True Crime All The Time - Richard Merritt Part 2

Episode Date: May 19, 2025

Richard Merritt was a well-known, successful attorney in Smyrna, Georgia, until he was caught stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his clients. Richard pleaded guilty to the financial crimes and was given two weeks to get his affairs in order before he had to report to prison. Richard was willing to kill to avoid going to jail.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Richard Merritt in this part 2 and final episode. His mother, Shirley, supported him throughout his legal troubles and was planning to drive him to prison on the day he was supposed to turn himself in. But Richard decided to murder his mother and take off in her vehicle. In part two of the Richard Merritt episodes, we’ll cover how he was finally arrested and all the evidence prosecutors presented at his murder trial. You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 435 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? Hey, I'm good. How about you? I'm doing great. Awesome. Talked about it on Patreon, but this weekend is my 29th wedding anniversary.

Getting old. Yeah. Been married for well over half my life. But my wife and I are going to Chicago for the weekend. in to celebrate. She town. Yep, or Shytown, as most people call it. Well, unless you're from there or no been there a lot, and then you say Cheetown.

I could have sworn you said Sheetown. But let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had one bad day away. Hey, thanks, OBDA. Karen S. What's going on, Karen? With Love, Nick, jumped out at our highest level. Hey, thank you, Nick.

Catherine Gorm jumped out to our highest level. Catherine, you're the best. Chris DeMuth. Hey, DeMuth. Lisa Marie. Ah, thank you, Lisa. Misty Edwards. There's Misty.

Carla Tate. What up, Tate. Samantha. And last but not least, Dana Marie. Hey, thank you, Dana. Yeah, thanks to everyone. Then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Lisa Shackler.

That Shackler, I tell you what. So we appreciate the new support, the continued support. We have a brand new episode out right now on True Crime Aller, the time unsolved where we're talking about Danielle Bell, who was only 14 years old when she went missing in 2001. I think, you know, what a lot of people focus about in Danielle's case is the fact that she was involved in a relationship with a 24-year-old man who to this day kind of remains a person of interest. Yeah, it's going to make some people angry. Oh, yeah. That's a big. age difference, especially when the girl is 14 years old. Yeah. Gives we haven't talked about

in a while, but CrimeCon is coming up pretty quickly. It's, you know, three or four months away. So we should throw it out there, right? If anyone is going, hasn't bought their ticket yet, make sure you use our promo code TCAT at CrimeCon.com.com. You'll save 10% off your standard badges. Yeah, get out there. Hang out with those at mile high. Yeah, at mile high. Just be a mile high with us, you know. Just be high with us. How high are you going to be is the question.

It's Denver, so you can be high elevation too. Both, right? All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am. We're on to part two and the final part of our Richard Merritt episodes in part one. You know, we talked about his childhood, family dynamics, his career. as an attorney and how he was caught stealing from his clients. And then how he fled shortly before his mother was found dead in her home.

Son of the year. Yeah, just a despicable act, one of many, but obviously the killing of your own mother, is at the top of the list. You know, he did manage to remove his GPS monitoring. ankle thing. I'm sure he got some of that from your e-book. Amazon.com. Look it up.

Gibby. Do you have to add the dot com? I think most people know what Amazon is. Just in case they didn't. Just in case. So in part two, we're going to cover how he was finally arrested and all the evidence prosecutors presented at his truck.

On September 27, 2019, The U.S. Marshals received a tip from the police in Nashville, Tennessee. The University Police at Vanderbilt called them because a concerned citizen reported a suspicious individual pulling on car door handles. Just wondering how suspicious that has to be. I mean, it's like, you know, pulling on one or two. Is that going to flag you? Or if it's pulling on like 30. You're just going down the line on the street and pulling on every one of them.

pretty suspicious. Also, we have the U.S. Marshals involved again. It goes back to last episode when you attempted to kind of do the Tommy Lee Jones speech from U.S. Marshals. We have a couple of voicemails. And I had a lot of communications about how, just how wrong you were. Or how right I was. Well, we'll find out. So the police ran the tax of the cars that had potentially been broken into. And they found out that one of them was Shirley Merritt's stolen vehicle, which meant there was a chance Richard was in the city. And I would say there's a pretty good chance. Police found receipts from local restaurants and stores inside the car and the U.S. Marshal set up surveillance at Richard's most frequented spots. Pretty smart there.

On the part of law enforcement? Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I mean, you know, what's not smart, I guess, is to keep all these receipts and things. What do you, you know, he's not going to be writing them off, right? Does he even know what a write off is? Do you? No. Nobody does.

