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Speaker 1: I was in a cell with two other guys that

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Speaker 1: were in for murder. One death from the got the

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Speaker 1: death penalty. I'm not sure what the other one got.

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Speaker 1: And they were so.

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Speaker 2: Cavalier about it.

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Speaker 1: One of them made a joke, maybe we can get

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Speaker 1: them to give us an electric couch, and they made

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Speaker 1: that joke.

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Speaker 2: That's the way it was in the jail.

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Speaker 1: Just having to be part of that, you know, to

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Speaker 1: like I'm one that would be sitting in the couch,

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Speaker 1: you know, that's beyond my comprehension.

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Speaker 2: I don't even belong in this story.

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Speaker 3: It's June of nineteen eighty eight, sixteen months after Michelle

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Speaker 3: Schofield was found stabbed to death in a drainage canal

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Speaker 3: in Polk County, Florida. Her husband of just six months,

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Speaker 3: Leo Schofield, is now sitting in the Polk County jail

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Speaker 3: facing first degree murder charges. The prosecutor, John Aguero, is

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Speaker 3: seeking the death penalty. Leo insists he's innocent.

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Speaker 2: Do you my mans left to have my field soru

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Speaker 2: sorreness in this vastity? See Rage to the.

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Speaker 3: Bone Valley, Chapter three, Trial by Ambush. The very first

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Speaker 3: thing that got me hooked on Leo's case was the

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Speaker 3: trial transcript that Judge Scott Kupp sent to me. The

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Speaker 3: trial lasted about two weeks in March of nineteen eighty nine,

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Speaker 3: and unfortunately there was an audio or video recording in

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Speaker 3: the courtroom, but the trial transcript documents every word of

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Speaker 3: what was said. There's a lot that happened over those

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Speaker 3: two weeks, so we're going to break it down. The

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Speaker 3: first thing to focus on is Leo's defense. At twenty

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Speaker 3: two years old and unable to make bail, Leo sits

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Speaker 3: in the Polk County Jail awaiting trial. Since he's unable

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Speaker 3: to afford an attorney, his case is assigned to the

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Speaker 3: Office of the Public Defender.

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Speaker 4: My name is Tony Maloney and my job is mostly

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Speaker 4: related to homicide cases.

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Speaker 3: Tony Maloney was an investigator with the office, and she

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Speaker 3: recalls that a young colleague, Holly Stutz, was sent down

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Speaker 3: to the jail to interview Leo.

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Speaker 4: And she took a lot of interest in Schofield's case.

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Speaker 3: Leo starts from the beginning and Holly takes detailed notes

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Speaker 3: to Holly. Leo is coming across like a young man

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Speaker 3: who was desperately searching for his wife, and the more

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Speaker 3: she learns about his timeline, the more she's convinced that

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Speaker 3: Leo could not have murdered Michelle. So Holly goes back

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Speaker 3: to the Public Defender's office and briefs Tony and the attorneys.

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Speaker 4: And she called him her little rock and roller, and.

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Speaker 5: She just.

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Speaker 4: Believed in him. I mean, she really wanted to fight

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Speaker 4: the fight. Anybody that I worked with closely on that case,

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Speaker 4: we all really wanted to believe Leo, and he was

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Speaker 4: so adam that he didn't do it.

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Speaker 3: But as the Public Defender's office is working on his case,

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Speaker 3: Leo is talking to his cellmates and they're giving him advice.

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Speaker 1: One of those cellmates that I had was this guy

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Speaker 1: named Squeegee.

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Speaker 3: Who apparently got his nickname from killing a guy with

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Speaker 3: a squeegee.

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Speaker 1: Squeeze had said, you can't go to trial and I'm

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Speaker 1: out of charge with a public defender, you cannot do that.

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Speaker 3: Squeegee tells him that public defenders are known in the

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Speaker 3: system as public pretenders. Leo can't trust his life to

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Speaker 3: these attorneys as an investigator for the Public Defender's office.

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Speaker 3: These are things Tony Maloney has heard before.

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Speaker 4: Oh in the jail, they'd say no, you've got to

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Speaker 4: have a real lawyer. That was how they would say

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Speaker 4: it to me, and then they got my speech. Let

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Speaker 4: me explain to you how we work cases. No leaf

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Speaker 4: will be left unturned. You will have two lawyers on

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Speaker 4: your case and they have a lot of education and experience.

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Speaker 4: You will have at least one investigator, more than likely

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Speaker 4: you'll have two, and more. You will have specialists to

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Speaker 4: help us evaluate your case. And I said, you know,

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Speaker 4: you're not going to get any finer defense than you're

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Speaker 4: going to get right here. And Leo probably got that

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Speaker 4: speech for more than one of us.

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Speaker 3: But other inmates like Squeegee are getting into Leo's head.

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Speaker 3: The public Pretender's office will not save you. They tell

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Speaker 3: him you need a superstar attorney.

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Speaker 1: All I'm looking for. Somebody needs to come and save me.

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Speaker 1: You know, I don't know how you're going to do

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Speaker 1: it or what needs to be done. I don't know

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Speaker 1: anything about the system, how it works, on any of

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Speaker 1: that stuff. I just know that I need some out.

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Speaker 3: One name that keeps coming up is Jack Edmund, the

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Speaker 3: most famous private defense attorney in Polk County. He's expensive,

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Speaker 3: but you gotta get Jack Edmund. They're telling Leo.

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Speaker 2: I was starstruck with Edmund.

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Speaker 3: So Leo arranges a meeting with Edmund and one day

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Speaker 3: he's brought to an attorney's room. He assumes he'll be

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Speaker 3: meeting Edmund, but instead the guy sitting there introduces himself

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Speaker 3: as Bob Knipper, Jack Edmund's investigator.

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Speaker 1: And he said, uh, he said, sign, my name is

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Speaker 1: Bob Knipper. I work for Jack Edmund. If you want

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Speaker 1: the best, you gotta pay top dollar. My fee is

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Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars off the top. Without proper representation, your

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Speaker 1: life will land in Rayford.

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Speaker 3: Rayford is the Florida State Prison. It's where Old Sparky,

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Speaker 3: Florida's Electric Chair sits. By the late nineteen eighties, Florida

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Speaker 3: had not yet switched to lethal injection, and Florida's electric

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Speaker 3: Chair was the nation's so called busiest instrument of death.

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Speaker 3: Old Sparky claimed the lives of twenty men that decade,

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Speaker 3: including serial killer Ted Bundy, who was executed only weeks

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Speaker 3: before Leo's trial would begin. Leo tells Bob Nipper about

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Speaker 3: the car accident he was in. How just a few

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Speaker 3: months after Michelle's murder, he was a passenger in a

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Speaker 3: car that flipped over and he broke his neck. He

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Speaker 3: was getting fifty thousand dollars in an insurance settlement, Nipper

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Speaker 3: tells Jack Edmund, who agrees to represent Leo. If Leo

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Speaker 3: signs over the.

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Speaker 4: Settlement and the case goes away, Leo.

