Careers can get flattened into labels quickly. A player rises from pleasant surprise to steady contributor, then slips into disappointment and, in the harshest corners of public opinion, is written off entirely by those who prefer neat verdicts over context.

Darius Slayton was never a star wide receiver for the Giants. Still, for a fifth-round draft pick who navigated more than his share of unsettled quarterback situations, spending seven seasons with the franchise and finishing with 296 receptions and 22 touchdowns is a respectable run. His production deserves some perspective, too: Slayton’s career average of 15.0 yards per catch sits above franchise receptions leader Amani Toomer (14.2), Odell Beckham Jr. (14.0) and Hakeem Nicks (14.7), and is nearly even with Plaxico Burress (15.1).

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That does not mean Slayton belongs ahead of those former Giants receivers in the franchise hierarchy. It does mean his tenure should not be dismissed as meaningless. His time with Big Blue came to an end Monday when the Giants released him, a tough conclusion after a difficult summer.

The biggest issue was easy to identify. Slayton underwent double hernia surgery during the offseason, and the recovery appeared to leave him well short of his normal physical level. He did not move with the same ease and explosiveness he had shown before the injury, a costly development as he tried to make an impression on the new coaching staff.

A surprise plea from Lindsay Clancy’s criminal defense attorney to President Donald Trump for a pardon drew swift skepticism Tuesday, with legal analysts calling the request legally implausible and raising questions about the tactic behind it.

“There isn’t going to be a pardon for the simple reason there is no mechanism by law which would allow said pardon,” said Mark Bederow, a New York City criminal defense attorney who has been closely watching the case.

Clancy, 36, a former nurse, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children: 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. After the children died, Clancy tried to take her own life and was left paralyzed from her injuries. On Friday, Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial after jurors remained deadlocked following a full week of deliberations.

“This is a very credible, skilled lawyer, and these comments, I think, lack credibility,” Bederow told News Media. “In some level, they lack seriousness because we know it, it’s not going to happen — so I don’t see the advantage of giving an interview where the only thing people are talking about is Lindsay Clancy’s attorney is seeking a pardon or intervention from the president of the United States in the Massachusetts state case.”

Clancy attorney Kevin Reddington said Clancy’s “life was ruined” after she went to an inexperienced doctor who prescribed medications to treat her postpartum depression in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Tuesday. When asked “what’s next” for his client, he appealed directly to the president.

“I’d like to say that perhaps Donald Trump, who felt compelled to speak out about this case, may very well — Mr. President, I would hope that you would consider this young lady the type of the person she is, what she’s been through, and consider a pardon,” he said.

In a separate interview with Massachusetts’ WBZ-TV, Reddington said that while he understands Trump has no grounds to issue a pardon on state charges, he felt that the president could potentially influence the case.

“He certainly has an awful lot of clout, and I’m sure that were he hypothetically to reach out to [Plymouth County District Attorney] Tim Cruz, they’re both Republicans, I don’t know, maybe that would be something that Tim would listen to and consider,” he said. “I think any type of help that we can get is helpful.”

The goal could be to gain leverage in potential plea negotiations with Cruz’s office, said Josh Ritter, a Los Angeles-based attorney and Fox News contributor.

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“I think he knows that this will publicly agitate this entire case and perhaps be beneficial to him in plea negotiations with the district attorney,” he told News Media. “I think he even feels that it benefits him even if Trump doesn’t entertain it — it creates more kind of political pressure for people in the state of Massachusetts who don’t support Trump.”

Reddington, who has been praised by legal analysts for his work on the case, also told GMA he would be open to discussing a potential deal with prosecutors after Clancy’s trial over the deaths of her three young children ended with a deadlocked jury Friday.

He has also said he views his client, a former labor and delivery nurse, like a daughter.

“I think lawyers have to be careful getting too close to a client,” said Donna Rotunno, a Chicago-based criminal defense attorney and Fox News contributor. “It is very clear and admirable in some ways how invested Reddington is in Lindsay Clancy, however, if it starts to affect your professional judgment, it’s time to reevaluate.”

