July 14, 2026

Thomas Stein Sentenced to Life Plus 45 in Kayla Rincon-Miller's Murder, the Bridegan Murder-for-Hire Fight Over the Widow's Phone, and a WD-

Thomas Stein Sentenced to Life Plus 45 in Kayla Rincon-Miller's Murder, the Bridegan Murder-for-Hire Fight Over the Widow's Phone, and a WD-

A three-case roundup. In Lee County, Florida, eighteen-year-old Thomas Stein was sentenced to life in prison plus 45 years after a jury convicted him of first-degree felony murder in the 2024 shooting death of fifteen-year-old Kayla Rincon-Miller, who was walking to get food with two friends after a movie when prosecutors say Stein and a co-defendant stopped to rob them; because Stein was sixteen at the time, the life sentence carries a review after fifteen years. Whether Stein fired the fatal shot is disputed — he maintains he did not — but Florida's felony murder law does not require it. In Jacksonville, Shanna Gardner and Mario Fernandez Saldana, who have pleaded not guilty in the alleged murder-for-hire killing of Gardner's ex-husband Jared Bridegan, were in court as Gardner's defense sought access to the phone of Bridegan's widow, Kirsten; prosecutors called it a fishing expedition. Trials begin in August. And in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Phyllis Palazzola was indicted on attempted murder and related charges after a longtime friend alleged Palazzola tried to subdue her with a WD-40-soaked rag over an unpaid $180,000 loan; Palazzola has not entered a plea and is due for arraignment July 21st. This episode describes a stated plan of murder-suicide; if you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7.

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WEBVTT

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Caalaroga Shark Media. Good morning. This is Daily Crime Injustice.

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I'm Garrett Fisher and it's Tuesday, July fourteenth, twenty twenty six,

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last Friday, in a courtroom in Fort Myers, Florida, and

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eighteen year old stood up, prying and asked the judge

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for one thing before the deputies took him away. Could

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he hug his family? And the judge looked at him

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and said, no, you can say goodbye, but there will

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be no physical contact. And in about a minute we're

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going to talk about that no, because a lot of

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people are going to hear that headline and feel something

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about it. But before we do, I want you to

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hear another name, because she's the reason anybody was in

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that room at all. Kayla ringcon Miller, fifteen years old.

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She went to the movies with two friends, and she

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was walking to get something to eat afterward, and she

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never made it home. Nobody offered k a goodbye, So

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keep her in your head while we go through this one,

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because I intend to. Then we're going to Jacksonville, where

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the woman accused of hiring a hitman to kill her

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ex husband is now in a fight over his widow's

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cell phone, and the prosecutors have a word for what

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the defense is doing. And we're going to close in

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Massachusetts with one of the stranger attempted murder cases you're

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going to hear this year, A friend alone and a

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rag soaked in WD forty three cases. Let's get into it.

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Here's where things stand as of this recording. In Lee County, Florida,

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eighteen year old Thomas Stein has been sentenced to life

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in prison plus forty five years after a jury convicted

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him of first degree felony murder in the twenty twenty

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four shooting death of fifteen year old Kayla Rink and Miller.

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Because Stein was sixteen at the time, his life sentence

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is guaranteed a review after fifteen years, but the additional

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forty five years would still remain. In Jacksonville, SHAWNA Gardner

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thirty nine, and her husband Mario Fernandez Saldana, thirty eight,

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have pleaded not guilty to charges that they orchestrated the

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twenty twenty two murder for higher killing of Gardner's ex

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husband Jared Bright. Again. On Monday, Gardner's defense was in

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court fighting for access to the phone of Bridgin's widow

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Kirsten and prosecutors are calling it a fishing expedition. And

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in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Phyllis Palazzola has been indicted on charges

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of attempted murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon,

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and intimidating a witness after a longtime friend alleged that

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Palazzola tried to kill her with a w D forty

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soaked rag over an unpaid loan. Palazzola is due to

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be arraigned on July twenty first. Everyone charged in these

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cases is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Let's

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take them one at a time, story one the hug

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and the girl who never got one. Let's start with Kayla,

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because she deserves to be more than a head line

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about somebody else's tears. Kayla ringcon Miller was fifteen years

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old on the night of March seventeenth, twenty twenty four.

