WEBVTT - The Girlfriends S3/E5: Is He Dead Yet? 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.160 Hey, girlfriends, it's me Anna here to let you know 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:07.240 what's coming up. This episode covers Kelly's trial, so as 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:09.360 you'd expect, we'll be speaking about the night of the 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:13.160 murder in great detail, but we also dive deeper into 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.680 the case for the prosecution and the defense, and at 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:18.680 the end you can make up your own mind about 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:22.320 whether the right verdict was reached. If you feel impacted 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:24.400 by some of the themes in this show, you can 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:27.800 reach out to No More. There are domestic violence charity 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.360 with a lot of great resources to help you or 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.959 your loved ones. You can search No More dot org 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.000 and we've also put a link to their website in 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:39.640 the episode description. Oh and by the way, there's going 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:50.840 to be some swear words. When Tommy Donovan is first 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:54.480 arrested back in July of twenty ten, he immediately tries 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.040 to shift the majority of the blame for Angel Vargas's 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:01.440 death onto Kelly, and that he choked Angel to the 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:05.440 point of unconsciousness, but implying that it was Kelly who 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:10.720 really killed him. He then takes a deal where in 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:14.800 return for giving evidence against Kelly, his charge is reduced 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:24.160 to manslaughter. Here's an exchange from Tommy's sentencing that I 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:25.479 found in the court records. 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.520 I'll be playing the role of the court official, while. 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:33.000 My producer Jake will voice Tommy. By your plea of guilty, 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.240 you admit that on or about July seventh, twenty ten, 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:40.400 here in Queens, you, acting in concerts with another person, 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:44.039 caused the death of Reuben Angel Vargas by beating and 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:45.120 choking him. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:49.600 Yes, the person you were acting in concert with. Who 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:50.440 was that person? 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:51.760 My girlfriend? 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:54.120 What's her name? 0:01:54.880 --> 0:01:55.880 Kelly Harnett? 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.800 And the evidence shows both of you were involved in 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:05.800 the choking that led to mister Vargus dying. Yes, sir, 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:14.240 and that's the story. Tommy sixty until twenty thirteen. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.160 Dear mister Epstein, as you already acquainted with me, I 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:22.120 will get to the point. 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.520 Kelly's reading from a letter sent by Tommy Donovan to 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:28.320 her lawyer David Epstein, and. 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:32.240 The night of July seven, twenty ten, I murdered Angel 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:38.840 Argus by strangulation. I committed this murder in full presence 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.000 of Kelly, though at no time was there any collusion 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:47.160 between her and I. Though my initial written confession differs 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:53.240 from this account. At the time I was exhausted, in 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:57.040 opiate withdrawal, and angry with Kelly. I don't know why. 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.800 Perhaps I was jealous of her going free without me 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:09.160 and concocted a version of events. I do not regret 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.680 much in life, but I do regret drag and Kelly 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:17.160 into this. I am here to tell you, and if necessary, 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:21.880 the court, that I myself intentionally cause the death of 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:23.080 decedent Vargas. 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:29.560 Holy shit, this has got to be as close to 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:31.880 a get out of jail free card as you can get. Right, 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:34.480 the kind of thing that gets a case thrown out, 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:38.960 charge is dismissed, except we already know that's not how 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:46.280 it goes down for Kelly. It's June twenty thirteen. Kelly's 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:49.200 in a pre trial hearing. This is where the defense 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:53.120 and prosecution can discuss any issues or questions surrounding the 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:57.200 upcoming trial, what charges the prosecution will move forward with, 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.880 what evidence will or won't be allowed in front of 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:04.680 the jury. That kind of thing presiding over everything is 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.000 the Honorable Judge Laysack. 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:10.080 But that's not what Kelly and some of her fellow 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:10.960 inmates know him. 