Crime Junkie - MURDERED: Phylicia Simone Barnes Part 2

Episode Date: December 21, 2022

When 16-year-old Phylicia Simone Barnes is found dead in a river 40 miles from where she was staying, her family suspects one man is responsible. But bringing him to justice is far more difficult than anyone could have expected. You can visit bellyscrub.com to stay up to date with everything pertaining to the release of John Butler’s upcoming podcast series, A Confidence in the Round. Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit https://crimejunkieapp.com/library/ to view the current membership options and policies.Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: https://crimejunkiepodcast.com/murdered-phylicia-simone-barnes-part-2/

Hi, Grime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Brett. And this is part two of the story of Felicia Barnes. If you haven't listened to part one, first of all, you're probably surprised that you're Brett. Hello. But go back and listen to part one, because otherwise you're going to be truly lost.

Honestly, I might still be lost having been in part one. Yeah, you might need a refresher. So for those of you who have already listened and just need that quick recap, 16-year-old Felicia went missing in December of 2010, only to be found deceased and floating in the river a few months later in April. And this is all going down in Baltimore.

Now, at the time, all eyes are on her half-sister's ex-boyfriend, this guy named Michael Johnson. But despite some sketchy coincidences, some weird behavior, they can't pin anything on him. But in June of 2011, the public learned that the FBI had been investigating child sexual abuse material and sexual exploitation of a minor,

which they say was in connection to Felicia's death. And although this completely comes out of the blue, it seems to get the ball rolling towards finally bringing Felicia's alleged killer to trial. So when the news of the investigation into the abuse and the exploitation hits the public, a lot of people have a lot of questions, understandably so. Like, who do they think was abusing her?

And how did they find the abuse materials? Did anyone know about it? I have all the same questions. Right. Now, they don't come right out and say much of anything at first. But what people do know is that the feds want access to Facebook and email accounts belonging to Felicia

and a handful of other people, including her sister Dina, including Michael, who again is Dina's ex, two of Michael's brothers, and one of Michael's cousins. And according to Fox 45 News, that's because a cell phone video exists, which shows Felicia, quote, with other relatives in Baltimore, partially clothed and appearing intoxicated, end quote.

Relatives? Who's relative, so like Michael's, Dina's? They don't say. And the affidavits that explain all of this are sealed. But whatever it is, it's still not enough for an arrest. How is it not enough for an arrest? I mean, she's 16. Even if the age of consent is 16, she is still a minor.

No, you're right. So the age of consent is actually 16 in Maryland. But as long as she's a minor, any explicit photos or videos taken of her are still considered child sexual abuse material. Even if she gave consent for those to be taken. So you're right. This seems like grounds for an arrest,

not necessarily for her murder, her kidnapping, whatever. Just for these materials, right? Apparently not. And so that fall, investigators try a new tactic. The Hartford County State's attorney brings the case to a grand jury, and one by one, they call in Michael's relative to testify. While at the same time, police get a wiretap on Michael's phone.

Basically, the hope is, by doing this grand jury, they're hoping they're going to scare him and scare him into talking while they're recording him. And it actually works to some extent. It gets him talking. And as detectives listen in, Michael raises questions about the strength of the case to one of his brothers.

And even though he sounds almost philosophical at times, he is worried when investigators come to his house to get a DNA sample. And actually, here is a clip from one of the actual wiretaps. Well, my thing is, what are they testing against? They taking my DNA, what are you testing against? DNA is found on hardware. And the part about it is, I can't sit there

and tell you that it wouldn't be there. Be where? Underneath the fingernails and all that shit. Because of the situation I was going on, because me, her and Dana was play-fighting this shit. And I don't know who it was, but somebody scratched the fuck out of me. And we was all sitting there playing.

They pretty much whipped my ass. But it wasn't on the real shit and letting it like that. But somebody scratched me. Now, you play-fighting shit like that. When was it? It was not too long before all this shit happened. Everybody was like, well, wouldn't that be washed away? Seeing as though she probably took a shower,

I'm like, well, that's the case. It wouldn't be washed away if you sat in the water. So evidently, they must have got a DNA sample off of her. You were there with us, a scare tag. They're like that fucking tool. I still don't know what the fuck they're trying to pull. I ain't trippin', yo. It is what it is, nigga.

