Sins & Survivors: A Las Vegas True Crime Podcast - Justice Delayed, Justice Denied: The Murder of Bronwyn Greene Richards

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

In the early morning hours of April 16, 2010, Bronwyn Richards returned home after caring for her mother. Within moments, her children awoke to the sound of her screams. Fourteen-year-old Dion called 911 and his older sister, fearing an intruder, escaped through a window to find help. But by the time police arrived, Bronwyn had been beaten so severely that she wouldn’t survive.Her estranged husband, Bobby Richards, killed her. Bronwyn left behind a vast army of people who love her including her children, family, sorority sisters, and all the people she touched through her many charitable works.Richards' life sentence was later overturned, reducing his time behind bars. Bronwyn’s story is a devastating reminder of how the justice system fails to protect domestic violence victims and hold abusers accountable.https://sinspod.co/episode23sourceshttps://beefabulousmoments.org Domestic Violence Resourceshttp://sinspod.co/resourcesClick here to become a member of our Patreon!https://sinspod.co/patreonVisit and join our Patreon now and access our ad-free episodes and exclusive bonus content & schwag!Apple Podcast Subscriptionshttps://sinspod.co/appleWe're now offering premium membership benefits on Apple Podcast Subscriptions! On your mobile deviceLet us know what you think about the episodehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2248640/open_sms Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sins-survivors-a-las-vegas-true-crime-podcast--6173686/support.

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Starting at $2.99 a month, you'll also get access to our exclusive bonus content episodes when you join through Patreon or Apple subscriptions. Thanks for supporting the show. 14-year-old Dion awoke to the sound of banging in the early morning hours of April 16, 2010. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he heard his mom Bronwyn Richards screaming. Panicked, Dion called 911 and told them his dad was hitting his mom. Dion's older sister heard the banging and arguing too, but thought the house was being broken into. She climbed out a window and ran for her uncle's nearby house for help. North Las Vegas police arrived quickly and discovered Bronwyn had been horrifically beaten. She was transported to UMC, but she didn't make it.

Hi and welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast where we focus on cases that deal with domestic violence. I'm your host, Sean, and with me, as always, is the one and only John. I am the only John in the room. When you conjure up the image of a great person in your mind, you probably think of someone who is civic-minded, kind, community-involved, maybe heavily involved with her church, invested in her children's lives, and so on. Bronwyn Antoinette Green Richards was all of these things and more. She was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on July 10, 1963, but grew up in Chicago. Her father was Hubert Smith Jr., born in 1936, who worked as a correctional officer in Cook County, Illinois, and her mother was named

Betty Mosley Smith. She died just two years after Bronwyn's murder in 2012, heartbroken after losing her only daughter. Bronwyn's mother was 2012, heartbroken after losing her only daughter. Bronwyn's mother was elderly and wheelchair-bound, and you won't be shocked to learn that Bronwyn was her caretaker. Bronwyn was an only child and graduated from Thornwood High School in 1981. She went on to get her bachelor's degree from Virginia State University in 1986, and then her master's degree from Lesley University in 2004. In college, she became a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Delta Sigma Theta is a historically African-American Greek organization with a heritage of service within the African-American community. It was founded by a group of college-educated women on January 13, 1913,

at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The sorority has a rich history of dedication to public service, particularly aimed at giving back to the African American community. The founding 22 women set a precedent for open membership, welcoming all women, regardless of their religion, race, or nationality. Just like Bronwyn, Delta Sigma Theta embodies a spirit of inclusivity and community service. Bronwyn was also active in her church and a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, which is a charitable group associated with the Masons. This particular group is an auxiliary group associated with a Masonic subgroup. She was also a member of the Daughters of Isis, which is now known as the Daughters of the Imperial Court. This was an auxiliary

organization to one of the Shriners' fraternal orders. These two organizations are associated with the Shriners and the Masons, which are fraternal organizations that only admit men. We also learned that you can only be a Shriner, as in the Shriners Children's Hospital, if you're a Master Mason first. I wanted to share one of the memories of Bronwyn that was shared on the National Coalition to End Domestic Violence's Facebook page. Bronwyn and I are sorority sisters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. We initiated at the same time in the spring of 1986 at Virginia State University. She is my line sister. During our

