COURT REPORT: 9.3.26

0:00Nearly 30 years after 2-clock was murdered, a jury finally has decided the fate of PPD. Another year's old murder case ends with a verdict, and while those juries' res decisions quickly, another jury that we've been waiting on all week still can agree. We've got a lot to catch up on. This is the 13-Joura podcast, where we explore the trials, investigations, and true crime stories that everyone is talking about. I'm your host, Brandy Churchwell, and this is Court Report, your weekly roundup of the biggest courtroom headlines, breaking stories, and the legal developments shaping the nation's most talked about cases. Let's start this week with verdicts reached, and we have two of them. And first up, a case that we've talked about many times here on Court Report, but this time, we finally have a verdict. Nearly 30 years after 2-pock was shot and killed in Las Vegas, a jury has found Dwayne Keefe-D Davis guilty of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

1:03And jurors, they did not need much time to decide this one. After an 11-day trial, the jury deliberated for just under three hours before coming back with a guilty verdict. Remember, prosecutors were never arguing that Keefe-D was the person who actually fired the shots that killed two-pock. Their case was that he helped orchestrate the shooting. And this all goes back to September 7, 1996. Here that night, two-pock, Shug Knight, and members of their entourage were involved in a fight inside the MGM Grand with Orlando Anderson, Keefe-D's nephew. Prosecutors argued that what happened next was retaliation. According to their case, Keefe-D obtained a gun, got into a white Cadillac with three other men, and went looking for two-pock and Shug Knight. They eventually found them stopped at a red light near the Las Vegas strip. Someone inside that Cadillac opened fire. Newpock was shot multiple times and died six days later. He was only 25 years old. For decades, no one was charged. And ironically, a huge part of what eventually helped prosecutors build this case against

2:07Keefe-D, were Keefe-D's own words. Over the years, he spoke publicly about what happened that night, in interviews, in his memoir, and in statements that he made during a 2008 Proffer interview with law enforcement. Prosecutors used those statements to argue that he wasn't merely someone who happened to be in the car. They said that he was the person who helped set this entire retaliation into motion and supplied the gun used in the shooting. The defense had a very different explanation. They argued that Keefe-D had just exaggerated and embellished these stories over the years for money and notoriety. Essentially, the prosecutors were now trying to convict him based on stories he had told to sell books and build his reputation without physical evidence to back him up. But y'all, the jury didn't buy it. Less than three hours after deliberations began, they found him guilty. And almost immediately after the verdict was read, Keefe-D told the judge that he intends to appeal. That appeal is likely to include one of the biggest legal fights that we've talked about throughout this case.

3:08Whether prosecutors should have been allowed to use statements Keefe-D made under that 2008 Proffer agreement. But first comes sentencing. Keefe-D is scheduled to be sentenced on October 13th, and he faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole. So after nearly three decades of theories, rumors, documentaries, interviews, and unanswered questions, there's finally a murder conviction in the death of Tupac. Our next verdict comes out of Georgia. And this is actually the first time we've talked about this case on court report. So before I tell you what the jury decided, let me take you back ten years. In February of 2016, 19-year-old Morgan Bauer left South Dakota and moved to the Atlanta area. She had only been there for about two weeks when she disappeared. Morgan had originally arranged through Craigslist to clean a home in exchange for a place to stay, but that arrangement fell through. She ended up staying in motels and began working as an exotic dancer in Atlanta. Co-workers last remembered seeing Morgan at the club on February 25th.

4:11The next day, she posted a video on social media from Yellow River Park in Porterdale, Georgia. Her social media remained active for a few more days, through February 29th, and then it just stopped. Morgan seemingly vanished. And for more than seven years, her family had no idea what had happened to her. Then in 2023, the case finally broke open. At the time, Katelyn Goebel was going through a divorce, and according to reporting from the trial, her estranged husband told investigators that Goebel had previously confessed to helping dispose of Morgan's body. Goebel eventually spoke with investigators herself. She told him that she had information about Morgan's murder and ultimately gave them a detailed description of where they could find her remains. That information led investigators back to a property in Porterdale. After years of searching for Morgan, investigators finally found her remains. The investigation eventually led to two arrests. Goebel and her boyfriend at the time, Jonathan Alex Warren.

