Quentin Grimes – picked up Kings guards Zach LaVine and rookie Darius Acuff Jr. full court, even forcing a shot-clock violation on the first possession of the game. Grimes had his fair share of point-of-attack defensive possessions as well.

“Ziaire and Matisse, you know, they kind of set the tone early for us,” Redick told reporters after Monday’s game.

Thybulle made his presence felt with continuous deflections during his 18 minutes on the court. The Lakers forced 14 turnovers in the first half and the Kings finished the game with 26.

Despite a less fluid performance against the Warriors on Tuesday, the Lakers still forced 23 turnovers.

“It’s super contagious because you see how hard somebody’s giving that effort, full-court playing, picking up 94 feet,” Grimes told reporters after Monday’s game. “You don’t want to be that one guy that’s not picking up or playing super hard on the defensive end.”

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Redick had said it during the training camp: Much of their early preparation was on defensive principles. Saturday was the first time he implemented an offensive set during training camp.

But when it comes to early returns from Doncic back atop the court, the Lakers looked efficient. The Slovenian star played just under 16 minutes on Monday and still led the team with 21 points. When Doncic was off the court, Grimes showcased his slashing ability and cut to the rim consistently for layup looks through contact.

Centers Kevon Looney and Sandro Mamukelashvili – with Kessler out for the two preseason games after jamming a finger against the backboard – showcased their respective high-IQ decision-making.

Early in the game against the Kings, Looney made a pair of screens on a set play before rolling into the paint and attracting two defenders. The former Warriors big man – who won three NBA championships with Golden State – cut a pass to Thybulle in the corner, who made a 3-pointer.

While Looney is more of a bruising paint force, Mamukelashvili led the Lakers with assists (five) on Monday. On Tuesday, he led the team in scoring with 15 points – stretching the floor while shooting 3 for 4 from 3-point range.

Redick has called Mamukelashvili an “offensive connector” for the team during training camp.

Other notable offensive notes include forward Jake LaRavia’s improved jump shot and increased aggressiveness that led to 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting on Monday. Redick said LaRavia had worked on his craft with him and assistant coach Beau Levesque during June.

“(LaRavia has) said to me and Beau many times, ‘This is as confident as I’ve felt with my 3-ball in years,’” Redick told reporters Tuesday night.

Additionally, rookie Cameron Carr’s 19 points against the Kings on Monday showed the kind of shot-making ability that will give him a chance to impact the Lakers as the likely next-man-up wing in a fully healthy rotation.

Thiero looked less rushed in the pair of Bay Area games – compared to his rookie season – making the right pass while still imprinting himself on the game – as he did Tuesday while posterizing Warriors rookie forward Yaxel Lendeborg with a dunk before landing awkwardly. Redick told reporters after the game that Thiero was “fine.”

SHORT END OF THE BENCH

Three Lakers players on fully guaranteed contracts appeared to be out of favor when it came to rotations in the first two preseason games.

Forward Jarred Vanderbilt – in the third season of a four year, $48 million contract – didn’t enter Monday’s game until the fourth quarter – as did third-year guard Dalton Knecht, who fell out of favor last season after being the Lakers’ 2024 first-round draft pick.

Guard Jaden Hardy helped run the offense a bit on Tuesday due to the shorthanded nature of who was available. But on Monday, Hardy didn’t enter the game until the third quarter.

As things stand, the Lakers have 16 players on fully guaranteed contracts on their roster. By opening night, however, they must be down to the league maximum of 15.

They can either waive one player, or make a two-for-one trade before their Oct. 21 game.

​ Orange County Register 

LAUSD urged to bring back campus police after Highland Park student’s death

• October 7, 2026

More than a dozen parents and other residents called on Los Angeles Unified School District board members Wednesday, Oct. 7, to reinstate campus police at secondary schools following the death of a 17-year-old senior after he fell from his school’s fourth floor.

Xavier Nungaray-Martinez died Sept. 30 after falling from Benjamin Franklin High School in Highland Park. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has ruled Xavier’s death a suicide.

