Sarah Boone was married to her husband Brian for 13
1/2 years and had a 10 year old son together
when they decided to split.
It was a rough time for Sarah and when she
decided to finally move on, she left her house and
went across the street to a bar and that's when
she met George Torres.
George was also coming off of a marriage, his 2nd,
and soon they connected and began a relationship.
That relationship, much like their previous marriages, had a combination
of good times and bad times.
They were living together in an apartment, but at times
George would pack up and leave, but then he would
come back.
There was also violence in the relationship.
Police responded to calls several times and both were charged,
but they always ended up back together.
Then on February 23rd, 2020, things went really bad.
After a night of drinking wine, doing puzzles and painting
pictures, George got into a suitcase.
Sarah zipped it shut.
George begged her to let him out.
Sarah taunted him and went to sleep.
The next morning, George was dead.
Now Sarah is on trial for second degree murder.
And today, fireworks in the courtroom as the attorneys go
at it.
And tonight we'll have all the big moments.
All the best analysis as we are live from Orlando
with our in depth coverage of the suitcase murder trial.
But first, Eric and Lyle Menendez, born with silver spoons,
growing up in beautiful homes in posh neighborhoods and settling
in Beverly Hills.
Their parents, Kitty and José José, a big time record
executive.
And from the outside they appeared to have it all.
Literally a family living the American dream.
But behind closed doors was a nightmare.
Allegations by the Menendez brothers that their father was a
monster who verbally, physically and sexually abused them for years.
Then came the attack, Eric and Lyle using a shotgun
to murder their parents while they sat eating ice cream
and watching a movie.
What followed was the first epic trial on Court TV
which divided the public.
Were the boys victims or greedy spoiled brats?
That trial also split the jury.
But then Eric and Lyle were convicted in a second
trial that banned cameras and banned some of the brothers
evidence of sexual abuse.
Now, more than 30 years later, a shocking announcement from
the DA.
And tonight we have all the details as the world
waits to see if the Menendez brothers will be set
free.
I'm Vinnie Politan, thank you so much for joining us
tonight here on CLOSING ARGUMENTS.
Great to have you aboard.
BIG news tonight.
We've got 2 huge stories, but let's start with the
Menendez brothers.
But let's start with Kitty and Jose.
Their parents.
Make no mistake, they were ambushed and shot.
This wasn't self-defense.
They weren't being attacked.
This ambush was planned and it was plotted.
They went out, they got the shotgun, they made their
moves.
And Kitty and Jose had no idea what was going
to happen, No idea that this was going to happen.
And then after this shocking double murder in Beverly Hills,
Eric and Lyle lied and covered it up.
They admitted nothing.
They tried to play it off like it was some
sort of a mob hit.
They went on with their lives, but they weren't telling
the truth.
They lied about it.
Consciousness of guilt.
They knew what they did.
Now, after everything, the first trial that you saw on
court TV years ago, court T VS first, really huge
trial before OJ Simpson, that was a hung jury.
Second trial.
You didn't see, you didn't hear the evidence, but they
were convicted and then they were sentenced to life without
parole.
How many times have you heard on court TV in
these trials in a death penalty case, right where the
defense attorneys get up and say, ladies and gentlemen, don't
send them to death row, don't give them the easy
way out.
Send them away for a life and throw away the
key and they'll never be free again.
Give them life without parole.
Make them think about what they did.
All right.
Now I always, I always take over a grain of
salt because, you know, that's not really suffering.
Life without parole means, I thought it meant life without
parole, but apparently in California it doesn't.
It doesn't, it doesn't mean life without parole.
But that was their sentence.
They were never supposed to have a chance to get
out because they were convicted of double murder.
OK.
But then came the game changer, Netflix, you know, it's
30 years later, new generation.
A lot of people maybe didn't see it on Court
TV, although you could go on courttv.com right now for
free and watch that first trial.
And that was the game changer.
There was a scripted series.