No. But, you know, why does he need these receipts? He's not getting reimbursed from his employer. Yeah. So you're just leaving around potential evidence. Now, I'm sure he never thought that. they were going to catch up to him, you know, near Nashville or in Tennessee. That certainly helps them.

Yeah, definitely gives them some places to, you know, kind of stake out or think that he's probably going to return to. The police also learned Richard was staying in an apartment with a woman. On September 30th, 2019, the U.S. Marshals arrested Richard at a thrift store in Nashville. officers approached Richard and asked him to get on the ground and identify himself. He responded, you know who I am. You know who I am, damn it. This is Al Cowellings.

You know who I am, damn it. But this sounds like to me, how you would ultimately be captured. Number one, leaving a thrift store. Absolutely. Because you are very thrifty, frugal, cheap, however you know, you want to. He just left it at thrifty. I could have, but I chose not to. And then, you know, once you're on the ground and they ask you to identify yourself, I can see

you saying, you know who I am. Yeah. I'm Gibby. I'm Gibby. Come on. The store manager told 11 a lot. There was a little bit of a commotion. A man ran in through the back racks, which is past our office.

Next thing we know, I see they had on the flag jacket. I kind of see a handle of a gun. We see a huddle go down. I'm thinking, oh, no, this guy has a gun. They're fighting for it. It was done really quickly and quietly, less than three minutes. It was pretty nuts. We get odd characters, but nothing like that.

Well, law enforcement, especially the U.S. marshals, they're not messing around. Well, the one thing I will say is they were very coordinated, it sounds like. and they had a plan, they executed that plan very quickly, very decisively. Richard had a Louisiana driver's license with a fake name. He also had a job, but sources didn't say where he worked. Richard was in a romantic relationship with the woman he was staying with. They met on a dating app and she knew him as Mick Malvo. She had no idea he was wanted for murder.

Look at him trying to use a Louisiana last name. And you just wonder how far in advance he had set some of this stuff up. Or was he able to obtain it while he was on the run? But, you know, it seems like fairly quickly he's on the dating app. He meets somebody. He moves in with this person. You know, he's one of those guys that is smart. Yeah.

But also dumb. Yeah. And I think there are a lot of. people like that, or especially a lot of criminals like that. You know, you can be intelligent, but also do the dumbest thing. Sure. And we see it time and time again. Thankfully, it's what leads a lot of these people to get caught.

I often think Gibbs that, you know, some of these criminals, even though they are intelligent, many of them, they think they're smarter than what they really are. Yeah, that's for sure. And it leads to their downfall. Richard was extradited to Georgia to face charges of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony. He pleaded not guilty.

Opening statements in Richard's murder trial started on May 18, 2000. 23. So, man, it was like three and a half years after he was arrested. Now, he had COVID in there, we did, which I'm sure played a big role in why his trial was delayed as much as it was. Prosecutor Helen Poppe told the jury how Richard violated his client's trust and sold hundreds of thousands of dollars from them. Shirley was cooking Richard one last meal on February 1st, 2019, before she drove him to prison. Richard did not want to turn himself in, but Shirley was insistent that he did do the right thing, which caused a heated argument that ended with Richard beating his mother to death and stabbing her with a kitchen knife. The prosecutor noted per Fox 5, the force was so strong.

the knife lodged in her skull, the handle broke up. How angry did he have to be at his mom? I mean, it's pretty evident that he did not want to turn himself in. Why not just say, Mom, I'm not going to do it. I'm leaving. I'm leaving. Do what you got to do, but I'm gone. You know, help me out one more time.

Just don't call anybody until tomorrow. Yeah, I think you make a great point. I get it. She wanted him to do the right thing. but there had to be another way, Gibbs, for him to just slip out of the house, and he could still take her car without beating her and stabbing her and killing her. Richard then stole his mother's phone and vehicle, removed his ankle bracelet, and fled to Nashville, where he lived under a fake identity.

And again, you know, I go back to this thought. He had to have been planning at least. some of this. Yeah. You know, I got to get a fake identity. Where am I going to go? Well, what about Nashville? And at some point, he's got to get on this dating app. He's got to meet somebody. He needs a place to stay. I'm just trying to figure out why he chose Nashville, not that far away. I mean, if you're on the run for now murder, I think you'd want to put a little bit more distance between you and where the murder took place. Yeah, I could see that, but would it matter?

