Sept. 29, 2026
American Idol Murder Trial: Prosecution And Defense Rest, Closing Arguments Underway
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RSS Feed The fate of Caleb Flynn will be in the hands of the jury today after both the prosecution and defense rested their cases on Monday. The prosecution called 40 witnesses over the past 7 days, while the defense chose to rest without calling a single witness to the stand. The former American Idol contestant is accused of shooting and killing his wife Ashely while she was sleeping and then staging the home to make it look like a burglary. While the defense reminded the jury there is no physical evidence linking Flynn to the murder, there is a mountain of circumstantial evidence pointing to Flynn, including from his own text messages. Flynn’s mistress, Alleigha Botner testified to hundreds of damning texts where Flynn repeatedly said he wanted to kill his wife.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Tuesday, September 29th, and Caleb Flynn is accused of shooting and killing his wife, then staging the scene to make him look like an intruder did it all because he wanted to get his wife out of the way so he could be with his mistress. So what, Caleb Flynn, do you have to say for yourself? Apparently, nothing. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. The defense got a chance to put on a case to say something. Robes, they opted not to say a word.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: It was a bit shocking.
00:00:33
Speaker 3: We kept wondering what the defense was going to use for any sort of explanation as to how Ashley Flynn died.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: If not him, then who?
00:00:44
Speaker 3: We heard him on the interrogation tapes pointing to an intruder, some burglary gone wrong. But yeah, they opted to say nothing and to, I guess, test whether or not the jury felt like the prosecution proved their case.
00:00:58
Speaker 2: But for anyone... who watched the trial.
00:01:01
Speaker 3: The way we did, it's hard to imagine they could come up with any other verdict other than guilty.
00:01:07
Speaker 1: Something weird would have to really happen here because you did have witness after witness after witness for a week plus get up on that stand and put a case on saying that this former American Idol contestant, Robes, killed his wife. The evidence... Okay is one thing and they don't have their smoking gun, which is the gun, which is a murder weapon. Robes, he confessed to killing this woman, essentially, hundreds of times in these messages. Robes, this was as damning You cannot. Robes, how do you get around circumstantial evidence that says that there's a message that you tell your mistress, hey, everything's going down tomorrow. I'm going to be freed up. It's going to be all good. This is going to be taken care of on February 16th. You tell your mistress that in message. The next day your wife is dead. Coincidence? What juror is going to think that?
00:02:03
Speaker 2: Agreed.
00:02:03
Speaker 3: I don't understand why he even actually went to trial, why he wouldn't have just pleaded guilty.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: The evidence has been overwhelming.
00:02:14
Speaker 3: And yes, the prosecution called 40 witnesses over seven days, and each and every one of them painted a picture that I just don't think the defense had any chance at overcoming.
00:02:29
Speaker 1: There was one crack they had, Robes, in the They don't have the gun. There was no blood on him. Correct. And there was one other thing I can't remember, but it was so few and far between that they made any headway.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: Exactly.
00:02:44
Speaker 3: And so Monday was the final day of testimony from the prosecution witnesses, and we had two police officers.
00:02:50
Speaker 2: A detective was back up on the stand.
00:02:52
Speaker 3: He's the one, Mike Morgan, who put up the interrogation videos, which we all so love to watch. And so they got to see, the jury got to see, the last part of his second interrogation where... Yes, this detective went after him and said basically, come on, how can you explain? The big question was, so his gun, this gun that's missing that they don't have, the center console where he kept his gun.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: was open and the gun was missing, right?
00:03:20
Speaker 3: And so the detective you see on the interrogation video say, can you explain?
00:03:24
Speaker 2: Because that's a big thing.
00:03:25
Speaker 3: Do you have any explanation for how your gun was used that was in your truck? Somebody broke in and stole your gun and then came back and murdered your wife with it? And you see on the video, Caleb Flynn just saying, I didn't touch my wife.
00:03:42
Speaker 2: I didn't touch my wife. He just kept repeating, I didn't touch my wife. It didn't land.
00:03:49
Speaker 1: And I'm sorry, anybody listening to us or any extended period of time, you know we watch a particular movie in which Vince Vaughn delivers a particular line that we love. And that's all I was hearing in this video.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: I know my truth.