What you mean it is what it is? That's a lie. However, you look at it, it's a long call. Yeah, well, I ain't complainin'. It's life. Some niggas get dealt to my fucking speed. Some niggas get dealt to club niggas. Yeah.

I can't say I had a fuck up when I had a pretty good one. I did a lot of shit that I wanted to do. There's only one more thing that I want to do. What? Brazil, nigga. But the one thing I would tell you, nigga, to do, take the first. It ain't over yet, nigga.

And not yet. Shit, I still wouldn't be over. It's gonna be my fucking fight. I ain't going down without fighting, nigga. That's right, you should. We got that recording from John Butler, who used to be with the Baltimore State's attorney's office. First, he was a law clerk, then a prosecutor.

And John is actually going to be dropping a deep dive podcast on this case called A Confidence in the Round. We actually have a link to John's website, so you can stay up to date on anything pertaining to the release of that series, right in the show notes. Now, other parts of that call are hard to understand, because at times, Michael and his brother jump into topics that they've obviously discussed before,

and they talk in shorthand that sounds like honestly code. Like, at one point, they discuss a storage bin, which they call a tote, because I think at some point, the state had one in the grand jury room. But let me ask you something about that. The way he was carrying it, you can always tell if something is in there or if it's heavy. One hand.

One hand is dragging that **** along? No, not dragging. One hand, lift holding it. Basically, so it was sitting in a vertical position like it wasn't really nothing in it. I actually was on a, I'll say, a 90-degree angle facing down like it wasn't nothing in it. But I mean, if anything was in a tote, that matters. So it seemed like some bullshit.

Probably so. What does that mean in relation to Felicia? I don't know what it means, but that bin is definitely on his mind, right? Like, he's talking about it for some reason. And in another call, Michael tells his current girlfriend at the time that he's considering fleeing the country maybe to Brazil because the U.S. won't be able to extradite him,

although I don't think he's actually right about that because the U.S. and Brazil do have an extradition treaty. Okay. And he goes on, he's like, I don't want to leave, because like at that point he had that newborn baby with this girl, but he's like saying he doesn't have any options left. Okay, hear me out. It's great that we're getting all this information

or interactions from him, but I feel like it's not clearing anything up for me. Like, what does all of that even mean? Why does he need to flee? I have so many questions. And I don't have any answers. To your point, like, it sounds damning, but as damning as it sounds.

That's all it is. He doesn't admit to anything. Right. And because of that, I mean, it's as flimsy to the grand jury as it is to us, and they decide not to indict, which could just be because they don't think Felicia was killed in Harford County, so it could be a technicality. It could be because they don't think there's enough evidence

against Michael. It could be a myriad of things. We don't know. Those things don't get released. But after this, police get a strange new lead to investigate thanks to some commentary on the People's Champion blog. It turns out that back in January of 2011, a woman who is friends with one of Michael's brothers tweeted,

quote, it's trapped at the dam. Don't pull the lever. End quote. Excuse me. What's trapped at the dam? Yeah, that's what they want to find out. When police confront the woman, she tells them that she's not sure what the tweet means.

She doesn't remember, but she's adamant that it's not about Felicia, who I'll remind everyone from episode one was found in a dam. And she even says she's willing to testify if need be that she doesn't remember or doesn't know it's about whatever. Now, after this, things go kind of silent until the one year anniversary of Felicia's disappearance. That's when Michael's lawyer shed some light on the child's

sexual abuse material warrants. Well, sort of. The lawyer says there are photos of Michael and Felicia streaking with other people running around naked inside and outside of Dina's apartment. But the photos weren't taken during Felicia's winter 2010 trip. It was taken when she had visited a few months before that.

And it's still not clear how they relate to the murder investigation at all. But the lawyer also tells reporter Justin Fenton that police have nothing on Michael, that they've been wasting their time going after him. But clearly investigators and prosecutors feel a whole other way because on Wednesday, April 25th of 2012, Michael Johnson is indicted on first degree murder in the death of

Felicia Simone Barnes. I mean, that seemed to come out of nowhere, though. It did. But Felicia's family doesn't care. They're just understandably thrilled that something's actually happening. I mean, they're waiting, what is it, two years at this point for an arrest?