There's a celebrities coming out, Kim Kardashian, Rosie O'Donnell was
on this show talking about it.
There's podcasts and then there's the Netflix series and the
Netflix documentary.
And we spoke to the maker of that documentary.
And all of that apparently created a a, a firestorm
of support and sympathy for the Menendez brothers, looking at
them as victims, looking at what happened to them as
not being justice.
And it's time to to let him out.
So the DA in Los Angeles County, George Gascon is
his name, 10 days ago said, I'm going to take
a look at it.
And at that point, I said, yeah, this is pretty
much done from his perspective at least.
And today, after the review of everything, he made his
announcement.
Take a listen.
I have to tell you that after a very careful
review of all the arguments that were made for people
on both sides of this equation, I came to a
place where I believe that under the law of resentencing
is appropriate, and I am going to recommend that to
a court tomorrow.
What that means in this particular case is that we're
going to recommend to the court that the life without
the possibility of parole be removed and that they will
be sentenced for murder, which because there are two murders
involved, every 50 years to life.
However, because of their age under the law, since they
were under 26 years of age at the time that
this crimes occurred, they will be eligible for parole.
The teams that have worked on this, on the resentencing
side of it have spent literally probably hundreds of hours
by now looking at this case.
These cases were originally presented on the behavior side of
it, which I'll explain in a moment what that is
last year, and then the request for prosecutor initiator resentencing
that occur earlier this year.
And there have been people in this office working in
this cases from the very beginning, as well as many
other cases that we have.
The reason why I'm here today and why I came
in front of all of you about 10 days ago
is because there was a more recent documentary about the
case that again, brought a tremendous amount of public attention.
And we know there have been other documentaries.
So this is not the first.
This is the more recent one.
And frankly, our office got flooded with requests for information.
And even though this case was already scheduled to be
heard in late November, I decided to move this forward
because, quite frankly, we do not have enough resources to
handle all the requests.
And one of the things that I tried to do
in this office is to be very transparent in everything
we do.
In this case, we review the prison files.
You have to understand that the way the process works,
when you're talking about a sentence resentencing under the law,
it really focuses not necessarily on what the original crimes
were, but it focuses on as the person then rehabilitated
#1 and #2 can they be released safely into their
community under that rubric?
Since I've been in office, we have resentenced over 300
people, including 28 for murder.
Only four have re offended.
If that was the regular service and rates in this
country, we would be the safest nation in the world.
But we know that it's not.
In fact, somewhere between 40 and 50% of the people
that go to prison re offend and get re arrested
and that's why we have so many problems.
However, when you look at the case of the Menendez
brothers, you see two very young people, one was 19
and the other one was 21 when they committed this
horrible acts.
And I want to underline there were horrible acts.
There is no excuse for murder.
And I will never imply that what we're doing here
is to excuse that behavior because even if you get
abused, the right path is to call the police, seek
help.
But I understand also how sometimes people get desperate.
We often see women, for instance, have been battered for
years, and sometimes they will murder their abuser out of
desperation.
And I do believe that the brothers were subjected to
a tremendous amount of dysfunction in the home and molestation.
But they went to prison for life without the possibility
of parole, which meant that certainly under the law at
that time, they had no hopes of ever getting out.
They could have done what many other people do, which
is basically said, you know what?
I'm here for the rest of my life, so I'm
going to do whatever.
I'm going to misbehave.
I'm going to join gangs.
I'm going to live the life of a prison.
But they never did that.
To the contrary, even though they didn't think that they
would ever be let free, they engaged in a different
journey, a journey of redemption and a journey of rehabilitation.
And often the people that begin their journey of rehabilitation
and redemption in prison is often very internal.
And what they do and, and one of our lawyers
pointed out this today, it's usually the fastest people try
to further their education, do things for self improvement, which
the brothers have done by the way.
But it's more unique or more less usual, I guess,
when people not only do that, but they also begin
to engage in ways to make life for others better.
