Brittany Tom

That's right. So the following day, prosecutors filed two new charges against Craig, solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury. He allegedly tried to persuade an inmate to commit murder for him. Do we know who his alleged target is? The Aurora Police Department says the intended target was an Aurora police detective who investigated his wife's murder case.

So when do we expect this trial to begin? Great question. Court documents show the trial has been postponed indefinitely, so we shall see.

Yeah, so Sarah Boone was accused of zipping her boyfriend, George Torres, into a blue suitcase and leaving him to suffocate. Sarah pleaded not guilty, and she testified on the stand that she acted in self-defense. She alleged she'd suffered previous abuse at the hands of her boyfriend. The jury didn't buy that and convicted her after less than two hours of deliberation.

And Sarah testified as well. Sarah did, and she compared herself to a broken vase.

Sounds kind of odd. It is odd. And Boone went on to say that all of the gold that held her together was forgiveness. She said she forgave Torres for beating her senseless, and she rattled off a bunch of other allegations of abuse.

Once Boone was finished, the prosecutor was not shy about what he thought of her testimony.

What was her sentence? She was sentenced to life, life in prison.

So we weren't sure this sentencing was actually going to happen until a few days ago. Remember, Benefield's team asked for a new trial based on alleged germ misconduct. But just before Thanksgiving, the judge rejected the motion and sentencing did take place on Tuesday.

Did Ashley give a statement? She did not. All right. What did she get? The judge sentenced Ashley to 20 years in prison with credit for time served, followed by 10 years of probation. Okay. Lots of updates, Sue. Thank you so much. Lots of news. Thank you, Andrea.

James Craig was charged with murdering his wife, Angela Craig, by poisoning her protein shakes back in 2023. He pleaded not guilty. And his trial was on the docket to begin this month. But on the day of jury selection, his legal team actually withdrew from the case. Do we know why? Well, Andrea, here's what we know.

According to the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office, his defense attorney said his client was persisting in a course of action that he reasonably believed is criminal or fraudulent. That's a quote from the document. And two, that his client was insisting on action that, quote, he considers repugnant or has a fundamental disagreement with.

People who knew him and people who live in this neighborhood are still stunned that a leader in San Francisco's tech community was murdered here.

Major twist there.

All right, so next we've got two sentencings out of Florida to talk about from two big cases we've covered on the podcast. The first one we're going to talk about is Sarah Boone. She is the defendant in the so-called suitcase murder trial.

The sentencing was earlier this week. We heard victim impact statements from George's children and his mom.

All right. And the second big sentencing this week was Ashley Benefield. The former ballerina was convicted of the 2020 killing of her husband, Doug Benefield. So, Sue, what is the news there?

There were some victim impact statements from Doug's family. We heard from his daughter, Eva, who's been very vocal throughout all of this.

Ashley, since the day you shot my father, I've only had one question to ask you. Why?

15 years ago this week, jurors filed back into an Italian courthouse to deliver their verdict in a murder trial that had captivated the world. The victim was a 21-year-old student from England by the name of Meredith Kircher. Mez to her friends. She had been sexually assaulted and her throat slashed in the bungalow she'd been renting on her study abroad trip.

But it was one of her alleged killers who seemed to get all the attention in the months that followed, Meredith's roommate, Amanda Knox. Prosecutors said the American college student had murdered Meredith. Amanda's supporters said she'd been railroaded by the Italian authorities. Just after midnight on December 5th, 2009, the judge read the verdict.

Another tech entrepreneur, a man named Nima Momeni, was arrested and charged with killing Bob. And his trial, which we've been covering, began this October. On Monday, the prosecution played Bob's 911 call to open their closing arguments. There aren't any cameras in the courtroom, but Dateline producer Brittany Tom has been reporting on the trial for the past couple of months.

Dennis Murphy covered the case from the very beginning and is here to tell us why this case got so much attention and what happened next. Hey, Dennis.

Good. So, Dennis, your first report came out in December of 2007. So let's take a listen.

You flew out to Perugia, Italy for this first report. In fact, in that clip we just played, you're standing outside the student housing cottage where Amanda Knox and her roommate Meredith Kircher lived. Do you remember what was going on when you filmed that?

So remind us, what exactly was the prosecution's theory about what happened, what they say she did?

And you were getting some information from the Italian papers leaked by the prosecutor, right?

I mean, were you thinking, how in the world does this young woman, girl get a fair trial if all of this is out there in the public? Yeah.

Amanda changed her story at one point.

Amanda's trial, no surprise, was a complete circus. Oh. Cameras galore.

And she joins us now to let us know how both sides left things with the jury. Brittany, thanks for coming back on the podcast. Thanks, Andrea. The prosecutor beginning his closing arguments with that 911 call is, you know, pretty intense, Brittany.

