Deadly Divorce, Part 2

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Speaker 2 This special two-part edition of 48 Hours continues.

Speaker 4 Multimillionaire Darren Mack is facing life in prison

Speaker 4 for the murder of his beautiful sexy wife, Charlotte.

Speaker 4 There is a mountain of incriminating evidence against Darren.

Speaker 4 Is this the end of the story?

Speaker 4 Not by a long shot.

Speaker 4 When a sniper opened fire on the morning of June 12th at 11:05 in downtown Reno.

Speaker 6 The judge was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

Speaker 4 No one could have imagined the horror that had taken place only a few miles away two hours earlier.

Speaker 4 In an upscale condominium complex, a woman had been brutally stabbed to death in a garage. Nobody knew what was going on, and nobody had put the two events together.

Speaker 4 Nobody disputes that Charlo was there that morning in Darren's garage to drop off her daughter.

Speaker 4 Charla was so afraid of Darren, so most people think he must have made some sort of promise that he was going to end the fight over their divorce if she would just come in and talk to him.

Speaker 4 That is the only reason most people think she would have gone into that garage.

Speaker 7 When I first heard that Charla had been killed, it was like somebody punched me in the chest.

Speaker 8 And you're thinking it just happened and maybe

Speaker 8 somehow if you can get to her and

Speaker 8 turn back time real fast, fast,

Speaker 5 you can save her.

Speaker 4 At one point I think the Macs were a happily married couple. They did enjoy an alternative sort of lifestyle.
They were swingers.

Speaker 4 They went to sex clubs and sex parties. They enjoyed swapping partners.
They led a wild life, and by most accounts they both enjoyed.

Speaker 4 But there was absolutely no love in that garage that morning. There was bitter, bitter hate.

Speaker 10 She obviously died a very slow, painful, and tortured death.

Speaker 11 It was absolutely premeditated, and we know that from the note that was left.

Speaker 12 Well, ending the problem was eliminating her, was killing her.

Speaker 4 We've heard the official version about what happened that morning. Now we're going to hear Darren's story.

Speaker 13 It's time to take a stand.

Speaker 14 We're not going to take this anymore.

Speaker 5 Where do we draw the line?

Speaker 4 Darren's defense attorneys say that Charla was the aggressor. Charla attacked Darren.

Speaker 3 He was very scared of her.

Speaker 15 I was with him a couple of times when she called and threatened him.

Speaker 4 The Charla and Darren Mack story is far from over.

Speaker 16 Just one day before Charla Mack was murdered

Speaker 17 and Judge Chuck Weller was shot by a sniper,

Speaker 18 Alicia Biddison was out target practicing

Speaker 20 with her new boyfriend.

Speaker 21 And so we all loaded up in the cars and drove out to a place where people routinely go shooting and did a little target practicing.

Speaker 17 She noticed he was a pretty good shot. shot.

Speaker 23 How good of a marksman is he?

Speaker 21 Excellent.

Speaker 23 Excellent.

Speaker 24 His name?

Speaker 25 Darren Mack.

Speaker 26 They met online, though not on a dating website, but on a blog filled with scathing complaints about family court judge Chuck Weller.

Speaker 21 We both had

Speaker 21 unique experiences in the family court.

Speaker 3 Alicia had her own run-ins with Judge Weller.

Speaker 21 I received an email from Darren as well well as many other people and we began corresponding that way.

Speaker 30 What was it about Darren that attracted you?

Speaker 21 Probably first and foremost that he was respectful of me

Speaker 21 because

Speaker 21 he valued my opinion. And then probably a close second to that was the fact that

Speaker 21 he's a family man.

Speaker 21 Especially being a single mom, you want to make sure that the person that you're dating is someone who has strong family values.

Speaker 23 Did you fall in love with him?

Speaker 5 I love him, and I do.

Speaker 5 Bring it out.

Speaker 16 They knew each other just three months before the family man was accused of murdering his wife, Charla.

Speaker 23 You're the person that was closest to him in the days leading up to the murder of Charla Mack.

Speaker 34 What was going through his mind?

Speaker 23 What was his mental state?

Speaker 21 I can't begin to assess what Darren Mack's mental state was. I can tell you that

Speaker 21 my experience with him was that of

Speaker 21 a normal relationship. Yes, he was frustrated.

Speaker 35 Alicia says that morning it never occurred to her that Darren could have been involved.

Speaker 21 Nothing about anything about Darren conveyed that there was anything being planned.

Speaker 36 A first responder told us a shot hit Judge Chuck Weller in the upper upper chest.

Speaker 21 What came into my mind was, I've got to call Darren and tell him this is unbelievable. I mean, we knew lots of people didn't like Judge Weller, and rightly so.

Speaker 21 There was a lot of people out there who really didn't like this judge.

Speaker 23 So you're at work and you hear that Judge Weller had been shot.

Speaker 3 And what was your reaction? What did you do?

