Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Death Row Inmate Wants to be Executed | Crime Alert Recap Saturday 05.24.25

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Death Row Inmate Wants to be Executed | Crime Alert Recap Saturday 05.24.25 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime art hourly update, breaking crime news Now. I'm Jackie Howard,
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  Speaker 1: a South Carolina death row inmate featured in the Netflix
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  Speaker 1: series I Am the Killer, asks the court to let
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  Speaker 1: him act as his own lawyer so he can speed
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  Speaker 1: up his execution. James Robertson, fifty one, has spent over
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  Speaker 1: two decades on death row. Just days before the states
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  Speaker 1: the fifth execution in the past seven months, Robertson sent
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  Speaker 1: a letter to a federal judge. He says he and
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  Speaker 1: his attorney have had a disagreement and adds no ethical
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  Speaker 1: attorney will withdraw an appeal that will result in their
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  Speaker 1: client's execution, so he asks to represent himself. His lawyer
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  Speaker 1: says he is still reeling from the loss of five
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  Speaker 1: fellow inmates, including his best friend, who was executed in January.
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  Speaker 1: The judge orders Robertson undergo a psychiatric evaluation. More crime
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  Speaker 1: injustice news after this, I'm Jennifer.
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  Speaker 2: Gould and Indianapolis father faces life without her role after
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  Speaker 2: allegedly brutally murdering his five year old daughter, Zara Arnold,
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  Speaker 2: with parts of the horror reportedly witnessed by his girlfriend
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  Speaker 2: during a prolonged video call. Zachary Arnold, forty one, is
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  Speaker 2: now charged with murder and neglect in a crime so
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  Speaker 2: heinous prosecutors are vowing to cage him for good. The
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  Speaker 2: girl's grandmother, Otanya Glasgow, spoke to Fox fifty nine News she.
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  Speaker 3: Shouldn't have never been with him from the giggo. They
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  Speaker 3: should have never gave him custody. This has been an
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  Speaker 3: ongoing thing since she's been born.
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  Speaker 2: I AMPD officers raced to a northle South Street home
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  Speaker 2: after Arnold called nine one one, claiming Zara died from
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  Speaker 2: a fall downstairs, but the little girl's body told a
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  Speaker 2: far darker story. She was found cold, stiff, and covered
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  Speaker 2: in bruises, with unmistakable ligature marks on her neck. Confronted
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  Speaker 2: by detectives, Arnold confessed to strangling Zara multiple times the
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  Speaker 2: previous night during a heated argument with his ex girlfriend.
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  Speaker 2: He chillingly admitted to additional abuse, including smacking Zara with
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  Speaker 2: an open palm and holding her down while choking her.
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  Speaker 2: But the horror does not stop there. Andrea Lopez Figueroa,
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  Speaker 2: his girlfriend, now also faces charges of assisting a criminal
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  Speaker 2: and failure to make a report after investigators found damning
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  Speaker 2: videos on her phone over several horrifying hours, Lopez Figaroa
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  Speaker 2: allegedly watched on FaceTime calls as Arnold assaulted Zara. She
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  Speaker 2: told police she tried to tell him to stop when
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  Speaker 2: he held Zara down by her legs and choked her,
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  Speaker 2: picked Zara up by her throat, and pulled the little
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  Speaker 2: girl by her hair. She even took screenshots of all
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  Speaker 2: the abuse in a truly sickening revelation. Videos dating back
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  Speaker 2: to April tenth on her phone showed Arnold strangling Zara,
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  Speaker 2: and one from May eighteenth showing him swinging Zara around
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  Speaker 2: by a news throwing her over his shoulder while hanging
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  Speaker 2: her behind his back. Lopez Figueroa told police she did
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  Speaker 2: not call nine one one because she was afraid of Arnold,
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  Speaker 2: despite him allegedly ordering her to call for help because
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  Speaker 2: he was going to kill Zara. She claimed, though she
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  Speaker 2: thought he was quote unquote just playing as he choked
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  Speaker 2: the child more than ten times. In their final call,
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  Speaker 2: she saw Zara motionless and bloodied, but thought she was
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  Speaker 2: still breathing. Arnold texted her at eleven oh seven am
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  Speaker 2: that Zara had died. Court records exposed a disturbing history
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  Speaker 2: seven Indiana Department of Child Services reports since Zara was
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  Speaker 2: just nine months old, including matthews and visible bruising. Shockingly,
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  Speaker 2: Arnold had a rape charge dismissed in a twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: plea deal, and he reportedly violated protective orders from Zara's mom. Also,
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  Speaker 2: just days before Zara's death, he pleaded guilty to invasion
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  Speaker 2: of privacy, but a judge even suspended his jail sentence,
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  Speaker 2: allowing him to return home. Arnold disgustingly blamed his actions
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  Speaker 2: on his girlfriend, claiming, quote she did this to him
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  Speaker 2: end quote, and that she is quote making him out
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  Speaker 2: to be a monster end quote. Arnold is now being
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  Speaker 2: held at the Adult Detention Center without bond. The IMPD
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  Speaker 2: says more charges could be filed and more arrest made
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  Speaker 2: as the investigation is ongoing.
