Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Film crew finds dead body; And Dad/husband charged with HOMICIDE in "assisted suicide" of ill wife.

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Film crew finds dead body; And Dad/husband charged with HOMICIDE in "assisted suicide" of ill wife. · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Over the past four weeks,
0:11
Speaker 1: the family went out searching fields and vacant homes and
0:14
Speaker 1: both Pontiac and Detroit. Those efforts have turned up nothing.
0:18
Speaker 1: Police tell the family they found curtain Dolls SUV from
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Speaker 1: that night, but there's been no activity on a cell
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Speaker 1: phone or credit card, leading me to believe it's more
0:29
Speaker 1: to it than what people are talking about. And they're
0:33
Speaker 1: not talking. I mean, I see, Grace, this is Crime Stories.
0:35
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. Take a listen to
0:37
Speaker 1: our friend Jamont Terry at NBC four. And investigators need
0:41
Speaker 1: tips because with each passing day, it gets harder to
0:44
Speaker 1: believe a father would deliberately desert his family like this. No,
0:48
Speaker 1: that not knowing is the worst part ever. Now the
0:51
Speaker 1: family insisting that this is completely out of character for
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Speaker 1: curtain Doll. Now they do plan to do another search
0:57
Speaker 1: effort at vacant homes and build throughout the Troits and
1:01
Speaker 1: in Pontiac. Right now, police are only saying that this
1:05
Speaker 1: is a missing person's case, but the family suspects foul
1:09
Speaker 1: play when a guy, Leonard curtain Doll goes missing family
1:14
Speaker 1: and friends in a panic, but then bizarre turn of events,
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Speaker 1: So listen to our friends at Fox TOO. Film crew
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Speaker 1: was shooting a scene in a wooded area in Pontiac
1:25
Speaker 1: when they noticed a foul smell and soon realized it
1:28
Speaker 1: was coming from a decomposing body. Investigators believe it's the
1:33
Speaker 1: body of a missing Pontiac father. He's been gone for months.
1:38
Speaker 1: We had had no ideal way was and how withdrawn
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Speaker 1: it to now They've been searching papering neighborhood since forty
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Speaker 1: one year old Leonard curtain doll One missing the day
1:49
Speaker 1: after Thanksgiving? What's these last few months been like for you? Guys? Who?
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Speaker 1: Who after five months of not knowing his family's already
2:00
Speaker 1: to get cell answers not the ones they hoped for.
2:03
Speaker 1: I'm just mad at happened like this? Dumped in a
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Speaker 1: like trash for real? Oh my goodness, this guy goes missing,
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Speaker 1: his body found in a bizarre manner in Indie. Film
2:18
Speaker 1: crew on location in a wooded area smells a strong
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Speaker 1: odor and investigates They find a body, a badly decomposed body.
2:30
Speaker 1: Joining me right now, SYNDICATETA talk show host Dave mac
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Speaker 1: Dave Mack, how did this guy, Leonard curtain Dogg go missing? Actually?
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Speaker 1: He went out the night around Thanksgiving, went to a
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Speaker 1: club and went out for a night on the town
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Speaker 1: and never ever showed back up home. That was where
2:48
Speaker 1: you heard in the first cut. His family was just shocked.
2:51
Speaker 1: They missed him for Thanksgiving, them missed him for Christmas.
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Speaker 1: The missing for Newers. This is a family man. He's
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Speaker 1: got six kids, and he just goes off the radar,
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Speaker 1: totally gone, and nobody's talking Wow, okay. Then his body
3:03
Speaker 1: turns up. Take a listen to our friend at Fox too,
3:06
Speaker 1: Jessica jip Knock. We're told the body was badly decomposed.
3:10
Speaker 1: Police were able to use tattoos to id curtain doll,
3:13
Speaker 1: but they can't be certain it's him until the body
3:16
Speaker 1: is taken to the medical examiner. We're here at the
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Speaker 1: right time, right place, right time. Jeremiah Daniel and his
3:22
Speaker 1: film crew were shooting a movie here Wednesday afternoon. He
3:25
Speaker 1: still had makeup on from the shoot. They discovered the
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Speaker 1: body in a wooded area not too far from Orchard
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Speaker 1: Lake and Telegraph. All I could see was like the
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Speaker 1: shirt and a little bit of the skull. That's all
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Speaker 1: I could see. And the smell was really bad. That's
3:41
Speaker 1: when everybody started the freak out. Police are not saying
3:44
Speaker 1: whether this is a suspicious death. They will know more
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Speaker 1: after an autopsy has done curtain. Doll's family says it
3:50
Speaker 1: wasn't like him to just disappear. He's very giving, he's
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Speaker 1: a good father, and so Dave met syndicated talk show host.
4:01
Speaker 1: He was last seen out and about with friends at
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Speaker 1: a local bar. How long had he been missing before
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Speaker 1: his body was really accidentally stumbled upon? How many months?
4:13
Speaker 1: Five months? Nancy, five months too. Jose Got Morgan joining me,
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Speaker 1: forensics expert, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon.
