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Nancy Grace
Marine Turned Baker Cooks Up Murder Plot; Could TV Interview Land Hitman-Hiring Bride Back in Jail?; Search for Michaela Hutchinson; Shocking Hit and Run of Eight-Year-Old Boy. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired March 09, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RITA COSBY, HLN HOST: Breaking news tonight. She`s a beautiful local celebrity baker, making high-end homemade custom bread, gracing magazine
covers. She even served two tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine. But tonight, Laura Buckingham is accused of baking up a murder for
hire plot. The alleged target, her ex-boyfriend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emotional Brad Sutherland says his life has been a blur since police told him his ex-girlfriend was trying to kill him.
BRAD SUTHERLAND, TARGET: Still in a little bit of shock over the whole thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say it`s a unique murder for hire case.
SUTHERLAND: The only question I really have (INAUDIBLE) want to know why.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: A glamorous model and her FBI agent father accused of beating her husband to death with a baseball bat and a landscaping stone. They claim
self-defense, but the state says murder. She cleans out the family home after her husband`s brutal death, taking loads of personal items. But now
a judge says Molly Martens (ph) must give it back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: What do you mean he`s in bad shape? He`s hurt?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s bleeding all over. And I may have killed him. I hit him in the head with a baseball bat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An aluminum baseball bat just happened to be in the room, and a landscaping stone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A former FBI agent and his daughter face murder charges in the death of the woman`s husband, found with fatal head injuries at his
home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: A Florida bride caught on video in an elaborate police sting after she tries to hire a hit man to kill her new husband. Could this exclusive
interview with ABC`s "20/20" land Dalia Dippolito back in jail?
Good evening, everybody. I`m Rita Cosby, in for Nancy Grace tonight. Thank you so much for joining us.
A star baker who once served our country as a Marine -- how she`s accused of baking up a murder for hire plot.
Let`s go straight to Scott Johnson. He`s news director with WVLK. Scott, this is an unbelievable story. Take us through this from the very
beginning.
SCOTT JOHNSON, WVLK (via telephone): Rita, as you mentioned, she is a bit of a local celebrity baker around the metro Louisville area. She works
across the Ohio River in southern Indiana. Laura Buckingham came back with a taste for bread and without really knowing what she was doing, started
baking and found that her product was very popular.
It was her personal life that became a problem, though. Eventually, she left metro Louisville, saying she was coming back, moved to Tennessee. But
the father of her young son remained in the Louisville area and got a court order allowing him visitation. Laura had to bring her boy back to
Louisville once a week to have time with his father.
COSBY: And now, Scott -- give us a sense...
JOHNSON: That`s about...
COSBY: Yes, that`s what I was going to say. Give us a say because that`s a big distance, right?
JOHNSON: It is. It`s about 450 miles. It`s a good eight or nine hours round-trip that she was -- a trip she was making once a week.
COSBY: And Michael Christian, let me go to you, NANCY GRACE producer because that`s a big difference for her. And then what happens next?
MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, she was doing this every week. And obviously, it was a financial burden on her and it was also a
huge time burden on her...
COSBY: But it`s her son...
CHRISTIAN: It`s her son.
COSBY: ... and they`re sharing.
CHRISTIAN: Yes, and they`re sharing. And she was afraid that because she was going to be moving now to Tennessee permanently, she either wouldn`t be
able to keep up this schedule or that her ex-boyfriend might petition for full custody. So according to her current boyfriend, she started asking
him if perhaps he knew somebody who could help her kill her husband for her -- excuse me, her boyfriend for her.
COSBY: Let`s go to Dan O`Donnell, anchor/reporter Newstalk 1130 WISN. So police are saying, Wait a minute, according to Michael Christian, that is
the motive because of the distance? Is that the background here?
DAN O`DONNELL, WISN: Yes, that there was a fear also that she would lose custody. I mean, this obviously played a big part in her taking such
drastic, horrific criminal actions. But yes, a big part of this, as well, was just the fact that she didn`t want to do the drive anymore. So she
tells her new boyfriend if there`s anything that she could do to make her old boyfriend go away.
COSBY: Go away -- in other words, get rid of him?
O`DONNELL: Get rid of him. That`s what she was talking about. At first, he thought she was kidding. It was so unbelievable to him, he thought it
must be a joke. But then she we went a second time and said, Yes, this -- I want him to go away. And he realized, Oh, my goodness, she`s actually
serious about this.
[20:05:00]COSBY: Let`s go to Scott Johnson, news director WVLK. Scott, so he thinks she`s joking. Then he realized she`s serious. How serious does
it become?
JOHNSON: It becomes serious enough that he goes to the police. He goes to the police in Tennessee. They arrange a meeting. She offers an undercover
officer $30,000 to do the job and apparently gave him some cash as, for lack of a better term, earnest money.
