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[Music] September 13th, 2013, I received the call 3:00 in the morning. I was told that we had a female who had
stated she had been raped and she had shot and killed her rapist. I of course think this is going to
probably be a self-defense case. She's got a rapist off the street. All I thought was, I want to shake her hand.
I'm Summer R. Benton and I am the lead homicide detective on the Victoria Rickman case.
>> I just kept shooting and shooting and shooting. >> Shot him where? >> I shot him all over.
>> Who was the victim? >> The victim was Will Carter Jr. They had been in a relationship. It was off and
on for a number of years. He owned his own business. It was doing very very well. He had his own home.
She she went through some horrible things. This man abused her emotionally, physically, and sexually.
Heartbreaking. She's like the other half of me. Goofy, funny. She's a great mom. just a great
friend to be around. >> As soon as I stepped foot in that back bedroom, I knew we had a problem. There
didn't appear to be any signs of disarray or a fight. Nothing looked like what it should have looked like. And
then when the medical examiner turned him, he had three gunshot wounds to the back. And then a reality TV show came
out. >> Yes. And shocked everybody. No one knew that this was being filmed. And how would you describe this show?
Just filled with lies. >> She's claiming that she was raped. >> She's claiming rape when you haven't
even got on the scene yet to know. You haven't even spoke with her. You don't even know what's happened yet.
>> 4130. Show me 26 on Clifton. There were so many things that were completely false. For some reason, this girl, she's
a tactical reload. >> The fact that she reloaded the gun, that wasn't true. If you guys can get me
every rape case she has ever filed. The fact that she had claimed, you know, that she had been raped by so many men
so many times. It's too big to email. That wasn't true. >> It looks like she was training to kill.
>> Wow. Please give me a break. It just came across as what's going to make a good TV episode. My name is
Amanda Clark Palmer. I represent Victoria Rickman. You knew this was going to happen. We're dealing with an
investigation that wow was done quickly, wasn't done thoroughly. She has no scratches, no bruising.
>> It certainly seems and looks like the TV cameras affected what happened. >> There was no real investigation. I think
she made a lot of things up on camera. >> If she had been raped that night, then
this would have been a justified shooting and I would have written it up as one. But this was not a justified
shooting. This was cold-blooded murder. [Music] [Music] 48 hours. Reality kills.
Atlanta police detective Summer Benton has a name, a job, and some would say an attitude made for television.
>> Tell me about the hat squad. >> The hat squad. Um, we're very proud of our hats. We have summer fedoras. We
have winter fedoras. But you're not allowed to wear a fedora until you've solved your first homicide case.
>> In her 16 years on the job, Detective Benton has been the lead detective on 65
homicide cases. But it was the shooting death of Will Carter Jr. in the early morning hours of September 13, 2013
that put the detective in the spotlight. As Benton investigated, >> this just isn't adding up.
>> Video cameras from that reality show Inside Homicide were rolling. The TV crews were embedded with the Atlanta
Police Department and were following the action that night. The shooter was Victoria Rickman, a 30-year-old divorced
mother. She and Will Carter, also 30, met through mutual friends and dated for three years. They bonded over their
kids. Will had a daughter and Victoria a son who were about the same age. >> He was good around his father and she
admired that about him. They had a lot of things in common. >> Victoria's friend Brittany Morgan says
that at one point Victoria, a marketing consultant, and Will, a local businessman, moved in together and got
engaged. >> She wanted to have a family, be married again, and have that for her and her
son. But the relationship went off the rails. The couple had a lot of arguments and began living apart.
>> It was just back and forth, back and forth, just very toxic. >> And then just after midnight on
September 13th, 2013, Will arrived at the house where she was staying. And Victoria told first
responders he raped her. Victoria admitted shooting Carter with a 40 caliber semi-automatic that was in her
bedroom. I just kept shooting and shooting and shooting. >> She said she shot him to protect
herself. She fired nine times, hitting Will every time. At first, Benton says she was giving Victoria the benefit of
the doubt, but then she called Will's father. >> Hi, is this um Mr. Carter? >> My name is investigator Benton. I'm with
the City of Atlanta Police Department. >> I've got some really bad news. It's 5:30
in the morning and the phone rings twice. So, you know that's not good. >> I'm so sorry, sir.
>> It was Detective Benton and she explained to me that our son had been killed by Victoria Rickman. She did say,
"Right now, this is a self-defense case and can you help me with some details?" >> Well, when she said this was a
self-defense case, what was your reaction? >> I mean, I about puked. I mean, it's
like, "No, it's not either." >> Will's father told Benton that a year earlier the couple was fighting and his
son showed up bleeding. She hit him in the head with a hammer and she bit him in the back. In fact, I told Will after
that incident, I said, "If she'd had a gun, she'd have killed you." >> But Victoria called police and told them
Will had tried to force her to have sex and that she used a hammer to fight him off. Will was arrested for sexual
battery and simple assault. >> Two weeks later, she's standing in her driveway with Will. So, I said, "You
don't can't ever come over here again." She just snapped. She got furious with me and she said, "You can't tell me what
to do." She said, "I have a gun. I know how to use it." It's like, "Whoa." >> Eventually, Victoria declined to press
charges and the case against Will was dismissed. >> No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no. You were not coming in my house. >> And then in May 2013, 4 months before Victoria shot Will.
>> Tori, I didn't tell you to be here. Get the out of here, dude. I'm scared of you. There was this incident captured by
Victoria on her cell phone as she tried to enter Will's house. >> All you are is a toxic web of lies. Stop
it. I'm going to call the police. >> This time, Victoria was the one arrested and charged with battery. Those charges
were pending at the time of Will's death. Benton took into account what Mr. Carter
had told her. And then the medical examiner discovered that Will had three bullets to his back. After that, Benton
no longer believed this was self-defense. >> What we truly believe happened is that
he was standing and he was not facing her at the time. >> This animation shows what police suspect
may have happened. We believe he was standing next to the bed facing the window when he was shot in the back
three times, which then one of those shots filled his lungs with blood, which caused him to cough, causing the blood
spray pattern on the wall next to the window. And then we believe he fell back onto the bed. As he's lying on the bed,
she is then finishing him off, firing more shots into his chest and his head. to Benton. This was straight up murder.
>> There were no signs that she had tried to scratch him. Her nails were pristine.
He had no scratches on his body. I do not believe she was raped. >> Victoria was given a rape exam. It
showed she had intercourse, but there were no signs of internal injuries. Hospital records noted bruising on
Victoria's arm and leg, but that's not what Benton told a prosecutor on that TV reality show.
>> Any indication from the hospital of any injury to her at all? >> There's nothing. She has no scratches,
no bruising. Bye. >> By midday on September 13, 2013, only hours after the shooting, Benton
arrested Victoria Rickman. I advise her that she's being arrested for murder and
she simply says, "Okay, that was it. No screaming up and down. I'm innocent. I didn't do this."
While Victoria appeared stoic, back at the Carter home in Marietta, Georgia, William Carter Senior, and his wife Caro
were shattered. They consoled each other and wondered, as they had many times before, about Will's fatal attraction to
Victoria. >> It's as if nobody could have done anything. He wouldn't listen to anybody
about this. >> His biggest flaw was that he couldn't see the evil in her. >> But if Victoria had personal demons, so
did Will. Years earlier, Will had been arrested several times for property damage and drug use. Will Carter admits
his son had been a drug addict back then. >> Like what kind of drugs? >> I I don't know. You name it. The doctor
said it was more than something like marijuana. It was dangerous. >> After 10 years of drug use, Will went
into a rehab facility. >> He actually overcame his uh addiction and started his own business.
>> I was extremely proud of Will and he never gave up. He didn't give up on anything or anyone. What drew Will to
someone like Victoria? >> My sister, who's a psychologist, said Will that Victoria was his last
addiction? I don't think he realized how dangerous she was. >> But Victorian says Will was still the
dangerous one. And only 4 months before the shooting, Victoria reported to police that Will had beaten her and she
had documented it with these photographs. I think the constant abuse that she was going through, she just
could not take it anymore. >> Victoria went to court for a restraining order, but the office was closed. A
deputy sheriff working there spotted her bruises. Later, for her own protection,
he gave her a gun. >> He encouraged her to use that gun when it came to Will Carter.
[Music] After Victoria Rickman's 2013 arrest for the murder of Will Carter Jr., she was
denied bail and held at the Decab County Jail in Decar, Georgia. >> Do you think you should be on trial at
all for anything? >> To be honest, no. I don't really think I've done anything illegal.
>> Jail officials would not let us interview Victoria face to face. >> Everything was done for a TV show and
there was no real investigation, >> but we spoke to her via an inmate video calling system.
>> I'm innocent of the charges that are alleged against me. >> Victoria stuck to the story. She told
police that she was fighting off Will, who had raped and beaten her. Unfortunately,
I've been humiliated, dehumanized by the system publicly without my consent. >> Did you think your life was at risk?
>> Of course. No doubt in my mind. >> Victoria says that night Will was behaving erratically.
>> He had relapsed and was intoxicated and it was a very, very, very serious situation.
>> But no one will ever know if that's true. Because Detective Benton never requested
a toxicology report. She says she didn't know it was her responsibility because this was her first homicide case in
Dicab County which had a different set of procedures. >> I had no idea that you have to specially
request a victim's tox and blood alcohol. So even though they had taken his blood and held on to it, at some
point they then disposed of it. >> So it was destroyed. the blood was destroyed.
>> From my understanding, it was. >> But Victoria does not believe that was a casual oversight. She thinks it was
something far more sinister. >> I think it's huge that she did not do an officing
she was getting rid of evidence that was permanent to my defense and to my innocence.
>> She's extremely good at trying to play the victim. Benton may not have believed Victoria,
but there was that one law enforcement officer, Cobb County Deputy Sheriff Rick Price, who did. Months earlier, Price
had spotted a black eye and bruises on Victoria that time he met her at the courthouse.
>> Rick Price gave Victoria a gun. It was one of Price's personal guns, and the deputy even brought Victoria to a gun
range to practice, says Atlanta police detective Kevin Leon Packer. >> And lo and behold, she's used that very
gun to shoot and kill Will Carter. >> And right after the shooting, Rick Price was the first one she called. He told
her to call 911. When the phone records came back, we found out that just before
she called 911, Victoria called Rick, and it was about a two-minute phone call. >> Benton believes Price was just one more
male caught in Victoria's web. >> She was extremely good at getting the men to give her whatever she wanted.
