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[Music] I received a call of a possible DOA at this location. I'm Detective Dennis Frolley, New York
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City Police Department, retired. Of course, I had very little information to go on. And as I came in, the first thing
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I noticed was how clean this particular apartment was. I was directed to the bathroom. And as soon as I came in,
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there was a little dog protecting whoever was in that bathtub. And I thought to myself, perhaps this
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person fell, a home accident. And I noticed she had terrible injuries on her head. Towards here, right by the drain
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where our feet were, I found several empty ice bags. Interestingly enough, on top of the toilet tank right here, there
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was a large electric fan. And the fan was on, the breeze blowing through this window, which opens up. Now, the scene
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starting to come together for me. And I said, "You know something? Somebody tried to preserve this body." I told the
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lieutenant, "We have a crime scene. Seal the building. No one comes in. No one goes out. Her name was Daniel Thomas.
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[Music] >> You reach 911. [Music] >> It's um you can't bring him back. I can't bring her back.
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That's how it makes me feel. Her boyfriend Jason Bond in Ivy League educated lawyer.
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>> Suspect from the beginning now charged with her murder custody for allegedly bludgeoning her to death and strangling
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her. >> He beat her so badly that he broke most of her ribs, broke her sternum. He
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didn't just kick her. He was stomping her in the chest. >> Jason Bond, he was not your normal
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suspect. He had become an attorney and had attended an Ivy League school. I've been covering crime and law enforcement
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in New York City for three decades. And it's very rare that the murder victim turns out to be a very successful
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executive for a company like Weight Watchers. >> I identified her through a photo and I
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can close my eyes and I can see that photo still. Jason has taken my only child for me.
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>> I've seen many murder scenes. You got to move beyond the emotion. I had to dig.
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And when I did dig into Jason's life, there is no doubt that he is suffering from a mental illness. So I turned to
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Dr. Sasha Bard, Harvard education, one of the best forensic psychiatrist that I have seen.
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>> My job is to climb inside the mind of a killer. In other words, I have to dissect him.
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>> My mother was in the process of giving us up. >> At the age of nine, his own mother
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abandoned him. That leaves a psychological mark. >> Based on mental illness, I believe that
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Jason Bond should not be held responsible for murder. >> Has the jury reached the verdict?
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>> Yes, we have. >> It's absolutely ridiculous to believe that because his mommy didn't treat him
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necessarily as well as she should have that somehow 15 years later he's not responsible for the torturing murder of
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his girlfriend. He was caught virtually red-handed. We had a tape of him killing
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her. It's one of the worst things I've ever heard. >> 5 seconds. I'm going to let you off and
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then you need to answer quickly or else you die. >> I'm Troy Roberts. A raging son.
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[Music] [Music] It was the horror that happened here among the neighborhood streets of
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Atoria, Queens, with the glittering Manhattan skyline just across the river that made one of a great city's best
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detectives, Dennis Frolley, decide he didn't want to be a cop anymore. >> This did it. This set the ball rolling.
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>> But you've covered thousands of cases. You've >> not quite like this. >> So many.
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>> Not quite like this. >> It was early summer 2012 when cops at the precinct just around the corner got
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a tip over the telephone and investigators rushed to this apartment. >> The door was open, but it didn't look
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like it had been broken in in any way. Assistant District Attorney Marilyn Fill & Jerry took in the image of the broken
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body of a young woman. >> She's in the bathtub. Her head and her face are covered by her hair.
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>> Frantic dog that had been standing watch already removed. >> I'm just examining, looking, you know,
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for an injury, maybe a fall. >> But in minutes, the cop knew this was no accident.
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>> It's almost as if someone held her down and hit her head or maybe did this with
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their foot. The apartment was now a crime scene. >> This was murder, pure and simple.
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And it was vicious. [Music] >> And someone had already tried to manipulate the evidence. That fan
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venting the smell. Those bags of ice now empty and drained. >> That threw the time of the crime scene
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off by maybe 12 hours. >> How long do you think the body was there? probably over 36 hours.
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>> Detective Frolley soon learned the batter young woman was a vibrant, successful New York City professional.
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But there was something else, something knowing at the veteran cop. And it was a
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terrible realization once he learned her name, Danielle Thomas. >> I remembered her.
