Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Model wife tells hitman feed my hubby's ex to the wood-chipper, prosecutors say

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Model wife tells hitman feed my hubby's ex to the wood-chipper, prosecutors say · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:06
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius x M Triumph
0:10
Speaker 1: Channel one thirty two. A fashion model, absolutely stunning, beautiful home,
0:19
Speaker 1: beautiful family, mother of two gorgeous stepdaughters. What more could
0:27
Speaker 1: this woman want? Well, right now she wants a new
0:32
Speaker 1: trial for allegedly hiring a hit man to murder her
0:38
Speaker 1: husband's ex wife. What I mean, it'sy Grace, this is
0:45
Speaker 1: Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us, and the
0:48
Speaker 1: beat goes on. Joining me Joel Brodsky, a renowned defense
0:54
Speaker 1: attorney out of the Chicago Jurisdiction. Investigative reporter Alexis Torres
0:59
Speaker 1: chat with Radar Online dot Com. Renowned New York psychologists
1:04
Speaker 1: joining us, Karen Stark and forensic expert Professor of Forensics
1:09
Speaker 1: at Jacksonville State University, Joseph Scott Morgan. You know, Alexis,
1:14
Speaker 1: I really don't know where to start with this. Tara Lambert.
1:19
Speaker 1: I mean I'm looking at her right now. She looks
1:21
Speaker 1: like she should be on an ad for like Lorial
1:26
Speaker 1: or I would say cover Girl, but since I use
1:29
Speaker 1: that in high school, I kind of feel like, no
1:32
Speaker 1: to the cover Girl, That's not classy enough for this lady,
1:35
Speaker 1: although I still use their eyebrow pencils. Alexis now back
1:39
Speaker 1: to this woman, Tara Lambert stunning. Well, you certainly can't
1:44
Speaker 1: judge a book by its cover, Alex says, help me
1:49
Speaker 1: why this woman was so enraged with her husband's ex
1:54
Speaker 1: wife that she hired a hit man to kill her,
1:58
Speaker 1: the mother her stepchildren and the mother of her husband's children.
2:04
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, alexis you said ex wife. The woman
2:10
Speaker 1: is an ex she's gone. Why murder her? I don't understand.
2:15
Speaker 1: I mean, if the prize I hate to say this
2:19
Speaker 1: with Joe Scott Morgan and Alan Dee listening, but if
2:22
Speaker 1: the prize is the man, sorry, I just chuckled right there.
2:28
Speaker 1: If the prize is the man, she got him, she
2:31
Speaker 1: bagged him. So why does she have to kill the x?
2:34
Speaker 1: What am I missing? Alexis, Alexas, just start at the beginning,
2:38
Speaker 1: because so far I don't really like your answers. Just
2:41
Speaker 1: start at the beginning, Karen, listen, we gotta figure this
2:44
Speaker 1: thing out. Okay. So she is married, and she decides
2:50
Speaker 1: that she wants to kill her husband's ex wife, the
2:55
Speaker 1: mother of her two stepdaughters. So she decides that she's
2:59
Speaker 1: going to hi or a hitman. I don't really know
3:01
Speaker 1: where these people think they can find hitman, as if
3:03
Speaker 1: they're just everywhere. So she finds a man who she
3:07
Speaker 1: believes is going to kill the mother of her two
3:11
Speaker 1: beautiful stepdaughters. Turns out he is an undercover cop, and
3:15
Speaker 1: she is busted for trying to have their mother murdered.
3:18
Speaker 1: How did she go about trying to have the woman murdered?
3:22
Speaker 1: Why do we believe she actually went through with it? What?
3:26
Speaker 1: What's the evidence against her? So police have actual recordings
3:30
Speaker 1: of her on the phone with this man because he's
3:33
Speaker 1: a police officer. Take a listen to secret surveillance footage
3:38
Speaker 1: we have obtained of Tera Lambert. Now she's under cover
3:42
Speaker 1: right here, and she's actually telling the hitman to use
3:48
Speaker 1: a quote lumberjack thinghy to put the ex wife into
3:54
Speaker 1: a chopper. She says chopper her words, not mine, to
3:59
Speaker 1: put the ex wife in a wood chipper to dispose
4:03
Speaker 1: of the evidence. Now, guys, let's let's just pause a moment.
4:06
Speaker 1: Alexis and I we're yucking it up about the motive?
4:10
Speaker 1: Is you know you're going to kill somebody over a man?
4:14
Speaker 1: And why would she do it? Because the X is,
4:17
Speaker 1: after all an X, so what's the issue. But this
4:20
Speaker 1: is very real. Take a listen. Was rarely d d
4:28
Speaker 1: this ar act. Nice to meet you. What's going on
4:33
Speaker 1: with you? I hear you have a problem away gone community.
4:40
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you want done with her? Oh?
4:43
Speaker 1: My god? Just put her in a chopper, like like
4:46
Speaker 1: one of those Lumberjack chopper things. I don't care a
4:49
Speaker 1: lumberjack chopper or just getting like that's not much. I
4:52
Speaker 1: hate her, though, Um, I don't know. Whatever you do.
4:56
Speaker 1: Let me just walk up at Capper. Oh no, I
5:00
Speaker 1: like we're kind of thinking of like a home invasion
5:02
Speaker 1: gone wrong. Let just walk straight up shoot her and
5:05
Speaker 1: a grill. And you said the dude has gone all
5:07
Speaker 1: the time, So if he's there, you want him to
5:08
Speaker 1: go to Yeah, I mean I really don't mind, Brant.
5:17
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm gonna be so I just can't even
5:22
Speaker 1: tell you. I'm so happy about all right? Sound good? Okay,
5:29
Speaker 1: very very good. The main I really appreciate it. I
5:37
Speaker 1: hate her. That's not much. I hate her. Now. Remember
5:41
Speaker 1: police become suspicious of the cover girl mom Tara Lambert,
5:46
Speaker 1: and they bring her in for questioning. Listen to what happened.
5:51
Speaker 1: Am I really like arrested? Yes, okay, did you ever
5:59
Speaker 1: make talk it that you would like to have her killed?