It seems to me, especially the fact that the U.S. Marshals are involved, their jurisdiction is not limited. That's true. So if there's any type of tip or whatever, they're going to be there in a heartbeat. Richard's defense attorney, Heidi Wolfgruber, told the jury that Shirley's death was a tragedy. However, Richard had no history of violence. and the prosecution's case was what she called a mishmash of times and texts and coordinates meant to distract the jury from one key point that Richard's DNA and fingerprints were not found at the scene. You know, and we talked about that in episode one, but we also know there are a number of ways not to leave fingerprints to limit the chance that you're going to leave. leave DNA.

Yeah, so why did he flee the scene? Why did he take the phone and car if he had nothing to do with it? Yeah. Or not hang out and wait for the police to get there and say, I don't know what the hell happened. But he's also an attorney. Yeah. Right?

Probably a little more knowledgeable about certain things as related to the law than most of us. Richard's cousin, Michael Jeffcoat, testified about how surely reacted to the fraud charges against her son, he said, is quoted by law and crime. It broke her heart. She loved both of her sons. And to see Richard throw away his whole life by stealing from clients, just broke her heart, knowing that he was going to prison. And I thought about this Gibbs quite a bit after we recorded the first episode.

I just couldn't get it out of my mind. This thought of, you know, here's a guy who's making a very very important. good living. Yeah. Doing what he set out to do, what he spent a long time in school for. He's got, you know, a wife. He's got a family. And you're going to jeopardize all of that to steal settlement money from your clients.

I just cannot, could not and still cannot wrap my mind around that. And that's, and this is where I say, this is why he's dumb. because you have to know that will eventually come to an end, right? Reputational wise, eventually it's going to get out. Yeah, I was shocked because you would think someone as intelligent as he seemed to be would know that this is going to be very hard to get away with. Right. But I don't know, maybe it didn't enter his mind.

The greed took over and, you know, he went for it. Richard's ex-wife, Janine Minicazi, testified that Richard failed to pay their mortgage for six months, and they eventually lost their home. Mortgage, why pay that? Doesn't make any sense. You and the kid, you guys will be fine. I mean, clearly his priorities are all jacked up. Yeah. You know, again, I think this is a guy who cared about no one but himself.

And I think he was using everyone around him. You know, there are just some people like that. They're users. And they'll use you for what they can get out of you. And then once they're not able to get that out of you, they just discard you. Yeah, move on to the next target. At the time of his arrest in January 2018, they had no power because he hadn't paid the bill. She also testified that he pawned the van.

They used to transport their daughter in her wheelchair. I mean, everything Gibbs that comes out about this guy just makes him more and more despicable. Well, look, he's a very self-centered individual. Oh, absolutely. So you have a daughter in a wheelchair. You pawn the van, special van, right, used for her transportation. And then at some point, you're going to leave all of them without a home. Janine confirmed that Shirley was the one who bailed Richard out.

and put up her house's collateral. Janine testified about her relationship with Shirley. Shirley was a devoted grandmother. And Janine considered her part of their immediate family because she was so close with the children. She attended all their events and they spent a lot of time together. And, you know, I would say the same thing about, you know, my parents, my wife's parents.

I think of them more as immediate family. Yeah. Then a mother-in-law or a father-in-law or, you know, even my mom and dad, my stepmom, my stepdad. After the divorce, Janine stayed in contact with Shirley, but not as often as before. She still brought the kids over to see their grandmother. Janine was polite, but their relationship was strained because Shirley didn't want her to divorce Richard. Janine said Shirley was adamant about this.

And they had some terse, contention. conversations about it. Well, I'm sure in her eyes, her son could do no wrong. Yeah, it does sound that way. I think, you know, she's super proud of her kids. And, you know, what mother wants to believe that their child is the one at fault is doing things they shouldn't be doing? It's tough for a lot of mothers, I think.

Yeah, sure. You don't want to admit that. But you got to give it up for Janine. right after the divorce you know making sure that Shirley got to see her grandchildren i think that's a very important thing she put her kids in front of herself and her past relationship yeah pretty much the exact opposite of of what her ex-husband richard yeah exactly janine also testified that she maintained contact with richard after the divorce because she allowed him to see their daughter on Sundays. She described the relationship between Shirley and Richard as contentious.

Shirley did a lot for them when they were newlyweds. She helped them buy a house. She even helped them pay some of their bills. She also gave Richard money to start his law firm and paid for his defense attorney after he was arrested. Definitely a mama's boy. You mean right up until the time he killed her? Yeah. I mean, let's face it, she did about. everything she could do for him. Sure, she did. She bent over backwards to help him and even Janine. But despite all of this, Richard wasn't always kind to his mother.