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I remembered speaking to this victim not too long prior to that awful day. >> 27-year-old Weight Watchers executive
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Danielle Thomas had been on the NYPD's radar for weeks before she was killed. Starting with an incident in May between
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her and her boyfriend witnessed by neighbor Sheret Corsy who called 911. 91 operator 2277. Where's the emergency?
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>> There's um altercation going on next door to me where the guy seems to be forcibly holding this girl from leaving
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>> and then I saw her run out and then he kind of chased her and grabbed her back
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into the apartment. >> Did she say anything as he was pulling her back inside the apartment?
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>> No, she was just screaming. [Music] >> But that night, May 24th, police never
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connected with Danielle. It wasn't until two weeks later when she came into Detective Frolley's precinct that police
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heard her story. Danielle told police her boyfriend Jason Bond had beaten her up that night her neighbor called 911.
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In the 114th precinct, Danielle Thomas showed police her still black and blue bruises.
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[Music] That's when Jason Bond called Danielle's cell phone and she put him on speaker
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right in front of police >> and they heard him on speaker like yelling like a mad, you know, very
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angry, very upset. >> Lead prosecutor Patrick O' Conor would soon review the details of that call.
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>> What did he say? >> He said, "I'm going to make your life impossible. I'm going to hunt you down
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like a dog in the streets. >> This is war. >> This is war." Jason Bond would be arrested and charged with assault, but
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Danielle would eventually refuse to cooperate. Still, police tried to help her. I pointed out to her that you did
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the right thing by coming to us and the courts will protect you. You have an order of protection.
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>> This is that order of protection given to Danielle Tannis. Police had no problem finding it just a few feet from
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her lifeless body along with a bouquet of flowers and handwritten notes from her boyfriend, Wall Street lawyer,
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33-year-old Jason Bond. >> What do the notes say? >> One of the notes said, "Danny, I will
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love you forever." Jay, >> she just loved adventure. She loved skydiving. She went swimming with the sharks,
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bungee jumping, >> fearless. >> Yes, she truly was beautiful inside and out. >> Danielle's grandmother, Wanita, and
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mother, Jamie, live in a world changed forever by the loss of the child they both adored.
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>> When she was a little girl, I told her, "Danielle, just shoot for the stars."
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And she said, "I'll do that, Nana." And she did. She'd graduate the University of Florida with an MBA and was soon
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working as a revenue analyst at Disney World. There were boyfriends. >> Danielle always
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dated what she always said, "Mom, always marry the nerd." >> Then in October 2011, at a tailgating
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party >> at a football game, um I think a friend introduced them. Danielle met an intense
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young man, a lawyer who also seemed to be shooting for the stars. >> That's what she looked for, is
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intelligence and ambition. >> His name, Jason Bond. >> This was a whirlwind romance.
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>> Yes. >> Danielle wanted her family to meet Jason and pay for them all to take a Disney
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cruise. Jason turned on the charm. And when you were with them together, how did he treat Danielle?
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>> He always called her his princess, he never took his eyes off of her. I just thought, you know, they were in
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love. Then in March 2012, just 5 months after they met, Danielle followed her new
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boyfriend up to New York City, taking a job as an executive at Weight Watchers and moved into an apartment with Jason
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in Atoria, Queens. But Danielle's mother wanted assurances about Jason and was thrilled when a trip was scheduled to
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Tony Greenwich, Connecticut to meet Jason's mother, Marino Connell. I even bought a new dress for the occasion,
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you know, because uh Jason's mother was the chief financial officer of Scholastic Books. I wanted to make
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Danielle proud. >> But at the last minute, Danielle told her mother the visit was off.
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>> She just said, "We're not going." That was it. And that dress that I chose to meet Moren in, that's the dress I
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wore to Danielle's funeral. What her family didn't know was that Danielle's world had become a hell,
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caught up in a gruesome web of domestic violence. >> Why didn't she tell me? Why couldn't she
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tell mom or me? Searching for safety, Danielle was staying at hotels or with friends. But
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she eventually began living with Jason again. And on June 23rd, Danielle suggested drinks with Jason and his work
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friends here in a bar near New York's famous Times Square. As the night grew late, they'd argue. Danielle would
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confide in one of Jason's friends that he was abusing her, and she would be urged to spend the night in a hotel.
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Then Danielle remembered Jason had threatened her dog >> and she goes home because she's afraid
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for her dog. >> So to protect her dog at 2:15 a.m. Danielle Thomas walked back into their
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apartment just 16 minutes later she dialed 911. The phone call is chilling. >> 911 operator 28 emergency.