Speaker 37 Picked up the phone, called Darren.

Speaker 23 And what did he say?

Speaker 37 He just said he was really busy at the time and he'd call me back.

Speaker 37 And that was the last time I spoke to him.

Speaker 16 When Garrett Idols spoke to Darren that morning, he had no clue that within hours, there would be a massive manhunt on for his friend.

Speaker 38 The prime suspect, Darren Mack.

Speaker 23 Did you notice anything in his voice, any kind of panic?

Speaker 21 When I didn't reach him, I immediately text messaged him saying, you know, Judge Weller's been shot. Call me.

Speaker 26 Alicia never heard back from Darren that day.

Speaker 39 And by 4.30 that afternoon, she knew why.

Speaker 37 For the shooting of judge chuck weller we are now seeking darren mack this individual was a sniper

Speaker 23 it was a shock to you absolutely and at that time did you also fear for your own safety no

Speaker 18 her only fear at that point was whether she too was under suspicion

Speaker 46 since they'd been together just the day before at the shooting range.

Speaker 21 So there was a decision made to call a friend of mine who is a sheriff, a local sheriff, and ask him, well, what do I do? Am I a suspect? Do I go home?

Speaker 16 It was only then she heard the most shocking news of all.

Speaker 38 It is a homicide investigation.

Speaker 30 Charla Mack was found murdered on the floor of Darren's garage.

Speaker 21 And I said, what?

Speaker 21 What are you talking about?

Speaker 21 And I said,

Speaker 11 I don't know.

Speaker 21 You know, I just, I couldn't believe any of it. This can't be happening.

Speaker 16 The next time Darren and Alicia saw each other was for a jailhouse visit several weeks after his return from Mexico.

Speaker 21 It was a very emotional

Speaker 21 kind of reunion, I guess you would call it,

Speaker 5 having

Speaker 21 you know, seeing him again for the first time and realizing the full gravity of

Speaker 21 what had happened and

Speaker 21 how life was never going to be the same again.

Speaker 47 Darren Mack plans to testify at his trial about what drove him to kill Charla.

Speaker 48 I loved her as deeply as a man can love a woman. And when it wasn't that way, it was as painful as anything I've ever experienced.

Speaker 42 Mr. Mack, I'll remind you that you're still under oath, okay?

Speaker 16 He will tell a jury as he told True TV.

Speaker 48 I went to even the battered woman's thing to get a temporary straining order.

Speaker 46 That he lived in fear of his own wife.

Speaker 48 I even at one point called my friend. I went and got his bulletproof vest and started wearing that anytime I was forced to meet with Charla alone.

Speaker 22 And alone with Charla in that garage.

Speaker 18 It was she, Darren says, who attacked him.

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Speaker 33 Since June of 2006, the murder of Charla Mack and the shooting of Judge Chuck Weller have been the talk of Reno.

Speaker 38 And we have another major story to get to now. The Darren Mack murder trial finally got started today.

Speaker 3 So when it came time for Darren Mack's trial more than a year later, the show went on the road to Las Vegas.

Speaker 4 As this trial begins, we're going to hear two versions of a terrible story, a terrible murder.

Speaker 25 Writer Amanda Robb followed the case for 48 hours.

Speaker 4 We're going to hear Darren's story and we're going to hear the prosecutor's story. They're both going to be brutal and they're both going to be ugly.

Speaker 44 There's nothing that unusual, unfortunately, about a domestic violence homicide.

Speaker 18 Prosecutor Robert Daskas opened for the state.

Speaker 42 Like a lot of couples, they grew apart.

Speaker 44 And 10 years after the marriage, Charla and the defendant decided to get a divorce. What made this case somewhat unusual was that Darren Mack also tried to kill a judge.

Speaker 44 Things became fairly contentious very early in the divorce proceedings before Judge Charles Weller.

Speaker 16 A big part of the state's case would be these recordings from Judge Weller's courtroom showing the bitterness of the Mack's divorce.

Speaker 9 Over and over, they lie, lie, lie.

Speaker 45 This courtroom battle went on for over a year and a half.

Speaker 33 Mostly about money.

Speaker 51 Charlie needs some money immediately.

Speaker 48 I don't have any money.

Speaker 51 What do you want me to do?

Speaker 46 At one point, Judge Weller even threatened to throw Darren in jail when he violated a court order.

Speaker 51 My inclination now is to require you, sir, to give her $10,000 by Friday at 5 o'clock, or if you don't do that, to report to 9-11 Park Boulevard at that time for incarceration.

Speaker 44 Darren Mack is essentially, you know, he's a spoiled brat. I mean, the kid was raised with a lot of money.
He got everything he ever wanted, and now he found himself in family court.

Speaker 44 Things weren't going his way. He wasn't getting what he wanted, and he took matters into his own hands.

Speaker 45 Prosecutors believe the idea to kill Charla may have been planted a couple of weeks earlier when Darren sat for this cable access interview with a father's rights advocate.

