American Justice: Mysterious Hit-and-Run - Full Episode (S11, E4) | A&E

she had been raised with traditional expectations  children a home and a husband i completely trusted   him i trusted him with my life the year that i was  trying to salvage my marriage he planned my death   some say he did it for the money i think it  was an act of an evil person who was just   totally devoid of any conscience whatsoever  but was he merely the most convenient suspect   if you have a marriage that has problems god  help you if your wife is involved in an accident detectives hate a big case that goes unsolved  for half a decade a mysterious hit and run in   a boston parking garage nagged authorities it just  didn't look like a random accident and detectives   always came back to the victim's husband joseph  mclaughlin a successful real estate developer   authorities would come to believe that  mclaughlin had been carrying on two lives   one with his family in the suburbs  and another out cutting deals and   sleeping with another woman he had kept  the two worlds separate for so long that   according to authorities he began to believe he  could get away with anything including murder   friday night in boston's theater district   a bustling scene of traffic tourists  and theater goers on april 21st 1989   boston policeman kenny dortch was working near  the district at a movie theater on stuart street i was standing at the front door talking to  another security guard when a person a young man   approached us and said officer there's a woman  upstairs on the fifth floor just got hit by a car deutsch rushed to the fifth floor he was met by  a destroyed man 34 year old joseph mclaughlin who   tried to explain that his wife marianne had just  been run over he can't talk to me he's gagging   he's he's like really emotional he's spitting  on the ground he says i just dropped her off   and the car came the officer went over to help  the injured woman the white mink coat she wore was   covered in blood i thought that she was a goner i  felt full pulse much to my amazement i've got one   the woman's heart was still beating but her face  was badly disfigured when the paramedics arrived   they didn't know where to put the breathing  tube because they couldn't find her mouth   the way the car hit her it um it not only hit  her from behind it hit her in the car ran over   her chest and then ran over her face taking the  whole right side the phrase that doctors used was   the gloved meant that the flesh of her face came  off like almost in a piece like like like a mask marianne mclaughlin's skull was  crushed her pelvic bone was shattered   and she had numerous internal injuries  doctors rushed her into surgery back at the parking garage boston  pd detective nick sagisi arrived   he learned this hit-and-run might  soon be the scene of a homicide there was blood all over the  floor there was parts of scalp   uh skid marks from blood where she was  dragged we never expected her to live police escorted marianne's husband joseph  mclaughlin to the station for an interview   mclaughlin explained that he and his wife had  tickets to see the musical dream girls that night at around 7 30 he said he parked his white  mercedes on the fifth floor of the garage marianne got out of the car first mclaughlin  said he lingered behind to hide his car phone   under the front seat i finished doing that and  when i get out of the car um the accident had   already occurred mclaughlin told police he heard  a sound but nothing that he considered suspicious   as he walked to the elevator however  he saw his wife sprawled on the ground   and a car against the wall off to the  right it was a horrible scene she was   looked disfigured because her legs were  entangled in different ways time sort of slows   down and this kind of shock setting i heard  the car it almost hurt like it had shut off   mclaughlin said he heard the car start up again  then saw it suddenly back up over his wife's body   in order to make the turn onto the  ramp leading down to the fourth floor after the interview the  detective let mclaughlin go   at the hospital his wife had made it through an  eight-hour surgery but her prognosis was bleak   she was not supposed to live through the night  my younger brother david and my brother kevin   felt that they should take her  off life support and let her go   and my mother from day one said absolutely not  that she is going to pull through i know it   while marianne mclaughlin lay in a coma  investigators tried to piece together the case   it didn't take long to find the car  that had struck marianne the yellow   1972 buick skylark had been abandoned near a  stairwell on level two of the parking garage that same night police found  the car's owner a stephen mogan   from south boston it turned out he had reported  the car stolen hours earlier mogan had an alibi   he said he went bowling with friends then  out to dinner but it seemed rehearsed i got   everybody that he was with that night i  interviewed them separately i interviewed   them collectively and they all come up with  the same story this was like it was written   down for them and they studied it and they all  stuck to the same story it did not seem normal   there was another part of the story that did not  seem normal to investigators joseph mclaughlin   for starters marianne's family reported that joe  was not visiting his wife enough at the hospital   joe came to the hospital very