- In the criminal justice system,
detectives and prosecutors face daunting challenges
when money is the motive for murder.
[dramatic sting]
Downtown Reno is gripped in panic
after a judge is shot.
- My initial reaction was that this was a random shooting.
- We walked to the driveway.
A series of blood droplets appeared
outside the garage door.
- After a second attack,
investigators reveal a terrifying plot.
- I believe money was the main issue.
- One item that stood out appeared to be a to-do list.
- I had great concern about who was next on the list.
- Officials rush to cage
an unsuspecting killer on the loose.
- There were three families
who were living this nightmare
while all this tactical stuff was going on.
- These men and women dedicate their lives to law and order.
- Most murderers, quite simply, believe
that their life is more important
than the life of the victim.
- These are their true stories.
- Doctors treated Judge Chuck Weller
for gunshot wounds to the chest.
There are multiple bullet fragments seen,
with significant bleeding.
- Judge Weller was standing in his chambers
when he was shot.
There was absolute pandemonium.
- Nobody knew where that shot originated from,
and nobody knew how many more shots would come.
- People were fleeing from the streets.
They were hiding.
- People driving down the street were
removed from vehicles and shoved into businesses.
- It was a horribly frightening experience,
and people were panicked.
- My initial reaction was that this was a random shooting,
that this was a sniper who had taken a perch
and was firing indiscriminately upon people,
and he happened to have targeted the judge.
The bullet had entered
through Judge Weller's chamber's windows.
Part of the fragments had struck books
in a bookshelf behind him.
So we were able to isolate the trajectory of the shot.
[gunshot]
- Right at 12:00,
there was a multilevel parking garage
that looks almost directly into the judge's chambers.
- The Reno Police Department isolated and cordoned off
about a 3 by 5 block area.
I donned a SWAT vest and a SWAT helmet.
I grabbed a rifle.
And I began to respond to the area
where the shot had originated.
[siren wailing]
As a team, we began systematically clearing
the parking garage floor by floor.
[dramatic music]
- While police searched for the missing gunman,
investigators tried to uncover
why a sitting judge would be a target for murder
and who was responsible.
- I, during the course of my career,
had occasion to meet Judge Weller several times.
I assumed him to be a judicial officer of good standing
and certainly warranted the respect of the community.
A number of us were concerned for Judge Weller.
- This person was targeting the family court system.
I had great concern about who was next on the list.
- As word of an active shooter spread through Reno,
residents quickly tried to account
for their loved ones.
- On June 12, 2006, Charla Mack, my best friend,
she was supposed to drop her daughter, Erika, off
at her husband Darren's house
and then come over to my house.
And then she wasn't at my house.
I knew something was wrong.
Charla and I were stay-at-home moms together.
She was mischievous.
She loved a good little prank.
She was a hard worker.
She was stubborn.
- She had a shirt that said,
"You laugh at me because I'm different.
I laugh at you because you're all the same."
And that was really kind of true to her nature.
She didn't apologize for who she was.
And what you saw was what you got.
I was sitting in my house on the couch,
and I got a phone call from a friend.
And she said, "There's this stuff all on the news.
"There's a judge that has been shot downtown.
"Something's going on.
This is all so crazy."
- When I heard the news about the judge being shot,
Charla was supposed to be at my house, and she wasn't.
- I said, "Well, has anyone contacted Charla?"
And my friend said, "I've been calling,
but she's not picking up."
- I was very concerned about what might happen next.
- News traveled very quickly that a judge had been shot.
Police department was flooded with information.
But one of the things that came to the forefront
of our attention was the call from an individual
by the name of Dan Osborne,
who had called 911.
That morning, Dan Osborne was at his friend
Darren Mack's residence in Fleur de Lis.
[soft dramatic music]
* *
- Mr. Osborne was
a high school friend of Darren Mack's.
Mr. Osborne was in the process of establishing an apartment
for himself in Reno but during the interim time
had been living with Darren Mack.
Darren Mack was very well known
in the community of Reno.
His family had long been established
as business owners.
They were very good to the community.
They were a philanthropists.
He owned 51% of the Palace Jewelry and Loan.
- You owe it to yourself
to shop Palace Jewelry and Loan.
[elegant music]
- It was one of the largest pawn shops,
jewelry stores in downtown Reno.