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>> 911. Hello >> 911. Hello. Hello, ma'am. What was he addressing? >> Can I please?
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>> She called 911 and the police failed to respond. >> That really hurts me at night is she
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called and no one came to to help her. It's not clear precisely what happened, but that would be the last time the NYPD
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had a chance to save Daniel Thomas. >> And the next time I saw her, she was dead.
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Hours after brutally beating to death his girlfriend Danielle Jason Bond is at the local ride aid store shopping for
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cleaning supplies and ice. >> He was trying to buy time to extricate himself from the situation to figure out
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what he was going to do by putting the ice in the tub, putting her body in the tub. Neighbors wouldn't smell her body
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for some time. Prosecutors say Jason picked up Danielle's Blackberry and pretending to be her sends texts that
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she's just walking the dog and indicates that she has not seen Jason. >> Saying that everything's okay. Jason
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spent the night at a friend's house. So, you know, we think that that one of his
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initial attempts was to set up an alibi that he wasn't even there when when she was killed.
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>> Then with Danielle's lifeless body in the bathtub, Jason flees New York, drives through New Jersey. Surveillance
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cameras show him in an ATM in Washington DC. >> He ended up in Chicago, I believe,
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>> at one point. >> But while it looks like Jason's trying to get away with murder, his lawyer,
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Todd Greenberg, says something entirely different was going on. >> He was not running away from this. He
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wrote a letter. He makes an admission. >> Jason left a letter cradled in Danielle's arm in the bathtub. It reads
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in part, >> "It was an accident. It was an accident. It was an accident." And Jason
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continued, "I'm so sorry." >> Evidence. Jason's lawyer says that Jason wasn't trying to hide anything. And
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remember that phone tip that police responded to and found Danielle's body? Well, it was Jason who made that call.
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>> There is no hiding this crime. There is just no hiding this crime. >> So, what was Jason doing?
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>> He was contemplating suicide and he was biting time. Jason's defense says he accepts that he killed Danielle, but
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doesn't actually remember doing it, and that could be very important at trial. Jason says he remembers arguing with
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Danielle, grabbing her wrist, and maybe even pushing her, but not much more. After his arrest, he told investigators
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what happened the next morning. >> Waking up and my head was spinning. I was still in my clothes. I went into the
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bedroom. She was unconscious. I picked her up and ran her to the bathroom and stripped off her clothes and ran
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cold water on her and try to revive her. >> Slowly, Jason says he understood he must
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have killed Danielle. >> I just started crying hysterically. >> He left this message for an
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ex-girlfriend. >> I'm in serious trouble. Danielle and I went out together on Saturday night. We both were got
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intoxicated. Uh had a disagreement and I blacked out and Danielle is dead. >> Jason's defense believes his lack of
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memory about the murder could be symptomatic of a serious mental illness. Dr. Alexander Sasha Barde is a Harvard
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educated forensic psychiatrist and a consultant for the TV show Law and Order SVU.
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>> I spent a total of about six or seven hours with him over the course of three
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different sessions. >> Now working for the defense, he spoke with Jason and others who know him.
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>> What conclusion did you reach? I concluded that uh Jason was suffering from intermittent explosive disorder.
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>> What is that? >> That is a mental illness characterized by bouts of loss of control and bouts of
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anger and bouts of violence. I described him as the Hulk. I mean this is a metaphor and the metaphor is for someone
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who is one minute calm and rational and then because of some trigger turns into an angry monster.
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>> I mean it sounds preposterous. >> It sounds preposterous. >> But Dr. Barde says it's very real and
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supported by hundreds of documents from Jason's childhood, including psychiatric
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reports. And they draw this startling conclusion. This Ivy League graduate was an abandoned child.
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>> He developed a mental illness because of his genetic background, because of his
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experiences as a child, because of the trauma that he endured. >> And Dr. Barde says that trauma begins
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with Jason's mother, Marino Connell, the wealthy, accomplished executive at a children's book company who lives here
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at this Greenwich, Connecticut mansion worth almost $3.5 million. But it wasn't always that way.
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Marine Okonnell was once a pregnant teenager living here in the Bronx. She married Jason's father and had a second
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child, Jason's brother. But Jason then claims his mother was ready to move on. >> My mother kicked my father out.