00:04:03
Speaker 1: That's all I was hearing. That no matter what was put before him, he was going to stick to that one thing.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: And he did.
00:04:09
Speaker 3: I know my truth. And he did. The only headway, as you pointed out, that the defense made in cross-examining the detective was saying that none of Ashley's blood was found on Caleb or his clothing, and there was no gunshot residue testing. And the reason why they didn't do this, I thought this was interesting, he told police when they arrived that he got into the bedroom, the master bedroom where Ashley had been shot, within seconds. of the gun being fired because he heard the gunshots and then he said he ran into the room.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: How he never saw this alleged intruder, I don't know.
00:04:40
Speaker 3: Poof. Poof.
00:04:41
Speaker 2: He just disappeared.
00:04:42
Speaker 3: But police said they believed if that were true, he would have had gunpowder residue on him regardless. It would have lingered in the air long enough that they felt like testing him would have been pointless. But that still seems odd to me. Why wouldn't they just have tested the dude? I mean, even if they couldn't have used it or somehow it wouldn't have been valuable still to have the information.
00:05:02
Speaker 2: It seems like would have been better than not having it.
00:05:06
Speaker 1: Yeah. So let's stay in this deliberation room an extra 30 minutes to talk through that point. Rose. Okay, fine.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
00:05:13
Speaker 1: Fine. They're trying to find something that the police did wrong in their investigation to show some misstep.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: It's just, Rose, it's, It was a grain of sand.
00:05:23
Speaker 1: It's rare. What was that line? Insurmountable evidence.
00:05:26
Speaker 2: Yes, that's exactly what it feels like.
00:05:28
Speaker 3: And the prosecution wrapped up their case with Samantha Reeve.
00:05:32
Speaker 2: And this was interesting.
00:05:33
Speaker 3: She's a forensic analyst, and she was analyzing Caleb Flynn's social media, the messages, cell phone extractions. She determined that he actually created a fake Instagram page so that he could basically be constantly messaging his friends mistress, Aaliyah. And he had, his profile was Derek Hammett. And they were able to determine that it was Caleb. And they said they looked at more than 107,000 messages between Caleb and Aaliyah. We heard a lot of them read aloud by Aaliyah herself as she testified. But of the 107,000 messages, we were wondering what the numbers were.
00:06:09
Speaker 2: This is interesting. 141 messages referenced wanting Ashley dead or gone.
00:06:28
Speaker 3: He put 141 messages in print out there to say that he wanted his wife dead or gone.
00:06:38
Speaker 2: That is insurmountable.
00:06:42
Speaker 1: Robes, what was he think? You know what? Do you think all these messages, because these went on over a year time. Do you think all that time he planned on killing her, he was thinking, was he really serious about killing his wife?
00:06:54
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know.
00:06:56
Speaker 3: Because if you've got 141 messages saying you want your wife to be dead or gone, and then another 95 messages where you just say how much.
00:07:03
Speaker 2: You hate her, I mean, that is anger like I've never seen before. And who knows, maybe he got around to.
00:07:16
Speaker 3: Actually wanting to follow through on it. Maybe at first it just was, you know, just this fantasy. God, I just wish she was gone. I wish she wasn't here anymore. I wish I didn't have to deal with her. But then, yes, you say things enough. Words have power. And it can absolutely impact what you think is doable, justifiable.
00:07:35
Speaker 2: You can kind of convince yourself of anything.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: He forgot that he sent all those messages and he thought it was a good idea to kill his wife. That's the thing, Ropes. It's hard enough to get away with murder. without all the messages. I mean, if there were none of these messages out there, he would still, in all likelihood, be found guilty of murder, given the circumstances. Add that to it, what are we doing here? You're wasting taxpayer time? You're wasting all of our energy? You have a right to this trial. Fine. But come on, bro.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: This is ridiculous.
00:08:04
Speaker 3: And the final nail in the coffin, just in terms of how deceitful he was, we saw the interrogation videos, we heard the 911 calls, we saw him hiding behind or underneath the dining room table when police walked in crying. But he had an Apple Watch on. And while he claims he was sleeping on the living room couch, remember he said his wife Ashley asked him to go down to the couch because he was coughing and he was keeping her up. So he was in the living room couch. The dogs woke him up. So then he went to go sleep in his daughter's bed. And then that's when he heard the gunshots. The problem is his Apple Watch showed that he was walking around. He was getting steps in. All during that time, in the hour leading up to her murder, that he claimed he was sleeping. Turns out he wasn't sleeping because his technology didn't lie.
