Law&Crime Sidebar - 'Sixth Wife Murder Trial' Thomas Randolph Faces Murder Retrial for 6th Wife’s Death

Episode Date: August 4, 2023

The award-winning team that created ‘They Walk Among Us’, featuring true crime cases from the UK, now bring their unique and bone-chilling podcast across the pond. This is ‘They Walk Among America’ - a true-crime podcast covering tales of murder and mystery in the United States. Hosted by Nina Innsted.‘They Walk Among America’ is a Law & Crime podcast network production.For more information visit https://lawandcrime.com/podcasts/ or https://theywalkamonguspodcast.com/Nevada man Thomas Randolph was sentenced to death in 2017 for the murders of his sixth wife and the man he allegedly conspired with to kill her. Randolph’s conviction was overturned in 2020 after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that prior-bad-act evidence used in the trial may have tainted the jury’s objectivity. Four of Randolph’s wives ended up dead. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber breaks down everything we know about the black widower’s case with award-winning journalist Melissa McCarty.Hosts:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberAngenette Levy: https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Robert MacedonioLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael Deininger Guest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSTAY 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. views 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. I didn't kill any of them. They know this. They say four of six, four of six wives died suspiciously. Well, if cancer is suspicious, then I guess I'm a killer. If Dying of a blotch surgery, a heart defect, I guess I'm going to kill her, but I didn't give them any of that. Six wives, four deaths, and an upcoming third murder trial, it's the bizarre story of Thomas Randolph. As we analyze what we know so far in this case, we preview what's ahead with journalist Melissa McCarty, who's been following the Randolph saga for eight years and has actually recently spoken with the accused killer.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Hey, everybody, I want to talk to you right now about a really exciting podcast that's produced by law and crime. The creators of award-winning They Walk Among Us, which features true crime cases from the UK, they now bring their unique and bone-chilling podcast across the pond with They Walk Among America. Hosted by Nina Instead, this true crime podcast covers tales of murder and mystery in the United States. In fact, in a recent episode, Nina delves into a teacher abuse case out of Seattle in 1998 that sent shockwaves around the world.

You can check out They Walk Among America on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So it is time to talk about the upcoming trial of a man with a story that is truly unlike any defendant we have ever covered. At least I know that I have ever covered. And I am talking about the Nevada retrial. of Thomas Randolph, the man accused of not only murdering his wife Sharon Randolph, but also Michael Miller, the man he allegedly hired to kill his wife. And when I say wife, Sharon Randolph, was Thomas's six wife, and four of his previous wives are dead. So it's time to do a deep dive

on everything we know so far about this man, and there is a lot. Now, as I talk about Mr. Randolph, I'm going to play you some snippets of interviews that he did with my sidebar co-host, Anjanette Levy, a few years back, and I will tell you, he is a colorful guy, to say the least. I'm a smart man. I don't lie. There's no upside to lying. I was a child, a teenager in the 60 sex strips and rock and roll.

He cheats on his wife. Does that make him guilty of murder? No, it makes him... He says, fucking... and talks about sex and he has threesomes and his wife's and his girlfriends. They're all 10, 15 years, back in the day, he's 10, 15 years younger in him. They have no pubic care and they have tattoos on the lip of their with my name in it or my initials in it.

Does that make you guilty? No, it makes apparently his wife's and his girlfriends really like him. Yeah. Okay. Let's get into it. So Thomas Randolph's first wife was Catherine Thomas, who was only 18 years old when she married the accused killer back in Utah. And she would testify that Randolph was controlling and manipulative and psychologically abusive. And he took out a life insurance policy on her right after they married.

Keep that in mind. Now, Randolph and Catherine, they divorce. She remarries a man named Stephen Thomas. And Stephen Thomas testified that Randolph asked him if he would. kill someone for $25,000. At one point, Randolph even allegedly threatens the life of Stephen Thomas. While Catherine and Stephen, they decide to move away to another state to get away from Mr. Randolph.

That's his first wife. Now let's talk about Randolph's second wife, Becky Gull, who in 1986 was found shot to death, bullet in her head. She was found tucked in the waterbed of her home. And initially, the coroner determined that this was a suicide. But authority said that the scene really didn't match up to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. On top of the fact that Randolph was set to receive a $500,000 life insurance payout upon her death. Remember when I talked about the insurance?