>> Victoria Rickman was a very skilled manipulator. >> So, this is your house? >> Yes. And who is this down here?
>> This is Spencer. It's actually a Victoria's dog. >> Andrew Scar is a lifelong friend of
Victoria. >> This is the back bedroom. >> And this was where Victoria stayed. >> Yes.
>> He owns the house where the shooting occurred. Early that evening, Victoria told Andrew
she wanted to be alone and asked him to stay at his mother's house. After he left, Victoria spoke on the phone with
Will. Police don't know what was said, but sometime after midnight, Will showed up. When you're in here, you know that
something happened between 12:20 and about 2:15 in the morning. What do you believe happened in here?
>> Oh, I believe her story 100%. [Music] >> Did Victoria Rickman shoot Will in cold
blood? Did she plan to kill him that night? Did she invite him over to kill him?
>> She didn't invite him over. She didn't want him over there. She didn't plan to
kill him and she didn't murder him. I 100% believe she shot him in self-defense.
>> Defense attorney Amanda Clark Palmer says Victoria killed Will Carter after he raped her because he was still close
enough to be a threat. >> You think there's about this amount distance >> for those shots? They would have been
somewhere within 6 in to 2 feet of each other, which is >> Clark Palmer demonstrated what she
believes happened in this king-size four poster bed that is similar to Victoria's. And the gun's over here,
>> right? >> She insists the first shots were to Will's chest, not his back, as the
police believe. So he gets the two shots to his chest and then um turns, he stands up and he coughs and um gets the
blood spatter on the wall and then gets the shots in the back and then kind of sits down and falls back. And as he's
falling back, she's still shooting. >> And so she shoots him two more times in the head.
>> Correct. He gets the He gets the shot through the nose that goes through the nose, chin, shoulder, arm, and then the
shot to the head is the last shot probably. It was a stressful, highly traumatic
situation. The shots happened. I mean, within a matter of seconds, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, right after it was, "Let
me shoot until I think the threat is over." While Clark Palmer was trying to make
sense of the murder scene, investigators were taking a second look at all the evidence.
No one had been able to crack the secret code on Victoria's cell phone. But a few
months before the trial, investigators made a crucial discovery >> and came across a piece of paper that
said phone code and it had a four-digit code on it. and the investigator punched
it into the phone and poof, it opened right up. >> The phone spit out more than 66,000
texts, some 4,000 pages worth sent and received by Victoria. >> So, this was like a motherload of
information. >> Absolutely. It was a motherload. [Music] It's 3 years and 10 months have passed
and we've had no trial. >> Paul Rickman, Victoria's father, has patiently stood by his daughter for
nearly 4 years waiting for this day. >> August 22nd, 2017, the day her trial for murder begins. I'm
hoping that we get through with this and have it over and have her home. >> Victoria Rickman faces life in prison
for shooting her on again, off-again boyfriend, Will Carter Jr. >> We miss him every single day. It's a big
hole in my heart. >> Will Carter's parents attend the trial to stand witness for the type of person
Will was. >> Everything we've done is to get his reputation back and to be able to tell
his story. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, good afternoon. >> Sheila Ross, who has a reputation as one
of the most successful prosecutors in Georgia, lays out the case against Victoria Rickman.
>> The evidence will show that she did not shoot William Carter Jr. out of fear,
but rather anger. He and this defendant were involved in what could only be described as an onag again, off again
toxic relationship. Very Jerry Springbridge. >> Why are you naked? >> Why are you taking pictures of me?
>> Ross plays for the jury that cell phone video made by Victoria during the contentious visit to Will's house in May
2013. >> No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You were not coming in my house. 4
months before the couple's fatal encounter. >> Tori, I didn't tell you to be here. Get
the out of here, dude. I'm scared of you. All you are is a toxic web of lies. Stop it.
>> You'll hear a lot out of her mouth that she's an abused woman, that she has PTSD,
that she has been raped. You'll hear the tears and you'll see the tears. So, just
be ready for it. But we're going to ask that you look past that and we're going to ask that you render a verdict that
speaks the truth of what happened to William Carter Jr. that night, which is nothing short of murder. Thank you.
>> May I proceed? >> Victoria's defense attorney, Amanda Clark Palmer, paints a very different
view of the case. >> This case is about domestic violence. He abused her physically, verbally, and
emotionally. She felt like he was going to do something terrible to her based on
the way he was acting and based on the fact that he said, "I'm going to kill you."
>> The defense attorney never shows the footage from inside Homicide to the jury, fearing it will give them the
wrong idea about Victoria. >> Detective Benton didn't come alone, >> but she tells them all about it in her
opening. Detective Benton was the star and she's kind of like narrating what she's doing to the cameras.
>> I just did the initial walkthrough. >> No one asks Victoria, who's just been raped, who's just shot and killed
William Carter defending herself if she's okay being on TV. They just come over and start filming everything that's
going on. >> From the looks of things, it doesn't appear there was a struggle. >> And what happens next was a rush to
judgement in this case. >> And we got a lot of shell casings. The police show up. They collect evidence.
They're not as meticulous as I think they should have been. >> It looks like she was training to kill.
>> Wow. >> She was justified in defending herself. She was in fear for her life and she's
not guilty. >> On the second day of testimony, prosecutor Ross calls Detective Benton
to the stand. >> Did you observe any forced entry into the home? >> No, I did not. Were there any injuries
to her face? >> No, there were not. >> Was her bra torn in any way? >> No, it was not.
>> Did you look for signs of a struggle? >> I did. I was unable to find that there
were any signs of a struggle. >> But the defense challenges that assertion. >> And we can see the lamp on top of the
nightstand, right? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Fair to say this lamp has been knocked over, right?
>> Yes. >> It definitely looks like a struggle occurred there. And we also see the
sound machine hanging down between the nightstand and the bed. Right. >> Correct.
>> It's not a neat and orderly room. >> Did you find a firearm there? >> We did.
>> Detective Benton is questioned closely about the gun used by Victoria. >> What type of firearm was it?
>> It was a 40 caliber semi-automatic. >> Detective Benton believed the gun could
hold only 12 bullets. At the scene, she found nine shell casings, four bullets left in the gun. That adds up to 13. So
Benton concluded that Victoria had to have reloaded and shared her thoughts with the cameras.
>> The gun doesn't hold 13. For some reason, this girl, she did a tactical reload.
>> Wrong. The capacity of the gun is 13. Could not be clearer to anybody who knows anything about firearms.
>> I'm extremely proficient with a firearm. The issue is crucial because Benton says
if Victoria reloaded, she cannot claim self-defense. >> Detective Benton thought that that was
indicative of premeditation murder. >> You recognize now that the maximum capacity of this weapon is 13, right?
>> No, I realized that. >> You didn't write that in your report. >> No, I did not.
>> Weren't you wrong about the reloading? >> No, I was not. >> At this moment, you have no evidence she
reloaded. >> No. You just can't say that you made a mistake. >> I don't believe I did.
>> Did it ever occur to you that you might be putting wrong information and affecting potential jurors who see this
show? >> No. >> That means she had to switch magazines. >> This was a brand spanking new show.
>> 4 5 6 7 8. >> I didn't know if that part was going to air or what was going to air. I didn't
see it until it aired the same day everybody else saw it. >> And did you then say I wish I hadn't
done that? >> No. What's your reaction to that? >> It was incredibly unfair to Victoria.
>> As unfair as parading a rape victim before television cameras, says Victoria's lawyer. And then there's the
information Benton says she got from the Cobb County District Attorney's Office that aired on Inside Homicide.
>> They stated that she has got such a long list of rape claims against so many men
that it's too big to email. They'll have to physically bring it to me. >> Well, that wasn't true.
>> You know, everybody makes mistakes. I'm not saying we didn't make any mistakes.
I'm not saying Pop County didn't make any mistakes. You know, we're all human. >> Still, Detective Benton does not believe
the misinformation from the show will affect the trial. >> I think we have smart people out there
and smart jurors out there. It doesn't matter what they may or may not have seen on television or on a television
show. >> You swear. Following Benton to the stand is her colleague, Detective Kevin Leon
Packer. >> I've developed another uh type of expertise that involves uh the analysis
of cell phone records. >> Leon Packer performed the forensic examination of Victoria's cell phone.
The detective zeros in on the night of September 12th, 2013, just a few hours before the alleged
murder. There were several threads of communication with call records and text messages between Miss Rickman's phone
and other individuals. >> Leon Packer says Will's text to Victoria reveal he was furious because she had
called the mother of his child. Will text Victoria that he's breaking up with her.
>> Liam Packer reads the text in court. >> You are too dangerous to be around. Never contact me or the mother of my
child again. Why are you taking pictures of me? >> And in the text, Will also says he's
going to follow up on criminal charges against Victoria in that incident captured on this cell phone video.
>> I'm going to need you to get out of here. >> Victoria may have feared an assault
conviction would affect custody of her son. She begins sending texts to her friend, Deputy Sheriff Rick Price,
sounding more and more desperate about Will. >> He wants me put away now. My only hope
is to change his mind. >> I think that what the evidence has shown, what the text messages have shown
is that she made a decision um when she called Will Carter that night to kill him.
>> But the texts are not the only surprise Detective Liam Packer finds inside Victoria's phone.
>> I was dumbfounded. I was like, "Wow, she will go to any lengths to prove her story.
[Music] She's just the best person I really know, the best friend I've ever had, and
it's hard to see me to see her go through this." Brittany Morgan has always believed
Victoria Rickman's claim of self-defense. As her closest friend, she had seen the
bruises and hoped to be in court every day to support Victoria. >> I need her to be able to know that I'm
there. I'm there for her. >> Hey, Britney. >> How are you? >> Fine. How you? >> But she and Victoria's father, Paul.
>> It's a sad situation. There's no way you can put it in words. and Victoria's lifelong friend Andrew Scar.
