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Speaker 1: Crime Alert hourly update, breaking crime news Now. I'm Drew Nelson.

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Speaker 2: On day seventeen of the Delphi murders trial in Indiana,

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Speaker 2: the state presented its rebuttal witnesses following the defense's unexpected

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Speaker 2: move to rest its case. Richard Allen, the fifty two

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Speaker 2: year old man accused in the twenty seventeen killings of

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Speaker 2: teenagers Abby Williams and Libby Jermyn, chose not to testify

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Speaker 2: in his own defense. The trial, which has spanned nearly

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Speaker 2: three weeks, has seen both sides called numerous experts and

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Speaker 2: witnesses in an attempt to either prove or disprove Allan's

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Speaker 2: connection to the murders near the Monan High Bridge. With

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Speaker 2: closing arguments set for today, the prosecution is aiming to

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Speaker 2: solidify its case by challenging the defense's portrayal of Allen's

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Speaker 2: mental state and confinement conditions. The first rebuttal witness called

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Speaker 2: by the state was Brien Wilbur, who previously testified about

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Speaker 2: her time on the Delphi Trails February thirteenth of twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 2: the day the two girls went missing. Wilbur, who captured

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Speaker 2: a snapchat photo at the Freedom bridge that day, confirmed

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Speaker 2: to the court that she arrived at the bridge around

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Speaker 2: twelve to twenty five pm and walked to the Monan

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Speaker 2: High Bridge. She stated that she didn't see anyone matching

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Speaker 2: the description of bridge Guy or any young girls during

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Speaker 2: her time on the trail. Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin pressed

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Speaker 2: Wilbur on her ability to recall specific details from seven

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Speaker 2: years ago, suggesting that her memory might not be entirely reliable.

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Speaker 2: Wilbur stood fast, noting that her discussions with police shortly

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Speaker 2: after the event had helped her remember key to tails.

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Speaker 2: During a redirect in examination, Prosecutor Stacy Deaner emphasized Wilbur's

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Speaker 2: assertion that the events of that day had a lasting

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Speaker 2: impression on her, reinforcing the credibility of her testimony. The

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Speaker 2: state then called Indiana State Police Master Trooper Brian Harshman,

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Speaker 2: who had previously analyzed audio evidence in the case. Harshman,

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Speaker 2: who reviewed numerous recordings, testified earlier that he believed Allan's

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Speaker 2: voice matched the voice captured in the infamous bridge Guy recording,

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Speaker 2: saying to the girl's quote down the hill. Harshman described

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Speaker 2: Allen's experiences in solitary confinement at Westville Correctional Facility, Whilebash

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Speaker 2: Valley Correctional Facility and Cass County Jail. Harshman noted that

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Speaker 2: while Allan had faced extreme isolation, he was able to

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Speaker 2: communicate with neighboring inmates at Westville and participated in brief

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Speaker 2: moments of recreation, but he also mentioned that Allan had

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Speaker 2: displayed concerning behavior, including verbal threats to Cast County Jail staff,

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Speaker 2: an observation that was stricken from the record following objections

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Speaker 2: from the defense. Up next to a psychiatrist, says Richard

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Speaker 2: Allen was stable after receiving antipsychotics, but the video evidence

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Speaker 2: could suggest otherwise.

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Speaker 1: I'm Dave Mack. A heart ranging moment in a Cleveland

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Speaker 1: courtroom when a teen killer is sentenced for murdering his friend.

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Speaker 1: Steven Sopcoe from Parma has been sentenced to life in

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Speaker 1: prison for the brutal murder of fourteen year old Brayln Harge.

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Speaker 1: The seventeen year old was convicted of aggravated murder, murder,

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Speaker 1: and felonious assault in connection with the fatal shooting. The

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Speaker 1: sentencing hearing was an emotional experience with the victim's mother,

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Speaker 1: Sierra Lafleur, delivering a powerful victim impact statement. She held

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Speaker 1: her son's ashes in an urn as she had dress

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Speaker 1: the court take a listen.

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Speaker 3: I want to say.

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Speaker 1: Thank you some prosecutors, to detectives and everybody for bringing me.

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Speaker 3: Justice for my baby.

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Speaker 1: November fifth, twenty twenty three, Softcode lured Harje to his

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Speaker 1: girlfriend's house near East ninetieth Street and Edmunds Avenue in Cleveland.

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Speaker 1: Once there, he executed a calculated and brutal act of violence,

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Speaker 1: firing multiple shots into Harj's back as he bent down

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Speaker 1: to tie his shoe. The young victim was left to

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Speaker 1: die in the street. During his trial, prosecutors detailed how

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Speaker 1: the then sixteen year old shot the fourteen year old

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Speaker 1: more than a dozen times in the back. The Cleveland

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Speaker 1: Division of Police Homicide Unit linked Sopcode to the murder

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Speaker 1: through phone and social media records and ballistic evidence. Lafleur's

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Speaker 1: testimony was particularly poignant as she described the immense pain

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Speaker 1: and suffering she has endured since the loss of her son.