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Speaker 3: Drops Tony Maloney and the Public Defender's Office to go

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Speaker 3: with the celebrated defense attorney Jack Edmund, with a quote

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Speaker 3: unquote real lawyer like Edmund looking into his case, Leo's

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Speaker 3: hoping this will all be cleared up quickly.

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Speaker 1: Now that's how I ended up dismissing the Public Defense Office,

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Speaker 1: which was the biggest mistake that I made at that time.

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Speaker 3: Months pass and Leo doesn't hear anything from his private attorney,

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Speaker 3: Jack Edmund. He's learning that when you're charged with a

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Speaker 3: capital crime, nothing happens fast. Then one night, Leo says

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Speaker 3: the guards at his cell to take him down for

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Speaker 3: an attorney visit. He's led into a little room with

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Speaker 3: a table in a few chairs. He assumes he's there

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Speaker 3: to finally meet his defense attorney, Jack Edmund, but it's

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Speaker 3: not Edmund. It's the prosecutor, John Aguero, who walks into

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Speaker 3: the room.

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Speaker 2: So when he comes in. I remember him from the plane.

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Speaker 1: He wore an Alexic chair tie tack and I'll never

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Speaker 1: forget that because I commented when I saw it, I said,

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Speaker 1: you don't think that's kind of morbid And he said, no, no,

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Speaker 1: just like that, playing his day.

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Speaker 3: John Aguero sits down at the table and Leo doesn't

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Speaker 3: know what to expect.

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Speaker 1: He said, I want to I want to talk to

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Speaker 1: you about your father.

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Speaker 2: I said, okay.

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Speaker 1: He said, I believe your father is guilty in your

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Speaker 1: cover and form.

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Speaker 3: Leo has heard this line before. He's already gone through

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Speaker 3: the interrogation about his father with the detective's Weeks and Putnam,

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Speaker 3: and he's under the impression that Aguero or anyone who

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Speaker 3: shows up in a suit and tie has authority over him,

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Speaker 3: so he's supposed to answer their questions.

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Speaker 1: I never hinted at I need a lawyer. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it never even crossed my mind to say I need

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Speaker 1: my lawyer here.

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Speaker 3: So now Leo's alone in a room with his prosecutor,

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Speaker 3: the man trying to send him to the electric chair.

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Speaker 1: I was being polite. I was being trusting, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean I trusted in the process. You know, I

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Speaker 1: knew this was going to be made right. All I

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Speaker 1: had to do was was convince him that I was

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Speaker 1: telling the truth.

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Speaker 6: That was it.

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Speaker 1: That's what you're supposed to do. That's how I was raised.

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Speaker 3: Leo says that Aguero doesn't bring a tape recorder. He

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Speaker 3: doesn't have someone there to take notes or anyone to

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Speaker 3: witness the conversation. It's just Leo and Aguero.

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Speaker 1: You would never talk to a potential witness or a

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Speaker 1: suspect without recording it. You just don't do it unless

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Speaker 1: you don't want to be recorded. And that's exactly what happened.

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Speaker 3: Aguero looks Leo in the eye. Listen, He says, I

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Speaker 3: know you didn't kill Michelle. Your father did it, and

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Speaker 3: if you agree to testify against him, I'll draw up

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Speaker 3: some paperwork and you can walk out of here.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think he really thought that dad did it.

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Speaker 1: I think that a guirro believed that dad did it.

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Speaker 1: I don't think he ever really believed that I did it.

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Speaker 3: Aguero doesn't have any physical evidence against Leo's father or

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Speaker 3: any eyewitness testimony that connects him to Michelle on the

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Speaker 3: night she disappeared. He just knows about this weird premonition

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Speaker 3: that Leo Senior told a police officer and others that

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Speaker 3: a vision from God had led him to Michelle's body.

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Speaker 3: To Aguero, this is beyond suspicious, but Leo refuses the deal.

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Speaker 3: He insists that he's telling Aguero the truth. He didn't

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Speaker 3: kill Michelle, and neither did his father.

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Speaker 1: You want me to testify to something that would be

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Speaker 1: a lie. I don't have that information. What happened is

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Speaker 1: exactly what I've been saying. What I've just told you again,

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Speaker 1: and what I told them multiple times over and over

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Speaker 1: and over again, that never will change. That's what happened.

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Speaker 1: And he got really frustrated with me telling him that,

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Speaker 1: and he slammed his hand on the table and he said,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to put you in the electric chair. And

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Speaker 1: I said, that's what you're going to have to do,

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Speaker 1: but I'm not going to say something that's not true.

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Speaker 3: When Leo first told us about this meeting with Aguero,

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Speaker 3: he was so matter of fact about the visit. I

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Speaker 3: didn't even question it. But when I mentioned it to

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Speaker 3: other attorneys, I got the same reaction again and again.

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Speaker 3: Eyebrows were raised. Twice. I was asked to turn off

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Speaker 3: the tape recorder. These attorneys were appalled. They told me

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Speaker 3: that prosecutors are never supposed to negotiate plea deals or

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Speaker 3: offers of immunity without defense council present. It could violate

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Speaker 3: the sixth Amendment, which guarantees the right to counsel in

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Speaker 3: all criminal proceedings.

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Speaker 1: That man came and saw me, he offered me an immunity,

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Speaker 1: and they'll testify against my father.

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Speaker 3: The attorneys I spoke to told me that this was

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Speaker 3: completely unethical and that Aguero could have been subject to

201
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Speaker 3: disciplinary action, but some lawyers said they weren't surprised that

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Speaker 3: state attorneys were getting away with these kind of things

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Speaker 3: in rural counties like Polk. Kelsey and I file record

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Speaker 3: requests to try to corroborate Leo's claim that Aguero visited

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Speaker 3: him in the jail, but we were told those records

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Speaker 3: no longer exist, so we only have Leo's word that

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Speaker 3: this meeting with Aguero took place. But we would soon

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Speaker 3: learn that this wasn't the only time Aguero was accused

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Speaker 3: of doing something like this. Ideally, we would have asked

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Speaker 3: Aguero about this directly, but he died in twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 3: We reached out to the state attorney's office to see

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Speaker 3: if others who worked with John Aguero would talk to us,

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Speaker 3: but they declined our requests for interviews. Leo's been in

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Speaker 3: the Polk County jail for nine months now. Jack Edmond

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Speaker 3: has been his lawyer for nearly six months, but Leo

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Speaker 3: still hasn't met him until finally, the night before his trial,

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Speaker 3: Leo is taken down to an attorney's room and he

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Speaker 3: lays eyes on his defense lawyer for the very first time.

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Speaker 1: He had cowboy hat, ripped jeans, button up short, Patrick

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Speaker 1: Cameron hanfilters, and a yellow lego pad was empty. He

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Speaker 1: didn't have a note.

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Speaker 3: Edmund shakes Leo's hand. He's sixty three years old, and

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Speaker 3: he's the first to admit his own legal shortcomings. He

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Speaker 3: once told a local reporter when I need research, I

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Speaker 3: call someone who's gifted and bright, and I'm neither. Edmund's

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Speaker 3: style was to conduct what he called trial by ambush,

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Speaker 3: reacting to the States case and exposing its weaknesses in

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Speaker 3: cross examination.