>> It's devastating. It's devastating. >> Are barred from sitting in at her trial
until after they testify. >> She's not a cold-blooded killer. >> Before court begins, Victoria's attorney
wants to ensure Victoria puts her best face forward in every possible way. >> She doesn't deserve to be in jail. So
when I >> Back on the stand, detective Leon Packer details his forensic analysis of
Victoria's cell phone. Remember that photo of bruises to Victoria's right arm the morning of the shooting? It turns
out Detective Leon Packer found these selfies in her phone. >> I looked at the metadata on the photos
to see when were these photos taken, and that's when I found they were 24 hours before the murder ever occurred.
[Applause] This is her whole defense. This is her whole assertion of self-defense, of
justification for shooting and killing Will. And those bruises existed before he ever showed up at her house that
night. >> There was some evidence indicate that maybe the injury she had she actually
had 24 hours before. Isn't that really damaging for your case? >> Not at all. Not really damaging. She had
other bruises that were notated, you know, on her body in the medical records. State calls Wick Price.
>> The Cobb County Deputy Sheriff who gave Victoria the gun she used to kill Will
Carter is now an instructor at Dobbins Air Force Base. He testifies he met Victoria at the courthouse where he
worked 4 months before the shooting. >> She told me that um her ex had um beaten her and she needed a
protective order. I could see the bruises on her arms. I could also see that she had the outline of black eyes.
>> Prosecutor Sheila Ross suggests Price had romantic feelings for Victoria. >> I was interested in Victoria.
>> Um but we never developed past uh just good friends. >> Did you ever have sexual relations with
her then? >> No. >> Did you ever tell anyone that you did? I I've told people all sorts of things
that had nothing to do with reality. >> Price was fired 5 days after the shooting for not cooperating with the
investigation. >> Are going to call Dr. John Lridge. >> Halfway through the second week of
trial, the defense begins its case. Victoria's lawyer calls to the stand Will Carter psychiatrist, Dr. John
Lockidge. When is the last time you saw Will Carter Jr. >> who makes a startling revelation? He
says that on September 10th, 2013, just 3 days before Will's death, Will reported having delusions.
>> He said he thought he was famous. He was on TV. He was talking to and through the
TV. Lockidge testifies that Will had been taking an antiscychotic drug to help him sleep better. But because
Detective Benton never ordered a toxicology report, no one will ever know what drugs Will had in his system when
he was shot. Victoria claims that Will had stopped taking his prescribed medications and had gone back to illegal
drugs. It's a reason why he went crazy and raped me like forced in there and was going to murder me.
>> Also testifying for the defense, a former chief medical examiner for the state of Georgia, Dr. Chris Lee Sperry
bolsters the defense theory that Victoria fired the first shots into Will's chest, not his back. As the
prosecution contends, >> he is turned somewhat towards um the lady with the gun, the person with with
a weapon. >> He could be twisted towards her, you know, leaned over so he gets the two
shots to his chest. Um Britney Morgan. >> And now it's time for Victoria's friends
who have been waiting to tell the jury what they saw in the year and the months before the shooting. The bruising was it
was kind of almost look like fingerprints on the side. >> I've seen bruises on her arm. I've seen
a black eye. I have seen a mark above her eye right about here. >> And where did she have the bruises on
her body? >> Uh on her wrists, on her arms, and the second occasion on her throat.
>> Cobb County Police Lieutenant Robbie Ray says he too saw bruises on Victoria a
year earlier. She had some bruising on her left upper forearm and on her left bicep. She said her ribs were sore.
>> Victoria Rickman decides not to take the stand. >> But in her closing argument, Clark
Palmer makes sure jurors hear what Victoria's voice sounded like the day of the shooting.
>> I don't know. >> That is not the voice of a killer. Imagine how powerless she felt when
William Carter, who was taller than her, heavier than her, and stronger than her,
was raping her. [Music] [Music] She finished him off with a shot to the head. That is cold bloodooded murder. No more.
>> After two weeks of testimony, prosecutor Sheila Ross is ready for closing arguments, and she holds nothing back.
And if he in fact was raping her and she shot him, good riddance, the world could
use one less rapist. But that's not what happened. >> Victoria Rickman is not guilty.
>> Defense attorney Amanda Clark Palmer argues there is no way Victoria could have planned to kill Will because she
had no idea he was coming over that night. >> There is zero proof that Victoria Rickman invited Will Carter to her
house. And once more, Clark Palmer slams the behavior of Detective Summer Benton.
>> She wanted to know what's the capacity of the gun and she got it wrong. >> She says that Benton's investigative
work was shoddy and biased from the start against Victoria. >> She was trying to make good TV and she
didn't want to do anything or take any steps in her investigation that would contradict her theory that Victoria
Rickman was guilty. Ladies and gentlemen, the jury, you are considering the case of the state of
Georgia. >> Closing arguments end late on the Friday before Labor Day weekend, but Judge JP
Boule orders jurors to begin deliberating. >> You may now retire to the jury room, but
cannot begin your deliberations until you >> Everybody was sort of standing around
thinking, you know, we're going to be here for hours. And they said, we've got a verdict.
Sir, have you reached your verdict? >> We have, your honor. >> The jury returns with a verdict in less
than an hour. Good counsel. >> The judge has the lawyers look at the jury form to make sure it's proper and
the lawyers clearly see the verdict. >> It was a very simple verdict form. It just had the four counts. It said um she
was guilty on each and every count. Jeff, do you feel >> we saw you whisper something to
Victoria? >> I just said to her, "I'm sorry." >> Yeah. Was that hard? >> It was extremely hard.
>> State of Georgia. >> The next moments make it official. >> Count one, malice murder. We, the jury,
find the defendant, Victoria Rick, guilty. [Music] I think that their verdict, the
swiftness in which they rendered their verdict speaks for itself. >> Was that your verdict in the jury room?
>> Yes, sir. >> When the verdict was read, there was a huge rainbow that came over Atlanta.
To me, that was Will. He was finally at peace. [Music] For Detective Benton, the verdict is
gratifying. >> The gun doesn't hold 13. For some reason, this girl, she did a tactical
reload. >> All along, she has stuck to her conviction that Victoria reloaded the
gun. But after speaking to her superiors, she's reconsidered. I probably wouldn't have made that grand
of a statement. But, you know, it doesn't matter. This case is not about me. This case is about
William Carter Jr. and the fact that what happened in that bedroom [Music] counties now.
>> 5 weeks later, everyone is back in court for sentencing. There's no doubt Victoria will get life in prison. The
most she can hope for is the possibility of parole. Your honor, thank you for the time to
speak and clarify the facts of this case. >> Victoria Rickman, who did not testify on
her own behalf, addresses the court. >> I'm a mother who has been stolen from her son's life. I am a battered woman. I
am a victim who continues to suffer the nightmares and symptoms of PTSD caused from being forced to defend myself in
years of abuse. So I ask you, your honor, return me my son and my life, give me back my voice
and my dignity. >> Victoria offers no apology. >> Miss Rickman, please stand. >> And the judge offers no mercy. This
court sentences you to life without the possibility of parole. [Music] 2 days after the sentencing hearing,
Will would have turned 35 years old. Will's mother says her son's death is a loss for everyone, but especially for
his young daughter. >> She's a good student. She's got a beautiful heart. Never see her graduate
and never, you know, be at her wedding. But his memories is what's important. And that's what I want to be able to
carry on and be grateful that I had this young man in my life. >> Come on, old man.
>> Come on, Loki. Let's go. >> And the memories of Will are everywhere. >> Loki is a connection with Will in a way.
We'll love this dog. He's almost 13. Way beyond his normal lifespan. >> There's Loki. She's swimming.
>> Loki gives me a lot of comfort because I know how close Will was to Loki and he's
we still have that connection with our son of something here on Earth. We're going to be okay. We're going to
make it through this. Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music]
911. What is your emergency? >> I woke up on my boyfriend. He He was outside this morning. He's cold. He's
gone. >> I was scared. I was confused. I was on the phone with 911. >> The kitchen's a bloody mess. He's not
really >> Why is the kitchen a bloody mess? >> I don't know. >> What's your name? I know
that. [Music] >> I couldn't remember a lot. When I realized that he wasn't responding, I
panicked. >> When did you realize that Matthew was dead? >> I think a part of me already knew. Copy.
I'm therapy. >> October 18th, 2019. We got the call that we had to respond here.
Matthew Trussler was found in the patio pool area of this residence. >> And what kind of shape was Melissa at
that time? >> I remember seeing her pretty well covered in blood. >> So on that night, what happens?
>> Matt had gotten upset. Uh he had he had gotten his knife out. I remember he would act more like he was possessed.
He would say things to me like, "Matt's not here anymore. I'm the demon." There were times where he would try and
use it on himself. I was the prosecutor who went to the crime scene that day. >> I thought it was bizarre. There was the
insinuation that he had done this to himself and he had a stab wound in the back. He couldn't have done that to
himself, right? >> His back. I tried giving him CPR. I tried. >> I just thought that there was a lot of
acting happening where she's dialing 911 and make herself cry. >> I don't do nothing. It
>> was exceptional acting. >> Fantastic actress. She wanted to be in movies. >> A cosplay model is uh basically where
you dress up as like uh your favorite characters. Uh I would do Alvara, Misty from Pokemon. I really loved the
makeup and the props and the costumeuming. >> I am Tooth Thorn Rose. I'm a cam model.
I'm an artist. I love fitness. >> Her content was sexual based. >> She had websites. She had an only fans
page. We were very shocked to find this kind of secretive life that we didn't know about.
>> Who do you believe killed Matthew Trustler? >> Melissa Turner. >> I didn't do what they're saying. I did.
If I'm going to prison, then I'm going down biting. I'm going down telling my side of the
story. [Music] [Music] That's a county fire and he was the office of the emergency and tell me
what's wrong. >> He is nonresponsive. >> I couldn't stop crying. >> Melissa Turner can vividly describe the
moment as medics tried to revive her fiance, Matthew Trussler. I watched the EMTs
unfold the sheet and um lay the white sheet over him. >> Two years later, Melissa still struggles
to talk about the day Matthew died. >> And it was it was when that happened that
I just I couldn't hold in the tears and everything. It was around 8:30 a.m. when Melissa
says she found Matthew unresponsive on the back patio of the house they shared in a suburb of Tampa, Florida.
