166: Ritual - The Pensacola Massacre Part 03

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[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome, listener.

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[SPEAKER_03]: I'm glad you're here.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Take a seat.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Next to the fire.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Obscura, where we shine a light on the dark.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Since he was first interviewed the day the bodies of his family were found, Donald had maintained his innocence.

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[SPEAKER_03]: His first version of events did not waver.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He said he visited the home on Tuesday, July, twenty-eighth, like he always did on Tuesdays.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He cooked dinner and stayed to eat with his mother and John.

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[SPEAKER_03]: John then helped him clear up.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And he left Richard's dinner in the oven for him, like he usually did when Richard worked late.

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[SPEAKER_03]: When he left that night around five thirty pm, everything with his family was normal.

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[SPEAKER_03]: and they were very much alive.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The murders of his family had been brutal and his cold blooded as they come.

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[SPEAKER_03]: At the time, Donald was first interviewed, hours after the body's head been found.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Detective Infinger believed they had been shot.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The truth was much more vicious and personal.

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[SPEAKER_03]: John Smith had a favorite spot in the den where he liked to watch TV and what was originally the internal garage of the home.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The space was now busy and cluttered with boxes and codes piled up.

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[SPEAKER_03]: There was a bed at the back of the room and a love seat at the front near the doorway.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Position at the perfect angle to get the best view of the television in the corner.

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[SPEAKER_03]: John was sitting in his spot on the love seat when his killer crept up behind him and began to be him directly in the head with a hammer.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Blow after blow caused extensive damage to John's skull and caused bleeding on his brain.

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[SPEAKER_03]: When the blows came to an end, his killer switched his weapon from a hammer to a knife.

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[SPEAKER_03]: John's throat was slit twice, the knife was removed after the first cut, and repositioned to finish the job.

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[SPEAKER_03]: These wounds were to a depth of six and a half inches.

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[SPEAKER_03]: John's voice box and corroded artery were severed, and the blade of the knife chipped a vertebrae at the back of his neck.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Blood spatter on the pile of boxes directly behind the lovesy confirmed John's position.

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[SPEAKER_03]: When he was attacked, before blankets and clothes were piled up on top of his body, concealing it from view.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Oblivious to the danger outside her home, Von Seal Smith was sat in her chair, in the lounge watching QVC.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Her hand poised on the remote, ready to make her next purchase.

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[SPEAKER_03]: She too was subjected to a surprise attack from behind, with her attacker wielding a hammer.

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[SPEAKER_03]: With no blood spatter evident behind her, like there was with John, it was most likely that something was placed overhead immediately before the attack began.

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[SPEAKER_03]: She received eight separate blows to her skull before the knife came out.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And her throat was slit in a similar manner to John's.

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[SPEAKER_03]: She had injuries to her scalp and head.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Her skull was fractured.

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[SPEAKER_03]: She had cuts to the surface of her brain.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And bleeds on her brain from the devastating and relentless assault.

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[SPEAKER_03]: At seventy-eight years old, there was little Von Seal could do to protect herself.

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[SPEAKER_03]: While still had another injury on her body, the tip of her pinky finger on her left hand was missing.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The jagged rough edges left behind indicated it was not a clean and swift wound.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Richard Smith had been at work on that Tuesday with the Department of Homeland Security.

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[SPEAKER_03]: CCTV from his offices captured him leaving work, wearing a pale pink shirt he was chatting jovial and happy with his co-workers and friends as he exited the building at six thirty six p.m.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Richard was bigger than his mom and brother.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Out of the three family members, it would be Richard who would pose the most threat to his killer.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The killer knew he had to get the upper hand and fast.

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[SPEAKER_03]: For Richard, he had another method of murder and mind, a bullet.

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[SPEAKER_03]: As Richard walked in the back door of his home, he was ambushed by a gunshot.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The bullet hit him just below his right here and accident out behind his ear.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It wasn't a deep wound, and the brain was not impacted, but the shock of the blow, the impact of the bullet, would have likely stunned Richard, and momentarily rendered him incapable of defending himself.

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[SPEAKER_03]: In those moments, his killer attacked.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Richard also had his throat slit, with a wound so deep, it hit his spinal column.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The killer, one at the job done right, this injury would have caused almost a media paralysis of his arms and his legs, Richard slumped to the floor of the den, not knowing under the giant pile of clothes right next to him was the body of his brother, also murdered by the same killer.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Richard Smith still had his identification badges around his neck when he was murdered.

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[SPEAKER_03]: When his body was found and crime scene technicians were beginning their investigations, those ID cards would confirm his identity, somberly, and chillingly.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The photo and writing on the cards were partially obscured by the blood they were now covered in.

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[SPEAKER_03]: His car keys and wallet were never found.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Richard's body was on the ground and slumped forward half-lying on his front.

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[SPEAKER_03]: A section of his bell at his back was pulled up.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It looked like he had been moved after he had fell to the floor, with his bell used to maneuver his body.

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[SPEAKER_03]: As far as the prosecution were concerned, there was no doubt as to who entered the Smith family home and took their lives one by one and calculated premeditated in brutal violence.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Welcome back.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Vansil Smith, Richard Smith, and John Smith.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Those are the three people that were killed in this case, and they are the mother and the two half brothers of this defendant, Donald Hartam.

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[SPEAKER_06]: You will see that this family was brutally and violently murdered by this defendant, specifically on Tuesday, July, twenty-eighth of two thousand and fifteen, this defendant went to the Smith home and cooked dinner.

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[SPEAKER_06]: And that Tuesday, July, twenty-eight of two thousand and fifteen, is the last day the Smith family is known to be alive.

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[SPEAKER_06]: And this defendant was the last person known to be with them.

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[SPEAKER_06]: The defendant went over there that Tuesday.

