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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. How does a killer get

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Speaker 1: set free by a judge who should know better, only

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Speaker 1: to kill again? And nobody seems to have noticed. But

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Speaker 1: guess what we have I Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation

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Speaker 1: and series XEM one eleven, and I am talking to you,

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Speaker 1: Judge Natalia Cornelio. Judge Natalia Cornelio, you're the reason that

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Speaker 1: Summer Chester is dead because you let her killer from

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Speaker 1: behind bars after police catch him following a deadly home invasion.

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Speaker 1: They get him behind bars, you let him out and

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Speaker 1: guess what, it ain't her first trip to the rodeo.

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Speaker 1: She's done it before. Again. Thank you for being with

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Speaker 1: us here at Fox Station. In series M one eleven,

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Speaker 1: take Less to our Frisday kp RC two. I want

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Speaker 1: to show you something right off the bat that we notice.

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Speaker 1: Take a look at the front door. It is riddled

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Speaker 1: with bullet holes. Police still trying to figure out if

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Speaker 1: the shooting happened outside or inside the home. We know

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Speaker 1: that the man who died, the fifty five year old man,

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Speaker 1: did die inside the home. A lot of moving parts

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Speaker 1: to this investigation still ongoing. Let's take a look at

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Speaker 1: the video. Police say this happened around one fifty this morning.

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Speaker 1: Three men came up to this house, forced their way in.

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Speaker 1: There was some sort of altercation or fight. Then shocks

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Speaker 1: rang out and one man was hitting the torso, the

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Speaker 1: other man hitting the leg. Both of those men if

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Speaker 1: at this home. The man who was hit in the leg,

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Speaker 1: in fact, police say, was on his way to work.

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Speaker 1: He is recovering at Benab. The man hit in the torso,

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Speaker 1: the fifty five year old man, died here at the scene. Now,

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Speaker 1: the three suspects, they were able to get away with

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Speaker 1: a cell phone, a purse, and some cash. And then

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Speaker 1: we don't know why they wanted those things, but that

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Speaker 1: is why. That is what they got away with. A

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Speaker 1: home invasion, leaving two men shot, one dead, over a

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Speaker 1: cell phone, a purse, and some cash that was in

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Speaker 1: the purse. A home invasion nearly two a m. In

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Speaker 1: the morning. It seems like a horror movie. But why

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Speaker 1: why did this judge? She's got a New York University, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I went there NYU Baxter's degree. Then she goes to

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Speaker 1: law school and University of Chicago, great schools. So what

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Speaker 1: went wrong with me? An All Star Panel to figure

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Speaker 1: out what the hay is going on. First of all,

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Speaker 1: former federal prosecutor, high profile lawyer off and on TV.

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Speaker 1: You can see him practically everywhere. Douglas Burns. Doug Burns,

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Speaker 1: and it's in his blood. His father was the US

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Speaker 1: Attorney General as well in that jurisdiction. Doctor Jorry Crawsen

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Speaker 1: joining US faculty Saint Leo University, psychologist, author of operations,

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Speaker 1: Chris Buyer's former police chief John's Creek, Georgia, twenty five

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Speaker 1: years on the force, now PI and polygrapher at Chris

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Speaker 1: Buyer's Investigations and polygraph dot Com. Doctor Kendall Crowns, the

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Speaker 1: chief medical Examiner Charrant County. That's in Fort Worth. Lecturer

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Speaker 1: University Texas and Texas A and M. He's also at

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Speaker 1: the University of Texas Medical School. I could go on

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Speaker 1: and on about doctor Kendall Crowns. But doctor Kendall Crowns,

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Speaker 1: aren't you turne of seeing all these dead bodies piling

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Speaker 1: up in your office? This went down in Texas. Kendall Crowns,

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Speaker 1: your backyard with me a very special guest, longtime colleague,

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Speaker 1: and I consider a friend. Andy Cohn director of Victims

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Speaker 1: Services and Advocacy Crime Stoppers of Houston. Andy has been

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Speaker 1: fighting the good fight as long as I've known him.

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Speaker 1: But first to Alexis Terreschu, Crimealine dot Com investigative reporter, Alexis,

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Speaker 1: I don't get it. So this guy home invades, murders

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Speaker 1: somebody for a cell phone in a pocketbook, and then

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Speaker 1: this judge, Natalie Cornelio, let's have walk. Then he kills

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Speaker 1: somebody else, Summer Chester. Let's see, Summer's just twenty three

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Speaker 1: years old. Who is this guy Jonathan Vera, So he

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Speaker 1: was twenty years old, not a teenager. Twenty years old

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Speaker 1: when he and two other men first into the home

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Speaker 1: of a man named Silvano Quartet. Now Silvano and his

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Speaker 1: wife were in bed. This is one fifty in the

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Speaker 1: morning day. How'd a gentleman who was staying with them?

