Cubs outfielder Michael Hermosillo’s has had a non-linear path back to the the big leagues. But even after a rollercoaster career, he continued to search for an approach at the plate to help him take the next step.

Hermosillo got his first opportunity to play in the majors with the Angels in 2018 at the age of 22. He’d have brief cups of coffee over the next three seasons, but he was never able to stick on the major-league roster, spending most of his time in the minors before ultimately becoming a free agent in November.

“I’ve definitely gone through growing pains in my career,” Hermosillo told the Sun-Times. “A lot of ups and downs to try to find who I was as a player.”

But Hermosillo’s road back to the big leagues brought to his hometown Cubs last offseason and with the work he’d started before leaving LA and getting information with his new team, it was exactly what he needed.

He knew something had changed and after a few tweaks with some added information, the downstate Ottawa native began to put up some eye-popping numbers and put himself on the team’s radar.

Hermosillo was having the best offensive season of his career for Triple-A Iowa this season, slashing .306/.446/.592 with 10 doubles and 10 homers in 43 games before joining the Cubs on Aug. 17.

If it wasn’t for a hamstring injury that forced him to go on the IL in late July, there was a chance he could have been called up even sooner.

“Lots of work,” he said. “And a lot of the work started when I was still with the Angels. When I got to the Cubs and got around the staff here, they showed me some different things. Things I was good at.”

“If you talked to some of the people who were helping me with the Angels, I don’t think they’d be surprised.”

One of the areas where Hermosillo saw his greatest improvement at the plate was his power and the mix of power and speed is one reason he’s still an intriguing talent. He feels his adjustment has helped him tap into that power.

“For sure,” he said. “They showed me what some of my strengths were and areas where I could get stronger. One of the things they showed me that really helped was the counts that I do a lot more damage on.”

Players who haven’t had success in some places or haven’t gotten opportunity and thriving in their first opportunity with the Cubs has been a common theme. With so many at-bats available as the season winds down, a few have started to make a name for themselves.

Outfielder Rafael Ortega and Patrick Wisdom are the two biggest examples of that. Ortega has been one of baseball’s best leadoff hitters since being given the duties. Wisdom has become a serious power threat every at-bat and is just one home run shy of tying the Cubs’ franchise record for rookie home runs.

“I know what I can do, and other people know what we can do,” Wisdom said on Saturday. “I think there’s a reason why we’re here and why we’re playing well, like we are.”

At the age of 26, Hermosillo still has a chance to get things going entering what is considered to be the prime years of his career. But after watching what guys like Wisdom, who had been written off, have been able to do, he has no problem flourishing as a late bloomer.

“What Patrick has been able to do with this opportunity is incredible,” Hermosillo said. “There’s a chance for all of us to do that and make a name for ourselves despite our previous stops.

“If you look around the game, it happens all the time. Every year, there are guys who have had to find their spot in different places and have had lots of success. I feel like this is a good chance for me to do that.”

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Jamaican singer and record producer “Lee Scratch” Perry, considered one of reggae’s founding fathers, died on Sunday. He was 85.

Perry, whose real name is Rainford Hugh Perry, died at a hospital in Montego Bay, Jamaica, according to a statement issued by Prime Minister Andrew Holness. He noted that Perry was a pioneer of dub music in the 1970s and produced more than 1,000 recordings over 60 years that earned him various nicknames, including “Upsetter” and “Mad Scientist.”

“His innovative nature led him to become one of the greatest remixing and studio effects guru,” Holness said, adding that people have described Perry as an “eccentric character” who was loved by many.

In a 2010 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, musician Keith Richards described Perry as “the Salvador Dali of music.”

Perry is credited for reggae hits including “Dreadlocks in Moonlight,” “City Too Hot” and “Curly Locks.” He kept producing music until recently, posting on Twitter last month that he was preparing for shows in Europe later this year.

“I was very busy in the studio doing some lovely remixes,” he tweeted in July next to a picture of himself playing a tiny flute with brightly painted nails and his hair and beard dyed a crimson red. “Keeping fit for the upcoming shows in Europe and hoping they will happen!”

Perry once worked as an intern and janitor at several recording studios before establishing his own, Black Ark, and ended up collaborating with artists including Bob Marley and the Wailers, The Beastie Boys and The Clash. He also spent time in Europe and the U.S., where he continued recording. His album “Jamaican E.T.” won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2003.