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[SPEAKER_06]: He cooked fried chicken, frozen corn, frozen green beans, french fries, and biscuits.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Richard was left in the oven.

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[SPEAKER_06]: And he also took blankets and clothes and he piled them on top of John's body in the den.

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[SPEAKER_06]: He moved his mother's body from the recliner in the living room to John's room down the hallway.

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[SPEAKER_06]: And then he covered his mother with clothing and blankets just as he had done to John.

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[SPEAKER_06]: He also took rugs that you'll see these

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[SPEAKER_06]: bloody kind of drag marks from the living room area down the hallway to John's room.

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[SPEAKER_06]: There's their blood that looks like it's been dragged.

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[SPEAKER_06]: And he also took rugs and placed them over the top of these drag marks.

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[SPEAKER_06]: This defendant's DNA is in places where it should not be.

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[SPEAKER_06]: They tested places where his DNA should not be.

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[SPEAKER_06]: And that's where it was.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Why did he cooperate?

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[SPEAKER_06]: Because he had three days to get his story together.

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[SPEAKER_06]: He had three days to rehearse this timeline.

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[SPEAKER_06]: He had three days to get rid of the gun.

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[SPEAKER_06]: The knife is closed.

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[SPEAKER_06]: He had nothing but time until somebody found his family.

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[SPEAKER_06]: I want to get something really clear.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Law enforcement, not the state, questioned this defendant about his religion.

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[SPEAKER_06]: and whether it had some sort of reason or explanation for the murders of this family.

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[SPEAKER_06]: And it was based on a website that law enforcement had found.

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[SPEAKER_06]: They did research.

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[SPEAKER_06]: They don't know anything about it.

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[SPEAKER_06]: They found a website.

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[SPEAKER_06]: They questioned him.

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[SPEAKER_06]: They have an obligation and a responsibility to explore any avenue, any possibility for the motive behind this horrendous crime.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The evidence against Donald Harton for these murders was stacking up, the more assistant state attorney Bridget Jensen for the prosecution worked her way through the evidence, the more attention she was gaining from the jury.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Three bodies lay across the Smith home, all in various states of decomposition by the time they were found.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Inside the closed up house with multiple blankets and codes piled up on top of them,

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[SPEAKER_03]: Decomposition had occurred faster than if left in the open air.

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[SPEAKER_03]: After talking the injury through their individual wounds, the medical examiner Dr. Andrea Miniert, who conducted the autopsy was able to confirm they had eaten before they were killed.

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[SPEAKER_03]: She was able to identify some small parts of the meal, as it was known Donald had cooked for them on the Tuesday evening, digestion varies between individuals and across food types.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Making determining how long the person lives since their last meal, a difficult task.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Eight hours is the accepted outer women, meaning Von Seel, Richard, and John were most likely murdered with an eight hours of eating Tuesday night's meal.

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[SPEAKER_03]: There was more evidence pointing to Tuesday, July, twenty-eighth, being the day the family were murdered.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Von Ciel had a pill box for her daily medication.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It was found on the dining room table with all slots empty except Tuesday evening.

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[SPEAKER_03]: John had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, and at ten a.m., a check with the doctor's office confirmed he did not show up for his appointment.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Richard didn't arrive for work as expected on Thursday or Friday morning.

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[SPEAKER_03]: One of the first witnesses the prosecution would call to the stand, was the Smith family's next-door neighbor.

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[SPEAKER_03]: George Chattendon lived at four-six-oh-one deerfield Drive.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Being retired, he was at home most days, and spent a lot of time in his backyard, and sitting out on the front porch with his wife.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Mr. Chitendin recalled Tuesday, July, twenty-eight, two thousand fifteen.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Donald came over to visit as he usually did driving his Lincoln town car.

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[SPEAKER_03]: On that Tuesday, he recalled Donald was still at home when Richard or turned from work around seven p.m.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The saw Donald leave around sunset at seven forty-five p.m.

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[SPEAKER_03]: that night.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Although it was dusk, he drove away without his headlights on.

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[SPEAKER_03]: His testimony was a direct contradiction to what Donald said he did on that night.

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[SPEAKER_03]: George Chitendon wouldn't be the only witness to break up our Donald story.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The trial of Donald Hardton had been among anticipated one.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The torment of the Smith family trying to come to terms with the loss of three family members in one deadly horrific day continued year after year.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Their lives were ended in a sea of violence behind the closed doors of four six o'clock five deer field drive.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Now, one of their own was sitting on trial as the person were responsible.

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[SPEAKER_03]: in almost impossible sequence of events to comprehend in process.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The local press had dubbed the case the blue moon murders, and wrote with headlines citing Wickun, which craft as motives at play.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Donald was represented by defense attorney Michael J. Griffith, an experienced and tough lawyer.

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[SPEAKER_03]: who had been practicing bass in Pensacola for over thirty-five years.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He was quick to highlight the horror of a man discovering his mom and two brothers had been killed inside their home.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And then being accused of their murders, less than an hour later, Griffith told that of how investigators didn't look anywhere other than Donald Hartun, especially when they discovered his prayer room and wicking book collection during the search of his house.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The focus on Donald's defense was to spawn the idea that he had murdered his family in some wicked rituals coincide with the occurrence of a rare blue moon.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Despite the theory no longer being the cornerstone of the prosecution's case, time and money were spent sharing the jury did not believe a connection between the two.

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[SPEAKER_07]: Paul C. Larson, I'm also an ordained minister in Circle Sanctuary, which is one of the nation's oldest wick and churches chartered in the state of Wisconsin.

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[SPEAKER_07]: I am currently retired, but I still hold rank as Professor Emeritus at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, where I taught for twenty-two years.

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[SPEAKER_08]: Can you explain to the jury

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[SPEAKER_08]: what the wicked religion is.

