Melody Farris Trial (Pt 50.4) — Final Closing Arguments [4/4]

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: There was one thing that Melody Farris was very good at, and that is betraying everyone close to her. I went through testimony of her children in this case, even Amanda. She tore our family apart. Mom became hostile, aggressive, demanding money. Even Amanda said, there was manipulation. I should have been more angry at her. And Chris Farris, when he was asked, how do you feel about your mom committing this crime when your daughter was possibly at home? I think it's thick and twisted. He didn't say, oh, I don't think she would do that. These are her children. But as you sit here, she is trying to blame them for this crime. Those are her kids. Let that sink in. She has thrown both her sons, a son-in-law, under the bus for this crime. The murder of her husband, who she betrayed the most. She didn't only take away their father, but she took away a grandfather. She took away a big part of Byrne Foreman. But the only thing he was to her was in the way. When she's faced with her parents, when she's faced with the reality and the consequences of what she did, the first thing she does, serves up her kids on a silver platter. Parades it all around the courtroom. But the evidence, in this case, doesn't point to a single one of them. This is Gary. He is not a pile of bags of fertilizer. He's a man. It's offensive to compare a man to bags of dirt. Now, the defense wants you to believe she's just the unluckiest woman ever. There was blood found in her home. There was a bullet found in her home. She was framed. It was planted. That's not reasonable. She just happened to also be having a long-standing affair with a man who's searching for wedding rings less than a week before Gary Ferris is murdered. They want you to think that's a coincidence? Man, they're in for it. Because there's a long list of coincidences if that's the game they're playing. If that's what they're trying to get at. Not only that, but she just so happened to be taking care of a woman who owned a .38 snub-nosed revolver and a leather holster that her son saw in the basement of her home. Another coincidence? No, ladies and gentlemen, that's called evidence. They want you to think there's an individual, innocent, reasonable explanation for all of the incriminating evidence against her. That it's a giant conspiracy. That the gunshot wounds didn't kill him? Use your common sense and reason. Now let's briefly talk about Scott, then we're going to get into the evidence that incriminates Melody Ferris. When you think about Scott Ferris, think about the manner in which he testified. Think about how he was corroborated, not only by the witnesses in this case, but the digital evidence. The digital evidence proves he was truthful about everything he did that weekend, that week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Thursday. Thursday. And he's corroborated by Martha Barton, because you know what he didn't know? That Martha Barton had a gun, a .38 snub-nosed revolver, and a leather holster. And a huge piece of evidence. He knew Melody the best. He knew his parents. He knew their dynamic. He knew that. Melody never had a credit card. He knew that Melody was angry. He was there when she slammed that plate down and said, I can't wait until the day he's dead. He saw that. The day before his father was murdered. He knew that Melody despised Gary, and he would get caught in the middle. He just wanted to bury his head in the sand and be like, let me do my work. Keep me out of the marriage problems. But the second he knew his father was in that burn pile, they want to get on him for taking charge. You know what you learn in the military? To take charge. To take action. That's all he knew. That was ingrained in his mind. We need to call 911. We need to get the girls out of here so they're not traumatized for the rest of their lives. And we need to get to the bottom of this and get to the truth. Let's talk about lack of motive for Scott. He was completely reliable. Relied. Relied. He completely relied on his father. For everything. His livelihood. The place he lived. The money. Why would he take that away? He would have nothing left. Melody would kick him out immediately. He also knew, forgot to mention, Melody disappeared every week to go see Rusty. He knew that. [00:08:15] Speaker 2: One of her mothers. [00:08:23] Speaker 1: And he didn't have access to a .38 revolver. Or own one. Think about this. Scott committed this crime. There's no way she wouldn't know about it. She was home the whole time. Law enforcement didn't blue-star the barn because nobody saw blood in the barn. They blue-starred where there was physical blood. No blood found in the barn. They didn't have to. The bullet was in the house. Gary was on the burn pile. [00:09:02] Speaker ?: What happens when you lay the plate? I forget to take it upstairs. [00:09:23] Speaker 3: There was testimony about Gary talking about Melody poisoning him. We didn't admit that or get that in evidence because we think he was poisoned. That shows his state of mind. [00:09:34] Speaker 1: That shows he knew Melody would kill him if it came down to it. That shows his state of mind. That shows he knew Melody would kill him if it came down to it. She's the only one that would have. And he knew she wanted him dead. She's clearly poisoning me. Supper was fixed for me. I'm probably going to feel bad. That was after her slamming that plate down on the ground in frustration because he left a dirty plate in the theater or his bedroom or wherever. It's not normal behavior. That corroborated Scott. So this might be because I'm a millennial, but I always read that first line as do you have my credit card because my phone always fixes do to so and it just irritates me. But read it however you wish. Gary to Scott, do you have my credit card? So you have my credit card. Choose one. Yes. Hang on to it as if your life depended on it. Is that what you tell someone who you want to cut off? No. That's what you tell someone you trust to keep the credit card away from her. He relied on Scott probably a little too much for this dynamic between him and Melody. Probably shouldn't have gotten Scott involved, but here he is. He lives on the property. It's natural. He says, okay. And then he says, she makes me go shopping with her because she keeps saying the other card is turned off, the debit card. The girlfriend of her boyfriend, Rusty Barton, sent me several disturbing emails last night. This is in October of 2017. She is spending dime of my money. Either she is spending every dime of my money or she won't spend every, I don't know. Something about spending his money. Things will change dramatically. You need to pursue a job soon. He's not telling Scott to pursue a job because he wants a lot of property. He's telling Scott to pursue a job because something's about to go down. He's about to leave her. He's had it. But this was almost a year before his death. Melody wanted everyone to believe after Gary was murdered that Scott was some big, scary dude that everyone should be afraid of because he's got PTSD or whatever. [00:12:48] Speaker 4: He's just a big guy, so you should fear him. [00:12:53] Speaker 1: She even had Amanda and Chad change locks on that house. But if you go through these text messages, which is Pescaris 5, State's Exhibit, all their text messages post-offense when they were living on the property together. You know what she did? She relied on Scott. She left him keys under the rug to get into the house. But then turned around and told people he stole stuff out of the house. That's not two-faced. That's not malicious. You don't leave a key under a rug for someone you think wants to kill you or frame you. Or someone you think killed your husband. Oh, keys under the rug. Come on in. One more thing about Scott. Mr. Fogos mentioned the oath we take as prosecutors. It is our duty to uphold the law without fear, favor, or affection. There is no evidence that points to Scott in this case. You don't think if there was evidence Scott did something in this case that he wouldn't be sitting at that table with Melody? Sure make our job easier. I'm not going to indict someone where there's no evidence he committed a crime. Let's talk a little about the Ferris family history. In the beginning of this trial, y'all probably were wondering why we walked through every child's history and experience growing up in all these different houses and states and what their dad was like when they were younger, what their mom was like when they were younger. Then you realized how far back and how deep this goes. This is not a simple family. This is not a simple case. But in order to fully understand the dynamics of this family, you had to hear all of that history. Do you know that this is from Emily's wedding? I'm going to talk about a little bit of buildup to the day of July 3rd, 2018. You've got Ted Wiley, that affair, about eight years before Gary's death. That changed the dynamic of Gary and Melody's relationship greatly. He totally took her off the finances. He was like, do you want to take out all the money I had set aside for taxes? Great. I'm going to take you off all the accounts. You want to come back and try to work this out? Come home. Leave Ted. Who, by the way, was dating Gary's sister for like 20 years before she decided to hook up with him. 2010, he dismissed the divorce that he filed. Martha Jane had her surgery in 2014. Okay? The kids said that things seemed fine between 2010 and 2014. Seemed fine. Martha Jane had her surgery. And that's when the affair begins with Rusty Barton. Emily's wedding was two years later. She flaunted that relationship in front of people that night. She didn't care. She had no conservative spirit about that whatsoever. And Gary had to pretend like it didn't bother him that night because