Reddington did not immediately respond to requests from News Media for comment.

The trial centered on whether Clancy was criminally responsible for her actions at the time she strangled each of them with exercise bands in 2023, and the defense argued she wasn’t due to postpartum psychosis.

“I would hope that if the prosecution is going to try this again, they would find better experts with the proper expertise and who are willing, assuming there’s a basis to do so, [to] take the defense expert’s testimony and report and explain in English why it lacks any credibility whatsoever,” Bederow told News Media. “Because if they go forward, they can’t win unless the defense expert is entirely and thoroughly discredited, given the way the Massachusetts law puts the burden of proof on the prosecution.”

President Donald Trump has sharply escalated his trade fight with Canada, announcing a move that could strip billions of dollars’ worth of Canadian-made products from U.S. government purchasing channels.

In a lengthy post on social media, Trump accused America’s northern neighbor of what he called a “Canadian trade scam.”

“Canada has been ripping us off for years, but what many do not realize is that the Canadian Government, including Canadian Provinces, have banned American Small Businesses and Companies from selling into their Government Procurement Markets,” he wrote.

Trump said his administration would respond with a tougher standard for market access. “From now on, no reciprocity – no access,” he continued, adding that he had directed the General Services Administration, or GSA, to “take all necessary steps to remove Canadian-origin products” from the agency’s approved vendor lists under its Multiple Award Schedules program.

Those federal purchasing schedules represent a major stream of government spending, with Trump noting that they “account for more than 50 billion dollars a year.”

Trump is effectively referring to the US government’s pre-approved shopping catalogs. Once a company is on the list, federal agencies around the nation can purchase its products or services without a full review for each transaction. 

In total, over $50 billion worth of supplies are purchased from the catalogs. With Canadian-origin products scrubbed from the list, the nation could suffer from lost business. 

Trump also noted in his post how Canada has banned some imports from US dairy and automotive companies. 

But the president left himself a way out. If Canada restores ‘full and fair reciprocity’ for American farmers and firms, he would pull back the penalty.

It’s a sign his threat could be more of a bargaining chip than a lasting policy.

Just one day prior, on Monday, Trump again flexed his presidential power to punish Canada’s premier jet manufacturer Bombardier. 

The president shared in a social media post that Bombardier will no longer be allowed to sell in the US unless it manufactures here too. 

‘No more selling Bombardier in the United States,’ Trump wrote on Monday. ‘If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.” 

‘Buy American. Fly on American airliners. Enjoy American liquor and beverages. Sail on Lake America,’ Trump added, noting his new initiative to rename Lake Ontario – yet another line of attack amid the burgeoning trade war. 

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After US-Canada trade negotiations fell apart last month, the US announced a 50 percent tariff on over $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, a rate that the US’s northern neighbor matched ‘dollar for dollar’ by levying new tariffs on American goods.

Those Canadian retaliatory tariffs went into effect on Tuesday morning.  

Trump has announced further tariffs that will take effect on January 1, 2027, seemingly giving the two sides time to negotiate. 

‘Bombardier values its great partnership with American companies and its U.S. employees,’ the company said in a statement. ‘Our plan is to continue to invest in our people, our customers, and the communities in which we operate across the country.’

About 2,188 Bombardier aircraft were registered in the United States in January, according to data. Bombardier customers operate roughly half of the company’s more than 5,100 aircraft worldwide in the United States, according to Reuters.

Already, Republicans have signaled their opposition to the White House’s latest gambit targeting Bombardier. 

Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas wrote on Monday that he had contacted the administration to ‘make certain the President is aware of the significant contributions of Bombardier to Kansas and the importance of its presence in Wichita to many Kansas workers at Bombardier and in the Bombardier supply chain.’

Bombardier’s US headquarters is based in Kansas, where it also operates a major defense and flight test facility. 

