Crime Friday: Frozen Kansas City Chiefs Fans, and Fani Willis Admits Affair, with Arthur Aidala, Mark Eiglarsh, and Charlie Condon | Ep. 716
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 36 minutes
Words per Minute
188.68661
Summary
Join Meghan and her guest, former AG Patrick Fitzgerald, as they discuss the latest developments in the Alec Murdoch retrial, the case of the Kansas City Chiefs fans found frozen outside of a friend's house, and the latest on the Michelle Traconis trial in Connecticut.
Transcript
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Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, live on Sirius XM Channel 111 every weekday at New East.
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Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show and happy Crime Friday.
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Later we're going to get into what happened in South Carolina with Alec Murdoch's attempt to get a retrial.
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And I'll be joined by the former Attorney General down there. He's been following the case very closely.
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But we start with two Kelly's Court favorites, the OGs on the docket today.
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Have you heard about the Kansas City Chiefs fans found frozen outside of their friend's house?
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They were out there for two days and the guy didn't notice.
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So he says, big developments in that case this morning.
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Plus, the latest on the Michelle Traconis trial in Connecticut.
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She's the alleged affair partner of the husband who was accused of murdering his wife, Jennifer Doulos, after he was charged.
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Now the affair partner is on trial for helping him, accused of disposing of Jennifer's belongings.
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Developments on that trial as well, as many, many more.
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Arthur Eidala is a partner at Eidala Bertuna and Kamens and host of the Arthur Eidala Power Hour.
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And Mark Eiglarsh is a defense attorney at Eiglarsh Law, which you can find at speaktomark.com.
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Hey, guys, I didn't know about speaktomark.com.
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Anytime you want to speak to Mark, Megan, you just call speaktomark.com and I'll answer.
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It's Manhattan living versus Florida living, I guess.
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It's pickleball, it's no sugar, and it's training for a half marathon.
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Those are the things that keep me spiritually fit.
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I would like to go no sugar, but I really like my sugar.
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I don't think I can get rid of the ice cream, too.
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Arthur, still living in New York, working in New York.
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And this case of the migrants who got arrested and then no bail, walking out, flip the double
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bird, as we call it, the double barrel, has, beyond New Yorkers, infuriated.
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They were let out because of our soft on crime policies, which doesn't like bail for criminals,
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These guys beat a cop, allegedly, who was trying to move them on from loitering and potentially
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doing some sort of nefarious, possibly drugs, near 42nd and 7th, right in the heart of Times
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So the cops go over, a lieutenant, another guy, and before they know it, they're getting
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Five were already arraigned, and the other two, I think, were brought into custody last
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The reports are they're believed to have gotten on a bus and hightailed it out.
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So how has it happened that the guy who subdued that guy on the subway, trying to protect people,
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he's facing trial for, what, negligent homicide?
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And these guys walk out after beating cops, flipping the double bird on the road to beautiful,
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Well, my firm is actually involved in the Daniel Penny case, which is the subway, and he's charged
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So last night on my radio show, I had chief of the NYPD, chief of patrol, John Chell, on
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It was a regular police officer and a lieutenant.
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They are so upset, besides the fact, okay, what these punks did was horrible, but the Manhattan
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And a sitting judge who has the power, even though they don't ask for bail, to send bail
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And the way I grew up in that system, you know, I mean, that this is my system where
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Forget about the way we grew up as children, where touching a cop was just beyond your imagination.
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And here's, forget about dangerousness when it comes to bail laws.
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It was always about, are the people going to return to court?
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So in a positive case, you'd be like, Your Honor, my client is married.
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And if you're worried about him coming back, he's probably coming here.
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Guys, the only contact they have is a cell phone.
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The fact that a judge does not set bail on this case, on those first four, is ridiculous.
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Now, someone else went in last night while I was on the radio.
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They did set $50,000 bond and $15,000 cash on one of these guys.
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But tell us what it took to make that judge post or require bail of that defendant.
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They sat there in the courtroom to shame the judge into doing the right thing.
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Like, you're not going to just keep letting these guys go.
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I know what the right thing to say is to appease the audience, but let's break this down.
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The actions of these guys were abhorrent, and they deserve to be severely punished for it.
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I don't want the viewers to be misled, however, Megan.
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The bond is solely to determine where they will be during the penancy of the case, and will
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Now, should they have been, you know, should they have posted a bond?
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I don't know all the unique facts and circumstances.
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But as long as they show back up to court when they're supposed to, and they haven't
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Well, they fled, but you're saying if they can come back.
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You could say you could, you know, fled and leaving are kind of the two same things, right?
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As long as they come back to court when they're supposed to, and ultimately either take a plea
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It just, you want more, there's a lot more venom, and you want to hate the guys even
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What I'm saying is, the bail part is just, should they come back to court?
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You're allowed to get on a bus and go across the country to California?
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You think they're going to go there and then pay the fare and jump and come back again
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Arthur, standard bond in that jurisdiction, what, they post, what, $2,500 bond?
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That's going to make the difference between them showing up and not?
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So no bond is what you want to do for guys who just don't have the money to get out.
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But understand the same policy that you and Megan want to apply to these guys.
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New York is one of, I believe, two states in the whole 50.
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That a judge is not allowed to take dangerousness into their analysis of to set bail or not.
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In the federal system, they can say dangerousness.
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The only standard is, is this person going to come back to court?
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And that's the way it's been for decades and decades.
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Here, it is so obvious that they're not going to come back to court.
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And then it's the double bird to the rest of America.
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This is me taking advantage of your stupid ass system.
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They already committed a crime by coming to the country illegally.
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We'll see how cocky they are if they do spend some time in Rikers.
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Go enjoy Rikers, where I'm sure they're going to be really happy to have a bunch of people
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who sneaked into the country and are completely disdainful of Americans show up like giggles.
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Right now, they're still searching for the eighth.
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I mean, multiple crimes behind a couple of these guys.
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And the main problem is they've turned Times Square into a migrant shelter.
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And one of the things that comes out to me from this is it's not just that you're bringing
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in a bunch of people who you don't know the background of.
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But the mere creation of these migrant centers is like a call to criminals.
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The local residents in the Post today are just describing.
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And it's because all the criminals decided, oh, this is a great place.
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And so anybody who lives around there, you know, Hell's Kitchen or near Times Square,
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And as you guys well know, it's not just New York.
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I don't disagree with anything you just said, by the way.
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And those who harm police officers who are out there risking their lives to serve and protect
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us, there should be significant penalties imposed.
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Each of these guys should face incarceration for daring to be violent with officers who
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Do not mistake my views initially concerning bond as it relates to penalty.
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They should be sent back after they pay the piper for what they did to the officers.
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So, Megan, a couple of things that you just said.
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Number one is, well, first of all, I'm on 45th and 5th.
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I am literally three blocks away from where this happened.
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Marion and I went to a Broadway show last night.
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We walked through Times Square and we had dinner right in Times Square.
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I will say there's a tremendous show of force by the police there right now.
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And what Chief Chell told me again last night was they're actually looking for more people
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But he also said this, and I made him confirm it on the air.
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He referred to New York as the safest big city in America.
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And to your point, that's really scary because New York is not as safe as it was.
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So what about Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, et cetera?
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And how about the Manhattan DA's office who works hand in hand on the NYPD on almost every
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single case and one of their own, basically a cop, gets beat up and they don't even ask
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Well, they got the message once all those cops showed up to sit there on behalf of their
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beaten down brother in blue and their lieutenant to say, look us in the eye and let him go
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More importantly, Arthur, what show did you see?
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We saw the show Six, which is about the six wives of Henry VIII.
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I don't go to see Ann Juliette, at least not if you're a 12-year-old girl.
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It's modern day music twisted into like Shakespeare.
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It's supposed to be that Juliette reimagined if she lived.
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I thought it was going to be a romance between her and the next guy.
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And instead, it turns out it's like trans people talking about trans love and guys making
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People coming in from the Midwest, not expecting that shit.
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But unfortunately, living where I live now, it's like, oh, okay.
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Like I have had almost everyone I know is like, can you believe what's going on with
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So best as I can understand it, these guys went over, three friends were together and
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The three friends were later found frozen dead outside of the fourth guy's house in the
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Now this guy was known for making drug cocktails, according to the New York post, among others,
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the fourth guy who lived and had been dubbed quote, the chemist, according to a cousin of
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Now this has been the theory that potentially, because the guy, the chemist who was inside
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And the fiance of one of the guys said, where is he?
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Like, I think, you know, he went over to this house.
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Three guys were, but the chemist was inside the house.
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The guy opens the door reportedly in his underwear and with a glass of wine.