initiation, Bronwyn was the designated line seamstress because of her natural design talent, sewing and designing dresses, paddles, beanies, and anything requiring creativity. She was so talented that everyone was envious of our line items. She continued her art talent by sharing her passion as an elementary art teacher and providing her service to churches, the sorority, and community organizations. She became an art teacher at Joseph Neal Elementary School in 1999 here in Las Vegas in the northwest part of the valley near Centennial Hills. This fed into her need to help others and give back to the community. Joseph Neal Elementary is a STEAM Academy, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. STEAM is a variation on the STEM curricula, which adds in arts, with the idea being an added focus on

creative thinking and problem solving. Bronwyn was also a mother of two. 14-year-old Dion was born in 1996, and 17-year-old Amber was born in 1993. Both of them ended up testifying at the trial, but we'll get to that. Bobbie Dale Richards was seven years younger than she, born on August 30, 1969, and worked at Go Wireless as a consultant. He and Bronwyn married on February 21, 2022. Bobbie Richards had quite a criminal history even before he lived in Las Vegas and before he met Bronwyn. He previously lived in Tennessee and had more than his share of trouble with the law. He was arrested in 1999 for felony theft and also had a felony conviction for forgery, for which he received two years probation. In 2000, he was arrested for

passing bad checks. In September of 2000, he was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic battery and a felony burglary charge. He ended up pleading to aggravated criminal trespassing and domestic battery with bodily injury and was sentenced to 11 months for this. In 2007, he was again arrested for domestic battery, but this time in Las Vegas and found guilty in 2008. This one was another misdemeanor, and he was sentenced to batterer's treatment and to perform community service. That list doesn't even touch his criminal history closer to 2010. We'll get to that in a minute, but you'll quickly see that it all demonstrates an escalating pattern of abuse and a combination of both controlling behavior and an

utter disregard for Bronwyn's happiness or safety. They ended up separating closer to 2010, but as early as 2005, Bobby was having affairs and was heavily involved with a girlfriend named Kim. Kim's daughter Tatiana testified that their relationship started in 2005 or 2006, during the marriage. He couldn't let Bronwyn just be free, but he also didn't want to be married to her. It seemed like he was just an extremely controlling and abusive man. Bronwyn knew that Bobby was having affairs. We know that because there was testimony in the trial from her friends stating that Bronwyn was very open about what she was going through.

She told them he was having an affair and that there was abuse in the relationship, but it seems like no one knew the deadly extent of his capacity for violence. Bronwyn also started seeing someone new, who she was very excited about. Friends said she was suddenly excited at the idea of his capacity for violence. Bronwyn also started seeing someone new, who she was very excited about. Friends said she was suddenly excited at the idea of a future with him. One night in early April 2010, an incident occurred where Bronwyn was staying with her new boyfriend and mistakenly dialed Bobby in the middle of the night. One of the prosecutors recounted that Bobby took the call, heard a man snoring, and sat in bed listening to it for two hours. Finally, Bronwyn told Bobby she wanted a divorce. She wanted to just move on. That made sense since they were separated and both seeing other people. Bobby was in fact living with his girlfriend Kim and her daughter Tatiana in April of 2010. Given what you know about Bobby, you might have guessed

that he did not like this plan. Bobby was a control freak, and while he thought it was perfectly fine to have affairs and be living with someone else, he just couldn't let Bronwyn go. He couldn't stand her being happy. And that brings us to April 16, 2010. At around 5.39 a.m., Bronwyn was returning home from caring for her mother. She often stayed over at her mom's house to care for her, and then returned home in the very early morning hours to get ready to go to work. This time, though, Bobby was waiting for her with a baseball bat. As we started with, at 5.39 a.m., Deanna woke to the sounds of loud banging and screaming. His sister Amber heard it, too. She thought someone was breaking into their home and knowing that Bronwyn wasn't there at the time, she climbed out the window to go get help from