So that business generated quite a bit of income
for the Mack family.
- Darren Mack became obsessed with bodybuilding.
- When he began bodybuilding,
he took that to the extreme to the point
where he wanted to compete at the Mr. Nevada competition
and ultimately succeeded in that competition.
Mr. Osborne said Mr. Mack's estranged wife, Charla Mack,
had shown up to drop off their child,
their daughter named Erika,
that Dan Osborne went upstairs
to watch television with the child.
- Mr. Osborne described hearing his dog,
in a very agitated state, barking.
[dog barking]
And then Darren Mack walked through the living area
of the house very quickly
with a towel draped over his hand.
And moments later, his dog ran into the home
covered in blood.
He examined the animal for injuries.
There were none.
He was concerned for Charla's welfare
and his own welfare
and the welfare of the child as well.
So he collected Erika, and they left immediately.
[tense music]
As he thought about the circumstances
that he had observed at Darren's house
and that a judge had been shot
across town, he quickly became concerned.
- Investigators questioned if a violent act
at the Mack residence could have escalated
to the shooting downtown.
They were unnerved by the next chilling detail.
- Mr. Mack had been actively practicing
or training at distance rifle shooting.
* *
I got on the radio with my partner, Detective Chalmers,
who was involved in the activities downtown,
and he shared my concern.
- Detective Jenkins and I would frequently investigate crimes
together, and he taught me a great amount
about investigating homicides.
Detective Jenkins called me and asked me
to meet him at Darren Mack's residence
at the Fleur de Lis townhomes.
- As soon as we pulled up in front of the townhome,
we knocked at the door and got no answer.
When we walked to the front of the residence
in front of the driveway, our attention was drawn
to what appeared to be
substantial vertical blood droplets
just outside the closed garage door
of Mr. Mack's residence.
Mr. Osborne, he told me that he knew the code
for the garage door opener.
He entered the code.
The garage door started to slowly open.
And almost instantaneously, we were able to see
the motionless body of Charla Mack
lying in a large congealed pool of blood.
- Detective Jenkins was able to reach the body
and check for signs of life,
which, unfortunately, there were none.
- One item appeared to be a to-do list.
- He was afraid of what she was going to do to him.
- There was an exhaustive manhunt.
- It became about money and winning,
and this was a war.
[tense music]
- There's this stuff all on the news.
There's a body at Fleur de Lis.
The body's a woman.
- I got back in my car to go to Darren's house and--
and find out what was going on when I got a phone call.
I had a friend on the SWAT team.
And he said, "It's Charla."
* *
- I remember standing in my doorway
just feeling like my knees were going to give out.
[somber music]
- I just wish so badly that I would have
been with her that morning,
that I could have died for her.
* *
I don't know-- I don't understand
why I got to live and she died, you know?
A parent shouldn't outlive their child ever.
- We located seven distinct stab wounds
to her body, the most severe being
on the left side of her neck that severed her trachea.
- As chatter continued on the police scanner
in the search for the shooter of Judge Weller,
detectives pushed into this new crime scene,
questioning how the two attacks could be related.
- In Darren Mack's closet was the empty sheath
for a concealable double-edged knife.
We believed that that instrument
was likely the murder weapon.
- We located a rental agreement for a 2006 Ford Explorer.
And we found .243-caliber ammunition
strewn about the home.
- One item that stood out
were what appeared to be some handwritten notes
often referred to as a to-do list.
There's some specific references to vehicles.
It says, "Put her vehicle in the garage"
and then "parking garage."
[tense music]
And then, finally, "End problem."
* *
From an evidentiary standpoint,
it seemed that there was, in fact,
a nexus between Charla's murder
and the shooting of Judge Weller.
- Investigators needed to know
how the shootings were connected
and rushed to speak to Judge Weller
as he struggled in critical condition.
- My name is Charles Weller.
I was in my chambers
when the window in my office shattered.
[gunshot]
* *
I was shot here.
And I lay in a hallway bleeding
as deputies administered first aid.
It was terrible.
- We were aided tremendously by the fact
that, although seriously injured,
Judge Weller was able to provide information
almost immediately to law enforcement
whether or not he knew Darren Mack.
At that time, more damning evidence
of Mr. Mack's involvement came to light.
