The Misery Machine - The Death of R. Budd Dwyer: Murdered by the State of Pennsylvania?

Episode Date: September 21, 2020

In keeping up with Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, Drewby and Yergy delve into the case of Robert Budd Dwyer, an American politician who served as the 30th State Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He served from 1965 to 1971 as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and from 1971 to 1981 as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the state's 50th district. Dwyer then served as the 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania from January 20, 1981, to January 22, 1987, when he died due to committing suicide during a live press conference. In the early 1980s, Pennsylvania discovered its state workers had overpaid federal taxes due to errors in state withholding prior to Dwyer's administration. A multi-million-dollar recovery contract was required to determine the compensation to be given to each employee. In 1986, Dwyer was convicted for accepting a bribe from the California firm that won the contract. He was found guilty on 11 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, perjury, and interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, and was scheduled to be sentenced on January 23, 1987. On January 22, Dwyer called a news conference in the Pennsylvania state capital of Harrisburg where he fatally shot himself with a .357 Magnum revolver in front of reporters. Dwyer's suicide  was broadcast later that day to a wide television audience across Pennsylvania, including children that were home from school due to a severe snowstorm. Throughout Dwyer's trial and after his conviction, Dwyer maintained that he was not guilty of the charges for which he was convicted, and that his conviction resulted from political persecution. Former U.S. Attorney James West, who prosecuted Dwyer, affirmed Dwyer's guilt, stating that "the evidence against Dwyer was overwhelming and indisputable". All posthumous appeals made by Dwyer's lawyers on Dwyer's behalf were denied, and his convictions were upheld. In 2010, Honest Man: The Life of R. Budd Dwyer, a feature documentary about R. Budd Dwyer’s life and the tragedy of his suicide, premiered at the Carmel Art and Film Festival in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with the Dwyer family in attendance. In the documentary, William T. Smith, a former chairman of the Dauphin County Republican Committee and one of the key trial witnesses in Dwyer’s conviction, admits that he lied under oath at his own trial about never offering Dwyer a bribe in hopes of reducing his own sentence and to spare his wife from being prosecuted for her role in the conspiracy. He expressed his regret for lying and the role it played in R. Budd Dwyer’s public suicide. Although these revelations suggest that Dwyer may not have gotten justice, he did at least secure his family’s future. Since Dwyer died while still in office, his widow, Joanne, was able to collect full survivor benefits that totaled more than $1.28 million. Many close to Dwyer feel that he may have committed suicide to preserve the state-provided pension for his family, whose finances had been ruined by legal defense costs. Suicide Hotlines Worldwide: http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html LGBTQ+ Lifeline: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/help-yourself/lgbtq/ Veterans Crisis Line: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/ Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #podcast #documentary #truecrime #suicideawareness #suicideawarenessmonth #mentalhealth Source Material: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Budd_Dwyer https://allthatsinteresting.com/r-budd-dwyer https://www.amazon.com/Honest-Man-Life-R-Budd-Dwyer/dp/B006I9PO2G  

We're continuing with Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Doing another case that was unfortunately exploited by society and the media, we're doing the Bud Dwyer case. This one's a little bit different than the one we had last week. Bud Dwyer didn't kill himself due to depression or anything of that nature. You'll learn a little bit more about it in the episode, but we feel like what happened could be considered murder. What happened was absolutely tragic,

and I think that's something that people don't really feel. think about when it comes to this case. They just think like, oh, this must have been some corrupt politician who killed themselves. He probably had it coming. I had thought this too when I was younger. I didn't know just how deep this case ran and how much was going on here. It's very sad, and hopefully we do it some justice. I hope so. So if you're listening on YouTube, please hit like and subscribe. We just hit 950. I appreciate all the support. Everyone's given us so far. And rest in peace, Ruth Bader 10 squared. rest in peace i got this shirts about a month ago or two months ago from downtown handmade and vintage

down at louishton maine the owner actually texted me this morning to let me know it was ready so it was really interesting timing but monday when this episode dropped she is going to be doing another run of them so if you want one definitely hit her up on facebook it's downtown handmade and vintage here in louisdain support local yes and rest in peace to a good one for sure all right Without further ado, our Bud Dwyer. Robert Bud Dwyer graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and quickly became active in local politics. In 1964, he ran as a Republican and was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives