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[SPEAKER_07]: The short answer is that the wicked religion is a modern religious movement that takes its inspiration from the pre-Christian religions of the ancient world.

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[SPEAKER_07]: It's part of what I call a very broad umbrella group that is known perhaps better as paganism,

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[SPEAKER_07]: or some groups prefer the term hedon, but I think the best way of describing it is really how it is built at naval station Great Lakes, which is Earth-based spirituality.

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[SPEAKER_07]: taking nature to be divine.

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[SPEAKER_07]: Rather than seeing nature as something created by God outside of nature, we see the divine as within nature.

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[SPEAKER_07]: The divine is the sun, the moon, the earth, the sky, the seas, the mountains, all of those things participate in the divine.

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[SPEAKER_08]: In this particular case, during an interview of my client by law enforcement,

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[SPEAKER_08]: It has been alleged that because my client practiced Wica, that he would have participated in a sacrifice of the deceased.

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[SPEAKER_08]: Is there anything such as sacrificing either of animals or people in the Wica religion?

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[SPEAKER_07]: know there is not.

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[SPEAKER_07]: There certainly was a tradition of both animal and human sacrifice in the ancient world, but one of the things that characterizes the modern religious world is that we have abandoned completely.

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[SPEAKER_07]: A human sacrifice and most religions now have abandoned animal sacrifice as well.

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[SPEAKER_08]: It was also suggested at the interview of my client

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[SPEAKER_08]: that he murdered his family as a blue moon ritual.

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[SPEAKER_07]: Well, a blue moon technically is the second full moon in a month.

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[SPEAKER_07]: And it's a fairly rare occurrence occurring

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[SPEAKER_07]: several times over several years.

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[SPEAKER_07]: But again, there's no specific emphasis on the blue moon as opposed to any other full moon.

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[SPEAKER_09]: And so in the wick and religion, it would just be another full moon.

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[SPEAKER_07]: Another full moon, yes.

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[SPEAKER_08]: There's any indication that those bodies were placed in any way in a ritualistic manner.

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[SPEAKER_07]: Absolutely none.

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[SPEAKER_07]: They were basically haphazardly placed or partially covered up.

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[SPEAKER_07]: But this doesn't make any sense from a ritual standpoint.

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[SPEAKER_07]: If you were to use a sacrificial victim for

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[SPEAKER_07]: a religious purpose, you would want them to be displayed in some way that is surrounded with other ritual elements like incense, holders, candles, pentagrams or other sorts of things like that.

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[SPEAKER_07]: And there was none of that at the Smith household.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Donald's practice as a wick-in was a factor the prosecution still wanted the jury to hear.

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[SPEAKER_03]: But they had an altogether more tried and tested type of mode for his crime.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The lure of money, the belief of entitlement to that of money, and a determination to get it no matter what had to be done to achieve it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: They focused their attention on the contents of Vonseal Smith's will.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Vonseal's husband died in January, in the money in his estate went to his wife in two sons.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Bank statements from March, thirty first, two thousand twelve showed that John had over two hundred thousand dollars in his bank account.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Richard had close to four hundred thousand dollars, and Bonnie had around three hundred thousand dollars.

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[SPEAKER_03]: This gave a combined total almost one million dollars.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Donald was fifty eight years old and working in a basic ten dollar an hour job.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He was renting a home that was safe but small and nothing fancy.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He was driving an old car that needed repairs, and he couldn't afford it.

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[SPEAKER_03]: There was no big retirement plan to look forward to.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He told his coworker Mark, it was his inheritance from his mother.

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[SPEAKER_03]: That would be his retirement.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Donald Hartong had lived his life assuming he would receive inheritance money when his mother died.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He knew there was money in the family, as the oldest child he would receive at all.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The discovery of that will, and the knowledge that he had been written out of it, destroyed his plans for himself in his retirement.

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[SPEAKER_03]: There would be no money, no comfortable living without having to worry about cash or bills.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The drastic and terrifying solution that seems to have come easily to Donald was triple murder.

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[SPEAKER_03]: In his mind, the gains were great enough to justify his actions.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The prosecution called forensics and DNA experts to the stand.

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[SPEAKER_03]: were able to tell the jury of the physical evidence found in the case.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The jury saw photos of the kitchen trash filled with food, heavily blood stained tissues, and several cigarette butts.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The food matched what Donald cooked for the family, the night the prosecution, believed they were murdered.

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[SPEAKER_03]: It was their blood on those tissues.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Also, in the trash where the webcams Richard had installed just a few weeks earlier to keep his mom safe.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Ladies and gentlemen, not only will there be no question that these murders happened on July, twenty-eighth, but there will be no question that this defendant is the person who murdered his family.

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[SPEAKER_06]: And here is why.

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[SPEAKER_06]: Last well-intestimate of on-sills Smith, you will see a certified copy that will be moved into evidence regarding Von Seels estate.

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[SPEAKER_06]: I hereby give, devised and bequeathed to my husband, Richard Asmith,

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[SPEAKER_06]: provided he shall survive me.

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[SPEAKER_06]: But if he does not survive me, then an equal share to my two sons, Richard Thomas Smith and John William Smith, to be theirs absolutely.

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[SPEAKER_06]: I haven't intentionally made no provision herein for the benefit of my son, Donald Wayne Hartun Jr., not for lack of love or affection, but because he has sufficient assets of his own, and I have made ample provisions for him during my lifetime, signed Bonsiel Smith.

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[SPEAKER_06]: He was excluded.

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[SPEAKER_06]: So to be included, all three of them had to die.

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[SPEAKER_03]: There were items belonging to Richard that he was known to carry with him at all times.

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[SPEAKER_03]: A black fabric document case containing his personal paperwork and financial documents.