They argued often about everything. Richard was frustrated because he felt his mother was too involved in his life. Okay, I understand that. You know, some mothers can be like that. Some fathers can be like that. but often, you know, it's out of love. They just want to be involved. Sometimes that's just the price you pay to be in that relationship with that parent.

You know, if you don't want to take that advice, if you don't like their involvement, you can say something. You can choose to distance yourself from that, but most people don't want to do that. Well, I sure as heck hope my kids don't get to that point. Janine testified that she knew Richard borrowed money from Shirley that he was supposed to pay back, but the understanding was he was never going to do it. And that doesn't surprise me at all. That sounds like Richard Merritt.

He's a user. Hey, uh, let me borrow some money. I promise you I'll pay it back. But in his mind the whole time, he's thinking, you know what? Yeah. I've got no designs on paying this back. I'm never paying her back. Are you kidding me? After learning that Richard committed financial Crimes. Shirley was devastated. Janine testified that it ruined her life. Sounds like it did. Well, from a number of different standpoints, I would think. Right.

We talked about how proud Shirley was of both of her boys. I'm sure she told her friends. You know, hey, Richards got his own law firm. He's doing great. And then that's a big blow to find out that, you know, he committed all these crimes, especially against many of them, the elderly. Yeah. Your friends are going to find that out.

Can't really brag about how good your kid is if he's a fraudster. No, and people are going to look at you differently. Gene confirmed that she was still in contact with Richard after he was sentenced in January 2019. And she made arrangements for him to see their kids before he went to prison. She saw him the night before the night before. the murder. They met in a parking lot so he could say goodbye to the kids. Janine testified that Richard was physically violent with her once during their marriage.

She said we were in an argument. We were in the bedroom. He pushed me to the ground and I hit my head on the bed. He had a bad temper. And there was one incident where she and her son felt like they had to hide from him. He typically became angry when he drank too much, which occurred often. Well, as we all know when people drink, some of those people can get pretty ugly. Yeah, I mean, alcohol does different things to different people, right? Some people get happy, chummy, clingy. Yeah. Some people get mean.

It just depends. It sounds like he was a mean drunk. Yeah. No, it does sound like that. Janine testified when he was drunk, he would go into a rage. yelling, scaring the children. She told the jury that around the time Richard knew he was going to be arrested. He started driving home while intoxicated.

There were times that he was so drunk, he was unable to get out of his car. On the nights he was able to get inside, he was angry and screamed at his family. Those are the nights that you probably look out in your driveway and go, I hope he can't get out of the car. But think about that. So drunk, you can't. can't get out of the car. Yeah.

But yet somehow was able to make it home and pull into the driveway. That's a scary thought. It really is. Janine was asked why she didn't call the police and said it was because she didn't want people to know. Yeah, she's got some pride, right? She doesn't want people to know what her husband was doing and probably worried that was going to cause more problems for her.

Well, I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't want everyone else to know that. their business, right? Especially if it's not flattering. Next, the jury heard testimony from Kelly Richardson, who dated Richard in Nashville. Kelly testified that she met Richard online. In July 2019, he introduced himself as Mick Malvo from Louisiana. He claimed he worked in marketing. So this is like five months after the murder. He told Kelly that his father died of heart complications and his mother died of leukemia. He said his ex-wife had a miscarriage and he had no surviving children. Well, he had a full story, didn't he?

Yeah. Yeah, crafted over, you know, however many months. Maybe some of it was crafted before this all went down. I don't know. Kelly described Mick as interesting, intelligent, and fun to be around. He claimed he was living in Nashville with a cousin, but made it sound like he was sleeping on a couch. so he was uncomfortable taking her there.

She never met this alleged cousin or any other family. That's a shocker. That he wouldn't want her to meet anyone. Yeah. She and Richard were on different schedules because he worked nights. So she gave him a key to her place, so he wouldn't wake her up. During cross-examination, Kelly was asked if Richard was ever aggressive. She said he was agitated and frantic at times, but never physically.

Aggressive. When asked to elaborate, she said, I think it was the weekend before he was arrested. And when I told him he needed to find a place to live, at first, I told him to go back to his cousins. And he said that he couldn't go back. I told him, I needed more space. And he became upset and was pacing, not making eye contact and would hold his head in his hands and said he had no place to go and made excuses why he wasn't leaving. Well, one, she should have said, go back to your cousins. Yes. So just be clear on that. Multiple cousins. Yeah.