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So like, what, what on with three dead guys out the backyard, right?
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So this is video that the neighbor caught of it.
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Last night I learned on another show, we had breaking news that they released the toxicology
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And they all had lethal doses of fentanyl in their system.
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Strike that three times the lethal limit, not legal limit, lethal limit.
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Again, whether they knowingly ingested fentanyl or whether something was laced with it, which
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But now you got three guys who are just out of their mind.
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And there was also cocaine, allegedly, and marijuana found.
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And then the guy inside who just went to rehab realized he has a problem.
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Well, this is why you don't do drugs and you don't go to somebody called the chemist and
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ask him to make a cocktail for you of any kind.
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But the real question is whether this guy, the chemist, as they're referring to him, should
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not be in rehab, but should be in a damn jail for serving these guys up cocktails that reportedly
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Here is News Nation interviewing Caleb McGinney, who's the cousin to one of the decedents, Clayton
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McGinney, referring to this guy, Jordan, the so-called chemist, and adding some color about
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It was easy for them to go have fun, but he fucked up.
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Now, to use my cousin, my best friend, as a guinea pig?
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Jordan is somebody that is known from high school as, like, creating drugs for people
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to make them feel better in certain situations.
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So, Arthur, if you're the DA overseeing this case, which has really come under national
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scrutiny, do you get to make an arrest understanding that these guys had, as Mark points out, they
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had, what's the, like, the lethal limo would be 30 units of Fenton or 10 limit units, and
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Well, especially based on some of the other cases we're going to cover today, where, you
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know, people aren't that involved, like, people who are not actually pulling the trigger, and
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yet they're being charged for conspiracy to murder.
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If that's what we're going with, if that's what we're looking at, then absolutely an investigation
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has to be done into what this guy knew, meaning Jordan, what he put in there.
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And, I mean, what the confusing part of me, to me, is even though I know what Mark is saying
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is accurate, about three times the lethal limit, that all three of them, not one of
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One of them, I don't know, had the wherewithal to break a window and get inside or call for
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But, I mean, we have charged people in the past who have been drug dealers with killing
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It doesn't happen often, and Mark just handled a drug case today, so he may be in a better
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No, but I actually, I have a case right now where my client from a wonderful family fell
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His dear friend, also from a wonderful family, also, I think, getting her master's degree,
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She overdoses doing a certain, she was doing heroin or what she thought was heroin.
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My client is now charged with first-degree felony murder because he supplied her with
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the drugs, and I checked in Missouri, has the same felony murder statute.
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So if this guy, this homeowner, supplied these people with the drugs, it fits the law there.
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And Mark, does it matter if he knew, you know, the Chinese, of course, with these Mexican drug
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cartels are lining these pills with fentanyl and, you know, these substances, the fentanyl
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and the people, if he didn't know, if he thought he was just giving them, you know, forgive me,
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If you are in the commission of a felony and someone dies, it's felony murder.
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So by him trafficking and giving them the drugs, he's committing a felony, and in doing so,
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It doesn't matter that they willingly took the drugs.
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You know, it's not like he slipped him a Mickey.
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I wish it did, because those are the facts in my case.
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And again, my client's facing a potential life sentence.
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How about the fact that law enforcement was saying off the bat, oh, we don't see any foul
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The families of the deceased are appropriately going crazy.
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What do you mean you don't see any foul play here?
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You have three grown men, almost 40-year-old men, just freeze in the backyard, the one sitting
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How could you come out of the box saying, we don't see any foul play here?
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If these guys were given drugs that they thought was X, and it turned out to be Y, and it killed
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And I think, by the way, Jordan's lawyer, I'm sure is involved, gave him great advice,
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telling him to get to rehab, because it shows some act of contrition.
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But the quote that someone gave on Jordan's behalf was, the death of his three friends
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Oh my God, I'd hit him in the head with a bat, a wake-up call for him.
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I mean, I still don't get, and I realize if you're a drugged up person, and obviously
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he took some sort of drugs too, I don't know what was in his system, but I think they may
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not have tested his blood, which is another problem, then you could sleep two days.
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You could be in bed two days, or maybe he didn't look out the back of the house, but the
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back of the house has got some six windows in it.
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I mean, how do you not know there are three dead men out there?
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And how, after partying with them or serving them drug cocktails, even not knowing that
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there was fentanyl, if that's the case, do you not say, hey, where are my friends?
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They're basing the reports on fentanyl and a family member who has to remain anonymous
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saying Coke, fentanyl, and THC showed up in the preliminary drug results.
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This is per NewsNation's national correspondent, Alex Caprariello.
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The family source says level 10 fentanyl is enough to kill.
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He later added that the information was backed up and confirmed by a separate family source.
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The police haven't yet specifically weighed in on this.
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The guy, the so-called chemist, is an HIV scientist.
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But him being completely coked up himself, you know, out of his mind, is that a potential
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Is any sort of intent required in these crimes?
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Even if he didn't know fentanyl was in there, can he get out?
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Like, could your drug dealer friend have gotten out of the charges, Mark, if he was so coked
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You know, he didn't have capacity to make decisions.
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He and her both thought that they were doing heroin.
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He didn't think that there was any adverse reaction from fentanyl.
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You know, when the police say there's no, they don't suspect foul play.
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And what I believe that they're saying is we don't believe that anyone has committed
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any crimes that we can then establish probable cause from.
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And by that, I mean, if there's no evidence that the homeowner provided the drugs that
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caused their death, let's assume that for just one moment, then what do you have?
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You got a drugged out homeowner who probably cares about his friends.
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So he certainly didn't intentionally cause them to die.
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It is a wake up call for him because, oh, my God, you know, I'm so out of it.
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I could have saved my friends, but I was in such a drug induced, you know, you know, just
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The only crime here would be if you could prove that the homeowner provided them the
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And I don't know if police, you know, in my case, they had extensive text messages between
00:25:44.360
the two so they can tell that my client bought the caps that caused her demise.
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But, you know, you know, at the beginning of an investigation, we have three grown men
00:26:08.680
And then and then we'll figure out where the evidence takes us to.
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But but give don't don't punish them for giving an answer based upon what they see.
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Is that your brother or your cousin who's frozen?
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And I mean, there's a weird scenario going on here.
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The investigator who's in charge of everything goes, and there's no foul play.
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Let's just, you know, let's marry him and we'll call it a day.
00:26:35.600
Well, they may not have the they may not have the text messages yet because the three dead
00:26:40.580
men, you know, you can't just get on the phone if you don't know the password that you're
00:26:44.340
going to have to get, you know, iCloud and all that.
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So they may not have their access to their phones.
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And the the man who's just checked himself into rehab, the so-called chemist, was probably
00:26:53.560
spending his first few moments deleting, deleting, deleting because he wasn't arrested.
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It's not like the cops came and arrested him on site.
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He's he's been free and now he's checked himself into rehab.
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But that's you know, there's no such thing as deleting.
00:27:08.460
They're going to figure out what the or maybe this may be as clear as your case.
00:27:12.520
Maybe they did get the text messages and he didn't say, hey, guys, are you ready?
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I'm coming downstairs with some fentanyl for you guys to ingest.
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My guess is that there's probably nothing in text messages.
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And these guys partook and I don't know that there's any eyewitnesses who are alive,
00:27:28.960
unfortunately, who can say that he's the one who provided them with the drugs.
00:27:47.300
I think we can all agree unless it's like chemo or something you really need.
00:27:51.900
Yeah, it's like you have to give these these rules to your kids and you say, like,
00:28:00.540
And then my kids, of course, are like, not even the doctor, not even like if I know if
00:28:04.400
I met a friend's house and I got for me a Tylenol, the mom because I fell.
00:28:07.880
I'm like, well, I needed I needed the pills after back surgery.
00:28:14.660
So, again, up across the board, we really agree.
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Don't do recreational drugs and don't take drugs from somebody you don't know.
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And certainly not from somebody who goes by the name the chemist, who's known as a nefarious
00:28:33.400
So many other cases to get to from Murdoch to this traconis to Fannie Willis.
00:28:41.340
Quick foray into politics while I have you, because there's been a couple of big developments
00:28:48.900
in the cases against Trump that I just want to get your quick take on.
00:28:54.340
The the divorce case of her alleged paramour has now been preliminarily settled as the heat
00:29:03.620
Nathan Wade, I think, saw fit to just make his ex-wife, Jocelyn, go away.
00:29:11.840
So Fannie Willis no longer has to testify in that divorce case as she had been subpoenaed
00:29:17.480
But she is still going to have to testify and answer to the motion that's been filed
00:29:25.640
That one of the defendants in that RICO case filed a motion saying she should be kicked
00:29:29.360
She's having an affair with this co-special prosecutor and he's flying her all over the world
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She has announced she refuses to recuse herself.
