Speaker 1: Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 1: Previously on Murder on Songbird Road. The trial transcripts and
Speaker 1: Julia Beverly's interrogation video provided incredible insights into the prosecution's
Speaker 1: case against Beverly.
Speaker 2: Always who I've left shirts you there for?
Speaker 3: I should have just take her with.
Speaker 4: That speaks to her innocence. It does.
Speaker 1: Beverly voluntarily agreed to be questioned without an attorney. She
Speaker 1: also consented to the collection of her DNA.
Speaker 5: There was a lot of red flags.
Speaker 2: Let me say that if I was training here, I
Speaker 2: would have stopped him and said, you need to change
Speaker 2: your gloves.
Speaker 4: They're not going to test everything. They're just not.
Speaker 6: But all the critical things, which had they been brought
Speaker 6: up on cross examination, would have absolutely laid waste to
Speaker 6: the state's case.
Speaker 1: None of Jade Beasley's electronic devices were forensically tested none.
Speaker 6: Why that they didn't even look at any of those
Speaker 6: devices to find out if Jade was active in order
Speaker 6: to build a timeline, a real timeline is unbelievable to me.
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren brad Pacheco, and this is Murder on Songbird Road.
Speaker 1: As I began writing this episode, I received an email
Speaker 1: from the Investigation Secretary of the Williamson County Sheriff's Office
Speaker 1: approving my request for survey aolence footage from Huck's gas station.
Speaker 1: The video showed Beverly driving up, depositing something in one
Speaker 1: of the waste containers, and then leaving. After watching it,
Speaker 1: Bob and I compared our thoughts.
Speaker 6: The thing that concerned me the most is did she
Speaker 6: drive around to the back to go to a dumpster?
Speaker 6: Because we had started hearing rumblings that she had gone
Speaker 6: to the.
Speaker 4: Back either first or last.
Speaker 6: And that she had dumped things in that dumpster as
Speaker 6: well as this this small receptacle that is in between
Speaker 6: the pumps. So that concern in terms of if I'm
Speaker 6: thinking Julie is not guilty of this crime, that concern
Speaker 6: has been obliterated. She clearly did not go to any dumpster.
Speaker 6: What we were told that she did is exactly what
Speaker 6: it appears that she's doing, which is she pulled up
Speaker 6: to that receptacle in between the two pumps like you
Speaker 6: see it. Ninety nine point nine percent of all gas
Speaker 6: stations she's in there for I don't know, fifteen twenty
Speaker 6: seconds gathering whatever garbage is in the car, and then
Speaker 6: you see her step out.
Speaker 1: And then you have Mudge giving her hypothesis of what
Speaker 1: Beverly was throwing away. From the trial transcript, here's Special
Speaker 1: Prosecutor Jennifer Mudge hypothesizing what Julie Beverly was discarding at Hucks.
Speaker 1: Quote there goes the knife, there goes the real shoes
Speaker 1: she was wearing.
Speaker 4: Unquote.
Speaker 1: Keep in mind the prosecution also bundled into their speculation
Speaker 1: of what that small plastic bag contained a shower curtain
Speaker 1: and utensils recovered at the dump, none of which could
Speaker 1: be traced back to Hucks, let alone the murder scene
Speaker 1: back to Bob.
Speaker 6: In theory, we're talking about clothes that would more likely
Speaker 6: than not be absolutely saturated in blood, and the bag
Speaker 6: would be heavy theoretically, if you're talking about one of
Speaker 6: those small plastic grocery bags, I mean, aren't you worrying
Speaker 6: about like blood dripping out onto like you're leaving traces
Speaker 6: of blood droplets on the ground or smearing it on
Speaker 6: the they like when you watch the video, it looks
Speaker 6: like somebody who's pulled up to a receptacle and a
Speaker 6: gas station that's throwing some shit out of their car.
Speaker 1: In that video, you see Beverly pull up between gas pumps,
Speaker 1: pause for a second as she appears to partially prop
Speaker 1: the passenger door open while rummaging about before stepping out
Speaker 1: and tossing a loosely gathered bag in her right hand.
Speaker 1: With that one hand. Beverly then gets back in and
Speaker 1: drives off in the same direction she came from.
Speaker 4: And nothing more like. She doesn't get out and look around.
Speaker 6: She's not having to re you know, reconfigure the bag
Speaker 6: in her hand.
Speaker 4: There's no pushing it into the can.
Speaker 6: It looks to me like she's got it in one
Speaker 6: hand and she just drops it. There's no Oh, should
Speaker 6: I maybe put some other garbage on top of this
Speaker 6: garbage so that the next person doesn't see a bag
Speaker 6: of bloody cloth, none of that extent.
Speaker 5: It doesn't even look like it's fastn't it doesn't.
Speaker 6: It looks like it's the other handle because those typically
Speaker 6: those plastic bags.
Speaker 1: Have too Again, remember what the prosecution contends was inside
Speaker 1: that bag. It's the clothing she was wearing, the shoes
Speaker 1: that she was.
Speaker 5: Wearing, and the murder weapon.
Speaker 1: And then you go to what they retrieved at the dump,
Speaker 1: and they inferred was tossed as well, which would have
Speaker 1: been the shower curtain. Bob and I have discussed how
Speaker 1: the defense could have but did not push back. I
Speaker 1: would have had all of those things and ask someone
Speaker 1: to put them into a comparable sized plastic bag so
Speaker 1: people could get the idea of what it would look
Speaker 1: like to have shoes, clothing, towels, murder weapon, shower curtain.
