"WIFE POISONER'S TRIAL BEGINS, PREGNANT MISTRESS MURDER OPENS & LUIGI MANGIONE GETS PARTIAL WIN"

0:03 Calarugus Shark Media. Good morning, I'm read Carter. Wednesday, September seventeenth, twenty twenty five. Today on Celebrity Trials, two Florida murder trials opened yesterday with devastating first days. Herbert Swilly's jury learned he turned his wife's morning oatmeal into a chemistry experiment of death. Josei Sodo Escalera's jury saw the last photo his pregnant mistress sent an ultrasound with the caption our daughter is waiting to meet her daddy. Plus, the Crystal Rogers case gets messier as her alleged killers claim there's no body, no crime, and Luigi Mangione, who definitely didn't allegedly shoot a healthcare CEO, wants his state charges dismissed because the Feds are already trying to kill him.

0:54 Murder trials, missing bodies, and millionaire assassins just another Wednesday in America's justice system. This is Celebrity Trials. Let's start in Tampa, where Herbert Swilley's trial for murdering his wife Patricia opened with a prosecutor showing the jury the most damning Google's search history since Brian Walsh prosecutor Jessica Chen opened with a PowerPoint that should be titled how to get yourself convicted of murder. She walked the jury through Herbert's searches day by day as he planned his wife's death. February first, twenty twenty four, Patricia Swilley gets diagnosed with early stage Parkinson's. That same night, Herbert searches Parkinson's life expectancy, then accelerating Parkinson's symptoms, then power of attorney six spouse Florida.

1:49 February fifteenth, Valentine's Day. While Patricia slept, Herbert searched how much ambient is fatal? Then mixing sleeping pills safe? Then can over look natural? Happy Valentine's Day honey March first, Herbert starts his poisoning campaign that morning, search tasteless sleeping pills, then crushing pills in food detection, then how to make someone tired all the time. The prosecutor played Patricia's final voicemail to her sister from March fourteenth, the day before she died. Patricia's voice slurred from the drugs Herbert had been feeding her, saying, something's wrong with me, Sarah, I sleep all day, but I'm scared to sleep if something happens, tell them to check everything. She knew. Patricia knew her husband was killing her. But when you can barely stay awake from the ambient in your oatmeal, where do you go?

2:46 The first witness was Sarah Mitchell, Patricia's sister. She testified that Patricia had called her multiple times saying food tasted strange, that Herbert had become overly attentive, insisting on preparing every meal that Patricia was a to eat but more afraid to refuse. She said he'd get angry if she didn't finish everything. Sarah testified said he'd spend time making it special for her, made her feel guilty for wasting food when she was sick. Guilt tripping your wife into eating poison. That's a special kind of evil. The second witness was doctor Michael Roberts, the medical examiner. He testified that Patricia had enough sedatives in her system to quote render a healthy person unconscious for hours, but that wasn't what killed her.

3:29 The ligature marks on her neck showed manual strangulation with her own bathrobe belt. The defense attorney, Marcus Williams, tried to suggest Patricia was suicidal, that she'd been depressed about her diagnosis, that the drugs were self administered. Doctor Roberts destroyed that theory in twelve words. Suicidal people don't strangle themselves after taking enough pills to die peacefully. The most devastating evidence came from Patricia's journal, which prosecutor Chen read aloud. 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. The plant is dying.

4:13 Patricia was literally testing her husband's tea on a houseplant and the plant died. That's not marriage. That's a murder investigation you're conducting on yourself. 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? A sick woman accusing her caregiver husband. She was right. Nobody would have believed her until she was dead. The afternoon brought testimony from Herbert's coworker, James Torres, from his part time job at home depot. Herbert had returned to work after retiring, supposedly to help with medical bills. Torres testified that Herbert had complained about Patricia's illnes, not with sadness, with anger.

5:02 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. Herbert was sixty one, Patricia was fifty eight. They'd been married thirty one years. Through sickness and health meant nothing to Herbert except an opportunity for life insurance. The prosecutor ended day one by playing the nine to one to one call. Herbert's voice fake panic, trying to break through, calculated, calm, my wife, she's hung herself. She's been so depressed. I tried to stop her, but I was too late, too late. You'd been poisoning her for six weeks. You strangled her while she was unconscious. The only thing you were too late for was pretending to be a grieving husband. The jury looked sick. Several were taking notes. One woman in the front row kept shaking her head every time Herbert's searches were shown. That's not a good sign for the defense.