But just like the investigation to get here, nothing about this trial is going to be straightforward. Starting from the moment Michael is arrested, in his jail booking photo, his face is all banged up. Like he's got a black eye, a swollen eye. His lawyer says that police roughed him up while they took him into custody. Police, on the other hand, say Michael tried to run, so a

deputy U.S. Marshall tackled him and his face hit the ground. He said, he said, I don't know. Right. Also, Peter Herman reports that it's unusual for someone in Maryland to be charged by a grand jury indictment first. Typically, I guess that comes after the initial arrest. So they're saying like things were done kind of backwards.

And a one-charge indictment is also pretty odd because, I mean, we've seen this. Prosecutors usually try and like tack on other charges. Like stack them up. Yeah, manslaughter, conspiracy. It's a safety net, right? I mean, could they just be so confident in whatever evidence that they have that they feel like they don't need those

like extra charges though? I don't know what's going on in their heads, but Michael's lawyer kind of has this theory on why they're doing this. Basically, he thinks they're rushing to charge him because as if this case wasn't complicated enough, the lead detective, Daniel Nicholson, who you'll remember as Daniel Nicholson, the fourth, he had just got suspended at this time. And that's the day before Michael was arrested.

Okay. In the ultimate twist of irony, Daniel's own teenage daughter had gone missing a few days ago. And there were allegations that he went rogue to find her, that he was like using his badge while off duty to get into someone's home, that he then assaulted them. And they're trying to get ahead of that investigation. Exactly.

Again, at the time that they're going to charge Michael, Daniel hadn't been formally. Wait, this is just the day before, right? Right. Yeah. So he hadn't been formally charged yet. So Michael's lawyer thinks that basically they wanted a conviction in Felicia's case before then going and prosecuting

Daniel. Otherwise, you've got like your lead detective could potentially be a convicted. Is now like questionable judgment, character, et cetera, et cetera. All that to say, was his daughter ever found? Yeah. So no, thankfully she was found safe and sound.

And the police union defends Daniel's actions, saying that he didn't do anything wrong. He was just a dogged investigator, a dogged dad who loves his family. I mean, I can't imagine what it's like being in that situation. And I know I do anything for my kids, but assault is still assault.

Did this person even have Daniel's daughter? Well, WBAL TV's Jane Miller reported that it was an apartment where he believed his daughter's boyfriend was staying. I don't know. It doesn't sound like they found her there. I don't know what the ins and outs of that were. To your point, if someone took Joe, like gloves are off.

There's no rules anymore. Right. There's no. So part of me gets it. Anyway, Michael ends up pleading not guilty. And since his previous comments about fleeing the country make him a flight risk, he has denied bail while everyone starts to get ready for trial.

And as the trial looms closer, John Butler, who remember, he's the guy who gave us the recordings. He's a law clerk assigned to the case at the time. He notices something strange. He notices that Michael used a different phone number on his easy pass application than the one that police were previously aware of. It turns out that he had gotten a new number around

June of 2010. So the state subpoenas those older records and surprise, there are even more texts with Felicia. More than 1300 between the two numbers. Okay. The hundreds of texts before was side-eye. This certainly doesn't look any better. I also don't know why they didn't see this on Felicia's

records, but could just be just a random older number. I don't know. I know, but you'd think they want like 1300 messages like who's this? I don't know. Either way, they find it now. Regardless, do they have any physical evidence? Well, no, that's the thing.

This entire case that they're making against Michael is circumstantial. There is no physical evidence. They don't have the storage bin that they believe was used to move her, which by the way, they don't even know. That's just their theory. Right. And they can't even say conclusively how she died.

Asphyxiation could be suffocation, strangulation, even drowning. Now, even though they collected Michael's DNA and he was clearly fearful it would have been found maybe on her fingernails based on that recorded call, they don't actually have that. They don't have DNA on her to compare it to. Not to mention Michael's cell tower records don't put him

anywhere near the area where she was found. And the state admits that they don't know how he would have gotten her body there. Although they have a theory. They think that he stashed her in the well house where that cadaver dog alerted or potentially stashed her in Patapsco State Park until he was then able to dump her in the river.

