This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski. Here now, Tony Brucey.

In almost every murder trial, defense attorneys share one golden rule. Keep your client off the stand.

The risks outweigh the rewards. Cross-examination can tread even the most confident defendant.

And jurors often judge demeanor as much as words. But Donna

Aedelson isn't following the rulebook even before this trial officially began. Word leaked that

she intends to testify. That announcement alone tells you something about her mindset because typically the

decision to put a defendant on the stand comes mid-trial after seeing how the evidence lands

after gauging the jury but Donna well she's signaling from the jump that she wants her moment

and why maybe it's confit over Well, she's signaling from the jump that she wants her moment.

And why?

Maybe it's overconfidence.

Maybe it's control.

Maybe it's the same pattern we saw in the emails.

Donna calling the shots no matter what her attorneys advise. But there's danger there. The state isn't coming in empty-handed.

They're right there. They've got her airport arrest warrant with a one-way ticket to Vietnam,

a country with no U.S. extradition. They've got recorded calls with Charlie after his conviction

that prosecutors say reek of consciousness

of guilt.

And they've got the narrative that every other conspirator is already convicted, leaving Donna

as the last piece of the puzzle.

So when she takes the stand, it won't be a grandmother defending herself.

It will be the alleged matriarch of a murder plot.

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