her uncle who lived nearby. Dion, terrified, called 911. The 911 call was recorded, of course, and played during the trial. The first thing he said to the 911 dispatcher was, my dad was hitting my mom and my mom was screaming and it woke me up. It's important to note here that dad means Bobby. Bobby and Bronwyn had been married since Dion was very young, so it's not hard to imagine that he'd call Bobby dad. The North Las Vegas police arrived quickly and found Bronwyn on the front stoop of her house with her keys still in the door, mortally wounded with horrible head and facial injuries, but still alive. She was transported to UMC,

but she didn't make it. Bronwyn was formally identified by her uncle Larry Mosley, who said, I saw her body, and I can tell you it's a sight I will never forget. It was one of the most graphic things I've ever seen in my life. While police were talking to Dion and Amber, who showed up at the scene at 6.15am?

Well, none other than Bobby Richards. At that point, the police brought all three of them back to the station for interviews. Dion reiterated what he told 911, that he heard Bobby beating his mom, and although he had not witnessed the attack firsthand, he knew who was responsible. Amber explained how when she heard the banging, she thought someone was breaking into the house, so she kicked out her sunscreen, climbed out the window, and headed to her uncle's house. While she was running, she said she turned back and thought she saw Bobby's SUV. She also told him that once she got to her uncle's house, she called Bobby, but he didn't answer.

One of the things that came out at trial was that he had left his phone at home. The cell phone tower ping record showed its location there, and his phone showed that missed call from Amber. Bobby denied having killed her, but was arrested given the evidence at hand. He was charged with first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, and bail was set at a million dollars. The weapon was determined to be a baseball bat by forensic analysis, but the bat itself was never recovered. Police served a warrant on Kim Baylor's home, Bobby's girlfriend, with whom he lived, as part of their investigation. In the course of the search, the police found a paper car mat crumpled up in the kitchen trash. Typically, you'll see those when you're getting your car serviced or the oil changed, things like that.

For example, if you get your oil changed at Jiffy Lube, sometimes you'll see one of those left behind in your car. This wasn't an ordinary paper floor mat, though. This one had several bloodstains on it. And can you guess whose bloodstains those were determined to be by DNA analysis? We'll talk about this a little more in the trial section, but what Tatiana claims was that she got the car detailed inside and out on April 16th, and she threw away the mat and the trash. Of course, the prosecution argued that the timing of that car detailing was highly suspicious. Richard's first trial date was set for November 1st, 2010. Looking back through the court records for this case, it's just a story of continuances and motions and more motions and more continuances. Trial dates were set and then

vacated by the judge over and over again. The actual jury trial did not begin until February 18th, 2016, nearly six years after Bronwyn was murdered. Her kids, who were 14 and 18, were now young adults at 20 and 24. It's hard to imagine what it was like for her kids and family during that time. According to the prosecution team, they had a really hard time with Dion even moving out of state. Bronwyn's mother, Betty, was very involved with the case, but sadly died in 2012 before the trial had even begun. In fact, she died on the very day one of the pre-trial meetings took place. Her brother Larry later told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that she had died of a broken heart. The jury trial was presided over by District Judge Richard

Scotti in the 8th Judicial District in Clark County. The trial lasted about seven days. The district attorneys assigned to the case were Elizabeth Mercer and Mark DiGiacomo. Amber and Dion both testified in court. Amber testified about hearing the loud banging noises from the front of the house early in the morning of the murder, which really frightened her. Thinking it was someone attempting to break into the house, she broke the sunshade screen over her bedroom window to escape and ran down the street. As she ran, she saw that her stepfather's car was parked in front of the house. She recognized it as his vehicle because he consistently parked in the same spot whenever he visited.