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>> And from the age of 3 to nine, his mother gradually disengaged from Jason and his brother.
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Jason was primarily in the care of his grandmother who may have been schizophrenic.
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>> She used to like talk to herself and pee on the floor. There were imaginary people that she dealt with.
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>> Then when Jason was 9 years old, his mother remarried. >> She completely severed ties and turned
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her back on Jason and his brother, wanting to put them into a group home. >> Instead, Jason was sent to live with his
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father in Miami. And the story he told social workers is heartbreaking. >> His father turned out to be an abusive,
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crack addicted man who abused his sons uh emotionally, physically, would point loaded guns at them.
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>> I put my hand on the stove cuz I told him I turned the stove off and it wasn't
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turned off. And then another time when he was drunk, brought out his shotgun so I ran.
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>> Jason says he called his mother for help. I was telling her that my father was
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beating me. She would say, "Oh, you know, just stick it out. Once things settle down, I'm going to take custody
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of you." >> But his mother was never going to bring Jason to live with her. Instead, she
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found an apartment to rent in Westchester for Jason to live again with his grandmother.
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>> I was hanging out with bad kids and stealing stuff and just angry that I wasn't going to be living with my
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mother. His grandmother moved to an assisted living facility. At 14 years old, Jason was living alone until
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authorities got involved. Court papers were filed. Jason is a neglected child left alone without adequate food to
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sustain him. >> My mother was charged with neglect and abandonment. I became a ward of the
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state. Marine O'Connell submitted papers of her own, saying Jason was verbally abusive, brought knives to school,
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requested he be placed with social services. Jason would spend the rest of his youth in group homes. One
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psychiatrist noted Jason is seething with rage and shows resentment, especially in regards to his mother.
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>> And records from the group homes repeatedly document efforts to engage his mother in Jason's treatment. And
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consistently the records indicate that she refuses any involvement. She's too busy with her work. She can't come to a
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meeting. She can't be part of the treatment planning. She can't be part of any assessment that has to do with her
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son. She just didn't want to have anything to do with them. And Jason knew this. Then
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a miracle happened. Jason met this man, Dr. John Pasenti, who himself overcame a
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rough childhood. He encouraged Jason to get a GED and go to college. Jason got a
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scholarship to Columbia University, the Ivy League. He became a lawyer, but his deep-seated anger, his defense believes,
00:21:05
never went away. >> The rage at 13 years old that never never left him and that was exhibited
00:21:12
again on the night of of the murder. >> The defense will argue Jason believed Danielle was going to leave him just
00:21:19
like his mother did. It was too much for him and because of his mental illness, he snapped.
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>> Patently absurd to believe that he somehow lost control and killed this young woman because of that past trauma.
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>> What's more, prosecutors say they have evidence Jason was not suffering from mental illness when he killed Danielle,
00:21:44
and they have tape to prove it. >> 5 seconds. I'm going to light you up and you need to answer quickly or else you
00:21:51
die. >> Prosecutors Patrick O' Conor and Marilyn Philair still can't quite believe it.
00:22:03
They know Jason Bond brutally beat Danielle Thomas to death, but Jason's defense is claiming he's mentally ill.
00:22:10
His anger stemming from his mother abandoning him almost three decades ago. It's ridiculous and it makes a mockery
00:22:17
of the judicial system. This is why people have a problem with science, with psychology, with psychiatry because they
00:22:24
come up with these concepts which are meant to excuse us from taking personal responsibility for our actions.
00:22:31
I've covered thousands of cases. I've heard all kinds of creative defenses. >> Veteran crime reporter Murray Weiss is a
00:22:37
48 hours consultant. >> This case was an extraordinary one. The tabloid newspapers had a field day with
00:22:44
this case. They called it blame it on his mother. >> But intermittent explosive disorder is
00:22:49
not something Jason's defense team has made up. It's been listed in psychiatric manuals for 30 years. And three doctors,
00:22:57
including one who works for the prosecution, say Jason suffers from it. >> Over the years, Jason Bond exhibited
00:23:04
some deeply violent and disturbing behavior. It ranged from choking girlfriends to flying off the handle at
00:23:10
people over insignificant things. There was even an incident where a friend of his put his feet on his table and he
00:23:16
became so intensely angry about it that his pupil took over his eye and it went completely black. One of his friends
00:23:23
even recalled the time when he talked to him about his mother and he would suddenly go from being this nice guy
00:23:28
into like Jackal and hide. >> But Jason never killed anyone before. >> He ended numerous relationships before
00:23:35
he met Danielle. >> Mhm. >> Why was his relationship with Danielle different? I thought it was different
00:23:41
because it was a deeper, more profound relationship and they had begun to speak about marriage and a life together.
