Martina Westcott
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What's going on, everybody? I'm Marah. And I'm Tez. And welcome back to Sisters Who Kill. When you're in a relationship, sometimes you just have to take the hint. Take the hint that we want to go to the next level. Take the hint...

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Nobody wants you here. Our players this week are Terrell Bruce, our victim, and Martina Westcott.

Our murderess. Martina Westcott was born on August 3rd, 1989 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per her LinkedIn account, Martina is a businesswoman, a really professional type of woman. And it showed in her accolades. She graduated from Central High School in 2007. And after high school, she got her B.A. in public health at the University of Pennsylvania. She also minored in psychology and graduated with a 3.85 GPA.

As an undergrad, she was a busy bee. She spent most of her time volunteering in her community. She volunteered at the Epic Church in Philadelphia, and she was a part of the Big Brother Big Sisters of America.

She worked as a swim instructor for the YMCA. She was a nutrition program supervisor for UPenn, among many other things. Basically, she had a really great resume. It's kind of nice to see that because of her upbringing. Like, she had very loving parents. However, her dad was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and this affected her life. As a lot of disorders go...

It was hereditary. And some of those tendencies were showing up in Martina. However, she decided that she was going to continue to pursue her goals, her dreams, no matter what.

After undergrad, she completed her master's in public health at Thomas Jefferson University in 2013. She was also a Philadelphia mayor scholar, a participant in the new spirit of Penn Gospel Choir, and a member of Penn College Achievement Program, and a volunteer for the Penn Alumni Interview Program. I was just saying that I need to be a part of my alumni chapter in Atlanta, get more involved. Those connections, man, they're really actually important.

She also worked at the Augustine Urban Nutrition Initiative, and she was doing a lot of things there. At the time, was an entry-level disease surveillance investigator at the AIDS Activity Coordinating Office in PA's Department of Public Health. So she had a passion for medicine. She had a passion for helping people, for educating people about their health, and that was seen in every facet of her life.

One time she was attending a scholarship foundation with one of the many organizations that she was involved in and she met Terrell L. Bruce. Terrell Bruce was born on November 2nd, 1983, to his parents Anita P. Adams and Terrence Bruce in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He is a twin. We have a lot in common. And is actually second born to his twin brother, Brandon S. Bruce. In total, his parents had eight children together. His mom died when he was only in the eighth grade. She suffered from cancer. And he was raised by his grandmother, Catherine Newton, for a period of time.

He graduated from Roxborough High School and was at the top of his class when he graduated. While in high school, he was well known at basketball and some called him a lifelong baller because he continued playing when he went to college. And they loved him in high school. Like when he attended Roxborough, he was the new kid, but they was like he fit in easy. Everybody wanted to hang around him. He was humble. He was just a cool guy to be around. He continued playing basketball in college and ended up getting an associate's degree in liberal arts.

and then later went back to LaSalle University to get his BS, from which he graduated in 2008.

Here, he was also a member of the Pre-Health Professionals Committee and a member of the Alpha Epsilon Delta Honor Society. In 2009, he lost his younger brother, Nathaniel Kirkland, who drowned in a rip current in Guatemala when he was only 20 years old. He was down there doing a service mission for Dickinson College. I think they were helping with tsunami relief efforts, and he just ended up getting caught up and was never able to return home to his family.

I don't know exactly when, but he also lost one of his sisters, Gabrielle. In 2010, a year after he lost his brother, he established a scholarship foundation in his deceased brother's name, the Nathaniel M. Kirkland Scholarship. Since the creation in 2010, I think up until the murder, it had provided eight scholarships to students in need. I think they were just sending the kids to college every year.

After college, he worked at Iron Hill Brewery for several years and was recognized as one of the company's best employees. He was also a huge volunteer in his community. He also...

was a part of the Big Brother program. Eventually, he got into real estate and he felt like this was really his true calling and he was good at it. But what drove him was not the money that you could make from selling homes, but giving people a chance to have home ownership and build generational wealth and stuff like that, you know?

He even received a REMAX Top 100 award because of his outstanding sales. He was a realtor for the people. He offered pro bono financial advisory services. He helped people improve their credit scores so they could be approved to get a house. He helped Section 8 participants get into newly renovated homes because, you know, a lot of times they just get pushed up into houses.

government housing and ghetto areas. And he's like, no, actually, you could have these options and these options, you know? Doing stuff for the community. Exactly. In 2016, he helped over 50 families get into a house one year. He was an all-around good guy. He was a great brother to his siblings. He was an uncle to about 20 nieces and nephews.