6:02
Speaker 1: Now I get signed for a conflant with her like
6:06
Speaker 1: we are going to complant. Understand that I understand that
6:11
Speaker 1: to have Kelly killed my dad, daughter and mother. Yes, no, no, yes,
6:19
Speaker 1: you're the one that wants to have her killed. I
6:21
Speaker 1: don't want her killed. I want her beat up. If
6:25
Speaker 1: they had a puncher in the grill tera. There is
6:31
Speaker 1: those phone calls that that you talked to her about
6:33
Speaker 1: was recorded. Yes, they are recorded, and it's you that
6:40
Speaker 1: wanted to have her killed. And yes, at first there
6:46
Speaker 1: is where you talked about well if I want to hurt,
6:50
Speaker 1: I want to permanently hurt. You remember saying that, well,
6:55
Speaker 1: I can play it for you. But you said it
6:59
Speaker 1: all started. It was that you were asking her how
7:01
Speaker 1: much would this cost to do it all this? Do
7:04
Speaker 1: you remember saying, let's start it? He didn't know. No,
7:10
Speaker 1: in the first phone conversation, No, explain to me why
7:15
Speaker 1: so I can understand why you would want to have
7:18
Speaker 1: her killing. No, I want her to stop me, to
7:21
Speaker 1: stop harassing us. I want head to stop making all
7:26
Speaker 1: activation to me. Why your stop undering my name and
7:31
Speaker 1: about going Okay, what what did she do that made
7:35
Speaker 1: you so upset? I don't want her to die. I
7:40
Speaker 1: don't understand that because you did. I don't want her
7:43
Speaker 1: to stop. You indicated that you hated her on when
7:47
Speaker 1: you were talking into conversations. I don't though, you don't
7:55
Speaker 1: mean that now. I don't hate her, and I am.
7:58
Speaker 1: And that's why Lee are about too good counseling. Like,
8:02
Speaker 1: I mean, you talk about having her kill. That was agreement.
8:13
Speaker 1: It was to defer in the grill. That is a
8:16
Speaker 1: punch in the mof in the face. That's it. Well,
8:22
Speaker 1: I guess the the takes will speak for the show. Well,
8:27
Speaker 1: I have somebody that might be able to help you out,
8:30
Speaker 1: you know how much I would love that. He wants
8:32
Speaker 1: to know how much you'll pay him, Like, what do
8:34
Speaker 1: you think is a good amount for say, Honestly, I
8:38
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, you know, it just depends on
8:41
Speaker 1: what you're wanting done. Yeah, girl in the bottom line,
8:48
Speaker 1: and if we're only going to hurt her, then I
8:52
Speaker 1: want to hurt like more like just okay, um um,
9:01
Speaker 1: actually want to go on the way. And then I
9:03
Speaker 1: want to look like an active obviously because what I've
9:06
Speaker 1: with her, Yeah, I would be like, well, I just
9:12
Speaker 1: love my buddy's Houn's probably about a half hour ago. Um,
9:16
Speaker 1: he's wanting to know if you want to meet tomorrow. Okay,
9:19
Speaker 1: I can do that. I'm gonna like, I don't know,
9:23
Speaker 1: our guys been in my car. Oh yeah, I think that,
9:30
Speaker 1: Karen Stark, I've done a little bit of investigation into
9:32
Speaker 1: Tara Lambert. This is more information that I've learned. It's
9:36
Speaker 1: not necessarily in fact, it is not evidence of guilt,
9:40
Speaker 1: but I want to throw it into the pot for
9:42
Speaker 1: you to store it in and to get your analysis.
9:44
Speaker 1: I know. I mean, she's just thirty three, that she
9:47
Speaker 1: had suffered from eating disorders and had body issues. She
9:52
Speaker 1: has had over two dozen, over twenty four cosmetic surgeries. Wow,
10:00
Speaker 1: that's a lot, Karen. And I'm certainly not one to judge,
10:05
Speaker 1: because I don't really care if you have surgery, have it,
10:09
Speaker 1: if you don't find it's really none of my business.
10:13
Speaker 1: All I care about is the evidence in this case.
10:17
Speaker 1: But I do think it gives us a glimpse into
10:21
Speaker 1: her psyche, how far she will go to be what
10:25
Speaker 1: she believes is attractive. What do you make of all this? Well,
10:30
Speaker 1: we're talking right now, Nancy about her insecurity and her
10:35
Speaker 1: disbelief that, you know, the way that she is is
10:39
Speaker 1: good enough. The fact that she kept having all these
10:43
Speaker 1: surgeries and has needing disorder, you know, shows you that
10:48
Speaker 1: she's messed up. But she's not so insane that she
10:52
Speaker 1: didn't know what she was doing when she decided that
10:55
Speaker 1: it was important to get rid of this woman, and
10:58
Speaker 1: she actually was saying, I feel like I can have
11:01
Speaker 1: an orgasm in the car. She was so excited about
11:05
Speaker 1: the possibility that this could actually happen. She had no
11:09
Speaker 1: idea she was being taped, and when she was interviewed,
11:13
Speaker 1: she was so out of it that she just kept
11:15
Speaker 1: saying over and over again, I didn't want her killed.
11:19
Speaker 1: I just wanted her clipped, you know, I just wanted
11:22
Speaker 1: her punched in the jaws something. Well, let me understand something,
11:25
Speaker 1: Alexis Teresha writer online dot com. What was the ex
11:31
Speaker 1: doing that amounted to harassment in the mind of cover
11:35
Speaker 1: girl Tara Lambert. What Terror was claiming was that she
11:39
Speaker 1: was really difficult about the custody issues, but the woman
11:43
Speaker 1: had Kelly Cook with her name, she actually had custody
11:46
Speaker 1: of the daughters, and that she was arguing with her husband,
11:49
Speaker 1: or or when she could see when he could see
11:51
Speaker 1: the girls. But she was trying to have her killed
11:54
Speaker 1: and then she would have the responsibility these girls full time,
11:57
Speaker 1: so it wouldn't make her life any easier. You know
12:00
Speaker 1: that that's really interesting that that's what they were fighting over,
12:04
Speaker 1: is arranging visits. Because pretty much every divorced couple I
12:11
Speaker 1: know that has children, there are issues about custody. Even
12:16
Speaker 1: if the divorce is amicable, there there are arguments about
12:19
Speaker 1: I'm going to pick them up this day and drop
12:21
Speaker 1: them off at this time, and I've got to miss
12:23
Speaker 1: this weekend, and can I have this weekend instead of that?
