Latest / True Crime and Wine Time / S6 E32 _ Sarah Hartsfield_ Black Widow Part 6_ The Trial _ TCWT Podcast

Transcript

S6 E32 _ Sarah Hartsfield_ Black Widow Part 6_ The Trial _ TCWT Podcast · True Crime and Wine Time

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to True Crime and Wine Time. I'm Terry.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: And I'm Lama.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Tonight, we are uncorking the truth behind one of the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: darkest crimes and breaking it down together with you.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: One case, one conversation, and one or maybe two glasses
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: of wine to take the edge off. It's time to
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: get comfortable and double check those locks before we get started.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: So let's take a sip and dive in.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Hello, hello, hello.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Hello.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Happy Thursday. It's like I have been here all day. I,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: you have been.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: You have been.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: I have been. Oh, boy. What a long day. But
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: I'm excited. I'm excited to be here. Another part of
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Sarah Hartsfeld. So I'm so excited about this one.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I am because she's a piece of work. She is
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: a gift that keeps on giving.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Sure is. Sure is. I'm excited.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: She kind of reminds me, and I wanted to ask you,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: since you know Laura Owen so well, I know she
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: did different things. I think Sarah Hartsfeld grew out. grew
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: up kind of like Laura without boundaries and being held accountable.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: You think, I don't know if we really got that
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: from her adoptive mom.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Well, but that wasn't until she was old.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Not the formative years.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's a very, I don't know, maybe, maybe not.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I just want everybody to be like Laura Owens. Okay.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: But no, I mean, you know, that does kind of,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: of matter sort of thing. Uh, but I, I don't
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: know if I would say that they're super similar. Um,
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: I think Laura needs some more real life experience. At
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: least Sarah had some, you know, real life hardships and experience.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: So Laura's lived in a bubble.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: She was just crazy.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, but at least in some way it
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: can be like, okay, yeah, that makes sense.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: So real quick, before we get into the show, did
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: you get a chance to go read the email that
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I forwarded you a copy of?
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Nope. Did not. Did not. I guess I should probably
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: do that now since it's apparently important.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: No, I sent an email to Alani asking for a sponsorship.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: I forgot to look at it. No, I saw your
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: message earlier today that you did, but I forgot to
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: read it. I'm so glad you reminded me. See, that's
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: the problem is I'll click on something. I'll be like, oh,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: I'll get to that. And then I do not get
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: to that.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I sent one to them and then to Hilsey. Because
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: I am in love with this bottled water just because
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: the bottle is so pretty. It's like a diamond.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's cute. And it's pink. And it's pink. No,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I have that open. So after we're done with the show,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: I'm still going to read the email.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I did that for you, Buffy, Lig, maybe Amy.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Everybody. We got everybody drinking in Alani News in our chat.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Not me, but all of you guys. Well, you tried one.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: You're like, it was too sweet.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: It was too sweet.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah. But I can't wait. Maybe.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Now, hello, chat. Hello, Lady and Gray.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Hello, Lady and Gray. Happy to see you here tonight.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Yes. And it looks like we have a new member, Mr.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Mark Nimke.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: That's right. That's right. He became a member earlier today.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Mark, for your support of our
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: small little baby channel. Well, we're getting bigger. We're almost
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: not babies. We're almost in the toddler stage.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: I'm going to go over to Discord and message Mary
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: that we're going live or that we are live because
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I know she really wanted to be here for the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: next episode.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but they're also watching Big Brother out there.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, is it Big Brother already? Oh, I thought it
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: didn't start for another hour.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Nope, starts at 8 o'clock every Thursday. And today's a
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: big day.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Well, then I guess they will be part of the
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: replay crew.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: That's okay. We love replay crew, too.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: We absolutely do. Absolutely.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: And, Lig, thank you for giving up Big Brother, but
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I know you well enough to know you're doing both.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, just like I probably do.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Not to out you, boo.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Not to out you. Not to out you. But before
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: we begin, if you are watching on YouTube or if
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: you're watching a replay crew, please hit that like button,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell. So
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: you don't miss this unless you're watching big brother.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Which I mean, I get it. It's a big day.
• 5:04
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• 5:08
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• 5:11
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• 5:24
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• 5:25
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• 5:28
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• 5:33
  Speaker 2: and Lama on Wednesday mornings, where we talk about crazy,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: you never know. You never know what we're going to
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: talk about, but it's always crazy and entertaining, as well
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: as Lama Learns About. If you want to hear me
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: rant about something How much I hate the book, How
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: to Win Friends and Influence People, and Dale Carnegie and
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Why He Stucks and Ruined the World. Please become a
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: member to our YouTube channel. It's very ranty.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I'm getting you one for Christmas. And I'm going to
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: see if I can get it autographed or something for you.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Because then you could use it as a doorstop.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I'm going to use it for a lot of things.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: It's not going to be.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Because I wouldn't read it.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Now, all you have to do is click the Join
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: button and pick which tier works best for you. So,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: tell us how you really feel, Llama. You know how
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: I really feel. I know, because you're in there when
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I'm reading it. Hi, Speddy Ross. Hello. Good evening to you, ma'am. Anywho.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Excuse me. I've been talking all day, listeners. I do apologize.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: And.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I've been talking, working, doing some craziness, done some other
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: stuff today, but yeah, we've been busy. So tonight we
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: are doing part six and continuing our deep dive into
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: the bunny boiler Sarah Hartsfield. And I have to tell y'all,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: chat GPT, because I went and asked him, he said,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: bunny boiler, you can't beat that.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: It's the best description. Yeah. I mean, it really, really,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: really fits with this case for sure. And Sarah. Sarah's.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: It does. Tonight, what are we covering?