his daughter was getting married. It was supposed to be the best night of her life, but you know who couldn't help but make it about her? Melody Fares. Chris testified that Gary was so upset, he said, that's the last time. Melody's going to embarrass me. Then you have in 2016, Martha tells Melody about the location of her revolver. You also have in 2016, Melody telling Gary, I hope you die alone and had a gruesome death. And remember, Terry Roswell, this was Terry Roswell's phone, and he had her burner phone number. This was a phone she thought nobody would ever see the inside of. She's not using, she's not saying that type of stuff on her 9029 number. And then Terry says, he's going to push you over the edge. And she says, I know, and that scares me. I told him, I told him finally to go where I could not even see or hear him. It would be in his best interest. She knew she had no self-control. She hated him that much. September 2017, she gallivants out to Jamaica with Rusty. Meanwhile, she sends her debit card through the mail to Sherry Cooper to run it in Minnesota because she told everybody she was in Minnesota. Poor Sherry. She had some guilt about that. She's like, I don't know why I did that. That was stupid. Don't forget, Melody betrays every person and uses every person closer to her for her own benefit. She even, I used to call, and I've already mentioned this, you saw Amanda's reaction to those text messages. [00:20:17] Speaker 2: She did not like being used like that. [00:20:27] Speaker 1: Sherry receives an email from Christina Grant. Just FYI, your wife and Rusty Barton have been lovers for three years. I'll give it. [00:20:38] Speaker 4: I'll give it to her. [00:20:46] Speaker 1: She's the only one who's bringing this to life. Everyone else is leaving it out of the rug. Christina's like, no, y'all aren't going to get away with this. [00:21:03] Speaker 4: That's what Gary texts Scott about the credit card. Hang on to it because of your life to take it home. [00:21:14] Speaker 1: March 2018, Gary sends Melody this text message. Your profligate spending must stop. He says in the middle there, between you, Chris, and Scott, I can't keep up. You treat me like I don't exist, which is offensive, typo, more typo, given how you repeatedly betray me. Gary's in the hospital in April of 2018. Meanwhile, she's telling Rusty Barton he has like esophageal cancer and he's spitting up blood and he's on his deathbed. Even Chris said she made it sound like he was bad. And then he shows up to the hospital and Gary's like, what's that look on your face for? He's like, I thought you were like real bad. [00:22:19] Speaker 2: And he was fine. He walked out of the hospital [00:22:24] Speaker 1: and went back to his mountain and he was like, I'm sorry. And that's when he tells Chris, you know, I think Melody's choosing me. Again, that goes to his state of mind. This was all amping up. He knew something was off. June was a big one. 2018. June's next. Stark TV comes to the house and yes, please look at those chats because Gary says, hey, come to the house real quick. I need to show you the issue so you know what issues are going to get here. That's when direct TV comes. That's when Scott sees that as well. Again, this car robberates Scott. He could have said, I don't know when I saw that. I don't know. He knew. He knew when he saw it. He was like, actually, I was looking for a remote which makes perfect sense. He's looking in drawers for the remote to figure out the TV or the TV guy. That's completely reasonable and natural. He's opening drawers and he's like, [00:23:39] Speaker 2: oh, that's weird. A gun that looks just like the one Martha Barton described. [00:23:48] Speaker 1: June 25th. Rusty searches in his phone plain gold wedding band. You'll see text messages from Maladie to him. plain gold wedding band. That was their thing. And then Gary's birthday. Jenna sees a revolver. Jenna has no dog in this fight. Her and Chris aren't even together anymore. We don't talk. She has no dog in this fight. She don't want to be here talking about this. No motive to lie. Now on June 28th, Melody learns about the case trip, which is supposed to be that Saturday. [00:24:54] Speaker 2: That's also not a coincidence. That's also not a coincidence. [00:25:04] Speaker 1: And then the text messages. To Emily and Amanda. These are two separate messages that she sent to two separate people expressing how angry she was that Gary got a condo for Chris and Jenna. Not a reasonable reaction. She was over it. I'm taking measures to stop this insanity. No one thought these would be the measures. But here we are. Because the next day, Gary's murder. Again, not another coincidence. Let's talk about her motive. That first text message I was shocked when Sherry told me you had a boyfriend, but don't blame me. From Terry Groswald to Melody. Playing Golden Wedding Man. That's when he searches on his phone. Rusty does. This note. Crown