Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to crime around up, y'all. Josh is gonna earn
his money today. I'm gonna force him to break down
a case. Let me just tell y'all something. If I
told y'all murder for hire, messy, divorce, Harvard, FBI sting
(00:28):
of jailhouse informants, you might think I'm talking about four
or five different cases. Baby one case. But before we
get there, we got to mention our girl, Cardi b.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
New fan over here, big fan.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yes, yes, she needs to come to pack and teach
how to testify.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Teach authenticity, teach teach just talent, just truth telling.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
And said she was fat. No I didn't. I called
her a bitch.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
There's a comedian by the name of Josh Johnson that
is just up and coming. He's fantastic on Daily Show,
killing it on the Internet. He's an African American young man,
and he had this great line. He's like, I don't
think that plaintiffs lawyer had ever met an African American
before in his entire life.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
And he got introdu.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Sorious applause and here, man, there's your jury. There's your jury, right, jury.
If you are that out of touch that you're going
to talk to a black woman about her wig and
not come aunt, sir.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Sir, yesterday your hair was black with bangs. Today it's blonde.
And let me tell you, you don't have to be
an African American woman any woman. That's how you're coming
at her.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
It was an example of just complete tone deafness when
it comes to the position and the roles that people
have in their lives. This woman has sold millions of
album You may not like her particular brand of beats,
but she is an important entertainer with amazing influence. You
(02:14):
could at least respect her to the basic degree of
a normal person. It looked to me like he was
treating her almost like a cleaning part like it. It
just it was bad to be feeling sour.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
And she's a single mom taking care of a bunch
of people.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Oh she's she is a cottage industry. You gotta understand
there are dozens, if not over one hundred people that
directly live because of her efforts. Being an entertainer a
job that yeah, sure it looks really fun and you
get paid really well, but come on, no one works
harder than some of these touring artists. It is a
grind it is a grind upon grind.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Please tell me there's gonna be a new song car
to b I'm free, ain't gonna get no money from me.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I think that just like Young Thug, this is going
to be an additional source for music and inspiration because
look at how many cool cultural things happened with this
CARDI B case that we've got per the standard idea
of personal injury where everybody in America loves to think
about how we can just go and sue people left
(03:20):
and right, and it's just easy. You just get up
there and have a lawyer go out there, try it
out some words, and you get some big money. You
get maybe twenty four million dollars for a couple centimeter cut. No, No,
that twenty four million dollars was an offensive figure, and
that's coming from me, a greedy personal injury lawyer who
has made many slightly unsubstantiated demands for compensation. There is
(03:44):
nothing wrong with a little bit of puffery, with a
little bit of aggressive negotiation, But to go to trial
with the theory from the public being twenty four million
dollars for this assault, it set a tone for the coverage,
for the way that the community interacts with the justice system,
and how unfortunately the Planeffs bar is viewed by millions
(04:05):
of people who walked away after just even hearing of
this debacle, this shakedown, this extortion.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Twenty four million is putrid.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
And then you've seen how hard we fight for ten
thousand dollars for twenty thousand dollars for people that are
legitimately injured because different states have different rules, and I'm
just going to say that that's California, it'sure ain't Georgia.
I about can guarantee you that case never would have
seen the light of a courthouse in Georgia because it
(04:39):
would have been stopped well before. And I hope that
there are remedies in California that I happen to know
one of Carti's lawyers that I'm pretty certain they're going
to pursue. And I won't be surprised if there's an
outrageous attorney's feet a war of attorney's fee award at
some point during this process, and I hope that plane
(05:01):
Off's lawyer has to bear it, because that's that's how
we cut down on frivolous lawsuits. Because that now, that
was a frivolous lawsuit.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Every famous and rich person should be wearing her shirt
today when she said it, if this happens again, if
somebody brings some frivolous suit to my door, I will
counter sue.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
She's not backing down you. And I said it the
other day. She came to play and that attorney at
every turn she shot him down.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Oh it was awful to see him try to pursue
some line of this that and just get stopped. And
I think she's a great example of, like we were
talking earlier, how witnesses really can be authentic, influential and
trusted by dr No one thought Carti's lying about this,
(05:56):
and she was getting accused of this security guard. Basically,
it's similar but different from a criminal case. But you
saw the plainness of the response. Her ability to cut
through the wordiness of the law and just answer was admirable.
I wish more clients would do that. I wish more
(06:18):
clients had the confidence that she had. She was just
up there answering questions. She wasn't afraid of none of that.
