Law&Crime Sidebar - Ohio Woman Accused of Randomly Killing 3-Year-Old, Stabbing Mom Sulks in Court

Episode Date: June 17, 2024

Bionca Ellis was calmer during a short hearing in an Ohio court on Monday, after smiling and even laughing during her arraignment last week. Ellis is accused of stabbing 3-year-old Julian Wood multiple times in a grocery store parking lot, killing him. Julian’s mother Margot was injured trying to protect her son. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber discusses the decisions made during Monday’s hearing and what happens next with former prosecutor Sarena Townsend.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you experienced adverse side effects after taking Ozempic or another weight loss medication, check your eligibility to file a claim by visiting https://www.glp1case.com/sidebar/?v=osb15HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. The woman accused of following a mother and toddler out of a grocery store and brutally stabbing them in the parking lot was back in court today. We're breaking down Bianca Ellis's appearance and how this public hearing,

went very differently than her last one, and we discussed with former prosecutor, Serena Townsend. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Hey, everybody, this is another law and crime legal alert. Have you experienced severe gastroporesis or other side effects after taking OZMPIC or another GLP-1 weight loss medication? The OZMPIC lawsuits allege that the drug can lead to severe intestinal blockage and persistent vomiting and that manufacturers allegedly failed to provide adequate warnings about these risks. While true law, one of our legal sponsors, is helping those injured file a claim through an experienced attorney who helps ensure your claim is thoroughly presented.

Visit gLP1 case.com slash sidebar to answer less than 10 questions and check your eligibility to file a claim. We have an update for you in the case of Bianca Ellis, the person we talked about last week. Now, if you recall, 38-year-old Margo Wood and her three-year-old son, Julian, we're leaving the Great Eagle supermarket in North Olmstead, Ohio. This is outside of Cleveland. It was just the middle of the afternoon on Monday, June 3rd. Authorities say that Ellis was seen on surveillance cameras inside the grocery store

before allegedly following the pair and stabbing them both in a very frenzied attack. Julian was stabbed multiple times in the head and chest. He was rushed to the hospital where he sadly died. His mother was stabbed in the shoulder while trying to protect him. She's expected to survive. Police found Ellis nearby took her into custody. She still allegedly had the knife that was purportedly used in the attack. She's been charged with aggravated murder, murder, attempted murder, assault, child endangerment, tampering with evidence, theft.

Now, during Bianca Ellis's first hearing where the judge read the 10-count indictment and set bail at $5 million, Julian's father spoke briefly. There's nothing that could ever replace my son or anything that my wife and I, even our other kids are going through. It's horrendous. I really wish no bail, period, or extend it to the max limit possible by that you can at the very least. Just do whatever you can

to keep this monster behind bars. Thank you, sir. Is there anything else you would like to say? That'll be it. Thank you, Your Honor. Thank you. before I pronounce bond. Your Honor, we would just ask that you consider signing the public defender's office, recognizing this is not our number. We did represent her at the first appearance unit.

I did meet with her on Friday. We have had contact with her family and begun working on the case. Thank you, Your Honor. When the original bond was set out of the unique court, the bond was set at $1 million, and it was before the passing of one of the alleged victims. I do not believe that bond is appropriate given the change in circumstances. the allegations that are contained in this indictment. Bonn has said of $5 million, cash surety or property, GPS, no contact with any surviving victim

or victim's family, DNA order. Judge is John Rousseau, pretrial June 17th at 9 a.m. I'll assign counsel. Thank you, John. Thank you, Your Honor. And Ellis herself also spoke, sometimes choosing to whisper her answers. Hello, Ms. Ellis. Do you have an attorney?

you do do you have the money or means to hire an attorney have you received your indictment have you read it you have not read it okay we have a copy here you can read it you don't want to read it

are you willing to accept that the public defender has read it to you I'm sorry you asked her not to well but she did read it to you correct she didn't read it to you okay well we can read it in open court and ella seemed for the most part i guess you could say unbothered by the accusations against her sometimes smiling or appearing to giggle now it is important to know aside from the fact that we really don't know what she's thinking her attorney did mention there could be serious issues of mental illness, which we talked about on our previous sidebar.

