Hamptons Yacht Designer Cause of Death, Menendez Brothers and Diddy Want Out, Shock Kidnapping Video

Summary

MK True Crime Episode Summary: "Hamptons Yacht Designer Cause of Death, Menendez Brothers and Diddy Want Out, Shock Kidnapping Video"

Release Date: August 13, 2025

Introduction In this riveting episode of MK True Crime, host Mark Derrickus delves into a series of gripping cases with the assistance of legal experts Arthur Idall and Ashley Merchant. The discussion spans a mysterious death in Montauk, a controversial kidnapping case in Georgia, the parole proceedings of the Menendez brothers, and insights into high-profile legal battles. This comprehensive summary captures the essence of the episode, highlighting key points, expert analyses, and notable quotes.

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1. Mysterious Death of Martha in Montauk, New York

The episode opens with a somber discussion about the untimely death of Martha, a young woman from Ireland who passed away in Montauk, New York.

• Arthur Idall provides an overview of the case, emphasizing the ongoing investigation:

  "The autopsy reports do show that there was no struggle, no signs of struggle, no defensive wounds on her hand, no obvious signs of trauma." ([01:48])

• Ashley Merchant raises critical points regarding the timeline and circumstances surrounding Martha's death:

  "They said it would take three months for the autopsy results. I mean, as a parent, that's atrocious that you have to wait three months for autopsy results." ([04:26])

• The conversation highlights the involvement of Mr. Durham, the yacht owner with whom Martha was last seen, and the suspicious movement of his yachts following the incident.

• Arthur discusses the complexities of modern toxicology testing:

  "There are so many new synthetic drugs out there that they just don't have tests for. That's why it takes so long." ([05:43])

• The team underscores the community's emotional turmoil and the challenges faced by Martha's family in Ireland seeking answers.

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2. Controversial Kidnapping Case in Acworth, Georgia

Transitioning to a high-profile case, Ashley Merchant narrates the ordeal involving her client, Mahendra Patel ("Mick"), who was wrongfully accused of kidnapping a child at a Walmart in Acworth, Georgia.

• Ashley explains the incident, clarifying the misunderstanding captured on video:

  "She reported that as kidnapping, but that's not. He was just trying to help her with the child." ([20:36])

• The initial police report misrepresented the situation, leading to Mick's arrest and a severe bond hearing based on fabricated claims.

• Arthur Idall criticizes the prosecutorial handling of the case:

  "This is not a kidnapper from Walmart. So we don't have the video. And I try to get the video, and I'm told, no, you can't have the video." ([26:10])

• Ashley highlights the resilience required to defend an innocent client:

  "I am persistent. I'm like, this is a mistake. This is a mistake." ([25:05])

• The episode reveals that after extensive legal efforts, the case against Mick was eventually dismissed:

  "Last week he got, we went to court and his case was dismissed. So he is free." ([32:27])

• Arthur reflects on the emotional toll of wrongful incarceration:

  "How much is that worth, Ashley? 45 days in prison when you shouldn't have been there." ([32:37])

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3. Diddy's Home Confinement and Sentencing Guidelines

The discussion shifts to the sentencing strategies employed in high-profile cases, specifically focusing on Diddy's plea for home confinement.

• Mark outlines the concept of a split sentence, where incarceration is followed by home confinement:

  "It's what the judge would go through the checking off the boxes of where the sentencing guidelines. Where does he belong?" ([13:25])

• Ashley advocates for strict adherence to sentencing guidelines:

  "The judge needs to follow the guidelines... let him go." ([14:15])

• Arthur supports the fairness in sentencing and the importance of objective guidelines:

  "The judge should know where... he's only 100 times over where they should be." ([14:33])

• The conversation emphasizes the balance between public sentiment and legal standards in determining appropriate punishment.

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4. Parole Hearing and Habeas Petition for the Menendez Brothers

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to the ongoing parole hearing for the Menendez brothers, Eric and Lyle.

• Mark provides an update on the impending parole hearing set for August 21st and 22nd, alongside a habeas petition filed on the brothers' behalf:

  "There is a parole hearing that I believe is August 21st and 22nd. And the judge still ordered a formal opposition." ([35:21])

• Ashley argues fervently for the brothers' release, citing their exemplary behavior in prison:

  "I think they've been model prisoners. We need to reward that." ([36:44])

• Arthur discusses the flawed judicial processes and the impact of public opinion on legal outcomes:

  "The first jury was a hung jury... when you tailor it down, the jury rules in a different direction." ([37:41])

• Mark elaborates on the influential factors, including the involvement of public figures like Governor Gavin Newsom and Ryan Murphy in the case:

  "The judge, Judge Ryan, also Ryan Murphy is involved here. The judge has the ability to order an evidentiary hearing." ([38:15])

• The panel reflects on the profound personal and familial implications of the brothers' potential release, emphasizing the unanimous support from their family members.

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5. Frazier Bomb Case and Legal Strategies

The episode concludes with a brief overview of the Frazier bomb case, involving the tragic deaths of four sorority sisters in Malibu.

• Mark mentions the involvement of Alan Jackson, renowned for his defense in high-stakes cases, representing the accused in this case:

  "He now has as his lawyer, none other than Alan Jackson, fresh off his win in the Karen Reed case." ([46:36])

• Arthur and Ashley express their condolences and discuss the emotional complexities inherent in such cases, drawing parallels to other tragic legal scenarios they have encountered.

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Closing Remarks

Throughout the episode, Mark Derrickus, Arthur Idall, and Ashley Merchant provide insightful commentary on the intersecting themes of justice, legal advocacy, and the human element within the criminal justice system. Their balanced perspectives offer listeners a nuanced understanding of each case, underscored by real-life implications and ethical considerations.

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Notable Quotes:

• “Don't believe everything that you read. I think there's a headline that just came out somewhere... there's still a very intense investigation going on.” — Arthur Idall ([01:48])

• “As a parent, that's atrocious that you have to wait three months for autopsy results.” — Ashley Merchant ([04:26])

• “This is not stuff that's like, ready, available. So I.” — Arthur Idall ([07:46])

• “The judge needs to follow the guidelines, and I know it's not a popular opinion because a lot of folks... the guidelines say, let him go.” — Ashley Merchant ([14:15])

• “They were abused. That's clear.” — Arthur Idall ([40:49])

• “Most people think, at this point, what do we do? You know, and you're doing a great job putting everything out there.” — Ashley Merchant ([37:41])

Conclusion This episode of MK True Crime offers a profound exploration of criminal cases through the lens of experienced legal professionals. From unraveling mysterious deaths and contesting wrongful accusations to advocating for parole in long-standing convictions, Mark Derrickus and his guests provide listeners with a thought-provoking narrative on the pursuit of justice.