XO. March 31st, 2014. She made a note on her phone about Rusty's favorite drink. So we know that corroborates the timeline of their relationship. And then these messages on the side here from August 4th and 5th. That's what she made her and Rusty. That's not even... That's a month after her husband was found murdered and burned on a burn pit on her own property who she claims that her son killed. Meanwhile, she's over here forever. We need us. I need you. All. All. All. You don't get more motive than that. Except she had more. All right. This is all the money she would get if Gary died accidentally. Add all those up. Okay. 4.15 million dollars now. The defense wants you to believe she didn't know about it. You know what you do know. You know that she goes in his phone when he's not around. You know that she cleans that house. You know she's not stupid. She knew about his profit sharing. She called the office and asked about it. She knows where that money goes. She, again, consider the source. She is going around pretending like she's asking Emily, what am I going to do? What am I going to do if something happens to your dad? They're the ones that stood up here that said his money is her money. We all know that's true when you're married. It's either going to go to her or the kids. Probably all four. Naturally, without a will. That house was hers. You cannot tell me she didn't, she thought she was going to be broke. It's ridiculous. Afterwards, it was always about money, money, money. Melody was demanding money. She was trying to get as much money as possible. She didn't think that when he was found dead, all the finances would be frozen. She didn't think they found a bullet in his room either. I was terrified. I would be broke. Ma'am, your husband's a millionaire. And here we have it. The condo. This is Hayes 55. Did you talk to Chris about his beach trip? What beach trip? He wants to take the girls down there the weekend after the 4th. Let him take them. I haven't gotten past him standing on my porch telling me he was going to beat me unrecognizable and that the only time he wanted to see me again was when they put me in a box on the ground or that he continues to take money every month of which you do nothing about. She's blaming Gary for that. There is something terribly wrong with not being able to take a beach trip with the grandkids without so much drama. I guess such a trip is not exciting enough for someone like you. Man, he knew his wife, didn't he? July 2nd. I got Gary's phone. He booked and paid for the condo for Chris and Jenna. I'm beyond curious. Amanda, oh, big surprise. Right, always there in the mom's corner. I had to put the times on this one because this is ridiculous. Melody, did you book a condo for Chris and Jenna? Trying to, like, trap him? It's your husband. You're like, hey, I got your phone. So you booked this condo. You don't want to talk to me about that? Actually, he did talk to you about it. He invited you on a trip. You said no. I booked one for me in the club as well. That's how manipulative and conniving she was. And you remember, in Lindsay Harris' presentation, you saw the group chat among Amanda, Gary, and Melody. about she was making a photography appointment. Amanda, she invited both her parents and Gary said I'm going to the beach. Melody chats her on the side. This is your time to ask him. Thanks for the invite. Manipulation, conniving, deceit. That's what she's about. Again, these text messages. The top one, it's a little bright. Melody to Emily. I have had it. I'm taking measures to stop this insanity. This was July 2nd. That's her message to Amanda Paris. This is the last straw with him. All right. I want to get into the timeline of events. These phone calls, these are all the phone calls that she had with Rusty on the 3rd, in the evening. I didn't go before that. We know Chris and Addison stopped by the house in the evening. We know Gary went out to eat and came home around 9.30. And don't forget, John Lambert heard gunshots between 9 and 10 p.m. that night. They talked for an hour and 14 minutes at 11.45 p.m. But they talked for five minutes at 11.28. The call in between that is the one to Scott, 11.34, when Scott calls when he gets back home. Because, you know, she has to tell Scott to come home. She calls him and she's like, what time are you going to be home? The horses got out. And I want you to think about this. In her statements to Detective Hayes and Detective Pike and all, she talks about these horses getting out. I think it starts like before dinner. And then it starts with like one horse. And then for some reason she's still chasing horses three hours later. But then it goes to two horses. And then she's like, oh, but then the third one got out after that. Inconsistent. You weren't chasing horses. You were murdering your husband. She had to call Scott because she didn't know what time he'd be home. She had to call Scott to see what time he'd be