Let's get some perspective on this and I need some
local perspective.
Joining me tonight, Los Angeles County deputy District Attorney and
the man who prosecuted Robert Durst, John Lewin is with
us and not speaking on behalf of the DA's office
tonight speaking as John Lewin, the the experienced lawyer.
John, first, I want to give you an opportunity just
to your reaction to this announcement and this development in
the Menendez brothers case.
So Vinnie, George Gasco has been around for almost four
years and every time I think that he's done the
most extraordinary irresponsible derelict action, he surprises me and does
another one.
So I think what's important to understand is that first
of all, re sentencing is very important.
I myself did one of the first prosecutor initiated re
sentencings on one of my original cases because new information
came that demonstrated that it was a voluntary manslaughter and
not a murder.
And we're in the business of making sure that justice
is done.
But what happened in this case?
George Gascon had this petition for more than a year
and a half all of a sudden, And I think
the background's important.
This has not been covered much in the media.
There's a terrible case out here in Los Angeles of
a woman, a juvenile, that George Gascon, she murdered two
people.
George Gascon refused to prosecute her as an adult.
She did a short time and juvenile got out and
murdered somebody else.
George Gascon was notified that the LA Times was doing
a front page story and literally the next day he
put out a press release saying that he was going
to hold a news conference.
The same day as this article on the Menendez case,
he holds a news conference.
And in the end, because apparently he couldn't decide what
he was going to do, he did nothing.
It was the equivalent of when Geraldo Rivera opened Al
Capone's vault and it was empty.
So since that time, Gascon, instead of talking to the
lawyers who are working on the case, decided that he
was going to use the Menendez case as he's been
using all kinds of other cases, including one yesterday even
to get himself some free publicity.
He doesn't have any campaign money and he's trailing by
30 points in an election that happens in a week
and a half.
And he's going to hold a press conference and he's
going to announce that he is going to re sentence
in this case.
And let's look at what re sentencing is.
Re sentencing the Menendez brothers, first of all, under California
law, and these are laws that have been promulgated by
our legislature, they want to let a lot of violent
criminals out of prison.
That's what they've decided.
And the criteria that they use right now as they
look at how old were you at the time of
the offense, And they were what are called youthful offenders.
They were under 26.
They did not have criminal histories.
They have done what we call good programs in state
prison and they've been there for more than 30 years.
That would be enough for gas going to go into
court and to say, listen, I think they should be
re sentenced.
It would not be my position because part of it
is have they been rehabilitated?
And everybody wants to automatically assume that these allegations of
molestation are true.
And I'm going to tell you, Vinny, these allegations of
molestation, what are they based on?
They're based on a photocopy of a letter, undated, that
was allegedly found in 2015, was not filed until eight
years later, and that letter, which apparently was sent to
Eric's cousin detailing molestation and allegedly written 8 months before
the murders.
Except for one little problem.
Eric and the cousin both testified and never mentioned this
letter.
The cross examination was suggesting they were making it up.
But instead of saying, Oh no, we've got a letter
that proves this, they never mentioned the letter.
Why is that?
Well, the reasonable interpretation would be they didn't mention the
letter because it had not been written yet.
But why would we suspect the Menendez boys of fabricating
evidence?
Well, because if you look at the Court of Appeals
opinion and the opinion from the 9th Circuit, the courts
found that Lyle Menendez had repeatedly, repeatedly attempted to fabricate
evidence in this case.
So here's the problem 1 You got a re sentencing
that's based on abuse that has not been documented or
approved.
Instead of George Gascon doing a complex and thorough investigation,
he rushes this thing through so that he can attempt
to salvage his doomed re election campaign.
And then he holds a press conference before he's even
gone into court.
Apparently he's now posting Kim Kardashian comments.
I'm sure Rosie O'Donnell is next.
What kind of office is this?
What kind of prosecutor is this?
So in the end, whether or not this is a
legitimate re sentencing, the judge needs to have all of
the evidence in the case.