Transcript

[Mark Derrickus]

If you could hear love, what would it sound like? Son, can we talk about your drinking? Yeah, Dad, I think we should. Helping those closest to you think about their excessive drinking. Maybe that's what love sounds like. [e-mail] an OHA initiative. Welcome to MK True Crime. I'm Mark Derrickus, your host. Today I'm joined by two people who are not just MK True Crime contributors. One is a longtime friend. The other is a soon to be longtime friend, Arthur Idall, who I've known for longer than he or I want to admit, and Ashley Merchant, who I, I became a huge fan of, not the the least of which Ashley was because of your representation of my daughter's co counsel, Brian Steele. I just love the way you handled that.

[Ashley Merchant]

Thank you.

[Mark Derrickus]

And as well, I watched you in some other proceedings which we could talk about on another show, but became a huge fan of both of you and welcome.

[Ashley Merchant]

Thanks, Mark.

[Mark Derrickus]

We have one of the wonderful things about having you two on is that we're going to do a number of cases today and it's basically one degree of separation. And you'll understand what I'm saying because we're going to start with the death of a young woman in Montauk, New York. And Arthur, do you want to talk about that for a second since you'll tell me what I can or can't say?

[Arthur Idall]

Well, sometime this past Thursday, I received a call from a friend who no knew the family, knew Martha, the deceased young woman and her family from Ireland. And obviously the devastation, the tragedy for anyone in any situation. But when you're in a foreign country like the, her mom is in Ireland, her aunt, who I've been on the phone with, her sister, there's a healthy young woman who all of a sudden is, is gone. So it's been a long weekend of us just chatting and talking to law enforcement and trying to figure things out. And once again, I think we could all, all three of us could say, don't believe everything that you read. I think there's a headline that just came out somewhere, you know, her official cause of death has been revealed. That's just not accurate. I was on the phone again with her aunt within the last hour and there's still a very intense investigation going on regarding why a young woman is dead. I will tell you that the autopsy reports do show that there was no struggle, no signs of struggle, no defensive wounds on her hand, no obvious signs of trauma. So the autopsy, the medical examiner is really focusing now on her blood and the Other. The other fluids that are getting sent to toxicology to see what's going on. I mean, there were also rumors from the investigation that she possibly had some form of cancer. And that is also being investigated as well. But there is no way to make this sound pleasant in any way, shape or form. It's a tragedy. This is a young, entrepreneurial, vivacious, gregarious, loving, caring young woman who, you know, her entrepreneurial spirit was effervescent. And anybody who knew her, you know, bragged about that. And, you know, she's no longer with us and our thoughts and our prayers are going out to her immediate family. Her aunts are here in America, her mom's on her way and. And to say they're devastated is definitely an understatement.

[Mark Derrickus]

What an understatement. And Ashley, as you know, what's the first thing everybody thinks about or jumps to? They start talking about significant others. They start talking about legal trouble, they start talking about everything else.

[Ashley Merchant]

Right, right. I mean, the first thing you think about is who was she with? You know, and what we've learned is that she was with a gentleman who was significantly older than her. Mr. Durham, he's the one that owned the yacht. She had texted her boyfriend around one that she would be home around 1 o'.

[Mark Derrickus]

Clock.

[Ashley Merchant]

She was taking an Uber. And then the police actually came out around 4am so, you know, you want to start kind of figuring out a timeline. What happened in those hours? Why was she there with this gentleman? You know, what was happening? I mean, everyone's probably heard from their mother. Nothing good happens after midnight. At least that's what I was told. And so you always wonder, you know, was there foul play? What was going on? The thing that sort of struck me and I don't know, Arthur can probably tell me in New York if it's normal, but they said it would take three months for the autopsy results. And that just, I mean, as a parent, that's atrocious that you have to wait three months for autopsy results. I mean, the one thing that we do know is that there was no, no violence. And you know, they can. You all, you know, Mark and Arthur have been in enough autopsies to know that's the first thing you can tell. Is there any violence? You know, that's one of the things.

[Mark Derrickus]

Actually makes a great point. And I. And if you don't want to answer, I'm not going to press you, but I would assume one of the first things is the toxicology. A. And then number two, a private autopsy that's usually what you do in these cases.

[Arthur Idall]

Well, you', you are correct on both fronts, Mark Garagos. But believe me, Ashley, I totally agree with you about why would it take so long? It's one particular piece that takes so long at this point. The drugs that, you know, were around in the 60s, 70s and 80s are very different now. So yes, it wouldn't take three months to test for marijuana or, or heroin or cocaine, but there are so many new synthetic drugs that are out there that are these chemically altered things that they just don't have tests for. And I, I, believe me, I couldn't agree with you more. I said there's why it takes that long. And then I spoke to a very high ranking member of law enforcement. He said, no, Art, actually nowadays, because it's, they're just different concoctions, different mixes. We have to send people's blood out and it takes a while because they're running dozens of different kinds of tests. Obviously, we both know that. We all know that when you have a case that's an international case, which this one is now, maybe that jumps the line a little bit and it'll be a little faster.

[Mark Derrickus]

I was going to say, Arthur, My, my experience was, I remember 20 years ago they were telling me the DNA tests were going to take a month. They ended up the California Department of Justice did it in about 48 hours. So, you know, if they want to, they can get it done. And if they want to do the toxicology, even with synthetics, I'm sure they can, they can expedite it side of the three months.

[Arthur Idall]

Yes, I do more.

[Ashley Merchant]

And this isn't, they're not looking to charge someone with possession of drugs. You know, where you have to know exactly what the concentration is, what type of drug it is. I mean, they're trying to determine cause of death. So you would think they would at least be able to get a preliminary toxicology report, you know, look at the organs and try and figure out if this poor, poor girl died from an overdose, if that's how. And you know, that's all the family probably wants at this point. They want to know what her last moments were like, what happened. Was this foul play, was it not? They want, want some answers. So it just seems like it's, it's really taking longer than it should.

[Arthur Idall]

And Ashley, to your, to your point, to your point, you know, whatever console I could give to them, especially, you know, when I'm talking to them in Ireland and I, I'm awkward saying it now to you, Guys, it was even more awkward speaking to them. But I kind of made your point. Like, look, what we know so far is there are no defensive wounds on her hand, there's no knife cuts. Is. It doesn't seem that there was any sexual trau of any sort whatsoever. So, you know, her last moments may have been very, very, or hopefully were very peaceful and not those like other cases, though three of us have had, where those last moments are absolute horror shows, you know, whatever little piece of, I don't know, a little peacefulness that gave. It was still weird for me to tell them that, like, oh, you should be. I didn't say you should be happy. But, like, at least we know it doesn't appear that she suffered greatly at the time that she left us.

[Mark Derrickus]

So, Arthur, I'm going to ask you. I mean, a little bit. One of the first things I would want to see is her phone and get access to the phone. And if law enforcement's got the phone, I would probably want to go to the carrier and see when were the last calls, what were the last texts, and kind of triangulate where the phone was, whenever. And is that something that law enforcement's already doing that you.

[Arthur Idall]

Yeah, and I, I don't know, Mark, if they have access to the inside of her phone. But I, again, we all know nowadays with the cameras everywhere, you know, you could kind of. Yes, yes, there are some leaps that you have to make, but you kind of see who was in the general vicinity when. And you know who they were with. And you look, the first question I asked was, where was her boyfriend? And he was actually in another state. So he's. And, you know, there's a lot of evidence that shows he was in another state because as we all know. Right. Who's the first person you look at the individuals who she were with? My understanding is, you know, are at liberty right now, although they have agreed to cooperate with law enforcement. So did you see that they had.

[Ashley Merchant]

Moved their yachts, though? I mean, I thought that was interesting. They moved, you know, Mr. Durham had moved his yacht. They don't know where, but both of his yachts have been moved. So I'm not sure if that know if that was something that the police expected, Arthur. But I was.

[Arthur Idall]

I do know that they were there for quite some time, you know, checking it out on the last couple of days. So I don't know if that was done to avoid law enforcement or to avoid the media. You know, his name was just released right before we came on the air right now. It hasn't been released prior to that, even though I knew what. Who it was. But my understanding is that there's been a lot of cooperation there.

[Ashley Merchant]

Good.

[Mark Derrickus]

And they. And there is no indication, as you said, that there was a struggle or anything like that. So it appears that one of the first things that's going to kind of give you some guidance is going to be toxicology, I would imagine.

[Arthur Idall]

What's interesting is how much publicity this has gotten. And if we're going to be honest, as we always are, anytime we're around Megyn Kelly, it's. It's one and a half reasons. The half reason is Montauk. Right. Montauk is like the lifestyles and the rich and famous. But the full reason is she's a beautiful, you know, by objective standards, she's a beautiful young lady, you know, immigrant. So it's. It's just like these stories we cover where. What was the one in California, the pretty girl and her boyfriend, I think, eventually admitted that he. He killed her. The stories we follow have a lot to do with what the victim looks like. And I'm not kidding.

[Mark Derrickus]

I used to say that at CNN when I was a contributor over there, that I was on speedy dial if it was a pretty blonde who was missing.

[Arthur Idall]

I believe that's my point.

[Mark Derrickus]

Yeah. Yeah. So I'll say. I'll say what you were thinking. I mean.

[Arthur Idall]

Yes. Which is exactly. It was. Exactly. Was thinking. And listen, there's nothing wrong with them with covering Martha's story, but as we all know, there's. There's a lot of stories like this all the time.

[Mark Derrickus]

Yeah, it's. Well, you'll keep us. You'll keep us informed. We'll go to the next topic, and I'm going to hand this off to Arthur or Ashley to talk about the one thing, and it's Diddy and I in full disclosure, client of mine for many years, and my daughter and her partner, Mark Agnifolo defended her, defended him in the. The trial that he just went through. The Southern District. There's been a lot of talk about home confinement. But I think, and I leave it to you two to weigh in here, I think what is being called home confinement is really not what Mark Agnifolo said. Mark Agnifolo, who is Teddy's partner, had talked about, given the sentencing guidelines for Diddy, that it would appear that he should be at a level that would be what's called a split sentence, which would be you'll have a year at the time of sentencing in custody or of custody time and then home confinement could follow that. And that's what's called a split sentence. It's not like he's asking, go, release me now on a monitor to go home. It's what the judge would go through the. The checking off the boxes of where the sentencing guidelines. Where does he belong? Ashley, what do you think about that?

[Ashley Merchant]

You know, I think the judge needs to follow the guidelines, and I know it's not a popular opinion because a lot of folks, you know, want Diddy to pay for things that he was not convicted of and pay for being what a lot of people would agree is just a bad guy. The guidelines say, let him go. And what. What sort of strikes me about this is the government judges are very quick to rely on the sentencing guidelines to justify harsh sentences. So, you know, why are we not so quick to justify a lenient sentence? Why are we always trying to justify these harsh sentences? Oh, I had to do it. My hands were tied because of the gu. I mean, the whole purpose of these guidelines, which were studied and studied and tons of dollars were spent on them, is to avoid arbitrary sentences, to avoid a judge who's mad, who's pissed off that he's got a bad guy in front of him. So, you know, hopefully the judge will actually follow those guidelines, and if he does, he's going to go home.

[Mark Derrickus]

Well, what do you think, Arthur? He issued an order and he being Judge Subramidian, saying that he wanted to see, filed by both the government and the defense, a survey, if you will, of anybody else similarly situated. What does that tell you?