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She was doing the most ordinary thing a fifteen year

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old can do. She was out with two friends. They'd

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been to a movie in Cape Corral, and they were

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walking to get something to eat afterward, on foot down

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a road at night, the way kids do when they

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think they've got the whole evening ahead of them. They

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didn't know they'd already been picked out. Prosecutors say two

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sixteen year olds, Thomas Stein and a friend named Christopher Horn,

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had spent that night cruising parking lots in an suv

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that Stein's mother had rented, trying car doors, looking for

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something to steal, and at some point they stopped looking

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at cars and started looking at people. Three girls walking

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alone in the dark. Prosecutors say Stein drove past them,

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flashed his high beams into their faces, and then stopped

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the vehicle so they could rob them. And in the

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middle of that robbery, a gun went off at close range.

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The bullet hit Kayla in the chest. Steininhorn took off.

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Kayla's two friends stayed and tried to save her life.

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A Cape Coral police officer got there within minutes and

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tried too, And here's the detail that stays with you.

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When that officer reached her, Kayla was still conscious, and

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she told him she didn't know the person who shot her.

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She had no idea she was a stranger to the

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people who decided she was a target. She died a

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short time later at the hospital. The Cape Coral Police

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department worked the case and identified both teenagers. Prosecutors moved

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the case out of juvenile court and into adult court,

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and a grand jury indicted both sixteen year olds for

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first degree felony murder. Now, felony murder is a specific thing,

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and it matters here, so let me be honest with

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you about it. Under felony murder, if someone dies during

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a violent felony you're committing, like an armed robbery, you

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can be convicted of murder whether or not you personally

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pulled the trigger. That's the law, and that's what the

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jury of applied, and that trigger question is genuinely disputed.

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Stein's co defendant, Christopher Horn, took a plea deal, pleaded

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guilty to second degree murder and attempted robbery, got twenty

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five years, and agreed to testify against Stein. Horn and

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another witness told the court that it was Stein who

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fired the shot. Stein has always said otherwise. He took

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the stand at his own trial and said he was there,

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but that someone else pulled the trigger, that his role

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was driving and fleeing. The jury didn't buy his version.

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In May, they convicted him, and because of how felony

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murder works, even his own account, the one where he

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isn't the shooter, still leaves him legally responsible for Kayla's death,

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which brings us to Friday and the sentencing. And before

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we get to the man who wanted a hug, we

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listened to the girls who lived. Emma Wright was walking

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with Kayla that night and she told the court that

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in the aftermath she got buld, blamed, discouraged, as if

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surviving were something to answer for. And Luene de Jay,

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the third girl, said something I haven't been able to shake.

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She said, she feels like she's trapped in a coma.

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She can't wake up from suffocating, but somehow still expected

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to keep living. That's what this took from the people

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it didn't kill. Prosecutors asked Judge Nick Thompson for the

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maximum life in prison. They told the court Stein was

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the driver, that he'd armed the group, that he was

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the one who spotted the targets, that he had a

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prior record for breaking into cars, that he was, in

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their words, the bad influence. The defense asked for twenty

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five years, the same number Horn got, and Stein testified.

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He apologized. He said the decision to get behind the

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wheel that night was a total act of selfishness, that

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he's ashamed of it every day. He said he didn't

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know a robbery was going to happen, but that it

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doesn't change the result, doesn't change the fact that a

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life was taken. And then at the very end he

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made his ask, not for a specific sentence, He asked

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the judge if before he walked out of that courtroom

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he could give his family a hug, and Judge Thompson

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said no, immediately. You can say goodbye, but you can't

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have any physical contact. Then he sided with the prosecution

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life in prison for Kayla's murder, and on top of that,

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fifteen years on each of three separate counts, stacked one

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after another, another forty five years. Because Stein was sixteen,

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the law guarantees him a review of the life sentence

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after fifteen years. His attorney stood up and pointed out

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that even if some future court decides Stein has been rehabilitated,

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he'll still have forty five more years to serve. And

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the judge said he'd thought about it and he was

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leaving it exactly as ordered. So here's the honest part.

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There's a real conversation to have about sentencing a sixteen

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year old to what is functionally the rest of his life.