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Speaker 1: He was leaving the house. He was going to work

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Speaker 1: and he worked for a late or an early morning shift. Alexis,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure I've told you about my dad working on

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Speaker 1: the railroad Norfolk Southern for the longest time. He did

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Speaker 1: what they call the mobile route because they went through

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Speaker 1: a lot of layoffs and my dad got they had

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Speaker 1: one job for him, Alexis was the mobile route, which

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Speaker 1: means he would drive sometimes three or four hours to

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Speaker 1: get to work wherever they needed him throughout the Southeast

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Speaker 1: for that day. One day he might drive an hour

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Speaker 1: to work, the next day four hours, the next day

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Speaker 1: thirty minutes, depending on That's the only way he'd keep

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Speaker 1: his job at Norfolk Southern with a wife who was

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Speaker 1: then a bank teller, and three children. So one night

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Speaker 1: my dad would go to work at eleven pm. Next

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Speaker 1: day you might go to work at three. So I

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Speaker 1: get it. Somebody is up going to work at what

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Speaker 1: was at one fifty A m Alexis, Yes, one fifty

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Speaker 1: am leaves the house like is walking out the front

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Speaker 1: door to go to work and is ambushed by three

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Speaker 1: men with guns and so they shove him back in

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Speaker 1: the house. They go in the master bedroom, they grat

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Speaker 1: and that this is where mister Cortez and his wife

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Speaker 1: are sleeping in their bed. They hold them at gunpoint.

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Speaker 1: So these to this couple is you know, in their

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Speaker 1: pajamas in bed in the middle of the night, and

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Speaker 1: they're being held at gunpoint. And these guys are running

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Speaker 1: around the house, ransacking the house looking for things and

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Speaker 1: all they get to the person cell phone and some cash.

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Speaker 1: Now it sounds like they're in your house right now,

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Speaker 1: go ahead. They don't leave with the stuff and just

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Speaker 1: say by guys there. They end up opening fire. The

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Speaker 1: people in the home did not have guns. They were

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Speaker 1: not shooting to descend themselves. These people were just shot

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Speaker 1: by the folks that broke into the home. So Sylvano

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Speaker 1: shot in his bed, and then as the other man

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Speaker 1: is leaving the house, it appears that the three guys

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Speaker 1: outside turned fire back into the house. So they were

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Speaker 1: already gone and nobody was shooting at them, and they

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Speaker 1: turned back around and shoot at the guy who had

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Speaker 1: been reading for work. Take a listen to our cut

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Speaker 1: to This is Randy Wallace Fox. Twenty six. Police say

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Speaker 1: twenty year old Jonathan Vira and two other men killed

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Speaker 1: Solvano Cortez during a home invasion in the greens Point area,

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Speaker 1: held the homeowner and his wife at gunpoint, ransacked the home,

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Speaker 1: and then ended up killing a fifty five year old

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Speaker 1: homeowner and then shooting another suton shooting another person while

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Speaker 1: they were fleeing the scene. Then, seventeen year old Jonathan

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Speaker 1: Vira was charged with capital murder. His bond was set

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Speaker 1: at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He was actually

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Speaker 1: in Harris Kenner jail for at least two plus years,

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Speaker 1: and while he was in county jail, he also was

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Speaker 1: charged with another felony by harassment of a public servant

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Speaker 1: three hundred and fifty First Criminal District Court. Judge Natalia

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Speaker 1: Cornelio Lord, there is bond three fifty First District Court.

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Speaker 1: I mean lowered it to what I've never seen in

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Speaker 1: my career. Fifty thousand dollars for capital murder. Wow, okay,

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Speaker 1: when you hear fifty thousand dollars is the bond to you?

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Speaker 1: Former federal prosecutor, high profile lawyer Doug Burns. We all

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Speaker 1: know when we hear fifty thousand dollars bond, you don't

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Speaker 1: put up fifty thousand, You don't more, you don't take

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Speaker 1: a lean on your home, You don't rush to the

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Speaker 1: bank for a fifty grand loan. You put up ten

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Speaker 1: percent of that five thousand dollars. Exactly right. You put

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Speaker 1: up five thousand dollars with a bail bondsman, PaperWorks filled down,

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Speaker 1: and you're released and real quick. Fifty thousand dollars reduction

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Speaker 1: on a capital offense is absolutely absurd and it's horrific

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Speaker 1: what happened. And again, I'm just glad that you're calling

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Speaker 1: this church to account because this kind about, no question

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Speaker 1: about it, nothing crime stories with Nancy Grace, you know, Doug,

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Speaker 1: another thing about bill bond. For instance, if you go

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Speaker 1: to any jail, and I don't advise it. I've been

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Speaker 1: in way too many jails. All around the jail, all

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Speaker 1: around the jail's crop up bond companies, bonding companies because

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Speaker 1: you know, let's just pretend your son gets a DUI

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Speaker 1: ve vehicular homicide. You've never had any contact with the

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Speaker 1: justice system at all. You got to bond him out,

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Speaker 1: and right by the jail you see triple A bonding.

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Speaker 1: You walk in, you give them the arrest report, and

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Speaker 1: they can take collateral f since they may take a

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Speaker 1: lane against your home very often to get that five grand.

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Speaker 1: You don't even have to put up five grand. How

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Speaker 1: does it work? Doug Burns simply put, Yeah, I'm making

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Speaker 1: a really great point, of course, which is that when

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Speaker 1: you go to local courthouses, you know, in state court,

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Speaker 1: for example, here in New York, you see signs and

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Speaker 1: offices for bonding companies all over the place. They're incentivized,

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Speaker 1: obviously to do business, and as you say, they take

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Speaker 1: a small percentage, because if you want to look at

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Speaker 1: it from a statistical point of view, you know generally

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Speaker 1: those who fully you know, are in the minority. But

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Speaker 1: this case, by the way, real quick, is not about

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Speaker 1: risk of flight. This is about danger to the community.

