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Speaker 1: Crime alert, imancy grace breaking crime is now. A silver

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Speaker 1: SUV slams into an amish buggy on a quiet road

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Speaker 1: Fillmore County, Minnesota. Four children are inside. The crash is

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Speaker 1: brutal when the smell of burning rubber subsides. Two of

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Speaker 1: the children, seven year old Wilma Miller eleven year old

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Speaker 1: Irma Miller, are dead. The other two nine to thirteen,

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Speaker 1: barely hanging on. Rushed to Saint Mary's Hospital with serious injuries.

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Speaker 2: Not long after, a.

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Speaker 1: Text from the alleged DUI driver goes out to her boss, quote,

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Speaker 1: I fed up. I just killed two homish people. There

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Speaker 1: were kids. The sender, Samantha Joe Peterson Nancy.

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Speaker 3: Samantha Joe texted her boss looking for fellow employee and

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Speaker 3: her twin sister, Sarah Beth. Samantha hysterically tells Sarah she's

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Speaker 3: going to jail. She isn't sober. Sarah Beth immediately rushes

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Speaker 3: to the scene and brings her sister a similar change

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Speaker 3: of clothes, so by the time cops arrive, the two

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Speaker 3: women are nearly indistinguishable. Sarah Beth tells copp she was

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Speaker 3: the driver, but cel phone datap proves Samantha was the

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Speaker 3: only one in the area at the time of the crash.

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Speaker 3: Sarah Beth Peterson pleads guilty to two charges of criminal

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Speaker 3: vehicular operation for her part in the cover up.

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Speaker 1: Somehow Sarah avoids jail, but Samantha Joe Peterson faces trial

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Speaker 1: on seventeen counts, including vehicular homicide. Banks County, Georgia dui

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Speaker 1: offenders now face an unusual penalty before their sentence is complete.

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Speaker 1: They must buy a new car seat for a family

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Speaker 1: in need. The new policy applies to anyone convicted of

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Speaker 1: dui or reckless driving. Offenders must buy a brand new

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Speaker 1: car seat, steal in the box, and deliver it in

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Speaker 1: person to the Banks County Probate Court. The Sheriff's office

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Speaker 1: will then distribute them to families who need them. Judge

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Speaker 1: Cameron Boswell says we found a way to provide the

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Speaker 1: need without burdening the taxpayers. Sheriff Carlton's Speed says it

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Speaker 1: in sure's child's safety while enforced, saying personal responsibility. Officials

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Speaker 1: believe the program will make a lasting impact, and I agree.

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Speaker 1: More Crime and Justice news after this Now with the

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Speaker 1: latest crime and justice breaking news. Crime on Lunch, John Limley.

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Speaker 2: The Arizona Supreme Court has set a March nineteenth execution

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Speaker 2: date for a man convicted of murder nearly two decades ago,

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Speaker 2: marking the state's first use of capital punishment in over

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Speaker 2: two years. Aaron Bryan Gunches, sentenced in two thousand and

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Speaker 2: seven for the two thousand and two shooting of Ted

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Speaker 2: Price near Mesa, had recently told the court his execution

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Speaker 2: was quote long overdue. Authorities say Gunches was linked to

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Speaker 2: the crime after shell casings found near Price's body matched

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Speaker 2: those from a separate two thousand and three shooting in

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Speaker 2: which Gunches opened fire on a state trooper near the

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Speaker 2: California border. The troopers survived thanks to a bulletproof vest. Gunches,

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Speaker 2: now fifty three and representing himself, had asked the court

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Speaker 2: to speed up his execution, but justices denied that request.

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Speaker 2: A former high ranking New York state official and her

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Speaker 2: husband are now facing new charges related to allegations of

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Speaker 2: acting as agents for the Chinese government. Our Sidney Sumner

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Speaker 2: has details.

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Speaker 3: Linda Son and her husband, Chris, who appeared in Brooklyn

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Speaker 3: Federal Court pleading not guilty to additional charges in an

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Speaker 3: ongoing case accusing them of operating as undisclosed agents for China. Sun,

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Speaker 3: a naturalized US citizen born in China, held several prominent

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Speaker 3: positions in New York State government over a fifteen year span,

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Speaker 3: including serving as deputy chief of Staff under Governor Kathy

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Speaker 3: Hokul and as Deputy Diversity Officer during former Governor Andrew

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Speaker 3: Cuomo's administration. Prosecutors alleged that, under the direction of Chinese officials,

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Speaker 3: Sun advanced Beijing's interests within the state government. In return,

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Speaker 3: it's alleged that her husband, who received assistance for his

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Speaker 3: business ventures in China. The couple now faces expanded money

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Speaker 3: laundering charges, with who specifically indicted on three additional counts

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Speaker 3: related to financial transactions totaling one and a half million

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Speaker 3: dollars in twenty twenty. Both have pleaded not guilty and

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Speaker 3: remain free on bond, with their next court appearance scheduled

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Speaker 3: for April twenty third. Defense attorneys argue that Sun is

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Speaker 3: being unfairly targeted due to her wealth and ethnicity, asserting

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Speaker 3: that the government's case is based on unfounded assumptions about

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Speaker 3: her background. Prosecutors counter that Sun failed to register as

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Speaker 3: a foreign agent and actively concealed her actions on behalf

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Speaker 3: of China, including misrepresenting the purpose of a trip to

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Speaker 3: China during an FBI interview.

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Speaker 2: This case is part of a broader initiative by the

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Speaker 2: Justice Department to identify and prosecute individuals allegedly acting as

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Speaker 2: covert agents for foreign governments within the United States.

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Speaker 1: Thanks John Shamika Cozy, sixteen, spends the night at her

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Speaker 1: aunt's house in Berkley, Missouri, December twenty nine. By morning,

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Speaker 1: she's gone. Her things are still there except coat and purse.

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Speaker 1: Police think she left voluntarily. Her mom agrees. Mom says

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Speaker 1: Micah was caught with the fake ID visiting nightclubs. She

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Speaker 1: was also seen getting into a dark colored car with

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Speaker 1: an older man. Years later, Mom finds a note Samika

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Speaker 1: wrote to a friend months before she vanished, mentioning a

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Speaker 1: boyfriend and possible pregnancy. Police don't know who the boyfriend

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Speaker 1: is either. Smika's mother fears she's a victim of sex trafficking.

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Speaker 1: Mika African American, brown hair, brown eyes, five five, one

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Speaker 1: hundred and thirty five pounds. Anyone with info please call Berkeley,

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Speaker 1: Missouri PD three one four five two four three three

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Speaker 1: one one for the latest crime and Justice news. Go

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Speaker 1: to crime online dot com and please join us for

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Speaker 1: our daily podcast. It's called Crime Stories, and we do

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Speaker 1: our very best to find missing people, especially children, and

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Speaker 1: solved unsolved homicides with this crime alert. I'm Nancy Grace