Justice For All · Murder In the Bayou · The Preppy Murder
Plus: Does Quentin Tarantino hate true crime?
the true crime that's worth your time
The bailiff from Justice For All with Judge Cristina Perez allegedly shot and killed his wife last weekend. Renard Leon Spivey, a sometime actor who also served as a deputy in Houston’s Harris County Sheriff's Department for 23 years, allegedly shot and killed his wife, 53-year-old Patricia Marshall, on July 28.
According to court records, officers were called to the couple’s south Houston home that Sunday on reports of a domestic disturbance. When they arrived, they discovered Spivey suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. Marshall’s body was found in a closet in the home, with initial reports saying that she had been shot at least twice.
Spivey told investigators that the two had been arguing all day, reportedly about his use of steroids. The two had been “tussling” over the gun when it discharged, the Houston Chronicle reports.
A judge ruled on Friday that Spivey, who has been released on $50,000 bail, would not be allowed to attend his wife’s funeral. “If your wife died, and you were trying to plan a funeral, and you’re not mad at her or her family, and they’re mad at you, in the long run, if you didn’t go to the funeral, your own wife’s funeral, it’s awful,” defense attorney Mike DeGuerin said. [“‘Where do I know that attorney’s name from?’ I had the same response. You may remember DeGuerin’s brother, Dick, from The Jinx and his defense of Robert Durst. He’s also represented, among others, Tom DeLay and David Koresh.” — SDB] Of course he’d want to participate in the funeral, but he’s going to follow the judge’s order.” Best Evidence reached out to Perez for comment on the case, but as of publication time had not received a response. -- EB
The first trailer for Murder In the Bayou has been released. The Showtime adaptation of Ethan Brown’s book on the so-called Jeff Davis 8 will air the first of its five-episode run on September 13 at 9 PM. When unveiling the trailer at the Television Critics Association’s Summer Press Tour on Friday, Showtime exec Vinnie Malhotra said that the series “chronicles one of the most shocking and gruesome series of killings in America that went virtually unnoticed until a proper investigation almost a decade later…the context of this case has much to say about the perils of the disenfranchised in our society.”
He’s not kidding. Assuming the series follows the theories laid out in the book, several of the case’s eight female homicide victims had ties to former Louisiana Congressman Charles Boustany, and some were sex workers who had allegedly served the politician. It’s that high-level relationship, Brown alleged, that’s behind the lack of thorough investigation of the slayings, as well as why the case remains unclosed. There’s more than a True Detective-style conspiracy at play, Brown told Rolling Stone back in 2016. “Obviously these women were murder victims – individual people killed them. But they were also dying under the weight of having no resources for their health problems, no resources for their mental health problems, no resources for substance abuse.” -- EB
AMC and Sundance will both air The Preppy Murder: Death in Central Park. The five-part docuseries will run on both networks from on three nights from November 13 to November 15, Deadline reports. A press release from the networks arguably tries to kite off the success of When They See Us, saying that both the Central Park Five case and the death of Jennifer Levin at the hands of Robert Chambers “have a few things in common: they both took place in Central Park and the prosecutor who tried both cases was Linda Fairstein. What’s more, together they shine a startling light on how race, gender and socioeconomics profoundly influenced the course of justice.”
Chambers, who was convicted of manslaughter in Levin’s death after arguing in court that he strangled her at her request during “rough sex,” was released from prison in 2003. His freedom was short-lived, however, as in 2008 he pled guilty to drug charges in exchange for a 19-year sentence at Sullivan Correctional Facility. -- ELB
Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly follow-up is going to have a lot to work with. As we discussed last month, the network is planning a four-episode series entitled Surviving R. Kelly: The Aftermath, which will reportedly “explore the impact of the original docuseries.” I don’t envy the showrunners this task, as the case is moving so swiftly that it must be tough to produce anything that reflects the current state of affairs.
On Friday, for example, Kelly appeared in court in Brooklyn, where he entered a charge of “not guilty” and was denied bail. The artist had been flown from Chicago, where he faces child porn charges, to New York to face allegations that he “sexually exploited young women and girls who attended his concerts.” NY1 reports that Kelly faces five federal counts in NY: “one count of racketeering and four counts of violating the ‘Mann Act,’ which prohibits the transportation of people across state lines for prostitution.”
Kelly’s two girlfriends, Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage, appeared in the courtroom to support Kelly. They “were accompanied -- even to the bathroom -- by an older woman who appeared to be a minder,” NPR reports. -- EB
I’m almost done with Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood hot takes, because I feel like almost all of the air is getting sucked from the room. (That said, ICYMI, here’s my review.) But this piece on Fatherly, which alleges that “Quentin Tarantino Is Murdering Baby Boomer True Crime Nostalgia,” made it under the wire because I’m a sucker for generational generalizations. Here’s the crux of Ryan Britt’s argument:
Tarantino mocks not only the fragility of the entire cultural narrative around the 1960s, but also true crime as a genre. Once Upon a Time In Hollywood seems to suggest that, in contrast to Boomers, he believes entertainment should be about entertaining people, not regurgitating gore or relitigating some half-imagined past. Tarantino isn’t confused about how we should feel about Charles Manson. And he’s probably also not a huge fan of Mindhunters.
I suspect Britt means Mindhunter, and I also suspect that Tarantino is a fan of the show, mainly because Tarantino — for all his flaws, and I agree, he has many — is such a voracious appreciator of creative works. Honestly, I’m hard-pressed to think of anything about which he’s talked sincere trash, and you know that even after all these years in the spotlight, he’s not media-trained enough to hold his tongue when it comes to stuff he hates. And speaking of hates, wow, does Britt hate true crime. Here’s his kicker:
And, look, if it takes a flamethrower to get all of these Serial-knock-off true crime movies, shows, podcast, books, and god damn Instagram accounts out of my feeds, I’m down to hand Leo the flamethrower.
Buddy, pal. No one’s making you consume this stuff! Relax. It’s gonna be OK. -- EB
Tuesday on Best Evidence: Finland has a true crime problem. No, really!
What is this thing? This should help.
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