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Speaker 1: You know, jose Got you and I know this to
4:25
Speaker 1: be true because you explain why the longer it takes
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Speaker 1: to find a body, the more time that elapses, the
4:32
Speaker 1: more difficult it is to solve a murder. Yeah, as
4:37
Speaker 1: Tom goes by, Nancy, you begin to lose evidence. We're
4:40
Speaker 1: talking five months down range since this gentleman was last seen,
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Speaker 1: So everything's going to be compromised at the scene. Our
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Speaker 1: potential for compromise at the scene relatives to physical evidence.
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Speaker 1: We're talking about clothing obviously, the soft tissue of the
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Speaker 1: body that's going to give this going to be demonstrative
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Speaker 1: of any kind of injuries this man might have sustained.
5:01
Speaker 1: And you know just that the effects of wind, water, rain, snow,
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Speaker 1: freezing temperatures, this sort of thing and exposure to the
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Speaker 1: elements is going to be very impactful. Well, the reality
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Speaker 1: is that the body was so badly decomposed. Just as
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Speaker 1: you were saying, the medical examiner had to use tattoos
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Speaker 1: to make an id to doctor Tim Gallagher joining me,
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Speaker 1: we're now medical examiner out of the floor toa jurisdiction.
5:29
Speaker 1: How do you go about when when you can't identify
5:33
Speaker 1: by facial recognition? Okay, how do you go about identifying
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Speaker 1: a body? There are certain methods. One of the methods
5:41
Speaker 1: is X ray. If the person had any orthopedic work
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Speaker 1: done on them, that is, operations on their bones, broken bones,
5:51
Speaker 1: we can compare the x rays when they were alive
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Speaker 1: to when the body was found. Also, dental work, we
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Speaker 1: can get old dental records and identify the person through
6:02
Speaker 1: their dental work via that method. Also a DNA we
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Speaker 1: can remove some of the tissue, perhaps some of the
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Speaker 1: bone marrow or some of the pulp from the teeth
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Speaker 1: and send that off for DNA and compare that against
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Speaker 1: known family members. You know an interesting thing about DNA
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Speaker 1: and fingerprints. You have to have somebody to compare it too. Okay,
6:28
Speaker 1: so you can get the victims DNA, you can get
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Speaker 1: the victims fingerprints, but unless they're in the fingerprint data
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Speaker 1: bgg aphiser Cotis, there's no way you're gonna make a comparison,
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Speaker 1: explain Joe Scott Morgan White. There has to be somebody
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Speaker 1: to compare the prints and the DNA too. Yeah, that's
6:49
Speaker 1: the rub. Everybody always ask, well, why don't you just
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Speaker 1: ided the body off of fingerprints. Well, that's fine. You
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Speaker 1: can get a perfect fingerprint taken from a body, for instance,
6:59
Speaker 1: but if if in fact there's nobody to compare it to,
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Speaker 1: it's worthless at that point in time. Same with DNA.
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Speaker 1: You have to know who you're looking for. There is
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Speaker 1: no generalized Contrary to what people think, there is no
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Speaker 1: generalized DNA bank that you can actually go to and
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Speaker 1: do a comparison. Now there's been a lot of changes,
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Speaker 1: but we're still not at the point where we can
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Speaker 1: just drop a DNA sample into a gigantic pool and
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Speaker 1: get a match. I mean, your fingerprints have to be
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Speaker 1: on record. When you're a baby. I think they take
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Speaker 1: a print of your foot, not your fingerprints. You have
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Speaker 1: to either have a criminal record or you have to
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Speaker 1: have given your fingerprint willingly, like I did when I
7:39
Speaker 1: went into law enforcement. I had to give my fingerprints
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Speaker 1: and they still exist somewhere out there. So I guess
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Speaker 1: you know I won't be killing my husband anytime soon.
7:47
Speaker 1: Let's just put it that way and leave a fingerprint
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Speaker 1: behind anyway, Long story short, I want to go back
7:53
Speaker 1: to Dave Mac, syndicated talk show host, so we find
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Speaker 1: his body after months and months being gone, last seen
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Speaker 1: at a club. Now, wasn't that club owned by his
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Speaker 1: girlfriend's dad? Actually, it was owned by his so called girlfriend.
8:11
Speaker 1: I say so called because his family says they weren't dating. Apparently,
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Speaker 1: Lakisha Hawkins and Leonard Kirkendall did have a relationship of swords,
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Speaker 1: and something happened in the club that night that Lakisha's father,
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Speaker 1: Kenneth Hawk Hawkins, actually witnessed. And that's where we sit
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Speaker 1: right this minute, is what did he do when he
8:36
Speaker 1: saw this interaction between Leonard and Lakeisha? Okay, when you
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Speaker 1: say they had interaction, for all I know, he could
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Speaker 1: have bought her a diet coke at the bar? What
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Speaker 1: do you mean by the father? Okay, first of all,
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Speaker 1: you're saying she your daughter. Lakisha Hawkins, age thirty three,
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Speaker 1: owned the bar. I also have information the dad, but
8:55
Speaker 1: it's the same thing. The last place he was seen
9:00
Speaker 1: was an establishment run by his on and off girlfriend
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Speaker 1: Lakisha Hawkins. Her dad also there, Kenneth Hawkins. So when
9:10
Speaker 1: you say the dad, forty nine year old Kenneth Hawkins
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Speaker 1: sees interaction between Lakisha and Leonard Curtaindall, what do you
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Speaker 1: mean by that? I'm trying to be kind. Leonard, apparently,
9:21
Speaker 1: according to witnesses, was in an argument that escalated to
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Speaker 1: where he put his hands on Lakisha, putting his hands
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Speaker 1: on her throat and was choking her. And that's what
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Speaker 1: Kenneth Hawkins allegedly saw in the Boy that night. Take
9:36
Speaker 1: a listen to our friend. Reporter Jen Shanz at w
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Speaker 1: x y Z. Curtain Doll's brother says when la first
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Speaker 1: went missing, he knew something was wrong, wrote on lead
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Speaker 1: He's not leaving his family to Dozens of people gathered
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Speaker 1: where curtain Doll's body was found Saturday night to lay candles, pray,
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Speaker 1: and share memories which for White sent her around their children.
