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The Brutal Murder of James Barry _ True Crime Documentary · NO FILTER

0:01
Speaker 1: At one am on a November night in twenty sixteen,
0:05
Speaker 1: a family in Loxahatchie, Florida, awoke to a real life nightmare,
0:10
Speaker 1: a horrific scene, screams to call nine one one, and
0:14
Speaker 1: a young man dying in his bedroom. From the house
0:19
Speaker 1: emerged three survivors, a distraught mother, her boyfriend and the
0:23
Speaker 1: best friend. But it was a fourth person, they claimed,
0:29
Speaker 1: who had made their way inside the locked house in
0:32
Speaker 1: the middle of the night, committed the murder and escaped.
0:42
Speaker 1: Hi there, I'm Kevin, and welcome to Just Thought Lounge.
0:46
Speaker 1: Today's case takes some unexpected turns. It's full of disputed evidence,
0:51
Speaker 1: shocking statements and false allegations. In the end, the truth
0:56
Speaker 1: is unsettling but undeniable. Take a look at Just before
1:16
Speaker 1: one am on November sixteenth, twenty sixteen, an emergency call
1:21
Speaker 1: was placed from a home on Glasgow Drive in Laxahachie, Florida.
1:25
Speaker 1: The caller, fifty six year old Nicola Barry, was frantic
1:29
Speaker 1: she had awoken to a chaotic scene and found her son,
1:33
Speaker 1: twenty one year old James, injured in his bedroom. When
1:38
Speaker 1: deputies arrived, they found three adults in the home with
1:41
Speaker 1: James his mother, Nicola, who had placed the call to
1:44
Speaker 1: nine one one, her living boyfriend, Guy Hand, as well
1:48
Speaker 1: as James's best friend Jeff Jarsbikowski, who was just staying
1:52
Speaker 1: the night. Inside the house, responders found James on his bed.
1:57
Speaker 1: Guy was diligently performing CPR when EMTs rushed in. They
2:01
Speaker 1: transferred him to the floor and continued life saving efforts.
2:06
Speaker 1: Unfortunately it was too late. Twenty one year old James
2:10
Speaker 1: Barry was declared dead at the scene. He had suffered
2:14
Speaker 1: multiple stab wounds, including fatal injuries to his chest. Nicola, Guy,
2:21
Speaker 1: and Jeff were escorted from the house to the roadside,
2:24
Speaker 1: where a neighbor met them to provide comfort. Both Guy
2:31
Speaker 1: and Jeff carried signs of the brutal attack, stains on
2:35
Speaker 1: their hands, arms, and elsewhere. Both had been attempting to
2:39
Speaker 1: perform life saving measures on James before EMTs arrived in
2:44
Speaker 1: the house, responders found a carving knife with a white
2:47
Speaker 1: handle and a ten inch curved blade. It was bloodied
2:51
Speaker 1: and sitting on the kitchen counter. Moving through the kitchen
2:55
Speaker 1: and down the hallway towards the bedrooms, a trail led
2:58
Speaker 1: to where James was found by emergency responders. As they
3:05
Speaker 1: waited for detectives to arrive on scene. The group outside
3:09
Speaker 1: began to speculate and pieced together what they believed happened
3:13
Speaker 1: only moments earlier. In spite of the shock and confusion
3:17
Speaker 1: of the night's events, a consensus began to emerge almost immediately.
3:21
Speaker 1: Someone else must have entered the house while they slept,
3:25
Speaker 1: and that someone had to have been James's nineteen year
3:29
Speaker 1: old girlfriend, Melanie Iam. James had been messaging with Melanie
3:34
Speaker 1: earlier that night, Jeff said, and there had been an argument.
3:38
Speaker 1: According to Jeff, James had been trying to break things off.
3:43
Speaker 1: Sometime around eight or eight thirty, Melanie had turned up
3:46
Speaker 1: at the house uninvited. Though she left at that time,
3:50
Speaker 1: she must have returned.
3:53
Speaker 2: And saw her out there to go away. You thought
4:00
Speaker 2: she pulled back.
4:01
Speaker 3: She didn't get out of the car and left. Elmbell
4:06
Speaker 3: was driving her. How does she know how to get
4:11
Speaker 3: through the ad a lot door when there is that.
4:13
Speaker 2: Kid nights ago? She came in over here again and
4:18
Speaker 2: then James hurd and thoughts almost trying to break in,
4:20
Speaker 2: and then he saw her when he looked out the window,
4:23
Speaker 2: and then he texted her saying go away or worked out,
4:25
Speaker 2: we're over go away to just disrespectful tell me that
4:31
Speaker 2: he just told me today, like right before I fell
4:34
Speaker 2: that Jesus was I have a excition. She's always been
4:39
Speaker 2: fucking psycho, always him.