Speaker 5: If they could even fit it. I'll go step further.
Speaker 1: I would have tried to pack a bag that size
Speaker 1: with all of those things, and I would have shown
Speaker 1: that it probably wouldn't have fit in that eighteen inch opening.
Speaker 4: Yeah, not without pushing it in.
Speaker 1: No, bring a comparable sized garbage can into the courtroom
Speaker 1: and have somebody do it with one hand.
Speaker 5: You wouldn't have been able to just toss it.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 6: She's dropping it in. Yeah, she literally just kind of
Speaker 6: leans over and just drops it in. Everything that you
Speaker 6: would think about what would be going through a normal
Speaker 6: person's mind if that is what they're disposing you do
Speaker 6: not see in this video. Imagine that you are driving
Speaker 6: up to a gas station and you are disposing of
Speaker 6: bloody clothes that link you to.
Speaker 4: A murder that just occurred, that you.
Speaker 1: Committed spoiler alert, I wouldn't have done it at a
Speaker 1: gas station with cameras everywhere.
Speaker 4: There's not a chance.
Speaker 6: There's not a chance in terms of a trial, the
Speaker 6: fact that there was no resistance. Not only am I
Speaker 6: testing the theory out that it's impossible to shove that
Speaker 6: much stuff.
Speaker 4: And you have to take into consideration.
Speaker 6: Bloody towels or rags that were used to also clean up.
Speaker 6: You can see what you're throwing out and where you're
Speaker 6: doing it, and there's no way that that is a
Speaker 6: bag of bloody clothes a murder weapon and shoes and.
Speaker 4: Rags or whatever you use into shower.
Speaker 6: Like, does that mean that she didn't do it? Not
Speaker 6: necessarily in and of itself. Does it mean that I
Speaker 6: don't think there's any way in hell that that's what
Speaker 6: she was disposing of? There absolutely one, Like I would
Speaker 6: die on that hill.
Speaker 1: Special Prosecutor Mudge also contradicted the claim Beverly was wearing
Speaker 1: flip flops. Quote so she tells police she had on
Speaker 1: flip flops. It's December, she just went to Walmart flip flops, No,
Speaker 1: and that they fell off her feet while she is
Speaker 1: walking or pacing around the kitchen. Have you ever paste
Speaker 1: around your own kitchen and your flip flops just fell
Speaker 1: off of you.
Speaker 6: I can't tell what kind of foot where she's wearing.
Speaker 6: Does it look like she's wearing the flip flops to you?
Speaker 1: Yeah, because it doesn't look like she's wearing shoes. You
Speaker 1: can see the color of her arms, and she looks
Speaker 1: like she's wearing cropped leggings, so you can see that
Speaker 1: it doesn't appear that she's wearing shoes, which is right
Speaker 1: in keeping with what a flip flop would look like
Speaker 1: on a foot. Keep in mind that Special Prosecutor Mudge
Speaker 1: scoffs at the thought that she would have been wearing
Speaker 1: flip flops to Walmart. But it's interesting if you groll
Speaker 1: the footage before Beverly even pulls up multiple people, there's
Speaker 1: a guy who gets out and he's wearing a cutoff
Speaker 1: like T shirt with the sleeves completely removed. It's December,
Speaker 1: but it was unseasonably warm. I also think that if
Speaker 1: you had just murdered someone, and you know, remember the
Speaker 1: prosecution contends this was after the murder, she would have
Speaker 1: been covered with bloody scratches and bleeding hands.
Speaker 5: Why would she.
Speaker 1: Have been out and about in a T shirt, and
Speaker 1: so again we have the magically clean then bleeding again hands.
Speaker 1: So her hands were bloodied, the prosecution contends when she
Speaker 1: was murdering Jade, then meticulously and miraculously they are cleansed
Speaker 1: because she goes back to the office and types without
Speaker 1: any blood anywhere for another fifty one minutes.
Speaker 5: Then she further cleans.
Speaker 1: Up and goes to hawks to dispose of everything comes
Speaker 1: back in her hands are bloody again.
Speaker 4: It's a magic bullet theory. I mean, it doesn't add
Speaker 4: up to me.
Speaker 6: The whole time frame of the state just never made
Speaker 6: any sense. And the main reason is for what you
Speaker 6: pointed out, which is that the fact that she got
Speaker 6: back on the computer and worked for damn near an
Speaker 6: hour which requires.
Speaker 4: Her to type.
Speaker 6: She's not on a mouse just clicking, she's having to
Speaker 6: draft emails.
Speaker 4: She's using the keyboard.
Speaker 6: And if you've got an active bleeding wound on your hand,
Speaker 6: the concept that there's not one iota, not one speck
Speaker 6: of blood anywhere in that office, anywhere, on that keyboard, anywhere,
Speaker 6: on that desk nowhere is implausible to me. That is
Speaker 6: a really really bad fact for the state, which again
Speaker 6: should have been absolutely highlighted by the defense in this case.
Speaker 1: And speaking of blood, there's something else. Beverly's friends claim
Speaker 1: she was triggered by the side of it. My name
Speaker 1: is Katie, and your relationship to Julie.
Speaker 8: I would consider her best friend.
Speaker 1: How long have you known Julie? And how did you
Speaker 1: guys first meet school?
