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Speaker 1: Hey, folks. It is Thursday, January eighth, and a short

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Speaker 1: time ago a teenager pled guilty to killing his parents

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Speaker 1: in a plot that involved him trying to fund a

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Speaker 1: Trump assassination. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.

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Speaker 1: This is a obviously tragic, sad, and bizarre case with

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Speaker 1: a lot of the details. Well, we just watched an

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Speaker 1: eighteen year old repeatedly tell a judge, yes, I am

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Speaker 1: responsible for these killings.

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Speaker 2: That was really chilling, wasn't it. Nikita Cassip is his name.

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Speaker 2: This is out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This was a kid

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Speaker 2: who seemed like just about any other kid and winds

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Speaker 2: up not just murdering his step father and his own mother,

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Speaker 2: but then lives with their corpses for weeks talking to

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Speaker 2: someone in Russian. This story is very, very, very confusing

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Speaker 2: and deeply disturbing even hearing the judge asked this young man,

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Speaker 2: who by the way, was seventeen at the time of

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Speaker 2: these crimes, if he had ever been diagnosed with a

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Speaker 2: mental illness. He said, no, your honor, But my god,

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Speaker 2: how could he not given what he is admitting to

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Speaker 2: have done.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's take you back, folks. The February of

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Speaker 1: last year, so this was February of twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: Police respond to a home. They find these two dead bodies,

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Speaker 1: both shot. We talked about Tatiana Cassap thirty five years

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Speaker 1: old and her husband, Donald Mayer, fifty one years old.

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Speaker 1: The sun and the dog are missing at this point,

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Speaker 1: and apparently he had taken his parents' vehicle, taken off

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Speaker 1: with about fourteen thousand dollars worth of cash and jewelry

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Speaker 1: and whatnot, and he had the dog with him. They

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Speaker 1: eventually tracked him down having to do with the traffic stop.

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Speaker 1: Now those details you talk about ropes that came out

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Speaker 1: living with the bodies for two weeks, that was certainly

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Speaker 1: a detail that was disturbing. The other parts of this

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Speaker 1: have to do with federal authorities going through a lot

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Speaker 1: of his text messages and electronic messages. I don't know

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Speaker 1: if they ever found out who he was talking to

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Speaker 1: in Russia in Ukraine, but it seemed as if he

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Speaker 1: had a plan and expected to go to Ukraine and

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Speaker 1: also expected for everybody to find out that he had

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Speaker 1: killed his parents.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I'm just I'm still trying to get into

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Speaker 2: the mindset of a seventeen year old kid. I mean, there, look,

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Speaker 2: Annealis is nineteen about to turn twenty, and she's a kid.

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Speaker 2: And to think that he was still in high school.

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Speaker 2: What did he know? What fantasy world was he living in?

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Speaker 2: But yes, federal authorities say that he was having a

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Speaker 2: text exchange with someone who spoke Russian. They've never said

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Speaker 2: who that person is, if that person was legitimate, but

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Speaker 2: that in planning his parents' murders, he also bought a drone,

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Speaker 2: he bought explosives, and he wrote a manifest and in

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Speaker 2: that manifest a federal authorities say he called for Trump's assassination.

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Speaker 2: And so he was talking to this Russian speaker about

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Speaker 2: his plan to kill Trump, and they even said to

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Speaker 2: overthrow the US government. Did he think he was working

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Speaker 2: as a spy for the Russian government?

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Speaker 1: I mean, who knows what was going on through this

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Speaker 1: in this kid's mind. But this is the crime. That's

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Speaker 1: everything we describe, at least about the crime. Now, were

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Speaker 1: expecting this trial was supposed to start in March. That

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Speaker 1: we come to today. A deal has been struck between

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Speaker 1: this young man and prosecutors that's going to see him

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Speaker 1: avoid trial. They dropped. There were several other charges, charges

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Speaker 1: three through nine. I think they said I had to

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Speaker 1: do with theft and improper use of a corpse. They

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Speaker 1: dropped those, but he did plead guilty. It was chilling

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Speaker 1: Rome seventeen when you committed the crime eighteen now A

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Speaker 1: soft voice, nothing intimidating about the appearance of this young

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Speaker 1: man sitting in a chair. I think he might have

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Speaker 1: said the word no once, But other than that, the

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Speaker 1: only thing he said in court was yes, your honor repeatedly.

