Latest / NO FILTER / Children left crying in home after assailant kills young couple_ Melodee Buzzard_s remains recovered(MP3_160K)

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Children left crying in home after assailant kills young couple_ Melodee Buzzard_s remains recovered(MP3_160K) · NO FILTER

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Sidebar presented by True Crime News,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: taking you inside the courtrooms of high profile and notorious
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: cases from across the country. I'm your host, Joshua Ritter.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I'm a criminal defense lawyer based in Los Angeles and
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: previously an LA County prosecutor for nearly a decade. We
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: are recording this on Tuesday, January sixth, twenty twenty sixth.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: In this episode, the search for a missing girl ends
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: in tragedy and with her mother's arrest for murder, plus
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: a star wide receiver facing criminal charges after a financial
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: dispute with his chef. But first, the shocking murders of
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: a young couple leave police and the community seeking an
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: unknown killer. Today, we're joined by Scott Reisch, a veteran
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: criminal defense attorney, legal analysts and host of the YouTube
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: channel Crime Talk. Scott. Welcome, how are you, my friend?
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I am doing great, josh Thanks for having me.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for carving out some time to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: spend with us. I always, I really am a big
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: fan of your YouTube channel, so I hope everyone checks
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: it out, and I always appreciate your analysis because you
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: are really experienced in this practice of law, like This
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: isn't like something that you're doing as a hobby. You
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: live this criminal defense stuff every single day, and so
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: you do have those nuanced insights into these cases, which
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate, So thank you again. Let's jump right
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: in though. First. Out of Columbus, Ohio, authorities are scrambling
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: for answers after the apparent murders of a dentist and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: his wife left the couple's young children crying and alone
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: in his home just before the New year. Police were
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: called to the residence of Spencer and Monique Tepi for
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: a welfare check when a concerned coworker brought their fears
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: to authorities. Responders pronounced the young couple dead from gunshot wounds,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: with the pairs children unharmed in the home. Detectives have
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: ruled out the possibility of murdered suicide due to the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: lack of a weapon at the crime scene. However, there
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: were no signs of forced entry, and local police are
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: seeking suspects in the deaths of the Tepis, who were
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: a month away from celebrating their fifth anniversary. This one
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: is really troubling, Scott, and really really a mystery at
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: this point. My first question to you though, is kind
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: of how is it remaining a mystery With the advent
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: of ring cameras and security cameras and people have got
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: cameras on their cars, now, how in the world is
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: this a situation? Are you surprised that they don't have
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: more to go on at this point? I guess this
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: is my question.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: I am a little surprised that they haven't identified somebody
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: as a person of interest, you know, as of yet,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: or maybe actually, I should say, make an arrest. In
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: today's world, like you said, ring doorbell cams, you know,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: the police can literally send an email now to all
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: the ring doorbell cams in a particular neighborhood and say, hey,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: we would like to look at your camera during a
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: particular you know, timeframe, will you please grant access to it?
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: And the person on the other end, the homeowner hits yes,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: and all of that video is then sent to the police.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Literally it's all to their fingertips. Wow, So I'm a
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: little surprised about that. Obviously, cell phones can be pinged,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: you know what what cell phones are within that they
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: can do a location search, a geolocation search for that house,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: like what other cell phones were there? Assuming somebody took
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: their cell phone with them, license plate readers, something to
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: indicate that there's, you know, somebody who's in this area.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: It's amazing how many license plate readers cameras are around
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: cities these days that help solve crime, and they just
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: kind of find it. So it's a little surprising no
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: rest have been made as of yet.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, Yeah, it seems as though we were
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: almost reached the point where we live in such a
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: surveillance state that you would think would be almost impossible
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: to commit a crime without it being caught on camera somewhere.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: But I know they have released a little bit of
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: footage of someone that they feel is perhaps involved, you know,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: coming down an alley way, but it's certainly not clear
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: enough to make any kind of id as far as
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I'm concerned out of what we've seen so far. So again,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you know, it kind of reminds me of the Brown
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: University shooting. For so long, they had very little to
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: go on, and you would have expected that they would
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: have had more cameras and more surveillance to show us.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I guess not. My next question, well, I don't want
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: to put words in your mouth. My feeling and I'm
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: curious to hear yours is that this to me has
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: all the marking of a planned murder, no forced entry,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: no apparent signs of the house being rifled through, as
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: if it were you know, some sort of attempted robbery
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: or burglary or something like that. But both the husband
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: and wife killed, children left unharmed, and whoever did it,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: we can kind of assume brought a weapon with them, perhaps,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: you know, in my kind of running theory here being
