This is Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast More What You Here
Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive. He's a Court TV anchor and also a lawyer
and former prosecutor. Vinnie Politan has been covering the world of crime and justice
for over twenty years, and he parleys all that experience into this new original
ten episode documentary on Court TV. Accomplice to Murder with Vinnie Politan. Accomplice
to Murder with Billy Politan looks beyond the usual suspects to tell the gripping stories
of everyday people caught up in the world of deception and manipulation. Welcome Vinnie,
Thanks for having me. You know, we kind of have our own
version of that. That just happened. Earlier this month, Jesse McFadden at
a convicted sex offender, talked us. He got out early, talked his
way into the life of a woman named Holly and her three kids, married
her, was about to go to court from more sex crimes when he shot
and killed the whole family in himself. It's these stories, these cases are
always tough. You know. I'm a former prosecutor and my approach to you
know, my coverage of these investigations and trials and everything is For years,
I've always looked at things through the filter of the victims and trying to um
understand and tell their stories as well, because in our system of justice,
right you go to trial, everything's about the defendant, the suspect, you
know, his or her rights, The trial about what he or she did,
who he or she is, and sometimes the victims get lost in all
of it. And I've always attempted to make sure the victim doesn't get lost.
And you know, I hear a story like that and I'm like,
wow, that's that. That's brutal. You know, obviously people who lose
their lives are victims, but people everyone's connected to them, family members,
and it's tough stuff. He stuff, Well, are most of the cases
that you're dealing with here? Are they psychopaths? Well, here's the thing,
right, You know, a lot of trials, you'll hear criminal defense
attorneys say why would he do this? Or why would he do that?
Who would do that? And I don't I can't believe someone would do that.
And sometimes they hear the viewers you know, on social media place and
guests that I have saying, well, no, one would ever do that.
You have to get into a different place, you know, because like
you and I and the folks listening, we think one way. Someone who
is capable taking someone else's life, they have a different, different wiring,
a different value system, They see the world differently. So I think we
come across many who are literal psychopaths who feel nothing for other humans, and
others who are just so narcissistic that they only see the world and how it
affects them. So I think every murderer that I've covered through the years,
there is something wrong with them, and there's probably some level of mental illness,
not to be confused with legal insanity, which in some states as a
defense, but all of them there is something different, There is something wrong,
and that's why I believe you take a life, you should at a
minimum serve your life, because you are just different than the rest of us
and are dangerous. Court TV lead anchor Vinnie Politan of accomplice to murder with
Vinnie Politan, what is it about true crime that it just seems so delicious
to people? It's yeah, and it's never been more delicious than it is
now. Incredibly, I think it's it's about the relationships and the stories.
You know, a lot of people think it's the gruesomeness of the crime.
You know, for some people it's that, But to me, it's really
the story. And it comes back to that. What we find is that
the trials that have the most that generate the most buzz, are the ones
with these stories that we have to tell. Like we just came off the
Murdoch trial in South Carolina, Alec Murdoch, and it was a murder,
it was a duber. We've covered lots of double murders, but it was
the backstory of this country lawyer who was manipulating and lying to people for years.
And then you want to try people try to answer the questions based upon
the story, well, how could this happen? How did this happen?
And to figure all that out, you've got to dive into the weeds of
the lives of these people, the lives of the defendants, the victims,
and everyone else connected to them. So I think that's where the fascination comes.
And what's remarkable is when you dive into the demographics, it's women.
It's women. It's women who are like thirty five to fifty five, thirty
five to sixty. Many of them are just obsessed with it. I can't
attest to why it's women that it resonates with women. You'd have to ask
one of the women. Go to one of these attentions, or you go
on my Facebook page. They are there, and it's because of their their
attraction to I think, to the stories and the drama. Court TVs Vinnipolitan
Accomplished to Murder is the ten part series that is on Court TV Sunday nights.
By the way, we and the other thing about a lot of these
cases, I mean you just mentioned that, I mentioned the McFadden case.
They are so u diabolical in many cases that I don't know a television writer
could have written something like this, right, you know, we talk about
this in a lot of their child's recovery. He's like, hey, you
know, if some scriptwriter wrote this, you know, to get rejected,
no one would believe it's it's just not real. No one would do this.
But um, it happens. It actually happens. And you know,
when I'm on the air covering one of these things, I try to take
a moment to remind everyone at home, hey, you know this this actually
happened. You know, no jury would believe it, but yeah, it
did. It actually did, and you see and hear the evidence, and
it's it's unreal. I always joke with my brother and you know, you
know, our lives are kind of boring, and we've had exciting lives,
but they're really boring compared to what some of these folks do and the things
that they get caught up with and and and the relationships. It's it's amazing
that this happened so frequently. Well, back to that McFadden case. Just
recently, we had one of his previous victims come forward and say, if
I only knew he was manipulating this family, I would have driven to their
house and told them to stay away from this man. I mean even she
is still a victim, uh, this many years after he actually assaulted her.
Yeah, and you know, you look at this is this is why
punishment is important in our system of justice. It's not you know, you're
going to say, well, you know, life sentence is kind of extreme,
and no, you have to look at this and you have to understand
who these folks are. And I think our system of justice has a couple
of roles, right, One is to punish people. The other part is
to protect the innocent members of society. And you know, it depends on
what they get caught doing the first time and how many times they get away
with it. And I don't know. I look at a lot of these
defendants and I know when they get out, things are not going to be
much better. Yep, yep. I say that on this program a lot
vinnipolitane um. You know, if you, if you all of a sudden,
are going to be told all right, you're not gonna have to worry
about what you wear. You're not gonna have to worry about whether or not
you have shelter. You're not gonna have to worry about whether or not you
are going to eat. You'll get three meals a day. You're not gonna
have to worry about never having access to literature, because there's there'll be a
library sometimes compute to access in some cases, conjugal visits. If you're a
psychopath, that's not a bad life, no, and we the rest of
us end up a little bit safer. Yeah, Yeah, it's not a
bad deal. You know, people can debate the death penalty, and we
do that all the time on Court TV. And you know a lot of
the states that we cover murder trials and have the death penalty, and you
know that's the next level, but at a minimal at a minimal life without
the possibility of the role. Well, that's what our state legislature is looking
at right now, eliminating for sex offenders the ability to get off with a
good time or time served or earn time off when you are serving your sentence.
So I think that's the first step to trying to keep this incident from
happening again in Oklahoma. But you can see more of these incidents and see
the analysis from the experts Accomplished to Murder with Vinnie Politan and it's available on
Sundays on Court TV. I thank you for joining us, Thanks so much.
Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast,
and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation