Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

And to think that I was facing 400 years to life, having never committed a violent crime.

That's crazy.

Welcome to Sword and Scale,

a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real.... They say there is no honor amongst thieves.

But I think the following story will prove that to be patently false.

You know, over the years, we've approached the true crime genre from every conceivable point of view.

We've talked to both defense attorneys and prosecutors, forensic pathologists and forensic psychologists,

911 operators, and the paramedics that respond to the scene.

We've also talked to the victims

themselves, their families, their friends, and their neighbors. One point of view, though,

that we rarely cover is that of the perpetrator, the criminal. You know, there's a lot of people

out there, maybe some of you listening, who are so fascinated with true crime and murder

specifically that you'll take the extra step to write a letter to a convicted murderer,

hoping to get a response. This is not something that's really ever interested me,

partially because I've heard the horror stories of these masters of manipulation,

these psychopaths,

who even from behind bars, end up figuring out ways to victimize those kind enough and naive enough to reach out. Some of these criminals are true monsters, their humanity stripped away, maybe even

genetically before they were born.

So I've never had much interest in actually speaking to a convicted criminal until I ran across

this story, which can shift your whole paradigm of simplistic thinking.

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