[Arthur Idall]

One, I don't think that was the right thing for him to do. That's his job. You know, I mean, that is his job. We're trying to do it on Harvey Weinstein's case and to just show the judge, you know, just because he's a bad guy, you know, in the. In the world of the National Enquirer and the Hollywood Reporter, that doesn't mean he should get sentenced differently than everyone else. To find the average. It's not that easy. But for Mark Garagos. For mark, for 10, 10 Garagos and marking Nicolo to get those answers, it's just not. It's. It's. This is not stuff that's like, ready, available. So I. The judge is right. He should know where. And I've done that. I've been very successful with that in the past where cases look like they're going the wrong way and, you know, the government's asking for 20 years I'm like, that's interesting. Judge is. The state average is two and a half years. So they're only, like, you know, 100 times over where they should be. So it shows that he's trying to be fair. But as you guys know, the judge is allowed to take a lot of other factors into consideration. So I was involved in a case where, in a federal court, where he gets convinced, acquitted of basically the RICO murder, but he gets convicted of the drug thing. And the drug thing, it was kind of a. Not a big drug case by any stretch of the imagination. And yet she bangs him out of the sentencing. And she basically says, well, you know, I thought you were guilty of the murder, even though the jury didn't think so. So I'm going to put that time there. I also don't think, Mark, that it helped. And I know he had no control, and the defense team had no control. The reaction outside the courthouse, I was close by, you know, people.

[Mark Derrickus]

You were across the plaza, literally.

[Arthur Idall]

Exactly. Splaying, you know, baby oil all over the place. And, you know, like, I understand what they're coming from. But as we all know, one of the things that the judge has to take into consideration and put on the record is general deterrence. Not that it's going to deter P. Diddy from doing this again, but tell society, if you behave this way, there's going to be a significant punishment. And I dealt with that with the Anthony Weiner case where the sentencing judge said, I don't think you'll ever do this again. I am convinced of that. However, a case of this magnitude, we need to send a message. And, you know, he got a year and change in prison.

[Mark Derrickus]

Yeah. I would invite the judge to come to Burbank Airport any Friday afternoon and watch people going to Vegas and asking what they're doing when they're going to Vegas. But that's a different subject. Next up, charges dropped in a kitchen. Kidnapping case. And we'll be right back.

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[Mark Derrickus]

Well, now, the kidnapping case out of Georgia. So guess what that means. That it's not Arthur, it's not me. But guess who? It's a Walmart kidnapping. And, Ashley, I think you're somewhat in the weeds in this. If I'm not mistaken, I might be a little bit.

[Ashley Merchant]

Yeah. So my client, his name is Mahendra Patel, he goes by Mick. And this case caught, it actually made international news. I was, I was sort of surprised at how much media got, you know, in England, in India, all over the world. But essentially in March, here in a suburb of Atlanta called Acworth, Georgia, which is, you know, outside of Atlanta, we've got Atlanta's big, and there's a ton of different suburbs. This is one of the suburbs in Cobb County, Georgia. And there was a, there was a mom. She was shopping at Walmart. And you'll see that, you'll see the clip in a little bit. But. So she's shopping at Walmart. And my client Mick was looking for Tylenol for his elderly mother. He asked for help from this lady, and she had what I've learned is called a mobility scooter. So I called it a handicap cart, but apparently it's not called that. It's called a mobility scooter. But she's there with her mobility scooter. I know. Did you know that? Did you know?

[Mark Derrickus]

I did not.

[Ashley Merchant]

Well, I've been corrected a lot. A mobility scooter. But as I also learned, there's a lot of outrage out there if you're using a mobility scooter and you don't have mobility issues.

[Mark Derrickus]

Yeah. It's like parking in a handicap zone. So I guess.

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, my God.

[Arthur Idall]

It is just like so known as being lazy. Right? I mean.

[Mark Derrickus]

Steps.

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, no, it's better. What she said was that her kids enjoyed riding around on it. Like it's a joyride. Like it's, you know, you're riding Around Walmart on this, this scooter thing. But that's the problem. So she's riding around on the scooter and she can't drive it. Really well, you see on the videos, some of the videos, she's like running into some side aisles and stuff, and it's stopping and starting. And she's got one toddler that's kind of hanging off the side, and then she's got one that's in her lap. And my client's talking with her. And the one child. You'll see the video, it's kind of grainy, but from the witnesses, we were able to figure out the child sort of like kind of grabs almost for my client, you know, arms up and. Which if you've been in a store and you're talking with someone who has a toddler, they're grabby. That's what they do. And, you know, to, to catch the child. And she reported that as kidnapping, but that's not.

[Mark Derrickus]

Did you have video?

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, well, so, yeah, so. So let's walk through that for a minute. Okay, So I get. So I get the case, you know, a couple days after it happened.

[Arthur Idall]

And they.

[Mark Derrickus]

Did they arrest your client?

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, yeah. So they not only arrested my client, the police put out a press release that said not only did he kidnap this child, but that he fled the scene. Fled the scene. And that's, you know, that's, that's really interesting because you'll see and you'll see some of the video. But we calculated it. It was almost like eight minutes that he was there. He checked out with his debit card, with his name. He talked with three different employees before he left. I mean, this is like Mr. Friendly. You know, he's at the Walmart socializing with everybody. He's talking with the guy at the, you know, leaving. Like, he's, he's not. He. Yeah, he talked to the Greeker. That's who he talked with. So the police put out this, this very misleading statement that they had apprehended this kidnapper after he fled and that they had multiple jurisdictions working to catch him. And, you know, everybody's like, oh, my God, clutch my pearls. What's going on? And people were terrified around here. You know, they think there's this, this.

[Arthur Idall]

I just have to clutch my pearls.

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, have you never heard of Brooklyn?

[Arthur Idall]

Oh, that's not a Brooklyn expression. Okay.

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, that is a Southern term.

[Arthur Idall]

Okay, Pearls.

[Megan Kelly]

Clutch.

[Ashley Merchant]

Clutch my pearls. Like, oh, my gosh, you know, bad man.

[Arthur Idall]

Add that to my repertoire and I will give you Credit for I. I will attribute.

[Mark Derrickus]

We use that out west. We call it pearl clich.

[Arthur Idall]

Yeah, well, that's not exactly, you know, out west in Brooklyn are a little. Two different places.

[Mark Derrickus]

Okay.

[Ashley Merchant]

Yeah, I don't know if I'd use it in Brooklyn, but you can come to Atlanta.

[Mark Derrickus]

I want to see this video. So I saw. Okay, what.

[Ashley Merchant]

Yeah.

[Mark Derrickus]

So what's happening there?