00:08:50
Speaker 1: Okay, did anybody, does defense offer an explanation for why that's the case? Nope. Oh, Robes, how many times, how many trials have we now, like, specifically seen? Wasn't it in the Clancy case? Apple Watch data on steps being taken. Robes, this, everybody, stop. It's trying to get away with murder. Apple is not going to allow it.
00:09:12
Speaker 2: Exactly. And your phone, your messages, like all of that. You cannot. It seems it's pretty remarkable.
00:09:18
Speaker 3: Our digital footprint now pretty much has convicted more murderers than you could ever have imagined. And yes, the way she testified to it, his Apple Watch showed constant activity while.
00:09:32
Speaker 2: He claimed he was sleeping.
00:09:33
Speaker 3: They also had, I don't know what this last little bit the defense tried in the cross They had the detective read aloud a message found on Ashley's device, including a note she put in her phone. And Ashley's note in her phone said, how I would say our marriage is struggling. Zero intimacy, respect, fondness, appreciation, nothing. We really need Jesus to intervene. I don't know what the defense thought they got from having this. detective read that message.
00:10:01
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you get? What do you get from that? What do you feel from that? All I do is feel more sorry for the victim.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: Exactly. That's all I felt for her too.
00:10:13
Speaker 3: So yeah, that That just didn't seem like much of a defense at all. But when we come back, we'll tell you what the defense did try to get, I guess, what they want the jury to consider as they now go into deliberations later today. And look, closing arguments begin are underway right now. Actually, as we're recording this, they're about to get underway. And we're just curious about how quickly this jury is going to come back with a verdict. We have some of the shortest recent jury verdicts in a murder trial. Wonder how Caleb Flynn's verdict will compare. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. The defense, yes, didn't really put on much of a defense when it comes to Caleb Flynn. Look, all they could basically say was our client, yes, said some ugly, hurtful things about his wife in messages with his mistress, but he only did it to appease her, to make her happy. He didn't really think those things about his wife. He just was saying that stuff to make Aaliyah believe that he would actually leave her one day.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: That part, I think, Did score points because you could see that. That does make sense. Now, there was a lot.
00:11:31
Speaker 2: There was a lot of it.
00:11:34
Speaker 1: Of numbers and strength of words.
00:11:37
Speaker 2: Like almost every day, it felt like.
00:11:38
Speaker 1: And I want her dead. Kill her for me. I wish you... Like, it was some strong stuff. Even robes. Just.
00:11:47
Speaker 1: There are members of that damn jury who want to convict him just for calling a dead woman douche constantly.
00:11:51
Speaker 3: Right? That in and of itself was so awful to hear. And look, the only other thing the defense has in its corner is that there is no direct evidence. There's no physical evidence. linking Caleb Flynn to the shooting death of Ashley. There's no firearm. There's no blood. And so they claim that the prosecution is only taking a theory following an affair. But it's so much more than a theory following an affair with all of the aforementioned texts. Anyway, so he is pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, tampering with evidence, Several other charges, he is and will be sentenced to life in prison without parole if he's found guilty. But how much time do you give the jury to come to a verdict in this one?
00:12:35
Speaker 1: It's crazy. Depending on what time they get it, right, Robes? We were both saying this morning, we think definitely they'd be done before the end of the day. At some point, do you get in there and you look at each other and like, how long y'all want to give it to make it look like we deliberate it? I mean, they're going to go in there and raise their hands. Then what do we need to talk about?
00:12:58
Speaker 2: Exactly.
00:12:58
Speaker 1: What is there to talk about? Robes, this is one hour. If it goes past an hour, I'll go, hmm, I wonder what's going on in there. Right?
00:13:08
Speaker 2: Maybe they're trying to get a free lunch or something.
00:13:10
Speaker 1: Okay, maybe.
00:13:11
Speaker 2: I agree with you.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: It just doesn't seem like there's a lot to figure out here. It's not complicated.
00:13:18
Speaker 2: And it seems.
