Transcript
Richard Merritt was no stranger to a courtroom. He had spent the better part of his life as a so-called ambulance chaser going after medical malpractice claims for clients who trusted him. He had become very successful with his own practice. Richard and his wife, Jeanine had two Children, both in private school. Janine was a veterinarian in the local area of Smyrna, Georgia. The family enjoyed luxurious vacations and expensive cars. Richard was as successful as one could hope. But by 2017, the family's house of cards came tumbling down. That's when Richard was accused of stealing $75,000 from a client. He voluntarily surrendered his license and was disbarred the following year. In 2019, things got worse. The once polished attorney was now the one seated at a defense table represented by counsel of his own as he faced 34 counts of theft, forgery and exploitation. The small town rumor mill started to churn and Richard's picturesque life crumbled. Janine decided to file for divorce and Richard moved in with his mother, Shirley. Merritt. Shirley had been Richard's biggest supporter even giving him money to help start his own practice and eventually bailing him out of jail on a $450,000 bond, Jeanine, on the other hand, pleaded with the judge in the case to keep Richard behind bars. I'm in financial ruin. He's squandered every cent we have. She said Richard pleaded guilty to all counts of stealing money from his elderly clients, taking their funds and conducting bank account fraud. His attorney David Willingham defended him. My client did not set out in his legal career with evil intentions or with a plan to become a thief, liar and deceiver. He said he developed into that person slowly over time and under the pressure, stress and anxiety associated with practicing law, as well as an addiction to alcohol. A Cobb County judge sentenced Richard to 15 years in prison and 15 years on probation. He was also ordered to pay more than $450,000 in restitution back to his clients. The judge gave him two weeks before he would need to turn himself in on February 1st 2019 by 5 p.m. The time allotted which Richard had requested would allow him to tie up loose ends with his business and family. Before embarking on his 15 year prison sentence, the judge would have no way of knowing that Richard, according to prosecutors would instead use that time to do something very, very sinister. At five o'clock, the defendant had been ordered to turn himself in the issue with the Cobb County Jr, but he never did. He was long gone by that. This is Jillian in partnership with Law and Crime. You are listening to court junkie episode 2 51. My five year old, like many five year olds is a picky eater. But I even think mine might be a little pickier than most. So when I had her try some meals and snacks from little spoon, I have to be honest, I had my doubts. 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All you need to do is visit progressive's website to get a quote with all the coverages you want like comprehensive and collision coverage or personal injury protection, then you'll see progressive's direct rate and their tool will provide options from other companies all lined up and ready to compare. So it's simple to choose the rate and coverages you like press play on comparing auto rates, quote at progressive dot com to join the over 29 million drivers who trust progressive progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Comparison rates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. Richard Merritt was ordered by the court to wear an ankle monitor to track his whereabouts. He had two weeks to turn himself in after being convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for his financial crimes. If he failed to turn up by his allotted time, the probation portion of the sentence would be revoked and he would spend all 30 years locked up. Richard's mother, Shirley was reportedly beside herself. Her youngest son would be going away for the foreseeable future. On February 1st 2019, the day Richard was supposed to turn himself in. His cousin, Mike Jeffcoat had arranged to travel with his wife from their home in Birmingham, Alabama to take Richard in to surrender. I was aware that he had to turn himself in on February the first by five o'clock. And I knew that would be very, very difficult on his mother. So Shirley and I and, and Richard had been texting and talking back and forth that week and my wife and I decided that we would go over there on February the first and she would stay at home with Shirley and I would take Richard to report to prison. But on that morning, Mike received an interesting message from Shirley. The two often messaged back and forth, but the new text advised him not to come to her home in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I really wish you wouldn't come until another weekend. Part of the text message read, things are not good here knowing Shirley's emotional state, Mike decided to respect her wishes and stayed home. But the following day, he decided to take the trip to see her anyway. He knew how hard the last few months had been for her. And if anything he wanted to offer moral support. But when Mike arrived at the Stone Mountain home, he made a grisly discovery. Shirley was dead on the floor by the basement stairs. I called her name. She didn't respond. I went down, checked for a pulse. There was none. And at that point I knew it was a crime scene and I backed out in the kitchen was garlic bread, spaghetti and Shirley's famous bolognaise sauce out on the stovetop and counter as if she had been about to serve a plate of food. How could something so tragic happen? Who would do this to a 77 year old woman as Mike looked around the house and phoned the local police. He would soon come to discover that there was another mystery. His cousin Richard was missing. He hadn't turned himself in the day before and police were on the hunt to find him after Richard Merritt had failed to arrive at the jailhouse at 5 p.m. The day prior. Local police had started looking for him but it wasn't until they learned of the 911 call from Richard's mother's home that they realized that he had