Speaker 8: About second or third grade. She was very squeamish. She
Speaker 8: didn't like blood. She didn't like violence, so I never
Speaker 8: and I never saw her around it. I mean, her
Speaker 8: brother's rustled around and we messed with her sometimes, but
Speaker 8: I never saw her in violent situation. She just tried
Speaker 8: to avoid it.
Speaker 5: Wouldn't you say that she didn't like blood?
Speaker 1: Are there any specific examples that you remember.
Speaker 8: Just like movies like Nasty Story movies and stuff like that.
Speaker 8: She was just not into it.
Speaker 1: Even if Beverly didn't have a history of avoiding blood
Speaker 1: and gore, her gender also places her as somewhat of
Speaker 1: an anomaly in terms of stabbing murder. According to this man.
Speaker 7: Name is Arthur Larigio.
Speaker 9: I am a professor of criminology and of psychology at
Speaker 9: Laola University of Chicago.
Speaker 3: Stabbing murderers if you use the term murderer, you're going
Speaker 3: to be talking about a man nine out of ten times,
Speaker 3: at least in the United States.
Speaker 5: The agent of the.
Speaker 9: Socioeconomic background can vary, but it's usually a younger rather
Speaker 9: than older man, and socioeconomic background is usually at the
Speaker 9: lower end of the continuum rather than the higher end
Speaker 9: of the continuum. If the person who is the perpetrator
Speaker 9: of a stabbing is successful in killing the person, there's
Speaker 9: likely to have been some forerunners. That's not going to
Speaker 9: be the only incident in which there's been a perpetration
Speaker 9: of violence. Mental illness is usually not a factor in
Speaker 9: stabbings or any other kinds of killings.
Speaker 10: Usually as at doesn't mean that it's not. It's just
Speaker 10: as in as common as people imagine that it is.
Speaker 10: Stabbing offenders typically have prior violent criminal histories. I think
Speaker 10: that they probably have some prior acts of violence in
Speaker 10: their record, but that's.
Speaker 4: Not always the case.
Speaker 9: Alcohol and drugs absolutely influence the likelihood of a stabbing.
Speaker 1: Attack in terms of the demographic patterns among stabbing murderers.
Speaker 1: In terms of gender, particularly, what do you attribute that
Speaker 1: nine out of ten likelihood of it being male?
Speaker 7: Too?
Speaker 9: Part of it is the biological nature of being male,
Speaker 9: as well as the manner in which none are socialized
Speaker 9: from boyhood on. There's less restrictions placed on their engagement
Speaker 9: of violent behavior. Violent and aggressive behavior is sometimes rewarded
Speaker 9: or is sometimes not discipline in the way it might
Speaker 9: be in a girl. And so it's a combination. There's
Speaker 9: a strong biological component to violence, and it has to
Speaker 9: do with the presence of testosteron. There's violence that's instrumental,
Speaker 9: that's conducted to accomplish a goal, that would be premeditated violence,
Speaker 9: and then there's a motive violence that comes about with
Speaker 9: an increasing escalation, and many times the mode of violence
Speaker 9: involves drugs or alcohol. More alcohol than drugs. There aren't
Speaker 9: many drugs that cause people to become violent in the
Speaker 9: way that alcohol does.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because in this case there is a belief
Speaker 1: that meth could have played a role.
Speaker 9: Oh sure is a drug that also is related to violence.
Speaker 9: Not would be a drug that I would not at
Speaker 9: all be surprised to hear played a role.
Speaker 1: Murder on Songbird Road will continue after the break. Now
Speaker 1: back to Murder on Songbird Road. Going back to the trial,
Speaker 1: we want to address a misconception that many people following
Speaker 1: the case at the time, even people who attended the
Speaker 1: trial had or continue to have regarding what was actually
Speaker 1: found at Hucks as opposed to the Southern Illinois Regional Landfill.
Speaker 1: And it likely involves this exchange from trial between the
Speaker 1: prosecution and Lee Stewart, a special agent to the Illinois
Speaker 1: State Police, which we'll read verbatim, what was the reason
Speaker 1: you were wanting to excavate a portion of that landfill?
Speaker 6: Investigators use phone records through Miss Beverly's Verizon cell phone
Speaker 6: and combined that data with various surveillance video footage to
Speaker 6: see that a vehicle matching the description of her.
Speaker 4: Vehicle drove to a Howks and Marion.
Speaker 6: When the vehicle pulled up into the Howks parking lot,
Speaker 6: it pulled up next to a pump, and the driver
Speaker 6: of the vehicle pulled out an object out of the
Speaker 6: vehicle and put it into a trash can at.
Speaker 7: The gas station.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you were searching for trash.
Speaker 4: We were searching for trash. They could be involved in
Speaker 4: the commission of this crime.
Speaker 1: As the testimony continues, note how the word trash morphs
Speaker 1: to also cover not just what was discarded at Hugs,
Speaker 1: but what was excavated at the landfill?
Speaker 5: Okay?
Speaker 1: So were there any items of evidence collected through the trash?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 5: What were they?
Speaker 7: So?
Speaker 6: There were two broken knife blades, one with serration on
Speaker 6: one side and one with serration on both sides, and
Speaker 6: then a curtain, a multi colored curtain.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 1: And these items were as you previously testified too, Were
Speaker 1: they compacted with medical waste and contaminated soil like the
Speaker 1: process that you previously testified to, yes, all right, Looking
Speaker 1: at people's exhibit three sixty five, is that the curtain
Speaker 1: you described?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 5: And three sixty six? What is that?