But here again, you have to ask yourself, Gibbs, you know, did Richard actually like this person? Did he want a relationship with this person? Or was he using Kelly for a place to live? Sounds like to me he was using her as some cover. Their relationship ended when he was. arrested. But afterwards, he tried to call her and send her postcards. And that doesn't surprise me. Even if he really wasn't, you know, in love with her or that into her, you could see a guy like Richard Merritt, want to kind of stay in contact because maybe there's something this person can do for him.

Absolutely. It's why he's doing it, right? I have a feeling. I need somebody on the Outside. You're my person. So here's a postcard, just in case I need something in the future. Is there exactly right? Associate medical examiner Dr. Bruce Wainer testified that Shirley's cause of death was a combination of blunt impact injury in stab wounds. And that the injuries to the right side of her head were consistent with being hit by a dumbbell. And we said it in the first episode, right? 35 pound dumbbell.

Yeah. That can do some serious damage. It sure can. Crime lab scientist Jesse Worley testified that she examined the knife handle and did not find any prints. And what does that tell you? Not that she didn't find his prints. She didn't find any prints. It means it was wiped clean or gloves were used.

Yes, it had to be, right? Something along those lines. Because obviously somebody had to touch that knife at some point. DNA analyst Alexander Jason testified that the hairs found on a dumbbell belonged to both Shirley and Richard. DNA was found on the dumbbell, but not enough to make a complete profile. Richard then got on the stand to testify in his own defense. And we don't, you know, we don't see that a lot for very good reason. Maybe because he's an attorney or was an attorney, he thought, I can do this.

Yeah. that might have had something to do with it. But to me, I think if you're part of the jury and you find out that Richard is going to testify, there's got to be some anticipation, I would think, in hearing what this man has to say. Well, and as the prosecutor, I'm sure you just can't wait to get your turn. Yeah. Yeah, usually the prosecution is kind of licking their chops, right? when a defendant decides to take the stand.

But again, you have a seasoned attorney, but with a little bit less control, right? You're the one on the stand. You're not the one asking the questions. So in my way of thinking, it's still very dangerous to take that avenue. Richard spoke about a strange cartoon delivered to his mother's home and to Janine's home on January 14, 2019. A cartoon was also delivered to his attorney, David Willingham. Fox 5 reported that one cartoon depicted a courtroom scene, with word bubbles suggesting the judge and prosecutors in the fraud case were going too easy on Richard. Another cartoon

depicted the Disney characters Huey, Dewey, and Louie in a rowbook. He surely found the cartoon in her mailbox and she called Richard. She sounded upset. Richard testified that right after he got off the phone with his mother, Janine called him and was upset because she also received a cartoon. He was concerned because the exact same cartoon was delivered to both Shirley and Janine's homes, which were about 40 miles apart. This led him to believe someone was watching his family.

Maybe it was a very upset ex-client that you took all their money. Or a family member of an ex-client. Yeah. And they were trying to send a message. Now, you could also make the argument that, well, maybe Richard sent both of these cartoons as a way to make people think he was in danger or that there was somebody out there wanting to get him. Yeah, that's true. Could have.

Shirley was still upset when he returned home from work. She started feeling dizzy and having chest pain. Okay. I can understand that if you feel as though there's somebody out there that maybe wants to do you or someone in your family harm. That could be very upsetting to people. Kind of visualizing the, uh, remember that old, uh, red fox, that show he was in. he'd grab his chest and reach up to to the sky. And what would he say?

This is the big one or something like that to whatever his. Elizabeth. I'm coming to join you, honey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I used to watch that show all the time. Sanford and son or something. Yep, that was it. Richard then told a shocking story.

He claimed that on February 1, 2019, two armed men entered Shirley's home and murdered her. He testified that he was in the kitchen keeping Shirley company. While she cooked for him, he heard a loud knock at the front door. They weren't expecting anyone at that time. He opened the door and there were two men on the other side, pointing guns at him. They ordered him to let them in. And he did.

Shirley came to the front to see what was going on and the men ordered them to go to the basement. The fact that they knew they had a basement led Richard to believe they had case the house. Shirley was in distress and made noises. like she was going to scream, one of the men told her to shut up and pushed her down the stairs. She fell headfirst into a wall. She tried to stand up, but couldn't get her balance. Richard testified that one of the men held a gun to his head or back the entire time they were in the home, so he couldn't do anything to help her. The man who pushed Shirley picked up a dumbbell. Richard said, this monster took this dumbbell.

and proceeded to bludgeon my mother right in front of me. She stopped moving at this point. I then told the man who had his pistol in my back to bring me down to the bottom of the stairs. They shoved me over to the tile where the dumbbell rested, and then the older guy took off up the stairs. He came back a few minutes later with the kitchen knife and proceeded to stab my mother repeatedly in front of me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I didn't understand what would be the purpose because she wasn't moving. Why is any of this happening? It was a complete and utter nightmare. It also sounds like a lot of BS. Yeah, to me it sounds like a person, in this case, an attorney who's had a lot of time. Gibbs, when you think about it, this trial doesn't happen for, you know, four years after the murder. to think about what type of narrative they should craft to explain what happened in Shirley's home that night. And why did these men assault her, kill her?

For what? And I think that's what makes it so implausible, right? If somebody had an issue with anyone, who is it most likely to be? It'd be him. Yeah, Richard. And why is he still alive? Who leaves a witness behind? Afterwards, the men took out a phone and showed Richard pictures of Jeanine, dropping off their

daughter at school, a photo of Janine's home, a photo of her at the mall, and a photo of her work. They warned him, if you say a single word, they're next. And Gibbs, this goes back to what you said. You know, why would they want to leave a witness behind? And Richard, yeah, I get it. he's saying that they warned him not to say a single word. But they just killed Shirley.

What would stop them from killing Richard? And my thought is, when you look at the two of them, which one of them is most likely for someone to want them dead? I can't imagine it surely. How many enemies could she have possibly had? Yeah, no doubt. I mean, the person with the enemies is Richard. Yeah, and again, that's why the whole scenario just doesn't seem to make sense.

But wouldn't you want to know, why'd you just kill my mom? And why are you telling me that you've been watching my family? I mean, if they're watching his family, his wife, his daughter, it sounds like they were targeting him if his story's even true, right? Right, which we know it's not. Richard didn't call the police. He decided to flee and took his mother's car because it had more gas in the tank. So, you know, again, like we talk about in a lot of episodes, you know, when you're crafting

a narrative to explain why you did what you did, you have to cover so many different facets. Yeah. Right. Why did you steal your mom's car? Well, I didn't steal it. I just knew it had more gas in it than mine and I needed to get away. It's not like I thought the police would be looking for my car, my vehicle, and so I took my mom's.

Right. Yeah, not going to say that. Even after he was arrested, Richard didn't tell the police what allegedly happened. He shared this story for the first time at trial. Again, so if you're on that plausibility means, this guy has been arrested for murdering his mother, but doesn't tell the police that, oh, no, it wasn't me. Two guys broke in and killed her.

He's going to reveal this at trial. Yeah. Well, he had time to think about all this. But if you're the jury, you know, what do you think it? I think it's a hard sell. I think it's a very hard sell, especially when you find all of this stuff out. out, right, that he didn't mention a word of this and hadn't for like four years since the time he was arrested. And again, you know, if I'm a juror, I'm asking myself, who wants to kill

surely? And why would they leave Richard alive as a witness? I'm asking those two questions for sure. Yeah, because it's a pretty big risk, leaving him alive. Yeah. I mean, you can threaten him, or you could just kill him. You've already killed one person in the home. And the other thing I was thinking, if you're in the home and you both have guns, why go through all the effort of picking up a weight and smashing someone's head in

and then going upstairs and bringing a knife down, why wouldn't you just execute them right there if you done? Shoot the person, yeah. Again, it just fails on so many levels. Richard insisted that he loved his mother and did not kill her, emphasizing that she was one of the few people who supported him after his conviction. And I think that last part is true, right?

She did support him even after, you know, his first conviction on the financial charges. But to me, that just shows you how cold Richard Merritt really is. Yeah, I think she loved him unconditionally, but he loved. loved her conditionally. Yeah. I think everything and every body for him was conditional. What can I get from this person? What can they do for me? During cross-examination, prosecutors asked why he fabricated the story and questioned why he never called the police. He was asked, is it fair to say? When you're in trouble, you lie to get out of it. Richard responded by saying, I don't believe that's fair to say at all.

On May 24th, 2003, Richard Merritt was found guilty on all counts, malice murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony.

He was sentenced to life without parole, plus five years. Always loved the plus five years. Yeah. Life, no parole, is not enough. Here's an additional five years. even after you die. We got you.