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:14.080 As they called Judge Laysac mister murder. 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:17.560 They call him mister murder for two reasons. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:24.680 He tries only murder cases, and he puts everyone away, 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.400 so in essence, he murders them. 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:31.200 All the while, Kelly's been in court listening to the 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.280 lawyer and the prosecutor go back and forth. She's been 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:36.520 chomping at the bit for her chance to chip in 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:37.880 and ask. 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:40.839 Your honor, can I ever mission you addressed the corpses. 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.600 Now, defendants don't normally address the court unless ask the question, 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.480 but Kelly is not like other defendants. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:56.440 Judge Laysack says, talk to your lawyer. I said, your 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.000 honor is actually about my lawyer. 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.920 To say Kelly's k for the jury to hear Tommy's 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:08.400 new confession is a colossal understatement. But her lawyer, David Epstein, well, 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.360 as far as Kelly's concerned, that's another story. 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:13.880 He just didn't care. 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:16.560 Kelly says, he doesn't want to bring up the letter 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.960 at all, So now here she is taking matters into 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:20.719 her own hands. 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.560 The judge nods at her to say her. 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:28.760 Peace, Your honor, I am in possession of an exculpatory 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:34.920 letter from mister Donovan stating that mister Donovan acted alone 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.240 and I in fact took no part in this whatsoever. 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.560 Kelly wants to call Tommy as a witness so he 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:43.480 can tell his new story from the. 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:48.320 Dock without calling mister Donovan to my trial. This is 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:50.920 violating my right to a fair trial. 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.800 The judge looks down at kelly poker face, revealing nothing. 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.400 He ponders for a few moments while. 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:05.400 Kelly crosses her fingers, hoping she's done enough to convince him. 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:10.360 After an excruciating pause, the judge leans forward. 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:15.760 And he's like, miss Horn there, I don't know who. 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.520 You're talking to in a jail house, but he's saying 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:20.240 it's not admissible. 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:24.080 I was like girls he talking about hearsay. 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.000 Hearsay in a legal sense, means telling the court what 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:32.240 someone else told you, either in person or in this case, 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:32.919 by letter. 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:34.520 It's not allowed. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.919 You can only talk about what you know, did, or 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:39.720 experienced firsthand. 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.240 That letter or whatever it is you have is her 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:48.920 say there you start again, your honor. 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.880 At no point in time did I request the letter 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:53.960 to be submitted into evidence. 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.159 I'm stating that I am in possession. 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:01.520 Of an exculpatory letter, which is leading to my request. 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:05.400 You have been called to testify on my behalf at 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:10.880 my trial. However, mister Epstein is refusing to call him. 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:16.120 Then mister Epstein, my attorney, deides with the judge and says, 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:19.560 she seems to think here'say is admissible. 0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:24.240 After what I just said, Like, what the hell is everybody. 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:24.520 Listening to. 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.880 Kelly can't understand why her own lawyer wouldn't be fighting 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.520 tooth and nail to bring Tommy in unless he's working 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:35.360 against her deliberately. 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:40.480 I don't know what to think. 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:47.600 But when you have something as earth shattering as high 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:52.320 I'm the killer, your client is innocent, and you don't 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.280 use it, you have to assess it and attest to 0:07:56.320 --> 0:08:01.200 the fact that he might have thrown this case. I 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.200 don't know how far does the rabbit hole, though. 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.360 I have to say I've not seen any evidence presented 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.480 in court or otherwise that Kelly's lawyer was trying to 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:15.200 lose the case on purpose, And unfortunately I'll never get 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.280 the chance to ask him because he died in twenty seventeen. 