cut off his ankle monitor. When the dekalb County police responded to Shirley's home. Richard's car was in the driveway but her silver Lexus SUV was nowhere to be found. By that evening, investigators were calling Shirley's murder. An isolated domestic incident, Sergeant JD Spencer announced to the public that Richard was the lone suspect and an active murder warrant was issued for his arrest with Richard being a successful attorney in Georgia. Investigators believed he had an extensive network of connections all through the South which made the manhunt for him a national affair. Us Marshals joined in on the search within hours and released bulletins warning that Richard could be in Louisiana or maybe even Texas. Their biggest concern was that he would be headed to the Mexico border. They warned that he may have shaved his head or otherwise changed his appearance and should be considered armed and dangerous. Do not try to engage him. They released the last known photo of Richard exiting a gas station hours after he had cut off his ankle monitor and allegedly killed his mother. A $5000 reward was offered for information about his whereabouts as police and national law enforcement searched for Richard. The rest of Shirley's family mourned her, passing her oldest son, Robert Merritt, an estranged brother to Richard spoke out expressing fear for the rest of his family. She was cooking him his favorite meal on the day he was to surrender. I don't understand what precipitated such heinous anger and violence. He urged his brother to turn himself in. Shirley. Merritt was laid to rest on February 12th, 2019. Her obituary noted that she had a lengthy career in patient and family services at children's health care of Atlanta. It said she was survived by her son, Robert, his wife Rachel and former daughter-in-law Janine, along with several grandchildren, there was no mention of Richard. Janine. Richard's ex-wife spoke with local news outlets too. She expressed her fears that her former husband would return to town unannounced. He's a deceitful immoral person. She told Fox five Atlanta, but I never thought he would kill someone, the kids and I are scared and now that we know what he's capable of, we're afraid that he's going to turn up. She said the night before he was set to turn himself into authorities, he had called her and threatened her. He said that he refused to ever let anyone else have me. She said Jeanine became so frightened at the thought of Richard returning home that she fled her house with her Children, started living in an undisclosed location and hired security. The search for Richard lasted months. Multiple sightings were called into authorities but nothing proved fruitful. Eight months after Shirley's murder, there were still no signs of him until investigators discovered something interesting all the way in Nashville, Tennessee, almost 300 miles away from Stone Mountain, Georgia. In September. 2019, a group of teenagers were caught breaking into a car parked on a street in Nashville. When police arrived on the scene, they ran the plate numbers on the silver Lexus SUV. They were shocked to discover that the car matched the vehicle involved in the national manhunt for Richard Merritt. They towed the vehicle and searched it only to discover signs that Richard had recently used it a flyer for a local bar. Betty's grill was discovered which led to a stakeout by the US Marshals fugitive task force from Georgia. One week later on September 30th police finally apprehended Richard at a local Nashville thrift store. Investigators believed he had begun a whole new life in the city under a new identity one where he wasn't a fugitive, but a man looking to start over, he was charged with malice murder, felony, murder, aggravated assaults and possession of a knife. During the commission of a felony, he was extradited back to Georgia where he would spend the next year in a county jail before being transferred to a state run correctional facility in 2020. After numerous setbacks in court, the biggest being the start of the COVID pandemic. The trial started on May 18th, 2023. It was in Dekalb County Georgia where Richard Merritt would once again enter a courtroom as the defendant, both the prosecution and defense teams had their work cut out for them. The prosecution would have to convince the jury that Richard in a fit of anger brutally beat his own mother to death. He was a man who up until the murder had showed no signs of physical violence. Prosecutor Helen Pott gave the opening statements for the state on February 1st of 2019. Yeah, Richard Merit brutally and maliciously attacked and murder the victim. Shirley Merritt use a kitchen that to stab her multiple times in the back and chest and throat and face. And then he picked up a £35 dumbbell which he held above her head. And the legend, then he left her body dead and bleeding and crumbled at the bottom of the stairs to her own place. Pott said Shirley was an avid baker loved cooking and was active in her community. She was always giving of herself. She said Shirley worked past her retirement because she enjoyed her job so much. Pott told the jury that the person with whom Shirley devoted the most time to was Richard. She had funded his practice even in 2017, when several of Richard's elderly clients came forward alleging that he had stolen money from them. Shirley stood by him according to Pott, while Richard was supposed to be getting his affairs in order before turning himself in, Shirley opened her doors to him, the judge sentenced him to 15 years to serve. Um And for some reason, the judge decided to give him two weeks before he had to turn himself into the jail and gave him two weeks to get his affairs in order before spending 15 years in the Department of Corrections custody. Now, as he learned during the course of his trial, Shirley was truly disappointed in her side. Um She was not pleased with his actions but still she was his mother. She wasn't about to let him sit in jail or live on the street. Pott told the jury that on February 2nd 2019, Shirley's lifeless body was discovered riddled with stab wounds. The medical examiner found that she had been stabbed