Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Texas Judge Lets Convicted, Cold-Blooded Killer Walk Free to 'Get His Hair Styled at Barbershop'

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Texas Judge Lets Convicted, Cold-Blooded Killer Walk Free to 'Get His Hair Styled at Barbershop' · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Greace.
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Speaker 2: A loving father of four, a devoted son gunned down
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Speaker 2: outside and air B and B. But that's not all.
0:26
Speaker 2: Wait for it. A judge. Let me give you her name.
0:31
Speaker 2: Judge Natalia Cornelio lets the shooter out to get a haircut.
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Speaker 2: I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
0:46
Speaker 2: being with us here at Fox Nation and Serious XEM
0:49
Speaker 2: one eleven. You heard me. If you're trying to clean
0:53
Speaker 2: out your ears, don't this judge, a former federal public
1:01
Speaker 2: defender who has devoted her entire life to getting killers
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Speaker 2: out from behind bars, has let a killer walk out
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Speaker 2: of jail so he could get his hair styled. Yes.
1:17
Speaker 2: I couldn't even make this up in my wildest dreams,
1:21
Speaker 2: but it happened. First of all, take a listen to this.
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Speaker 2: Our friends at Fox twenty six, three.
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Speaker 3: Hundred and fifty first Criminal dissec Court Judge not At
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Speaker 3: Cornelio lowered Lane's two hundred and fifty thousand dollars bond
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Speaker 3: to one hundred thousand. He's been out on bond for
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Speaker 3: two years and has multiple curfew violations. August seventeenth, Lane
1:41
Speaker 3: is back before Judge Cornelio.
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Speaker 4: He goes back to court and actually pleads guilty to murder.
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Speaker 3: Then, according to court documents, Cornelio allows Lane to remain
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Speaker 3: free on bond so he could get a haircut.
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Speaker 4: I've not seen someone actually convicted of murder and then
1:58
Speaker 4: allowed to remain on on pending the sentence. Sing, that's
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Speaker 4: a first.
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Speaker 3: We can confirmed Lane did go to mister Dun's barbershop
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Speaker 3: for a haircut.
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Speaker 2: Okay, my head is spinning. I can hardly think. Let
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Speaker 2: me go straight out to special guest joining us, Tabitha Souls.
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Speaker 2: This is Gregory Moore's stepmother. Miss Soules, I hardly even
2:25
Speaker 2: know what to say. When did you learn that Gregory's
2:29
Speaker 2: killer he has pled guilty. I'm not saying he's just
2:33
Speaker 2: charged with murder, he has pled guilty. That this judge,
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Speaker 2: Natalia Cornelio, let your son's killer walk free so he
2:45
Speaker 2: the killer, could go get a haircut.
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Speaker 5: I had to watch it on a zoom. I had
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Speaker 5: to watch this man stand in front of her and
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Speaker 5: say that he did it and ask his lawyer asked
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Speaker 5: if he can be free to get a haircut. It
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Speaker 5: was horrifying to just ask to hear him say I'm guilty.
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Speaker 5: I did it. Like with no remorse.
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Speaker 2: How did Greg's dad, also named greg how did he
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Speaker 2: take it?
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Speaker 5: His father is devastated, absolutely devastated. It has took a
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Speaker 5: toll on his health, his depression. This is his first
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Speaker 5: board he's toured, you.
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Speaker 2: Know, Miss Souls. All I can think about is my father,
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Speaker 2: my father, Mac Grace. He worked all sorts of swing shifts, night, day,
3:40
Speaker 2: you name it, for the railroad, to put us through
3:43
Speaker 2: high school and put us through college, and help put
3:46
Speaker 2: me through law school. How this would break his heart.
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Speaker 2: It would break my father in half if something like
3:55
Speaker 2: this happened. And I remember Miss Holes and my fiance
4:00
Speaker 2: was murdered and we had to travel every single day
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Speaker 2: for hours to get to the killer's murder trial. You
4:07
Speaker 2: know who drove me? My father, And I didn't realize
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Speaker 2: it at the time. I was so lost in my
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Speaker 2: own grief. My father would cry the whole tribe to
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Speaker 2: the courthouse. I just can't imagine what this is doing
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Speaker 2: to Gregory Moore's family. He's got four children. He's got
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Speaker 2: eight year old Peyton, a six year old Emir, five
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Speaker 2: year old Killing, and four year old Kelly. I pray
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Speaker 2: that they don't understand what's going on, guys, what do
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Speaker 2: we know happened at the time of the killing? Take
4:44
Speaker 2: a listen to our friend Dave Mackett Crime Online.
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Speaker 6: Gregory Moore, a father of four, was visiting Houston from
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Speaker 6: New York. He and four other men from New York
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Speaker 6: and New Jersey rented a home an Airbnb. After a
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Speaker 6: night of clubbing, the men returned to their airbn b
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Speaker 6: inviting some women. As one of the men parked the car,
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Speaker 6: more and a woman walked to the door. They never
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Speaker 6: made it inside.
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Speaker 2: So he goes out with us friends. A whole group
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Speaker 2: of people come back. They're off the street, they're not
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Speaker 2: driving drunk. They come back to their place for a
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Speaker 2: fun night at home, and he gets shot down dead
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Speaker 2: before he can even get into the airbnb. Joining me
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Speaker 2: right now in addition to Miss Souls an all star
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Speaker 2: panel to make sense of what we know right now.
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Speaker 2: The facts at issue are undisputed. There's not going to
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Speaker 2: be a jury trial. He did it. He pled guilty,
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Speaker 2: pled guilty, and court taken down by a court reporter.
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Speaker 2: Joining me right now in addition to my longtime friend
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Speaker 2: and colleague Andy Kahn, Randy Wallace is joining us investigative
5:51
Speaker 2: reporter k RV Fox twenty six, Randy, what is going on?
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Speaker 7: It's pretty crazy and answer, I'll tell you that. And
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Speaker 7: we actually went on the court document. It had the
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Speaker 7: address of the barbershop, mister Dunn's barbershop. We went over there.