00:23:47
>> A woman who he thought wouldn't leave him like his mother did. And strangely,
00:23:52
a woman who his mother really liked. >> After he went to law school and he was involved with with Danielle, his mother
00:23:58
came back into his life. >> Jason says out of the blue, his mother contacted him apologizing for what
00:24:04
happened in his childhood. He says his mother even offered to help Danielle with her career.
00:24:09
>> And I think having his mother back in his life was a a very much a mixture of
00:24:13
emotions for him. On one hand, he was still the child that really wanted his mom, but at the same token, having her
00:24:19
back in his life reignited a lot of the anger. He still had, in my opinion, murderous rage toward his mother. That
00:24:27
was turned to Danielle on on on the night of the murder. In the weeks leading up to the murder, Jason was
00:24:33
violently threatening Danielle. He sent her a series of emails accusing her of repeated lies and broken promises.
00:24:41
>> I think it was all around whether she was reacquainting herself with a a prior
00:24:46
boyfriend. >> Evidence Bardday says that he feared Danielle was leaving him. >> It's pretty clear that Jason felt that
00:24:54
that Danielle was lying to him. On the morning before the murder, Jason says they fought again about Danielle's
00:25:00
ex-boyfriend. Then, after a night of drinking, Dr. Berde believes Jason in the throws of
00:25:07
mental illness lost all control and killed her. >> Do you think he is mentally ill?
00:25:13
>> No, he's just a person who has an anger issue. He could control it if he wanted
00:25:18
to, but he has a problem with doing that. Ultimately, prosecutors say it doesn't really matter whether Jason has
00:25:25
this illness. It's whether in the course of murdering Danielle, he was actually suffering from it. And they believe they
00:25:32
had the proof he was not. >> What we have here is a small snippet of a longer period of time where Jason Bond
00:25:40
is strangling Danielle Thomas, killing her. >> They call it the pocket dial. >> So, what happened?
00:25:47
>> I can't breathe out. At some point in the process of him killing her, her phone was activated.
00:25:55
>> And a recording of Jason killing Danielle was made. >> He speaks in a very calm voice at
00:26:01
several times throughout the tape, saying, "Listen, Danielle, you don't have a lot of time."
00:26:05
>> It's extraordinarily graphic, so 48 hours has decided just to play a small portion of it. You
00:26:11
>> have 5 seconds. I'm going to light you up and you need to answer quickly or else you die.
00:26:16
>> Daniel Thomas on this tape is begging for her life. She's being strangled repeatedly and at various points she's
00:26:23
saying that she can't breathe. She repeatedly claims that she loves him. What's worse, the recording was made an
00:26:32
hour after Danielle called 911. That means prosecutors say Jason was attacking Danielle for at least 60
00:26:40
minutes. >> There's 7 seconds on this voicemail recording. That's silence. That's a
00:26:46
period of time when you hear Snoozer, her dog, bark two times. >> That 7 seconds of silence is indicative
00:27:03
to me that the defendant had his hands around her throat and was strangling her to the point where she couldn't even
00:27:10
make any sounds. He taunts her that you're so stupid. You think I'm going to stop? I won't stop.
00:27:17
>> You're so stupid. You think I'm going to stop? I won't stop. >> It made me sick to my stomach. Her last
00:27:23
seconds were nothing but horror. And I can't imagine. >> It was the prosecutor's smoking gun.
00:27:34
Evidence, they say that proved Jason Bond knew exactly what he was doing that night. and he took his time doing it.
00:27:42
>> This tape is going to be the crucial piece of evidence. >> All right, let's do this.
00:27:52
[Music] >> Have 5 seconds. I'm going to light you up and then you need to answer quickly
00:27:59
or else you die. Defense attorney Todd Greenberg concedes that Danielle Thomas's pocked voicemail
00:28:09
is chilling, but he hears a different story in that recording. >> When I heard that tape, I heard howling.
00:28:19
I I heard shrieking from Jason. >> It's almost like somebody else coming out of him.
