Bob Motta: Arkansas Judge Removed, McKee's Lawyer Beat 14 Murder Charges—What Happens Now?
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2026
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Two murder cases. Two very different defense strategies. Defense attorney Bob Motta joins True Crime Today to break down both.
Aaron Spencer's trial just got a new judge after the Arkansas Supreme Court removed Barbara Elmore for constitutional violations—the second time in seven months. Spencer faces second-degree murder for killing Michael Fosler, the man out on bond for allegedly raping his 14-year-old daughter. The defense is arguing he saved his child. The prosecution has prior statements suggesting premeditation. And now a retired judge from the other side of the state is inheriting the most divisive case in Arkansas.
Michael McKee pleaded not guilty to four counts of aggravated murder in the deaths of his ex-wife Monique Tepe and her husband Spencer Tepe. His lawyer is Diane Menashe—who got Dr. William Husel acquitted of fourteen ICU murders by calling one witness and watching the state's case crumble. The prosecution has ballistics, surveillance, vehicle tracking, a suppressor. Menashe doesn't present defenses. She destroys prosecutions.
Bob Motta analyzes both cases: what judicial removal means for Spencer, how to defend a father who killed his daughter's alleged abuser, whether Menashe's Husel playbook works against different evidence, and what both cases tell us about murder defense strategy in high-profile trials.
#BobMotta #TrueCrimeToday #AaronSpencer #MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #JudgeElmore #DianeMenashe #MurderDefense #HuselAcquittal #DefenseStrategy
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Bruske, Stacey Cole, and Todd Michaels. |
| 0:08.8 | The Arkansas Supreme Court did something it almost never does. |
| 0:13.2 | It yanked a sitting judge off a case. |
| 0:16.6 | Not once, but effectively twice. |
| 0:18.4 | Judge Barbara Elmore has already been slapped down last May |
| 0:22.0 | when the High Court called her gag order a plain, manifest, clear, and gross abuse of discretion. |
| 0:30.9 | That's some stiff words there. |
| 0:33.9 | Seven months later, she pulled the same move with different clothes, limiting the trial |
| 0:39.5 | to 55 people, banning cameras, no overflow room. The Supreme Court didn't just reverse her |
| 0:44.9 | this time. They removed her entirely and appointed a retired judge from the other side of the |
| 0:49.8 | state to take over. Defense attorney Bob Mata is with us now to break down what this means and what |
| 0:56.4 | it tells us about how Aaron Spencer's case has been handled from day one. Bob, welcome. I know you |
| 1:04.3 | were on the road. You were there. You were ready for this. Then the Arkansas Supreme Court stepped in |
| 1:10.1 | and removed the judge. |
| 1:12.7 | It's rather extraordinary. In your experience, what does it take for the state's highest court |
| 1:17.7 | to reach that conclusion? And what does it signal about how they viewed Elmore's conduct? |
| 1:24.8 | Hey, T. Yeah, it was a quick turnaround, my friend. |
| 1:28.9 | 20 hours of driving out of 36. |
| 1:31.8 | So, yeah, it was because I didn't want to get trapped down there because the snow cripples, Arkansas. |
| 1:37.2 | Yeah, it was stunning, frankly. |
| 1:39.0 | I was, and especially with the speed in which it came and the element of the fact that we're on the eve of trial. |
| 1:48.7 | You know, the timing of it is what made it so stunning because we're literally just leaving a hearing wherein she had set jury to start getting selected. |
... |
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