COSBY: How much did she give him for, quote, "earnest money" for this horrible accusation that she`s planning on doing, this horrible act?
JOHNSON: We don`t know. She offered $30,000 for the whole job. We know that some cash was given to the undercover officer, but how much, I`m not
sure.
COSBY: Dan O`Donnell, she makes the allegation (ph). What does this new boyfriend do? He secretly records her and is cooperating, it sounds like?
O`DONNELL: Yes. After the second time she went to him with this request - - he was actually a former Marine sharpshooter who was, incidentally, court-martialed for -- well, for lack of a better term, relieving himself
on the bodies of several Taliban soldiers. But he was a very, very good marksman.
And after he realized that she was serious, he started making recordings of her and then went to police and said, Look, my girlfriend appears to be
trying to set up a murder for hire plot. He cooperated -- once he realized that she was serious about this, he was basically cooperating from the get-
go.
COSBY: Scott Johnson, what do we know also about this guy who was brought in, as we just heard? Apparently, he has an interesting background. He
was court-martialed with a couple of other guys. I remember this case when it -- in Afghanistan. This was a big deal.
JOHNSON: It was. As we heard, he was -- he was -- pictures were distributed of him relieving himself on the bodies of Taliban soldiers. It
was quite controversial.
COSBY: Yes, it certainly was quite controversial. Michael Christian, this got a lot of headlines when this happened. And explain why because this
really -- you know, even though, believe me, the Taliban -- it`s not like people are fans of the Taliban, but it certainly kind of goes against the
military code, if you will.
CHRISTIAN: I think the biggest problem or maybe the biggest fear, Rita, was that there might be retaliations for this. Clearly, this is nothing
that the Taliban or any Muslim extremist would like to see happen, and there was a fear that perhaps lots of Americans might be killed in
retaliation. There was a fear that this would literally be a recruiting tool for the Taliban or other extremists. So at the time, it was very
widely criticized.
I must say, however, that this ex-Marine -- his name is Joe Chamblin -- he has subsequently written a book about it, and he defended his actions and
said if the circumstances came up again, he would do it again.
COSBY: Scott Johnson, news director, WVLK, she has an interesting background, too, because she`s a baker, but as we talked about, she`s also
served two tours of duty, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, as well.
JOHNSON: She did. She was a Marine. Her stepfather said that she was always a bit of a tough girl and joined the Marines to prove her toughness.
She grew up in northern California, and her stepfather and other relatives had been in the Navy and encouraged her to join that. And apparently, she
decided that the Marine Corps was where she needed to be to prove just how tough she was.
COSBY: And as you point out, she was on the cover of "Southern Indiana Living" magazine, quite well known. Here`s a little bit of her talking
about what she was doing, baking, but obviously baking up something else here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Laura, tell us just a little bit about how you got started. How did you get to opening (ph) and opening up this store?
LAURA BUCKINGHAM, BAKER: So after my last appointment, I moved out to New Albany, Indiana, and I started selling breads on the side of Highway 150
(INAUDIBLE) And then I started selling at different farmer`s markets, and I just couldn`t keep up with the demand. About a year ago, I opened a bed
and breakfast, big, beautiful breakfast and full lunch, and it`s just totally taken off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And that`s an interview with Laura Buckingham from Bass (ph) Group Real Estate`s YouTube page.
Michael Christian, she also has made some interesting comments about liking to try things that are new, not afraid to try new things, and made some
comments about no restraints in her life?
CHRISTIAN: Yes, that`s right. You know, she really wasn`t ever formally trained as a chef or as a baker. So she said that, you know, she liked to
use organic ingredients, she liked to use locally grown ingredients, and basically, that she liked to break the rules. She liked to try new things.
COSBY: Scott Johnson, news director with WVLK, in this case -- we talked about the money. You mentioned about the money that exchanged hands.
Also, didn`t the boyfriend, the first one who was the intended target -- he actually -- they actually kind of carried it through as if he had been
killed, correct?
[20:10:05]JOHNSON: They did. He had -- we don`t know the details, but law enforcement in the Louisville area was notified of what was going on. And
to try to play this so that Laura Buckingham would believe that this was being carried out, they faked his death. He had to stage his own death.
He said it was rather traumatic.
COSBY: And here`s a little bit of him talking. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRADLEY SUTHERLAND: I`m just glad I`ve got my son and he`s safe. I`m still in a little bit of shock over the whole thing. I don`t feel angry.
I feel kind of sad that she felt the way she did that she had to -- to do that.
His name`s been smeared enough. I mean, he`s an amazing guy, and I owe my life to him. If she would have contacted anyone else other than who she
did, I mean, who`s to say that I`d even be standing here right now.