In a podcast interview last year posted by Berklee Online, Perry said music brings joy and represents magic to him.

“Me believe in good chords. Me believe in soul. Me believe in soul music, soul singers, funky singers, pop singers,” he said. “There is nothing else. Without the music, people get miserable.”

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Everybody taking aim at Matt Nagy for starting Andy Dalton — hold your fire.

Justin Fields is a rookie, not a magic wand — especially not in this offense. Only in Chicago could one magnificent preseason pass by a quarterback in an otherwise pedestrian performance be a revelation and a defining moment that should change Matt Nagy’s mind and force his hand.

Fields is ready for the NFL, but the Bears’ offense — as it currently stands — isn’t ready for him. Especially in the early going this season, Dalton is just as likely to win games that Fields wouldn’t as Fields is to win games that Dalton wouldn’t.

As promising as he is, Fields isn’t good enough to make a bad offense good. But he can make a good offense great. So let Dalton use his veteran experience to get this offense on solid ground and if that happens, it’ll be up to Nagy to make the right call.

Fields’ preseason performance wasn’t going to win the job, but it raised the bar for Dalton. How high? If the Bears are winning in spite of the quarterback and not because of him — a historically common scenario with this franchise — Nagy appears open-minded enough to change quarterbacks. He knows what he’s got now. When he announced the one-year-apprenticeship plan in May, he did not.

Be that as it may, Fields will open the season backing up Dalton but spending most of his practice time running the scout team, which prepares the Bears’ defense for that week’s opponent. We’ll never have to ask Nagy how you simulate the speed and mobility of Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson and maybe even Trey Lance. We’ll know.

Bears fans will be expecting Fields to be starting by the time the Bears face the Ravens, Cardinals, Seahawks or 49ers. But until then, Nagy is resolute that Fields will learn and grow as a quarterback in that role. Tom Brady started out that way, for what it’s worth. And even if Fields isn’t running the Bears’ offense, he’ll be facing the Bears’ defense — that’s a benefit that shouldn’t be overlooked.

“He’ll be out there trying to do everything he can to give our defense the best look that they can give,” Nagy said. “You’re trying to go out there every day [and] make great throws when presented an opportunity to drop back and throw against our ones. So he’s gotta do that.

“[So] don’t go in a different mode, which I know he’s not going to do. … don’t be a guy that’s just throwing the ball around. Continue to get better every day. You can work on all your fundamentals; you can do everything you need to do and always stay prepared, which I think is … one of his greatest strengths. He does not like running the cards [the opponent’s plays]. So we’ve got to continue to help him understand that you can grow in that role.”

Fields has been pitch-perfect in his role as franchise-quarterback-of-the-future — never more than when he supported Dalton and chastised Bears fans who were chanting his name while Dalton was playing.

But the focus now is on Nagy, not Fields. Nagy was asked Monday about the risks of playing a young quarterback too soon and it didn’t sound like he thinks that’s an issue with Fields. “The biggest thing is making that game go from super fast to a little bit slower,” Nagy said.

The speed of the game can cause young quarterbacks to develop bad habits they never shake. But Nagy didn’t seem too concerned. “Sometimes if that happens you could say, ‘Well it’s good that they learn from that,'” he said. “Some quarterbacks have had that happen and there’s others where it just becomes bad and it can ruin them.”

Fields seems like the strong-minded type of quarterback who can overcome that. The biggest detriment to him playing too soon is being in a bad offense that doesn’t give him a real chance to succeed. That ruins more talented, young quarterbacks than the speed of the game. So it’s up to Nagy to put Fields in a position to succeed. The kid will do the rest. But timing is everything.

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Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be sunny with a high near 85 degrees. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low around 67. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny with a high near 82.

Top story

Top cop wants more details after Chicago officer seen restraining woman at beach in viral video

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said today he is waiting for more information before deciding whether to discipline a police officer seen in a viral video restraining a woman who was walking a dog at North Avenue Beach.

Lawyers for the woman, who is Black, have called the altercation with the white officer “an obvious case of racial profiling.”

Brown wouldn’t comment on the allegation, saying only that “there was some closure of the beach that preceded this interaction. That’s the extent of what we know. We don’t have an arrest, apparently, by this officer. And we don’t fully understand because we haven’t interviewed this officer yet.”

Brown said the woman in the video hasn’t been interviewed either.