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Speaker 1: That's a very important point. You keep people detained pre

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Speaker 1: trial for two reasons, One because they may not reappear

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Speaker 1: in court, but two ten times more importantly in a

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Speaker 1: violent crime case, Nancy, so they don't hurt somebody else, obviously, Exactly,

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Speaker 1: Doug Burns, Exactly, you're preaching to the choir right now.

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Speaker 1: Burns and I want to talk Andy Kahan joining me,

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Speaker 1: longtime colleague, fighting for victim's rights. Andy, I want to

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Speaker 1: hear about the murder in the first case, the case

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Speaker 1: where Sylvano Cortez is shot dead in his own bed,

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Speaker 1: lying there with his wife asleep. Now, this is before

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Speaker 1: the same guy gets out and kills Somerchester. Thanks to

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Speaker 1: Natalie Cornelio, the judge tell me about the death of

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Speaker 1: the first victim. I Nancy, this was a brutal, horrific

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Speaker 1: dead This is a home invasion that you see on

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Speaker 1: the news where they're kicking the doors at one forty

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Speaker 1: five in the morning, and you got Almater fifty five

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Speaker 1: years old sleeping with his wife and they held him

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Speaker 1: at gunpoint, and then they shoot and kill him, and

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Speaker 1: then they shoot another guy that was just simply trying

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Speaker 1: to go to work. He was actually bara was on

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Speaker 1: the land. They didn't actually arrest him and his two

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Speaker 1: accomplices until almost a year later. So he's taken in

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Speaker 1: the custody. He's charged capital murder, the most egregious offense

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Speaker 1: that you can charge anyone. It is the only offense

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Speaker 1: in which a judge actually can have a no bond.

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Speaker 1: That didn't happen in this case. The judge sets a

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Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars bond. From our perspective,

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Speaker 1: it's pretty lowball for capital or murder, but obviously it

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Speaker 1: was good enough to keep Barr in jail for two

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Speaker 1: years and then inexplicably, all of the I mean you

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Speaker 1: lowered the bond. Not only do you lower the bond

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Speaker 1: to a low ball fifty thousand, he's actually charged with

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Speaker 1: another felony while he's in oh Andy, Cohn. Please tell

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Speaker 1: everybody what this guy did behind bars? Jonathan Verr. He's

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Speaker 1: already home invaded, shot one guy dead in his sleep.

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Speaker 1: Now he's behind bars, after year walking free, bragging, what

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Speaker 1: did he do behind bars? So he's one of the

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Speaker 1: officers evidently approa oshim and he chucked it. Basically, he

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Speaker 1: chucked his saliva at him, and so he's charged with

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Speaker 1: harassment of a public servant. He's spent on the he's

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Speaker 1: spent on the jail keeper. Yet ninety nine pages of

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Speaker 1: jail infractions documented, and this is the person you deemed

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Speaker 1: to be a good risk. Will you say that again,

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Speaker 1: Andy com ninety nine pages? Please say that again? Ninety

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Speaker 1: nine documented pages of infractions while in custody, and yet

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Speaker 1: dis judge deemed this person to be a good risk

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Speaker 1: to lower from two hundred and fifty thousand to an

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Speaker 1: unheard of fifty thousand per capital murder. Guys, I want

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Speaker 1: you to take a listen to our cut three, our

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Speaker 1: friend Randy Wallace at Fox twenty six Houston. That is insane.

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Speaker 1: That is a two years ago that would have been

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Speaker 1: aggravated assault bone. One day after Cornelio lowered to respond,

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Speaker 1: he walked out of jail. Just last week, police say

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Speaker 1: Vera took another life and is now charged with manslaughter

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Speaker 1: and the death of summer Chester. The reduction of his

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Speaker 1: bond from two fifty to fifty led to the result

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Speaker 1: of killing summer Chester. The judge should be held accountable

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Speaker 1: right now. They have absolute immunity. They can do whatever

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Speaker 1: they want because they know no one's going to hold

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Speaker 1: them accountable. You know you're hearing speaking reporter Randy Wallace

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Speaker 1: Fox twenty six, but you're also hearing Doug Griffith, the

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Speaker 1: president of the Houston Police Officers Union, and of course

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Speaker 1: our friend Andy conn at Crime Stoppers. So he gets

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Speaker 1: out thanks to the judge and then kills somebody else.

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Speaker 1: I want to go now to our special guest, doctor

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Speaker 1: Kendall Crown's chief medical examiner, Fort Worth. Doctor Kendall Crown's

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Speaker 1: shot in your sleeve, shot lying in your own bed

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Speaker 1: with your wife. How long does it take before a

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Speaker 1: victim bleeds out dead? I mean, I wonder a disc

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Speaker 1: guy in the middle of the night realizes he's dying

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Speaker 1: right then and there. Well, of course it's going to

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Speaker 1: depend on where you get hit. But if you're not

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Speaker 1: hit in the head and involving your brainstem, which could

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Speaker 1: kill you instantly. Let's say you get hitting the chest.

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Speaker 1: Even if it's hit in your heart, you're going to

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Speaker 1: have at least several seconds where you can feel the

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Speaker 1: pain and bleeding and then you realize you're dying and

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Speaker 1: you're going to be able to cry out. Also, if

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Speaker 1: you get hitting your lungs, you're going to be bleeding

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Speaker 1: into your chest cavity, breathing into your airways, so you're

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Speaker 1: going to be gasping and coughing up blood and also

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Speaker 1: be able to realize that you're dying. So, just depending

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Speaker 1: on where you get hit, it can be instantaneous or

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Speaker 1: it can take a matter of minutes. The door Kittel Crowns,

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Speaker 1: has there ever been a point in your life where

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Speaker 1: you thought you were actually dying. Yes, A couple of times.

