"WIFE POISONER GUILTY, MADELEINE MCCANN SUSPECT WALKS FREE & LUIGI MANGIONE FIGHTS DEATH PENALTY"

0:03 Callarogus Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Red Carter. Tuesday, September twenty third, twenty twenty five. Today on Celebrity Trials, Herbert Swilley has been convicted of murdering his wife by poisoning her breakfast, then strangling her when the drugs took too long. The jury needed just two hours to decide he's guilty of the slowest, cruelest murder we've covered. The prime suspect in Madeline McCann's disappearance just walked out of a German prison. Christian Bruckner finished his sentence for raping a seventy two year old woman and is now free, while still being investigated for killing the world's most famous missing child, and Luigi Mangione's lawyers are fighting the death penalty, arguing it's cruel and unusual to execute someone for shooting a healthcare ceo. Apparently, shooting someone in the back on a Manhattan street is neither rule nor unusual. This is Celebrity Trials. Herbert Swilley was convicted yesterday of first degree murder. The jury deliberated for two hours and seven minutes that includes lunch break.

1:16 They spent more time eating sandwiches than deciding whether Herbert murdered his wife Patricia. That's how obvious his guilt was for those just joining this nightmare. Let me paint you the picture of evil disguised as caregiving. Patricia Swilley, fifty eight, was diagnosed with early stage Parkinson's in February twenty twenty four. Her husband, Herbert sixty one, saw opportunity where others would see obligation. He started slowly crushing sleeping pills into her mourning oatmeal, just a little at first, then more, then adding xanax to her afternoon tea ambient. In her dinner, Patricia complained about being tired all the time, dizzy confused.

1:56 Herbert told friends she was deteriorating from the Parkinsons. The acution presented Patricia's journal, found hidden in her craft room March tenth, Entry, Herbert brought me special tea again. I pretended to drink it, then poured it in the plant when he left. The plant is dying. She was testing her husband's tea on a houseplant. The plant died. She knew he was poisoning her, but who would believe a woman with Parkinson's over her devoted caregiver husband March thirteenth, entry. I'm writing this in case something happens. Herbert has been putting something in my food. I can taste it in everything he makes. I'm scared, But who would believe me?

2:39 She was right? Nobody would have believed her until she was dead. March fifteenth, twenty twenty four. Herbert got impatient. The drugs were taking too long, so while Patricia was unconscious from the cocktail of medications he'd fed her, Herbert strangled her with her own bathrobe belt, then called nine one one, claiming she'd committed suicide. Said she was depressed about her diagnosis, but Herbert made mistakes, so many mistakes. First his Google searches. The prosecution presented them chronologically, and it was like watching murder being planned in real time. February first, the day of Patricia's diagnosis, Parkinson's life expectancy, Accelerating Parkinson's symptoms Power of Attorney six Spouse, Florida. February fifteenth, Valentine's Day. How much ambient is fatal? Mixing sleeping pills safe?

3:29 Can overdose look natural? March first, Tasteless sleeping pills, Crushing pills in food detection. How to make someone tired all the time? March fourteenth, the day before the murder. How to make strangulation look like suicide? Life insurance payout timeline remarrying after spouse death, Florida. He was already planning his next wedding while planning his wife's murder. The medical examiner, doctor Michael Roberts, testified that Patricia had enough sedatives in her system to render a healthy person unconscious for hours, but the ligature mark showed manual strangulation, not suicide. The angle was wrong, the pressure points didn't match. This was murder dressed up as suicide. Herbert's co worker from Home Depot, James Torres, testified that Herbert complained about Patricia's illness, not with sadness, with anger. Said she was dragging him down, Said he didn't sign up to be a nurse, said he was too young to be stuck with a sick wife.

4:35 But the most damning testimony came from the prosecution's presentation of the insurance policies. Seven different policies taken out over six months, totaling one point two million dollars. Herbert turned his sick wife into a lottery ticket The defense tried to argue Patricia was suicidal, that the drugs were self administered, that she was depressed about her diagnosis. Defense attorney Marcus Williams actually said Patricia Swilley was facing a degenerative disease she chose to end her suffering. Prosecutor Jessica Chen's closing argument destroyed that Patricia Swilley was teaching art classes despite her diagnosis. She was planning a trip to see her grandchildren.