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And so if she goes down, she's going to go down swinging.
00:29:51.980
I mean, I don't think there's any question she's violated her ethical obligation to remain
00:29:57.680
But let's talk brass tacks, the odds of the judge throwing her off the case.
00:30:06.220
And in the end, a judge down in Georgia is going to make the decision.
00:30:11.880
She's having it still with the special prosecutor.
00:30:18.620
Then at least one of the other co-prosecutors, the guy who has all the RICO experience, this
00:30:24.880
He's getting more than that than the specialist.
00:30:27.920
And then she's she's profiting on it by flying all over the world with this guy on the taxpayer
00:30:32.940
Do you think the judge throws her off the case?
00:30:35.460
Because I'll just add why I'm asking more and more speculation in the Atlanta press and
00:30:40.540
beyond that if it's not Fannie Willis, it's nobody, that they're going to have a very hard
00:30:45.320
time finding another prosecutor to take the case.
00:30:48.800
So truly, Trump's fate in this case could come down to whether this judge bounces Fannie Willis
00:30:57.080
Well, Megan, an open disclosure, I'm not that worried about Donald Trump.
00:31:02.080
I am very worried about my client, Ruth Giuliani, because we represent Rudy Giuliani in this case.
00:31:09.060
So I have to also watch all the words that come out of my mouth right now.
00:31:12.960
But obviously, our position is that we're joining in the application of this defendant, who's
00:31:20.540
a co-defendant of ours, saying that her ethics and her judgment have been so compromised by
00:31:29.620
You know, it's not like she's, this has to do with a different case and we found that
00:31:34.420
south and she's doing something on another matter.
00:31:38.520
And you appropriately and accurately cited the facts that this guy's getting paid more than
00:31:47.220
And, you know, she's out there saying, I'm not going to recuse myself.
00:31:50.440
On February 15th, as of the airing of the show before I came on, I just checked on February
00:31:56.200
15th, there's supposed to be a hearing with the judge where everything gets put on the
00:32:02.320
And since she's refusing to recuse herself, the judge may make that decision.
00:32:09.420
There may be a, we're looking up the Georgia law, but there may be a law saying if the DA,
00:32:14.460
not an assistant DA, but the DA gets thrown off the case by a judge because of an ethical
00:32:20.100
breach, no assistant DA in her office can step in and take her place because they're
00:32:30.340
So they would have to find either a different district attorney's office, or I think the
00:32:34.320
judge may have the power to appoint a special prosecutor, meaning someone in private practice
00:32:39.820
on Mark Eiglash and say, I want, I'm going to anoint you right now as special prosecutor.
00:32:43.840
But obviously on behalf of Rudy Giulietti, you know, we're very much hoping that this judge,
00:32:50.900
you know, we're very much hoping that this judge does the right thing and says, listen,
00:32:55.820
your judgment is so clouded and so beyond being an objective, you know, a prosecutor is
00:33:04.520
They're not, Mark and I zealously represent our clients.
00:33:07.640
Prosecutor's not supposed to, they're supposed to weigh everything out.
00:33:09.700
And that, that judgment, her judgment and her ethics have been compromised and therefore
00:33:17.020
So Megan, I can answer it a little bit more directly since I don't represent Giuliani or
00:33:23.740
I think that if this is true, and again, I wasn't there, but let's say it is true.
00:33:31.540
It gives people an argument that the system isn't necessarily fair.
00:33:36.680
So in the abundance of caution in cases like this, I'm always a fan of just saying, you
00:33:40.200
know what, there's nothing really that nefarious and we can certainly handle the case.
00:33:44.380
But in the abundance of caution, we're going to then, certainly for appellate purposes too,
00:33:50.980
That said, if she chooses not to, for whatever reason it is, maybe her ego is not her amigo
00:33:59.560
If some other agency takes control of this case, then it comes into the hands of the judge.
00:34:04.960
And I think the chances of the judge removing this office are about as good as my odds of
00:34:14.900
I am almost 56 years old and my jump shot sucks.
00:34:34.840
I don't know if it's male or female, but that the judge is going to look at this and say,
00:34:37.840
you are benefiting as a result of your relationship with a special prosecutor that you brought
00:34:45.580
It looks to the taxpayer like you are pushing this thing because you're going to get another
00:34:53.400
That's a reasonable conclusion a taxpayer could draw from your breach of your ethics.
00:35:03.300
But I don't believe, and I haven't done the research, but I don't believe that there's
00:35:07.480
any case that mandates this judge then to say, I'm going to make the decision then that
00:35:22.040
And although he's been pretty impressive in terms of controlling the courtroom, controlling,
00:35:35.720
And, you know, it does take a certain amount of intestinal fortitude to basically throw,
00:35:42.160
throw, you know, a sitting elected DA off of a case and throw her whole office off of
00:35:50.920
Do you know if the judge is, is the judge elected or appointed there in the state court?
00:35:59.460
But the bottom line is what Mark is saying, though, is let's just say the judge doesn't
00:36:10.480
Like, this is a dark cloud going to hang over this whole case.
00:36:12.680
And it feeds right in, right into Trump's narrative that, you know, it's the stack of the deck is
00:36:20.220
I mean, it really gives a lot of a lot of fuel to that fire.
00:36:26.480
Jean Carroll, who's still celebrating her her big eighty three point three million dollar
00:36:35.540
She didn't get the money for alleged sexual assault.
00:36:37.900
They only gave her two million on that in the first trial for the alleged defamation
00:36:42.240
of Trump calling her a lunatic, et cetera, for making this charge.
00:36:46.360
She he now has to pay her eighty three point three million.
00:36:48.640
She was seen partying after her big verdict with, of course, all these media types were
00:36:57.000
And they decided to, I guess, have Jean Jean Carroll there.
00:37:01.680
She was seen with half of the staff at MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell, Washington Post, Sarah
00:37:09.820
She's a completely unethical person in my experience.
00:37:13.300
I could keep going, but they're all super happy that E.
00:37:21.380
And I really have questions about what Trump should do, because let's say I know he says he's
00:37:27.520
Well, I think he's got a shot on appeal, but personally, I don't think it's a great shot.
00:37:34.520
So my question is, Mark, normally a normal person who got an eighty three million dollar
00:37:40.220
punitive damages plus some compensatory eleven and compensatory damages award against them
00:37:47.620
They would declare bankruptcy to try to avoid the judgment.
00:37:52.960
Well, I don't know if Trump does that, given his financial situation.
00:37:56.900
And let's not forget, he's probably looking at a three hundred and seventy million dollar
00:38:03.360
judgment coming down against him within the next few days in that civil fraud trial that's
00:38:09.660
So now, I mean, literally, he could be looking at a half a billion dollars just just under
00:38:13.980
in judgments against him in civil courts within a week or two.
00:38:22.120
What's available to him to try to get out of paying it?
00:38:24.340
We know that that would be a last resort for him, you know, declaring that half a billion
00:38:31.640
So I don't know that he would ever want to go that route.
00:38:38.560
I'm unfortunately going to have to answer this like a lawyer, which really bothers me and
00:38:42.480
probably everybody else, because I can't give you a definitive answer.
00:38:47.300
Generally, you can declare bankruptcy and that would generally preclude you from having to
00:38:55.220
But there is some law which suggests that certain judgments for certain acts would not then
00:39:05.240
And there's one category of any type of intentional acts against others.
00:39:10.660
And I don't know if they're referring to acts of violence or does defamation fall within that
00:39:16.580
So I have to tell you, I can't say with certainty.
00:39:19.960
Maybe if a court thought that defamation is an intentional act against another and it was more
00:39:25.340
akin to like an assault, an assault, then they might say you can't get rid of that debt by
00:39:31.060
Yeah, I can't say I wanted to give you a black and white answer.
00:39:33.480
I can't if if he was not the president or running for president.
00:39:39.520
You know, many times Trump's declared bankruptcy, many like a lot.
00:39:44.140
Who are you trying to get them with the coffee cups at the at the kiosks selling coffee,
00:39:48.220
trying to raise money for Donald Trump after you declare bankruptcy one of the many times
00:39:51.840
I remember back in the 90s, like it was a joke for Donald Trump.
00:39:57.500
Just one of the tools in the in a bag of tricks that his lawyers have, his tax lawyers have.
00:40:03.080
There are certain debts that are dispensable and disappear during bankruptcy, and there's
00:40:09.740
So in my opinion, this this this would be one that's not dispensable.
00:40:16.140
Otherwise, everyone who would lose a civil trial would just file for bankruptcy.