He even bought his sister a fixer-upper. He renovated it, and he let her and her 10 kids live there. His sister, Shawana, said that he was the uncle that was always there. He gave them money when they did well in school. He paid for their extracurricular activities like ballet lessons and AAU basketball.

He just, you know, some people when they type like that, the next best thing after a dad is an uncle, you know? And he seemed like that. Shawana and Terrell were even business partners to some extent. And she was kind of his right-hand woman in real estate renovation deals. They had a small business called Money Never Sleeps or M&S Enterprise. And they were successful over here getting people into homes. Kim Williams, the owner of a local performing arts center, said,

said Terrell was the definition of be the change. He was always looking for places to give back from the community, and that's what he wanted more than anything.

A portion of every house that he sold went to the Nathaniel M. Kirkland Foundation to help someone continue their education. Remember, that's his brother's foundation. And she also said that he was everybody's cheerleader. He donated funds to her performing arts center so that several kids in the community could attend the center on a scholarship for an entire year. And she was very grateful to be a part of his life because he was just a good soul.

She said in January of this upcoming year, he's planning to provide four more scholarships for students to attend here. And performing arts can really change somebody's life. Like if they're really in a program and they really find a talent in there, that can change somebody's whole trajectory. Absolutely it can, which is why I'm a huge arts advocate, even for those that don't even like being on stage. There is a

There's a place for everybody.

But she was like magic with lights. And that is where she found her artistic freedom, her artistic expression. And she really got creative with it. There are some kids that just don't like it and

And there's the ones who enjoy stage managing or, you know, stage managing. Or if you like to paint and build, you can do sets. There's a place in the arts for everybody. And it's such a great foundation for children. A lot of the people that I did summer theater camps with, if they're not artists, they're lawyers or they have their own businesses. They're doing something where they are communicating with the outside world. And the reason that they're so successful is because of that foundation in the arts.

So, yeah, I think so. Stop cutting arts funding in schools and stop making arts so inaccessible to the youth. I think that that's so important. Like when I grew up, you know, I went to the Tupac Center when I was younger. And before I went to the Tupac Center, I was a part of the Freddie Hendrix Youth Ensemble of Atlanta. And both of these groups.

Both of these programs were for Black kids that wanted to be a part of the arts. It was affordable for us to be a part of the arts. And we got to meet so many people and we got to grow in our crafts. You learn discipline in a way that you're not going to learn any other way. You learn accountability. You learn how to memorize. And you learn the difference between where you are in the arts and where somebody else is. Because the arts is a privileged sport.

Sorry, I'm going on a tangent, everybody, but the arts is a privileged sport. Ballet and competition dance and voice lessons, all of that is expensive. Having a private vocal coach on the cheap end is 60 bucks an hour. That's not something that everybody can have.

But if you integrate the arts into the school system, if you integrate the arts into summer theater camps where it's accessible to them, you're giving those kids a foundation where they can express themselves in a way that they weren't able to express themselves before. Even students that don't like being on stage, don't want to stage manage, they get to hone in their writing skills. Boom. They get to write and create and put their thoughts on paper in a way that is not inside of the school.

So they don't feel like, oh, I have to. They get to express what they're feeling on the inside. And then they get to see their creation come to life. Like even me, I just paint for fun. You know what I mean? Yeah.

I don't pay for nothing serious, but just even just having that ability to express and see something come to your life and have a talent like to expose this talent that people didn't know was locked inside of them. Exactly. And even with the arts, like if you don't if you just want to paint painting sets, you are really creating an entire atmosphere with the stroke of your paintbrush. And kids really do get that satisfaction through the arts that you really do not get anywhere else.

So get your kids into an arts program. Thank you. And goodbye. Great. So like we said, Tarell and Martina met in 2014. And when they met, they were cool with each other. And like the local gossip between everybody was that they were friends. They were cool. Maybe friends with benefits. But not too, too seriously. Like,

Terrell never said, yo, this is my girl. I'm taking her to Thanksgiving dinner. We're going on date nights every week. This was just, you know, his little cutty buddy. And people knew that because Terrell was one of those people that constantly posted on social media. He was very active online and he ain't never post about this girl.

Now, according to Terrell's sister, their fling, their little on-again, off-again fling was just that. And people really didn't know about it. Even Terrell's twin brother was like, I mean, I heard her name in passing, but definitely not somebody that he was serious about because I would have known. I'm his twin.

