FL v Anthony Todt Trial - Prosecution Closing Arguments

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: each side will have equal time but the state of Florida is entitled to divide this time between an initial closing statement and a rebuttal closing statement after the defense has given its closing remarks. Ms. Pinnell would you like the podium? All right thank you deputy. [00:00:30] Ms. Pinnell: Good morning everybody. The first thing I want to do is thank you for your time in this piece. I know that it's been difficult for all of you to take some time out of your personal lives to be here with us today and you've all been very attentive so I would like to thank you for that. The reason why we're here today is control. The defendant wanted control. You heard that December of 2019 started out like every other December for Zoe, Alec, and Tyler. They had a concert on December 6th that they went to. They had an awards banquet on December 14th that they went to and then everything changed. Sometime between December 14th and December 18th the defendant took each one of their lives. you heard testimony from some of the 911 operators at the sheriff's office and you had the opportunity to hear some pretty pleading calls from the defendant's own sister asking for somebody to check on the well-being of the family. The first call was on December 29th and she told law enforcement the family's been sick because that's what she had been told. They couldn't speak to the family during Christmas because they had the flu. What you learned later is that that was the defendant telling the family that everybody was sick. The defendant was using Megan's phone and Tyler's phone and Alex phone to tell everybody in the family that they were sick. That's why they couldn't talk to them. But something in the defendant's sister did not sit right. But something in the defendant's sister did not sit right. So she called again in January. So she called again in January. She called on January 10th. And she insisted that somebody go out and make contact with her brother and the rest of the family. What's interesting between the two phone calls is that in January 10th call, the defendant's sister tells law enforcement that Megan believes the apocalypse is coming. And she just learned about this information. How did she learn about this information from the defendant from the defendant? Because we already know Megan's dead. So you heard from law enforcement, law enforcement tried to make contact with the family law enforcement, went to both addresses, knocked on the door. The blinds were closed. The blinds were closed. The defendant was closed. The defendant was closed. The defendant was closed. The defendant was closed. The defendant was closed. [00:03:21] Speaker ?: And she just learned about this information. [00:03:22] Ms. Pinnell: The defendant was closed. The defendant was closed. [00:03:24] Speaker ?: The defendant was closed. And the defendant was closed. The defendant was closed. [00:03:27] Ms. Pinnell: Because we already know Megan's dead. So, you heard from law enforcement. Law enforcement tried to make contact with the family law enforcement, went to both addresses, knocked on the doors, the blinds were closed. The defendant had conveniently parked the family van in front of a different building at the apartment on Longview Avenue. So, the defendant had started using cash and had continued to check the mail to make sure that nothing suspicious was going to lead somebody to the residence. And finally, on January 13th, the defendant didn't come to the door. Law enforcement opened the door. And that's when they discovered everything that was in 202 reserve place. And even when law enforcement is there, the defendant is still trying to be deceptive because he needs to keep control. He told Detective Miller something very interesting in his interview. He told Detective Miller, based upon their beliefs, they bring their children into this world they should decide when they leave. The defendant wanted control. The defendant wanted control. The defendant wanted control over the lives of his kids and of the life of Megan. And you heard from the law enforcement officers that found Alec and Tyler and Zoe and Megan. And you heard that initially they could not find Zoe. Ultimately, they found her after looking through the house for four or five minutes. The defendant at the bottom of the stairs. I don't know when the last time I saw her. I think she went with you. Oh, maybe you should check the garage. The kids went to a sleepover. The kids went to a sleepover. Megan's upstairs sleeping. The entire time the defendant is trying to be deceptive. The defendant tells law enforcement also that he was intentionally deceptive with his family. So that he could finish what he started. You heard from the medical examiner. And you heard from the toxicologist. And you heard that all of the members of the defendant's family at the time of their death had diphenhydramine in their system, which is Benadryl. You heard that smothering could not be ruled out because of the state of the bodies. If we know that Zoe, Tyler, Alec, and Megan were killed between December 14th and December 18th, law enforcement didn't go into the house until January 13th. It's almost an entire month. The state of their bodies prevented the medical examiner from doing a full investigation during her autopsy, but she was able to ascertain some key important things. She told you that everybody, including Megan, had no signs or issues with their heart or their liver. The medical examiner also told you that based upon the decomp of the bodies, that there was no more liquid blood left. And the boys both had stab wounds, but she didn't see any signs of hemorrhaging, which indicated to her that the stab wounds likely occurred after the death. And the defense attorney is going to get up here, and that is going to be the key point. You can't believe what Anthony Tote told law enforcement in the interview that you saw because he said and was adamant that he stabbed the children before they died. And the medical examiner got up here and said there was no -- the stab wounds were post-mortem. And that's why you can't believe Anthony Tote's statement to law enforcement. But, how the defendant describes going into each child's room and killing each of his children is consistent with all of the evidence that was found on scene. It's consistent with -- the only inconsistency is the stab wound when it occurred. Everybody's in agreement that there's a stab wound. And the defendant's adamant that they didn't -- they didn't die from a stab wound. They died from suffocation. So, what you need to do is really look at the defendant's interview. The defendant very clearly describes how these murders happened. The defendant doesn't remember when they happened. Just that they happened sometime before Christmas. That's what his interview said. Now, we have some receipts and him knowing that, okay, well, I bought these BB guns after they were dead. So, there's a receipt from Academy showing that from December 18th. We know that they were alive on December 14th because of their holiday banquet. The defendant is very meticulous and describes more than one time the order in which each of his children was killed, the manner in which each one of his children was killed, and what he did afterwards. So, the defendant told you in his interview, you had the opportunity to see, that after doing some research about the afterlife and considering the fact that Megan was so sick. Megan's so sick, she can't get out of bed. She's frail. She has trouble walking. She's in excruciating pain. All of these things. She had a miscarriage. So, she is so much in pain and so depressed that she was looking at these videos of the afterlife and that's the way we're going to go. So, the defendant also tells you in his interview that they sat the children down, including his four-year-old daughter, and had a conversation with them about this plan, this suicide pact that him and Megan had together. He sat his four-year-old daughter down and said, "What would you do if mommy and daddy died?" And then he came to the conclusion that his four-year-old daughter decided she wanted to die with mommy and daddy. And the same with his 10-year-old son, Tyler, and his 13-year-old son, Alec. Then, he had the children gather belongings that were important to them. And you'll see in the photographs, when you have an opportunity to take the photographs back there, there is a chest at the foot of the bed in the master bedroom. And on this chest, there's some dolls that you open and there's a smaller doll and you open. So, that's from Zoe. There is a scarf, a soccer scarf, which is from one of the boys. You'll see a photograph of all three of them with the Cookie Monster. And he displays all of these things on this, almost as if it's an altar. And he tells Detective Miller, "I had the children pick out their favorite things so that we could put them there." The defendant then tells Detective Miller that, "We weren't really sure when we were going to do this, so we made sure we bought some clothes for Alec just in case he was alive. I bought some fishing lures just in case we decided to go fishing before I killed them." The defendant rather nonchalantly describes murdering his children. And on the day that he does this, he tells law enforcement, and you got to hear it, that set an alarm for 11:30 p.m. So that he could wake up to accomplish- Objection of fact's not an evidence. [00:13:03] Speaker 1: That's the attorney's objection. [00:13:05] Speaker ?: So that he's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. 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He's going to be able to do this. [00:14:11] Speaker 1: He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. [00:14:14] Speaker ?: He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. [00:14:20] Ms. Pinnell: He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. [00:14:23] Speaker ?: He's going to be able to do this. [00:14:24] Ms. Pinnell: He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. [00:14:32] Speaker ?: He's going to be able to do this. [00:14:33] Ms. Pinnell: He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. 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He's going to be able to do this. [00:15:32] Ms. Pinnell: He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. [00:15:34] Speaker ?: He's going to be able to do this. [00:15:35] Ms. Pinnell: He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. He's going to be able to do this. And I want to point out the fact that he talks about that in his interview because yesterday you heard him say when Megan told him that he killed, she killed the children, that he goes to Zoe's room first because everything is in the same order. So he goes to Zoe's room first and he goes and gets a wash rag and he goes back and he closes her eyes and shuts her mouth with the wash rag because it's the fatherly thing to do to make sure that she's comfortable. That's what the defendant told you yesterday. Now, after he's done killing Zoe, the four-year-old, he goes to Alec and Alec is upstairs. Alec is the 13-year-old boy. Alec's the oldest. He also described on the stand yesterday that Alec's the strongest. And he goes and he suffocates Alec. And how he describes it to Detective Miller is also very nonchalant. And he also indicates to Detective Miller that he stabs Alec in the abdomen. He's looking for the