[Ashley Merchant]

Okay, so, yeah, so this is my client. So he's walking into Walmart and, you know, he's. He's shopping for. He's shopping for Tylenol. So wait till. Okay, this is her. This is Carolyn Miller. So she's on this little mobility scooter. This is when they first are talking, and he's asking where the Tylenol was, you know, and had the police investigated, they would have found out that he really was there for Tylenol. But. So if you see kind of behind him there's a gentleman in an orange shirt, he's going to be. He's going to come into this in a minute. But. So she points, you see her pointing to the Tylenol display. And I'll tell you in a minute how he got all this. And then. This is it. This is it. This is it. Right there. There's a kidnapping. Did you see it?

[Mark Derrickus]

Yeah. If you blink, you'll miss it.

[Arthur Idall]

I'm clutching my pearls for those.

[Ashley Merchant]

Are you clutching your pearls right now, listening to this?

[Arthur Idall]

I am clutching my pearls, yeah.

[Mark Derrickus]

So that is the kidnapping.

[Ashley Merchant]

That's the kidnapping. That's it. So. And what's crazy is after this, so she sees him. Okay, so this is great. So she find. He finds the Tylenol. He walks past her. Hey, look, I found the Tylenol. She gives him a thumbs up. Thumbs up. Good job. You found the Tylenol. This is him fleeing.

[Mark Derrickus]

Sorry.

[Ashley Merchant]

This is him fleeing.

[Mark Derrickus]

Reports it.

[Ashley Merchant]

So, so she. Okay, so there, there, he's fleeing. See, he's fleeing. They put in their press release that they had to use flock cameras and they had to get multiple jurisdictions involved to try to catch this predator, all this stuff. So, you know, a couple days later, he's just driving, driving home from. From work on one of his properties, and he gets pulled over by, you know, massive SWAT people on this fe. Kidnapping warrant, arrest, thrown to the ground, interrogated. He's like, what in the world? He has no idea what's going on, no idea what he's being stopped for. And I think if you have sought three, you can. You can see how Carolyn Miller, the mother, describes this incident.

[Carolyn Miller]

Did someone try to take you from mommy.

[Mark Derrickus]

Yeah.

[Carolyn Miller]

Nova, of course, wanted to ride the little motorized cart. So that's what we got on. And it actually ended up breaking down when the man came up to me and asked, do you know where the Tylenol is? And I was like, oh, it's over there. And as soon as I did that, that's when he just picked him up out of my arms. And then he just stared at me and then goes, oh, I just wanted to get him out of your lap so you could get up and help me. There really are people out here and then a mile radius of us right now that have ill intentions that are targeting people that are planning to do these things. Just be prepared for it when it does.

[Mark Derrickus]

Okay? Seriously, that was prepared. Who was the. Who is the prosecutor that would file that? They actually arrested him on this.

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, so they not only arrested him. So the officer took out a warrant for kidnapping. And kidnapping in Georgia is punishable by life in prison. So it's one of those that you don't get a bond at first appearance.

[Arthur Idall]

God, yes.

[Ashley Merchant]

So he does not get a nightmare.

[Arthur Idall]

What? A nightmare.

[Ashley Merchant]

No. And so I get hired a couple days later, and I'm, you know, I'm persistent. Let's use that word. I am persistent. I'm like, this is a mistake. This is a mistake. I completely believe my client. You know, I. I talked to his family. I mean, he's got two daughters that are both in graduate school. You know, they graduated from Georgia Tech. They're just. His wife's a doctor. Like, this is not. He's in the Kiwanis club. I mean, this is not just. This is not a kidnapper from Walmart. So we don't have the video. And I try to get the video, and I'm told, no, you can't have the video. So luckily, I convinced Walmart to give me the video because the police would not give the video over. So we get the video and finally get him a bond hearing, and they indict the case. So here in Georgia, if you indict a case before a hearing in magistrate court, it's not heard anymore. It's sent over to a whole different court.

[Mark Derrickus]

So, by the way, how often do they indict in Georgia?

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, they can indict a ham sandwich, but they don't invite anything that fast. I mean, this case was indicted for 20 days.

[Mark Derrickus]

They normally would go by way of a prelim, wouldn't they?

[Ashley Merchant]

They would have a prelim. That's what we had. So we had. Exactly. So we Had a prelim. So, you know, for all the viewers that aren't familiar with that, when you get arrested and you don't get a bond, you get a hearing and it's called a probable cause hearing. And so I subpoenaed the videos to that. The DA moved to quash my subpoenas. That's how much they didn't want me to get it. And when they didn't win that, they just went and indicted it, presented it to a grand jury and told the grand jury that the video wasn't working so they couldn't watch it.

[Mark Derrickus]

So.

[Arthur Idall]

Wow.

[Mark Derrickus]

So people understand the video is clearly, you just watched it. You can clutch pearls or pearl clutch, but that is exculpatory evidence because it shows that it's not what they're claiming it is. They actively sought to block you from getting the exculpatory evidence, which would have.

[Arthur Idall]

Actually, what's, what's the mom's like, end game here? I mean, is she just an attention hog? Like, what is, I mean, what's in this for her? I mean, what's going to sue the guy?

[Ashley Merchant]

Like, I mean, I assume maybe sue Walmart. I mean, that's the only thing I could think, you know, And I also think that she called the police and she sort of rushed her judgment. I think it got, you know, definitely got blown out of proportion. I think a lot of people though, when they call the police, they think the police are going to investigate it. And maybe she thought, okay, well, this was a strange interaction. You know, two people can always view an interaction differently and maybe the police will investigate. It would have been so easy. He was shopping for his elderly mother who lives with him, who takes a special type of Tylenol, and she is 87 and has osteoarthritis.

[Mark Derrickus]

Like, it would have a story about when he got the Tylenol, walked by her and gave the thumbs up. What did she say that was.

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, nothing. Nobody talked about that. Police didn't talk about that. DA didn't talk about that. She didn't talk about that. Nobody talked about that.

[Mark Derrickus]

Yeah.

[Arthur Idall]

Incarcerated for how long?

[Ashley Merchant]

He was in jail for a long time, 45 days.

[Arthur Idall]

And you know, folks, I'm sorry, actually, I don't mean to interrupt you, but.

[Ashley Merchant]

No, please.

[Arthur Idall]

Those of those of you who have never been to a jail just to visit someone, let alone on the other side, like, oh, it's 40, it's six weeks. First of all, how many people watching this have ever gone on a six week vacation? Very few. Right? I mean, it's an enormous amount of time. We are not talking about going to some camp where he played basketball, tennis and had a healthcare worker, you know, working him out in the morning. I am sure the facilities down there are not exactly the creme de la creme. And it's, I mean some heads should roll for this.

[Mark Derrickus]

He lost 17 when you were doing this. How crazy did it make you out of that? From 0 to 45. What day did you get the video?

[Ashley Merchant]

I got the video. So I got the video about two weeks into it. So I had been pressuring, you know, at least give him a bond. Hey, there's two sides to the story. We know he didn't kidnap the kid. You know and I'd been arguing at best, at best attempted, but it's not even attempted like it, we can't even get there. And what really made me mad was that the officer had taken out a warrant for attempted kidnapping. He would have gotten a bond at first appearance. He would never have stayed. So if they hadn't lied and said that he actually kidnapped and took away, you know, the cop in the warrants that he actually took away the child, take the child away, you know, we never would have been there on the bond. So it's just, it's really frustrating when you have a client you know is innocent.

[Mark Derrickus]

Did the mother say in the police reports that the kid had been removed and transported somewhere or any distance?

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, she, she did not say had been transported. No. And that's what I was arguing. She said that there was a tug of war and she said it was maybe a 10 second tug of war which worst case scenario, that's still not kidnapping, you know, but there was a total war. And I think we have, we have what I think you guys will enjoy. The sought four where the state had their interpretation of the, of the video at the bond hearing when they were fighting against bond, they did not want him to get a bond. They were very much against it.

[Mark Derrickus]

We have the tape of the court.

[Ashley Merchant]

We have the tape.

[Prosecutor]

But when you do take a closer look, you can see him tugging on this child and there's the legs before mom is able to regain control of, of her two year old from and bring the two year old back to her lap. Here's the actual. You can see, see the legs of the child dangling as, as Mr. Patel tries to pull the child away. Listen judge, is this an unusual case? I would say it is.

[Ashley Merchant]

It's.

[Prosecutor]

There's a. The state's not oblivious to the fact that these are, this is a very Bizarre set of circumstances. Nonetheless, this defendant reached down and grabbed a two year old child from the lap of a woman in a Walmart at 8:30 at night and attempted to pull that child from her lap. The facts are not governed by, by the state here. The facts are governed by the choices of this particular defendant.

[Mark Derrickus]

You know, the, the irony of him making the argument that he's not oblivious to the bizarre circumstances is rich.

[Ashley Merchant]

Well, the irony was they objected to me playing the video at the bond hearing.

[Mark Derrickus]

If I was the prosecutor and lost my mind, I would be objecting to as well.

[Arthur Idall]

I know.

[Ashley Merchant]

Yeah.

[Arthur Idall]

So just, you know, it's just so sad because as a prosecutor, you know, it was made clear to me, of course this is 30 some odd years ago, but you know, to always do the right thing. And at the very, very least here, the very least, the right thing is to give this guy a bond and then, you know, do your investigation. I mean, that's the very. If there's some question mark about what that video actually shows. Okay. I'm assuming actually this guy didn't have any kind of record. Right.

[Ashley Merchant]

Your client, I mean he, this was not his first brush with the law, but he didn't have anything violent. He had nothing with kids. He had nothing like that. He was on bond actually for a misdemeanor and they tried to use that to keep it. And the nonviolent, you know, traffic offense tried to keep that.

[Mark Derrickus]

Did they try to. In California you could enhance for being out on one case and pick up a new one.

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, they tried everything. Everything to keep him in. Everything to keep him in.

[Mark Derrickus]

45 days in custody and you got a dismissal.

[Ashley Merchant]

Yes, I was going to say the good news is last week he got, we went to court and his case was dismissed. So he is.

[Arthur Idall]

How much is that worth, Ashley? 45 days in prison when you shouldn't have been there. What is that worth?

[Ashley Merchant]

That's a good question. I think that is the million dollar question.

[Mark Derrickus]

Yes.

[Arthur Idall]

I hope it is for you, Ashley.

[Mark Derrickus]

I was going to say the million is a little light, but judicial dismissal or did the prosecutor move?

[Ashley Merchant]

Prosecutor moved to dismiss it.

[Mark Derrickus]

Was it the same guy that was right there?

[Ashley Merchant]

Oh, no, he was nowhere to be found.

[Mark Derrickus]

Yeah, he went running. He went running.

[Ashley Merchant]

Nowhere to be found.

[Mark Derrickus]

Next up we talk one of my favorite cases. Menendez and a Malibu case. That's kind of interesting as well.

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[Mark Derrickus]

And now the Menendez brothers, Eric and Lyle. We've got quite a bit coming up for them. As of right now, there is a parole hearing that I believe is August 21st and 22nd. So less than two weeks is we sit here. There is also parallel to that a habeas. And by the way, in full disclosure, I filed that habeas along with Cliff Gardner more than two years ago. And the judge, after listening to or getting when I say listening, having seen the dog and pony show that was Nate Hockman doing a press conference back in February and filing all kinds of nonsense, the judge still ordered a formal opposition. And the Nathan Hockman who seems to have been fixated on this case, who's the newly elected D A has filed yet another opposition to that.

[Arthur Idall]

A short one, right, Mari? It's a very short opposition.

[Mark Derrickus]

Mind you, there's two pieces of evidence in this habeas. There is a letter that was found that was written by Eric to his cousin Andy Kano and he tragically died more than 20 years ago. And that letter was found about 10 years ago. And there is now a declaration by Roy Rosello who was one of the members of Menudo. So two pieces of evidence. Those two pieces of evidence caused this DA to file a 132 page response which was largely cut and paste and. And that we'll deal with. In fact, when this drops, we'll probably be filing our reply. And then there was a podcast with the governor, Gavin Newsom and Ryan Murphy who was the showrunner for the show that kind of vaulted this from a fixation for decades to something into the stratosphere. And the parole hearing, as I just mentioned, in two weeks. And, Arthur and Ashley, I'd love to hear your thoughts on both of these things. Whether 35 years later, by all accounts, some of the best work anybody's ever done in prison, whether or not they deserve to be out.

[Arthur Idall]

Ashley, take it away. Grab onto your pearls.