4:49
Speaker 3: Joe on her address?
4:51
Speaker 4: Where had the text is coming out We'll talk to
4:53
Speaker 4: you when they gave him open.
4:55
Speaker 1: Guy reported that he locked all of the doors to
4:58
Speaker 1: the house every night. If James had already told Melanie
5:01
Speaker 1: to leave once, it's unlikely he let her in later.
5:05
Speaker 1: So how did Melanie get inside? There was no sign
5:09
Speaker 1: of forced entry to the home. The front door was locked,
5:13
Speaker 1: so was a side door connecting to the patio. A
5:17
Speaker 1: back door, however, sat open. No one could deduce how
5:21
Speaker 1: Melanie would have been able to unlock that door initially
5:24
Speaker 1: to enter the house. Guy speculated that perhaps she had
5:28
Speaker 1: stolen a key, or alternatively, she had broken in through
5:33
Speaker 1: the garage.
5:35
Speaker 2: And if she's still a key, she would know if
5:38
Speaker 2: she took a key off the key ring, she wouldn't
5:41
Speaker 2: have time to keep that with that key back on
5:43
Speaker 2: the key ring. Which is she that fucking smart? You
5:49
Speaker 2: know what?
5:50
Speaker 3: That would actually make perfect then that I remember waking up.
5:54
Speaker 3: I'm not sure what time it was, but it was
5:56
Speaker 3: probably like eleven or twelve. Yeah, she come in the
6:03
Speaker 3: front door.
6:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's.
6:08
Speaker 1: It appeared that the attack began in the kitchen and
6:11
Speaker 1: led into the bedroom. The presumed murder weapon, the carving knife,
6:15
Speaker 1: likely carried back into the kitchen and left behind. Investigators
6:20
Speaker 1: rapidly determined that the knife had been taken from inside
6:23
Speaker 1: the house. It was one from Guy's collection. A butcher
6:27
Speaker 1: by trade, he owned several larger blades that were kept
6:30
Speaker 1: in the home. Indeed, Guy had used this very knife
6:34
Speaker 1: only hours earlier to carve their roast for dinner. Its
6:38
Speaker 1: usual place was the second drawer down in the kitchen,
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Speaker 1: next to the stove.
6:43
Speaker 3: Have you said those knives were hidden right in the
6:46
Speaker 3: second drawer? Specific So where knives are knives in there?
6:54
Speaker 3: Eight into them and then a twoall enges because she
6:58
Speaker 3: knows that how better.
6:59
Speaker 1: Than anyone outside. Near to the open back door, on
7:03
Speaker 1: the patio table, investigators spotted a cell phone in a
7:07
Speaker 1: pink case. Near to the phone, there were drops of
7:10
Speaker 1: a blood like substance. Later tests would confirm these small
7:17
Speaker 1: stains wore blood and that cell phone was Melanie Eam's.
7:30
Speaker 1: James Barry and Melanie Eam had been high school sweethearts.
7:34
Speaker 1: They had started their relationship as friends, belonging to the
7:37
Speaker 1: same social circle at school. They shared a love of
7:41
Speaker 1: gaming and spent many hours playing together. After some time,
7:45
Speaker 1: James eventually worked up the confidence to ask Melanie on
7:49
Speaker 1: a date. From there, their romance moved quickly. The two
7:53
Speaker 1: were inseparable. James's older sister, Alexandra, reported that the family
7:59
Speaker 1: was initially thrilled for James and embraced Melanie, A shy
8:04
Speaker 1: and generally quiet young girl. She enjoyed baking at their
8:07
Speaker 1: house and cooking special meals for James and the family
8:11
Speaker 1: to share. Following his parents divorce when he was a child,
8:15
Speaker 1: James lived with his mother and eventually her boyfriend Guy
8:19
Speaker 1: as well. In the years before his death, Melanie would
8:23
Speaker 1: spend major holidays with James's family at the house in Luxahachie.
8:28
Speaker 1: When he graduated from high school, James went on to
8:31
Speaker 1: study at Palm Beach College. This move reportedly prompted Melanie
8:35
Speaker 1: to do the same. Though she was younger than him,
8:38
Speaker 1: she was able to leave school, obtain her ged, and
8:42
Speaker 1: then follow her boyfriend into the same program. After two
8:48
Speaker 1: years together, the couple were as close as ever, perhaps
8:52
Speaker 1: too close, their relationship had descended into an on again,
8:56
Speaker 1: off again roller coaster of highs and lows, always together
9:00
Speaker 1: and then breaking up. Messages exchanged between them in the
9:04
Speaker 1: hours before the murder showed to James trying to distance
9:07
Speaker 1: himself once again. In fact, he wanted to break up
9:12
Speaker 1: this time, it seems he meant to stick to it.
