WEBVTT - Episode 6 - The Trial 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:09.959 BBC SDS. Hey, it's Maggie. Just a quick heads up 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:13.840 before we begin. This episode does contain some pretty detailed 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:24.239 descriptions of violence and deals with adult themes. Tell me 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:26.439 a little bit about Houston. I've never been there. What's 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:26.720 it like. 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.920 Liston is the most diverse town in the state of Texas, 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:36.560 very very ethnic friendly, lots of culture, lots of restaurants. 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.920 It might not sound like it, but I've been desperate 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:44.400 to talk to this guy ever since I started working 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:45.199 on this story. 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.960 It's a nice little part of Southeast Texas that nobody 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:50.880 considers to be Texas. 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:53.080 He has a unique insight. 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.960 We like to go out and test different restaurants. 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.400 Sometimes we have Thai food and sometimes you know the 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.400 stake how is to serve excellent food. 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:04.880 And his opinion really counts. 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.480 There's plenty of tex Mex and there's even variations of 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.560 tex Mex. So you can go in one restaurant, I 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.520 have a text Mex and then something next week will 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:16.240 be a little bit different. I think they have the 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:19.000 most cultural influence, but although the country is getting more 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:24.319 and more culturally influenced by Hispanic America, so that's always good. 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.600 Totally, I'm with you. It has taken me hours and 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.440 hours of searching online and dozens of phone calls to 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.959 find Air and Day. Tell me why we are talking 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:35.680 to you today. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.720 You want to know my take on the Sandra Melgar 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:40.360 murder trail. 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:42.200 Do you still think about the case? 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:44.360 Oh? Yeah, will never leave. 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.840 Me, Arin Day. He was one of the jurors in 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:51.560 the state of Texas versus Sandra Gene Melgar. 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:54.600 It's part of my life, part of my history. 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.200 I got called into something I didn't want, but I 0:01:58.280 --> 0:01:59.040 was asked to do it. 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.720 I did it because that's of my civil responsibility. 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.320 Starting at the beginning, I'd love to talk a little 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:07.680 bit about the jury selection process. 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:12.920 Yeah. In the Boorda for dire. 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.160 Which again I'm sure Aaron and I are pronouncing one 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.120 hundred percent correctly, is when perspective jurors are assessed on 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:22.720 whether they can be truly impartial or not. 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.760 I remember this as far as the prosecutor's first words. 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.440 She said, welcome, ladies and gentlemen to Ordai. I have 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.120 one question I want you to think about. Can you 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:40.480 convict a person of murder with no motive? I answer 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.400 that question, yeah, I think you know. If there's evidence, 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:46.600 we should be able to convict. If we can't and 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:50.160 the evidence isn't prevalent enough, then we won't convict us. 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:52.079 What our legal system is all about? 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:54.400 And what did you think of that question? 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.200 When she asked, uh, you know it was really unusual 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.799 that well, I knew it would be an unusual trial. 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.239 A woman found tied up and trapped in a closet, 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:11.279 her hands tied, the door jammed shut from the outside, 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:17.080 on trial for stabbing her husband to death without a motive. 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:27.079 I'm Maggie Robinson Katz and from BBC's Studios and iHeart podcasts. 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:33.600 This is Hands Tied, episode six the trial. 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:45.280 When Santa Malgar walked into the courtroom, she was walking 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:48.600 with a cane and I was struck by how petite 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:51.840 she is and her delicate features. 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:56.400 That's Amanda Orr, a journalist covering the case for Reuters. 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.760 She had a shock of whitish gray hair that was 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:07.760 about shoulder length. She was wearing glasses, and she didn't 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:12.520 seem like a big, hulking woman that would have been 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.200 physically capable of overcoming a grown man. 