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Speaker 7: He was the one you wanted if you were guilty, guilty, guilty,

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Speaker 7: and somebody had to mesmerize jury.

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Speaker 3: This is Grady Juddon, the current Sheriff of Paul County.

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Speaker 3: He was good friends with Jack Edmund.

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Speaker 7: If you were guilty and had to win on the

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Speaker 7: emotion of the jury, you always wanted Jack Edmund because

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Speaker 7: I have seen him walk so many guilt people out

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Speaker 7: of the courtroom. Because of his charisma, his personality, his intellect,

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Speaker 7: and his absolute mastery of the courtroom.

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Speaker 2: There's none better.

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Speaker 7: But if you needed to win a case on the law,

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Speaker 7: the fine print of the law, you didn't want Jack Edmond.

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Speaker 3: Edmund didn't do any pre trial interviews with witnesses or

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Speaker 3: hire any experts to analyze the evidence, and during his

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Speaker 3: meeting with Leo, they didn't go over the state's evidence either.

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Speaker 3: To Leo, Edmund didn't seem very familiar with his case.

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Speaker 3: But Edmund says that Assistant state Attorney John Aguero has

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Speaker 3: offered Leo a deal. This one has nothing to do

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Speaker 3: with his father. Aguero will reduce the first degree murder

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Speaker 3: charge to second degree murder if Leo agrees to plead guilty.

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Speaker 3: That comes with a twelve year sentence. But given that

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Speaker 3: Leo has no criminal record and with credit for time served,

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Speaker 3: Leo could actually be out of prison in just a

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Speaker 3: few years. To Edmund, this plea deal is a sign

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Speaker 3: that the state isn't confident in the strength of its

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Speaker 3: case against Leo. But before Leo can even think it over,

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Speaker 3: Edmund tells him he already took the liberty of turning

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Speaker 3: down Aguero's deal. Leo didn't know it at the time,

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Speaker 3: but this isn't supposed to happen either. Leo says he

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Speaker 3: would never plead guilty to anything anyway, but even so,

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Speaker 3: he did think it was strange that his lawyer didn't

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Speaker 3: consult with him first. It would be the first in

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Speaker 3: a string of very strange decisions by Jack Edmund.

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Speaker 6: Hi, I'm Jason Flamm, CEO and founder of Lava for

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Speaker 3: The trial begins on March eighth, nineteen eighty nine. It's

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Speaker 3: the morning after Leo met Jack Edmund for the first time,

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Speaker 3: and he walks into court with his defense attorney at

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Speaker 3: his side.

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Speaker 5: He was a known quantity. Everybody in the court house

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Speaker 5: is newing.

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Speaker 3: This is Judge Charles Davis, the trial judge in Leo's case.

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Speaker 5: I mean he mussed I had at least a twenty

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Speaker 5: nine inch waist, I mean real small pencil like fellow

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Speaker 5: Jack Edmund Quirk. Every morning, every morning that you're in

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Speaker 5: traw He walks into the courtroom and he comes up

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Speaker 5: to the bench and on the bench he places two

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Speaker 5: rolls of life savers. He walks over to the clerk

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Speaker 5: stand and he places two rolls of life savers. He

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Speaker 5: walks over to the stenographer's stan and he places two

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Speaker 5: rolls of life savers. Then he goes to the state

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Speaker 5: attorney's table and he places one roll of lifesare But

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Speaker 5: my kids loved it when I tried cases with Jack Edmund,

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Speaker 5: because I came home with pockets full of life savers.

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Speaker 5: I mean, that was his mo.

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Speaker 10: Jack was very flamboyant and he had a delightful Southern accent,

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Speaker 10: just a drawl.

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Speaker 3: This is Susie Shottlecatti. She's been reporting on the Polk

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Speaker 3: County courts for the Lakeland Ledgers since nineteen eighty four.

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Speaker 3: The Leo Schofield case was one of the first trials

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Speaker 3: she covered, gavel to gavel, as she says.

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Speaker 10: Jack actually took acting lessons to perform for a jury,

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Speaker 10: and he looked like Colonel Sanders. He always wore boots,

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Speaker 10: and he always wore a western suit. You know, it

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Speaker 10: was a suit, but it had the western cut in

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Speaker 10: the back.

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Speaker 3: That's for Leo. He was looking a little rough around

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Speaker 3: the edges when he entered the courtroom.

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Speaker 1: I was into rock and roll. I was a musician.

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Speaker 1: I was in a band. I was pretty successful with

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Speaker 1: doing that. If I could do this again so that

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Speaker 1: the jury knows who I am, I'd go in there

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Speaker 1: just like I was every day.

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Speaker 2: I never wore a suit in my life.

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Speaker 1: I hadn't cut my hair, and I don't remember the

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Speaker 1: last time I cut my hair before I went to jail.

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Speaker 1: But it wasn't like I looked like I crawled out

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Speaker 1: of a dumpster, you know. It was who I was now.

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Speaker 1: They cut my hair off, and it was cut off

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Speaker 1: into jail, which you can imagine is not like super

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Speaker 1: cuts or anything.

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Speaker 2: And then I had two suits.

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Speaker 1: One of them was my father's and the other one

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Speaker 1: was I believe it was David Collins, who was still

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Speaker 1: a friend of mine.

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Speaker 2: And one was a DOC blue and one was a

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Speaker 2: light blue.

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Speaker 1: Neither one of them fit. I'd wear one one day,

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Speaker 1: one the next. And then I wore the light blue

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Speaker 1: jacket with the DOC blue pants, and like blue pants

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Speaker 1: of the DC blue jacket, just kept switching it for

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Speaker 1: the entire trial.

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Speaker 3: As Leo takes his seat at the defendant's table, he

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Speaker 3: catches a glimpse of the prosecutor, John Aguero on the

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Speaker 3: other side of the courtroom. Since Leo turned down both

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Speaker 3: of Aguero's offers, the young prosecutor is laser focused on

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Speaker 3: sending the heavy metal kid from Massachusetts to the electric chair.

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Speaker 3: At the time of Leo's trial, Aguero is thirty six

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Speaker 3: years old, he's recently been promoted the chief homicide prosecutor,

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Speaker 3: and he's already put one man on death row. So

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Speaker 3: Aguero is supremely confident and he commands everyone's attention in

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Speaker 3: the courtroom. Now, jury selection begins, but there's already a problem.

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Speaker 3: Another high profile death penalty case is happening at the

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Speaker 3: same time in the same courthouse. Both cases are pulling

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Speaker 3: potential jurors from the same pool of people that showed

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Speaker 3: up for jury duty. But one by one, potential jurors

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00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,040
Speaker 3: are being excused because they can't afford to take weeks

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Speaker 3: out of their lives to sit on a long trial,

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Speaker 3: so the pool of available jurors is dwindling. Twelve jurors

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Speaker 3: are eventually selected for the Leo Schofield trial, but no alternates.