The superintendent said the investigation is being conducted by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which looks into allegations of police misconduct. Brown said he is awaiting a briefing from COPA before considering whether to place the officer on desk duty or strip his police powers during the investigation.

“I know it’s frustrating for the public to wait,” Brown said. “I would just ask for the public to allow COPA to complete its investigation. And then allow this process of finding out what happened, getting to the bottom of it, before we then make [disciplinary] next steps, from my perspective.”

The woman in the video, Nikkita Brown, was near the lakefront with her dog Saturday around 12:10 a.m. when a Chicago police officer approached her for being in the area after the park was closed, according to a statement from Saulter Law, the firm representing the woman.

Read the full story here.

More news you need

Chicago police arrested someone this morning after they allegedly shot at officers about a block away from CPD headquarters on the South Side. Authorities say no one was injured in the encounter.

A month after she was fatally shot by Dolton police, major questions remain about the death of 19-year-old Alexis Wilson. Village officials and the Illinois State Police, which is investigating the shooting, have refused to comment.

Children across the city began returning to public schools today with parents feeling both jittery and cautiously optimistic. Nader Issa and Stefano Esposito have the latest on the first day of the new CPS school year.

A Cook County judge today revoked a recent order that barred a divorced Pilsen mother from seeing her 11-year-old son because she’s not vaccinated against the coronavirus. The judge provided no reason for reversing his original Aug. 11 order.

With COVID-19 vaccines recently approved for children 12 and older, more divorce attorneys around the country are starting to see divorced parents disagree on vaccinating their children. Bob Chiarito spoke to local attorneys and parents about a new conflict facing some couples going through divorce proceedings.

More than 500 refugees from Afghanistan are expected to resettle in Chicago in the coming months, according to the Refugee Action Network. As we previously reported, organizations have already been preparing for the influx of Afghan refugees.

A bright one

Another formerly homeless vet gets help furnishing his home

A 58-year-old U.S. Navy veteran teared up as he entered his refurbished, one-bedroom apartment, overwhelmed that he finally had furniture. The most exciting thing about his new space: a loveseat and dinner table with chairs, so he no longer has to sit on the floor and eat.

“I have a couch to sit on, and I don’t have to lay on the floor to watch TV,” said Mark McKenna, who was discharged in 1986. “It’s nice to have something to sit on.”

The remodel of McKenna’s apartment was made possible by donations from Chicagoans to the nonprofit organization Humble Design. The project was completed in a week and unveiled Friday, as the organization fulfilled its mission to help families — a majority of them led by single mothers — and veterans emerging from homelessness.

McKenna is the 2,000th client Humble Design has helped nationwide.

Mark McKenna tours his refurbished apartment for the first time. Brian Rich/Sun-Times

Before Humble Design got involved, McKenna’s apartment was sparse, boxes of his life forgotten in the corners of his Lakeview apartment.

Now, McKenna says it feels like home, with the hand-crocheted sign his mother made for him displayed on his fridge and his cabinets filled with food from the Lakeview Food Pantry. In his bedroom, iconic Beatles posters hang on the wall above his headboard, a nod to his infatuation with the English rock band.

Perhaps most precious, though, is the carefully folded U.S. flag, which sits atop his new china cabinet to memorialize his old roommate, who was also a Navy veteran.

“It’s for my friend Arnold,” McKenna said. “He passed away in 2011 from cancer — melanoma. We were together for 17 years … I miss him.”

Read the rest of Nichole Shaw’s story here.

From the press box

Your daily question ?

What fictional place would you like to visit most?

Reply to this email (please include your first name and where you live) and we might feature your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

On Friday, we asked you: How do you feel about Chicago Public Schools’ return to full in-person learning? Here’s what some of you said…

“Good they are in person. Bad that CPS administration and Lightfoot have not done enough to ensure the safety of our children and school staff. High probability this will not end well.” — Scott Phillips

“Really worried until there’s a vaccine for my child and others.” — Michael R. Butz

“It’s dangerous for these kids to be back in school right now, due to COVID. Can’t risk our kids health, nor the teachers.” — Derrick Lee

“Parents should have been given at least the choice of remote.” — Cynthia Foster McCauley

“It’s a good decision to return the children to school!! Many of these children have suffered greatly emotionally, socially and psychologically due to their absence from the structure and safety of their school environment! No, it’s not a perfect situation, however, their return to school is far better for them.” — Pamela Barnes

“Excellent! But is CPS ready? I don’t think CPS has done enough to provide a safe environment for the unvaccinated children.” — Diane Blaszczyk

“Can’t wait! I have four and we are all ready to be back in class. They went last spring and had no issues!” — Gina Hassett

Thanks for reading the Chicago Sun-Times Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

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NEW YORK — After several days of testimony from women claiming they were groomed and sexually abused by R. Kelly, a man took the witness stand at Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial in New York City on Monday to say the R&B star exploited him in the same way when he was a high school student.