>> I tried to see if he was breathing and I tried to to start CPR. >> Just a couple hours later, still covered
in blood, Melissa agreed to talk to investigators at the Hillsboro County Sheriff's Office. She says she wanted to
help them figure out what had happened to Matthew. >> I was just saying yes and complying with
whatever was kind of said or told to me. The world around me didn't really feel real in those moments.
>> A lot less glamorous than making it on TV. >> Melissa told the detectives the couple's
day had started off just like any other. They took care of their pets, did house
chores as seen in these previously posted Facebook videos. get up. We got to clean that spot.
>> Spot >> and went grocery shopping. She admitted they were also drinking alcohol
throughout the day leading into the evening. I >> mean, that's what we did. We just we
were there at the house ourselves. We had drinks. He always liked drinking. He was a drinker.
>> According to Melissa, around 11 p.m. she got tired and told Matthew she wanted to
go to sleep. He was still up. I slept on that that big chair that's in my little
office area downstairs. [Music] >> What she saw when she woke up the next morning, Melissa told investigators,
didn't make sense. >> I saw the the kitchen was like I didn't see him outside at first
and I went upstairs and I checked the bedroom and then I came back down again. She says that's when she discovered
Matthew outside on the patio and began CPR. >> You're trying to do CPR and help him.
>> They're hard to see, but Melissa is wearing latex gloves given to her by an officer at the scene.
>> He had you put those on because he was getting things bloody cuz I was covered
in his blood. >> Do you want to keep wearing those gloves or do you want to take them off?
>> I'll leave them on for now. Do you have any injuries on your person? >> No. >> Any scratches or cuts or anything?
>> Not that I noticed. >> The detectives eventually told Melissa she would need to take the gloves off.
>> I have a little cut in here. >> And that's from what? >> Anything from grabbing the glass or cuz
there I know there was the broken glass this morning >> so they could take photographs of her.
Open your hand a little more there. >> Hurt to open it up. Sorry. >> Oh my gosh. I didn't
>> This looks pretty good. >> I didn't even notice. >> Oh wow. >> I had no idea that was there.
>> As detectives worked to get to the bottom of what happened. Matthew's family was learning Matthew had died.
His brother Sean got the call from their mother. >> I got a call that he died in an
accident. That's what they told me. >> Sean called his fiance Jennifer immediately.
>> He's sobbing so hard and just screaming at the top of his lungs. He's gone. My brother Maddie. Maddiey's
gone. He's dead. I'm getting chills just talking about this. >> Shawn and Matthew Trussler were
originally from Massachusetts. In 2015, Matthew followed in his brother's footsteps and moved to Florida to work
with him in the construction business. Shawn, who lost one of his eyes due to a work accident shortly after his
brother's death, says the two made a good team. >> I have worked Maddie very hard. He just
needed to be led correctly. Matthew, or Maddie as Shawn calls him, struggled with substance abuse and was looking at
the move to Florida as a chance to start over. >> He was a really good kid. He worked so
hard. He had the biggest heart. He loved everybody and everything. >> 2 years after his move, Melissa, then
24, met Matthew, 23, on an online dating app. We met on Tinder and I just liked how different Matt treated me. He made
me feel more important. He drew me in. >> In 2019, the couple took a big step and
bought a house together. >> We were excited about the house. We were picking out, you know, paint colors for
walls and furniture. >> But Melissa says a few months into their new lives, their relationship became
strained. Matt's drinking was getting worse. It was just becoming really excessive.
[Music] >> At the sheriff's office, Melissa had been adamant that there were no arguments between the couple that night.
>> We were having a great time. >> Was there anything physical violent? >> He was never violent. He was always
amazing with me. But Melissa didn't know that the detectives had been tipped off
by the responding officer. That Melissa had told him there had been an argument at the house the night before.
>> What were you and Matthew arguing about last night? >> I don't really remember.
I mean, we might have gotten argument, but it didn't seem like anything. Weren't like screaming at each other
that I know of. >> You told us that you guys were there. There's only two of you. The two of you
were drinking. My problem is is I got Matthew on the back porch with >> stab wounds.
>> Stab wounds. [Music] >> Meanwhile, another detective, Ryan Legassie, was knocking on doors and
canvasing the neighborhood for clues. >> As I walked over here, you've got the camera located directly above the
residence across the street here. And what was captured by this camera, police say,
>> would prove Melissa knew more than she was letting on. [Music] [Music] An eyewitness can be crucial to solving
a crime. And just hours into the investigation of Matthew Trussler's death, detectives discovered digital
observers. There was an ADT camera inside the couple's home, but at first glance, it
didn't appear to show any unusual activity. >> Most of our information came from that
camera that's posted up above the garage. >> It was this Nest camera on a neighbor's
garage that would prove invaluable. An unblinking eye trained on the side of Melissa and Matthew's home that recorded
sights and sounds. >> So, I started looking at the footage. Legassie, a detective for the sheriff's
office at the time, saw only darkness and heard the near silence of suburbia until around 4 a.m.
>> I started to hear racketing um you know, things that were sounded like they were
crashing and um so then I, you know, I kind of zoomed in my senses a little bit and then from there I started hearing
voices and then I hear what sounds like screaming, um yelling. Legassi says those voices were coming
from Matthew and Melissa's house. >> How would you describe the tone of the voices that you heard?
>> So the little bit of male voice was tough to distinguish. Um but the female voice was very um very loud. Um sounded
very angry. >> What could you hear? What kind of phrases? >> So I heard um get up,
>> get up, get up. >> I heard so and then there was an explicit die. You heard so die.
>> So die. >> And then I heard um you know it sounded like a female voice was crying saying
what what did I do? >> Legassie immediately reached out to his colleagues who were interviewing
Melissa. >> You said that last night you never woke up at all. >> No, I remember laying down. I remember
waking up in the same spot. Investigators now believe they had evidence that Melissa wasn't telling all
she knew. >> Tell me about what happened around 4:00 this morning. >> 4:00? >> What happened at 4:00?
>> I don't know. That's what I'm asking you. >> I don't know either. >> Why? >> Was there any arguing
>> at 4:00? Not that I know of. I believe I was asleep. I have no memory of any argument at 4 in
the morning. >> But after detectives confronted her with the evidence, Melissa's story changed.
>> I have some video surveillance. They're actually yelling and screaming between a
male and a female coming from your house. >> What we need from you that would probably make a lot more sense is to
tell us what that argument was about. I would say he woke me up and we got in an
argument over that because he was still up at 4 in the morning drinking. >> Okay. So, just so I'm clear, you do have
a memory of what happened, right? >> At 4:00. >> Yes. >> Why were you yelling at him, "Bitch, get
up. [ __ ] get up." >> Actually, a lot of the times whenever he is drinking and gets that drunk into the
hours of the morning, he will just fall over. >> You also said a couple of other things
like, "Stay down. So [ __ ] die. What are you talking about? >> That was me being pissed off at him, but
he fell over. >> You got a slice on your hand. A slice. That's what that is. How did
that happen? >> The investigators again focused on that cut on Melissa's hand. >> It's not from glass. I can tell you
that. >> Once again, her story changed. >> He does get his knives out sometimes. he
wasn't him anymore. >> Thinking back on it, this is from me grabbing a knife out of
his hand and things kind escalated from there. >> Melissa later told us she wasn't trying
to hide the injury on her hand. In fact, she had mentioned it earlier to the 911
operator. >> I have a cut on my hand. I barely remembered, even after mentioning it on
the 911 call, that my hand was sliced open. >> 911. >> A few hours after Melissa placed that
911 call, she was arrested and charged with seconddegree murder with a weapon. Shawn and Jennifer learned Melissa was
in custody for Matthew's murder from his mom, who called Melissa by her middle name, Rose.
>> She said Rose killed him. I remember we stood in my kitchen and he just starts
balling. >> Up until then, Shawn and Jennifer say the couple didn't appear to have any
problems, but Shawn says that Melissa did put a wedge between him and Matthew. >> She was totally isolated, him and her,
from the rest of the world. The truth is like how controlling and manipulating Rose was. Shawn says he hadn't seen
Matthew during the last six months of his life. The brothers had had a falling out after Matthew stopped working with
Shawn at his construction business. >> She took Maddie long before she took him forever.
>> Shawn and Jennifer say Melissa had two sides as Matthew's live-in partner and
as a cosplay model who dressed up in costume portraying famous fictional characters. What is that then? That is
actually from >> Scooby-Doo. >> She made a living by producing and acting in her own adult videos,
>> but it's from a movie clip where she actually is performing um sexual acts. >> And it wasn't until after his death that
they learned Melissa had cast Matthew as her partner in her videos. And I really
feel like uh the pressure and the stress and the fact that it was more and more and more just paid its toll on him.
>> You think that maybe he just didn't want to do those films anymore? >> Absolutely.
>> I think he was done with her. [Music] After Shawn and his fianceé Jennifer found out that Melissa had been arrested
for Matthew's murder, they began an investigation of their own. >> We came across things were pretty
disturbing. Shawn and Jennifer believe Matthew was becoming disenchanted with his role in those videos Melissa
produced. >> I think at first it was okay because he was seeing some fruits from his labor
>> money. >> Um, but I think it got a little much. >> They now wonder if Melissa had been
looking for a partner for her videos when she spotted Matthew on that dating app. People
write little bios about themselves. >> She went out and found someone with all the right stuff, the looks, the body,
and everything that goes with it. >> She doesn't do things without a bunch of research.
>> Cameron Mlega, a former boyfriend of Melissa, met her before she began her career in the world of adult
entertainment. >> She was very artistic, so she was able to edit her own videos, edit her own
pictures, very businessdriven. The two met in 2012 when they were studying makeup effects at Douglas Education
Center near Pittsburgh. Back then, Melissa was running a popular fitness blog after losing 100 pounds. Later
documenting her transformation on social media. >> It kept her accountable. She had this
audience that was incredibly invested in what she was doing and watching her evolve as a person.
In 2013, Cameron and Melissa moved to Florida to pursue careers in special effects.
There, Melissa confessed to Cameron that she had started a second blog with racier content.
