McKee Defense Strategy: The Lawyer Who Beat 14 Murder Charges Takes the Tepe Case
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Breaking down the defense strategy in the Michael McKee case.
The vascular surgeon accused of killing Monique and Spencer Tepe in their Columbus home has retained Diane Menashe — arguably Ohio's most successful defense attorney. Her resume includes walking Dr. William Husel after 14 murder charges and saving multiple clients from death row against overwhelming evidence.
Today on True Crime Today, we analyze what Menashe might do with a case that looks unwinnable on paper. The ballistics match through NIBIN that defense attorneys know isn't courtroom-proof science. The murky Ring camera footage that could become a battle of experts. The eight-year gap between McKee's divorce and the alleged murders that complicates the premeditation narrative. And McKee's documented spiral — malpractice suits he allegedly dodged with fake addresses, an expired medical license, colleagues saying he "just disappeared" — that could support a diminished capacity argument.
Prosecutors haven't disclosed a motive. They've called it "targeted domestic violence" but haven't explained why a surgeon would drive 325 miles to kill an ex-wife who left him eight years ago. Menashe will exploit that gap.
McKee isn't fighting for acquittal. He's fighting to avoid the harshest sentence — life without parole versus life with parole eligibility after 32 years. That's the game now.
The Tepe children — ages 4 and 1 — were in the house that night. They'll grow up without their parents. And the man accused of taking them has hired the best defense money can buy.
#TrueCrimeToday #MichaelMcKee #TepeCase #DianeMenashe #SpencerTepe #MoniquTepe #CrimeNews #MurderTrial #DefenseStrategy #BreakingCrime
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. |
| 0:03.2 | Here now, Tony Brewski. |
| 0:07.0 | Michael McKee hired someone who doesn't lose unwinnable cases. |
| 0:12.1 | It's going to be interesting. |
| 0:13.4 | This is going to be for a formidable fight, |
| 0:17.5 | despite how damning the evidence already looks. |
| 0:21.7 | A couple of days ago, the vascular surgeon accused of taking out his ex-wife and her husband in their Columbus home, |
| 0:28.1 | pled not guilty to four counts of aggravated murder. |
| 0:34.4 | He didn't speak. |
| 0:36.4 | He didn't explain. |
| 0:41.7 | As you don't usually do when you're being charged with such a crime. He didn't, so much as flinch either. He just sat there and prison scrubs on a video |
| 0:49.6 | feed from the Franklin County Jail where his attorney, a woman named Diane Menacee, waved bond, |
| 0:57.0 | and signaled one thing very clearly to everyone watching. |
| 1:00.5 | This isn't a negotiation. |
| 1:02.9 | This is a fight. |
| 1:05.3 | And if you don't know who Diane Menacee is, you should. |
| 1:09.5 | Because in 2022, she walked William Hustle out of an Ohio courtroom after he was charged |
| 1:15.0 | with murdering 14 of his patients. |
| 1:18.1 | 14. |
| 1:19.1 | The prosecution called 53 witnesses over six weeks. |
| 1:22.8 | Menace she and her co-counsel called one. |
| 1:25.2 | And the jury came back to not guilty on every single count. |
... |
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