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Speaker 3: That means that if anyone on the jury gets sick,

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Speaker 3: or has a family emergency, there won't be anyone to

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Speaker 3: replace them. Leo's lawyer, Jack Edmond, could have stopped the

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Speaker 3: trial right there until they could seat alternate jurors, but Aguero,

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Speaker 3: the prosecutor, wants to proceed. Edmond also agrees to proceed

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Speaker 3: with no alternate jurors, which is odd because this is

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Speaker 3: a death penalty case. It only takes one vote of

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00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 3: not guilty to cause a mistrial, so you want as

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Speaker 3: many jurors as possible. But Leo trusts his famous lawyer.

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Speaker 1: You know, I don't have any idea what that means

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Speaker 1: for me. I'm wanting to help a guirl. I'm wanting

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Speaker 1: to show him what a nice guy I am. You

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Speaker 1: know what I mean, Because I'm thinking somewhere along the

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Speaker 1: line in this nightmare of a dream i'm having, that

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Speaker 1: we're all going to wake up and see that this

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Speaker 1: isn't right, and even Aguerol will see that it isn't right.

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Speaker 2: Because justice plays out always.

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Speaker 3: John Aguero walks toward the jury to deliver the state's

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Speaker 3: opening argument. What kind of person is Leo Schofield?

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Speaker 8: He asks?

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Speaker 3: Is he a docile, mild mannered young man? As he

397
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,800
Speaker 3: sits there looking at you today, you're going to find

398
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Speaker 3: out that's the farthest thing from the true truth. Leo

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Speaker 3: Schofield is a very violent young man.

400
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Speaker 10: Oh John was thunderous, and he was very demonstrative. He

401
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,440
Speaker 10: would use his arms. He would be we are here

402
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Speaker 10: because and then he's spin on his heel and point

403
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Speaker 10: to the defendant to say, because that man decided that

404
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 10: no no, no Da didn't deserve to live any longer.

405
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Speaker 10: And he would just be off to the races. He

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Speaker 10: would get up there with nothing and he would just

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Speaker 10: tell a story.

408
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,919
Speaker 3: But when Leo's defense attorney, Jack Edmund rises for his opening,

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Speaker 3: it's clear he hasn't done his homework. Right off the bat,

410
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Speaker 3: he gets the name of Leo's landlord wrong. Then Edmund

411
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,440
Speaker 3: mixes up the days of the week from when Michelle

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00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:55,760
Speaker 3: disappears until she's found. He stands before a map of

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Speaker 3: Lakeland and starts describing roads and distances and times out

414
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:04,399
Speaker 3: any context or story. Maybe the jury is able to

415
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 3: follow along, but Edmund does not. He points to Cumby

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Speaker 3: Road and seems confused. Let's see, he says, staring at

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Speaker 3: the map. Now I'm lost. I'd done goofed up, hadn't

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00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 3: I more silence. Nope, I'm wrong, ladies and gentlemen.

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Speaker 1: I think he thought that this case was really a

420
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Speaker 1: weak case. It was a weak, circumstantial case, and there's

421
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:31,159
Speaker 1: no way you're going to hang for us to be

422
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,200
Speaker 1: murder on this kid. And so he didn't put much

423
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Speaker 1: in it, and unfortunately he underestimated the power of Johnny Wirl.

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Speaker 3: Still, Leo remains optimistic Edmond had told him that he

425
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Speaker 3: had a ninety percent chance of walking out of the

426
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:52,960
Speaker 3: court acquitted. After both sides make opening statements, Aguero starts

427
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 3: calling witnesses to answer his opening question, what kind of

428
00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:05,439
Speaker 3: person is Leo Schofield? The state's case against Leo Schofield

429
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:09,600
Speaker 3: is a circumstantial case, which means John Aguero has no

430
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 3: physical evidence linking Leo to Michelle's murder and no witness

431
00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,639
Speaker 3: who claimed to have seen the actual crime. So instead,

432
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:22,159
Speaker 3: Aguero brings in a steady stream of bad character witnesses.

433
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,400
Speaker 3: It's an onslaught. There's twenty one of them all together.

434
00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 3: One witness after another describes incidents where Leo punches holes

435
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 3: in the wall, turns over furniture, and smashes guitars that

436
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:39,400
Speaker 3: he dragged Michelle up a flight of stairs by her hair.

437
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 3: But that's not all. Witnesses testify that Leo didn't help

438
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:47,400
Speaker 3: with his wife's funeral arrangements, that he wasn't able to

439
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 3: tell the officer his wife's year of birth, and that

440
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:52,720
Speaker 3: he was going out to bars with friends not long

441
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:57,920
Speaker 3: after Michelle was killed. Aguero wants the jury wondering what

442
00:28:58,000 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 3: kind of guy does that?

443
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 1: And every trial has what they call it's a black day.

444
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 1: This is what I learned in the jail. Everybody knows,

445
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:07,960
Speaker 1: you go a trial, there is a black day where

446
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:09,320
Speaker 1: something doesn't go right.

447
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 2: But for me, every one of those days was a

448
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:14,400
Speaker 2: black day.

449
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 3: One of the witnesses a Guero calls to the stand

450
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:27,360
Speaker 3: is Michelle McCluskey. She spots Leo as soon as she

451
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 3: enters the courtroom.

452
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,680
Speaker 11: I walked in and he was turned around in his

453
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 11: chair and watched me, you know, walk up, and he

454
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 11: stared at me. But instead of being afraid or trying

455
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,320
Speaker 11: not to walk eyes with him, I just wanted to

456
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,640
Speaker 11: stare him down. I wanted to burn all in him

457
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 11: with my eyes. You know.

458
00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 3: This is Michelle Schofield's best friend who helped Leo look

459
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 3: for his wife when she went missing Michelle. McCluskey had

460
00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 3: her suspicions about Leo after Michelle disappeared, but now two

461
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:02,400
Speaker 3: years later she he's convinced that Leo killed Michelle.

462
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 11: They asked me, what was my relationship to Michelle and

463
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:09,400
Speaker 11: how long did I know her? And what was my

464
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:14,440
Speaker 11: relationship to Leo? And I just looked at him and

465
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 11: I had to think about it for a minute, and

466
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,800
Speaker 11: I said he was my friend, Yeah, he was.

467
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,680
Speaker 3: Michelle McCluskey describes a very unstable relationship between Leo and

468
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,720
Speaker 3: Michelle and tells Aguero that she saw the couple fight

469
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:31,880
Speaker 3: a lot. One time she heard Leo yell from another room,

470
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 3: shut up, I hate you. I'll kill you, you bitch.

471
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 3: She says she thought you heard Leo slapper, but Michelle

472
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 3: swore to her that Leo didn't. As I read the

473
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:49,120
Speaker 3: trial transcript, there's no doubt Leo comes off terribly. So

474
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 3: many people are testifying about Leo's temper. He smashes things,

475
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:57,880
Speaker 3: screams at Michelle, gets violent with her. I have to

476
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:00,360
Speaker 3: think that after listening to this part of the state's case,

477
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,280
Speaker 3: the jury has already decided that Leo is a bad

478
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:07,800
Speaker 3: husband and maybe even a bad person, but Leo isn't

479
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 3: on trial for that. John Aguero is going to have

480
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 3: to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Leo killed Michelle,

481
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 3: and with his next witness, Aguero introduces the one piece

482
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,600
Speaker 3: of evidence he has that could potentially link Leo to

483
00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:26,800
Speaker 3: the crime. Alice Scott, who Aguero calls the busy body

484
00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 3: of the neighborhood, takes the stand.