four times back one time inside. She had been stabbed under the right in the neck which severed her jugular and caused her to out. She was stabbed several times in the face And the force was so strong. Ladies and gentlemen, that the blade of that nine inch knife lodged into the phone in her and the handle broke off, but that wasn't enough because laying next to her crime scene, investigators found a £35 dumbbell with blood and hair on and the medical examiner found that the right side of her head had, had basically been blessed, been bashed and to the point where the basal bones in her skull were shattered. Pott said that by the time investigators arrived at the scene, they knew that this was not a case of a home burglary gone bad or a murderous intruder. There were no open or broken windows, all the doors were closed, there was no sign of force injury or any stare at all. All the furniture was upright. There were valuables that had not been stolen. In fact, Shelly Barrett purse was still on the scene as it had a blank check. What's more the two weapons that were used weren't something that somebody had brought in. They came from inside the house. The knife with a nine inch blade was a kitchen knife that came right out of Charlene Merritt's own knife lock on her kitchen counter. The, the dumbbell was in storage waiting in her basement and you're going to actually see the mark on the carpet where it had been resting prior to the defendant picking it up and killing his mother with it. She said, what's more the two murder weapons were weapons that had come from inside the house. The knife had been taken from the knife block on Shirley's counter and the dumbbell belonged to an exercise equipment set in the basement. There was even a marking on the floor that indicated exactly where the dumbbell had been taken from. Pott said that even in her last moments, Shirley was thinking about Richard and trying to make him comfortable. You know what Shirley had been doing when she was attacked and killed. She was cooking the defendant his last meal before he had to turn himself into the jail. Pott told the jury that after he killed his mother, Richard took off never looking back. And he ended up in Nashville, Tennessee looking to start a brand new life. He got a job at a bar. He started online dating and in fact met a woman who he started a relationship. She said when us Marshals caught up with him, eight months later, Richard was still driving his mother's vehicle, which he had stolen after beating her to death. She also told the jury that both a knife and dumbbell had been sent for DNA testing but both came back. Inconclusive. Defense attorney Heidi Wolf Gruber gave the opening statements for the defense. Ladies and gentlemen, the death of Shirley Merritt is a tragedy. Everyone here wishes that we were not here today. Everyone here including Mr Merritt wishes that Shirley Merritt was with us. Wolf Kruer insisted that the evidence would prove that Richard was not guilty. She said the state wanted to focus on the day that Richard was supposed to turn himself in but not on the bigger picture on what led up to that. She said Richard had admitted to taking money from his clients, but she said the families associated with that case had been threatening and stalking him ever since posing a danger to him and his family. That case involved a number of, of families and people who had money taken from that individuals who were upset, understandably they were angry. They have their, their lives altered their dreams taken from them and they were angry. You will hear evidence that they were vocal about it. You will hear evidence. I expect that it went beyond words, that it went into actions that it went into fear inducing and stalking behavior. That is the evidence the state will try to distract you from. But I urge you to look at, she said the timeline that the state was going to present to the court was just a distraction in lieu of the science and facts they do not have. You will have no current evidence. There will be no fingerprints on the knife handle that the state presented to you that match. There will be no fingerprints of Mr on the your there will be no DNA evidence of Mr Merritt. On either of those items, there will be no DNA evidence of Mr Merritt on the Shirley Merit. There will be no blood of Mr Merit on those items. You know, blood of Mr Mayor on his mother. There will be no blood of Mr Merritt around this scene. You will also hear that Mr Merit voluntarily gave his DNA to be considered in this case, but that will not be counted. She said there was no forensic evidence to tie Richard to the murder at all desktops, laptops, cell phones, ipads. There will be no information on any of those tied back to Mr Merritt. In this case, there will be no incriminating search history, no searches to try to destroy evidence. None of that will be presented to you because it's not there. She said more importantly, the jury would never hear that Richard had ever been violent with anyone. Fall is right around the corner. I can't believe it. And Hello fresh is here to help you plan for the busy season ahead. Parents for example, have enough back to school shopping and planning to do. So let Hello, fresh, get the groceries and save you some cash with pre portioned meals delivered right to your door. You just choose your recipes and pick your delivery date and then lay back and enjoy the last days of summer. Knowing dinner is covered some of my favorite. Hello, fresh recipes that even my picky five year old daughter likes. Yes. Her again are the one pan cheeseburger lettuce wraps lemony spaghetti with Brussels sprouts and creamy garlic spinach, ricotta ravioli, yum. Look, I'm not very good in the kitchen but with Hello fresh, I really don't have to be. They're quick to make super convenient for our busy and chaotic households and most importantly, they're delicious. Go to Hello fresh.com/ 50 court junkie and use the code 50 court junkie for 50% off plus free shipping. That's hello fresh.com/ +50 court junkie and use the code 50 court junkie for 50% off plus free shipping. Hello, Fresh America's number one meal kit Deadly Nightmares. The podcast