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:20.359 Amanda joins her fellow spectators, the media, law students and 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:24.760 your casual gawkers all cramped onto the uncomfortable wooden benches 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:26.719 waiting for the show to start. 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.400 Murder trials are some of the greatest dramas any human 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:39.960 can witness. It's really a fascinating thing to behold. The 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:45.560 greatest lawyers know that winning a jury over is about 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:50.440 presenting the facts in a way that engages them, and 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:56.160 so attorneys are tasked with the job of being storytellers. 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:02.960 Whoever tells the best story wins. One of those storytellers 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:07.760 is the silver haired defense attorney Max Seacrest. He's also 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:13.480 joined by his niece and protege, Allison Seacrest. Max dressed 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.800 in a dark zomber suit and wears round towardous shell glasses, 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:21.760 while Alison sports an understated linen suit pearls her long 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:28.560 hair pulled back. Telling another story is prosecutor Colleen Barnett, 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.960 a confident woman with a shoulder length blonde bob and 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:37.120 a sharp suit. We tried to get Colleen for this podcast, 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:40.480 but we didn't get a response. So what comes next 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:44.080 are her words taken from the court transcript, spoken by 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:44.680 an actor. 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.760 You're going to hear testimony that Heimi's brother knocked on 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:52.239 the front door and didn't get an answer. 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:55.200 This is Colleen's opening statement. 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.400 You're going to hear testimony that when he went into 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:03.560 the house, he found his brother's body in his brother's closet, 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:08.279 brutally stabbed to death, multiple stab wounds on his chest 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.320 and his neck. He went into another part of the 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:17.280 house where he found Sandramelgar in her closet with her 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:22.280 hands tied behind her back and her ankles wrapped. She 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.560 was in her closet in the bathroom, and there was 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.120 a chair on the outside of the bathroom door, wedged 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.840 up against the door. The police were called immediately. 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.279 Colleen tells the jury how she thinks Jim died. 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.480 We're going to show you that what we believe happened 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:47.480 is that she enticed Timie into some type of maybe 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.920 some sexual liaison or something that she was going to do, 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.160 made him sit in the chair. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.920 Then Sandy stabbed him to death. She says. She warns 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.440 the jury not to believe the story. The defense is 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.520 going to tell that there was a burglar there. 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.480 What we're going to be able to show you is 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.240 that there was no way for any. 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:12.760 Burglar to enter that house. 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:14.360 There was no. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.800 Reason for anybody to have anything to do against timing. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.640 He was a loved person at his work and in 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:25.680 the neighborhood. There was no vendetta from anybody. 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:29.400 Colleen thinks Sandy could have made it to look like 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.280 a breaken to cover her tracks. She tells the jury 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.080 to not trust Sandy about her health, about her relationship 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:40.560 with Jim, and about her version of events the night 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:42.240 Jim died and. 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.400 I didn't hear anything because the jacuzzi was going, and 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.240 that's broken, by the way, and I can't turn it 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.280 off if I wanted to, because it's broken, and the 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:54.320 noise was so loud from the jacuzzie that I couldn't 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.000 hear my husband getting stabbed, couldn't hear it. 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:02.920 So if this were a courtroom TV drama, we could 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.040 maybe see Colleen make her way to the jury, looking 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:09.520 each of them intently in the eye. Maybe she'd rest 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:12.040 her hand on the wooden divider separating the jury from 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.080 the rest of the court. Because this is her moment, 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.280 the crescendo of her opening argument. 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.040 We believe that we're going to be able to prove 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.120 this case to you beyond a reasonable doubt. Don't know 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.960 that I have motive here, but There's no other way, 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:34.760 any other thing could have happened other than she just 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.280 brutally murdered her husband. 