and served until 1970. That year, while still a sitting state representative, Dwyer ran for a seat in the Pennsylvania State Senate and won. After winning re-election twice, Dwyer said, his sights on the state office and ran for Pennsylvania treasurer in 1980. He won re-election to the seat four years later. Around the same time, Pennsylvania officials discovered that some of the state workers had overpaid millions of dollars in federal insurance contribution act taxes due to errors in state withholding. You might know this as FICA. Yes. Several top accounting firms from

across the country competed for the multi-million dollar contract to determine the compensation to be paid to each employee. The contract was eventually awarded to a California-based firm, Computer Technology Associates, owned by a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Months after the contract was awarded, Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornberg received an anonymous memo detailing allegations of bribery that took place during the bidding process for the contract and named Robert Bud Dwyer as one of the people receiving a kickback in the deal. Enraged by these allegations, Dwyer denied any wrongdoing and maintained his innocence. Nevertheless, Dwyer and several others were eventually charged.

In a show of leniency, federal prosecutors were willing to cut the treasurer a deal. He'd plead guilty to a single charge of bribe receiving, resigned from office, and fully cooperate with the rest of the investigation. The single charge carried a five-year prison sentence. Dwyer turned down the deal, believing his innocence would be proven at a trial. However, on December 18, 1986, Dwyer was found guilty on 11 counts of conspiracy. I didn't know it was 11 counts. Mail fraud. Perjury.

That's a bit tough. And interstate transportation in aid of racketeering. I did not know these things. I thought it was just taking a bribe and conspiracy. He faced a sentence of up to 55 years in imprisonment and a $300,000 fine, which is interesting. that's a $300,000 fine because that's allegedly the amount of the bribe he was offered. His sentencing was scheduled for January 23, 1987. After meeting with two staffers on January 22nd in order to weigh his options,

alone in his home with his thoughts, R. Bud Dwyer contemplated his future. He scribbled his thoughts on a piece of paper found later by his family, and I quote, I enjoy being with Joe so much. The next 20 years or so would have been wonderful. Tomorrow is going to be so difficult, and I hope I can go through with it. The press conference in Harrisburg the next morning began with a prepared statement that left no one with any ideas as to what they were about to witness. But as Dwyer reached the final page, he went off script, telling the audience, is right for their immediate attention. It is not as sexy or as exciting as the Iranian arms deal, but it is in the long term and more important to the American people in the survival of our former government.

I would also urge you and your meeting employers to work for the repeal of the death penalty unless the test would be absolutely no doubt. I regret that on several occasions when I was a member of the legislature that I voted for the death penalty. As a result of what has happened to me, in this case, I am convinced that innocent people have been found guilty and have been executed. And two weeks ago, if you saw 60 minutes, they discussed the Neil Ferber case in Philadelphia, which, where a person was convicted of murder and was on death row, and then was finally discovered. he did not commit that murder. Around the turn of the century,

the muck-raking journalist Lincoln Steffens, authored the book, The Shame of the Cities. His book was largely responsible for much-needed improvement in the living conditions and working conditions of the slum dwellers in America's cities. Lincoln-Stefons' journalistic goal was, quote, to see if the shameful facts spread out on all their shame would not burn through our civic shamelessness

and set fire to American pride, close quote. Perhaps when America needs most now is another Lincoln-Stefans, an author who would write a best-selling book entitled The Shame of Our Law. As my political career draws to a close, I want to thank the people who made it possible, beginning with the good people of Crawford County, who in 1964 had the faith to elect a 24-year-old as the youngest member of the General Assembly.

And then the people of Crawford, Mercer and Eastern Erie counties, who in 1970, elected me to the State Senate, thanks to the voters of Pennsylvania, who elected me Treasurer in 1980, and in 1984 saw through the sham of the CT allegations and re-elected me by a margin of three. 110,000 votes. All I participated successfully in eight primary elections,

eight general elections, and one election for delegate to the Republican National Convention, which was my personal bicentennial project. And I'm on the last page now, and I don't have enough to pass up, but Duke, I'll leave this here, and you can make copies for the people. There's a few extra copies here right now.