Yeah, the verdict. She was very dramatic. She's found guilty.

So much has happened since this guilty verdict. What happened next?

And the boyfriend?

So I think I read that she's working on some type of documentary. She went back to Perugia?

It's like, does anyone not know the name Amanda Knox at this point?

Right. Dennis, what a fascinating story you covered. Really interesting looking back on this. Thank you for joining us and sharing your memories.

Thank you. That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. Coming up this Friday on Dateline, she was a murder victim without a name until strangers gave it back to her.

Yes. The room was silent as he simply just played that 911 call. Bob is pleading with the operator for help, and I think it was an effective way to start closing. His family was sitting in the front two rows, and even though some of them had heard this call before, they were visibly very emotional.

Watch Keith's story, The Woman With No Name, airing this Friday on NBC at a special time of 1015, 915 Central. And be sure to check out Josh's brand new original podcast series, Deadly Mirage. It's the story of a young couple living in the California desert who seem to have it all until the husband was found murdered and investigators uncovered a web of dark secrets.

The first two episodes are available now wherever you get your podcasts. Dateline Premium subscribers get early access to episodes and can listen ad-free. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Frannie Kelly and Katie Ferguson. Our associate producers are Carson Cummins and Caroline Casey. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Koroloff.

Production and fact-checking help by Sara Kadir. Veronica Mazzeca is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music by Jesse McGinty. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production. Paul Ryan is executive producer. And Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline.

Bye, everyone. Bye.

In contrast, the prosecutor pointed out that Nima never called 911 or talked to police about what happened, even though in his testimony, he claimed it was one of the most traumatic experiences of his life.

Let's remind listeners briefly, what is the prosecution's theory of the case as they presented it in court?

Right. So prosecutors say the evidence shows Nima was angry at Bob because he had introduced Nima's little sister, Kazar Momeni, to a man who may have sexually assaulted her. They've argued that Nima took a knife from his sister's kitchen, drove Bob to a secluded area under the Bay Bridge, stabbed him three times, then threw the knife over the fence.

Okay, the defense, of course, has a very different theory about what happened that night. Nima and his sister had testified that Nima actually wasn't angry with Bob at all. And Nima even said on the stand that by the time he and Bob ended up in that secluded place in the car, they were friendly, trying to figure out where they wanted to go afterwards.

He testified he then made a bad joke and Bob flipped on him, took out a knife from his pocket. Nima claimed that they tussled with the knife a little bit and he pushed the knife away. Eventually, the knife went on the ground, and he threw it over a fence so Bob couldn't pick it up again. He then said Bob walked away calmly on his phone, and he didn't look like he had any injuries at all.

A major point of disagreement between the two sides is who brought the knife. The prosecution is saying Nima had it, and they seem to be saying that just taking the knife from his sister's apartment indicates that he had intent.

Yes, they said that for sure, that Nima intentionally took the knife from his sister's apartment, then chose to drive Bob to a secluded area, a place he was very familiar with because he had a lot of friends that lived in the area.

Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's December 5th, and here's what's on our docket. Six years after a man was accused of murdering his brother's entire family at their New Jersey mansion, a judge hears arguments about whether cutting-edge DNA analysis can be used against him at trial.

And on top of that, even though the defense said, oh, they were on great terms, they were friendly, the prosecutor actually argued, oh, this was actually kind of a ruse to be chummy and pretend because he was actually very upset with Bob. That also shows intent.

Nima's lawyer addressed the knife in his closings as well. How did he counter the prosecution's story that it was in Nima's possession?

How are you?

Nima's lawyer brought up how tiny the knife was a few times. He actually brought a cardboard cutout of the knife and showed the jury how small it was. So the prosecution's theory is that Nima pulled it from a set of knives at his sister's apartment. The paring knife was missing. So the defense makes this point. Of all the knives around, he picks the smallest, most beat-up knife to commit a murder.

And, you know, Nima has this big jacket on. He could have concealed a cleaver if he wanted to.

So what did the defense say about how the knife got to the crime scene then?

So Nemo testified that he never brought a knife, didn't have any weapons on him. And then in the defense's closing argument, he played a new video that the jury has never seen before, video that the defense attorney claims the prosecution had buried in thousands of hours of surveillance footage and it turned over. So the video shows Bob and his friend Bo outside of a social club.

This happened earlier in the night before Bob saw Nima. And in the video, you can see Bob is using a small, narrow object to scoop what the defense is alleging to be cocaine out of a baggie. Nima's attorneys say that small object is actually the paring knife that was used in the attack. He's basically saying that Bob had that paring knife the entire night and his client had no possession of it.