Speaker 4: It's a knife blade with some serration.
Speaker 1: And three sixty seven the other one.
Speaker 6: Is a knife blade with serration on the bottom side there.
Speaker 1: Okay, those items would have been collected and turned over
Speaker 1: to the investigating agency, is that correct?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 1: And in the photographs of the knives, I notice some
Speaker 1: well did you notice anything in the photograph of the
Speaker 1: knives on the knife blades?
Speaker 6: Some discoloration in this area here down here on that
Speaker 6: one and it's broken off.
Speaker 1: They also have some soil on them, yes, right there?
Speaker 1: Nothing further, you're honor all right? What do you make
Speaker 1: of that? Exchange.
Speaker 4: It's ridiculous.
Speaker 6: It's the thing that upsets me the most about this
Speaker 6: entire trial that any of this evidence was admissible in
Speaker 6: any way, shape or form to allow them to bring
Speaker 6: it in under the guys that well, look, we're not
Speaker 6: going to allow them to say that it's the murder
Speaker 6: weapon or that the curtain is from the house. But
Speaker 6: they did all this work, they had twenty people out.
Speaker 4: There for hours.
Speaker 6: That concept that they allowed that to come in to
Speaker 6: this trial and the impact that that had on the
Speaker 6: jury is to me going to be one of the
Speaker 6: major factors in the appeals. I will not be surprised
Speaker 6: if this is one of the reasons that this case
Speaker 6: gets overturned, that the conviction gets overturned and it's remanded.
Speaker 4: It is that big of a deal that.
Speaker 6: They allowed these knives to come in that had nothing
Speaker 6: to do with this crime, this shower curtain which was
Speaker 6: not from that home, which like, what is the implication
Speaker 6: from it, Well.
Speaker 1: There's also a very slippery transference of the use of
Speaker 1: the word trash.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's how they did it.
Speaker 6: So in terms of kind of the fiering aspect of it,
Speaker 6: when you're putting together that particular cross examination in conjunction
Speaker 6: with what Mudge had described it happened. They're combining the
Speaker 6: thought of what trash is from trash that's being thrown
Speaker 6: in a garbage can, that it's the same thing as
Speaker 6: trash that was pulled from a landfill. It's slick loyering
Speaker 6: to make it sound like they're one in the same
Speaker 6: to that jury is what's so scary and disingenuous.
Speaker 1: What's also interesting is there was this disconnect. We couldn't
Speaker 1: figure out why so many people thought that these things
Speaker 1: were found at the trash from Hucks. That's why, because
Speaker 1: you could have been sitting in the same room. And
Speaker 1: it's just clever wording. It's wordplay, and it's deceptive.
Speaker 4: It is.
Speaker 1: When we spoke to Brenda and Bailey, very very very
Speaker 1: sincerely and authentically, there was a very real disconnect about
Speaker 1: what was found at hops.
Speaker 4: How could there not be having.
Speaker 1: Seen the video, you and I were waiting to see
Speaker 1: the cargo out of frame and circle back to where
Speaker 1: there's some other dumpster.
Speaker 5: Right, there was no dumpster involved.
Speaker 6: They thought in their minds that they saw her go
Speaker 6: to a dumpster. That's how impactful that one little portion
Speaker 6: of testimony was in terms of planting a seed that
Speaker 6: did not exist. That concept of that's her disposing of
Speaker 6: the murder weapon as well.
Speaker 4: As the bloody clothes is huge.
Speaker 6: It's huge evidence for them, and it was done in
Speaker 6: a way that the judge made a horrific mistake allowing
Speaker 6: that evidence to come in at all. And then it
Speaker 6: was compounded by the way that they used some word
Speaker 6: salad trickery to get the jury to think that they
Speaker 6: were talking about something that they weren't, which is the
Speaker 6: garbage can. Again, I will be surprised if, in fact,
Speaker 6: this case is remanded that that will not be one
Speaker 6: of the major factors that cause it, because that has
Speaker 6: a massive impact when you're kind of lacking any kind
Speaker 6: of other physical evidence in the case like this, there
Speaker 6: just isn't really any physical evidence like that becomes smoking
Speaker 6: gun type evidence.
Speaker 1: It's also interesting to note that Officer Sloan, the same
Speaker 1: officer who claimed on the stand to have questioned a
Speaker 1: woman walking a dog or looking for a dog in
Speaker 1: a black hoodie but didn't get her name or address
Speaker 1: but knew she was a resident, also testified about observing
Speaker 1: a bitemark on Beverly's arm. Here's that testimony as it
Speaker 1: appears in the trial transcript.
Speaker 6: I was later called to transport her to the Williamson
Speaker 6: County Sheriff's office.
Speaker 5: And did you do that?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 4: I did.
Speaker 1: Did you ask her any questions along the way, No,
Speaker 1: I did not.
Speaker 5: Did she say anything to you along the way.
Speaker 6: She didn't make any statements. I believe she inquired of
Speaker 6: Jade's status at.
Speaker 1: One point when you were transporting her. Did you notice
Speaker 1: any wounds to her?
Speaker 9: I did.
Speaker 4: I noticed a bite mark on her forearm.
Speaker 1: And here's the cross examination by the defense. When you
Speaker 1: came back to drive Julie up to the sheriff's department, she.