So the two of them would hang out eventually, but it wasn't like going out to extravagant dates. They were going to each other's houses. And Martina, she started getting a little too attached to Terrell. She wanted something more from him, and he wasn't ready to give that to her. And he said that he wasn't ready to give that to her, and that really upset her to the point where she started doing the age-old tricks, calling the phone all the time, texting him all the time, started pulling up at his house, flattening his tires,

scraping profanity into his car. It got to the point where he had to put up a security system at his house because he was going to the police telling the police who did it. And the police is like, you ain't got no evidence. We don't know if you just trying to set this girl up.

It got to the point where she was like, listen, I want a family. I'm at the point where I want a family. I want us to be together. And he's like, that's not what I want right now. According to Terrell's family, they think that, you know, my brother is a good guy. He's got everything going for him. Finances are great. Giving back to the community. He is an upright man.

trophy husband and she wanted to do everything that she could maybe get pregnant maybe get married so that she could have him locked in his family was like she's a beautiful girl there's nothing wrong with her but just because you're a beautiful girl doesn't mean that he's going to want you

After a while, Martina did back off, but she was still trying to find ways to slide her way back into his life. On November 20th, 2016, she bought a gun. And then December of that year, 2016, she got him a Christmas present. This Christmas present, it had a card that said, Merry Christmas, you fitly animal. And then got him a custom tailored polo.

But Sorrel was still trying to block all advances. Every time that he got something from Martina, he would give that gift to his sister, told his sister to give it back to her because he really was trying to ease the situation and not have any contact. When Martina realized that this Christmas gift, I guess she got a return and she realized that her advances were not working, she became a little bit more desperate.

All of a sudden, Terrell's Akita, Evita, just kidding. Terrell's Akita Labrador mix named Breaks went missing for a week. And then Terrell is looking on his security cameras trying to figure out what happened. Can't find the person, but it looks like Breaks just kind of willingly went with whoever dognapped him. And you dognapping my dog. Like, come on now. And he also sees if my dog is willingly going with you, you have to be somebody that I know.

Like, take Rex, for instance. Rex ain't going with just no anybody. My dog is not going with just no anybody. Rex might know you and still might not go with you. Rex gotta love you, okay? And Rex, his love changes every single day. Rex be so mean to you sometimes. Let me like, boy. I didn't want to be all up in my lap. Like, oh, hey. He just, he old. Don't do my dog like that.

Unlike your dogs, they just jump in the car. They be ready to ride. That's giddy. But all of this is telling Tyrell, like, a stranger would not have just dog-napped my dog, so he assumes it's Martina. Now, listen, it was not confirmed that it was her that took his dog, but it's very much leaning in that direction. Because, A...

The dog knew the person and B, she seems to know her way around the security camera. She knows exactly where they're placed. It's just she knew exactly where to stand so that, yes, he would see the dog, but he would not see the perpetrator. And he was really upset about his dog being dognapped. He actually offered a $2,000 reward for Brake's safe return.

And oh, I need to mention that during this time of the dog napping, he had an actual girlfriend that he was actually wanting to be with. And so, of course, this is extremely triggering to Martina. So they're thinking their theory is that if she's trying to get the dog back and she says, oh, I found the dog. This is another way of her weaseling her way back into his life.

because he's in a time of need and she can come in and save the day. It also was suspicious because six days after the dog napping, Terrell's sister is leaving Terrell's house and Martina just pulls up. She's walking up the driveway and Shauna is like, oh, what are you doing here? So she's trying to turn around and get to her brother before, you know, she can get to her brother.

And Martina's like, I just came to offer my condolences. I just came to see if everybody was okay. And Shauna was like, girl, a text would have sufficed. If anything, a text would have had for sufficed. But why are you coming to see my brother?

And I feel like this is a sisters who kill rule that we have constantly been saying. Y'all need to stop messing with these black men that have sisters because black women that have brothers go up for their brothers more than anybody else. And she already was on high alert because why are you coming to see my brother? My brother got a girlfriend. My brother is sad about this dog. Like Tazi said, a text message would have sufficed. Honestly, you really ain't have to say nothing. Right. But if anything, that's at most. Right.

I'm the one that's personally giving you back your Christmas gifts that you are sending my brother. Why are you here? Why are you not getting the hints that we don't want you here? Interaction was six days after Brakes dog napping. And eight days after Brakes dog napping, a neighbor magically sees Brakes. And he sees Brakes near where Terrell's sister used to live. And so they are able to find Brakes. And Brakes is back reunited with his papa. Now,

Here it is. We're rolling up on Christmas. Now, like I said, she did send him a Christmas gift, but listen to me, y'all. That Christmas gift was in 2016, but it was kind of like an early Christmas gift, just letting y'all know. She's probably one of those people that celebrates Christmas right after Halloween and skips Thanksgiving.

