The Lethal Library

28. Drug-Induced Disaster: The True Crime of Barryngton Searcy

• The Lethal Library • Episode 28

Share episode

Join Dani and Stephanie of the Lethal Library as they unravel the chaotic tale of Barryngton Eugene Searcy in their latest episode. Set in small-town Ashton, Idaho, this true crime story features a grocery store murder, a weapon-finding adventure, and a killer's laughable cocaine defense. Dive into a series of legal blunders, failed alibis, and a judge who just can't seem to follow protocol. Get ready for an episode of sarcasm, dark humor, and unbelievable criminal antics.

Contact The Lethal Library at TheLethalLibrary@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok!

Stephanie:

Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Lethal Library. I am Stephanie. And I'm Danny. And we're here to talk about another true crime in Idaho. What do you got for us, Danny? Mm. Sky's a

Dani:

dick. Uh, don't do drugs, kids. No drugs, kids. Just say no. In today's episode, we have of course, drugs. Kids are finding multiple weapons in the middle of nowhere.

Stephanie:

The fuck.

Dani:

And a judge that keeps fucking things up.

Stephanie:

Hmm, all, not the second one. Wasn't a common theme we've had, but judges fucking things up. And lots of drugs com common themes. Let's, let's try to not do that folks.

Dani:

So on Thursday, July 16th, 1987, a hitchhiker was picked up near St. Anthony, Idaho and was questioned about an incident that had happened earlier that morning in Ashton, Idaho. Very close together, these towns, Ashton, Idaho, has a population of about 1200 people and is located about 30 miles west of the Wyoming border. It's in the middle of nowhere and very far east. It's. Almost it's, it's almost Yellowstone.

Stephanie:

Yeah. I've never been there. Never even, I don't know if I've been through there. If I have been, didn't, I don't remember it. I think

Dani:

you, I almost feel like you have to go through there to get to Yellowstone. I haven't been to the Yellowstone. I. No.

Stephanie:

Mm-hmm.

Dani:

Have you seen the Yellowstone tiktoks?

Stephanie:

Um, yeah. Can we talk about that? Is that an official account or did they just scoop up the name? It is

Dani:

official. I, I do think

Stephanie:

it's an official, I think these parks, employees are like, you know what? Fuck it. I'm gonna do what I want and I'm probably gonna get laid off anyway, so.

Dani:

It was, they're, they're doing a good job. A little risque. Risque. It's pretty funny. If you haven't seen it, go check out. I think it's Yellowstone National Park. I think that's what it is. But yeah. So Barry, and so who's the guy that they're doing a bunch of? Um, They're stitching with this guy that's like, kind of like a thirst trap guy. Have you seen those? Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, and then playing very inappropriate music, you're like, oh my God. Yeah. Like, uh, my neck, my

Stephanie:

back, or some other, there's like some cupcake on there, which, um, wow.

Dani:

Boom. Let's go. I love it.

Stephanie:

Whatever the parks need to do to get support and get people to go to the parks. They did some nine inch nails. Yeah. Connect with the younger generations. Yeah.

Dani:

I'm, I'm here for it. Uh, I'm old and I like it. So anyway, that's where we're at. We are in the mountains. Way yonder. Yeah. A woman was found shot to death at a local grocery store. Mike Rice last saw his wife Theresa, about 8:30 PM on Wednesday night when he left the store to take the couple's two children to a four H event. This is so small town, right? It is four H.

Stephanie:

Who doesn't love four H? Love four H.

Dani:

Therea Rice 32 was discovered by her husband Mike. The next morning shot to death in the rear office of Jack's super food store. Not at the Jack's. It's like a whole, like, I think it was probably the only shopping center in Ashton, but it was like there was other businesses there. I could just kind of think of the Ridleys in Middleton. Yeah, that's, that's what I'm envisioning. That's what brings to my mind. Yeah. Okay. Uh, Theresa and her husband Mike, owned the store. A man who lived across the street from the store said he saw nothing unusual Wednesday night, but told the police that a lighted sign that is typically on until midnight every night was not on the night of the 15th. Mm.

Stephanie:

Very

Dani:

suspicious. I just think it gives it also a good timeline, right? Yeah. Police found merchandise during all, all over, near the cash register in the store. but authorities are unsure. If there was a robbery taking place when the murder happened,

Stephanie:

it could be staged.

Dani:

You never know. Well. They just seemed to dig a little harder.'cause after investigating, they said over uh, or approximately$1,180 was missing along with some silver coins. Oh, I'm just going, I changed that number like four times through my research because it was like every article, first it was like this much, then this much then, oh, okay. And then we finally get to the trial and I know it was$1,180. And it was, silver dollars and dimes that were stolen. Dimes did not see that one

Stephanie:

coming. Yay. You gotta tell them what I have bronchitis. So there's that. There's that. But what. Movie was it? It's the Menendez brothers, right? Yeah. Where he dimes. He just needs dimes to make calls. And they're this rich family. They keep sending him like a hundred bucks in cash. He's like motherfucking

Dani:

dimes. Dimes. Oh, I wish I could remember it. Like if you would've asked me that eight weeks ago, locked in, I could have quoted it. Okay. But you know, I'm old, so there we go. Same in August. Detectives still don't have any good leads. That's not good. They believe the suspect must be transient. Police interview over 200 people.

Stephanie:

That's at least there was a lot of interviews.'cause I feel like sometimes when they go with the transient or a traveler through that, they're like kind of pinning it on some unknown unicorn, mystical. Like it's just someone that floated away in the wind, like dust and it's like, no. So thank you for doing the interviews, but

Dani:

what's going on? A 22 caliber gun was found by some children floating the South fork of the Madison River, near West Yellowstone, Montana, and they turned it over to authorities. Good for you kids. Thanks

Stephanie:

for not shooting your friends or.