She may have been anxious, she may have been concerned,
but there was no fear coming from Cardi b about
having to go up and answer these questions and that
you can't beat it in front of a jury when
(06:38):
you have someone.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Like that, and Josh, she was relatable when she started
talking as a mama. I missed my child's first day
of school.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, you had me, you had me,
stuff that everybody goes. Yep, totally relatable. She may make
tons of money, she may live this crazy lifestyle, she's
still a mama.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
She can't get that day back.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yep, she can't get that day back. I loved I
loved some of her answers of how play. I was
there for my baby. I was there to get my
kitty checked out, like it couldn't have gone better for her.
And I think it was a good cultural moment, actually
a positive cultural moment from the justice system, because we
(07:20):
see that there are predator people going after celebrities, other
wealthy people. This also includes big corporations, this also includes
nonprofit organizations. Anybody where there's a deep pocket, there's going
to be some individual that will be able to find
(07:41):
a lawyer to bring a claim. And unfortunately, this was
a terrible example of a claim and it's a good
example of what shouldn't happen. So a fascinating case. I'm
glad everybody got to watch it and covered it. I
always enjoy when we get into the civil universe.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
She picked up.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Lots of fans. Let's move on to the murder for
higher plot. Donna Adelson.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Seriously, I mean, it's like how many twists and turns
you almost need a flow chart.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I think this is trial four, but it might just
be trial three, And of course everybody is waiting for
the other shoe to drop on when.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Okay, now, if y'all have been somewhere other than Earth,
here's what's going on.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
There's a woman, Donna Adelson.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
She has a son named Charlie that's already been convicted
of being part of a murder for hire by a
family member that everybody hated named Dan Markle. So there's
several people that have already been convicted. Well, mama's on
trial now, Donna, and everybody's oh, you know, is Charlie
gonna save her? Is her daughter gonna turn own her?
(09:04):
Is she gonna testify? What all has been happening? So
I am gonna sit back and I am going to
enjoy a little wine while Josh starts talking because he
can break this down better than anybody. And when I
tell you there's a lot, there's a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Today was ten days of trial in one because what
Max's talking about is this case. Oh, it is a
it's a romance thriller, it's a murder, it's a it's
it's practically a mob move like it has. We've got
Donna who's on trial right now, and she's the mama,
(09:43):
the matriarch. She's married to poor Harvey, aged eighty one.
And as much as I believe he absolutely knew and
could be proven guilty of several crimes, I pray that
they just leave little old Harvey alone because he's gone
through so much he never could have escaped the evil
web that I feel Donna is at the absolute center of.
(10:06):
And it all relates to her daughter, Wendy, and Wendy's
choice of husband being from all reports, an absolute stellar
guy by the name of Dan Markle, who is brilliant,
who is successful, who has a great family, who has
a firm faith practice and life, who is a provider,
(10:27):
who just has fans because he's good people, works hard.
And it turns out that the Adelson family, led by
Donna and certainly involving Wendy. The White weren't big fans
of the way Dan was living his life, and so
there was going to be this divorce, and depending on
who you listen to, it was acrimonious, to say the least. Now,
(10:51):
today's interesting expert witness was a divorce lawyer for Wendy
Adelson who had handled thousands of divorces and tried to
convince it you're that no, this was really model divorce.
They treated each other great. It was low impact and
this was not torturous and drawn out and horrible and
(11:11):
mainly one of the people died afterwards when he was
murdered by the family of his ex But we'll get
there in a minute. The general story is that a
hit person was acquired by the Adelson family. That hit
(11:31):
person then worked with other individuals, including this Katherine macn
ban Wah. There's a whole cast of folks. But the
hit happened. Dan Markle was murdered mercilessly, brutally. It was off.