So we're still in December of 2016. All of this is happening in November, December 2016. She posts on December 13, 2016, quote, Every day is a box. You decide whether it will be a gift or a coffin. December 14, 2016, she says, quote, Marriage is the privilege of partnership.

On December 19th, 2016, at 6 a.m., Martina posted on Facebook, quote, If someone ever suggests don't fall in love, he might break your heart. Your only response should be don't live. You might die. On December 21st, 2016, Terrell broke up with Martina again for the hundredth time via text message.

And he basically like, hey, just so you know, I have a girlfriend. We are not together. Don't want you. Don't need you. Let's officially break this. And Martina was like, oh, absolutely not. She calls him. She texts him back to back, blowing up his phone. She's like, no, I just need to see. We just need to talk in person. We can figure this out, baby. We just need to talk.

And from that day forward, she just kept calling and calling and texting and let's meet and let's chat and let's talk. And please, we just need closure. We just need to see each other. Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby. Yeah, she turned into a motivational speaker there for a minute. It's December 27, 2016. At this time, according to the family, Martine and Terrell had been off for over a year at this point.

Not according to Martina. This morning, Martina tried to call Terrell. And I guess, you know, he didn't have it in him to fight today. You know, he's mourning the loss of his brother. No matter how many years pass, it still hurts, you know. So he's just like, fine. And the two of them meet up. Around 12.30 p.m., Martina and Terrell, they're driving and they are both in Terrell's car.

According to Terrell's family, Terrell was trying to break things off permanently with Martina, which is why they were in a car driving to an undisclosed location at this time. His sister came to this conclusion because on his person, he had a few gifts for his new current girlfriend. Perfume, diamond earrings, you know, for his new girlfriend. Perfume, diamond earrings, you know, treated nice. So Terrell and Martina...

They driving down West Walnut Lane in Mount Airy. And Martina and Terrell get to arguing because, of course. Now, Martina claims that the argument was about the two of them having a baby. See, Martina said that Terrell wanted to be her baby daddy. And she wasn't ready for that right now. She didn't want kids. And this was upsetting him. And he became irate. Martina is scared at this point.

Like, nigga, why is you yelling? Calm down. It's my body, my choice. She don't know what to do. So she reaches under her foot and feels that there just so happens to be a gun on the floor of the car. So she reaches down, grabs the gun, and points it at Terrell's head. Now, she says she only wanted to scare him. He just needed to calm down, right? But she closed her eyes, and the gun went off.

When she opened her eyes, the car was flipping over another car, and he was bleeding from his eardrum. The car ended up crashing and landed on top of another parked car. When the car came to a stop, Martina hopped out, and she did. She ended up running to her mother's house in Rochboro, which was three and a half miles away. Oh, Mama was running. Well, I'm trying to think, like...

She had a nice little pace because you can get like a nice mile done in 13 minutes. They see her walking into her mama's house 40 minutes later. She's a fitness person, so she probably run like five miles a day or something like that. Something like that. But also in the video when she's walking into her mom's house, she's got a slightly brisk pace, but for the most part looks pretty casual.

Doesn't look like what just happened just happened. I'll tell you that much. Right. Along her walk or run or whatever you have it to her mother's house, she took off her jacket and threw it over the Walnut Lane Bridge. She also ditched a gun under some leaves. Now, when she gets to her mama's house, she tells her mom, Ma, I just killed Terrell. And her mom was like, oh, well, listen, Martina, you're going to have to turn yourself in because I got some sense about me. And...

I can't be involved in no mess, but we'll do the best we can for you. So mama takes her to the local police station. And the following day, December 28th, she turns herself in. She gets there with a bag of the clothes that she was wearing at the time of the murder. She hands over her cell phone and she tells the police that she will give them a monologue statement. And what this means is she will speak for you, but y'all cannot ask me any questions.

Now, what makes me wonder, Mariah, is I want to see like the full transcription of this because they said that this initial interview was 90 minutes long. How you talk for 90 minutes without nobody giving you any questions? You know what I mean? I can. I'm a chatterbox. About this incident, she must have been talking about, he broke my heart. Indeed he did. Indeed. Indeed.

It must have been a lot of that beforehand. So she gives this monologue statement, but they can't ask her any questions. So in this statement, she says, again, we were arguing about having a baby. And when he realized that's not what I wanted, he got mad. I got scared. I did what I had to do. I didn't even mean to kill him.

I just, I just must have been so scared. She told the detective that when she left the crime scene, she didn't possibly think that Terrell could have been dead because, quote, he's invincible. Terrell could die. Okay. That's my Superman. Okay. So. You know what they say, girl. The Lulu is the Salulu. So she died.