And I can tell you will the will the judge
before we run out of time.
I'm I'm going to run out of time here, John,
But will the judge hear two sides to this?
Well, that's interesting.
Unfortunately, the prosecutor who you heard speaking today, Nancy the
Burge who Gascon couldn't even pronounce her name.
She was a public defender until a year ago.
She was brought over.
So she'll come in as basically a defense lawyer and
he's going to have his defense lawyers in there.
And the question is going to be how much of
a complete record will the judge get?
I don't know.
That is certainly a legitimate concern.
I guess we will find out, Vinny.
We'll find out.
John Lowen, thanks so much for the time and some
perspective.
You know, this is playing one way in a in
a lot of places.
We like to give context and the full story.
Appreciate it, John.
All right, folks, when we come back, Sarah Boone fireworks
in the courtroom today.
We'll bring in our think tank live report from Kelly
Craft.
Plus coming up next hour tonight, I'm Vinnie Politan investigates
more in depth coverage of one of the most compelling
trials in court TV history, the Menendez brothers.
Will Eric and Lyle be set free?
We investigate.
Join Court T VS Venipolitan with the latest and breaking
true crime stories.
Now let's look at the other side of all of
that.
Venipolitan investigates tonight.
98 Central only on Court TV.
What happened that night?
Are you not prepared to take responsibility for any of
your crimes?
Interview with a killer, a Court TV original series Sunday
87 Central only on Court TV.
I've been ambushed by a new opinion that I was
not made aware of by any kind of report.
I was not notified by Doctor Werner.
I was not notified by the State Attorney.
William Ji first heard about the opinion when she testified
to it and I objected to it.
Relating to imminent threat, the ultimate issue of fact.
I move for a total dismissal for prosecutorial misconduct Denied.
And here's the other reason it's denied page 38 of
the deposition specifically that you made reference to starts at
page 21, line 21.
The question preceding that is important question 14.
So the, from my understanding, when you just said was,
yeah, I agree with general anxiety disorder that she had
been diagnosed with answer no.
I said it would be generalized anxiety disorder versus adjustment
disorder and that I hadn't had time to fully formulate
that opinion out.
This entire conversation pertains to those two issues.
Anxiety disorder and adjustment disorder has nothing to do with
PTSD, nothing to do with battered spouse Sarah Boone's attorney
James Owens getting a little upset in the court today,
to put it mildly, you know, advocating fighting for his
client, Sarah Boone.
You know, it's an uphill battle in that case.
We've seen the video, folks, but what was going on
today?
There were some fireworks back and forth.
We want to get a little bit of clarity as
to what exactly happened today.
Court TV legal correspondent Kelly Craft was inside the courtroom,
Joins us now live from my old stomping grounds, Orange
County, Florida, to help us make sense of all of
it.
Not only did I cover that trial down there, Kelly,
but I was a reporter and an anchor in Orlando.
So that is my old stomping ground.
Anyway, it was back around the turn of the century.
So what happened with the state's rebuttal expert today?
Well, hi there, Vinny, great to see you.
A lot of fireworks inside the courtroom here in Orange
County, Florida.
So this defense counsel, as you just heard, he did
make a motion, an oral motion for a mistrial alleging
a discovery violation by the state.
This was all in regard to the state's expert.
The state brought forth this expert for its rebuttal case
and this expert was testifying to the fact that during
that time during that incident when Sarah Boone left George
Torres inside that suitcase and then he ended up dying,
that she was not suffering from battered spouse syndrome at
that very moment.
Now, defense counsel eventually was able to get her to
testify to the fact that she does suffer, in her
opinion, from battered spouse syndrome.
But again, this witness is saying not at the time
of that incident.
So why don't we go ahead and listen to some
of this testimony.
We're going to hear the state and then also defense
counsel in this particular case.
Did you require any additional information to reach your conclusion
about the relationship between battered spouse syndrome and the events
of this evening?
I based my opinion on the on the information that
I had.
