Hello everyone and welcome to police off the cuff real crime stories.

I'm your host, retired NYPD Sergeant Bill Cannon, a 27-year veteran of the NYPD.

So sort of a moment, we got a little bit surprised by this, but Stefan Stearns, whose trial for SA,

and I won't, you guys know what that means, I'm not going to say it because YouTube

doesn't like you to say it tomorrow was supposed to start, and he potentially, after trial,

could have received life in prison without parole for that case. And then in September, his murder

in the first degree trial was supposed to start. And that's a capital murder case, which he would

be eligible for the death penalty. And we've spoken about this in the case of Brian Koeberger.

Even though the death penalty is not utilized, it is very useful as a bargaining tool, as leverage

against the defendant.

And in every case, the defendant does not want to die, does not want to receive the death penalty.

And this man, Stefan Stearns, is one of the biggest cowards I've ever seen in my life.

So you know that he waited to the very last minute to tell his attorneys,

I want to plead guilty.

You know, he wants to plead guilty now because A, he knows he is guilty.

And B, because he does not want to get the death penalty.

So at this late hour, a day before his SA trial was about to start,

it appears today at 1.30 that Stefan Stearns is going to look to plead guilty to both those

cases. And it's an all or nothing. He has to plead guilty to the SA as well as the murder or there's no deal.

And as I said, I'm pro-death penalty, but I think the death penalty has been hijacked by the other opinion, the anti-death penalty people.

Because after someone gets sentenced to it,

it could be 20 to 25 years for the sentences actually even carried out, and maybe not even.

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