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[SPEAKER_03]: This case was found on the kitchen counter with Donald's DNA on the outside.

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[SPEAKER_03]: In Richard's checkbook, that was inside.

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[SPEAKER_03]: A claw hammer sat next to the kitchen sink surrounded by work surfaces barely visible under food items and clutter.

21:02.019 --> 21:05.201
[SPEAKER_03]: Wash down there was no blood visible to the naked eye.

21:06.102 --> 21:14.268
[SPEAKER_03]: On the hammer, forensic testing found the DNA of Donald Hartun, and all three of the victims, including traces of their blood.

21:15.128 --> 21:19.891
[SPEAKER_03]: The final area where Donald's DNA was found was the most damaging to him.

21:20.612 --> 21:24.094
[SPEAKER_03]: His unique DNA was found on the inside of Richard's belt.

21:24.835 --> 21:27.397
[SPEAKER_03]: The belt he was wearing when he was murdered.

21:28.318 --> 21:34.296
[SPEAKER_03]: On the fourth day of the trial, the prosecution called Marlon Purifoy to this stand.

21:35.267 --> 21:38.930
[SPEAKER_03]: Marlin was led into the courtroom and to the witness chair.

21:39.831 --> 21:44.775
[SPEAKER_03]: Donald's comfortable expression and bonding language immediately began to slip.

21:45.375 --> 21:47.977
[SPEAKER_03]: He became awkward, nervous, and fidgety.

21:48.698 --> 21:52.501
[SPEAKER_03]: Marlin was wearing a large shirt, but most of the way up.

21:53.221 --> 21:57.224
[SPEAKER_03]: It was patterned with large, thick and bold white and green stripes.

21:57.965 --> 22:04.290
[SPEAKER_03]: Clipped onto his collar with a pink clip was an identification card that also bears his photograph.

22:04.897 --> 22:06.378
[SPEAKER_06]: You state your full name, please.

22:06.678 --> 22:07.798
[SPEAKER_02]: Morning, Devon, a pair of four.

22:08.659 --> 22:11.780
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, are you currently serving a prison sentence?

22:12.260 --> 22:12.840
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, ma'am.

22:12.860 --> 22:13.541
[SPEAKER_06]: What's your charge?

22:14.081 --> 22:14.601
[SPEAKER_02]: Tent the murder.

22:15.001 --> 22:17.622
[SPEAKER_06]: And was that for attacking somebody with a hammer?

22:18.183 --> 22:18.683
[SPEAKER_02]: Great, ma'am.

22:19.843 --> 22:27.106
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, based on testifying in this trial, are you hoping that your judge will reduce your sentence?

22:27.186 --> 22:27.626
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, ma'am.

22:29.067 --> 22:33.729
[SPEAKER_06]: Mr. Pierfoy, do you know this defendant seated over here, Donald Wayne Hartung?

22:34.113 --> 22:35.393
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, ma'am, correct, I do not.

22:35.573 --> 22:40.715
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay, and when did you, when did you first meet Mr. Hartung the year in date, if you recall?

22:40.915 --> 22:43.996
[SPEAKER_02]: Probably, March, the end of March, the two thousand sixteen.

22:45.136 --> 22:50.417
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, were you housed with Mr. Hartung at the, uh, a scammy county jail?

22:50.517 --> 22:50.918
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, ma'am.

22:51.758 --> 22:55.319
[SPEAKER_06]: Like, in a week, how many times would you speak with Mr. Hartung?

22:55.599 --> 22:58.319
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I come to the one week time, probably, five, six times.

22:58.520 --> 22:59.720
[SPEAKER_02]: He obviously in people for me and stuff.

23:00.382 --> 23:03.665
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay, so he would send somebody to come get you and then you would go to his cell.

23:03.825 --> 23:04.165
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, ma'am.

23:04.305 --> 23:04.585
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

23:05.206 --> 23:05.706
[SPEAKER_02]: Why was that?

23:05.886 --> 23:06.927
[SPEAKER_02]: Because people were scared of him.

23:08.188 --> 23:09.269
[SPEAKER_02]: My cell was scared of him too.

23:09.769 --> 23:09.989
[SPEAKER_06]: Why?

23:10.610 --> 23:11.410
[SPEAKER_02]: They thought it was a witch.

23:12.391 --> 23:15.674
[SPEAKER_06]: Did you also discuss religion with Mr. Harton?

23:15.894 --> 23:16.294
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, ma'am.

23:16.454 --> 23:18.696
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay, and what was the nature of your conversations?

23:19.196 --> 23:21.938
[SPEAKER_02]: We talked about voodoo, voodoo, voodoo, voodoo stuff like that.

23:22.018 --> 23:23.920
[SPEAKER_02]: He believed in voodoo.

23:24.961 --> 23:26.762
[SPEAKER_06]: Now, did you actually believe in voodoo?

23:26.782 --> 23:27.282
[SPEAKER_02]: No, no, no.

23:28.259 --> 23:29.759
[SPEAKER_06]: Why did you tell him that?

23:29.939 --> 23:32.880
[SPEAKER_02]: I told him that, no saying cousin, this him talk, no saying.

23:33.280 --> 23:35.520
[SPEAKER_02]: He said he hated his mother cause of waste.

23:35.600 --> 23:36.281
[SPEAKER_02]: He treated him.

23:36.761 --> 23:38.201
[SPEAKER_02]: She treated him different from other boys.

23:39.041 --> 23:39.641
[SPEAKER_06]: Did he say why?

23:39.661 --> 23:41.522
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, different did.

23:42.282 --> 23:43.982
[SPEAKER_06]: Any other reasons he was upset with his mom?

23:44.402 --> 23:47.243
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and she loved him like the will.