Its HQ employs over 1,000 Kansans while the company has roughly 3,500 American workers nationwide. 

‘I will continue working to see that Bombardier’s manufacturing operations not only remain in Kansas but continue to grow and create American jobs,’ Moran’s statement continued.

‘Kansas is home to a hardworking, skilled workforce, and I will continue welcoming leaders in aircraft and defense manufacturing to do business here in the Air Capital of the World.’

Trump previously threatened Bombardier in January when calling for Canada to drop regulations on US plane manufacturer Gulfstream. 

A central figure in the brutal torture and killing of a transgender man at a motel in upstate New York received the harshest sentence allowed Tuesday, prompting an emotional outburst from people packed inside the courtroom.

Precious Arzuaga and her former girlfriend, Jennifer Quijano, were both sentenced to life behind bars with no chance of parole for their involvement in the 2025 death of Sam Nordquist, who endured a month of fatal abuse.

“F–k you. You’re the devil,” one person in the Ontario County courtroom yelled, while others applauded Judge Kristina Karle’s decision to impose the maximum punishment, the Times Union reported.

Arzuaga, who admitted guilt to first-degree murder in July, sat with her head lowered for much of the proceeding, raising it only briefly to blow a kiss toward her mother as officers led her away.

Addressing the devastation left behind, Karle said the question still haunting those who loved Nordquist was simple: “We all want to know why.” She continued, “Why was someone so good taken so tragically? Was it because Sam was everything you were not and will never be?”

Nordquist, a 24-year-old transgender man, was found dead in a field in Yates County on Feb. 13, 2025.

The Minnesota transplant had been staying with Arzuaga at Patty’s Lodge motel in Canandaigua, roughly 30 minutes outside of Rochester, since he arrived in the Empire State in September 2024.

Arzuaga lured Nordquist to the region under the prospect of a loving relationship but instead began a campaign of torment stretching from Jan. 1, 2025 to Feb. 2, 2025.

“Sadly and tragically, he found you. And you represent everything opposite of Sam,” Karle said.

The devious woman led a group of six others, including Quijano and two children — one of whom was her son — to beat, torture and sexually assault Nordquist inside the motel room.

Nordquist was punched, kicked, beaten with sticks, dog toys, ropes canes and belts — and assaulted with a table leg and broomstick in the weeks leading to his death.

He died of repeated acts of violence and torture, authorities ruled.

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Nordquist was reported missing by family members on Feb. 9, after he lost contact with them.

He was found dumped in the field in Yates County wrapped in plastic several days later.

For the grueling month, Nordquist was held captive inside and caged like a dog in a cynical crime prosecutors compared to a Hollywood horror film.

“This is the worst of the worst,” Ontario County First Assistant District Attorney James Nobles said. “It may be common on television or in the movies, but not in real life.”

Nordquist’s mother and sister spoke before Arzuaga was sentenced.

“Sam had the gentlest heart of anyone I’ve ever known,” his mother Linda said. “He saw the good in people. Even when they did not deserve it.”

Prosecutors didn’t disclose a motive for Arzuaga’s actions but revealed chilling text messages she had sent before Nordquist’s murder.

“Sam can never leave New York alive,” one message from Arzuaga read, as attorneys characterized it as “torture for torture sake,” WHAM reported.

Both Arzuaga and Quijano pleaded guilty in July to all charges they faced, including first-degree murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, aggravated sexual abuse, concealment of a human corpse and endangering the welfare of a child.

Quijano’s involvement in Nordquist’s torture and murder was motivated by jealousy after Arzuaga’s attention was no longer focused on her, prosecutors said.

“It’s just that Sam had Precious’s attention and she hated him for it,” Assistant District Attorney Sara Van Strydonck said. “So you want to know the motive? The motive is jealousy.”

Emily Motyka and Kyle Sage both pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping for their roles in Nordquist’s death. They are awaiting sentencing.

The three remaining defendants — including Patrick Goodwin and Thomas Eaves — are scheduled to go to trial in January.