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Kids' brains aren't finished. The law recognizes that, which is

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why he gets that review at all. Reasonable people can

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argue about whether life plus forty five for someone who

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was sixteen and says he wasn't the shooter is justice

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or whether it's just math designed to make sure a

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review never means anything. I'm not gonna pretend that's a

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simple question, because it isn't. But I keep coming back

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to the hug, because a hug is a small mercy,

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a moment of human comfort before something hard. And the

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reason we were all in that room is that Kayla

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Rinkin Miller doesn't get any more of those, not one.

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Her mother doesn't get to hug or goodbye. Kayla told

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a police officer with a bullet in her chest that

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she didn't even know the person who did this to her.

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So when I hear that the hardest moment of Thomas

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Stein's day was being told no, I think about the

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goodbye Kayla never got to say to anybody. That's not

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the judge being cruel. That's just the shape of what

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was lost. Our second story is one of the most

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closely watched murder cases in the country right now and

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this week it turned into a fight over a phone.

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But before we get to the phone, you need to

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know the man at the center of it, because it's

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easy to lose him in all the legal maneuvering. Jared

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Bridgin was thirty three years old. He was a design

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manager at Microsoft, a father of four. On the evening

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of February sixteenth, twenty twenty two, he did something completely routine.

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He dropped his two older children, twins he shared with

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his ex wife, off at her home in Jacksonville Beach,

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Florida after dinner, and then he started driving home to

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Saint Augustine with his two year old daughter, Bexley, buckled

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into the back seat. On a one way street, he

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came up on a tire lying in the road blocking

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his way, and Jared did what almost anyone would do.

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He stopped and he got out to move it. Police

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say that tire was placed there on purpose to make

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him stop, and when he stepped out of that vehicle,

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he was shot and killed. Bexley, two years old, was

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in the car. She saw it. Bullets struck the suv

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close to where she was strapped in. She was not

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physically hurt. Take a second with that her father was

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ambushed and killed in front of her over what prosecutors

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describe as a plot, and she was two. Here is

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who is charged, and here is the part where I

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need you to hold the line with me on the

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presumption of innocence because it matters. Prosecutors say this was

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a murder for hire. They've charged three people, SHAWNA Gardner,

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Jared's ex wife now thirty nine, Mario Fernandez Saldana, Gardner's

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current husband, thirty eight, and Henry Tennan sixty five, the

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man they allege was the gunman, the one they say

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planted that tire and pulled the trigger. All three have

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pleaded not guilty. Every one of them is presumed innocent,

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and nothing I'm about to describe changes that. The ten

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piece is important and it's a moving target, so let

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me be careful with it. Back in twenty twenty three,

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Henry Tennant pleaded guilty to second degree murder, admitted he

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was the trigger man, and agreed to testify against Gardner

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and Fernandez Saldana as part of a deal. Then, earlier

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this year, he changed his mind. He withdrew that guilty

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plea he recanted called his earlier statements false pleaded not

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guilty to everything and said he will not testify. His

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own trial isn't scheduled until twenty twenty seven, so the

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man who once confessed is now denying all of it,

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and a jury may never hear a word of that

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old confession against the people he once pointed to. Prosecutors

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also announced last November that they're no longer seeking the

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death penalty against Gardner and Fernandez Saldana, a decision made

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with the support of Bright against family. The trials are

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close now. Fernandez Saldana goes first, with jury selections set

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to begin August tenth. Gardner's trial follows right after, with

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her jury selection at the end of August. And that's

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the backdrop for what happened in court on Monday, because

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Gardner's defense has turned its attention to Kirsten Bridgen. Kirston

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is Jared's widow. She's Bexley's mother. She was the one

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building a life with him when he was killed, and

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under Florida law, she is classified as a victim in

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this case, which gives her certain privacy protections. In June,

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Gardner's team won a fight to make Kirsten sit for

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a second deposition, a second round of sworn questioning after

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her first one ran five and a half hours, not

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counting the lunch break. Her own attorney described what that

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first deposition was like. Questions about hotel rooms, the layouts

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of vacation rentals, who wore which bathing suit at the pool,

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questions about her faith, about whether she was a good

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enough member of her church. She sat there and answered

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questions about her husband being murdered. She relived all of it.