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Speaker 1: Just being a loving father, Um, supporting Hunt his kids
10:04
Speaker 1: and always being there for them. Um, I'm gonna miss
10:07
Speaker 1: that support. You know, we've missed him these last few months,
10:11
Speaker 1: and it's been you know, it's been rough. Crime Stories
10:25
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. Curtain Doll's brother says when La first
10:32
Speaker 1: went missing, he knew something was wrong. Road on leave.
10:36
Speaker 1: He's not leaving. His family of dozens of people gathered
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Speaker 1: where curtain Doll's body was found Saturday night to lay candles,
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Speaker 1: pray and share memories, which for White center around their children.
10:49
Speaker 1: Just him being a loving father, Um, supporting Hunt his
10:54
Speaker 1: kids and always being there for them. Um, I'm gonna
10:57
Speaker 1: miss that support. You know, we've missed him these last
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Speaker 1: few months, and it's been you know, it's been Wait
11:03
Speaker 1: a minute, Wait a minute, A loving father with six children.
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Speaker 1: Then what's he doing with a girlfriend out at a
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Speaker 1: bar at night? Take a listen to Erica Ericson at
11:13
Speaker 1: Fox Too. Six months after their brother, forty one year
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Speaker 1: old Leonard Curtain Dollard Pontiac went missing, and exactly two
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Speaker 1: weeks since his decomposing Bonnie was found in his empty field,
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Speaker 1: his family believes there's much more not being told about
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Speaker 1: their brother's murderer. Whatever happened in that club, he didn't
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Speaker 1: deserve that. He didn't deserve to be dubbed. I'll hear
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Speaker 1: like this. Back in November of the Oakland County Sheriff's
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Speaker 1: Office says Leonard had been inside this Pontiac club with
11:40
Speaker 1: his girlfriend, thirty four year old Lakisha Hawkins. But Leonard's
11:44
Speaker 1: family says Lakisha was not his girlfriend. Apparently the two
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Speaker 1: had been seeing each other despite them both seeing other people.
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Speaker 1: That girl is very, very eightful. She is a lifetime movie.
11:57
Speaker 1: Hopefully the whole movie doesn't feel like a lifetime movie. Okay,
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Speaker 1: right there you're hearing now. Granted, this is his family
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Speaker 1: in our curtain dolls. But to doctor Ryan Fuller, clinical psychologist,
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Speaker 1: executive director and New York Behavioral Health as I always say,
12:14
Speaker 1: when I'm trying to figure out a murder, look around
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Speaker 1: for the nut. As soon as you find the nut,
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Speaker 1: that's the most likely person to act out of the norm.
12:25
Speaker 1: And here you've got. Now, granted you've got to consider
12:27
Speaker 1: the source. It's his family, but they say she stalked
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Speaker 1: him and that she has quote a Lifetime movie. I
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Speaker 1: would say that qualifies as a nut. Doctor Fuller, Yeah, well,
12:37
Speaker 1: we do know that, as you kind of allude to,
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Speaker 1: that sort of abnormal behaviors are correlated with other abnormal behaviors,
12:45
Speaker 1: and so you know, you certainly want to pay attention
12:47
Speaker 1: to if there's a lot of drama and things like that.
12:49
Speaker 1: That certainly doesn't mean there's physical violence involved. But certainly
12:54
Speaker 1: we do know that intense negative emotions like hanger and
12:57
Speaker 1: things like that do put us at risk for aggression.
13:00
Speaker 1: Very rare when that happens, but you certainly don't want
13:01
Speaker 1: to ignore those kinds of factors. If someone's got a
13:03
Speaker 1: chaotic life, certainly makes senpid investigators who want to pay
13:07
Speaker 1: less attention to that as a as a possibility. Well,
13:10
Speaker 1: according to Fox To reporter Erica Ericson, it gets worse.
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Speaker 1: Leonard's family says, quite possibly the most disgusting part about
13:17
Speaker 1: all of this is when their brother went missing, Lakisha
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Speaker 1: Hawkins helped them search for him. She just a sick person,
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Speaker 1: She has sick individual She picked us up, cast off flyers,
13:30
Speaker 1: drove us around. Leonard's siblings also say Lakisha Hawkins offered
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Speaker 1: a ten thousand dollar reward to find him, and that's
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Speaker 1: not all he's say. You're individual with you, right. Kenneth
13:42
Speaker 1: Hawkins since charged with five counts, including open murder. Lakisha
13:45
Speaker 1: Hawkins charged with carrying a way of a human body
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Speaker 1: and accessory after the fact. Y'all see her face anal tear?