from ID tells the real stories of people who survived being stalked by serial killers and Attackers on every episode. Survivors share the chilling moments, they knew their lives were in danger and how they managed to escape. Investigators and family members close to the victims. Discuss the disturbing details of each case and exactly how they happened. These terrifying cases are the stuff of nightmares, but they've happened in real life to real people. One of their most recent episodes covers what happened to Alison Walker who mysteriously disappeared just days before Christmas from a small town in Kentucky. You'll hear how the investigation progressed and finally led to answers about what happened. The nice thing about this podcast is that it's about the survivors how they survived their ordeals. There are important stories to tell, listen to deadly nightmares. Wherever you listen to your podcasts, the first witness to take the stand was Mike Jeffcoat Richard's cousin who found Shirley dead on the morning of February 2nd 2019, he was the cousin of Richard's father who had passed away years ago. He told the jury that he and his wife lived in Alabama. He and Shirley were close but had a 10 year age gap. They remained very close friends following her brother's death. In 2000. Mike remembered Shirley as an excellent chef and baker. She could make a coconut cake that would bring tears to your eyes. He said she was a genuinely sweet person. He said that when Shirley discovered all the wrongdoings, Richard had done to his clients, she was beside herself. She loved both of her friends and to see Richard throw away his whole life by stealing from clients. It just broke her heart knowing that he was going to prison. He said in the wake of Richard's sentencing for defrauding his clients, Mike recalled that Shirley had been devastated and so he offered to travel down to Georgia to take Richard to surrender. So his mother wouldn't have to be involved. He recalled the text message he received from Shirley asking him not to come to her house. He said it sounded normal. Shirley had said that the morning of February 1st was going to be very busy as Richard was still taking care of things. She had told Mike that she would be able to take him to the jail and drive back home herself without issue. He said he also heard from Richard that morning who texted him thanks again. But as we both told you, she's ok, we need the privacy to talk through some matters. Please call her this weekend to check in. I cannot express how much your help has meant during this nightmare. I'll call you in a few weeks from inside love. Rich. What were you was your reaction when you received this text message? Uh, at, at this point, this was just more confirmation that I was not wanted at Shirley's house and confirmed my decision not to go. He said it wasn't until 15 minutes after Richard had failed to arrive to be booked in that Mike received a troubling message from Richard's ex-wife, Janine. She informed him that Richard's ankle monitor had been cut off. He said he was shocked while Mike placed calls to both Shirley and Richard. His main concern was Shirley's whereabouts. The following morning, he made the drive from Alabama to Georgia and grabbed keys to the house from Jeanine. He brought a weapon with him because he was unsure about the situation he was going to walk into. He said he searched the whole house and eventually found Shirley at the bottom of the basement stairs. Richard's ex-wife, Jeanine took the stand next. She and Richard had been married for 19 years. She said they met in May of 1999 while attending the University of Georgia. Their two kids were now both teenagers. Jenine told the jury that their life was fun and full of friends before Richard was hit with accusations of stealing from his clients. That's when she filed for divorce. I divorced my ex-husband when I found out about his double life and his crimes and what he had done to all those people and what he had done to us, Jeanine said that when they were hit with financial trouble, they lost their house and Richard pawned the van that she used to take their kids to school and to doctor's appointments. She told the court that Shirley had posted Richard's bail and had even put up her house to cover it. She also purchased him a car that he could use. In the meantime, she said even after their divorce, she still took the kids over to visit Shirley, but their personal relationship was a little strained. Jeanine wanted to divorce Richard, but Shirley wanted them to stay together. She told the court that one of Shirley's famous recipes and Richard's favorite was the spaghetti meal that she had been cooking on the day. Richard was supposed to turn himself in. I actually use that recipe myself to this day. She said as far as the relationship between Richard and Shirley went, it wasn't as sweet, contentious. They argued a lot. Um, she did a lot to help us yet. He wasn't always nice to her. He would get frustrated with her because he thought she was too involved in our lives. A lot of the time, Janine praised Shirley for all that she had done for the couple in their early years of marriage from helping them buy a home when they were young to assisting them and paying bills while they were still in school. She told the jury that Shirley and Richard would argue over. Well, just about anything, she said that after Shirley learned about Richard's crimes against his clients, it quite literally ruined her life. She recalled that on the morning of February 1st, Richard said that he wanted to go to their daughter's doctor appointment, which was odd because for most of her life, Jeanine had gone to these doctor appointments by herself. She said he showed up late after the appointment had already started. He was driving the black Honda Shirley had bought for him. How did he act during that? Appointment. His demeanor was very strange. Uh, how so, um, he didn't speak, he didn't look at anyone, he didn't talk to me or the doctor. Um, he had an aura of, it's hard to describe. He was either very angry or I, I'm not gonna ask you to speculate as to how he was feeling. I'm just, I'm just what he was quiet. He