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Speaker 1: My there held me underwater until I had in hail

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Speaker 1: water and I thought it was going to drowned. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't a pleasant experience. That was when you were a kid,

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Speaker 1: a child, a team. I've had a couple of times.

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Speaker 1: One was and I was out with my investigator, Earnest,

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Speaker 1: and we were in one of the worst areas, the

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Speaker 1: most crime ridden area of Atlanta housing project and I

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Speaker 1: was trying to serve a subpoena on a guy. It

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Speaker 1: was about noon, a little before noon, and we went

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Speaker 1: up to a door and I was directly in front

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Speaker 1: of the door, and my investigator was standing to my right,

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Speaker 1: and the sun was bright, so inside the apartment it

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Speaker 1: was dark, and they had a screen door over the

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Speaker 1: front door, so I couldn't see in through that. It

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Speaker 1: was a rusted screen door, and the first thing I

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Speaker 1: saw was the barrel of a long gun pointed right

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Speaker 1: at my face, and my investigator shoved me to my left.

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Speaker 1: I felt I went flying off the porch down about

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Speaker 1: I don't know, three feet into a bunch of shrubs,

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Speaker 1: and we immediately he immediately grabbed the guy, and just

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Speaker 1: so you know, the subpoena was served. Long story short.

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Speaker 1: In that split second, I guess I thought I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: get shot. I didn't have time to really think about it.

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Speaker 1: There was another time, Doctor Kendall Crowns at one of

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Speaker 1: my sons early early soccer baseball. I just raced across town,

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Speaker 1: literally raced from work to get there for the game,

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Speaker 1: and my chest hurts so bad I had to lay

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Speaker 1: on the ground and my dress up clothes because I

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Speaker 1: couldn't sit up. Well, I'm having a hard tag. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to die right here in the dirt. My point is,

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Speaker 1: doctor Kendall Crowns, I wonder if the victim, Sylvannah Cortez,

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Speaker 1: was aware his wife was right beside him screaming or crying,

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Speaker 1: if he knew what was going on around him, if

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Speaker 1: there were children in the home screaming and crying. I mean,

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Speaker 1: how long does it take you to die if you're

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Speaker 1: not shot in the head again, it can take several minutes.

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Speaker 1: So he would be aware of what's going on around him,

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Speaker 1: hearing his family screaming, you know, realizing he's probably going

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Speaker 1: to die. So it is I'm sure not a pleasant experience.

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Speaker 1: And then doctor Jerry Cross and psychologist's faculties Saint le

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Speaker 1: On University and author his family for the rest of

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Speaker 1: their lives, if they stay in that home, every time

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Speaker 1: they walk through that room that's where dad died. It's

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Speaker 1: from my husband, It's going to be very traumatic, very traumatic.

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Speaker 1: I mean, like we know the day a year August six,

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Speaker 1: I think, well, this day sucks because this is the

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Speaker 1: day my fiance was martyred, or this is the day

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Speaker 1: my dad passed away. But they have to walk through

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Speaker 1: the room every day or look at the front door

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Speaker 1: that was kicked in. I mean, how do you get

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Speaker 1: past that jewlry. A lot of families actually moved because

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Speaker 1: the memory is so intense. Yeah, that they've got to

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Speaker 1: get out there because it's a reoccurring trauma to them.

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Speaker 1: I mean, everything in that house is going to remind

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Speaker 1: them of that incident. At Death Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,

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Speaker 1: you know, Chris Buyer's joining me. I'm destructed by the

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Speaker 1: dichotomy of the peaceful sleeping in the home about to

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Speaker 1: a and the eruption of gunfire somebody kicking the door in.

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Speaker 1: But Chris, you're the former police chief over twenty five

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Speaker 1: years now, PI, What did the judge think this guy's

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Speaker 1: going to do when he gets out after as Andy

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Speaker 1: con just told us, after murdering someone asleep in their

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Speaker 1: own bed for a person's cell phone. What does she

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Speaker 1: judge Natalie Cornelio think that the defendant, Jonathan Vera, was

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Speaker 1: gonna do when she let him walk ninety nine in

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Speaker 1: fractions behind bars alone. Yeah. Absolutely. And one thing about

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Speaker 1: a home invasion, Your home is where you feel safe.

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Speaker 1: It's it's it's it's where you know your your family

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Speaker 1: is and you feel like that, you know you're secure

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Speaker 1: from everything, And to come into somebody's home at that

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Speaker 1: time of the night to be shot there, I mean,

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Speaker 1: it just shows just to me a special kind of

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Speaker 1: evil and to be definitely not what we would Here

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Speaker 1: is the model prisoner, model inmate with ninety nine infractions.

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Speaker 1: And believe me, as somebody who's been gearing arrest and

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Speaker 1: spitting their face probably two dozen times, that's not a

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Speaker 1: pleasant experience either. Do you ever get spent on, Chris, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: at least at least two dozen times during my twenty

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Speaker 1: five years. Okay, I didn't get spit on in all

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Speaker 1: the years I was a prosecutor or a fed But

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Speaker 1: can I tell you how many I don't even know

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Speaker 1: how many times my car got the windows broken in

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Speaker 1: or the tires slit while I was at the courthouse

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Speaker 1: trying a case. During one murder trial, somebody stole my

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Speaker 1: cell phone out of the court room where it was charging.