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: they brought the weapon with them because it wasn't that
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: they planned to commit a robbery, they planned to commit
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: a murder. But what do you think? Do you think
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: do you agree with my analysis of this or do
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: you think it might be something else? Entirely, I would.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Say, and I agree with your theory that it has
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: something to do with a planned murder and not knowing
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: you know, the surroundings of this area, but people leave
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: their doors unlocked all the time. It wasn't you know,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: when I moved out of the suburbs, that was the
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: first time I locked my door in years. And you know,
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: nice neighborhood, you don't expect any issues. But when you
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: have two dead people, the police have already ruled out
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: a murder suicide because the gun's not there. Obviously there
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: was you know, three people there and only one left, right, Yeah,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: the children left remaining, no sign of anything removed from
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: the house, one would have to conclude. I think, obviously
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: subject to change with new information, but this was a
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: planned murder. I don't think someone was just randomly walking
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: around the neighborhood looking for an open door and said,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: I'm going to kill these two people. I think they
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: knew where they were going, they knew what their intentions
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: were when they went, and they planned their escape with
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: the minimal amount of surveillance, you know, capturing their exit
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: from the area.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. So let's keep this theory going
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: and you know, kind of pull this out a little bit,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: tease this out a little bit. If it is a
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: planned murder, then the person committing the murder obviously had
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: some sort of motive. In other words, again, if this
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: were a home residential burglary gone bad, you would not
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: expect there to be any kind of connection or having
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: connection to the victims isn't something you would be uh
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: looking for. But in a planned murder, now you're looking
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: for some sort of connection, some sort of motive. Why
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: would this person want these people dead? What is law
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: enforcement doing right now to try to figure that out?
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: What do you think are their avenues of investigation to
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: try to figure that out?
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: I think the police would probably be going through any phones,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: any electronics that they can get a search warrant in access.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: I also think that they would be going through any
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: associates that the you know, the dentist had, you know,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: was somebody upset with his services? May sound kind of silly,
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: but you never know. Was there somebody that gave a
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: bad review about his dental practice? Was there, you know,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: some sort of interaction you know with the wife that
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: somebody was so upset about. You know, could be a
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: road rage incident that somebody took a little too far.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: And I know that's getting really crazy kind of speculative,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: and I don't like to do that normally, but those
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: are the type of things that the police are going
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: to be looking at in every instance to try to
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: see where it leads. Just by s way, have an example,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: we had a case years ago where a district attorney
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: was gunned down at his residence as he returned home. Wow, incidentally,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: my client was one of the ones, the last ones
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: that he'd done a trial in front of it. It
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: was quite and needless say, they wanted to talk to,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: you know, my client, particularly after that. The case is
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: still unsolved, but they went back through every single case
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: that he had prosecuted as a little baby da doing,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: you know, misdemeanors to serious felonies, to see if there's
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: anybody that was disgruntled, because you never know if somebody thought, oh,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: they didn't get a fair shake. So I'm not saying
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: this Denis did anything wrong. I'm not saying his wife
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: did anything wrong. But you know, there's a lot of
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: crazy people in the world that can be upset for
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: some of these strangest reasons, and that may be enough
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: for somebody to go do something like a double homicide.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: You may not think it's rational, but people aren't thinking
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: rationally oftentimes when they committed double homicide. So I think
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: the police are going to be looking at everything, electronics,
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: talking to friends, you know, see how the marriage was going.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: They're going to explore every avenue at this point because
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: they have to because if arrest is made, you know,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: the defense is going to be looking at all that
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: as well. And part of the job is the prosecution
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: is to you know, take those little rabbit holes away
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: that the defense can't go down when charges are filed.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: No, I always say that when we're talking about cases
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: where it seems like the motive for a murder might
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: be hard to believe. You know, what type of a
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: person would kill someone over a bad teeth work or
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: a dentist bill or something like that. And I go, well,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: you have to start with the premise what type of
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: a person would kill And so a person who would
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: already be a type of person to go ahead and
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: kill anyone for any reason is not the type of
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: a person that we're used to analyzing and thinking about.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: That in other words, it's not you or I, it's