485
00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:30,880
Speaker 2: She's a neighbor.

486
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 1: I thought she was a pretty nice lady and she

487
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 1: would have no reason to try to hurt me and

488
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:39,000
Speaker 1: he she must have seen something.

489
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 3: Alice Scott tells the jury that in the early morning

490
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 3: hours of February twenty fifth, she looked out her bathroom

491
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 3: window and she did see something. She says she saw

492
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,680
Speaker 3: Leo carry out something heavy from his trailer and put

493
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 3: it in the back of the Mazda. Alice is careful

494
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,720
Speaker 3: to say that she doesn't know what Leo was carrying,

495
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:12,040
Speaker 3: but Aguero ties it together with a question, you didn't

496
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 3: know that he might be carrying a body out? No

497
00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 3: Alice answers, but she takes Aguero's cue and Alice starts

498
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 3: calling the heavy object the body. Alice also claims that

499
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 3: she saw Leo return to the trailer the next morning

500
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:31,200
Speaker 3: with a carpet cleaner. He took it in the house,

501
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:33,880
Speaker 3: Alice says, And he had the door open and he

502
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 3: was cleaning the carpet.

503
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:41,320
Speaker 12: What would her motive have been other than just to

504
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:42,520
Speaker 12: report what she saw?

505
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 3: Susie Shattlecatty, the local reporter, watched Alice Scott's testimony intently

506
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:49,560
Speaker 3: in the courtroom.

507
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 10: Yeah, she didn't have a dog in this house. She

508
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 10: didn't really know those people that well, and there was

509
00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 10: no reason for her to try to fabricate something that

510
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 10: didn't happen or that she she didn't actually see. So,

511
00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:07,360
Speaker 10: you know, I think that made her testimony pretty powerful.

512
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 3: When it's the defense's turn to question Alice Scott, Jack

513
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:17,520
Speaker 3: Edmond asked her if she can remember the exact night

514
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:21,360
Speaker 3: this happened. She tells Edmund that she can't remember dates.

515
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,480
Speaker 3: But Alice says, her sister in law, Linda Sells, who

516
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:30,400
Speaker 3: lives next door, also saw Leo emerge with the heavy object.

517
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 3: They'd even chatted about it right there across the fence

518
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:39,920
Speaker 3: that divided their yards, Alice says. So Alice's sister in law,

519
00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:44,400
Speaker 3: Linda Sells, is called to the stand. She says she

520
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,800
Speaker 3: and Alice did see Leo carrying something heavy to the Mazda,

521
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:51,200
Speaker 3: but Linda says this happened a week or two before

522
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:55,960
Speaker 3: the night Michelle disappeared. She says she knows this because

523
00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 3: she did not talk with Alice on the night Michelle

524
00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 3: went missing. When I came to this part of the

525
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,280
Speaker 3: trial transcript, I had to stop to make sure I

526
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 3: just read that correctly. The state's whole case hinges on

527
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:14,600
Speaker 3: the testimony of its star witness, Alice Scott. Aguero must

528
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 3: have hoped his next witness would get on the stand

529
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:25,000
Speaker 3: and corroborate Alice's testimony. Instead, Linda Cells has directly contradicted her.

530
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:30,920
Speaker 3: As Leo watches Linda Cells on the stand, something clicks

531
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:31,640
Speaker 3: in his memory.

532
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,600
Speaker 1: I remember then carrying an amplifier out of my house

533
00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:37,400
Speaker 1: and placing it in the back of my car. And

534
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,280
Speaker 1: you might not have known what I was carrying, because

535
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:42,560
Speaker 1: I did carry it out, and it was a bigger amp,

536
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 1: and I carried it out and I put it in

537
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 1: the back of my car. But you knew what it

538
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,080
Speaker 1: was not. You knew it wasn't a body. There's no

539
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,520
Speaker 1: way you could have mistaken an amp for body. And

540
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,760
Speaker 1: the night that Michelle was missing. I definitely didn't carry

541
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:57,719
Speaker 1: anything out of the house, so you're telling a lie.

542
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,600
Speaker 3: If Aguero was phased by seeing Linda Sells contradict the

543
00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:06,880
Speaker 3: testimony of his star witness, he didn't show it. Besides,

544
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,480
Speaker 3: he was more focused on another witness, Leo Schofield Senior.

545
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:16,240
Speaker 3: His premonition, the one he claimed led him to Michelle's body,

546
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:19,240
Speaker 3: has become a major part of Aguero's case.

547
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,359
Speaker 10: The thought that he woke up in the night and

548
00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 10: had this image. And first of all, that ditch is

549
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:31,319
Speaker 10: like every other ditch in Polk County, So what took

550
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,840
Speaker 10: you there that as opposed to anywhere else?

551
00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:37,319
Speaker 12: It just seemed so totally incredulous.

552
00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:43,520
Speaker 3: Reporter Susie Shattlecotty was eager to hear how Leo Senior

553
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:47,040
Speaker 3: would do on the stand. She'd already heard his story

554
00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:50,200
Speaker 3: about a vision leading him to Michelle's body in a

555
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,680
Speaker 3: drainage canal off State Road thirty three.

556
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 10: When I first heard that, it's like, oh, come on,

557
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,680
Speaker 10: I think everybody had that feeling, because if you've been

558
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:05,400
Speaker 10: out on thirty three thirty five years ago, they had

559
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:06,960
Speaker 10: to pipe in sunlight out there.

560
00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:09,239
Speaker 12: It was out in the middle of nowhere.

561
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 3: Leo Senior takes the stand and John Aguero begins his questioning.

562
00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 12: Oh, John had a heyday with that. I mean, how

563
00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,840
Speaker 12: can you not just you know this vision?

564
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 3: Leo's father knew that his story of a premonition sounded

565
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:34,160
Speaker 3: weird and could hurt his son's case, so he attempts

566
00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:37,480
Speaker 3: to walk back his comments, saying that he didn't recall

567
00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,239
Speaker 3: mentioning a vision from God to anyone. He says he

568
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,560
Speaker 3: may have, but he just couldn't remember his exact words.

569
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:50,120
Speaker 3: But the thing is, his comments were well documented. Multiple

570
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:53,960
Speaker 3: witnesses testified to it, and his story about the vision

571
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:58,080
Speaker 3: had been recorded in an official police report. From just

572
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:01,160
Speaker 3: reading the words on the pages, Leo Senior doesn't come

573
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:08,399
Speaker 3: across as very credible, and Aguero keeps hammering him. Isn't

574
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:10,720
Speaker 3: it true that you went to State Road thirty three

575
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:12,799
Speaker 3: that day because you knew you were going there to

576
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:18,960
Speaker 3: find the body? No, sir, Leo Senior replies. Seeing his

577
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:22,600
Speaker 3: dad witherr under Aguero's aggressive questioning is painful for Leo,

578
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:25,759
Speaker 3: and he can't understand why his father would say that

579
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:27,600
Speaker 3: God had led him to Michelle's body.