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Speaker 7: We talked to the gentleman who cut his cut Lane's
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Speaker 7: hair that day and he said that Lane told him that, well,
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Speaker 7: you know, I'm not going to be here for a while.
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Speaker 7: I killed someone. I mean, he kind of admitted it
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Speaker 7: to the barber. Two. One thing I want to point
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Speaker 7: out when last Tuesday, when we did the report, I
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Speaker 7: interviewed Tabitha and I interviewed Greg the dad. Tabitha during
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Speaker 7: the zoom, she was talking about Judge Cornelio getting kind
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Speaker 7: of upset because the the bailiffs the deputies left the
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Speaker 7: court room. Tabitha tell tell Nancy about that.
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Speaker 2: Oh please, do I want to hear this? Miss Souls.
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Speaker 5: Absolutely So, after everything was setting though that he played guilty,
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Speaker 5: she was angry with the court bailiffs in there because
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Speaker 5: their word none when this gentleman take that lightly when
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Speaker 5: Lane said he was guilty. So after the fact she
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Speaker 5: was so mad with them not having been in the
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Speaker 5: courtroom with her, so she yelled at them. But you
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Speaker 5: know she can care for her life, but not anywhere
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Speaker 5: else is.
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Speaker 2: Okay, let me understand something, Missules. She was angry because
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Speaker 2: she was unguarded by an admitted killer. Okay, what did
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Speaker 2: she say to the bailiffs.
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Speaker 5: I don't know her exact words. I just know she
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Speaker 5: was very angry that no one was in there with
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Speaker 5: her when this man could admit it guilt to murder.
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Speaker 2: Andy Conn, can you please help me make sense of
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Speaker 2: what I'm hearing? Andy Conn is with me, director her
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Speaker 2: victim services and advocacy at Crime Stoppers of Houston. You
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Speaker 2: can find him at crime dash Stoppers dot org. Andy,
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Speaker 2: what is going on? Number one? Tell me your understanding
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Speaker 2: of everything that happened. When an admitted killer gets let
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Speaker 2: out of jail, let's out of the courtroom, out to
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Speaker 2: walk amongst us to get a haircut, and the mom,
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Speaker 2: the stepmom has to see it on a zoom and
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Speaker 2: the judges met because nobody's there to protect her from
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Speaker 2: the killer in the courtroom, but she unleashes him on us.
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Speaker 8: Now somewhere in the sky, Rod Serling is just comically
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Speaker 8: left and going God. I wish they could bring Twilight Zone,
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Speaker 8: back to back into this dawn.
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Speaker 2: And are I understand your humor, Andy, because I know you,
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Speaker 2: But I don't find this funny one bit because I
8:32
Speaker 2: remember the day a viewer emailed me at Court TV
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Speaker 2: and said, Andy, I've told you this story. I had
8:41
Speaker 2: been there since a quarter of seven that morning. I
8:43
Speaker 2: finally got up to my office around one o'clock and
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Speaker 2: I just looked at the public email where people would
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Speaker 2: write in questions and comments, and a lady wrote in,
8:54
Speaker 2: did you know that your fiance Keith's killer has been released?
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Speaker 2: And guess what, I didn't know. I remember that moment.
9:01
Speaker 2: I remember looking out at Third Avenue in New York
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Speaker 2: City and it was like somebody threw a bucket of
9:08
Speaker 2: ice cold water on me. I did not have any idea.
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Speaker 2: And now this stepmother and the bio dad has to
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Speaker 2: sit there on a zoom and see this judge, Judge
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Speaker 2: Natalia cornelio let a confessed admitted killer who has planned
9:26
Speaker 2: guilty walk out to get a haircut.
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Speaker 8: You know, Nancy, It's kind of like they got sucker
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Speaker 8: punched by the criminal justice system. So the reality is
9:36
Speaker 8: that the suspect was originally held on a two hundred
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Speaker 8: thousand dollars bond. That bond was reduced by the judge
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Speaker 8: cut in half that allowed him to get out on bond.
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Speaker 8: He violated his bond conditions several times. On curfew, he
9:52
Speaker 8: goes before the judge pleads guilty to murder. So it's
9:56
Speaker 8: not like, well, he's just charged, he's just a suspect. No,
10:00
Speaker 8: he is now a convicted murderer. Evidently the judge became,
10:06
Speaker 8: from what I've been told, very upset because she was
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Speaker 8: left alone in the courtroom with a now convicted murderer
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Speaker 8: and essentially told her bailiffs, don't leave me in this
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Speaker 8: courtroom alone with this murderer. The murderer is actually allowed
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Speaker 8: to remain on bond pending sentencing and one of the
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Speaker 8: bond conditions. And Randy and I have looked through numerous
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Speaker 8: conditions of bonds throughout our years of doing our Breaking
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Speaker 8: Bond story, but I've never ever seen anything in writing
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Speaker 8: that specifically says you're allowed to go to a certain
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Speaker 8: barbershop after Dockett, but you can't go anywhere else, but
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Speaker 8: you can go and get your hair cut. That was
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Speaker 8: a first. So he's actually due back in court, I
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Speaker 8: believe at the end of the week. Whether or not
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Speaker 8: they're going to sentence him or not, who knows. But
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Speaker 8: it's problematic because you have somebody now walking amongst us
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Speaker 8: in the community who's a convicted murderer that is facing
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Speaker 8: a lengthy prison sentence. And let me tell you, in
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Speaker 8: Harris County, in the last few weeks, we've been dealing
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Speaker 8: with defendants who've been convicted and have been allowed to
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Speaker 8: remain out on bond or have skipped their jury trial
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Speaker 8: that have gotten into shootouts with law enforcement. So this
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Speaker 8: is not a very good public safety scenario. But for
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Speaker 8: the victims family, it's absolutely gut wrenching when you find
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Speaker 8: out the person who murdered your loved ones is still
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Speaker 8: walking amongst us and can basically do whatever they please.