Not to mention the fact that a man named Eric Tarantino came forward. And Eric Tarantino said that Randolph was involved in the drug trade and that Randolph tried to recruit him to kill Becky and make it look like a burglary gone wrong or a drowning or an accidental overdose. And reporting indicated that Randolph had allegedly sung songs about wanting Becky dead. Tarantino said that when he refused to kill Becky and actually told her what Randolph asked him to do, Randolph beat him up. And then when Tarantino came forward to authorities to cooperate in their investigation,

the allegation was that Randolph tried to hire a hitman to kill Tarantino so he wouldn't cooperate. Unfortunately, for Mr. Randolph, that hitman was an undercover. police officer. So as you can imagine, Randolph is arrested. Now, he pleads guilty to witness tampering for trying to hire a hitman. And when Anjanette interviewed Randolph, he had some, I should say, choice words about Mr. Tarantino. In fact, Randolph said that Tarantino groped his wife and was lying as a government witness and that Randolph even laid out a revenge plot against Tarantino. You wanted to have this guy Tarantino killed because

he was going to testify in the Utah case and, I mean, what do you say about that? Just not true. And that's when he groped her, and she told me about it. And I beat his ass. Well, I only hit him once. Knocked it right straight out, gave him a couple of stitches. And see, he lies about that. He's delusional.

He lies. All I was going to do was plant to open his car. Have somebody plant open his car, break the window out, call 911. I will send you copies of Tarantino's statements to Utah and phone calls if you don't need those being taped. And he said, you know, I'm going to, you know what I, he's talking to his ex-wife. He says, you remember what I told you was going to happen to Randolph because he beat me up? And she says, yeah, you're going to kill him. But that was like two years ago.

Well, he's still going to die, but the cops are going to do it. It's going to be a murder trial. And if I f*** up, she says, you're lying. You could go to prison, yeah. I go, I won't go to prison. I'll blow my brains out. He admits to lying, and she says, well, what happens if you get caught? He says, they're not going to do anything to me.

They know I'm lying. They told me to lie. They're lying, too. The state's lying. So what happens? Well, Randolph is charged with capital murder for the death of Becky Gall, meaning the death penalty is on the table, and he went to trial. It was an interesting trial.

A substance abuse counselor who had been helping Becky said that Randolph told him after Becky died, people like her, quote, will get what's coming to them. At trial, Randolph took the stand. He tried to downplay the life insurance motive. He said he hadn't worked since Becky died. And Randolph's defense tried to show that Becky had a fractured mental state and was suicidal. In the end, it seemed like it worked because the jury acquitted Thomas Randolph of Becky's murder. She committed suicide.

I could just go on with the detail She left a suicide note The next door neighbor actually heard the shot And called the police and reported it And I've got an ironclad alibi I'm 14 miles away on the phone 14 minutes away on the phone So this is all the files

This is why I was acquitted in Utah I didn't do it That was wife number two From there Randolph gets married again to Gaina Alman. And she would claim at one point, she thought Randolph tried to shoot her when she was cleaning. That marriage doesn't work out, and he ends up marrying his fourth wife, Francis Randolph. Okay.

So a man named Glenn Morrison would testify against Thomas Randolph. And he testified that Randolph asked him to kill Francis and make it look like a staged burglary, even asking Morrison to shoot him in the leg to make it look real. Morrison did not go through with this. He said he was actually worried that his life was in danger. He thought that Randolph would kill him if he killed Francis to cover everything up. Now, Francis did end up dying in 2004. She passed away at a hospital after having heart surgery.

But that's not the end of the story because Francis's daughter would claim that Thomas Randolph didn't allow her to see her mother when she was recovering in the hospital room. and that Randolph was the last person with Francis before she died. Francis's daughter would also go on to state that not only did Thomas Randolph make sure to have Francis cremated immediately after her death, meaning no autopsy could be performed, but that Randolph also collected on Francis's life insurance policy as well as a legal settlement with the hospital. Now, you might say this seems very, very suspicious, right? Well, Thomas Randolph was never directly implicated or even criminally charged in Francis's death. That's wife number four. Now let's move on to wife number five.