Richards' attorney pointed out on cross-examination that she was running away from the house and would have had to look back behind her to see and identify the car as she was running for her life. Interestingly, the defense leaned heavily into Dion's testimony in order to raise reasonable doubt about Richard's guilt. Dion was only 14 years old when his mother was killed and he had heard the whole thing. His testimony confirmed what the jury had heard on the 911 call from the morning of the murder, which was that he explicitly identified his dad, was fighting with his mom, hitting his mom, and that he heard loud banging and her screaming. In the courtroom, they played the video of Dion's interview with the police,

and it's really heartbreaking to watch. He starts backtracking a bit, saying that he's not sure if it was Bobby. He also told police that he didn't want to be responsible for his dad going to jail, and he was unsure about where he would live if that happened. The defense used his changing story to imply that Dion was at best a confused kid, or at worst, a liar. When the defense attorney asked Dion why he would first say it was his dad and then later say he wasn't sure that it was him, Dion testified that he didn't want to believe it was his dad and that he didn't want to put his dad in jail because where would he live? What would happen to him? It's impossible to overstate how traumatizing and painful the whole ordeal was for him. It's evident if you watch him as a young teen trying to explain things to detectives,

alone by the way, no other adult or family member was with him. He was obviously emotional, direct, and insistent, almost panicked, and pleading with the police to listen to him, that he was wrong about it being his dad. During the trial, as a young adult trying to talk about the worst day of his life, his demeanor is serious, sad, and reserved. One of the other key witnesses in the trial was Tatiana Baylor, daughter of Bobby Richards' girlfriend, Kim. Bobby was living with them at the time of the murder. Tatiana testified that her mom had been dating Richards for four to five years before the murder occurred. The prosecution believed that Bobby had driven Tatiana's car to Bronwyn's house on the day of the murder. Their reasoning was based on two important facts. Tatiana testified that she looked out of the window of her home in the morning of the crime around 6 a.m. and she noticed her car had been moved. It was in a different spot than

she had left it the night before. When Bobby went to Bronwyn's house that morning after Amber tried to call him, he was captured on surveillance footage leaving the gated community where he lived with Kim in his own car. That was the only time his vehicle was seen leaving the parking lot that morning. The prosecution believed he used Tatiana's car to travel to the home much earlier in the morning, was back at Kim's house by 6, and then left again in his own car to go back to Bronwyn's house. He was really working to cover his tracks, driving the seven miles back and forth and switching cars, which points to premeditation and first-degree murder. Also, as we talked about earlier, Tatiana got her car detailed the day of the crime. Detectives found that paper floor mat

protector in the kitchen garbage of her and her mom's house that had Bronwyn's blood on it. Tatiana testified that she got the car detailed because it was dirty with dog hair and it needed to be cleaned. She denied having anything to do with covering up Bronwyn's murder. The paper floor mat itself was a key piece of evidence. The blood on the floor mat was what I would describe as a few smudges in a couple of different places. Kenton Wong, a forensic scientist, testified about those blood marks, and Richard's attorney questioned him about the nature of this evidence, and he said, it was unlikely that they were there and were caused by a bat. The shape of the transfer in that case would have been expected to be linear. I find that really weird for an argument for the

defense to make. Simply saying the bloodstains weren't caused by a bat only eliminates one item. What we didn't hear during his testimony is what items could have been responsible for that transfer. The important fact here is that the blood on the mat was Bronwyn's. It's just not clear how it got there. And to be clear, her blood was in the kitchen trash at Bobby's home, seven miles from the crime scene. We have a lot more to say about this blood transfer and the floor mat, but we're going to get much more into that in this week's Swing Shift episode to avoid too much conjecture. Another important piece of evidence in this case was the analysis of the DNA collected from a patio chair that was in Broadman's courtyard. During the trial, the prosecution had an expert testify about the

results. The expert testified, this is a partial profile, but it's so partial that it's too limited for me to be able to make any conclusions or comparisons to an individual. Some of the data in the report was marked in red, indicating that data that's below the threshold where our laboratory could make comparisons, and other information in the report was marked in black, indicating a DNA profile was covered at the scene, but it wasn't enough for us to make a comparison to a known individual. Of course, the DNA was analyzed in 2010-2011, but if it was retested today, it's possible that they could have gotten more conclusive results. There's no way to tell. In any event, the testimony about the DNA is important later on, so just keep that in mind. It was deemed inconclusive by the expert.