That's right. We got you for five years. Richard's cousin, Mike Jeffcoat, gave a victim impact statement. As quoted by Fox 5, he said, Richard couldn't stand the idea of somebody with an ego as big as his being sent to prison. The court has convicted him of murdering his mother, cutting off his ankle bracelet, running to Nashville, getting on a website, and dating a website,

and dating a woman and living with her under a complete and utter pretext. His whole life has been a pretext. I just want the court to know what an evil person he is in the eyes of his family. And I thought that was a very well thought out victim impact statement. Yeah. Well, clearly, if he did get life with parole, he wasn't going to have any family members showing up to give him a, he's a good guy let him out no he wasn't going to have support uh family wise now you know is he the

type of guy who could meet somebody through some kind of correspondence on the outside and yeah he probably is i'll say yeah probably actually has richard gave his own statement he said i was raised right by two beautiful people and i had a beautiful wife and children the world was our oyster and I blew it over the worst drug there is, the green money. I made a lot of bad choices and decisions. I fell victim to the ultimate drug, the green drug, and that's money. I'm immensely sorry. Words aren't going to do any good.

And I just want my family to know, as I sit here now, that I wish none of us had to go through it and endure the pain of this entire court hearing. And I hope one day when they're ready, if they're ready, that I am blessed to have them at one point in my life. So my thought is some of that is truthful. Some of that is maybe some blowing smoke. But, you know, when he said he was raised right. He had a beautiful wife.

He had a family. Sure did. The world was his oyster gives. And he blew it. He did big time. So that part is all true. The part that did kind of strike me as eye. is him saying, I wish none of us had to go through it and endure the pain of this court hearing.

The court hearing. Right. None of us, that including me. Yeah. So he's including himself in there. Of course he is. And no point does he say anything about his mother. Yeah.

And how sorry he is. It's his way of hoping that he can talk some family members eventually coming back. probably to help fund his commissary. Yeah, because the only thing that he's really admitting to are the financial crimes, right? He is not admitting to killing his mother. In January 2025, Richard's appeal for a new trial was rejected during two November 2004 hearings. Richard argued that his trial attorney failed to do his job when he allowed his ex-wife

to disparage him. on the stand and failed to call other witnesses that could have helped his defense. Richard's current attorney, Shante Heightower, asked former defense attorney Daryl Queen. Why he didn't object to Janine's testimony, Queen responded, asking the judge to bail me out. When I ask a question, is not something I commonly do. Richard also argued that Queen should have had his son, Jack, testify about his father, good character and threats the family received and that he should put his former attorney in the fraud case on the stand. That attorney, David Willingham, could have testified about

Shirley's fears after she received an anonymous cartoon. That may be he sent. Possibly. Richard testified at the hearing. There was concern that we were being followed that the house was being watched. But to your point, Gibbs, David Willingham testified. that he suspected Richard was the one who created the cartoons. He said, what made more sense was that someone who was a narcissistic sociopath that was calculating enough to steal from all these people, his own clients, and then to murder his own mother. It made more sense that he would be planting little seats that would grow into a defense later.

There you have it. And I think you and I both were thinking, something along those lines. Yeah, I think you said multiple times that it felt like this was something set in motion. But you know what that means, that him killing his mother that night was not a spur of the moment decision if that's how it went down. Yeah. It means he knew what he was doing.

He had thought about it, you know, kind of far in advance. In the denial of a retrial issue January 6th, the judge wrote, based on his conversations with Mr. Willingham at the time of trial, Mr. Queen made a reasonable strategic decision not to call Mr. Willingham to testify. I mean, his ex-attorney was going to say that he suspected he wrote to cartoons or he authored the cartoons. Yeah. So why would Queen want to call him up there?

Right. And that makes sense. The judge also ruled that his son, Jack's testimony, would not have affected the trial's outcome and that his ex-wife's testimony didn't affect the outcome either. If Richard wants to appeal again, he will have to take his case to the Georgia Supreme Court, even if he were to get a new trial and be acquitted of murder, he still faces a 30-year sentence for theft, forgery, and elder abuse. So either way, he's going to be in there for a very long time.

He is, but I think this is a guy that deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life and the five years after that. I know stranger things can happen. I just don't see the Georgia Supreme Court overturning this one. No, I don't either. I think like any attorney would, he is throwing everything at the wall, right? My attorneys didn't do this. My attorneys didn't do that. But as we wrap this one up, Gibbs,

you know, Richard Merritt had a loving and supportive family. He was on this track that he had kind of built for himself as a successful attorney, but his greed led to his downfall. He wanted more money. And so he stole his client settlement checks to fund his lavish lifestyle. He was eventually caught. And like you and I have talked about, I don't know how he ever thought he was going to get away with those crimes.