Dani:

Keeping it being like, don't tell my mom. I'm gonna just put the, I got a new joy. Ugh. The gun was sent to Boise for ballistic testing to see if it was the gun that shot Theresa. It wasn't. I'm just saying this is, if you find a random gun, it, it, it. It was used for something that people don't just like, oh my God, I'm sick of this gun. I'm gonna throw it in a river.

Stephanie:

I'm just

Dani:

gonna throw it

Stephanie:

on the side of the river. Don't ever, there's no such thing as like an Easter egg free gun. Happy time. Mm-hmm. You find a gun hidden somewhere out in like the wilderness, the river. It's not a prize. No. You don't want anything to do with that. Take it to the. Authorities immediate with gloves. Yes. Not, don't mess around with it. Don't fire. I won't see if it fires around. No, no you don't. No you don't. You don't.

Dani:

You don't. Because nobody leaves their,

Stephanie:

I'm not saying it's never happened. Someone could lose their, their pistol. Sure. My, I've, I've

Dani:

lost mine. Whoopsie. I got all the way back to the cabin and I was like, oh shit. I rock hopped too hard, babe. I found it though.

Stephanie:

She was jump, gyp, jumping over everything and, but

Dani:

I found it. Mm-hmm. But I mean, you get back to your truck and you realize your gun's gone. You're going back, you're looking for it. Yeah. You're not just like, oh, well

Stephanie:

shucks getting it.

Dani:

No, because your name is typically tied to it. Mm-hmm. So anyway. Yes. mysterious guns found out in the middle of nowhere are probably not good. Mm-hmm. Things have happened. So, the investigators are looking beyond the Idaho state border for clues. Okay. Because right where they're at, you know, they're very, they're like, they're right by the border. They're, Hey, you got anything going on like this? so they're looking in Utah and Montana'cause there have been crimes that are similar. And they're trying to see if there's any common threads.

Stephanie:

Yeah. Who is this that's doing these things? Is

Dani:

it the same person? Are we talking about? Yeah. There just, but we've had people that go around and just shoot people and then move on to the next one. Shoot people. Yeah. Cre. Okay. What was that one we did? where they shot the old couple, but then they had shot the girl in the head that did the. Pump the gas. Yes. Yeah. So I mean, fair. They, they should be looking some just

Stephanie:

trigger happy and doing their nationwide tour of

Dani:

Nationwide. Baby, A new composite drawing of a man that was seen in the store is released by investigators. They had released a couple. Right. But this one was special. Ooh. The sketch was taken by the last person in the store that night and was taken while under hypnosis. Wow.

Stephanie:

This is a little woowoo for me, but I'm not saying it's not a thing, but. They clearly were exploring all avenues, so I have to give them that. They have interviewed 200 people. They're going across state lines.

Dani:

200 out of 1200. Yeah. The math is like, whoa. That's a big percentage. Yeah. the suspect is described as, okay, it's long, but I'm just gonna read it all. The suspect is described as a male, approximately 31 to 32 years old, five feet, nine inches tall. Slightly balding, dark round eyes, long eyelashes, narrow nose, dark, muddy complexion, and thick blue black hair cut. I didn't understand this. I'm just, I'd look up what blue black meant. It's like, it's like

Stephanie:

the blackest black.

Dani:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

Yeah. I used to dye my hair blue. Black.

Dani:

Okay. Well I didn't know snide will be the night and I'll fall for you. Exactly. Yep. and he was wearing, a dark blue shirt. Okay. But that's not what led

Stephanie:

investigators to find a person of interest. A person of interest. I'm excited because this seemed like a long shot.

Dani:

On September 17th, police arrest Barrington Eugene Searcy in Rexburg, Idaho. Another Eugene,

Stephanie:

God they like. Is Eugene the Marie of middle names for men, or it was, yeah,

Dani:

I think

Stephanie:

so. Wow.

Dani:

And, uh, his name is spelled, it's Barrington, but it's spelled B-A-R-R-Y-N-G. TNI don't like that. I don't like that. Mama's hopping on the weird spellings. Like, yeah,

Stephanie:

stop that.

Dani:

Yeah. He is charged with first degree murder and robbery. The 21-year-old is held without bond in Bonneville County, only 21. Damn. Yeah. He was arrested after a youth. I just think of that, um. What is that show with the Vinny, my cousin Vinny

Stephanie:

youth? I don't know that reference.

Dani:

Oh my God. Okay. I am so fucking old. Do you know I've heard of the show. I don't watch it. My cousin Vinny with Marissa Tome, it's a, it's a movie. It, I'm gonna request that you watch it this weekend, and she's like, my biological clock

Stephanie:

is ticking. Is, is it about a court case? Yeah. And that she knows about cars? Yes, I have seen it. Okay. Sorry. It takes a little bit for me to connect the Knotts sometimes, but I have seen it. Okay.

Dani:

But they're from like new youth and he says Ute and the judge is like, you mean youths? Yeah, youth youths. Okay. Sorry, sidetrack. Walking in the, at. He was arrested after a youth found a gun wrapped in duct tape and hidden under a rock southeast of Rexburg.

Stephanie:

There's just freaking guns all over the place. It's literally an Easter egg hunt. What's happening here?

Dani:

It, it is. I and the detectives were able to trace the gun comeback to Circe. Okay. First of all, wrapping duct tape around anything is just preserving evidence. Yeah. Yeah, you gonna go fetch that gun later? You dumb ass. You don't want it to rust out. And he's like, okay, so I'm gonna wrap it in duct tape and protect it so I can come back and get it later. Are you gonna go hunting with that? Are you gonna just carry around a murder weapon?