Not very helpful to the prosecution. During the trial, there was extensive testimony about the domestic violence Bronwyn had endured during her relationship with Richards. One of the reasons why it took such a long time to get the trial started in this case was that there were a lot of pretrial motions about Bobby Richards' criminal history and the abuse he inflicted on Bronwyn. These prior bad acts, as they are known in the justice system, can be brought up in trial if the evidence is clear that they occurred, but the court also looks at how important and relevant that evidence is, and if the significance of the evidence is clear that they occurred, but the court also looks at how important and relevant that evidence is. And if the significance of the evidence is not outweighed by the prejudice it may have in the jury, it can come in at trial. The court can't let evidence in just to make the

defendant look like a bad person by sharing every bad thing they ever did. The bad act has to have a purpose of proving a fact about the crime alleged in the current case. There were five events in early 2010 that the defense tried to get excluded from trial. Only one of the abusive events was ruled to be inadmissible. That event, which occurred in February 2010, was excluded because the court found that there were two differing accounts of what specifically happened. The facts in the court documents were that on a day in February 2010, Bobby Richards took Bronwyn's car without asking. Betty's wheelchair was in the back of the car, and as we mentioned, Betty needed her wheelchair. Bronwyn borrowed Amber's car to go look for her car. I'm not exactly sure where she found it, but I'm comfortable assuming it was at Bobby's girlfriend's house.

Bronwyn could not get inside the car because Bobby had the keys. She confronted Bobby, and according to the court records, he became physically violent with her. That's the phrase the court used, physically violent. And that is all the detail in the record. And as I said, the courts concluded there were two different accounts of what happened that day, so they excluded testimony about this incident from ever coming into the trial. Four other individual events were declared admissible during the trial, and several of Bronwyn's friends testified about the abuse that she suffered at the hands of her

husband. Her friend, Dacia, testified that one day in January 2010, she'd seen welts on Bronwyn's face and around her mouth and asked what had happened. Bronwyn told her that the night before, Bobby had smothered her with a pillow. He pressed the pillow down on her face so hard that it left marks. She said that she was screaming and fighting him, and eventually, he let her up. Dr. Deborah Ramos, another friend of Bronwyn's and member of some of the same civic organizations as Bronwyn, testified that on January 21, 2010, Bronwyn attended a meeting at her house for one of the groups that they both belonged to. The meeting included the members completing a training class, and before the training was over, Bronwyn said she needed to

leave. She asked Bronwyn why she needed to go. It seemed strange that Bronwyn would want to leave before the meeting was over and that she would miss out on all the training. Bronwyn told her that Bobby would kill her if she was late, so she just had to go. The next day, January 22nd, she saw Bronwyn crying. She opened the collar of her shirt and showed her that her neck was swollen with black and blue strangulation marks. Bronwyn told her that Bobby had strangled her that night before because she was late picking him up at the airport. Dr. Ramos told her that she should call the police and report him, but Bronwyn refused. Our audience knows, as we have talked before, how strangulation is a key indicator of future homicide. So far, we've discussed two incidents of strangulation and smothering, and as John said earlier, it's obvious that Bobby Richards' violence towards Bronwyn was escalating.

I also want to add here that during the trial, the prosecution did offer testimony from an expert in the areas of domestic violence, trauma, and relationship dynamics to aid the jury in understanding Bronwyn's experience. As we noted, two additional crimes happened in the early part of April, within a week of Bronwyn's murder, that her friends testified to during the trial. On April 10th, Bronwyn hosted a party at her home to celebrate Dr. Ramos's birthday. Bobby was at the house as well. After the party, Bronwyn planned to head over to her mom's place for the night to take care of her. As the party was winding down, Dr. Ramos was the last guest

to leave. She told Bronwyn that she'd wait outside for her. Bronwyn didn't come outside after several minutes, so Dr. Ramos called her and asked her what was taking her so long. Bronwyn said, he won't let me leave. Bobby insisted that Bronwyn promised to him that she would return to the house later that night. She made that promise and he finally let her go. My instinct tells me that Dr. Ramos, knowing everything she knew about Bobby at this point, it made her nervous to leave Bronwyn alone with him, and it seems to me that she waited outside to make sure he would let her leave, and that she could leave safely.