The witness, testifying in federal court in Brooklyn without using his real name, told a jury how Kelly lured him to his Chicago-area home in 2007 with false offers of helping him with his fledgling music career.

Kelly asked the alleged victim, then 17, “what I was willing to do for music,” the witness said. He replied, “I’ll carry your bags. … Anything you need, I’ll be willing to do.”

“That’s not it. That’s not it,” he said Kelly responded before asking him if he ever fantasized about having sex with men. He described how Kelly then “crawled down on his knees and proceeded to give me oral sex,” even though, “I wasn’t into it.”

Afterward, “he told me to keep between him and me,” he said.

In a later episode, Kelly snapped his fingers to summon a naked girl from where she was hiding under a boxing ring to give Kelly and the witness oral sex, the man told the jury.

He kept seeing Kelly after that because “I really wanted to make it in the music industry,” he said.

The witness was testifying as part of a cooperation agreement stemming from his guilty plea in a separate case alleging he was part of a botched scheme to bribe a woman to not testify against Kelly. No charges were brought against Kelly related to the scheme.

Kelly, 54, has repeatedly denied accusations that he preyed on victims during a 30-year career highlighted by his 1996 mega hit “I Believe I Can Fly.” His lawyers have portrayed his accusers as groupies who are lying about their relationships with him.

Earlier Monday, a woman testified that Kelly sexually assaulted her at age 17 following a performance in Miami in 1994. The witness, also testifying without using her real name, claimed that Kelly’s cronies took her and a friend to his dressing room after the show before he pulled down her shorts and forced her to have unprotected sex, she said.

“I was in complete shock,” she said. “I didn’t know what to say at all. I basically went blank.”

Afterward, she and her friend “unlocked the door and ran out of there,” she said.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Deveraux Cannick pressed the witness on why, after someone allegedly “raped you,” she waited more than two decades to contact law enforcement.

“Because I didn’t want to feel more shame and trauma,” she said.

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The most interesting storylines of Bears’ cut day — in which teams must trim their rosters to 53 players by 3 p.m. — have little to do with actual cuts. Four high-profile players could have their fates decided by the following questions:

Will Tarik Cohen start the season on the PUP list?

Looks like it. Cohen isn’t close to returning from October knee surgery on his torn right ACL. If the Bears put him on the Physically Unable to Perform list by Tuesday’s deadline, it would free up a roster spot — but also guarantee Cohen misses the first six weeks of the season.

Cohen might not be ready any sooner.

“He’s not where he needs to be right now,” coach Matt Nagy said Monday. “But he is improving, and the only thing that we can do is keep grinding with that rehab. That’s all he can do. He’s unbelievable in the meetings — I mean, he’s the same as he’s always been. Physically, we’ve got to just keep taking it day by day — and I’m not going to put a timeline on that.”

Players recover at different speeds: Giants running back Saquon Barkley suffered a similar injury a week before Cohen did and figures to play in Week 1. Nagy danced when asked directly whether Cohen had a second procedure done, but then insinuated that he did.

“I think he just got to a point where there was a little bit of, like, the scar tissue and just the healing and all of that,” he said.

Will the Bears trade Nick Foles before the deadline?

Probably not. It takes just one team to show interest, but Foles has been vocal about not wanting to go anywhere unless it’s a good fit for him.

It’s more expensive for the Bears to cut him than to keep him. When the Bears traded for Foles, they agreed to pay him $4 million in base salary and $4 million in a roster bonus each year from 2020-2022. All of that is promised him if he gets cut except for next year’s base salary, which is guaranteed at $1 million.

He put on a good show, albeit against third- and fourth-stringers, in the second half Saturday. Foles went 10-for-13 for 142 yards, two touchdowns and a passer rating of 151.3.