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Speaker 1: Isn't that woman face? Antal cane in her eyes? Kenneth
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Speaker 1: Hawkins facing life in prison, Lakisha facing years yawesome, indictive,
14:02
Speaker 1: evil bevil where y'all need to run in healeful life.
14:05
Speaker 1: You know, it always amazes me to doctor Ryan Fuller,
14:11
Speaker 1: and again I'll bring up Scott Peterson because he's such
14:13
Speaker 1: a perfect example of him going to the vigil. We've
14:17
Speaker 1: seen that many times, standing by when he knew where
14:20
Speaker 1: Lacy Peterson was, he killed her. How do these people
14:24
Speaker 1: keep how do they keep a straight face? Yeah? I
14:27
Speaker 1: mean it's unclearly a reindividual case. But you've asked about
14:30
Speaker 1: personality disorders in the past. It's possible something like that
14:33
Speaker 1: that I have any social personality disorder where they're actually
14:36
Speaker 1: not experiencing empathy or remorse. They just simply don't experience
14:41
Speaker 1: those kinds of emotions and are able to sort of
14:44
Speaker 1: behave in instrumental ways that allow them to achieve their
14:47
Speaker 1: goals without sort of concern and care for others. They're
14:50
Speaker 1: really focused on preserving themselves, surviving and achieving whatever it
14:55
Speaker 1: is they identify as a goal. You know, the reality
14:59
Speaker 1: is to you, it's got Morgan. If that film crew
15:02
Speaker 1: had not found Curtain Doll's body, these two Kenneth and
15:07
Speaker 1: Lakisha Hawkins could have gotten away with a murder. Yeah, yeah,
15:12
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right, Nancy. You know, the further further down
15:15
Speaker 1: in time that we go, we talk about losing evidence.
15:18
Speaker 1: As time goes by, things get more and more compromised,
15:22
Speaker 1: and yeah, if they had not stumbled on to this
15:25
Speaker 1: fella's body, Uh yeah, it's it's quite possible. You know.
15:29
Speaker 1: I often think, you know, when all the cases I
15:31
Speaker 1: worked over the course of my career, how many bodies
15:33
Speaker 1: were actually out there that were never found? Just could
15:36
Speaker 1: have been one of do you, Dave mac She is
15:38
Speaker 1: out already on a two hundred thousand dollars cash bond.
15:41
Speaker 1: What's the chance she's going to take off? That's what
15:43
Speaker 1: they're deeply concerned about, is that she's gonna bolt. They're
15:46
Speaker 1: keeping the dad locked up they're keeping close tracking. They've
15:50
Speaker 1: got a monitoring device on her and everything else. But
15:53
Speaker 1: you know, Nancy, one last thing on the body. You know,
15:55
Speaker 1: the family actually searched the area where the body was found.
16:00
Speaker 1: His sister walked that path, and they believed that these
16:03
Speaker 1: people went and moved the body there because they had
16:05
Speaker 1: already searched that place. Okay, that takes some cold blood.
16:10
Speaker 1: And to doctor Tim Gallagher out of Florida, you know,
16:14
Speaker 1: the body was so decomposed, it had been there for
16:18
Speaker 1: over five months before it was found. Could that affect
16:22
Speaker 1: the evidence the prosecutors need for a conviction, Well, it's
16:27
Speaker 1: difficult to say. Number One, you have to determine what
16:29
Speaker 1: the cause of death is. If it was, for instance,
16:32
Speaker 1: multiple gunshot wounds, and then some of those gunshot wounds
16:37
Speaker 1: were visible on the bones in the skull, If there
16:39
Speaker 1: were gunshot holes and entrances and eggits going through the skull,
16:44
Speaker 1: then the decomposition of the soft tissue might not play
16:48
Speaker 1: into determining the cause of the murder. If there was
16:55
Speaker 1: things such as strangulation, then of course that might, though
17:00
Speaker 1: that evidence will be lost in the decomposition process. And
17:03
Speaker 1: let me ask you the same question to Joe Scott Morgan,
17:06
Speaker 1: the body had been there over five months. Could the
17:10
Speaker 1: level of decomposition affect the evidence basically what the state
17:15
Speaker 1: needs to prove the cause of death. Yeah, I guess
17:19
Speaker 1: that it could nancy to a certain degree, but I
17:22
Speaker 1: was encouraged. I remember hearing what the film crew said.