00:13:20
Speaker 3: overwhelming. But yes, the shortest recent jury verdicts, I thought this was pretty funny. I'm curious to see how this may compare. Florida, 2021, a jury in Bay County, 13 minutes to return a guilty verdict for a second degree murder after prosecutors presented overwhelming evidence. 13 minutes. There was one in 2010 where a jury found a man guilty in six minutes for a double murder after five and a half days of testimony.
00:13:49
Speaker 2: So look, we've seen that happen before. Minutes, not even hours.
00:13:53
Speaker 1: This is one I would love to be the jury for a person on this one. I just walk in. Are we good here? That's all I would say to my fellow members. Are we good here? All right. Let me fill this thing out. Let's get on out of here.
00:14:05
Speaker 2: Exactly.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Again, this is something we could never, ever, ever, ever say working in network television. Robes, You're not allowed, okay, an opinion is one thing, but you're not allowed to state the obvious. You're not allowed to say what we can all see in our faces. Right there, it's been there for the past two weeks, the testimony robes, and there is overwhelming evidence that would make this confusing if this jury stuck in there more than a couple of hours.
00:14:33
Speaker 3: Exactly.
00:14:34
Speaker 1: It just would be. And that's the truth of the matter. He's gotten his trial. It's been out there. It's been fair. He's gotten a jury of his peers. What else is there, babe? This is astonishing the amount of evidence against this guy. Where is that gun? I'm curious.
00:14:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is the one thing I don't know that we'll ever find out, but it would have been interesting to see him take the stand.
00:14:57
Speaker 2: I was kind of hoping for it. I'm not going to lie.
00:14:59
Speaker 3: Definitely a little disappointed that he didn't take the stand.
00:15:01
Speaker 2: I thought he had enough performance in him that he just might do it.
00:15:04
Speaker 1: That's what you said. You thought he might have the personality for this. Yes.
00:15:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, somebody who wrote the song that he wrote.
00:15:10
Speaker 1: God, I hope we hear that again.
00:15:11
Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness. That's what you're hoping for closing?
00:15:13
Speaker 1: Man, the prosecutor, just one more parting shot. Just play a little bit of that. And to actually say... All right, jurors, back by popular demand, we're going to play this song one more time. It was such a hit with the viewers. It's just to humiliate him one more time before we all send him to prison.
00:15:31
Speaker 3: Yes, well, we will keep you updated on what happens in court today. And yes, we will be on Verdict Watch in a matter of hours. And with that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:15:43
Speaker 2: We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Tuesday, September 29th, and Caleb Flynn is accused of shooting and killing his wife, then staging the scene to make him look like an intruder did it all because he wanted to get his wife out of the way so he could be with his mistress. So what, Caleb Flynn, do you have to say for yourself? Apparently, nothing. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. The defense got a chance to put on a case to say something. Robes, they opted not to say a word.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: It was a bit shocking.
00:00:33
Speaker 3: We kept wondering what the defense was going to use for any sort of explanation as to how Ashley Flynn died.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: If not him, then who?
00:00:44
Speaker 3: We heard him on the interrogation tapes pointing to an intruder, some burglary gone wrong. But yeah, they opted to say nothing and to, I guess, test whether or not the jury felt like the prosecution proved their case.
00:00:58
Speaker 2: But for anyone... who watched the trial.
00:01:01
Speaker 3: The way we did, it's hard to imagine they could come up with any other verdict other than guilty.
00:01:07
Speaker 1: Something weird would have to really happen here because you did have witness after witness after witness for a week plus get up on that stand and put a case on saying that this former American Idol contestant, Robes, killed his wife. The evidence... Okay is one thing and they don't have their smoking gun, which is the gun, which is a murder weapon. Robes, he confessed to killing this woman, essentially, hundreds of times in these messages. Robes, this was as damning You cannot. Robes, how do you get around circumstantial evidence that says that there's a message that you tell your mistress, hey, everything's going down tomorrow. I'm going to be freed up. It's going to be all good. This is going to be taken care of on February 16th. You tell your mistress that in message. The next day your wife is dead. Coincidence? What juror is going to think that?
00:02:03
Speaker 2: Agreed.
00:02:03
Speaker 3: I don't understand why he even actually went to trial, why he wouldn't have just pleaded guilty.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: The evidence has been overwhelming.