“I was really excited for the way that he came in and played,” Nagy said. “I thought, regardless of where he played in the game and who he played with and who he played against, he ran the offense efficiently.”

If the Bears keep Foles as the third-stringer, Nagy said he’ll handle it well.

“He’ll be the same as he’s been this whole time,” he said.

How can the Bears evaluate Desmond Trufant?

That’s a tough one. The veteran cornerback remained away from the team Monday. He’s been gone for about a week-and-a-half since going home to the state of Washington. His father’s funeral was Wednesday.

Nagy didn’t mention Trufant’s name when listing his depth at cornerback Monday; moments later, he was asked how the team can evaluate Trufant when he’s been away from the team.

“That’s one of the discussions we’ve got to go through [Monday night],” he said. “You want to be able to be available — and he has his situation too. It’s never an easy one.”

Will Teven Jenkins be on the 53-man roster?

Probably. In order for the rookie tackle to be eligible to return from back surgery later this season, the Bears need to put Jenkins on Tuesday’s 53-man roster. They can then transfer him on Injured Reserve.

That procedural move means complicates matters slightly. It would take 24 hours to fill Jenkins’ roster spot with a player waived by one of the 31 NFL teams — or with one of their own players who clears waivers. But it’s better than the alternative, which is admitting Jenkins has no chance to return this year.

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“Donda” by Kanye West (Def Jam/UMG)

Kanye West donned a full face mask to host three livestreamed listening parties for his 10th studio album. Beyond that, he didn’t say a word, or even tweet. After years of alienating longtime fans with forays into conservative politics and sometimes exhausting media spectacle, pop’s King of All Controversy mostly let the music speak for him when unveiling “Donda.”

In the tradition of Marvin Gaye’s “Here, My Dear” or Phil Collins’ “Face Value,” it’s a prickly, personal divorce album full of introspection, conflicting emotions and bursts of musical innovation. It’s also a nearly-overbooked showcase for of-the-moment talent, some half West’s age: Shenseea, Fivio Foreign, Baby Keem, The Weeknd, Lil Yachty, Roddy Ricch. There’s drill music alongside church organs — so many organs!

There’s New Kanye earnest praise of God — “he’s done miracles on me” — mingling with Old Kanye jokey self-awareness: “I’ll be honest, we all liars,” “I repent for everything that I’mma do again.” There’s reggae legend Buju Banton, rap legends JAY-Z, The LOX and Jay Electronica, multiple jabs at longtime foil Drake. Its 27 tracks clock in at one hour, 49 minutes.

It turns out it may not be a divorce album after all: At the final listening party in Chicago, West appeared to set himself on fire then reconcile with his estranged wife, who wore a veiled wedding dress. OK, so maybe he’s not quite done with the media spectacle thing.

It’s a lot to take in. But West somehow wrangles a surprisingly cohesive collection, his best album since 2010?s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” There’s a vague narrative arc, from sinning to salvation, that’s reflected in dark sonic beauty. Wobbly synth stabs on openers “Jail” and “God Breathed” jangle nerves, “Yeezus”-style, while long, reflective chords bring a feeling of ecstatic ascension to the gorgeous closing pair of “Come to Life” and “No Child Left Behind.”

West leans into pain throughout, reflecting on his mother Donda’s 2007 death and marital failures. The searing and bright “Believe What I Say” finds him rapping over a Lauryn Hill sample to directly address Kim Kardashian West and “celebrity drama that only Brad will know. Too many family secrets.” Rocker Marilyn Manson is credited as a songwriter on “Jail” and was on hand at the Chicago listening party, a classic West provocation that many fans won’t forgive after Manson was dropped by his own record label in February amid sexual abuse accusations.

It “gets the people going,” yes, and West seems to intend Manson’s inclusion as part of his broader exploration of duality, morality, mortality, legacy. “Pure Souls,” a standout, has a chanted chorus that transforms halfway from the Trumpian aphorism “The truth is only what you get away with” to the existential “The truth the only thing you get away with.”

As ever, though, West is more focused on evoking feeling through sound than complex wordplay. The sung melody of “Remote Control” is so emotionally arresting that it’s hard to fault Young Thug for the lyrics “I live on the Titanic, I can rock your boat.” While the many guests deliver career-best verses, particularly Fivio Foreign’s “Off the Grid” tale of restarting after jail, they can meander off-topic and distract from West’s throughline.