17:26
Speaker 1: They said, we saw his shirt. So if this is something, say,
17:29
Speaker 1: for instance, like a gunshot wound, if a gunshot wound
17:33
Speaker 1: passed through that shirt, there might be an opportunity for
17:37
Speaker 1: that shirt to wholesome evidence relative to things. Well, first off,
17:41
Speaker 1: it's been fired through and secondly like a range of fire,
17:46
Speaker 1: this sort of thing, So that sit deposition that might
17:48
Speaker 1: be on the shirt might still be there. To Dave
17:49
Speaker 1: Max in a kind of talk show host, do we
17:51
Speaker 1: know the cause of death is gunshot? And if so,
17:54
Speaker 1: is it multiple gunshot? Yeah? It's one gun shot directly
17:58
Speaker 1: in the chest. And according to a witness in side
18:00
Speaker 1: the club, mister Hawkins pulled the gun, put it right
18:03
Speaker 1: up to his chest, backed up a couple of inches
18:05
Speaker 1: and fired. So there is an eyewitness. And just like
18:10
Speaker 1: Jess got Morgan mentioned the shirt was there, the shirt
18:14
Speaker 1: is going to show evidence of a gunshot and I
18:18
Speaker 1: just can't help believe there's a chance that bullet is
18:21
Speaker 1: still there. We wait as justice unfolds. Kenneth Hawkins behind bars,
18:25
Speaker 1: his daughter Lakeisha Hawkins out on bond. Crime stories with
18:40
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. Now, the sixty five year old man from
18:45
Speaker 1: Westbrook is charged with second degree manslaughter. Earlier this year's
18:49
Speaker 1: state lawmakers considered the Aid in Dying Bill that would
18:52
Speaker 1: essentially legalize assisted suicide, allowing doctors to prescribe a lethal
18:57
Speaker 1: dose of medication to adults who are terminally ill and
19:00
Speaker 1: have less than six months to live. The measure was
19:02
Speaker 1: the focus of intense debate, but died in committee. With
19:05
Speaker 1: so many states passing these laws now and over twenty
19:08
Speaker 1: percent of Americans having access to these laws, zip codes
19:11
Speaker 1: are defining end of life care and end of life
19:14
Speaker 1: choices for some, that's wrong. Connecticut should do better. Tim
19:17
Speaker 1: Appleton works for Compassion and Choices, in organization that focuses
19:21
Speaker 1: on improving care and expanding options for people at the
19:24
Speaker 1: end of life. Although he says they don't know enough
19:27
Speaker 1: details about Connor's case to say if the family member
19:29
Speaker 1: could have benefited from the Aid and Dying bill, Connecticut
19:32
Speaker 1: residents should have access to this law, and it should
19:35
Speaker 1: join the one in five Americans in other states that
19:38
Speaker 1: do so. Family members aren't faced with this terrible choice
19:42
Speaker 1: that could land them in their criminal justice system. However,
19:45
Speaker 1: there are advocates for those with disabilities who are worried
19:48
Speaker 1: families could take advantage of the bill if it was enacted.
19:51
Speaker 1: That's Fox sixty ones Xenia Maldonado in the last Hours,
19:56
Speaker 1: a husband charged with manslaughter for holding a gun up
20:01
Speaker 1: to his terminally ill wife's head so she could pull
20:06
Speaker 1: the trigger and kill herself. He says she was too
20:11
Speaker 1: weak to study the weapon after horrific year long battle
20:19
Speaker 1: with cancer. I Meancy Grace, this is crime Stories, What
20:23
Speaker 1: is right? What is wrong? Joining me right now? Syndicated
20:27
Speaker 1: talk show host Dave mcdave, what's happening? The woman that
20:32
Speaker 1: actually was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and it had spread
20:36
Speaker 1: to various parts of her body. The chemotherapy and radiation
20:39
Speaker 1: that she was undergoing. The treatment was so painful because
20:42
Speaker 1: exacerbated by her lyme disease, she was in constant agony,
20:47
Speaker 1: constant pain. She was looking for any kind of way out.
20:50
Speaker 1: Laurie's battle against cancer was horrific, as a matter of fact,
20:55
Speaker 1: listen to this. She had ovarian cancer that had spread
20:58
Speaker 1: to other organs in her body, and the treatment for that,
21:00
Speaker 1: combined with the lyme disease she already had, left her
21:02
Speaker 1: just in constant pain. That's according to the arrest warrant
21:06
Speaker 1: we already have. Sixty five year old Kem Connors turned
21:08
Speaker 1: himself into police yesterday. This was a long police investigation.
21:11
Speaker 1: About a year and a half ago, his sixty three
21:13
Speaker 1: year old wife, Laurie, was diagnosed with cancer. Her doctor
21:17
Speaker 1: told police about her pain and her weakness that she
21:20
Speaker 1: was feeling. She actually tried to kill herself once before
21:23
Speaker 1: with whiskey and pills and failed. The reports say she
21:26
Speaker 1: asked her husband for help this time around, so last
21:28
Speaker 1: September six. The arrest warrant says his wife was lying
21:32
Speaker 1: in bed. He held a gun to her head while
21:35
Speaker 1: she pulled the trigger. The two of them tried to
21:37
Speaker 1: make it look like she did it all by herself,
21:39
Speaker 1: but police could tell she had help, and he quickly
21:41
Speaker 1: admitted to what he had done when police started asking
21:43
Speaker 1: her about that. And because assistant suicide is not legal
21:47
Speaker 1: in the state of Connecticut, he is now facing a
21:49
Speaker 1: count of manslaughter two. That is assisting someone with taking
21:53
Speaker 1: their own life despite the difficult situation and whatever sympathies
21:57
Speaker 1: people might feel, it is technically a homicide and being
22:00
Speaker 1: treated as such. That's WT in h News eight can't
22:03
Speaker 1: pierce straight out to Paula Natari, criminal defense attorney federal
22:07
Speaker 1: trial lawyer. Paul A question what impact will Laurie's reported
22:14
Speaker 1: suicide notes and previous suicide attempts have on the case
22:20
Speaker 1: against her husband of forty two years, Kevin Connors Nancy.