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.880 I can see it from Kelly's perspective. She's handing her 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:27.080 lawyer what she thinks is a smoking gun, and he 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:33.840 doesn't seem to want to know. With even her own 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:37.280 lawyer seemingly against her. It doesn't take very long for 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:40.280 Judge Laysac to shut down Kelly's request about the letter. 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:45.240 So for now, Tommy's original statement stand the ones that 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.640 say Kelly was a willing participant in the murder. 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:53.360 It was awful and the trial I feel that I 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:54.560 lasted before it began. 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:02.520 I'm Anisinfield and from the tea at novel and iHeart podcasts. 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:06.120 This is the Girlfriend's Gelhouse Lawyer. 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:28.600 Is Episode five. 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:30.120 Is He Dead Yet? 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.960 It's September fourth, twenty thirteen, the first day of Kelly 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:48.160 Harnett's trial for the murder of Reuben Angel Vargas. Like 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.320 a lot of trials, this one will turn out to 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:54.920 be pretty long and more than a little messy. Before 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.800 things even really get going, one of the original twelve 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:00.559 jurors has to be let go, which then leads to 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.760 a mistrial and the selection of a brand new jury, 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.560 so the whole thing has to start all over again. Eventually, 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.600 things do get moving and everyone's ready to play their part. 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.559 Taking on the role of prosecutor is Assistant District Attorney 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:19.680 Sean Clark. And the first thing you should know about 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.160 Sean is he's kind of a. 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:26.520 Dream boat when two minutes Clark ken he has dark hair, 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.720 handsome with glasses. Right, that's exactly what Sean looks like. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.280 But unfortunately for Kelly, Sean isn't here to rescue her. 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:39.280 He's here to send her down, and he is very, 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:47.760 very good at his job. Kelly is facing two charges. 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.520 The most serious is murder in the second degree, which 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:56.600 essentially means murder that wasn't premeditated. The other charge is 0:10:56.640 --> 0:11:00.920 criminal possession of a weapon in this case that the shoelace. 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.200 Kelly actually had more charges before the trial began, another 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.280 murder charge and three more for robbery, but they were 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:14.560 all dismissed. Despite this, Seawan Clark leans into the robbery 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:17.400 angle in his story of the crime. 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:23.240 It's the primary motive. Cool, Okay, should we do this? 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:23.880 Yeah? 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:24.720 Yeah, let's do it. 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.640 I looped in my producer Jake again, this time to 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:31.720 be the voice of Superman Ekay Seawan Clark. This next 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:36.360 section is taken directly from official court transcripts. 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:40.800 What does make sense? The likely reason why they got 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.640 into an altercation with mister Vargas was to rob him. 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:49.199 That's the likely explanation here. Did I pull that out 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.720 of the air, No I pulled that out of the evidence. 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.680 In at least one of Tommy Donovan's statements, the oral 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.400 one typed up by police, it says that Ken robbed 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.920 Angel's wallet after the murder. Tommy says he then took 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.480 the cash out before throwing the wallet on the ground. 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.400 From police documents, we know that Angel Vargas's wallet was 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:12.280 found roughly near his body. 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:18.400 In that wallet identification credit cards to City Bank cards, 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:24.320 but no money. What's on Tommy Donovan when the police 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:29.600 stop him in his sock is sixty dollars three twenty 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:33.679 dollars bills. That's the likely motive for what happened. 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.640 One of the wildest parts of Tommy's multiple statements is 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.360 that he says Kelly didn't just hand over the shoelace. 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.960 She actually physically put it around Angel's neck and pulled 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:49.840 it before handing it over to Tommy. Tommy then claims 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:53.520 that after the attack, he walked away and looked back 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.880 to see Kelly on top of Angel choking him again 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:01.000 with the string. But Sean Clark in the prosecut they're 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.360 only going as far as to argue that Kelly kicked 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:08.559 Angel and then handed over the shoelace, which is interesting 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.800 because if you're trying to convict someone for murder, surely 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.920 you'd want to tell a story that makes them seem. 