was very quiet and didn't look at, I'm sorry, I didn't understand the question. Ok. He was um, very quiet and didn't look at anybody or say anything. Ok. Did this seem unusual to you? Yes. She said she didn't hear from him after that. As for Shirley, she said the last time she had spoken to her was the night before she was aware of the plan for Mike to drive Richard to jail. She said she tried calling Shirley later in the day to check and see if she was going to attend a band concert later that night for their son. But she received no answer. She said that at 5:30 p.m. On February 1st, she got a call from Richard's attorney asking if she knew where he was. He had failed to turn himself in. Jenine told the jury that she worked extensively with the US Marshals during the eight month nationwide manhunt for Richard. She testified that Richard's drinking habit was bad and that he had been physically violent with her one time before the murder occurred. You mentioned that the defendant had a scary temper. Can you describe what you mean by that rage? When he was drunk? He would go into a rage and how would you act just screaming, cornering me, yelling, scaring the Children? And you said, um that, that was when he was drinking, did he always drink? He always drank and he always drank a lot. Um We used to drink together during the days when we partied on myself and in recovery. And I've been sober for a long time towards the end. And by the end, I mean, the time where he admitted, he knew he was about to be arrested, he was driving home so drunk that he couldn't get out of his car once he got into the garage. Um We would find him lying on the floor outside. Um He was drinking to that extent on the nights that he drank that much and he was able to come inside. He would be in a rage screaming at us and honestly just screaming about anything and everything. Alexandra Jason from the Georgia Bureau of Investigations or GB I testified about DNA analysis. In this case, she had been assigned to look at hair that had been found in Shirley's hand along with the bloody dumbbell. While DNA was found on the dumbbell, there wasn't enough to create a full profile. The hair was identified as both Shirley's and Richard's hair. Crime lab scientist, Jesse Worley testified that she was assigned to look at the handle of the knife that was used. She said, when looking for fingerprints, she couldn't find definitive prints to create a full analysis. Which of the processes did you do on the knife handle? Uh I, as I stated, I did a visual examination and then super glue fuming. OK. Um And what were the results uh the results of my testing in this case were negative now, um what does that mean? So with our policy at GB I, our, our determination of whether an item has positive results comes down to how many of those features we can see if a fingerprint or a laten print develops, we have to have at least seven to say that it's positive. So in a case where something is negative, it can mean a couple of different things. It can be that there was no development of super glue on that item at all period. Um It could be that the whole surface produced a reaction and so nothing can be seen because there's just a total overall reaction. Um or it can be that there are areas that could have been fingerprint or palm print detail, but they were, they're not clear, they're obscured because they overlay one another. Or there's just a general lack of clarity. On the second day of the trial, Kelly Richardson testified, Kelly had met Richard in Nashville while he was on the run. She said he was using an alias and that they began dating after meeting on a dating site in July 2019. She was not shown on court cameras. Kelly said that she knew Richard by the name Mick Malveaux and that he claimed to be from Louisiana with a job in marketing. She claimed that when she met Mick, he had long hair with a long beard. She described him as intelligent and fun to be with. They began dating after three weeks of getting to know each other. Did he? You said that? He said that he was living in Nashville with his cousin? Did you ever go to where he was living? No, he made it sound like it was, he was sleeping on a pullout bed or a couch and a small apartment. He was uncomfortable taking me over there. Did you ever meet his alleged cousin? Did you ever meet um, any of his alleged family members? She said, Mick told her that his father had been a military man who died of a heart condition years prior and he claimed that his mother died of leukemia and he would talk about how he was an orphan. Did he ever say anything about his relationship with his mother? Um, he indicated that it was a bit fraught that she had a strong personality. She said, Mick told her that he had been married before but said they had gotten divorced after a miscarriage. He also claimed to be 39 years old and a bartender at a local dive bar. She said he drove a silver Lexus SUV, which we now know belonged to Shirley Kelly testified that Mick wanted to be a writer and was taking time away from his career to do so, which is why he picked up the job at the bar. She told the court that they talked about moving in together and shortly before he was arrested, she had grown agitated that he seemed to be at her apartment 24 7. She said his behavior grew even stranger when Georgia played Vanderbilt one football weekend, Georgia fans seemed to flock to the area and in particular to the dive bar where he worked, he was out of sorts. He whined about going into work. He didn't wanna leave the house, he didn't want to get, get lunch. He, he wanted to miss his shift at the bar that night and complained about having to go in and talk to all these people. Kelly said that their relationship ended when he was arrested. Since then, he had sent her postcards in the mail from jail. She told the court that Mick never exhibited any violent behavior with her, although he did appear to be agitated when she asked him to no longer stay at her home. After the prosecution rested their case. Richard Merritt took the stand. This monster took this dumbbell and proceeded to bludgeon, my mother right in front of me wearing a dark colored suit and