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this episode contains graphic audio and references to self harm and Family Violence please listen with
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care I think that she is contemplating how to murder her family that night and she wants to do that for what purpose
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the sole purpose of greed money when detective Brian berson first walked through the crime scene on Drive
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in mlan Virginia he saw a maob jigsaw puzzle and he wasn't yet sure how the bloody pieces fit together but now
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nearly 16 months after the shootings he was ready to make an arrest detective byerson told me he believed Megan
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started plotting the murders after her first failed attempt to wire money from her mother's account and it may have all
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come down to as strange as it may seem her mother's cell phone that's how Petty this whole thing
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is she knows that she has to have her mother's cell phone because she has to answer that phone and she has to
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regurgitate a security number that they're going to give her on that cell phone and in order for her to get that
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phone she's going to have to kill her mom that petty that petty but what about Helen what motivated Megan to also shoot
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her youngest sister perhaps it was to eliminate a witness even if it was her own flesh and blood I think Helen knew
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what happened I mean I will never understand I don't think in in any capacity why it is that Megan went
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upstairs and told her that she had shot their mother I have no idea why she did that I can only assume that at some
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point after telling her that she realized that was probably not a great idea and realized that the only way out
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for her was to Stage this scene as if Helen had killed Pamela and then took her own life so she could just walk away
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and she' get the money as she thought and then everybody would just blame Helen two lives a sister a mother a
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family destroyed to buy a house all for a house in fact when Megan finally went on trial in 2022
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that's the story prosecutors plan to tell the eldest of three daughters wanted her mother to buy her a house
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when she didn't get her way she chose to kill her mother then kill and frame her
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youngest sister it's just an immeasurable grief and tragedy all the way around Megan's defense team embraced the
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theory that Helen was most likely the murderer they said there was a way she could have killed herself with that long
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rifle using her foot in fact an expert for the prosecution had given Megan's lawyers an opening it's possible for a
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person to use their toe to engage the trigger that is certainly possible and that claim would change the course of
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the trial [Music] I'm Peter Van Sant from 48 hours this is blood is thicker the haran family
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killing episode 5 Tow on the trigger I've never seen a case like this and how would you characterize it
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particularly deliberate willful and cruel Tyler basilla served as lead prosecutor on Megan haran's case this is
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an individual who murdered two of her closest family members for money and for no other reason basilla and his
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co-counsel plan to tell the jury the story of a calculating killer I'm telling them the facts and showing them
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that we're going to demonstrate over the next several weeks that every shred of evidence shows that Megan haran was the
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one who committed these murders and she did it for greed and it's not Helen haran Helen haran was an innocent
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24-year- old girl having a normal day the prosecution laid out how it believes Megan murdered Helen then
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showed how it believes Megan tried to frame her sister as the killer there was no evidence that Helen had done any of
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those things and all the evidence was that Megan did remember to make police think Helen was suicidal Megan had said
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Helen was depressed and under the spell of a bad boyfriend she had also given officers a motive for murder that Helen
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was angry with her mom for cancelling a contract on a new house in Aldi Virginia
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but prosecutors asserted that none of it was true it was all just a smoke screen
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there was no evidence that the house was being canceled in fact they had an appointment for 2 days later to go meet
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with the blinds guy when you talk to the real estate agent the real estate agent
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says there's a whole process you have to go through to stop the purchase of a house they had never once initiated did
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that prosecutors also countered Megan's character attacks on Helen and her boyfriend Carlos Gutierrez there was no
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evidence of drugs whatsoever there was no evidence that Carlos was was bad to Helen if anything he seemed like a very
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loving guy Carlos played a key role at the trial testifying for the prosecution he was very emotional even before he
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walked in the courtroom he was emotional during his entire testimony especially when he had to talk about Helen um this
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is not something he has has gotten over I it's just stuck with him while the court did not release
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audio we have reviewed Court transcripts and 48 Hours producers attended some of
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the trial Carlos was emphatic that Helen was not suicidal not when he spoke to her the morning she died not ever she
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was not a person that was plotting a murder thinking her life was was ready to kill herself Carlos said that Helen
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was scared sced and that she told him Megan confessed the unthinkable shooting the woman who gave her life and loving
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support in Cold Blood he's an eyewitness without his eyes but through his ears and he was sort of there through Helen's
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words Whitney Gregory was co-counsel for the prosecution she said that Carlos was
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genuinely heartbroken on the stand the intangibles of him just crying staring down Megan it was there's no way he was
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acting and just that raw emotion showed that there's no way that Helen could have done this Carlos's emotional
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testimony was followed by another compelling witness after initially defending her
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sister Megan Ashley haran agreed to testify against her for the prosecution she was the middle sister by
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birth and caught in the middle by this tragedy between two sisters she had always loved Ashley presents herself
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very stoically she's very strong independent but she's grieving in a way that none of us have ever experienced
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and I think because she comes off so stoically people may think she's not as upset as she really is adding to the
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stress of her testimony was the fact that Ashley was pregnant with her first child when she testified she was eight