Stephanie:

No. Take the bottom of Lake Tahoe. Like hello?

Dani:

Yeah, I would like the find some power tools. Cut it up. Chunky, chunky pieces here. Mm-hmm. Pieces there. To solve. I mean, I'm not giving any advice, I'm sorry. Wrap it up on duct tape and leave it under a rock where a youth can find it. Put your

Stephanie:

name and business card as well in it. So, yeah.'cause you wanna go back and get it so you, if someone else finds it, they should contact you.

Dani:

Absolutely. Yeah.

Stephanie:

Mm-hmm. Okay.

Dani:

If found, find slightly Baldy not used

Stephanie:

for murders.

Dani:

Round, round eyes with black, blue hair and return. Thank you. and a preliminary hearing. Rika Davis, a clerk at Jack's Highway Shopping. Center testified, she said she saw Cy in the store that night around 8:10 PM and the night that Theresa was murdered. I'm thinking Rika is the gal that was hypnotized and gave I think so, yeah. Because she must have

Stephanie:

just been the last person in the store or something.

Dani:

Mm. So little town, little county. Right. And it sounds like the hypnotism kind of

Stephanie:

worked. Mm. Yeah. Because I mean, if you ask me, Steph, even two days ago, even yesterday when you went to the gas station and got a soda, there was one other person in there and only the clerk. What did that person look like? I would be like, there was another person there. I couldn't tell you if it was a man or a woman. Let's see if they were acting super suspicious, maybe. I would remember,

Dani:

Uh, so this is a very tiny county. Yeah. So Fremont County has to declare an emergency to pay for prosecuting him. The county had to get a line of credit of$50,000 from a bank. Oh my God.

Stephanie:

And this is in the eighties, right? Yeah, late, late eighties.

Dani:

they had to get a lot of credit just to prosecute those clean

Stephanie:

alone because we apparently,

Dani:

people want a murder in our county.

Stephanie:

Do not come to my town, do not murder in my town.

Dani:

In 1988, a request for a change in venue was, requested by the defense team. They said the media coverage and the community outrage over a previous slaying of a team. A teenager five years ago will prevent CCE getting a fair trial in the county. Okay. The defense also said the county is so small that prospective jurors or probably know Theresa or others directly involved in the case,

Stephanie:

especially if it's the town store. Yeah, of course they're gonna know. Fair. Everyone goes there.

Dani:

Fair. Yeah, absolutely. And let's just save ourselves some appeals later. Yes, please. It just reminds me of that, you know, our motorcycle gang case where it's like they tried to do it in Spokane. I'm like, everybody's like, oh yeah, we've heard of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We know that. And so they had to end up moving it over to, king County, so that would've totally happened here. Yeah. Just save everybody some heartache. District Judge h Reynold George ruled the trial, be moved to Rigby Idaho. Rigby is in Jefferson County, about 40 minutes from Ashton, which is a little bigger. Mm-hmm. And the trial starts on March 7th, 1988. A state firearms expert. Wally Baker. I like

Stephanie:

that name. Wally Baker. Yeah. Yeah.

Dani:

He sounds smart, but kind of maybe fun. Mm-hmm. Uh, testified that he was. He testified he was absolutely positive that one of the two bullets that killed Theresa came from the same 22 caliber Ruger rifle that Ccy had purchased on July 7th, 1987 at a Kmart Rexburg.

Stephanie:

And that was only like a week before this happened.

Dani:

Yeah. What the

Stephanie:

fuck? The fuck?

Dani:

And he is a kid. What an idiot. Yeah, stop. Go to the

Stephanie:

roller drum or something. Find a hobby.

Dani:

Just

Stephanie:

be

Dani:

buying guns about it. Well, CCY takes a stand in his defense. Hmm. He stated, so this is all his stuff. This is his story. It does have some juice though, so I'm kind of like, I kind of believe it, but maybe not everything. So let's hear it. He stated that he fatally shot Theresa as she begged for her life. Alright. He did it because he was addicted to cocaine and asked to be spared a first degree murder conviction. Can I, I just didn't think cocaine was that. I thought like, I think meth, heroin.

Stephanie:

Cocaine. Yeah. Most people don't get, I mean, there's people in very high functioning jobs that use cocaine daily to this day. Um, that it's not healthy. It's, it's not a great coping mechanism or a way to do your job. But there are people that, more people than you would ever think do cocaine and people that you never thought would do cocaine'cause they're professional and there's people out there doing cocaine, so. Maybe crack cocaine.'cause I've heard that has a little bit more. I was just really surprised. Loose. Like, and that

Dani:

didn't come up. I mean this says 87. I mean yeah,

Stephanie:

everyone was doing cocaine. Yeah. They're not, was having a little bump. They're not out there murdering the the town grocery store owner. For

Dani:

what? To get a fix. You got a murder about it really. So he testified, quote, I was the one who pulled the trigger.

Stephanie:

Okay.

Dani:

He said that Theresa would not have been killed if he wasn't addicted to cocaine. prosecutor, Peter Lin said quote, it looks, it sure looks like you planned, premeditated and carried out the murder of Theresa Rice during cross-examination.'cause he is asking for voluntary manslaughter and he is like. Uh, can we just talk about what you did? You

Stephanie:

didn't slip and fall into a murder. You went there with a purpose, which you

Dani:

went to Kmart last week. Yeah. Okay. And then, yeah. You didn't slip and fall into that. You were absolutely correct. Okay. Uh, CCY responded, quote, I agree. It looks like that. Hmm. Okay. Taking maybe some ownership here, but how is it not like that is the important part, right? Yep. Ccy testified that he hit on top of a cooler in the back of the store.

Stephanie:

Oh my God.

Dani:

And he said, he quote, knew he was probably going to have to kill her, but he also testified he was relieved when he thought she had left the store and he went into the office to find the money. But Theresa hadn't left.

Stephanie:

He was too excited. He was doing bumps of cocaine on top of the cooler. Got him all worked

Dani:

up. Theresa found him in the office and confronted him. He said she grabbed the gun, which fired, and the bullet struck Theresa in her abdomen, and then I just seemed so locked in. I didn't wanna hurt her. Okay. Ccy ordered her to open the safe and told Theresa, oh my God. He told Theresa he would call an ambulance if she cooperated Ccy, then took the money from the safe. He stated, quote, I stood up and I thought, what do I do now? The whole plan seemed overpowering at that point. Yeah, because you don't murder, you don't hold up. You have a

Stephanie:

choice at this point.

Dani:

Mm. Theresa was leaning on the desk and he said quote, I told her to lie down on the ground. Instead of that, she just slumped down in the chair because she shot in the fucking stomach. Yeah. She's not feeling great, bud. Before I even thought about what I was doing, I put the gun to her head and shot her. Ccy said,

Stephanie:

sure. You wanna say you didn't think about it or not. Then what does that say about if you're willing to do that and not think about it, then hey,

Dani:

uh, his whole angle is drugs, drugs, drugs. And you'll see a little bit more here later.

Stephanie:

Yeah. Again, though, with just cocaine, whatever

Dani:

Theresa prayed for her life as he shot her,

Stephanie:

and if you remember that, you, you experienced that. Uh, so I don't, I don't care about your cocaine. Excuse plenty of people. Were doing cocaine and not doing this.

Dani:

Not hiding on coolers and shooting people. Yeah. He stayed in the store for about 25 minutes after the murder and paced back and forth from her body to the door. Oh, panic set in, bud. You realize she just did this? Yeah. Yeah, you did it. You did it. Didn't he do? CCY also testified that he had been suicidal in the past and had committed three armed robberies in Utah.

Stephanie:

Oh. So there was some similar things happening? Mm-hmm.

Dani:

He also said the reason he tried to kill himself was so he wouldn't kill his family for their life insurance policies.

Stephanie:

Pardon the fuck no. The no. No one does that. No one does that.

Dani:

He had that thought process. No one's

Stephanie:

like, gosh, I really wanna kill everyone I know and get their life insurance because of that. I'm gonna kill myself if you're having no. I gotta just call bullshit, like people that are committing suicide are not doing it to prevent them from getting life insurance from murdering their families. No. You have to have a lot of ego and self-esteem to think that you can kill your family for life insurance. Suicidal people aren't really concerning themselves with that.

Dani:

Mm. No. Um, and I wanna talk a little bit about Theresa. I, I didn't write this down, but her friend said she was feisty. She was an ornery gal, so, so I bet she was like, who the fuck are you? She grabbed the gun. Yeah. Mm-hmm. She would not back down. That's what her friend said. So, uh, and you shouldn't. Mm-hmm. I mean, you should be able to stand, especially owning the store. But, gosh, you know, him being so young, she probably, I bet she scared him. Yeah, I would've been like, are you fucking kidding me?

Stephanie:

Yeah, really. And just seeing that pushback when maybe he had had his other armed robberies where they went over Yep. Just perfectly to plan of someone being like, yes, go ahead.

Dani:

No. She's like, no, we're not. Well, he probably startled

Stephanie:

her too.

Dani:

Shit. Well, maybe no.'cause he was from expert. I was saying maybe she knew him, but No,

Stephanie:

probably not. But I bet it scared her'cause. She wasn't expecting someone to be in that office.

Dani:

Oh, absolutely. But she was a feisty gal and was like grabbing the gun. Yeah. Takes a lot of, well, you got have some balls. Yes. I've been like, uh, I would've yelled at him like I would've scolded him like a child. But also, you'll respect, you got the gun. Take the money. Bye. I didn't even see you. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna leave the store now, so I'm just gonna leave. I would've, nothing is worth it. You know, you see these. You, you hear stories of people. Yeah. A young crack head out here, Robin. Yeah. It's like, just don't let'em take the money. They're gonna fuck up their lives anyway. Mm-hmm. Just, yeah. the jury deliberated for a little over three hours before returning the verdict of guilty of first degree murder robbery. And using a firearm in the commission of a felony. All of those, all of

Stephanie:

those every time.

Dani:

And the death penalties on the table for ccy at 21. What a shame. Well, you don't go kill wives and mothers while they're fucking running their business. You deba, authorities move CCE to the state's maximum security prison following the conviction. This pissed everybody off. Well, his defense team, but his defense attorney, Gordon Thatcher, is asking for Ccy to be removed from the prison because he's not been sentenced yet and still a prisoner of the county. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

Stephanie:

whoa.

Dani:

Well, can we go

Stephanie:

back to the county one, please?

Dani:

Well, and I understand his reasonings right? He has a sentencing hearing, he needs to work with him. He's like, uh, you're gonna make me drive all the way to fucking Boise to talk to my dude. Mm-hmm. He's like, this is, this is not how it works at all. But, you know, Idaho, they just, they like to be very petty and they just do what they do. Mm-hmm. Oh, he is convicted. Let's go just, and, and his attorney, Thatcher said, CCY was placed in unit eight at the prison. That house is then the unit eight. houses, death row and maximum security inmates.

Stephanie:

It's like meet your new friends. Yeah. Scared straight. Too late. I'm just trying to give him some enrichment time with his peers, his future peers.

Dani:

A little play date seriously is moved to the unit two. Unit one at the prison, which is a psychiatric unit of the prison. Well, so, because we all know that part of the sentencing, they go under psych. Psychiatric evaluation and all that stuff. So that kind of made sense. But still, he's not there yet. He, he should still be in county jail.

Stephanie:

Yeah, you're right.

Dani:

And early April, Ceci has finally moved back to Bonneville jail in eastern Idaho while he waits sentencing. There we go. Get I just, this is the thing that, it's just like a toddler, right? Like they're gonna just do, the state of Idaho is just doing shit. See if anybody catches them.

Stephanie:

Yeah. Are you gonna file a motion about it or what? Uh,

Dani:

fuck. He's, he's a convicted killer. Mm-hmm. Rcs defense team is asking Judge George to extend their deadline requesting a new trial. They said they need additional time to review files and do legal research to decide whether to ask for a true or not, a new trial or not fair. Okay. You have like 45 days or some ridiculous shit. Like we've seen it in these stories where they're asking for a new trial before they've even been sentenced. Yeah.

Stephanie:

It's like,

Dani:

wait, I am like, I'm so confused. What is happening? You

Stephanie:

need a proper procedure.

Dani:

Michael Cam, a court appointed attorney for cci, asked Judge George to dismiss one of his two first degree murder convictions, which didn't make any sense to me in the paper. So I wrote that down and I wanna. He had two first degree murder convictions, correct? That's what, that's what the paper said. But what I think they meant to say, I don't know. That doesn't make any sense. I don't know. It said he had two first degree murder convictions, one for the murder and one for the robbery.

Stephanie:

I don't under, he must have said something wrong

Dani:

because I was thinking, well, maybe they mean two life sentences. Mm-hmm. But he hadn't been sentenced yet. Okay. Anyway, help me with the chaos. But his attorney was saying to ask one, to dismiss one of the convictions because he's facing double punishment.

Stephanie:

Maybe like maybe one of the other charges like.

Dani:

Well, I think it might have been in commission

Stephanie:

of a crime or something.

Dani:

I, I, well, you'll, you're going to hear what he gets convicted of. I mean, uh, sentenced to, but he, there's, he was convicted of murder and robbery and doing the, a firearm using a firearm and a commission of a felony. So we're gonna hear more about this, so we'll just, just keep on confusing and, and moving forward, because I did not understand, I even have a highlighted. I'm like, I don't get it. Uh, Anna's argument Cam stated that a defendant cannot be convicted of two counts of murdering the same person.

Stephanie:

I didn't see that in the earlier ones. So maybe if they did have, well, there

Dani:

was another case that was like, like where they did,

Stephanie:

like you got first degree and second degree for one person or something.

Dani:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

Yeah. So maybe it was something weird like that

Dani:

while watting his sentencing hearing. You are gonna like this. Okay. Seriously wrote a letter to the students of Madison County about substance abuse

Stephanie:

For the DARE program.

Dani:

Just say no, babe. Oh, okay. I'm gonna do a little quoting here. Thank you. It is possible that I will be given the death penalty. It is possible if I have never used alcohol and drugs. This murder may never have been committed. I am asking you to make that decision today, not because perhaps your religion tells you not to and not because your parents tell you not to, but because if you don't make that decision and someday start using drugs, it could very easily be you someday, who is sitting in jail waiting to go to prison? And there is only one way to make sure that you never become an alcoholic or an addict, and that is to never take the first drink or drug. In the letter he said to the students who already experimented with drugs that were fooling, that they were fooling themselves, that they had thought they could never become an addict. As you tell yourself that, I hope you realize that I have told myself. That I would never use drugs, but I did. And when I started smoking pot, I would tell myself that I would never use hard drugs. I tell myself that I'd never use a needle to shoot up, but I was only 16 years old when I first used cocaine. And the first time I used cocaine, I used a needle. That is a escalation that you don't typically see. That's that's pretty aggressive. I too have said I can quit using drugs anytime I want to. I just don't want to. I too have thought drugs were fun and that they were cool.

Stephanie:

I mean, I appreciate his efforts in this, but I feel like he's just doing it to be like, if it wasn't for the drugs, I wouldn't have shot that gal, which I don't know,

Dani:

probably

Stephanie:

maybe. But still, there's just so many people that use drugs and Rob and they don't usually murder. Yeah. And

Dani:

this does well for him.

Stephanie:

Oh, I'm sure.'cause he's being an advocate for the DARE program. Mm-hmm. That was very big around this time.

Dani:

This does well for him. Mm-hmm. Because you know, he is up for the death penalty. So he's being an advocate for no drugs. On May 31st, judge George sentenced ccy to a determinate life sentence with no chance of parole for the first degree murder conviction. Ccy was also given an indeterminate life sentence with a 10 year minimum for his robbery conviction, along with a 10 year enhancement penalty for using a firearm in the commission of a felony. I'm still confused about Yeah.

Stephanie:

Wherever the hell that other first degree murder came from. Yeah. I think

Dani:

they were, I,

Stephanie:

I don't know.

Dani:

I feel like it, someone

Stephanie:

filed something wrong. I don't know.

Dani:

Judge George said, while Searcy's dependence on cocaine has been orchestrated as the catalyst and even the actual cause for the killing of Theresa Rice, the court has never come close to having been drawn into the ploy that cocaine is the culprit, that cocaine was the murderer. No.

Stephanie:

Excellent Judge George. There's plenty of people that murder without being on any drugs.