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: somebody who is willing to commit murder. Is also in
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: the same category of somebody who might be willing to
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: commit murder for what we might consider to be a
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: very trivial reason. So I agree with you. I think
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: they're probably scouring, you know, his patient records. I'm sure
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: they're looking through their financial records, their social media, their communications,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: their text messages, everything, just trying to find out who
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: in the world could have had a reason to want
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: to commit this murder. It's incredible. I want to talk
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: to you more later, not right now, but I'm fascinated
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: by that unsolved murder of a district attorney too. That's incredible.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: They something like that can take place and they still
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: haven't been How long ago did that happen?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: It happened. I can let me see. It was the
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: ninth It was the first year that it was the Democrat.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: It was the same night that then candidate Obama accepted,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: Oh wow, accept the denomination here in Denver. And Sean May,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I know him. I did several cases with him. Great guy.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: They hold a memorial run for him still today. His son,
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: who was just an infant at the time, has now
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: grown his his wife is a judge, a municipal court
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: judge now. And I mean, it's just a tragedy. It's
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: been unsolved, Sean May.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: I'll have to look into that later.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a it's an interesting story. And you know,
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I mean decades has gone by now. Yeah, it's really said.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: He was a great, great guy, great prosecutor, very skilled attorney.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: And I just couldn't believe that. You know, he was
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: shot literally parking his car in his garage in Denver.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Incredible move on to another really tragic case out of
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Long Poke, California. A grizzly discovery made by hikers tragically
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: ended the search for a missing girl and led to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: the arrest of her mother. Melody Buzzard was reported missing
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: in October of last year after an extended absence from
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: school prompted concern from officials. The nine year old's mother,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Ashley Buzzard, never provided a straight answer on her daughter's whereabouts,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: and multiple searches failed to produce leads in Melody's disappearance. However,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: the recovery of her remains by a couple in Utah
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: filled in the blanks in what authorities are calling a
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: calculated killing. Investigators claim that shellcasings found by Melody's body
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: matched ammunition recovered from a search of the Buzzard residence
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: and Ashley's car. Ashley has pled not guilty to charges
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: in her daughter's death and will continue to update you
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: as authorities release additional information. One thing I want to
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: ask you about this case to start off, is that
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: when this first happened, and I'm sure you followed this
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: one closely, everybody was really critical of law enforcement for
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: why they weren't arresting her before? When when Melody first
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: went missing? Everybody you know that, And I'm talking about
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: When I say everybody, I mean kind of people online,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: people who follow these types of stories. Why aren't the
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: police just arrest her? Why can't they just arrest her
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: right now, even before we even knew and murder had
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: taken place? Talk to us a little bit about that.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: What is taking place with law enforcement? Are their hands
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: tied to a certain extent?
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: I think they are tied, you know, when you don't
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: have a body, right. I mean, I say this all
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: the time on my show. It doesn't matter what you
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: believe or think. It only matters what you can prove.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: And at the time Melody was gone, she was missing, right,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: everybody thought there was some sort of foul pay everybody
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I use that in air quotes, right, But the reality
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: of it is the police didn't know. Was the child
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: left with somebody, a family member that they were unaware
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: of a family friend. They didn't know. And you know,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: I was even critical of it. I was like, why
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: does the and at least, you know, the Department of
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Human Services Social Services file something maybe a truancy action
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: to say produce the child and you know, try to
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: get some answers. But once again, she'd have some Fifth
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Amendment rights at that point and she couldn't be forced to,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: you know, speak, So you know, I guess my I
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: wouldn't you know I was I wouldn't say I was critical,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: but I was questioning what was going on behind the scenes.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: You know, when you can't produce your child. I was
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: going to come up with some reason to make her
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: produce her child and be able to explain where she is.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: But you know, she got arrested. Mom got arrested on
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: the other matter, which got thrown out at a preliminary hearing,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: which is obviously very unusual given the low standard to prove,
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: but it was their way to kind of get her arrested.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: You know, there were search warrants executed at the house.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I'm sure things of evidentiary value would have been various
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: shell casings that were found at the house, right the
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: rounds that were consistent with what was found near the body.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: So I think it was kind of a part of
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: a bigger plan. The police obviously weren't telling, telling, broadcasting
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: not only to the world but to Mom what was
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: taking place. But I think there was a method to
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: their madness, and you know, I think they got their result. Yeah.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So she has been charged Ashley with first degree