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:16.080 As culpable as possible. 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:20.120 Kelly, of course, argues that Tommy took the shoelace from 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.760 her foot, and when Tommy himself pulled it around Angel's snack, 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:25.000 it snapped. 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:29.320 It snapped so fist and I remember thinking about that. 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:31.839 When I saw a snap, I got scared. I said, 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:33.360 he's going to come back over to me. 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:37.960 Now there is physical evidence to support this. A broken 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:42.079 white shoelace was found near the crime scene. Kelly then 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.520 says that Tommy finished strangling Angel with his belt, a 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.360 theory that she says is also partially supported by physical evidence. 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.080 When you read the doctor's testimony, it clearly states that 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.959 there was an indentation in the form of a rectangle 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.520 that was unidentified right there. 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:03.560 Kelly's pointing to her neck. 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.000 I said, I can identify it. It's a belt buckle. 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:12.240 So if you take away the allegation of handing a 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:16.040 shoelace and put in the fact that he used his belt, 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:22.200 the entire charge does not meet any element of the crime. 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:27.000 For me, In addition to Kelly's lawyer David Epstein not 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.560 fighting to call Tommy as a witness, Kelly says he 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:34.960 also doesn't want her taking the stand in her own defense. This, 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.800 honestly isn't all that unusual. A lot of attorneys don't 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.640 want to risk putting their client on the stand if 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.000 they get up there and get flustered or say the 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.200 wrong thing. That's blood in the water for the prosecution. 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.920 But Kelly's worried they're missing an opportunity to make the 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.040 jury really see what she went through as a victim 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:59.280 of Tommy's abuse, something only she can truly explain. 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.440 If you don't mean to pictureize to that it was scared. 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.960 They need to hear more of it, Like maybe they 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:12.560 need to hear from me, and many told me don't estify. 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.600 So if Epstein doesn't want the courts to hear from 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:20.200 Kelly or Tommy, what is his case about. 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:21.800 Here's one angle he took. 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.320 Research shows that you can feel the effects of booze 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:30.640 at about zero point. 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:32.680 Zero two percent blood alcohol level. 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:36.320 On the night of the murder, Angel's bloods came out 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:40.880 at zero point thirty six. His liver was also found 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:45.040 to be enlarged and fatty, which is something commonly associated 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:50.840 with chronic alcoholism. In the trial, it's argued that Angel's 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:53.680 drunken state could have led to the bruising found on 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:58.040 his body by falling off his bike, for example. But 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.920 still it seems like there's no mention of Kelly's experience 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.720 as a victim of domestic violence already, any context from 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:13.840 her complicated life. The prosecution has painted this really vivid 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.720 picture of Kelly as a villain, but the defense doesn't 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:22.120 really present an alternative story. In fact, if you ask Kelly, 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:26.560 she says, Epstein's approach basically amounts to Kelly's not guilty, 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:27.760 and that's it. 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.280 I think it was more of a selfish reason than anything, 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:37.040 because I think that he knew he was unprepared, and 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.280 I think that he wanted to just play it seef. 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.200 But playing it safe is not going to cut it here, 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:48.160 because the prosecution is about to unleash the biggest tool 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:54.640 in their arsenal. There's a witness who says he saw 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:59.840 the whole thing, and the story he's got to tell 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:28.359 looks really really bad for Kelly. One late night in 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:34.840 July twenty ten, Amando Perez is out jogging. It's about 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:38.639 two am on a balmy summer's night. The sky up 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:42.880 above is black. The lights of Manhattan are flickering off 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:47.120 in the distance. Amando is out late because he's training 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.560 for his football team or soccer. 