Certainly if there was more information, my opinion would be
subject to change.
And what was your opinion?
My opinion was that she did not give me enough
information to diagnose her with post traumatic stress disorder at
the time that I evaluated her at the jail.
But my question to you specifically, is there anything in
the text messages that stuck out to you that caused
you to pause and feel like that that may have
some impact on your evaluations?
Correct.
And you agree your answer is no.
As I said, it made me aware that's not my
complete answer.
OK, well, let's talk first.
You said no.
As I said, it made me aware that they had
a volatile relation.
It's not my complete answer.
I know, Doctor Warner, but didn't you say no to
me?
That was your first sentence was no.
It's not my complete answer.
I understand.
I'm going to let you answer that.
But when I asked you if there was anything in
the text messages that caused you to pause and it
would in some way affect the impact on your evaluation,
your answer to me was no.
It's not my complete answer.
I understand.
But was your answer not to me?
No.
Yes, but that is not right now.
Just so fascinating to watch these arguments back and forth,
talking with some people that were inside the courtroom watching
it.
They really did think that Mister Owens did a great
job with this witness after he had really thrown up
his hands and said in court today that he felt
ambushed.
But seems like he was able to get her to
at least say that.
Sarah Boone does suffer from battered bowel syndrome.
I mean, to me, that's a huge win, right?
You're getting the state's expert to to agree with that
diagnosis.
You know, some fine tuning about what's happening in the
moment.
But overall, I mean, a lot of times you don't
you don't get that much And and he did today.
All right, Where are we in the trial?
What are these closing arguments going to be?
All right, so here's the schedule, Vinny.
Tomorrow we have the rebuttal by the state continuing 40
more minutes of their rebuttal case.
That's what the state is saying.
And then we also have the charge conference.
And then by the afternoon we do expect to be
in closing arguments.
So we may be in verdict watch tomorrow.
Oh, we definitely will.
We definitely will.
Do we expect have they said anything yet about lesser
included charges in this case?
Because it's second degree murder, obviously there was a a
plea offer for voluntary manslaughter.
So from the cases that I have covered here in
Florida and video, you covered so many as well.
They usually all automatically just include the lesser.
So manslaughter, of course.
And in Florida, it's always pretty easy for the prosecutor
to prove manslaughter and get jurors to agree to it.
So we're going to have to see tomorrow with the
charge conference hall, all of that goes, All right, Kelly
Craft in Orlando, we'll see you tomorrow.
Let's bring in our think tank.
Joining us tonight, criminal defense attorney Eklund.
Mercy also with us, criminal defense attorney Kirk Nurmi and
former federal prosecutor Nima Romani is with us as well.
Great to see everyone tonight.
How about that, Eklund?
Is that a huge win for Sarah Boone to get
the state's expert to say she's suffering from battered spouse
syndrome?
I mean, I think it it may move a juror,
but I think with this case is mostly people.
I think that the defense should focus and harp on
whether there was a duty to rescue and whether Sarah
Bloom created the peril.
I think that that's what they need to focus on.
I do, you know, yes, it's fine.
It's cool.
Like she has generalized, you know, anxiety disorder, However, was
she under the duty to to rescue?
Was she under the duty to open that that suitcase?
And I think that jury charges are going to be
so important in this case to make sure that the
jury understands what they're looking at and what's required of
them.
You're going into this case, Kirk Norman, not expecting much
from the defense, right.
And you know, what was what's the defense?
We saw the video, but James Owens has pieced together
battered spouse syndrome diagnosis in agreement from the state expert.
Now at this point, and all of a sudden I'm
on, I'm online, on social media and I'm getting some
people who have been victims saying not guilty, believe it
or not.
I mean, this thing is this.
I'm ready to expect whatever when it's time for this
jury to deliberate at this point.
Well, certainly I think we're seeing the benefit of a
defendant having counsel because I think if Miss Boone was
representing herself, she'd already be convicted.
