Not until the following morning, when I went from this job to another job, did I get a text from a friend who thought it might be my house. But these were good defense attorneys. Shirley: "Yes. Did you see her on TV a few days later? At the time of the explosion, Shirley says he was living in Noblesville. Both the prosecution and defense attorneys asked Shirley if she thought Hults was joking. Many people may remember Shirley giving an interview to the media, including WISH-TV, after the explosion. Monserrate Shirley was a divorced Puerto Rican mother whose exotic looks quickly attracted Mark Leonard. Glenn Hults, the final defendant to stand trial for the explosion, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge last month that may result in no additional jail time. I have morals.I love my patients and I would do anything for them. Thompson left after a few hours and Shirley didn't hear anything else before the first attempt that Saturday. Are they going to get bored with it?. In 2017, Leonard wasconvicted and received an additional 50-year sentencein a murder-for-hire scheme authorities say he concocted from jail after his arrest. The defense said if prosecutors wrapped up early enough on Thursday, they could call all of their witnesses that day alone and closing arguments could be held Friday, July 10. Defense attorney David Shircliff then said Shirley may not have provided the "means" for the explosion, but she took care of the logistics to make sure no one realized she was helping blow up her own home. When a defense attorney comes out and says, My client didnt do anything at all, but you clearly can show they did, then usually its going to be an all-or-nothing verdict, Robinson said. ", Minch: "You testified that you only used a babysitter maybe once a month, because your lifestyle with Ms. Shirley wasn't such that you went out every weekend?" [5], The most damning piece of evidence was a witness statement from one of Mark Leonard's associates, who told investigators that the weekend before the explosion, Leonard told him that "the house blew up". Leonard is charged with 53 counts of murder, arson and conspiracy. Defense attorneys tried to play that video for jurors Wednesday, but the judge wouldnt allow it. Prosecutors ask if Shirley was asked by police to identify personal property following the explosion. It was run by the daughter of a famous American actor who was very close to the owner. Roughly a week afterward, Mark asked Shirley for $500. The man he called was actually an undercover agent. He asked whose name the house was under, and she said it was entirely in her name after the divorce. Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard, and three others were convicted and sentenced to prison on various charges, including felony murder for Leonard. Powerball winner sold in central Indiana! Her sister had lived in the same housing complex. Her sister had lived in the same housing complex. Thirty-three homes were damaged so severely they were deemed unrecoverable, and had to be torn down to the foundation. Monserrate Shirley, Indianapolis Homeowner - AOL Real Estate And I think when the motivation is that, what we have is a person who is the worst of the worst.. Bad food, non-first class flights drop Colts to middle-of-pack in player survey. [15], Prosecutors contended that the trio filled the house with natural gas and then used the spark from a microwave which could be set in advance to detonate it. FOLLOW|Rafael Sanchez on Twitter|Jordan Fischer on Twitter, RELATED LINKS |Richmond Hill Special Section|Mark Ray Leonard convicted on all counts. (WISH) Monserrate Shirley told jurors Wednesday she would do anything for Mark Leonard, because she was in love with him. So in the end there were a couple of people who were opposed to it, and I respected that. More on AOL Real Estate:Find homes for rent in your area.Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.Find homes for sale in your area.Find foreclosures in your area. SOUTH BEND, Ind. Should we not use all those witnesses? Prosecutors entered all three into evidence Tuesday. Until shed agreed and signed on the dotted line, there were things I could not tell them. In Indianapolis, Search For Answers Continues After Massive - NPR I didnt give it any credibility. Shirley and Leonard had gone on television on multiple occasions following the blast to state their innocence, and to ask for privacy. She then spoke with another neighbor, who told her there had been an explosion. At sentencing, St. Joseph Superior Court Judge John Marnocha said Leonard demonstrated a sheer indifference for the safety of others., The motivation here is greed, Marnocha said. She met Mark Leonard at a bar on November 12, 2011. "Two innocent people died because of this!" Leonard died around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at an Indianapolis hospital,according to an Indiana Department of Correction spokesman. I did everything to make him happy, Monserrate Shirley said in testimony. "No one deserves what happened," she said. On Monday, November 5, they changed out the thermostat for a "cheaper" model. Leonard was at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility inSullivan County serving two life sentences for his role in the explosion that rocked the southeast-side neighborhood that destroyed five homes and damaged more than 80 others. Investigators quickly honed in on the home's owner, Monserrate Shirley, her boyfriend Mark Leonard and his brother, Bob Leonard Jr., as the primary suspects. [28] Prosecutors expected to submit nearly 3,000 pieces of evidence, and potentially call up to 175 witnesses. I got upset with her and sent her some derogatory texts. He was sentenced to 75 years in prison on the arson charges on top of two life sentences for the murder charges. Hults faces no prison time to three years . Prosecutors then proposed an unusual strategy involving one trial, but three separate juries, one for each defendant. As his court date neared, the workload ramped up. She agreed that's what happened, but insisted she only said what Mark told her to say. In court, Shirley testified Leonard had promised to show her how to make a lot of money. HS counselor at board meeting, Serial Indianapolis rapist pleads guilty to 9 counts, Mom speaks out after 2 kids killed by falling tree, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. She found a house with a floorplan she liked." She later worked