- I was the judge to whom
the Mack divorce case was assigned.
This is the case of Charla Mack versus Darren Mack.
- The information from Judge Weller
was that this was
a very acrimonious divorce proceeding.
- It became about money and winning.
That's not people that are trying to resolve something.
Those are people that are battling.
And this was a war.
[somber music]
I had never seen him so happy,
and Charla equally seemed to be in love with Darren.
- They would always go on big trips and vacations,
just a lot of privileges of wealth.
But things start unraveling, none of that really matters.
* *
- It really upset her that he'd want to stay out
till, like, 4:00 in the morning,
wanting to go out to strip clubs.
And so it was just drama, drama, drama.
- After ten years of marriage, Charla Mack filed for divorce,
and the couple separated
as Darren moved into his own townhome.
- During the divorce, it was ugly.
- My client is broke.
She's been--finances have been used against her
for over a year now.
She's had to borrow 36,000 just to survive.
- He lies over and over and over again on this thing.
- He gets so angry and so revved up
that I just don't feel comfortable right now.
[tense music]
- I regret being forced to make a decision here.
I can only pick one side or the other,
and one of you has to lose.
And so here goes.
- Judge Weller ordered Mr. Mack to pay,
in total, almost $1 million.
That included a lump sum of over $400,000
that Charla was to purchase a home and a car with,
and then there was alimony support on top of that
in excess of $10,000 a month.
- He was used to being successful and powerful
and in control.
And in this situation, he was none of those things.
- I was informed by someone I knew
in a fathers' rights organization
that Darren Mack was posting terrible allegations about me
and about family court.
- Judge Weller started wielding his iron mallet
and started threatening me with jail.
There's many, many, many like myself
that have been fallen prey to his tyranny
and his abuse.
- It made me feel threatened.
When I became a family court judge,
I wanted parties to feel as comfortable as possible.
And so with my first meeting with litigants,
I held that meeting in chambers rather than the courtroom.
As a result, Mr. Mack knew where my chambers were.
* *
- Darren had called
days before he was supposed to write her a big check.
He asked to talk to her
when she was dropping off Erika.
- She didn't understand because they'd already been
to court with Judge Weller.
Everything was settled.
Darren begged her.
He said, you know, "You've got to come.
"It's really important.
I've got to talk to you."
- They presented to me
that their interactions were dangerous.
And so I ordered that when they made
their weekly exchanges,
the person dropping off the child
would stay in the car
while the child walked from car to home.
I issued that order so that the parties would be safe.
- She said, "I don't know what he really wants,
"and I am scared to death to do it.
I just have a bad feeling."
But she did it.
- I really believe that money was the main issue.
Mr. Mack really did not want to lose his money.
He really did not want to give it to Charla.
Judge Weller was that vehicle for Charla Mack
to receive the money from Darren Mack,
and he held that Judge Weller personally and as the system
was responsible for that loss of finance.
Included in the ammunition that we located
in Mr. Mack's residence matched the caliber
of the projectile that struck Judge Weller.
So about 2:00 in the morning,
an arrest warrant was authorized for Darren Mack
for the murder of Charla Mack.
- He was on the loose, so I was concerned.
Normal life stopped.
And local law enforcement provided security
at the hospital for me and my family.
- We had good, strong evidence that his cell phone had been
turned on and was pinging onto Interstate 80
and westbound out of Reno
before we lost contact with it.
So the indication was that Mack had,
in fact, fled to California.
And past that, we had no idea where he might have gone.
- Darren Mack was the sole suspect
in the shooting of Judge Weller
and the murder of his estranged wife, Charla.
But no one could find him.
- I wanted to believe that he didn't do this,
that there was some reasonable explanation.
But he disappeared and was at large.
- After the shooting,
there was
an exhaustive manhunt
involving local, state,
federal law enforcement agencies to locate Mr. Mack.
[dramatic music]
- The media was covering the attack in Reno,
and his picture was included.
- Darren Mack, he's 45 years old, 5'11",
close to 200 pounds,
driving a silver 2006 Ford Explorer.
If you have seen Mack or his car, call the police.
- We received a telephone call from a ticket agent
at the Sacramento airport.
Mr. Mack had been there at her counter.
And when she asked for identification,
he refused and left without getting a ticket.