But yes, they have raised some issues, right?
And I do think it was a small victory in
the sense they're getting the state's expert to opine that
Miss Boone did suffer from better woman syndrome.
But one of the issues I think we go back
to this, the premise of your question, something that I've
thought all along, that tape, that tape, that tape, that
tape, we see lots of incidents of domestic violence.
We see the arrest, we hear the history, we see
Sarah in the hospital, We see the victim beating ATV
with a bat.
But really, I do think there is.
The bottom line is that tape, no matter how many
small victories they're getting, because the tape, she did not
look defensive.
It looked like it was just an escalation of the
toxic cycle, meaning Sarah had finally got in the upper
hand.
She had finally won, so to speak.
And she was relishing in her victory.
And you know, that's my name.
Don't wear it out.
That's like a third grade thing, right?
And she was just relishing in the victory.
And I don't think a jury is going to get
beyond that.
Tape it, it is difficult, It's powerful.
Neiman, I want you to take a listen to a
little back and forth between James Owens and the expert
for the state here.
They're talking about PTSD.
The state attorney speak to you about that.
It didn't matter whether you had an opinion.
If you didn't feel like the facts that Sarah Boone
had given you as relates to the facts, an issue
in this case that you didn't, if you didn't feel
like post traumatic stress even applied, then you could answer
that way, correct?
That's my opinion, correct.
But did he did he present that to you initially
for you to form an opinion about it?
No, my opinion was that it didn't apply because of
the the way that she described the, the that incident
to me.
Was that your opinion back when I took your deposition?
Yes.
When did you form that opinion?
Would you describe the incident to me?
Why didn't you let us know that was your opinion
at the time that I took your deposition?
You didn't ask me about that, Sir.
So, Nima, this is during an impromptu in court deposition,
Florida depositions in criminal cases.
Judge ordered the deposition.
What are your thoughts?
Was this fair?
Was was the state expert kind of playing loose and
fast here?
Was this fair to the defense?
Well, normally, if you're deposing an expert, you ask, is
this all your opinions?
And I obviously don't have access to that full deposition,
but that's a standard question.
And look, Owens is doing a good job.
I don't think Doctor Warner was particularly a good witness.
And for the state to end with her or probably
end with her, probably not a good idea.
Now, I understand sometimes if you're the state, you want
to address everything, but really, this battered spouse defense is
not a good one.
Eklund raised the much better defense had the defendant not
admitted to zipping him up and hitting him with the
bat.
The baseball bat.
Yeah, that's another bad fact there.
All right, We're we're we're gonna come back.
Think tank's coming back.
When we come back, we're gonna take a closer look
at Sarah Boone's allegations of abuse and the potential impact
on the jury when they deliberate tomorrow.
And I was like, oh, she was suffering from Metispal
syndrome at the time of that event.
Yes, you're going to help me take it out.
I observed redness on the left side of her neck
and want to be an old injury to her right
eye.
Sometimes I would see like she even been choked around
her neck.
I can't breathe, babe.
Yeah, that's when you do and you choke me.
Let's talk about the abuse allegations by by Sarah Boone.
How?
How much impact will they have on this jury?
Well, let's remind you of what this jury has heard.
Would it be fair to say that y'all saw each
other on and off for about the next 3 1/2
years?
No, we were I I would consider us a couple
if George was able to.
He would drink from sun up to sundown.
Is there times when when he would get to a
a state of intoxication where he would get violent against
you?
Quite often.
This was the first time that I ever called 911.
George and I had gone to a bar across the
street within walking distance.
And at some point I asked a guy or he
asked me somehow or another, it was over a cigarette.
And he left.
And I didn't know where he went.
And the bartender said, oh, he he left.
He took your car and left.
I walked home and he's sitting on the back porch
with the handle of vodka.
He calls me a whore and he calls me a
slut.
And then he calls me A and gets up and
pushes me.
And he pushed me with both of his hands so
hard that we have this little area where our washer
and dryer is and there are metal doors that are
on it.