00:02:14
Speaker 3: And yes, the prosecution called 40 witnesses over seven days, and each and every one of them painted a picture that I just don't think the defense had any chance at overcoming.
00:02:29
Speaker 1: There was one crack they had, Robes, in the They don't have the gun. There was no blood on him. Correct. And there was one other thing I can't remember, but it was so few and far between that they made any headway.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: Exactly.
00:02:44
Speaker 3: And so Monday was the final day of testimony from the prosecution witnesses, and we had two police officers.
00:02:50
Speaker 2: A detective was back up on the stand.
00:02:52
Speaker 3: He's the one, Mike Morgan, who put up the interrogation videos, which we all so love to watch. And so they got to see, the jury got to see, the last part of his second interrogation where... Yes, this detective went after him and said basically, come on, how can you explain? The big question was, so his gun, this gun that's missing that they don't have, the center console where he kept his gun.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: was open and the gun was missing, right?
00:03:20
Speaker 3: And so the detective you see on the interrogation video say, can you explain?
00:03:24
Speaker 2: Because that's a big thing.
00:03:25
Speaker 3: Do you have any explanation for how your gun was used that was in your truck? Somebody broke in and stole your gun and then came back and murdered your wife with it? And you see on the video, Caleb Flynn just saying, I didn't touch my wife.
00:03:42
Speaker 2: I didn't touch my wife. He just kept repeating, I didn't touch my wife. It didn't land.
00:03:49
Speaker 1: And I'm sorry, anybody listening to us or any extended period of time, you know we watch a particular movie in which Vince Vaughn delivers a particular line that we love. And that's all I was hearing in this video.
00:04:02
Speaker 2: I know my truth.
00:04:03
Speaker 1: That's all I was hearing. That no matter what was put before him, he was going to stick to that one thing.
00:04:08
Speaker 2: And he did.
00:04:09
Speaker 3: I know my truth. And he did. The only headway, as you pointed out, that the defense made in cross-examining the detective was saying that none of Ashley's blood was found on Caleb or his clothing, and there was no gunshot residue testing. And the reason why they didn't do this, I thought this was interesting, he told police when they arrived that he got into the bedroom, the master bedroom where Ashley had been shot, within seconds. of the gun being fired because he heard the gunshots and then he said he ran into the room.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: How he never saw this alleged intruder, I don't know.
00:04:40
Speaker 3: Poof. Poof.
00:04:41
Speaker 2: He just disappeared.
00:04:42
Speaker 3: But police said they believed if that were true, he would have had gunpowder residue on him regardless. It would have lingered in the air long enough that they felt like testing him would have been pointless. But that still seems odd to me. Why wouldn't they just have tested the dude? I mean, even if they couldn't have used it or somehow it wouldn't have been valuable still to have the information.
00:05:02
Speaker 2: It seems like would have been better than not having it.
00:05:06
Speaker 1: Yeah. So let's stay in this deliberation room an extra 30 minutes to talk through that point. Rose. Okay, fine.
00:05:12
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly.
00:05:13
Speaker 1: Fine. They're trying to find something that the police did wrong in their investigation to show some misstep.
00:05:20
Speaker 2: It's just, Rose, it's, It was a grain of sand.
00:05:23
Speaker 1: It's rare. What was that line? Insurmountable evidence.
00:05:26
Speaker 2: Yes, that's exactly what it feels like.
00:05:28
Speaker 3: And the prosecution wrapped up their case with Samantha Reeve.
00:05:32
Speaker 2: And this was interesting.
00:05:33
Speaker 3: She's a forensic analyst, and she was analyzing Caleb Flynn's social media, the messages, cell phone extractions. She determined that he actually created a fake Instagram page so that he could basically be constantly messaging his friends mistress, Aaliyah. And he had, his profile was Derek Hammett. And they were able to determine that it was Caleb. And they said they looked at more than 107,000 messages between Caleb and Aaliyah. We heard a lot of them read aloud by Aaliyah herself as she testified. But of the 107,000 messages, we were wondering what the numbers were.
00:06:09
Speaker 2: This is interesting. 141 messages referenced wanting Ashley dead or gone.
00:06:28
Speaker 3: He put 141 messages in print out there to say that he wanted his wife dead or gone.
00:06:38
Speaker 2: That is insurmountable.