[Ashley Merchant]

I will clutch my pearls. Of course they deserve to be released. I mean, they've been model prisoners. We need to reward that. We have violence in prison. We need to reward that. I also think you should win the habeas because, quite frankly, the second trial was not fair. I mean, the judge excluded key evidence, which was their defense. You know, the abuse at the hands of their parents. And the jury didn't have all the evidence. And anytime a jury doesn't have all the evidence, they're making a decision with one eye, you know, covered. They just don't have it. And so that's just not a fair trial. So I think, you know, we're in one of those situations where most people think, at this point, what do we do? You know, and you're. You're doing a great job putting everything out there. So all of the options are available. Judge could. Could grant the habeas. They could just let him out on parole. And, you know, they probably. I mean, I know like most my clients, if they were out on parole, they probably would let the habeas go. They would probably just live their life and, you know, enjoy the days they have left. It's just, you know, it's one of those cases where you wish cooler heads prevailed. They were abused. That's clear.

[Arthur Idall]

You know, Ashley's point, the first jury was a hung jury when they had the evidence that was excluded at the second trial. So it shows you there was reasonable doubt when the jurors had more evidence. And then when you just tailor it down so that there's a lot less evidence. You know, a jury ruled in a different direction. Ultimately, though, Mr. Garagosa, it is the governor, right, who would makes the ultimate call. He has, like, 90 days or something after the judge's decision. Just walk me through how y'.

[Mark Derrickus]

All.

[Arthur Idall]

Y' all do it. Georgia, but y' all do it out in California.

[Mark Derrickus]

So in California, the parole board and they. This was originally going to be a clemency investigation. It was converted. Once we got him re sentenced, both of the brothers resentenced. They. They will make a decision on the 21st and 22nd, basically next week. If they make a decision, then the governor's got Approximately up to 120 days to deal with that separate and apart from that, that the judge, Judge Ryan, ironically, also Ryan Murphy is involved here. The judge has the ability to order an evidentiary hearing. And if there is an evidentiary hearing, I think we win because we've made it. He's his asking for a formal reply means that he found that we made a prima facie case. Now you both have hit on what I have argued now for over two years. Trial number one, more than. There were two juries, one for Lyle, one for Eric. More than half found not guilty on the murder and found on the manslaughter. When they heard all the evidence, second trial, they did not hear all the evidence. What happened in between? Eight days before the second trial began, OJ was acquitted. You have to remember what that meant in the LADA's office. They were then in the 90s, ridiculed as not being able to win the big one. And there is a symbiotic relationship a lot of times between the trial court and the DA's office. And that symbiote.

[Arthur Idall]

Really? Wait, Mark, Really?

[Ashley Merchant]

I've never experienced that.

[Mark Derrickus]

I'm breaking news. We'll have a cry Thursday that my father, my late father, Teddy's grandfather used to say call them DAs in a row. Oh, yeah, the, the symbiotic relationship kind of seeps in and you get judges sometimes doing the heavy lifting for the DA's and the prosecutors. And in this case, you know, when you take a look at it, the I always say, talk to correctional officers. Correctional officers will tell you they want an incentive out there for people to be good in prison. They do not want people to not have a choice. They don't want people to have no hope. These guys had no hope for over 15 years and they made the right choice.

[Ashley Merchant]

They were still good without hope. Like that's significant.

[Arthur Idall]

Yeah.

[Mark Derrickus]

And by the way, that was one of the things that moved the judge in the resentencing hearing to resent some. He said he had never gotten in any of the resentencing hearings. Any correctional officer writing letters saying, I would want these guys to live next door to me. And I was so impressed with them. And they both have done amazing stuff. Eric has started a hospice program which they now want to replicate all throughout the state. Lyle has jump started this green space program, which is amazing if you go down there and you actually see it at the prison. So if anybody deserves it, these two do.

[Arthur Idall]

What is there? What is the position of the rest of any remaining members of the family about their being released?

[Mark Derrickus]

Over 25 of them uniformly Shoulder to shoulder. Every single. How often have you ever had every single family member, the victims, who in this case also are related to the defendants? When have you ever had them uniformly say, we want to vote?

[Ashley Merchant]

Mark, I had a question about how parole works in California. If the parole board recommends it, is it likely that the governor would go against that, or is it one of those things that's kind of a rubber stamp?

[Mark Derrickus]

Well, I've had this situation, in fact, Governor Newsom and I got crossways on another client where the. He had reversed the parole board. It happens. He just did it with, recently with Sirhan Sirhan, and, and the DA has trumpeted that, but it was a completely different situation. I, I have to believe, if you look at that podcast, and I don't know if we have an outtake of that. I know you guys call it sods, but in the outtakes of the podcast, Newsom is talking with Ryan Murphy. And Ryan Murphy, I was very critical of him when he started this because his caricature of Lyle I thought was unfair. But even he has said he's coming around since he's gotten into the case. And Gavin Newsom has been very frank that his kids have talked to him about the case.

[Alan Jackson]

We're just a few weeks away, August 21st and 2nd, or I think, where the parole board is going to make a decision and make a recommendation that lands on my desk.

[Mark Derrickus]

Right. Mr. Murphy, that's heavy stuff.

[Alan Jackson]

Heavy stuff. And you know what? Intentionally. And I remember that conversation with you. I remember going back, and I kept having a temptation to want to see it, but with the recognition always in the back of my mind that this thing may land on my desk, I don't want to be persuaded by something that's not in the files.

[Arthur Idall]

Yeah, I get that.

[Mark Derrickus]

I think once you get into it, it really is quite, I think, compelling. Once you see the. And talk to the family members, Mind you, when you have Kitty's sister, Jose's sister, so you've got both sides of the family, both sisters have testified now that they want them out. I mean, I mean, it's just, it's. It's heartbreaking.

[Arthur Idall]

That market today, when that testimony, they say they want them out. Did they tell you why? Is it because they think they've served enough time or they think they didn't do it? Or not only.

[Mark Derrickus]

Not only have they served enough time, but have, in a very impassioned way, feel a sense of guilt that they themselves did not intervene. And a number of family members say that at the resentencing hearing, we put on two or three of the family members who literally testified to what was happening in that house. One of the things, Cliff Gardner, who brought me into this case originally, who I think is one of the best, next to Alexandra Shapiro. I called those to the great appellate lawyers of our time. The. Cliff always talks about the hallway rule. And can you imagine this? The hallway rule was. And the family testified to this. Family members testified to this. If Jose was down the hall with one of the boys in a bedroom, nobody was allowed to go down the hallway. And Kitty enforced that.