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:43.360 Again, continuing my imagined version of what she did, Colleen pauses, 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.560 ensuring that the jury heard those last words, that she 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.440 Sandy brutally murdered her husband. 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:52.760 Thank you. 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:58.360 She thanks the jury and takes her seat. But even 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.560 if they accept that Sandy enticed her husband into a 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:06.559 sexual liaison before murdering him, how is that possible? When 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.720 Sandy was found trapped in a closet, her hands and 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:29.319 feet tied. A video is played in court. The shaky 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.959 hand held camera hands across the disheveled bedroom belonging to 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.800 Jim and Sandy Melgar. This is the video the police 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.320 took the night of Jim's murder, capturing the scene of 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.559 the crime. The room is a mess, the bedsheets, rumpled 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:48.560 clothes everywhere. The camera moves into the bathroom, where we 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.440 see the remnants of their celebratory evening drinks set on 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.080 the edge of the chacuzzi, a tub of cream with 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:58.840 a strawberry perched on top. Then we see a gloved 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.640 hand pull a white satin chair in front of the 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:02.400 closet door. 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:07.480 The Sheriff's Department did a video showing you can be 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:11.520 on the inside of the bathroom and pull the rug 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:17.000 so the chair wedges up against the door. They can 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:21.000 show you that that can happen, that she could have 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.520 done that, and that is what she did. 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:29.320 To Colleen. This video is proof that Sandy could have 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.559 shut herself in the closet, put the chair on a 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.160 piece of fabric, making sure that half of it was 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.120 outside and the other half inside. Sandy could have cracked 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.040 the door slightly, just enough to place her hand on 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.280 the top of the chair, making sure it hooks underneath 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:49.200 the door handle, close the door, then crouched down and 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.720 pulled the part of the chair that is inside of 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:54.720 the closet towards her, causing the chair to be set 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.080 in place, locking herself in. 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.960 This theory clicked for juror aar and A and they 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:04.040 showed how you can pull that chair with a rug 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.200 underneath it to make it look like the door was 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:08.719 actually blocked so. 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:10.319 A person couldn't get out. 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.120 So that was like, oh, okay, that. 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.440 Makes sense, But how could she have done all of 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:17.800 that when she was found with her hands tied behind 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.320 her back. Well, Colleen has an answer for that too, 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:27.880 Sandy tied herself up. Colleen stands before the jury and 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.960 takes out a piece of fabric, its ends tied together. 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:34.520 She methodically loops it around one of her wrists and 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:38.040 a figure eight pattern. Then, with both hands behind her back, 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.840 she twists the material around the other wrist, holding her 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:45.679 forearms parallel with each other, each hand gripping the opposite elbow. 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:50.320 The binding looks tied around her wrists, but Colleen shows 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:55.600 she can easily slip her hands free, so Sandy could 0:11:55.720 --> 0:11:57.640 have tied her own hands behind her back. 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:05.760 The prosecution was able to demonstrate to the jury that 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:10.240 you can bind your hands behind your back and make 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:14.280 it look convincingly real and not have anybody. 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:15.200 Actually tie you up. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.560 So that was the big thing for me, is well, okay, yeah, 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:20.080 I guess you can bind yourself. 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.840 The only problem was that wasn't the way that Sandy 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:28.920 was tied up. That was not at all consistent with 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.719 the testimony of the only two witnesses who saw her 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:33.440 tied up. 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:38.440 To Mac Sandy's defense attorney, Colleen's demo doesn't match with 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:39.880 what actually happened. 