umbilicus or this vein that is supposed to help Alec bleed out quickly. Then the defendant goes downstairs to Tyler. Conveniently, Alec and Tyler are separated. They share a room. You had an opportunity to see the photos. Their beds normally are close together. But conveniently on this night, they are separated. And Tyler's downstairs on the couch. And I made sure to ask the defendant yesterday, was it a pull-out couch? Was the couch open? You know, what was going on with the couch at the time that Tyler was killed? So not only did the defendant go in there and suffocate Tyler and stab Tyler's body, but the defendant after he moved Tyler took the time to put the couch back, put all the cushions back on the couch, make sure everything was all organized and put away. There was a stuffed animal sitting on the couch. It looked undisturbed. Now, then after all the children are dead, the defendant decides with Megan, according to his statement, that he's going to kill Breezy. So they put a blanket down on the master bedroom bed. They call the dog up onto the bed and the defendant grabs the dog's snout and suffocates the dog and kills the dog. The defendant then wraps the dog in a blanket, puts it in a dog bed under the nightstand. And it was at this point that the defendant does describe this plan and Detective Miller specifically asks him, If you had everything so planned, if this was the plan and it had to happen and this is what you're going to do for the afterlife. Why didn't you know who was going to die first? Why didn't, why was there a question as to who was going to die before Megan or the defendant? The defendant then tells law enforcement that Megan stabs herself, not once but twice. And there's a bit of time between each stabbing where they're laying in bed hoping that Megan's going to bleed out and die. The defendant is very detailed in describing everything that happened between each stabbing. The defendant says that Megan was getting aggravated because it wasn't working. She was chugging Benadryl. She was chugging wine. She was taking Tylenol PM. She was doing all of these things in an attempt to kill herself. And you heard from Dr. Nora yesterday that actually two days ago that none of the stab wounds were fatal. And ultimately the defendant takes a pillow and puts it over Megan's head until she dies. Now something that I want to point out to you about his testimony yesterday. Because the defendant says yesterday that he came home. Megan said she killed the kids. He went and checked on each kid and then Megan stabbed herself. And at some point he's given her CPR. You heard from the medical examiner that the stab wounds weren't fatal. He jumps into CPR. He doesn't. He says the cell phones are hidden. But he doesn't call out for help. He doesn't try and get help. He describes the situation that he just comes home and all his children are dead. It's morning. And when I asked him specifically, well did you go to a neighbor? Did you try and get help? He says, well, we live in a snowbird area. Right? It was December. It was December. This would be prime time for everybody to be at their houses. It's the morning. You know, it's unrealistic to believe that there was nobody there. And also something that's very interesting about what the defendant told you yesterday is how he described Megan. When the defense was questioning the defendant, the defendant was very emotional describing Megan. He was describing himself as a very loving and devoted husband. He would do anything for his wife. And it made him choke up as he's describing this to you. And he was very detailed, used a lot of adjectives. But you also got to see a different side of the defendant yesterday. The defendant did not shed one tear when I was talking to him. In fact, he was pretty angry with me. And I had him describe going into each child's room and finding his children dead. Something that he did not talk about on direct examination. And he was just angry. And something else that I'll point out to you is he described himself as this loyal, I'll do anything. I'll take the blame for Megan man. But something very interesting that he said is Megan killed her kids. Megan killed her kids, not our kids, not my kids, her kids. And something also about what he says, because he kind of changed his statement. And the judge is going to tell you, or he did tell you, that you have to look at the defendant's statement yesterday, just like you would every other witness. You have to weigh what he said with the other evidence that you have in the case. You also have to weigh his statement within. Is his statement consistent with the rest of what he's telling you? Is his statement consistent with the evidence? Is his statement consistent? Well, we know it's not consistent with what he told law enforcement, right? So, some of the things that he told you yesterday. He told you when he had first got home, Megan's shirt's covered in blood. What happened? He just came out of the bathroom. What happened? And he runs and he checks on Zoe, right? So, Megan just told him, I killed our kids. This is why, because the afterlife, and he's trying, she's trying to explain to him and she's following him around. Because miraculously on this day, she's pain free. Every other day of her life, she was in enough pain to kill herself and her children. But this day she was pain free. So, she's pain free running after him as he's checking on a children. He runs past Alex's room, to Zoe's room, because Zoe's his princess. That's what he said yesterday. He sees Zoe and goes to the bathroom and gets a washcloth to close her eyes. Meanwhile, he's been told his other two children are dead. He doesn't go from child to child to child. He takes the time, he goes to the bathroom, gets