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Speaker 1: He asked him a bunch of questions, and he was polite,

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Speaker 1: he spoke up. He was almost like almost a respectful

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Speaker 1: teenager sitting in there today who's admitting to the moult

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Speaker 1: heinous of things.

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Speaker 2: Wasn't that so disturbing? You make such a good point.

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Speaker 2: It did seem like. In fact, I was around the

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Speaker 2: corner and I heard his voice, and it just wasn't

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Speaker 2: what I would have expected from someone who is capable

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Speaker 2: of doing what he's now admitted to do, which is

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Speaker 2: to kill your own mother and your stepfather because you

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Speaker 2: need cash to go try and assassinate Trump. But here

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Speaker 2: he was this polite kid, you're right, And to hear

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Speaker 2: him say yes, your honor to the question, did you

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Speaker 2: kill your mother or Tatiana? Did you intend for her

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Speaker 2: to die? Yes, your honor, That just the questions that

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Speaker 2: were being asked, and then just yes, this polite yes,

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Speaker 2: your honor. Afterwards, it felt so chilling to listen to.

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Speaker 1: You talking about the repetition, and the judge was kind

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Speaker 1: of a rapid firing asking about each murder. But you

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Speaker 1: shot him and caused his death, Yes, your honor. Did

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Speaker 1: you do that intentionally? Yes, your honna. Did you use

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Speaker 1: a handgun to shoot her? Your mother? Yes, your honor?

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Speaker 1: Did you intend to kill her? Yes, your honor, You

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Speaker 1: admit you committed both of these offendances. Yes, your on

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Speaker 1: And I'm only giving five or so there, I think

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Speaker 1: it was ten at least he was, and repeatedly, an

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Speaker 1: eighteen year old is saying, yes, I did all of it,

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Speaker 1: I meant to do it, and I meant to kill.

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Speaker 1: And the judge got all that on the record for

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Speaker 1: legal reasons, but it to see it happen today was stunning.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Yes, your honor will never sound the same after

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Speaker 2: hearing him say that response to so many of those

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Speaker 2: incredibly just devastating questions that you can't imagine a kid

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Speaker 2: that age would be able to answer and then to

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Speaker 2: think that yes, and who knows what was actually going

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Speaker 2: on behind the scenes, But he thought he was going

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Speaker 2: to be living in Ukraine. He had a plan. He

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Speaker 2: actually got caught in Kansas, I believe in that traffic

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Speaker 2: stop you were referring to. But from what we gather

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Speaker 2: and what federal authorities have said, he was planning on

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Speaker 2: hiding out in the country of Ukraine.

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Speaker 1: What do you have that? What was that text? Did

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Speaker 1: you read it?

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Speaker 2: I have it? Yes. He was actually asking this question

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Speaker 2: to this unknown person who speaks Russian. He said, so

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Speaker 2: while in Ukraine, I'll be able to live a normal life.

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Speaker 2: Question Mark, even if it's found out I did it,

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Speaker 2: question Mark.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well, look that was pretty good evidence. But he

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Speaker 1: admitted it in court today and it's just seventeen years old.

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Speaker 1: But this case took this turn. They were preparing for

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Speaker 1: trial in March. But now because of the plea, it's

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Speaker 1: brought up some other issues, particularly about sentencing. Stay here,

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Speaker 1: we'll explain why some things, he has a chance of

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Speaker 1: getting out and still might have a life ahead. Stay here.

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Speaker 1: We continue now on this Thursday, having just seen eighteen

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Speaker 1: year old Nikita cassip In court in Wisconsin, admitting repeatedly

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Speaker 1: upon questioning from the judge, that he is entering a

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Speaker 1: plea of guilty in the death of his thirty five

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Speaker 1: year old mother and his fifty one year old stepfather.

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Speaker 1: Those deaths happened last week February. But Rob's going to trial.

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Speaker 1: Right if he had gone to trial in these charges

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Speaker 1: you found guilty, it's life without parole. He wasn't sentenced today,

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Speaker 1: but it sounds like there is going to be an

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Speaker 1: argument now over how long this eighteen year old is

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Speaker 1: supposed to spend in jail. In robes, look at into

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Speaker 1: some of the numbers he could have like a significant

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Speaker 1: adult life ahead on the outside.

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Speaker 2: Correct, because also being taken into consideration when you look

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Speaker 2: at sentencing, a judge can look at the age at

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Speaker 2: which a crime is committed, and that has often given

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Speaker 2: some of these younger defendants' opportunities later even if they've

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Speaker 2: committed a heinous crime. And when you plead guilty, that

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Speaker 2: also usually is favorable in terms of sentencing as well.