00:06:42
Speaker 1: Robes, what was he think? You know what? Do you think all these messages, because these went on over a year time. Do you think all that time he planned on killing her, he was thinking, was he really serious about killing his wife?
00:06:54
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know.
00:06:56
Speaker 3: Because if you've got 141 messages saying you want your wife to be dead or gone, and then another 95 messages where you just say how much.
00:07:03
Speaker 2: You hate her, I mean, that is anger like I've never seen before. And who knows, maybe he got around to.
00:07:16
Speaker 3: Actually wanting to follow through on it. Maybe at first it just was, you know, just this fantasy. God, I just wish she was gone. I wish she wasn't here anymore. I wish I didn't have to deal with her. But then, yes, you say things enough. Words have power. And it can absolutely impact what you think is doable, justifiable.
00:07:35
Speaker 2: You can kind of convince yourself of anything.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: He forgot that he sent all those messages and he thought it was a good idea to kill his wife. That's the thing, Ropes. It's hard enough to get away with murder. without all the messages. I mean, if there were none of these messages out there, he would still, in all likelihood, be found guilty of murder, given the circumstances. Add that to it, what are we doing here? You're wasting taxpayer time? You're wasting all of our energy? You have a right to this trial. Fine. But come on, bro.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: This is ridiculous.
00:08:04
Speaker 3: And the final nail in the coffin, just in terms of how deceitful he was, we saw the interrogation videos, we heard the 911 calls, we saw him hiding behind or underneath the dining room table when police walked in crying. But he had an Apple Watch on. And while he claims he was sleeping on the living room couch, remember he said his wife Ashley asked him to go down to the couch because he was coughing and he was keeping her up. So he was in the living room couch. The dogs woke him up. So then he went to go sleep in his daughter's bed. And then that's when he heard the gunshots. The problem is his Apple Watch showed that he was walking around. He was getting steps in. All during that time, in the hour leading up to her murder, that he claimed he was sleeping. Turns out he wasn't sleeping because his technology didn't lie.
00:08:50
Speaker 1: Okay, did anybody, does defense offer an explanation for why that's the case? Nope. Oh, Robes, how many times, how many trials have we now, like, specifically seen? Wasn't it in the Clancy case? Apple Watch data on steps being taken. Robes, this, everybody, stop. It's trying to get away with murder. Apple is not going to allow it.
00:09:12
Speaker 2: Exactly. And your phone, your messages, like all of that. You cannot. It seems it's pretty remarkable.
00:09:18
Speaker 3: Our digital footprint now pretty much has convicted more murderers than you could ever have imagined. And yes, the way she testified to it, his Apple Watch showed constant activity while.
00:09:32
Speaker 2: He claimed he was sleeping.
00:09:33
Speaker 3: They also had, I don't know what this last little bit the defense tried in the cross They had the detective read aloud a message found on Ashley's device, including a note she put in her phone. And Ashley's note in her phone said, how I would say our marriage is struggling. Zero intimacy, respect, fondness, appreciation, nothing. We really need Jesus to intervene. I don't know what the defense thought they got from having this. detective read that message.
00:10:01
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you get? What do you get from that? What do you feel from that? All I do is feel more sorry for the victim.
00:10:10
Speaker 2: Exactly. That's all I felt for her too.
00:10:13
Speaker 3: So yeah, that That just didn't seem like much of a defense at all. But when we come back, we'll tell you what the defense did try to get, I guess, what they want the jury to consider as they now go into deliberations later today. And look, closing arguments begin are underway right now. Actually, as we're recording this, they're about to get underway. And we're just curious about how quickly this jury is going to come back with a verdict. We have some of the shortest recent jury verdicts in a murder trial. Wonder how Caleb Flynn's verdict will compare. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. The defense, yes, didn't really put on much of a defense when it comes to Caleb Flynn. Look, all they could basically say was our client, yes, said some ugly, hurtful things about his wife in messages with his mistress, but he only did it to appease her, to make her happy. He didn't really think those things about his wife. He just was saying that stuff to make Aaliyah believe that he would actually leave her one day.
00:11:24
Speaker 1: That part, I think, Did score points because you could see that. That does make sense. Now, there was a lot.
00:11:31
Speaker 2: There was a lot of it.
00:11:34
Speaker 1: Of numbers and strength of words.