Reina Orellana, a relative who represented Xavier’s family at the school board meeting, said her son dealt with bullying in LAUSD schools to the point where she had to pay him to get psychological help. Now, she said her daughter, who was at Franklin the day Xavier died, is also traumatized. She questioned why school officials didn’t intervene earlier, as family members have said Xavier dealt with bullying since his sophomore year, which made him want to leave the school.

“I would like to know,” Orellana told the board in Spanish, “Where were you when the boy was having problems? Where were you when the boy asked for help? Where were you when the boy was being attacked?”

During public comment, at least a dozen other parents criticized school board members for cutting school police funding by 35% following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd and nationwide protests for racial justice. The school board also decided then to no longer have officers stationed at secondary school campuses, a decision organizers like Maria Luisa Palma believe has led to an increase in violence at schools.

Before Xavier’s death, online video shows an adult standing between two students with his arms out. One student punches the other, and the adult can be heard saying “Stop! Stop! Calm down.” The student who was punched runs out to the hallway and is followed by the other boy before the first student goes head first over the railing.

A classmate said he heard staff yelling for Xavier and trying to get to him before he went over the railing.

Xavier, who was also identified by family as Xavier Amaya and Xavier Amaya Nungaray, had dealt with bullying at the school since his sophomore year, his family said at a vigil last week.

Stephanie Amaya, Xavier’s aunt, said the school and district didn’t do enough to prevent bullying. She started a petition calling for greater security at Los Angeles Unified schools, including more security cameras, better training for security officers, police presence at schools, railing safety systems and greater communication with campus staff.

Luisa Palma, an activist with Oleada, a group that works to educate Los Angeles Unified parents and encourages them to speak out about school-related issues, said the group believes bringing back campus police to all middle and high schools in the district will cut down on issues related to drugs, gangs and crime in schools.

“It’s just one more tool in the district’s toolbox to keep discipline and have some amount of consequences when it does get to this level,” Luisa Palma said.

Raul Claros, who founded the nonprofit California Rising, said he worries that, once his child graduates from fifth grade to middle school, they’ll no longer be in a safe environment. He encouraged board members to work with parents and community groups to find solutions to keep students safe. When he was a student, Claros said teachers had a phone in their classrooms that could call a campus officer.

“That prevented a lot of us as students from even trying to cross that line,” Claros said.

​ Orange County Register 

Ex-Marine to face death penalty in 2025 mass shooting at North Carolina bar

• October 7, 2026

BOLIVIA, N.C. (AP) — A prosecutor announced Wednesday that he would seek the death penalty against a former Marine charged in a mass shooting last year that left three people dead and several others wounded.

“We are not blind to who this defendant is,” Brunswick County District Attorney Jon David said of defendant Nigel Max Edge. “He served this country in Iraq as a Marine, suffered a traumatic brain injury, and has struggled with serious mental illness. Those facts are important and they were weighed, but must be balanced against the circumstances of the crime.”

Authorities allege Edge piloted a small motorboat up to a dockside cocktail bar in Southport on Sept. 27, 2025, and opened fire with a short-barreled semiautomatic rifle. He faces three counts of first-degree murder, as well as multiple attempted murder and weapons charges.

In April, Superior Court Judge Jason Disbrow ordered Edge to undergo psychiatric treatment after it was determined he was unable to understand his legal proceedings enough to help his lawyers.

Defense attorney Matthew Geoffrion filed a motion to continue Wednesday’s hearing, arguing that the extent of Edge’s brain injury will likely make it impossible for him to stand trial. Edge was shot multiple times during a firefight in Iraq, including once in the head.

“The chances of capacity restoration in this case appear low,” Geoffrion said in his motion.

David countered that experts at the state hospital where Edge is being treated “have concluded he is likely to be restored.” But he added that the decision to proceed with a capital punishment case was not final.

“A capital designation guarantees the defendant the highest level of protection our system offers, including the appointment of a second qualified attorney and the most rigorous scrutiny our courts provide,” David said. “If evidence emerges bearing on Mr. Edge’s sanity at the time of the offense, we will reassess. If he is never restored to capacity, the death penalty would not be a lawful sentence and would be removed from consideration.”

Edge’s next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 7.

​ Orange County Register