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Speaker 1: But I had my car broken into, not to take anything,

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Speaker 1: just to vandalize me for trying the case. And so

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Speaker 1: many times I memorized I had memorized the number four.

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Speaker 1: I think it was doctor Glass and my tire slit

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Speaker 1: so many times I had memorized the name of somebody

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Speaker 1: to come helped me change the tire in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the night if I needed help, you know. That's

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Speaker 1: that's what I got triple A then when I was

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Speaker 1: a prosecutor, because I have a tire slit so many times.

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Speaker 1: Didn't ever get spit on, But I remember I'd come

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Speaker 1: out of the courtroom after a long day ago, all

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Speaker 1: the way to where my car was part for cheap,

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Speaker 1: like eight blocks away and the wind to be broken in.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, on top of everything else, that much less

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Speaker 1: getting spit on. I mean, Joory Cross and you're the shrink.

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Speaker 1: That is like the ultimate insult to remember a defendant

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Speaker 1: spat on a rape victim. Now I'm glad he did

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Speaker 1: because I got his DNA that way, But that said,

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Speaker 1: that's like the ultimate fu. Yeah, that's an invasion of

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Speaker 1: your person. And this judge let this guy out. Jory

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Speaker 1: the sense of vulnerability that they can basically hurt you,

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Speaker 1: they can touch you like that. Okay, he gets out

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Speaker 1: thanks to Judge Cornelio. I mean, why is she on

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Speaker 1: the bench in Texas, Andy Cohn, she went to NYU

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Speaker 1: and University of Chicago. What is she doing on a

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Speaker 1: Texas bench? What does she know about Texas? You know, Nancy,

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Speaker 1: we've had a complete makeover of all our judges in

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Speaker 1: Harris County. So this particular judge was actually a policy

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Speaker 1: analyst for a county commissioner, and she was instrumental in

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Speaker 1: our bail reform statute that changed everything in Harris County.

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Speaker 1: You mean no bail, I mean like letting everybody out

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Speaker 1: like a revolving door in that reform, pretty much the

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Speaker 1: revolving door at the courthouse. She was one of the architects. Hey,

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Speaker 1: you love something out, Andy, And no offense to the

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Speaker 1: public Defender's office. Everybody winds when they get the public

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Speaker 1: defender for free. Those people try a lot of cases.

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Speaker 1: But she was a federal public defender, so that's where

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Speaker 1: she's coming from. She identified he actually has the most

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Speaker 1: individuals out on bond of any felony district court judge

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Speaker 1: in Harris County. And this is not her first dog

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Speaker 1: and pony show that we've had to go on national

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Speaker 1: news to talk about. So this is just par for

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Speaker 1: the course. It's not an anomaly. How on earth do

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Speaker 1: you justify reducing someone charged with an egregious capital of

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Speaker 1: murder shooting a homeowner during a home invasion, killing them,

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Speaker 1: getting charged with another felony in jail ninety nine pages

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Speaker 1: of infractions? What on earth makes you think this person

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Speaker 1: is a good risk to rerelease to the public, And

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Speaker 1: now you've got another young girl that paid the price

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Speaker 1: for that decision. It defies logic. Speaking of this young girl,

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Speaker 1: twenty three year old Summrchester, take a listen to crime

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Speaker 1: online dot com'st Dave matt cut seventeen. Summer Chester has

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Speaker 1: an accomplished life with plans for an accomplished future. The

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Speaker 1: twenty three year old graduates from Lone Star College with

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Speaker 1: an associate's degree of Arts. She attends the University of

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Speaker 1: Houston and transfers to Texas Southern University as a senior,

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Speaker 1: majoring in business administration. Chester's ultimate goal is to become

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Speaker 1: an elementary school teacher. Despite her school schedule, Chester also

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Speaker 1: works as a customer service agent at best Buy. If

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Speaker 1: you ask her family, they'll tell you Chester's biggest accomplishment

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Speaker 1: is life itself. Summer and her friends are on a

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Speaker 1: quest to discover new and different restaurants. She enjoys playing music, dancing,

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Speaker 1: loves animals, and is even known for pulling a practical

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Speaker 1: joke or two. Well, I think of this young girl,

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Speaker 1: just twenty three. I pulled up her a bit last night,

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Speaker 1: and she's got a million dollars smile. She had a

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Speaker 1: million dollars smile before this p o s technical legal

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00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:09,720
Speaker 1: term killed her. Take a listen now to our cut eighteen.

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Speaker 1: Somerchester died in January this year. The twenty three year

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Speaker 1: old died in a hit and run car accident caused

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Speaker 1: by Jonathan Vera, who ran a traffic signal. He is

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Speaker 1: now charged with manslaughter in the case. So where is

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Speaker 1: he now? Alexis terrest chick? Before I get to the

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Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty other cases like this one, Andy

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Speaker 1: CON's going to tell me about where is he? Jonathan

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Speaker 1: Vera has Judge Cornelio let him out again. No, he

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Speaker 1: is actually in jail. Now when is he going to trial?

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Speaker 1: And once he gonna go to trial for first his

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00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,399
Speaker 1: first murder victim or his second manslaughter victim. I believe

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Speaker 1: he should be charged first for Silvano Cortez's murder since

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Speaker 1: that was in twenty seventeen and then this one will follow.

