202: Death Penalty Cases

WARNING: The audio in this episode is rough. What can we say? We were young(ish), dumb, and thought we’d save a little money by sharing one microphone. Yeah. The audio quality improves drastically after episode 9. Hate ads? The entire LGTC catalog is available ad-free on Patreon! Brandi starts us off with the tale of the toxic tush doctor. These ladies just wanted a more shapely behind. Instead, they got injected with fix-a-flat and construction-grade silicone. This story will make you grateful for your sad, flat little ass. The murders of secret lovers Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills captivated the nation in 1922, but they still have us on the edge of our seats today. This trial has everything — religion; a double murder; a forbidden love affair; a media circus; and a female pig farmer. Let’s just say that it starts with two dead bodies covered in torn love letters and gets even more intriguing from there. And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: The book “Cold Cases: Famous Unsolved Mysteries, Crimes and Disappearances in America” by: Helena Katz  “The Press: Under the Crabapple Tree,” Time Magazine  “Frances Hall, Henry Stevens, and William Stevens Trial: 1926,” encyclopedia.com In this episode, Brandi pulled from: “Fake Doc Charged With Bizarre Butt Rebuilding” by Carey Codd, CBS Miami  “$15K Bond For Accused Fake Doc In Toxic Tush Case” by Gary Nelson, CBS Miami  “Emotional Day In Court After ‘Toxic Tush Doc’ Sentenced To 10 Years Prison” by Joan Murray, CBS Miami  “Fake Florida doctor who ‘enhanced’ buttocks with cement, caulking gets 10 years for manslaughter” by Katie Mettler, Washington Post

23 Mars 20181h 18min

WARNING: The audio in this episode is rough. What can we say? We were young(ish), dumb, and thought we’d save a little money by sharing one microphone. Yeah. The audio quality improves drastically after episode 9. Hate ads? The entire LGTC catalog is available ad-free on Patreon! Remember those ‘Smiling Bob’ commercials from the early 2000’s? Of course you do. In this episode, Kristin talks about the man who brought us Enzyte, the “once daily tablet for natural male enhancement.” It’s an insane story, full of fake clinical trials, phony customer satisfaction surveys, and a bunch of other fabrications. But oddly, none of those lies are what brought Steve Warshak down. It was the company’s business practices that ultimately took him to prison. Then Brandi talks about the heartbreaking story of two 12-year-old girls who lured their friend into the woods and stabbed her multiple times. They said they did it to please “Slender Man,” a creepy but 100% fictional internet meme. Thankfully, due to determination, grit, and a level of bad-assery we can only try to imagine, Payton Leutner dragged herself to safety and survived. And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Thanks, Smilin’ Bob,” Slate.com  “The rise and fall of the Cincinnati boner king,” GQ  “Sexual Performance Pill” episode, American Greed  “Ohio supplement co. founder gets lower prison term”  “Orange is the new white-collar,” Fortune  “Updating an email law from the last century,” New York Times In this episode, Brandi pulled from:  “The Girls Who Tried To Kill For Slender Man” by Abigail Jones, Newsweek  “Slender Man Stabbing Survivor’s Parents: ‘She’s Meant to Do Something Special’” by Lauren Effron and Kelley Robinson, ABC News

19 Mars 20181h 33min

WARNING: The audio in this episode is rough. What can we say? We were young(ish), dumb, and thought we’d save a little money by sharing one microphone. Yeah. The audio quality improves drastically after episode 9.  Hate ads? The entire LGTC catalog is available ad-free on Patreon! Brandi’s story will blow your mind. It starts with a dead body that has been chopped to pieces, bagged, and dropped along a rural Michigan road. If you can believe it, the story gets even weirder from there. The less you know about this one, the better. Then Kristin tells the story of an Arizona family whose innocent bath time photos were mistaken for child pornography. The parents were put on the sex offender registry. Their children were removed from their home. At the end of that nightmare, they felt their civil rights had been violated. So they took their case to court. Get ready to feel sorry for everyone involved. And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Couple’s three girls were taken away after Walmart reported innocent bath time photos,” The Washington Post The United States Court of Appeals Opinion on this case An ABC News interview with Lisa and Anthony Demaree In this episode, Brandi pulled from: The Snapped episode, “Donna Scrivo”  “Donna Scrivo guilty of murdering, dismembering son,”  USA Today