glasses. Richard Merritt made his way to the stand to testify. He recalled his early childhood growing up with his parents and brother and he told the jury about attending college at the University of Georgia where he met his ex-wife, Janine. He spoke highly of his two kids and said that despite being busy with his practice, he had tried to be as present as possible for them. He was candid about his financial crimes and explained that his mother Shirley was very upset over the revelations. She was disappointed she raised me better than that. And, um, she had every right to be upset with me. It was a disgrace and uh there's no excuse for my behavior, but she was upset. But at the same time, um I was her son. She truly did believe that one should hear on all sides of, of the situation before making an opinion. And she gave me the benefit of the doubt and her goal was to help me get out and then I would get a very stern talking to once out. But her goal at the time was just to support me and try to help me get up the bottom money. She opened up her home to me and it was strange being back under her roof at, I guess I was 43 44 years old when all this went down. Um, but you know, it, it, it after the first several days and weeks, you know, we got into a routine and it, it, it was fairly normal under the circumstances. He was asked if he and his mother fought. My mother is a very strong willed person. I believe the term firecracker was used and that is a very good term. I would throw another one out there. She's a steel magnolia. My mother is a strong southern woman and she had no problem telling me what I thought, uh what she thought rather down to what I wore to my opinions on certain things, but it was certainly not toxic. We were both opinionated people. We spoke our minds. Um, but we also laughed a lot and spent a lot of time together. So I did, there was nothing abnormal to me or her about it. He told the jury that his ex-wife Jeanine felt as if he had lived a double life. She filed for divorce four days after his arrest for his financial crimes. He was asked if, as his criminal case progressed, he started to feel any external pressure. You mean as we got closer to uh, sentencing? Yes, it was, it was a very odd time starting in, I would say right around the first of January 2019, my sentencing hearing had been set way back in September of 2018. Uh I actually wanted to plea earlier and get on with it and get on down the road. To prison but the D A at the time in Cobb County wasn't ready yet. He wanted to make sure there weren't any more victims, which was fine. It certainly is prerogative. So there weren't any more victims. And then the plea date was set for September. I'm sorry, in September, the plea date was set for January 18th of 2019 A Friday. And about right about the first of January 2019, my mother's house kind of sits up on a cul de sac and you can see the whole cul de sac and I saw an abnom abnormal amount of cars pulling slowly through, stopping in front of our home. Uh My mother noticed the same thing I began receiving hang ups on my cell phone numbers. I didn't recognize some said unknown number, but area codes of numbers, I didn't know my mother was receiving the same thing. She showed me her phones wanting to know if I knew who these numbers were and I didn't and this seemed to go on with some frequency. Uh Up until January 14th of 2019, he was asked about cartoon drawings that he had received on January 14th 2019. The attorney was a bit vague here but it appears as though the implication is that they were related to his financial crimes. That cartoon was received at my mother's home at Planners Row in Dekalb County. It was personally delivered in her mailbox and discovered by her. Did you have discussions with her about it right away? I was, I believe on my way to work. I was working at a warehouse at the time and I received a call from her informing me of receipt of this cartoon and she was upset and literally, as I hung up with her, I received a call from my ex-wife, Janine, who you've heard from and she was upset and what was concerning to me because it was directed at me as well, not only in the substance of the cartoon, but obviously had to deal with something I was involved in, in Cobb County. What concerned me was that these are copies of the same cartoon being delivered 40 miles apart, two different counties with the county or two in between these counties and it was a concerted effort whoever delivered them. He said the night his mom received the cartoon, she was very concerned and had a hard time breathing because of it. She decided to go to the hospital and was admitted when she got home from the hospital. He said they sat in the kitchen and talked about it. He said she drafted a letter to his attorney about the cartoon and to his knowledge it was delivered, he told the court that he was well aware of what would happen if he didn't surrender at the exact day and time he was supposed to, his sentence would be much harsher Richard said he and his mother decided they wanted to have more time to discuss important matters. And they reached out to his cousin Mike to tell him that his help was no longer needed. That day. We both decided that it wasn't necessary for him to be there because we didn't want to inconvenience Mike because, um, we actually had a few things we wanted to talk about and we, we just frankly didn't need anybody else's help. He said on the morning of February 1st, he went to his daughter's doctor appointment and got home around 8 30 or 8 45. He said it was a sad ride home knowing it would be the last time he would see his daughter for a while before he went away. He said his mom saw that he was sad and comforted him shortly thereafter. His mom texted Mike and said things weren't good there. He told the jury it wasn't a happy day. He was about to go to prison for 15 years. He said he sent Mike a text too afterwards. He started going through his stuff with his mom. He said his mom planned to make spaghetti that day and they planned to eat at 1 p.m. so that they could have enough time to drive to the jail. So Richard wouldn't be late. He stressed the importance of turning