Speaker 35 Mac railed against Weller.

Speaker 13 That is the...

Speaker 11 the family court system, my experience of it under Judge Weller, is it's it's it reminds me much more about what I've studied in school about Nazi Germany.

Speaker 16 And then there was this chilling remark from host William Wagner to Darren.

Speaker 54 You're actually, you know, better off to murder your spouse and then plead insanity and you'll be out in seven years.

Speaker 2 You don't have your kids.

Speaker 23 What was Darren Mack's reaction when that comment was made?

Speaker 44 He didn't say anything, but you could see his facial reaction. It was almost like he...
absorbed it and

Speaker 44 realized it might be a good idea.

Speaker 12 Kind of almost as though a light went off.

Speaker 16 At some point following this interview, prosecutors say, Darren took this advice a step further and actually wrote a to-do list for his crime spray.

Speaker 12 It's not every day that you have a script basically laying out what's going to happen in a murder case.

Speaker 24 Friends Ann and Christine say that morning began like so many others.

Speaker 56 When she got in her car with Erica that morning, and the dog, her intention was to drive Erica and do the exchange. exchange and never in a million years did she leave her house that day and think

Speaker 38 I should be worried about this.

Speaker 11 Charla was murdered in a very brutal way.

Speaker 55 She clearly suffered defensive wounds on her arms and on her legs.

Speaker 12 She was clearly drugged from one area to another. We see blood spatter on the walls of the garage and on the floor of the garage.

Speaker 44 Although we don't know exactly what happened, we know she put up quite a fight. Ultimately, she lost that fight.
Charla Mack was 5'4 ⁇ , 120 pounds. Darren Mack was close to 6'200 pounds.

Speaker 44 Charla Mack didn't stand a chance.

Speaker 27 Less than two hours later, Darren Mack could check one more thing off that to-do list

Speaker 39 as Judge Chuck Weller lay bleeding on the floor of his chambers.

Speaker 44 The next question was, who fired the bullet? Well, if there's a common denominator between Charla Mack and Judge Weller, it's the defendant Darren Mack.

Speaker 44 Certainly that doesn't prove he fired the shot. Several other things will.

Speaker 57 Ladies and gentlemen, you've heard from the state.

Speaker 16 Now, it was Darren's turn.

Speaker 22 As Defense Attorney Scott Freeman's open with scenes of a very troubled marriage.

Speaker 57 He thought he had hit the lottery with this woman. Funny, smart, beautiful, physically fit.

Speaker 57 Darren was not aware of the dark side of Charla prior to marriage. She also was not aware of her ability to be physically violent and physically abusive towards Darren.

Speaker 26 The defense spared the jury no detail in describing the Max marriage.

Speaker 57 Charla had an unusual sexual appetite. She liked women.
She liked swing with men and women.

Speaker 13 Charla, do some poses.

Speaker 57 She could be kind and giving in public. She could be violent and abusive at home.
It was too much for Darren to take.

Speaker 16 Darren told friends he started carrying a knife and a gun for protection. Yet, in their last court appearance together, it was Charla who said she was afraid.

Speaker 58 But he gets so angry and so whipped up that I just don't feel comfortable right now

Speaker 58 knowing personally where I live. And it's not about Erica, it's really about me.
And I just would like to wait until the whole thing is resolved.

Speaker 23 Charla did want protection.

Speaker 21 Darren did want protection.

Speaker 21 They both asked for it and they didn't get it.

Speaker 23 And one person is still alive.

Speaker 34 Yes,

Speaker 21 I'm not denying that.

Speaker 21 And one person defended his own life.

Speaker 16 And now, for the first time, defense attorneys reveal Darren's version of events the morning Charla and Darren were face to face in that garage.

Speaker 57 Charla arrived about 9.15.

Speaker 57 Charla begins to threaten, and the rubber band starts to pull.

Speaker 57 The name-calling from Charla began. The terrorist split personality reared its evil head.
She transferred into pure hatred.

Speaker 57 The rubber band is pulling.

Speaker 24 According to Darren, the fight escalated, and when he turned his back on her, Charla knocked him to the ground.

Speaker 27 Darren says that's when the gun he was carrying fell out of his pocket.

Speaker 57 She was going to punch him on the left side of his face, but Darren gets up and pushes her back.

Speaker 22 Darren says as Charla stumbled backwards, she stepped on the gun.

Speaker 27 He claims she picked it up and aimed it right at him.

Speaker 57 Charla, give me the gun, Darren says with his left hand.

Speaker 18 It's loaded.

Speaker 57 Charla looks at the gun, pulls the hammer back, smiles, and fires.

Speaker 57 Just like that, the rubber band breaks.

Speaker 27 Darren claimed the gun had misfired, which may or may not explain why there was no evidence of gunplay.

Speaker 33 And this is the first time, by the way, that prosecutors heard anything about a gun in the garage.