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Speaker 1: She spoke of Harge's bright future and his dreams which

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Speaker 1: were cruelly extinguished by sopco's actions. Judge Nancy First condemned

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Speaker 1: Sopko's actions, describing the crime as a quote cruel and

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Speaker 1: brutal offense end quote. She imposed a life sentence with

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Speaker 1: the possibility of pearl after thirty one years. The teen

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Speaker 1: did not react when Judge Nancy first shared this fate.

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Speaker 1: Sopco was tried as an adult. The motive for the

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Speaker 1: murder remains unknown.

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Speaker 3: I'm Nicole Pardon to South Carolina A story difficult to report.

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Speaker 4: HEATHERD.

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Speaker 3: Baynard, a fourteen year old little girl who suffered from

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Speaker 3: cerebral palsy, died in April, hours after her father carried

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Speaker 3: her gray, cold, lifeless body into the hospital in Greenville.

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Speaker 3: An autopsy performed a few days later showed the girl

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Speaker 3: whose legs had rotted so badly that one witness said

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Speaker 3: they looked like quote raw meat. The little girl had

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Speaker 3: been neglected for many, many months. This according to the

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Speaker 3: Cherokee County Corner, It was, in fact, the absolute worst

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Speaker 3: case of child neglect this medical examiner had ever encountered.

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Speaker 4: A jury convicted Baynard's.

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Speaker 3: Dad, David, her mom Bobby Joe, and her twenty one

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Speaker 3: year old brother Edward, of murder and other crimes associated

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Speaker 3: with the girl's gruesome death she suffered, and she went

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Speaker 3: through minute by minute, according to prosecutors, not just for hours,

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Speaker 3: not for a day, not for a week, he said,

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Speaker 3: ladies and gentlemen, this girl suffered day by day for more.

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Speaker 4: Here's Barry Barnett is.

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Speaker 2: Rewod that's its passages. Father from Wave led to all

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Speaker 2: this because her body online isn't a situation.

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Speaker 3: The girl's parents, fifty five year old David Baynard and

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Speaker 3: Bobby Joe Baynard, forty five, were sentenced to life in

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Speaker 3: prison as well as twenty years for infliction of great

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Speaker 3: bodily injury on a child. Meanwhile, the girl's brother, Edward Baynard,

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Speaker 3: who was an employee at Access Healthcare, had made more

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Speaker 3: than twenty five thousand dollar over eighteen months as his

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Speaker 3: sister's personal caregiver. He was convicted of the same crime

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Speaker 3: and given equally stiff sentence of thirty years for murder

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Speaker 3: twenty years for inflicting great bodily injury.

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Speaker 4: The horrific story began when.

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Speaker 3: David, the father, brought his daughter to the Spartanburg Regional

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Speaker 3: Medical Center. NBC reports that the child was unresponsive and cold,

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Speaker 3: yet neither parents showed any emotion or.

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Speaker 4: Sense of urgency.

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Speaker 3: Police reports say David, the father, sat in the waiting

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Speaker 3: room playing games on his cell phone while the doctors

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Speaker 3: worked on his dying daughter, who was pronounced dead later

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Speaker 3: that night. When police went to the family's home in

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Speaker 3: Camp Ferry, they said this shocking discovery made them physically sick.

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Speaker 3: Junk and garbage was piled several feet high inside the home.

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Speaker 3: NBC news affiliates said that the animal feces and urine

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Speaker 3: and human feces was piled inches high inside the home.

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Speaker 4: Police reports say the house was filled.

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Speaker 3: With forty malnourished, flea infested pets, also that the home

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Speaker 3: was infested with maggots, roaches, and piles of trash. Those

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Speaker 3: bugs had infested the open wounds inside the fourteen year

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Speaker 3: old girl, causing her to have a severe infection and

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Speaker 3: ultimately die. This is the worst case of neglect that

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Speaker 3: we have ever seen in the county, said Detective Mueller.

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Speaker 3: Doctors and corners testified they had never seen anyone in

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Speaker 3: such horrible shape, with one witness saying it would have

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Speaker 3: been better if the girl had died swiftly instead of

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Speaker 3: enduring such a terrible, long lasting suffering. Prosecutors were equally shocked.

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Speaker 3: Nobody in the world, especially a child, deserves to suffer

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Speaker 3: like this, said the prosecution.

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Speaker 4: It was horrible.

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Speaker 3: Heather was left to rot to death. Her parents and

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Speaker 3: brother will spend the rest of their life behind bars.

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Speaker 3: For the latest crime in justice news, follow Crime Alert

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Speaker 3: hourly update on your favorite podcasting app with this crime Alert.

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Speaker 3: I'm Nicole Parton.