- Exhaustive efforts were made to search
the Sacramento airport.
It was likely that he had left the airport in his car.
- It was on the news all the time.
Nobody knew where he was.
- It had all of the trappings
that made it attractive for the national
and even the international media.
- It was "Dateline" and "48 Hours"
and in the news and the newspaper.
It was constant.
- While investigators searched for Darren Mack,
his eight-year-old daughter, Erika, was placed in the care
of Darren's mother, Joan.
- His mother, Joan, she'd already gotten
temporary custody by social services.
And so I was terrified that he would sneak in
and try to grab Erika.
- As long as Mr. Mack remained a fugitive,
there was reasonable apprehension
that things might not end well,
that Mr. Mack would use violence
to avoid responsibility,
to perhaps harm himself.
- I was afraid for his life.
I wanted him to come back and be responsible
because the Darren I knew would be responsible.
- So we enlisted members of the community,
friends of Mr. Mack's, to make public appeals
asking Mr. Mack to surrender himself.
- And I'm begging him that if he hears this,
if he's listening to this, to please contact us.
He knows he could trust us.
We will do anything to help him.
We want to save his life.
- We were inundated with tips.
But one tip in specific really stood out to us was,
an airline pilot had flown from Mexico
back to the United States, seen the media coverage,
and felt confident he had seen Mr. Mack
at a resort in Mexico.
- The FBI and Mexican authorities
worked in connection to establish checkpoints
in and around Puerto Vallarta, Mexico,
searching hotels and buses in an attempt
to track down Darren Mack.
- He must have felt the walls closing in around him.
[tense music]
* *
- Darren made telephone communications
with the Washoe County district attorney at the time.
- He wanted, in my opinion, to try and sweeten the deal,
if you will, for his return.
- Included in Mr. Mack's demands to surrender,
he demanded to speak to the media
and talk about what he perceived
were the injustices of the family court system
and Judge Weller.
He also wanted to have a jail cell
with certain books and access to the internet.
- I think he was trying to use his status
as a fugitive to give him a greater audience.
- He also wanted the death penalty.
I believe that he saw himself as a martyr
for the fathers who are in the family court system.
- On June 21, 2006,
after nearly ten days on the run,
Darren Mack agreed to surrender himself
to authorities at the consulate
at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
- Even though he claimed that he wanted to turn himself in,
set up a turnover, Mr. Mack didn't show.
- He failed to surrender as promised.
Desperate people sometimes say things
and then change their mind.
- If he does call me back again,
we're going to have a little discussion
about his credibility
and just where we go from there.
* *
- It was so stressful for all those involved.
- There were three families-- his family
and Charla's family and Judge Weller's family--
who are living this nightmare while all this tactical stuff
was going on in the background
and really couldn't even begin, in my view, to grieve
because of this maelstrom being created to serve Darren Mack.
- We're here to provide an update and information
on the arrest of Darren Mack.
Darren Roy Mack was apprehended
in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico,
one day after he failed to meet a commitment he made
to the Washoe County district attorney
and to the Reno Police Department to turn himself in.
- It had been a very long week and a half.
I literally could not take a shower
without my phone ringing two or three times.
I was very relieved to know
that he was taken into custody.
* *
- I was pleased when he was apprehended.
Law enforcement told us that we were free to go home.
- I was driving when I found out.
I got a phone call saying, "They got him."
[camera shutter clicks]
I pulled over.
I pulled over and cried.
It was a lot, a lot of emotion
and a lot of, "So now what do we do?
[dramatic sting]
- Mr. Mack's extradition process was streamlined
by his defense attorneys.
- When taken into custody, Darren Mack still had
a substantial amount of money.
- $40,000 in cash.
I remember thinking, Mr. Mack complained
that he didn't have enough money to make
temporary support to Charla of $10,000 a month,
and yet, on a moment's notice, put together 40 grand in cash
pretty easily to take it to Mexico.
- In addition, Mr. Mack had the benefit
of the finest legal defense in the country.
- I mean, he hired two of the preeminent defense attorneys,
certainly in the state of Nevada
and probably on the West Coast,
Scott Freeman and David Chesnoff.
I'm sure their fee exceeded a million dollars.
I was most curious to see what the defense was going to be.
