WEBVTT
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Callarogu Shark Media.
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Good morning, I'm reed Carter. Wednesday, December third, twenty twenty five.
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Three major trials consuming all the oxygen in the courtroom
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this week.
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Let me tell you where we are. Manhattan.
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Luigi Mangioni is fighting to suppress the most damaging evidence
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against him. The gun prosecutors say killed United Healthcare CEO
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Brian Thompson and the journal where he allegedly wrote about
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wanting to whack a health insurance executive. His lawyers claimed
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cops searched his backpack without a warrant at that McDonald's
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in Pennsylvania. If they win, prosecutors lose their murder weapon
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and their motive.
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Hearings expected to last more than a week.
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Charlotte, North Carolina, Michael Jordan showed up for his antitrust
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lawsuit against NASCAR and immediately wrecked jury selection. One potential
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juror said he could couldn't be fair because I like Mike.
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Another said he grew up with Jordan posters on his walls. Meanwhile,
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Jordan's co owner Denny Hamlin broke down sobbing on the
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witness stand, describing his dying father's sacrifices. The three time
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Daytona five hundred winner says NASCAR is a monopolistic bully
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that leaves teams no choice but to lose money or quit.
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And Dedham, Massachusetts. Brian Walsh's murder trial for the death
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of his wife Anna entered day three his defense. She
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just died suddenly in bed on New Year's Day twenty
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twenty three. He panicked, That's why he googled best way
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to dispose of a body and how to dismember. That's
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why surveillance video shows him buying a hacksaw hatchet and
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cleaning supplies. That's why her DNA ended up on those
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tools found in a dumpster. Make it make sense. I'm
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Reid Carter today. Three trials, a CEO killer's constitutional gamble,
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a basketball legend disrupting justice, and the most absurd defense
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I've heard in months. This is celebrity trials. Let's start
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in Manhattan Criminal Court. The people of New York versus
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Luigi Mangione. December fourth, twenty twenty four, One year ago tomorrow,
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Brian Thompson, fifty years old, CEO of United Healthcare, walking
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to the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan Annual Investor Conference
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scheduled for later that morning. A masked gunman approached from behind.
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Three shots. Thompson fell. The shooter fled on a bicycle.
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Five days later, December ninth, twenty twenty four, Altoona, Pennsylvania,
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McDonald's restaurant, Luigi Mangone, twenty seven years old, eating breakfast
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wearing a Beanie medical face mask covering his face. A
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customer thought he looked like the suspect in the CEO killing,
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told the manager. The manager searched online, compared the photos,
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called nine one one. It looks like the suspect. I
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can only see his eyebrows, but it looks like him.
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Two officers approached Mangioni at his table, asked for identification.
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He allegedly said his name was Mark Rosario, same name
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prosecutors say he used to check into a Manhattan hostel
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days before the shooting. Officers searched his backpack, found a
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nine millimeter handgun, ammunition, fake identification, and a notebook. In
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that notebook, according to prosecutors, Mangioni wrote about his intent
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to whack a health insurance executive, described the deadly greed
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fueled health insurance cartel, wrote that killing an industry executive
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conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming. Mangione was arrested,
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charged with first degree murder in New York. Federal murder
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charges followed, prosecutors seeking the death penalty. But here's the problem.
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Did police have the right to search that backpack? This week,
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Mangoni's defense team is fighting to suppress the most damaging evidence,
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the gun, the notebook, some of his statements to police,
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all of it. Monday, the hearings began. Mangioni sat in
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the courtroom, wearing a gray suit instead of jail clothes,
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watched stoically as prosecutors played surveillance footage of the Thompson shooting,
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then footage from that McDonald's, previously unseen by the public,
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showing officers approaching him at breakfast. He pressed a finger
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to his lips, made a fist around a pen in
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his right hand. Listen to the nine to one one
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call from the McDonald's manager describing him sitting there in
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his mask and beanie. Defense attorney Mark Agnifilo argues the
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backpack search was unconstitutional, no warrant, no probable cause. Officers
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didn't have the right to open that bag and dig
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through it. An officer searching the backpack was captured on
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body camera saying she was checking to make sure there
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wasn't a bomb in the bag. Mangione's lawyers call that
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an excuse designed to cover up an illegal warrantless search.