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And now off the back of that second deposition, the

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defense wants her phone. They say. The deposition revealed that

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Kirsten has been in ongoing contact with other witnesses, that

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she's exchanged thousands of messages with three of them in

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the month since Jared's death. Two of those witnesses, the

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prosecution points out, are Gardner's own children, whose phones have

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already been downloaded and handed over. The third is a

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witness who allegedly told the defense's private investigator that she

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wouldn't answer his questions without first getting permission from Kirsten

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because she was supporting Kirsten. Now, I want to be

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fair here because the defense has a real job to

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do and a real argument. Gardner's attorneys say they have

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a constitutional right to prepare a defense to test the

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witnesses against their client, and that if the widow is

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coordinating with other witnesses, they're entitled to know about it.

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That's not nothing. A defendant facing the possibility of life

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in prison is supposed to be able to challenge the evidence.

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That's how the system is meant to work. And I'm

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not going to sneer at it. But here's what the

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prosecution said, and here's where I'll admit my sympathies sit.

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Assistant State Attorney Stephen Siegel called it a phishing expedition.

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He pointed out the timing that the defence's investigator showed

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up at a witness's home on July third, a state holiday,

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the day before the fourth of July, two years after

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that witness was first deposed, at a moment when there

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had never been any suggestion of witness tampering. And Kirsten's

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own attorney put it plainly, he said, they just want

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to get onto her phone, to get as much as

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they can, to pick at her, to beat her up

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on the stand, to do anything they possibly can. And look,

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I'm gonna be honest with you. I understand the defense

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is right. I do, But there's a person underneath all

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of this, a woman whose husband was ambushed and shot

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to death while their toddler watched from the back seat.

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She has already sat for hours reliving the worst day

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of her life, fielding questions about swimsuits and her religious devotion,

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and now the fight is over her private messages. Whatever

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the jury eventually decides about guilt, and that is entirely

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for them to decide. The toll this process takes on

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the people left behind is real, and it's worth saying

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out loud. Nobody should have to bury a husband and

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then be treated like the problem. Our last story this

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morning is a strange one, and I'll tell you up

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front that almost everything in it comes from one side,

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from a civil complaint and a brand new indictment. So

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we're going to hold it at arm's length and let

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it stay in allegation, because that's exactly what it is

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right now. The place is Gloucester, Massachusetts. The woman charged

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is named Phyllis Palazzola. This week, a grand jury handed

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down an indictment charging her with attempted murder, assault and

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battery with a dangerous weapon and intimidating a witness. She's

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also facing a civil lawsuit from the woman making these claims.

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Palazzola is scheduled to be arraigned on July twenty first,

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and she has not entered a plea to any of

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this umption of innocence all the way through. According to

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the complaint, this started, like a lot of these do,

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with money. Back in twenty twenty one, the woman says

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Palazzola was facing insurance fraud charges of her own and

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asked her a longtime friend for help paying to defend herself,

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and the friend said yes. She says she wrote Palazzola

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a check for fifteen thousand dollars, then another for twenty

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five thousand, and then in February of twenty twenty two,

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a third check for one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

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Add that up and it's one hundred and eighty thousand

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dollars And it wasn't a handshake. The complaint says. Both

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women signed a promissory note, a real document, that said

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Palazzolo would pay the whole one hundred and eighty thousand

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back by July twelfth, twenty twenty two, and that if

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she didn't, the friend could put a lien on Palazzola's home.

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The complaint says Palazzola never paid back a dime and

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that the friend kept asking and asking, And then, the

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complaint says, on January third, twenty twenty four, Palozzola reached

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out and suggested they meet, supposedly to go to a

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bank together and finally withdraw the money she owed. So

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the friend got in Palozzola's car, but according to the complaint,

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they never went to any bank. Palozzola allegedly drove to

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her own home, and there the complaint says, she took

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a rag soaked in w D forty, held it against

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the friend's face, and tried to knock her unconscious. The

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friend says she got away, ran back to her own car,

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but couldn't stop Palazzola from getting in with her. And

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here's the part that turns a bizarre story into a

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chilling one. The friend, fearing for her life, started recording

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on her phone fourteen minutes of it, and in that recording,

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according to the complaint, Palazzola admitted what the plan had been,

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to sedate her with the WD forty and then to

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drive them both off a bridge so that two people

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would die and it would look like an accident. I

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was going to kill us both. The complaint quotes her

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as saying I figured I'd drive off and it would

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look like an accident that we both died. Now, I

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want to be careful and clear eyed here, because it's

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easy to treat a case like this as a punchline.