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Speaker 1: Prime Stories with Nancy Grace.
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Speaker 2: Now joining us hyper file lawyer out of this Jurisdiction, Texas.
12:03
Speaker 2: Brian Foley more, certified criminal defense attorney, former chief prosecutor
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Speaker 2: in Harris County, Texas, and author of an upcoming book,
12:11
Speaker 2: What Prosecutors Don't Tell You. You can find him at
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Speaker 2: Brianfoleylaw dot com. Brian. Once there's a conviction, it's almost
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Speaker 2: well in other parts of the country anyway. Once there's
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Speaker 2: a conviction, it would be over my cold dead body,
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Speaker 2: the defendant would walk out of that courtroom. O Hlno,
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Speaker 2: he is no longer presumed innocent. He is a convicted killer.
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Speaker 2: And this guy, by all accounts, walks up to thirty
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Speaker 2: year old Gregory Moore, father of four, and guns him
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Speaker 2: down right there outside the Airbnb. He's mining his own business,
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Speaker 2: just leaving a bar with all of his friends. I
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Speaker 2: have like four or five other guys. They come home
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Speaker 2: to the Airbnb. They're all going in, Oh trouble, no problem,
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Speaker 2: and he gets gunned down. It sounds like a robbery,
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Speaker 2: an armed robbery that ended in murder. That's what it
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Speaker 2: sounds like. I don't know that, but I don't care.
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Speaker 2: He pled guilty to homicide. Now, why is it that
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Speaker 2: this judge thinks it's okay to get the family like that.
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Speaker 2: That's what a conviction is all about. You get convicted
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Speaker 2: of homicide, you go to jail. It's not you get
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Speaker 2: convicted of homicide and you go get your hairstyled. That's
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Speaker 2: not the law.
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Speaker 9: You're absolutely right, especially on the law in Texas. A
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Speaker 9: murder charge it's a special charge called a three G offense.
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Speaker 9: It's named after an old penal code, and you cannot
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Speaker 9: get probation from a judge for this. So there are
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Speaker 9: some lawyers. I talked to him, thought, well, sometimes they'll
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Speaker 9: reset a case and do what's called a PSI or
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Speaker 9: pre sentenced investigation. But for a murder.
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Speaker 2: Charge, isn't the sentence mandatory?
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Speaker 9: Yeah, it's going to be a mandatory, So why do
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Speaker 9: we need a PSI.
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Speaker 2: Pre Sentenced investigation is usually conducted by the Parole Board,
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Speaker 2: sometimes somebody else, but usually for the probation department, and
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Speaker 2: they take into account what's his chance for rehab, was
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Speaker 2: he mistreated as a child, does he have a criminal record,
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Speaker 2: blah blah blah, in order to help facilitate the judge
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Speaker 2: get the right sentence bs because there's a mandatory sentence.
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Speaker 2: The judge doesn't need help because there is a mandatory
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Speaker 2: sentence on murder bam. So this is not about letting
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Speaker 2: him out to wait on PSI. And another thing to you,
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Speaker 2: Brian Foley, I don't know what's happened to you since
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Speaker 2: you became a defense lawyer. But even if the judge
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Speaker 2: is waiting on a PSI, that still doesn't mean this
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Speaker 2: guy walks free after he's convicted of murder.
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Speaker 9: Yes, and it's he had a bond violation, According to
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Speaker 9: court records from February fourteenth of twenty twenty.
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Speaker 2: Tekay, this is new to me. Slow down, don't talk.
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Speaker 2: Lawyer talk taught regular people taught. A bond violation means
15:05
Speaker 2: he skipped bond already.
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Speaker 9: He admitted to violating his house arrest.
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Speaker 5: And he has head violation ten plus violations.
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Speaker 2: Okay, is that tabitha soul speaking?
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Speaker 5: Yes? Yes, man, he has ten plus violations, ten probation
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Speaker 5: violations or bond violations there are. He has violated that
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Speaker 5: angle bracelet bond violation ten plus times.
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Speaker 2: Noted.
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Speaker 5: That is I've read. There's probably more I have not read,
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Speaker 5: but as far as I've read, each individual one has
15:41
Speaker 5: this time to this time, he was not supposed to
15:43
Speaker 5: be out. He went here to hear he's not supposed
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Speaker 5: to be out, over and over and over again, with
15:48
Speaker 5: a slap on the resting it's been noted.
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Speaker 2: Is it always the same judge? It probably is, Andy,
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Speaker 2: Is it the same judge, because typically when you have
15:58
Speaker 2: a defenant go in front of a judge if there's
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Speaker 2: any infraction or problem with that sentence or that case,
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Speaker 2: that case comes back to the same judge, and in
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Speaker 2: the future, if that same defendant is arrested and indicted
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Speaker 2: for something else, he comes back to the same judge
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Speaker 2: he saw before. So is it the same judge letting
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Speaker 2: him out over and over and over, even basically ignoring
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Speaker 2: the bond violations, all ten of them.
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Speaker 8: The court documents clearly indicate that it's the same judge,
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Speaker 8: because I'm reading the bond violation report as we speak,
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Speaker 8: and like Tavis says, there's numerous violations of curfew violations,
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Speaker 8: and the judge admonished him previously for violating curfew violations.
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Speaker 8: So this was not his first dog and pony show
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Speaker 8: of violating his conditions to bond. It looked like a
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Speaker 8: repetitive pattern, but he was still allowed to remain bond
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Speaker 8: pending the case.
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Speaker 2: Ryan Fowley, What is wrong with this judge? Judge Natalia Cornelio.
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Speaker 9: Yeah, it's just part of her worldview and she thinks
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Speaker 9: this is how it should go. If you look at
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Speaker 9: her reelection website, she has a whole section on reducing
17:15
Speaker 9: reliance on incarceration. It's surprising even still because there's those
17:22
Speaker 9: mandatory minimums for a murder charge. There's no possibility of probation.