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.080 She wasn't tied at the risk, she was tied with 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:48.120 her arms behind her back. The ligatures ran from her 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:54.120 wrist up basically to below her elbow. And when you 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:59.600 look at the crime scene unit photographs of Sandy's arms, 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:05.360 guess what? She has red marks consistent with that on 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:06.440 her arms. 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.480 So, if you remember, Sandy was cut free by her 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:16.160 brother in law, herman, and his wife before the police arrived. 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:19.640 Herman gives evidence in court to say her arms were 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:23.240 bound so tightly behind her back that he couldn't untie 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.920 the knots and needed scissors to cut her free. While 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:31.920 Aaron may be convinced of Colleen's arguments, there's another question 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:34.319 that looms across the entire trial. 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:39.000 How can this poor little sick lady commit murder? That's 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:43.160 what I saw Sandra. I was surprised by the picture 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.760 she portrayed of her physical being. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:48.640 And can you say a little bit more about that? 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:51.760 What is that she walked with her kine when she 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.400 walked into the courtroom. I needily questioned that she couldn't 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:59.640 have done it because she looked so frail and unhealthy 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:01.240 the way she presented herself. 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.760 The prosecutor, Colleen Barnett, argues that it didn't matter how 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:09.360 strong or how frail Sandy might have been, because she 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:13.280 believes Sandy planned the whole thing and took Jim completely 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:14.120 by surprise. 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.200 So she gets Himie to sit down in the chair 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:23.520 and maybe she's massaging his neck or whatever, I don't 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:28.360 know what, and then she pulls it out and then 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:33.040 while he isn't looking, she makes a strike straight up 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:37.880 all the way to his neck. That's what the first 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.880 strike is. Jimie of course, gets up to try to 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:46.080 defend himself, turns around and that's when she gets him 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:50.160 on the thumb and that's when the blood starts spurting 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:55.720 out onto the chair. This was the first strike, and 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.160 then she had him. There was no place for him 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.640 to go. As you saw, there's only two feet wide 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:06.960 and not that deep. He was just stabbed to death. 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.480 She had the knife. 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.880 Colleen points out that jim wasn't a big guy. At 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.640 five foot seven, he was a bit taller than Sandy, 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.320 but she's heavier than his one hundred and twenty five pounds, 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:27.760 and the stab wounds weren't particularly deep, three inches at most, 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:30.320 which gets Duror Air and Day thinking. 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:34.560 It made sense that she didn't have to be superwoman, 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:37.680 strong or any of those other things you would think 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:39.800 a murderer would have to do to murder somebody. 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:45.040 But there's also the matter of Sandy's health. She's had 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:50.080 her hips replaced, has epilepsy, and loopis an Ever since 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:53.120 her police interview, she has pointed to her health as 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.840 a possible explanation for not knowing what happened at the 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:00.840 night Jim was killed. Sandy suspects she a seizure and 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:05.080 blacked out. I want to go into that. Colleen has 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:09.120 her medical records from Sandy's primary care doctor and asks 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.160 a witness to read them to the court. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:13.200 Under seizure disorder. 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.680 What does it say that she was stable? Reads the witness. 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:23.200 Sandy's medical records show that, despite fairly regular checkups, she 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.160 hasn't reported having a single seizure in the four years 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:30.800 before Jim's murder. According to Colleen, yes, Sandy had a 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:35.440 condition that could cause seizures, but it was stable, controlled 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:36.200 by medication. 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:42.280 Sandy hadn't felt good, she had been resting a lot. 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.800 She had been experiencing auras, which are many seizures. 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.960 Defense attorney Allison Seacrest argues that those medical records don't 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:54.120 tell the full story or reflects Sandy's health in the 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:55.600 months before Jim's death. 