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Tonight, we're going to be starting the first part of
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: the trial of Sarah Hartsbell. It's a few different days.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: We split it up over three days. So that's what
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: we'll be doing today.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Nice. And I think we're both drinking tonight because last
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: week it was sober. TCWT.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: It was. So.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: I'm giving it a try. I'm having a Tito's tonic
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: with watermelon.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, nice. Yeah, we both skipped wine today. I went
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: straight for the vodka because you got Tito's, I got Spedka,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: and I have it mixed with cran mango juice, which
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: is delicious.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: That's an interesting combo.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: It was our drink when some of our team came
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: and visited us in Ohio last month. This was the
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: drink of the day. We all had a good time.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Some vodka and cran mango.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Does it come already as a cran mango? Or you
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: poured cranberry and mango?
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Nope. Ocean Spray makes a cran mango, ma'am.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Ocean Spray.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I'm going to have to try that.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good. Because, you know, the mango helps balance
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: out the tartness of cranberry.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: That's what I said.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: I think it would be good. It is very good.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: It's very good. I like licks.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Vodka's nice. I used to drink it with lime. I
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: will tell you, Lig, that there is a vodka over
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: in Finland. I can drink it straight just on ice.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Don't even need lime. It is that good and that smooth.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Wow. Wow.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: So, but here we go. Welcome back to True Crime
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: and Wine Time. If you have stuck with this through
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: this winding pitch black maze of a series, You know
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: that we have finally arrived at the destination where the
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: smoke clears and the bill comes due.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: That's right. Now, last week in part five, we watched
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: the absolute breakdown of Sarah Hartsfield's carefully manufactured life. We
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: blew the doors off the David George affair of 2019. Sorry,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: there's so many Davids in everybody. There's so many men,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: so many men, so many lovers, so many husbands. But no,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: we blew the doors off the David George affair of 2019,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: exposing an era where she juggled multiple men while still
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: technically married to Chris Donahue. And then we unraveled the
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: bone chilling FBI investigation, investigated interstate murder for hire plots,
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: targeting Chris's new wife, Heather, a plot that ultimately caused
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Sarah legal custody of her youngest children and permanently fractured
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: her mama bear mask. I'm sorry, but that's... is so much.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: I know. That's usually like one case. Like one of
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: those things is the entirety of the crazy of the case.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: That was one episode, you guys.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Good time for me to tell you, if you haven't
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: watched or listened to part one through five, you're going
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: to want to hit pause. We love you being here
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: with us, but you're going to want to go catch
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: up all those shenanigans and then come back.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Because you need it. There's a lot. Now, we watched
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: her run out on husband number four, only to immediately
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: set her sights on her fifth and final target, Joseph Hartsville.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: But the pattern always has a final stop.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: That's right. Today, we are walking straight through the heavy
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: doors of Chambers County Courthouse for the grand finale of
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: our series. And so this is part six, the trial.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: I've been in that courthouse, but that's another story.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Really? I have. Oh, wow. Okay.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Over the next hour, we are going to walk you
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: day by day, witness by witness through the phenomenal nine
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: day trial that brought a master manipulator to her knees.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Okay. Okay.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: We're going to look at the medical evidence, the devastating
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: testimony from her own children, the digital footprints she tried
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: to erase, and the swift, indecisive moment a jury of
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: 12 fabulous Texans looked Sarah Hartsville in the eye and
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: stripped away her freedom forever.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, that's right, everybody. So, pour your glasses to the brim, everyone.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: I did. Well, some of it's gone now, but I
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: did because the reckoning has officially begun. Finally, some accountability
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: is being had here in this ridiculous story. And if
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: we think of all the different states, plus everything else.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: And that, you know, before we get into this, yeah,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: if Sarah had been stopped at any point in these
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: last five episodes we've done, Joseph would probably be alive.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Joseph would be alive. Or if he would have died,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: it wouldn't have been because of Sarah.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: David Bragg would be alive. Or at the very least,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: she would have been doing time for what she did.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Or the fires.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Or the fires.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: She burned down her grandmother's home.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, who does that?