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: murder and an allegation called lying in wait, which in
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: California is as considered a special circumstance, which means that
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: her murder, if convicted and that allegation were found to
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: be true, would make her eligible for the death penalty.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Now already, authorities have announced early on that they do
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: not plan to seek the death penalty. They're not pursuing
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: that in this case. And I'm curious to hear your
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: thoughts on why you think that might have been done,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: if you agree with that decision. I mean, in my view,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: just to kind of set you up, this is about
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: as heinous and awful a crime as I can imagine.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: And if we're going to have a penalty like the
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: death penalty, it seemed to me like it would be
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: reserved for this type of crime, but they decided not to.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: And I'm curious to hear what you think.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a little surprised that it would file that,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: you know, laying and wait, and then not pursue the
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: death penalty. The only thing I could think of and
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: what normally comes up in these types of cases is
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: that there are mental health issues that the district attorney
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: believes that somebody on that jury panel would say, well,
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: there's mental health issues. I'm sympathetic to that. And so
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: they think, you know what this person has, you know,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: kind of limited criminal history, and obviously, you know you
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: need DA's like to have more than one aggravating factor.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: They like to have, you know, two or three to
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: really do it. And I think maybe they thought one
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: just wasn't enough, even though this was, you know, giving
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: her the presumption of innocence. If the facts are true,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: it was cold blooded murder.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. I also think and
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: this is in no way should be interpreted as a
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: sexist comment. I think it's difficult when it comes to
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: a female defendant too. I think that the prosecutors are
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: maybe hesitant to ask for that kind of a penalty
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: when it comes to a female defendant. I just that
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: to me, just I feel like is maybe one of
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: many reasons that might have factored into this whole thing.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: They haven't really given an explanation, but I think any
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: one of you know, the reasons you gave is probably
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: a good reason too, which is a good segue to
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: my last question, which is, as horrific a case as
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: this is, I'm going to ask you to put on
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: your defense attorney hat for a second, and is there
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: any kind of defense here? I mean, they've got forensics
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: that she's the last one with the child, they've charted
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: her path. It seems like they have a fairly strong case.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: But what do you think the defense might be in
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: this case?
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, clearly, it seems like there's some very strong facts
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: against Ashley the mother, you know, and my understanding is
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: that there were multiple shots fired to kill young Ashley,
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: so that certainly takes away some sort of accidental discharge
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: of a firearm. As minderstanding, the shots were also in
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: the back of the head, is if I'm correct on
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: the facts, which would clearly show this was an execution
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: style case. The only thing I think the defense would
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: probably have to come up with is some sort of
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: alternate suspect that maybe was along for the ride, hitched
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: a ride and maybe they were the real killers, and
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe some force or threat or duress or
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: something along those lines. But like I said, only it
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter. You know, often say as a defense attorney,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: why are we going to go let the facts get
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: in the way of a great defense? Right because you
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: have to stand in front of a jury and be
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: able to say it with a straight face and produce
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: something to back up what you allege as your theory
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: of defense. And if you don't have it, a jury
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: will punish you for not being completely truthful and candid
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: with them. They expect that even from the defense.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, very true, Very good point. Well, we will leave
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: that case there for now. We will continue to follow
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: it and update you all as we have them. Finally
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: to Dedham, Massachusetts, where a star receiver for the Patriots
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: mad headlines off the field after an alleged dispute over
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: money with his personal chef. Authorities charged Stefan Diggs with
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: felony strangulation or suffocation and misdemeanor assault and battery when
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the chef came forward with accusations. According to the alleged victim,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Diggs became irate when she asked him about money he
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: owed the culinary artists, and he reportedly assaulted the victim
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: and choked her. Initially, the alleged victim declined to press
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: charges due to Diggs fame and notoriety. However, she eventually
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: sought resolution against her employers, who recently signed a three year,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: sixty nine million dollar deal. Despite the controversy, Digs participated
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: in the Patriots last regular season game and is expected
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: to contribute to the team's postseason run. But he may
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: be catching more than touchdown passes if the allegations face
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a jury. This is one of those cases where you
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: have what's called late reporting. It doesn't sound like the
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: victim came forward for several weeks. What kind of problems
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: does that present for prosecutors?