>> This was meant to be temporary. This was supplemental. But Cameron says Melissa
soon began earning a decent living doing what is called cam work where she performed in various stage of dress for
her internet followers who paid a fee. >> She was so proud of where she got herself. I used to be this incredibly
insecure girl. Now they're paying me to look at me. He says he began to see a change in
Melissa's personality as her business grew. >> It became maniacal to a point where it
was complete obsession. And it was money, money, money, money, money. And the more and more success that she
found, the more and more unstable she became. She would scream at times that it would pierce your ear. There were
times where she was just unpredictable. Absolutely unpredictable. Sean and Jennifer now wonder if Melissa's
volatility may have escalated an argument with Matthew on the night he died. Did he want out of the adult
entertainment business? >> I think like maybe that night he was like, "Yo, I'm done with this.
>> I'm washing my hands." >> She didn't like whatever he said to her and it made her blow her top.
>> But that's not how it happened, says Melissa. after he was upset with me for wanting to go to bed. But, you know, I
stayed downstairs. His demeanor would start to get darker and darker from there. Matt, he had his knife out. It
was the black uh tactical switchblade. There were times where he would um get really upset and try and use it on
himself. And so, it was common thing for me to try and take a knife away from him. On this night, he didn't want to
let go of the knife. Melissa says Matthew was drunk and despondent. They struggled over the knife, she says. But
after she managed to take it away, she says Matthew grabbed her by the neck and squeezed. A detail she failed to tell
detectives during her interrogation. I thought this was it. I thought he was going to kill me. and
and I stabbed him lightly in the back just to get him off of me. >> She says after she stabbed him once in
the back, Matthew pushed her into the kitchen counter and she hit her head. >> He came at me and that's how I fell back
and hit my head. So, I had a pretty severe head injury. >> But that claim would later be challenged
at her trial. I remembered a few blurry steps towards my office, but that was it. I just remember passing
out, uh, blacking out there. >> She's the real victim. She's the one that was suffering the abuse.
>> John Trevina is Melissa's attorney. He describes the couple's relationship as
toxic, >> particularly since she said it was escalating. His drinking was escalating.
his behavior issues were escalating and it just unfortunately escalated into this very odd incident. I don't think it
is a murder case. I think it is a case of self-defense. >> But Melissa's version of events will be
picked apart by prosecutors Katherine Fand and Chimway Faucet at her trial. >> There's just nothing to support her
statement. She never mentions anything about anyone strangling her or anything until days before trial. You really have
to take that into consideration. >> Besides the audio from the nest cam, the state plans to present video from inside
the couple's home. Remember that ADT security footage recovered by investigators?
Prosecutors believed it didn't show any suspicious activity the night of Matthew's death, but just before the
trial, they discovered they misread the time and date. >> I'll be honest, I misunderstood the
timing. It's not recorded in Eastern Standard Time. It's recorded in Universal Time.
>> And what the video did capture, say prosecutors. >> We're going to show you some ADT videos
>> would undermine Melissa's defense. [Music] He's calmly walking and you can see
she's hunched over. She's yelling. She is angry and upset. [Music] On Valentine's Day 2022,
2 years after Matthew Trussler was found dead on his patio, his fiance Melissa Turner went on trial for murder.
>> All right. >> Melissa had been out on bail since her arrest in 2019. But if she's convicted, she knows she
could spend the rest of her life behind bars. >> It'll be a world of weight off my
shoulders for this trial to just be over. >> The jury will hear nothing about her
videos, her cosplay modeling, and acting out fantasies online. The judge ruled it
wasn't relevant to the case. Prosecutor Chimway Faucet sees it differently. I did think that the jury should have
known that she was an actress and she was able to make herself into this victim type person and then cry on
demand. Melissa's attorney, John Trevina, told the jury that she didn't mean to kill Matthew, that she stabbed
him in self-defense during that struggle over the knife. >> Who killed Matthew Trussler? Matthew
Trussler killed Matthew Trussler. >> He did. He did it to himself because of his actions and his behaviors. His
drinking, his emotional abuse. >> You're saying that Melissa had the right to kill him because he was drunk?
>> No, Melissa had the right to kill him to defend herself from being strangled.
>> But prosecutor Faucet says Matthew had no record or history of violence against
anyone. >> Why do you believe that Melissa killed Matthew Trump? I think she was
intoxicated and I do think that she went far beyond anything she thought she would do. Maybe she was just so
frustrated with his drinking that she harms him so badly that he ends up dying. >> At trial, Melissa decided to take a risk
and testify. She described Matthew as an alcoholic who had exhibited abusive. There were times where he would push me
and punch the walls beside my head >> and unsettling behaviors in the past. >> I had seen him cut himself, burn
himself, stab himself. He would stare off at some corners and he would tell me that there was a demon standing right
there. There were times where he would talk in a different voice. >> Did that frighten you?
>> Goodness, I was terrified. And this was happening on that night. >> Yeah. He just had this little smile on
his face and he said, "What's the matter, little girl? Are you scared?" >> Cuz Matt's not here anymore.
>> Authorities never checked Melissa's blood alcohol level. But Matthews was nearly five times the legal limit in
Florida. >> That level of blood alcohol not only is lethal, it can cause hallucinations, the
demon that we've heard about. But the medical examiner didn't say that he died of alcohol intoxication. The cause of
death is that he was stabbed and he bled to death. >> According to the medical examiner,
Matthew had several small cuts and bruises and a possible defensive wound on his forearm. The fatal injury was not
the stab wound to his back, but from a deep incision on his right arm, which punctured a vein.
>> You stabbed him in the back. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. The only thing that I did was the
back. >> How did he get cut on his right arm? >> I I couldn't tell you that. I have no
clue. He could have fallen into something. He could have done it himself. I stabbed him once to get him
off of me from strangling me. >> Why didn't you tell the police that he had been trying to strangle you?
>> Because I couldn't remember at the time. I complained multiple times about a headache.
>> Prosecutor Faucet questioned Melissa about her memories that returned before the trial.
>> And so today in 2022, you now claim you had some kind of head injury, correct?
>> Um, yes. >> But a crime scene tech testified there was no evidence of a head injury. And
now in 2022, you speak of some kind of blackout. Correct. >> Yes. >> Correct. >> Okay.
>> The jury won't have to rely just on Melissa's memories as they weigh the evidence. There's also that video from
inside the couple's home. Prosecutors say it proves Melissa was the aggressor that night. At 3:38 a.m., Melissa is
seen running towards her office. At 3:42 a.m., Matthew walks past the camera. Melissa follows him.
>> He's walking calmly, unarmed in the ADT videos, and she's following him, hunched
over, angry. >> At 4:01 a.m., the video shows Melissa running from the direction of the
kitchen. She appears distressed. This is also around the time when the camera across the street picks up audio of
screaming and yelling. Then in the next video clip at 4:08 a.m. >> She's standing at a front door and she's
seeming like she's talking to open air and you can see on her hand, you can see the hint of red as she already has the
cut. >> Prosecutors say the cut on her hand occurred when Melissa stabbed Matthew.
They believe he was still alive at that point. Prosecutors say she could have left then for help or called 911.
>> That's not what she did. She walks back to where he is. >> She is not in reasonable fear of of him.
That's what's clear. >> But Melissa's attorney, John Trevina, rejects the state's timeline and
disputes what prosecutors say is seen on that video. >> I never saw any cut on her hand, and I
don't think it shows that. The fighting continues, say prosecutors, because around 4:30 a.m., they say the couple
moved close to an open window and that Nest camera across the street recorded a woman's angry voice.
>> You said 4:33 a.m. So effing die, right? >> No, I have no recollection of that. I
explained my side and why I did what I did. >> You're crying right now. Is that Is that
what's happening? Are you crying right now? >> Do you know what tears look like?
>> Are you crying because you can just cry on Q? >> I'm crying because because my life is on the line right
now. >> Trevina says it's impossible to clearly understand what Melissa is saying on the
nest recording. and a former FBI audio forensic expert, Bruce Koig, testified for the defense how he believes sections
of the Nest audio had been what he called volume enhanced. >> So, it could be that maybe one voice on
the recording was not amplified and that another voice on the recording was greatly amplified.
>> That's true. I find it highly suspicious that Miss Turner's voice is screeching loud, but
when it came to Matthew Trussler, you could barely hear mumbling. >> Prosecutors deny the audio was
manipulated. >> Based on the outside camera, prosecutor Fan says the confrontation ended at 5:11
a.m. when Matthews somehow got out to the pool area through this window. So, the window was actually open, but when
he decided to flee from her, he pushed out the screen and went out the window. >> Prosecutors say by the time Matthew
collapsed by the pool, Melissa would have seen how injured he was. >> He has already bled all that blood in
the kitchen and then gone out. >> She knows that he needs help and she's awake and she doesn't help
him. But Melissa says that's when she returned to her office and blacked out. The argument ends sometime around 5:00.
>> Yeah. >> But you don't call 911. >> 911 >> until 8:45. >> Correct. Because I was unconscious.
One of the last ADT clips shows Melissa at 8:35 a.m. walking from the direction of her office. In the police report, her
hair is described as quote messy, as if she just woke up. >> That was the most demonstrative of her
not knowing he's dead because you wouldn't go looking for him if you killed him.
>> Is it possible that she did pass out there? She's been drinking whatever and had no idea that he was dying at that
time. >> Well, she knew he was dying because she saw him bleeding out. >> As the jury began their deliberations,
>> one of the jurors, Donald Goodwin, was feeling the weight of his decision. How
does the first vote go? >> Two for guilty in the second degree. >> And where were you?
>> Unknown. [Music] [Music] What do you hope the jury comes back with? what everyone hopes for, not guilty.
>> If you have a reasonable doubt about >> February 18th, 2022, Melissa Turner's murder trial wrapped up
after 5 days of testimony before Judge Samantha Ward. >> Your duty is to determine if the
defendant has been proven guilty or not in accord with the law. >> Melissa's hoping the jury will believe
her story about seeing Matthew alive before blacking out. He was still up and and moving around.
>> She says she had no idea of how badly he had been injured. So, the last I remembered of him, he was still up.
>> Isn't it possible that there may not have been really intent to kill anybody?
It's this drunken fight and somebody ends up bleeding to death. >> That's a homicide.
>> And prosecutor Chimway Faucet says this case is really about domestic violence.