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Speaker 1: Although this is a manslaughter charge and that is a

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Speaker 1: murder charge, so there. I mean, he should have an

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Speaker 1: attorney who comes up with a pleadio for one or

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00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 1: the other. Let's talk about Zakias Guestone to you Andy Kahn,

422
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:13,120
Speaker 1: director of Victim Services Avacacy Crimestoppers, who is Layla Steel.

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00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 1: La Sale was a twenty four year old mother who

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Speaker 1: was involved in a relationship with a defending guest Stone

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Speaker 1: and was trying to break it off. Guest Stone has

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Speaker 1: three prior felony convictions. He was also a registered sex offender.

427
00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:34,000
Speaker 1: He was out on seven felony bonds by you guessed it,

428
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,120
Speaker 1: the three hundred and fifty first District Court judge whom

429
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,639
Speaker 1: we've all been talking about today. He was also on

430
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 1: an ankle monitor. Listen to this. He was on bond

431
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:47,720
Speaker 1: for failure to registers and sex offender, assault with intent

432
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:51,920
Speaker 1: to mt breathing which is trying to strangle someone to debt, assault,

433
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,439
Speaker 1: evading arrest fell and in possession of a weapon another

434
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,600
Speaker 1: evading arrest. And now he's charged with the murder of

435
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: twenty four year old Laylist Steel and also shooting one

436
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,160
Speaker 1: year old Zeus as well as a matter of fact,

437
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:10,600
Speaker 1: take a listen to Melissa Korea Khou eleven are cut thirteen.

438
00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:14,159
Speaker 1: These are the many faces of Zachaeus Gaston, a twenty

439
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: seven year old whose criminal record is a decade long.

440
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,720
Speaker 1: The Harris County DA's office describes him as a true

441
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,840
Speaker 1: habitual offender. Harris County District Court records show Gaston's currently

442
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 1: facing seven different charges for crimes like assault of aiding arrest,

443
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 1: failing to register as a sex offender, and a felon

444
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:36,840
Speaker 1: in possession of a weapon. Prosecutors have repeatedly asked the

445
00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 1: courts to refuse bail, but even after reviewing public safety

446
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 1: assessments and all of the pending felony cases, magistrates continue

447
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:48,320
Speaker 1: to set bail. In some cases, record show it's the

448
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 1: same magistrate then on Thursday, with a suspect having being

449
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 1: out on bond for seven major felonies, this could have

450
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: been prevented. Layla's Steele was shot four times while she

451
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 1: was carrying her son. Police say baby Zeus was shot

452
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 1: once in his leg during an argument between Layla and

453
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:14,640
Speaker 1: Zeus's father, Schaius Gaston. Layla died at a hospital now

454
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 1: listen are cut. Fourteen port documents showed the steps prosecutors

455
00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 1: took to try and protect Layla. They asked for a

456
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:24,840
Speaker 1: protective order and an ankle monitor that would include geo

457
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 1: fencing to prevent Gaston from going near Leyla's apartment. And

458
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:32,480
Speaker 1: even though the court acknowledges Gaston's past and threats he

459
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 1: made to Layla, a magistrate still set bail at thirty

460
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. In April, the Harris County DA petitioned to

461
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,040
Speaker 1: have Gaston's bond revoked because he continued to harass Layla.

462
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: A court decision is still pending. The motion was filed

463
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:52,440
Speaker 1: April fifth, nearly three months before Layla's Steele was killed.

464
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,040
Speaker 1: There's no way that that should have slipped. Where seven

465
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,479
Speaker 1: felony bonds, A person was out and I feel like

466
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 1: my sister's blood is on their hands. You know where's

467
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,280
Speaker 1: achas gassed in? Is called police. He's now facing a

468
00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 1: murder charge in addition to several other crimes crime stories

469
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:25,000
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace Andy Khan. How did he get out?

470
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:27,959
Speaker 1: It's the revolving door at the courthouse. This is what

471
00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: I call another victim of a Harris county bond pandemic.

472
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 1: I have now documented one hundred and sixty people who

473
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:42,000
Speaker 1: have been killed by defendants released on multiple felony bonds

474
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:47,160
Speaker 1: in the last few years. That's one hundred and sixty

475
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 1: people who were tragically killed. Yet it was so utterly

476
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 1: preventable because we keep spitting the same people out time

477
00:30:54,800 --> 00:31:00,720
Speaker 1: and time again. Who is Andy karn DeVante William Davanta?

478
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: Oh my god, this one really really chat me. I

479
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,640
Speaker 1: mean Davanta. Williams is out on multiple felony bobs. He

480
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 1: has multiple prior convictions. He's been the prison several times.