Speaker 57 Darren's worst fears were realized at that moment.

Speaker 57 Charla was really going to kill him.

Speaker 35 According to Darren, Charla tried to pull the trigger again, but this time, he was ready for her with his knife.

Speaker 57 They are both struggling on the ground. Darren plunges the knife into her neck once.

Speaker 57 Charla's violence has stopped.

Speaker 22 Defense Attorney David Chesnoff picks up Darren's story from that morning's crime spray.

Speaker 59 He's like a soldier.

Speaker 3 He's a soldier for a just cause.

Speaker 15 That's how he sees this. Everything is happening basically on automatic pilot, which is consistent with somebody suffering from the delusions that Darren Mack was suffering from.

Speaker 15 at the time that he went and shot Judge Weller.

Speaker 33 The defense says Darren went into into that delusional state of mind after Charla allegedly put the gun in his face.

Speaker 3 Darren thought that Charla had slept with Judge Weller.

Speaker 59 A delusion, I hope.

Speaker 15 We'll ask Judge Weller when he comes here.

Speaker 16 Chesnov says they will prove Darren was still delusional when he managed to hit Judge Weller.

Speaker 31 in a single shot from 170 yards away.

Speaker 59 Did Judge Weller fuel

Speaker 60 Darren's delusions?

Speaker 28 You bet he did.

Speaker 31 Darren's attorneys were trying a unique defense strategy.

Speaker 16 Self-defense in the murder of Charla Mack and insanity for the attempted murder of Judge Chuck Weller.

Speaker 23 Is Darren Mack insane? No.

Speaker 39 No.

Speaker 41 I think Judge Weller has a lot to do with what happened to Darren that day.

Speaker 37 I think Judge Weller should be up on the stand right next to Darren.

Speaker 34 Despite the horrible details revealed at trial.

Speaker 37 I mean, if it wasn't for Judge Weller, none of this would have happened.

Speaker 45 Darren Mack still has supporters like Garrett Idol.

Speaker 23 Help me understand that line of thinking. If it wasn't for Judge Weller, Charla Mack would be alive today.

Speaker 37 If Judge Weller handled his courtroom with a little more human touch, a little more compassion, I think that a lot of people wouldn't be so destroyed.

Speaker 34 Garrett met Darren through a divorce support group.

Speaker 23 How were you treated by Judge Weller?

Speaker 37 Like a piece of garbage. He told me if

Speaker 37 I couldn't pay my child support doing my career line of work now, that I should go flip burgers. Go flip burgers?

Speaker 5 Excuse me?

Speaker 47 Alicia Biddison claims Judge Weller crossed the line with her too when she was before him for that custody dispute.

Speaker 30 How did Judge Weller conduct himself?

Speaker 21 He was unprofessional.

Speaker 44 He was rude.

Speaker 21 And he made highly inappropriate comments.

Speaker 16 Alicia was then a captain in the army, and she says Weller accused her of being upset because her child's father moved on.

Speaker 21 I took offense

Speaker 21 to the

Speaker 21 statement that I was chasing a lieutenant colonel and I was just bitter about not getting myself a lieutenant colonel. And I needed to get over that and I needed to get on with my life.

Speaker 16 As his friends see it, Darren's own frustrations led him to that parking garage to send Judge Weller a message.

Speaker 37 And I think he just wanted to injure him and to expose his courtroom, his corruption.

Speaker 5 You believe that?

Speaker 37 If Darren wanted to kill Judge Weller, he could have done so.

Speaker 23 What do you make of Darren Mack's claim that he didn't intend on killing Judge Weller?

Speaker 5 Do you believe that? No. He just wanted to scare him.

Speaker 32 No, I don't. He wanted to send a message.

Speaker 44 I think that's Darren Mack's ego because he didn't kill him.

Speaker 37 State may call the next witness.

Speaker 44 Thank you, Judge Charles Weller.

Speaker 16 In a rare turn of events, Judge Chuck Weller found himself on the witness stand.

Speaker 51 In the couple of months before I was shot, there were blogs on a couple of websites and there were some just horrible attacks on me, calling me Hitler, saying that I was unfair, that I was biased, that I was corrupt.

Speaker 51 I knew some people from the Vadins for Equal Parenting. I had some sympathy for some of their views.

Speaker 34 Concerned, Judge Weller approached the head of the group and asked him about the negative blogs.

Speaker 61 Why is this happening?

Speaker 51 And he said,

Speaker 51 I thought Daryl, but perhaps he said Darren Mack. He told me that Darren Mack was behind it.

Speaker 24 Weller remembered this conversation and gave police the details from his hospital bed.

Speaker 44 And what was the name you told the detective?

Speaker 51 Daryl Mack.

Speaker 44 When you provided the the name Daryl Mack,

Speaker 60 who were you thinking of?

Speaker 51 That man right there.

Speaker 34 Now, it's the defense's turn to cross-examine the judge, and they begin by questioning his knowledge of the divorce case.