The exact date of this final incident is not documented, but according to the court records and trial testimony, it happened within a week to 10 days before the murder. Bronwyn spent the night at her mother's house caring for her, and she came back to her home very early in the morning to get ready for work. When she got to the house, Bobby was in the courtyard holding a baseball bat. Bobby confronted her and told her if she left him, he would beat her. She told him that she didn't need this and that they should just get a divorce. Bobby then dragged her inside the house and hit her with the bat. He then shoved her into the bedroom and sexually assaulted her. Bronwyn called

Dr. Ramos shortly after that, crying, and told her what had happened. But she took a shower and didn't pursue any criminal charges. She told multiple other friends about this incident. Evidence also indicated that Amber had seen him in the courtyard that morning with the bat. Erica Johnson was a friend and longtime co-worker of Bronwyn's and was also an instructional aide in her class. Erica testified about the sexual assault as well. She said that Bronwyn had told her what had happened just a few hours after the attack. She said that once it was all over,

she'd just taken a shower and gotten herself ready for the day and went to work as usual. Obviously, after hearing an account like that of such a violent and disturbing attack, Erica was understandably horrified and concerned. She also testified that on the morning of April 16th, she expected to see Bronwyn at their school for morning duty, which would have entailed supervising the kids at drop off and making sure that everyone got to their classrooms at the start of the day. But Bronwyn didn't show up, which wasn't like her. So she checked her phone over and over,

growing more concerned. 20 minutes into the school day, the principal came to Erica and asked if she had heard from Bronwyn. At that point, she knew she had to leave and go check on her. She told the principal she had to go, and she grabbed her purse and left the school. She drove to Bronwyn's quickly and got there in a hurry. When she turned the corner onto Bronwyn Street, she saw the yellow crime scene tape and immediately knew what had happened. Erica got out of the car and screamed, he did it. One of the detectives came over and asked her who did it, and her reply was her husband. When the prosecutor asked her how she knew that Richards had done it, she replied, because he violated her, and he's the only one. She had no enemies. She had no one that would do something that would require yellow tape around her house

Bobby Richards chose not to take the stand during the trial and as was observed by John when we watched the recaps of the trial and by Bronwyn's friends during the whole ordeal Richards was emotionless stone-faced during any moment of the trial he He never showed any emotion. He had no reactions that I saw at any time. I mean, occasionally he would smirk, but that's it. It was a little scary to watch. He seems like a man that needs to be in prison. During closing arguments, DA Elizabeth Mercer reviewed the evidence with the jury. She showed them the test results from the DNA collected from the crime scene and from Bobby Richards and indicated to the jury where the profiles lined up. DA DiGiacomo talked about the history of violence that the defendant had inflicted upon Bronwyn and told the jury there was both circumstantial

and direct evidence to support a guilty verdict. He also demonstrated with a metal bat for the jury how violent the attack had been, how Richards must have knocked Bronwyn down and continued to beat her while she lay on the ground in the courtyard. Richards' attorney indicated to the jury that there was insufficient evidence to convict her client and even said, quote, you may hate my client, but you are bound by the law. Judge Richard Scotti gave the jurors 13 pages of instructions. The options for the verdict were first-degree murder, first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, second-degree murder, second-degree murder with a deadly weapon, or not guilty. The jury began their deliberations on Friday, February 26, 2016, but they didn't reach a verdict by the end of the day. They finally did reach a verdict on Monday,

February 29. The foreperson of the jury read the verdict to the court. Gu finally did reach a verdict on Monday, February 29th. The foreperson of the jury read the verdict to the court. Guilty of murder in the first degree with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. During sentencing, Judge Scottie said, the court finds this a despicable, evil, horrendous crime, and then he sentenced him to an additional eight to 20 year consecutive prison term for use of a deadly weapon. After he imposed the sentence, despicable, evil, horrendous crime, and then he sentenced him to an additional 8-20 year consecutive prison term for use of a deadly weapon. After he imposed the sentence, Judge Scottie called for a 15-minute recess, and he had Richards removed from his courtroom by the bailiff because he did not want him in there anymore. You would think that would be the end of the story,