No, that's one of those crimes that eventually has an ending. You know, you should be able to foresee it coming. Like, you're only good for a little bit of time before it's going to catch up with you. It's like these people are not going to go away. No. Hey, what's going on with my settlement? Where's my money? You have all these people.

They're not just going to stop asking you about it. Yeah, they're going to be like, oh, we didn't get one. Okay, well, you know, we tried. Thanks. Although she was devastated by her son's crimes, Shirley Merritt helped Richard throughout his trial and house arrest. He refused to turn himself in and murdered the woman who supported him more than anyone else. And I think, you know, there are a number of examples of him being a narcissistic sociopath. His ex-attorney even called him that.

but murdering your mother because she is adamant that you turn yourself in. And I go back to something that you said, which made a lot of sense. If he didn't want to turn himself in, he could have just, you know, taken off. Yeah. He could have grabbed his keys. He could have even stolen her car and taken off. Now, maybe she calls the police. Maybe she doesn't.

but they're going to learn at some point that he's on the run. It's not going to be any different than the situation he found himself in, with the exception being that he killed his mother. Right. So that makes me think it's something more than, you know, an action that he felt he had to take. Maybe there was some deep-seated anger there that we don't really know about, but it's almost like he wanted to kill his mother. It really seems like it.

Because I don't think he had to. I really don't. And, you know, I didn't realize it, but part one where we talked about his mother's death came out on Mother's Day. It wasn't playing that way. It just happened to be. Just worked out. It just worked out that way. Well, he definitely had an addiction to money.

Yeah, greed, right? He even said that part. And we know greed can make people do some horrible things. things. The thing I can't wrap my head around is that, you know, this wasn't a guy down on his luck. This is a guy that was doing very well in life, but he still succumbed to that greed, right? He just wanted more and more and more. And now his family has to suffer for it, right? His wife and kids had to suffer for what he did. And I hope he does a little bit of suffering, you know, while he spends the rest of his life in prison because, you know, he deserves it.

Yeah. But that's it for our two parts on Richard Merritt. We've got some voicemails, Gibbs. You want to check those out? Let's hear him. Hey, guys. I'm just listening to the Richard Merritt case. And I believe the Tommy Jones quote that you're looking for from the fugitive is,

all right, man. I want a hard target search of every dog house, whore house, head house, and out house in a five mile radius. That was the exact line that he. he did not say, although for 20 plus years, I believed that he said that, and I voted it a lot in day-to-day life for unclear reasons. But yeah, he didn't say that at all. He did say something about a five-mile radius, but I don't think he said anything about dog houses, whorehouses, outhouses, or in-houses. But whatever he did say, was still cool as hell. And stay safe and

keep your own time ticket. Bye. So, you know, we do this whole first episode on Richard Merritt. There's a lot there to dissect. But you know what? Most people wanted to comment on what's that your Tommy Lee Joan fugitive quote or lack or lack of or lack of that was the the big topic of of conversation but I will agree with her Tommy Lee Jones just has a way of saying things that that make them sound cool yeah you know one of the the movies I really like him in is um no country for old men you like him in that I I I like him in that. I like the way he talks.

Yeah. You know, he's got that real drawl and, and everything he says kind of comes out a certain way. I thought you're going to say that one where he was the deputy chair, sheriff, whatever, watching over the cheerleaders. Oh, I knew that was one of your favorite movies. Is that the one with the Anna Ferris in it?

Yeah. I've never seen that. I never saw that one. Yeah, you did. But it is strange that. You have a poster behind you. It is strange that he took that role. Yeah.

For some reason. It doesn't seem like him. Hi. I don't know if my first message went through. So try number two. Anyway, hi, Mike and Gibby. This is Francine. I'm from upstate New York.

And I just wanted you to know that I would search every warehouse, farmhouse, penhouse, outhouse, or dog house within a five-mile radius just to give Gibby a hug because I'm team Gibby. But I do love Mike too. All right. You guys do a great job. Thank you. Bye.

Well, you would find me in one of those houses. I'll leave it at that. shitter's full yeah so again that's what a lot of people really took away from episode one that's good is what i'm getting that means they're listening they are listening and we thank them for that no doubt about it all right buddy that is it for another episode of true crime all the time so for mike and givey stay safe and keep your own time ticking