I thank the good Lord for giving me 47 years of exciting challenges, stimulating experiences, many happy occasions, and most of all, the finest wife and children. children any man could ever desire. Now my life has changed for no apparent reason. People who call in light are exasperated and feel helpless. They know I'm innocent and want to help, but in this nation the world's greatest democracy, there is nothing they can do to prevent me from being punished for a crime they know I did not commit. Some who have called have said I am a modern-day

Joe. Judge Muir is also noted for his medieval sentences. I face a maximum sentence of 55 years in prison on a $300,000 fine for being innocent. Judge Murr has already told the press that he quote, felt invigorated when we were found guilty, and he plans to imprison me as a deterrent to other public officials. But it wouldn't be a deterrent because every public official who knows me knows that I am innocent, it wouldn't be a legitimate punishment because I've done nothing wrong. Since I'm a victim of political persecution, my prison would simply be an American gulag. I ask those that believe in me to continue to extend friendship and prayer to my family to work untiringly for the creation of a true justice system here in the United States

and to press on with the efforts to vindicate me so that my family and their future families are not tainted by this injustice that has been perpetrated on me. We were confident that right and truth would prevail and I would be acquitted and we would devote the rest of our lives working to create a justice system here in the United States. The GILRIERDIC has strengthened that resolve.

But as we've discussed our plans to expose the words of our legal system, people have said, why bother? No one cares. You'll look foolish. 60 minutes, 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Jack Anderson others have been publicizing cases like yours for years, and it doesn't bother anyone. At this point in time, is Bob Holsey here?

Bob, and where's Greg? Right here. Can you come up here? And where's Don Johnson? Can you come up, Don? Greg, where are you? I'm right here. Okay, just hang on to that right for the moment.

Don, there's some things for you to do, and there's a note in here for Joanna. In front of the gathered reporters and television cameras, he removed a manila envelope from under the podium. Inside was a 357 magnum revolver. The crowd immediately began to panic as the former treasurer announced, Please leave the room if this will affect you. As people frantically yelled for him to stop and others approached the podium to disarm him, Bud Dwyer quickly inserted the gun into his mouth, pulled the trigger, and fell to the floor.

He died instantly. A number of Pennsylvania television stations showed edited footage of the press conference, and several stations froze the footage prior to the gunshot while the audio continued under the frozen image. Philadelphia station, WPVI, re-broadcast the suicide footage in full without warning to viewers. And this was in 1987. They did this on their 5 and 6 p.m. broadcast. That station's broadcast is responsible for many of the copies of the video that are a very video. online to this day and it's very easy to find very easy it was actually the first death i ever saw

it was mine too yeah that was definitely one of the first ones and i came across it by accident one thing that wasn't mentioned that should be mentioned is that when buddwyer called this press conference it was on a snow day so many kids were home from school that day and the press conference was shown live on tv public tv at that You think this is the 80s. The only thing you have really is your TV when you're bored. And if you're like me growing up, you didn't have many channels. So what are you going to watch?

Probably this. And it's just crazy to me. Not that they showed this live at the 80s, but that they were so willing to rebroadcast this on the evening news. Like that would never happen nowadays. I don't think it would happen back then. So to hear this is just unthinkable. I came across it not necessarily by accident.

But I, like many people of my age group that were born in the 80s, grew up the 90s, got our hands on the faces of death films. So a lot of that stuff was fake. A lot of it was fake that's in there. They had a lot of slaughterhouse and accident footage, just things that were on the local news anyway. But the one real thing for sure that was on there was the suicide of Bud Dwyer. So unfortunately, as a teenager, this was the first thing I'd ever seen. Yeah, I never got a hold of that. It was always touted as like, you see actual real people.

It's really not. I have all of them. So up in the boxes on the shelf, I have a very large selection of VHS that I purchased from a movie store in my hometown that was going out of business. And they had a lot of this weird stuff. So before they closed, I went and made sure I had all of it just because, I don't know, it was just kind of a nostalgic thing. It's what me and my friends had rented when we were teenagers. And there were a lot of different spin-offs, too, that were similar to it. But a lot of it was just kind of fake stuff. Another thing that I I found out we're doing research for this. I mean, I knew about it anyway. The song Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter, is actually about this. What I didn't know is the lead singer actually saw this on TV as well, and that's kind of what inspired it. So here are some words from him. It's a quote I'm going to read. I saw the raw footage of it.

I'm from the suburbs. I don't remember seeing a lot of things like that growing up. When you're 22 and you see that, you're like, wow, there was no internet to watch death on. You can see anything on the internet now. Back then, you're watching it out of fascination like, wow, we're all going to die. There was a morbid curiosity. I was watching it and I was all, hey, man, nice shot. There was a lot of things about this that I got wrong or misunderstood when I was younger.