Speaker 5: Went voluntarily correct.
Speaker 1: Yes, she wasn't handcuffed or anything like that.
Speaker 4: No, I don't believe so.
Speaker 1: But she was wearing a large black sweatshirt at that point.
Speaker 4: I do not recall what she was wearing.
Speaker 1: You don't recall No, did she have the blanket on her?
Speaker 4: I believe she left the blanket there.
Speaker 1: But you don't know if she was wearing a full
Speaker 1: long sleeve sweatshirt at that point.
Speaker 4: I do not recall what she was wearing.
Speaker 5: All right, what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 4: You know it's selective memory.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 6: So the thing that Thiene's getting at is that you
Speaker 6: can't tell me what she was wearing, but I have
Speaker 6: it on good authority she was wearing a long sleeve
Speaker 6: black sweatshirt, which means that you wouldn't be able to
Speaker 6: see her forearm. And again, like, this is the same
Speaker 6: cop that we're dealing with that dealt with that either
Speaker 6: critical or not critical person dressed in black walking the dog.
Speaker 6: And this is like a low key, really big point
Speaker 6: because either this guy's completely fabricating what he saw while
Speaker 6: he's driving, or he's got a really bad memory. We
Speaker 6: know that she was wearing a pullover hoodie, So the
Speaker 6: question then becomes, how is this guy noticing a mark
Speaker 6: on her arm?
Speaker 4: Does he have X ray vision? See Superman?
Speaker 1: And there's another interesting cop connected testimony. The neighbor who
Speaker 1: happened to supply the second video reference to car footage
Speaker 1: used in the building of the prosecution's timeline also happened
Speaker 1: to know one of the responding officers, one who happened
Speaker 1: to stop by his house on the way to responding
Speaker 1: to the nine one one call. Here's that neighbor's testimony.
Speaker 6: I actually went to the correctional academy with officer Ward
Speaker 6: from the mary And.
Speaker 4: Police Department, and that's who it was. So he stopped
Speaker 4: and he.
Speaker 6: Told me that they too were looking injection for a
Speaker 6: male suspect.
Speaker 1: Here's no I withdraw that, and here's how the exchange continues. Okay,
Speaker 1: after that, were you made aware that the police were
Speaker 1: no longer looking for a male in black?
Speaker 6: Yes, my wife, she's my ex wife now, but my
Speaker 6: wife at the time she worked for the Marriyan Police Department.
Speaker 1: I already find it suspect that the second camera footage
Speaker 1: comes from somebody who went to the academy with one
Speaker 1: of the officers and his wife works for the Marriyan
Speaker 1: Police Department.
Speaker 5: That's just too convenient that.
Speaker 1: Then that's a pretty cozy It's also pretty convenient that
Speaker 1: the footage obtained from the home was deemed to be
Speaker 1: forty four minutes off so as to sync with the
Speaker 1: also off time of the Hucks footage and sell tower pings.
Speaker 1: But none of that was challenged. We'll be right back
Speaker 1: with Murder on Songbird Road. Here again is Murder on
Speaker 1: Songbird Road. Do you have any thoughts that you just
Speaker 1: want to add about Leah being removed from the courtroom
Speaker 1: because she made jurors uncomfortable.
Speaker 4: It's really really problematic.
Speaker 1: As alluded to in our last episode, one of Beverly's
Speaker 1: close friends, Leah, who had traveled to support her during trial,
Speaker 1: was asked to leave the courtroom because members of the
Speaker 1: jury found her problematic.
Speaker 11: Do I look threatening to you? I was removed from
Speaker 11: the courtroom because I was threatening the jury by sitting
Speaker 11: in the front row.
Speaker 5: What were you doing?
Speaker 11: She was sitting looking I was behind her, I was
Speaker 11: looking around. I was the darkest person in that courtroom
Speaker 11: or her trial. And they did everything they could do
Speaker 11: to get me out of that courtroom expeditiously, including asking
Speaker 11: Julie to ask me to leave, which they did.
Speaker 9: They allowed Julie to walk over to her.
Speaker 11: And because Julie asked me to leave, I stepped out.
Speaker 11: They were worried that they were going to have a
Speaker 11: mistrial because I was intimidating the jury.
Speaker 5: That's what by sitting there, thing said that the jury members.
Speaker 11: The all white jury, they were intimidated because I'm black,
Speaker 11: the all white jury.
Speaker 5: They had called the bailiff over and so we took
Speaker 5: a recess. And during the recess, so I.
Speaker 11: Said I was taking pictures of their vehicles, and they
Speaker 11: were worried that I was going to follow them home
Speaker 11: and or have I took pictures of their license plates.
Speaker 11: And then I was sitting there downs that I was
Speaker 11: staring them down and giving dirty looks. I'm not in
Speaker 11: there smiling. It was Julie's trial. I was distraught. But
Speaker 11: they said that I was a threat, that I was
Speaker 11: threatening the jury. How many out of.
Speaker 5: Twelve said that I was a threat? I think four.
Speaker 11: Four out of the twelve jury members had a problem
Speaker 11: with me, specifically just sitting there for the trial.
Speaker 6: Back to Bob, this isn't a situation where she's out
Speaker 6: of order. She's not screaming, yelling, saying, and she's merely
Speaker 6: looking at the jury trying to figure out the same
Speaker 6: way that I am every time I'm sitting in there,
Speaker 6: are they buying this? Are my points hitting home? She's
Speaker 6: allowed to look and observe at anything that she wants
Speaker 6: to this whole concept of staring, staring into someone's soul.