but unfortunately not this time. A month after his sentence began, Bobby Richards filed an appeal, as you'd expect. Richards raised two main issues. One was that the district court should have made a limiting instruction to the jury on the prior bad act evidence that was introduced at trial. And second, that there had been prosecutorial misconduct, specifically by Elizabeth Mercer, during their closing arguments. The appellate court found that the trial court had a duty to give a limiting instruction to the jury regarding the prior bad acts before. The appellate court found that the trial court had a duty to give a limiting instruction to the jury regarding the prior bad acts before the evidence was

introduced. The instruction would inform the jury that this evidence can be considered for specific purposes, like demonstrating motive or intent, but not as direct proof of guilt in the crime charged. So basically, if you introduce a prior bad act, such as the rape a week before the murder, the jury needs to be told that this act can be used to establish a motive, but it cannot be used as evidence in another crime because they're separate crimes. Usually it's the prosecutor who asks for this explanation, but the appellate court said it was the district court's job to make sure that it happened. And because the explanation of the bad acts evidence didn't happen before it was presented, especially the evidence about domestic violence and sexual assault, it very likely unfairly affected the jury's decision. The second

issue had to do with how Elizabeth Mercer presented the DNA evidence during her closing arguments. She made claims about the DNA evidence found on the patio chair at the crime scene that suggested that it matched Richards' DNA, even though the state's expert witness had testified that the DNA profile was too partial and limited for conclusive comparison. During closing, D.A. Mercer displayed the DNA results on a PowerPoint slide up on a screen for the jurors. She had the results from the DNA found on the chair and Bobby's DNA profile side by side. She then began circling numbers that were similar in each of the results, including the numbers that were red, which was the data the expert said

was below the threshold where the laboratory would make comparisons. She then argued, quote, how do we know that it was the defendant sitting where the laboratory would make comparisons. She then argued, quote, how do we know that it was the defendant sitting in the chair? We'll look at the DNA profile that the expert developed with regard to that swab. It might not have met her recording requirements, but all those numbers circled in yellow, that's the defendant's DNA, unquote. The appellate court found that this argument asked the jury to make a judgment that even the expert witness stated could not be made from the evidence, which was inconsistent with the expert's testimony. DA Mercer misrepresented the evidence to the jury. And for both of these

reasons, the appellate court reversed the guilty verdict and sent the case back down to the district court in December of 2018, almost nine years since Bronwyn was murdered, moving the prosecution back to square one. Before we get into what happened when the case went back to the district court, we want to talk a little bit about how Elizabeth Mercer got admonished by the appellate court in 2019 for another instance of misrepresenting DNA evidence. Alexander Seaver was on trial for armed robbery and burglary. During the crime, the assailant, allegedly Seaver, had covered his face with three articles of clothing to hide his identity. DNA testing on the clothing was inconclusive, according to the DNA expert who

testified. As with Bronwyn's case, Mercer told the jury during closing that the defendant's DNA was on all three of those items. Like Richards, Seaver had his conviction reversed and sent back to the district court. The appellate court wrote, We admonish prosecutor Elizabeth Mercer for her egregious and manifestly improper statements to the jury, which were magnified by the visual aid used during closing arguments. This is the second case of which we are aware where Mercer flagrantly misled a jury regarding DNA evidence. The record shows that Mercer knew that the inference she was urging the jury to make was not supportable. Consequently, we refer Mercer to the State Bar of Nevada for such disciplinary investigations or proceedings

as are deemed warranted. According to the Nevada State Bar website, Elizabeth Mercer is still an attorney working at the Clark County DA's office, and she has no disciplinary actions on her record. Richards remained in custody, and in early 2019, preparation for his second trial got underway. He had two new defense attorneys, P. David Westbrook and Deborah Westbrook, who is now on the bench of the Nevada Court of Appeals, but at the time, they were both public defenders. David has been a public defender for more than 20 years. While other DAs did participate in the case, the primary attorneys were still Mark DiGiacomo and Elizabeth Mercer. Similar to his first trial, there were multiple motions

made in the case that had to be ruled on before the trial could start. Similar to his first trial, there were multiple motions made in the case that had to be ruled on before the trial could start. Twice, trial dates were set and then were later vacated. His defense attorneys attempted to have the evidence excluded completely about the attack and sexual assault. They did not want the jury to hear that a week before the murder, Bobby was seen sitting outside her house with a bat, waiting for her to come home in the early morning, and then attacked and raped her. The judge denied that request. The defense attorneys also made a motion regarding the DNA testing. Las Vegas Metro police were preparing to retest the DNA gathered from the patio chair. However, the remaining DNA sample was so small, it would be used up completely by the testing.

