Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 10.12.23

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Woman who used drugs during pregnancy refuses to risk being caught at the hospital. Mom isn't battering the chicken, she's battering with the chicken.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. Jessica Weeks refuses to go to the hospital for her baby's birth because she used pot meth during the pregnancy. She asked a friend to help her with a home birth, and once delivered, the baby's barely breathing. The friend can't tell if it even has a pulse.

She begs Weeks to report the infant's death, but reluctantly leaves the baby with Weeks. Months later, the friend calls police when she never hears another word about the baby. Nancy, the infant's body was discovered in a suitcase in Weeks' backyard, and it's determined the baby died between 36 to 40 weeks of gestation. The baby had methamphetamines in their system and showed no signs of bodily trauma. The friend was very emotional in her recount of the baby's birth and her attempts to resuscitate the infant and will not be facing any charges. Weeks 32.

Charged with concealing evidence injuring a child and failing to report a death. Mary Marcotte, 30, gets in an argument with her daughter after a grocery run. Suddenly, she grabs a whole frozen chicken and hurls it at her daughter, who is hit by the frozen bird. Marquette's sister sees it all and calls the cops. They recognize Marquette. Years earlier, she headbutted her husband during an argument. He declined to press charges, but this time Marquette's charged with misdemeanor battery and spends 20 hours on ice at the county jail. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Lemley.

A Texas man has been put to death after he unsuccessfully contested the validity of the state's lethal injection medicines and questioning the reliability of the evidence a jury had used to find him guilty of the death of an elderly woman decades earlier. With more, here's Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. Following an injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, 48-year-old Jedediah Murphy was declared dead late Tuesday. He was executed for the October 2000 shooting death of 80-year-old Bertie Lee Cunningham during a carjacking in the Dallas suburb of Garland.

While Murphy was strapped to a gurney in the Texas death chamber, he said, quote, to the family of the victim, I sincerely apologize for all of it. A Christian pastor then prayed for the victim's family, Murphy's family and friends, and the prisoner himself while placing his right palm on Murphy's chest. The execution happened just a few hours after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a decision that had prevented the death penalty from being carried out. The high court denied a second appeal late in the day to postpone Murphy's execution due to allegations that the medications he would receive through injection were contaminated after being subjected to intense heat and smoke during a recent fire, putting him at danger of experiencing unnecessary agony.

Following a complaint filed by Murphy's attorneys requesting DNA testing of the evidence used in his 2001 trial, the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday affirmed a federal judge's ruling from last week postponing the execution. The Fifth Circuit's finding was challenged by the state attorney general's office, and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Texas. With his death, Murphy becomes the 20th inmate executed in the United States this year, the sixth in Texas. Now to Oklahoma, as a man has been exonerated by a Pontotoc County judge after DNA testing determined he was not guilty of a 1987 rape and burglary.

The man had served 30 years in prison for the crimes. Perry Lott's conviction is now overturned and the case permanently dismissed, according to a final ruling delivered by District Judge Stephen Kessinger. Following the initial disclosure of the DNA results, Lott was freed from jail in 2018, but only after reaching an agreement to have his sentence modified with former District Attorney Paul Smith. As the move to vacate was being heard, Lott was able to leave prison and remain free thanks to the deal. Smith claimed at the time that Lott remained a suspect despite the DNA findings. However, the Innocence Project, which assisted in Lott's release,

approached recently elected District Attorney Eric Johnson earlier this year. After reviewing the case, Johnson concurred that the conviction should be overturned. In light of recent gun seizures, a decrease in gunfire reports in the Albuquerque metro area, and an increase in jail bookings, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is defending her decision to treat gun violence as a public health epidemic. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. Governor Lujan Grisham stood by her decision while awaiting a significant court decision on a landmark proposal to suspend the right to carry a gun in public parks and

playgrounds. An emergency public health decree concerning gun violence was extended by the governor last week for an additional 30 days through early November. A federal judge has placed temporary restrictions on the ability to carry a gun in public parks, playgrounds, and other places where children congregate. The public is reacting negatively to Grisham's public health order, which includes gun limitation clauses that opponents claim violate constitutional rights to bear arms for self-defense. The governor stated that, in light of evolving legal precedent, it is her duty to look into the possibility of creating, quote, safe spaces where guns are prohibited. Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year to expand gun rights,

officials in some states are exploring new options for limitations, leading to several standoffs like the one currently in New Mexico. After a bout of pneumonia, Tracy Bell doesn't show up to work when she's set to return. Concerned, her boss at the Illinois State Attorney's Office asks cops to check on her. Police find Tracy at home, uninjured but disoriented. They call paramedics to check her blood sugar, as she's recently been diagnosed diabetic. By the time they leave, she's no longer confused. Next day, she doesn't come to work again, followed by a second welfare check. But this time, Bell's gone. Her purse is missing

from her home. Her car's still parked outside. No activity on her bank account or cell phone now nearly six years. If you have info on Tracy Bell, please call Richland Park PD 708-481-8956 for the latest crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com with this crime alert i'm nancy grace you're listening to an iheart podcast