Speaker 4: From out in the gallery. But like the reality Lauren
Speaker 4: is is that is how the jur that we spoke
Speaker 4: to felt.
Speaker 1: We have indeed spoken to a juror whose anonymity we
Speaker 1: will protect. They shared their side of the Leah situation.
Speaker 1: Here's the jur It.
Speaker 12: Was when we were leaving at the end of the
Speaker 12: day one day, but there was somebody sitting in a
Speaker 12: car with a big Justice for Julie's sticker on it
Speaker 12: that was taking videos or pictures of must walking out.
Speaker 7: At least that's what it looked like. It was a
Speaker 7: I mean, it was a black Ford car.
Speaker 12: So for us, it was scary, you know, like you
Speaker 12: hear stuff sometimes on TV, like people following jurors homely
Speaker 12: killing the whole family type stuff, and you don't know
Speaker 12: what anybody's like. Did we necessarily think that? I don't
Speaker 12: know what anybody else.
Speaker 7: Thought, But I don't know why I was scared.
Speaker 1: Without consulting the parties, the trial judge privately questioned four
Speaker 1: jurors and chambers. Though unrelated during the process, concerns about
Speaker 1: the black car and the jurors observations of Leah in
Speaker 1: the courtroom appear to have merged into a single issue.
Speaker 6: The bigger point about the whole Lea situation is that
Speaker 6: it really does kind of illuminate the mindset that you're
Speaker 6: dealing with down there. It's like Leah can't been the
Speaker 6: only person who's looking at the jury. Recently, I went
Speaker 6: and watched a trial from beginning to end. It was
Speaker 6: three weeks long, and I spent an awful lot of
Speaker 6: time looking at the jury hard. I'm trying to figure
Speaker 6: like they're the only people that they're the only people
Speaker 6: that matter in that courtroom. They are the twelve people
Speaker 6: that are sitting there deciding somebody's fate. I'm I'm watching them.
Speaker 6: Are they paying attention? Are they making faces? How are
Speaker 6: they reacting to that evidence?
Speaker 4: It's just what you do.
Speaker 6: They are kind of mandatory viewing if you're sitting in
Speaker 6: on a trial, like you watch the jurors because they
Speaker 6: are the beginning and the end of it all.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the power rests with them.
Speaker 6: The bigger question then becomes is what is going on
Speaker 6: extemporaneously around them that's making them have this fear? What
Speaker 6: else is going on that's making them feel like, man,
Speaker 6: is my life in danger?
Speaker 7: Here?
Speaker 1: Beverly was asked to have Leah removed because it was
Speaker 1: going to prejudice the jury against her. Ironically that it
Speaker 1: was a reflection on Beverly that it was her friend
Speaker 1: who was making the jurors uncomfortable, and when you go
Speaker 1: back and you actually read that portion, they were originally
Speaker 1: talking about a black car, not a black woman. Also
Speaker 1: problematic our reports we've received about what the court clerk
Speaker 1: allegedly sent back with the jury foreman as the jurors
Speaker 1: went back to deliberate the verdict.
Speaker 6: You and I have been trying to kind of nail
Speaker 6: down the concept of what was sent back to the jurors.
Speaker 6: To compound this even more, what they were sitting with
Speaker 6: in that deliberation room, and we know that they're sitting
Speaker 6: there with that box and knives back there, the knives
Speaker 6: that have nothing to do with the crime. Wrap your
Speaker 6: mind around that.
Speaker 5: I cannot wrap. It's so judicial, and the fact.
Speaker 1: That it is common practice that while deliberating, a jury
Speaker 1: can ask for more things, for more clarification. But we
Speaker 1: now have multiple sources confirming that the jury foreman was
Speaker 1: handed by the court clerk a box that contained those
Speaker 1: random utensils retrieved from the dump and autopsy photos as
Speaker 1: they were heading into deliberation. Multiple people who were in
Speaker 1: the courtroom have expressed they witnessed the box of evidence
Speaker 1: being sent back with the jurors prior to deliberation. Here's
Speaker 1: Renee High Tower.
Speaker 13: I remember the box going to the foreman and they
Speaker 13: were still in the jury box when it was given
Speaker 13: to them, and they were sitting there.
Speaker 5: For a moment, and then he carried it out as.
Speaker 1: They left, and who handed it to the foreman the clerk.
Speaker 1: So the court clerk handed the jury foreman a box
Speaker 1: before they.
Speaker 5: Went into deliberation.
Speaker 4: Correct.
Speaker 5: Did you know what was in the box at the time?
Speaker 13: I assumed it was evidence, but I couldn't see in it.
Speaker 5: I could see things sticking out of it, but I
Speaker 5: couldn't see in it. What were you told? It was
Speaker 5: after the fact.
Speaker 13: As they were taken out for deliberation, we were all
Speaker 13: walking out, and that's when Beane told me. She said
Speaker 13: she had never seen anything like it, that they gave
Speaker 13: the jury the whole box of evidence.
Speaker 1: This is Beverly's friend Katie's recollection.
Speaker 8: I do remember.