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Speaker 9: I think it's being possessed by this worldview that the
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Speaker 9: police and the criminal justice system is maybe just there
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Speaker 9: to oppress, and that she's an active participant to try
17:41
Speaker 9: to reverse that.
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Speaker 2: Doug Griffin is joining US Houston Police Officer for thirty
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Speaker 2: two years. He is a president of the Houston Police
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Speaker 2: Officers Union. Doug Griffin, how do the cops, men and
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Speaker 2: women keep putting one foot in front of the other
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Speaker 2: when you've got a judge like Judge Alia Cornelio letting
18:03
Speaker 2: guilty defendants murder defendants who have admitted guilt want free
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Speaker 2: to go get a haircut.
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Speaker 10: Sadly, this is not the first case of a judge
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Speaker 10: acting like this, or even this judge acting like this.
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Speaker 10: There's case after case after case where we have people
18:18
Speaker 10: on multiple felony bonds. They violate the condition of those
18:22
Speaker 10: bonds by picking them up. Another case, we had one
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Speaker 10: guy with fourteen bonds still out and then committed a murder.
18:30
Speaker 10: We have in Harris County right now at least one
18:34
Speaker 10: hundred and ten capital murder suspects free on bond that
18:38
Speaker 10: would never have happened five to ten years ago. So
18:41
Speaker 10: now when these guys know they're going to court because
18:44
Speaker 10: it's the capital case, which means life in prison are
18:47
Speaker 10: possibly the death penalty, then you think they're really motivated
18:51
Speaker 10: to go back to court. Absolutely not, and then we
18:54
Speaker 10: have to deal with them. We have some poor officer
18:57
Speaker 10: going to stop a car today not knowing that there's
18:59
Speaker 10: a possible cap or murder suspect that's wanted in that car.
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Speaker 2: Or in this case convicted exactly and looking at life
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Speaker 2: behind bars, no alternative to life behind bars, you think
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Speaker 2: he is going to turn himself in.
19:11
Speaker 11: No.
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Speaker 10: And like Andy said earlier, we've had HPD had three
19:16
Speaker 10: officers shot just about a year and a half ago
19:18
Speaker 10: from a Gallum mufcle Tony Bonds. Harris County just had
19:21
Speaker 10: three officer shot because the Gallum muffle Tony Bonds that
19:25
Speaker 10: did not go back to court after being convicted. Now
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Speaker 10: we've got to put a stop to it. We've got
19:30
Speaker 10: to get these judges out of there. And this is
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Speaker 10: just another example of what we're facing here in Harrison County.
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Speaker 2: Guys. Joining me is the stepmom of the murder victim
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Speaker 2: who was watching the proceedings by zoom when she hears,
19:44
Speaker 2: she and the bio dad, her husband could not believe
19:48
Speaker 2: it when they hear the killer is being allowed free
19:53
Speaker 2: on bond to go get his hair styled by Judge
19:58
Speaker 2: Natalia Cornel. What happened to the victim, the father of
20:03
Speaker 2: four in this case, take us to our cut three,
20:06
Speaker 2: our fancy khou.
20:08
Speaker 12: He was taken to a nearby hospital where he later died.
20:11
Speaker 12: Right now, they don't have a suspect or vehicle description,
20:15
Speaker 12: but are hoping to gather surveillance video from the neighborhood.
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Speaker 8: As far we know what, they never made it inside
20:21
Speaker 8: the house and so he was shot in the right
20:24
Speaker 8: at the front doorstep.
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Speaker 12: Anyone with any information as being encouraged to call the
20:28
Speaker 12: Sheriff's office.
20:29
Speaker 6: As Moore and a woman walked to the door, a
20:32
Speaker 6: man wearing a hoodie and carrying a flashlight rushed more.
20:36
Speaker 6: Moore was pistol whipped and shot multiple times. He took
20:39
Speaker 6: strikes to the neck, torso, left leg, and both arms.
20:43
Speaker 6: Moore was life lighted to a hospital but did not survive.
20:47
Speaker 2: So the victim was pistol whipped repeatedly. You know to you?
20:53
Speaker 2: Douglas Griffin, Houston police officer over thirty two years in
20:56
Speaker 2: president of the Houston Police Officers Union. Because you explain
21:00
Speaker 2: to those people that don't know what it means to
21:02
Speaker 2: be pistol whipped in the face, what does that mean?
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Speaker 10: It means. He took the weapon that they were using
21:07
Speaker 10: to hold him up and began to beat him in
21:09
Speaker 10: the face with it, taking that handgun and hitting him
21:12
Speaker 10: repeatedly in the head and face. And then that wasn't enough,
21:17
Speaker 10: decided to shoot him multiple times. This wasn't just a hey,
21:22
Speaker 10: I'm just going to rob a guy and take his money.
21:24
Speaker 10: This was almost like it was parsonal. He just beat
21:27
Speaker 10: that guy and then murdered him in cold blood.
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Speaker 2: And if you could see the victim, so handsome, so young,
21:36
Speaker 2: four children now gone forever. Now. At first I thought
21:40
Speaker 2: this was going to be an armed robbery gone bad.
21:44
Speaker 2: But it wasn't that spur of the moment. Oh No,
21:49
Speaker 2: this was cold blooded. Take a listen to this.
21:53
Speaker 6: Police discovered that the shooter is one of the women's boyfriend.
21:57
Speaker 6: He used Instagram to track her and follow the girl
22:00
Speaker 6: back to the airbnb alone with Moore and his friends.