home. because then when she says, well, the horse has got out and he's like, okay, I'm coming home. She's like, well, I got him put up. Okay, then why are you calling? It doesn't make sense. The horses are the cover-up. When she calls Scott when she calls Scott Scott's all the way up there at the lake. She calls him at 10.52. What time are you going to be home? All those calls with Rusty in between. I want to talk I want to talk about this notification. At 12.24 a.m., the morning of the 4th, so the night of the 3rd, the night Gary is killed, she uses her debit card to purchase minutes on Straight Talk. Y'all heard a lot of testimonies. One, about how she has a credit card. Two, about how Gary would get financial alerts for all of her purchases. Lindsay testified, Ms. Harris, excuse me, testified. This was the only alert that popped up in his email, in his phone, for Straight Talk. That's not a coincidence. She knew Gary was dead. So using her debit card to blast that she has a Straight Talk phone, not a problem. [00:35:48] Speaker ?: She's saying [00:35:49] Speaker 5: Gary is in the bargain pile. [00:35:53] Speaker ?: No, she said he is in the bargain pile. [00:35:57] Speaker 5: And I said what? And she said he's in the bargain pile. And she said do not say another word and do not tell me anything. I do not need to know. [00:36:15] Speaker 1: That's what that 220 call was about. Now, again, believe what you want about Rusty. We all know he knew more than he came in here and told you. We all know that. We're not stupid. they talked for an hour and 35 minutes at 11 whatever and then another 35 minutes at 220 a.m. But that's all he was willing to give. But that's enough. And you know that that's how it happened because he gave you the context and he told you when that call happened. Mr. Ray talked about Detective Botsong using this open source document or program for the CPAP machine. All right. The date is the third. It ends at 748 a.m. That's the last data for that CPAP machine for Gary Ferris going to sleep. Now you got the raw records too. Look at that. Oh 748 a.m. It's the same. The data the raw data shows he never ever went to sleep then I did the third. Now I want to talk about this map. All right. All right. See where that dot is? And that's Gary's phone. The morning of the fourth at 637 a.m. till 721 a.m. Right there at that burn pile. We know Gary's dead. And we know it goes from the house to the burn pile. You'll have that with you in the jury room. And then it goes back to the house. 758 821 905 it's back of the house. She's on the phone with Rusty all morning. And you know Scott's location during this time is in here. He left for the lake. He was 20 minutes away. The only one home was Melody. That phone was either on Melody or on Gary's dead body. But you know who wasn't there? Scott. Melody was by herself. You know Rusty wasn't there because she's on the phone with him the whole time. Well, and you heard testimony that he was actually in Tennessee. But also, we know what time she left for the lake. She left 1247 p.m. She puts that location Amanda sends her into her maps and heads out to the lake. Now, the thing about Dr. Pope's testimony in that 24-hour window, she said that that was dependent upon the fuel. And you heard testimony that that burn pile was huge. You know what she did? She lit that burn pile and she left. The three calls with Rusty Barton the evening of the third and the morning of the fourth total more than the other 15 calls that they've ever had between those hours. Again, that's not a coincidence. she was freaking out because she just killed her husband and had to figure out what to do with him. You know who she turned to? Rusty. [00:40:42] Speaker 4: What do I do? [00:40:53] Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to talk about her activity. The third, the seventh, September seventh, twenty seventeen. September thirtieth, twenty seventeen. And the third, July third, twenty eighteen. Those are the three most, those are the three days to have the most activity between. This is a one hour period. One hour. From eleven p.m. to midnight. Okay? Now, we talked about Jamaica, the one on the seventh. that was probably a day we done. Okay? All right, fine. Let's get rid of it. Two. The two most active nights she has ever had in a year are gallivanting about Broadway when she's out in Nashville with Chad and Amanda and the [00:41:44] Speaker ?: and the [00:41:44] Speaker 1: night she murdered her husband. That tracks. That makes sense. That's reasonable. This is also not a coincidence. I want to talk about the money. We know Melody didn't have a credit card. The only card she had was a debit card. And that card is the one that ended in 0078, the one Scott used at that ATM that morning that he got from the house and brought back. There's that ATM withdrawal. That's the one brought back to his mom. Even Melody says about Scott. And he has a credit card. I don't even have