9:15
Speaker 1: While he played games with Jeff at home, he was
9:17
Speaker 1: also active on a gaming app, where he wrote to Melanie,
9:21
Speaker 1: it might be better for us to split and just
9:23
Speaker 1: focus on ourselves rather than worrying about each other constantly.
9:28
Speaker 1: Melanie had been reportedly unreasonably jealous over one of James's
9:32
Speaker 1: ex girlfriends. That night, he wrote, but honestly, are you
9:37
Speaker 1: and me really happy? I'm not going back to my ex.
9:40
Speaker 1: Don't worry about that at all. It's something we need
9:43
Speaker 1: to look at and accept we're not happy. James's honest
9:48
Speaker 1: reflection on the state of their relationship was met with denial.
9:51
Speaker 1: For Melanie, I thought you are happy with me before
9:55
Speaker 1: the past few days, she wrote. Her confusion may have
9:58
Speaker 1: stemmed from a previous converse station they had in person,
10:02
Speaker 1: because James responded Melanie, I type my feelings better than
10:06
Speaker 1: explaining them in real life. I'm not happy at all anymore.
10:12
Speaker 1: Thanks for leaving me through a league chat, she wrote.
10:16
Speaker 1: Though the messages carried a sense of finality, investigators believed
10:21
Speaker 1: that Melanie was not willing to accept the breakup and
10:24
Speaker 1: leave things as they stood. James may not have wanted
10:28
Speaker 1: to discuss his feelings in person, but his ex girlfriend
10:31
Speaker 1: certainly did. Three hours after she sent that last message,
10:38
Speaker 1: passed midnight on the sixteenth, her car was spotted parked
10:42
Speaker 1: in front of James's house on Glasgow Drive. While law
10:48
Speaker 1: enforcement assessed the scene, they also sought out Melanie Eam.
10:53
Speaker 1: She was not located at the home she shared with
10:55
Speaker 1: her parents. They expressed surprise that the police were looking
10:59
Speaker 1: for her at all. There was no way she could
11:01
Speaker 1: have been involved, they said. Also, they expressed concern because
11:06
Speaker 1: they had no idea where she was.
11:10
Speaker 6: Ros. You know, my body just numb and I we
11:14
Speaker 6: couldn't sleep, we cannot eat. We just like like a dream,
11:18
Speaker 6: I mean, like you wake up as it cannot happen.
11:25
Speaker 1: Declaring her only a person of interest in her ex
11:28
Speaker 1: boyfriend's murder, law enforcement issued a public plea for assistance
11:33
Speaker 1: in locating Melanie Meanwhile, they checked traffic cameras for captures
11:37
Speaker 1: of her license plate, and they received a few hits.
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Speaker 1: It seems that Melanie had driven through the night to Maryland.
11:46
Speaker 1: Learning that Melanie had an uncle and cousins in the state,
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Speaker 1: officers there were dispatched to check for her vehicle near
11:52
Speaker 1: to her relative's address. They found it.
11:56
Speaker 2: Oh, is here, I see it?
12:00
Speaker 7: Is it?
12:02
Speaker 2: Yes, that's here coming.
12:03
Speaker 8: Hold on call, starge, Now let me call it.
12:09
Speaker 1: Maryland officers were not involved in the homicide investigation. Their
12:13
Speaker 1: instructions were to locate, verify, and take possession of the
12:17
Speaker 1: Toyota Corolla, ostensibly due to unpaid tolls. Their next step
12:22
Speaker 1: was to confirm that Melanie Eam was inside the house
12:25
Speaker 1: and not at risk of harm or of leaving.
12:30
Speaker 7: Got gotta.
12:39
Speaker 2: Have to take the tag or something like that.
12:43
Speaker 8: I guess you's your case about what's going on?
12:45
Speaker 5: What is the.
12:47
Speaker 7: No?
12:48
Speaker 8: So so right now, all it is is, like I said,
12:50
Speaker 8: we've got to call to check the welfare of guests
12:51
Speaker 8: of is Melanie Melanie's here? So they just said, hey,
12:55
Speaker 8: you know, some stuff happened. Pretty much, family got concerned.
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Speaker 8: They just wanted us to come and make sure she's fine,
13:01
Speaker 8: like in the right state of mind and everything like that.