00:40:25.120
Like we hear the 83 million and I did some legal research on this.
00:40:28.520
The 83 million is 65 or something like that is here are punitive damages.
00:40:35.680
Punitive damages have been ruled even by the Supreme Court of the United States could be
00:40:39.180
up to 10 times of the lower number, the compensatory damages.
00:40:43.400
So just to make it break it down, top compensatory.
00:40:46.660
We're going to compensate you for your damages.
00:40:48.680
So you lost your job in the law firm and you were making two million dollars a year.
00:40:56.200
That's the compensatory damages to punish this guy, to make sure he never does it again.
00:41:01.740
We're going to add another 60 million dollars on top of that.
00:41:05.380
And courts have ruled that the 60 million is OK.
00:41:08.780
It's whether or not she really proved she had damages that totaled the 11 point something
00:41:22.240
He clearly had his thumb on the scales here, but he's been on the bench almost 30 years.
00:41:29.160
He knows how to make judgments and make rulings with enough savvy to make sure he's going to
00:41:36.640
win on appeal, push enough to get what he wants, but do it in a way that it survives the case
00:41:49.020
Ms. Abba, before Donald Trump takes the stand, I want to know what questions you're going to
00:41:57.200
Now, this is a civil case, not a criminal case.
00:42:00.200
And for us criminal practitioners, that's insane to hear.
00:42:03.580
But here, because he was already deposed, that was permissible.
00:42:11.500
Trump was on the stand for less than three minutes.
00:42:13.980
And I think in less than three minutes, three of his answers were stricken.
00:42:17.220
So if there's any area where the three judges on a circuit court may say, look, Judge Kaplan,
00:42:23.660
we love you, we admire you, but you really didn't give this guy a fair shake.
00:42:27.600
I think it would be on how much he limited Trump's ability to defend himself.
00:42:34.040
He let he let Trump say, I didn't do it, period.
00:42:38.340
He didn't let him go on at all about how I've never met this person.
00:42:42.860
He didn't want to get back into all that stuff, which Trump would have been able to do had
00:42:47.460
he shown up in the actual first trial against him in which they litigated whether he sexually
00:42:57.680
Once once he was found liable, he showed up for the damages and the defamation piece of
00:43:03.820
And this judge said, all this stuff's been litigated.
00:43:09.340
Look, one of the things that Roberta Kaplan, Robbie Kaplan said when she was arguing to
00:43:14.000
the jury, you know, E. Jean Carroll needs this money.
00:43:18.240
She she needs to go redeem her reputation out there.
00:43:23.200
But she said something like she's going to have to go on conservative media.
00:43:27.340
And I'm trying to remember the shows that she specifically named a couple of conservative
00:43:32.900
I think maybe Joe Rogan, who's not conservative, but he's not woke anyway.
00:43:41.460
If she doesn't because so far, where's she gone?
00:43:55.320
She's not doing the thing she said she needed to be compensated for because she had to repair
00:43:59.880
her damaged reputation in conservative circles.
00:44:04.740
There was no harm done in Trump attacking her whatsoever.
00:44:08.680
So if she's got to do any repair work, it's over on the other side of the aisle.
00:44:12.660
Does that affect this argument at all as she goes as they go back to Judge Kaplan and ask
00:44:17.980
him to lower the amount or as they bring it up to the Second Circuit?
00:44:22.120
Same way an accident victim says, I may need therapy, I may need surgery, and then it turns
00:44:29.240
out that they don't engage in that because they choose something else.
00:44:33.220
I don't think the appellate court's in the business of tracking what did the person actually
00:44:40.340
I think that in the realm of possibility, she might need to do conservative shows.
00:44:49.200
And she changes her plan, but based upon what she possibly might need to do in the
00:45:02.980
We don't accept money from the guests who want to come on the show.
00:45:05.900
Normally, just so people know in a jury, you need money to, I lost my job or I got into
00:45:14.920
I'm not going to be able to work for the rest of my life.
00:45:16.600
I'm 35 years old, I have two kids, they do this mathematical computation.
00:45:22.720
It should hold you over to raise your kids, get them through college to pay your overhead
00:45:29.500
I don't know what damage that she took on this woman who's an elderly person.
00:45:35.900
So they look at her life expectancy where it adds up to that number.
00:45:39.860
Well, that's the thing is they, I don't think they actually looked for real damage.
00:45:49.080
We think you actually did do something to her in Bergdorf.
00:45:51.340
They didn't find him guilty of rape, but they not guilty, liable for, but they did say you
00:45:56.580
And then they said all that stuff where you called her a kook, that's defamation because
00:46:00.160
But I mean, the actual damage that she suffered, she's a heroine.
00:46:06.140
She's, did you see the giddiness with which they were celebrating this award all over the
00:46:12.380
The only people who don't like E. Jean Carroll as a result of this whole skirmish are the
00:46:19.180
And the reason they don't like her is not so much what Trump said about her as it is what
00:46:25.840
They just, they don't want anything bad said about Trump.
00:46:30.160
They would have not liked E. Jean Carroll, even if Trump had never responded to any of
00:46:34.600
I don't think his alleged defamation of her caused her any more damage than her opening
00:46:41.500
In any event, a jury and a judge see it differently.
00:46:44.660
We have much, much more to get to with the guys.
00:47:00.540
And that is we send you our one email of the week.
00:47:08.740
And we put together the best stories from our show over the week.
00:47:11.440
And we give you all the news that will give you a overview of what happened this week in
00:47:44.940
I could go on, subscribe, and you'll hear the rest.
00:47:54.000
My team is reminding me that we dubbed you that back in the America's newsroom days.
00:48:05.380
Because it used to be Kendall's court before I got my divorce from my first husband.
00:48:14.280
I mean, I remember you on the steps of the Supreme Court.
00:48:18.340
Megan Kendall reporting live from the Supreme Court.
00:48:22.240
Britt Hume really tried to convince me to keep the last name Kendall.
00:48:31.340
Anywho, here we all these years later still doing what we do.
00:48:34.680
Let's talk about this case of Jennifer Crumbly.
00:48:42.660
I know everybody knows what his name is because he has the same last name as his mom, but we
00:48:47.000
don't like to say the names of mass shooters on this show.
00:48:49.740
Her son is a teenage convicted killer who went into his school and shot and killed four people in Michigan and wounded, I think, seven others.
00:49:05.080
And this case is very unusual because he's he's in jail for the rest of his life.
00:49:10.420
But they charged his mother and father for contributing to the deaths of these people because they say that they were on fair notice, that their son had mental health issues, that the school had called and said they had found these disturbed drawings and threats with blood and bullets.
00:49:29.100
And the parents, that the parents, that the parents, that the parents did nothing and that understanding their kid had these issues.
00:49:34.440
They bought him a nine millimeter and then failed to keep it away from him.
00:49:38.060
And therefore, in a novel case, they're trying to pin the murders, not just on the shooter, but on the shooter's parents.
00:49:56.860
She took the stand and talked about how she claimed she had no health, mental health concerns about her son, which is, I say, frankly, it's tough to believe.
00:50:10.080
In terms of your relationship with your son, how did you think your relationship was?
00:50:17.980
I trusted him, and I felt like I had an open door and he can come to me about anything.
00:50:25.240
I mean, I felt as a family, we were, the three of us were really close.
00:50:29.040
Did you ever believe that your son needed mental health treatment, therapy, counseling, anything?
00:50:37.360
I mean, anxiety about what he was going to do after high school, whether it was college, military.
00:50:47.980
But not to the level where I felt he needed to go see a psychiatrist or a mental health professional right away now.
00:50:59.700
I'll start with you, Juan, whether this is your novel.
00:51:03.900
I am so outraged that they're bringing these charges against her and her husband.
00:51:11.540
It's not about whether she was a good wife because she had to admit to an affair.
00:51:16.440
And it's not about whether she thought maybe her son needed some counseling and she didn't get it.
00:51:25.000
What they're trying to suggest is it was so reasonably foreseeable to her that he was going to shoot up a school that she should be held criminally responsible.
00:51:33.020
It falls so short of that, the evidence does, that I'm outraged that I think that they're caving to politics that they're bringing these charges.
00:51:42.240
She showed yesterday, and I watched all two hours of her testimony, that she is your average, typical mother who loved her son, who, like any teenager, had issues.
00:51:56.340
But she had no clue that he was going to shoot up kids at this school, and certainly not to the level required of culpable negligence.
00:52:12.240
Well, I mean, there is the ability to drop the charges.
00:52:15.860
There are 12 people there who are from her community who are listening to all of the evidence.