He was cut and stabbed and left to die. I think that's the very definition, especially considering that this was by
his fianceé. In Florida, seconddegree murder cases are heard by six jurors. In this case,
two women, four men, one of them, Donald Goodwin. Come on up, Turner. And >> you see a young lady and you're already
like your stomach drops. You're like, Lord, this let me do the right thing. But behind the looks of a young lady,
the truth was coming out quickly. >> Melissa Turner and >> when she went to the stand, I think it
hurt her big time. Her tears were so fake and you can tell. I'm crying because I still remember all those
places, all those plans. >> She was super angry and super sad. Her emotions were everywhere.
>> You were there. >> I'm like, that tells me that's who she is. >> Goodwin, a part-time family pastor, says
those security camera videos were crucial because of what he says was a lack of other evidence.
>> I looked at the videos over and over, the AT videos that's inside the house. I seen red on her hands, but I couldn't
use this as evidence because the camera wasn't crystal clear >> at that point. Do you think he had
already been stabbed? >> Yes. And I think she snapped. >> You don't believe he was strangling her
at the time? >> I felt like she had enough and attacked him. >> And there was one clip of the audio
recording that convinced Goodwin that Melissa knew Matthew was hurt. Then she said, "What did I do?" And I
was like, "That right there tells me you know exactly what's going on now." She knew he was going to die.
She knew it. And yet she called nobody. >> And as for Melissa's claims about hitting her head and blacking out, you
don't believe that she might have passed out? >> No, not at all. There was no evidence of
head injury. publish the verdict and pull the jurors, please. >> The jury deliberated for seven hours.
>> We, the jury, find as follows as to the charge. The defendant is guilty of murder in the second degree.
>> Guilty of the murder of Matthew Trussler. >> I remember Sean squeezing my hand.
>> It was a happy feeling. >> She was inconsolable. I mean, it it was it was very difficult. I mean, she was
crying profusely. She will be taken into custody at this time. >> On March 18th, 2022, Melissa returned to
court to learn her sentence. She talked about what she had lost. >> On October 18th, Matthew lost his life
and I lost the man that I loved. I lost my future and my hopes and my dreams. >> But Matthew's family also spoke,
struggling with both grief and anger. >> Maddie, 25 years old. Wow. So much life still ahead. The life of a
son, a brother, a brother-in-law, and an uncle. Shawn will never see his best friend again. He will never be able to
replace you. >> Matthew's mother spoke directly to Melissa. >> The story that you have contrived has
caused me as much pain as his death. If Matthew's drinking was escalating, it was because of the lifestyle that you
involved him in. It was not consistent with who he was and with the way that he was raised.
>> This jury did not believe her claims of self-defense. nor does this court. >> Still, Judge Samantha Ward offered
Melissa some mercy, sparing her a life sentence. >> Based on the jury's verdict, you are
adjudicated guilty. Sentenced to 20.5 years in the Florida State Prison. >> Melissa Turner will be eligible for
release before she turns 50. >> What do you guys miss about Maddie the most? >> Oh my gosh.
>> Laugh. Probably. He had a great laugh. >> He was a good kid. He was He was just
starting to be a man. >> One life lost, another ruined on a night juror Goodwin says didn't have to
happen. >> Matthew Trestler didn't have to die. They could have walked away from each
other and started a different life. Melissa Turner chose to kill Matthew Trestler.
Do I think it was premeditated? Absolutely not. Do I think she's guilty? Absolutely.
[Music] CBS next. Here was where the body was at. She had lacerations from head to
toe. What happened in room 15? Three people entered and two came out carrying a body. If these walls could talk or if
they could talk, I'd like to hear them. >> 48 hours next on CBS and streaming on
Paramount Plus. [Music] All rise court >> statements show that on March 13th, 2003.
David Lee was killed by a single gunshot wound to his forehead. >> North County 911.
>> Help me. Help me. My husband's hurt himself. The report uh on the 911 call was that he'd shot himself.
>> Gentleman's laying in a bed. Guns laying beside him. Look, look right here. Here's another hole. He's fired more
than once. Look right over above his head there. There's also a shot into the bed, which is a little suspicious in
itself. >> There was more than one shot. And while that's not unheard of, well, it didn't
look like a suicide scene. And the state will show that the person who delivered
that fatal blow was the defendant, Rainella Lee. >> He was shot almost in the middle of his
forehead, but right above his his left eye. >> There were no signs of forced entry.
There were no signs of a struggle. And there was no one else at the residence but the defendant.
>> Can you connect Rainella to that weapon? Fingerprints. Anyone see or pick up the
gun? >> No. to any of the bullets that were used in that gun. >> No. >> That's a problem, isn't it, in this
case? [Music] >> Everything good about this woman was twisted. Everything good about this
woman was turned around to be evil. There's not any real evidence to suggest a homicide. And if I were to pull the
trigger in this direction, I could strike myself the left eyebrow. Am I right? >> Yes, you could.
>> There was only one person who who wanted to harm David. And at that point, it was
David. He was acting suicidal. >> And he makes his decision and he takes aim. >> He's a great lawyer. He's super
prepared. Fantastic lawyer. Fantastic. A bad actor. I just tried to focus on the evidence
and where that was leading me. >> It was hard for me to determine. >> You'll tell me if that's approximately
one foot >> where we were going with certain things and trying to piece those things
together. Decide each line is an individual stain. >> But you're not making a decision just by
yourself. You're making a decision as a group. >> This is a decision never to be taken
lightly. And I assure you that this court takes this responsibility very seriously.
[Music] As a senior judge, most every case that I try is somewhat controversial. Now, in
this case, it's it's kind of simple. If it was a homicide, did the evidence show
that Rella Leaf committed the homicide? >> Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, >> I really could not believe what he was
saying. as he said it. >> You're not quite sure if this is really where this is going.
>> I personally have studied every shred of evidence or testimony just like you have.
>> Oh, I got to breathe. No matter where we think we're going here, that can't be how this ends.
[Music] [Music] 48 hours. The widow on Sway Road. To the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all. inside this courthouse in Knoxville, Tennessee. >> Let the record reflect that all the
jurors are in the box and uh all parties are are are present. >> A real life drama is taking place that
rivals any southern gothic novel. >> I'm Josh Hedrickk. We haven't met before, have we?
>> No, we haven't. It's a pleasure. >> This is not a story that would happen in a sleepy New England town. It's too
southern. >> He would bring her a rose once a week and they would go out to dinner. There
is the gentility. >> With your permission, I'll remove my coat because I had some difficulty with
it previously. >> And underneath that very respectable surface, it seems like everything's rotting to
the core. >> Unless you really know what's inside somebody's mind. If I were to then place
it here. >> You don't really know why they do what they do, do you? >> Best-selling author Diane Fanning has
written about this case and the players. >> This is something that a fiction writer
would write about. >> Give us your name, please, ma'am. >> Rainella Leaf. Rainella Leath, a 68-year-old
grandmother, is at the center of this extraordinary tale. >> Have you decided whether or not you wish
to testify in your trial? >> I do not wish to testify. >> Very well. >> You've got an unbelievable character.
There were people she knew in college who said, "Well, she was great. She was a lot of fun. As long as she didn't
cross her." [Music] And ever since 2003, the former nurse has been the prime suspect in the death
of her second husband, David Leath. >> Help me. Help me. My My husband's hurt himself.
>> It was Rainella's 911 call on the morning of March 13th, 2003 that sent police rushing to the Leaf home.
>> This is Detective Moyers with the sheriff's department. We're out on a uh possible suicide,
gunshot wound. >> These are audio and video recordings made by police at the scene.
>> No sign of a nose or anything lying around anywhere. >> Listen to investigators as they begin
wondering about that death called in as a suicide. >> The gun's laying next to his left hand
which is curled underneath me. We got three fired rounds. What I have a problem with is one is where the rounds
at and the way he's laid. I'm not saying it it stinks. I'm just saying it strikes.
>> Detectives wanted to establish where Rainella had been all morning and she agreed to talk. The only time she's
spoken on the record. She remembers watching television with her husband David that morning before leaving his
breakfast on the nightstand. and he kissed me goodbye and he said, "If I'm not here when you
get back, I'll be at the Y." I said, "Okay." >> It was close to 9:30, she says, when she
headed to the hospital to visit her mother-in-law. >> Just call fourth floor. They can tell
you. When she arrived home shortly after 11, she found her husband laying in a bloody
bed with a gunshot to his head. >> I could feel something was wrong when I looked at him. I mean, I've worked in
emergency room where I know >> where'd he keep his gun at. >> I don't know where that gun is from.
I've never seen that gun in my whole life. >> The gun was believed to have belonged to
David's parents. David's sudden death left Reinella a grieving widow for the second time. Her
first husband, Ed Dosset, had died 11 years earlier. Reanella and Ed met at East Tennessee State University where
she was on the rifle team and studying to be a nurse. He planned to go to law school. What drew those two together?
>> Reella was such a confident woman. She had presence and I think that Ed was really drawn to that.
>> They married and moved to Ed's 165 acre family farm in the tight-knit community
of Soway just outside Knoxville where they raised cattle and three children, Maggie, Eddie Jr.,
and Katie. >> Ranella was extremely protective of her children. They became the power couple
in town when Ed was elected Knox County District Attorney General. Reanella was director of nursing at Park West
Hospital. But their lives took a tragic turn when at the age of 43, Ed was diagnosed with
terminal cancer. 9 months later, he died not from his illness, but in a freak farming accident.
But Reella wasn't a widow for long. Six months later, she shocked friends and family when she remarried. David Leath
was a local barber. And Ed Dosit's best friend and neighbor. >> She fixed his food and start his car in
the morning and she just treated him like a king. >> David's daughter Cindy Wilkerson and his
cousin Beth Roberts say the whirlwind romance was all the talk in Sway. What do you think he saw in Rainella?
>> She's charming. I said to my mother, I thought he had hit the jackpot with this
girl because she was so pretty and so interesting. I just thought this is going to be a great fit.
>> But Reella's newfound happiness was short-lived. Less than 2 years after she remarried, her 11-year-old son was
killed in a car crash. She was very sad and very, very heartbroken. >> Cindy says she began seeing changes in
Reinella and her father's relationship. >> They didn't seem as happy as they were
when they first got married. >> 5 years later, more heartbreak. David was hospitalized. He began seeing a
neurologist for signs of dementia and depression. In early 2003, Reella says David's
behavior became more erratic. Concerned, she began making notes in a private journal. On January 19th, she wrote,
"Dave hateful today. I cried and cried." 3 days later, things hadn't improved. Dave hateful. Controlling. His way or no
way. I cried. >> 7 weeks after writing those words, David was dead. >> What did you think had happened to your
dad? Somebody had shot him, but I knew that he didn't do it. [Music] Do you miss your dad
every day? Every haircut, every styling in the middle chair at this Knoxville barber
shop reminds Cindy Wilkerson of her father, David Le. It's the same chair he used for 39 years.