12:25
Speaker 1: Wee can. It's difficult, It's very difficult, But in Tara
12:29
Speaker 1: Lambert's mind, that amounted to harassment. To Joseph Scott Morgan
12:33
Speaker 1: for an expert at professor for a six at Jacksonville State,
12:38
Speaker 1: Joe Scott, you know, we were kind of yucking it
12:42
Speaker 1: up about motive from murder here, and I will say
12:46
Speaker 1: that we're all relieved the victim lived all right, because
12:50
Speaker 1: typically by the time we get ahold of cases, somebody
12:55
Speaker 1: is dead. So I guess that is caused for joy.
12:59
Speaker 1: But I want to revisit what Tara Lambert actually said,
13:04
Speaker 1: not when police were questioning her, but when she was
13:06
Speaker 1: alone with a perceived hit man. What she wanted done
13:11
Speaker 1: to this woman, this mother, the mother of her stepchildren. Yeah,
13:15
Speaker 1: you know, Uh, it goes to this idea that uh,
13:20
Speaker 1: that she apparently has no problem whatsoever of having this
13:25
Speaker 1: this woman who is the mother of these children, uh
13:29
Speaker 1: taken out killed and then her body being put into
13:34
Speaker 1: a high speed wood chipper, which uh, you know, just
13:38
Speaker 1: absolutely destroys, uh destroys and and uh and literally disintegrates
13:44
Speaker 1: human remains of actually worked cases where where bodies have
13:47
Speaker 1: gone into wood chippers. And it's a horrible thing. And
13:50
Speaker 1: she doesn't even know the proper vernacular it's in. And
13:54
Speaker 1: then you know, to witness her, that's the creepy thing
13:56
Speaker 1: about this, Nancy, to witness her talking about this on
14:00
Speaker 1: on tape with his police officer. Uh, she does, in
14:04
Speaker 1: fact get giddy about this. It's it's almost like a
14:07
Speaker 1: child unwrapping a present and very very very chilling, you know,
14:12
Speaker 1: to see this that she can just so easily dismiss, uh,
14:16
Speaker 1: dismiss another human being like that and just have them
14:19
Speaker 1: utterly destroyed, want them, want them to be utterly destroyed.
14:22
Speaker 1: When asked what she wanted done, Tara Lambert tells the
14:27
Speaker 1: would be hitman to throw Cook into a lumber shredder. Now,
14:33
Speaker 1: Lambert later said quote when she was under oath, she
14:39
Speaker 1: was just kidding, just kidding. Um. According to a psychologist,
14:47
Speaker 1: Lambert drinks too much, uses prescription drugs, has eating disorders,
14:52
Speaker 1: body image issues. When someone commented that she had an
14:59
Speaker 1: I fitting sweater, Tara Lambert immediately ran to a plastic
15:04
Speaker 1: surgeon for another of more than two dozen plastic surgeries
15:10
Speaker 1: and procedures. That's very disturbing. Um. The defense attorney in
15:19
Speaker 1: her case reminded the jury of all of that and
15:23
Speaker 1: told them that when Lambert was giggling and laughing with
15:27
Speaker 1: the hitman when she jokingly suggested a wood chepper as
15:34
Speaker 1: mode of death, it was because she simply doesn't know
15:38
Speaker 1: any better. Um. You know, one of the first things
15:43
Speaker 1: we learned in law school, Alexis tres Chuck, is that
15:48
Speaker 1: mistake of fact is not a defense. In other words,
15:53
Speaker 1: if you bring a load of cocaine across state lines
16:00
Speaker 1: and you claim you thought it was a load of
16:02
Speaker 1: turnip roots, that really doesn't matter. A mistake of fact
16:07
Speaker 1: does not matter in the eyes of the law. So
16:10
Speaker 1: for her saying, uh, the defense lawyers saying, I just
16:13
Speaker 1: didn't know any better, I didn't know what I meant. No, No,
16:17
Speaker 1: absolutely not. She went to the extent of locating and
16:22
Speaker 1: hiring a hit man, identifying the victim, Kelly Cook, even
16:28
Speaker 1: saying if Kelly's now husband was home, Sean Cook at
16:33
Speaker 1: the time that Kelly was murdered, if he happened to
16:37
Speaker 1: be home, just shoot him too. He was like collateral damage.
16:42
Speaker 1: Alexis toures chuck. She was not kidding and she cannot
16:46
Speaker 1: now say, oh, that was just a big joke. She
16:49
Speaker 1: sought out and hired a hit man, identified the victim,
16:54
Speaker 1: and made arrangements for the murder or murderers to go down,
16:59
Speaker 1: and she even gave him a down payment. She gave
17:02
Speaker 1: him some of the money she was It wasn't like
17:04
Speaker 1: she backed out at the last minute and said, oh,
17:07
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding, which is kind of what she tried
17:09
Speaker 1: to say. What she was questioned by the police. She
17:11
Speaker 1: gave the police officer money to kill them. She even
17:15
Speaker 1: was given a picture of her stepdaughters to show him
17:18
Speaker 1: who they were. She was really vicious criminal and she
17:22
Speaker 1: planned it out. It wasn't. And we keep talking about
17:25
Speaker 1: this wood chipper. Did you all see the movie Fargo?