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Here's the Fourth Amendment question. When can police search your
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belongings without a warrant? Generally they can't. There are exceptions
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if you consent, if they have probable cause to believe
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there's evidence of a crime, if there's an immediate safety concern,
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like a bomb. Prosecutors argue that's exactly what happened. Officers
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had reasonable suspicion Mangione was the Manhattan shooter. Checking the
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bag for weapons was justified for officers safety. Everything they
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found was in plain view once they opened it. Defense
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says that's a post talk justification. Officers didn't actually believe
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there was a bomb they were fishing, and they didn't
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tell Mangione he had the right to remain silent before
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asking questions, like when he allegedly gave the fake name
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Mark Rosario. If the judge agrees with the defense, what
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happens the gun gets excluded. The murder weapon gone. Prosecutors
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can't show it to the jury, can't prove it match
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the shell casings found at the Thompson shooting scene.
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The notebook gets excluded.
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All those damning statements about whacking an executive, about the
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insurance cartel, about his planning and motivation gone. Jurors never
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see it. That's the ballgame. Without the gun, prosecutors have
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a circumstantial case surveillance footage of a masked man DNA
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on a water bottle, but no weapon. Without the notebook,
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they have no motive evidence beyond speculation. Mangione already got
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the terrorism charges thrown out in September. His lawyers are
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methodically attacking the prosecution's case piece by piece. This suppression
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hearing is the most important battle yet. Court officials say
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the hearings could last more than a week. More than
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two dozen witnesses expected. Defense attorney Agnafilo told a judge
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last week that Manhattan prosecutors have a lot of explaining
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to do about that McDonald's search. A few dozen Mangoni
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supporters watched from the back of the courtroom Monday. One
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wore a green T shirt that said, without a warrant,
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it's not a search, it's a violation. Another woman held
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a Luigi video game character doll. The support for Mangioni
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remains bizarre. People treating an alleged assassin like a folk hero,
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romanticizing murder because they don't like health insurance companies. Brian
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Thompson was fifty years old, married father of two from Minnesota,
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shot in the back walking to work. No trial, no jury,
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no defense, just execution on a Manhattan sidewalk. Mangioni has
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pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges. His state
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trial could result in life in prison. His federal trial
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could result in death. Neither trial has been scheduled yet.
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First the judge has to decide what evidence the jury
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gets to see. Tomorrow marks one year since Brian Thompson
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was killed. The hearings will continue right through the anniversary.
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Justice moves slowly.
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But it moves.
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We'll be right back with Michael Jordan causing chaos in
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his NASCAR antitrust trial. Jurors couldn't stop talking about their bulls, posters,
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and Denny Hamlin's tearful testimony about his dying father. Welcome
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back to celebrity trials.
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I'm reed.
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Carter Charlotte, North Carolina, Federal Court twenty three eleven Racing
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and Front Row Motorsports versus NASCAR antitrust trial that could
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demolish stock car racing as we know it. Monday, the
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trial opened and immediately descended into chaos because Michael Jordan
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showed up, the sixth time NBA champion, the Basketball Hall
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of Famer, the man whose sneakers still sell for hundreds
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of dollars. He walked into that federal court room and
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sat in the gallery near his co owner Denny Hamlin,
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and jury selection went sideways. One potential juror was dismissed
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because he said he couldn't be impartial. His reason, I
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like Mike. Another juror admitted he grew up with Michael
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Jordan posters on his walls gone. A third said he
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was a North Carolina fan, Jordan's alma mater, but noted
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the Tar Heels football team isn't doing too well right now.
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Jordan shook his head and laughed, even in a court room,
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even as a spectator, even sitting silently in the gallery.
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Michael Jordan is a distraction. His presence alone is enough
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to buy us a jury. But the substance of this
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trial matters twenty three eleven Racing co owned by Jordan
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and Hamlin and front Row Motorsports are suing NASCAR for
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antitrust violations. They claim NASCAR is a monopolistic bully that
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forces teams to accept unfair revenue sharing or get out
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of the sport. Denny Hamlin was the first witness, three
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time daytona five hundred winner, seventeen year NASCAR veteran, and
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he broke down crying on the stand when attorneys asked
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how he got into racing. Hamlin started weeping, had to
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stop and compose himself. He disclosed last month that his
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father is dying. Said on the stand he was emotional
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because his dad is not in great health. We got
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to when I was about twenty and a decision had
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to be made. I could keep racing or go out
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and work for my dad's trailer business. Hamlin's family sacrificed
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everything for his racing career. Now he owns a team,
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and he says NASCAR's system makes it nearly impossible to survive.