6:01 Patricia Swilley was an art teacher, who kept teaching despite Parkinson's because she loved her students. She had years left, good years, until Herbert decided her life insurance was worth more than her life. Day two continues. Today the prosecution will present the insurance policies. Herbert took out all seven of them, totaling one point two million dollars. Because nothing says loving husband like turning your sick wife into a lottery ticket. Now to Miami, where Jose Soto Escalera's trial for murdering his seven months pregnant mistress opened with a text message that made jurors gasp. Prosecutor Anna Martinez started her opening by projecting Melissa Rodriguez's last text to Jose on the courtroom screen. I'm on my way. Our baby kicked the whole drive. She knows she's about to meet her daddy. Finally, Melissa sent that at eight forty seven PM on June fifteenth, two twenty twenty four. She was dead by nine thirty. The baby she thought was about to meet her daddy was murdered in the womb by that same daddy. Martinez laid out the timeline with surgical precision.

7:13 Eight forty seven Melissa texts she's on her way. Eight fifty two. Her car enters the warehouse parking lot eight fifty four, She texts, I'm here, where are you? Eight fifty six. She enters the warehouse eleven forty seven. Jose leaves alone. Melissa never left. The prosecutor played security footage from the warehouse, grainy but clear enough. Melissa walking in, seven months pregnant, moving slowly, one hand on her back, the way pregnant women do, hopeful, thinking she's about to plan a future with her baby's father. Then nothing for three hours, nothing until Jose walks out alone, checking his phone, looking around the parking lot like he's checking for witnesses.

7:56 The first witness was Melissa's best friend, Carmen Valdez. She testified that Melissa had been pressuring Jose to leave his wife for months, that Jose kept promising after the holidays, then after tax season, then after his wife's birthday. Melissa was done waiting. Carmen testified she called his wife on June tenth, told her everything, the affair, the pregnancy, the promises. She thought, if Maria knew, Jose would have to choose. Jose chose all right, He chose murder Carmen had text messages between her and Melissa from that week. June eleventh, Melissa wrote, Maria called me a whore, said I ruined her family. But Jose says he's leaving her now that it's in the open. June thirteenth, Jose wants to meet to discuss the baby. Says he wants to do right by us. June fourteenth, he says he has a surprise for me and the baby. Maybe he got an apartment.

8:58 The surprise was strangulation with an electrical cord. The medical examiner, doctor Patricia Wong, testified about the cause of death, ligature strangulation. The electrical cord was still around Melissa's neck when they found her. Industrial grade, the kind used for construction equipment. Jose ran a landscaping company. He had boxes of that exact cord in his truck. But here's the part that made jurors close their eyes. Doctor Wong explained that the baby, a girl Melissa had named Sophia, would have been conscious for approximately four minutes as oxygen was cut off. Four minutes of a viable baby slowly dying because her father didn't want to pay child support. The defense attorney Robert Fitzgerald tried to create doubt in his opening, suggested someone else could have killed Melissa, that she had other enemies, that maybe she was involved in something dangerous. Prosecutor Martinez's response was perfect, The defense wants you to believe a seven months pregnant kindergarten teacher had secret enemies who happened to murder her in the exact warehouse where her boyfriend asked her to meet. That's not reasonable doubt, that's desperation.

10:09 The afternoon brought Jose's wife to the stand, Maria Soto Escalera, standing by her man despite everything. She testified that yes, Melissa had called her, Yes she was angry, but she and Jose had worked through it, worked through it. Martinez asked, how exactly did you work through your husband having a baby with another woman. He promised to handle it. Maria said, handle it? How? Make it go away? Make what go away? The baby, Melissa, the problem, the problem, that's what Melissa and her baby were a problem to be handled, made to go away, and Jose handled it with an electrical cord.

10:55 Maria admitted Jose had left the house at eight pm on June fifteenth, had to meet a client about an emergency landscaping issue at night on a Saturday. She didn't question it. The prosecutor showed Maria Jose's Google searches from that week child support calculator Florida, Can you sign away parental rights? What happens if you don't pay child support? Electrical cord weight limit. Maria claimed she'd never seen these searches. She shares a computer with her husband, but never saw him googling about electrical chord strength. The jury didn't look convinced. Day one ended with the prosecutor showing a photo of the nursery Melissa had set up, pink walls, a crib with Sophia's name in wooden letters above it, stuffed animals waiting for a baby who would never come home. Then she showed the crime scene photo Melissa's body in the warehouse, seven months pregnant, electrical cord still around her neck. The contrast was devastating. Jose Sodo Escalera sat emotionless through it all.

11:58 Didn't react to the photos of Melissa alive, didn't flinch at the photos of her dead, didn't seem to care that his daughter died with her mother, Melissa Rodriguez was twenty six. She taught kindergarten at a Title I school where most kids lived in poverty. She used her own money for supplies. She was going to be a single mother and didn't care because she already loved Sophia. Jose's landscaping business was failing. Child support for eighteen years would have cost him roughly two hundred thousand dollars. The electrical cord cost twelve dollars at home depot. In Jose's mind, that was just good business. Day two continues Today the prosecution will present Jose's phone records showing he deleted all texts with Melissa an hour after killing her, because murderers always think deleting texts deletes murder. We'll be right back with Crystal Rogers killers claiming no body means no crime and Luigi Mangone thinking dismissal motion's work when you're on camera shooting someone. Crystal Rogers update eight to ten minutes.