Speaker 14: I think it was the bailiff, I'm not really for
Speaker 14: sure who it was, somebody handing one of the men
Speaker 14: in the jury something and he kind of just sat
Speaker 14: there and looked at it with a dumbfounded look, and
Speaker 14: then they got up to leave to go deliberate. I
Speaker 14: just remember him just loo looking at it, just downfounded,
Speaker 14: like what am I supposed to?
Speaker 7: What is this?
Speaker 14: What am I supposed to do with it?
Speaker 1: And this is what we were told by an anonymous juror.
Speaker 1: What do you remember about the jury being sent into
Speaker 1: deliberation and what do you remember being sent back to
Speaker 1: deliberate with in the room.
Speaker 7: A box of all the pictures? And then there was
Speaker 7: k lives in a box.
Speaker 5: When you say a box of all the pictures, what
Speaker 5: were the pictures.
Speaker 7: Of Drew's autopsy photos?
Speaker 5: How is that not prejudicial?
Speaker 6: Well, it is when you're sending them back and pretending
Speaker 6: as if they are the murder weapons.
Speaker 4: It's unbelievable.
Speaker 5: How is that allowed though? And what does that mean?
Speaker 9: Wait?
Speaker 6: Are we trying to figure out how Judge Green was
Speaker 6: operating here?
Speaker 4: Like I can't crawl into that man's brain.
Speaker 1: I have formally requested an interview or statement from Judge
Speaker 1: Green regarding the so called evidence sent back with the
Speaker 1: jurors for deliberation and the removal of Leah from his courtroom. Additionally,
Speaker 1: I have asked the judge to address any connection to
Speaker 1: the immediate removal of Julia Beverly's son while she was
Speaker 1: a pre trial detainee in Williamson County, as well as
Speaker 1: other potential conflicts of interests. This includes his affiliation with
Speaker 1: the same church attended by the Beasley family and allegations
Speaker 1: that he wore pink widely associated with the Justice for
Speaker 1: Jade movement on at least three of the six days
Speaker 1: of trial. Furthermore, despite denying having a social media presence
Speaker 1: at Beverly sentencing, Green does indeed have a Facebook account
Speaker 1: that shares mutual connections with the Beasley family. While I
Speaker 1: copied the Williamson County State's attorney on my request, it
Speaker 1: is gone unanswered.
Speaker 6: We looked at the transcripts of this trial. It's paper thint.
Speaker 6: There is no actual evidence of guilt here. They just
Speaker 6: never could prove that she was the person who actually
Speaker 6: did it, other than by her own misstatements and lies.
Speaker 6: When you look at everything else in the totality of
Speaker 6: the circumstances, you can see how shaky they thought their case.
Speaker 1: Was, something that is very much underscored by an exchange
Speaker 1: from the end of Beverly's three hour interrogation the day
Speaker 1: of the murder and how the prosecution had it edited
Speaker 1: for trial.
Speaker 4: So do you think when Jade was getting stabbed.
Speaker 1: Was it like this?
Speaker 15: Was it kind of off to the side, because you.
Speaker 12: Know some people swing lower direction, some kind of go
Speaker 12: from the side somes over like this.
Speaker 7: Which way do you think it was?
Speaker 9: For what I could see on her back?
Speaker 5: It definitely okay, it.
Speaker 1: Was definitely up and down like this.
Speaker 15: Was it kind of real quick? Was it like go
Speaker 15: in kind of wiggle a little bit? I mean, which
Speaker 15: way did you do it?
Speaker 7: Okay, here's here's the thing.
Speaker 15: Okay, we know you've been through a lot, you are.
Speaker 9: There's some things that we're gonna.
Speaker 15: Have to pull it out. Then help us through it.
Speaker 7: Okay, help us through it.
Speaker 15: Wish anymore.
Speaker 1: It's one thing to hear it, but I want listeners
Speaker 1: to understand how difficult.
Speaker 5: It is to watch it.
Speaker 1: Is Meier is is really over gesticulating every single move
Speaker 1: as he makes a stabbing. What's interesting to me about
Speaker 1: her reaction. You can see how she's trying to hold
Speaker 1: it together, honestly thinking she's being helpful, and in that
Speaker 1: moment where she realizes he shifts gears to how did
Speaker 1: you do it? Not how did he do it? But
Speaker 1: how did you do it? And immediately she reacts with
Speaker 1: sincere shock and horror is what it sounds like.
Speaker 6: Well, she breaks she breaks down immediately. It really speaks
Speaker 6: loudly to innocence. To me, that whole last minute that
Speaker 6: I watched was that's not somebody who did it.
Speaker 1: What I find so interesting about that exchange is what
Speaker 1: they chose to cut out before it got to trial.
Speaker 1: The last line that they cut out is she may
Speaker 1: not have been my blood, but she a daughter to me.
Speaker 1: The intention of cutting that out if you think the
Speaker 1: person is one hundred percent guilty, what are you trying
Speaker 1: to right?
Speaker 4: What are you afraid of? Yeah? Why are they cutting
Speaker 4: that out?
Speaker 6: You know, it's like there there is no reasonable explanation
Speaker 6: for it other than they're trying to have everything fit
Speaker 6: into their narrative, and their narrative has to be that
Speaker 6: Julia did not feel that way about Jane.
Speaker 4: And it's just not how it was.
Speaker 1: Sentiments that made this next exchange, taped at the end
Speaker 1: of January twenty twenty four, even more impactful for everyone involved.
Speaker 1: Without further ado, Renee High Tower, Jason Flomm.