22:03
Speaker 6: During an interview with the suspect, he admitted to going
22:06
Speaker 6: to the location to pick up his girlfriend and an
22:09
Speaker 6: argument ensued and more. The Harris County Sheriff's Office as
22:12
Speaker 6: twenty one year old James ray Lane has been arrested
22:15
Speaker 6: and charged with murder and the fatal shooting of a
22:17
Speaker 6: man outside in Airbnb. Investigators say Lane was in a
22:20
Speaker 6: fit of jealous rage as he tracked the victim and
22:23
Speaker 6: a witness using Instagram. The victim was thirty three year
22:26
Speaker 6: old Gregory Moore, who was visiting the area with friends
22:29
Speaker 6: from New Jersey and New York. James ray Lane has
22:32
Speaker 6: been charged with murder. His bond is set at two
22:34
Speaker 6: hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
22:35
Speaker 2: And you know to doctor Carla Manley, clinical psychologist. Now,
22:40
Speaker 2: this is one of the many reasons we have doctor
22:43
Speaker 2: Manley on She's the author of Date Smart, Transforming Relationships,
22:47
Speaker 2: and Love Fearlessly. You can find her at doctor Carlomanley
22:50
Speaker 2: dot com. How was he the dad of four? He's
22:55
Speaker 2: not married. You can dave whoever he wants to. How
22:59
Speaker 2: is he supposed to know this woman he just met
23:01
Speaker 2: at the club has a boyfriend, not just a boyfriend,
23:05
Speaker 2: a violent boyfriend that owns a gun.
23:07
Speaker 13: Absolutely, when we're outstating when we're out in the public,
23:12
Speaker 13: we don't expect to be victims of violent crimes. We
23:16
Speaker 13: do our best to assess the person we're dating, to
23:20
Speaker 13: hope that there are good individuals with solid characters in
23:24
Speaker 13: their lives. So he would have been completely taken by
23:28
Speaker 13: a surprise. And it's a really horrendous situation all the
23:33
Speaker 13: way around. And I'll wait for you to ask me
23:35
Speaker 13: questions about what the judge has done, but I can
23:38
Speaker 13: tell you it's absolutely And I'm.
23:40
Speaker 2: Just thinking through what went through Greg's mind. He's out
23:46
Speaker 2: with his friends. Nobody's causing any trouble. I think it
23:49
Speaker 2: was three or four of his buddies from New Jersey.
23:52
Speaker 2: They're all there in Texas. They go out and have
23:54
Speaker 2: a great night on the town. They come back and
23:57
Speaker 2: out of the blue, up comes this guy, James ray Lane.
24:03
Speaker 2: He has stalked them, he has followed his girlfriend, and
24:07
Speaker 2: he's got a gun. You know, in my mind, Andy Kahn,
24:12
Speaker 2: that changes things. No, I can't bring Greg Moore back.
24:17
Speaker 2: But this was not some robbery gone wrong, which is
24:23
Speaker 2: still a murder. He went there on purpose. He stalked
24:27
Speaker 2: his way to this location. Andy con That is cold blood.
24:31
Speaker 2: He pulled that trigger and he pistol whip this victim
24:34
Speaker 2: in cold blood, and this judge let him out to
24:37
Speaker 2: go get his hairstyled.
24:38
Speaker 7: No, this was not.
24:39
Speaker 8: Something random spur of the moment. I mean, you had
24:43
Speaker 8: to track them back to this airbnb over twenty five
24:48
Speaker 8: miles from where they originally were. So the fact that
24:53
Speaker 8: you're actually cracking any movement of your alleged girlfriend tells
24:58
Speaker 8: me that you've got to make issues going on with
25:01
Speaker 8: your life. And we do know that Lane has some
25:05
Speaker 8: sort of juvenile record, but as Doug would know, getting
25:08
Speaker 8: juvenile records is very difficult to obtain. So the fact that,
25:12
Speaker 8: I mean, he had zero chance. You get out of
25:15
Speaker 8: the car and the next thing you know, you're getting
25:18
Speaker 8: pistol whipped in the face, and then you're shot and
25:21
Speaker 8: left for dead. There is no if ans or butts
25:24
Speaker 8: did he do it. He did it, And he's facing
25:27
Speaker 8: a sentence right now of anywhere from five years to
25:30
Speaker 8: ninety nine years in prison, which from our perspective, he
25:34
Speaker 8: deserves and should get the maximum sentence. But for him
25:38
Speaker 8: to continually be out on the streets right now, knowing
25:41
Speaker 8: he's facing a lengthy prison sentence puts the public at
25:46
Speaker 8: risk and definitely puts law enforcement officers at risk.
25:49
Speaker 2: This is cold blood.
26:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
26:11
Speaker 2: Out to you, Brian Foley, high profile lawyer joining us
26:15
Speaker 2: out of this jurisdiction Texas. That changes things, That changes
26:19
Speaker 2: the complexion of the crime. This judge lets a guy
26:22
Speaker 2: out that coldly and calculatedly planned an attack and now
26:28
Speaker 2: a young father of four is dead and his parents
26:33
Speaker 2: have to watch on his zoom to see his killer,
26:36
Speaker 2: confessed killer walk away out of jail, out of the
26:40
Speaker 2: courtroom at the judge's order to get his hairstyled.
26:44
Speaker 9: And you know, and it doesn't have to be that way.
26:47
Speaker 9: The judge has the power to ask the prosecutor for
26:49
Speaker 9: more detailed information to make a bond decision. She can
26:53
Speaker 9: know these facts. Oftentimes they are read these facts at
26:56
Speaker 9: the beginning of the case. The most surprising thing is
26:59
Speaker 9: that he was still out on bond when he violated
27:02
Speaker 9: back in February and continued to violate in June. And then,
27:08
Speaker 9: like we've said, you once you've already pled guilty and
27:12
Speaker 9: you're convicted of murder, you have no right to be
27:15
Speaker 9: on probation. There's no need for him to be released
27:18
Speaker 9: at that point. Oftentimes almost all the time they're put
27:22
Speaker 9: in custody at that point.
27:23
Speaker 2: Guys, take a listen to our cut eight our friends
27:25
Speaker 2: at Fox twenty six.