that. We know that. That 0078 card is her only card. until law enforcement empties her wallet. That card on the right ending in 1727. That's the card Gary got mailed to his office less than a month before his murder. That was a new credit card. That's his office address and that Bank of America Activity Alert. And that's her transaction at Walmart the morning of July 5th before Gary's remains were discovered. Oh yeah, by the way, the trip to Walmart that she doesn't mention to police ever, that she says she's literally interviewed on the 5th and on the 6th leaves it out, says she's just, I don't know, cleaning up after the girls, lays in bed. Why don't you talk about this trip to Walmart? Look, she even activated a phone card. What was so important you had to run out to Walmart that morning? Could it be to restock on cleaning supplies? Is that why you didn't want law enforcement to know you went to Walmart? Or because you spent 450 bucks on a credit card that you didn't have until you took it out of your dead husband's wallet? Oh. She needed to wash those towels, she needed to Clorox that floor. She bought a lot of soap, a lot of leach. And we know it was her because she bought wine and showed her ID. Let's talk about the truth of July 5, 2018. Melody is actually the one who pointed out Gary's remains to Scott. And yet she's letting everybody gallivant around saying Scott found him, Scott found him. That's not true. And she knows it. She's the one who told police also that corroborated Scott. I said, hey, did you put a goat in the fire? That was her. Pointing out the remains to Scott. Because if you don't have a body, you don't get the money. She knew he hadn't found. Melody actually knew the night before that the girls couldn't find him. Addison said that. She was concerned. And yet she pretended like the morning of the fish she didn't know who was missing. Not only started looking when Amanda got there, she was sitting on a stoop, just like, hey, yeah, we can't find Gary. Okay, well, how long do you know about this? Actually, since last night. Well, that would be the wrong answer. That would make her suspicious. And when Amanda described the events on the 5th, boy, were those vastly different from everybody else's. The thing about it, and what got me, was she was like, nobody asked me. Weren't you told not to talk to the police? You were the one who didn't want to tell what happened. So then you live with your mom for two years and decide to tell what happened and by then, you've been completely tainted. Scott testified he went to the little from CPAP and the gun that he used for duck hunting to see if maybe he was out duck hunting. He didn't mention that until after he went in the basement, thought to look for that 38, saw it was gone, then he came up and was like, oh, yeah, by the way, this 38 is missing. He didn't mention a missing gun before that. Think about the source of all that information. That's Melody being predictive and planting thoughts in her daughter's head. On the fifth, when you go back and you hear Melody statements. On the fifth, man, she tried everything. Scott's health issues, suicide, Chris steals money. Here's the thing. Here's how it went down. I have a picture of an octopus up there. Do you know what an octopus does when it feels threatened? It squirts ink in the water to escape. The closer she felt like she was getting into trouble, the more she felt threatened, she starts spewing all this ink about her kids. She even talks about Chris Payne. He wasn't even in the state. she does care who she throws under the bus to save herself. It is actually insane. And it's such a reach. Scott likes to shoot guns. Okay. Chris takes money. Okay, well, he was in Buckhead, so this is going nowhere. And then the suicide. It's funny because she says, no, he wasn't suicidal, and then when she feels threatened, she's like, oh, well, yeah, no, he used to be suicidal before we got married. Once she realized that the jig was up, ooh, she was frantic. the only thing, the only person she didn't throw under the bus was Amanda. Because she only needs one child to support her. She just needs one. It's all about what she wants, what she needs. It's not about anyone else. She prided herself on her house and her things. She liked her things. she wanted to keep her house immaculate. She talked about that. She decorated it to a tee. Not my style, but, you know, to each their own. And yet, it was pretty dirty on the fit. Let's talk about the blood. Don't forget that Deputy Riley walked in that house and there was a candle burning by the basement door. Oh, a place for a candle to burn. And it smelled like bleach. We've got Gary's blood right there on that basement floor. The defense want you to believe these are all different sources of different things. That's not reasonable. We've got a blood trail. And it goes from the top of those basement stairs, where that attempted cleanup is, down the stairs, into the