23:47.523 --> 23:48.463
[SPEAKER_02]: That really made him mad.

23:48.523 --> 23:48.863
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.

23:50.103 --> 23:52.984
[SPEAKER_06]: And did he tell you who killed his mother and two brothers?

23:53.204 --> 23:53.924
[SPEAKER_02]: He said he killed him.

23:55.830 --> 23:58.892
[SPEAKER_02]: He said he wanted the money, because she left him out the wheel.

24:00.113 --> 24:02.634
[SPEAKER_06]: So if he was mad at his mom, why not just kill his mom?

24:02.735 --> 24:03.475
[SPEAKER_06]: Why the two brothers?

24:03.875 --> 24:08.358
[SPEAKER_02]: Because the money would go to the brothers' house, he would never end the wheel.

24:09.159 --> 24:11.961
[SPEAKER_02]: He saved me playing that last three, three to four years.

24:11.981 --> 24:13.822
[SPEAKER_02]: He said, we each aboard, made him go aboard, though.

24:14.522 --> 24:15.143
[SPEAKER_06]: The way I'm sorry.

24:15.163 --> 24:15.723
[SPEAKER_02]: We each aboard.

24:16.544 --> 24:18.465
[SPEAKER_02]: He said, I've made him do it, made him go aboard.

24:20.220 --> 24:22.203
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, he said he wouldn't have took some cameras down.

24:22.864 --> 24:24.826
[SPEAKER_02]: He said he killed this brother after that.

24:25.767 --> 24:26.288
[SPEAKER_02]: Which is John.

24:26.308 --> 24:28.992
[SPEAKER_02]: He said he didn't hear it from behind and cut his throat.

24:30.033 --> 24:35.260
[SPEAKER_02]: He went to his mother and then he touched your heart so she can tell it's a combination of what it says to the stuff.

24:36.400 --> 24:36.600
[SPEAKER_02]: How?

24:37.021 --> 24:38.322
[SPEAKER_02]: He could have left Pinker finger.

24:39.063 --> 24:41.065
[SPEAKER_02]: Then he said he hit her in the head and slid her toe.

24:41.805 --> 24:43.007
[SPEAKER_02]: He went to Richard came home.

24:44.328 --> 24:47.771
[SPEAKER_02]: He said Richard was coming through the bad door and he shot Richard.

24:47.791 --> 24:50.174
[SPEAKER_02]: He said it didn't kill him, it didn't kill him.

24:50.714 --> 24:51.575
[SPEAKER_02]: Richard put up a scrubble.

24:52.897 --> 24:56.780
[SPEAKER_02]: He told me that he put clothes on the body so they couldn't tell the time.

24:56.921 --> 24:57.881
[SPEAKER_02]: They dealt with the time.

24:59.663 --> 25:00.204
[SPEAKER_02]: They got killed.

25:02.192 --> 25:11.555
[SPEAKER_03]: At forty-five years old, Martin Purifoy had seven felony convictions and was serving a thirty-year prison sentence for attempted murder.

25:12.355 --> 25:15.456
[SPEAKER_03]: This was a sentence that was originally wife behind bars.

25:16.376 --> 25:20.097
[SPEAKER_03]: His cooperation in Donald's case earned him a cap of thirty years.

25:21.037 --> 25:24.540
[SPEAKER_03]: After his testimony, he was hoping for a further reduction.

25:25.220 --> 25:29.944
[SPEAKER_03]: Marlin was housed in a Scambia County jail back in March, two thousand sixteen.

25:30.565 --> 25:36.009
[SPEAKER_03]: When Donald was already in prison there, after his arrest in late October, the year before.

25:36.589 --> 25:40.092
[SPEAKER_03]: In different sounds, but the same pod with another twenty-four inmates.

25:40.713 --> 25:44.796
[SPEAKER_03]: Marlin got chatting to Donald, curious about what he was inside for.

25:45.577 --> 25:47.938
[SPEAKER_03]: Donald stayed mainly within his own sound.

25:48.699 --> 25:51.662
[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't wonder around the pod other than at meal times.

25:52.502 --> 25:59.208
[SPEAKER_03]: If he wanted to speak with people, he would stay in his cell and have another inmate go and get the person he wanted.

25:59.729 --> 26:15.823
[SPEAKER_03]: This is the behavior of someone who thinks they are in charge, thinks that they are a step above the others around him, Donald Harton, even behind bars like to be seen as powerful, and seem to enjoy the air of fear the other inmates had around him.

26:16.343 --> 26:22.828
[SPEAKER_03]: Yet, he had spoken at length with Marlin, who was attempt to murder conviction, also involved the use of a hammer.

26:23.268 --> 26:29.433
[SPEAKER_03]: He had revealed facts and details about himself, his family, and how he had murdered them.

26:30.234 --> 26:33.696
[SPEAKER_03]: It was an attitude that inside that courtroom backfired on him.

26:34.417 --> 26:41.823
[SPEAKER_03]: The inmate he had spoken so openly with was now testifying against him, under oath, just feet in front of him.

26:42.918 --> 26:50.844
[SPEAKER_03]: In the deposition's carried out by law enforcement and prosecutors, Marlin had told them details about the case, even they didn't know.

26:51.645 --> 26:55.828
[SPEAKER_03]: There was a safe built into the floor inside the closet in Von Seal's bedroom.

26:56.469 --> 27:02.794
[SPEAKER_03]: Concealed under the carpet, the crime scene technicians didn't find it during their examination of the house.

27:03.414 --> 27:10.738
[SPEAKER_03]: Marlin also told them that the amputation of Onceil's left pinky finger was not part of her desperately trying to defend herself.

27:11.298 --> 27:18.082
[SPEAKER_03]: The injury had been inflicted on her by her son willingly and purposefully to extract information.