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Here's the economics. It costs twenty million dollars just to
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bring a single car to the track for a thirty
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eight race season. That's before overhead, before driver's salary, before
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business operations, just getting on the track. The current charter
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system guarantees team's twelve point five million dollars in annual
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revenue per chartered car. Sounds like a lot, But if
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it cost twenty million just to race, teams are losing
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money before they pay anyone. Plaintiffs attorney Jeffrey Kessler told
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the court that a NASCAR Commission's study found seventy five
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percent of teams lost money in twenty twenty four. Over
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a three year period, almost four hundred million dollars was
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paid to the France family trust. That's the family that
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owns NASCAR. A twenty twenty three Goldman Sachs evaluation found
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NASCAR worth five billion dollars. What the evidence is going
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to show is mister France ran this for the benefit
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of his family at the expense of the teams in sport,
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Kessler argued. Hamlin testified that eleven of the first nineteen
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chartered teams are no longer in business. All three charters
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twenty three eleven purchased came from teams that ceased operations.
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He paid four point seven million dollars for the first
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charter thirteen point five million dollars for the second and
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twenty eight million dollars for the third, acquired late last year,
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even knowing this litigation was pending. The price concerned him.
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But building a competitive team requires multiple charters, and there's
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nowhere else to race at this level. So why would
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these people do this if you are just going to
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lose money because NASCAR isn't giving you a fair deal,
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Kessler asked rhetorically, because you love stock car racing and
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there's nowhere else to do it. That's the antitrust argument.
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NASCAR has a monopoly on top level American stock car racing.
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Teams have no alternative except NASCAR's terms, or don't race.
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The France family extracts billions while teams go bankrupt. NASCAR's defense,
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they built this sport from nothing. The France family built
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NASCAR from nothing. They are an American success story. Defense
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attorney Johnny Stevenson said in opening statements, They've done it
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through hard work over seventy five years. That's the kind
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of effort that doesn't deserve a lawsuit. That's the kind
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of effort that deserves admiration. NASCAR argues the charter system
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created one point five billion dollars in equity for the
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thirty six chartered teams. Before charters, teams raced open with
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no guarantee they'd make the field or earn payouts. The
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current system provides stability. The guaranteed twelve point five million
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dollars per car is an increase from nine million under
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the previous agreement. NASCAR says teams are better off now
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than before, but twenty three to eleven in front Row
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refused to sign the new charter agreements that triggered this lawsuit.
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Their charters are being held by NASCAR. They're racing this
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season under protest. If they lose, their charters could be
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sold to other buyers, including private equity firms interested in
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the sport. The stakes are enormous. A NASCAR victory could
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put twenty three to eleven in front Row out of business,
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their six combined cars gone. Jordan's racing venture. Over a
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victory for the teams, the judge has power to unravel
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a monopoly. Nothing is off the table, ordering a sale
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of NASCAR, dismantling the charter system, restructuring how revenue gets distributed.
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The care has been churning through hearings for more than
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a year. Other NASCAR teams begged both sides to settle.
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A federal judge helped mediate a two day summit in October.
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It failed.
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Now twelve jurors will decide the future of American stock
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car racing, assuming they can stop thinking about Michael Jordan Dedham, Massachusetts,
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Norfolk Superior Court, Commonwealth versus Brian Walshee murder trial for
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the death of his wife Anna. January first, twenty twenty three,
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New Year's Day. Anna Walshey, thirty nine years old, a
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real estate executive, was last seen at her Massachusetts home
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following a New Year's Eve dinner with her husband and
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a friend. Her body has never been found, but prosecutors
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say Brian Walshey, fifty years old, murdered her that day,
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spent the next several days trying to cover it up,
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only reported her missing on January fourth, after her employer
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called because she hadn't shown up for work This week.
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The trial finally began, and Brian Walshey's defense strategy is
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something else. His lawyer, Larry Tipton, told the jury Anna
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just died suddenly in bed. Brian found her un panicked
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when he entered the bedroom and began to get into bed.
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He sensed something was wrong. He nudged Anna, his wife.
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She didn't respond. He nudged her again, a little harder.
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She didn't respond. He nudged her now in a panicked
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and frantic reaction, to where she actually rolled off the bed. Sudden,
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unexplained death. That's the defense. Anna was alive one minute,
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dead the next. No murder, just tragedy. There's just one
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problem with that theory. Actually, there are dozens of problems.
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Let's start with Brian's Internet search history. Prosecutors say that