And he pushed me into the metal door and then
I fell back and he got his knees on top
of me on my arms here.
So I was pinned down and was starting to strangle
me and hit my head up against the metal closet
over and over and over and over and over and
again and calling me a whore and you're such a
slut and you and everything.
And I my tongue was flopping out of my mouth
and I was, I thought I was going to bite
my tongue off and because of the amount of noise
I guess my head was making on the metal door,
he slid me down and got back on me and
then started to strangle me again.
And it was on.
We have carpet, but it's very light concrete.
And I was able to get my arms out from
underneath and grab his throat and get him off of
me.
So I get I got him off of me and
I pushed him off and he came up and he
goes you and he stomped my face.
He told me again that I'm not going anywhere.
And he stabbed me in my leg and it crunched.
You would hear a noise that it made and blood
just started to come out of my leg just like
a fountain.
He got on his knees and begged me, please don't
call the police.
Please don't call the police.
And inevitably he went and got my car keys and
put them around his neck again and my cell phone.
So I was not able to call him, call anyone,
and I wasn't able to leave in my car.
I want you all to know that I the majority
of the time, I'm always afraid and always scared.
I can't breathe, babe.
Yeah, that's when you doing it shook me.
I went over and decided to videotape to just see
the, I guess the the jest in it for him
to understand that right now I feel safe and right
now I have the ability to actually speak to you
in a manner that normally I would not have the
ability to do.
You're going to help me take it out.
You're going to help me take it out?
Why don't you stay?
You got to tell the jerk.
Has anyone who has ever been in love for when
you love someone or primarily someone or something, you go
above and beyond and you tolerate and you endure and
you persevere.
And very much, deeply impossible.
About George.
I love him to this day.
Still with us?
Ekla Mercy Kurt Nurmi nima Romani.
OK, Turk, on a day where everyone is talking about
setting the Menendez brothers free, right?
Everyone's all right, send the kids free.
Send them free, premeditated murder, Ambush their parents with a
shotgun, right?
And then covered it up afterwards talking about setting them
free.
What does the jury do with this alleged abuse?
Well, we could argue about the Menendez brothers any or
another time.
But as it relates to this case, in this situation,
I think we have to understand really what we have
here.
I think we have this mixed.
You're right.
I think we have a toxic relationship where there's been
abuse on both sides.
There's been arrest on both sides, right?
And the, the thing that I noticed is when she
talks about some of these prior incidents, it makes a
little sense.
But when she talks about the day that she killed
her boyfriend, it doesn't make a lot of sense to
me.
And I think the jury's going to pick up on
that.
Keep in mind, this is a very smart woman.
You know, she's been diagnosed with narcissistic traits.
She's had a long time to kind of work on
these stories, to kind of workshop them in her head,
and she thinks she's presenting them to the jury.
But there's something about that day, when she talks about
that day that doesn't resonate with me.
Certainly not enough to get over the hurdle, this idea.
I felt safe when he was put away in that
brief.
Well, maybe it did, but you were recording the video
almost as a trophy, the way I would look at
it anyway.
And like I said earlier, that's going to be tough
for the jury to get passed.
Nima, the Menendez brothers weren't even living at home when
they committed the double murder.
They came back to the house to do it.
She's with this guy.
What does the jury do with it?
Any sympathy?
A lot of sympathy for Eric and Lyle.
Well, Mindy, you're talking about illegal defense versus mitigation.
And I do think the Menendez brothers should get out
because they've served their time.
Look at Gypsy Rose, sentenced to 10 years, served 8.
Crystal Kaiser.
I mean, they killed their abusers.
They're not going to free pass, OK?
They've done 35 years.
The problem with Sarah Boone is she's asking for a
pass.
She's not admitting to manslaughter.
Here's what she should have done, said, listen, I was
taunting them.
That wasn't right.
I was the victim of abuse.
But this was an accident, a deadly accident.