basement. [00:51:22] Speaker 4: see that big bottom splotch? That's those stains right there on the left. That's blood. [00:51:45] Speaker 1: Those evidence markers that were Gary's blood, right along this trail. That's in the basement, in front of the bar. It is not reasonable to think that there is a legal justification for all of that. That's not reasonable. What's reasonable is, that's a crime scene. Because we have a man who was shot twice, at least, burning in the burn pile behind this house. to think otherwise is to seek doubt. And that is not your duty. It means an opportunity. They had a lot of stuff. They had a lot of farm equipment. You know, the farm girl, Melody Ferris. And she's, you know what, she gets it done. She's determined. She's self-sufficient. And you know what really motivates someone? Getting caught for murder. It wouldn't have been easy for anyone to move that body. Not Scott, by himself. Not Chris, by himself. Anyone would have needed something. And you know what? It's okay if you all think different ways in which she moved his body. One of you could think she used the tractor. One of you could think she used the RTV. One of you could think she literally just got down and rolled him there. It was all downhill you saw. One of you could think she tied him up like a deer to the back of the RTV and dragged him over there. But he ended up on that burn pile. And a fairy didn't put him there. A murder fairy didn't put him there. No one else. There is no evidence anyone else is on that property. And to think differently is to seek doubt. She was in good shape people. She had [00:54:10] Speaker 2: no choice [00:54:11] Speaker 1: but to move him. or she would have been caught literally red handed. She's not stupid. That's why we're here today. Now we're going to talk about guns. Scott doesn't have a pistol. We introduced that. She is a self-proclaimed not a bad shot. She told that to Terry. That means she's shot guns before. And remember she's a farm girl. And a .38 revolver pretty easy to shoot. Martha Jane. Ooh, they're mad about Martha Jane. She is, as Mr. Fogas said, God-fearing. She needed to be right with God. She's not going to lie to you. She noticed that gun was missing after Gary's murder. And it's reasonable for her to think that we can put a gun in her hand for this murder. It's reasonable for her to think that. But it wasn't until she realized we didn't have a murder weapon that she was like, oh, they need my help. I gotta say something. And it was in a leather holster. You know who that gives credibility to? Scott? We know he was shot at least two times. These were shot from the same gun. And no, they're not consistent with the 38 bullets found in Scott's apartment. They're just not. And they're not consistent with a .357 or whatever other gun they think may be involved. No. It's consistent with 38 special revolvers. Not .357. I'm going to talk about Melody's lies. She was interviewed by Sergeant Hayes and Sergeant Keikendall. And when she was told that her husband of almost 39 years was shot, do you remember what her question was? Do you know what kind of bullet? That would not have even crossed my mind to ask, no suspicion, what do you mean he was shot, what? I thought he just, what do you mean, he had health issues? She's not worthy of belief. She lied to them about Ted Wiley, she lied to them about her phone, she lied to them about Rusty Barton, her XO tattoo, going to Jamaica with Rusty, Gary going out to eat on the 3rd, she never mentioned that, because you know what, she was waiting inside that house with her gun, ready to confront him. She lied about going to Walmart, she lied about how much money she's, I spent nothing. Man, profligate spending, I had to look that word up. Chris booked a, she kept saying Chris booked a beach trip. No, no, no, no, no. She knew Gary booked that, but she wanted to blame Chris. Gary being on his deathbed, coughing up blood. Occam's razor, y'all. The simplest answer is the truth. The simplest answer in this case is where all this evidence points, and that is to Melody Walker-Ferris. It points to no one else. This is not a series of coincidences. She was not framed. She's not the unluckiest woman in the world. And again, there is not a series of justifiable reasons that explain her conduct. There's just not. And there aren't justifiable explanations to explain the evidence. July 24th, Rusty says, to law enforcement, she told me he's in the burn pile. She's arrested a year later, booked into Cherokee County. They have a jail call on June 24th, and whoop, on June 25th, he recants that statement. Y'all, there's Melody Ferris for you. I've got manipulation. She knew Rusty was her Achilles heel in this case. She knew that. She had to shut it down. You know what she was really hoping? This is how she wanted it to go down. She knew the only way out of this marriage was murder. She knew that. I don't know why she thought that, but that is