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Speaker 8: So is it cool if she comes out and talks
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Speaker 8: to us real briefly? Like I said, we just need
13:06
Speaker 8: to make sure everything is fine with their emotions. I mean,
13:14
Speaker 8: if I mean, is it cool if we going like
13:17
Speaker 8: I said, it's just to make sure physically she's fine
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Speaker 8: as all, that's it. Or if she if she doesn't
13:22
Speaker 8: want us to come in and she comes to come out. Okay,
13:25
Speaker 8: that works. Hey, do what you got to do, mank
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Speaker 8: I appreciate it.
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Speaker 1: Melanie did not appear surprised to exit the house and
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Speaker 1: encounter the officers. She seemed to know why they were there.
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Speaker 1: The officers, however, were clearly not as well informed.
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Speaker 8: Hi, Melanie, people concerned about you. Okay, so we'll come.
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Speaker 8: We'll come back and knock on your doorm. Can give
13:57
Speaker 8: you all the information you have. Any questions for us, Melanie.
14:03
Speaker 9: Question?
14:06
Speaker 8: Yeah, we didn't get We haven't been told anything, Like
14:08
Speaker 8: I said. They just wanted us to talk to you
14:10
Speaker 8: about make sure physically and emotionally you're fine as well. Okay,
14:14
Speaker 8: do you have any other questions for us?
14:17
Speaker 3: What's going on?
14:18
Speaker 9: Melanie?
14:24
Speaker 2: Okay?
14:27
Speaker 8: What are you scared about? Okay, thank you all right. Well, well,
14:35
Speaker 8: like I said, we'll be right back. If you have
14:36
Speaker 8: any further questions for us. Well, like I said, we'll
14:38
Speaker 8: be knocked. We'll be back to knock on the door.
14:40
Speaker 8: If anything comes up in between that time. Please don't
14:43
Speaker 8: hesitate to ask us if you know, let us know
14:44
Speaker 8: what's going on, okay.
14:48
Speaker 1: Detective Oliver of Palm Beach County traveled to Maryland to
14:52
Speaker 1: meet with Melanie. Her cousin allowed him in a colleague
14:55
Speaker 1: into the home. At that time, he pressed record on
14:58
Speaker 1: his cell phone. The detective's stated intention was not to
15:02
Speaker 1: arrest the teenager, only to take her statement. For this reason,
15:07
Speaker 1: she was not read her Miranda rights.
15:13
Speaker 2: Are We're not gonna provide you. You're just going to
15:16
Speaker 2: come the station talking.
15:17
Speaker 10: We're we're just going to talk to you. We're going
15:19
Speaker 10: to bring you right back. You're not under a rast.
15:22
Speaker 1: Detective Oliver offered to speak with Melanie at the kitchen
15:25
Speaker 1: table in her uncle's home. Two of her cousins were presently.
15:30
Speaker 7: Everything shows that you just drove over there with the
15:32
Speaker 7: intention of Kelly James, which is really bad.
15:35
Speaker 2: But if it's something like either Matt moment passion, you
15:39
Speaker 2: were trying to defend yourself.
15:40
Speaker 11: This is your opportunity.
15:41
Speaker 10: Now get another opportunity. Most likely it's your opportunity right now.
15:47
Speaker 1: With the family dog whimpering in the background, Melanie explained
15:51
Speaker 1: that she went over to James's house that night just
15:54
Speaker 1: to speak with him. He was breaking up with her,
15:57
Speaker 1: but she didn't believe that he no longer loved her.
16:01
Speaker 10: She wanted to speak in person there, wanted to speak
16:07
Speaker 10: with him.
16:09
Speaker 4: We'll put you over the edge.
16:10
Speaker 10: I think just because you broke your heart. I'm guessing
16:14
Speaker 10: he was gone to steal when you use the knife
16:18
Speaker 10: on him.
16:18
Speaker 12: Was your intention just to kind of scare.
16:22
Speaker 8: Or you didn't want to kill him?
16:23
Speaker 10: Did you just told me that you didn't want to
16:25
Speaker 10: kill me?
16:26
Speaker 8: I didn't mean to or one in the off I
16:29
Speaker 8: thought he would be okay.
16:32
Speaker 1: She told Detective Oliver that she had taken the knife
16:35
Speaker 1: from the drawer in the kitchen she knew where all
16:38
Speaker 1: the cutlery and other cooking utensils were kept. Before she
16:41
Speaker 1: ran from the house, she tossed the knife away somewhere
16:44
Speaker 1: in the room more than once. Melanie indicated that she
16:48
Speaker 1: had not realized how severely James had been injured. She
16:52
Speaker 1: thought he'd be okay and didn't think it was that much.