16 Mars 20181h 17min

WARNING: The audio in this episode is rough. What can we say? We were young(ish), dumb, and thought we’d save a little money by sharing one microphone. Yeah. The audio quality improves drastically after episode 9.  Hate ads? The entire LGTC catalog is available ad-free on Patreon! In this episode, Kristin talks about the Kellogg brothers. Sounds a little bland, right? Trust us, it’s not. The Kellogg brothers fought each other in and out of court for years. By the time this story is over, you’ll never look at corn flakes the same way again. Then Brandi tells us about the West Memphis Three. She gets so into it that she brings us both to tears. The story centers around three teenage boys who were convicted in the brutal murders of three little boys. According to our super accurate analysis (don’t ever question us, kthanks) Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were convicted for wearing too many black t-shirts. And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: The book, “The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek,” by Howard Markel  “Will Kellogg: King of Corn Flakes” from the Foundation For Economic Education  The book, “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs” by Chuck Klosterman  The book, “A Secret History of Brands” by Matt MacNabb In this episode, Brandi watched the hell out of: “West Memphis Three Trials,” from  famous-trials.com  The documentary, “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills”

13 Mars 20181h 49min

WARNING: The audio in this episode is rough. What can we say? We were young(ish), dumb, and thought we’d save a little money by sharing one microphone. Yeah. The audio quality improves drastically after episode 9.  Hate ads? The entire LGTC catalog is available ad-free on Patreon! In this episode, Brandi tells us about Dr. Robert Neulander, the beloved OBGYN who killed his wife. … Or did he? Maybe. It’s totally possible. But damn it, it’s also possible that she slipped in the shower. The prosecution and defense used the same pieces of evidence to tell two different stories. So is he a killer? We don’t know. And it’s driving us fucking nuts. Then Kristin talks about Hulk Hogan’s sex tape. It’s a doozy. The Hulk’s lawsuit against Gawker got the site shut down and could have a chilling effect on the first amendment… and it was all funded by a billionaire with an axe to grind. Come for the do-rag jokes, stay for the lecture on consent. And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: The documentary “Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press”  “Jury awards Hulk Hogan $115 million as Gawker looks to appeal,” Politico  “Gawker in the fight of its life with Hulk Hogan sex-tape suit,” Politico  “Peter Thiel’s Secret War with Gawker,” New York Times In this episode, Brandi watched the hell out of: The 48 Hours episode, “The Doctor’s Daughter”

8 Mars 20181h 39min

WARNING: The audio in this episode is rough. What can we say? We were young(ish), dumb, and thought we’d save a little money by sharing one microphone. Yeah. The audio quality improves drastically after episode 9.  Hate ads? The entire LGTC catalog is available ad-free on Patreon! In this episode, Kristin talks about world-class asshole D.C. Stephenson. Stephenson led the Klu Klux Klan through a period of unprecedented growth, but his violent crime against a white woman took him down. His trial captivated the nation and ultimately led to the downfall of the KKK’s second wave. Brandi lightens things up (thank God), with everyone’s favorite Guess model/reality TV star/day shift stripper, Anna Nicole Smith. When she was just 26, Smith married an 89-year-old billionaire. When he died a year later, Smith battled her late husband’s descendants over her share of the estate. The case went all the way to the supreme court. Twice. Yeah. Buckle up, folks.  And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “D.C. Stephenson Trial” Famous-trials.com “Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty: The Rise and Fall of D.C. Stephenson” Smithsonian Magazine IndianaHistory.org “Citizen Klansmen: The Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, 1921-1928” By Leonard J. Moore In this episode, Brandi pulled from: “Paw Paw and Lady Love” by Dan P. Lee for New York Magazine

5 Mars 20181h 31min

WARNING: The audio in this episode is rough. What can we say? We were young(ish), dumb, and thought we’d save a little money by sharing one microphone. Yeah. The audio quality improves drastically after episode 9.  Hate ads? The entire LGTC catalog is available ad-free on Patreon! These are the trials that got us hooked on trials.  When she was just 13, Brandi read a book about infamous cult leader Charles Manson. She’s been obsessed ever since. In this episode, she discusses his crimes, his prediction that a race war was a-comin’, and his truly wacky trial.  As for Kristin… well, she’s dumb. When she and Brandi agreed to talk about the cases that got them hooked on trials, she knew exactly what trial she’d cover — the trial of Robert Courtney, the pharmacist who got caught diluting cancer drugs. But what Kristin didn’t *quite* remember was that dear ol’ Robby never had a criminal trial. Oh well. It’s still a good story.

27 Feb 20181h 21min