This is someone who has everything to live for and
(11:53):
his choice of spouse led to his murder, with the
big question being how, who, what, why, and who was
really behind it? Notice Wendy the wife. She still hasn't
been arrested or put on trial. Who has been well,
the hit team, they were picked up. And there's this
(12:14):
outrageous video of the bump where literally undercover agents posing
as Latin Kings are on video talking with Donna Aedelson
trying to give her information, and Donna, who has been
trying to avoid it for obvious purposes, literally is acknowledging
(12:36):
and keeping notes. And one of the key pieces of
evidence is her day planner. Where in the day planner
on and around the dates of the murder. Oh look,
there's Dan Markle's vehicle and I d and his license
plate in a full description, because you know that just
is in your mother in law's planner for time when
(12:58):
you're about to get murdered by Latin King hit team.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
It's crazy, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
So then we get to today, and this case has
been beautifully presented by the state attorneys in Florida. This
is up in Tallahassee, this is not in the South
part of the state, Madam prosecutor, And I regret that
I forget her name right now. She has been stellar,
and I really mean that with her presentation, with her
(13:27):
connection with the jury and her plainness in calling out
the lies and the garbage as soon as they're dumped
out in court. And we have an amazing judge. Judge
Everett is this very large, very quiet African American man
who speaks with supreme and ultimate authority in that that
is his courtroom. He runs it. He's going to follow
(13:48):
the law, make sure everything's done right. There ain't going
to be no appeals based on any actions he takes
during this trial. But he's never run into somebody like
Donna Adelson and the whole issue. Today, after the presentation
of the States case, and this case was scheduled to
be three weeks long, we're getting deep into it. The
(14:10):
defense cases up and is Donna gonna testify? Now? Everybody
wants to ask Donna questions. And if you pay attention
to Donna for two minutes, you know she loves to talk.
She loves it. We have listened to hours of the
most mundane, pointless chatter between Donna, the over bearing helicopter
(14:32):
mom legendary level of helicopter mommy. She's talking about this
stuff on recorded phone lines with everybody in the family
and they're playing like they've read all the Mario Puzo's
Great Mob books. They are playing like they've seen all
the great crime movies out there, and they're basically trying
(14:54):
to emulate that, which, as any member of law enforcement
will tell you, is dumb. They've all seen those movies too.
This ain't the Sopranis and Donna today. After all this
time instructored her poor suffering, very highly paid private lawyers.
(15:16):
These are not poor people. I'd be willing to bet
the fees are through the roof, and these are professional
criminal defense lawyers. They couldn't figure out whether she was
going to testify or not. They actually argued to the judge, Judge,
having sat through all this evidence, we haven't had time
(15:36):
to discuss it and review it with our client enough
for her to determine whether she wants to testify or not. Now,
I'll tell you creative. I appreciate the gumption and the
zealous representation of the client, but Judge shut that down
in about two seconds, said, she is in the same
position as anybody else, any other defendant who is gone
(16:00):
through trial and listened to all this evidence, and now
is the time where she decides whether she is going
to testify or if she is going to remain silent,
and he handled it like a pro gave her enough
wiggle room that she cannot effectively complain that any rights
were suspended or it was very well handled by the
(16:25):
judge who made sure that they were given and afforded
all of the opportunities necessary, but were not provided too much.
And we're certainly held within available bounds because this trial's
got to keep going. The defense eventually did rest, and
then so tomorrow we're going to have closing arguments, which
(16:48):
are going to be scorchers. I think the state is
going to swing hard. I think they're going to bring
some real righteous indignation in talking about the center of
this family web that resulted in the horrific murder of
a really wonderful gentleman, a medical practitioner who served as
patients and was a great member of his community, that
(17:09):
did not deserve to be murdered by hitman. And I
think they're gonna bring that thunder. I don't know how
the defense is gonna respond. The defense made promises about
hearing from Donald Adelson in evidence, they did not present much,
and in fact, they struggled with the few defense witnesses
that they did bring up the lawyer for Wendy Adelson.
(17:34):
The divorce lawyer today ended up stumbling as the prosecution
used a wonderful analogy about how divorce is like a
garbage bag. What is horrifying to you as you throw
it out, the stinkiest garbage bag of all time is
nothing to the garbage man. This is the garbage man.
(17:56):
He sees that stuff all the time. And that was
just what this lawyer was doing. This is a lawyer
who started with how many thousands of divorces they'd handled,
and in their estimation, this was not a contentious or
acrimonious divorce, and these people treat each other great. The
state came out and viscerally showed that this witness didn't
(18:19):
have the same perspective as anybody else because of how
many divorces she'd done, and how a horrifying divorce to
anybody else might really not be that much of a
hiccup to her because she was that overexposed. A really
great job by the state's attorney. And we'll see what
these closings look like. But I bet my bottom dollar
(18:42):
we have a verdict by Friday.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Night, ten days of trial. In one you said it perfect.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
And we didn't even get into the fact that twice
during this trial. Twice during this trial a defense dense
witness who had been counseled and spoken to by the
defense team ended up in the courtroom during testimony prior
to their testimony. Now, just a blatant violation of the
(19:15):
rule of sequestration. Could not be more clear. You ain't
allowed to be You're just not. It's a real simple rule.