481
00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,200
Speaker 1: So there's a police chase because he's wanted for two

482
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 1: aggravator robberies. And during the police chase, a horrific accident

483
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,040
Speaker 1: and it costs the life of a mother. Twenty four

484
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:27,320
Speaker 1: year old mother, Audrey Davis, died in the accident. Now,

485
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,600
Speaker 1: Williams was out on multiple bonds. Now gets this. He

486
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:34,480
Speaker 1: was out on two separate aggravator to assault with a

487
00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:38,120
Speaker 1: deadly weapon bonds. But here's the real rub of why

488
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:42,000
Speaker 1: I was so irate with this. His bonds were revoked

489
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 1: as they should be, because it should be one bond

490
00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 1: per customer. You're out on bond and you get charged

491
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 1: with a new case. You shouldn't be back out on

492
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,480
Speaker 1: bond again. Those days are long over. So the bond

493
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:58,200
Speaker 1: was originally eighty thousand, the judge reinstates the bond and

494
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 1: lowers it from forty to ten, and then on the

495
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 1: other agassault with a deadly weapon, it gets lowered from

496
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:08,560
Speaker 1: forty to five. I have never seen a bond lowered

497
00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:13,920
Speaker 1: after you've already been revoked. That decision costs a twenty

498
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: four year old mother for life. Take a listen hour

499
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:20,120
Speaker 1: cut five Fox twenty six. Twenty seven year old Davante

500
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,280
Speaker 1: Williams violated his bond for aggravated assault with a deadly

501
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:27,200
Speaker 1: weapon by picking up another aggravated assault with a deadly

502
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:31,440
Speaker 1: weapon charge. His bond was revoked. But get this. Instead

503
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:35,240
Speaker 1: of reinstating his bond with a higher amount, three hundred

504
00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:39,200
Speaker 1: and thirty seventh Colonel District Court Judge Colleen Guido lowered

505
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 1: it go from forty thousand to five thousand. So he's

506
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,240
Speaker 1: out now on a ten and a five when he

507
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:51,320
Speaker 1: originally had an eighty and a forty. What makes that

508
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,200
Speaker 1: even more troubling is what a magistrate told the court

509
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:59,600
Speaker 1: about Williams three arrust for aggravated cases. Quote, it's impossible

510
00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:04,960
Speaker 1: to bond conditions that could reasonably assure community's safety due

511
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:09,239
Speaker 1: to the randomness of each act. Last Wednesday, Williams led

512
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,840
Speaker 1: a deputy on a chase that turned deadly. Now you

513
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 1: have you know, you have a deputy sheriff that was

514
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 1: in the hospital injured. You have a mother of pooh dead.

515
00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,280
Speaker 1: I got a question, you know. First to you, doctor

516
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 1: Kimdall Crowns. We're talking about all these victims that are

517
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:32,400
Speaker 1: killed by purps, that are released over and over and over.

518
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 1: But these are not just statistics, they're not just stories.

519
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:41,800
Speaker 1: These are real people that end up in your morgue.

520
00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:47,360
Speaker 1: I mean, do you ever feel like there's no stopping it? Yeah,

521
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 1: sometimes it does seem like there's no insight. Now, always

522
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:58,000
Speaker 1: find it interesting, one, individuals who obviously have violent tendencies,

523
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,640
Speaker 1: who are already arrested and put in gail for something

524
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: and not necessarily convicted of it, yet are allowed to

525
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,959
Speaker 1: be released, especially in these domestic situations, because you know,

526
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:11,759
Speaker 1: these pieces of paper aren't going to protect someone from

527
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,080
Speaker 1: someone who's already violent, and it's not like they're going

528
00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:18,080
Speaker 1: to follow the rules, So I always wonder why that's done,

529
00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,560
Speaker 1: because it does increase the amount of debt that come

530
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:24,840
Speaker 1: through the morgue, you know, Chris Buyer's form police Chief,

531
00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:30,760
Speaker 1: John's Creek now PI and polygrapher Chris Buyers. I remember

532
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,400
Speaker 1: so many times getting a case to prepare for trial,

533
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:38,200
Speaker 1: typically a murder or a rape, and I would open

534
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:41,160
Speaker 1: the jacket, which is the file, and at the back

535
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,399
Speaker 1: of all the police reports and supplementals and crime WIB

536
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:47,719
Speaker 1: reports and toxicology and all that would be the rash

537
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 1: sheet and it would be a mile long. Now for me,

538
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:58,719
Speaker 1: it would just make me more angry, But for some

539
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:05,719
Speaker 1: people it's debilitating because you feel overwhelm. It's like why bother? Yeah,

540
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 1: absolutely absolutely. I mean I can't tell you how many times,

541
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 1: whether it was when I was on DUIs passports or something,

542
00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:16,120
Speaker 1: I'd stopped somebody with like rest of them for DUI

543
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,799
Speaker 1: and they have ten twelve DUIs on the record, And

544
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:21,719
Speaker 1: of course DUI is minor compared to what we're talking to.

545
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,760
Speaker 1: We're talking about lives here that we're you know, basically

546
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:27,919
Speaker 1: when we talk about that one lady that was killed,

547
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:31,240
Speaker 1: the guy that had like seven felonies on him. I mean, basically,

548
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:33,719
Speaker 1: three thousand dollars is what the price was put on

549
00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,759
Speaker 1: her life. And yeah, I mean you just see it

550
00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,520
Speaker 1: over and over. It's you know, ten percent of the

551
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:43,200
Speaker 1: people that are doing ninety percent of the crime senior communities.

552
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,920
Speaker 1: And it's very rare that you arrest somebody with for

553
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:49,879
Speaker 1: a very violent crime that it's their first time out.