22:25
Speaker 1: I think this case is a tragic. I think it's
22:28
Speaker 1: we need some compassion here, and I think that this
22:32
Speaker 1: is a jury nullification case. I think that the defense
22:35
Speaker 1: is just going to have to do their best to
22:38
Speaker 1: show that this husband was desperate to end the pain
22:42
Speaker 1: and suffering of his wife. This is a good man,
22:45
Speaker 1: a good marriage, He loved his wife, they had four
22:48
Speaker 1: children together. There's no indication that anyone you wanted to
22:53
Speaker 1: go that mom wanted to kill herself because she was
22:55
Speaker 1: in so much pain, and the husband was just trying
22:59
Speaker 1: to stop his his wife from from living this life
23:03
Speaker 1: of torture, and he in the end um he was
23:07
Speaker 1: I mean, this this case really touches home for me
23:11
Speaker 1: because I had a daughter that passed away UM five
23:14
Speaker 1: years ago and I had to watch her UM in
23:16
Speaker 1: the end stages of life. And there's nothing more compelling
23:20
Speaker 1: and horrible than for a family member to watch another
23:24
Speaker 1: family member suffer. I think any juror that has watched
23:28
Speaker 1: a loved one, you know, die from from a horrific
23:32
Speaker 1: disease that like cancer, is going to feel his compassion
23:36
Speaker 1: and they're going to this is a jury holification. This
23:38
Speaker 1: is this is a case that that UM I think
23:42
Speaker 1: will will play an important role in legislation to UM
23:48
Speaker 1: to euthanasia. You know what, Paula Attari, excellent point. Here
23:53
Speaker 1: is the problem. Joe Scott Morgan Joe Scott forensics expert,
23:57
Speaker 1: author of Blood Beneath My Fate on Amazon. Joseph Scott
24:01
Speaker 1: Morgan I covered a case somewhat similar to this where
24:07
Speaker 1: the wife died after a long battle, not with cancer,
24:11
Speaker 1: but a different element. The husband quote helped her commit suicide.
24:18
Speaker 1: Turned out he had a girlfriend. There was inheritance to
24:23
Speaker 1: him upon his wife's death. It looked really bad. That's
24:28
Speaker 1: a problem. That was not the case here with the Connors.
24:32
Speaker 1: They've been married forty two years. He had been by
24:35
Speaker 1: her side throughout her entire battle with cancer. But when
24:40
Speaker 1: you pass a euthanasia bill and allow euthanasia or mercy killing,
24:48
Speaker 1: that may not address the facts of each case. It's
24:52
Speaker 1: it's a tough call, Joe Scott. Yeah, and you don't
24:57
Speaker 1: know what people's motivations are. At the end of the day.
25:00
Speaker 1: As an investigator, when we take a look at this,
25:03
Speaker 1: we have to put it to the litmus test of
25:06
Speaker 1: law relative to whatever the homicide statutes are in that
25:10
Speaker 1: particular jurisdiction. At the end of the day, you've got
25:14
Speaker 1: one person taking the life of another person. It doesn't
25:17
Speaker 1: mean that we as investigators are not without compassion, but
25:21
Speaker 1: we have to stick to the law as we investigate
25:24
Speaker 1: these cases and collect all of the evidence that we can,
25:27
Speaker 1: and then at the end of the day, it's going
25:29
Speaker 1: to be up to the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and
25:32
Speaker 1: ultimately the judge and the jury to make that determination. Well,
25:35
Speaker 1: the reality is just Scott, that police investigated Lori's death
25:40
Speaker 1: for nine months before they ever arrested husband Kevin Connors.
25:47
Speaker 1: Let me ask you, do you believe there's more to
25:49
Speaker 1: the story. What does that mean to you? Well, you know,
25:52
Speaker 1: I think that at the end of the day, they're struggling,
25:56
Speaker 1: they're wrestling with the idea of what statutory obligations are,
26:00
Speaker 1: and they have to look at this very, very carefully.
26:03
Speaker 1: Was there any underlying evidence that he was angry at her,
26:08
Speaker 1: that there was some kind of you know, unresolved issues
26:12
Speaker 1: with them, that he just wanted to take her life maliciously,
26:15
Speaker 1: And they're having to and they look, these people know
26:20
Speaker 1: they know what the public is going to say relative
26:23
Speaker 1: to this. The line share of people are going to say, Look,
26:25
Speaker 1: he ended her life because she was suffering, But we
26:29
Speaker 1: still cannot escape what the law requires. So you believe
26:33
Speaker 1: those nine months that were taken to study potential motives,
26:38
Speaker 1: to study the background of the victim and her husband,
26:41
Speaker 1: the state of their marital relationship, possibly even the poundage
26:46
Speaker 1: required on the trigger pull to show that he pulled
26:49
Speaker 1: the trigger, not her. I mean, in my mind, that
26:53
Speaker 1: is a very intricate investigation. Yeah, yeah, it is Nancy.