00:52:21.020
And if they agree with Mark, they'll say not guilty.
00:52:25.640
You know, look, my approach on guns is very different.
00:52:30.140
I live in a very compact area of the world in New York City where, you know, you shoot one gun and you can hit all 14 of the wrong people and you miss the one you want.
00:52:38.900
So to give a young person of that age for their birthday a gun is just not the world I live in.
00:52:45.580
But if you add to it that the school is calling and saying, not that we think he has some issues, but he's drawing pictures of guns and bullets and blood.
00:52:59.220
And then shortly thereafter, you're buying him a gun.
00:53:10.920
And Mark, I don't know about you, but when I was in the DA's office, I remember there were two cases that I had to try.
00:53:17.060
And I wasn't really thrilled to try them, but they checked off all the boxes.
00:53:20.380
And I was hoping the jury would find them not guilty.
00:53:30.840
Let me rebut some very fine points you just made.
00:53:33.520
Number one, she made it clear she didn't buy the gun for the son.
00:53:37.440
The husband was responsible for that to use for target practice.
00:53:43.120
They didn't do it when they said, oh, he's got mental issues.
00:53:45.700
They did it at a time where they didn't think that there were any issues.
00:53:49.500
And it was the husband's failure to keep it under lock and key that caused access to it.
00:53:54.280
And the evidence to her needs to be separated from the evidence against the husband.
00:53:58.680
Secondly, when they went to school that fateful day and they showed some of the drawings, and they were very disturbing drawings.
00:54:06.460
They had a discussion with the people at the school, and they gave him the option.
00:54:12.140
They said, we're not saying he needs to come home from school.
00:54:15.880
And the parents, again, didn't think for a second that they were dealing with a school shooter and said, okay, he's probably better off in school.
00:54:29.980
And the next thing you know, he's shooting up kids at school.
00:54:37.040
But to charge her criminally makes no sense to me.
00:54:41.620
The drawings included for the listening audience a gun and the phrases, my life is useless.
00:54:50.840
I also drew a bullet and the phrase, blood everywhere.
00:54:55.640
The thing is, though, and look, I'm waiting to hear all the evidence, but I just don't believe that the mother did not understand how mentally disturbed he was.
00:55:03.620
Somebody like this who's about to shoot up a school is going to have a long list of other problems, and maybe the school doesn't see it, but the mother sees it.
00:55:15.600
We've got, like, but this mother, she said she hid bullets from him.
00:55:21.180
She tried to say it's all the dad's fault that he brought him the gun, but I was sure to hide the bullets.
00:55:27.520
Because there's no lock-up safety law in Michigan.
00:55:32.660
And then when she found out he got in trouble at school, she sent him some text, Mark, like, LOL, you're not in trouble.
00:55:41.800
Like, she wasn't taking any of the warning signs seriously enough.
00:55:45.960
Megan, it's so easy after the fact to go back and put some pieces together and go, OK, I see it now, baby.
00:55:52.820
But when you're a parent, look, I have the last of my three kids is still a teenager.
00:56:00.540
I don't know what the hell he's doing at night on his computer, on his phone.
00:56:08.800
So if this kid is running some major illegal enterprise, people would say, oh, you should know.
00:56:16.000
And most parents don't know exactly what their kids are up to.
00:56:22.180
Look, I don't feel very strongly this mom should be going to jail, OK?
00:56:26.740
But it's a little bit more than what you're saying.
00:56:29.340
You don't know what my kid is doing inside, you know, on his computer.
00:56:36.160
She admits, I know he had some mental issues, but I didn't think they rose to the level to take him to a psychiatrist.
00:56:46.160
I mean, you don't give someone a deadly weapon.
00:56:48.380
I don't even know if you give them the keys to the car.
00:56:54.820
So you feel comfortable letting them do whatever they want on the computer.
00:56:57.940
If a parent did, I actually read an article about this one time.
00:57:02.900
If a parent did give a kid keys to a car, let's say the parent gives a 12-year-old keys to a car,
00:57:08.100
and that kid drives the car and kills somebody,
00:57:10.920
the parent could be held liable under the negligent supervision doctrine.
00:57:15.220
And it's a dangerous instrumentality, and you know that as the parent,
00:57:17.980
and you endangered the public and this specific person, too.
00:57:23.320
You know, you gave someone who was mentally unwell, and you knew it, a gun, a 9mm.
00:57:30.400
He was a minor, and you saw signs of unwellness,
00:57:33.960
and then you got notified by the school about these disturbing messages, and you did nothing.
00:57:43.580
I think they should prosecute parents under certain circumstances,
00:57:46.720
and the one that you gave is an appropriate one.
00:57:53.500
If the facts were that he's plucking like a chicken,
00:57:56.760
and or indicating to her that he's going to harm someone,
00:57:59.880
or do anything other than shoot at a non-moving target with that gun for practice,
00:58:06.900
I can tell, and the jurors hopefully can tell, she didn't know.
00:58:12.100
She said that she wished he had shot her, because the truth is she feels so horrible about what happened.
00:58:20.760
Do you believe there were things you were thinking at the time,
00:58:32.080
I mean, of course I look back after this all happened,
00:58:35.140
and I've asked myself if I would have done anything differently, and I wouldn't have.
00:58:50.840
I'm sorry, but there are four parents who will never see their children again, thanks to her kid.
00:58:58.440
Two remarks, one brilliant and one equally as horrible, meaning, yeah, I wish it was me.
00:59:07.220
The one before that, I would have done anything differently.
00:59:09.500
I would have prepped my client to make very clear what she's saying.
00:59:13.420
Look, if I know now, again, what I know now, if I knew it then, of course I would have done something different.
00:59:22.240
No, but what she's doing by giving that answer is she's reinforcing, like, I didn't know.
00:59:29.280
So, no, there is nothing I would have done now.
00:59:35.800
But listen, as far as I understand, there was one pivotal meeting at the school on November 30th, the day of the shooting.
00:59:43.880
The allegations about, you know, you didn't pay attention to warning signs from the school are only about that day.
00:59:49.020
It's the other warning signs prior to that at home that she's also being questioned about, is my understanding.
00:59:54.000
But the school employees testified earlier this week in this case that they brought her in, they showed her the drawings, and that they recommended that the parents take this kid out of school and get immediate mental health assistance.
01:00:07.200
But the parents declined to do that, saying they did not want to miss work.
01:00:14.160
Now, I mean, look, all of this is where he took a hidden gun out of his backpack and opened fire.
01:00:18.000
All of this begs the question of why the hell did the school allow this kid to go back into class?
01:00:22.720
If they're saying to the parents, oh, he's really disturbed, take him out, why didn't you kick him out?
01:00:34.460
And she seemed very credible when she's saying the school gave her the option, number one.
01:00:43.480
Yeah, if the school was so alarmed, his behavior was beyond defensible, then why didn't the school say, it's over, get him out of here?
01:00:51.520
Now they're trying to charge her criminally for not seeing it, but the school clearly didn't see it.
01:00:55.340
Because school shooters do not announce to the world that they're going to do their abhorrent acts.
01:01:05.640
And parents want to believe in the most positive scenario rather than the most negative.
01:01:11.480
So if you see a child doing some disturbed drawings, you confront them.
01:01:15.720
And if there's any scenario consistent with, yeah, no, it's just a little dark sided.
01:01:27.120
In hindsight, you live with the blood on your hands because you theoretically could have done something different.
01:01:33.040
But in the moment, I believe that she didn't have a clue he was going to do something like that.
01:01:39.140
Let me interrupt with some breaking news on a case we were just discussing.
01:01:43.720
Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis has just admitted that she had a relationship, a personal relationship, with the outside prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she appointed to manage the election interference case against Donald Trump and his allies.
01:01:56.820
This is relevant to you here, sir, and your client, Mr. Giuliani, Idala, in a but she denied that the relationship had tainted the proceedings in a 176 page court filings.
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Willis called the claims against her meritless and salacious, asking a judge to reject motions from Trump and other co-defendants seeking to disqualify her and her office from the case and to do so without that February 15th hearing.
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She does not want to be called to testify. That's why she's admitted she did it in this submission.
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She denied claims of misconduct and said there was no evidence that the relationship between her and Wade had prejudiced the case.
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Quick thoughts on that, Arthur, as somebody with a dog in this hunt.
01:02:40.460
Well, I mean, I haven't even seen 176 pages, but I, of course, she doesn't want to be on the stand and be cross-examined.
01:02:48.580
I mean, talk about being embarrassed, and that's the nicest way I can put it.
01:02:54.480
Is it going to be enough for a judge to say, OK, we believe you and I'm not going to even have a hearing?