That's what she admitted to law enforcement both when they
came initially and during her custodial interrogation.
But she wants to get off entirely.
That is not right.
And listen, Florida juries are notoriously unpredictable.
And she's somewhat more sympathetic than she was when we
had this video.
But she's asking for a not guilty verdict, and that
is not the just result of any.
So you can't compare the two situations.
You get the final word.
Echo mercy.
Who's more sympathetic, the Menendez brothers or Sarah Boone?
Definitely the Menendez brothers at the time of the, at
the time of the killing, they were what was 18
and 21 versus this woman who's had a life beforehand
and who has been charged with narcissistic, you know, narcissistic.
What I don't know what it is it it just
seems she's narcissistic.
The issue that I've seen is that she testified in
the narrative, which is pretty as an attorney, we know
what that means.
And I think she did more harm than good by
testifying.
I think that defense counsel could have.
Done some things legally with regards to the Gray areas
of what happened on that day.
And she thought she was going to come in and
provide a, you know, Golden Globe winning performance.
And not even an Oscar.
She only gets the Golden Globe.
All right, thank you so much.
You're out of time.
Ekla Mercy, Kirk Derby and Neva Rahmani.
We'll see you again really, really soon.
When we come back, folks, I will reveal something else
you need to know tonight.
Plus, coming up next hour tonight, I'm Vinnie Politan investigates
calls to release Eric and Lyle Menendez after 35 years
in prison for the brutal murder of their parents.
And today, a huge announcement from the DA.
Tonight we investigate.
Join Court TV, Vinny Politan with the latest and breaking
true crime stories.
Now let's look at the other side of all of
that.
Vinny Politan investigates coming up next.
Only on Court TV, the convicted murderer of the horrific
honor killing.
What happened that night speaks out for the first time
on camera.
You make it sound like you're the victim.
Interview with a killer, Sunday, 87 Central on Court TV.
Welcome back.
Time to reveal something else you need to know tonight.
Let's take a look at the big board.
Oh, we are in a verdict watch.
That's Leilani Simon accused of murdering her little son Quentin,
who was found in a landfill.
They will continue tomorrow.
So we are on double verdict watch potentially on Friday,
which is verdict day on Court TV.
Let's take a listen to closing arguments.
The only way to kill a healthy 20 month old
child is on purpose.
Straight up manner of death is not an element of
the crime.
I imagine that the defense is going to say, well
gosh, they can't even tell you how it happened.
Manner of death is not an element.
We did not have to prove exactly how she did
it.
And in this case, I'll prove you.
She covered it up.
She threw him in a dumpster so that he got
ground up into little pieces and now she wants to
come in and say can't catch me, You don't know
how I did it.
It is not an element that we need to prove.
All the facts show that her intent was that he'd
never be found at all.
The state's strategy and the way it's presented, this case
has been basically to tell you, and I don't think
I'm stating anything out of place here, that Miss Simon
was a slut, a party girl, someone who lies, a
horrible mother, someone who didn't act appropriately as a mother.
All of these things could be true more or less
to some extent.
But none of these things have anything to do with
the central question in this case.
And they still haven't answered that question with evidence, not
speculation.
OK.
The central question in this case is, is how do
you put inside and die?
Where did Clinton Simon die, die.
And in what manner did Clinton Simon die?
That was her attorney, by the way.
Verdict.
Watch tomorrow right here.
I'll have the red tie on.
OK, before we go take a look folks, take a
look at your screens.
We have a missing child.
This is Kasil Head, 15 years old, missing from Chester,
SC since the 16th of October.
If you see Kasil, please pick up the phone, make
a call, make the difference.
91118 hundredth the lost.
Or you can call the Chester Police Department in South
Carolina.
That number is on your screen right now.
Let's see if we can get Kasil to a safe
place tonight.
Don't go anywhere if any.
Politan Investigates is up next.
The Menendez brothers big news today.
In the meantime, please don't forget to hug the kids.