Speaker 15 You would agree that you've become a lot more familiar with this particular divorce than you actually did when the divorce was occurring. Isn't that fair, Judge Weller?

Speaker 2 No.

Speaker 15 Well, you didn't know Mr. Mack's first name, and he'd been in front of you for over a year.

Speaker 51 Sir, because I didn't know his name doesn't mean that I was unfamiliar with the divorce. I was very familiar with the divorce.
I'm diligent about my job, sir.

Speaker 41 I review the file before I go to court.

Speaker 44 Well, I think the defense recognized what they had to do to push his buttons.

Speaker 15 You treated Mr.

Speaker 2 Mack differently than you did other people who appeared before you, didn't you, Judge Weller? No.

Speaker 16 And then the defense tried to show just how delusional Darren was.

Speaker 2 With this question, I do apologize, but I have an obligation to Mr. Mack to ask it.

Speaker 2 You hadn't been sleeping with Charla Mack, had you?

Speaker 15 No, sir.

Speaker 2 Okay, that would be crazy, right?

Speaker 44 There's no evidence to suggest there was any relationship between Judge Weller and Charla Mack.

Speaker 57 No.

Speaker 51 I've never had my reputation attacked the way that you're attacking it, sir.

Speaker 55 It's unfair and it's unwarranted.

Speaker 5 Hold on now.

Speaker 12 Your Honor, I'm going to make a motion.

Speaker 5 I'm going to make a motion, Your Honor.

Speaker 42 I'm going to strike strike it. Ladies and gentlemen, you'll disregard that statement.

Speaker 54 Judge Weller, you know better than that.

Speaker 42 This isn't a forum for that.

Speaker 6 I'm sorry.

Speaker 42 Ask another question.

Speaker 44 This case shouldn't have turned into family court proceedings involving Judge Weller and other cases. This was about Judge Weller being shot as he stood defenseless in his chambers.

Speaker 26 Did you think Chuck Weller was fair to Darren Mack?

Speaker 44 Without question.

Speaker 12 And I don't think you just have to take our word for it. I mean, if you watch the videos yourself, particularly the last time those two are in court.

Speaker 6 Mr. and Mrs.
Mack, I'm sorry that I'm going to have to rule in this case. I've said over and over today, and I mean it, that this is a terrible thing.

Speaker 51 I can only pick one side or the other, and one of you has to lose.

Speaker 34 But Garrett Idol says the tapes don't tell the whole story.

Speaker 17 And unless you've been through it, you cannot truly appreciate how it can drive someone to the edge.

Speaker 37 Looking at the whole system from

Speaker 55 outside in, it almost makes sense.

Speaker 39 Almost.

Speaker 5 How?

Speaker 37 Well, why should one person have to just completely be bankrupt by a court decision and

Speaker 37 have to spend all their assets on their ex?

Speaker 12 It just, it doesn't seem right.

Speaker 23 So it makes more sense to kill your spouse?

Speaker 37 No, I'm not saying that, but if you're looking...

Speaker 23 It almost makes sense.

Speaker 37 It almost makes sense. I mean, looking from the outside in, it almost makes sense.

Speaker 5 Garn.

Speaker 37 I'm not advocating murder. No, I'm not.

Speaker 16 But you're telling me

Speaker 23 that almost makes sense to you.

Speaker 6 If you look at the system, sure.

Speaker 34 But even his number one supporter concedes, Darren's approach was probably not the best way to bring attention to their cause.

Speaker 23 What do you think this case has done to your efforts for judicial reform?

Speaker 21 Well, it did create a huge speed bump.

Speaker 34 Alicia says that won't stop her fight to try and improve the family court system.

Speaker 34 And it definitely won't stop her from fighting for the man she loves.

Speaker 23 Why are you still standing by his side? After learning everything that's been put out there during the course of that trial, you know about the details of how Charla Mack was slaughtered.

Speaker 17 And you're still there.

Speaker 23 You're still by his side.

Speaker 21 Charla Mack was not slaughtered.

Speaker 5 And And I

Speaker 21 there is a difference between a stab wound and it wasn't just a stab wound.

Speaker 5 Well,

Speaker 21 I've seen the medical examination.

Speaker 23 I've seen the pictures as well.

Speaker 3 You're still there.

Speaker 21 I am because what I believe in is truth and justice for all.

Speaker 23 None of that changes the fact that this man brutally killed the mother of his child.

Speaker 21 He defended his his life.

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Speaker 5 Smile, honey.

Speaker 24 It's been 16 months since Darren Mack killed his wife, Charla.

Speaker 63 All I can see in my mind is how my daughter was slaughtered like an animal.

Speaker 64 And she was the mother of his children.

Speaker 31 16 long months that Darren says he spent anxiously waiting to tell his side of the story.

Speaker 48 I did everything I could so that that day wouldn't happen.