5:20 She was hiding her husband's poisoned tea and plants to test them. That's not someone planning suicide. That's someone fighting to survive against a monster disguised as a caregiver. The jury came back in two hours, guilty of first degree murder, guilty of insurance fraud, guilty of elder abuse. As the verdict was read, Herbert showed no emotion, just stared straight ahead, like he was calculating how this affected his plans. Patricia's sister Sarah was in court. She sobbed when the verdict was read, then said to reporters, Patricia knew she knew he was killing her. She documented it even in death. She got justice. Sentencing is next month Herbert faces life without parole. He's sixty one. He'll die in prison, hopefully wondering if his food tastes strange, if someone's putting something in his meals, if he should test his prison oatmeal on his cellmate. Patricia Swilley was murdered for having Parkinson's, for needing care, for trusting her husband of thirty one years.

6:25 She died knowing he was killing her, unable to convince anyone until her journal spoke from beyond the grave. Herbert Swilley thought he'd committed the perfect murder, slow poisoning, staged suicide, devoted husband narrative. Instead, he's the man who googled his murder plans and killed a house plant before killing his wife. The jury saw through it in two hours. Patricia deserved better than thirty one years with this monster. Christian Bruckner walked out of a German prison yesterday. The prime suspect in Madeleine mac cann's disappearance is now free, while still under investigation for her murder. Let me remind you about Madeleine macann, though. If you don't know this case, you've been living under a rock. May third, two thousand seven Pria de Luce, Portugal. Three year old Madeleine disappears from her family's vacation apartment while her parents dine at a nearby restaurant. The most famous missing child case in history.

7:29 Eighteen years of searching, zero answers enter Christian Bruckner, German drifter, convicted pedophile, rapist, and, according to German prosecutors, Madeleine's killer. He was in Pria de Luce when Madeleine disappeared, his cell phone pinged near the apartment that night, he allegedly confessed to a friend. He's been the prime suspect since twenty twenty, but yesterday he walked free. Not exonerated, not cleared, just finished serving seven years for raping a seventy two year old American woman in the same Porte resort town where Madeleine vanished. That sentence is complete, he's out. German prosecutors say they have evidence Bruckner killed Madeline. They've said this for five years. Yet no charges, no trial, no justice, just a pedophile walking free while a little girl has been missing for eighteen years. Bruckner's lawyer, Friedrich Filcher, held a press conference yesterday claiming his client is innocent, persecuted, a scapegoat for the world's most famous cold case. Christian has never been to the apartment, never met the McCanns, never saw Madeline. This is a witch hunt, a witch hunt.

8:39 Your client has convictions for child sexual abuse, rape and theft. He was living in a van near the crime scene. He allegedly told a friend he knew what happened to the little English girl. That's not a witch hunt. That's following evidence to a pedophile. The evidence against Bruckner is circumstantial but compelling. His phone pinged near the McCann apartment between seven thirty two and eight h two pm on May third, two thousand and seven. Madeline was discovered missing at ten pm. He received a phone call during that ping window that prosecutors say was significant. In twenty twenty, German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said they had evidence Madeleine was dead and Bruckner killed her. They've never revealed what that evidence is. They say it's not enough to convict, but enough to know. Enough to know, but not enough to convict, Then why announce it? Why torture the McCanns with certainty? You can't prove why let the suspect walk free if you know he killed a child. Kate and Jerry McCann released a statement, we are aware of the developments.

9:41 Our focus remains on finding Madeline and learning the truth. We will never give up hope, never give up hope. It's been eighteen years. Their daughter would be twenty one now, an adult. Probably doesn't remember them if she's alive, definitely can't remember them if she's dead, But they keep hoping because what else can parents do. Bruckner is now under administrative supervision in Germany. He has to report to police regularly, can't leave the country, is still under investigation, but he's free living his life while Madeleine has been missing for longer than she was alive. The German investigation continues. They say more evidence is being gathered. They claim charges could come soon, they promise, But Christian Bruckner is walking around Germany today, free as a bird, while Madeleine McCann remains missing and her parents remain broken. Bruckner has never been charged with Madeleine's murder, never been tried, never been convicted, but prosecutors say they know he did it. If you know, charge him. If you can't charge him. You don't know, pick one. This case has destroyed multiple lives, the McCanns, obviously, the Portuguese police who bungled the initial investigation, the British detectives who've spent millions investigating, and Madeleine, who either died in two thousand and seven or has been living some unimaginable life for eighteen years. Christian Bruckner is forty eight years old. He spent most of his adult life in prison for various crimes. Now he's free while being investigated