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  Speaker 4: I'm Drew Nelson, a twenty six year old man, is
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  Speaker 4: dead in Florida after his stepfather shoots him during an
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  Speaker 4: argument that started with a child playing Fortnite. The shooting
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  Speaker 4: happened Wednesday night inside a home in Davenport, Pelissi. A
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  Speaker 4: nine year old boy was caught playing Fortnite. He was
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  Speaker 4: on restriction from the game. His mother, Adrian Dazza punished
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  Speaker 4: him by taking away his phone. The boy got angry
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  Speaker 4: and went to her bedroom. He opened a drawer and
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  Speaker 4: pulled out a nine millimeter Smith and Wesson. Dazza and
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  Speaker 4: her husband, Kelly Garcia, struggled with the boy but managed
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  Speaker 4: to take the gun away. Moments later, the boys brother,
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  Speaker 4: twenty six year old as a Real Martinez, walked in
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  Speaker 4: and saw the child visibly upset Garcia still with the
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  Speaker 4: gun in his hand. Police Chief Steve Parker.
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  Speaker 5: Kelly Garcia was very much a disciplinarian and he ruled
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  Speaker 5: the household as such, and the twenty six year old
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  Speaker 5: didn't particularly care for the way he was disciplining the
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  Speaker 5: young children and running the household.
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  Speaker 4: Garcia and Martinez began to argue. Police say Garcia shot
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  Speaker 4: Martinez several times in the stomach and chest. As Martinez
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  Speaker 4: tried to leave the room, Garcia followed and shot him
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  Speaker 4: two more times in the back. Martinez collapsed. He was
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  Speaker 4: taken to the hospital but died there. Chief Parker says
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  Speaker 4: they don't believe as a Reel was physically aggressive towards Garcia.
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  Speaker 4: Police say they considered the possibility of self defense, but
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  Speaker 4: ruled it out based on the evidence and witness accounts.
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  Speaker 4: Garcia has been charged with second agree murder and unlawful
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  Speaker 4: stewart of a firearm accessible to a miner.
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  Speaker 5: A nine year old the nose were Dad Stepdad Kiss's
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  Speaker 5: gun and goes to it. I truly believe that if
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  Speaker 5: that child did not know that where that gun was,
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  Speaker 5: none is would have happened today. None of it.
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  Speaker 4: Officers had previously been called to the home in twenty
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  Speaker 4: twenty two after a referral from child Services, though police
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  Speaker 4: did not release details of that incident. Garcia remains in
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  Speaker 4: the Pole County jail.
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  Speaker 3: I'm Nikole Parton. A man has been sentenced to forty
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  Speaker 3: years in prison for the murder of his ex girlfriend,
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  Speaker 3: a mother of three, in her Milford, Connecticut residence, while
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  Speaker 3: two of her children were present during the sentencing hearing.
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  Speaker 3: On Thursday, family members of Julie Minogue, including her sister,
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  Speaker 3: mother and eldest son Nicholas, shared their emotional testimonies for
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  Speaker 3: the first time since the tragic event, looking the accused
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  Speaker 3: killer in the eye, telling him he had changed everything.