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WD forty is a lubricant, it is not a sedative.

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As a plan to render someone unconscious, it is mercifully

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a bad one. But I'd ask you not to file

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this under funny because the incompetence of a plan doesn't

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tell you anything about the intent behind it. If the

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allegations are true, this was somebody who, according to her

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own recorded words, would rather kill two people and stage

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it as an accident than repay a debt to the

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friend who bailed her out. That's not a comedy. That's

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a decision, and it's exactly the kind of decision a

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courtroom exists to sort out, which is where this one

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is headed on the twenty first, So that's your Tuesday.

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Three cases and three names I want to leave you

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with because they're the ones who matter. Kayla Rink and Miller,

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fifteen years old, who was a stranger to the people

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who decided she was a target and who never got

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to say goodbye to anyone. Jared Bright again thirty three,

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ambushed on a quiet road with his two year old

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daughter in the back seat, whose widow is still four

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years later being put through it. And a woman in

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Gloucester who says the friend she loaned one hundred and

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eighty thousand dollars tried to end both their lives rather

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than pay her back. If this episode gave you something

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to think about, do me a favor and share it.

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Send it to one person who follows these cases. The

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way you do word of mouth is genuinely how this

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show finds the people. It's four and I want to

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hear from you on this one because it's a real question.

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If you're listening on Spotify, drop a comment and tell

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me a sixteen year old guaranteed a sentence review after

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fifteen years and then handed forty five more on top

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of it. Is that justice or is it math designed

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so the review or means anything. I genuinely want to

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know where you land. If you're watching on YouTube or

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listening anywhere else, jump in there too. I'm Garrett Fisher.

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This has been daily crime and justice. Look out for

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the people around you, tell the truth, even when it

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costs you something. And if you're the kind of person

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who'd rather hurt someone than make it right, well do better.

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Disclaimer and sourcing, The following is spoken for the record.

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Everyone charged in these cases is presumed innocent unless and

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until proven guilty in a court of law. In the

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Cape Coral case, Thomas Stein was convicted at trial of

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first degree felony murder in the death of Kayla Ringcone

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Miller and sentenced on July tenth to life in prison

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with three additional consecutive fifteen year terms. Reporting on the

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three additional counts has varied, with most outlets and Court

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TV's own sentencing account describing them as attempted robbery with

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a firearm. We have used that description because Stein was

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sixteen at the time of the crime. His life sentence

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carries a guaranteed review after fifteen years. Whether Stein personally

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fired the fatal shot is disputed. His co defendant and

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a witness testified that he did, While Stein maintains he

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did not. Under Florida's felony murder law, a conviction does

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not require that he was the shooter in the Jacksonville case, SHAWNA. Gardner,

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Mario Fernandez Saldana, and Henry Tennan have all pleaded not guilty.

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The murder for higher characterization is the prosecution's theory and

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has not been proven. Henry Tennan initially pleaded guilty and

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agreed to testify, then withdrew that plea, recanted his earlier

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statements and now denies involvement. His trial is not expected

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until twenty twenty seven. Trial dates and rulings described here

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are current as of this recording and are subject to change.

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In the Glocester case, the allegations against Phyllis Palazzola come

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from a civil complaint and a grand jury indictment. They

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are unproven accusations, and the account of events is the

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alleged victims. Palitzola has not entered a plea and is

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scheduled for arraignment on July twenty first. The quoted statements

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attributed to her are as described in the complaint. This

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episode describes as stated plan of murder and suicide. If

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you are someone you know is struggling, please reach out

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to a mental health professional or in the United States,

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call or text the nine to eight to eight suicide

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and crisis lifeline. Reporting in this episode is based primarily

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on Court TV, corroborated with Wink News, the Cape Coral

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Breeze News for Jacks, First Coast News, The Florida Times Union,

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and other outlets. Daily Crime and Justice is a production

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of Calaroga Shark Media. Nothing in this program is legal advice.