Today, on the way home, was -- it hit me that what she had done and I had to stop on the side of the road to collect myself.
Only question I really have, only thing I want to know, why?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: Michael Christian, what is the defense in this case?
CHRISTIAN: Well, we haven`t heard anything yet, but I can say that perhaps the seeds have been planted for a mental defense, Rita, because according
to Brad Sutherland, the ex-boyfriend that you just heard there, when she first came to Indiana after getting out of the military, she had some
issues with post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, he said that baking was really good therapy for that and it kind of got her back on the right
track. So it`s quite possible the defense attorneys, when all this settles down, will grab that and run with it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:15:43]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sutherland`s ex-girlfriend, Laura Buckingham, tried to hire someone to kill him.
SUTHERLAND: I don`t feel angry. I feel kind of sad that she felt the way she did, that she had to -- to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And I`m Rita Cosby, in for Nancy tonight.
Let`s go back to Michael Christian, CNN producer. Michael, you were saying that she has said she had PTSD. In this case, I just want to walk through
-- because it sounds like this was planned, this was plotted. She went to this new boyfriend, and it was on tape. There were calculated steps,
correct?
CHRISTIAN: That`s right. And she is charged with attempted first degree murder. Now, in Tennessee, first degree murder, one of the elements
required is premeditation. So authorities are definitely saying this was a premeditated act. Just thankfully, it didn`t go through.
COSBY: Let`s go to the defense attorneys, Robin Ficker and also Margie Mow. Robin, explain this one.
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think the new boyfriend, the Marine gone bad, the sharp shooter, was jealous, figuring she was giving the father of
her son a little home cooking...
COSBY: Wait!
FICKER: ... at the end of those 450-mile trips. He was jealous. He set her up!
COSBY: He set her up. OK.
FICKER: Yes, he did.
COSBY: So totally set up, even though she`s on tape saying that sounds great, even though she`s on tape giving money. And by the way, an
interesting point, Robin, that we didn`t talk about before, apparently, it was -- I guess it was, like, $30,000, there`s a report. But she gave $300
and said, Here`s the money. Money exchanged hands, Robin. It wasn`t just an idea. It`s, like, Here you go.
FICKER: You`re not going to pay off someone to commit a $30,000 movie -- murder with $300. That $300 was for something else . This bad Marine set
her up!
COSBY: Oh, come on!
FICKER: He`s the instigator.
COSBY: Robin -- Robin, so this is all just make believe, that she just was thinking, Oh, let me go buy some bread with the $300? Come on.
FICKER: He was jealous of pulchritudinous Laura seeing...
COSBY: There is no evidence of that.
FICKER: ... someone else.
COSBY: There is no evidence, all right? Let`s go to Margie. Any evidence of that, Marie? I don`t think so!
MARGIE MOW, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I agree with what he`s saying 100 percent. We need to take a closer look at the boyfriend in this case. He was a
sniper. I mean, you...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: ... sniper, i.e., sniper, i.e. means set up? See, there`s nothing on -- there`s nothing on audiotape, as we have heard, of him trying to set
her up. There`s audio saying...
MOW: Of course, but who recorded -- who recorded it? He did. Of course he`s not going to put incriminating statements on the audio that he is
recording while he`s setting her up.
COSBY: So the audiotape is all edited. It`s, like, OK, you`re buying something for me, you`re buying flowers for me, honey, right? That`s
basically what this is about.
MOW: The other thing is he also influenced her life. He had a negative impact on her life from the moment he began dating her. He influenced her.
He`s isolated her from her family and friends. In addition to that, she became suicidal after she began dating him. What was this man doing to
her...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: ... you get into the suicidal. Are you trying to say that PTSD and this whole climate is what actually caused her to hire a hitman allegedly
to do this?
MOW: That is a completely separate issue.
COSBY: Yes, I was going to say. You`ve got to make up your mind Margie. Which one is it? Did she do it and it`s post-traumatic stress and she`s so
depressed, she`s got to kill him because she doesn`t feel like driving? You know, a lot of people don`t want to drive four hours, but guess what?
They do it. They don`t go out and hire a hitman, Margie.
MOW: First of all, all this is speculation. We don`t know exactly what happened. And so as a defense attorney, I have to look at all the possible
ways I can defend her. One way is to look at the boyfriend.
COSBY: Yes, that is one way...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: You`re shooting blanks. Robin, shooting blanks there. Come on.
FICKER: This guy doesn`t shoot blanks. He`s a killer. He was thrown out of the Marines...
COSBY: Oh, so that means...
FICKER: ... pushed out. It was his idea.
COSBY: Guess what? Guess what? He also served our country and also said he did (ph) it (ph). And there`s a lot of people who might say that was a
good thing to do to the Taliban, even though it`s not with military code. But he stood by what he did there.