You expected that man to rise from the dead like he was Jesus? What were you expecting? He never died. Were you expecting a Christmas miracle? He never died. So you left him bleeding from the ear, did not go get professional help because you said that, oh, he'll be fine, and said, oh, my goodness, he's dead. How could that ever happen? She also informed the detectives that she used to be treated for bipolar disorder but was not currently taking medicine for it at the time.

Police did arrive to the scene. Don't know who called the police. We can only assume a witness because obviously she thought that he was alive. They get to the scene and they find Terrell lying a few feet away from the car. So he was ejected from the car during the crash. Witnesses who saw the crash said that they saw a woman exit the vehicle immediately after the crash and walk away from the scene. And that led them to searching the nearby woods. They found her jacket because she threw her jacket off of the Walnut Lane Bridge.

But after they found the jacket, they were like, okay, we have a clue. Let's look for a suspect. But they could not find one. Forensic testing came back and they found gunshot residue, Terrell's DNA, and blood on that jacket. Now, investigators did find the gun at the scene. She hid the gun under leaves along the route she took to her mom's house. And they learned that it was registered to none other than Martina Westcott. And it had been purchased just a month before this tragic event.

DNA testing was done. And when they did it, they came back and said, oh, look, this gun has Martina's DNA. So the guns registered to her. It was just purchased by her. It has her DNA on it. Jacket that has his blood on it has gunshot residue on it. The pieces are all coming together.

When they autopsy Terrell's body, it was determined that he died from being shot at a close range in the right ear. The bullet roots were covered from his head and it matched the gun that Martina purchased a month prior. And what kills me is that he was killed on his brother's birthday. The brother that he is constantly honoring in everything that he does, which is even more heartbreaking.

All roads led back to Martina, and they found her, arrested her, and charged her with murder and carrying a firearm without a license on December 28, 2016. Like we said, her LinkedIn profile was pretty well put together, and a guy that's name was Peter Borsik was one of her references on her LinkedIn profile. And when they asked him, he said, oh my goodness, this doesn't sound like her at all. I mean, Martina has always been great.

She's always been reliable. She's always been very sweet, very intelligent, very capable. One of her neighbors said that she was the best person on the whole street. She was deep in love. She loved extra hard. And it just, they're baffled that this would even happen. Like we said, just like he was a pillar in his community, she was a pillar in her own community. And they both were very educated. So this tragic event between the two was a shock to everyone.

She was arrested, charged, and her bail was denied. Martina's preliminary hearing was set for January 31st, 2017. At the hearing, the prosecution only called one witness, the homicide detective Gregory Singleton. Now, he testified that when doing Martina's interview after she turned herself in, she gave a monologue statement, and he read that statement aloud in court. Terrell's family heard

the statement that she gave to the police. And Terrell twinning him, Brandon was like, how do they know that they were arguing? Did she tell them that? All this information is coming from the killer. She's trying to create a narrative because no one in my family has ever even seen this woman before. Like, who is this girl? A friend of the family,

said that from starting a nonprofit in his brother's honor to starting scholarship funds to help kids pay for school in the city, he's done so many good things for people. I've never run across any one person that has something bad to say about him. So like,

This whole he's yelling in the car and you're so scared of him because you wouldn't have his baby. It's not tracking, you know? Throughout all this, Brandon and the rest of his siblings have to bury their brother. Yet another sibling loss. So after the hearing, Martina was sent back to jail where she was held to await trial. ♪♪

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That's rocketmoney.com slash sisters. Brendan sets up a GoFundMe page, which had raked in over $24,000 in like five days of being up. I think they opened it up like maybe right after he died. And by that Friday, they had he died on a Tuesday. By Friday, they had $24,000. To also help the brewery that he used to work at, they named a drink after him.

called the La Bruce Saison and the money made from that beer went to his memorial fund. Terrell's funeral was held on January 14th of 2007 at the Raymond and Pinafort Catholic Church. Terrell's death had lasting effects on his family and even some estranged family members started to come out of the woodwork.

His sister Shauna said that because of his lucrative life insurance policy, where she was the main beneficiary, the family, who she hadn't heard from in years, come in trying to squeeze Day way back into her life, and she thinks Day was after the money.

She says people were even vandalizing his properties around town, putting cement in the locks to keep her from entering. She says she knows who it is in the interview, but she ain't gonna get too much detail about it. On June 18, 2018, Martina, who is now 28, showed very little emotion while she was pleading guilty to third-degree murder, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a firearm

on a public street in PA and possessing an instrument of crime. She did push back against a suggestion from the judge that she intentionally fired the gun at Terrell. She said, no, I did not mean to shoot him. No. She told Common Pleas Court Judge Lynn B. Bronson that ultimately she agreed that her conduct was reckless and that reckless conduct did lead to Terrell's death.