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  Speaker 3: Allison Minogue's sister looked Stephen DeWitt in the eye and
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  Speaker 3: was the first to speak in court, saying, the evening
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  Speaker 3: of December sixth, twenty twenty two will forever haunt our family.
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  Speaker 3: I wish I could express the profound heartbreak we endure
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  Speaker 3: every every day. I often lie awake at night imagining
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  Speaker 3: my sister's final moments, the unimaginable fear she must have failt.
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  Speaker 3: He robbed us of the chance to say goodbye to her.
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  Speaker 3: He robbed us of the chance to say goodbye to
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  Speaker 3: a sister, to a daughter, because he mutilated her before
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  Speaker 3: we could even see her. Our lives have been irreversibly
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  Speaker 3: changed because of you. You're a monster. Nicholas, Julie's eldest son,
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  Speaker 3: delivered the third victim impact statement, saying you are a coward.
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  Speaker 3: You took our mother's life. She was a strong, beautiful
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  Speaker 3: woman who raised three boys alone. You are a hollow
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  Speaker 3: excuse of a man.
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  Speaker 1: You are not a man.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, are you even human? I don't know, but
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  Speaker 3: may you rot in hell. The final family member to
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  Speaker 3: speak was Gerald Minogue, Julie's father, who had attended every
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  Speaker 3: court hearing related to his daughter's case. He said, quote,
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  Speaker 3: while I find some relief in the conclusion of these proceedings,
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  Speaker 3: I will carry the burden of knowing the fear and
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  Speaker 3: pain you have caused my daughter to endure. I will
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  Speaker 3: carry that forever. You are a monster. May you rot
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  Speaker 3: in hell. Dewitz attorney Claude Chung attempted to provide context
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  Speaker 3: for dewits actions, citing a combination of alcohol, drug use, depression,
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  Speaker 3: and PTSD as factors that led him to lose control
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  Speaker 3: just in that moment, the attorney said. However, State Attorney's
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  Speaker 3: Margaret Kelly quickly countered, clarifying that Dewit's actions were not
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  Speaker 3: impulsive but premeditated, which led to an outburst from the
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  Speaker 3: killer in the courtroom.
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  Speaker 5: This was.
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  Speaker 6: Cold, cold, calculated, well thought out to the extent that
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  Speaker 6: we the uber was.
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  Speaker 7: I understand what you may be going for. This is
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  Speaker 7: an order of replace is Alberts like that from say?
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  Speaker 7: I'm left with no other choice but to ask you
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  Speaker 7: and remove you from the court room and seventy great
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  Speaker 7: the sentence will continue. I'm not going to do that.
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  Speaker 3: The judge had to intervene, reminding DeWitt of the courtrooms decorum.
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  Speaker 3: Mister DeWitt, I understand what you're feeling, but this is
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  Speaker 3: an orderly environment. If this continues, I will have you remove,
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  Speaker 3: the judge warned. DeWitt responded with sarcasm, that'd be great,
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  Speaker 3: take me out of here. The judge continued with the sentencing,
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  Speaker 3: urging DeWitt to remain calm. Authorities reported that DeWitt killed
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  Speaker 3: forty year old Juliet Minogue with an axe in her
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  Speaker 3: home in December while her three children, a three year old,
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  Speaker 3: seventeen year old, and fifteen year old, were inside. Just
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  Speaker 3: days before the murder, a restraining order had been placed
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  Speaker 3: against a man. In November, DeWitt had been arrested for
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  Speaker 3: a suspected assault against Minogue, leading to a protective order
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  Speaker 3: following a series of harass seeing text messages. Minogue was
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  Speaker 3: granted a full no contact restraining order on December one. Tragically,
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  Speaker 3: just five days later, she was found dead. DeWitt faced
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  Speaker 3: multiple charges, including murder, risk of injury to a child,
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  Speaker 3: home invasion, and violation of a protective order. He pleaded
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  Speaker 3: guilty to two of the charges, resulting in a forty
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  Speaker 3: year sentence for murder and a concurrent ten year sentence
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  Speaker 3: for the risk of injury to a child. For the
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  Speaker 3: latest crime Injustice news, follow Crime Alert hourly update on
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  Speaker 3: your favorite podcasting app with this crime alert, I'm Nico
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  Speaker 3: part