26:58
Speaker 1: And you know, you couple that with her physical condition,
27:01
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, she's debilitated, she's laying in bed. Look,
27:05
Speaker 1: this lady is suffering from a myriad of problems, you know,
27:09
Speaker 1: not the least of which is obviously metastatic carcinoma, and
27:13
Speaker 1: she's also got lyme disease, Nancy, which makes this all
27:16
Speaker 1: the more horrible. Can you imagine the suffering that's going
27:20
Speaker 1: on with her? And she is in a weakened state,
27:23
Speaker 1: and is does she have the presence of mind to
27:26
Speaker 1: make this decision at the end of the day. Did
27:29
Speaker 1: she say, go and get me the weapon, place it
27:31
Speaker 1: in my hand. Cock the weapon for me, and I'll
27:34
Speaker 1: pull the trigger. So does that make him the perpetrator
27:38
Speaker 1: in this case because he went and put the weapon
27:40
Speaker 1: in her hand? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Sixty five
27:58
Speaker 1: year old Kevin Connors of Westborough is a loving father, grandfather,
28:01
Speaker 1: and husband of forty two years, and now he faces
28:04
Speaker 1: a second degree manslaughter charge for allegedly helping his terminally
28:07
Speaker 1: ill wife die by suicide. Mister Connors did what any
28:11
Speaker 1: loving husband would do. Connors told police he held the
28:14
Speaker 1: gun to his wife, Lorie's head, and she pulled the trigger.
28:17
Speaker 1: On September sixth He turned himself in on Thursday, posted
28:20
Speaker 1: a fifty thousand dollars bail, and faced a judge on Friday.
28:25
Speaker 1: Lorie Connors was diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer, which
28:28
Speaker 1: had spread to other parts of her body, and she
28:30
Speaker 1: was also suffering from lyme disease, according to the arrest warrant,
28:33
Speaker 1: and had been contemplating suicide for some time, even surviving
28:37
Speaker 1: an attempt a month before she died, leaving behind many
28:39
Speaker 1: suicide notes to family members. She was suffering horribly going
28:43
Speaker 1: through chemotherapy and inconsiderable pain. She decided and took actions
28:48
Speaker 1: to escape that pain. A legislative proposal to allow medical
28:51
Speaker 1: aid in dying was introduced in Connecticut's General Assembly this spring,
28:55
Speaker 1: but did not win approval. The ACLU has been pushing
28:57
Speaker 1: for death with Dignity legislation for years. Incidents like this
29:01
Speaker 1: showed the need for the legislation to really grapple with
29:03
Speaker 1: this issue and come to some resolution. That's Fox sixty
29:06
Speaker 1: one reporter Samara Abramson. You know, I want to go
29:10
Speaker 1: back to Paula Natari, criminal defense attorney. You know, the
29:15
Speaker 1: judge holds a lot of this in his or her hand.
29:18
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you why. I think that the defense,
29:22
Speaker 1: if they've got the right judge, could go to the
29:24
Speaker 1: judge before you have a jury, before one piece of
29:27
Speaker 1: evidence is put up, and ask the judge for basically
29:32
Speaker 1: a summary judgment asking the judge to throw out the
29:38
Speaker 1: case before it goes to the jury, and if the
29:44
Speaker 1: judge is pro mercy killing, he or she may do it.
29:49
Speaker 1: What do you think, Yeah, I think, well, not every
29:53
Speaker 1: jurisdiction allows for that, but certainly in cases where the
29:57
Speaker 1: defense and the prosecutors are sort of owned by, you know,
30:01
Speaker 1: the laws. As the investigator said, just now that you know,
30:04
Speaker 1: they do their investigations, but ultimately the law of the
30:07
Speaker 1: law and they have to follow the law. But in
30:09
Speaker 1: a case where you know, I think the parties are
30:14
Speaker 1: equally troubled by the fact that this is compassion and
30:17
Speaker 1: not bad intent, I think they can go for a
30:21
Speaker 1: bench trial or some other option to show that his
30:25
Speaker 1: intent was not an intent to kill, but it was compassion,
30:29
Speaker 1: and they can reach some type of alternative. I mean, clearly,
30:34
Speaker 1: where judges are compassionate, where prosecutors are compassionate, there's there's
30:39
Speaker 1: a lot of different options for the parties, you know,
30:42
Speaker 1: to diversion or this guy was a correctional officer on
30:45
Speaker 1: top of it, so I mean, he dedicated his life
30:49
Speaker 1: to law enforcement and now he's he's on the other side,
30:52
Speaker 1: So there must be tremendous compassion for some type of
30:56
Speaker 1: just results. Well, you're a few choices to judge would
30:59
Speaker 1: have to take a look at the indictment and say,
31:04
Speaker 1: right at the beginning the evidence that we know that
31:07
Speaker 1: the charges themselves don't support a cause. Let me just
31:11
Speaker 1: tell you a cause of action. That's not going to happen.
31:14
Speaker 1: The judge is not going to try to change the
31:15
Speaker 1: law from the bench. Here's another thing. As you pointed out,
31:19
Speaker 1: a bench trial could happen where and what that means
31:22
Speaker 1: is you don't strike a jury. You put it to
31:24
Speaker 1: the judge, and the judge here's the case I've I've
31:27
Speaker 1: done that many times. I never liked bench trials. I'd
31:30
Speaker 1: rather take my chances with a jury than the whim
31:33
Speaker 1: of one person. But that's a potential, that's an alternative.