16:57
Speaker 1: Though she knew enough to run, she drove to Maryland,
17:01
Speaker 1: stopping only at a Walmart on the way to purchase
17:04
Speaker 1: a new cell phone. She also knew not to return
17:07
Speaker 1: to the scene to collect the one she had left there.
17:15
Speaker 1: Melanie was eventually extradited to Florida, where she was held
17:19
Speaker 1: without bond awaiting trial. She faced charges of manslaughter and
17:23
Speaker 1: second degree murder. She pleaded not guilty.
17:27
Speaker 4: It was a horrific crime, but right now we're going
17:30
Speaker 4: forward in terms of the justice part of the equation,
17:34
Speaker 4: and I'm glad that Melanie is in jail without bond
17:38
Speaker 4: at this stage of the game, so we can move forward.
17:42
Speaker 1: Melanie's attorney, Bruce Lear, promptly filed a motion to have
17:46
Speaker 1: her recorded confession removed from the evidence at trial. Lear
17:50
Speaker 1: argued that common sense proved that the confession offered by
17:53
Speaker 1: Melanie to detective Oliver was based upon his words and
17:57
Speaker 1: not hers. She had been guided to confess by the
18:01
Speaker 1: predetermined conclusions the detective had made about the case that
18:05
Speaker 1: she was a rejected girlfriend who stabbed James to death
18:09
Speaker 1: in an angry rage.
18:12
Speaker 5: I'm saying that my client gave an alleged confession in
18:18
Speaker 5: violation of her constitutional rights and therefore should be suppressed.
18:23
Speaker 1: The state countered that no rights were read because Melanie
18:27
Speaker 1: was not under arrest. She was told multiple times that
18:31
Speaker 1: this was the case, and at no time did anyone
18:34
Speaker 1: in the house ask the detectives to leave. At the
18:37
Speaker 1: end of the interview, Detective Oliver asked if Melanie had
18:41
Speaker 1: been comfortable with the conversation. She responded positively.
18:46
Speaker 2: Did you feel like uncomfortable talking to me?
18:49
Speaker 7: She is very comfortable.
18:51
Speaker 10: Oh, my comfortable.
18:56
Speaker 2: Trying not to disrespect to try to make this comport
18:58
Speaker 2: of powder.
18:59
Speaker 1: Molan attempts to have the confession suppressed failed. Melanie Eum
19:08
Speaker 1: stood trial in the autumn of twenty eighteen. Her defense
19:12
Speaker 1: team came out swinging with a new theory of the
19:15
Speaker 1: crime from the moment responders arrived on scene. The defense
19:19
Speaker 1: said the finger was pointed at Melanie. This was an
19:23
Speaker 1: unusual and flawed approach to the investigation, considering three adults
19:27
Speaker 1: were found with the victim in a house where all
19:30
Speaker 1: the doors had been locked before ten pm. Leir accused
19:34
Speaker 1: Nicola Barry's boyfriend, Guy Hand, of committing the murder, then
19:39
Speaker 1: staging the cell phone to frame his client, and otherwise
19:43
Speaker 1: covering up evidence. He argued that Melanie had been in
19:48
Speaker 1: the house at the time of the murder. The shirt
19:50
Speaker 1: she had been wearing that night tested positive for James's
19:53
Speaker 1: blood on the cuff of the right sleeve. Blood was
19:56
Speaker 1: similarly found on the gearshift of her Corolla, a car
20:00
Speaker 1: that was spotted parked out front of the house that night.
20:03
Speaker 1: This evidence was explained by her presence there as a witness. Indeed,
20:08
Speaker 1: they argued that she had been in the room and
20:11
Speaker 1: watched as Guy attacked James. Then she ran from the
20:16
Speaker 1: scene in fear of what she had just witnessed.
20:21
Speaker 10: The evidence will show.
20:23
Speaker 7: That Guy Man, for some reason, took a Valiant that
20:28
Speaker 7: night before he went to bed. It will show that
20:36
Speaker 7: he picked up the bloody knife well aware and he'll
20:39
Speaker 7: admit it was aware that.
20:41
Speaker 10: I had been used to kill this man. He picks
20:44
Speaker 10: it off.
20:47
Speaker 9: And he takes it.
20:51
Speaker 7: At that point destroyed.
20:54
Speaker 10: The evidence is background.
20:57
Speaker 7: Here was a butcher, and of everyone who was in
21:05
Speaker 7: the house at that time, the mother of the deceased,
21:11
Speaker 7: the best friend of the deceased, and Guy Hand.
21:15
Speaker 10: Guy Hand is the one who saying she did it.
21:18
Speaker 10: She did it, She did it right on the start.
21:23
Speaker 7: Your common sense will tell you who inflicted those mortal wounds.