17:28
Speaker 1: Like that was a big deal, and then they had
17:30
Speaker 1: the remake of the television show like this is something
17:34
Speaker 1: that she had, like a Hollywood fantasy about how she
17:37
Speaker 1: was going to get killed. Well, it's interesting that you
17:39
Speaker 1: say that because her defense attorney says that life is
17:42
Speaker 1: a fantasy to her. Now, many people commented that she
17:49
Speaker 1: wore stiletto heels into the courtroom, and her lawyer even
17:54
Speaker 1: commented on it to the jury by saying, don't judge
17:58
Speaker 1: a book by its cover, and don't judge her by
18:01
Speaker 1: those shoes. People actually laughed in the courtroom when that
18:05
Speaker 1: was said by but they were all her supporters. They
18:10
Speaker 1: thought that was funny. The lawyer says, are the shoes
18:13
Speaker 1: inappropriate here? Maybe? Did I tell her not to wear
18:17
Speaker 1: the stilettos? Absolutely not. Tara Lambert doesn't know what's appropriate
18:23
Speaker 1: for a situation. Life is a fantasy to her. Well,
18:28
Speaker 1: the victim in this case, Joe's got Morgan, that faced
18:31
Speaker 1: death and being fed into a wood shipper along with
18:34
Speaker 1: her husband, doesn't think life's a fantasy, and in fact
18:38
Speaker 1: says that she and her two daughters now live in
18:42
Speaker 1: fear because after Tara Lambert was convicted, the conviction was reversed.
18:49
Speaker 1: She was charged and convicted on conspiracy to commit murder.
18:52
Speaker 1: The case was reversed because her part in the conspiracy
18:56
Speaker 1: was not made clear in the indictment. So now how
19:00
Speaker 1: they're planning a retrial. She doesn't think it's funny, she
19:03
Speaker 1: doesn't think it's all a fantasy. Joe Scott Morgan. She
19:06
Speaker 1: says she's living in fear now that this conviction has
19:09
Speaker 1: been reversed and cover girl Terra Lambert has escaped justice. Yeah,
19:15
Speaker 1: and you know, to me, she's got she's she's got
19:19
Speaker 1: every right in the world to feel terrified. Nancy, She's
19:22
Speaker 1: got this person who lives they say in a fantasy world.
19:25
Speaker 1: I think it's her own reality that's sitting there passing
19:29
Speaker 1: judgments from on high about who's gonna live and who's
19:31
Speaker 1: gonna die. And by the way, not only are you
19:33
Speaker 1: gonna die, you're gonna die in the most miserable way possible. Uh. It,
19:38
Speaker 1: even even with my experience, this gives me an extra
19:42
Speaker 1: level of of of fear for this woman being now
19:45
Speaker 1: in the streets. You know, the thing about it is
19:47
Speaker 1: is that that you were talking about the stilettos just
19:49
Speaker 1: a moment ago, and how people giggled in court that
19:52
Speaker 1: she's uh wearing these that were her supporters. I'm thinking, well,
19:56
Speaker 1: you know what, what kind of crew does she come
19:58
Speaker 1: from that's that's actually supporting and giggling about this thing?
20:02
Speaker 1: You know, how do I know that there's not more
20:03
Speaker 1: people in the family that would want to do harm
20:05
Speaker 1: to her, to do harm to this, to this poor
20:08
Speaker 1: woman that's that's trying to make it on her own
20:10
Speaker 1: out there with these two kids. I'm shocked by Hold
20:14
Speaker 1: on before I get to Joe Ob Brodsky and listen
20:16
Speaker 1: to him spin a yarn along with Joe Scott, Morgan
20:19
Speaker 1: Karin starting Alexis Trust Check. I want to thank someone,
20:21
Speaker 1: our partner making our serious sex in program possible as
20:27
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Speaker 1: and appeals Court. Overturning the murder conspiracy conviction for an
21:54
Speaker 1: Anashville woman, Tara Lambert, the former fashion model from Pickaway County,
22:00
Speaker 1: got jail time for hiring a hitman to kill her
22:04
Speaker 1: husband's ex wife. But now that conviction has been overturned
22:11
Speaker 1: and the victim in that case is living in fear.
22:16
Speaker 1: Karen start when her defense attorney argues to a jury,
22:20
Speaker 1: don't hold her accountable, don't judge her by her stiletto
22:25
Speaker 1: hills and her fashion model appearance in court, even though
22:28
Speaker 1: he told her no flashy clothes in court. Why would
22:32
Speaker 1: a jury believe that she lives in a fantasy world?
22:35
Speaker 1: And it wasn't so much of a fantasy that she
22:38
Speaker 1: couldn't find, locate, hire, and pay a hitman, even detailing
22:46
Speaker 1: the mode of a very gruesome death for an innocent mother, Karen,
22:50
Speaker 1: it's not a fantasy world, Nancy, that's so far fetched.
22:54
Speaker 1: First of all, the lawyer really wanted her to do
22:57
Speaker 1: that so he could make his case, So he put
23:00
Speaker 1: for her two we are tight clothes and look outrageous
23:04
Speaker 1: in court. That's the first thing. Second of all, this
23:07
Speaker 1: is a determined woman. As you said, she had all
23:11
Speaker 1: of these surgeries because she wanted to be a model
23:15
Speaker 1: and look perfect or whatever she felt the model should
23:18
Speaker 1: look like. She wanted these children, and this woman was
23:23
Speaker 1: in the way of her having them, and so this
23:26
Speaker 1: was very calculated and planned. She knew exactly what she wanted,
23:31
Speaker 1: and she knew what she was doing, and she was
23:34
Speaker 1: relieved at the thought that she'd be rid of this
23:37
Speaker 1: competition since she couldn't have children of her own. And
23:41
Speaker 1: now she would have these children. I really don't see
23:43
Speaker 1: the competition aspect of it, though, because her husband married her,
23:49
Speaker 1: divorced the ex Kelly Cook. Kelly Cook because remarried. Yes, well, okay,
23:56
Speaker 1: I guess so guys joining me right now. In addition
23:59
Speaker 1: to Joseph got Morgan, Karen Stark, and Alexis Torez, Chuck
24:03
Speaker 1: is a renowned defense attorney out of the Chicago jurisdiction.
24:08
Speaker 1: You will know him from defending Drew Peterson, the former
24:13
Speaker 1: cop turned murder defendant. Joel Brodsky, you've managed to get
24:18
Speaker 1: welcome number one to series Sex in two. Joel, you
24:22
Speaker 1: have managed to get a lot of defendants out of
24:26
Speaker 1: very slippery situations. This woman, she looks like a cover girl.