5:14And prosecutors said what happened to Morgan inside that Porterdale home was horrific. According to the state's case, Goebel and Warren befriended Morgan and lured her to their home by offering her a safe place to stay. Prosecutors argued that this wasn't a situation where Morgan went there and something unexpectedly went wrong. They said that Goebel and Warren had planned to kill someone. The prosecution presented evidence of what they described as the couple's obsession with murder and serial killers, including disturbing social media posts from Goebel. And prosecutors argued that Morgan was deliberately targeted because Goebel and Warren believed that she was vulnerable and that no one would miss her. According to the indictment, both Goebel and Warren put their hands around Morgan's neck and strangled her. Prosecutors said they then dismembered her body, burned her remains on the property, and then concealed what they had done. Warren eventually pleaded guilty to malice murder, tampering with evidence, concealing

6:18a death and necrophilia. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But Goebel took her case to trial, and her defense, of course, told a very different story. They did not argue that Goebel wasn't there, and they didn't argue that she didn't know what happened to Morgan, and they even acknowledged that Goebel helped dispose of Morgan's body. But they said she didn't actually kill her. According to Goebel's defense, she briefly left the room that night, and when she came back, Morgan was dead. They said that Warren was the killer. Her attorney argued that Goebel was a 19-year-old who was just terrified of her boyfriend. They said she wanted to call police, but Warren stopped her, and that her fear of him was also why she had remained silent about Morgan's murder for so many years. And when it came to all of those disturbing social media posts, the defense essentially said, yes, they're dark, and yeah, they're weird, but they're not evidence that she's a murderer.

7:18Her attorney described it as, quote-unquote, cause play, and argued that an interest in dark imagery or pretending to be something online doesn't mean you actually committed a murder. The prosecution, though, argued that Goebel wasn't a frightened bystander. She was a participant, and they pointed to not only her social media activity, but also to statements that she had made before Morgan's death, and inconsistencies investigators said they found in the different versions of the story that she told them. Ultimately, the jury had to decide whether Goebel was telling the truth when she said Warren killed Morgan, and she simply helped cover it up, or whether she participated in Morgan's murder. And they did not need long. If you thought the KVD one was fast after less than three hours, this one was about 30 minutes of deliberations, y'all, and the jury found Caitlin Goebel guilty on all five counts. Malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing a death and tampering with evidence.

8:20She returned to court the very next day for sentencing. Morgan's family asked the judge to give Goebel the maximum punishment, while Goebel's attorney asked for mercy and pointed to people in her own life who described her as a very different person, kind and loving and a devoted mother. But prosecutors also had something else for the judge to hear. They played portions of Goebel's jail calls made after the verdict, including conversations in which she talked about prosecutors having unleashed what she called the, quote, monster beneath the surface, end quote. And judge Joe Bishop ultimately sentenced Caitlin Goebel to life in prison without the possibility of parole. So more than 10 years after 19 year old Morgan Bauer moved to Georgia, hoping to begin a new chapter of her life, both people charged in connection with her murder are now serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. We'll be right back.

9:30Next up I have an update in a case that we actually haven't talked about before on court report, the murder of Suzanne Morphew. And before I tell you what Barry Morphew is accused of doing this week, you need a little backstory because this case has already had quite the legal history. Suzanne Morphew was a 49 year old mother of two, living with her husband Barry near Salita, Colorado. On Mother's Day in May of 2020, Suzanne was reported missing. Her mountain bike was eventually found down a steep embankment not far from the couple's home, and her helmet was found separately. Barry told investigators that he had left early that morning for a landscaping job several hours away in Brumfield and that Suzanne was asleep when he left. He publicly pleaded for his wife's safe return and suggested that she may have been abducted. But investigators became suspicious of Barry's account because they learned that the marriage was struggling. And just days before she disappeared, Suzanne had sent Barry a text saying that she was done with the marriage and that they needed to figure things out civilly.

10:34There also began looking closely at Barry's movements during that work trip. According to prosecutors, surveillance videos showed that during the nearly 10 hours Barry spent in Brumfield, he spent less than 30 minutes at the actual job site. They alleged that he spent portions of that trip driving around and throwing unknown items into different trash cans. And there was another piece of evidence that would become extremely important later. Barry was an experienced hunter and former deer farmer who had access to a powerful combination of drugs used to tranquilize wildlife called BAM. Investigators found a tranquilizer rifle and darts in the morphu home. And they also found a needle cap consistent with those darts inside the family's dryer. But there was one more major problem for investigators. They still had not found Suzanne. Even without her body, Barry was arrested in 2021 and charged with murder. But that case never made it to a jury. As the trial approached in 2022, the judge sanctioned prosecutors for repeatedly failing to properly

11:39turn over evidence to the defense and barred several key prosecution witnesses from testifying. Prosecutors ultimately dismissed the murder case without prejudice, meaning they could potentially charge Barry again later. And that's exactly what eventually happened. Because in September of 2023, investigators working on an entirely different missing person case made a discovery about 45 miles away from the morphu home. They found human remains. And those remains were identified as Suzanne. And now, for the first time, investigators could conduct an autopsy. And that's when this case took a major turn. Testing detected the three drugs that make up that wildlife tranquilizer combination that I just mentioned, BAM. The medical examiner ultimately ruled Suzanne's death a homicide by unspecified means in the setting of intoxication from those drugs. And according to the new indictment, investigators determined that other than government wildlife agencies, Barry Morphew was one of the only private citizens in that area known to have