01:03:00.360
I mean, you're talking about, forget about my client, who happens to be a pretty prestigious person in the country, but you're talking about the former president of the United States, the leading candidate for the Republicans to be the next president of the United States.
01:03:20.000
I mean, if I'm a judge, at the very least, I am having a hearing, you know, looking at some finances, looking at who spent what, where.
01:03:30.220
If this lawyer has millions of dollars in the bank and the $600,000 he's gotten so far is meaningless, well, you look at it in what way?
01:03:39.600
If this lawyer was kind of a struggling guy and he had $50,000 in the bank and now he's got $600,000, well, then I think you look at it in a very different way.
01:03:51.220
I mean, there's a degree of corruption there, a degree of political corruption.
01:04:02.580
This judge is not going to let her avoid this hearing.
01:04:06.940
And even if by some miracle she did manage to avoid it, she's going to be giving testimony.
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Jim Jordan just subpoenaed her from the U.S. House.
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There's a Georgia legislature looking into this as well.
01:04:17.940
I can't remember if it was the State House or the Senate down there in Georgia.
01:04:21.280
So she's been subpoenaed by a couple of different entities.
01:04:23.380
She's going to give testimony about this and she's not going to be able to dodge.
01:04:27.600
So we're going to get the full enchilada at some point soon.
01:04:30.940
Biggest problem, I know you want to move on, but the biggest problem she's going to have
01:04:34.700
is the lack of credentials of her lover to handle this particular case.
01:04:41.040
And yet he's getting paid more than the guy who has all the credentials in the world.
01:04:44.200
Yeah, the judge doesn't make that determination and say, well, he then shouldn't be on the case.
01:05:00.580
Just have someone else handle this case so we could stop all these rumblings, you know.
01:05:05.880
It is relevant, Arthur, because it goes to the ethical violation.
01:05:09.440
It's the same thing as Cori Bush being criminally investigated right now by the DOJ.
01:05:13.800
It's part of the squad representative because they're saying you paid your husband.
01:05:21.040
But it sounds like you paid your husband all this money to provide security for you, even
01:05:26.720
He's not some security expert, and you paid him what we think is potentially above market
01:05:34.280
You can't use funds like that to line the pockets of a lover or a family member.
01:05:46.720
If he is a former federal prosecutor, he's handled cases like this before.
01:05:54.680
But of all the lawyers in her office, which is a big office, all the lawyers in Georgia,
01:06:04.140
And she picks make at least the case that didn't even start it.
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He's made almost three quarters of a million dollars.
01:06:11.120
I know you make a lot of money, but that's a lot of money.
01:06:16.960
The judge is not going to take the extraordinary step of removing, even though there is the image
01:06:26.440
Sounds like maybe there was a vacancy and he got appointed to the bench because he's
01:06:30.580
now running for reelection to be reelected to the position.
01:06:34.000
He was appointed by the Republican governor, Brian Kemp.
01:06:37.380
Don't know anything without further searching about this judge's personal politics, but that's
01:06:50.560
I just I do want to play some sound of the prosecutor because I thought the prosecutor
01:06:58.220
This is assistant prosecutor Mark Keast in trying to explain why Jennifer, the mother,
01:07:17.000
They were murdered in an act of terror committed by Jennifer Crumbly's 15 year old son.
01:07:22.100
Jennifer Crumbly didn't pull the trigger that day, but she is responsible for those deaths.
01:07:29.060
I mean, he's kind of putting it out there in civil court, 51 percent preponderance of the
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Fifty one percent different story when you're holding parents accountable for criminal acts
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If you said a number of times, you know, mom, I'm going to kill some of these kids with this
01:08:00.280
But the text messages that he had were between him and his friend.
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And he told his friend how he had he was hearing voices and he was this and that paranoid and
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And as opposed to being punished by money, you get punished by jail.
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I'm not saying one thing about this is it feels like a before and after moment for parents
01:08:40.000
I'm all for holding parents accountable if they really do know and they don't do anything
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We'll let the let the jury have the final say after they listen to everything.
01:08:54.860
Alec Baldwin, guys back in the news, pleading not guilty after charges were revived against
01:09:00.460
him in New Mexico for this shooting of Helena Hutchins, the cinematographer on the set of
01:09:07.960
He got charged and then they dropped him and then they brought him back.
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And now he's entered a plea of not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
01:09:22.620
The grand jury indictment provides the special prosecutors, because remember, the main prosecutor
01:09:27.180
got bounced for some reason with two alternate alternative standards for pursuing the felony
01:09:34.480
One would be based on the negligent use of a firearm.
01:09:37.740
A second would be he'd be found guilty if they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that
01:09:43.400
he caused her death without due caution or circumspection.
01:09:47.740
Also defined as an act committed with total disregard or indifference for the safety of
01:09:53.060
That sounds like a difference between negligent negligence and recklessness.
01:09:56.700
So if it's just negligent use of a firearm, I mean, are they going to be able to prove
01:10:01.780
Because, look, the FBI, others are going to be able to say, you pulled the trigger.
01:10:07.980
I know you didn't know it was loaded, but you didn't check it.
01:10:12.840
So I'll give you the first crack at this one, Arthur.
01:10:16.440
Well, the FBI actually is the one who cleared him.
01:10:19.180
The FBI, the initial first FBI report, said that the gun could go off the way he said it
01:10:24.760
did, which is like, I didn't even pull the trigger.
01:10:27.180
And the new indictment is based on an Arizona company who went through the gun and said,
01:10:33.680
no, no, no, you would have to pull the trigger.
01:10:36.960
What he said immediately thereafter is actually a lie.
01:10:45.060
The gun actually broke during the testing period of it all.
01:10:48.940
But look, the three of us have covered hundreds of cases.
01:10:52.300
It is so rare that there's like, there's charges, then there's no charges.
01:10:56.140
Then there's an indictment, then there's no indictment.
01:11:00.120
It really comes down to, in my opinion, the woman who is in charge of the handling of the
01:11:05.340
gun and whether she lived up to her obligations, whether she has criminal negligence, because
01:11:15.720
No, there's not supposed to be a live round anywhere on that set.
01:11:19.720
And that's not an actor's responsibility to figure out, oh, are there any live rounds?
01:11:26.300
I wouldn't blame them if they were doing it now.
01:11:30.280
He's trusting that the gun that they're giving him and the bullets that are in there are
01:11:42.360
Let's say the day of shooting, instead of using the gun that had been carefully selected
01:11:47.400
for him, Alec said, and these are not the facts, but let's say he says, you know what,
01:12:05.280
When you hire someone whose sole purpose is to ensure that the gun is safe and that's
01:12:20.040
He's not supposed to know live rounds versus fake rounds.
01:12:26.560
Putting aside anyone's disdain for Alec and his politics, putting aside what you feel
01:12:32.760
about him as a person, this case should not be in criminal court.
01:12:38.000
Take him to civil court and sue him for damages.
01:12:44.840
I'm not saying, listen, I'm not saying that they win there.
01:12:51.240
But still, Megan, you have people all around you that you trust all the time.
01:12:59.100
But you're going to have testimony by top actors saying the standard of care in the industry
01:13:05.220
Even if they hand it to you, the armorer or the first assistant director as here hands
01:13:10.080
it and says, cold gun, the standard of care in the industry is you look yourself.
01:13:13.580
That's that's a layer of protection that he failed to do.
01:13:20.220
I mean, I'm just wondering, do you think Julia Roberts knows how to check a gun and
01:13:31.120
The the bullets were it's been a while since I've looked at this, but there are the live
01:13:35.520
rounds, which are actual bullets that can shoot you and kill you.
01:13:40.660
But then there's dummy rounds in there, which are basically like beauty guns.
01:13:46.120
They're supposed to look just like a real bullet.
01:13:49.820
Fool an audience that it's a real bullet because you use them for like a Colt 45 where the audience
01:13:54.720
can see the bullets and they have to look real.
01:13:57.540
And there's the way the armorer tells them apart is to shake them.
01:14:02.400
And one shakes a lot and one shakes very little.
01:14:10.540
How is the actor supposed to go through this whole thing on the set by looking at the dummy
01:14:17.820
The actor is an expert on memorizing lines and knowing what side he looks good from and
01:14:26.100
He's supposed to also be an expert in that moment.
01:14:29.540
No, that's why they paid good money to that person.
01:14:32.300
But they also say you don't point the gun at anybody on a set that it's not.
01:14:41.320
Clearly, he did it because she she got shot and she died.
01:14:45.760
We we have no clarity on the Alec Baldwin case.
01:14:47.780
But I agree with you that that prosecution is by no means a done deal.