Leanna Stapleton. It doesn't appear that we know a lot about this relationship that Randolph had with Stapleton, although he allegedly told people she died of cancer. Lee was remarried twice. I was married to her for maybe 10 months and divorced her within those. 10 months, obviously, but I stayed with her for a cootie a couple of years because she's a really fun girl, and she had nowhere else to go. But she went back to the same thing, drugs, and few other things, and I left her. I kicked her out. She remarried twice that I know of. She

died of liver cancer. And then finally, we have Thomas Randolph's six wife, Sharon. Now let's go to May 8, 2008. Randolph calls 911 and he says Sharon was shot and killed by an intruder, and he was able to kill this masked assailant himself by shooting him multiple times. That assailant turned out to be a handyman named Michael Miller, who is Michael Miller. While investigators were discovered that Thomas Randolph actually became friends with Michael Miller a few months earlier, and they asserted that Randolph hired Miller to kill Sharon. And a big problem for Mr. Randolph was that some of the things he was saying about the night in question weren't adding up.

He even did a walkthrough of the crime scene with police. But he was doing something, going for something down in here. And as we got up in here, and he kind of rushed up on me a little bit. And that's when I just pushed him. Boom, boom! And he started going out toward the shed. I don't know how many times they shot him, but I just kept right and going. boom boom boom and they just lay in there and investigators also discovered that he had taken out

several life insurance policies on Sharon before she died namely that he could earn over three hundred thousand dollars you're sense in a theme here right yeah it also didn't help that Sharon had apparently removed Thomas Randolph as the beneficiary in her will when she found out that he had been cheating on her so Thomas Randolph is arrested in charge with the killings of both Sharon and Michael, and it took nine years for this trial to end up happening in 2017. One of the strongest pieces of evidence for the prosecution was that they used evidence from Randolph's Utah trial regarding the death of Becky Galt, his second wife. They used that in this case, and they highlighted similarities in both events.

The defense tried to show that Thomas had a good marriage with Sharon and that the material about Becky Galt was nothing more than a red herring put on by prosecutors to distract the jury. Well, after about nine hours of deliberations, the jury found Thomas Randolph guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Sharon and Michael Miller. After the convictions, prosecutors then tried to persuade the jury to move forward with the death penalty. Much of what I'd previously described about Thomas's life with his past wives had been introduced to the jury. Randolph's defense team pointed out that their client has children, has grandchildren, he works with mentally challenged individuals. But despite their best efforts, Thomas Randolph was sentenced to death. But that is not the end of the story because now you have to fast forward to 2021 when his conviction was overturned.

That's right. The Nevada Supreme Court found that it was an error on the part of the trial court to allow in what is called prior bad act evidence against Thomas Randolph during this 2017 trial. Namely, the trial court shouldn't have allowed in all the evidence regarding the death. death of Becky Gall. They say it was too prejudicial. The Nevada Supreme Court reasoned that the prosecution only showed the jury that Randolph was deceitful and violent and that he had a propensity to commit crimes. So his conviction is overturned. And now in 2023, he faces his retrial for the murder of Sharon and Michael. He's still in prison today at High Desert State Prison. And we're going to follow this retrial from beginning to end. But you have to think about what the prosecution can do

here because without the ability to introduce this prior evidence, can they secure conviction again? What evidence will be allowed in about his life? Because it's our understanding that there is a hearing scheduled specifically about this. But talking about hearings, it was just a week or so ago where Thomas Randolph spoke to the judge in court about his health. I was using toilet paper for bandages because the wound care for 10 days. No wound care. It's just one thing after another. Today, no wheelchair. Today, no medicine. The Greenpeace people is going to put a contract out on me because I'm killing all these trees. It's phyotite, phyotite. We're not going to go to trial because I'm not going to be able to make it if they don't get this stuff

fixed. It's just ridiculous. I don't know if your clerk can call over and say... I'll call over to CCBC today. Get your act together because this is ridiculous. And while all that gets sorted out, when Angenet Levy spoke with Thomas Randolph, again, keep in mind this was a few years back, he gave us a preview of what to expect at his new trial. Do you think that the next trial will have a different result? Oh, absolutely. I'm guaranteeing it now. I'll be acquitted. Now I get to testify, and I don't choke.