I mean, I wasn't even alive when this happened, but when I learned about it later in life, there wasn't a ton of information on it. And a lot of people took this and exploited it. And I'll kind of tell you what I mean about this. There was a lot of bands, artists that used the imagery. The imagery from this, because when he shot himself, there were some few notable moments in there. One is his eyes rolling back in his head, right, the moment that he did it in the blood spraying out of his head. A lot of people have done the freeze frame of that.

There's another freeze frame people do where he's holding the gun and putting his hand out trying to tell people to not come any closer. He even says right before he did it, it's like this could hurt somebody. And it's not even just the art. Sound clips from the actual suicide are used countlessly. Yeah, in many things. Faith No More did it. Cabaret Voltaire did it. Marilyn Manson did it.

So you've got filter making a song about it. There's a numerous creator did it. Punk bands. D.K.Y did something about it. Yeah. They made an artistic depiction of Dwyer committing suicide. So if somebody publicly committed suicide in this day and age, I don't think that we would let something like this happen.

Like people wouldn't do this so freely. Christ, Necro even did it. Of course, Necro. Necro will touch anything. Of course, Necro did. I know, I'm sure he did. I'm curious, which, what did he use it for? So in 2004, the rapper Necro sampled the audio of Dwyer's suicide in his song,

You Did It on his third studio album, the prefix for death. I don't believe that nowadays anybody would be able to get away with that, which is a good thing. but up until refreshing myself on this, I didn't realize in retrospect just how exploitative this was. It was sad case too. So as I was saying earlier before I lost my train of thought, I had some misconceptions about this case. I think a lot of people do. I thought that this was a corrupt politician who was going to go down for a very long time. And instead of doing his time in prison, he decided to shoot himself.

on live TV as kind of a big middle finger to everybody. That's what I thought too. What I didn't know is that there was a big conspiracy around trying to get him out of office by any means necessary. He was too good of a politician. He wasn't a dirty politician. He wasn't willing to play the game. Allegedly, Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornberg

was trying to get the state to cover him and his wife's trip to Germany. out of the state treasury, and Bud wouldn't let it happen. So allegedly, Dick Thornberg told somebody, and I paraphrase, I'm going to get his fat ass if it's the last thing I do. And not long after that, this whole conspiracy started. So we learned quite a bit watching the 2010 documentary called Honest Man, the Life of R. Bud Dwyer, which is if you have Amazon Prime, You can watch it for free. I think there's other places you can find it.

It's a documentary about his life and the tragedy of his suicide. It premiered at the Carmel Art and Film Festival in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with the Dwyer family in attendance. In the documentary, William T. Smith, who is a former chairman of the Dauphin County Republican Committee, and one of the key trial witnesses in Dwyer's conviction, admits that he lied under oath at his own trial about never offering Dwyer a bribe. in hopes of reducing his own sentence and to spare his wife from being prosecuted for her role in the conspiracy. He expressed his regret for lying in the role it played in Bud Dwyer's public suicide. And I believe it said at the end of the documentary that Mr. Smith was currently facing 20 years in prison for some sort of fraud. So he's been kind of- He's just a sketchy asshole.

He's been a career criminal. Yeah. Like how he's still a lawyer. I mean, maybe he's disbarred now, but- I'm not sure. but when he was doing his interviews, he had all his diplomas and degrees behind him. So I found that interesting. Yeah, we learned a lot of things that I didn't know when we were watching that video.

We mentioned computer technology associates, which was the firm that the contract was awarded to. So this is where the bribe was involved. The bribe, allegedly, came from John Torcato Jr., who, as I understood, the son of a mobster and somewhat of a sketchy individual himself, but owned this firm, and paid William Smith to go in there and offer him a bribe, offer Bud Dwyer a bribe. And Smith claims that Bud was all for it. And people around Bud said that he would meet with literally anybody, that there was nobody that he was nobody that he wouldn't give a chance to.

Right. What would they say that he didn't judge someone? on the sins of their father. Yeah, because people warned him about dealing with this Torcato individual. Yes. And he specifically said, you know, just because his father was a bad guy doesn't mean he was a bad guy. Unfortunately led him to trouble. Not that it was his fault, but it's unfortunate to see such an optimistic and good-natured person get taken advantage of like that.

What ended up happening later, and I don't know heads or tails, what happened here with Smith, But what Smith also said is that when he was about to go and testify that he lied under oath, John Torcato said to him that once he came back from court, he would find his son face down in his swimming pool. But he still went and did it anyway. Yeah, there's a lot going on. And I know that he was trying to get Bud to resign based on the fact that the feds were going after him and his wife, because his wife was trying to push for the bribe as well. And I mean Smith's wife.