Dani:

Mm-hmm. Um, yeah. But this is the last good thing we're gonna hear from him. He's a shit serious. He is? No,

Stephanie:

the

Dani:

judge. Yeah. Judge George. Oh. Which I have a hard time. That doesn't roll with the tongue. No. Okay. Judge George. And Cece gave, gave a press conference after he was spare the death penalty. Wonderful. He said, quote, I want them to know how sorry I am. I just cannot express all that I have. I have just uprooted their families. He said through tears. I do think he feels bad, but You're an idiot. Yeah. Uh, pills, pills, pills, pills, pills

Stephanie:

all over the place.

Dani:

In a 35 page motion filed in June, CCY is claiming misconduct by the prosecution in the case. This goes back to the two life sentences. attorney cam argued in a motion that the two life sentences handed down by Judge George were illegally imposed and that George May have been unduly influenced by overzealousness and animosity. Yes. Show'em by the prosecutors. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. I'm too many syllables.

Stephanie:

I mean, I have to agree with that a hundred percent because anything with a z in it. Instant

Dani:

brain, uh, cam's asking that the robbery conviction be vacated or merged with the murder conviction. Look, I, I really don't understand how you can get life in prison for robbery.

Stephanie:

I

Dani:

suppose,

Stephanie:

yeah. But also if you're like, what if they didn't get the murder at all? And so they're asking for it to be merged with the murder, like, which is so weird for me to think about, but it's like

Dani:

I just have a hard time with them. Like when there's one act committed. And they just stack.

Stephanie:

Yeah,

Dani:

on. I don't understand that. It's one act.

Stephanie:

But I feel like it is multiple acts, isn't it? Like

Dani:

you are robbery and murdering, but to get two life sentences for something he did in the same half hour. I just don't think, look, robbery bad. You shouldn't rob people, but, but robbery

Stephanie:

isn't killing someone.

Dani:

Right. A whole life sentence. So it's just not comparable. Yeah, it's just not

Stephanie:

comparable. Especially when we know of the white collar crimes, when they, it's essentially robbery. These people with Ponzi schemes who have stolen millions of dollars, oftentimes from their friends and closest confidant. Mm-hmm. Because they believe in them and wanna invest in their friendship. Mm-hmm. That's a little bit more, more for me.

Dani:

The same day the motion was filed, judge George entered an order dismissing Cam and defense attorney Thatcher saying their services were no longer necessary in the case. Oh,

Stephanie:

you know what? Um, we don't need you anymore. Anymore. Are you? Are you filing something? Shut the fuck up. Thank you. Next

Dani:

public defender, William Forsberg will handle all stages of the appeal. I just feel like that was kind of,

Stephanie:

it was kind of cunty.

Dani:

It was, um,

Stephanie:

um, I'm gonna put officially that we don't even know you.

Dani:

Yeah. So, thanks for filing your motion. Go fuck yourself. Why are you here? Who are you? Were you even invited? You can't sit with us.

Stephanie:

Regina, I'm sorry. I couldn't

Dani:

help it. So

Stephanie:

you think you're really pretty.

Dani:

Um, in October, judge George cut 10 years from Searcy's sentence. He ruled this is, he ruled that he had improperly imposed two 10 year prison terms on CCE for using a firearm in the commission of a crime. Whoopsie. Only one in hand sentence was proper. Okay, judge, glad you took that off. This is what concerns me with the two life sentences. Yes.

Stephanie:

And it's almost like it feels like when judges do this, that they're like being generous. Yeah. Like I'll give you a 10% discount, but it's like, no, you actually can't do that twice. Right. For one thing.

Dani:

He is like, oh my bad. All right. I'm gonna do you a favor. I'm gonna fix it up for you. Alright. I'm, and by the way, I'm not excusing this guy's behavior. No at all. But, you know, law enforcement enforce in the judicial system can be sneaky, sneaky sometimes

Stephanie:

can be a bag of dicks for sure. And the more that judges make these mistakes. The more you erode public trust in the system and make people be like, well, I've heard about this happening, and look, it did fucking happen. Yeah.

Dani:

Why am I getting two life sentences for the same crime? Yeah, it was the same. That's how I, I'm sorry. It was the same crime.

Stephanie:

Yeah. We need to be by the, I mean, it's not getting

Dani:

out, so I mean, really Do you have to just do that to be extra dickish like

Stephanie:

Yeah.

Dani:

He's, he has a life sentence and if he, and if it was done well. And everything was good and it was buttoned up and a clean trial, you're not gonna win on a pill. You shouldn't have to worry about that stuff. So, uh, just having backup for backup, for backup,

Stephanie:

CYA, cover your ass, do the right thing, don't be a shit, and don't be trying to jam on charges. And it's extra, extra.

Dani:

And we've seen that in a lot of these cases we've done. In 1990, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld the conviction and for the fixed life sentence for cce, CCE was challenging the Idaho legislatures 1982. This blew my mind, by the way, did not know this. How did I not know this? We're like almost 30 episodes deep. And how did I just, okay. he was challenging the Idaho legislature's 1982. Abolition of the insanity, defense and criminal cases.

Stephanie:

Mm. Because, yeah, Idaho don't like to fuck around with that.

Dani:

We don't do it. We're like, yeah, sure we don't. It's not even a fuck around. It's not even an option. Like there is no insanity defense. It basically

Stephanie:

can get you. To go somewhere and become mentally competent. Like that's kinda what happened with Lori Vallow. That's exactly, they're like, sure, you might not be. Now we're gonna find a way to make you,

Dani:

we're gonna give you some drugs and give you some therapy. We're

Stephanie:

gonna get you so many therapists, and then you're gonna go to trial and one of the therapists is gonna say that you're okay. Yeah. And then you're going to be competent. Yeah.

Dani:

Then

Stephanie:

that's kind of,

Dani:

then we're good. Yeah. Um, but I had no idea. I didn't realize that. In Idaho, you could not plead insanity.