If you're going to testify, you ain't allowed to be
in the room. There you go, it's that easy. You
ain't allowed to watch the trial. To have it happen
once is a bad look for the team whose witness
it was. And I've seen it happen. I've seen it inadvertent.
(19:36):
I've seen it where I could imagine it was intentional,
and judges get pretty bent out of shape because, man,
don't violate the dumb easy rules. Don't waste the court's
time with that. For it to happen twice, judge was
kind of lit up about it. State asked for the
appropriate remedy, which is generally exclusion of that witness because
they've been tampered with. Defense did make a very good objection,
(19:59):
and the judge came back and then my learning moment
for the day was, if an expert witness in Florida,
and now this is expert witness not lay witnesses. If
an expert witness in Florida watch, it violates the rule
of sequestration. Watches the trial that does not per se
(20:19):
violate the rule of sequestration unless it can be shown
that the opinion of that expert witness changed due to
the testimony. Now, if that can be shown, then the
testimony and the witness shall be strucken. That's an appropriate
remedy by the court. But the judge made the right
call allowed the testimony, and bluntly, I think it was
(20:40):
a smart call because it forecloses yet another appellate possibility
that I believe Don Adelson is trying everything to break
the case. And sometimes, and we've talked about this, the
defense isn't honest. The defense's zealousness isn't attached in a
(21:00):
and targeted towards the facts, but more towards the process.
And if you have a horrific factual case and have
a focus on the process, there are tactics and strategies
which are made to preserve appellate issues, to expose problems
in our criminal defense process and the local how courts
(21:21):
run locally, because sometimes that's the only way you're ever
going to be able to escape what's coming to you.
And we'll see what happens. I expect a conviction. I
expect a lot of money to be spent on appeals,
but I see a pretty clean case so far.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I'm going to be landed in Colorado shortly. And let
me just tell you, Marcia Clark, never met her, can't
wait to meet her. We got John Walsh, Nancy Grace,
Chris Hansen, Brian Buckmeyer, Josh Mikeelwitz, Vinnie Politan.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
It's everybody. If everybody, it is going to be a
huge good time. And I know some of the subjects.
Cheryl's shared with me a couple of the subjects. Y'all
are in for a treat with the personal connections and
stories from these people involved in the true crime universe.
(22:21):
And one of the great things about true crime is
how accessible and real all these people are. I've been
blessed to represent and work with a bunch of celebrities.
These aren't jerks, These are.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Nice, These are gracious and behind and giving people. It
knocks me out.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Every year, and they genuinely, I'll tell you, they genuinely
love what's happening to them because these aren't people that
grew up We're like, I can't wait to be famous.
I want to go into No, these people something else
and then the fame found them. And that is so
someone who experiences the teenious bit it, I understand their
(23:03):
smiles because it feels so good to be recognized because
of something you're talking about that's meaningful, important, and hopefully
is doing something good for somebody, whether it's education, whether
it's advocacy on something like domestic vonts or the crimes
against children, which is a hotter topic right now than
(23:24):
ever before you talk about Chris Hansen, those cases. If
you talk about what drives cops wild, it's those cases
because they know they can run that sting three hundred
and sixty five days a year and pack the jail.
That is one of the things that just terrifies me
as a dad of a girl or of any child. Really,
the predators are out there. There are more bad people
(23:48):
out there looking to, if the situation was right, do
very bad things.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
And technology is such a tool for these people. But
let me tell you, I get to do some thing
super cool. I get to present a case with Barbara Butcher. Honey.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Now, fill everybody in for who Barbara is for people
that don't know, not someone whose name is out there
all the time. But tell us that's true.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
But that's gonna change. Let me tell you something.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
She was a medical death investigator with the New York
City Medical Examiner's Office. She works with NYPD, the best
there is.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
So she's doctor Baden.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Yeah, she's the goat man.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Yes, yes, And she's about the end of this month
to kick off her own TV show.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
So Barbara Butcher, y'all watch for her. I'm going to
talk to her.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I'm gonna start promoting things so y'all can see what
she's doing. She is, hands down one of the best
I've ever worked with ever.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
And what I love is the concentration on the process
and the behind the scenes that when you just watch
true crime and trials, the trial is the is the surface.
