Law&Crime Sidebar - Woman Smothered Her Stepmom, Bragged About It on Snapchat: Prosecutors

Episode Date: May 27, 2024

An Iowa jury found Samantha Bevans, 35, guilty of first-degree murder of helping her boyfriend, Tacoa Talley, kill Jodie Bevans. The victim was found dead inside her home after a welfare check. Prosecutors showed the court a Snapchat video, saved by Bevans, in which she brags about the murder. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber analyzes the case, as well as Bevans own testimony in her defense, with defense attorney and former prosecutor Safa Robinson-Ferrer.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’ve used Incognito mode in Google’s Chrome browser, find out if you have a claim in a few clicks by visiting https://www.incognitoclaims.com/sidebar/?v=sb7HOST: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.

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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. A jury found an Iowa woman guilty of killing her stepmother in her sleep, then bragged about it on social We're breaking down this brazen murder case with defense attorney and former prosecutor Safa Robinson Ferrer. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Hey, everybody, this is a law and crime legal alert.

Google Incognito tracked users browsing data without their knowledge. While Mass Tort Alliance, one of our legal sponsors, is helping users file for compensation due to Google users' privacy issues surrounding Google Incognito. So if you've used Google Incognito any time since 2016, you can start your claim in less than 10 questions at incognito claims.com slash sidebar. 35-year-old Samantha Bevins will likely spend the rest of her life behind bars after being found guilty of first-degree murder out in Iowa. And that is because prosecutors say Samantha Bevins killed her stepmother, 58-year-old Jody Bevins back in July of 2022. They said Jody had kicked Samantha out of the house, so the younger woman killed the stepmom in her sleep,

but she allegedly didn't do it alone. No, prosecutors believe that Samantha's boyfriend, Tacco Talley, was also involved in the killing. Now, we're going to break all this down. There are a lot of moving parts, and I'm going to bring in right now defense attorney and former prosecutor, Safa Robinson Ferrer. Did I get it right? Did I get it right? You said. Yes. Okay, great. You know, before we came on, I asked Safa how to pronounce her name, and she said, You know, you could just say Safa Robinson. It's too much. I said, no, we're giving you the full name.

So thank you so much for coming on. Safa, Robinson, Ferrer. I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Okay, so I want to walk through this story with you. So bear with me. I'm going to tell everybody a little bit of backstory. We go back to July 2022.

And Jody Bevins was napping on a couch in her home when police say that Tallien Bevins covered Jody's face with a pillow, smothering her. Authority said Jody died from asphyxiation. Prosecution says that Bevins had been kicked out of the home two weeks earlier for allegedly stealing. They posited that she had gone back to get revenge on Jody and possibly steal from the family safe.

Now, the defense said that Bevins was only going to the home to pick up a dog and that it was Talley who started to attack Jody. Now, Ms. Bevins testified in her own defense saying she saw what was happening, but she couldn't stop it. She told the jury that Talley was the abusive one, that he was manipulating and controlling her. She testified that she put a pillow over her stepmother's face, but she was a woman. wasn't the one who killed her. I did not kill her. She was still breathing both times she came out

when I came out of that room. I couldn't even stay in there with her when she was dying. I was too scared. I couldn't do it. I couldn't stop him. I couldn't help Jody. I was just frozen. I was scared and I was going off of what I thought was best in that moment. Now, prosecutor said, quote, it doesn't matter if you think she had held the pillow down 100% of the time. If you two are doing it together, then you're both guilty of it. Let's start there. Are prosecutors correct there? Prosecutors are absolutely correct in that fashion. You know, the charge here is murdering the first degree.

There is some accomplice liability when it comes to that or joint and several liability, as what we like to sometimes call it. If there's one individual that is in the process of committing a crime, particularly a felony or depraved and different sort of crime, the other individual that is there that is assisting them in that or is a part of that planner. scheme will be held liable and will be charged as accordingly and it seems like the forensics kind of back that up because Jody had abrasions on her face indicating that she possibly was smothered with a pillow and there was also blunt force trauma to her cheek so possibly she was hit

and apparently Bevin's confessed to investigators during her interview how she was and this is really so graphic grinding her foot on the pillow so those forensics seem to kind of I would imagine. I mean, how much does it show whether Talley did it or it was Bevin's? You know, and that's the thing here. You know, I understand what the defense was trying to go at here, which was that she was under the control of the boyfriend at the time, or Talley, I believe, is his name. But the thing of the fact of the matter is this. She participated in that event. She allegedly held down the pillow and the jury ultimately did determine that she was responsible for that. If her story was true and correct, or if her defense was true and correct,

and what prosecutors are probably or may have brought up at during cross-examination is did she call 911 was there at any point in time did she try to stop the act from occurring or stop the boyfriend from committing these acts and I don't know that she did any of those things and certainly a jury's going to take a look at that to see if she did in fact have any mitigating factors as to how you know what her participation is in this particular crime have you ever seen a case where somebody was under duress to kill they were forced against their will to attack or kill another person, and that is a successful defense. Because imagine what we're talking about here is someone saying that she's in a domestic violence relationship. She's in a situation where she cannot get away. She has no choice but to watch and stand by or even was forced to participate in the crime. Is duress? If we take that as true, is that ever a defense?

And have you ever seen that be successful as a defense? You know, that certainly can be a defense. How far it will go in the eyes of a jury is another question. I've never seen it successfully played in front of the jury. I've never seen anybody acquitted on those grounds. And I can't say that that has never happened. But that is certainly something that they can attempt to use as a defense. It just depends on how far it's going to go with the jury.