Speaker 44 Now the fun begins in our minds. Now we get to hear Darren Mack hit the stand and try to sell his story.

Speaker 42 State of Nevada vs. Darren Mack.
Record reflect the presence of Mr.

Speaker 31 Mack.

Speaker 22 His family and friends gathered for the first day of the defense's case.

Speaker 21 We were going to get to hug Darren and encourage him because because he was going to be testifying.

Speaker 33 But over the weekend, there had been a change of plans.

Speaker 16 So instead of taking the stand...

Speaker 42 As to count one, murder of the first degree, how do you plead?

Speaker 46 Darren took a deal.

Speaker 48 I'm accepting the guilty plea.

Speaker 5 It was...

Speaker 5 what?

Speaker 21 We were all just shocked.

Speaker 42 Before I accept your plea, I need to be satisfied that it's freely and voluntarily made, is it?

Speaker 16 Yes.

Speaker 40 He would admit to murdering Charla, and in return, he would have a better shot at parole.

Speaker 42 You willfully, feloniously, and without authority of law stabbed Ed into the body of Charla Mack, causing her death. Is that correct?

Speaker 23 It's correct.

Speaker 42 And that that was done with premeditation and deliberation.

Speaker 9 Is that correct? It's correct.

Speaker 21 What we were being fed is: this is what's happening, this is why, and we're trying to save Darren's life, so we got to take this.

Speaker 41 We've given him hope, we've given him an opportunity for his family and his kids to feel that he's not going to be locked away in a max prison forever.

Speaker 42 I have before me the written plea agreement.

Speaker 40 As part of the plea deal, Darren also admitted there was enough evidence to find him guilty of the attempted murder of Judge Weller.

Speaker 6 Shooting at the judiciary is not the proper form of political redress.

Speaker 31 But in the same breath.

Speaker 48 And also, one other thing I'd like to tell you.

Speaker 3 He also managed to take a parting shot at Judge Weller by praising Judge Herndon.

Speaker 48 And I really appreciate Your Honor's integrity. I have much at stake.
It's been a pleasure to have somebody who really takes their job seriously.

Speaker 34 And in a private meeting, he also thanked the men who were trying to convict him, Robert Dasquis and Christopher Lawley.

Speaker 44 And Darren Mack shook our hands and thanked us for being professional, for acting like gentlemen.

Speaker 23 What was that meeting like?

Speaker 12 It was a little unusual.

Speaker 12 It doesn't happen every day.

Speaker 42 A bit surreal.

Speaker 31 But things were about to get even more surreal.

Speaker 6 This is breaking news.

Speaker 38 Just three weeks later. A strange turn of events in the Darren Mack murder case.

Speaker 27 Darren Mack announced he had fired his attorneys and wanted to withdraw his guilty plea.

Speaker 44 Darren Mack had buyers remorse. That's the bottom line.

Speaker 23 Buyer's remorse. Buyers remorse.

Speaker 12 Whenever you have somebody who basically signs up for spending just about the rest of their life in prison, It's not unusual for them to start having second thoughts about that.

Speaker 40 Darren alleges his attorneys were just in it for the money.

Speaker 48 It was money until they got the money, and then it was take the deal because you have no hope.

Speaker 31 The high-profile attorneys were out, and local Reno attorney William Rouses was in.

Speaker 16 His first order of business was to try and get Darren a whole new trial.

Speaker 43 I think it's been one of the greatest injustices that I have ever seen in the criminal justice system, and I've been doing it for 17 years.

Speaker 27 Rouses claims his old attorneys, Chesnoff and Freeman, had coerced Darren into pleading guilty and that Darren had agreed because he was confused, sleep-deprived, and dehydrated.

Speaker 42 It's time set for the hearing on the motion to withdraw plea.

Speaker 34 So two months later, Judge Herndon hauled everyone back into a Reno courtroom to hear arguments for a new trial.

Speaker 35 And this time, the star witnesses were Darren's former attorneys.

Speaker 30 They took the stand to defend themselves and the dual strategy of self-defense and insanity.

Speaker 43 You could bring in any competent expert. Darren Mack is not insane.

Speaker 18 It's an absolute joke what they did.

Speaker 43 You're not competent to argue self-defense if you're insane.

Speaker 16 But David Chesnoff explains that it was Darren who insisted on the split defense.

Speaker 41 Am I correct that Darren Mack is the one that said, I'm not going with an insanity defense on Charlotte. This was self-defense.

Speaker 61 Yeah, there's no question about that.

Speaker 41 And you did not think that was a smart thing to do.

Speaker 15 No, because he came to the garage with a knife and a gun in his pocket.

Speaker 16 By calling his former lawyers to the stand, Darren waived his right to attorney-client privilege.

Speaker 29 So, what he had told them could now be used against him.

Speaker 42 He had expressed to you all that he previously thought about having Charla killed.

Speaker 2 Yes.

Speaker 18 And I also had discovery that he had solicited somebody to kill her.