580
00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,879
Speaker 1: I was like, what the hell is that we were

581
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:35,799
Speaker 1: looking for three days. You know, who's going to believe that?

582
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,640
Speaker 1: Why would you even say something like that. He wanted

583
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:42,600
Speaker 1: to believe God was helping him, and you know, he

584
00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:45,080
Speaker 1: knew something was wrong. We all knew something was wrong.

585
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:47,319
Speaker 1: We're looking for my wife in ditches whatever. You're not

586
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,319
Speaker 1: looking at a ditch thinking everything's okay. I don't even

587
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:52,920
Speaker 1: remember what his actual testimony was on the stand. He

588
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:54,600
Speaker 1: tried to clean it up, and that was the worst

589
00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:57,120
Speaker 1: thing he could do, you know, because now you've got Aguero,

590
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 1: who's a master at, you know, twisting your head off,

591
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:01,680
Speaker 1: and he did exactly that.

592
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:05,680
Speaker 3: One of the reasons Aguero was so aggressive with Leo

593
00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,720
Speaker 3: Senior is because he's an alibi witness for his son's

594
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:13,200
Speaker 3: whereabouts on a night Michelle disappeared. There were times when

595
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,440
Speaker 3: Leo claimed to be alone with his father looking for Michelle.

596
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:20,000
Speaker 3: So if Aguero could show the jury that there's something

597
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:24,080
Speaker 3: suspicious about Leo Senior, he's hoping the jury will also

598
00:38:24,200 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 3: reject Leo's alibi.

599
00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:29,360
Speaker 12: That probably hurt his case more than anything.

600
00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 3: This was definitely one of the blacker days for Leo.

601
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:44,440
Speaker 3: Seven days after opening arguments, Jack Edmond begins his defense

602
00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:47,960
Speaker 3: he calls Leo Schofield Junior to the stand.

603
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:51,640
Speaker 5: My initial reaction was no good thing comes when you

604
00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:51,960
Speaker 5: put to the.

605
00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:54,800
Speaker 3: Feral stand, Judge Charles Davis.

606
00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:59,200
Speaker 5: No matter how sincere and convincing he is, it makes

607
00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:04,360
Speaker 5: one innocent slip up. It's magnified right off the bat.

608
00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:07,440
Speaker 3: Leo admits that he had a temper. I had a

609
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,000
Speaker 3: bad habit of hollering and screaming, and it wasn't beyond

610
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:12,000
Speaker 3: me to throw a temper tantrum once in a while,

611
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:15,839
Speaker 3: he tells Jack Edmund, and yes, he did knock over

612
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:18,800
Speaker 3: a coffee table in his trailer. He also admits to

613
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:22,640
Speaker 3: two instances in which he slapped Michelle. But he never

614
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,239
Speaker 3: punched her, he says, and he never dragged her by

615
00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:29,359
Speaker 3: the hair up any flight of stairs. Edmund leads Leo

616
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:32,319
Speaker 3: through his actions and movements on the night Michelle disappeared,

617
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:35,319
Speaker 3: and Leo tells the same story he always tells to

618
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:57,319
Speaker 3: police and defense attorneys. It never changes. When Prosecutor John

619
00:39:57,360 --> 00:40:01,759
Speaker 3: Aguero gets his chance to question Leo, It's March twentieth.

620
00:40:02,520 --> 00:40:05,280
Speaker 3: Aguero had the weekend of Saint Patrick's Day to prepare

621
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:09,840
Speaker 3: for his cross examination. He's feeling lucky.

622
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 10: He was going to do cross right after lunch, and

623
00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:16,920
Speaker 10: I remember seeing him when we were getting ready to

624
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:20,319
Speaker 10: go in the courtroom and I overheard somebody saying, John,

625
00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:22,840
Speaker 10: you're ready. He said, I've been ready for this for weeks.

626
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:25,520
Speaker 10: And it was just the tone in his voice. You

627
00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:29,520
Speaker 10: could tell it's like, let me at him.

628
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 3: Aguero approaches the young man he arrested almost a year before.

629
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:37,440
Speaker 2: I don't have any training in how to speak to people.

630
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:39,000
Speaker 2: I've never been on trial before.

631
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:43,040
Speaker 1: I've never had my life so exposed and so exaggerated

632
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:45,880
Speaker 1: and manipulated and all that. So I'm sitting there and

633
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:47,480
Speaker 1: I'm scared of death as it is.

634
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:54,120
Speaker 3: Leo focuses on answering Aguero's questions accurately, but he feels

635
00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:55,520
Speaker 3: that he isn't connecting to the.

636
00:40:55,600 --> 00:41:00,400
Speaker 1: Jury, and that is a problem of this case. My

637
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:05,600
Speaker 1: short spoken, my inability to open up.

638
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:09,000
Speaker 2: But how do you do that? How do you do

639
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,880
Speaker 2: that when you know all this stuff is wrong?

640
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:14,040
Speaker 1: But these people are not going to believe you anyway,

641
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:19,320
Speaker 1: and he's the homeboy hero, it's almost impossible.

642
00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:27,440
Speaker 3: Aguero begins his questioning, and Leo consents that this prosecutor

643
00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:31,320
Speaker 3: is prepared. He's challenging Leo on everything from the number

644
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,960
Speaker 3: of times he slapped Michelle to the phone calls he

645
00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:37,400
Speaker 3: made when Michelle went missing. And Leo can feel the

646
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:41,760
Speaker 3: eyes of the jury on him. But Leo isn't tripped

647
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:45,560
Speaker 3: up by anything. Aguero asks and his answers are consistent.

648
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:48,719
Speaker 3: Aguero keeps the pressure on.

649
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:56,200
Speaker 1: My emotions were insecure, fear, and he played on that.

650
00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,359
Speaker 2: Aguero knew that he was masterful in that.

651
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:04,719
Speaker 1: And it's a very unfortunate thing because I look back

652
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:05,960
Speaker 1: at it, kicking myself.

653
00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:08,080
Speaker 2: Now, what do I have to fear in this man?

654
00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:12,399
Speaker 2: You know why these people are nothing to me? This

655
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:13,120
Speaker 2: is the story.

656
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:17,120
Speaker 1: Tell the story, you know, Tell him the truth and

657
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:20,000
Speaker 1: don't give him the ability to keep breaking you, cutting

658
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:22,920
Speaker 1: you off and painting this picture, you know, with his

659
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:23,959
Speaker 1: own strokes.