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: I know. It's crazy.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: It's crazy.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: Finally, we're on the path to justice. Thank goodness.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: So, Sarah Hartsfield had been married five distinct times, tracing
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: a long, volatile timeline of broken vows, ruined lives across
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: multiple states. Yet, inside the walls of the Chambers County Jail,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: her capacity for self-delusion remained completely untouched.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Of course.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: So in a series of defiant jailhouse messages sent to KPRC,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: two news reporter, the fabulous Bryce Newberry, Sarah sought to
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: dismiss her entire dark history with a single sweeping excuse.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: If I'm guilty of anything, it's picking horrible husbands.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God. Sarah. Sarah. Sarah. or the problem. It's you.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: You're the asshole in this situation. It's you, girl. Actually,
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: all of these men seemed quite lovely. I bet you
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: picked them for that reason.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: That's why she picked them.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Exactly. But the state of Texas was prepared to argue
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: she was guilty of something infinitely more calculated. Before the
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: first juror even crossed the threshold, a massive legal battle
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: erupted over just how much of Sarah's history the jury
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: would be allowed to see. And lead prosecutor Mallory Vargas
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: filed a sweeping motion requesting permission from the presiding judge,
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Chat B. Kane III, that's a very fancy name, to
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: introduce a massive list of extraneous offenses, prior bad acts,
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: you know, that were meant to establish a chilling, lifelong
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: pattern of behavior. Also, for my trial watchers, you know
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: it's 404B.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Now, the list was nothing short of a horror story.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: It contained nearly two dozen separate events spanning three decades,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: including alleged child abuse, arson, an interstate attempted capital murder plot.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Right at the top of the pile, set the 2018
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: fatal shooting of her ex-fiance, David Bragg, in Minnesota.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Though Sarah had never been convicted of a single crime
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: in her life, prosecutors argued these uncharged acts proved that
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: what happened to her fifth husband wasn't a medical accident.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: It was an ongoing methodology.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: It was her signature, if we think about that. Now,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: the state did not stop at her past.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: They also wanted the jury to hear about her alleged
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: behavior being walked up. The prosecution's filing accused Sarah of
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: flagrant wrongdoing behind bars, including lying under oath on the
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: witness stand about having breast cancer, bitch.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Actively tampering with her own son while he was on
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: the state's witness list, and physically assaulting a fellow inmate
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: earlier that year. Sorry, guys. I have a problem with
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: people faking breast cancer and all of these things.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But don't worry. The only thing she's guilty
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: of is picking bad husbands, guys. That's it. It's the
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: only thing she did wrong in her whole life. Now,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: because all of her alleged past victims lived completely outside
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: of Chambers County, defense attorney Case Darwin, which can I
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: just say is a very cool name for a lawyer.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Attorney Case Darwin. Could you get a cooler name?
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: No.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, Alan Jackson.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Well, there's that. Case Darwin. Come on.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: I think Case Darwin's pretty good.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: So that's a good name, all right? You got to
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: give credit where credit's due. That's impressive. But anyway, defense
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: attorney Case Darwin, which, you know, I said is very cool,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: but he fought back aggressively, as a defense attorney should. Now,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: during a tense hearing, Darwin lodged fierce objections against the
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: introduction of her past, while simultaneously objecting to any video
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: recording or live streaming of the trial itself. To protect
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: the jury from the intense media circus. I mean, he's
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: doing his job, but.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: He's doing his job, but is that really what you're
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: trying to protect the jury from?
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: I mean, listen, he, you know, I don't want to
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: put words in his mouth, but.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: He's doing his job.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: He's doing his job. All right. That is his job.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: You hear those arguments all the time. It's nothing to
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: do with Sarah Hartsfield. And.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Nothing that's going to surprise you guys, but ironically, the
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: biggest disruption to the defense's strategy was Sarah herself.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: What? No. What do you mean?
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: For months, she aggressively bypassed her own legal team using
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: a jailhouse messaging app and a one-on-one meeting with a
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: journalist to loudly declare her innocence to the press.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Super smart move, Sarah. Just so smart. You are the
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: smartest ever.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: You are. Her absolute refusal to stay quiet led to severe,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: bitter disagreements behind the scenes. Ultimately, a court-appointed defense attorney
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: who previously represented her to walk away from the case entirely.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: Don't blame him.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: No.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Don't blame him one bit. Did she fail to not self-incriminate?
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: It's fine. She's the smartest person in the room, Lady
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: in Gray. She's brilliant. We're all idiots.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: But, you know, I have to say this, and please
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: nobody come at me. Why wouldn't she think she's right?
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Look at everything she's gotten away with.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: That's very true. Why?
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, where has she ever learned from the legal
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: system that she wasn't the problem?
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Those are very fair points. Very fair points. Now, Judge
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Kane deferred his first ruling on the past crimes, signaling
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: that he would decide which pieces of her history could
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: be brought for the jury as the trial unfolded. But
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: the clock had officially run out of delays.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Because after more than two and a half grueling years
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: of waiting in a jail cell, Sarah Hartsfield murder trial
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: officially commenced. And the scale of the state's case was staggering. Okay.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, the best. That's why this is three episodes to
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: talk about the trial.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: I made a witness list containing over 80 individuals. Guys,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I still don't know how they did this in nine days.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I just got to say, I don't know, but they did. Now,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: including top tier medical experts with really hard names, law
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: enforcement specialists, and then more than 40 people plucked straight
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: out of Sarah's past. including neighbors, ex-husbands, and all four
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: of her children.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Now, the Chambers County District Clerk summoned 120 local citizens
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: for jury duty, with 98 making it to the courtroom
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: after standard conflicts were cleared, which is a very good turnout.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: A turnout so much that Judge Kane described to the
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: court as highly satisfactory. Like, that is... Those are very
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: good numbers, and it's very cool.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: That is very good numbers.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, as a trial watcher, jury selection is very important,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: and oh my goodness, like, it's rough. So, prospective jurors
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: filed out or filled out extensive surveys detailing their knowledge
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: of the highly publicized case before facing intense questioning from
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: both sides, also known as four-deers.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: And I am very sad that I didn't know this
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: case the day it went to trial. Cause I would
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: have driven there. It's just a hop, skip and a jump.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm very upset. It wasn't televised. I would
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: have really liked to hurt. Cause you know, we are literally,
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: we are covering so much of the trial because there's
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: very few parts you could leave out. Very few. Um,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: and I feel like even a loss got in trade.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Cause we, we used a lot of, uh, as a
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: source as a, The newest live blogs who are in there.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: KPRC.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: Yes. They're amazing. And they do an amazing job live blogging, right?