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:49.920 If you must. 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.879 He's weaving through a story a park on his second 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:57.240 lap when he says he hears something that brings him 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:06.359 to a stop. Someone screaming. Amando ducks and hides behind 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.600 a tree. He says, he peers out into the darkness 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:13.639 looking for where the scream came from. His eyes land 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:16.119 on a shadowy figure who's got a man in a 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.800 chokehold on the ground. The figure shouts at a woman 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:24.080 standing nearby to kick the man he's holding down, which 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:34.280 she does. It's Tommy, Kelly, and Angel. Amando says he 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:37.800 hears Tommy ask Kelly to find a shoelace. He watches 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.879 as Kelly walks off, kicking at bags and a bicycle 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:46.200 before returning with something and handing it to Tommy. At 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:51.040 this point, it dawns on him he's watching a murder. 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:59.920 Amando sprints off to get help. Over the next hour, 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:03.760 he runs into several people. Firstly, he tells some cops 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.359 in a nearby patrol car, but he says they just 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:11.399 drive off. Next, he tries flagging down some teenagers, but 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:16.040 they just laugh at him. In between these unsuccessful attempts 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.640 to raise the alarm, Amando keeps heading back to near 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:22.320 where Tommy and Kelly are. He doesn't want to lose 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:23.640 track of them. 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:25.879 He says. He hears Kelly ask. 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:35.639 Is he dead yet. Tommy replies that Angel is dead. 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.960 He's touched the body to be certain. Then Amando sees 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:43.320 him and Kelly hiding things in the woodchips on the ground. 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:46.879 Amando keeps leaving, trying to find help. 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.000 Eventually he comes across a group of four teenagers and 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.560 one of them calls the police. Once the police arrive, 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:58.000 Amando walks them over to near where Angel's body is. 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.560 The police point out Tommy and Kelly and ask Commando 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:06.840 if he's sure it was them. Amanda replies, of course, 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.240 I'm sure. I've been watching them for over an hour. 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:19.800 Then Kelly and Tommy are taken away. Amando is the 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:25.200 key witness, essentially the core of the prosecution's case against Kelly. 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.840 With Tommy's statements, any defense lawyer worth their soult can 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.920 argue he has a clear motivation to try and shift 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:37.240 the blame onto Kelly. But Amando, well, he has no 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.320 obvious reason to lie. Prosecutor Sean Clark described him as 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:46.760 a completely independent eyewitness who doesn't know Kelly Harnett, has 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:50.000 never met Kelly Harnett, has no reason to come in 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:55.159 here and say negative things about Kelly Harnett. Amando is 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:59.240 a neutral party who can testify that he saw Kelly 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:03.760 hand over the shoelace. He doesn't actually ever mention anything 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.359 about seeing Kelly strangle Angel, which is probably why the 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:10.640 prosecution have decided to ignore that part of Tommy's statement. 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:16.040 But crucially, Amando also says that he saw Kelly kick Angel. 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.480 In his earlier police statements, he doesn't specify where on 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.280 the body Angel was kicked, but by the time Kelly's 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:25.320 trial rolls around, Amando says it was quote from the 0:21:25.400 --> 0:21:29.879 stomach to the chest. He also says that Angel was 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:33.160 lying face down, which is something Kelly takes issue with. 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:38.160 The person was face down. That's an impossibility. 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:42.359 You cannot kick someone from the stomach to the chest 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:44.800 if they are face down. 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:49.400 I interpret this a little bit differently to Kelly. Amando 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:52.919 could just be describing general areas of the body. I 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:55.520 think I'd say the same thing even if someone was 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:56.760 being kicked from the side on. 0:21:57.440 --> 0:21:58.399 But I'm no lawyer. 