what she knew. Murdering the father of her children. She was hoping his body, being on that burn pile, would be chopped up to a health episode. She didn't think the sheriff's office would find that bullet in his rib. She just didn't. That's clear. She didn't think there would be blood left in her home. She didn't think anyone would be looking for it. She didn't think law enforcement would be all over that house. Well, we found it. And we kept digging. And we found more and more and more. we found out about your affairs, your disdain for your husband, your obsession with money and things and materialism. She never once encouraged law enforcement to find the person that actually did this. She didn't think this is how any of this would play out. She manipulated her own mother to have an affair with Ted Wiley. She manipulated Martha to have an affair with Rusty. She manipulated Amanda to go with her. To continue her affairs with Rusty. She manipulated Emily. She would go to Nashville to see Emily and disappear to go see Rusty. She used all of the people in her life. She used Sherry Cooper to see Rusty. She used Rusty to try to get away with murder. She used Scott Ferris to try to get away with murder. She used Chris Ferris to try to get away with murder. And she used Gary throughout the entire marriage. [01:02:43] Speaker ?: She used to try to get away with murder. She used to try to get away with murder. [01:02:46] Speaker 1: She used to try to get away with murder. She used to try to get away with murder. She used to try to get away with murder. She used to try to get away with murder. She used to try to get away with murder. She used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. She used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:02:59] Speaker ?: And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:02] Speaker 1: And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:04] Speaker ?: And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:05] Speaker 1: And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:09] Speaker ?: And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:10] Speaker 1: And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:27] Speaker ?: And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:29] Speaker 1: And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:36] Speaker ?: And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:43] Speaker 1: And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:48] Speaker ?: And she used to try to get away with murder. [01:03:49] Speaker 1: And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. And she used to try to get away with murder. Do not reward her for almost succeeding in burning up her husband's body. Unrecognizable to the point where doctors, forensic anthropologists, cannot determine if any organs in his body had trauma. And no, you cannot tell me that there were no injuries on bones. Half of those bones were gone. What you know is there was a bullet in his body. And a bullet found in the basement with his DNA on it. And a gun that went missing from Martha Barton, who she had access to. She knew where that gun was. Do not reward her for almost concealing, successfully, the death. The gruesome death of her husband. Hold her accountable. Melody was the only one who wanted him dead. She was the only one who would benefit from him being gone. She was the only one, repeatedly, betraying him. There are no games here. Murder is not a chess game. It is malicious. And Gary did not deserve this. The last thing he saw was staring down the barrel, the .38 revolver, in the hands of his bitter wife, who was constantly betraying him. [01:05:58] Speaker 2: But this was the ultimate betrayal. Ultimate betrayal. [01:06:14] Speaker 1: Hold her accountable. You are the voice of Cherokee County in this case. You have the evidence to convict her beyond a reasonable doubt. We have proven it to you. And you have it. It's in the form of thousands of exhibits. Testimony from the stand. Audio. A lot of audio. If there is something you want to see or hear that you can't find back there, you send a note out to the judge. Do not reward her for being a smart criminal. You are the voice of Cherokee County. We do not tolerate this in this county. You do not get to shoot and mutilate your life partner. You do not get to take away the grandfather of your grandchildren. That is not your choice to make. The ultimate betrayal. Gary will not walk through that door. And that's because she took him off this planet. [01:07:46] Speaker 2: Find her guilty of all the counts in this indictment. The evidence and the law demand it. [01:08:05] Speaker 6: All right. I want everyone to the audience to stay where you are. Jurors, y'all can take a 15-minute break and then we will, I'll give you the charge. That's going to be probably 40 to 50 minutes. I'll give you the charge. [01:08:18] Speaker ?: That's going to be probably 40 to 50 minutes.