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: But just seeing the people and hearing their voice in
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: the flesh, like there's so much you miss in a
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: trial if you don't watch it so much.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Agreed.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, Totem Tone, for subscribing to our channel.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Everybody be like Totem if you're watching. Subscribe to our channels.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: And I kind of like your handle. I was like,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I like it. Now, after more than seven hours of
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: aggressive vetting, the final panel was struck. A jury of
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: 12 citizens, four women, four women and eight men, alongside
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: two alternates, were officially sworn in. The next morning, they
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: took their seats in the box, turning, their attention directly
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: towards the defense table.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Now the stage was set and the gallery was
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: packed and the trial for the sudden suspicious insulin death
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: of Joseph Hartsfeld was officially underway. Yes.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Prosecutor Mallory Vargas stood before the jury to deliver the
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: state's opening statement. Vargas began by acknowledging a tragic irony.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Joseph Hartsfield's family had initially been thrilled when he met Sarah,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: viewing her as a highly intelligent, caring partner who would
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: look out for him. But over the next 13 minutes,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: Vargas stripped away that illusion and revealed a worldwood romance
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: that masked a calculation of sheer malice.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: 13 minutes to tell this story. That's wild. Now, the
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: prosecution argued that beneath the glossy surface of their marriage,
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: the fighting between Sarah and Joe was incessant. Vargas detailed
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: how Sarah fiercely resented Joe's deep love for his family,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: despised his son, and constantly berated him over his income,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: his job, And even the way he maintained their home
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: while working exhausting long shifts.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Yes. And I don't know if we've talked about this yet,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: but he gave up his job as a probation officer
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: because the money wasn't good enough. He went to work
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: in one of the plants that is, you know, really
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: big over there. That's a big deal because then you
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: go to shift work.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Now, According to the state, Sarah became utterly convinced that
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Joe was going to financially ruin her. And when he
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: finally built up the courage to leave, Sarah flatly refused
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: to lose control. He was not allowed to leave her,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Vargas told the jury, her voice ringing through the silent room.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Vargas pointed out that while Joe had managed his type
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: 1 diabetes for over two decades, the The severe, catastrophic
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: blood sugar crashes he experienced after marrying Sarah were entirely unprecedented.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: On the night Joe fell into a fatal coma, the
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: state alleged that Sarah sat idly by, waiting at least
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: a full hour before dialing 911 as her husband lay
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: actively dying in their bed.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: That's diabolical.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Now, hospital staff were immediately hit with red flags. Joe
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: was completely unresponsive to routine glucose treatments that should have
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: instantly stabilized an ordinary diabetic crash. Vargas warned the jurors
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: that Sarah's own words and calculated silences would show she
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: had painted herself into a corner. Urging them to watch
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: her closely throughout the trial, because she would be on
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: and ready to perform.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: I'm surprised they were allowed to say that, but okay. Now,
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: after the state was done, defense attorney Case Darwin took
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: the podium. And I really want to watch this guy.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: I need to know who's the man behind the name,
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Case Darwin. Such a cool name. Offering a very different
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: interpretation of the tragedy. Now, Darwin argued that Joseph Hartfield's
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: death was a medical failure, not a murder. He leaned
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: heavily on the fact that the local medical examiner had
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: officially ruled the manner of death as undetermined, meaning the
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: state could not scientifically prove exactly how or when the
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: lethal dose of insulin entered Joe's body.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: Now, the defense countered that Joe was notoriously poor at
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: managing his diabetes, regularly neglected his diet, skipped insulin doses,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: and took additional medications that made his blood sugar wildly erratic.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Furthermore, Darwin revealed that Sarah was heavily medicated herself during
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: that faithful week, recovering from a December 2022 breast surgery
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: with a cocktail of strong narcotics, including hydrocodone, valium, and gabapin.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: While the defense admitted the couple had survived a massive
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: fight that winter, they argued there were no active divorce plans.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, I guess that's an argument.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Because she killed him before he could.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, I don't think that's a
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: solid argument. But you got what you got in this story,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: I guess. Now, on the night in question, Sarah simply
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: assumed Joe was managing his own business. glucose monitor alarms
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: while she slept off her medication, only realizing something was
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: wrong when she found him cold and responsive. Her delayed
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: 911 timeline, Darwin argued, was the natural result of pure shock. Sure,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: why not? We'll go with that. It doesn't make any sense.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's working with what he's got, okay?