01:14:54.720
It's pouring in as reporters like Tamar Hellerman from the Atlantic Journal Constitution weighs
01:15:00.180
in in an affidavit included with the D.A.'s filing.
01:15:05.820
Her special prosecutor she brought in says he and Fannie Willis developed a personal relationship
01:15:10.040
in 2022 after he was hired on the Trump case, quote, no funds paid to me in compensation
01:15:18.840
for my role as special prosecutor have been shared with or provided to D.A. Willis.
01:15:25.160
Now, I'm sorry, but that seems like a sleight of hand because we know from we think we know
01:15:32.480
from the credit card records that were released in the divorce case that he bought Fannie Willis
01:15:40.060
They went on a cruise together down to Aruba, that they went out to Napa together and he paid
01:15:46.620
So money being fungible to me, the way I read this, Arthur, is he's trying to say prove that
01:15:52.760
I took my exact paycheck I got from Fannie and transferred it over to Fannie's plane tickets
01:15:58.560
or Fannie's cruise tickets or, you know, gave her cash from that check.
01:16:07.800
She I don't know what the but we saw the receipts that he bought her.
01:16:12.180
And in one instance, his mother tickets on a lovely cruise and a lovely trip they were
01:16:18.340
Um, I actually think the bigger question, the bigger point that he raises there, which
01:16:24.400
I would you're giving me breaking news right now.
01:16:31.020
But if he's saying, oh, she appointed me first and then we fell in love, you know, that may
01:16:40.240
But I want to know what was their relationship before she appointed him, because I do think
01:16:46.240
that changes the if I'm being absolutely candid and honest here, I think that changes the
01:16:52.880
And then she appointed him versus he was a total stranger that she heard.
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He was on the bench for a short time with smaller cases, not nothing big like a federal
01:17:09.040
But he was allegedly a mentor to her and she brought him in.
01:17:12.900
Now, it's also the case that the day I believe, let me try to get this right.
01:17:17.120
The day after the divorce case was filed against his wife or I think it was the day after the
01:17:25.460
divorce case was filed, he got hired by Fannie Willis, which is kind of a little coordination
01:17:31.440
there, that's for sure, because he was going to make a lot of money doing that.
01:17:36.300
And I don't know how that would play out in the laws of the state of Georgia.
01:17:40.660
Look, to me, this screams out for a hearing that has to be had.
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Maybe Mark is right and nothing's going to happen.
01:17:49.140
But it'll stink to high heaven if the judge just says, yeah, I got their papers.
01:17:56.300
And that's not going to satisfy the public policy of transparency in a case of this magnitude
01:18:04.340
I don't care if the guy was on trial, is a defendant on trial for DWI.
01:18:08.520
It's, you know, everyone, there's no one above the law.
01:18:12.320
Let's find out what happened here and let the chips fall where they may.
01:18:21.280
I think it will be in this court and before the U.S. Congress, before the Georgia Senate.
01:18:25.260
There's a few different bodies looking into Fannie Willis.
01:18:28.980
And the way it works in the law is you don't get to just say that.
01:18:31.380
You don't get to just say, oh, trust me, I didn't pay for any trips.
01:18:37.680
And look, as an officer of the court, if that's a lie, he's already in trouble.
01:18:46.820
The Connecticut woman who is alleged to have been in a love affair with this guy,
01:18:51.240
Botas Doulas, who was accused of killing his wife, Jennifer.
01:18:54.440
One thing I want to say about that case, though, is what's alleged is that, you know,
01:19:00.420
he was having this affair with a woman who's now on trial.
01:19:02.760
She's on trial for helping him dispose of things that Jennifer Doulas was allegedly wearing
01:19:09.960
He will never be held to account because he took his own life by suicide.
01:19:13.660
Jennifer Doulas all this time has been alleged to be missing by his defenders and even by Michelle
01:19:20.360
Traconis's defenders saying, oh, she was having an affair.
01:19:23.920
You know, we don't know whether Jennifer's dead.
01:19:26.960
But the testimony we heard this week in this court has made clear beyond any doubt that Jennifer
01:19:36.980
And what they have produced to this jury includes her bloody clothing, her bra and her blouse
01:19:42.820
and a razor blade, all with her DNA on it, sliced right down the middle.
01:19:55.180
And this woman, Michelle Traconis, is on tape with him the night of the murders, disposing
01:20:01.000
of those very items that I just ticked off for you.
01:20:04.040
So the prosecution, in my view, is doing a very good job of proving to the jury she did
01:20:13.080
She told the cops that she was with him that day and she wasn't.
01:20:18.320
So we don't have time to get into the whole thing.
01:20:20.480
But you guys tell me quickly before we go, do you think she's going to be convicted in
01:20:29.160
And I didn't disagree with anything you just said.
01:20:30.820
The video just showed, you know, she originally said they were together in the morning.
01:20:37.920
Once they cross-examine her, not on trial, but the investigators, she gave it all up and
01:20:44.400
So it looks like her hands are pretty dirty in terms of disposing of all this evidence
01:20:53.120
There's no question she's been lying from the start and she ought to be held to account.
01:20:57.760
I certainly am rooting for a guilty plea, a guilty verdict in that case.
01:21:11.720
Up next, we go in-depth on the Alec Murdoch trial and what just happened in his push to
01:21:18.680
With a former attorney general of South Carolina, I've been listening to this guy on a podcast of
01:21:24.740
He's very knowledgeable and he's going to explain what's happening.
01:21:28.000
I'm Megan Kelly, host of The Megan Kelly Show on Sirius XM.
01:21:32.200
It's your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations with the most interesting and
01:21:36.920
important political, legal, and cultural figures today.
01:21:40.240
You can catch The Megan Kelly Show on Triumph, a Sirius XM channel featuring lots of hosts
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Great people like Dr. Laura, Glenn Beck, Nancy Grace, Dave Ramsey, and yours truly, Megan Kelly.
01:21:54.500
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01:22:04.340
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01:22:12.120
Go to SiriusXM.com slash MK show to subscribe and get three months free.
01:22:18.720
That's SiriusXM.com slash MK show and get three months free.
01:22:34.000
And we are joined today to discuss it by former attorney general of South Carolina and co-host
01:22:38.940
of the podcast called Murdoch Murders, Money and Mystery, Unsolved, South Carolina, Charlie Condon.
01:22:52.240
I listened to the three of you throughout the whole trial and thought all of your analysis
01:22:59.200
So what happened this week in court was Judge Toll, who had been brought in to decide whether
01:23:05.680
he should get a new trial or not, decided he's not getting one.
01:23:09.220
And it was interesting because she set a very high bar for the defense to meet in order to
01:23:16.880
She could have said, you just have to prove the court clerk interfered with the jurors.
01:23:22.840
And if she had set that as the standard, they probably would have gotten a new trial.
01:23:26.960
Or she could have said, no, the standard is interference, plus it mattered, plus the jurors
01:23:36.280
And she decided to go with that much tougher standard.
01:23:39.460
And still, the defense did a pretty good job of meeting it.
01:23:45.520
And she still said, nope, because things unfolded in a way on the stand that really kind of persuaded
01:23:52.540
But were you stunned when Juror Z took the stand and testified, you know what?
01:23:58.980
The court clerk did kind of say some things to me.
01:24:03.980
I'm really impressed that you have kept up with that closely.
01:24:10.260
But hear me out on this, because I was not surprised.
01:24:13.420
When Juror Z testified, she did say the magic word, so to speak, that, hey, what the clerk
01:24:27.340
They then introduced her affidavit in which she said that the verdict was the product of
01:24:35.740
being coerced by other jurors, not by information by the clerk.
01:24:39.460
And Justice Toll, she's a very experienced judge and also a trial judge and has lots of
01:24:46.780
She then asked really the magic question at that point.
01:24:50.740
And the question was this, is what you just said, that you were pressured by other jurors
01:24:55.240
more accurately reflect what you mean to say in effect?
01:25:00.920
And so I think Justice Toll has a really good record to be upheld on appeal, regardless
01:25:05.720
of whatever standard our Supreme Court applies in this case.
01:25:10.280
Now, there is some dispute as to what the standard ought to be.
01:25:13.600
But I thought when you sat there for the entire day, when you sat through the testimony and
01:25:18.200
heard it firsthand, I do think that the record is good for Justice Toll to be upheld on appeal.
01:25:24.200
Here's Justice Toll explaining why, notwithstanding the juror's testimony, that the court did say
01:25:32.780
something to her, the clerk did say something to her that made her feel like, quote, he was
01:25:38.720
The judge was going to say he doesn't get a new trial.