Speaker 12 There were actually police reports where Darren had solicited an individual in Clark County to kill Charla Mack and a family court judge.

Speaker 25 Murder for hire.

Speaker 39 Yes.

Speaker 15 This was an incredibly difficult case to defend.

Speaker 20 The damning revelations from Chesnov kept on coming.

Speaker 61 Darren had told us that after he stabbed her, he put his knee on her head and she was gurgling. When he told that to us in preparing for his testimony, I got physically ill.

Speaker 34 Darren's case continued to unravel as his other former attorney reluctantly takes the stand.

Speaker 57 This is a horribly disturbing situation I'm in right now. I understand

Speaker 57 something from my client, I'm not telling anybody.

Speaker 26 But under oath, Scott Freeman is forced to reveal that Darren never mentioned a gun in their initial conversation about what happened in the garage.

Speaker 57 So the second conversation, he had indicated to me that he had meditated on what we had talked about and described to me in fairly significant detail what had occurred in the garage that included this gun.

Speaker 16 Darren told Freeman that he had thrown the gun into a dumpster. But when Freeman went to look, there was no dumpster and therefore no gun.

Speaker 57 I had two concerns. The first concern was that perhaps Mr.
Mack was being less than candid with me. Or alternatively, the dumpster had been moved.

Speaker 57 So I decided to go with the dumpster had been moved as opposed to him being less than than candid with me.

Speaker 41 Your Honor, the defense will call Darren Mack to the standpoint.

Speaker 20 Darren Mack finally gets his chance on the witness stand.

Speaker 12 You have this very first meeting with Mr. Freeman and Mr.
Chesnoff, and you never mentioned a gun, correct?

Speaker 48 That is correct.

Speaker 12 You never mentioned a dumpster, correct?

Speaker 48 That is correct.

Speaker 23 Is there any evidence to support his claim that she pointed a gun at him?

Speaker 34 No. No.

Speaker 55 None at all. Nothing other than his word.

Speaker 47 Darren insists he acted in self-defense and was coerced and confused when he took the murder rap.

Speaker 48 Did I been that manipulated and gotten to a place where I actually, they got me to say what I said was so upsetting and horrifying. It was like a psychological rape.

Speaker 48 I mean, I have a whole new compassion for women who are raped. It's not just the sex that's taken from them.

Speaker 23 It's their will.

Speaker 48 And that is like one of the most horrifying things to have your will taken from you.

Speaker 44 Darren Mack is always the victim. In family court, he believes he's the victim.
In the criminal proceeding, he thinks he was the victim. You know, Darren Mack is not always the victim.

Speaker 44 He doesn't get what he wants, and then he tries to get himself out of the situation he finds himself.

Speaker 12 But you never told your lawyers you were sleep deprived, did you?

Speaker 34 Yes, I did.

Speaker 37 You did? Yeah.

Speaker 48 I didn't say it in those words, but I said I wasn't getting much sleep.

Speaker 12 You never told your lawyers you were heat exhausted, did you?

Speaker 48 I did not.

Speaker 12 You never told your lawyers that you were dehydrated?

Speaker 48 I told them I was very thirsty.

Speaker 40 After three days of testimony, closing arguments.

Speaker 12 I think what is abundantly clear from the testimony of Mr. Chesnoff and Mr.

Speaker 11 Freeman is that they cared about this defendant.

Speaker 12 They zealously represented him from the very, very beginning.

Speaker 16 And defense attorney William Rootsis makes a final plea to get Darren Mack

Speaker 35 another chance.

Speaker 2 The truth will set you free, not the fear of the truth.

Speaker 15 And that's what happened here, Judge.

Speaker 16 They were afraid of their own case.

Speaker 41 They tried to tailor this man to an insanity defense, and he is not insane.

Speaker 4 Darren is a spoiled brat. Darren is the most selfish person I think I have ever come across in my years of reporting.

Speaker 19 Even from behind bars, Darren Mack is still trying to get his way.

Speaker 16 There was his guilty plea, his attempt to withdraw the guilty plea, and the firings of his own attorneys.

Speaker 23 Is the circus over?

Speaker 4 The circus is closing down.

Speaker 16 Now it's out of Darren's hands and up to the judge to decide if he gets a new trial.

Speaker 65 The defendant wants a do-over. I don't think that's fair.
I don't think that's just. And I don't think that's right.

Speaker 42 The motion to withdraw the plea is going to be denied.

Speaker 45 It's over for Darren Mack.

Speaker 30 He now has to face the consequences for his crimes.

Speaker 47 One month later, at his sentencing, both families have a chance to speak.

Speaker 66 Nobody here has any clue how it feels to know that your father is innocent, but have to look at through glass and talk to him on the phone.

Speaker 18 Darren's son from his previous marriage begs the judge for leniency.

Speaker 5 I love him with all my heart and he loves me.