>> My dad was fun, loving, caring, and it's a joy to use the same chair he did. Cindy inherited the chair in 2000 when
her father suddenly retired at the age of 54. What he kept secret were all those
visits to the neurologist. If he was suicidal over dementia, Cindy never saw it. When Rella said your dad committed
suicide, did you initially think, well, well, maybe he did, but it's just hard to believe. No, I never did think that
my dad was scared to death of guns, and I knew that he couldn't have done that. >> And Cindy questioned why her
right-handed father would have used his left hand to shoot himself above his left eye.
>> He was totally blind out of that eye. >> As her doubt soared, so did her suspicions about her stepmother's role.
And she wasn't alone. Within 24 hours, Dr. Dinka Malusnik, the Knox County Medical Examiner, discounted Reella's
claim of suicide and ruled David Lee's death a homicide. Reella became the focus of attention.
It was clear to David's family what should happen next. >> Investigation, indictment,
trial. >> But it doesn't. >> No, not even close. Remember Ranella was the widow of a district
attorney general. Crime writer and 48 hours consultant Diane Fanning says that was the problem.
>> Almost everybody working in that office either worked with Ed knew Ed or knew
Reinella. There was a conflict of interest. >> Finding an outside prosecutor to take
the Leath case dragged on, making things more difficult. No one could figure out
the motive. >> Murder doesn't always make sense. Cindy was becoming more and more
frustrated. She wanted something to be done about her father's murder. >> With the criminal case stalled in March
2006, Cindy filed a civil suit against Reanella to stop her from inheriting David's estate. Prosecutors took notice.
Three and a half years after David Lee's death, Reinella was charged with his murder. And that's when old suspicion
surfaced about the death of her first husband. Ed Dosset had been found in a field in
July 1992, surrounded by his cattle. He had apparently been trampled to death. >> Did anyone wonder about how Ed Dosset
died? Yes, the reports were an agricultural accident, but some folks in the community had a
problem with that scenario. Ed grew up on a farm. For him to have been trampled by his own cattle, that just didn't make
sense. What's more, folks wondered how Ed, weak with cancer and heavily medicated, even
managed to get all the way from his house to the cattle. >> He died in a way that almost sounded
like something you'd hear on a soap opera. >> Diane Fanning says there had been a
theory going around Sawway that Doss's death was actually about insurance. Rainella and the kids would get a bigger
payout if it was an accident instead of cancer. >> It might have even been Ed Doss's idea
himself. Couldn't it have been? >> It could have been Ed Dos's idea and that's what stopped some of the other
people from wanting to pursue it because if Ed knew he was about to die, but he wanted his family to be more secure
financially, he might have said, "Take me out there. Let the cows trump on me. >> Nearly a year after Ray Nella was
charged with David Lee's murder, the same medical examiner who ruled that death a homicide reviewed a dosset's
file. Dr. Musik determined it wasn't cattle that killed him. It was a morphine overdose.
It was a huge story. The widow of a district attorney general was now charged with murdering two husbands.
>> Reella was now being described as a black widow >> even though she had never gone to trial
on any death. >> No, it was just suspicions were gathering around her. >> Which is why Diane Fanny called her book
her deadly web. Is it possible that Ranelo Leath is just a very unlucky woman? >> Yeah, but coincidence makes me itchy.
Prosecutors decided to try her for David Lee's murder first. In 2009, 6 years after his death, Reanella finally went
on trial. But it turns out that was only the beginning. The jury deadlocked >> 11 to1
>> 11 to1 to convict. The judge was forced to declare a mistrial. >> It was here in Knox County, so it it
wasn't shocking to me. >> A year later, Reella was back in court for trial number two. The case was the
same, but this time jurors were unanimous. Reella was convicted of firstdegree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
>> I felt like justice had been served and I was happy. So were prosecutors. With Rainella behind bars, they dropped
the murder charges for the death of her first husband, Ed Dosset. Never expecting what came next.
I would describe her as lucky. Very lucky. >> After she served six years, Reella's
conviction was tossed out. The reason, the trial judge had been seriously impaired with a drug addiction and was
kicked off the bench. >> What was your reaction when you heard the verdict had been overturned?
>> I was devastated. Couldn't believe it. 14 years after the death of David Leath,
>> call the jury in, please. >> It's now trial number three, >> statements show that on March
>> and prosecutor Steve Crump's turn to try Reella Le. Is there a way to describe
this case? >> Snake bit because what can go wrong will go wrong? [Music] It's May 2017.
[Music] Everyone is ready. The trial, one of the last of senior judge Paul Summer's career,
is set to begin. First to present, District Attorney General Steve Crump in what all sides
hope will be the last trial in this case. >> The person who delivered that fatal blow
was the defendant, Reella Leaf. >> He argues Reella's murderous plan unraveled the moment she fired that
first shot and missed. >> Once she missed, it changed the whole dynamic. She ended his life with that
second shot and then in an attempt to cover up, she fired that third shot to get gunshot residue on him.
>> You're describing a pretty coldblooded killer. >> Yes, that's what I think she is.
>> We'll show you what's been marked previously as exhibit 36 and ask if you can identify that.
>> For the prosecution, the gun, a Colt 38 police special revolver, reveals some of
the most important clues. >> May I step down? Don Carman is a former Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent.
>> Like I say, it's a very old, simple firearm. However, very effective. >> This picture of the cylinder was taken
at the scene. The three fired rounds have small indentations or hammer strikes in the center of the casing. The
unfired rounds do not. >> For each particular shot, it goes to the next chamber.
As you look at it right now, it's going clockwise. >> Yes, your honor. >> Prosecutors say that clockwise rotation
of the cylinder tells the order of the shots. >> The first cartridge fired would be this
one. The second would be this one, and the third would be this one. >> The first two cartridges are from silver
Remington bullets. Fragments of those were found in the wall and David Lee's head. But the third is different. It's a
gold Winchester found shot through the mattress. If that gold bullet was fired last, as the prosecution believes, that
means it came after David Leath was already shot in the head, severing his brain stem. Knox County Medical Examiner
Dr. Dinka Malusnik. Was David Lee in any way capable of any sort of voluntary movement after that bullet
transsected his brain? >> None whatsoever. >> Next, prosecutors turn to the blood
spatter. These round drops of blood on the wall tell investigators that David's head had to be raised nearly a foot
above the mattress when the bullet was fired. The only way that all of this works together is that if Rel is
standing at the side of the bed and she misses with that first shot, and we know
that the first shot was the one that went into the headboard, he raises up. The second shot occurs and he falls
straight back down to where he was found. You cannot lay in this bed and face that direction and get that blood
spatter on the wall. Blood doesn't turn corners. But the defense insists that the same evidence
points to David Leath as the shooter. >> Multiple shot suicides are not impossible. They happen.
>> Reella's team consists of Knoxville criminal attorney Josh Hedrickk along with Rebecca Lrand, a Washington DCbased
lawyer with a background in science. She was taking care of a sick husband who she loved. And for that to get
twisted into what it did is is upsetting. She's got hope that the just system isn't so broken that it won't
eventually realize the truth, which is that she's an innocent woman. >> With no clear motive presented by the
state, the defense starts with those three shots. >> Each and every one of these shots could
have been accomplished by David Leaf himself. and then raises doubts to Don Carman about the order of those three
shots. >> You don't know for certain whether the gun was opened or the cartridges
manipulated prior to that photo being taken? >> I do not. >> And as a result, you're unable to say
with any degree of scientific certainty what order the shots were fired in. >> That's correct. Because in my
discipline, they would be not testable. But even if the prosecution's order of shots is correct, Kentucky State Medical
Examiner and defense consultant Dr. Greg Davis says David Leath still could have
been the shooter. >> I'll give it to you. It's unusual. But to say because of that it has to be a
homicide, I just can't go that far. There is a phenomenon called cataaric spasm where a person can actually their
hands can squeeze immediately upon death. >> What would you have ruled this? >> I would have ruled this undetermined
>> which is what he believes Dr. Musnik should have done in this case. Remember within 24 hours of David Lee's death,
Dr. Malucus called it a homicide. She had not yet seen records from his neurologist or received a complete
medical history. >> Didn't have toxicology, didn't have ballistics, didn't have medical records.
It went from, "Can we figure out what happened?" to, "Can we prove this was a homicide?"
>> In a previous trial, Dr. Malusk testified that medications found in David's system would have rendered him,
and I quote, incapacitated. In other words, he would have been unable to kill himself. But in trial
number three, Dr. Musnik did not repeat that claim. I'm glad that she reassessed
and didn't try to make the same claims about toxicology at the third trial, but it's 6 years too late for my client.
>> Dr. Malusnik declined 48 hours request for an interview, but in Reinella's third trial, she stands firm that David
Lee's death was a homicide. >> I was very confident and um 14 years later, I'm even more so confident. Yes.
>> Dr. Davis, can you say unequivocally that she didn't kill her husband? >> No, I cannot. But there's not enough
evidence to say she did it. >> Right. As a forensic pathologist, at least on the evidence that I've been
privy to, there's no way on earth I think she's guilty. >> But there is information Dr. Davis was
not privy to. >> If anybody has any doubts as to whether David was murdered by Renella, maybe
they need to talk to Steve Walker. Well, >> I see a killer cuz she tried to kill me.
[Music] In a final and dramatic attempt to convince a jury of suicide, the defense
brings the blood stained bed to the courtroom, still preserved. >> If the record could reflect, I'm
pointing to the hole in the middle of the headboard. Defense forensic expert Celia Hartnett.
>> I've marked the portion where >> shows jurors how David Leath could have fired all three shots.