Now, his twin brother, Brandon, said in a telephone interview that he considered it a very big slap in the face that she was allowed to plead guilty to third degree murder instead of going to trial for first degree murder, which carries that mandatory life sentence. Brandon, he said that he believed that the case had been compromised because authorities mishandled the interrogation

According to him, he said that she deserves to be in jail for the rest of her life for killing his brother. Terrell's sister, one of his sisters, Natalie, said that after hearing everything, it was just difficult to see Martina up there admitting her actions and her pleading guilty. And it's just hard.

Going through the trial is already hard, but even if somebody does plead guilty, they're sitting there admitting everything that they did. That's also really difficult. And according to his sister, Natalie, she says that she feels like justice had been served. She said, quote, she took someone who was great away from this world. He was an amazing person with a great sense of humor who cared deeply for his large extended family.

martina's attorney trayvon borum said that she is extremely remorseful and that she knows that she can't take back but she wishes that she could take back her actions she was then imprisoned at the riverside correctional facility where she was awaiting her sentencing originally supposed to take place in august of 2017 but was pushed to october 9th 2018 and they imposed a

for the third-degree murder, two to four years for carrying a firearm without a license, and a concurrent term of nine months to five years for possessing an instrument of crime, which sentenced her to an aggravated term of 22 to 44 years.

Aggregate sentencing in PA is described as, quote, two or more consecutive sentences that have been combined. Since most of Terrell's family did not know Martina, they were adamant about getting her the most severe punishment possible. And that's how you know. Didn't nobody know you like that. Like, you're really this random person to his family that he loved and cared for and was so involved with. And you're just some random person that took him to them. You know what I'm saying? And so his sister Shauna...

also agreed that she needed to be in prison for the rest of her life now shauna was actually being criticized in the news outlets because how vocal she was about her brother and her involvement in their love back and forth not love back and forth led to his ultimate demise but she was like listen

I'm not his puppet. That's my brother. Whatever he needs, I'm going to do for him. And whatever y'all have to say about it, I really don't care because at the end of the day, I'm here to support my brother. I'm not here to support her. If he needs me to send back some Christmas gifts that she's sending off, if he needs me to return the things that he's getting harassed with, I'm going to do it because at the end of the day, that's my brother and that's what I'm going to do. Period, pooh. So, Martina...

She tried to appeal to the Post-Conviction Relief Act. It's kind of different from filing an appeal because it allows individuals who are in prison to challenge their sentence, usually heard by the same trial judge instead of a higher-ranking judge. She tried this. I think she filed it on May 5th of 2020. And basically, she was arguing that the court overlooked several mitigating factors when they were deciding her sentence.

She said, here's a list of things that you didn't take into account. One, I'm extremely sorry. Super remorseful. Two, I have bipolar disorder. I got this from my father. You guys know that that should be considered when you're figuring out my sentence. Three, I had mental health treatment and counseling after the arrest. Like, you know, I'm already trying to be better. Four, she said she suffered abuse as a child. Don't know the specifics of that abuse.

of that abuse or what type, but she suffered. Five, she has a spotless arrest record. She's not a troublesome person. This just happened and it's unfortunate, but I deserve mercy. Six, I'm an educated black woman. You know, like I have accolades. I've got an undergraduate degree from, you know what I mean? I have an undergraduate degree from UPenn. I've got a master's.

Two degrees, shawty. Seven, I've been employed at the Department of Health. I serve my government. Eight, I did volunteer work in Guatemala during college. No light shit. Nine, I also do volunteer work in a church. I'm an all-around wholesome person. And ten, now that she has been in prison, she's been tutoring other prison inmates. So even still, she's trying to do good.