[Arthur Idall]

I just.

[Mark Derrickus]

That to me, that's inaccurate, inexplicable, and almost incomprehensible.

[Arthur Idall]

That is, in my case, it's because my dad was taking off his belt and whipping my butt because I did something wrong.

[Mark Derrickus]

Well, me too, Arthur. But my dad didn't go into the room. He used to. I can't tell you how many times there's a picture of myself and my two brothers.

[Arthur Idall]

No, no, no. I had. I had to go to my room. I had to think about what I did. And then I would get to. I'd have the joy of hearing him go to his bedroom and hear the belt thing wriggling. Which belt was he going to grab? And then I had to hold on to the radiator as he then gave me a lecture. And my backside was. And I thank God that he did that. Which was a very different scenario than what the accusations are here in your. And I wish you the best of luck, Mark. I know you've been working very, very hard on this.

[Mark Derrickus]

Thank you. I was going to say on the whipping, my brother Matt, the one time my father stopped doing it is when he turned Matt. We were about to get it. Matt turned to him because he had the belt out and said, I've heard about guys like you. And my father started laughing. He was a ex homicide prosecutor. And that was the end of that. The last topic we've got, Frazier bomb. Killed four sorority sisters in a case in Malibu. And he's joined, or he now has as his lawyer. None other than Alan Jackson, fresh off his win in the Karen Reed case. You familiar with this, you two?

[Ashley Merchant]

Yes. I think he's very lucky to get Alan Jackson.

[Arthur Idall]

Heartbreaking, heart wrenching cases. I know we've all, somewhere along the line, had a case along these lines. I mean, I had a case of a kid who had his girlfriend next to him and he makes a turn and then he's drunk and a drunk driver hits his car. So it's two drunk drivers and the girlfriend, who's not drunk, gets struck and thrown out of the car and she lives for a couple minutes in my client's arms and dies in his arms. And I mean it's, you know.

[Mark Derrickus]

You know, it's so funny this experience. I had a 17 year old that about six years ago he was charged with murder in a, in a case and we actually tried it and I swore after that case and thank God the jury hung and the. It was dismissed. The murder was dismissed. Convicted of manslaughter, which is what should have been. I swore after that I'd never try another one of those. Unfortunately I have since. But it really robs your soul because it's a, it's, it's heart wrenching because for the same reason that DUIs have become, there's been a transformation of it over the last 40 years. There's always this thought of there but for the grace of God go I. Yeah, there is.

[Arthur Idall]

I mean, hell on the head.

[Ashley Merchant]

I always say not every tragedy is a crime. And it just, it as much as this is a tragedy, it seems like, like murder charges don't necessarily fit speeding. I mean there's no dui. I saw they also have some manslaughter charges, but I mean it just seems like a stretch to make a speeding case even though it's a tragedy. You know, we're, the outcome is, is what's driving what the charge is. And there's also going to be some civil lawsuit which that seems the most appropriate, you know, and obviously needs to be prosecuted. He was speeding, but murder, no bond.

[Mark Derrickus]

Yeah, and it's the, the theories that are used are often such a stretch. The case I had in order to get to malice for the, for the murder, they said, well, the kid was warned in my case four or five months before by a cop for speeding and that warning is what sufficed for the malice. And they always kind of use these stretches, if you will, to I think torture. I mean it's a horrific situation and obviously everybody's heart goes out to them. But sometimes, as you said, they're stretch.

[Arthur Idall]

You know what's interesting though, in a lot of these cases, the deceased family really drive the, the prosecution. You know, so many prosecutors, ones who I know for decades will sit down like Arthur. You know, I'm not saying your arguments are beyond the pal, but you know, I have a screaming and crying mother and father, you know, I just can't tell him, I'm going to give your guy only X amount of time. Like, you know, we got to go more and that, you know, that I push back. You're the elected D. A. I mean, you know, their heart is, you know, ripped up. I get it. And I'm not asking you for, you know, probation, but. But, you know, I. I did feel for the district attorney or the assistant district attorneys who are sitting there. And in this particular case, you have four beautiful young ladies and their families, and you extrapolate that out. That's a thousand people, thousands of people who are affected by their loss. So, you know, prosecution, you know, I guess, has to give them some form of closure. That's how. That's how they feel anyway.

[Ashley Merchant]

Right. And California has Marcy's Law. I mean, that's where it all started. And Marcy's Law, you know, our viewers may not know, is the Crime Victims Bill of Rights. It's where, you know, it's been a sweeping movement across the country to constitutionalize what crime victims have a say. And so, you know, California was one of the first ones to have it. And, you know, there's. It's a mixed bag a lot of people agree with, a lot of people don't. It seems like when the crime victims want something harsh, then their voice is heard. Maybe if they want leniency, their voice isn't heard, like Mark was saying in the, you know, with the Menendez brothers.

[Mark Derrickus]

Exactly right.

[Ashley Merchant]

You know, they want mercy. And, you know, because the sisters are the crime victims, they want mercy, mercy, and nobody's listening. But if you want vengeance, everybody listens.

[Mark Derrickus]

That's exactly right. I've often said it's a. I hate to be cynical about it, but the prosecutors use it to your point, when it's convenient, when it's not, as Nate Hockman, when he's uniformly got every single family member saying, we want leniency, and he's not doing it right.

[Ashley Merchant]

And that's probably why this. This, you know, this person hasn't gotten a bond. So it'll be interesting to see how the. How it changes now that he's got a new defense team.

[Mark Derrickus]

Well, I love it. You two are great. I thank you for letting me at least referee a little bit. Thanks for joining us today at MK True Crime. What a great little thing that Megan Kelly has done here. Remember to like and subscribe. You know, if she was here, she would do that little like and subscribe dance. Follow us wherever you get your podcast. We're MK True Crime, all social platforms. And find all the links you [e-mail] by the way, see you to Friday Filtreat brand air filters help capture unwanted particles in your indoor air, like dust.

[Alan Jackson]

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[Mark Derrickus]

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