- Mr. Mack was charged with Charla's murder
and the attempted murder of Judge Weller
and pled not guilty.
- I wasn't surprised when he first entered pleas
of not guilty.
I knew, at the outset, he would angle
for the best deal he could get.
- Based on all of the physical evidence,
Mr. Mack's legal representation had very few viable defenses.
- We got his shoes that had blood spatter on them
that came back to Charla.
- Evidence of his physical presence at the crime scene
was so overwhelming that I don't know
what other options realistically
Mr. Mack had to pursue.
Self-defense is at least a viable legal defense.
- It's ludicrous to me.
The only fear that he had of her
was her taking his money.
- In order to find impartial jurors,
the trial was moved to Las Vegas.
And on October 24, 2007, all eyes were on Darren Mack
as the state delivered its case
in the murder of Charla Mack
and in the shooting of Judge Weller.
- What made the Mack divorce different,
if there was a difference, was the amount of money involved.
- The prosecution detailed in their opening statement
that what motivated this murder was Mr. Mack's displeasure
with the money that he was going to be
forced to pay in the divorce.
- One of the main points of contention
during the divorce was Darren Mack's income.
He owned 51% of Palace Jewelry and Loan.
Midway through the divorce, he transferred
ownership back to his mother.
He claimed to be making $44,000 a month prior to the divorce.
And then midway through the divorce,
he filed papers saying he was simply an employee
making a $5,000 a month salary.
Judge Weller could see very clearly
through the games Darren Mack was playing
that he was trying to hide income.
- He believed the system was unconstitutional.
Judge Weller was being unfair to him.
The defendant's frustration and anger grew.
Darren Mack had a problem.
He found a solution to his problem.
Darren Mack ambushed his soon-to-be ex-wife
with a knife.
And her death was neither sudden nor painless.
It was personal.
- It becomes clear in the opening statements
that the defense is going to run a defense on two paths,
because, remember, there were two crime scenes
and two victims.
To the killing of Charla and in support
of this self-defense theory came a claim
of Charla's violent tendencies,
that she had been physically violent.
- Darren was not aware of the dark side of Charla
prior to marriage.
He also was not aware of her ability
to be physically violent
and physically abusive towards Darren.
- The hardest part was listening
to Darren's defense attorneys
talk about how horrible Charla was.
You know, I mean, she wasn't an angel,
but she definitely wasn't what they depicted her to be.
- Mr. Mack claimed that he had been
the victim of many incidents as a domestic battery,
and especially in one incident that Charla Mack,
in a fit of rage, had kicked him
and broken his finger at a karate practice.
- Darren and Charla were very passionate.
They loved and fought.
And nobody pushes your buttons like your spouse.
And she was not immune to that.
She gave as good as she got.
- She would call me and tell me how--
the different ways that she talked back to him,
mocking him at times.
And I think that she just infuriated him.
- During the investigation, we learned
that Darren Mack had been accused of violence
in their relationship.
- Law enforcement was called to the Mack mansion
where both parties alleged domestic abuse.
- Charla did call me and tell me he choked her,
and she was really scared.
She was sobbing on the phone.
- Charla Mack was a very small woman.
Darren Mack was a large bodybuilding male.
But he claimed that Charla Mack had been the primary aggressor
and that he was the victim.
- You see, ladies and gentlemen,
Charla has a pattern of behavior.
Some call it borderline personality disorder.
She could be kind and giving in public.
She could be violent and abusive at home.
It was too much for Darren to take.
- The defense claimed that Darren started
carrying a gun on his person
when he had interactions with Mrs. Mack.
- He was claiming he was afraid
of what she was going to do to him.
- The defense said that Charla had been so horrific
that it just wore on Darren
and wore on Darren like a rubber band.
[somber music]
* *
- This was our Montessori school's auction.
We were a little bit of the Three Musketeers, you know?
And honestly, I felt like we were just getting started.
- So I wanted to be at the trial every day.
I know you couldn't go.
It was quite the event just to sit there every day
and listen to all these things, all these lies, all these--
- Did you hear things that were disturbing
that you didn't know?
- I didn't hear a lot I didn't know,
but I heard a lot I didn't believe.
- On October 24, 2007, Darren Mack's attorneys
presented in their opening statements
what they claim happened
on the morning of June 12, 2006.