Speaker 16: Hello, Renee, it looks like you're in your car and
Speaker 16: nice to meet you. Sorry for what you're going through
Speaker 16: Your family. It's awful, but hopefully we can together we
Speaker 16: can fix it, at least make it better.
Speaker 5: So Renee's been up since before six.
Speaker 1: In the back seat you will see Julie's eldest son,
Speaker 1: Jaden Wave Jayden awesome. And next room is Jaden's cousin
Speaker 1: and they all made the three hour drive this morning
Speaker 1: at the break of dawn to visit Julie.
Speaker 16: Oh, it's so nice, except for it's not.
Speaker 1: Because yeah, so Renee, I called Jason. Jason had had
Speaker 1: dinner several weeks ago with Kathleen Zelner, and I expressed
Speaker 1: that you had reached out and that the firm had
Speaker 1: responded saying that they were not taking any more pro
Speaker 1: bono cases this year a quick aside. Pro bono work
Speaker 1: is when lawyers provide free legal services to people who
Speaker 1: can't afford them. The term comes from the Latin phrase
Speaker 1: pro bono publico, which means for the public good. Chicago
Speaker 1: based attorney Kathleen Zelner is one of the most formidable
Speaker 1: forces in wrongful conviction advocacy. Notable client Zelner has represented
Speaker 1: includes Stephen Avery, Kevin Fox, Ryan W. Ferguson, and nineteen Exoneries,
Speaker 1: who were listed in the National Registry of Exonerations. Renee
Speaker 1: had already reached out to someone in her office.
Speaker 2: I kind of gave a brief story of her case,
Speaker 2: and he called me back and he said that unfortunately
Speaker 2: her pro bono has maxed out, but he gave me
Speaker 2: a flat fee of twenty thousand for the appeal alone,
Speaker 2: just the appeal, And he said that they did call
Speaker 2: the appellate court down here and they found out exactly
Speaker 2: where it's at, and that no public defender has been
Speaker 2: assigned just yet. So they're still waiting on all the
Speaker 2: transcripts to come in. And I believe she has like
Speaker 2: twenty five and she's got nine of the twenty five
Speaker 2: so far, and the most important one of the trial
Speaker 2: is not ready.
Speaker 5: A year later.
Speaker 16: Yeah, administrative, bureaucratic nonsense. But yeah, So I don't know
Speaker 16: what Lauren.
Speaker 7: I call her.
Speaker 16: LBP told you or didn't tell you.
Speaker 7: So I spoke with Kathleen.
Speaker 16: I mean, twenty thousand dollars for Kathleen's owner is an
Speaker 16: incredible price, obviously, but not if you don't have twenty
Speaker 16: thousand dollars obviously, then it doesn't matter. But I did
Speaker 16: talk to her. We've recently connected and we really hit
Speaker 16: it off. I don't know how we didn't know each
Speaker 16: other before, but she's a force of nature and she's
Speaker 16: really interested in this case, which is great. I confirmed
Speaker 16: that when I spoke to her, so I told her, look,
Speaker 16: if it's twenty thousand dollars, I'll put the bill for that,
Speaker 16: because I think she If anyone can get Julie out,
Speaker 16: it's her, and I think she can and she probably will.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, I don't even know what to say.
Speaker 16: No, I'm happy to do it. This is what we're
Speaker 16: here for, and I'm lucky to have the access to
Speaker 16: those kind of funds, so I'm excited to get Sorry.
Speaker 16: I mean, if this would be the best deal of
Speaker 16: the century, if this is what it is, and if
Speaker 16: it works, that'll be the best money ever spent.
Speaker 7: For real.
Speaker 2: I so appreciate it so much. Thank you so much,
Speaker 2: thank you so much, all of you. I can't even
Speaker 2: begin to say thank you enough.
Speaker 16: I swear I would take a little of the burden
Speaker 16: off of you for a change.
Speaker 7: So that's good.
Speaker 1: And like that, in an incredible gesture of generosity and compassion,
Speaker 1: Renee high Tower and Julia Beverly had something they desperately needed.
Speaker 1: Since December of twenty twenty, hope on the next Murder
Speaker 1: on Songbird Road, minds are changed.
Speaker 6: This zero chance of somebody just wandering around back here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and unfortunately this is not the kind of neighborhood
Speaker 1: where you would have ring cameras or no way as
Speaker 1: knocking on doors, and Marion leads to a major breakthrough.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, he has tattoos, he would be identifiable,
Speaker 1: and the concept of beyond a reasonable doubt is revisited.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Oh my.
Speaker 5: God, that's huge.
Speaker 1: Murder on Songbird Road is a production of iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 1: Our executive producers are Taylor Chaqoine and Lauren Bright Pacheco.
Speaker 1: Research writing and hosting by Lauren Bright Pacheco. Investigative reporting
Speaker 1: by Bob Matta and Lauren Bright Pacheco, editing, sound design
Speaker 1: and original music by Evan Tyre and Taylor Chaqoine. Additional
Speaker 1: music by Asher Kurtz. Please like, subscribe, and leave us
Speaker 1: a review. Wherever you're listening. You can follow me on
Speaker 1: all platforms at Lauren Bright Pacheco and email the show
Speaker 1: with thought, suggestions or tips at Investigating Murder at iHeartMedia
Speaker 1: dot com. For more iHeart podcasts, Visit the iHeartRadio app,
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Speaker 5: Thanks for listening.