And the court says, listen, we actually didn't overlook these factors. We considered them quite heavily. However, the crime that you committed is not within, quote, the heartland of the typical third degree murder case. He said, first, the evidence established says that you brutally assassinated this victim, shooting him in his head at point blank range as he was driving and focused on the road. They said on top of that, this was calculated.

considering you purchased this gun a month before you executed his murder. This happened after you received the text that the relationship was over, after he tried to cut ties with you, after he ceased communication. So the court says, now, considering all the facts, I think you'll agree we made the right decision. And they upheld their judgment. She tried to file another one.

that she had ineffective plea counsel and sentencing counsel. Then as recently as January 16th of 2022, the court filed a motion to dismiss her petition. It was like, girl, quit trying it. You don't have any chance to get out. We made the right decision. She filed another petition saying that she failed to provide any evidence of ineffective counsel, which is why they dismissed it. So then she

She went back in July 7th of this same year and was like, okay, here, now I'm filing it. The court looks through it. They say you still don't have evidence of ineffective counsel. She now has an appeal out saying that the trial court abused its discretion when it accepted the defendant's guilty plea and that the defendant's guilty plea was induced by ineffective assistance of plea counsel. Like we said before, Martina is housed at the Riverside Correctional Facility and she's

And Terrell's family said they don't want their brother's legacy to be this horrible case of sensationalized murder.

that was completely senseless because he had so much going for him. He was serving his community by volunteering. He was leading education and outreach events. They said they want people to know about how he persevered in the face of adversity and hardship. And he just, he demonstrated the spirit of Philadelphia and he always wanted to do his best. He was always trying hard. He was never giving up. He was a selfless worker. There are,

Other brother, Brandon, their living brother is, their other brother Brandon had created the Terrell L. Bruce Memorial Fund to continue his brother's legacy of community service and academic excellence. Brandon said that the Terrell L. Bruce Memorial Fund will oversee the Nathaniel Kirkland Scholarship, which provided academic scholarships and other scholarships to youth in the community to help the recipients, quote, reach their fullest potential.

And this is the story of the murder of Terrell. All right, y'all. It's time for... Well, I'm not black. I'm OG. I ain't do it, but if I did, this is how I would have got away with it. I ain't do it if I did. I'd leave that man alone. You know, sometimes you really have to know when to leave people alone. I ain't do it, but if I did, I would have took that man's doll. I'd love to crime soon.

What is wrong with you? I don't think I would have left her crime scene. Like, I probably would have stayed there and been shooken up and scared. But again, when you start hiding stuff, like, I'm surprised she didn't get first-degree murder. She really lucked out. It's because she took a plea. If she went to trial... It's because she took a plea. She would have definitely gotten first-degree murder. And all the evidence that they had, all family statements about how she was stalking and messing up his car and all that stuff. Hell yeah, she would have got life. Yeah.

I just need to go back to you taking this man dog. You was trying to get him to murder you instead of you murder him. Like, you was really playing with fire. You're asking for it. You take my dog, baby. You playing with fire. Oh, my gosh. I ain't do it, but if I did. Taking my dog like that. I... If I was going to hide the gun, I don't think I would have just brushed it on some leaves along my trail. You know what I mean? Maybe, like...

You attach the gun to a super magnet. Put that super magnet underneath one of the other cars, you know? That car leaves the guns with it. We don't know where it's going to fall off at, but nobody's checking there. Maybe unless they brought the dogs out to look under the cars for a gun, but still.

But they probably would have cleared the scene. Not along the path that I took home. Right. Same thing with the jacket. I would have completely, I would have brought the jacket with me to my mom's house and completely destroyed it. I can't believe she left him at that scene though. Like he ejected from the car and she was like, peace be with you. You got it, bro. He's alive. He's superman. And the way that she just walked away from the accident. Because if you look, that car is too. Yeah, that car is really messed up.

I ain't do it, but if I did, you can't just be getting guns to wave them around. They are serious weapons, everyone. Serious weapons. And she was unlicensed, which got added to her sentence. You just bought that gun, so you probably went to the range maybe once and thought you knew what you was doing. And she might not have really actually meant to squeeze it, but...

Guns are not toys and you don't pull them out just to make a point. That shows your ignorance because you should not have your finger on the trigger unless you're about to fire it. Other than that, your finger should be on the side of the gun so that you don't accidentally trigger it. That shows that you're ignorant when it comes to weapons. What else? What else? My goodness, girl. That was just not...

I just feel like you really need to learn when to leave well enough alone. Like, I feel like the first thing on me would have been like, oh, he got a girlfriend. I'm about to download the dating app and get me somebody. And even if you got somebody with the intention of making him jealous, you probably, if you're falling head over heels that quickly, you probably would have found you somebody else and been happier.

I just don't. She's a nice looking lady. Everybody says that. It's not like you ugly. It's not like you ain't have no options. But you had to have this guy. And he's not bad looking either. Because like crazy is the thing. So you have that going for you as well. And, you know, maybe the dating pool out there is, you know, maybe that dating pool has pee in the water, you know, because it is hard to find people.

a man that is your match in education, your match in economic status. And maybe that really drew her to him. But I don't know, girl. They at church, too. They at the library, too. They on the apps, too. Sometimes they at the bar. Or the above.