21:29
Speaker 10: Melani An was so horribly frightened by seeing the stabbing
21:38
Speaker 10: of her boyfriend, writing her rides by someone that.
21:43
Speaker 7: She got in her car and she drove like a
21:46
Speaker 7: bat out of excuse me, bat out of hell and
21:49
Speaker 7: went to a family member in Merran.
21:54
Speaker 1: Guy Hand was a key witness for the prosecution. He
21:57
Speaker 1: testified that he took half a value that night at
22:00
Speaker 1: roughly nine thirty pm before going to bed because he
22:04
Speaker 1: had napped earlier in the day and was concerned that
22:07
Speaker 1: he would not sleep the drug had been prescribed to him.
22:10
Speaker 1: Nicola wore earplugs to bed. These circumstances likely impacted how
22:15
Speaker 1: quickly they awoke following the chaos in noise of the attack.
22:19
Speaker 1: When they did awake, it was to screams from Jeff
22:22
Speaker 1: calling out frantically for someone to call nine one one.
22:28
Speaker 10: On something. It was starling and at that point he
22:34
Speaker 10: did it loud enough that you hear that y.
22:39
Speaker 3: At that point in time, are you filing yet?
22:44
Speaker 10: When you hear them once?
22:45
Speaker 12: Yes? Is Nikola fail in bed at the time to
22:49
Speaker 12: get varying.
22:51
Speaker 10: Yes, what do you want to hear them jump out
22:55
Speaker 10: of it.
22:57
Speaker 9: I see Jeff, he's springing doll nine to one helpful
23:06
Speaker 9: and I see James sidem up against the bed and
23:12
Speaker 9: he takes sting.
23:13
Speaker 7: Yeah. Uh.
23:18
Speaker 1: With the help of Jeff, James was lifted onto the
23:21
Speaker 1: bed and laid flat to receive CPR. Guy teared up
23:25
Speaker 1: in court, telling the jury about the moment that he
23:28
Speaker 1: realized while trying to render aid that it was too late.
23:34
Speaker 12: Now at this point, so even though it was continued
23:38
Speaker 12: to try and help King, Yes.
23:47
Speaker 7: I watched the life his eyes.
23:53
Speaker 1: Guy spotted the knife at the end of the bed,
23:55
Speaker 1: admittedly without thinking. As responders rushed into the room, he
24:00
Speaker 1: picked up the knife and carried it into the kitchen.
24:05
Speaker 9: I picked up the knogs with these three fingers and
24:08
Speaker 9: walked it down the hall and laid.
24:10
Speaker 2: It on the counter by the trash can, just so
24:14
Speaker 2: no one.
24:14
Speaker 10: Would kick it cut the toes.
24:17
Speaker 1: Upon cross examination, Guy was pressured by attorney lear was
24:22
Speaker 1: it not his knife that was used to kill James?
24:25
Speaker 1: Why would he have picked it up and moved it
24:27
Speaker 1: from the scene. When law enforcement documented the scene, they
24:31
Speaker 1: photographed a kitchen towel sitting next to the weapon. Had
24:34
Speaker 1: Guy used that towel to wipe it clean?
24:38
Speaker 10: You left the Mercyne at the request of the police
24:43
Speaker 10: carrying a butcher knife, all curing before are you carrying yes?
24:52
Speaker 1: Guy was also questioned about his choice to partially wash
24:56
Speaker 1: one of his hands at the scene before being photographed
24:59
Speaker 1: by police. Handed water by an officer to drink, he
25:03
Speaker 1: had used it to wash his left hand.
25:06
Speaker 10: So you were outside a value, questioned by the police,
25:09
Speaker 10: who had already moved a murder weapon, and you now
25:12
Speaker 10: decided to wash your head correctly.
25:16
Speaker 1: Guy Hand also testified that throughout his life he had
25:19
Speaker 1: received CPR trading and estimated ten to fifteen times. For
25:24
Speaker 1: this reason, he took over from Jeff when he came
25:26
Speaker 1: upon the scene that night. During his cross examination, Guy
25:30
Speaker 1: was asked why he had failed at the most basic
25:33
Speaker 1: principles of CPR, crucially the necessity of laying the patient
25:37
Speaker 1: flat on a hard surface. According to his own testimony,
25:41
Speaker 1: James was already collapsed on the floor. Why choose to
25:44
Speaker 1: lift him onto the plush bed. Guy's response was as
25:49
Speaker 1: one would expect. He was in shock, he was traumatized.
25:53
Speaker 1: He did the best he could.
25:56
Speaker 10: Do you have any reason on bring up there?
26:04
Speaker 1: Did you?
26:05
Speaker 11: On Maria.