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: I think it's a big problem for the prosecutors. You know,
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: most people, when they're the victim of a crime, particularly
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: a violent crime, you don't wait to report it for
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: several weeks. You call immediately. Somebody punches you in the nose,
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: you call the police. Somebody strangles you, You normally call
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: the police. Now, are there certain crimes where you know
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: it's more I guess what's the word I'm looking for.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: I don't want to say it's it's more easily believable,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: or somebody doesn't report a crime. For example, crimes against
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: children very plausible. Somebody's been threatened them they didn't know
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: what was going on, but a violent crime grown adults.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: My theory is, and there it will be a civil
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: suit here really soon, and it's about the money. My
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: guess is that this chef went to see a civil
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: attorney about you know, these allegations, and they thought, well,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: it would bolster our civil claim if there was a
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: criminal conviction and you know, get the checkbook ready kind
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: of thing. So I think that it presents big problems,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: particularly if there is discovery that there is a civil
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: suit forthcoming. I believe that that is a big problem.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: And the delay. You know, you can say, oh, I
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: didn't want any problems with my boss. He's who they're
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: going to believe him. He's famous. No, not necessarily because
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: obviously when he went to the police, he was charged.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: Now do I think that nothing happened as this completely fabricated.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: I don't know, but something did. And we're not sure
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: you know what was said by the defendant, but he
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: may have said something to say, you know, enough to
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: corroborate it.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: That's why most defensories always say don't say a word,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: because we've all seen the situation where if they kept
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: their mouth shut, they never be charged, but they put
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: themselves at the scene of the crime. And if you
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: deny any wrongdoing, Yeah, I was with the chef, but
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: I didn't choke her out. The police look at it
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: and say, well, he corroborated half of her story and
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: he must be lying when he denies the other half,
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: so we're gonna go and charge him. And next thing
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: you know, they could have warrant from a judge, or
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: you know, the warrant signed by the judge, and now
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: he's being charged and prosecuted. So it's not a great
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: case for the prosecution. I doubt it will wind up
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: in a felony conviction for our football hero, but I
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: believe that, you know, there'll probably be some sort of
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: misdemeanor plea if if something took place, and it'll be
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: settled civilly as well, I would imagine.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, when I first heard about this too, and I
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: heard about the late reporting, I thought the same things
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: that you were thinking. But then there must be something
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: there for the prosecution to file of this, because otherwise
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: you could easily see them rejecting a case like this
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: for lack of evidence. But I'm wondering, did she take
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: photographs and then she had those on her phone and says, here,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: you know, here's what the injuries look like at the time.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Did she was their tax exchanges with him where he's
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: perhaps making admissions or to your point, did he just
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: kind of give it all away to law enforcement not
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: realizing what he was admitting to was all they needed
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: to kind of put peace together their case, So we
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: shall see. Interesting though, the Patriots Organization have voiced their
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: support for Diggs. They're not backing away, they're supporting him,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and they're allowing him to play. Do you think that
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: might be some sort of indication that they know how
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: weak the case might be.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: I think it certainly does because normally, you know, the
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: NFL and the teams make the you know, statements that
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: you know, they got to the process work, they don't
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: support any kind of violence, and then they usually suspend somebody.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: So the fact that they, you know, want mister Diggs
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: to stick around and play, I think that may go
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: to the fact that they think that he will be
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: victorious in this In this case, some sort of resolution.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: You know, listen, if there were if it was perfect
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: case on either side, right, if it was perfect for him,
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: it would never have been filed and if it was,
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: you know, perfect for the complaining witness, the chef, and
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm sure the team has seen the Affidavid
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: if it was, if there wasn't something to work with,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: they'd be kicking him out the door saying, you know,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: we don't tolerate this, and we'll save ourselves the sixty
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: five million dollars. You know.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I wonder if their decision would have been different
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: if you were like a backup punter though, rather than
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: one of their stars receivers. I wonder if that played
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: a new role in their decision matrix.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: It's always about the money. Well, he's gonna make you
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: more money if they win.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Exactly. We're gonna leave it there for now. Scott, thank
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: you so much for coming on this week. It was
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: such a pleasure to speak to you, as I always appreciate
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: hearing your thoughts. Before I let you go, though, please
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: tell us and everybody listening where they can find out
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: more about you, about your channel, about your law firm.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: You can go to YouTube and go to crime Talk
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: with Scott Reisch and we will come up. My law
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: firm is the Reich Law Firm. You can check us
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: out Hopefully you never need us, but if you do
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: call me, we can try to help you out. And
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: you know, just appreciate you having us on.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Josh no please, it was our pleasure. I'm
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: your host, Josh Ritter. You can find me on Instagram
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: and Twitter at Joshua Ritter e s Q. And if
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: you want to hear my thoughts and coverage on even
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: more true crime cases, please check out my new YouTube channel,
• 27:00
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• 27:03
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• 27:05
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• 27:08
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• 27:14
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