As there could only be one test run on the DNA, no other expert or lab could perform their own test, the defense argued that their expert should be allowed to observe the testing. There were some hoops Metro required the expert to go through before being allowed into their lab. The attorneys went back and forth on the issue, but she was eventually permitted to observe the testing. The results of that test are unknown, but I suspect they were not favorable to Richards because, on August 24th, Richards took an Alford plea. I want to talk a little bit about the Alford plea because it's interesting, and you may have heard the term. Michael Peterson, the man accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen Peterson, by pushing her down a staircase, ended up taking an Alford plea. The story of Kathleen's murder was made into a miniseries starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette, so listeners may be familiar with that case. Alex Murdaugh also took an Alford plea after he was convicted of the murders of his wife and son for one of the many non-murder-related charges he faced. A defendant who takes an Alford plea maintains they are innocent,

but they acknowledge that the evidence against them would likely lead to a conviction. Strategically, an Alford plea is used to avoid the risk of a harsher sentence at trial. It looks a lot like the similar no-contest plea. A defendant who pleads no-contest is not admitting their guilt, but they are not denying it either. They are just agreeing not to fight the charges. who pleads no contest is not admitting their guilt, but they are not denying it either. They are just agreeing not to fight the charges. This one is commonly used as a strategy to mitigate legal exposure in related civil litigation, as it avoids creating an official record of admission of guilt that could be used against the defendant in a civil case. On November 12, 2021, Bobby

Richards was sentenced to 14 to 40 years. He had already been in custody for more than 11 years. Although he had a parole hearing in 2024, he was thankfully denied, but he could be granted parole as soon as 2027. His release date is scheduled for September 6, 2031, and at that time, he'll be only 61 years old. He was originally sentenced to life without parole with an extra 8 to 20 years for murder with a deadly weapon. What we ended up with is him serving about 20 years for the horrific murder of Bronwyn, all because of that appeal.

This story is about Bronwyn, and as always, we want to put the focus back on her and the amazing life she led and how much she was able to give back to her friends her family and her community during her lifetime she was known for being an artist and for being an incredibly talented and creative person she made her loved ones personalized clothing and accessories in 2011 several of her delta sigma theta sorority sisters traveled up to carson city ne to testify in favor of a Nevada State Senate bill that would empower Nevada's Attorney General to create a task force to examine fatal domestic violence cases. It was passed and signed into law in 2011. Her spirit and love for others lives on in her children and in the non-profit Be Fabulous Moments, which was created in her honor. They chose the peacock as the symbol for their agency because they said it represents Bronwyn.

She was bold, feisty, and always flaunting her fabulousness. She lived life without limits. The mission of Be Fabulous is to provide services and resources to women and children impacted by domestic violence by creating a fabulous moment that can offer encouragement, comfort, and refuge. On the Be Fabulous website, which we'll share, of course, you can nominate a woman who has experienced domestic violence or the child of a victim to receive a moment from the non-profit, such as a spa day or a trip to an amusement park. Be Fabulous Moments is located in Maryland and we'll make

sure their website is in the show notes so you can check them out. If you're interested in giving back to survivors in your local community, reach out to an organization near you and see how you can help. Donations of money, items, and time are always appreciated by these agencies. If you're enjoying these stories, we'd appreciate you taking the time to rate and review us on whatever platform you're listening on. And if you have any comments or suggestions, you can email us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. Thanks again for listening, and remember what happens here, happens everywhere. Thanks for listening. Visit sinspod.co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad-free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads

at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com. If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research written and produced by your hosts, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections,

please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, sinsandsurvivors.com. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.