a washcloth, wet the washcloth. He tells you yesterday, well, I didn't have a chance to wet the washcloth between each one. Does that make sense to you? Something that's great about being a juror is you don't have to check your common sense at the door when you come in. You get to bring it back with you in deliberation or you get to bring it in here. And the defendant says after all this, Megan's following him around and saying, he tells her, I just want you to get help. I'll take the blame. I just want you to get help. Because he's got to explain why he told law enforcement he did it. So, I just, I'll take the blame. And then after she stabbed herself and he tries CPR, then that's when he yells out the window but nobody answers. The defendant sat in that house for over three weeks with his dead family. The defendant, although he denied it yesterday, told law enforcement he went to Sarasota after they died. He's going to Academy. He's going to Publix. He's going to CVS. He's going to Walgreens. He's going to all these places using cash at all these places. He's checking the mail. He's pulling in packages. And his family is, he had moved them all to the same room. He put rosaries in all of their hands. He covered them all up with blankets. He's also putting a lot of plug-ins. There's candles in the trash. There's air purifiers that are stacked in this room. And he is living in this bedroom with his dead family. And he tells you, the whole time I was just trying to get the courage to kill myself. He had the courage to kill his four-year-old daughter. So he tries hanging, and you saw a picture of the ratchet strap. He tries zip ties that he tied around his neck that he cut off that he conveniently left out in the open. He tries BB guns. He tries Benadryl. He tries all these different ways to kill himself for three weeks. And he also takes the time to write a typed note to leave it. And you'll get it, you didn't get to read it in here, but you'll get a chance to read it when you deliberate because the note's in evidence, so you'll get a chance to look at it. And during his interview with law enforcement, he uses the word "we" throughout the interview. And something that he said yesterday is he's going to take the blame. He loves Megan. He's loyal to Megan. He's a loving husband, a loving father. You know, he takes every opportunity to play with his kids because he doesn't know, you know, when will it be the last opportunity. He included Megan on everything he told law enforcement. It wasn't, I take the blame, she didn't do anything. They did it together is what he tells law enforcement. He is the one that carried out the killings, but she's in the doorway encouraging him. [00:28:50] Speaker ?: He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. He's the one that he's in the doorway. [00:29:16] Ms. Pinnell: There are a lot of things within his statement he said to me yesterday. They're inconsistent. He describes in detail the fact that they had leftovers for dinner. The kids ate, but he didn't eat. He had a shake. He then, after dinner, gets in their family van and drives over to 211 Longview. Realizes he forgets his tools, so he walks back to 202, plays basketball with his kids. He doesn't know. The sun's still up. He didn't tell me a time. The sun's still up. He walks back with the bag of tools to 211. Realizes his phone's about to die, so he sits in his van and charges his phone. But when I specifically asked him if he had a phone when he found out his family was dead, he said, "Well, I fell asleep in the van, but the van wasn't on, so the phone didn't charge, and I didn't know the phone didn't charge." When you plug a phone in, you know whether it's charging or not. And the defendant wants you to believe that he slept an entire night in this van with it off. So the defendant wakes up and he realizes he's late and he's got to get back because he doesn't want his wife to be mad, because he's got to do these physical therapy moves on her to help her, so he rushes back. But he leaves the van there and walks back. And he goes in the house and that's when he discovers all this thing. And something else that you can consider is whether the witness was straightforward in answering the attorney's questions. The defendant, I told you, we're here because the defendant wants control. The defendant tried to control everything yesterday, too. I would ask a question, the defendant would give an answer that he wanted to give, and then we would have, it's a yes or no question, and there was a lot of back and forth between both of us. The defendant was trying to ask me questions. He wants control. The judge told you that it's not a possible doubt, speculative doubt, imaginary force doubt. It's a reasonable doubt. And we talked in jury selection that there's a difference between what's possible and what's reasonable, right? So how you can find a reasonable doubt, if there is one, I submit to you that there's not, is the evidence a lack of evidence or conflict in the evidence. The conflict in the evidence comes from what the defendant told you yesterday. Because obviously he gave one complete statement to law enforcement and a completely different statement to you in court yesterday. The two cannot be resolved. So you're going to have to decide which version you believe. So I'm going to admit to you that what the defendant told law enforcement makes the most sense in this case. The defendant took the life of Zoe. He then went and took the life of Alec. Then Tyler. Then the family dog. Then the family dog. And then ended with his wife. And now we're here. The state's confident that you're going to return verdicts in case in this case. [00:33:16] Speaker 1: Thank you, Ms. Pennell. [00:33:24] Speaker ?: Thank you.