FICKER: And he literally pissed off all the Marines he was working with, too.
[20:20:00]COSBY: Well, Michael Christian, come on. They`re putting this guy under the microscope. Is there any evidence, Michael Christian, that
these wild theories by these two characters -- that there`s any basis for it? Is there any proof that he orchestrated this and made it up, Michael
Christian?
CHRISTIAN: Well, he says -- and it`s in at least one of the official documents -- that the day before he went to the police, he finally told
her, after he had realized that she wasn`t joking about this, that he would put her in contact with somebody named Jack and that Jack would apparently
being an acquaintance of his and would kill the ex-boyfriend.
Now, he then went to the police the next day. This has all been recorded by him. He told his story to the police. He`d have to be pretty stupid to
tell her that he would find her a hitman and then go to the police. But it`s quite possible that the defense will, you know, focus in on that and
try and make hay with it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say it`s a unique murder for hire case.
[20:25:00]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, rarely do they develop to this degree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say it was Chamblin who reached out to television investigators and helped capture Buckingham when she said she
wanted to kill Sutherland.
SUTHERLAND: If she would have contacted anyone else other than who she did, I mean, who`s to say that I would even be standing here right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And I`m Rita Cosby, in for Nancy Grace.
Let`s go back to Scott Johnson, news director with WVLK. Scott, you know, the attorneys, of course, are going to make up whatever crazy theories they
can. But in this case, they are saying that maybe this guy is all a big setup, that he totally set her up. This is the new boyfriend, who got her
on the audiotapes and got this guy, quote, "Jack," you know, this alleged guy, this fabricated person who turns out, of course, to be authorities.
Is there any evidence that this new boyfriend was editing the tapes? Is there any evidence that the tapes may have been manipulated that you know
of at this point?
JOHNSON: None that we`re aware of at this point. What he continues to say is that he -- once he realized she was serious, that he became afraid for
his safety, for the safety of his children and decided to go to the authorities.
COSBY: Let`s go to Matthew Dempsey, psychotherapist. Matthews, one of the things -- and you can almost see or hear, and Margie kind of touched on it,
that she was depressed, she was manipulated. Also, she had claimed to have post-traumatic stress, which, you know, look, a lot of people who were in
the height of battle definitely do, but they don`t go out and hire a hitman.
So could any of this have been a factor, and do you think it`s going to be used at trial?
MATTHEW DEMPSEY, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Yes, well, I think that`s actually a great to use, is that it`s a factor. It`s not something that you want to
rest the entire case on, that PTSD was it. But post-traumatic stress disorder is a real thing, you know, and has real implications and negative
consequences in terms of how we`re engaged in our lives. There tends to be a lot of depression and anxiety, suicidal thoughts and...
COSBY: Do you -- do you go out...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: Matthews, do you go out and hire a hit man because you got post- traumatic stress?
DEMPSEY: Well, when there`s something that`s -- you know, especially with a child, if there`s any kind of fear that`s getting triggered about the
potential of losing her child, that might be enough to actually enact some of these kind of more forceful aggressive tendencies, that PTSD could be a
role.
And I wouldn`t say that, again, PTSD is the thing that helped set up an entire homicidal premeditated event.
COSBY: Yes, and the other thing, too, as you point out, there was premeditation. There was planning. It`s not like, suddenly, something
snapped.
DEMPSEY: Right. Yes. There`s going to be -- there`s going to be a little bit more that`s a part of this and there can be something that`s suggestive
of -- you know, kind of a more of a psychotic break in that moment. But PTSD absolutely being a part of it, and actually, a pretty solid foundation
that the rest of the other kind of psychoses that can be built off of.
COSBY: And let`s go to Michael Christian, NANCY GRACE producer. I understand there`s also another development in this case. She`s got a bun
in the oven!
CHRISTIAN: That`s right. That came out at a hearing this week. Apparently, it shocked everybody, Rita. We don`t know how far along she
is. We don`t know for sure who the father is, although one could presume it was Joe Chamblin, since he was her current fiance at the time. But she
announced, or it was announced in the hearing that she is, indeed, expecting.
COSBY: What a mess.
Well, I want to tell you about a shocking hit-and-run. But a warning. This is disturbing, graphic video. An 8-year-old Arizona boy riding his
skateboard just off the school bus hit and thrown to the ground by a dark gray Chevy. The driver, believed to be a white or Hispanic female in her
20s, stopped for a few seconds -- you can see it -- and then takes off.
Here is the tip line. If you have any information, be sure to call right away Tempe police at 480-350-8311.
[20:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSBY: And I`m Rita Cosby, here in for Nancy Grace. A glamorous model and her FBI agent father accused of beating her husband to death with a
baseball bat and a landscaping stone. They claimed self-defense but the state says murder. She cleans out the family home after her husband`s
brutal death, taking loads of personal items. But now a judge says Molly Martens must give it back.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Martens and his daughter, Molly, have both said Corbett was killed in self-defense.
THOMAS MARTENS, ACCUSED OF KILLING JASON CORBETT: I intervened -- he`s in bad shape. We need help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the search warrant, the investigating officer writes, in my opinion, the struggle described by Martens was not consistent
with the evidence at the scene.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSBY: And let`s go straight to Matt Zarrell, CNN producer. Matt, take us through again what happened in this case. It was a brutal, horrible
killing.
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Yes. So, Thomas Martens, this is the father-in-law, he calls 911 around 3 a.m. that night. He says he struck
Jason Corbett because Jason was choking his daughter.
Now, Jason suffered fatal head injuries. He had multiple blows to the head with both an aluminum bat and a landscaping stone.
COSBY: OK, so two items, Matt. How many times, by the way, was he hit?
ZARRELL: Well we believe that Jason Corbett was struck in the head at least nine times.
COSBY: Wait, nine times?
ZARRELL: Nine times in the head and additional times as well with the paving stone as part of the attack.
COSBY: let`s go -- this is the 911 call from the father when he called in to say his version of the event.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Davidson County 911. What is the address of your emergency?
MARTENS: My name is Tom Martens. I`m at -- and we need help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. What`s going on there?
MARTENS: My daughter`s husband, my son-in-law, got in a fight with my daughter. I intervened and I think -- he`s in bad shape. We need help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. What do you mean he`s in bad shape? He`s hurt?
MARTENS: He`s bleeding all over and I may have killed him.
[20:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. Tell me what happened. Did you hit him in the head or?
MARTENS: I hit him in the head.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With what?
MARTENS: With a baseball bat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With a baseball bat.
MARTENS: Yes, ma`am. He was choking -- he was choking my daughter. He said, "I`m going to kill her."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. We are sending the paramedics to help you now. Where is the baseball bat at?
MARTENS: In the bedroom here with me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Just don`t touch it anymore, OK?
MARTENS: Yes, ma`am.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSBY: And let`s go to Michael Hewlett, legal affairs reporter with the "Winston-Salem Journal". Again, that`s the father making that 911 call
saying, he did it but he`s saying self-defense.
Michael, this scene was particularly gruesome. Walk us through the crime scene that authorities discovered when they came after that 911 call.
MICHAEL HEWLETT, WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL LEGAL AFFAIRS REPORTER: According to the search warrant, there was pretty much blood everywhere in that bedroom.
Again, Tom Martens told police that this was self-defense, that he struck - - they struck Jason Corbett because he was choking his daughter. But they described a very bloody scene. The baseball bat itself had blood and hair
all over it.
COSBY: And Matt Zarrell, what was the reason that the father was at the house? Because you kind of say, OK, but why was he even there? And where
was he in relation to when he claims that he heard them arguing and that the husband was choking the wife?
ZARRELL: OK. So, one thing we know is that police have told us that the Martens family had suddenly changed plans the day before the death and went
to the Corbett home from their home in Knoxville.
And from what the cops have learned, that would be extremely unusual for Thomas Martens, this last-minute change of plans. I should note they were
staying in the guest bedroom which was in the basement.
And Thomas Martens says that he heard a disturbance and then went upstairs to see what he says was Jason Corbett choking his daughter. And one thing
about the bat, that`s very important, which is that Thomas Martens told police that he actually brought that bat to the home that night as a gift
for the step grandson, and he couldn`t give it to the boy before the assault happened.
However, the problem is that the police say that the investigation showed that the boy told grief counselors that the grandfather, Thomas Martens,
had given him the bat the previous summer and the cops found photos of the boy with the bat on Molly Corbett`s Facebook page.
So, Thomas Martens is not recalling the story correctly apparently.
COSBY: That`s a big difference, because he says he brought it but then the kid id saying, OK, that was a year before.
Let`s go to David Freedman, he`s actually the attorney for the father, Thomas Martens. Mr. Friedman, how do you make up this inconsistency? Either
you brought the bat and it`s new ...
DAVID FREEDMAN, ATTORNEY FOR THOMAS MARTENS: There`s no ...
COSBY: ... that is an inconsistency, sir.
FREEDMAN: No, it`s not an inconsistency. Thomas Martens had a son who played baseball through college. Little Jack, who was the son of Jason and
stepson of Molly, played little league.
Each year he would bring a bat to him because he would grow up and he would need a larger bat. He had a bat from the year before. And Thomas came up to
bring him a new bat.
He didn`t have the opportunity to do so that night. He was going to do so in the morning. There is no inconsistency and there`s nothing in the
discovery that we`ve seen to show there`s an inconsistency.