They all said, you just got to go get him. He ain't the only educated, well-endowed, well-moneyed. I don't know. It's crazy because niggas do like crazy. So I very much believe that at some point throughout the whole little break and we not talking, he was over there giving her some. And that just kept her going. And that's what the off and on was. It was the on and off.

And then it was, you got to either be on or you got to be off. You can't do in between. Not unless you really just want to be on. That off and on means you really just want to be on. Exactly. Unless like, you know, we're just here to fuck around. And if both people are on the same page, it can be a great we're just here to fuck around situation. But if they're not, back up. Back back, Shawnee. Back back.

Parole or no parole? She took that plea deal because she knew she wanted a chance of getting out. I mean, I guess she's already trying to do good work. I wonder how much of it really was due to her bipolar disorder. Like, nobody's attesting to her state of mind. Was she... How much did that have any effect in it at all? Or is that just a random fact that you at all that was not actually a factor in this? You know what I mean? Yeah. I...

So, you know, her continued treatment, if that played a factor, her continued involvement. Sure, you might can. We just got to see, girl. Play your cards right. It's anybody's game. Okay, let's go. Let's read some reviews. Let's get out of here. You can leave us a review literally anywhere. Wherever you're listening right now, open up that app.

Give us a five-star review. Give us a written review as well if you can. If you've made it this far in the episode and you think that this absolutely sucks, just turn it off right now and send it to your worst enemy, okay? Send it to the person that has wronged you. If you do enjoy it, then let's keep this train rolling. Let me find... Oh, this one is in Spanish. They're going to be like, This one says, This is amazing.

Siestas? Like, sleeps? Mm-hmm. Somebody said if we curse less, it'd be great. And then somebody DM'd me a little while ago, and they were like, I was listening to old episodes, and you and Tazzy, you used to cuss a lot. Y'all don't anymore. I was like, yeah, we don't. I don't know, maybe. It's been two years. There was that one episode, we was a little drunk. And I was like, it is fucking bitch, fucking shit. What the fuck? You know, sometimes we just, we definitely curse less. And then sometimes it's on the ghetto-ness of the story. Yes.

Okay, this one was posted on your birthday. Says, a tired Tim. Y'all, five stars. Y'all get me through work every day. I'm a little late to the show, but I'm catching up. You girls got me hooked. I don't care if things go bad for a minute while I hurry up and get to the next episode because ain't no way we out here killing mofos. Keep up the great work and continue to flourish, ladies. The one in Spanish says, excellent. Definitely five stars. Thank you for translating that for us.

All right, y'all. Thank you for hanging out with us this week. We do have an announcement. You can catch us on another podcast this week. You want to tell them about it? Oh, we were in Colorado. Erica Cobb. Y'all might know her. She she has a talk show, a nationally broadcasted talk show. Anywho.

She saw us at Podcast Movement, and she said she was a fan of the show and invited us to be on her show with her and her sister, Ebony. I mean, that was...

Probably the highlight of my trip that day with them. What about you? It was definitely great. Yeah, the comeback with Erica Cobb. We had such a great time. I wasn't sure what the vibe of the episode was going to be, but it was really chill and we got to just talk and kick it. And it's less about true crime and more about just who we are as women. And I'm really excited that this episode is finally out. Yeah.

So make sure y'all check out the comeback with Erica Cobb. And we are very excited. Thank you, Erica, for having us and treating us with. And y'all, y'all gonna be so excited. It's a visual podcast. So y'all can see, you can see Taz's face. I think we look really good. Yeah. So yeah, please check that out. Please check that out.

Perfect. And other than that, you can follow us basically anywhere on Instagram, Sisters Who Kill Pod, on TikTok, Sisters Who Kill Podcast, on Twitter, Sisters Who Kill, on Facebook, Sisters Who Kill Podcast. There is a private Facebook discussion group called Sisters Who Kill Podcast Discussion Group where we debrief on the show. People get to tell their little stories.

Shout out to Mara and Taz that were born. That made my heart flutter. She's like, I just gave birth to my little Tazzy to match my Mara. So now she has a Scorpio baby and a Taurus baby. And then when she... A May Taurus and a November Scorpio. Oh my goodness. So shout out to her little Mara. And I could tell, like when her little... She had her little baby, brand new baby, but her little Taurus baby was cheesing and posing in all the pictures with her new little baby sibling. I said, yep, that's me. And we just share...

And sometimes we talk myths. Sometimes we get to share personal stories that have to do with the episodes. And it's really great. So if you are interested in joining that, please do. Anything else, friend? Talk to us. We talk back. Bye.