27:18.963 --> 27:22.645
[SPEAKER_03]: Donald tortured his mother to get the combinations to the safe.

27:23.598 --> 27:30.781
[SPEAKER_03]: The contents of the safe meant more to him than the pain screams of his mother as he saw to her fingers.

27:31.542 --> 27:35.924
[SPEAKER_03]: He mutilated her hand while she was alive to get what he wanted from her.

27:36.464 --> 27:42.987
[SPEAKER_03]: As soon as he had achieved that aim, he proceeded to beat her with a claw hammer before slitting her throat.

27:43.647 --> 27:49.750
[SPEAKER_03]: After Marlin's shocking evidence, Donald Sun took the witness stand for the prosecution.

27:50.730 --> 27:58.176
[SPEAKER_03]: As he sat across from his father inside the courtroom, it was the first time they had seen each other physically for almost twenty years.

27:59.197 --> 28:04.381
[SPEAKER_06]: When your father called you about the deaths of your grandmother and your uncles, what did he say?

28:07.643 --> 28:11.867
[SPEAKER_04]: When I got the call, the wording was, let me think for a second.

28:12.567 --> 28:13.248
[SPEAKER_06]: Sure, take your time.

28:15.670 --> 28:18.332
[SPEAKER_04]: He said, son, they're all dead.

28:19.690 --> 28:21.912
[SPEAKER_04]: I was like, what are you talking about?

28:22.012 --> 28:22.873
[SPEAKER_04]: He's like, they're all dead.

28:23.013 --> 28:27.477
[SPEAKER_04]: Your grandmother, RT, and John.

28:28.238 --> 28:28.838
[SPEAKER_04]: They're all dead.

28:29.759 --> 28:30.680
[SPEAKER_04]: That's how I found out.

28:30.980 --> 28:31.240
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay.

28:32.602 --> 28:36.265
[SPEAKER_06]: And did he say anything about himself?

28:39.940 --> 28:45.704
[SPEAKER_04]: I believe that during that phone call it's the first time I was told he did not do anything to do with it.

28:45.724 --> 28:51.228
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay, and had you questioned whether he had anything to do with it or how did that come up?

28:51.788 --> 28:52.809
[SPEAKER_04]: No, I didn't question at all.

28:54.270 --> 28:56.371
[SPEAKER_06]: Did you question why he was saying that?

28:57.892 --> 28:58.272
[SPEAKER_04]: What do you mean?

28:59.413 --> 29:01.995
[SPEAKER_06]: He said your family's dead, I didn't do it, right?

29:02.863 --> 29:16.329
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, well, he said they were dead and he went into a little bit of the reason, you know, that they had something to happen with them in the house, possibly they were murdered and then we may have talked about some other stuff, I don't know.

29:17.329 --> 29:19.110
[SPEAKER_04]: And then, but that came up in the conversation, yeah.

29:19.170 --> 29:19.790
[SPEAKER_06]: That he didn't do it.

29:20.330 --> 29:20.490
[SPEAKER_04]: Yeah.

29:21.291 --> 29:22.811
[SPEAKER_06]: But you had a question to him at that point.

29:22.931 --> 29:23.091
[SPEAKER_04]: No.

29:25.452 --> 29:30.454
[SPEAKER_06]: Now prior to their death, when was the last time you had spoken to either your grandmother or Richard?

29:31.255 --> 29:31.755
[SPEAKER_03]: I think it was me.

29:33.060 --> 29:35.322
[SPEAKER_03]: Donald's defense team had a hard task.

29:35.862 --> 29:42.368
[SPEAKER_03]: They had dispelled the notion that the Wico religion featured human sacrifices under the rise of the blue moon.

29:43.109 --> 29:46.311
[SPEAKER_03]: But they were unable to shake the confidence of the evidence remaining.

29:47.372 --> 29:51.195
[SPEAKER_03]: After six days of testimony, both sides rested their case.

29:52.076 --> 29:58.121
[SPEAKER_03]: The jury took over four hours on January, twenty-nine, two thousand twenty to reach their verdict.

29:59.062 --> 30:00.864
[SPEAKER_09]: Hi, very welcome here's the copper form.

30:02.149 --> 30:05.910
[SPEAKER_09]: Please help us further on this one.

30:05.930 --> 30:28.997
[SPEAKER_00]: And to start the court, and then for our systemic county court, to support our plaintiff versus Donald Wayne, Hartong, dependent case number, seventeen, fifteen, CF, zero, zero, four, eight, zero, six, eight, division C, Dan Hazard, verdict as to the charge in count one, fun salesmith, we the jury find the defendant, dot it on to Hartong, guilty of first three murder as charge in indictment.

30:31.878 --> 30:51.194
[SPEAKER_00]: as the charging count to John Smith, we the Jerry Pana dependent Donald Hartone, guilty of first three murder as charging the indictment, as the charging count three registered Smith, we the Jerry Pana dependent Donald Hartone, guilty of first three murder as charge in the indictment, so so y'all

30:52.487 --> 30:58.530
[SPEAKER_03]: Donald remained expressionless and emotionless as he heard each of the three guilty verdicts.

30:59.350 --> 31:04.452
[SPEAKER_03]: The phase to follow with the same jury members would determine if his life would be spared.

31:05.253 --> 31:09.214
[SPEAKER_03]: On July six, two thousand twenty, the penalty phase began.

31:09.975 --> 31:14.317
[SPEAKER_03]: Donald Hartung asked the judge to let him read a statement he had prepared.

31:15.197 --> 31:21.681
[SPEAKER_03]: He now looked ragged, unshaven, and older than the neatly presented image, he gave that his trial.

31:22.462 --> 31:26.584
[SPEAKER_03]: Judge Thomas V. Danheiser graciously allowed him to go ahead.