COSBY: So let me get back to you ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: Hang on. Now, hold on one second. Let me just make it clear. It is the exact same-looking bat, literally the same. So if it`s in a picture,
then it`s literally the same model, same everything?
FREEDMAN: It`s not the same everything. We`ve seen nothing in the statement of discovery received to show that Jack made the statement supposedly he
made somewhere in (Ireland). However ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: Let -- let me ...
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: ... the bat ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: ... hang on one second. Let me ...
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: ... I mean, he was going from 9 to 10 years old. The bats were fairly similar in size and shape and color and everything else.
COSBY: All right. Let me -- hold on one second.
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: There is no ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: Hold on, Mr. Freedman.
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: ... inconsistency.
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: Hold on.
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: And there`s nothing unusual about Thomas and Sharon coming to visit them. They were seeing their grandchildren. They had seen their
grandchildren the prior weekend. It was a pretty regular event. They were very close with Molly and with their children.
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: So you`re saying, Mr. Freedman ...
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: To say there`s something sinister ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: You`re saying ...
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: ... about ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: ... you`re saying ...
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: ... grandchildren -- grandparents going to see their ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: I`ll give you that.
(CROSSTALK) FREEDMAN: ... grandchildren is absurd.
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: I`ll give you that. Hold on a second, sir. I`ll give you that. But quick question, you are saying that all of this that prosecutors are
alleging that that is not correct. That it is a similar bat but it`s not the same one in the picture ...
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: I don`t think the prosecutors ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: ... there`s nothing unusual.
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: ... is not alleging that. I don`t believe the prosecutors are alleging that. There`s a lot of misinformation in the search warrants that
were not drawn up by the prosecutors but by the Sheriff`s department that we`ve seen nothing to support.
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: All right. So that ...
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: ... so to say the prosecutors ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: ... but the Sheriff ...
(CROSSTALK)
FREEDMAN: ... alleging that would not be correct.
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: ... the sheriffs were at the scene. Let me -- hang on. Let me go to Matt Zarrell. Matt, the sheriffs, who actually investigate the crime scene,
who get there on the first slush, this is what they`re saying.
[20:40:00] ZARRELL: Yeah, I`m going to read you directly from the search warrant. Told detectives he had asked Jack -- this is the -- a brother-in-
law told detectives he asked Jack about what he had shared with the grief counselor, and Jack told him that the baseball bat Thomas Martens gave him
was a black and red bat with black grips. That is the same bat that had blood and hair on it that they found in the home.
Additionally, during the course of the investigation, detectives of Davidson County had viewed photographs of Jack Corbett with baseball
equipment which were put on public view by Molly Martens Corbett.
COSBY: So, they`re saying the same bat essentially, correct, Matt Zarrell?
ZARRELL: Yes, they are.
COSBY: All right. Let`s go back. David Freedman, also you`re right next to Walter Holton who`s the attorney for Molly Martens.
Let me bring you in, Walter. What`s your reaction? They`re saying it`s the same bat. Who`s right here? Come on.
WALTER HOLTON, ATTORNEY FOR MOLLY MARTENS: What the - I`ll tell you this right here. What the reaction is, the affidavit recounts those statements.
We`ve been through 6,000 pages of discovery.
There is no -- there are no notes of any interview with David Lynch regarding this incident. There are no notes of any interview with Jack
regarding this incident. There are no notes of any records from a grief counselor regarding this incident.
So if this was said, then we would like to see records from the Sheriff`s department or from whomever that substantiate this -- this sort of
outrageous theory.
COSBY: And you should look at it.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLTON: now, what I`m telling you is, I`m ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: But I find -- but I find it hard to believe that the Sheriff`s department is making it up out of thin air also. So , I mean, they`re
putting it in writing.
HOLTON: Well, I do -- they should put it in writing. If they conducted an interview, you know, I served as a former federal prosecutor here. You put
down the date of the interview, who you interviewed, the time of the interview and what they said.
But what I`m telling you, there is nothing in that 6,000 pages of documents that corroborates this allegation.
COSBY: All right. Well that`s what -- that`s what they`re saying now.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLTON: If you find it, you show it to me.
COSBY: All right. We will. Thank you very much.
Meantime, a stunning verdict in the bathtub death trial of an Iowa mom found dead in the master bathtub. A jury finds Alexander Fazzino not guilty
in the death of his wife, Emily Fazzino.
The defense insists her death was accidental. But prosecutors claimed first-degree murder, pointing to the husband`s inconsistent stories and
bruising to Emily`s neck. A jury disagreed.