00:11:37
Speaker 2: Like almost every day, it felt like.
00:11:38
Speaker 1: And I want her dead. Kill her for me. I wish you... Like, it was some strong stuff. Even robes. Just.
00:11:47
Speaker 1: There are members of that damn jury who want to convict him just for calling a dead woman douche constantly.
00:11:51
Speaker 3: Right? That in and of itself was so awful to hear. And look, the only other thing the defense has in its corner is that there is no direct evidence. There's no physical evidence. linking Caleb Flynn to the shooting death of Ashley. There's no firearm. There's no blood. And so they claim that the prosecution is only taking a theory following an affair. But it's so much more than a theory following an affair with all of the aforementioned texts. Anyway, so he is pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, tampering with evidence, Several other charges, he is and will be sentenced to life in prison without parole if he's found guilty. But how much time do you give the jury to come to a verdict in this one?
00:12:35
Speaker 1: It's crazy. Depending on what time they get it, right, Robes? We were both saying this morning, we think definitely they'd be done before the end of the day. At some point, do you get in there and you look at each other and like, how long y'all want to give it to make it look like we deliberate it? I mean, they're going to go in there and raise their hands. Then what do we need to talk about?
00:12:58
Speaker 2: Exactly.
00:12:58
Speaker 1: What is there to talk about? Robes, this is one hour. If it goes past an hour, I'll go, hmm, I wonder what's going on in there. Right?
00:13:08
Speaker 2: Maybe they're trying to get a free lunch or something.
00:13:10
Speaker 1: Okay, maybe.
00:13:11
Speaker 2: I agree with you.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: It just doesn't seem like there's a lot to figure out here. It's not complicated.
00:13:18
Speaker 2: And it seems.
00:13:20
Speaker 3: overwhelming. But yes, the shortest recent jury verdicts, I thought this was pretty funny. I'm curious to see how this may compare. Florida, 2021, a jury in Bay County, 13 minutes to return a guilty verdict for a second degree murder after prosecutors presented overwhelming evidence. 13 minutes. There was one in 2010 where a jury found a man guilty in six minutes for a double murder after five and a half days of testimony.
00:13:49
Speaker 2: So look, we've seen that happen before. Minutes, not even hours.
00:13:53
Speaker 1: This is one I would love to be the jury for a person on this one. I just walk in. Are we good here? That's all I would say to my fellow members. Are we good here? All right. Let me fill this thing out. Let's get on out of here.
00:14:05
Speaker 2: Exactly.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Again, this is something we could never, ever, ever, ever say working in network television. Robes, You're not allowed, okay, an opinion is one thing, but you're not allowed to state the obvious. You're not allowed to say what we can all see in our faces. Right there, it's been there for the past two weeks, the testimony robes, and there is overwhelming evidence that would make this confusing if this jury stuck in there more than a couple of hours.
00:14:33
Speaker 3: Exactly.
00:14:34
Speaker 1: It just would be. And that's the truth of the matter. He's gotten his trial. It's been out there. It's been fair. He's gotten a jury of his peers. What else is there, babe? This is astonishing the amount of evidence against this guy. Where is that gun? I'm curious.
00:14:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is the one thing I don't know that we'll ever find out, but it would have been interesting to see him take the stand.
00:14:57
Speaker 2: I was kind of hoping for it. I'm not going to lie.
00:14:59
Speaker 3: Definitely a little disappointed that he didn't take the stand.
00:15:01
Speaker 2: I thought he had enough performance in him that he just might do it.
00:15:04
Speaker 1: That's what you said. You thought he might have the personality for this. Yes.
00:15:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, somebody who wrote the song that he wrote.
00:15:10
Speaker 1: God, I hope we hear that again.
00:15:11
Speaker 2: Oh, my goodness. That's what you're hoping for closing?
00:15:13
Speaker 1: Man, the prosecutor, just one more parting shot. Just play a little bit of that. And to actually say... All right, jurors, back by popular demand, we're going to play this song one more time. It was such a hit with the viewers. It's just to humiliate him one more time before we all send him to prison.
00:15:31
Speaker 3: Yes, well, we will keep you updated on what happens in court today. And yes, we will be on Verdict Watch in a matter of hours. And with that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes.
00:15:43
Speaker 2: We'll talk soon.