at St. Francis and Community South. Monserrate Shirley sentenced to 50 years in prison - YouTube PHOTOS: First Richmond Hill trial Mark Leonard is on. You're a piece of [expletive]. By the time wed got to trial, hed already been in jail for going on three years. He was working in Fishers on the night of the explosion. Its about your game being the only game that matters. This time, Mark and Bob talked alone while Monserrate left to pick up her daughter. Shirley told jurors he lost a number of things in the explosion, including a collection of tennis rackets and a drafting table. I did my best. They started looking around the house at potential ways to start the fire. He occasionally worked on those cars at Shirley's home so she saw he had a wide array of tools. American Greed: Property, auto insurance fraud is $30B problem - WSAV-TV The home of Monserrate Shirley was the center of the explosion that resulted in the deaths of next-door neighbors John "Dion" Longworth and his wife Jennifer (ne Buxton), the injuries of seven others, and $4 million in property damage. There's little remaining of Shirley's home (pictured at left) after Saturday's explosion. Defendant in Indiana house explosion gets maximum 50 years - FOX 5 Atlanta From confusion to conviction, Richmond Hill blast recapped. Shirley Temple's Children Remember Their Late Mother - Closer Weekly I worked from the smaller charges to the larger ones to say, Of course its clear he did this, this and this, but heres how you get to here, Robinson said. For their families, the tree is one last connection to the loved ones they lost on Nov. 10, 2012. The brothers were sentenced to terms of life without parole for spearheading the conspiracy. Dion and Jennifer Longworth, two occupants in the house at 8355 Fieldfare Way, died in the explosion; seven others were injured. Monserrate Shirley was ordered to serve out her sentence at the Indiana Womens Prison in Indianapolis. John Duncan was the one to call, saying something horrible had happened on her street and he wanted to make sure she and her daughterwere okay. Shirley alleged that Hults initially came up with the idea. Residents, particularly the younger ones, report experiencing continued psychological trauma from the incident. John moved out in February 2010 and their divorce was finalized that summer. Monserrate Shirley was given the house after her divorce. [31][32][33] Bob Leonard was convicted on all 51 counts, including murder and conspiracy to commit arson, on February 24, 2016. For one: She had earned a reputation as a master liar, as Mark Leonards defense team would later call her. Shirley says the house had three gas appliances when he lived there: furnace, water heater and fireplace. That's whatwe'll be asking the jury to consider.". She and her husband Gabriel Ferrer (son of Rosemary Clooney and Jos Ferrer, and a first cousin to George Clooney) had four children: Jordan Alexander Ferrer (born July 8, 1980), twin girls (Gabrielle Monserrate Ferrer & Dustin Boone Ferrer, born September 17, 1983), and Tessa Ferrer (born March 30, 1986). But no other problems. A copy of her plea agreement was entered into evidence and handed out to each member of the jury. I dont believe in vengeance and I know that my son is not a person that would accept vengeance and such things, he didnt live that way., I look at Monserrate Shirley and I see a wasted life, said Tony Burnett, who lived across the street from Shirley. "Everybody's pointing a finger at me like I did something wrong," Shirley said in a video posted on the Indianapolis Star newspaper's website. FULL STORY | Mark Leonards friend says he knew too much. [6] She claimed to have been horrified at the Longworths' deaths, as well as the massive destruction wrought by the explosion. [18], Prosecutors initially sought to try the suspects together, but the defendants were granted the right to separate trials. [7], An investigation involving the Indianapolis Division of Homeland Security, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Indianapolis Fire Department was begun. He faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. They got to the room, but Mark wasn't feeling well so he stayed there while Shirley played slot machines for about an hour. This is too risky." But their arrests wereonly the beginning of years of work to put them behind bars for good. Make To this day, absolutely they had the right to do that. Shirley didn't hear anything more about a plot to start a fire that night, and nothing happened. At least half a dozen marriages in the Richmond Hill neighborhood ended in divorce in the years immediately following the blast. She asked Mark and Bob what happened that made it be an explosion instead of a fire. Shirley testified Leonard asked to see the insurance policy on the home within a few weeks of moving in. She will be 72 years old. "Cases are made up of hurdles all the time," Robinson said Wednesday. Among the "no" votes, inexplicably: political dancer Hiram Monserrate. Shirley said she recalled telling them two innocent people die out of this.THIS HAS TO BE DONE. We have done that. Shirley: "Yes. Monserrate Shirley spent the entire day on the stand Wednesday, and the anticipation of her testimony was evident in courtroom attendance. At about 11:10p.m., on November 10, 2012, a large explosion occurred in Richmond Hill, a subdivision on the southeast side of Indianapolis. She, at first, struggled to identify her other neighbors. When they arrived, Mark told her the fire would happen Saturday night so she needed to ask to keep their room a second night (Saturday night). According to Shirley, he said the house fire would happen, "even if I have to step in the living room and light up this house myself.". "In order to pay a very large amount of child support, I was working a full-time job and two part-time jobs," he said. The Richmond Hill neighbors had been waiting long enough without a trial. Leonard started talking the next week about trying for a second time to burn down the home. We've got a few more.". I said, You guys are crazy, that my house is too big.. Follow her on Twitter:@hollyvhays. When she got home, Mark told her he and Bob had gone to the library to research other similar homes that had been set on fire without anyone getting hurt. I was scared for my life and the life of my daughter., Forgive me for my poor choices in life, she continued.

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