So did the autopsy ever conclude how long she was in the river though? So not that I can tell. And remember this was all in the middle of winter in the Northeast. So I would imagine that the temperature of the water would actually impact their ability to make any kind of like especially when you talk about she's been gone for months

and months. You're not narrowing down a couple hour window. It's like weeks or hopefully days but likely more like weeks. With frigid water too. Like just guess and you'd probably be close. But the prosecutors do have something that although it doesn't link Michael to Felicia's murder, it does make

Michael look real bad. In December 2012, they file a notice that they intend to play that whole cell phone video in court. The one that I mentioned earlier. But this time they release a bit more information about it. It's 16 minutes long and apparently it shows Dina and Michael along with Felicia and Michael's younger brother quote intoxicated and engaging in sexual relations.

End quote. This news comes out on the second anniversary of Felicia's disappearance and it makes her family just sick. At this point, Janice wants Dina to go to prison more than anyone. I mean she thinks she deserves a longer sentence than even Michael for putting Felicia in those situations in the first place.

And she is just furious with everyone involved. Understandably so. It's really hard for me to understand how this all went down. Now Michael's trial begins in late January of 2013. Prosecutors lay out their case. They say that Dina made terrible mistakes while in charge of her teenage sister allowing her to drink and

party with adults including Michael. And the night that that video was recorded that would have been June 13, 2010. They say they alleged that that was a turning point in Michael and Felicia's relationship which ultimately led to her death. Now the video involves kissing and quote unquote naked touching Dina with Michael Felicia with his younger

brother. But the state says that even though Michael was touching Dina, he's actually looking at Felicia. And from there they believe he became obsessed with her and he began an inappropriate relationship with her. They even bring Dina up and she has to answer questions about the video while it plays on TV monitors facing

away from court spectators. Now when she's explaining that she says that the four of them along with another of Michael's brothers were just drinking and left a party at the apartment to go streaking on a dare from Michael. And she tells the jury that she doesn't know why she let her teenage sister participate in the whole thing.

She just wasn't thinking. Yeah, no shit. But just wasn't thinking isn't an excuse for that kind of behavior. That's something your 14 year old son would say. I was going to say I barely let that slide for him on like forgetting to switch his laundry from the washer to the dryer.

It's not a good excuse for anything let alone this. I mean she was an adult in this situation. And it gets worse. She testifies that in the video Felicia is seen grabbing Michael's penis that they were playing this so-called game that Dina and Michael made up which they call. Joinking.

Where they grab each other's privates. I'm sorry. They thought it was just OK to play this game with minors. I mean I don't know why they thought this was OK but they obviously did because according to Joy Lapola's reporting for Fox 45 at one point in the video Michael is actually seen touching Felicia's breasts.

Dina says that after they were back in their apartment that night she saw Michael reach for Felicia like he was going to touch her vagina. And Felicia laughed and kind of like pushed his hand away and then Dina went and confronted him. He denied the accusation and she considered calling her father but then didn't like she was basically afraid she said that she wouldn't get to see Felicia

anymore which like bing bing bing. Yeah. Right call. I certainly wouldn't send my daughter back to her. But she tells the jury basically like at that point her and Michael's relationship was already rocky like when they're making this video. In fact she said it probably had been over for

like a year by then but she said that that night was like the nail in the coffin for their relationship. Other siblings of Felicia take the stand as well like Kelly and Brian. They tell the jury about the first night after Felicia went missing how they kind of gathered at Dina's place watching the door hoping she was just going to show up.

They say Michael joined them eventually and they make note that his eyes were quote unquote bloodshot and they say that when he showed up he like sat on the couch not saying much to anyone and he was nervous about the implications of being the last person to see Felicia and he also didn't help out later with search efforts which to be fair like I don't know if you remember from episode one but

like I remember Felicia's dad saying was like you are all on the list and looking out for you and police will want to talk to you. And especially Michael he's like you're a suspect you're a suspect but like you're the last person to see her so like it's not his own head like people are instilling the spirit in him as well. Now the other person who takes the stand is the

medical examiner who says that Felicia's body was only moderately decomposed which could fit the theory that she was in a container when she was dumped into the water because it might have helped preserve her and again we're talking middle of winter in Baltimore the cold weather would have slow decomposition as well but just note that they never actually found a container

with her it was just her body. Now there's one more thing that I mean sends shock waves through the whole courtroom and that's when prosecutors tell the jury about a surprise witness a 36 year old man named James McCray who claims that he saw Felicia's body after she was killed. James claims that Michael showed him Felicia's

body and asked for his advice on what to do with it. Wait you're gonna have to back up I have a million questions how long have they known about this guy where'd he come from maybe let's start with who is he this seems so random this also is like feeling like cereal all over again like is it not totally I can't again I got to get out of