24:30
Speaker 1: She is a cover girl, she's a fashion model. Is
24:34
Speaker 1: caught on tape hiring a hit man to murder her
24:38
Speaker 1: husband's ex wife and feed her to a wood chipper. Joel,
24:44
Speaker 1: how can you possibly get around a person caught on
24:47
Speaker 1: tape strike to is that it was for a hundred
24:52
Speaker 1: and twenty five dollar down payment, which isn't even the
24:55
Speaker 1: cost of a fraction of the cost of the shoes
24:58
Speaker 1: that she wears, So you know how serious was the attempt.
25:03
Speaker 1: To me, it's smacks of entrapment, because you know, there's
25:07
Speaker 1: no it's a fantasy to believe that you're gonna be
25:10
Speaker 1: able to hire a hitman for a hundred and twenty
25:12
Speaker 1: five dollars down. Well, the hit the down payment may
25:17
Speaker 1: be insufficient, may not be real, but I guarantee you
25:20
Speaker 1: the bullet would have been real. Oh I mean, are
25:23
Speaker 1: you actually saying it doesn't rise to a felony because
25:26
Speaker 1: it was a bargain basement hit man? Is that what
25:29
Speaker 1: you're saying? You know? What I'm saying is it seems
25:31
Speaker 1: as if the officers who you know, went ahead and
25:35
Speaker 1: uh met with her and and and you know, participated
25:38
Speaker 1: in all getting all the tapes and all the meetings
25:41
Speaker 1: and everything. Uh, we're you know, it's been trapping her.
25:46
Speaker 1: We're dragging her along. Uh. You know, if she had
25:49
Speaker 1: tried to get a legitimate hit man and a real
25:52
Speaker 1: hit man and say listen here, how you to do this?
25:55
Speaker 1: Here's a down Yeah, the hitman probably would have killed her.
26:00
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, ridiculous amount. And it just shows how
26:05
Speaker 1: you know, and what that it really wasn't serious. Uh. Well,
26:10
Speaker 1: I'm sure she believed that it was working, but she
26:14
Speaker 1: was dragged Bronsky. You can't have your cake and eat
26:18
Speaker 1: it too. You can't say this is a fantasy and
26:20
Speaker 1: it wasn't real. But yet she believed, she probably believed
26:23
Speaker 1: it was real. Also, Joel, I'm pretty sure, I'm pretty sure,
26:29
Speaker 1: based on your track record at trial that you did
26:32
Speaker 1: go to an accredited law school, and at that law school,
26:36
Speaker 1: I I'm betting that you learn mistake of fact is
26:41
Speaker 1: not a defense. Whether she was wrong about the down
26:45
Speaker 1: payment or not, that doesn't mean she didn't try to
26:48
Speaker 1: hire her hit man to kill her husband's X well.
26:50
Speaker 1: But the question was entrapment. Is except for the encouragement
26:54
Speaker 1: of the you know, authorities, would she have done it anyway?
26:58
Speaker 1: You know? I mean there she she was like. She
27:00
Speaker 1: called her friend who immediately went to the authorities, and
27:05
Speaker 1: that they got a call back saying, yeah, wait a minute,
27:09
Speaker 1: hold on, Nelly. She called her friend and said, what
27:14
Speaker 1: can we do? Something else? Can we you know, how
27:16
Speaker 1: else can we get care of this problem? She said
27:19
Speaker 1: she wanted to hire a hit man. I think it
27:22
Speaker 1: was a little bit. I think the first call was
27:25
Speaker 1: how else can we take care of this problem? The
27:28
Speaker 1: first call there, first call was for like a threatening
27:31
Speaker 1: phone call. But I think the next time she called
27:34
Speaker 1: her friend, or that wasn't her friend, it was an
27:36
Speaker 1: old acquaintance who said, how can I take care of
27:39
Speaker 1: my problem? Is there another way? When we do it
27:41
Speaker 1: the other way? And the friend immediately goes to the authorities,
27:45
Speaker 1: and next thing you know, somebody context and say I
27:48
Speaker 1: got somebody here. And then next thing you know, she's
27:51
Speaker 1: with the police, are with an undercover officer negotiating for
27:55
Speaker 1: a hit man. Now, if the friend had said, look,
27:58
Speaker 1: it is not possible, or you know, this is going
28:02
Speaker 1: to cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars if you're
28:05
Speaker 1: really serious, it never would have gone any further. But
28:09
Speaker 1: you know, so when so I'd say, what I'm saying
28:12
Speaker 1: is it wasn't for the intervention of the authorities kind
28:15
Speaker 1: of enabling her to do this, it wouldn't have gone
28:19
Speaker 1: any further. I think down payment really blies there because
28:25
Speaker 1: and now we see by Joe Olbroadsky wins so many cases.
28:30
Speaker 1: I was actually going along with him for about fifteen seconds.
28:33
Speaker 1: Hold on, guys, I want you to take a listen
28:36
Speaker 1: to the victim in this case, Kelly Cook, the woman
28:39
Speaker 1: that Tara Lambert wanted dead with the verdict relief relief. Yeah,
28:50
Speaker 1: I mean, of course we wish it would have went
28:52
Speaker 1: all the way. But at least the justice system who
28:56
Speaker 1: get to serve some of its most of its purpose.
28:58
Speaker 1: I mean we're open that she'll stay off the street
29:01
Speaker 1: as almo as possible. Now it's in the judge's hand too,
29:05
Speaker 1: hopefully make it a stiff penalty. It's made us more
29:09
Speaker 1: aware of our surroundings. We're living in an evil world.
29:12
Speaker 1: I mean, she got caught, the next person might not. So,
29:15
Speaker 1: I mean it could be a real poem invasion. We're
29:17
Speaker 1: prepared now, I mean we we look for signs. Kids
29:21
Speaker 1: are prepared, The kids are prepared. I mean, you know,
29:25
Speaker 1: we've got an action plan for the most part. What
29:28
Speaker 1: I'm saying, it's like everything had to change. We turned
29:30
Speaker 1: into basically what I feel like a military family at
29:34
Speaker 1: this point, from somebody that claimed they loved my girls,
29:38
Speaker 1: our girls. If it would have been possible for her
29:41
Speaker 1: to get sentenced for both charges for twenty two years
29:46
Speaker 1: to max, we still have. We just had twenty two
29:48
Speaker 1: years in my eyes of safety, So right now, I
29:51
Speaker 1: don't think it's over. Um, Well, we always think about
29:54
Speaker 1: it with the day she gets out. Absolutely, Um, I
29:58
Speaker 1: don't know that it will take the till the day,
29:59
Speaker 1: she tell I don't know. I don't know how manipulative
30:03
Speaker 1: she can be two people while she's gone. She's had
30:06
Speaker 1: plenty of planning for over the last six seven months too,
30:08
Speaker 1: So who knows. Um, we just have to be alert
30:12
Speaker 1: and be aware of our surroundings and be prepared. Guess
30:16
Speaker 1: Alexis Torez Chuck explained to me more of what you
30:20
Speaker 1: know was caught on tape with the perceived hit man.