himself in on time. He recalled leaving the kitchen for a few minutes where his mother was cooking. And at that time, he heard a loud bang on the door. We weren't expecting any visitors. So I went to the front door and I opened it and there were two individuals, there are two men and they both were pointing pistols at me and they told me to let them in. He said he had never seen them before, but he let them in since they had a gun. His mother came from the kitchen and the two men instructed them both to head to the basement and not to say a word that taller of the individuals, he was older, probably in his fifties. About 6 ft, athletically built, walked past me, put the gun at my mother's lower back and she started to head towards the stairway to the basement. The fact they said head to the basement led me to think they knew we had a basement in a case the house before the younger of the men, he's probably about 5859, shoulder length brown hair pudgy. He put his gun on my back and we followed them. She opened the stair door to the basement. Flicked on the light. It was a two, two step process to get down those stairs. You had four or five steps that went down, there's a landing and then you make the turn and there's the longer flight of stairs they proceeded first. My mother was crying, she was making sounds like she might be wanting to scream or shout. And as they made the turn on the landing and took those first few steps. By this point, I, and the guy behind me who had the gun on my back made it to landing. He told her to shut the f up and pushed her down the stairs. He said it was the worst sound he had ever heard in his life. Um, she plunged headlong into the wall. A it's a sound I can hear to this day as I'm sitting here and I could tell that there was a dent or a hole in the wall. She was trying to get up and move around. But from my vantage point, she appeared like she couldn't get her balance. He said, as he moved, like he was trying to go down the stairs. The guy who had the gun on him, pushed it into his back and grabbed his shoulder. He said, the guy who had pushed his mom down the stairs, put his pistol behind his back and then grabbed the £35 dumbbell when I come. Well, the knife came later. Um This monster took this dumbbell and proceeded to bludgeon, my mother right in front of me and she was, she stopped moving at this point. He then told the man who had his pistol in my back to bring me down to the bottom of the stairs. They shove me over to the tile where the dumbo rested and then the older guy took off up the stairs. He came back a few minutes later with the kitchen knife and proceeded to stab my mother repeatedly in front of me. I, I cannot believe what I was seeing. I didn't understand what would be the purpose because she wasn't moving. WW why is any of this happening? It was a complete and utter nightmare. He said he had a pistol to his back and couldn't do anything. There's nothing I could do. I had a pistol to my back. I couldn't believe this was happening. I had no clue who these people were, why they were doing this to us. So he stabbed her with such force that the handle broke off the knife. I didn't realize at the time that the knife was still stuck in my poor mother's face. He put the handle down on the tile across from the dumbbell. He then turned and looked at me and he pulled out his cell phone. He said, the man took out his phone and showed him photos of Richard's kids being dropped off at school and of Richard's ex-wife. And he said, and I'll never forget this as long as I live. If you say a single word, they're next. I had no doubt who they were or what next meant. And then they left. He said he didn't call the police because he feared for the rest of his family. I just witnessed an unimaginable act of violence. Two unimaginable acts of violence. And then a man coldly looked at me after he's standing over the body of my dear mother that he skewed and bludgeoned and shows me pictures of my family. So no, I did not call the police. He said he stood there, numb, incapable of moving for what seemed like minutes. He said all he could think about was Jeanine and the kids. He then proceeded upstairs packed what he could not much and left explaining that he had decided to take his mother's car because it had more gas in it than his. He said he had no idea where he was going or where he was going to end up. He then explained why he had cut off his ankle monitor. Well, the reason I cut my monitor off is I was concerned by the time I got north of Cobb County, you know, I was within, I believe, an hour or so when I was supposed to report, I had no idea if just by routine, the monitoring people were watching me or not. So that's why I headed towards Cobb County. I didn't want to do anything that would get me involved with the police because I didn't want it to come back to hurt my family. If these guys found out and thought I had said something, he said he wasn't sure if the men were connected to the threats he had been receiving and he didn't want to take any chances. He told the jury that there was no running from the law because he literally headed straight to Nashville that day and made it there by night time, he had to start a new life for the safety of his wife and kids. When asked if he had killed his mother, Richard replied, absolutely not. I loved my mother. She stood by me. I'm not a violent person. Never laid a finger on anybody. Mr Merritt, what you said happened in front of your eyes on February 1st 2019. Must have been horrifying for you. It was, you said that it shook you up. Absolutely. You were afraid for your own life. I was so traumatized what happened to my mother. I really wasn't worried about myself at that point, but you were concerned for your wife and your daughter and your son. Yes. And you were so scared that you got out of there as fast as you could, right? Prosecutor Helen Pott questioned Richard about what he did after seeing something so horrific pointing out that he never tried notifying his wife and kids that someone had just brutally murdered his mother and had threatened to kill them. I didn't call any of them because the killers told me don't say a word