Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present

Tonight, South Carolina executes its 7th inmate in less than 14 months. Convicted murderer, 44 year old Stephen Bryant has chosen to die by standing with a hood over his head, as three volunteer marksman fire at him from 15 feet away. More than 20 years ago, Bryant notoriously taunted investigators and the daughter of his victim, Willard “TJ” Tietjen by writing “catch me if you can” on the wall with his victim’s blood. Police say over the next several days, Bryant went on to kill at least two more people before being apprehended. He is the third man to die by firing squad in South Carolina this year.

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Prison officials found 46-year-old Tremane Wood unresponsive on his cell floor and rushed him to the hospital shortly after he got the news he and his family had been hoping for, from the Governor.  Woods was granted clemency exactly 1 minute before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection, so how did he end up hospitalized with a busted head and lip?  Later in the day, a much different scene in Florida, where that state executed its 16th inmate of the year, more than 4 decades after Bryan Jennings brutally murdered 6-year-old Becky Kunash.

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It was an exceptionally rare day in Oklahoma today. With just minutes to spare before Tremane Wood’s scheduled execution, Republican governor Kevin Stitt made the unusual move to accept the Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation and commuted Wood’s death sentence to life without parole. Amy and T.J. have been following this case since the Parole Board made its decision, and after speaking with Wood’s family earlier in the week, share their thoughts on this decision that had nothing to do with guilt or innocence, but had everything to do with the fairness of our justice system and the wishes of the victim’s family.

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Democrats from the House Oversight Committee have just released three of the most damning emails to date surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein saga. They include private emails from Jeffrey Epstein to Ghislaine Maxwell and journalist Michael Wolff. In them, Epstein not only writes that President Trump “knew about the girls," but also muses why Trump hasn’t “barked” yet. Epstein also conspires with Wolff in an email just before a presidential debate in 2015 about how to leverage what Trump knows, to secure “valuable PR and political currency. The White House has responded, but these emails will require a lot more explanation than a brief statement from Karoline Leavitt. 

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No matter where you stand on the death penalty, this is a powerful and personal conversation with a mother who has already lost one son and is about to lose another after they were both convicted of the 2002 robbery and murder of Ronnie Wipf. It’s a tale of two brothers, an imperfect system and the families devastated by a New Year’s Day murder. Linda Wood’s older son, Jake admitted to the actual murder and received life in prison, her younger son Tremane was convicted of the same crime, but received the death penalty. After the Oklahoma pardons and parole board recommended clemency for Tremane last week, Amy and T.J. recorded an entire episode about the case. Now, as his family waits to see if the Governor will follow the board’s recommendation, his mother and two nieces talk about the torturous past few months and the excruciating hours to come, waiting to find out if the man they describe as the glue of their family will be executed on Thursday.

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The Vail School District in Arizona has been forced to add extra security to protect teachers and students at Cienega High School after they posted a picture to their Facebook page showing a math teachers’ group Halloween costume. It was meant as a math joke, t-shirts that looked like they had blood stains on them with the words “Problem Solved” on the front, but it was interpreted by Charlie Kirk’s own organization, Turning Point USA, as mocking their late founder’s assassination. Even after the district posted an explanation and photographic proof that the teachers had worn the same costume the year before, some conservative activists and prominent national leaders doubled down, posting the teachers’ names, phone numbers and demanding they be fired. The school has had more than 3-thousand hateful messages, including death threats, with the school superintendent asking for better understanding.

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Sean “Diddy” Combs has only been at his new, lower security prison for less than two weeks, and already there have been non-stop headlines surrounding the former rap mogul’s behavior inside the new facility. Among them, Diddy has been admitted to a highly coveted drug rehab program that may get him released from prison a full year ahead of schedule! We’ve also learned what his work assignment is and that Diddy is already facing disciplinary action for an unauthorized phone call. And yes, we address the ongoing rumors that he was caught with “prison moonshine” and tell you what his legal and PR team have to say about it all.

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The House Judiciary committee sent a letter to President Trump today demanding answers about special treatment of Ghislaine Maxwell after receiving what they call “whistleblower” information about Maxwell’s time at FPC Bryant, aka “Club Fed.” The letter accuses Trump of a quid pro quo agreement with Maxwell and urges the president not grant any form of clemency to “an unrepentant sex offender.”

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This has gotten ugly. Really ugly. Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner strongly denies accusations from Chinese filmmaker Yi Zhou. She claims he sent her unsolicited pornographic image, sexually assaulted her, and even threatened to call ICE on her. But Renner claims it was Zhou who pursued him and harassed him ... after he rejected her. 

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Apparently Ghislaine Maxwell is enjoying her time in her new digs… according to a series of emails she’s sent to her family and attorneys. The House Judiciary committee obtained private emails from Maxwell during her first few months at her new, lower security prison camp that were also released, in part by NBC News. In them, she discusses everything from how kind and helpful the warden has been to the better food to her reaction to the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial and verdict. There are calls for the warden to respond to accusations of special, VIP treatment for Maxwell and even an ask by members of congress to visit the facility and interview other inmates about what is really happening inside the prison camp walls. 

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