30:24
Speaker 1: So she has actually seen handing him money and I
30:28
Speaker 1: know it's only a five dollars, but money's money, and
30:31
Speaker 1: she was in her mind she was paying him to
30:35
Speaker 1: kill the mother of her stepchildren. So she then is
30:39
Speaker 1: she's also talking with the police officer all that she
30:41
Speaker 1: doesn't know he's a police officer, and she's coming up
30:44
Speaker 1: with ideas about the way to kill him. So she
30:46
Speaker 1: then she says, oh, well, gosh, I'm sorry to kill her.
30:50
Speaker 1: She's all stick her in a wood chipper, and then
30:53
Speaker 1: she laughs like she says, oh no, I'm just kidding,
30:57
Speaker 1: like she is put her in a wood chipper. Let
31:00
Speaker 1: me ask you this, All those types were introduced at trial.
31:04
Speaker 1: Joel Brodsky, the model accused murder for hire, claims that
31:10
Speaker 1: her so called sexy courtroom outfits turned a jury against her.
31:16
Speaker 1: She claims that the clothing and accessories she wore in trial,
31:22
Speaker 1: towering Stiletto's a giant diamond ring, influenced the jury's opinion
31:27
Speaker 1: of her quote, they were worried about my wardrobe rather
31:31
Speaker 1: than what was really going on for me, That's what
31:35
Speaker 1: she told inside edition. Juries are strange things. Uh, you know,
31:40
Speaker 1: I mean, I've I've always been amazed how they will
31:42
Speaker 1: look at things like the appearance of the defendant and
31:46
Speaker 1: factor that into their decision when it's probably the least
31:49
Speaker 1: relevant thing that happens. Only things really relevant of the facts, uh,
31:53
Speaker 1: in the case and the testimony and the evidence. But
31:56
Speaker 1: you know it's a possibility. Uh you know, I'm she's
32:00
Speaker 1: wearing the thousand dollars shoes and she tires a hitman
32:03
Speaker 1: for a hundred and twenty five dollars. It's you know,
32:07
Speaker 1: maybe the jury are you still on the one. It's
32:12
Speaker 1: just I don't care about it means nothing to me.
32:18
Speaker 1: It's just such a ridiculous amount. But then't even yeah,
32:21
Speaker 1: I mean clearly, how somebody appears in to a jury,
32:25
Speaker 1: the jury is taken into account. Lawyers are usually very
32:29
Speaker 1: careful about making sure that their clients before a jury
32:33
Speaker 1: are dressed appropriately. If you have a client who's in custody,
32:38
Speaker 1: he has a constitutional right to not appear before the
32:41
Speaker 1: jury in prison. Guard so and for that reason, I
32:44
Speaker 1: always kept a blue jacket and a pair of slacks
32:48
Speaker 1: and hope they fit everybody. For defendants that the morning
32:51
Speaker 1: of trial would claim they didn't have clothes. The white
32:54
Speaker 1: and black check a dress got a lot of publicity.
32:57
Speaker 1: That's the dress that actually sold out everywhere because people
33:01
Speaker 1: saw you wearing it in court. Apparently, yes, do you
33:06
Speaker 1: think the way she was dressed in court every day
33:09
Speaker 1: influenced the jury. Juries pick up on things, and when
33:14
Speaker 1: you're in a court of law, you're not in a discotheque,
33:16
Speaker 1: and you want to dress accordingly. I want to head
33:21
Speaker 1: straight back to the courtroom. The jury convicted in a
33:26
Speaker 1: very short time, like forty five minutes. The defense immediately
33:31
Speaker 1: said the jury held her good looks against her. Now
33:36
Speaker 1: take a listen to the poor little rich girl who
33:39
Speaker 1: flashed a diamond ring and stiletto heels at a jury
33:42
Speaker 1: after asking caught on tape to have her husband's ex
33:47
Speaker 1: fed to a wood chipper. Kelly Sewn and your kids,
33:53
Speaker 1: I am, it's really sorry for the harm that my
33:55
Speaker 1: actions have caused. I never intended for the situation to
34:00
Speaker 1: get so out of control, but it did, and I
34:03
Speaker 1: do accept full responsibility for it. If I could go
34:08
Speaker 1: back to the future, if I had a time machine,
34:10
Speaker 1: I would go back in time and this obviously would
34:14
Speaker 1: have never happened. But I can't. I can only move
34:17
Speaker 1: forward and prove that I'm not the monster portrayed in
34:20
Speaker 1: this trial. And I apologize to my husband, Brandon, and
34:24
Speaker 1: to my own family for the hardship that they have
34:27
Speaker 1: endured and will endure because of my actions. While the
34:32
Speaker 1: jury was told not to consider mercy, I hope that
34:37
Speaker 1: this court can consider it. I do humbly request that
34:41
Speaker 1: this honorable Court to carefully weigh and consider Dr Brahm's
34:46
Speaker 1: report and the letter to you from Connie Chamberlain. They agree,
34:52
Speaker 1: and I fear that I will not receive proper mental
34:55
Speaker 1: health treatment while in prison. Thank you m to here
35:01
Speaker 1: and Stark, renowned New York psychologists joining us. Kelly Cook,
35:07
Speaker 1: the victim says that because Tara Lambert's case was reversed,
35:12
Speaker 1: she and her two girls, her two little girls, are
35:14
Speaker 1: living in fear. Do you blame them? Well, I don't
35:18
Speaker 1: blame them at all, because, unlike what's being said, I suspect.