infrequently and  when he did come he would never go near my sister   he would stand by a doorway never  touched her never held her hand i probably didn't have a 24-hour day  vigil but i did go often and sometimes   i might have not have been able to convey my  thoughts to marianne but i did the best i could the family also told investigators that the couple  had been having serious marital difficulties   they let it be known in no uncertain terms  that they suspected joe mclaughlin might   be responsible for this crime detective sigisi  thought they were onto something it started to   boil around this joe mclaughlin he wasn't going  to the hospital at all he had a girlfriend   so that'll build up and say there's something  wrong here but were the problems big enough to   compel mclaughlin to have his wife run down while  he waited off to the side and allowed it to happen boston april 1989. marianne mclaughlin  was in a coma clinging to life   after a suspicious and  unsolved hit and run incident if the 35 year old managed to survive her  doctors believed she might have brain damage   two weeks after the incident marianne's sister  susan got a phone call from one of the nurses   she feared the worst there was a lot of noise  in the background so i thought for sure i could   feel my body just leaving me because i thought  that they were going to tell me she had died   and it was good news despite having  a fractured skull a disfigured face   and internal injuries too numerous dimension  marianne had regained consciousness   she now had to confront the question for herself  was she the victim of a hit-and-run accident   or had someone tried to kill her she  was unaware of any mortal enemies   but her seemingly picture-perfect life was  marred by one thing a marriage gone sour marianne lewis grew up in quincy  massachusetts a suburb south of boston she was the third of six siblings in  a middle class irish catholic family   the family did everything  together sledding in the winter   swimming in the summer and holidays at home  marianne was a spirited independent child   some say that's the only reason that years later  she defied the odds and survived the hit and run   she gave american justice an interview  and talked about her upbringing   i brought up a catholic i'm a practicing  catholic and you you learn as you are maturing in   age what your parents would want you to follow and  basically i followed their example as the eldest   girl marianne took on the role of the responsible  one the one who kept up appearances i just knew   my father would be very disappointed as well as  my mother if i didn't project this good girl in   and i really was the great girl marianne was  like a second mother to me she was someone i   always looked up to predictably marianne's  childhood shaped her dreams for her future   i wanted the same type of mirrors that i had  seen my parents have i wanted everything that   i had as a child myself at 17 the high school  senior met her future husband at a party   joseph mclaughlin was popular catholic and had  grown up just a few blocks away to mary anne he   seemed like the perfect catch he knew where he  was going and what he was going to do with his   life is the impression that i always had of him  that's the only relationship i ever had i dated   marianna high school dating marian college i was  in love with marianne after a six-year courtship   the couple was married in 1979  they had their first child melissa joe started out as a city  planner for the town of quincy   but by the early 1980s he was ready to move on i realized that i wasn't going to get what i  wanted for my family being a planner at the time   the boston real estate market was just starting  to boom joe jumped in and went along for the ride   he became a partner in a real estate development  firm and was soon turning handsome profits he said   um i'm going to make a million dollars for every  year of my life and i'm 32 years old at this point   and i'm not quite at that that mark the  family moved to the exclusive town of cohasset   on the south shore of massachusetts there in 1985  they had their second daughter carolyn at this   point joe's demanding work schedule was taking its  toll on the marriage i think she was very affected   by my hours of work and i was on the road all day  long i'd leave probably at seven in the morning   get home probably 11 at night and i don't  think that's the relationship that she wanted   i said enough is enough you know we we have a  beautiful home you're pursuing real estate in   multiple other areas of the state and out  of the state i would like you to be at home   but joe did not stay home and the cracks  in the relationship opened up into a chasm marianne's family thought joe's frequent  late night meetings and business trips   suggested he was having an affair after the accident the family proved it they hired a private eye who discovered that  mclaughlin was living two very separate lives   he had a longtime mistress named joan lindegren   whom he took on vacations and  whined and dined in the city but at the time marianne  refused to even consider that   joe was cheating she thought  he got what he needed at home i honestly thought that i was just the  ultimate wife i kept a beautiful home   my appearance was always pretty decent i  mean i really thought it was great and bad   all the same marianne thought joe was far  from the ideal spouse in 1987 tired of her   husband's