- Charla was supposed to bring Erika over at about 9:00,
but Charla also wanted to discuss
settling the divorce.
- Darren's attorneys would say
that Darren brought a knife and a gun
to this meeting with Charla.
- Darren said she walked up to him
and slapped him across the face and said,
"Darren, give me my money."
- "Darren, drop the appeal," says Charla.
'Make your mother pay me.
You know you owe me what I deserve."
- As they're having an argument,
she hits him on the head,
causing the gun to fall out of his pants.
- Charla looks at the gun, pulls the hammer back,
smiles, and fires.
- But it misfires.
- Darren thinks he's been shot. He's not.
Charla starts to cock the hammer again.
Darren knew he was going to die.
- So he's forced to stab her to death.
He acted in self-defense.
- But an autopsy was performed on Charla Mack's body,
and she had several defensive injuries--
a stab wound to her calf, very consistent
with somebody who's on the ground,
kicking at her attacker.
She also had defensive wounds to her hands
and to her forearms as she was trying
to parry off those stabbing blows.
- With the physical evidence on their side,
prosecutors made their case against Darren Mack
for the shooting of Judge Weller.
- After he actually followed through
with killing Charla Mack,
I believe that he fully intended
to drive to the parking garage to try to kill Judge Weller.
- During the trial,
they showed video footage of Darren
driving a rental car into the parking garage
across from the courthouse.
- Behind me is the Mills Lane Justice Center.
The surveillance footage was very important.
Darren Mack arrived here at about 10:42 in the morning.
He obtained a ticket at the gate,
drove up to the fifth floor, and then backed the vehicle in
so the rear of the vehicle was facing
the Mills Lane Justice Center.
At about 11:05 a.m. is when we began getting
reports of the shooting.
And at about 11:06, surveillance cameras show
the rear hatch of the Explorer being closed
and the Explorer leaving the parking garage.
- Who fired the bullet?
Well, if there's a common denominator
between Charla Mack and Judge Weller,
it's the defendant, Darren Mack.
- The judicial system, the third branch
of the American government, is larger than the interests
of any one individual.
And so no violent person, no judge
should ever think that they have
the ability to change the operation
of the judicial system.
We're servants of the judicial system.
- There is no defense to the shooting, right?
There's no imminent need.
There's no, "Some other dude did it."
There's no other real defense to the shooting
other than he didn't have the intent.
And you get that one of two ways--
he either didn't formulate or he couldn't formulate it
because he was "temporarily" out of his mind.
- At the time of the shooting of Judge Weller,
you will find that Darren Mack was suffering
from delusional disorder.
- The defense claimed that he, as a result of the attack
that he faced with Charla Mack, had a moment of insanity
when he went and shot Judge Weller.
- Everything is happening basically on automatic pilot,
which is consistent with somebody
suffering from the delusions
that Darren Mack was suffering from
at the time that he went and shot Judge Weller.
- I thought his defense was clever
because it would allow them to attack
both, from a self-defense perspective, the murder
and to have a defense to the shooting.
But there was a mountain of evidence,
including a to-do list in the defendant's own hand,
that corroborated the sequence of events that had occurred
on the day of the crimes.
So this was a very difficult case to defend.
- And there is only so much even the best attorneys
in the world can do under our system.
[tense music]
- I received a telephone call
that the defense had approached the prosecution
with a possible plea deal.
If we drop the deadly weapon enhancement,
Mr. Mack was willing to plead to first-degree murder,
as well as attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon
on Judge Weller, which would save Mr. Mack
about 20 years' worth of sentence.
- I was gobsmacked Monday morning
when they announced that a deal had been struck
and that he was going to enter a plea of guilty.
I was gobsmacked.
- He changed his not guilty plea to a guilty plea
and didn't present any defense in the courtroom.
- All right, as to count one, murder of the first degree,
it's my understanding, Mr. Mack,
that on June 12th of 2006,
you willfully, feloniously, and without authority of law
stabbed into the body of Charla Mack,
causing her death.
Is that correct? - That's correct.
- And as to count two, it's my understanding
that willfully, unlawfully, and without authority of law,
you shot Judge Weller with a firearm.
- That's correct.
- I was just in shock.