But her demeanor at a scheduling hearing on Monday was a different story. All right. So for that, I want to bring in former prosecutor, Serena Townsend, who we've had on Sidebar before. But here's the best part. Serena's actually with us here in studio now. Serena, good to see you. Good to see you in person.

This is a shocking, shocking and disturbing case. What are your initial impressions of it? It's horrible. It's one of those things that you can't ever propose. pair for it's it's almost it is a mother's worst nightmare it is any parent's worst nightmare it is the most horrifying and shocking thing you could ever imagine and certainly experience i want to go over some of her latest court appearance here um and get your perspective on it so let's talk about this her latest court appearance so ellis she was seated uh she looked down or away from the gallery

as the prosecutors discussed the huge amount of evidence against her The state of Ohio, Anna Frelia, and this morning, Your Honor, with regards to discovery, some discovery has been transferred over to the defense via the portal. We also have a bunch of surveillance cameras and other miscellaneous information that is in need of a terabyte. So I indicated to defense attorneys that they're going to need to provide to me an external hard drive. I also have been in contact with the medical examiner's office, and they indicated that I should probably have an autopsy report within the next three to four weeks. With regards to the autopsy report of Julian. So other than that, Your Honor, the state of Ohio is progressing with discovery and turning things over.

So we'll continue to do that as they become available to me. Okay. Thank you. And also during this hearing, Ohio Judge John Russo discussed when the attorneys thought this case would be ready for trial, as Ellis seemed to kind of rock back and forth. Very good. So I'm looking at the calendar, at least initially, I'd like to set it for a trial. I think we said December 9th is a Monday.

And six months out approximately, which is within the. guidelines for the Supreme Court of course those guidelines can be moved but I think it now he's setting the date to everybody has a date on their calendar is that a date at least looking on your calendars is available to all the parties is that a Monday kethmy yes yes we seem to be the one judge yes yes yes yes yes yes we may not work out for my schedule okay but there are also some other reasons that may be told the necessity of going to trial quickly in this case. Okay.

And again, I'm not looking to move quickly. I'm just looking to have the dates. Why don't we put the 9th down tentatively? And if you want to speak further on some of the thoughts regarding Ms. Ellis, I can hear from counsel. Why don't we put the 9th down as our trial date? Monday, December 9th, we'll go back to November for a final pretrial. pre-trial November 7th. And then November 7th would be a final pretrial. So look, Serena, it's hard to know what's going on in her mind, but clearly her behavior in court has taken a lot of people by surprise. They're very, they're bothered by what they see. What's your take on it? Yeah. I mean, in this situation, her defense, usually in a murder or any sort of defense of an assault, you have one of three options. Either it was self-defense or it wasn't me or some.

some sort of insanity defense. And I think when people watch this person, you know, at the hearing acting the way that she is, if I'm the defense attorney, I'm looking at that and saying, I really have nothing on self-defense as a poor innocent child. I got nothing on, you know, it wasn't me because it sounds like they have surveillance footage of the incident. And with the way that she's acting, I mean, you've got to go insanity. And a potential eyewitness from the surviving mother.