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: So she could have done better. But that is not murder,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Darwin concluded, pointing out that investigators explicitly left nearly 10
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: insulin pins sitting uncollected and untested right next to Joe's bed.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Sure. So then the state called its very first witness,
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: Helen Hartsfield, Joseph's grieving mother. Helen described her son as
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: a friendly, loving man who carried a deep-seated fear of
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: diabetic complications after watching his own father suffer from the disease.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: I don't know anybody with diabetes, especially with type 1,
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: who doesn't take it very, very seriously. So, I don't know.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: I don't either. No, I've never. I mean, I know
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: people that have both kinds and. It's a pretty big deal. Yeah.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: So she recalled meeting Sarah in November 2021. And while
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: she initially liked her, the red flags appeared almost immediately.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Almost immediately. Now, chief among them being the realization that Sarah,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: did not have custody of her own children, especially in Texas.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Ellen testified that Sarah was intensely controlling, constantly complaining about
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: Joe's finances and isolating him from family celebrations. The baseline
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: of fear in the marriage was exposed completely after eight,
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry. The baseline of fear in the marriage was
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: exposed completely after after a short morning break when the
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: state introduced a haunting piece of evidence. State's exhibit number two.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: We talked about this one. It's heartbreaking. Yes.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: And the jury watched in absolute silence as a voicemail
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Joseph had left for his mother on December 29th, 2022,
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: just a month before his death, was played aloud in court.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Returning to the house after a bitter separation, Joe's voice
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: cracked through the courtroom speakers, uttering a chilling line that
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: felt like a prophecy from the grave. I went home
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: prepared to be shot, but it didn't happen.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: It didn't happen. I also, I think I made a
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: typo in this. It was a week before, not a
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: month before.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: It was just a week. Okay.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: It was way shorter than a month.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: That's on me. Yeah, that's true. It was.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: It was right after the new year that it happened.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: So just a correction because that is important. Now, Helen
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: went on the stand as she detailed the subsequent text
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: messages Sarah sent her, weaponizing scripture to demand Helen force
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: Joe back into the marriage before ultimately telling the family
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: to never contact them again.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Joe had confided in his mother that when Sarah got angry,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: she gets mean, once even raising her hand as if
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: to strike him. Most terrifyingly, Helen testified that Sarah had
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: casually bragged to her about killing a man in self-defense
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: in Minnesota, leaving Helen in constant, justified terror for her
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: son's life. She had even warned Joe to ensure law
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: enforcement was present if he ever tried to pack his bags,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: knowing it wouldn't end peacefully.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: In the afternoon, Joe's sister, Jeannie Hartsville, took the stand
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: as the state's second witness. Jeannie echoed her mother's heartbreak,
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: describing Joe as a man with an undeniable zest for life.
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: She testified that Joe had explicitly confided in her that
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: Sarah was crazy and recalled the chilling moment Sarah casually
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: brushed off her past by admitting, quote, yes, but it
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: was self-defense, end quote, when asked about the dead fiance
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: up north.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Jeannie then dropped a series of narrative bombs on the courtroom.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: She testified that Sarah had complained about having to sit
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: through family court hearings and listen to her own children
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: talk bad about her and openly admitted that the FBI
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: had raided her home regarding an interstate murder plot aimed
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: at Christopher Donofue's new wife in Arizona. Jeannie recalled an
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: explosive family fight where Sarah lost her mind, screaming a
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: venomous threat at the family. You'll never fucking see him now.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Realizing the extreme danger he was in, Joe had begun
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: quietly executing an escape plan. Jeannie revealed to the jury
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: that just a month before his death, she and her
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: brother Tony had given Joe the money to open a secret,
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: brand new bank account at a local credit union, using
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: their mother's address to hide the paper trail from Sarah.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: The courtroom grew intense. tense as Jeannie recounted the nightmare
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: at the emergency room after Joe was found unresponsive. Jeannie
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: walked right up to Sarah in the hospital and said
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: point blank, I've got a pretty good idea what happened.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: In response, Sarah went on a vicious defensive offensive. The
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: prosecution introduced States Exhibit 17. A screenshot of medical chart notes,
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: Sarah had aggressively messaged to Joe's family while he lay dying.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: The official hospital notes read, patients' other family members are
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: also here and claiming they think his wife gave him
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: too much insulin. Police are here. End quote. Ooh, that's
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: not great in the medical records. They have no reason
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: to say that if it's not happening. Yeah.
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: So Sarah had attached a scathing, furious message to the screenshot,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: snapping at Jeannie. I owe you nothing. The nerve of
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: you is incredible. Nothing short of cruel. It's no wonder
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: we decided to cut ties with all of you.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: So says Sarah. Okay. Jeannie testified that hospital staff eventually
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: had to remove her from the building after she and
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: Sarah exchanged a bitter, heated confrontation in the hallway with
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: Sarah snarling, Y'all have some damn nerve! And Jeannie firing
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: right back, You've got some damn nerve! I don't blame her.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: If it was my brother and I, the same thing
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: would be happening. Yeah.
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: In Joe's final hours, the family was permitted a meager,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: agonizing 10 minutes to say goodbye while he was kept
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: on life support solely for organ donation. A visit Sarah
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: reportedly became irate over when she spotted their names on
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: the hospital sign-in sheet.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: Right, but they're the cruel ones, don't forget. I'm like, what?
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: They're so cruel.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: I can't think of anything more cruel. I know, that is.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: I can't.
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: Mm-mm.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: Now, as the clock struck 4.30 p.m., the judge called
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: a halt to the grueling day of raw emotional testimony.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: Defense attorney Case Darwin began a brief, aggressive cross-examination of Jeannie,
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: attempting to pivot the blame back to Joe's poor health habits.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: But he was cut short as court was dismissed for
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: the evening.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Notably throughout the entire day of devastating testimony detailing her
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: path of destruction. Sarah Hartsfield sat at the defense table,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: listening intently, while prominently wearing a wedding band on her finger.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: This bitch.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, you are a piece of work. Glad
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: you love my southern accent. It comes naturally since I
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: was born and raised in Dix. I try really hard
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: to not use it most of the time.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: You should embrace it. I love it. All right. So
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: the next morning opened under a cloud of shifting blame
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: as defense attorney Case Darwin fought hard to rescue Sarah
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: Hartsfield from the wreckage of the previous day's testimony. It
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: was not good for her. Not a good day. No, no, no.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, Case Darwin got a very bad set of
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: situations to deal with. Let's just be fair. Returning to
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: his cross-examination of Joe's sister, Jeannie, Darwin aggressively weaponized the
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: 2018 Minnesota shooting files, forcing her to read sections of
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: the Douglas County prosecutor's letter declining charges against Sarah.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: Darwin pressed hard, demanding to know if Jeannie had directly
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: accused her of murder in the ER hallway. Jeannie, though,
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: held her ground like the queen she is, clarifying that
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: while she hadn't made a formal accusation, she absolutely expressed
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: a sickening, justifiable concern to the arriving officers. You're a queen, Jeannie.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: You're a queen.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: You are. On redirect, prosecutors handed Jeannie a microphone to
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: deliver the truth.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, man. Man, I wish I would have seen this, really.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I wish this would have been televised. Now,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: her voice broke completely as she recounted her final conversation
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: with her brother.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's sad.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: On December 28th.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, I still wish I would have. I'm sorry.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: I wish we still would have seen it Cause I,
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: I feel like, I mean, we don't know if Sarah's
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: face changed in anything, but I would just want to
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: sit here and watch her take this information in that
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: Jeannie's about to say, cause it's so horrible. And I
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: bet you her face just stone cold, not upset at
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: all about this.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Like they said she didn't show anything.