01:25:42.260
I simply do not believe that the authority of our South Carolina Supreme Court requires
01:25:50.240
a new trial in a very lengthy trial such as this on the strength of some fleeting and foolish
01:25:57.960
comments by a publicity-influenced clerk of court.
01:26:02.660
This is a matter within the discretion of the trial judge, and I am the trial judge at this
01:26:10.140
I do not feel that I abuse my discretion when I find the defendant's motion for a new trial
01:26:18.720
on the factual record before me must be denied, and it is so ordered.
01:26:27.280
So, Charlie, one of the things that people who are Johnny-come-latelys to the case may not
01:26:33.300
appreciate is truly the amount of evidence against Alec Murdoch.
01:26:38.120
And it sounds like Judge Toll, though she wasn't the one who tried the case, was very
01:26:42.500
well versed in the mountains of proof against this guy.
01:26:53.420
And Alec Murdoch would have to be the most unluckiest man in the universe not to have committed these
01:27:00.740
The evidence that came rolling in day after day after day, and he himself didn't help
01:27:08.840
I think the backdrop to this, and Justice Toll did say that she read the entire record.
01:27:12.880
And what also needs to be said is, of course, we had that one juror, Juror Z, that I think
01:27:19.380
But there were 10 other jurors that testified on Monday, and one that testified on Friday.
01:27:24.360
And they were very clear in that their verdict was the product of only the evidence in court,
01:27:29.640
and nothing extraneous that the clerk may or may not have said.
01:27:32.680
So, it's a really strong case for the defense, I mean, for the prosecution.
01:27:36.120
And I do think, again, they're going to do their best to get this reversal on appeal,
01:27:40.880
and they may have another issue relative to the admission of financial crimes.
01:27:44.720
But on appeal, I do think the record favors the prosecution, and I do expect the case to
01:27:52.060
Dick Harpoulian was one of the lawyers representing Alec Murdoch, and he got his chance to cross-examine
01:27:58.820
It was interesting, because I listened to you guys on this podcast talk about Becky Hill.
01:28:02.340
You've been around the South Carolina court system your adult life.
01:28:08.060
She was, you know, warm, sounds like a warm Southern lady who is, you know, a charmer.
01:28:12.700
And I, you correct me if I'm wrong, I heard some skepticism on the part of you and your
01:28:18.400
colleagues when these allegations are first made that she may have interfered with the
01:28:22.200
And then the more you got to look at what she was alleged to have done in the investigations
01:28:26.940
into her, allegedly working with her son, who was also employed by the court to spy on
01:28:30.460
other court employees who may have been investigating her.
01:28:32.360
And then, you know, the cross-examination that the judge did of her and of Harpoulian, you
01:28:36.840
guys realize, I mean, I've, I sensed a change in you, Charlie, like, whoa, okay, maybe we
01:28:45.060
I didn't know Becky Hill before the trial started, but having been there for six straight weeks,
01:28:50.300
and she was really courteous, spent lots of time with her.
01:28:54.340
I remember one lunch I had with her, which was delightful.
01:28:59.120
And you just thought that she ran a really good courtroom and did a really good job.
01:29:03.500
The case, which was a massive case for the small Southern county, was just so well run.
01:29:11.780
But I must say, as the book came out, the plagiarism allegations, and the cross-examination
01:29:19.280
by the defense and by Justice Toll in particular, her credibility was shot.
01:29:26.260
And you just have to think that some things that untoward went on, and we'll see where
01:29:31.660
the future holds, what the future holds for her.
01:29:34.020
I do think she could be the subject of some really serious criminal investigations down
01:29:41.100
It's been a disappointment, because like you say, I did think the highest of her, and I
01:29:47.540
do think she's really basically a nice lady at heart.
01:29:51.880
But I think Justice Toll said it well when she said that the siren call of publicity caused
01:29:58.000
her to do things that went on, and I wish her the best going forward.
01:30:02.500
But I do think that the issues that have been raised are really serious.
01:30:06.520
Siren call of celebrity lured Becky Hill, and she was attracted by it.
01:30:11.100
She wanted to write a book, said the judge, about the trial, and made that clear.
01:30:16.760
Here's a little of—well, I'll start with Justice Toll grilling Becky Hill on how she
01:30:23.540
Again, this woman is accused of interfering with the case, of going and saying to the
01:30:28.060
jurors before they had deliberated, make sure you watch him and don't be fooled by the evidence
01:30:40.020
She denies it, but the judge, Justice Toll, knew that Becky Hill was not a truth teller.
01:30:48.160
You wanted a guilty verdict because it would increase the sales of the book.
01:30:54.220
Did you ever say that in an email or verbally or in any other way?
01:31:01.800
It didn't matter to me if it was guilty, not guilty, or a mistrial.
01:31:06.540
Well, in your book, you suggest that the guilty verdict was what you wanted and you were fearful
01:31:15.720
You say that a lot about your feeling about wanting a guilty verdict, do you not?
01:31:23.420
Well, this is way—you were describing a time way before the verdict was rendered when
01:31:34.580
And you even have something where you said your eyes met with jurors and others at Moselle,
01:31:40.440
and y'all have an understanding, unspoken, that he was guilty.
01:31:55.120
You're, you know, you're a lawyer, so you've got to have a level of skepticism about you
01:32:10.160
And what we've learned over the past year plus, as we've watched this trial go, is be careful.
01:32:15.760
Be careful, you know, judging these books by their covers, because even though they can
01:32:20.660
sweeten it up with a smile and the Southern drawl, which I think we all kind of love as
01:32:26.860
Pay attention to the facts and not so much the affect, because you could be getting misled.
01:32:39.240
And so any thought that he would be involved in any criminal conduct, it wouldn't occur
01:32:46.180
Again, I'm not saying she's guilty of anything.
01:32:48.160
You said she's presumed innocent and hasn't been found guilty of any crimes.
01:32:52.040
But when you watched her testify very directly that she didn't have anything, didn't have
01:32:57.760
any motivation for the book, guilty verdict or not.
01:33:00.640
And then her dear, she said it was her friend, her friend, the clerk of Barnville County, then
01:33:04.380
testified just shortly thereafter was the exact opposite.
01:33:15.080
It's, it's, it's necessary to look beyond that, particularly when it comes to important
01:33:25.060
He's already been convicted on the financial crimes for 27 years.
01:33:28.060
And then this is a life sentence for him, double life sentences for the murder of his
01:33:36.380
I don't have any hope for his appellate chances with all due respect to his lawyers who are
01:33:42.260
And so what does this whole thing say to you now?
01:33:44.740
I mean, this case has been the focus of the nation for years as the big reveal came out
01:33:50.580
that, oh my God, it appears to have been Alec Murdoch.
01:33:53.680
You know, no one knew at first that this pair is dead.
01:33:56.500
My, my own impression from up here as a Yankee is, uh, the South Carolina courts and system
01:34:03.780
And there was the height of professionalism on both sides.
01:34:08.680
Um, but this guy was running a fraud for a long time within his respected law firm.
01:34:16.460
There may have been allegedly more than one murder.
01:34:20.360
So how do you see it now with some 2020 hindsight?
01:34:27.320
It has surprised me that he was able to get away with this.
01:34:31.700
I think the first fraud that he testified or admitted was 2014.
01:34:37.120
And when you looked at the number of people that he victimized and how he victimized them,
01:34:42.420
it was apparent to me he couldn't have been alone.
01:34:45.080
And of course that turned out to be correct that the banker had another lawyer involved.
01:34:50.000
And so I do think has, has caused a lot of self-reflection among us in the legal system
01:34:58.420
And I don't know if we have any sure way of stopping it other than to recognize that
01:35:05.380
there's a trust element that has to go on with the legal system.
01:35:11.200
Do not just simply sign off on something because somebody prominent is asking you to do that.
01:35:15.440
I do think that might have happened in his case.
01:35:17.780
But at the end of the day, I think it calls for everybody in the legal system, judges, lawyers,
01:35:23.780
paralegals, corrupts, you name it, be on guard for things that may be at miss and stop them
01:35:28.800
as soon as you're aware of anything going wrong.
01:35:40.680
And Becky, Becky Hill, we'll be watching to see what happens with her.
01:35:45.040
I don't think it's going to end well for her either.
01:35:46.900
Charlie, all the best to you and your colleagues.
01:35:50.760
If the defense says they're going to name somebody that may have committed these murders
01:35:53.940
in the near future, I don't think that will go anywhere.
01:36:00.020
OJ's out there looking for the real murderers, too.
01:36:04.620
And don't forget, folks, we'll be back on Monday with my pal Paul Murray from Australia
01:36:08.300
with an in-depth look at how they keep out millions of illegal immigrants trying to