554
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,160
Speaker 1: There's usually that rap sheeting. You wonder, how are we

555
00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,399
Speaker 1: even still here on the street talking And you, Doug Burnus,

556
00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,920
Speaker 1: former federal prosecutor, when you look at the rap sheet,

557
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 1: what do you What are the judges think this guy's

558
00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:07,600
Speaker 1: going to do when they have all these felonies, ninety

559
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 1: nine pages of jailhouse infractions? What was she Judge Cornelia's

560
00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:18,239
Speaker 1: thinking when she led him out? Then he was going

561
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,879
Speaker 1: to show up at Sunday school the next morning. Now

562
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 1: you heard the context of this. This is a person

563
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:27,239
Speaker 1: who has the whole ideological background of bail reform and

564
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,400
Speaker 1: so on, and now she's on the bench. What I

565
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 1: can bring to the table is, in thirty five plus years,

566
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:35,279
Speaker 1: I've never heard of a situation where somebody's bond is

567
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:39,560
Speaker 1: revoked for committing another offense and then boom, it's lowered.

568
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 1: I've never heard of that, so obviously this is an

569
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:45,800
Speaker 1: allier situation. You know, I would normally be reluctant to

570
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:49,760
Speaker 1: use the term rogue, but I'll use it unhesitatingly. Rogue

571
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:53,080
Speaker 1: judge to make these type of decisions. It's really disgraceful

572
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:54,920
Speaker 1: and I'm just again I'm glad you're bringing it to

573
00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,279
Speaker 1: the forefront with this pound, doctor Jerry Craws enjoining me

574
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 1: psychologists faculties Leo University, consultant with the Blue Wall Institute.

575
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:07,960
Speaker 1: It's got to be demoralizing for police officers because they

576
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,960
Speaker 1: put the same people behind bars over and over and over.

577
00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 1: It's like a joke. Yeah, it is a joke. It's

578
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:18,160
Speaker 1: a force to the criminal justice system. You know, there's

579
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 1: so many safeguards that have been built into the system

580
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,560
Speaker 1: over the years, and it appears that she's abandoned them.

581
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:29,399
Speaker 1: You know, like here in Florida, we have risk assessments

582
00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:31,840
Speaker 1: that are done on violence of senators and can be

583
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:35,200
Speaker 1: offered in mind hearings, you know, so the judge knows

584
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 1: what's the chances of them repeating. Well, I mean, I'm

585
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,960
Speaker 1: glad that you have that there, doctor Joy, But I

586
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 1: mean when I look at somebody's rap sheet. I don't

587
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:48,760
Speaker 1: need a risk assessment to tell me when they've gotten

588
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:51,720
Speaker 1: ninety nine infractions behind bars. They've got a rap sheet

589
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:54,520
Speaker 1: as long as I seventy five. When you don't know

590
00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,040
Speaker 1: a horse, look at his track record. It's really just

591
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:04,240
Speaker 1: that simple. Sure, if you want to predict past behavior

592
00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:07,880
Speaker 1: is violent and aggressive, deadly. This is a case that

593
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:11,719
Speaker 1: has me very, very upset because it reminds me of

594
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:14,880
Speaker 1: my mother. Take a listen to our cut six sin

595
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:19,360
Speaker 1: is Micah Hatfield with Katie Rk ABC thirteen. My mom

596
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 1: was eighty years old. She was disabled, you know, she

597
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:27,799
Speaker 1: shuffled with the cane, and she's the prototypical grandmother, you know,

598
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,960
Speaker 1: reading glasses down on her nose, knitting needles by the

599
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,080
Speaker 1: side of a rocking chair, A mother of three, grandmother

600
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 1: of six. Rosalie Cook was three minutes from home at

601
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,560
Speaker 1: Walgreen's and guest in South Bray's Wood Boulevard to buy

602
00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:44,560
Speaker 1: a card one year ago. As she headed towards her

603
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:47,319
Speaker 1: car in the parking lot to go home, Rosalie was

604
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:52,279
Speaker 1: stabbed to death by Randy Lewis. The system failed my

605
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:56,360
Speaker 1: mom in a number of ways. Lewis was what's often

606
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:59,400
Speaker 1: referred to as a career criminal. The thirty eight year

607
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,799
Speaker 1: old had been arrested sixty seven times and was out

608
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:06,960
Speaker 1: on two personal recognisance bonds in Harris County. Court records

609
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,719
Speaker 1: show he was released from an extended stay at a

610
00:39:09,719 --> 00:39:12,480
Speaker 1: mental health facility to a group home on May first.

611
00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:17,360
Speaker 1: On May fifteenth is when Rosalie was killed. When police responded,

612
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,040
Speaker 1: officers shot and killed Lewis. I'm going to do something

613
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:25,600
Speaker 1: that I was disallowed to do at trial when I

614
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:30,920
Speaker 1: would argue to a jury enclosing argument. Think about these cases.

615
00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 1: Think about twenty three year old Somerchester, her whole life

616
00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:39,560
Speaker 1: in front of her. What if that was your daughter?

617
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:46,320
Speaker 1: Think about Sylvana Cortez. What if that was your husband

618
00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:49,880
Speaker 1: or your wife lying in bed next to you and

619
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:52,840
Speaker 1: you hear splintering of the door and then gunshots and

620
00:39:52,880 --> 00:40:00,440
Speaker 1: then suddlely, your spouse is dead. Just like that. About

621
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,360
Speaker 1: this young mom who goes over and over trying to

622
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:08,279
Speaker 1: get protection from an abuser, and he keeps getting out

623
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:13,400
Speaker 1: of jail, and now she's dead. And finally this grandma

624
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:17,280
Speaker 1: eighty years old going to Walgreen's to buy a card,

625
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:25,360
Speaker 1: stabbed dead by a career criminal that some judge let go.

626
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: Judge Natalia Cornelio, I pray to God you're listening. Goodbye, friend,