all-consuming career marianne says  she told joe she was thinking about divorce   she says joe talked her out of it they tried  counseling but it did no good i want my little   white house with my little picket fence and i  want a happy family and he was not willing to   do any of that it was a joke to him for his part  mclaughlin insists that they never seriously   considered divorce certain things in our marriage  weren't the best but they certainly weren't at a   point where we uh i don't think we're going to  be splitting or going anywhere whatever the case   while mclaughlin's marriage was floundering so  too were his business interests by the late 1980s   the boston real estate market had collapsed along  with joe's fortunes so marianne was very surprised   when in april 1989 to celebrate her 35th birthday  joe gave her an expensive tennis bracelet and   tickets to a show in boston beautiful tickets the  beautiful bracelet my hope for a light shining or   dawning on him i was definitely looking forward to  our evening out that was april 21st 1989 two days   after marianne's birthday it was that night at the  parking garage that marianne was hit by the car for boston investigators there were plenty of  clues stacking up against joseph mclaughlin   there was the mistress the talk of divorce and  his aloof manor at the hospital then there was his   strange behavior during the criminal investigation  i tried to interview him he refused i had sent   registered letters to his apartment they all  came back and he just refused to talk to me   despite their suspicions detectives could develop  nothing on show or the south boston man whose car   had hit marianne they were forced to relegate  the mysterious hit and run to the cold case file   marianne's family decided to keep her in the dark  about the investigation so that she could focus on   her recovery she endured surgery after surgery she  learned to walk again and when she was well enough   she returned home to her husband and their  two children marianne accepted that the   hit-and-run accident had been just that an  accident and then years later investigators   make a breakthrough in the case and marianne's  life would be turned upside down all over again in boston in 1989 marianne mclaughlin survived  a devastating hit and run in a parking garage   four months after the incident  she went home with her husband joe   she still had no idea that boston  police considered him a possible suspect   in her attempted murder i had assumed i  was in the wrong spot at the wrong time   what else could i think i i mean  how else could i go on with my life   you know the girl that he had been dating since  late teens no i i never really thought that way but her already rocky marriage fell  apart soon after her return home   the final straw she told american justice was the  day joe was driving her to a doctor's appointment   downtown and i made a comment to him you  know i really don't know why i lived i   mean this is just i i don't have a clue he says  neither do i he says i don't know why you lived   why don't you try to tell  me as we ride into boston marianne said she was too shocked to respond  so she just looked out the car window soon after marianne started divorce proceedings  she took back her maiden name lewis and tried   to get on with her life five years passed  then in 1994 the south boston woman came   forward with a piece of information that would  reignite the investigation into the hit and run andrea flaherty lived with stephen mogan  who was the owner of the car that hit   marianne at a family gathering flaherty  overheard something about her boyfriend   that caught her attention his  sister-in-law said to him um you know your girlfriend doesn't even know what  you like and you know like the real true you   basically when pressed to come clean the 23  year old mogan admitted to andrea that he   had been hiding a secret from her he began  to tell me the story about um how you know   someone had offered him money mogan told his  girlfriend the money was for a very serious crime   he said he had loaned his car to a friend to  run a woman down and to kill her mogan revealed   the woman's husband was behind the entire plot  flaherty was horrified by her boyfriend's secret   i totally freaked out i couldn't  believe it a big fight broke out   you know i was just out of my mind our  relationship totally ended that day   totally ended at the time flaherty and mogan were  living in a housing project in south boston a   tough irish neighborhood where the street culture  dictates loyalty to other southies above all else bogan had just told his girlfriend about a secret  involving himself and another south boston friend   a secret that if revealed could send them to  jail and of course stephen mogan didn't want   me to didn't want anyone to know that he actually  told me the story so now he's hiding in bushes   and he's in you know smashing my window in  my car and he's chasing me around and i mean   it was it was very very fearful andrea flaherty  says that eventually she overcame her fear   and placed a call to the lead detective on the  case nick sigisi she said are you detective   segecia i said yes i am can i talk to you and  i says about what and she said it's about the   uh mclaughlin case and i said oh really five  years after the hit and run flaherty met with   the detective and spelled out what she knew of a  murder conspiracy i couldn't believe