Still, “Donda” represents a revival, in every sense of the word, for one of pop’s most singular talents.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — A man was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday in the abduction and killing of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts, three years after she disappeared while out for an evening run.

Judge Joel Yates’ sentence for Cristhian Bahena Rivera was mandatory for a first-degree murder conviction in Iowa, which does not have the death penalty. The 27-year-old former farmhand, who testified that he came to the U.S. illegally from Mexico as a teenager, has been jailed since his arrest in August 2018.

Yates pointedly rejected defense claims that others were responsible for the crime.

“Mr. Bahena Rivera, you and you alone forever changed the lives of those who loved Mollie Tibbetts,” he said.

The sentence caps a case that inflamed anger over illegal immigration, fueled fears about violence against solo female runners, and took several noteworthy twists during and after Bahena Rivera’s trial in May.

Tibbetts’ mother, Laura Calderwood, addressed Bahena Rivera in a victim impact statement read to the court.

“Mollie was a young woman who simply wanted to go for a quiet run on the evening of July 18 and you chose to violently and sadistically end that life,” she wrote.

Cristhian Bahena Rivera listens to proceedings during his sentencing, Monday, Aug. 30, 2021, at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa. Rivera was sentenced to life in prison for the stabbing death of college student Mollie Tibbetts, who was abducted as she was out for a run near her small eastern Iowa hometown in July of 2018.AP

Calderwood recalled being told by tearful investigators that her 20-year-old daughter’s body had been found, and racing to inform relatives before they learned the news from the media. The hardest conversation was with Mollie’s grandmother, who was in disbelief that someone “could harm such a beautiful, vibrant young woman so full of promise,” she said.

She said the killing caused Hispanic workers to flee the area in fear, prevented Mollie’s boyfriend from being able to give her the engagement ring he had purchased, and meant her father would never walk his only daughter down the aisle.

“Because of your actions Mr. Rivera, I will never get to see my daughter become a mother,” Calderwood said.

Tibbetts vanished on a rural road outside her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa, population 1,700, while out for a run on July 18, 2018. Family members and co-workers feared something was wrong when Tibbetts did not show up for her summer job at a daycare the next morning.

Hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officers searched for weeks but came up empty. Investigators began focusing on Bahena Rivera, who worked under an alias at a nearby dairy farm, after finding a homeowner’s surveillance video that appeared to show his Chevy Malibu repeatedly driving past Tibbetts while she ran.

After a lengthy interrogation, Bahena Rivera led authorities to a cornfield where he had buried Tibbetts’ body under leaves and stalks. Only her bright running shoes were visible. An autopsy found she had been stabbed several times.

Bahena Rivera told investigators that he approached Tibbetts because he found her attractive, and that he fought her after she threatened to call the police. He said he then blacked out and came to as he was driving with her body in his trunk.

Prosecutors suggested Bahena Rivera had a sexual motive, noting Tibbetts was wearing only socks and a sports bra and that her legs were spread when her body was found. They built their case around the surveillance video, his partial confession and DNA evidence of Tibbetts’ blood in his trunk.

“Based upon the facts and circumstances of this case, it is very well deserved,” prosecutor Scott Brown said of the life sentence.

Bahena Rivera’s lawyers argued that his confession was false and coerced, and their client gave surprise testimony at trial sharing a different account. Bahena Rivera testified that two masked men kidnapped him from his trailer at gunpoint, made him drive while they attacked Tibbetts, instructed him on where to dispose of her body, and told him to stay quiet or that his young daughter and ex-girlfriend would be killed.

The defense sought to cast suspicion on several others, including Tibbetts’ boyfriend and a local deputy who lives next to where Tibbetts’ body was found.

Prosecutors called Bahena Rivera’s testimony a work of fiction and a unanimous 12-member jury found him guilty.

But two people immediately came forward to tell police that a 21-year-old man with a history of violence had confessed to them that he had killed Tibbetts. Separately, a woman had told police she was kidnapped after meeting an alleged sex trafficker at a Brooklyn gas station weeks before Tibbetts’ disappearance.

Yates delayed a July sentencing so the defense had time to investigate. Earlier this month, he denied Bahena Rivera’s motion for a new trial, saying the new information was unreliable and he saw no reason to overturn the verdict.

The defense plans to appeal. Bahena Rivera and his defense lawyers, Chad and Jennifer Frese, declined to speak at sentencing.

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