27:26
Speaker 3: This is not the first time three hundred and fifty
27:29
Speaker 3: first criminal court judge not at Cornelia has allowed to
27:32
Speaker 3: defend it to remain free on bond after beating guilty
27:36
Speaker 3: to a violent crime. June twenty eight, twenty twenty one,
27:40
Speaker 3: thirty year old Gregory Moore was gunned down by thirty
27:43
Speaker 3: three year old James ray Lane.
27:45
Speaker 14: If he had just hurt him, I'd have been fine
27:47
Speaker 14: with that, but he was shooting to kill more.
27:50
Speaker 3: A father of four was visiting Houston from New York
27:53
Speaker 3: and more.
27:54
Speaker 2: From our friends at Fox twenty six, let's send Gergy.
27:56
Speaker 3: Moore's dad and stepmom. Couldn't believe the judge allowed aim
28:00
Speaker 3: to remain free.
28:01
Speaker 14: I think that's nonsense. Like if he pleaded guilty, he
28:05
Speaker 14: should have been locked up right then and there, Like
28:07
Speaker 14: why give him it's been two years now.
28:10
Speaker 2: Letting him go get a haircut for what? For what?
28:12
Speaker 2: My son can't get a haircut, My son can't spend
28:16
Speaker 2: holidays with us, he can't see his kids get a haircut.
28:19
Speaker 5: That boy should have been locked up from the beginning, missiles.
28:22
Speaker 2: When you say our son can't go get a haircut,
28:27
Speaker 2: you know I think the same thing all the time.
28:30
Speaker 2: Keith can't go out, he can't go for a jog,
28:34
Speaker 2: he can't see his family. He never got to have
28:37
Speaker 2: a family, And it hurts me to know his killer
28:41
Speaker 2: can do all those things, all those things that Keith
28:44
Speaker 2: loved to do. He was an athlete, on baseball, scholarship.
28:49
Speaker 2: He can never do any of those things again. His
28:51
Speaker 2: family was robbed of seeing him grow up and marry
28:55
Speaker 2: and have a family, the things that we had planned
28:58
Speaker 2: together for so long. What goes through your mind when
29:03
Speaker 2: you think that your son's killer is walking free to
29:07
Speaker 2: go get a hairstyle.
29:09
Speaker 5: I think that it just feels like hurt all over
29:15
Speaker 5: again from the beginning. Every day I think about it.
29:18
Speaker 5: Every day, it hurts even more because now I fear
29:22
Speaker 5: that maybe this guy is going to do it to
29:24
Speaker 5: somebody else, and that person's going to have to feel
29:26
Speaker 5: the same pain that I feel. We're missing out on
29:30
Speaker 5: so many things with my son, and he's allowed to
29:33
Speaker 5: be home and have deals with his family and do
29:37
Speaker 5: things freely without consequence. Is how I feel because he's
29:42
Speaker 5: just running around free, let me go get a haircut?
29:45
Speaker 2: Why not Randy Wallace. Has anyone asked the judge what
29:48
Speaker 2: was she thinking?
29:50
Speaker 7: She obviously is not a fan of mine, so she's
29:53
Speaker 7: not going to talk to me. I want to go
29:54
Speaker 7: back real quick to what Javita was saying about being alone,
30:00
Speaker 7: about Judge Cornelio being alone with Lane. I talked to
30:04
Speaker 7: David clave As, the president of the Deputies Association. He
30:09
Speaker 7: talked to the deputies assigned to that court. Apparently what
30:14
Speaker 7: happened is there was some sort of emergency, something happened,
30:18
Speaker 7: and they were called out of the court for about
30:21
Speaker 7: ten minutes. So Judge Cornelio was alone with Lane, and
30:25
Speaker 7: when they came back, she was very upset about being
30:29
Speaker 7: in the courtroom with him without a deputy there. I
30:34
Speaker 7: think that's so telling. Here's a woman who sees no
30:37
Speaker 7: problem with releasing this man to the public, and yet
30:42
Speaker 7: she's afraid of being in a courtroom with him without
30:46
Speaker 7: somebody being in there with or with a gun.
30:49
Speaker 2: I think her life is more important than our Exactly,
30:52
Speaker 2: It's not the first time she's done that. Take a
30:54
Speaker 2: listen to Our Cut twelve Box twenty six.
30:57
Speaker 3: Back in March, Judge Cornelio allowed Christopher he has to
31:00
Speaker 3: remain free on bond after pleading guilty to assaulting a
31:03
Speaker 3: family member and getting a fourteen year prison sentence.
31:07
Speaker 4: Christopher Diaz has had multiple felony convictions.
31:11
Speaker 3: DS spent a month on the run after he failed
31:13
Speaker 3: to go back to court to begin his prison term.
31:16
Speaker 4: If you're mister Lane and you're looking at a lengthy
31:19
Speaker 4: prison sentence, do you show up or not?
31:23
Speaker 3: Laine is supposed to return to court on August thirty
31:25
Speaker 3: first to be sentenced.
31:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, good luck with that, Andy Kahn. Who is Christopher Diaz.
31:30
Speaker 8: Christopher Diaz has a lengthy criminal history, including a conviction
31:35
Speaker 8: of injury to a child. He pled guilty to assault
31:39
Speaker 8: within ten two pee breathing, which is just a fancy
31:43
Speaker 8: term for trying to strangle somebody to death. He was
31:46
Speaker 8: actually sentenced. So here's what kind of makes it a
31:49
Speaker 8: little bit different than what we're taught about. Same judge, Yeah,
31:52
Speaker 8: same judge, same court, fourteen years in March, and for
31:56
Speaker 8: whatever reason, he's allowed to remain told a return back
32:02
Speaker 8: to begin his sentence, And of course he just said, man,
32:05
Speaker 8: you know what, I'm out of here. I'm not going
32:08
Speaker 8: to do this. So the Harris County Sheriff's deputies officers
32:12
Speaker 8: there was actually a warrant out for his rearrests even
32:16
Speaker 8: though he's already been convicted. So again, like Doug and
32:19
Speaker 8: I have been saying, you're putting law enforcement at jeopardy
32:22
Speaker 8: in a.