that somebody   after all these years would come forward and you  only see this on tv but this actually happened   everything started to come together  andrea provided authorities with details   they developed a list of the  men believed to be involved   stephen mogan the owner of the car mogan's  friend william mcneil believed to be the driver   his son brian mcneill who provided mogan's alibi   and according to authorities it had  all been organized and put into motion   by the victim's husband boston real  estate developer joseph mclaughlin andrea   flaherty's revelations provided the ammunition  authorities needed to bring the suspects in in august 1997 the suffolk  county district attorney's office   won indictments against joe mclaughlin  and his three alleged co-conspirators   they were charged with multiple counts of  conspiracy to commit murder and armed assault   when the indictments were announced joe mclaughlin  had long since returned to his everyday life   he says he knew he was being investigated but had  no idea anything would happen until a colleague   called him and he said you've been indicted  i said well what are you talking about   i had never been involved in a criminal action  before didn't know what it was about no one in   my family ever had joe turned himself in four  months passed before he was released on bail   when marianne lewis learned that her ex-husband  was being charged with planning the accident that   almost killed her five years earlier she  had to confront an appalling possibility   i just remember putting my face in my hands  and just not believing that this person   that i unconditionally loved the father of my  children would be involved in such a heinous act   it was sickening with indictments in hand  assistant d.a robert griffin was determined   to get one of the alleged co-conspirators  from south boston to break rank and confess one by one they were arrested  and brought in for questioning   the first to break was the alleged driver of the  car 58 year old william mcneil he was arrested   by state trooper scott jennings and brought  into the state police barracks in south boston   mr mcneil was very depressed at that point he  knew that the coat of silence had finally broken   it became quite a surprise to us that  he actually started talking right away on tape mcneil spelled out details of the murder  plot he said that he had seen mclaughlin a few   times in a bar and that out of the blue the  man had offered him fifty thousand dollars   to kill his wife he said they discussed  how to run over marianne and make it look   like an accident he told me he would get out  of the car his wife would get out of the car   he'd go to the middle of the driveway there before  the elevator and he would tell her that he had   forgotten something she'd come back to the car  leaving her in the middle all by herself that's   when i was supposed to hit him mcneil told police  that when he saw marianne walk toward the elevator   he stepped on the gas and accelerated  down the ramp did you hit her yes i did did you hear anything or know what she was  saying oh no my god something like that mcneil never implicated either his 31 year old  son brian or the owner of the car stephen mogan   he insisted he and mclaughlin plotted the crime  alone this puzzled prosecutor robert griffin   i didn't believe that stephen and brian were  innocent i didn't believe that they didn't know   what was going on to get the full  story investigators turned up the heat   on the other alleged conspirators hoping someone   would eventually crack under the pressure  mogan is worried what the other person said   and he wants to know you know what did  he say i'm not telling you what he said   and now they're all running around like little  rats you know trying to find their little niche   facing a 40-year prison sentence stephen mogan  the owner of the car cut a deal five years of   probation and no prison time in return  for spelling out the entire murder plot   masterminded by joe mclaughlin i firmly  believe that joseph mclaughlin was responsible   for the attempted murder of his wife and  inflicting horrible horrible injuries upon her   but proving the conspiracy in court with stephen  mogan as the key witness would not be easy   his story had two problems logan  wasn't at the scene of the crime   and he had never met joe mclaughlin in boston  the trial of joseph mclaughlin for the attempted   murder of his wife marianne began on april 28 1998  at the suffolk county courthouse in his opening   statement prosecutor robert griffin introduced  joseph mclaughlin as a man who cheated on his wife   and was so greedy that he decided it was cheaper  to kill her than have to pay a divorce settlement   this case is a sword tale of greed  of betrayal of deceit of adultery   and of a deliberate premeditated plan to commit  a cruel and brutal murder the state's challenge   was to convince the jury that mclaughlin was  behind the conspiracy all without a single piece   of direct evidence he did not have a witness  who could get on the stand and say i was in   the room with joseph mclaughlin when he agreed  to or asked me to murder his wife prosecutors   were hoping to have the alleged driver of the car  william mcneal play that role but just before the   trial he recanted his confession and refused to  testify that also meant his confession tape could   not be plagued for the jury but the state did  have mcneil's south