12:43access to BAM. So in June of 2025, more than five years after Suzanne disappeared and three years after the first case against him was dismissed, Barry was arrested and charged with her murder for a second time. Now, he has pleaded not guilty and continues to maintain his innocence. He was eventually released on a $3 million bond with some pretty strict conditions. He has to wear a GPS monitor, he can't leave Colorado, and his movements outside his home are severely restricted, which brings us to this week. As apparently, while awaiting trial for his wife's murder, Barry may have found himself in a completely different kind of trouble. On August 26th, a woman named Christina was sitting in her car in Denver when she noticed a black Ford pickup driving aggressively behind another vehicle and repeatedly honking. So she started recording. And she says that truck then backed into her car. The man driving the truck got out, but according to Christina, he refused to give her his name

13:44or insurance information. Instead, he offered her $300 cash. At one point, the video even shows him trying to buff the scratches off her car with his hand and his t-shirt. Christina refused the money and told him that she was calling the police. And she says that's when he took off, driving over a curb as he left. Now Christina had absolutely no idea who this man was. It wasn't until the next day when she sent the video to her mother that her mom said something along the lines of, oh, that looks like Barry Morphew. And then CBS Colorado found another pretty significant connection. The black Ford pickup in the video had an Indiana license plate. And that exact license plate number had already appeared in court filings in Barry's murder case. So CBS aired the story. And apparently, one of the people who saw it was the judge overseeing Barry Morphew's murder case. Well, technically someone emailed Judge Amanda Hopkins about the story. And once the judge watched the video herself, she didn't seem to have much trouble identifying

14:44the man. She wrote in her order that the video showed, quote, a person who is very clearly the defendant, unquote. And that created a potentially much bigger problem than a fender bender. Because Barry wasn't supposed to just be driving around Denver whenever he wanted. His bond conditions restricted when he could leave his home. And he was only permitted to drive vehicles registered in his name. So the judge ordered Barry's GPS monitoring company to immediately turn over his records and explain whether he had permission to be away from his home at the time of the incident. According to Judge Hopkins, the monitoring company failed to provide that information by her deadline. So she took matters into her own hands. Until further notice, Barry is now confined to his home 24 hours a day. And the judge was very specific. There are no exceptions. Barry has a medical emergency. He has to call 911 and leave by ambulance. A hearing is expected next week to determine whether he violated the conditions of his bond.

15:47And if the court finds that he did, the judge has several options, including potentially revoking his release and sending him back to jail while he waits for his murder trial. So, jurors, we are definitely adding the Barry Morpheu case to our list of cases to watch. We've covered it on YouTube before, but we have not put it on court report. But it is going on our court report roster here because after one murder prosecution fell apart, Suzanne remains were found. New forensic evidence emerged. Barry was charged with her murder all over again. And now the judge overseeing that case is having to decide whether he violated the conditions that allowed him to remain out of jail while he waits for trial. So we're adding this one to the roster and I will keep you all posted. And we have an interesting update in the David case. Last time we talked about this one, a judge had ruled that there was enough evidence for singer David Anthony Burke, better known as David, well, D4VD, to stay in trial for

16:48the murder of 14 year old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Well, this week he was back in court for another arrangement and there was a pretty surprising change in the defense table. His high profile attorneys, led by celebrity defense lawyer Blair Burke, have withdrawn from his case. They haven't publicly said why what they did say is that the court granted their request to withdraw after determining that David qualified for court appointed counsel. So David is now being represented by the Los Angeles County Public Defenders Office. And that's raising some eyebrows because during preliminary hearing, there was testimony that David had earned at least $10 million through his music between 2023 and 2025. The public defender's office says it conducted a thorough financial evaluation and determined that he does qualify for appointed counsel. But Celeste family is questioning that through their attorney, they said they were shocked to learn that David is claiming to be indigent.

17:48They pointed to his billions of music streams and several companies they say he controls and essentially asked why should Los Angeles County taxpayers be paying for his defense? Now just to be clear, the fact that he earned millions of dollars over the past few years doesn't necessarily tell us what assets he has available to him today. And we haven't seen the financial evaluation that led the court to determine that he qualifies for a public defender. But Celeste family clearly isn't buying it. They said that their focus remains on getting justice for Celeste and having whoever is responsible face the full force of the law. As for the criminal case, David pleaded not guilty again to the charges against him. His new public defender actually asked the judge to postpone the arrangement after taking over the case, but the judge denied that request. And there's still one very big decision hanging over all of this. Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will seek the death penalty. So David is due back in court on October 19th. We'll be right back.