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almost 9 months pregnant and and she kept her composure with one exception she got very teared eyed when I showed
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her an autopsy photo of her mom and sister but she's grieving like anyone would so for Ashley haran one day she's
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having lunch with Mom and her niece and getting Snapchats from her sister and the next day her entire family is either
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murdered or suspected of murder mean she lost everything in in a day at trial Ashley strongly defended her
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sister Helen but as you'll recall back when she was initially interviewed by detective Brian byerson Ashley suggested
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Helen might have been the killer prosecutors said that Ashley had been in shock and was simply paring what she had
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been told by her big sister Megan out of all the family members is the only one that ever suggests Helen did this
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because mom was going to pull the house no one in the rest of the family had ever heard that they never even
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suggested it it's important because and Helen always talked to her sister Ashley
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and Ashley would have known this Ashley would absolutely know yeah because Ashley was close with Pam Pamela was
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actually visiting Ashley the day before the murders she was around when cap called and said hey someone tried to
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take all this money out of your account Ashley knew that that all the stuff Megan saying's not
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true in cross-examination the defense attacked Ashley's credibility accusing her of
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lying out of self-interest they claimed Ashley wanted the money from Pamela's estate all to
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herself and if Megan took the fall Ashley would inherit Millions she has to grieve the loss of her family grapple
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with the fact that her sister is a murderer and then be targeted for somehow wanting all this estate and
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that's why she's blaming Megan but it turns out Ashley had a very good reason for her change of heart according to the
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prosecution she had listened to the Capital One calls of Megan impersonating their mother she knew 100% through the
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evidence and in her gut that Megan is the killer so she testified for us testified factually and I think it was
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very powerful for the jury to see that Ashley believed in her heart and through the evidence that Megan did this heinous
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[Music] act when Ashley haran was on the stand Megan's defense attorneys played her
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recordings of what she previously told police long before she knew the facts of the case when was the last time that
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Helen had ever talked about hurting herself with me it was probably last year I want
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to say this call between Ashley and detective Brian berson was recorded 5 days after the killings did you know
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that there was your mom was um financially supporting the the buying of the house with Megan I knew
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that she was not not afterwards but right I knew that she was going to be helping them with purchasing a house
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yes okay and she'd agreed with all that mhm in this conversation before she heard the Capital One calls Ashley
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backed up Megan's story you didn't know how much your mom was giving her but you
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knew that she was helping her out right for the house for the house yes however on this stand Ashley claimed to not
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recall these conversations 48 Hours consultant and criminal defense expert Matt trano
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reviewed her testimony so it's my understanding Peter that during Ashley's cross-examination she says 150 times
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thereabouts that she doesn't remember certain things and that's a lot of times to forget what you said there's two ways
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to look at that number one is that she doesn't remember right number two is that she doesn't want to say things that
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are not helpful for the prosecution that she has an interest Ed interest financial interest emotional interest in
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protecting her mother and her sister Helen and that she is not going to be cooperative the defense tried to use
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Ashley's memory lapses in their favor all they needed to do was so doubt that Megan was the killer it's not the job of
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the jury to answer the question of who did it the job of the jury is to determine if the state the prosecution
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has proven the case Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and Megan's lawyers zeroed in on other curious some might say baffling
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facts remember Helen didn't try to escape the haran home even after her mother had been shot and her sister had
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confessed to The Killing Helen didn't even call 911 and Carlos testified that she also asked
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him not to report anything here's Matt trano again she actually says don't don't call 911 as I understand it the
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question is why why why would that ever be reasonable what is the reasonable explanation for Helen to not want to get
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help I asked detective byerson that same question that is one of the pieces to the puzzle that we'll never have we
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don't know why she didn't call 911 we don't know why she didn't leave but prosecutor Whitney Gregory offered a
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potential answer perhaps Helen was trying to protect Molly Megan's daughter I think it could be survival
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mentality she believes that Molly's in the other room if Megan's capable of killing her own mother who else is she
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capable of killing in the home so I think in part is just she couldn't W herend around what happened and also to
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just trying to protect herself and other survivors in the household but Helen this point is not a 12-year-old she's a
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University graduate two two degrees a very bright woman and she tells Carlos I can hear my mother gurgling
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downstairs and she doesn't call 911 to get medical help for her mom that makes no sense she also is in the home with a
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crazy maniac with a gun and so I think she's barricading herself in a bathroom she doesn't know what to do she panics
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prosecutors hope to convince jurors how the crime scene clearly indicated Megan killed Helen that Helen didn't pull the
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trigger herself but then the trial took an unexpected turn a witness for the prosecution conceded there was one
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possible way Helen could have taken her own life Matt trano said the defense saw
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an opening the critical question is could it have been done if it is impossible ible to do it that's one
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thing if it is implausible that's a different [Music] thing in the second week of the trial
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the prosecution and defense focused on one critical question was it possible that Helen could have first killed her