Yeah, Smith's wife was. Ultimately, when these charges came up, they came to Bud and they just said, hey, we just want you to resign. He thought it was stupid. He's like, no, I'm not resigning. Yeah, they said, resign and we'll drop the charges. And he said, no, I'm not resigning. Like, I'm innocent. Of course, I'm going to be cleared in trial. He believed so much in our justice system and in our country that he thought if you were an innocent man, there was no way that you would be wrongly convicted, which he later recant. in his final speech about how he pushed for the death penalty. And he mentioned, I believe the name was Neil Farber, Neil Ferber, who was an innocent man who died on death row or executed, I should say, while Bud was in office.

He talked about how he regrets that and how he now regrets the death penalty. But truly, the intention all along here was to just make Bud resign. and they just wanted him out of office. If all these things said about Governor Dick Thornberg was true, he just wanted Bud Dwyer out of his way. And somebody who was the acting U.S. attorney at the time for the state of Pennsylvania, man named James West, they wanted the spotlight on him. Yeah, they wanted him to get like some clout for a big case.

Yeah. And if Dwyer just resigned, West looked great. However, with Bud refusing to resign, they got the most hard-line judge that they could have gotten to cover the case. A judge by Bud's own admission as somebody that just likes to throw the book at people and isn't lenient. And even knowing this, Bud still decided to go to trial. One other thing that should be mentioned, and this is not something that I considered either or have ever considered before. for in my life. In the documentary, Bud's son brings up the fact that you're supposed to be tried by a jury of your peers. I thought it was his daughter. Maybe it was his daughter. That's one of his children.

Yeah, one of his children. And I don't know if this is how the law is intended to be carried out when it comes to trial by jury. But they made the point that the people on the jury were high school dropouts, some people who have never attended college, people who don't understand politics, don't understand the law. Their point was they needed to be tried by people that understand the law, understand politics. Bud had a degree in law. J.D., maybe, I'm not 100% sure, and he had a master's degree. They felt that they needed similarly educated people. And I don't disagree. Another problem they had is they had moved the trial to rural Pennsylvania. So in top of having people who didn't have a backgrounds in legal justice or politics or anything of that nature, you had a lot of people where

going to trial was really affecting their livelihood because they were out of their nine to five all day long going to this trial. So of course they're going to try to wrap it up as quickly as possible. It was just set up perfectly in a way to get the conviction and these people want it done. The easiest thing to say is, yeah, convict him, sure. When you're told like, yeah, this guy accepted a bribe. Okay, sure. He accepted a bribe. Okay, he must be guilty. The basis on which they chose to accuse him of taking a bribe came from two things. One was William Smith's testimony, which he recanted and admitted to lying under oath. That still wasn't enough.

The second one, and this is so funny, the FBI came and seized computer systems from John Torcato and William Smith. And on there, they had record of plans for Bud Dwyer to receive a bribe. So the money had not changed hands. And as bribery works under the law anyways, the money does not necessarily need to change hands in order for a crime to be committed, only for it to be agreed upon. However, literally, all they did was put in their computer systems,

yeah, Bud's going to take a bribe. But there was nothing under Bud's computer systems or anything like that. And so basically, they just decided to write something down, and it was admitted as, the truth. It was admitted as evidence. Like literally you could just make something up. Literally that you could just make up whatever you want and that would be truth. One thing they had mentioned also in the documentary is that Smith kept saying that he kept phrasing it to Bud that he was getting a campaign contribution. Whereas Turcato kept saying the word bribe, Smith was just like campaign contribution.

And allegedly he said Bud thought that was a great idea. But again, he recanted and said that he never said anything like that or had anything like that happened. I don't know. I mean, if you're an honest person and someone says that and campaign contributions are a thing, I could understand not understanding what's going on. But this is all speculation and Smith himself said the conversation never took place. It really feels like he was convicted solely on hearsay. Really? Really, that's all it was. And I think there were enough strings pulled in the government because the governor just wanted him gone that badly. And when push came to shove, they then were going to sentence Bud Dwyer for 55 years in prison. That's what they thought anyways.