18:50Alright, let's move into some juror notes. I have a few updates for y'all. First in the Tyler Robinson case, a judge has officially ordered Robinson to stay in trial for the murder of Charlie Kirk. After reviewing the evidence presented at his preliminary hearing, judge Tony Graff ruled that prosecutors had met the much lower burden required at this stage to move the case forward. So when you hear that Robinson has been bound over for trial, that doesn't mean that the judge has decided he's guilty or anything like that. It just means that the judge has found that there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial. Robinson is charged with the aggravated murder in several other offenses in connection with Kirk's shooting death at Utah Valley University last September and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. If you want the full breakdown of that, there is an entire episode on that case for 13th year podcast.

19:51His arraignment is scheduled for September 8th and that's when he'll have the opportunity to formally enter a plea. So another case we've been following is officially moving one step closer to trial. And a quick co-burger update. This week we talked about his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea, including his new attorneys asking to remove Judge Hitler and move these post-conviction proceedings back to Laytar County. Well, this week another attorney has joined that team. New York Criminal Defense attorney Jason Goldman. And he's already hinting that there may be more to this challenge than we've seen publicly so far. Goldman cautioned against assuming that everything the public believes it knows about this case is the complete story and said that there are serious questions about how co-burgers case reached this point. He says some information surrounding the circumstances of co-burgers guilty plea have not yet been made public and that there is considerably more to come. Now, what that actually means, we don't know yet.

20:52He hasn't revealed some bombshell piece of new evidence or anything like that, but it certainly sounds like co-burgers new legal team is signaling that more allegations or evidence could be coming as they continue trying to undo that plea. And an update in the Mackenzie Shurella case. And if that name sounds familiar, you may have recently seen her story featured in the Netflix documentary The Crash, which brought renewed attention to the case. The Ohio Supreme Court has once again shut down Mackenzie's attempt to get her post-conviction claims heard. Remember, Mackenzie was convicted of murdering her boyfriend Dominic Russo and their friend Davion Flanagan by intentionally driving her car into a building at nearly 100 miles per hour. Her attorneys have been trying to pursue post-conviction claims that include ineffective assistance of counsel and new medical evidence that they say could support the possibility that Mackenzie blacked out before the crash. But there's a pretty frustrating problem for the defense here.

21:53Her original petition was filed one day too late. The Ohio Supreme Court had already declined to hear her appeal back in June, and her attorneys asked the court to reconsider, arguing in part that Ohio courts aren't consistent about how that filing deadline should be calculated. And this week, the court again said no. It denied that request for reconsideration, meaning Mackenzie has essentially reached the end of the road with this particular challenge in Ohio's state courts. She does, however, still have a separate federal petition pending, so her legal challenges aren't completely over. So we'll keep an eye on that one. And one case to put back on your radar for next week is Blaise Taylor. Remember the former Tennessee Titan scout that was convicted in July of murdering his girlfriend, Jade Benning, and their unborn daughter after prosecutor said he poisoned Jade's drink with cocaine? Well, Taylor was sentenced to life, but there is still an important sentencing decision left to make.

22:53So he'll be back in court on September 9th when the judge is expected to determine whether the sentences for those murders will run concurrently or consecutively. So we'll keep an eye on that, and I'll let you know what happens. And finally, a little housekeeping about what's coming up on 13th year. After more than five weeks of testimony, and now at the time of this recording, six days of deliberations, the Lindsay Clancy trial is finally nearing the end. I've been following this case with you from opening statements through every witness, the battle of the experts, closing arguments, and now this incredibly long verdict watch. And as soon as we officially know how this trial ends, the final episode in the Lindsay Clancy series will be out. And then by very popular demand, we're moving on to another trial that so many of you have been asking me to cover. Mario Fernandez, Saldana. A jury just found him guilty of first degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony in the murder of Jared Bridegan. And I've been getting messages from 13th jurors asking me to go back and cover that trial, because obviously Lindsay Clancy had all of my attention while that one was happening.

23:57So that's exactly what we're going to do. So the next episode of 13th juror after the Lindsay Clancy finale will take you inside the Mario Fernandez Saldana trial, the state's case, the defense, the evidence the jury heard, and ultimately how they reach that guilty verdict. And of course, this story isn't over. There are still two other defendants whose cases are moving toward trial. So if you've been asking me to cover the Jared Bridegan case, I heard you, and that's where we're going next. So that's your court report for this week. I'll be back next week with the latest developments. Until then, keep asking questions, keep looking at the evidence, and decide for yourself what you believe. My name is Brandy Churchill, creator and host of the 13th juror podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast platform and leave a rating or review. For additional episodes, case updates, and more information about the podcast, visit our website at 13thurorpodcast.com. The evidence has been presented, the arguments have been made, and now comes the same question

25:01faced by every juror. What do you believe? Thank you for listening.