Baltimore so the reason we haven't heard about him before was I guess this guy only came forward after the arrest like in June of 2012 James is what the state calls a petty thief and he says that he spoke up because he was overcome by guilt while reading his Bible in jail okay he says he's a drifter from New York who's currently locked up for theft in a nearby county and he's

testified in a couple of high-profile trials before that feels like a big red flag to me I mean he could be making this story up for personal gain well James actually has a response for that he says that he was a reluctant witness every single time okay and that in this case he has nothing to gain because he's getting out of jail soon anyway according to Justin Fenton's

reporting James testifies that he and Michael were never like good friends but they didn't know each other and he had even met Felicia as well he claims that Michael called him one day just out of the blue tells him that he needs help with something serious so he gave James directions to the apartment and when he arrived Michael showed him Felicia's body wrapped up in

a sheet in the bedroom he says that Michael told him Felicia had been like giving him mixed signals and that he had raped her and then choked her when she wouldn't stop crying afterwards now James says that he wouldn't help Michael move her body but he did offer some advice he told him to turn off his phone turn off Felicia's phone too because the GPS

would track their locations and then he suggested throwing her in the water instead of burying her so any evidence on her body would be destroyed and do they have any evidence placing James at the apartment like phone records I haven't seen anything about James's phone records but prosecutors do have Michael's phone records remember

and the thing is is even though this is their witness they have to admit that they can't find any calls to any number that could be associated with James that being said they say that James knows things that weren't public knowledge like that Michael's nickname for Felicia was little sis plus even though Michael did not turn

his phone off while he was driving around that day on the very next day someone used a computer which was later seized from Michael's brother's house to search whether a phone's location can be traced when the phone is off okay but we know his phone was off that day because he said it died could he have stashed it with

Felicia's body then and then made it back to wherever he was when it turned back on I don't think so because remember he bought that tote that they think she was buried in at Walmart we know his phone was on then right when he was like running errands or whatever afternoon unless he hit her somewhere else while his phone was off

bought the tote then turn off his phone later put her in the top I don't know how that timeline would make sense and to be fair I don't know how any of these timelines make sense they don't that's a problem I told you I could do an episode on these timeline discrepancies this is such a difficult case to put together

again even that like shady search like can they you know trap me if my phone's off like you can't actually connect that to Michael so again all fishy all circumstantial and of course the defense pokes all the holes in James's story they basically dismissed him as a jail house snitch who quote can't tell Michael

Johnson from Michael Jordan his attorneys tell the jury that if this dude is the state star witness their case has to be in trouble for one thing James began his testimony by telling the jury that his name is actually James Lee James McCray great way to start off guy yeah although he seems to kind of

use both or go back and forth he also testified that Dean's apartment was on the second floor as he's telling his story we know that hers is like the basement apartment he claimed this all happened before Christmas but it didn't we know Felicia went missing three days after Christmas got it got it then

there's the storage container or the tote as everyone calls it prosecutors have one of those in the courtroom they say that it's identical to the one that Michael used and they want to witness to actually climb into it to demonstrate that a person Felicia size could fit in there but the judge won't allow it

because it's actually not the container that was the container well the one that was allegedly used is just similar blue plastic 35 gallon container from Dean's place and as the defense points out there is no hard evidence that a plastic bin is involved in the crime at all let alone a 35 gallon bin

specifically like it that is weird to me they have this theory and they're gonna it's like not just a bin it is yeah a very similar bin to this exact size color yeah everything well again to me there's no proof at all any bin was used right then you're saying okay there's this specific bin not only was a bin

used it's this is this one this kind of bin but there is a lot of talk of bins by other people but they're all conflicting descriptions of it like take Dean a statement hours after Felicia's disappearance Dean it tells police that a large blue storage bin was missing from her closet okay but according to Kate