660
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:27,400
Speaker 10: Leo is trying really hard to hold his composure, but

661
00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:30,240
Speaker 10: it was tough. John was making it really really tough

662
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:35,040
Speaker 10: because John was just all over him. He was just

663
00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:39,920
Speaker 10: calling him on absolutely everything. And if memory serves me,

664
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,280
Speaker 10: toward the end, Leo is starting to get pretty rattled,

665
00:42:44,239 --> 00:42:46,719
Speaker 10: you know, because John was just telling him, We're not

666
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:48,439
Speaker 10: buying it, We're not buying this.

667
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:54,000
Speaker 1: I remember sitting there and looking at my mother and

668
00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:57,960
Speaker 1: she was just crying. The sad reality is I was

669
00:42:58,000 --> 00:42:59,920
Speaker 1: waiting for someone to just rescue me.

670
00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:05,280
Speaker 3: Once John Aguero is done with Leo, Jack Edmond rests

671
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 3: his case for the defense, Aguero gives the first closing argument.

672
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:14,680
Speaker 10: It's when I kind of coined myself the twelve Days

673
00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:17,719
Speaker 10: of Christmas. Closing argument, he would be, if you want

674
00:43:17,719 --> 00:43:19,280
Speaker 10: to and I think he did it on this one,

675
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:20,239
Speaker 10: if you want to.

676
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:23,279
Speaker 12: Believe that this man is innocent, then you.

677
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:26,239
Speaker 10: Have to believe that this is a coincidence. And then

678
00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:27,960
Speaker 10: you bring up the next one and say, if you

679
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:29,960
Speaker 10: want to believe that he didn't do it, then you

680
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:32,759
Speaker 10: have to believe that this and this, that both of

681
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,239
Speaker 10: these are coincidences, and then you go all the way

682
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:36,640
Speaker 10: down the list.

683
00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:40,719
Speaker 3: His closing might have been persuasive, but it's also full

684
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:45,000
Speaker 3: of misstatements. At one point, Aguero tells the jury to

685
00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:50,720
Speaker 3: imagine Michelle screaming, no, Leo, don't stab me. Alice Scott

686
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:54,719
Speaker 3: said no such thing on the stand. As for Alice's

687
00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:58,279
Speaker 3: sister in law, Linda Sells, he simply pretends that her

688
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:02,960
Speaker 3: testimony about which they saw Leo carrying something heavy didn't

689
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:08,600
Speaker 3: contradict Alice's statements. He approaches many of the discrepancies and

690
00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:11,560
Speaker 3: testimony this way and finds a way to tie them

691
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:16,319
Speaker 3: up quickly and confidently. Aguero then argues that it was

692
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:20,120
Speaker 3: no premonition or vision that led Leo Senior to Michelle's body.

693
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:23,919
Speaker 3: He says Leo's father knew exactly where to find her

694
00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 3: because he dumped her there, and Leo and his parents

695
00:44:27,920 --> 00:44:32,160
Speaker 3: were never out searching for Michelle. They are liars. He says,

696
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:36,400
Speaker 3: they were making phone calls and driving around town to

697
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:41,920
Speaker 3: craft a false alibi. There's no question Aguero was in

698
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:45,399
Speaker 3: command of his case against Leo Schofield. He's a tough

699
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,200
Speaker 3: act to follow, even for someone as charismatic as the

700
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:51,320
Speaker 3: Southern gentleman in the Western cut suit with the rolls

701
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:56,080
Speaker 3: of life savers Jack Edmund rises for his clothing and

702
00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:59,160
Speaker 3: drives home the point that there is no physical evidence

703
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:03,040
Speaker 3: connecting Leo Schofield to the murder of his wife. It's

704
00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:07,600
Speaker 3: an entirely circumstantial case built around bad character evidence and

705
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:11,080
Speaker 3: the testimony of Alice Scott, which he argues cannot be

706
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:16,680
Speaker 3: trusted in the States rebuttal. Aguero concludes with a dramatic statement.

707
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:22,160
Speaker 3: He points at Leo and tells the jury.

708
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:22,839
Speaker 1: You don't have to lock up your eighteen year old

709
00:45:22,880 --> 00:45:25,440
Speaker 1: daughters at night, because we have the murderer sitting right

710
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:30,319
Speaker 1: over there. And the reason that was so bothersome to

711
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 1: me is that all the things I had to answer

712
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:37,040
Speaker 1: for and try to swim through and present myself in

713
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:40,600
Speaker 1: this ridiculous suit, this ridiculous haircut to a jury who's

714
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:43,480
Speaker 1: going to ultimately decide my faith. The one thing I'm

715
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:45,719
Speaker 1: not allowed by law to tell them is that this

716
00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:50,480
Speaker 1: same confident guy that's standing before you bacon me and

717
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:54,920
Speaker 1: acting like he's so sure, is the same one that

718
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:58,640
Speaker 1: offered me immunity to prosecute my father.

719
00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:04,719
Speaker 3: I'm thinking the same thing. If Aguero offered Leo immunity

720
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:07,560
Speaker 3: because he's sure it was the father and not the

721
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:11,360
Speaker 3: son who killed Michelle, why is he still trying to

722
00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:16,359
Speaker 3: put Leo in the electric chair. Now that it's time

723
00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:20,240
Speaker 3: for the jury to deliberate, two of the jurors are gone.

724
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:23,200
Speaker 3: One was forced to drop off for health reasons and

725
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:27,239
Speaker 3: the other had a family emergency with no alternates. The

726
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:31,719
Speaker 3: jury is now down to ten, and now as only

727
00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:35,040
Speaker 3: ten jurors are sent into deliberations. I can't imagine what

728
00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:38,320
Speaker 3: Edmund was thinking. That's two fewer people on the jury

729
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,560
Speaker 3: who could have been more sympathetic to Leo's version of events.

730
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:44,400
Speaker 3: Of course, the man I wanted to talk to the

731
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:47,200
Speaker 3: most about this was Jack Edmund himself, but by the

732
00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:50,640
Speaker 3: time I was reading the transcripts, he, like John Aguero,

733
00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:58,600
Speaker 3: had also passed away. The jury deliberates for just four hours,

734
00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:01,000
Speaker 3: then they turned with the verdict.

735
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:04,240
Speaker 12: When the bailiff came in and said we have a verdict.

736
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:09,000
Speaker 10: I remember Jack walking across the room and he was

737
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,000
Speaker 10: just looking down and shaking his head and saying, that's

738
00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:12,880
Speaker 10: too soon, that's too soon.

739
00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:19,000
Speaker 3: Michelle McCluskey was sitting in the courtroom next to Michelle

740
00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:23,560
Speaker 3: Schofield's dad, David's Sam. She was holding David's.

741
00:47:23,120 --> 00:47:29,480
Speaker 11: Hand, shaking, physically shaking. Dave Jeanne was all sweaty. He

742
00:47:29,560 --> 00:47:34,279
Speaker 11: definitely wanted a guilty verdict. We all did. By that time.

743
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:37,760
Speaker 11: There was no question. I don't remember anybody not believing

744
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:41,040
Speaker 11: it at that point, so you know, I was trying

745
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:41,960
Speaker 11: to hold myself together.

746
00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:48,160
Speaker 3: The verdict is read, Leo is found guilty of first degree.

747
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:54,720
Speaker 11: Murder, and I remember when they said he was guilty.