26:09
Speaker 1: And the question? Nicola Barry, and Jeff Jarsbakowski's accounts of
26:18
Speaker 1: the evening aligned with Guy Hans's testimony. Jeff did not
26:22
Speaker 1: see Melanie attack his friend. He heard James calling to him.
26:26
Speaker 1: He was warning his friend to run from the danger.
26:30
Speaker 1: Jeff testified that as James collapsed on the floor, he
26:33
Speaker 1: witnessed Guy rushing from the other bedroom and pushing his
26:36
Speaker 1: way in to help.
26:40
Speaker 10: And of the bedroom did he have did he up here?
26:46
Speaker 5: At it?
26:51
Speaker 1: Nicola told the jury that Guy was in the bed
26:53
Speaker 1: alongside her when she awoke that night to Jeff's calls
26:57
Speaker 1: for help. Although she was not in the room who
27:00
Speaker 1: as Guy performed CPR, she did leave the house alongside
27:03
Speaker 1: him when responders entered. At that time, she watched Guy
27:08
Speaker 1: grab the knife from the room. She witnessed him drop
27:11
Speaker 1: it on the counter. At no point did she see
27:14
Speaker 1: him try to wipe it down or otherwise try to
27:17
Speaker 1: clean it. Melanie Eam chose not to take the stand
27:22
Speaker 1: in her defense. The state closed their case by emphasizing
27:26
Speaker 1: the hurt and anger that Melanie had expressed over her
27:29
Speaker 1: breakup with James, admitting to Detective Oliver that she was heartbroken.
27:35
Speaker 1: Her pain was so bad that it felt as though
27:38
Speaker 1: her heart would stop, so she decided to stop his
27:42
Speaker 1: as well.
27:45
Speaker 11: November sixteen, of twenty sixteen, James Barry grosed to Melanie
27:53
Speaker 11: Ding's heart and so she two hours later came to
27:59
Speaker 11: palm and stabbed him right above his heart in his chest,
28:03
Speaker 11: stabbed him.
28:05
Speaker 2: And she did it.
28:07
Speaker 12: Immediately after she did it, she said, So she tells
28:12
Speaker 12: Doug heactive Oliver in that sable of her own details
28:16
Speaker 12: where she got the ninth, the fact that it was
28:18
Speaker 12: from the drawer that James ran off. She didn't chase him,
28:22
Speaker 12: but James ran off, trying to save his own life,
28:25
Speaker 12: ran off for help, and that's when he starts screaming
28:28
Speaker 12: to Jet and that's when she hustled out.
28:32
Speaker 1: The defense continued to argue that guy hand flagrantly committed
28:37
Speaker 1: a twisted, bloody murder and then successfully pinned the blame
28:42
Speaker 1: on the innocent and traumatized Melanie.
28:44
Speaker 10: Eam puts it on the bed Nicola barrier. We're in
28:52
Speaker 10: the earplus and he locked all the doors before he
28:59
Speaker 10: went to sleep. These are fancy, cannot just ignore.
29:07
Speaker 7: You can't trust ignore that would one of the Mason
29:11
Speaker 7: medical exaunders say, eight slices, ten slices, double blood vestals,
29:16
Speaker 7: where's the blood of the occupant of the sweater as
29:20
Speaker 7: the one who did.
29:24
Speaker 1: The jury deliberated for a total of ten hours before
29:27
Speaker 1: returning to the judge and insisting that they were deadlocked.
29:31
Speaker 1: It was not a matter of guilty versus not guilty, however,
29:35
Speaker 1: but a disagreement over the application of the charges of
29:39
Speaker 1: the six person jury. Four jurors voted to convict her
29:42
Speaker 1: of second degree murder with a weapon, while two thought
29:46
Speaker 1: she committed the lesser offense of manslaughter. In Florida, a
29:51
Speaker 1: conviction of second degree murder requires intent, while manslaughter is
29:55
Speaker 1: the result of recklessness or negligence. The judge declared a
30:00
Speaker 1: mistrial and a new jury would be selected and tasked
30:05
Speaker 1: with again trying to make this distinction. When the retrial
30:10
Speaker 1: commenced in January twenty nineteen, the defense's tactics in theory
30:15
Speaker 1: had not changed, nor had the foundation of the prosecution's case.