32:23
Speaker 2: Horrible, horrible position. I mean, if you pull this guy over,
32:27
Speaker 2: even for a traffic violation, he's going to shoot the
32:30
Speaker 2: cop because he doesn't want to be pulled in on
32:33
Speaker 2: a murder charge and go in for life without parole
32:37
Speaker 2: or a simple life. Guys, it's happening over and over,
32:40
Speaker 2: and judges are supposed to be the experts in the law,
32:45
Speaker 2: but apparently they can't see beyond their own concerns. Take
32:50
Speaker 2: a listen to our cut thirteen, our forensic KGRK.
32:54
Speaker 15: My mom was eighty years old. She was disabled, you know,
32:59
Speaker 15: she shuffled with the and she's the prototypical grandmother, you know,
33:04
Speaker 15: reading glasses down on her nose, knitting needles by the
33:08
Speaker 15: side of a rocking chair, A mother.
33:09
Speaker 16: Of three, grandmother of six. Rosalie Cook was three minutes
33:13
Speaker 16: from home at Walgreens and Guesser in South Bray's Wood
33:16
Speaker 16: Boulevard to buy a card. One year ago, as she
33:19
Speaker 16: headed towards her car in the parking lot to go home,
33:22
Speaker 16: Rosalie was stabbed to death by Randy Lewis.
33:25
Speaker 2: And who is Randy Lewis? Well, he had been arrested
33:28
Speaker 2: sixty seven times, that's sixty seven times. He was out
33:33
Speaker 2: on ro R, released on personal recognissance, in other words,
33:38
Speaker 2: released on your promise you'll come back to court. And
33:42
Speaker 2: he runs into this. Literally, a little old lady eighty
33:47
Speaker 2: years old out to buy a card at Walgreens and
33:51
Speaker 2: stabs her dad. Now I see judges bending over backwards
33:58
Speaker 2: for defendants. Here's a good one. Our cut seventeen out
34:04
Speaker 2: of twelve. News.
34:06
Speaker 17: Jacob Chansley, also known as the Q Shaman last scene
34:09
Speaker 17: storming the US Capital on January sixth, will be served
34:13
Speaker 17: organic food as he awaits trial in federal custody in Washington,
34:17
Speaker 17: d C.
34:18
Speaker 6: Now this comes after a federal judge ruled yesterday that
34:21
Speaker 6: Chansley's religious beliefs entitle him to be able to follow
34:25
Speaker 6: his organic diet.
34:26
Speaker 2: Organic diet? What about Brian Coburger. He's getting a vegan
34:30
Speaker 2: diet and it's not because of any religious belief judges
34:34
Speaker 2: bending over backwards to caddle killers. This guy we were
34:39
Speaker 2: just talking about, not only it's a burglar breaking enter,
34:43
Speaker 2: but to our own capital, and he's getting a special meal.
34:50
Speaker 2: He's worried about his religion. Now, he wasn't worried about
34:53
Speaker 2: his religion when he was breaking into the capital. That's
34:57
Speaker 2: not all. Here's a judge that stops court so the
35:02
Speaker 2: defendant can get a design or outfit on. That's right.
35:08
Speaker 2: Stops the bailiffs, the jury, the witnesses, everything, so the
35:13
Speaker 2: defendant can get her outfit just right. Take a listener
35:18
Speaker 2: Cut eighteen inside edition.
35:20
Speaker 18: Is she in a courtroom or at a red carpet event?
35:23
Speaker 18: Annasorrikin is accused of posing as an heiress to live
35:26
Speaker 18: an extravagant lifestyle. But it's what she's wearing to trial
35:30
Speaker 18: that is making headlines. The twenty seven year old defendant
35:33
Speaker 18: showed up wearing a form fitting black dress with a
35:35
Speaker 18: plunging neckline and choker necklace. It's a look that could
35:39
Speaker 18: backfire a Warren stylist Don Karen.
35:42
Speaker 11: Black dress definitely a no no. A hyper sexualize her.
35:46
Speaker 11: It makes her appear to be like a seductress. The
35:49
Speaker 11: choker kind of shows to me that she's trying to
35:52
Speaker 11: be overtly sexy. The more sexy she appears to be,
35:57
Speaker 11: it hurts her.
35:57
Speaker 18: Soor kin is so obsessed with her clothes. She refused
36:00
Speaker 18: to enter the courtroom because the outfit she was given
36:03
Speaker 18: to wear was not up to her standards. The angry
36:06
Speaker 18: judge told her this is unacceptable and inappropriate. This is
36:10
Speaker 18: not a fashion show.
36:11
Speaker 2: Well, the judge was all bark and no bite because
36:14
Speaker 2: the judge delayed court and waited for the defendant, who
36:19
Speaker 2: had ripped people off to over sixty thousand dollars, to
36:23
Speaker 2: get her outfit just straight before she would walk in.
36:25
Speaker 2: And that's why we have bails woman to bring the
36:29
Speaker 2: defendant into the courtroom. Okay, and what about Jamie Lee Komarowski.
36:34
Speaker 2: Do you remember her? She got so drunk multiple times
36:39
Speaker 2: the legal limit and then plows down a bride and
36:43
Speaker 2: groom leaving their wedding reception, mows them down in her car,
36:50
Speaker 2: and kills the bride in her wedding dress. Wait for it,
36:57
Speaker 2: take a listen to our friends at crime.
36:58
Speaker 6: Online Comaroskie has been vocal about conditions in the jail.
37:01
Speaker 6: Her complaints range from a lack of writing supplies to
37:05
Speaker 6: not having an exercise matt to do her crunches. Kamarowski
37:08
Speaker 6: has complained about nosy deputies and the food hot dogs
37:12
Speaker 6: called meat balls, white bread, and more. She even complains
37:15
Speaker 6: that a deputy wouldn't even let her hold the remote
37:19
Speaker 6: control to change the television channels in her holding area.