And it looks like here it didn't go very far. Yeah. Well, you know, one of the reasons why it didn't go very far. I didn't even mention the arguably the worst piece of evidence in this whole case. You might say, you know, her confessing was bad, the forensics were bad. What about the fact that the prosecution pointed out that if, Evans was so scared and traumatized, why did she record and save a video on Snapchat admitting to the murder?

I killed myself. And I knew that that's what happened, so good job. We showed her. Ah. The video was saved one day after Jody's body was found. Law enforcement ran the video through, I believe, this special software to amplify the sound, make sure it was crystal clear as possible, so we knew what was being said. Now, Safa, the defense, how do you get away from that video, right?

They tried to say, and I'm curious to your opinion on this, that Talley was the one in charge, that he manipulated her, and that Bevins was trying to get a reaction out of Talley with that video, and she testified that Talley would tell her things that she didn't think were real, so she saved things on her phone, that she goes, I had to make notes and videos, voice recordings, when something happens, and would go to Talley's story because it was all twisted up, that he would make her feel crazy. I don't know. Here's the thing, you know, that may be true to some extent. However, that does not negate her role in this, you know, in this murder or in this homicide. And the fact of the matter is that if this video was saved a day after this allegedly took place, one thing we're going to want to know, and I don't think that was present here, was that at no point in time did she go to law enforcement to report the murder. You know, she, again, after this took place, took no stuff.

in mitigating her part in it and continue to hide it and in fact put something out on social media which it's a defense attorney's worst nightmare you know our clients posting things on social media i i don't understand why but it goes to the condition of the mind of the individual and you know the lack of appropriate decision making in these matters is that you know what are we doing here you know you've got an incident where you're alleged to have killed your stepmother you know you're putting it on video now you're also going to trial on it when the evidence is very clear, which is certainly well within her right. And I don't think people should ever be penalized for exercising their right to a fair and just trial. But we have to look at everything that is a factor in this case. And so I don't think she did herself any favors by doing anything in this case. It's also tough the fact that law enforcement also reportedly found a to-do list purportedly written by Bevins. And on that list was Kill Jody written on it. I mean, not to make dark humor, but you had to remind yourself to, I, it's almost as if you gave prosecutors everything you needed for a conviction.

Now, she would claim that she was using meth when she wrote that list, which made me wonder, is the use of narcotics or substance abuse, could that be a defense to some of these different, you know, pieces of evidence? That's certainly a possibility. And that's going to be regulated by state statutes. So every state, of course, has a different set of laws and a different means of. how a prosecutor is to prove those laws and how the defense can negate or craft their defense and, you know, rebutting what the prosecution is trying to prove.

So in some states that may be a viable defense, and some it may not. You know, it definitely goes to the state of mind. There has to be a culpable mental state that is proven particularly in murder in the first degree intent. So if she was under some type of drug or alcohol abuse at that point in time, you know, that could be a question for the jury to decide as to whether or not. not, the prosecution has met that burden for that particular element of intent. Do you think it was a mistake for her to take the stand, or did she really have no option

with all this evidence in her face? You know, more often than that, we love for our clients to remain silent, particularly through trial. I think that it was a mistake for her to get on the stand, and, you know, you subject yourself to cross-examination by the prosecution. You never know exactly what they're going to ask, and no matter how much we prepare our clients for that process. You know, it's different when you're in the courtroom. It's different when you're under the pressure and stress of a trial. And so more often than not, it opens up a can of

worms that we really don't want to have to answer to. On the flip side to that, once a story is told and unfolding, particularly with a body that's attached to it, some type of homicide, jurors want to hear the other side of the story. One of the things that I like to ask during voir dire, which is our questioning of jurors is, if my client exercises their right to remain silent throughout this trial, are you going to penalize them? And that's one of the questions that I think is very important because that right to remain silent attaches to the entire trial. I advise my clients to continue to remain silent unless there is some reason that we really need to get something out in front of the jury that we can't do any other way.

I mean, should she have just taken a plea? Should she have tried to fight this? On one hand, I say I'm not surprised because her accomplice, Mr. Talley, went on trial separately last year. He was convicted a first-degree murder. Unlike Bevinsey chose not to testify in his own defense, he was sentenced to life in prison. Maybe with his conviction, she was saying, I could just go up there, put all the blame on him.

I might as well try it. And that's definitely, yeah, and that's definitely a possibility. I think, and I'm speculating, of course, but maybe once she saw that he didn't testify in his own defense, you know, and he ultimately was found guilty, she may have thought she would have been helping herself by at least trying to explain away what her part was in this. in this homicide. But certainly it wasn't a good enough favor that she did for herself,

and she ultimately landed herself at the guilty verdict. And just going back to Talley sentencing, the victim's family had a chance to make some statements. Jody's son, Davis McKenna, said that Jody had taken in Talley's children when he couldn't care for them. In his statement, he said, quote, she helped Toccoa, she sacrificed for Toccoa, and he returned all that hope and sacrificed by killing her. It makes me ask the question, what is the point of health? helping people. It makes me not want to help people, trust people, or even be around people. I am a darker person, which is a tragedy within itself because the complete opposite of what my mom stood for. It just shows you the tragedy of this case, right?

Absolutely. And one of the things I always tell people, and I've had clients who have been in positions where they've helped someone and then they've landed in my office because they're being criminally charged with something they had no idea about, no good deed goes unpunished. that is a blanket statement across the board and you know unfortunately no matter how much good we want to do in the world we always have to be mindful because with all the good we do we'd still be punished for it in the end and that's very tragic and Samantha be Evans she will be sentenced in June after being convicted and she also faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole which I understand is the mandatory sentence Safa thank you so much for coming on

Safa Robinson Ferrer thank you so much really appreciate you taking the time and breaking down this case with us. Thank you so much for having me. All right, that's all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. We'll speak to you next time. podcasts or Spotify.