35:24
Speaker 1: I mean, she really wanted this woman harmed. So if
35:27
Speaker 1: she hadn't been able to have that happen through the
35:32
Speaker 1: police person and this had been real, I think that
35:37
Speaker 1: what she would have done was just go on and
35:40
Speaker 1: find somebody who would do it. She's very determined, Nancy,
35:45
Speaker 1: and we have to keep that in mind. This is
35:48
Speaker 1: not a harmless um stupid model who doesn't know what
35:55
Speaker 1: she's doing. She knew exactly what she was doing, but
35:58
Speaker 1: it's her. What's her motivation really? Just you know, to
36:01
Speaker 1: have the person killed? Or was it just to end
36:04
Speaker 1: the divorce litigation? Because domestic litigation is so stressful. To
36:08
Speaker 1: be the divorce, I mean they were the X was
36:12
Speaker 1: already remarried. She they're married, but she wanted Yeah, they
36:17
Speaker 1: were fighting over custody and visitation. Listen to stressful. Of course,
36:23
Speaker 1: it's stressful. So what you don't have to feed somebody
36:26
Speaker 1: to a which shipper Joel Brodsky, No, but it showed you,
36:30
Speaker 1: which I don't know if her motivation was so much
36:32
Speaker 1: that you wanted to hurt this person as you wanted
36:34
Speaker 1: the litic, domestic the custody battle to end. And she
36:39
Speaker 1: didn't care how it ended, obviously, But I don't know
36:42
Speaker 1: if her motivation was really to hurt the mother of
36:45
Speaker 1: the step children as much as it was just to
36:47
Speaker 1: end the litigation, because it's so stressful. It's they say
36:51
Speaker 1: that the domestic relations litigation is the second most stressful
36:55
Speaker 1: thing to losing a loved one, uh, you know, And
36:59
Speaker 1: so everybody motivation wasn't necessarily harm as much as it
37:03
Speaker 1: was just wanting to get out of court. Tara Lambert
37:06
Speaker 1: has looks to kill, and according to a jury, that's
37:10
Speaker 1: exactly what she wanted to do. The tall, thin woman
37:15
Speaker 1: had a ponytail and a low cut T shirt, opened
37:19
Speaker 1: the passenger door of her Monte Carlo partner, the KFC,
37:24
Speaker 1: and slid into the front seat. A stranger was behind
37:27
Speaker 1: the wheel wearing sunglasses and an American flag T shirt.
37:33
Speaker 1: And then he got right to it. What's going on?
37:36
Speaker 1: And I'm quoting from the tapes, I hear you have
37:38
Speaker 1: a problem. Tara Lambert is heard giggling, I've got to
37:44
Speaker 1: had a problem for seven years. The problem was named
37:48
Speaker 1: Kelly Cook, the mother of Lambert's two teenage stepdaughters, and,
37:54
Speaker 1: as Brothsky points out, years of acrimony came to a
37:58
Speaker 1: head during a hearing over visitation rights, and it didn't
38:03
Speaker 1: go well for Lambert and her husband. So on that
38:05
Speaker 1: very afternoon, one private Facebook message to a high school friend,
38:12
Speaker 1: Tara Lambert set into motion a plan like that little
38:16
Speaker 1: town had never seen before. She wanted Kelly Cook dead
38:20
Speaker 1: and was willing to pay an assassin to do it.
38:25
Speaker 1: It's all caught on audio. She says, quote, Oh my god,
38:32
Speaker 1: excuse me, Lord, just put her in a chopper, you know,
38:36
Speaker 1: like one of those Lumberjack chopper things. That's how much
38:40
Speaker 1: I hate her though. Okay, right there in the shadow
38:45
Speaker 1: of a Walmart sign when people coming in and out
38:48
Speaker 1: of KFC, she wants to have a murder planned. Joe's
38:55
Speaker 1: got Morgan. Could you remind Joel Brodsky what happens to
38:58
Speaker 1: it if your body is fed? Sure? Sure it's not.
39:04
Speaker 1: It's actually very bloody. Uh. It's gotten multiple teeth in
39:07
Speaker 1: it that that spend it several thousand revolutions. Uh, per second,
39:12
Speaker 1: and it it literally disintegrates a body, throwing flesh, sinew, bone,
39:19
Speaker 1: blood obviously, uh, and muscle tissue all over the place. Uh.
39:24
Speaker 1: The amount of forensic evidence that she generated one of
39:27
Speaker 1: these things is is quite amazing. I tell you something
39:30
Speaker 1: else that really strikes me about this. It seems as
39:32
Speaker 1: though that this pretty little miss didn't want to get
39:35
Speaker 1: her own hands dirty. If she just wanted to go
39:37
Speaker 1: hurt this lady, why didn't she just go get a
39:40
Speaker 1: Louisville slugger on her own and cracker on the jaw
39:42
Speaker 1: and say stay away from my family or stop talking
39:45
Speaker 1: bad about me around town. No, this this woman wanted
39:48
Speaker 1: to absolutely have this woman's body destroyed. And I think
39:53
Speaker 1: that that goes to, uh, it goes to really this
39:57
Speaker 1: kind of narcissistic behavior that she's in gauged. Yeah, hold on, guys,
40:01
Speaker 1: I want you to take a listen to the courtroom
40:04
Speaker 1: to relay the extremely deep and long last time textus
40:07
Speaker 1: has had on our families. Almost impossible. We were blessed
40:10
Speaker 1: to be the parents of a twenty month ood boy
40:13
Speaker 1: as well as three girls. They just five, fourteen, sixteen.
40:16
Speaker 1: So we hope the cool realizes this that there isn't
40:19
Speaker 1: only one victor. The two oldest children out of relationship
40:22
Speaker 1: with us defendant and the knowledge that she wanted to
40:26
Speaker 1: take their mother's life as well their stepfathers has been
40:29
Speaker 1: irreparable damage. Steamen wanted to take into a children's Mommylar
40:35
Speaker 1: so the two children to grow up without doing so.