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: I believe it. I don't even know if she's capable
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: of doing that. Yeah.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: So Jeannie recounted her final conversation with her brother on
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: December 28th, 2022, the day he temporarily returned home to
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: Beach City. He told me he was worried Sarah would
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: kill him in his sleep. Jeannie stopped to the jury.
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: She had begged Joe not to go back through that door.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: But Joe insisted he had to return to his shift work.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: Jeannie told the jurors through heavy tears that she was
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: left utterly terrified. And within days, her absolute worst fears
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: came true.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to just insert this in case people
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: don't know. When you try to leave somebody like this,
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: this is the most scary time.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Dangerous time. It is dangerous.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: It's yeah, I guess dangerous is a better word than scary.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: It's dangerous now.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: It's dangerous. A lot of people lose their lives, male
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: and female, during this point of leaving an abusive relationship. Yeah.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: Which we do have a number going at the bottom
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: of the screen here on YouTube.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: We do.
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: Should you find yourself in that situation? You're better than that.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: You deserve better. You do.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: While she admitted she didn't know the exact physical mechanics
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: of how the insulin entered his system. She knew her
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: brother's patterns. She firmly believed Sarah had simply let him
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: lay there to die. And I agree with her.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: Now, after Jeannie left the stand, the prosecution pivoted cleanly
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: into the mechanics of that fateful morning by calling Chambers
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: County Dispatch Supervisor Olivia Hardy. The jury sat in a
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: chilled silence as the state played Sarah's 911 audio file
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: recorded on January 7, 2023. On the.
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: Tape, Sarah's voice is eerily detached. I need help. My
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: husband is breathing, but he's not responding. I can't get
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: him to wake up, she murmurs, easily rattling off the
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: security gate code before adding, He's breathing really heavy. It's
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: like he's not there. Only later in the call does
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: she muster a performative sob to deliver her name through tears.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: Her name.
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: Her name. Of course. Of course. Totally normal. What do
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: you mean? It's so normal.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: I hate this woman. I'm sorry. I shouldn't hate.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: She's the worst.
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: Forgive me, but I hate her.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: I'll allow it. Hold on. Let me get my gavel.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: I'll allow it.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: You're welcome. Now, Hardy, drawing on decades of emergency experience,
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: testified that diabetic distress calls are a routine part of
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: public safety, but they almost never end in a body bag.
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: Paramedics can almost always easily correct a crash on scene.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: When asked by prosecutors if it was normal for a
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: spouse to witness a partner breathing heavily and completely unresponsive
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: for hours before dialing 911, Hardy gave a flat and
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: definitive no. You're welcome, study. That's for you. I'll allow it.
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: I'll allow it.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: The afternoon session rapidly evolved into a heavy medical war
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: as prosecutors called Dr. John Knight, the internal medicine specialist
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: who had treated Joe from 2016 until 2022.
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: Knight testified that while Joe had long suffered from uncontrolled
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: type 1 diabetes with a consistently dangerously high A1c, averaging
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: between 10 and 10.5%, his chronic issue was high blood sugar,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: frequently leading to hospitalizations for diabetic ketoacidosis.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: There you go. Yeah, good job. In contrast to Dr. Knight,
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: in contrast, Dr. Knight dropped a massive piece of clinical context.
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: Having severe fatal low blood sugar was completely alien to
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: Joe's medical history. In nearly 30 years of medical practice,
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: Joe was the first patient Knight had ever lost to
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: a hypoglycemic crash, the first one. He explained that a
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: typical low sugar crash is incredibly easy to reverse with
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: a simple glass of soda, candy, or glucose gel.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: Now, the defense fired back by entering Defense Exhibit 2,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: detailing Sarah's own late December hospitalization for a severe breast
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: implant infection, not cancer. Just let y'all know. Darwin argued
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: that Sarah was sent home with a heavy, sedating cocktail
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: of Valium, Hydrocodone, and Gabapentin, rendering her too heavily medicated
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: and groggy, too medicated to hear any medical alarms. And
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: I am just going to go on the record and
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: say right now, if somebody who's had multiple breast surgeries
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: just in the last year and have taken these same medications,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: I could still hear my doorbell ring, people. And get
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: up and answer the freaking door. Just saying. I know
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: that's me. My own experience.
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: Just saying. Girl, stop. Stop. But on redirect, prosecutor Mallory
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: Vargas shut down the defense's narrative of an accidental medical oversight.