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Speaker 2: So he's got two things working in his favor. His

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Speaker 2: age and the fact that he was compliant, the fact

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Speaker 2: that he agreed to plea and save the district of money.

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Speaker 2: And as the DA pointed out, because some people were

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Speaker 2: upset about this plea deal the fact that they were

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Speaker 2: able to get rid of some of the other charges

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Speaker 2: which would have possibly kept him in prison for sure

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Speaker 2: for the rest of his life. She said that that

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Speaker 2: part of this was about the family itself, avoiding the

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Speaker 2: trauma of a public trial. We're seeing this in the

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Speaker 2: Nick Reiner case as well. When you have the defendants

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Speaker 2: and the victims from the same family, that is so

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Speaker 2: much more complex than an ordinary case, which is already

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Speaker 2: difficult and emotional, but now you add that extra trauma

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Speaker 2: to the story, and avoiding a public trial is even

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Speaker 2: the bar is even higher to try and make that happen.

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Speaker 1: So and you know, I can appreciate when prosecutors consider

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Speaker 1: the wishes of families in these cases. This young man, now,

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Speaker 1: as the judge explained, like normally he would be constrained

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Speaker 1: by the sendings and guidelines, but now he could possibly

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Speaker 1: consider twenty years. And did I hear it correctly? Twenty

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Speaker 1: years on each account, right, yes, so we're talking forty

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Speaker 1: years he could possibly end up with. And again we

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Speaker 1: don't know this, but this is something at least on

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Speaker 1: the table and the judge said it, so you take

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Speaker 1: that under consideration. He could be late fifties. Yeah, when

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Speaker 1: he gets out, if that's okay, he could still get life.

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Speaker 1: We don't know, but the judge made a point about

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Speaker 1: talking about that twenty years, so that's he's so young.

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Speaker 1: I think that drives home the point that he could

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Speaker 1: actually serve a sentence for double murder and still get

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Speaker 1: out and be an adult who has decades yet to live.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, someone in their fifties. You look at like when

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Speaker 2: you're eighteen, that seems like forever, but when you all

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Speaker 2: of a sudden suddenly turn fifty, you think, wow, I

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Speaker 2: still have a really good chunk of my life left

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Speaker 2: to live. So yes, he could get out and actually

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Speaker 2: have a full life.

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Speaker 1: I thought that was interesting, But just what's been an

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Speaker 1: awful case? And again this wasn't what it was supposed

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Speaker 1: to be. So the sentencing is now we still have

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Speaker 1: to wait for it. But I thought this was the

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Speaker 1: defense said, you know what, we were going to go

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Speaker 1: to trial in March. Can we do sentencing in March

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Speaker 1: as well?

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Speaker 2: And I think, look, all eyes are going to be

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Speaker 2: on sentencing that's set for March fifth. I believe, but

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Speaker 2: there has been talk if the federal government does not

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Speaker 2: like what the judge sentences him too, for instance, that

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Speaker 2: twenty year and twenty years. So say he say he

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Speaker 2: does the minimum and Cassup only gets forty years, the

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Speaker 2: federal government can then step in and charge him. They've

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Speaker 2: said they're considering that or they're keeping that option open

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Speaker 2: because of the federal or the national implications of him.

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Speaker 2: That plot they uncovered where they say Cassip was planning

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Speaker 2: to assassinate Donald Trump, so he said, they found anti

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Speaker 2: government sentiments, They found some information leading to his worshiping

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Speaker 2: of a Satanic cult. So the Fed say, hey, if

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Speaker 2: we don't like what this judge sentences him to, we

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Speaker 2: may step in and throw more charges at him. So

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Speaker 2: that's entirely possible as well.

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Speaker 1: They want to make sure he never gets out of prison. Correct. Correct,

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Speaker 1: We're keeping an eye on it, folks. We always appreciate

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Speaker 1: you spending some time here with us. But this update, yes,

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Speaker 1: it only happened within an hour or so of us

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Speaker 1: hopping on the mics here, so we wanted to hop

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Speaker 1: on and give an update on a story that has

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Speaker 1: had national interests. We always appreciate you spending some time

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Speaker 1: with US. Signed TJ Holmes on behalf of my dear

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Speaker 1: Amy Robock. We'll talk to you also