00:28:27
at trial. >> Case on trial 1830 of 2012. Jason >> Greenberg hopes to persuade jurors that
00:28:34
when Jason Bond was beating and strangling Danielle, he was overwhelmed by his emotions.
00:28:41
>> Jason Bond is a classic case of intermittent explosive disorder. >> It's a rare defense used in fewer than
00:28:50
1% of murder cases in New York State. Jason Bond should have a reduced degree of responsibility because he suffered an
00:28:58
extreme emotional disturbance. >> It's a viable psychiatric illness that people suffer from.
00:29:08
>> Psychiatrist Alexander Sasha Barde is a key defense witness. >> You hear him strangling her and then
00:29:15
stopping, telling her she's going to die in 5 seconds. It sounds like someone who is in control
00:29:23
to me. >> Being out of control doesn't mean you're just screaming gibberish and and and
00:29:29
waving your arms and flailing around. You're just doing something that you really shouldn't be doing, that you
00:29:34
don't want to do, that your rational reason would tell you not to do, but you can't help yourself.
00:29:39
>> Despite all of Jason's achievements, says Dr. Berde. Despite that law degree,
00:29:43
Jason was unable to overcome his horrendous childhood. He grew up thinking that he was a worthless
00:29:50
individual. His own mother abandoned him. >> Marine O'Connell, the financial executive at the heart of the defense's
00:29:56
case, is a no-show at her son's trial. Yet, surprisingly, she's the one footing the bill.
00:30:02
>> The mother did retain me to help him. I will say that she stood behind him at
00:30:06
this trial, even knowing what the defense was going to be. >> Jason's mother declined her request for
00:30:12
an interview. Her spokesperson says Marine Oonnell is horrified by this tragedy and her heart goes out to Ms.
00:30:19
Thomas's family. >> Did you have an opportunity to interview her? >> She declined. I met her uh but she did
00:30:27
not want to uh provide any background or history of her own. >> Were you surprised that she was paying
00:30:33
for his defense? >> I mean, it's unfortunate. I think it's a little too little too late. I mean, I
00:30:38
think none of this, I believe, would have happened if if uh his life had been different early on.
00:30:44
>> Many people who who survive horrific childhoods don't go on to being a killer. Right.
00:30:50
>> Of course. Right. >> But in Jason Bond, and that's what we're talking about here, that childhood
00:30:56
caused him to suffer from a mental illness. >> Greenberg is not asking jurors to let
00:31:02
Jason go free. Instead, he says they should convict him of a lesser offense. But Richard Brown, the district
00:31:09
attorney, says once he heard that voicemail and realized what happened in that apartment, the state had only one
00:31:15
option. >> The voicemail confirms in your mind that this was murder, not manslaughter.
00:31:21
>> Certainly. So, and it fits very clearly in the definition of murder in the first
00:31:27
degree, which is a torture murder. The victim is tortured prior to being killed. The prosecutors who report to
00:31:33
Brown point to a text message that Jason sent to a friend just a half hour after
00:31:38
that voicemail ends. >> I just wanted her out of my life. She's been nothing but trouble. He actually
00:31:43
was able to type on a phone using perfect grammar, punctuation on the she's been nothing but trouble.
00:31:55
>> Jason knew exactly what he was doing. There's not a doubt in my mind. Daniel's
00:32:02
mother and grandmother say Jason even tried to manipulate them. >> I got a Christmas card from Jason
00:32:09
expressing how sorry he was. >> I cried till my eyes bled, he told them. I don't even remember our fight that
00:32:16
night. I have had mental and emotional issues since childhood. >> Do you believe that he could not recall
00:32:23
killing your daughter? >> Oh, I believe I believe he remembers it. I believe he does. But what will the
00:32:30
jurors believe? >> I am a very firm believer the environment of the child has a lot to do
00:32:36
with what he becomes. >> What did you think of Dr. Bardau's testimony? >> I thought that he was helpful in trying
00:32:44
to get us to understand >> the stakes are high. First-degree murder could mean life without parole.
00:32:51
>> How do I feel? I'm on edge. >> But prosecutors say manslaughter could mean as little as 5 years. You never
00:32:58
know what a jury is going to do. [Music] >> Jason committed the most terrible murder
00:33:16
when he took Danielle from Jamie and me. Danielle Thomas's family, who relocated
00:33:23
from Kentucky for the 7-week trial, had been waiting for some sense of closure for nearly two years.