I'm a, I just tell the truth. You're going to testify in this trial? Is that what you're saying? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I was there. I'm guaranteeing you an acquittal. I am guaranteeing you, I will be acquitted. Why do you guarantee that? Because I didn't do anything. So as we talk about the twists and turns of the Thomas Randolph murder case and story, I want to bring in right now a very special guest. You may have seen her from HLN, Crime Watch Daily, ABC, National Correspondent, Melissa McCorm. Cardi is with us. She is the author of the making of a crime reporter and host of the Killing Dad podcast. And Melissa has been following the Randolph case for the last eight years. So I know we're

in good hands. And Melissa is actually going to be our eyes and her ears at that trial for us here on Long Crime. Melissa, thank you so much for coming here on the Sidebar podcast. It's my pleasure. And you know what? I've had exclusive access to Randolph for eight years. So a lot to say. Oh, I'm sure. We were showing snippets of his interview. with my co-host, Anjanette Levy, but my understanding is you've recently spoken with Thomas Randolph. Any insight you can share about what he shared with you? Yeah, I mean, obviously, this is a retrial for him.

So he's questioning and concerned about getting a fair trial because of the Supreme Court ruling that basically stated that he did not the first time around. He's nervous. He says everything is on, you know, at stake for him. It's his life. he has claimed to be innocent for 15 years and he's kept the same narrative in our conversations for an eight-year period as well and you know he's just hoping for a fair trial from his

perspective the last time we spoke with him he indicated that he was going to take the stand and felt confident that there's going to be an acquittal did he kind of give the same feeling he does feel as do his attorneys that he will be acquitted whether he takes the stand, it will be a decision made mid-trial. You know, he speaks with conviction. It would be an interesting move. The attorneys are open for it, but whether they actually allow him to do it is another story because what he says on the stand could open up the gateway for other prior bad acts to be entered, which is the reason that he has this new trial. That's right. And again, the last time we spoke with him, he was talking a lot about how his attorneys,

terrible, how it was a corrupt system. In your conversations with him briefly, did he say similar things? Well, listen, he's at about 17 attorneys throughout this process. He's very happy with his team right now. They're very good at what they do. One is a former prosecutor. One has dealt with many, you know, unprecedented Supreme Court ruling cases. And so, you know, he's very hopeful with the team that he has. He just is obviously nervous because this is, this is, this is it for him. He's also a man that's facing his third murder trial in his lifetime. So he's in a unique position with that in itself. By the way, before we can get to the trial, my understanding is there's an important hearing that is going to happen. Can you explain to us what

that is? There's one more hearing before the jury selection starts, and that's the Petichelli hearing. So that is when both sides are going to argue the use of prior bad acts. And that's basically why we're in the situation of the new trial. So they're going to argue what should be allowed in and what should be, you know, held with, withheld. And it comes across from the 2017 trial where the judge at the time allowed everything from his past. And everything, as we now know, was he was married six times and four of his wives are dead. There was two alleged hitman that came forward and they were weaving together this thread that played out very similar to the Las Vegas case. So in 2017, his past was allowed in, including his very

first murder trial. He was on trial for murder in the 80s for his second wife, Becky Gult. And the way that played out is he was acquitted and those files were expunged. And so technically they weren't supposed to use information from that case into the 2017 Las Vegas trial, but they did. And then the Supreme Court later ruled that they shouldn't have and he didn't get a fair trial. So now this process is playing all over again of what should be allowed in and what shouldn't. So we now know nothing from the Utah case in the 80s is allowed in, but there's still other storylines like Glenn Morrison who's going to testify the Petracelli this time around. He's still a part of the prior bad acts. He could be allowed in this new trial, which would be

really interesting. I mean, the legal aspect to me is interesting. Why are some storylines allowed in and others aren't? you know, why would Glenn Morrison be relevant as an alleged hitman, you know, for this new trial? It's a good question because my understanding is the Supreme Court of Nevada said that this was highly prejudicial to allow this in. It showed a propensity that he was a violent guy and the jury basically made a decision on the wrong evidence. But look, I wasn't at that trial. And I'm curious going into this one, if you take all of the prior bad act evidence and you focus strictly on this murder of Sharon, how should. strong is the prosecution's case that he was the one who killed Sharon and Michael? You know, the Supreme Court asked the Deputy District Attorney David Stanton that very question. Why don't you just move forward with the Vegas evidence only? And I think initially

when this investigation ignited, when the murder occurred in 2008, I don't feel the district attorney thought there was enough evidence. And so they just shifted, you know, the focus on, well, look at everything we've uncovered. Let's just go with that and make it thick and solid. But, you know, it will be interesting because I don't know that the evidence is strong enough. And I wouldn't be surprised if they start to lessen the charges and take death penalty off the table just for a conviction because the evidence wouldn't be as strong without the prior information of his first murder trial and other bad acts. If none of that evidence can come in and it's strictly about the murder of Sharon and Michael, do you think there's a possibility that they would drop the charges against him if they feel they don't have enough evidence? No.