There's evidence to support this. So one of the attorneys, paralegals or something, was typing up some sort of document to suggest that Bud Dwyer get the maximum sentence of 55 years in prison. And allegedly, the attorney told them to destroy all that, because if the media got hold of it. It would look very bad for them. But this was their plan. They wanted to make an example of him. Yeah, they did. They openly said that too. They wanted to make an example of him so other politicians wouldn't take bribes. Now on the surface, if you're just casually listening to the evening news and you're hearing that a politician is made an example of so that way they don't

take bribes, you're thinking, oh, this is what they should do because we don't want corrupt politicians in our government anymore. So that sells it to the American people very well, but in reality... Is 55 years even appropriate for such a thing? That's ridiculous. I'm surprised he got 11 counts of anything. I would say maybe five years maximum.

I don't have a law background, but I am just shocked at... I think maybe with a racketeering charge, they try to get him up on some trumped-up mob stuff. Maybe a perjury? Like, to perjure yourself, If you have to lie under oath in office, so maybe perjury because he took an oath of office and that's automatic perjury if you violate that. I believe so.

But mail fraud and then racketeering, interstate transportation in aid of racketeering, that seems a bit of a stretch. I can understand conspiracy. I guess I can see how it can be turned into mail fraud. But interstate transportation and aid of racketeering, that seems just absolutely ridiculous. If you want to know more about this, definitely watch the documentary. It's not terribly long. It's very good. And if you have Amazon Prime, it's free for you to watch.

So this is a case that it's a little odd to talk about in the face of suicide. I pointed out how this was very much an exploited suicide, unfortunately. And so was his likeness, his image, his life, his name was smeared. The only people that knew he was innocent or the people that knew him, To your average Joe that's barely following the news, you would just assume this is a dirty politician who got what was coming to him and probably felt happy that he killed himself. And then the other people, of course, are thrilled that there's a public suicide. Right. They're probably all like, good. We don't have to pay for his 55 years behind bars. But later, as time goes on, people are like, oh, this man was depressed. This man was suicidal. No, here's the difference.

This is not somebody who was depressed, felt like there was no way out of it. and decide to kill himself. That is not what this was. This was like an honor. Yeah, this was much different. This was not a man who was depressed. This was a man that was trying to save his family. And this is what I mean.

If Bud Dwyer was sentenced, his family loses the ability to get his pension. His pension is then taken from him. But he has to be sentenced. If he dies before sentencing, his family. gets his full pension, which I believe was $1.28 million. And so, realizing that his family's savings, all of it, had been drained by legal fees, they didn't even have enough money to fight the appeal, from what I understand. So he knows his family's out of money and he's going to end up behind bars.

What else is he supposed to do for them? So he figured this was the only way he could get them out. He wrote individual letters to his wife, to his two children. That's what he did. It's sad, it's sad, really, because... It's sad that someone has to do that because our legal system is so screwed up. Yeah, and when you think about it, if somebody really takes the time to process this and think about this case, think about the ramifications about what this means, I think there's a lot of people that would do the same thing he did in order to protect and provide for their family.

A lot of people do. Look at Aaron Hernandez. Yes, Aaron Hernandez is a good example of this. So while it is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and normally we would be talking about a case where it would fit the normal motive for suicide, I think the thing to take away from this here is this is a clear example of several things broken in this country. One of them is clearly government corruption, and the other is the amount of sacrifice a person has to make in order to just simply survive financially and to provide for a family.

And this is a huge reason why a lot of people just don't want to have children in general. I know a lot of people talk and say they don't want kids because that's old fashion. You know, it's patriarchal. I think the biggest reason that people don't want kids is we can't afford them. Yeah, and you really can't. So after a couple days away from recording this, it just came to me. It was like this kind of qualifies his murder. It does.

Pennsylvania basically put a gun to his head. He had no choice. It was either he goes away to prison for, they said they were going to give him 55 years. This has been admitted. Their plan was to give him 55 years. The judge was going to give him 55 years. Just throw the book. He would have died in prison.

His family would have gotten no money from his pension. The government would absorb it. The family had no savings left. He was forced. His hand was forced. But I don't want to go into things I've already said and just beat this horse to death. But this is incredibly tragic. I don't know what else I can really say about it, though.

No, I don't really have anything else to add. I think we've kind of covered it and given our opinions of it pretty thoroughly. All right. Well, if you're listening on YouTube, please hit like and subscribe. We just passed 950 at the time of recording this. And that's kind of nuts how much you guys have been helping. us get as far as we have. We're almost at a thousand and hopefully YouTube will monetize us. We'll see what happens with that. We'll keep you posted. Of course, it's quite a long process.

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