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.880 If she's using her illnesses and she's saying she can 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.440 veniently had a seizure and then a blackout for twelve 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:08.600 hours when her drugs were supposedly controlling these things, and 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.720 she was not complaining to her doctors, maybe she did blackout, 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.159 but I can't find any evidence that. 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:16.440 She did. 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:23.359 Over ten days. Colleen tears into Sandy's claim of innocence. 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:27.560 Colleen tells the court that she was unhappy, plotted the 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.000 whole thing and locked herself in the closet and tied 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:33.719 her own hands. The only thing that is missing is 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:40.160 why why would Sandy do this? When I've ordired you, guys. 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:43.479 One of the things that I was a little worried 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:47.679 about was motive, because I showed you the things we 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:52.520 have to prove, and we've proven all of them. We've 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.760 proven all of them, but motive is not one of them. 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.600 And one of the things that I worried about being 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:02.439 able to establish that. 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:07.560 She offers the jury a theory or two. The first 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:11.280 is the classic Jim had life insurance policies worth some 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:13.120 half a million dollars. 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:15.879 She'd be getting a lot of money. 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.919 The second is religion. Colleen argues that as a devout 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:25.359 Jehovah's witness, Sandy couldn't divorce Jim without being ostracized. 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:29.760 But if I kill him and nobody finds out, I'm 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.560 not ostracized and nobody finds out and I still get 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:35.600 the money. 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:39.400 I can imagine Colleen locking eyes with the jury, ensuring 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:41.840 that her last words are heard clearly. 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:49.439 There's zero evidence, zero evidence, zero evidence that somebody else 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:56.600 did this, no evidence that anybody else did this. She's guilty, 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:02.560 ladies and gentlemen, She's guilty. Please find her so, thank you. 0:19:04.240 --> 0:19:06.840 Now it's the defense's turn to take the stage to 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.400 try and convince the jury that the prosecution has got 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:23.480 it all wrong and Sandy is innocent. When it's the 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:27.440 defense's turn to address the jury and defend Sandy, Maxiecrest 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:32.360 makes a big decision. He doesn't call Sandy to the stand. Instead, 0:19:32.440 --> 0:19:35.440 he relies on a very simple but powerful argument. 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:40.560 It's the worst investigated case I've ever seen. 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:44.159 He says. The only reason Sandy is on trial is 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.600 because the police fail to do their job properly. 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:51.640 They had an agenda, they weren't objective, and they jumped 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.879 to conclusions, and they were sloppy. They assumed. It's the 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:59.360 old rubric that if two people are married and one 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.120 of them's dan thee, the other one must have done it. 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.960 And that pretty much what propelled the entire investigation from 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:06.480 the get go. 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:10.840 He claims, potentially crucial evidence slipped through the cracks. 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:15.000 There's actually a bloody thumb print on a safe in 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.280 the closet where Jimi was found. 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.439 Mac tells the jury that this is the bloody smear 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.199 that Liz noticed when she was packing up her old house. 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.280 When she's called as a witness, Liz tells the court 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:28.240 she sent a photo of the bloody mark to the 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:32.160 police and they told her it had already been processed. 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:37.480 And guess what, they didn't bother to analyze it. In fact, 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:40.119 one of the detectives said that it had been analyzed, 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:41.680 when in fact it never had been. 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.160 The crime scene investigator tells the court that his team 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:47.639 had spotted the blood, but they didn't swab it for 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.919 DNA or toss the safe for prints. When asked on 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:54.720 the stand, why, he says, because we assumed it was 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:55.760 Sandy's blood. 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.080 So I mean, again, this is indicative of what we're 0:20:59.119 --> 0:20:59.720 dealing with. 