Then after court, Krista Lee, Bob's former wife, told the media that that wasn't a knife at all. It was actually a collar stay. It's a piece of plastic that comes inside of a men's button-down shirt. It also can be metal. That's how Bob typically liked to do cocaine, not with a knife.

Oh, interesting. Okay. This jury has a lot of evidence to go through, and the judge has given them some pretty clear instructions on the charges.

Yes. So the charges range from premeditated murder, so first degree, second degree, to voluntary manslaughter, which the judge described as basically imperfect self-defense. And the least serious crime is involuntary manslaughter. And then, of course, there's also not guilty crimes. They were sent to deliberate Wednesday.

I guess it's anyone's guess how long it'll take to reach a verdict.

Yeah, we really don't know. The defense made a point stating that we all know that Nima's team doesn't have to prove Nima killed Bob in self-defense. It's the prosecution that has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Nima intentionally murdered Bob. Brittany, you live in the Bay Area. What are people saying about this case, this trial?

Yeah, I mean, from the very beginning when this case broke to even to this trial, this has been in the headlines in the local papers. Everyone's kind of heard about it. I think a lot of eyes are watching. The people in the Bay Area are curious what the jury is going to decide on. Well, we will wait and see. Thank you, Brittany. Thanks. Yeah, we'll be at the courthouse waiting for the verdict.

Next up, when a wealthy businessman and his family were brutally murdered at their home six years ago, questions swirled about a possible hit for hire until police arrested the man's brother. We've got the latest from the courtroom.

For our next story, we're heading to a New Jersey courtroom where a judge is weighing whether a prosecutor can use cutting-edge science in a disturbing quadruple murder case. In November 2018, just a few days before Thanksgiving, two fires broke out at the homes of two brothers, Paul and Keith Canaro. Paul and his family got out alive, but his brother Keith was not so lucky.

When first responders got to his house, they discovered that Keith had died, but not in the fire. He'd been shot repeatedly. His wife and two children were also dead.

In Dateline Roundup, we'll fill you in on an unexpected twist in the case of a dentist accused of poisoning his wife. And the Florida woman convicted of murder by suitcase takes the stand at her sentencing.

But by whom? A week later, investigators came up with a stunning theory. Paul Canero had killed his brother and his family and then set fire not only to his brother's house, but to his own to cover up the crime. He was charged with their murders and two counts of arson.

Producer Brenda Breslauer, who has been covering the case for Dateline, is here to tell us what prosecutors believe is Paul's motive and why science is now taking center stage in the courtroom. Hey, Brenda. Hi, Andrea. So, first of all, very interesting that this involves two brothers. What do we know about them, the Caneros, and their relationship?

Yeah, I've been to Colts Neck. It's an absolutely beautiful area of New Jersey.

You're listening in to Dateline's morning meeting in 30 Rockefeller Center. What was the motive if he was already the ex? Great question. Our editorial team is catching up on breaking crime news around the country.

It was Keith. And what makes this story so incredibly tragic is that it wasn't just Keith. It was the rest of his family as well, right?

Wow. So what exactly happened here between these two brothers? Do we have a motive?

Plus, she was one of the most famous defendants in the world, an American student abroad charged with a horrifying crime. Fifteen years ago this week, Amanda Knox was convicted of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kircher. Dennis Murphy reflects on his time in Italy covering this sensational case.

How has he responded to all of this? Has he said anything? He has pleaded not guilty, and he maintains his innocence. The murders happened back in 2018. Six years later, the case is in court, but still not in trial.

Is the assumption by the prosecution that Paul thought that his jeans and the glove would burn in the fire? I mean, why would you leave these items in your own basement? Yeah.

Okay. Thank you, Brenda, for your insight into this disturbing case. You're welcome. Up next, it's Dateline Roundup. The Florida woman convicted of leaving her boyfriend to die in a suitcase learns her fate. And prosecutors say the Colorado dentist accused of poisoning his wife has a new target. Plus, Dennis Murphy remembers the Amanda Knox case. Welcome back.

Joining me for this week's Roundup is Dateline producer Sue Simpson. Hey, Sue, welcome back. Thanks, Andrea. Hi. Okay, first up, more stunning headlines in the case involving Colorado dentist James Craig. We mentioned his trial was set to begin in our last episode, but there have been a couple of massive twists we didn't see coming.

But first, we're heading out to San Francisco for the final days of the trial that's become the talk of the city and beyond. In April of 2023, a 911 dispatcher took a call at 2.30 in the morning.

Before we get to that, just remind people what this alleged crime is and who James Craig is.

The attorney didn't say what that action was, which he found so repugnant, but something happened the next day which could give us a clue.

First of all, I want to say how very sorry I am.