31:27.425 --> 31:37.071
[SPEAKER_03]: For forty-five minutes, Donald picked holes in his defense, accused his defense counsel of being ineffective, and repeatedly requested a mistrial.

31:39.672 --> 31:42.014
[SPEAKER_09]: You're on, that's not even real.

31:43.494 --> 31:44.015
[SPEAKER_09]: One sneak.

31:44.634 --> 31:47.354
[SPEAKER_09]: and that house where that black face was laying in there.

31:48.375 --> 31:50.695
[SPEAKER_09]: Richard used to keep his checkbook on top of the roof for the river.

31:50.735 --> 31:51.795
[SPEAKER_09]: I've moved in a million times.

31:51.835 --> 31:53.676
[SPEAKER_09]: You don't have any times on touch that hammer.

31:54.116 --> 31:57.796
[SPEAKER_09]: I put hericane clips in the wall for Ivan with that very hammer.

31:58.737 --> 32:02.797
[SPEAKER_09]: Hericane clips in the concrete to put up boards.

32:03.697 --> 32:04.618
[SPEAKER_09]: None of this would be a problem.

32:06.018 --> 32:10.819
[SPEAKER_09]: Once knees, one sneak could have just covered that black case with the end.

32:12.059 --> 32:12.499
[SPEAKER_09]: And that house.

32:12.778 --> 32:14.619
[SPEAKER_09]: that case could have laid down in that room forever.

32:14.899 --> 32:17.640
[SPEAKER_09]: The Peel Box, I mentioned it to them, they did really mention it.

32:18.581 --> 32:20.642
[SPEAKER_09]: The Peel Box said they had even that kitchen for years.

32:21.182 --> 32:24.604
[SPEAKER_09]: There's no proof that the medicine that's in there was even mom was a good of in charge.

32:24.684 --> 32:27.185
[SPEAKER_09]: Well, you know, the one thing for sure, it wasn't a good one.

32:27.205 --> 32:32.987
[SPEAKER_09]: It was good for mom to be one eventually, because the baby might have didn't use that yarn, memorized mom's medicine, and he gave her her medicine.

32:33.468 --> 32:34.728
[SPEAKER_09]: He didn't need no Peel Box.

32:36.789 --> 32:42.632
[SPEAKER_09]: And I wish to meet also that when Mrs. Johnson did her power point,

32:43.295 --> 32:46.436
[SPEAKER_09]: She kept running down and saying, thanks, it was not a single objection rate.

32:46.816 --> 32:50.697
[SPEAKER_09]: She said, Mr. Harton, miss, started looking at me.

32:50.757 --> 32:55.299
[SPEAKER_09]: Mr. Harton miss, when he shot me, when he tried to shoot me, and then he had no objection rule.

32:56.359 --> 32:59.140
[SPEAKER_09]: She said, Mr. Harton's got to take the trash out.

32:59.280 --> 33:01.640
[SPEAKER_09]: When he left, no objection rule.

33:01.660 --> 33:03.761
[SPEAKER_09]: All pure speculation, pure speculation.

33:04.721 --> 33:09.983
[SPEAKER_09]: I also would point out that she had a fancy star wars type

33:10.808 --> 33:16.811
[SPEAKER_09]: The power point presentation was she had the numbers floating around and then they flashed up there showing how much money my family had.

33:16.851 --> 33:18.171
[SPEAKER_09]: I knew knowledge of any of that.

33:18.952 --> 33:20.513
[SPEAKER_09]: I knew a lot of deal they had that kind of.

33:23.614 --> 33:26.795
[SPEAKER_09]: And then, Mr. Griffin gets up there with a give to a protector.

33:28.456 --> 33:32.238
[SPEAKER_09]: Literally, but poor fellow, he didn't even know how to operate the thing, hardly.

33:32.678 --> 33:38.601
[SPEAKER_09]: I could go on and on and on, but I do have it how they are to request a restaurant, but I can proper representation.

33:39.742 --> 33:40.584
[SPEAKER_09]: I love Nigeria.

33:40.904 --> 33:41.726
[SPEAKER_09]: They pay attention.

33:42.187 --> 33:43.409
[SPEAKER_09]: They pay close attention.

33:44.331 --> 33:45.033
[SPEAKER_03]: But you're on them.

33:45.073 --> 33:45.594
[SPEAKER_03]: They will do.

33:46.095 --> 33:46.536
[SPEAKER_03]: You will do.

33:47.727 --> 33:53.188
[SPEAKER_03]: The judge did not indulge Donald with his wishes, and the penalty phase went ahead.

33:54.008 --> 33:57.109
[SPEAKER_03]: Prosecutors wanted the maximum sentence laid down.

33:57.969 --> 34:10.472
[SPEAKER_03]: His defense tried to suggest Donald had brain damage from past head injuries, or they had dementia creeping into his cognitive process, preventing him from understanding his actions fully.

34:11.550 --> 34:15.152
[SPEAKER_03]: Once again, the jury went away to consider their verdict.

34:15.913 --> 34:20.936
[SPEAKER_03]: On February seventh, Donald Harton discovered he had escaped the death penalty.

34:21.637 --> 34:24.619
[SPEAKER_03]: He would not be put to death for the murders of his family.

34:25.319 --> 34:30.483
[SPEAKER_03]: He would, however, spend the rest of what was left of his life in a prison cell.

34:31.323 --> 34:34.965
[SPEAKER_03]: He was sentenced to three life sentences to run consecutively.

34:38.335 --> 34:42.718
[SPEAKER_05]: But I didn't believe in the death penalty and certain cases when it's a heinous crime.

34:44.059 --> 34:46.241
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think what he did to them was heinous.

34:48.583 --> 35:00.031
[SPEAKER_05]: If it were to just be an an argument and he shot him or I shot each other, but the way he did it, saw him.