Stephanie:

No. And you, and it's

Dani:

a rare thing that that even works anyway. It's like grasping for straws mm-hmm. In any other state. Uh, but we just do not offer that.

Stephanie:

It just isn't an option. No. And also there's something, that's a thing that I've heard on, I listen to a lot of Dateline podcasts, but there's a lot of, there's one thing that is in several different states that is basically a crime of passion. Mm-hmm. Where you can be convicted and then you can kind of pull this out as a loophole and say. Well, someone was in the throes of passion or something spurred you to it in the moment, and you can get two to 20 years for a murder if you, if the jury, the jury has to approve it and say, yes, they did murder this person. But the attorneys have convinced us that this is something that was like a. The snap of the fingers type of emotion. You know what I'm totally

Dani:

thinking right now? Shan Redemption. He caught his wife. Mm-hmm. He walked in and caught his wife sleeping with a golf pro that he didn't really do, it didn't do,

Stephanie:

but he could. He could have used that, right? No, there's one and. I'll have to look up the actual episode, but where basically a gal and her rich husband, they were both rich. They had a personal business, which they were also in trouble with the IRS, so they were kind of scared as well, always. But he had a many years mistress that supposedly they both knew about each other. The wife said she didn't, but they got in a road rage incident. Oh, I remember that. Yes. And she got off on, she got convicted of killing him, but they did agree that it was a. In the passion of the moment thing. And so she got two years for it and she was able to get out and then got persecuted or prosecuted from the tax evasion or scammy stuff. I don't know. But there's been a, I think two cases that I've heard of in that area of the US where it's like you kind, it's basically a loophole. Like you wait for the jury to find you guilty and then you say, but what if? What if I got really mad right in like a short period of time? And you can two years. Wow.

Dani:

I was, I mean, I just, because obviously I listened to the Datelines, I listened to all of it, and you hear this come up, and I never knew that it was not a defense in Idaho. So good old tater land. Mm. Defense attorney Forsberg argued Ccy has a constitutional right to use the lack of mental responsibility as a defense. Idaho Solicitor General Lynn Thomas says, CSI's action in the murder showed none of the disorganization or disorientation that would indicate sanity, insanity. Fair. That it is fair. Like

Stephanie:

we're looking for someone who has like a diagnosed bipolar schizophrenic like. That's what you're looking for with the insanity, not just drugs and

Dani:

alcohol. Look, you get, you hit somebody when you've been drinking. There's no, oh, and it was insanity'cause I was drunk. Nope. Sorry. Did you get drunk on purpose? Uhhuh? Yeah. You, yeah,

Stephanie:

you well. And everyone was doing cocaine.

Dani:

Everybody,

Stephanie:

and they're not out here hiding on top of coolers, robbing the local grocery store. This

Dani:

poor, she was so young. Mm-hmm. And they were just doing their jam, raising their kids. They're not getting rich, rich, rich. They're not like, oh, they're working their fucking asses off. They have

Stephanie:

a small supplier, like a small grocery store, and they have their

Dani:

latitude like, you know, but they're still living and breathing That fucking jog 24 hours a day. They are living and breathing that business. They're

Stephanie:

supplying their community. Yep. With growth. So they're part of the community. They don't get deals like a Walmart or Albertson's? No. They're just, they're trying their best, so, yeah. Fuck you. And, and

Dani:

breathing that business, like Yeah. They're there all the, they don't close what? She was there between eight and nine closing up, so they close at nine and you know they open at seven. Mm-hmm. Like, okay, I'm gonna go home and go to sleep. And then husband gets up and then she gets up and takes care. Like that's all they do. Yeah. Work, work, work. I've done it.

Stephanie:

Just say, and the whole community knows that. Yeah. Yeah.

Dani:

quote, there isn't any evidence of anything other than a planned cold-blooded violation act. Yeah,

Stephanie:

he didn't just insanely be like,

Dani:

what am I doing? I'm robbing a chain. He thought he was killing ninjas or no zombies or, yeah. No, there was none of that. No. Idaho still allow, but Idaho still allows a defendant's mental condition to be considered during sentencing, just not as a defense. Yes. the insanity defense is not available in four states. Minority

Stephanie:

Always. Yeah. Who Did you know what the other states are? Yeah. Idaho.

Dani:

Kansas. But the other two are in pocket Ready, Montana and Utah.

Stephanie:

Oh. So we're like buddied up with two of'em, and then we're like, oh, Kansas is with us. Kansas. We're not in Kansas anymore. Dorothy.

Dani:

Yeah. So Kansas is kind of the off cast, but we touch all these borders here. in December of 1990, CCY is sentenced for a third time. Oh, judge George re-sentenced Ccy to life in prison without the possibility of parole, an indeterminate life term with a minimum of 10 years for robbery and another 10 years for the use of a firearm. Why? Because Cy was not in the courtroom when he resentenced him the second time. Removing the additional firearm sentence.

Stephanie:

Uh, can we please find out a way to check the boxes? Idaho. Some of these are such, it's just

Dani:

a fucking checklist. They're simple. It's just a checklist. Is

Stephanie:

is the, is the defendant here? No, no. Sentencing. Yeah. Clerks. And I'm sure probably the clerks were like, um, I think this is maybe not a thing. And the judge is like, nah, I'm, I'm the judge. Yeah. I'm doing,

Dani:

I'm, I'm the boss.

Stephanie:

I'm the judge of this county. So

Dani:

he's been resentenced fucking Yeah. Just

Stephanie:

to get everything, all our P's and Q's in order. What a shit show. There should be a checklist. Attorneys here, check

Dani:

defendant paperwork, check defendant.

Stephanie:

Check, check. Are we charging two times for one crime? If there's a check here, that's a problem.