37:22
Speaker 2: Okay, sometimes I'm actually left speechless. Andy Kahn, my longtime
37:28
Speaker 2: friend and colleague director Victim Services out of Houston. Andy,
37:32
Speaker 2: she's upset. Yes, she did mow down the bride and
37:36
Speaker 2: groom drunk as a skunk, killing the bride in her
37:42
Speaker 2: wedding dress. But she's upset. She can't hold the remote.
37:47
Speaker 2: Help me.
37:48
Speaker 8: It's like being part of this backwards world and you
37:52
Speaker 8: sit there and you just want to scream like Peter
37:54
Speaker 8: Fension Network, I'm mad as hell, and I can't believe
37:58
Speaker 8: this has happened, and this has got to stop. I
38:00
Speaker 8: don't understand this new criminal justice reform philosophy of where
38:06
Speaker 8: now the defendants and the convicted killers and convicted felons
38:11
Speaker 8: are now looked upon as being victims of the system,
38:16
Speaker 8: and you have people on the bench that are bending
38:18
Speaker 8: over backwards, basically acquiescing every little whim and every little
38:23
Speaker 8: request they get. Crime victims are the only unwilling participants
38:29
Speaker 8: in the criminal justice system. Everyone else chose their role
38:33
Speaker 8: law enforcement prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, parole probation victim advocates.
38:40
Speaker 8: No one ever said, pick me, pick me, I want
38:43
Speaker 8: to be a victim of a crime. And yet right
38:45
Speaker 8: now victims are treated with disinstitutionalized disinterests, like they're not
38:49
Speaker 8: even part of the equation.
38:51
Speaker 2: Including this judge, Judge Natalia Cornelio, and you elected her.
38:58
Speaker 2: She wasn't appointed as simple hat by the governor. She
39:02
Speaker 2: was elected. What is her jurisdiction?
39:05
Speaker 7: Randy Wallace, You know, one of the interesting things too,
39:08
Speaker 7: when you look at these judges here back when we
39:11
Speaker 7: had the primary, We've been doing breaking bond for more
39:15
Speaker 7: than two years, and during the primary, some of the
39:19
Speaker 7: incumbent judges they lost, which is almost unheard of. But
39:23
Speaker 7: then the November election last fall, all these judges that
39:28
Speaker 7: we had been doing reports on they got reelected.
39:31
Speaker 2: Okay, my question was, I know it's Houston, Texas, but
39:34
Speaker 2: what is her jurisdiction? What county, Harris County, Harris County,
39:39
Speaker 2: Harris County voters, you did this you did this to yourself.
39:43
Speaker 2: Now what are you going to do about it? Sit
39:45
Speaker 2: by and let Judge Natalia Cornelio let other killers out.
39:50
Speaker 2: You know, I got a question for you, doctor Carla Manley.
39:53
Speaker 2: When my children are growing up, they would read these
39:55
Speaker 2: little batty when I was teaching them to read these
39:57
Speaker 2: little beatty than books, and they would have a number
40:00
Speaker 2: on the outside as to the difficulty of the books.
40:03
Speaker 2: What was about difficulty? Three? And my son read a
40:07
Speaker 2: Superman book about bizarro Land. Bizarrow Land is another planet
40:13
Speaker 2: where everything is exactly opposite as it is on our planet,
40:18
Speaker 2: and so the Superman there was a bad guy. Everything
40:23
Speaker 2: was upside down, everything was reversed, and that's exactly what's
40:27
Speaker 2: happening here. Nobody gives a flying fig about the victim,
40:32
Speaker 2: especially Judge Natalia Cornelio. It's all bass awkwards.
40:37
Speaker 5: Doctor Absolutely.
40:39
Speaker 13: I worked for six years with juveniles on probation, a
40:43
Speaker 13: very serious units and what I learned from that experience,
40:47
Speaker 13: regardless of your age, is that when children or adults
40:52
Speaker 13: are given consequences where they are predictable, where the environment
40:57
Speaker 13: is consistent, the consequences are predictable, especially when they have
41:01
Speaker 13: impulse control issues, which children do, but ulto criminals certainly do.
41:07
Speaker 13: If we don't have predictable natural consequences, we really run
41:13
Speaker 13: the risk, as you say, of turning the world upside down,
41:16
Speaker 13: for ourselves, for the children, for the children that become adults,
41:20
Speaker 13: and in this case, for the public, where it is
41:24
Speaker 13: a topsy toury world when convicted murderers are released.
41:29
Speaker 2: That was beautifully said doctor Manley, Doctor carl And Manley speaking.
41:32
Speaker 2: But final word to Tabitha Souls. This is Greg's stepmom
41:37
Speaker 2: who's been trying to get his father through this stunning
41:42
Speaker 2: blow dealt to him by not only a killer, but
41:45
Speaker 2: a judge. He lets the killer walk free to get
41:48
Speaker 2: his hairstyle. Fat chance this guy's going to come back
41:51
Speaker 2: to court for a life behind bars, Miss Souls. What's
41:55
Speaker 2: your word to the judge?
41:58
Speaker 5: A hope that by the time October eighteenth, Cob, she
42:03
Speaker 5: has some common sense back into her head to put
42:06
Speaker 5: this guy behind bars for life stime.
42:09
Speaker 2: And my hope is that the voters remember this come
42:12
Speaker 2: reelection time. That's my hope. Absolutely, let your voice be heard.
42:18
Speaker 2: You can reach the judge at eight three to two
42:21
Speaker 2: nine two seven three six seven five repeat eight three
42:26
Speaker 2: two nine two seven three six seven five, and you
42:31
Speaker 2: can reach her law clerk. She doesn't have the guts
42:34
Speaker 2: to put her own email out there. The law clerk
42:37
Speaker 2: is Esperanza dot alan is at h seat. That's Harris
42:43
Speaker 2: County District Clerk dot com. Let your voice be heard
42:51
Speaker 2: and the voters of Harris County sit up and pay attention.
42:57
Speaker 2: We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye, friend, you