13:16 Quick update on the Crystal Rogers case. Her alleged killers, Brooks Hope and Joseph Lawson, are fighting their murder convictions with the classic defense no body, no crime. Their lawyers filed motions yesterday claiming the evidence is entirely circumstantial, that without Cristel's body you can't prove murder. That she could have run away, could be living under a new identity, could be anywhere. Right. A mother of five just vanished voluntarily in twenty fifteen, leaving her children, including a two year old, never to contact them again. That's definitely what loving mothers do. Here's what prosecutors do. Have Crystal's car abandoned on the highway with a flat tire that wasn't flat, her keys, phone, and purse still in the car. Blood in Brooks Huck's barn that matches Cristel's DNA. Huck's brother, a cop, died in a hunting accident before he could testify.

14:11 Another witness was murdered. But sure, she probably just ran away. Joseph Lawson, Huk's buddy, is charged with helping dispose of the body. His motion claims there's no evidence he did anything because there's no body to dispose of. Prosecutor Shane Young responded to the motions yesterday. The defendants want credit for successfully hiding their victim's body. They don't get to profit from their own thoroughness. In concealing evidence. The judge will rule next month. But here's what everyone knows. Cristel Rogers is dead. Brooks Huck killed her, Joseph Lawson helped hide her, and somewhere in Kentucky, Cristel's body is waiting to be found. Cristel's mother, Sherry Ballard, was in court yesterday.

14:55 She's been searching for her daughter for ten years. Still puts up missing posters, still follows every lead, still hopes to bring Crystal home for burial. The defense wants to use the lack of a body as reasonable doubt, but sometimes the absence of evidence is evidence itself. Loving mothers don't disappear. There disappeared. Finally, Luigi Mangoni just got a partial victory that has prosecutors scrambling. A New York judge threw out the state terrorism charges against him yesterday, ruling that shooting one CEO doesn't constitute terrorism against the public. Judge Maxwell Chen ruled that while the murder was heinous, terrorism requires intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.

15:43 Shooting Brian Thompson was targeted assassination, not terrorism. The judge actually wrote, killing an individual, even a prominent CEO does not rise to terrorism unless it's meant to terrify the broader public. The Manhattan DA's office is furious. They'd charge Mangioni with murder as an act of terrorism, which would have meant life without parole. Now they're back to regular first degree murder, which in New York means twenty five to life. With good behavior, Mangioni could be out in his sixties. But here's the thing. The federal charges still stand and the Feds are seeking the death penalty. So while Mangione's lawyers are celebrating this state court victory, the federal prosecutors are shrugging. They don't need terrorism enhancements when they have him on camera committing murder. The ruling has sparked outrage from both sides. Prosecutors say it sets a dangerous precedent that targeted killings of executives aren't terrorism. Defense attorneys say it correctly limits the definition of terrorism to actual terrorism, not just murders that scare rich people. Meanwhile, Mangioni has become even more of a folk hero to the anti healthcare crowd. His commissary account has now received over seventy five thousand dollars. Since the terrorism charges were dropped, people are treating him like he's Robin Hood instead of a guy who shot an unarmed man in the back.

17:07 The judge's ruling doesn't change the facts. The video still exists, multiple angles, clear footage of Mangioni walking up behind Thompson, shooting him, and walking away. You can see his face, you can see the gun, you can see the murder. The state will proceed with regular murder charges. The Feds will proceed with their death penalty case. The only thing that's changed is the timeline. Without terrorism charges, the state case might move faster, but Brian Thompson is still dead, shot in the back on a Manhattan street because he ran a health insurance company. His two kids still don't have a father. His widow is raising them alone. Luigi Manjone thought shooting a CEO would start a revolution against health insurance companies. Instead, it started a legal debate about what counts as terrorism. The judge says, targeting one executive isn't terrorism. Tell that to every every other CEO who's now hiring additional security. The state case continues next month.

18:05 The federal case looms and somewhere, Mangioni sits in his cell getting fan mail from people who think murder is healthcare reform. That's celebrity trials for Wednesday, September seventeenth. Two trials opened with devastating first days. Herbert Swilly's wife tested his poisoned tea on a houseplant that died. Jose Soto Escalera's pregnant mistress thought she was meeting to plan their future, not her murder. Crystal Rogers killers want credit for hiding her body so well. Luigi Mangone wants dismissed because two prosecutors want to convict him. Good luck with that. Tomorrow, day two of both Florida trials, the kiss and kill verdict should finally come down, and whatever fresh horror emerges from America's courts overnight, I'm read Carter. Remember Google searches are confessions deleted, texts on't deleted. And if you poison your wife's tea, maybe don't let her see the houseplant die.

19:04 See you tomorrow,