00:33:29
>> I was so emotional. >> Now, after deliberating less than two days, jury forwoman Elena Rodriguez
00:33:38
takes a final vote. >> And we went around. Everybody was to Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Remain seated. Come order.
00:33:44
>> And with that, the jury returns. >> Jason Bond, please stand. My heart was pounding out of my chest.
00:33:51
>> Under the first count, murder in the first degree. How does the jury find the
00:33:56
defendant? >> Will the jury find the defendant guilty? >> Jason Bond, Ivy League grad and Wall
00:34:02
Street lawyer guilty of first-degree murder. >> Jason Bond, please be seated. >> Jurors in the end decided he tortured
00:34:10
Danielle, enjoyed killing her. That chilling 911 call and voicemail recording of Jason murdering Danielle
00:34:18
proved crucial. >> No one considered manslaughter. >> No, nobody went for that one
00:34:25
>> because they just didn't believe that Jason, while in the midst of an extreme
00:34:30
emotional disturbance, lost control for some 60 minutes. >> I feel he would have been out of control
00:34:36
if he would have grabbed her by the neck and that's it. Finish her right there. Then that could have been like a moment
00:34:43
of madness. But when you release and you go again at it right there, there's control.
00:34:51
>> We did get a just uh verdict and just >> women of faith. >> My Bible teaches me that I have to
00:35:00
forgive. >> Danielle's mother and grandmother hope they can forgive Jason. I think it would
00:35:06
help me if he would show some remorse, if he would speak at the sentencing to mom and I.
00:35:17
>> And they would soon find out >> today is uh the sentencing for Jason Bond. >> 5 weeks after the verdict on a cold,
00:35:25
rainy morning, everyone gathers back in the courtroom. >> Both signs ready for sentencing?
00:35:29
>> Yes. >> First, Danielle's family gets the chance to confront Jason. I'd like to be able to see Jason
00:35:38
>> to look him in the eye and show him their heartache. >> You murdered Danny while she was gasping
00:35:45
for breath and begging for her life. Jason, only a beast Jason could have done to her what you done to her.
00:35:53
>> They begged to know how he could choke the life out of the woman who would have
00:35:57
married him. Jason, three weeks before she died, I asked Danielle, "If Jason were to
00:36:05
propose, what would you say?" Jason, she immediately said, "I'd accept with a big smile on her face."
00:36:16
>> Before the judge imposes his sentence, Jason's lawyer implores him to consider
00:36:22
his horrific childhood, the root of his mental illness. Jason's life was one of physical abuse.
00:36:28
>> To this day, he points out, Jason lacks any loving support. I look around this
00:36:34
courtroom, your honor, and I'm noticing, as I did throughout the trial, that there is not one person, not one person
00:36:42
who was here for Jason Bond. >> Now, just as Jason is about to learn his fate, he stands and to everyone's
00:36:49
surprise, addresses the court for the first time. Danny and I were best friends that planned to marry.
00:36:59
Nana and mom were my adopted family. >> Then turning to Danielle's mother and grandmother.
00:37:07
>> Nana, mom, I don't know what to say. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it. I don't know how this happened.
00:37:23
It's the moment they've been hoping for, but the judge shows no mercy. >> As far as this court is concerned, with
00:37:31
respect to murder in the first degree, you are sentenced to the rest of your natural life without parole.
00:37:37
>> With respect to tampering with physical evidence, >> 35-year-old Jason Bond will spend the
00:37:41
rest of his life behind bars. Before being led away, he again turns to Danielle's family and mouths an apology.
00:37:50
He said, "I am so sorry. I love you." In my heart, I feel that uh Jason meant what he said.
00:38:01
>> He showed remorse, I think, for the first time today. >> For Danielle's mother and grandmother,
00:38:09
it's the beginning of their journey of healing. While Danielle's life was cut down so
00:38:16
tragically, they take comfort in knowing that she lived her short life to the fullest fearlessly. Her grandmother will
00:38:24
always remember something Danielle liked to tell her. Nana, she said, "I would rather die young and do the things that
00:38:35
I want to do and make good memories than to live with regret and not have done any of the things I'm doing." So, she
00:38:45
lived as much in her 27 years as a lot of people do in a lifetime. I think of that often.
00:38:55
[Music]