Amara of WBAL TV Dina then changed her mind later that same night after she saw a bin in Michael's car filled with clothes which was supposedly hers so I think she's saying the one missing is in his car okay then a few days later she tells police the container in Michael's car was actually

smaller than the one that disappeared from her apartment so that one's now still missing meanwhile police have surveillance video of Michael buying a storage bin during his trip to Walmart that day at around 4 p.m. but the bin that he got at Walmart was 22 gallons okay I know it's a lot let me make sure I have this

containers bin situation sorted out the bin from Dina's apartment which she says is a 35 gallon bin is still missing and the one she saw in Michael's car which she thought was her bin but it's not her bin was actually the new smaller 22 gallon bin that he bought at Walmart that day I think question mark again this is

so confusing even the reporters in the courtroom are like what the hell is going on which is probably never a good thing for a prosecutor right if you can't even follow it that's that's bad news but there's even more conflicting stuff because remember our friend Elvis that neighbor well he tells the jury that he

saw Michael struggling to move the bin in the morning but again according to prosecutors theory they believe that he was killed in the early afternoon in that small window of time when his phone was off after she stopped using her devices right like around one now here's a thing so John Butler who was the law

clerk at the time told us that a blue storage container lid was found in the same debris filled area near the dam where Felicia's body was found in the problem is that area is super big it's not super clear how far away it was from her for some reason it was never collected which seems wild to me since

they had this whole theory about it since we're all talking about bins nonstop yeah and it's not like they didn't know like they've been building this theory for like months they're looking for surveillance footage but they didn't collect it okay so the state isn't allowed to introduce photos of it into

evidence so apparently they did take a photo of it but because they didn't collect it as evidence you can't bring it into trial which I totally understand but then why take a photo of it okay now to top it all off the Emmy testifies that nothing in Felicia's autopsy suggests her body was ever folded

into a plastic storage container in fact she says the only firm conclusion she can come to is that Felicia died from lack of oxygen she found no signs of drowning or choking on food but also no signs of strangulation there were no injuries

at all as far as she could tell and the death was essentially ruled a homicide by default just because of the suspicious circumstances surrounding you know her going missing the way her body was found right but to be clear you're telling me that they have no physical evidence to determine

if Felicia was even murdered pretty much I mean look we can't completely discount all the circumstantial evidence because there's a lot of it and Michael's behavior is sketchy as hell but even some of that sketchy behavior is debunked by the defense they argue that even though

Michael and Felicia texted a lot none of the messages said anything inappropriate plus it's not that he didn't want to help look for Felicia he had been told to stay away by either police or her family or both so after the state rests its case Michael's

lawyers ask a judge for an acquittal which is actually a totally common legal strategy what's uncommon is the judge's response he tells prosecutors that he's greatly concerned about the flaws in their case everyone in the courtroom is on the edge of their

seats wondering if the judge is going to grant the defense's request and just let Michael go but he doesn't he says that it should be up to a jury to decide and Michael's lawyers only call one witness when it's their turn a co-worker of his who says that he

didn't find it odd that Michael called in sick that day according to Kate Amara's reporting apparently he skipped work like three or four times a month I don't even know how this dude like held a job the defense was also supposed to call a surprise witness of their own this man who supposedly saw Felicia

like days after she was reported missing in another county but they end up not calling him I don't know why but anyways both sides wrap up their case and it's in the jury's hands at the last minute the jury is given the option to convict him of first degree

murder or second degree murder going in it was only first so the tension is palpable as Felicia's and Michael's families wait for the verdict and after two days of deliberating the jury acquits him of first degree murder but finds

him guilty of second degree murder now Felicia's family is relieved like it did look dicey for a while and no it's not as good as first degree I think this is probably why they threw second degree on the table is like just in case we need it when they knew something probably going kind of

bad for them so again even though it's not perfect even though it's not life in prison he would still be in prison for up to 30 years so they can rest easy knowing that the man convicted for her murder will be behind bars that is until Michael's lawyers file a motion for a new trial