Speaker 66 and I cannot imagine going the rest of my life without my dad, my mentor,

Speaker 66 and my best buddy.

Speaker 5 I love you dad.

Speaker 19 Then Charla's family has their turn.

Speaker 48 Charla Mack was my sister.

Speaker 41 I thank the court for the opportunity to offer a statement as a victim of the murder of Charla Marie Samsel.

Speaker 52 I use her birth name because she should no longer be associated with the name Mac.

Speaker 52 Let him never again breathe the air of a free man.

Speaker 52 Let him forever remain caged until the day he dies. May he die in prison.

Speaker 63 I was one of those lucky mothers to be best friends with my daughter.

Speaker 64 When the phone rings, I realize it will never again be Charla. Now an indulgent, cowardly man has interrupted our our path of growth.

Speaker 64 This man who thought he knew a better plan, who decided to play God.

Speaker 32 Darren is also given one last opportunity to speak.

Speaker 31 And he does for three hours, still insisting he acted in self-defense.

Speaker 48 What happened was, is after she was trying to kill me,

Speaker 48 we both went to the ground.

Speaker 48 She then got stabbed. Now you gotta understand the state of mind that she's just pulled the trigger on me once.
We're in a fight for our life. She's trying to pull the trigger again.

Speaker 48 I just stabbed her, and it was an instinct. I came up, she still had the gun in her hand.
I put my knee on her head.

Speaker 14 That's the truth.

Speaker 5 I didn't want to never choreograph the whole damn day.

Speaker 18 And at one point, he even has the audacity to suggest that he is the one suffering.

Speaker 48 But the thing you don't, a lot of people don't recognize is

Speaker 48 I lost a wife, too.

Speaker 42 And even though that this happened,

Speaker 48 I still loved Charla. I just couldn't live with her and I was afraid of her.

Speaker 48 I don't even know if there's no words.

Speaker 48 I just wish that that day had never occurred.

Speaker 26 Throughout the course of the entire trial, Darren Mack never uttered the words so many had hoped to hear.

Speaker 65 There was never a, I am sorry Charla Mack is dead.

Speaker 44 I'm sorry I shot the judge.

Speaker 65 And saying you're sorry is not a magic word. You don't automatically get a certain sentence by expressing sorrow to the court for what you've done.
Which leads me to the conclusion,

Speaker 65 Mr. Mack, that you're not sorry.

Speaker 19 Judge Herndon sentenced Darren Mack to life in prison.

Speaker 65 And Mr. Mack, your sentence needs to speak to you for your actions and leave no room for error

Speaker 65 to the people of this community and this state.

Speaker 40 The judge then offers advice to the grandmothers who are left to raise the lone survivor of this terrible ordeal, Erica Mack, now 10 years old.

Speaker 65 Hopefully you don't raise an angry and spiteful child who doesn't know who in her family to trust. She needs to be raised with hugs and kisses and not talking bad about each of those people.

Speaker 65 A child without her mother and now without her father for a great many years is going to need a whole lot from both sides of the aisle.

Speaker 16 And before Darren is taken away,

Speaker 29 there is one more voice.

Speaker 63 And there was a song that she wanted to sing to Darren.

Speaker 28 Charla Max, this is a song she recorded after they split.

Speaker 27 It's played for the entire courtroom.

Speaker 67 So, you think you've got it figured out?

Speaker 5 Smile, honey.

Speaker 67 What a woman desires most:

Speaker 67 the house, the car, the ring, the bank account.

Speaker 38 It's Christmas morning.

Speaker 5 Sense of security, you ain't even close.

Speaker 5 Don't lie to me.

Speaker 5 Be right by me.

Speaker 5 Stand beside me when you're feeling weak. Think about who you're welcoming.

Speaker 5 Think again.

Speaker 5 Oh my gosh.

Speaker 5 And be a man.

Speaker 16 Darren Mack will be 83 years old before he is eligible for parole.

Speaker 14 A jury delivered a settlement against Darren Mack in a wrongful death suit, awarding $560 million to their daughter, Erica.

Speaker 14 Now streaming.

Speaker 68 Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery.

Speaker 49 We don't know what we're looking for.

Speaker 68 Their bodies are the scene of the crime. No symptoms in history are clues.

Speaker 49 You saved her life.

Speaker 68 We're doctors and we're detectives.

Speaker 68 I kind of love it if I'm being honest. Solve the puzzle, save the patient.

Speaker 68 Watson, all episodes, Now streaming on Paramount Plus.

Speaker 68 Tulsa is my home now. Academy Award nominee Sylvester Stallone stars in the Paramount Plus original series, Tulsa King.
His distillery is a very interesting business.

Speaker 25 And we gotta know the enemy.

Speaker 68 From Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of Landman.

Speaker 23 What are you saying?

Speaker 25 I'm alright.

Speaker 68 If you think you're gonna take the airline, it's gonna be really difficult. Tulsa King, new season now streaming exclusively on Paramount Plus.