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: She asked Dr. Knight about a glucagon. Glucagon? Glucagon. Glucagon. Okay.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: An emergency life-saving injection kit explicitly designed to instantly revive
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: an unconscious diabetic. Knight testified flatly that he, quote, would die.
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: Be surprised if glucagon wasn't administered by a person highly
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: involved in medical care. If this were a legitimate medical emergency. Now, Sarah,
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: a highly trained former military nurse, left the glucagon completely untouched.
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: What are the odds?
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Well, she's so in shock that she just, I forgot, sir.
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: I forgot.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. This is it's super devastating. This is all
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: so preventable. Yeah. Yeah. And to use somebody's own like
• 47:08
  Speaker 2: illness against them as a weapon. Oh, I think it's
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: just horrific. Yeah. It's so much worse. This is part six.
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: We have parts one through five. Go watch those because
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: this is one of the worst women we've ever talked about. Oh, yeah.
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: And we still have two more episodes or four more
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: episodes to go. Three, something like that. Three, four, I
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: don't know. Now, the state then delivered its primary medical anchor, Dr.
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: Suad Inakua. Sorry, guys, it's the best I can do.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: The expert endocrinologist who had treated Joe since July 2022. Dr.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: Inakua shattered the defense's claim that Joe was simply reckless
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: with his insulin.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: She explained that Joe carried an extreme borderline phobic anxiety
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: about suffering a low blood sugar crash. In fact, when
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: reviewing States Exhibit 19, the direct data report pulled from
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: Joe's Bluetooth Dexacom continuous glucose monitor, Dr. Inaqua pointed out
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: a striking detail.
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: I did not get an aqua out of that little thing,
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: but thank you for that.
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: I think we're doing our best.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: We're sorry.
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: Don't mean no offense. We're doing our best.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: We're doing our best. Joe had manually altered his device
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: settings so that the low sugar alarm would ring loud
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: and clear the moment he hit 100 milligrams DL and
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: then usually high threshold that proved he was terrified of dropping.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: If a Dexcom alert was going off for hours, it
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: would have easily alerted a conscious person, Dr. Inaqua testified.
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: She then introduced a damning timeline note from her files,
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: marked January 11, 2023. Sarah had called her office to
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: report that Joe was in the ICU, declaring clinically that
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: he had suicide. a major stroke or heart attack, and
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: that she didn't know if he would make it. Sarah
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: was already setting up the narrative of a natural death,
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: while the data very much showed otherwise.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm glad she's stupid. I'm going to be honest.
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: Me too. Me too. So Dr.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: Anakwa looked directly at the jury and delivered the crown
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: jewel of the state's medical theory. Reviewing the ER records,
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: she noted that Joe had required three entire ampoules of
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: pure glucose alongside a continuous intravenous sugar drip just to
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: keep his levels from bottoming out.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Now, the sheer volume of sugar required to fight the
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: crash meant one thing. Joe's body was flooded with an
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: absolutely massive, unnatural reservoir of active insulin. Quote, I don't
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: believe Joseph would have given that amount of insulin to himself, Dr.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: Notquist stated firmly, because Joseph is always careful. I mean,
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: this has been a deal for 30 years. And then
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden, he doesn't care. There's no way.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: There's no way. Somehow, Tone, you're green. But we didn't
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: get a message about you becoming a member. So if
• 50:52
  Speaker 2: you did, thank you. Oh, thank you. So much. Happy
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: that you joined us. Yeah, it's been a pain in
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: the ass. But thank you.
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it. The final hours of the day brought the
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: frontline emergency responders to the stand to confirm the eerie anonymity.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: Veteran paramedic Jack Terry testified that when he arrived at
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: the Beach City home, Joe's blood sugar was sitting at
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: a near lethal 22. Holy shebangs. He pumped Joe full
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: of a massive dose of D10 and D50 glucose, far
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: more than the standard protocol, and was baffled when Joe
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: failed to fully wake up. Terry testified he had never
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: seen a patient fail to revive under that amount of
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: direct sugar water. Yes.
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: I don't understand how she thought she would get away
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: with all this.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but I have goosebumps.
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: Me too. Look, can you see them on my arm?
• 51:58
  Speaker 2: I have huge goosebumps. Me too. So sad. Now, finally,
• 52:05
  Speaker 2: emergency room nurse Karen Legros from Houston, Methodist Baytown, took
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: the stand and visibly emotional as she recalled the medical
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: anomaly that haunted her shift. Legros testified that the moment
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: Joe arrived, his blood sugar would spike slightly from the
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: hospital's IV treatments only to instantly and violently plummet right
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: back down into the danger zone. And you know, just
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: side note, what pisses me off so much about people
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: that do this shit and then they take them to
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: the hospital, do you know how traumatizing that is to
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: the staff? To the staff? Because when they can't save somebody,
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: they live with that.
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: They take it personal.
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Who wouldn't? I mean, we're humans. I would think
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: that they did. But to then also put this on
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: them is disgusting. Disgusting. Because they already see a bunch
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: of bad natural accident stuff happen. This makes me mad
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: for those that work in the healthcare field. It's not
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: fair to them. Yeah.
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: Ligros told the jury she began pacing the ER, aggressively
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: questioning her own skills, wondering what she was missing, because
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: it didn't make clinical sense. Glucose IV fluid is essentially pure,
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: concentrated sugar water. It should stabilize a patient almost instantly.