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:04.159 Instead, it's up to Kelly's defense attorney, David Epstein to 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:07.320 cross examine the hell out of this witness, to keep 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:10.600 poking holes in Amando's story until it's left in tatters 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.920 on the courtroom floor. So come on, David, dig deep, 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:16.600 it's time to strike. 0:22:20.600 --> 0:22:21.200 I surenest. 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:28.800 David Epstein stood up. He dropped all the peoplework everywhere. 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:35.840 I said, Oh Jesus Christ, if this is foreshadowing, I'm screwed. 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:44.840 Amando's testimony makes for a compelling story, but especially according 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:47.960 to Kelly, there are some holes in it if you 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:52.160 look hard enough, and planted in those holes are some 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:58.560 striking red flags. The first has to do with language barriers. 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:02.800 Kelly claims that Amando can't really speak English, and police 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:05.640 documents do show that his statement was transcribed for him 0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:08.879 by a cop. I've looked at this written statement and 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:11.520 there are phrases in it like where the scene was, 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:14.560 which honestly does sound like something a cop would say. 0:23:15.359 --> 0:23:18.879 I think we have to interrogate how much Amando understood 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:21.959 his own statement or how his words could have been 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:24.440 interpreted into helpful. 0:23:24.040 --> 0:23:25.640 Shorthand by the police. 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:30.040 And obviously, if Amando can't fully understand English, it does 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:33.080 call into question whether he could fully understand the things 0:23:33.080 --> 0:23:39.000 he claims he heard Tommy and Kelly say. Another issue 0:23:39.119 --> 0:23:44.000 is that Amando really struggles with judging distances. He claims 0:23:44.040 --> 0:23:46.399 at one point in the trial that he was maybe 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:49.960 eight feet away from Tommy, Kelly an angel. Then at 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:52.480 another point he says he was about twenty feet away. 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:55.800 To me, both of these options seem like they would 0:23:55.800 --> 0:23:58.919 bring him way too physically close to Tommy and Kelly 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:02.080 without being noticed, so I can't see. 0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:05.000 How either could possibly be true. 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:07.960 Then in the courtroom, he's asked to judge a distance 0:24:08.000 --> 0:24:09.440 of about three feet. 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:10.520 But he's not able to. 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:14.879 And when Amando is asked to mark everyone's locations on 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.880 the night of the murder on a map, Kelly spots 0:24:17.920 --> 0:24:18.639 more issues. 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:23.080 He tells the witness to put an X where the 0:24:23.119 --> 0:24:25.520 body was, an F where the female was in, an 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:29.000 M where the male was. Then he said put an 0:24:29.040 --> 0:24:34.800 ap Amanda Perez for his initials. Now this, I just 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:38.560 want to let everyone know those initials are taken on 0:24:38.680 --> 0:24:41.560 a bridge that you cannot. 0:24:41.160 --> 0:24:44.080 Even get up on. There's no way in God's green 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:45.560 eerd that he was standing there. 0:24:46.359 --> 0:24:49.040 But there appears to be some confusion, and at some 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:52.119 point Amando seems to claim that the ex actually marks 0:24:52.160 --> 0:24:57.040 where he was standing, and this confusion about who was where. 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:00.280 It doesn't end here. 0:25:00.280 --> 0:25:03.000 In the trial, the prosecution alludes to the fact that 0:25:03.160 --> 0:25:07.040 Kelly and Tommy moved Angel's body around eighty feet away 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:08.080 from the actual. 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:08.640 Scene of the murder. 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:12.040 Prosecutor Sean Clark tries to make sense of it by 0:25:12.080 --> 0:25:14.480 saying that because the murder happened near a lit path, 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:16.639 Angel's body could have been discovered. 0:25:17.320 --> 0:25:19.160 He then says, if. 0:25:18.960 --> 0:25:21.840 You drag him into the middle of the park, you 0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:25.160 drag him in the middle where there's no lights, He's 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:27.320 not going to be found until morning. 0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:32.840 But here's the thing, Amando never explicitly said he saw 0:25:32.920 --> 0:25:36.560 Angel's body being dragged. None of his police statements reference 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:39.919 the body being moved at all. The police themselves also 0:25:40.040 --> 0:25:43.520 deny moving the body when questioned on this too. This 0:25:43.600 --> 0:25:46.080 whole thing with the body being moved seems to be 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:49.119 a tactic the prosecution lands on in order to explain 0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:53.359 away Amando's confusion over who and what was where. The 0:25:53.400 --> 0:25:56.280 prosecution claims that all the dirt and grass on Angel's 0:25:56.280 --> 0:25:59.720 face and clothes show his body was dragged, But I 0:25:59.720 --> 0:26:02.760 don't by that those could easily have come from Angel 0:26:02.840 --> 0:26:05.280 trying to fight off Tommy while they were wrestling on 0:26:05.320 --> 0:26:08.760 the ground. The theory that the body was moved also 0:26:08.880 --> 0:26:12.680 goes against physical evidence. A shoelace was found right by 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:16.280 Angel's body. If he'd been moved eighty feet after he 0:26:16.400 --> 0:26:20.440 was killed, wouldn't the shoelace that the prosecution claim was 0:26:20.520 --> 0:26:25.000