and on Wednesday March 20th instead of sending him to prison the judge grants it he says that Michael didn't get a fair trial and that's because prosecutors withheld key information about their star witness James McRae or James Lee or whatever you want to call him

they raise a few different issues basically saying that there are too many questions and concerns about this guy's credibility but what's interesting is a juror tells 11 news that it wasn't even James's testimony that swayed them towards the guilty verdict it was actually the wire tapped

phone calls because they say in them not once did Michael claim he was innocent he just talked about the consequences of getting convicted okay then even without James's testimony it sounds like the state could still have a really good case definitely and Felicia's family is still hopeful

so they all pack back into the courtroom and a second trial starts on December 2nd, 2014 this time there's a different judge and different defense attorneys but overall the state's case is pretty much the same with the notable exclusion of James McRae slash Lee on the witness list

they do introduce some new evidence though but it's just internet history stuff like Michael checking web sleuth message boards so not exactly a smoking gun nothing in this case is and it doesn't help this time around that neighbor Elvis's testimony is inconsistent because

now he says that he saw Michael moving the storage bin anywhere from 10 a.m. to like 2 p.m. that day which is a much bigger gap than he was giving before luckily for prosecutors they still have those wire tapped phone calls on their side although they have been ordered to redact

parts before playing them for the jury here's where things get caught up though whoever did the redacting missed a couple of different references and on Friday December 19th as prosecutors are wrapping up the jury hears Michael discussing things that

should have been cut two times how does that even happen like this is the Murphy's law of trials for the prosecutors but not for the defense Michael's attorneys move for a mistrial and then just ask for an acquittal again because they're saying

they think the state did this intentionally because their case was like going down the drain they were going to like cause this pick up like oh now it's not fair we have to get it over over now the judge doesn't agree about that he's like I don't think this was on purpose but I do

understand that the jury can't unhear this so he grants the mistrial and has upsetting as is his defilicious family it is somewhat of a relief because the case was going down the drain five of the jurors just in front of interviews says that they would have voted to acquit Michael

at that point maybe third times a charm no it is the exact opposite the third trial is derailed before it can even begin because in January 2015 the judge decides to reverse the mistrial

and instead just outright acquit Michael of second degree murder you have got to be kidding me why? what? I've literally never seen this happen so they were able to do this because when the second trial ended

remember there was still that defense motion on the table for an acquittal so the judge should have made some decision on it but they just never did and so now because he doesn't think there's enough evidence to convict Michael he decides it makes more sense to acquit him to have another trial

so the Baltimore state's attorney's office re-indites Michael on another second degree murder charge wait isn't that double jeopardy though you can't be tried for the same thing twice the defense tries to argue that this is double jeopardy but prosecutors say that after the judge declared a mistrial

he no longer had the authority to acquit Michael at all right like that like ends that this is like part unreal so then the defense files a motion to dismiss the indictment and to the prosecutor's dismay the judge who just acquitted Michael

is assigned to the case again so not a big mystery what he thinks of it and sure enough he sides with the defense and dismisses the new charge the state appeals and Maryland's highest court agrees with their argument so it's time for round three like they are going to trial

I cannot imagine how horrible this is for Felicia's family I mean it's a trial that never ends I know and I laugh because this seems like something out of a movie you'll laugh to not cry we'll talk about this later but what's wild about this is

the system is working like it's supposed to but does that mean it's working right that's such a good way to say it now this third trial doesn't start until March of 2018 so they have been dealing with this situation for years remember his first trial was in 2012

she went missing in 2010 for years that this is just like never ending for them now for Michael's third trial he opts like he's done with the jury he sees that judges understand his case, understand that there's not a whole lot of physical evidence

so he opts for just the judge to decide he thinks he's going to have better luck and the state knows that this is probably the last chance that they're going to get to get justice for Felicia so new prosecutors are assigned they even consider bringing James McRae back apparently they don't

and when the judge asks if they can point to anything to help prove their theory about Michael becoming obsessed with Felicia I mean he's like literally giving me anything give me a text message, give me something the prosecution can't provide anything because in their mind

they think Michael was grooming her so he was being super careful with his words I also heard that there might have been some deleted texts that they were never able to recover but again who knows what those said so Michael's lawyers argue that the state's theory makes no sense