31:38
Speaker 1: Then you've got a directed verdict. A directed verdict is
31:43
Speaker 1: when after the state puts now, this is a possibility
31:45
Speaker 1: right here, after the state puts up the case, the
31:48
Speaker 1: defense moves for a directed verdict. Before the defense puts
31:52
Speaker 1: up a case, before it goes to a jury, and
31:55
Speaker 1: says the state hasn't made out a case. I want
31:59
Speaker 1: to direct verdict. The judge might rule that way. The
32:03
Speaker 1: other alternative is a verdict, not with a directed verdict,
32:09
Speaker 1: notwithstanding the evidence at the entire the end of the
32:12
Speaker 1: entire case, before you give it to a jury. I mean,
32:16
Speaker 1: there's several options the judge has, Although I think a
32:21
Speaker 1: judge is going to let this go to a jury
32:23
Speaker 1: trial and let it put it off on the jury.
32:27
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the way the system is set up. Yeah,
32:30
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I don't think this is the
32:32
Speaker 1: kind of case where, I mean, the statute is so
32:35
Speaker 1: specific where he's actually been charged with assisted suicide, which
32:39
Speaker 1: is what happened. So I think the judge would be
32:42
Speaker 1: hard pressed to just not to just decide and not
32:45
Speaker 1: let this go to the jury. But let's remember, the
32:47
Speaker 1: judge will have discretion if the jury does find him
32:51
Speaker 1: guilty at sentencing. You know, I think that it's a
32:54
Speaker 1: manned flor to charge, so the judge will have discretion
32:56
Speaker 1: to be lenient with him. Yeah, the judge can be lenient.
32:59
Speaker 1: Take a little w TNH News eight, Mario Boone, it's
33:02
Speaker 1: a story making national headlines. Kevin Connors charged with second
33:07
Speaker 1: degree manslaughter. Kevin Connors is a kind, compassionate, loving father, grandfather,
33:15
Speaker 1: husband of forty two years, yet he's now accused of
33:18
Speaker 1: helping his cancer stricken wife, Loretta, take her own life.
33:23
Speaker 1: Mister Connors did what any loving husband would do. He's
33:28
Speaker 1: here today holding himself to be accountable for his actions.
33:33
Speaker 1: Clad in a dark blue suit and burgundy tie, Connors
33:37
Speaker 1: answering this serious charge in court Friday for the first time.
33:41
Speaker 1: Last year, his wife was diagnosed and struggling with a terminal,
33:49
Speaker 1: late stage cancer that was aggressive. She was suffering horribly,
33:55
Speaker 1: going through chemotherapy and inconsiderable pain. Tell me us straight
34:00
Speaker 1: out to you, Dave, maxineket a talk show host, tell
34:03
Speaker 1: me the status of the case right now, right now
34:04
Speaker 1: waiting on the court date to move forward. And again
34:09
Speaker 1: he's been charged officially with manslaughter and we'll see where
34:13
Speaker 1: it goes once he gets the court. Victim, Laurie Connors
34:16
Speaker 1: is a mother of four. Where did her children stand
34:19
Speaker 1: on this, Dave mac firmly on the side of their father.
34:21
Speaker 1: They knew the relationship, and you alluded to the number
34:24
Speaker 1: of notes that she wrote to her family members before
34:28
Speaker 1: this took place. So they're not just sympathetic and empathetic
34:31
Speaker 1: that they're firmly on the side of Dad. Take a
34:33
Speaker 1: listen to wt in h News eight Mario Boone State
34:37
Speaker 1: Police lawrence showed before she ended her life in September
34:40
Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. Missus Connors penned thirteen suicide notes and even
34:45
Speaker 1: survived a previous suicide attempt. Investigators say mister Connors initially
34:50
Speaker 1: claimed to be asleep when his wife shot herself, then
34:54
Speaker 1: later admitted helping hold the gun to her head. He
34:58
Speaker 1: insisted though she pull the trigger. We're confident at the
35:02
Speaker 1: end of this process, justice will prevailed. Mister Potters will
35:07
Speaker 1: being returned the loving Carabist family. Now, there have been
35:11
Speaker 1: attempts over the years to legalize assistant suicide here in Connecticut. However,
35:16
Speaker 1: those efforts have faced stiff opposition. But we do know
35:20
Speaker 1: that after a nine month investigation, they charged him with manslaughter,
35:24
Speaker 1: not murder. To me, that's very probative, you know when
35:27
Speaker 1: you actually look at this case, Nancy, you mentioned it
35:29
Speaker 1: a minute ago, you know, because of what it sets
35:33
Speaker 1: up for the you know, you take this case and
35:35
Speaker 1: you've got a loving relationship here where everybody is just sympathetic.
35:39
Speaker 1: But it's always the other case, you know, of the
35:42
Speaker 1: guy who's actually setting it all up to make it
35:45
Speaker 1: look like that when in fact he's a scoundrel who
35:47
Speaker 1: took his wife out. I mean, you know, the law
35:50
Speaker 1: is the law for a reason. We wait as justice unfolds.
35:53
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace Crime Story, signing off goodbye friend,