748
00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:59,879
Speaker 11: That we were just relieved and happy and a few

749
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:04,160
Speaker 11: it because it was a celebration. Afterwards, there was some

750
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:10,439
Speaker 11: level of the really deep sadness to know that, Yeah,

751
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,440
Speaker 11: of course the jury found him guilty. He really did this,

752
00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:17,239
Speaker 11: you know what I mean, Like there is no more

753
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:19,719
Speaker 11: questioning it at all. He did this.

754
00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:29,040
Speaker 2: Honestly.

755
00:48:31,480 --> 00:48:36,920
Speaker 1: I think I was numb, Yeah, I know, I honestly, Gilbert,

756
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:38,840
Speaker 1: for life of me, I can't remember what I was

757
00:48:38,840 --> 00:48:41,200
Speaker 1: thinking when the jury was coming out.

758
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:44,359
Speaker 2: After the verdict was read, they.

759
00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:47,839
Speaker 1: Took me to a holding cell because now I'm going

760
00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 1: in the penalty phase and I'm gonna have to face

761
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:52,759
Speaker 1: the death penalty. And in a couple of minutes Edmund

762
00:48:52,840 --> 00:48:56,680
Speaker 1: had come in through the bars and they let him

763
00:48:56,680 --> 00:49:00,400
Speaker 1: in the cell with me, and I remember telling him

764
00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:03,080
Speaker 1: I don't want to die, and.

765
00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:05,239
Speaker 2: He gave me a hug and he said I'm not

766
00:49:05,239 --> 00:49:05,880
Speaker 2: gonna let.

767
00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:10,080
Speaker 1: That happen, and I remember telling him then I can't

768
00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:16,440
Speaker 1: even cry. I was so numb and beat down and

769
00:49:16,520 --> 00:49:22,120
Speaker 1: disgusted that I don't think sadness was the reaction for me.

770
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:26,040
Speaker 1: For me, it was I was incredulous that this could

771
00:49:26,040 --> 00:49:27,080
Speaker 1: even be taking place.

772
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:28,040
Speaker 5: You know.

773
00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:32,120
Speaker 1: I mean, it was just so beyond my ability to

774
00:49:32,239 --> 00:49:36,160
Speaker 1: imagine I would personally be facing something like that.

775
00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:41,400
Speaker 3: When Leo was brought back into court the next morning

776
00:49:41,400 --> 00:49:44,520
Speaker 3: for sentencing, he addresses the jury in his cheap, mismatched

777
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:48,800
Speaker 3: suit and his jailhouse haircut. This is what he says.

778
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:52,240
Speaker 3: It's hard for me to sit up here and plead

779
00:49:52,280 --> 00:49:55,480
Speaker 3: with you for my life because you already found me guilty.

780
00:49:56,320 --> 00:50:00,600
Speaker 3: You've already taken it away. I'm telling you you're making

781
00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:05,879
Speaker 3: a mistake, a big mistake. I'm not guilty. I didn't

782
00:50:05,960 --> 00:50:10,759
Speaker 3: kill my wife. I'm asking please don't take it. I

783
00:50:10,800 --> 00:50:13,400
Speaker 3: can show you. I can prove it to you. I

784
00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:15,720
Speaker 3: don't even know what to say to you. I really don't.

785
00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:20,800
Speaker 1: I simply told the jury you made a mistake. You

786
00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:24,239
Speaker 1: know I'm not guilty. I did not do it. And

787
00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:26,160
Speaker 1: I think I was even trying to tell him I

788
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:28,200
Speaker 1: can prove it to you. I was so desperate to

789
00:50:28,400 --> 00:50:32,600
Speaker 1: something wasn't told right. We didn't get all the story out.

790
00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:40,800
Speaker 3: The jury deliberates, then hands their recommendation to the judge.

791
00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:45,400
Speaker 3: John Aguero, the prosecutor with the old sparky tie clasp,

792
00:50:46,120 --> 00:50:49,479
Speaker 3: has failed to send Leo Schofield to the electric chair.

793
00:50:50,840 --> 00:51:07,560
Speaker 3: Leo is sentenced to life in prison. The first time

794
00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:10,680
Speaker 3: Kelsey and I finished reading through the transcript, all we

795
00:51:10,719 --> 00:51:13,760
Speaker 3: can think about is this one moment in Jack Edmond's

796
00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:17,919
Speaker 3: closing argument when he reminds the jury that police never

797
00:51:18,040 --> 00:51:21,920
Speaker 3: found any fingerprints in the car that matched Leo or

798
00:51:21,960 --> 00:51:26,320
Speaker 3: Michelle Schofield, And then Edmund asked the jury this question,

799
00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:30,319
Speaker 3: wouldn't you like to know if someone else's fingerprints were

800
00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:35,960
Speaker 3: in that Mazda? The painful truth is someone else's fingerprints

801
00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:39,799
Speaker 3: were found in the Mazda, and the fingerprint evidence was

802
00:51:39,920 --> 00:51:44,799
Speaker 3: right there for Jack Edmond to see. If Edmund had

803
00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:47,520
Speaker 3: just looked into these prints, he would have been able

804
00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:51,160
Speaker 3: to see that someone had been in the car, someone

805
00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:55,239
Speaker 3: who was yet to be identified, someone who might have

806
00:51:55,360 --> 00:52:01,160
Speaker 3: known something about Michelle's murder. So Leo's right. They didn't

807
00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:05,040
Speaker 3: get the whole story out, and that's what Kelsey and

808
00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:09,840
Speaker 3: I set out to do. Get the whole story. The

809
00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:15,160
Speaker 3: story of Michelle's murder doesn't end with Leo's conviction. In fact,

810
00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:25,520
Speaker 3: the story is just beginning. Bone Valley is a production

811
00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:29,240
Speaker 3: of Lava for Good Podcasts in association with Signal Company

812
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:33,600
Speaker 3: Number One. Our executive producers are Jason Flohm and Kevin

813
00:52:33,600 --> 00:52:38,920
Speaker 3: Wordiskarak Kornhaber is our senior producer. Britz Spangler is our

814
00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 3: sound designer. Roxandra Guidy is our editor. Fact checking by

815
00:52:44,080 --> 00:52:49,920
Speaker 3: Maximo Anderson. Our producer and researcher is Kelsey Decker. Our

816
00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:53,280
Speaker 3: theme song, The One Who's Holding the Stars, is performed

817
00:52:53,320 --> 00:52:55,839
Speaker 3: by Lee, Bob and the Truth. It was written by

818
00:52:55,920 --> 00:52:59,760
Speaker 3: Leo Schofield and Kevin Herrick in Florida's Hearty Correctional Institution.

819
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,160
Speaker 3: Bone Valley is written and produced by me Gilbert King.

820
00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:08,960
Speaker 3: You can follow the show on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

821
00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:12,560
Speaker 3: at Lava for Good. To see photos and documents from

822
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:16,520
Speaker 3: our investigation and exclusive behind the scenes content, visit Lava

823
00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:17,720
Speaker 3: Forgood dot com