they say it is more logical that she left the apartment on her own for innocent reasons and then met with trouble somewhere else and it doesn't help again this whole thing is happening years after Felicia's death witnesses don't remember things very well

the ones who do remember it's not actually stuff that's helping the prosecution like one of the detectives who took a few days to secure Dean's apartment and conduct any sort of foot search he says that he never followed up on several tips that Felicia was seeing in a particular area

and according to K-Tamara's reporting he didn't even get out of his car during the initial canvas of the apartment complex just imagine what might have happened if they'd just taken her disappearance seriously from the start I mean I don't know maybe did their actual jobs

it's heartbreaking it's appalling it's almost not even words for how terrible it is no and what comes out like to make all of this worse I guess under Maryland law state police are supposed to be notified if a child is missing for more than 24 hours and that didn't even happen

which is meant to be kind of this other failsafe like if local police but just didn't happen so because of all of this on March 30th Michael is acquitted for real this time the judge says there are way too many questions to find him guilty

beyond a reasonable doubt which is the bar and to say this is a crushing blow to Felicia's family is an understatement yeah I mean was anyone at least charged with anything related to that cell phone video it's not much in comparison to murder but it's something

like someone should at least be held accountable for that on video right like again you want to talk about physical evidence no no one is ever charged I assume there's a legal reason to be to not charge somebody for something that's illegal against a minor

when you say it like that it's very like da right but I just know no one has and I don't know why but what I will say there was one good thing that came out of this whole horrible mess of a tragedy and that's Felicia's law which promotes better coordination

between law enforcement and community groups during those crucial first hours after children go missing according to the Hartford current it's the first state law of this kind named after a non-white child Russell believes police delays in Felicia's case helped a killer cover his tracks

and ultimately go free but I want to close this out with someone else's perspective actually two people Chantel and Felicia's little sister on her mom's side Ayanna as painful as it was for them to share their sister's story with us it was important to them

because Felicia's narrative has largely been shaped by her dad's side of the family and to some degree even Janice Chantel and Ayanna have never really had a voice in it they don't share a last name with their sister but they shared a home with her for years

and not including them is almost like erasing part of Felicia's history they know that the only suspect police have ever had can no longer be held legally responsible for Felicia's murder and they said it's a hopeless feeling and they told us it's a hard time finding good in the world

but if other people were involved they could still face charges plus no matter what happens in the criminal justice system Chantel and Ayanna just want to know what really happened to their sister and that made me think again about how do we measure justice

like we said this earlier like on one hand you could say that justice was done in this case someone was charged they went to trial three times in fact there wasn't enough evidence to convict so he went free that is how the legal system is supposed to work in this country

but on the other hand you have a young woman who had barely begun to live her life who never got to accept the diploma that she worked so hard for or go off to college like she wanted to or have a career or marriage or children or anything it's likely no one will ever be held accountable

for taking all of that away from her or for taking her away from the people who love her and how do you call that justice I'm interested to know if you guys would have done anything differently we do this thing in the fan club called the crime junkie jury we'll be posting

one of those so if you're in the fan club go take a look and if you have thoughts on this case find us on social or send us an email crimejunkie at audio chuck dot com as always you guys can find all of our source material on the website crimejunkiepodcast.com and be sure to follow us on instagram

at crimejunkiepodcast we are actually off next week for the holiday if you guys can't take the break again the fan club has quite literally hundreds of episodes and you get all the regular episodes ad free but before we go we have one

last list of fan shout outs to celebrate our five year anniversary but I cannot believe we made it all right so Liz from Hawaii I love you Ashlyn from Singapore Megan K from Nashville

Tennessee Kelly K from Phoenix Arizona ghost sun devils and Grace from Kansas thank you guys so much for tuning in over and over again supporting us I love you and I want to say I love you to Tessa and Tanya from Springfield Oregon

Natalie from Denver Colorado Jez in Sydney Australia so far Hannah M from Hamilton Georgia Jen and James from Austin Texas and Hyman all the way from South Korea oh my god happy holidays you guys we'll see

you in the new year crimejunkie is an audio Chuck production so what do you think Chuck do you approve oh