Dani:

Okay.

Stephanie:

Good God.

Dani:

In 1991, there is an appeal in from the Idaho Court of Appeals for the second life sentence for Searcy, but the court upholds the sentence. I don't get it. This is because Ccy was asking them to review the second sentence he received, not the third corrected sentence. He didn't do his paperwork right, but he did his paperwork. This is what I think He did do his paperwork right, but then he got resentenced during the appeal, which is a new file and it's just, I just had to, I just had to, I mean, there's so many appeals. All the red tape. in 1993, in a ruling by the Court of Appeals, Circe won a modified sentence. The additional prison term for use of a firearm during a felony is an indeterminate period to match the indeterminate life sentence that he received for the robbery.

Stephanie:

They tried to kind of throw him a bone, is what it sounds like. Yeah. Which like we've discussed on other cases when they're like, you have four life sentences, we'll take off one winning. What difference does it make? I mean, I guess if you had some type of constitutional grounds for all the other shit, maybe. But I feel like sometimes the courts are like, we don't wanna talk about this anymore. Yeah, sure. We'll write it off. We'll write it off.

Dani:

Here you go. Here's your little win ticket.

Stephanie:

You

Dani:

win. so. Currently we went from 93 to 2025, right? Quite the jump. Barrington Searcy is currently 58 and is serving two life sentences in the Idaho State Credal institution because he was so young. Yeah, and he's still sitting.

Stephanie:

That's a lifetime, man. Cocaine was not for you, bro. No, no, no. I'm glad you participated in the DARE program because truly, what the fuck?

Dani:

Don't do it. I just, I, look, I've known people that have done drugs and cocaine, never. Like that's a recreational. You, you can fuck up your life. Mm-hmm. You can fuck up your financial, it's not like a meth or heroin, all that stuff. Um, I don't hear very many people murdering about cocaine

Stephanie:

unless they're a dealer or a distributor, right? No. Not just a, not an recreational user. No. Or

Dani:

even an addicted cocaine user.

Stephanie:

I was just like, really, dude? No. Very young. Should, shouldn't have been. And once again, there's so many op we, we've heard this so many times where someone could have just robbed someone and the outcome of you robbing, even if you get caught, if someone is able to remember you, is so much less than getting a murderer. So if you needed a thousand bucks and the silver coins, you might have been able to escape and. Sometimes live for 10, 20 years. Right?'cause the police are not following you and searching for you like a manhunt for a robbery.

Dani:

No. Those, those kids are looking for your gun

Stephanie:

instead of a murder though. Yeah. Then every freaking police force is gonna be out for you. Yeah.

Dani:

Especially in that you could have got

Stephanie:

10 years, 20 years maybe, who knows? Like, and

Dani:

could have fixed your li you could have been out by the time you were 30 and had a li. You could have went and educated yourself while you were in prison. You could

Stephanie:

have been a paralegal.

Dani:

That's a popular thing. And then you know, you get out, you learn your lesson.'cause you were so young. Don't be murdering stop. I mean, you really shouldn't rob, Rob. I, I imagine if I got held up at gunpoint, I would have, it would be a traumatic experience. I would be scared. I would have a lot of like, trauma, but I would not be dead. Yes.

Stephanie:

I would not be dead. And I'm, I'm sure most people would be like, if, if you're a business owner. A thousand bucks. Give it, what do we do with in, in loss from stealing or from rotten product or expired product? A thousand dollars. Right. I think most people are willing to part with that for their lives. Oh, I don't think, but it sounds like this dude, wasn't he? I think he thought about not doing it, but then was just like, fuck it, I gotta be,

Dani:

and I do think that there was a struggle over that gun. Mm-hmm. And whether he pulled the trigger or accidentally went off, I think that changed.

Stephanie:

Yeah. All of his decisions.'cause now you've already kind of crossed that threshold. It's done.

Dani:

Yeah. Because you should not be having a loaded fucking weapon. Well, A, you a never rob. B. Do not do a firearm. Not take a fucking loaded gun anywhere where you're not expecting to shoot somebody because it doesn't take much to pull a trigger.

Stephanie:

Well, and even if you don't shoot anyone, if you do a crime like this. In addition to having a weapon, that's what gets you the big time as well. Big time. So anyway, again, dumb criminals all over the place, many common themes that we've already discussed in previous episodes and of fucking he, this is a person that's still rotting more than half of their life in jail. Don't do drugs, guys. Stop it. So that's all I got, sis. Thank you Danny, for another great Idaho story. follow us on TikTok, Instagram, Listen anywhere you can, if you've got questions, comments, concerns, whatever you want to type to us, you just wanna say hello, reach out the lethal library@gmail.com and. Look at our

Dani:

tiktoks.

Stephanie:

Yes, we have new ones. We've been slacking, we've been fun. We've had some sickness lately, especially me. I'm sorry. We're slacking a little bit, especially on the social media front, but we'll be there.

Dani:

Friendly reminder, because we have a summer we're gonna be doing every other week

Stephanie:

Yes.

Dani:

so, and then in the fall we will be back at it. But you know, we got riding and. Cabining and fishing the sun is out to do. And uh, you know, we, we both work full-time jobs and this is our little extra, and we just have to have some extra, extra in the summer with some sunshine and fun activities. So.

Stephanie:

A hundred percent. So we're still here. You guys can still reach out. We'll still try to keep the tiktoks and everything going, but, um, every other week, starting soon. Um, Kim Fest, keep an eye out. That is June 21st. It's a great event. Great cause, you'll hear more about that in the upcoming episodes as well, but please follow them and. Overall, Danny, thank you. And ten four. Rob Ducky. Fuck yess.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Dani

Host
Head Shot

Stephanie

Host