It's just the skin. It's just what gets shown. The
work behind it is endless, and that work is with
(25:15):
the experts because a death investigation when you're when you're
we talked about it with that new case out of
Kentucky with the blonde lady with the dead baby right now,
and it's a terrible case of a college girl who
apparently gave birth and left the baby in the house
and the baby is dead. We've seen this case a
(25:37):
million times in different ways. The emmy came out and
said that the cause of death is undetermined, which for
an infant makes you think, because how to infants die, Well,
there's exposure. If you just don't care for a child
that is an infant, it will expire because it needs
(25:58):
constant care. You could also have a still birth or
a failure to thrive child. Those are both things that happen.
And then on the other end of that coin, if
someone gives birth to a child and wants to not
have that situation, they could take aggressive actions against the child.
(26:19):
That's a totally different book we're talking about now. The
em he's the one that decides that for the state.
The state would be the first person to say, I'm
not a scientist, I am not calling the ball on
the manner of death, because right now that infant is indeterminate,
and that's why she's been released. One hundred thousand dollars
(26:40):
bond because it's just concealing the death of an infant
and I think two other minor associated fellions. There's no
murder once that emmy comes out. That's the direction and
the expertise that the state is required to rely on
to make the charging decisions and whether it's going to
be a murder case with potentially death penalty attached to it,
(27:03):
or whether it's going to be a substantially lesser set
of charges.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Every time I hear those cases, though, I gotta tell you,
they're just heartbreaking all the way around. This is not
somebody that's set out to be a criminal, This is
not somebody that's set out to harm anybody.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
But something went terribly wrong mentally, physically, both. They're just
hard cases.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
They're ultimately because anybody that has held a child, held
a newborn, had a child, your body is programmed to
care and not harm and to protect you just you.
You can't do anything but love and protect a baby.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Something's all terribly wrong.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
With every one of these cases. Something is going on
with that mom's head. Because the eye idea of a
mom not caring for a baby that has grown inside
them and is now it's just impossible. So something else
is at playing every one of those cases, and it's
(28:13):
it's just heartbreak. They're amongst the saddest things that we
ever deal with.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Well, y'all and listen, when I get there, I am
going to represent Crime Round Up by myself this time,
but the next time, Joshua Schiffer will be their front
and center, not only at the table but on stage.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Honey. But y'all know he he cheats on me a lot.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
And I'm a philanderer of the speaking type. He is, he, y'all.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
He'll it's so abusive.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
He'll text me and I'll say, hey, you know nine
o'clock work for you. No, I'm talking to any Oh
well what about ten clock? No, I'm talking to Ashley.
I'm like, all right, well this time, people.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Oh, it's not your fault. You can't help it. I mean,
you can't help it. But I take him back. I
take him back every week when everyone's available for you.
But he does have some things lined up.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
I think he's got to be in court to help
save some pots, going to be on TV and help
take the folks. But next time everything's off his calendar
except Crime cont So.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Come by and see me.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
I'll tell y'all in person how fabulous he is, how
brilliant he is. And this will be the last time
y'all don't see I promise you.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
But I'm gonna represent Zone seven and we're going to
do a live Zone seven with Ed. We're going to
talk about wildlife crimes and poaching. You don't want to miss.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
This one because we have a special, special guest that's
gonna blow you mind, and.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
That wildlife crime is getting bigger and bigger issues because
more communities are seeing the connections. There's so much with
mental health when it gets to Anna that it we
learn more the more we study this stuff. Statistical analysis,
oh absolutely, and you get into some stuff that may
(30:18):
not you know, it's not the conventional oh A leads
to be leads to see. But then when you step back,
when you see the different spokes of the wheel, it
all connects. It all is coming together, and it's it's
good investigations. It's the training, and it's why we need
to dedicate more resources to effective law enforcement training. Training
(30:40):
that's meaningful, training that is useful, and we've got to
expand the role of what our safekeepers, what our peacekeepers
do in our lives to ensure society remains safe and
healthy and productive.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
All right, buddy, well, I'm going to talk to you
the next few days that I'm gonna let you know
what's going on.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I'm so well.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
You don't have to be jealous, Honey, Delta.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
I'm telling you, I'm telling you, I got got to
get there. I promise everybody I'll be there. There are
so many incredible people. I hope y'all listeners, y'all are
going because this and it's it's death. Come on, it's
it's a fun town, to say the least. You were
gonna have such a great time. I have got to run.
I've got this next thing coming up. Love, y'all.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
I told y'all he's just running to another woman.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
For a fact. Guy, you think i'd be skinny? All right,
you talk to you soon.