boston friend stephen mogan   the man whose car had been used to hit marianne  he'd never met joe mclaughlin but prosecutors   said it didn't matter stephen mogan knew from the  inside out how this attempted murder of marianne   was concocted how it was carried out he was  the only one that was willing to testify to it   so stephen mogan took the stand prosecutors  had argued that the night of the crime   mclaughlin parked as planned on  the fifth floor of the garage   william mcneil the driver was waiting at  the top of the ramp ready to hit marianne mogen told the jury that according to  mcneil marianne lewis had a frozen look   like a deer in the night when he  rammed the buick skylark into her defense attorney j.w carney countered that  stephen mogan's testimony was unreliable   because he was testifying under a plea agreement  with the state not only that there were no   money transactions no phone calls not even  a bank statement that could verify his story   there is no physical evidence linking joseph  mclaughlin to this fantasy of stephen mogan there   is no forensic evidence there's no fingerprint  evidence stephen mogan was someone who knew would   be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison if he  didn't cooperate with the prosecution's theory   and yet would get probation if he did that was  a very compelling reason for mogan to testify   in the manner that the prosecutor wanted  the prosecution tried to bolster mogan's   testimony about the murder plot with evidence  of joe mclaughlin's infidelity and selfishness   there were his faltering finances which would have  only gotten worse with a hefty divorce settlement   he also had a mistress joan lindegren who  testified under subpoena to a four-year   affair the nurses who cared for marianne  during her rehabilitation also took the stand   they said joe seemed surprisingly  insensitive during his   visits to the hospital did he ever go  near her no did he ever touch her no what was his demeanor during the visits  that you had you had occasion to observe   um distant um no emotion really cold but  prosecutor bob griffin was saving his best   witness for last on may 1st  marianne lewis took the stand   when she walked into that court that  was a very dramatic moment for that jury   i think they were they were desperate to  see who she was and what had happened to   her marianne testified that joe's behavior the  night of the hit and run was out of the ordinary   she said he made an unusual request about what  she should wear he asked me to wear the white   main coat that he had given to me and did you  find that unusual i did why it was april it was   out of season marianne spent about two hours on  the stand describing her troubled marriage to joe   as well as the terrible nights that had almost  ended her life i didn't find it difficult at   all because there was nothing that i had to hide  he asked me what my life was like and i told him   i just gave him the answer she also told  the jury about her long and debilitating   medical ordeal multiple multiple surgeries  do you have any sight in your right eye no   i do not she's sitting about 10 feet from  the man who with whom she has two children   and with whom she was at one point deeply in  love given the amount of injury and suffering   that she endured i thought she was an incredible  witness after four days of testimony the state   rested for the defense mclaughlin's attorney  j.w carney set out to build reasonable doubt   he attacked head-on the state's theory  of a conspiracy to kill marianne lewis carney told the court that this  wasn't a carefully planned hit   it was an accident and he called on the  government's own accident reconstruction expert   a massachusetts state policeman  to back up this theory the officer told the court that  after looking closely at the evidence   he arrived at a conclusion that  contradicted the state's case   he testified that the car's speed when it struck  marianne was possible only if it had come racing   down from the floor above not idling at the top  of the ramp as the prosecution had suggested the expert also concluded that the driver must  have slammed on the brakes before hitting marion the defense's point it was just a tragic accident  that joe had nothing to do with in this instance   a very likely scenario was that a  driver coming down from an upper floor   was going too fast to make the turn  realizing that he jammed on his brakes   the brakes locked he lost control of his  vehicle and it skidded into marianne mclaughlin the prosecutor shot back that accident  reconstruction is not an exact science   in fact he argued the most common sense  explanation of the physical evidence   supported the state's case for attempted murder  the fact was the car ran her over and the cop   backed up over her head and crushed her skull  and then took off the defense argument was very   technical and that may have been mr carney's  intent to make it so uh confusing uh to the jury   the defense case was over quickly joe  mclaughlin says he wanted to testify but his   attorney strongly discouraged him jay kearney  didn't want to call any witnesses jay kearney   said to me they have proved reasonable  doubt i said jay i want to testify i   said even my ex-wife testified who had  been hit by the car how does this look   but mclaughlin ended up taking his lawyer's  advice trial testimony was over in just five days on may 5th 1998 the jury in the