He had gone from being this reasonable, calm,
collected, successful person
to someone who would kill somebody.
- Unfortunately, that November 5th day
was not the end of the Mack trial.
- Fairly soon after he struck that plea deal,
he fired Mr. Chesnoff and Mr. Freeman.
He claimed his defense attorneys had
overborne his will, basically pestered him,
and he was unable to freely, knowingly, and intelligently
enter a plea of guilty.
Hired a new attorney, William Routsis,
and sought to withdraw his plea.
- I really think that he's narcissistic
and thinks he's smarter than Freeman and Chesnoff.
He's a little bit delusional about how life is.
- He reminds me of a little kid having a tantrum.
He doesn't like the outcome.
"Fire all those people.
We're going to try again."
- And he wanted to get on the stand
to tell the world his story.
- I've remained quiet through this whole thing,
and now I would like to come forward and speak
because there's some very important things
I would like to share.
- On January 16, 2008, Darren Mack took the stand
to decide whether he would be allowed
to withdraw his guilty plea.
- Please raise your right hand.
- Thank you. Please have a seat.
- It's generally not a good idea
for a guilty defendant to take the stand.
But he felt he needed to make
some kind of statement to the court.
- Charla had threatened my life numerous, numerous times,
as well as attacking me.
What happened was--is,
after she was trying to kill me,
we both went to the ground.
She then got stabbed.
And you got to understand the state of mind.
It was an instinct.
But the thing you don't--
a lot of people don't recognize--
I lost a wife too.
And even though that this happened,
I still love Charla.
I just couldn't live with her, and I was afraid of her.
- Mr. Mack's narcissistic mindset really showed through
in that hearing when he took the stand
and talked about being the victim.
It was just unfathomable to me
to listen to his perceptions of the process.
At the conclusion of that hearing,
Judge Herndon ruled that Mr. Mack
knowingly and voluntarily entered his plea
and denied his motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
[somber music]
* *
- It's time set for the court to address
the sentencing of Mr. Mack.
This case, in my mind, obviously cries out
for incarceration, and the defendant
is going to be incarcerated for a very long time.
- Mr. Mack was sentenced to the maximum
on first-degree murder of life with the possibility
of parole after 20 years.
That sentence is to be served consecutive
to the attempted murder charge of Judge Weller.
So in total, under Nevada law,
Mr. Mack would have to do a minimum of 36 years
before he could actually walk the streets
as a free man again.
- After Judge Herndon gave him the maximum sentence,
Darren was in shackles.
And he's walking by all the people
that he had known in his life and his children
and his mother, and this is the end of his life
as he'll ever know it.
* *
And it brought me a sense of peace.
- In addition to the criminal charges,
the estate of Charla Mack initiated
a wrongful death suit in civil court
against Mr. Mack.
- When I say what I do matters to me,
the reason I went to law school
was cases like this.
Really, the theme is that, by killing Charla,
Darren stole what should have been the happiness
and the fairy tale of this child's life from her
because he took not only her mother
but, of course, himself by that act.
- Ultimately, her estate prevailed,
and there was a judgment of approximately $590 million
against Mr. Mack
for the wrongful death of his wife.
- I was glad of the reward.
A little girl lost her mother.
She's growing up without parents.
She deserved every penny.
- There was also a final order struck
between family members related to the care,
custody, and control of Erika.
And the result is that Erika then lived
primarily with Soorya Townley.
* *
- This is not a unique story.
This is just a story that I personally knew the people.
And it's still tragic.
And it's still heartbreaking.
- You think about a lot of us, hopefully,
we'll have the luxury of being surrounded by people
who love us when we die.
And she didn't get that luxury of dying with love.
She died in pain and terror.
And that haunts me.
And it's very, very difficult to let go.
* *
- Justice is a very difficult word.
I believe that law and order was served justly.
But I suspect that the Charla Mack family
and Judge Weller may not see it that way.
To the Charla Mack family or to Judge Weller,
justice would be bringing their loved ones back
and to removing that day from their lives.
The criminal justice system doesn't have
the ability to do that.
- I've been a judge for 17 years
since this event occurred.
I've raised my children. They're successful.
I try to have as normal a life as I can.
- You think you have eternity to be together,
and then you realize, you know...
[chuckles]
Hold on to your children.