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mother and then herself with a long rifle the Fatal bullet had traveled from a wound at the top of her head downward
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which seemed physically impossible the prosecution called Iris Deli graph to the stand I'm a forensic
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specialist and I was hired to look into a reconstruction of the events that happened when Helen haran died in the
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bathroom one of the first things I do is I look to the autopsy what do we know from the autopsy that's fact Beyond
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change in this this case she had an entry wound through the bone at the top of her head and an exit in the lower
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part of the cranium going down into the right neck with that kind of wound graph
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didn't think it was likely that Helen shot herself top of the head is usually a sign that something else is happening
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someone else is in that room certainly for a downward to the top of the head yes graph said she tested several
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scenarios and showed me her digital reconstruction of the crime scene this is a uh forensic animation a virtual
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model that is a depiction of the data the jury was not allowed to see graph's reconstructions in court but
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they mostly challenged the idea that Helen died by Suicide since the autopsy revealed the bullet entered the top of
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her head graph tested all the ways Helen could have pointed the rifle and still reached the trigger
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in most scenarios Helen's fingers couldn't reach fully extended we still need another 5 in so she's 5 in short of
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reaching the trigger if the gun was held at this angle and based on my experience
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and covering a lot of these cases I've never seen a suicide with a weapon a rifle place on someone's head by
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themselves like this have you U not with this particular trajectory but there was
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one scenario where graph found Helen could have reached the trigger using her toe people have done that use like their
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toe to engage the trigger that has been done yes okay try to imagine this for a moment in graph's digital reconstruction
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Helen is sitting on the toilet leaning forward so that the top of her head is against the Gun Barrel in that scenario
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Helen could have used her toe to pull the trigger yes her legs are long enough that her
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toe could reach the trigger but what do you think of this scenario basically you're standing on your head to try to
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to get to this position which makes it very difficult to find the trigger and the other thing is that you're leaning
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so far forward that your center of gravity is over the floor not over the toilet seat which you could fall down
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exactly she conceded this scenario is technically possible but graph didn't think hel killed herself someone else
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has to engageed the trigger so this is a homicide not suicide in your opinion this would be homicide yet graph's
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finding that Helen's legs were long enough to reach the trigger raised enough doubt that the defense made it
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part of their argument only a producer of a movie could come up with this and even then I don't think an audience
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would even buy that even in Hollywood prosecutor Whitney Gregory was not convinced and she didn't think anyone
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else would buy the tow trigger Theory it's utterly nonsensical for several reasons the defense attorneys even
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discussed how Helen socks could have prevented her from leaving Prince on the trigger I asked prosecutor Tyler basilla
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about the theory I mean I thought it was ridiculous I'll tell you this that in combination with them using the word
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framed that Helen framed her sister to me meant that they didn't have an offense at all
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because if you frame somebody this isn't the way you do it but remember all the defense needed to do was convince one
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juror that there was reasonable doubt that Megan haran was the murderer for her part Megan chose not to
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take the stand and defend herself the jury deliberated on Thursday March 24th 2022 took off Friday and returned a
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verdict that follow foll ing Monday guilty on all four charges so first degree of Pamela first degree of Helen
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and then the two Associated firearm the commission of the felony charges and how
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could how did Megan react to the verdict at least for me as a prosecutor I don't want to look over at that table
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I think it's not very classy I'm just sort of In the Zone trying not to pass out detective Brian byerson who had been
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working this case from the very beginning was also in the courtroom there's some Rel belief there when that
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verdict is read uh but more so there's a sense of uh I think weight lifted off of
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Everybody uh I know that it was very emotional for Ashley haran sitting in there listening to that the jury
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recommended two life sentences a mlan woman could be headed to prison for the rest of her life for
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killing her mother and her sister jurors found Megan haran guilty of the murders
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and staging the crime scene to look like it was a murder suicide but the Saga over whether Megan haran killed her
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mother and sister wasn't over not yet that argument about Helen using her toe on the trigger caused one juror to go
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Rogue and what she did next would put the verdict and the entire case in Jeopardy that's next time on the finale
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of blood is thicker from 48 hours this is blood is thicker the haran family killings Judy Tigard is
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the executive producer of 48 Hours original reporting by 48 Hours producers Josh Jager Sarah elely Holz Michelle
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sagona and Lauren white Jamie Benson is the senior producer for permont audio and Mara walls is the senior story
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editor recording assistants for from Alan Pang and Marlin polycarp special thanks to Paramount
00:22:33
podcast vice president Megan Marcus and 48 Hours senior producer Peter schwitzer blood is thicker is produced
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by Sony Music Entertainment it was written and produced by Alex Schuman our executive producers are
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Katherine St Louis and Jonathan Hirsch our associate producer is Zoe culin theme and original music composed
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by hansdale shei he also soundd designed and mixed the episodes we also use music
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by Blue Dot sessions Katherine Newan is our fact Checker our production managers
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are tamaa balance kassi and Samantha Allison I'm Peter vanent if you're enjoyin the show be sure to rate and
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review it helps more people find it and here are reporting you can listen to blood is thicker the haran family
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killings early and add free right now by joining wry Plus in the wry app or on Apple podcasts thanks for listening
00:23:47
[Music]