11:11 for the most famous child disappearance in history. That's not justice, that's bureaucracy masquerading as investigation. We'll be right back with Luigi Mangones lawyers arguing the death penalty is cruel for a man who shot someone in the back. Luigi Mangon's legal team filed motions yesterday arguing the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment for murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, because apparently shooting an unarmed man in the back on a Manhattan street is neither cruel nor unusual. Mangoni's attorney, Thomas Dickey, argued that the death penalty is barbaric, racially biased, and incompatible with evolving standards of decency. Evolving standards of decency, his client shot a father of two in the back while he walked to a conference where were Mangioni's evolving standards.

12:19 Then the motion claims the federal death penalty is applied inconsistently and arbitrarily. You know what else is arbitrary? Deciding to murder someone because you don't like their industry. That's the definition of arbitrary. But here's the real audacity. The defense is arguing that because Mangioni has become a folk hero to people angry about healthcare, executing him would cause civil unrest. They're literally arguing he shouldn't face the death penalty because some people on Twitter think murdering CEOs is justified. The filing states, mister mangione has become a symbol of resistance against corporate health care inequity. His execution would be seen as martyrdom by millions of Americans suffering under the current system. Martyrdom. He's not a martyr. He's a privileged Ivy League graduate who decided murder was easier than actual health care reform. He's not Robin Hood. He's a rich kid with a gun who killed a man with a family.

13:17 The prosecution's response was perfect. Assistant US attorney Jessica Rodriguez wrote, the defendant's popularity among certain segments of society does not diminish the severity of his crime. He executed a man in cold blood on a public street. The victim's job title is irrelevant to the heinousness of the murder. She's right, Brian Thompson wasn't killed as a CEO. He was killed as a human being, a husband, a father, a man walking to work who never made it. The defense also argues that Mangione's act was political protest, not terrorism. Political protest, he shot an unarmed man in the back. That's not protest, that's murder. Protests involve signs and chants, not bullets and blood.

14:04 They claim the death penalty would make Mangioni a martyr and inspire copycats. You know what inspires copycats, not executing murderers, showing them they can kill someone, become famous, get fan mail, and avoid real consequences. Mangoni has received over one hundred thousand dollars in his commissary account from supporters, He gets love letters, marriage proposals, people are selling free Luigi merchandise. He's already inspired copycats. There have been three attempted attacks on insurance executives since his arrest. But sure, let's not give him the death penalty because he's popular on social media. Let's base justice on Twitter polls and TikTok views. Let's let murderers avoid consequences if enough people like their motives.

14:47 The judge will rule on the death penalty question next month. But here's what won't change. Brian Thompson is still dead, his kids still don't have a father, his wife is still a widow, and Luigi Mangoni still shot him in the back on a Manhattan street. Mangioni's lawyers can argue about evolving standards and martyrdom all they want, but there's video, clear video, multiple angles, Mangoni walking up behind Thompson, pulling the gun, firing, walking away. That's not political protest. That's premeditated murder. If Mangioni didn't want to face the death penalty, he shouldn't have committed a death penalty crime. It's that simple.

15:31 You don't get to execute someone then complain about execution being barbaric. That's not how justice works, even in twenty twenty five. That's celebrity trials for Tuesday, September twenty third, Herbert Swilly convicted of slowly poisoning his wife, then strangling her when the drugs weren't fast enough. Christian Bruckner walking free while suspected of killing Madeline McCann, Luigi Mangione arguing he's too popular to execute. Tomorrow. Updates from the David investigation, the siblings who caged children under beds face arraignment, and whatever fresh horror Wednesday brings. Because there's always something, always someone who thinks murder is the answer, Always another family destroyed.

16:16 I'm Red Carter. Patricia Swilley died knowing her husband was killing her. Madeline McCann has been missing longer than she was alive, and Brian Thompson is still dead, regardless of how many people think his killer is a hero. Justice isn't a popularity contest. It's not based on Twitter likes or TikTok views. It's based on facts, and the facts are simple. Murderers deserve consequences, even when they're folk heroes. See you tomorrow,