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: Instantly. Quote, I felt something was actively counteracting the sugar
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: water we were giving Joseph, Lagros testified, describing an invisible
• 53:57
  Speaker 2: massive force of insulin fighting against their medical interventions. In
• 54:02
  Speaker 2: her entire career, she had never witnessed a patient's body
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: ruthlessly reject glucose treatment like Joe's did. So we have
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: yet to have anybody who's had years combined experience in
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: the medical field, to be like, yep, seen this before. No.
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: Literally nobody.
• 54:21
  Speaker 3: No.
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: On redirect, Prosecutor Vargas left the jury with a bone-chilling
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: calculation to carry into the evening. Joe's brain had been
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: starved of glucose, trapped in a catastrophic crash for an
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: estimated 20 hours. 20 hours this man laid there and suffered.
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: Before going to the hospital.
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: He hadn't been caught in a sudden medical accident. He
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: had been trapped in a room pinned down by a
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: massive dose of medication while the woman who swore to
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: protect him watched the clock run out.
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: Bitch.
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: Oh my God, I hate this woman.
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: She's the worst. Well, you guys, it's your favorite time
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: of the episode because that brings us to the close
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: of part six. The digital paper trail is officially locked,
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: and the prosecution has proven that while Jo lay dying,
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: Sarah was a sleeping, sedated wife. She was an active
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: digital architect planning her future.
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: Once again, I'm glad she's stupid.
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: Next time on True Crime and Wine Time, we move
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: further into an explosive courtroom showdown as the state's case
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: reaches its absolute breaking point in Part 7. The trial continued.
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: We will take you right back onto the witness stand
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: as the defense desperately tries to poke holes in the timeline,
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: only for the state to unleash a devastating cascade of
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: medical testimonies. You'll hear ER doctors and neurologists detail the
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: harrowing 20-hour window where Joe's brain starved and why his
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: sudden crash was a practical medical impossibility to survive. Yeah.
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: Then the prosecution opened the floodgates to a terrifying parade
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: of witnesses from Sarah's past. a Minnesota detective drops a
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: massive bomb on the courtroom, revealing that the fatal 2018
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: shooting of her fiance, David Bragg, had officially been reopened.
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: And you will hear from her first husband, a former
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: friend terrified for her own safety, an FBI agent confirming
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: a cross-state murder-for-hire plot, and the relatives who survived a
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: string of mysterious house fires.
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: And finally, we'll bring you to the tragic heart of
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: Joe's final days. You'll hear from his closest family and
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: co-workers who confirmed the secret escape plan Joe was putting
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: together and how just four days before his death, he
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: is packing his bags to leave her for good.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: Guys, I'm going to warn you. You need to get
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: ready because next week, three decades of unpunished manipulation collides
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: with a Texas courtroom and the true pattern of Sarah
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: Hart's build will be exposed for all of the world
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: to see.
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: Yes. That's right. And if you haven't watched parts one
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: through five, please go back and do because, oh boy,
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: there is so much more to this story. So.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: And the fact she got away with it for all.
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: Of the things. So many things. So many things.
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: So many things.
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: So, yeah. Wow.
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: I hate this woman. I hate her.
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: I hate her.
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: I hate her.
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's fine. Everybody does. She's the worst.
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: Can I just mail her a letter to jail? Do
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: you think they would give it to her if I wrote,
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: I hate you?
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: Love, Terry with pink.
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: That doesn't violate any things you're not allowed to You
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: can absolutely do that. Obviously, don't send any threats. That's
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: not appropriate.
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, I have no threats for it.
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: To say you hate somebody is your First Amendment right.
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: It does not violate any defamation rules because it's subjective.
• 58:49
  Speaker 2: You're welcome. I've been learning about defamation this last week. Well,
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: thank you all for tonight.
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: Go ahead.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, before we go, if you
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: like what you heard tonight, be sure to follow all
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: of our socials. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• 59:05
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• 59:06
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• 59:10
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• 59:14
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• 59:15
  Speaker 2: That's right. Also, if you haven't, please go subscribe and
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: hit the notification bell for our new channel, Couch Court
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: with Lama. That's me. We're recently going over Laura Owens
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: and all of her shenanigans, but also we've gotten back
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: into the Higgins, Albert. What's the other one? McCabe's. Oh,
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: my God. There's so many characters. Pam, that's what I
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: like to call them, but you guys may not know that.
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: But that's who they are versus Karen Reed and Turtle Boy.
• 59:45
  Speaker 2: We cover that on Mondays and Tuesdays. And this Saturday,
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: join us over on Couch Court with Lama as we
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: start the Karen Reed Trial Wine Rewatch Party. That's right.
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: We're watching all of the testimony from both Trial 1
• 59:58
  Speaker 2: and Trial 2 to prepare for all these simple trials
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: and the criminal trial of Turtle Boy come December. So
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: please go join us over there. It's a fun time.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: You know what I.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: Love about the Karen Reid trial? She's innocent. You know,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: she's not like Sarah Hartsfield, who I hate.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: No, no. We're going to have lots of friends. We've
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 2: got friends joining us for the rewatch. It's going to
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 2: be a fun time. Yes. Fun time. Thank you all
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 2: for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: Totemaham, I agree. See you soon. Like and a hype
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: and more wine.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: So we look forward to seeing you guys next week.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: And remember, be safe. Stay aware and enjoy your wine
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: time or Tito's when you need Tito's.
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: Or Svedka mango.
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: Or Svedka.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: Or cranberry mango. Anyway. All right, friends. Thank you so much.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 2: And until next time, go forth and be amazing. All right.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: Bye, friends. Thank you.