30:20
Speaker 1: Included in the defense's argument was the assertion that through
30:23
Speaker 1: the course of the attack, the knife had been jammed
30:26
Speaker 1: so hard that the blade had been bent. Was it
30:29
Speaker 1: not more likely that this pointed to an adult male
30:32
Speaker 1: killer and not a ninety pound female. The state conversely
30:38
Speaker 1: leaned into the confession. Why if you have just witnessed
30:41
Speaker 1: a murder in which you took no part, would you
30:44
Speaker 1: not mention who the real killer is to police when questioned,
30:48
Speaker 1: or even hint that you were a witness not the killer. Instead,
30:53
Speaker 1: Melanie offered details of committing the murder. When asked how
30:57
Speaker 1: many times she stabbed James, she had replied, It's not
31:01
Speaker 1: like I was counting.
31:03
Speaker 10: More than once.
31:05
Speaker 12: She says, yes, that's what she says on the tape,
31:09
Speaker 12: And ladies and gentlemen, because she's not counting how many
31:12
Speaker 12: times she stabs him, does not negate her guilt, doesn't.
31:16
Speaker 10: Negate her her intent.
31:18
Speaker 12: If you actually listen to what she said, it's not
31:21
Speaker 12: like I was counting how many times it actually hit.
31:24
Speaker 12: She is just continuously trying to stab him, not even
31:28
Speaker 12: paying attention to it.
31:29
Speaker 10: It's just going at it again and again. And ladies
31:32
Speaker 10: and gentlemen, that is the act of second degree murder
31:34
Speaker 10: because at that time she has so much hatred for him.
31:38
Speaker 10: She has so much hatred for him.
31:44
Speaker 11: And a deframed mind at the time that.
31:46
Speaker 10: She's acting like this.
31:49
Speaker 1: Melanie stood emotionless while the verdict was read.
31:54
Speaker 10: We find the jury law.
31:58
Speaker 9: Bils you have a second degree mr recreation.
32:04
Speaker 1: At Melanie's sentencing hearing, a clinical and forensic psychologist testified
32:09
Speaker 1: that she believed Melanie was a victim of long term
32:13
Speaker 1: physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her mother.
32:17
Speaker 1: This was the first that such evidence was being presented
32:20
Speaker 1: in court. The prosecutor pointed out that the abuse was
32:24
Speaker 1: self reported by Melanie and a cousin, but there have
32:28
Speaker 1: never been any social services or police reports to verify it.
32:34
Speaker 1: Judge Glenn Kelly said he considered a sentence of life
32:38
Speaker 1: in prison, though he had to also weigh other factors,
32:42
Speaker 1: her age, her lack of criminal history, and that the
32:45
Speaker 1: charge was in the second degree. Judge Glenn sentenced Melanie
32:51
Speaker 1: Eam to fifty years in prison. She will be over
32:55
Speaker 1: seventy years old when she is released.
32:58
Speaker 4: We didn't would really get life in this case, you
33:02
Speaker 4: know our gut feeling, But we are so pleased in
33:05
Speaker 4: terms of the fifty years that Judge Kelly handed down
33:09
Speaker 4: to Melanie Eve because that is a lifetime and she
33:13
Speaker 4: gets to think of what she did every single day
33:17
Speaker 4: when she wakes up inside those walls of the jail.
33:22
Speaker 4: You miss every single piece of him every single day.
33:25
Speaker 4: There's not a second that goes by because you're not
33:27
Speaker 4: thinking about his future, what he had, his potential, going
33:32
Speaker 4: to college, working, him, having children down the road, and
33:36
Speaker 4: just everything in life is gone, has been taken away.
33:41
Speaker 4: That that's the hardest part.
33:43
Speaker 1: Do you want to say a thing, Well, he was
33:44
Speaker 1: a good soul.
33:46
Speaker 3: You didn't have a memebe in his body.
33:48
Speaker 11: He loved life, he loved his family, he loved his friends,
33:53
Speaker 11: He's very loyal.
33:55
Speaker 10: I love animals.
33:56
Speaker 2: He was just all perfect, perfect son.
34:08
Speaker 1: And that was the tragic case of James Berry. Thank
34:11
Speaker 1: you for joining me, and a special thanks this week
34:14
Speaker 1: to Darren Wilson, Megan Boards, mary S and Diva Bye
34:18
Speaker 1: Nature for becoming Sherlock Holmes members enjoining our lounge. We
34:23
Speaker 1: really appreciate your extra support. I'm Kevin. This is just
34:28
Speaker 1: thought lounge and I'll see in the next one research,
34:35
Speaker 1: keeping it objective, always being effective. Can say he got
34:38
Speaker 1: a neck pick you see how Newton got his back.
34:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, the content that you need, this could be a son.
34:43
Speaker 10: Were talking in the comments in tune in.
34:46
Speaker 1: And like love that it feels like the whole world
34:49
Speaker 1: is crime. Watch him on a run, but it's not
34:52
Speaker 1: a race. Really hard to disappear without Sherlock