40:40
Speaker 1: The support not the mother, Our families, friends, community have
40:46
Speaker 1: suffered long enough and from miss Lamora. Please let the
40:48
Speaker 1: healing begin. It's gonna take a very long time. There
40:52
Speaker 1: is nothing but a fully and it's time it can
40:54
Speaker 1: take a stand against people like this. Please do it
40:57
Speaker 1: our sugar, compassion or consideration as she has known for rooms.
41:01
Speaker 1: Please do not have to use the same first time offender.
41:04
Speaker 1: She's offended Mini Mini third, done at all, but she
41:07
Speaker 1: has never been. Now listen to this. Here's an odd twist.
41:12
Speaker 1: The targeted couple, the victims that would be Kelly and
41:16
Speaker 1: Sean Cook, and the police informant have become close friends.
41:23
Speaker 1: These things happen in the midst of the anxiety, the
41:28
Speaker 1: battle of trial. The trio sat down with Crime Watch
41:32
Speaker 1: Daily to discuss it all. Listen, how did the three
41:36
Speaker 1: of you come to be friends? I mean, this is
41:38
Speaker 1: an unlikely friendship. When somebody saves your life, you feel
41:42
Speaker 1: like you then that to give it back to them,
41:45
Speaker 1: you know, I think since the day we met, I mean,
41:48
Speaker 1: it's we talk all the time. Family. Who wasn't for her,
41:52
Speaker 1: we wouldn't be here. So and as it turns out,
41:55
Speaker 1: we may not have even seen the worst of terrorist depravity.
42:00
Speaker 1: Is a plot that could have been ripped out of
42:02
Speaker 1: the most extreme Hollywood film. I mean, kill her and
42:07
Speaker 1: throw her in a in a lumber chopper. It's unbelievable stuff.
42:13
Speaker 1: There's like that. There is a whole lot to the
42:17
Speaker 1: other videos that they didn't even show on film that
42:20
Speaker 1: she says. I mean a lot, a lot that would
42:23
Speaker 1: make your body cringe just hearing her say that. What
42:26
Speaker 1: is even worse than what we've we've heard? I mean,
42:28
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it was worse than the wood chopper,
42:30
Speaker 1: but she was talking about cutting out her breath and
42:32
Speaker 1: plans and gifting them to me. What yes, yes? How
42:37
Speaker 1: does it feel for you now, having done everything that
42:39
Speaker 1: you did, working so closely with police to really potentially
42:43
Speaker 1: have saved two lives? How do I feel just grateful,
42:50
Speaker 1: just grateful that their family and then that they're okay,
42:53
Speaker 1: but in a sad PostScript, Jenny's own life has taken
42:56
Speaker 1: a turn for the worse. I get a lot of oh,
43:00
Speaker 1: you're an arc um. You snitched her out, um, you
43:05
Speaker 1: set her up, you talked her into doing this, and
43:08
Speaker 1: constantly looking over my shoulder and constantly making sure there's
43:12
Speaker 1: no one following me. I hate for her. She'd you know,
43:15
Speaker 1: done the right thing. And then people kind of pointing
43:18
Speaker 1: their finger at her, like you shouldn't have done this,
43:20
Speaker 1: Like if it went't for her, her little boy wouldn't
43:23
Speaker 1: know us. I mean, it's the total opposite of what
43:27
Speaker 1: it should be. We're getting all the praise and she's
43:31
Speaker 1: she's filming the repercussions of well being the good guy. Well,
43:35
Speaker 1: let's use this opportunity, then to set the records right.
43:37
Speaker 1: Far from being a snitch. You want the world to
43:40
Speaker 1: say Jenny as a hero? Absolutely, absolutely, And we don't
43:46
Speaker 1: like the title, but she is. I mean, she's always
43:47
Speaker 1: gonna be our hero. Jenny. Why don't you like that
43:50
Speaker 1: title of being a hero? I just did want any
43:52
Speaker 1: decent human being would have done. I want to remind
43:55
Speaker 1: everybody's something. You may have a cover girl on one
43:58
Speaker 1: side of the courtroom. On the other side is Kelly Cook,
44:01
Speaker 1: a thirty two year old wife and mother of four,
44:07
Speaker 1: a school bus driver. And that's not easy. My grandfather
44:10
Speaker 1: was a school bus driver, among many other jobs he did,
44:14
Speaker 1: and she, one of her four children was still a baby.
44:19
Speaker 1: Now I just want to I I know I've got
44:22
Speaker 1: a big time longer with me Joel Brodsky forensic expert,
44:27
Speaker 1: a psychologist, an investigative reporter. But for those of you listening,
44:31
Speaker 1: I want you to think about what your mother means
44:36
Speaker 1: to you. And all you mothers out there, think about
44:41
Speaker 1: how your child would be raised without you, and all
44:45
Speaker 1: you fathers, all you sons. Think about it. What your
44:51
Speaker 1: mother means to you, her love tera Lambert, if she
45:00
Speaker 1: herself is to be believed. I wanted to tear a
45:05
Speaker 1: thirty two year old mom away from her four children,
45:09
Speaker 1: a mother that drives to school bus to support those children.
45:14
Speaker 1: And now she says, oh, the jury found me guilty
45:17
Speaker 1: because of my good lucks. You know what have at
45:21
Speaker 1: at second time around as the retrial begins, you're out
45:27
Speaker 1: of control. This is fine. The first time in your life,
45:30
Speaker 1: now here thirty three years made, you've come in front
45:33
Speaker 1: of somebody who's taking control, will taking control of your
45:36
Speaker 1: life and secret No, you're not gonna do that. But
45:41
Speaker 1: young saying about is fair to Rod's blow child. It's
45:45
Speaker 1: kind of homely roof. As a result of that, you
45:50
Speaker 1: rephrase be the order with Courtney's lamage, with this offense
45:54
Speaker 1: that you're standing committed. Mary's a girl informatory for women
45:58
Speaker 1: who were period of seven years are your court cause
46:03
Speaker 1: from which executions your bio awarding. Alexis Tourez chut Radar Online,
46:08
Speaker 1: Karen Start, New York psychologist Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics
46:13
Speaker 1: at Jacksonville State University and my Sparring partner, renowned Chicago
46:20
Speaker 1: defense attorney Joel Brodsky. Thank you, Nancy Grace Crime Stories,
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Speaker 1: signing off, goodbye friend,