That's right. But I guess, and that's something that we explored a little bit in our previous sidebar with Diane Manashi that there could be a mental health defense but that's a really tough bar to come by even when you're seeing this odd behavior from her and look some people have looked and said she's in a legal term malingering right she's just whatever she could be faking whatever she's doing or she really is a cold blood or killer who doesn't care the way she about this case she is innocent until proven guilty but the other way of looking at it is it's it's not really mental illness it goes more to the she doesn't really care yeah and in that case it could just end up

being a battle of the experts right prosecutors putting on a mental health expert to say you know this behavior is not typical of an actual mental illness it's it's she's just pretending which is what malingering is of course or she has mental illness but it doesn't rise to the level of insanity right that's right yeah and it's a very difficult like you said very difficult bar to meet um and it also you know you have to go into the nuances. Was she insane at the time of the event? Did she appreciate what was happening? Or are we talking about now? Was she on her medication? Is there a medication? And apparently she had other cases before. We've talked about the before how she allegedly confessed to another killing. So she would seem to have some sort of understanding about what's happening

here. But there was something else that happened. So the judge set this trial date at least for now for December 9th, which is some time away. But there was also this interesting exchange. at the end of the hearing about a potential conflict of interest? So before the case was indicted and assigned to the court, staff member of mine noted that they were going to, that they had attended the wake of the decededent in this case. I indicated to that staff member if they could explain to me how they found themselves at the wake, and if there's some concerns, the court should at least put. on the record and so I am going to put it on the record. Staff indicated that their

partner had, if I'm correct, grown up with the decedent's father while they were youth and maybe played basketball, and you can see why go basketball and things of that sort. My staff indicated that they had no interaction with the decedent's parents. including the name victim and the counts that are before me as well, and had never met any of the parties regarding the family. Staff did tell me they went, and that was the first time that they met the parents was at the week. So that brief moment, they also told me that they donated to the GoFundee that somehow might be out there. And so I want to note that, when I became aware of that, well, I became aware of that before a case was even assigned to me.

And so then I felt at least compelling. I don't know any of the parties, nor have I in contact with the parties, and nor have I had any discussions with my staff regarding that. But I thought I'd put it on the record. I don't believe there's any conflict. I don't feel conflicted at all. and so I place that on the record for you to take consideration if you believe that you think there's a conflict with the court. I don't see one just because I don't know any of the parties. But if you want to take that to your staff or your superiors and have conversations, you can let me know or if you want to speak to it now.

Your Honor, on behalf of the state, we have no objection. In the efforts of being transparent, the members of the Wood family are related to an individual. member of staff member in the prosecutor's office as well and that person will have no contact or anything with regards to this case so with regards to that we like to put that on the record as well and let the defense know that very good thank you and mr johnson and mr mack i hope there's a concern or you just take it take it under advisement and you can let the court know if there's any concerns that you have whether we're on the record next time or through motion or if you want to speak to it now.

Thank you. Yeah. Okay. All right, very good. All right. I'll allow you to pick a future date with my bailiff, and I'll have that date just between the parties. I'll continue to ask that you update the court on when the autopsy report is provided to the state, just to make sure the external card ride has been submitted as well.

That was interesting. What did you make of that? I just think that the prosecutor's office is being extremely careful with this case. This is obviously a very high-stakes case. they have to win it. It's one of the most horrific things the county probably ever experienced. And so they want no reason whatsoever for there to be an overturning of this conviction on appeal. And so I think they're taking every single possible precaution to be transparent with, for example, this potential conflict of interest. I don't think that there's really that much of a conflict so long as that

particular prosecutor has no involvement in the case. But, you know, they don't want it to be a situation where they didn't raise it to begin with. And then somebody finds out about it later and says, something fishy was up and real quick do you think this is actually going to go to trial in December you know I think no I definitely don't think it's going to go to trial that quickly does it go to trial at all I think that's also up for debate because it's possible that if the defense is going to try to say that she's insane right there might be proceedings different from trial yep I agree all right and by the way there's this go fund me for a Julian's family it's raised more than $270,000 if you want to donate as there for there as well really sad story

but serena townsen thanks for coming on appreciate it thank you so much all right everybody that's all we have for you right now here on sidebar thank you so much for joining us as always please subscribe on apple podcast spotify youtube wherever you get your podcasts i'm jesse weber i'll speak to you next time you can binge all episodes of this law and crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.