joseph  mclaughlin attempted murder trial   returned its verdict after  eight hours of deliberations   the victim marianne lewis and her family  were waiting anxiously in the gallery   marianne my father my mother all of us just  held hands and squeezed our hands together   the courtroom fell silent as the foreman read  the verdict judging the defendant josephine   mclaughlin with assault with intense murder being  armed is he guilty or not guilty guilty the jury   found mclaughlin guilty on all three counts of  conspiracy and attempted murder it was great   he's done a tremendous amount of damage to  this family so it was great i assumed the   verdict was going to come back guilty had it not  come back that way i i myself would have went on   with my life but am i glad that  justice was served absolutely outside the courtroom joe mclaughlin's attorney  weighed in on the verdict perhaps the moral is   that if you have a marriage that has problems god  help you if your wife is involved in an accident sentencing took place a month later marianne lewis hoped the judge would give her  ex-husband the maximum punishment of 30 years   she was allowed to read a victim's statement  to the court joseph mclaughlin is a man   lacking any moral principles and has  clearly shown no signs of remorse   the call my mother's found the guilty person it  is the man i believed in trusted and loved the   father of our children who committed this crime  the judge then allowed mclaughlin to respond   he expressed sympathy for his ex-wife who took  no responsibility for the crime i just wanted to   say that more than anybody i am very sorry for  the injuries that my ex-wife occurred incurred they were difficult they were graphic   she is unparalleled in her will to live and  the circumstances that she lived through   when you view things you would say you  know this would be a good time to apologize   i felt as though he was like just basically  stealing his coffin by saying you know   god i can't believe this witch lived the judge  sentenced joseph mclaughlin to 18 to 20 years   with good behavior he could  be out of prison by 2010 mclaughlin has always maintained his  innocence in a letter to american justice   he insisted that quote i did not play any  part in any conspiracy that i am aware of since his conviction mclaughlin has been  waging a battle in the appeals courts   do you remember that do you  think i'm going to hire someone   and then immediately give the  carrot that brings with neil mogan he now represents himself at his hearings mclaughlin insists that he was failed on all  sides by the justice system he says his attorney   failed to give him a vigorous defense and the  prosecution railroaded him into a conviction   the very least you can give joe  mclaughlin is a level playing field   in in a fair trial that's all i'm asking  for i'm not saying believe joe mclaughlin   i'm saying let's go to trial let's have  a fair trial that's all i'm asking for in november 2001 mclaughlin's  motion for a new trial was denied when we spoke with him mclaughlin was housed  at the southeastern correctional center in   bridgewater massachusetts he told us he often  ponders the horrible event that put him behind   bars i think about it every day there isn't a day  that doesn't go by where i don't relive i try to   relive what occurred if i could have done anything  differently marianne lewis and her family stay   informed about mclaughlin's appeals and attend  every one of his courtroom hearings marianne   has continued to struggle with her physical  disabilities the hit and run left her blind   in one eye without peripheral vision in the other  and sensitive to bright lights she tires easily but lewis has rebuilt her life as best she  could she spends time with her family takes   long hikes and attends mass every sunday i want  to lead a productive life i firmly again believe   in the power of prayer and i i i go back on  prayer daily it's very much part of my life   for her ex-husband marianne lewis says she  feels no anger only pity i feel sorry for him   i honestly think that he's lost far more  than he ever thought he probably would have   could have done anything with his with his  career to choose to end up in prison it's a waste american justice contacted a number of people  at joseph mclaughlin's suggestion to discuss his   case none agreed to speak on camera about him or  his situation marianne lewis told us that one of   the unintended consequences of the hit-and-run  has been to make her more self-reliant in this   marianne has managed to find a silver lining  in her relationship with joe she says quote as   awful as he is he's probably made me a better  person because i am completely independent   i'm bill curtis join me next time for  another episode of american justice you

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Keywords: a&e, aetv, a&e tv, ae, a&e television, a&e shows, a and e, a+e, the first 48, crime, true crime, crime investigation, solving crime, police, detectives, attorneys, police procedure, cold case files, cold case, murder investigation, true crime show, dallas swat, american justice, bill curtis, mysterious, creepy, american, justice, law, gangs, docu-series, doc, justice symste, criminal, criminals, criminal justice, victim, watch American justice, crimes of passion, Mysterious Hit-and-Run

Id: JQjiucIb2F4

Length: 43min 46sec (2626 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 11 2021