35:01.953 --> 35:04.074
[SPEAKER_05]: But if he gets lied, I'll be fine with it.

35:06.979 --> 35:09.541
[SPEAKER_05]: That's all I would ask God, God, and have your will.

35:10.181 --> 35:12.063
[SPEAKER_05]: Your will be done.

35:12.083 --> 35:12.703
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm not mine.

35:14.384 --> 35:17.006
[SPEAKER_05]: And it's hard to say that I won't be death penalty.

35:17.446 --> 35:18.827
[SPEAKER_05]: Because he's my cousin, too.

35:20.268 --> 35:21.249
[SPEAKER_05]: That's what's hard about it.

35:21.289 --> 35:23.491
[SPEAKER_05]: I can't believe he did this to his own mother.

35:24.712 --> 35:25.412
[SPEAKER_05]: And his brothers.

35:28.174 --> 35:29.235
[SPEAKER_05]: That's what I'm hoping for.

35:32.257 --> 35:34.779
[SPEAKER_05]: Whether if he gets alive, I'll be fine with it either way.

35:36.483 --> 35:42.289
[SPEAKER_05]: because life is life and he'll never come out and he don't deserve to come out and he deserves punishment for what he did.

35:42.309 --> 35:58.866
[SPEAKER_05]: I had to grapple with this, I've went to class as on grief and because when it first happened I hated him, so bad and I went down and I don't like to feel that about him but

36:02.470 --> 36:04.091
[SPEAKER_05]: I would not hurt him like you hurt them.

36:04.591 --> 36:05.572
[SPEAKER_05]: I wouldn't revenge.

36:05.652 --> 36:07.113
[SPEAKER_05]: It's things you got through it.

36:08.694 --> 36:09.735
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't feel that way now.

36:11.216 --> 36:12.017
[SPEAKER_05]: It took me a while.

36:14.538 --> 36:15.939
[SPEAKER_05]: It's taken these four and a half years.

36:15.979 --> 36:21.443
[SPEAKER_05]: So I guess it's good that it has taken four and a half years to help me get used to it.

36:21.703 --> 36:22.524
[SPEAKER_05]: Whatever it's going to be.

36:24.577 --> 36:34.102
[SPEAKER_03]: Listener, the downfall of Donald Hardton was the clues he left behind, and the observations from others that he didn't anticipate.

36:34.842 --> 36:44.487
[SPEAKER_03]: He removed the web cameras Richard had installed before he carried out the murders, but only a killer who knew they were there in the first place could do that.

36:45.467 --> 36:51.290
[SPEAKER_03]: He did some minor cleanup after his kills, depositing the bloodstained tissues in the kitchen trash.

36:52.071 --> 36:58.855
[SPEAKER_03]: The end of a cigarette he smoked afterward sat neatly on top of where he threw it, after distinguishing its flame.

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[SPEAKER_03]: One cigarette butt that told investigators Donald was present inside the house after the family had been murdered.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The most damning mistake he made was gleefully telling Marlon Purifoy about his disgusting deeds.

37:15.588 --> 37:20.030
[SPEAKER_03]: Jail is not a nice place, and there are others inside those ponds.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Most likely bigger and scarier than him.

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[SPEAKER_03]: His wicked beliefs fueled rumors he was a witch.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Rumors that gave an edge, and a reason for people to be wary, and even fear him.

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[SPEAKER_03]: When Marlon Pirafoy took an interest and expressed a similar belief in Voodoo, Donald started to talk.

37:41.605 --> 37:51.412
[SPEAKER_03]: Pure foie is a seasoned felon, and one who knew the confession of a killer was a ticket out of prison, if you knew what to do with that information.

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[SPEAKER_03]: And Marlon did.

37:54.395 --> 38:04.562
[SPEAKER_03]: He put a call straight into Donald's prosecution team, securing his place on the witness list, and a lower sentence for his own violent and almost deadly crime.

38:05.603 --> 38:12.911
[SPEAKER_03]: To kill three people one after another, with such violence and aggression takes a cold ruthless type of individual.

38:13.752 --> 38:21.300
[SPEAKER_03]: When the lives being taken so brutally are your own family members, the level of depravity is race significantly.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Donald Hartun grew up with his half-brothers.

38:25.623 --> 38:27.885
[SPEAKER_03]: He thought of their father as their father.

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[SPEAKER_03]: His mother raised him alone, yet he were paid her by torture and pain.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Donald didn't creep up behind his mom as he did with John.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't ambush her the same way he did with RT.

38:40.733 --> 38:48.098
[SPEAKER_03]: He covered her head, blocking her eyesight, and muffling her hearing before torturing her, with agonizing physical pain.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He must have spoken to her during this process to demand the combination to the safe.

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[SPEAKER_03]: At that moment, if she didn't already know, Von Ciel Smith, would have realized the person doing this to her, was her eldest son.

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[SPEAKER_03]: To do this to the woman who gave you life, puts Donald Hartong among some of the darkest and most evil killers.

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[SPEAKER_03]: His own behaviors and actions led law enforcement directly to him.

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[SPEAKER_03]: His arrogance and desire for admiration amongst similarly violent men, sealed his fate inside a Florida courtroom.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He will now live out his days inside a prison cell.

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[SPEAKER_03]: This year Donald will be sixty-eight years old.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He is currently serving his sentence in the Graceville Correction Facility, in Jackson County, Florida.

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[SPEAKER_03]: The money he killed his family to get his hands on bypassed him and went to his son.

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[SPEAKER_03]: He does not have a cash account to buy him luxuries behind bars.

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[SPEAKER_03]: Instead, Donald Hardton has his memories to remind him of how his murderous actions led him to a retirement inside federal prison.