to anyone. So I took them at their word based on what they did. They, I don't know if they were following me or not. Ok. All Right. So they could have very well been behind you. It's entirely possible. I have no idea what vehicle they were in a safe place to go would have been the Cobb County jail, which you drove right past on 75 north. Is that correct? The instructions were? And I took them at their word based on what they did to. My mother, don't say a word to anyone. The last place to go would be to somewhere like the Cobb County jail. And why is that? Well, you have law enforcement there. If they have people in Cobb County, they know a report. I'm more likely to say something because I'm in the safety of the jail. That made no sense to me whatsoever. Ok. So you didn't make any calls to anybody to warn them that their lives were in danger, right. These gentlemen told me and these gentlemen very sarcastically, these monsters told me, don't say a word to anyone after what they did to my mother. I didn't say a word to anyone without qualification. Ok. So these monsters, do you think that they were the same people who had been chasing your house starting the beginning of January? Well, they sure knew we had a basement right off the rip. She asked about the items he took with him when he fled. So you said you took your mother's car, right? And you took your mother's phone as well. Right. Yes, I did. And um, that, that doesn't make a lot of sense. Can you explain why you took your mother's phone? I took my phone of course, and I took her phone because of all the calls we had been getting on both my phone and her phone. I assumed that these are the same folks who have been calling us that had killed her. They might have some sort of demands. Janine might call my phone or my mother's phone if these guys made a move on her and the kids and I wanted to know exactly what was going on. That's why I took both phones. She questioned why the men let him go if he was who they were after, but they did not leave a scratch on you. They roughed me up a little bit, going down the stairs. But no, they did. Ok? And you were the person who they were after, right? I'm quite certain that that was their intent when they came there. Yes. But they just let you go scot free. I believe when my mother started to get loud, that's when the gentleman pushed her and then he finished her off. So she wouldn't make any noise. That's what I personally think. And they didn't realize what they got into and they took off. I don't know what their real intentions were. We never got that far. Ok? They never pulled the triggers of either of those guns. No, they did not. Ok. And there was no struggle that caused any furniture to tip over. Right? I don't call you. Ok. Where did they get that knife from? I believe they got it from the butcher block in the kitchen. Ok. I don't have anything further. In her closing arguments. Prosecutor Pott referred to Richard as a serial liar. She pointed out that he had no emotions while on the stand and suggested that he had been practicing his story for years. In their closing arguments. Attorney Darrell Queen insisted that there was no motive for Richard to harm his mother. And that most importantly, there was no DNA to prove that he did it. It took the jury just under one hour to reach their decision. They found Richard guilty on all counts including felony, murder, malice, murder, and aggravated assaults. When the verdict was read, Richard could be seen rubbing tears from his eyes. During the sentencing hearing, Richard asked to speak to the courtroom. I was raised by two very good people, beautiful people, my mother and father. He said I had a beautiful family that I've lost. I lost them in the Cobb County case. Things were never the same after the arrest. I had a beautiful family, beautiful Children, a beautiful wife inside and out all of them. The world was truly our oyster and I blew it. I fell victim to the ultimate drug there is and that's the green drug money that led to just bad behavior. And bad choices and my life spiraled out of control and I couldn't get it back. I'm immensely sorry for the pain that this entire process has caused. I accept the court's sentence, whatever it might be. I respect, despite how poorly I treated the profession, I was so lucky to be a part of, I respect the system and I respect justice in the jury's verdict. I'm going to try to be a better person. The judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And that's all for this episode. As always, I'd love to know what you think about this case. You can let me know by finding me on Twitter at Court Junky Pod on Instagram at court junkie or by emailing me at podcast at court junkie dot com. This case was researched and written by law and crime staff. If you have any listener suggestions of cases you'd like for me to cover, please shoot me an email at podcast at court junky dot com with listener request in the subject line. And if you'd like to hear these episodes without the ads and hear bonus episodes, check out my patreon options at court junky.com/ support. Thanks again for listening. Until next time. See what hit Blockbusters are streaming for free this month during popcorn, summer movies on Pluto TV, watch action packed movies like Charlie's Angels and comedies, like How To Lose a guy in 10 days. Or enjoy School of Rock and The Adventures of Tintin with the whole family. Plus Pluto TV, has thousands of other free movies available live and on demand. Download Pluto TV, on all your favorite devices for free and start streaming. Now, I'm Jamie Beebe and I'm Jake Deptula. We're the host of the Strictly Stalking podcast. Strictly Stalking is a true crime podcast explores stalking stories told by the survivors in their own words. Join us every Tuesday. As we interview survivors advocates and experts, you a deep dive into the workings of a stalking case. Would you know where to turn if you or someone you know, is being stalked. We'll also give you the resources to fight back, know your rights and get justice, find strictly stalking wherever you listen to podcasts from PodcastOne.
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