>> If I were to lie in bed and I were to aim at my head and pull the trigger and
miss high and create this. >> Yes. >> And then frustrated that I've missed sat up and pulled the trigger. It would
enter my head here. Yes. >> And then if I fell and my hand squeezed again, it would be consistent with this
direction. >> Uh not just with the direction, but also with the distance. >> We're not saying we know exactly what
happened. We're just saying we know there are multiple ways that all of this makes sense that don't have anything to
do with a homicide. There was only one person who who wanted to harm David. And at that point, it was
David. He was acting with his physicians suicidal. >> He's becoming useless. >> And a proud man doesn't want to be
useless. >> But for the prosecution, the most incriminating evidence isn't at the
crime scene. It's at the barber shop where Reinella called Cindy Wilkerson on the morning of
the shooting. Reella had already left David at home. She made the call from Park West
Hospital where she was visiting David's mother. >> She asked me if I had seen my dad and
that he had went to work out on an empty stomach. >> Was that normal? >> No. She never called me at work.
>> That was the first indication on March 13th, 2003 that anything was unusual about David
Lee. The prosecution says the call was part of Reella's elaborate alibi to prove she
wasn't at home with David, but they say she miscalculated. Remember, Reanella told police she put
breakfast by the bed and left the house around 9:30. She made the call to Cindy just 20
minutes later. >> There would have been no reason to say, "Have you seen him?" There would have
been no reason to ask if he'd worked out. And there certainly would have been no reason to say he didn't eat his
breakfast because there's no way she could have known that unless she had been there. And unless the only reason
she knew he hadn't eaten breakfast was because he was dead. >> Have you seen your father today?
>> That's the question the prosecution once burned into juror's minds as both sides
make their final case. >> It's the only explanation. Reinella Leaf is guilty of the firstdegree
premeditated homicide of David Lee. >> We can't say that the facts exclude the theory that David Leath shot himself as
I demonstrated for you. Be as diligent as you have been since we started and to return a verdict of not guilty. Murder
David Le. >> As all eyes turn to the jury, there are things about Reella Le they'll never
hear. They don't know about Ed Dosset. And they don't know about Steve Walker. >> I'm a crouton on a real big salad here.
And this is a big salad in this town. >> Steve Walker's ex-wife was Ed Dosset's secretary. Their relationship, as it
turns out, was more than just professional. In 1995, 3 years after Ed's death, Steve found
out during divorce proceedings that the son he raised was actually Ed Doss's biological child. It came as a terrible
shock to Steve and Reella. I mean, in some ways, you felt that you were on her side.
>> Uh, Reella, yes. I thought we was on the same team. >> He could not have been more wrong.
According to a police report filed by Rainella on the morning of May 26 of that year, she found Steve quote acting
psychotic near Ed's grave on the farm. Probably trying to piss on my husband's grave.
>> She told police she began firing warning shots into the ground to chase him away
and that Steve then took the weapon and fled on foot. But when Steve filed his own report, he
told a very different story. He says that same morning, Ranella picked him up at the auto shop where he
works and drove him to the farm to talk about the affair. >> Till I seen the gun, we was as friendly
as me and you right now. >> When they got to Rella's barn, Steve says she suddenly pulled out a revolver.
In a police interview, Steve told investigators Ranella then said, "I'll kill you, son of a [ __ ] Then I'll
raise the sun." >> She had a tail around her hands and she comes up with it and starts shooting.
>> But the former marksman missed. >> Steve started running but tripped and fell.
>> I'm defenseless. She said, "I used to be a better shot than there, but I can hit
you from here." And she aimed that gun and I closed my eyes. She pulled the trigger. I I knew I
was gone. >> But the gun >> click >> was out of bullets. >> There's no doubt in my mind if she
hadn't run out of bullets, I'd be dead. >> The police believed Steve Walker's story. And Reinella was arrested and
charged with attempted murder, but she took a deal and plead guilty to a lesser charge of assault. After six years, her
record was cleared. Why would she plead guilty? >> It's the same thing I would have told
her is this is a plea that will get expuned. There is no jail time. Take this deal and walk away.
>> Reella Leaf did walk away. >> And I thank you for your time and attention. and Miss Lee, thanks you for
your time and attention. >> 22 years later, she's hoping to walk away again. >> But as the jurors are ready to have
their voices heard as jurors, you are the ones that will decide the case. >> Something happens that no one sees
coming. If you can picture like a cartoon, you know, of someone's jaw hitting the floor,
[Music] >> I really really tried to pay attention and and took notes, so I was really
looking forward to deliberating. >> With her daughter by her side, Reella Le arrives at court for the final time. Let
the record reflect that all parties are present in the courtroom, including the defendant
>> before the jurors can decide her fate. There's just one more piece of business.
>> If it please the court, >> it's a defense motion called a rule 29. >> Pursuant to rule 29,
>> a routine request made in nearly every trial to throw out the case for lack of
evidence. In most cases, the judge simply denies the motion and gives the jurors the
case. >> Only two words are required. Either motion granted or motion denied. >> But then, like so many times in the
story of Reel Le, something completely unexpected happens. >> In short, the state has failed to meet
their burden. The defendant's motion for judgment of a quiddle is granted. The defendant, Rainella Leaf, is not guilty.
The case against Reella Leaf is dismissed. >> Not guilty. The judge on his own acquits Reel Le of
murder after 14 years of suspicion, six years behind bars, and three hardfought trials. Just like that, it's
all over. As the defense celebrates, >> she's free. She's done. The end. >> David Lee's daughter, Cindy, sits
stunned. The prosecution does, too. >> I don't understand it. I don't have an explanation.
>> And under Tennessee law, there's no appeal either because the judge made his extremely rare decision before the jury
began deliberations. >> Put your money. These jurors, initially shocked, become angry.
>> We were just used. I mean, they just used us as set pieces pretty much. >> If Judge Summers was so convinced that
he was right about the evidence, why not let us deliberate it? >> And how do you explain that?
>> I can't. Only Judge Summers can. >> So, we asked Judge Summers, now retired, to make his case to 48 hours. and he
agreed >> strictly based on the evidence that I heard on both sides, but particularly on
the state side, if I'd have been the district attorney general, I would not have brought the case to trial.
>> Did you choose to do this? To end this case, to finally end this case? >> Yes,
>> you did. >> I did. When I realized the evidence was legally insufficient, I decided to end
this case by doing my job and granting the motion for judgment of a quiddle. Judge Summers believed that there was
enough evidence for the jury to decide a homicide may have occurred, but he was convinced the prosecution didn't meet
its burden to prove that Reella Le had the time or the opportunity to commit it.
>> There was no gunshot residue found on her clothes or around her. Uh she had an
alibi that the state could not prove the time of death. the evidence was clearly
insufficient to show that she was the perpetrator of the crime. And finally, the the there was no evidence to show
that she was even the last person ever to see David Le alive. >> If you were so sure that there wasn't
enough evidence for the jury to convict her beyond a reasonable doubt, wouldn't the jury have come to the same
conclusion? I was simply doing my job, not trying to pass the book to the jury. >> Judges sometimes make these
extraordinary decisions when they fear jurors might be swayed by emotion and not evidence. And that may have been a
factor in this case. While we will never know for sure what the whole jury would
have done, we have a clue. >> If you had gotten to vote, how would you have voted?
>> Guilty. >> How would you have voted? >> Guilty. How would you have voted? >> Guilty.
>> Do you feel Rayel Le got away with murder? >> I absolutely feel she got away with
murder. >> For William Mcichael, Jesse Caps, and Michael Persano, it was the gun that
pointed to Rainella as the killer. >> There's no way David Lee fired that third shot.
>> And you don't believe the defense witness who said, "Well, you can have this spasm after death that pulled the
trigger the third time." >> That's fantasy. What most convinced you, Jesse, that this wasn't just a murder,
but that Rainella Leaf was the one who killed her husband. >> When Joshua Hedrickk was sitting on that
bed and he was twirling that cylinder on that gun, a burden to my family, it was just so
corny. >> A proud man doesn't want to be a burden. >> It was fake. He was trying so hard.
After that, I was like, "All right, this they're trying so hard that it's so obvious now." It wasn't just these
three. They say shortly after the judge's decision, a majority of jurors gathered near the courthouse and came to
the same conclusion. >> Admittedly, they did not deliberate, but they would have found her guilty.
>> Um, >> does that make it worse? >> Yeah, I guess so in some ways, but in another sense, it tells me I did the
right thing. And more importantly, our work as trial attorneys was spot on. >> For David Lee's family, it's little
consolation. >> He stole that verdict from the family, from the prosecution, from the jury. It was a theft.
>> Some in this town will always call her a black widow. But for Reanella Le, none
of that matters. >> How do you feel, >> Reella? How do you feel? Do you want to talk to us?
>> Because as she leaves courtroom number two, >> how are you doing, Rainella? >> You guys weren't worried about her
before, so leave her alone now. >> She walks away a free woman. >> Do you have anything?
>> Leave my mom alone. >> Did it cross your mind you might be letting a killer go free?
>> You know, there's a difference between being not guilty and being innocent. If
the state does not prove its case, they are found not guilty. doesn't say that they're innocent.
>> So, you're not saying that Rainella leaf is innocent. You're saying not guilty.
>> There are two entities of which I'm aware that know the answer to that question.
One is the good lord above and the other one is the defendant Rela le. [Music]

"48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty compiles cases involving furious partners. Watch the YouTube mini-marathon, which includes "Reality Kills," "Melissa Turner's Closing Act" and "The Widow on Solway Road."

00:00 Reality Kills 41:34 Melissa Turner's Closing Act 1:23:40 The Widow on Solway Road

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Victoria Rickman and Melissa Turner face murder charges after claiming self-defense against abusive partners; both cases highlight domestic violence complexities.

Key points

A Troubling Investigation. Detective Benton uncovers inconsistencies in the self-defense claim of Victoria Rickman.
Trial Begins for Victoria Rickman. Victoria faces life in prison for the murder of Will Carter Jr.
Shocking Text Messages. Text messages reveal escalating tensions between Victoria and Will before the incident.
Verdict Announcement. The jury delivers a swift verdict after deliberation, finding Victoria guilty.
A Night of Drinking. Melissa and Matthew spent the day drinking, leading to a tragic night.
Melissa's Arrest. Melissa is arrested and charged with second-degree murder after Matthew's death.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I'm innocent of the charges that are alleged against me.

Victoria maintains her innocence during the video call.

12:54WatchAug 30, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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