[20:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSBY: And I`m Rita Cosby, in for Nancy Grace. An elaborate police sting all on video catches a Florida bride after police say she tries to hire a
hitman to kill her new husband. But could a T.V. interview land Dalia Dippolito back in jail?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK RANZIE, BOYNTON BEACH POLICE OFFICER: I`m sorry to tell you, ma`am, he`s been killed.
DALIA DIPPOLITO, ACCUSED OF HIRING HIT MAN TO KILL HUSBAND: (CRYING)
RANZIE: He`s been killed, ma`am.
DIPPOLITO: No! (CRYING)
It was a murder-for-hire episode.
OK. Or just give me the (BEEP) that they were going to use. I (BEEP) paid for it, didn`t I?
I`m being accused of something that I didn`t do.
AMY ROBACH, ABC`S "20/20" NEWS JOURNALIST: Did you want your husband dead?
DIPPOLITO: No, absolutely not.
ROBACH: Did you hire a hit man to kill your husband?
DIPPOLITO: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And that`s from ABC`s "20/20". Let`s go to JUSTIN FREIMAN, our Nancy Grace producer. Justin, kind of bring us up real quickly up to speed with
this case, how we got here.
JUSTIN FREIMAN, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Absolutely. So she`s been accused of actually setting up a hit man to kill her husband.
Unfortunately, for her, the hit man was an undercover cop. The whole thing was recorded.
She claims it was all part of a scheme to move forward an acting career, that she was trying to make a video that would then kind of go viral and it
could push her acting career forward and that her friend was in it, who became an informant as well as the husband that she allegedly was trying to
kill.
COSBY: And Justin, the friend is sort of like a sometimes boyfriend?
FREIMAN: That`s right, that`s right.
COSBY: So what`s the relationship? So they start talking and then how does it develop to where it becomes this, "acting thing" as she says? Even
though it sounds like she goes through with it, at least on the videotape.
FREIMAN: Right. Well so, they start talking. He actually gets a little concerned, so he goes to the police to warn them about this. And they have
him start to wear a wire and follow the whole story.
But what happens down the line is she claims that she tried to back out of this whole thing when he wanted to bring police into the video to make it
seem more realistic.
Unfortunately, the conversation where she claimed she tried to back out, that one, the tape doesn`t exist, the one conversation that doesn`t exist
on tape.
COSBY: Hmm, that one piece that`s missing. How very interesting. Let`s go to Rory O`Neill, reporter with iHeartRadio. Rory, the new information in
this case is that now she`s on the hot seat for doing an interview with "20/20".
RORY O`NEILL, IHEARTRADIO REPORTER: That`s right, Rita. She made four trips to her lawyer`s office in Miami. Now, she`s in Boynton Beach and is under
strict rules not to leave her house. That`s part of her $25,000 bond restriction.
She is accused of going to her lawyer`s office four times for the "20/20" interview without getting permission, that was required, and the
prosecutors are now asking to revoke her bond, put her back in jail to await her retrial on that murder-for-hire plot, and that trial is set for
May.
COSBY: Let`s go to a little bit of her on "20/20". Here`s from the interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBACH: Did you want your husband dead?
DIPPOLITO: No, absolutely not.
ROBACH: Did you hire a hit man to kill her husband?
DIPPOLITO: No.
ROBACH: How do you explain what we have all seen and heard on those videotapes?
DIPPOLITO: I`d like to be able to explain that to you right now, but I can`t because the attorneys legally have told me that we`re saving that for
our day in court.
ROBACH: You kept saying, "I didn`t know anything."
DIPPOLITO: Please, I didn`t do anything.
[20:50:00] ROBACH: Was that all you could think of to say?
DIPPOLITO: They were accusing me of trying to have my husband killed and I -- I didn`t.
ROBACH: Was that really you, the person in those tapes or person sitting here today?
DIPPOLITO: The person sitting here. The tape it was -- it was a show, it was a tape, that was the purpose of it.
ROBACH: You were acting in those tapes?
DIPPOLITO: Yes.
ROBACH: But you`re telling the truth now?
DIPPOLITO: Yes.
ROBACH: Why should we believe you?
DIPPOLITO: Because it`s what happened. It`s the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: Acting or carrying out what she wanted to do? That is from ABC`s "20/20." Justin Freiman, in terms of doing the interview, was she allowed
to do the interview? Was she allowed to actually -- and it sounds like they pinned it down to the attorney`s office, right?
FREIMAN: That`s right. So she`s allowed to go to the attorney`s office twice a month, and that`s to prepare for trial. Now, when prosecutors saw
this video on "20/20," they actually got satellite images of where the office is and they looked at the interview and they saw - we see treetops
there and all.
They actually matched and said, this isn`t taped at her home. This is taped in the attorney`s office.
COSBY: Now, she is not allowed to do interviews. Give us a sense, Justin, of the terms of which she could, because the judge actually did allow her a
right to go to church a couple of times.