I think this is too high profile. I think they're just going to go full steam and just lessen the charges. I think we'll eventually see the death penalty being taken off the table to ensure a conviction. But it's really going to focus on, you know, the walkthrough video and the ski mask. Those are the smoking gun evidences in a sense. So the argument on Monday is heavily focused on this walkthrough video. And it's contradictory, in a sense, to the forensics. His defense is that Michael Miller did this and did this on his own, right?

And why would Michael Miller have done this? So Thomas Randolph says that he only planned to burglarize the home, that he knows that Thomas Randolph was out for the night on a date with his wife. He carries a lot of money and possessions. So he believes that Mike Miller, who was his friend in a sense, broken just to steal some money, some cash, some jewelry, and didn't expect them to come home early from their date night. And then he caught him and, you know, obviously killed him.

Do you, when you look, when you speak to Thomas Randolph, he's such an interesting character with such a interesting life. What are, what do you get from his personality and how he was involved with so many different women and had such this colorful life? and he was involved and he was drug the drug trade um you know and janet levy interviewed him and he said that he wanted to plant drugs on eric tarentino i mean that is quite the claim and so um when you interview him what's the sense that you get from his personality and who he is in his life he's very eccentric he's smart he's legally savvy but he's also his self-reclaimed narcissists

you know ladies man he thinks he's still got it you know even in his 60s but he he's very much this, you know, sex drugs and rock and roll guy. He says he's a hippie who grew up, you know, and he admits, you know, grew up just selling drugs that he admits to. He admits to cheating on all of his wives, all six of them. But he always says, you know, I may have been a bad husband. I may have been a cheater. I may have sold drugs, but I'm not a killer. That's his stance. Is there anything that would, from your experience following this case, speaking with him that would lead anyone to believe there's more to this, the deaths of the wives that he hasn't been charged with?

In regards to Leona or Francis? Yes. I would say no. And look, that's important to say because it's, you know, everybody can jump to conclusions, but he was quitted for Becky Galt. His conviction was overturned with respect to Shannon. So, you know, we have to be clear. As we move on to this new trial, how similar do you think it's going to be to the first trial?

How different is it going to be? I mean, what are you looking out for? There's a lot of attention on this case. We're going to cover it here on Long Crime. What are you going to be looking out for for this retrial? Who's allowed in to testify and who's not? I think the faces will be very different this time around. I think that a lot of the people we saw in 2017 won't be in the retrial.

unless it's at a penalty phase, you know, but Glenn Morrison is what I'm really interested in. He's testifying for the Petrcelli with his account of this hit for hire. However, according to the defense, he can't remember the name of the wife he was supposed to kill. He can't remember dates or years of the encounter. There's no evidence or track record of it. His testimony could be very damaging, but will he even be allowed in? But I think just the focus on the walkthrough video. I think it will be allowed in and I think it's critical. I think the ski mask is critical in how the defense lays that out as this home invasion heroic husband versus this premeditated murder plot.

I think all of that with less evidence this time around and less ammunition for the prosecution will be interesting to see what happens and what the outcome will be. I think there's a good chance he could be convicted again and I also think there's an equal chance he could be acquitted. He's already served about 15 years. If he's acquitted, has he indicated to you what he wants to do with his life? He says go on vacation. You know, he believes he'll be acquitted, but he's also skeptical that he'll get a fair trial. His defense team is very confident, but also prosecutors, they're very good at what they do. And they have a lot of ammunition and they're confident as well. Well, Melissa McCarty, I got to I tell you, this is quite the case.

I've studied it for the past week or so, and I was just blown away with what I learned. But as I said, you are going to be our eyes and our ears. We can't wait to hear you reporting from the retrial of Thomas Randall. Thanks you so much for taking the time and being here on Sidebar. We really appreciate it. Oh, thanks for having me. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us.

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 long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.