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:04.199 According to Mac and his fellow defense attorney, Alison Seacrest, 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.560 the police cherry picked evidence that suited their case and 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:12.080 ignored anything that didn't, like the fact that forensic analysis 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:15.320 of the Melgar's phones and computers and a keyword search 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:20.600 for rope not stab, crime scene and murder revealed nothing. 0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:25.600 And according to friends, family, and neighbors, the Melgars had 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:26.919 a healthy relationship. 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:30.920 There was no evidence of any kind of infidelity or 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:35.160 animosity between the pair. Sandra and Jim had a really 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:36.280 loving relationship. 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:40.359 Then there's the lack of physical evidence linking Sandy to 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:40.920 the murder. 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:46.720 Jim died in a brutal savage attack at least fifty 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:53.920 one sharp force and blunt force injuries, thirty one what 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:58.840 we call sharp force trauma. He had all the hallmarks 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:03.280 of someone who'd been eating to death. What's startling is 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:08.960 when you examine Sandy's hands, there was no trauma to 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:14.959 her hands. It's very very common in stabbing cases that 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:17.439 if I'm holding a knife and I start to stab you, 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:21.040 and I stab you and I stab you, it's going 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:25.080 to produce a lot of blood. And it's very typical 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:29.840 that that blood will cause your hand to slip, and 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:36.000 the assailant will likely cut his or her own hand by, 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:41.440 you know, repeatedly wielding a bloody instrument. In Sandy's case, 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:46.920 the inside of her hands no cuts at all, and amazingly, 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:53.680 she had ten beautiful fingernails, no brakes, no chips, no cracks, 0:22:54.560 --> 0:23:00.719 and yet she supposedly brutally worked him over, including hitting 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:01.840 him with her fist. 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:07.159 Jim's autopsy report details fractures to a skull, bruises on 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:12.000 his head, shoulders, torso, arms, and legs, and notes that 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:15.200 there was internal bleeding linked to some of those bruises. 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:21.520 Because of the fifty one plus blunt and sharp force injuries, 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:26.400 it was agreed to by all sides that the assailant 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:31.000 would be covered in blood. There was no blood found 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:35.800 on Sandy at all. There was no blood found on 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:41.359 any of Sandy's clothing at all all. The examination of 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:47.960 her fingernails and the DNA under her fingernails no blood. 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:52.920 At all, and there was no evidence of a cleanup 0:23:53.840 --> 0:23:57.960 to the defense. This proof Sandy didn't kill Jim, and 0:23:58.040 --> 0:24:01.239 make some question why the police so quickly discounted the 0:24:01.240 --> 0:24:05.000 theory of a robbery gone wrong. They seem to believe 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:07.199 that there was no obvious signs of a break in, 0:24:07.680 --> 0:24:12.840 no windows broken, no doors knocked in, so no robbery. 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:16.399 I think she was the only suspect because these officers 0:24:16.520 --> 0:24:18.760 rushed to judgment and made up their mind that because 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:21.480 there was no forced entry into the house that it 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:22.520 had to have been Sandy. 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:26.960 But there is one key sign the police may have overlooked. 0:24:27.880 --> 0:24:31.760 Sandy told the detectives in her interrogation that the garage 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:32.960 door could have been left open. 0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:37.560 The garage was open when the family arrived and was 0:24:37.600 --> 0:24:41.520 able to enter the house through the unlocked interior door. 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:45.320 So that's how Hermann got into the house, and we believe, 0:24:45.359 --> 0:24:47.960 of course, that's how the intruders got into the house. 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:53.040 Did Duror Aaron Day Though this argument doesn't add up. 0:24:53.640 --> 0:24:56.840 My thought process was, yes, the garage door may have 0:24:56.880 --> 0:24:59.520 been open, but if you go to somebody's house to 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:04.160 rob them, why would you murder one and leave another 0:25:04.160 --> 0:25:06.880 one tied up in a closet. It just didn't make 0:25:06.920 --> 0:25:09.680 sense that the defense said this was a robbery gone 0:25:09.720 --> 0:25:11.520 bad and person got killed. 0:25:25.240 --> 0:25:29.040 It's Sunday, December twenty third, twenty twelve. This is Sean CARIZL. 0:25:29.119 --> 0:25:32.400 Harris kind of Shaff's office, Homicide sixty Henry forty two. 0:25:32.800 --> 0:25:36.800 The current time is nine forty two pm. Okay, ma'am, 0:25:36.800 --> 0:25:37.879 can you identify. 0:25:37.520 --> 0:25:38.000 Yourself for me? 0:25:38.520 --> 0:25:39.280 Sandra Milber. 0:25:40.600 --> 0:25:42.920 One part of the story that I can't quite shake 0:25:43.720 --> 0:25:46.600 is Sandy's interview with the police the night she was found. 0:25:47.480 --> 0:25:51.360 If you remember, she's distressed, can't remember details. 0:25:52.960 --> 0:25:53.800 We went up to eat. 0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:55.480 Okay, where's on the we at. 0:25:57.600 --> 0:25:58.560