FREIMAN: That`s right.
COSBY: So there were some exceptions ...
FREIMAN: Right.
COSBY: ... but not this.
FREIMAN: Not that we know. What they allowed her is two trips a month to the attorney`s office to prepare for trial. She had to let the deputies
know when she was going there, the exact times, and it would have to be approved. And they say they had nothing about her going there for a T.V.
interview.
COSBY: The search for a missing 14-year-old North Carolina girl, Michaela Hutchinson. Last seen February 29th on Dr. Carver Road in the Charlotte
area. The tip line is for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, and it`s the number you see there, 704-353-0890.
[20:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIPPOLITO: It was a murder-for-hire episode.
They were accusing me of trying to have my husband killed, and I didn`t.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSBY: And I`m Rita Cosby, in for Nancy Grace. That`s from ABC`s "20/20."
Let`s go to the defense attorneys, Robin Ficker, also Margie Mow. Robin, didn`t she violate these terms of the bond? I mean, she was clearly
supposed to only leave and go to her attorney`s office. She`s under house arrest and only go to prepare for the case. Doing an interview with "20/20"
isn`t preparing for the case, Robin?
FICKER: It`s all on the lawyer. It`s in his office. He knew the terms of her coming to see him. It`s on him. He knew what she could do and couldn`t
do.
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: Yeah, but -- but she`s the person here in this case. It`s not he is. And you`re saying that she can go because he approved it, she should be OK?
FICKER: She`s getting legal advice here. And you know, I`ve been on "20/20" before. They`re very persistent, very beguiling ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: Oh, come on.
FICKER: ... to get their story.
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: You`re saying that she was -- she was coaxed into it?
(CROSSTALK)
Ficker: It`s a little bit on them, too. This is a poor, innocent girl.
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: You`re going to blame -- you`re going to blame the media? Come on, Robin. You got to do -- you got to do better than that.
(CROSSTALK)
FICKER: I`m blaming the media a little bit, but it`s mostly on the lawyer because he knew what she can do. He knows the fine points of her agreement.
COSBY: Yeah. On the other hand, it sounds like they walked her through pretty clearly, Robin, because they said, look, you come back to us -- OK,
if you want to go to church, you can do it here. You can only do this.
I mean, she knew it was pretty tough and it sounds like nobody asked the judge on this one. Don`t you think some red flags should go up, going, wait
a minute, we didn`t ask on this one?
FICKER: You know, I bet you the lawyer got an interview, too, and got his face on national T.V. That`s what he wanted and that`s the reason that he
let the interview go on.
Cosby: All right, Margie, is that all about P.R. for the attorney? What is this on?
MOW: First of all, there`s no evidence that she wasn`t at his office to prepare for trial.
COSBY: Wait a minute. She`s doing an interview ...
(CROSSTALK)
MOW: She could have been there to prepare for ...
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: Maybe ...
MOW: No!
(CROSSTALK)
MOW: ... you don`t know how long she was there.
(CROSSTALK)
COSBY: All right. By the way -- by the way Margie, -- Margie, correct. She may have been preparing. But clearly, the cameras don`t just suddenly show
up and say, hey, you`re free for an interview in two seconds? It`s planned, it`s plotted, it`s determined.
So maybe they did prepare for trial, but talking to "20/20" isn`t preparing for trial. Won`t you -- won`t you agree with that, Margie?
MOW: There`s nothing that states that because she happens to be in his office and they want to interview her there, she somehow violated the terms
of her probation. She was legally entitled to be in his office. She did nothing wrong.
COSBY: She`s allowed to be in his office but it doesn`t sound like she`s allowed to do an interview. We`ll find out on this one, everyone.
Meantime, another reminder tonight. We need your help in a shocking hit and run. But a warning, this is disturbing, graphic video.
An 8-year-old Arizona boy riding his skateboard just off the school bus, hit and thrown to the ground by a dark gray Chevy. The driver, believed to
be a white or Hispanic female in her 20s, you can see, stops for a few seconds, then takes off.
Here is the tip line. If you have any information, be sure to call authorities right away. Tempe police at 480-350-8311.
And tonight, we honor American hero California Highway Patrol Officer Kaleo Clissold. Saving a family from a burning car. The mother, driving down
Highway 1 when her car catches on fire. The officer who happens to be driving right behind them pulls over to help. A little boy and girl
strapped in their car seats, screaming and crying when the officer pulls them to safety. Kaleo Clissold, a true American hero.
And "Dr. Drew" is coming up next, talking about the most shocking episode yet of "The People Versus O.J. Simpson."
Thanks to our guests and to all of you at home for being with us. I`m Rita Cosby. Good night, everybody.
[21:00:00]
END
