Murder in the Thirst (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Who Killed the Queen of the Courtroom? - full transcript
After high-powered Baton Rouge, LA, lawyer Chiquita Tate was murdered in cold blood in her swanky office, police uncovered a devastating personal life.
And the people who would do
anything to get there.
These are tales
of the desperate thirsts
that drive people to murder.
Viewer discretion advised?
Hell, yeah.
She was a pit bull in Prada.
She was a fighter,
she was beautiful,
and she was gonna get
the last word.
A hotshot attorney, smart,
successful, and stylish.
The cars,
the clothing, the shoes...
She was just that person
that wanted to be more.
Everybody envied Chiquita Tate.
Now the party can start.
Chiquita Tate has arrived.
Someone wanted her life so bad,
they were even willing
to kill her for it.
She was butchered.
She was cut in her face.
I've never seen a crime scene
this brutal,
this violent, this bloody.
Who killed Chiquita Tate?
Someone who wants to look you
in your eye and watch you die?
It was personal.
A fistful of weave at the scene.
Could it have been a woman?
Was it one of her clients?
She took on the worst
of the worst.
Accusations of a lesbian
love triangle.
I was like,
"Okay, the hits keep coming."
A secret recording
from her past.
911, what's your emergency?
He choked me,
and I think he broke my arm.
It's a twisted trail that leads
to murder in the thirst.
To everybody in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana,
Chiquita Tate was a star...
Smart, successful, stylish.
But the beginning of her story
was much more humble.
My mom had seven kids,
and Chiquita was number four
out of the seven.
Her mom died,
and she was ultimately raised
by her grandmother
and a very loving sister
who became the matriarch
of that family, Danita Tate.
As a child,
she always was right,
always had to have
the last word.
My grandfather,
he used to tell her,
"Girl, with that mouth,
you better be a preacher
or a lawyer when you grow up."
Chiquita was the first to go
to college in our family.
She was a law student at
Southern University Law Center.
She was determined
to be an attorney,
and Chiquita wanted to be that
first person in her family
to strive to that next level.
That woman passed the bar
the first time,
and within a very short time
did something that is absolutely
unheard of even to this day...
S single female who was
of African-American heritage
in the South
beginning a law practice.
As a young
African-American woman,
going out,
starting your own business,
it's not easy to do.
But she did it,
and then she did it well.
Let me tell you this,
it was clear
nothing was gonna
hold this girl back,
and all her hard work
started paying off.
She initially started out
as a family
and personal injury attorney,
but she loved criminal work
and became
a criminal defense attorney,
recently winning a very large
half-million dollar verdict
in a civil case.
Chiquita knew
that to be a success,
you had to look like a success.
Chiquita always had
designer bags.
She always had designer shoes,
and she always dressed nice.
She loved the high heel shoes.
Oh, my gosh.
And I could not understand
how she walked in them.
She always wore stilettos,
and you'd hear those stilettos
come into the courtroom...
...hear the door open.
She always made an impression,
and you remembered her.
One day after court,
a lady saw one of those infamous
pairs of stilettos
that she had on,
made the comment to her,
"Those are beautiful shoes."
Chiquita's reaction?
To take the shoes off
and to give them to that lady.
She was generous.
Elvin Howard, Jr.:
And Chiquita was
a very classy lady.
The building that she worked
on Third Street
is prime real estate.
When someone walks in
that office,
she wanted them to know
that they're walking into
something of a high stature.
We're constantly getting
calls every day
from people who wanted her
to represent them.
Criminal, whatever.
It didn't matter.
They wanted Chiquita.
There was nothing
that would stop her.
There was no case that was
too hard for Chiquita Tate.
Everybody wanted Chiquita
to represent them,
and then suddenly they would
start saying,
"Chiquita, that's our
ghetto superstar.
That's our ghetto hero.
Get Chiquita because
she's not scared.
She's not scared.
She's gonna go up against them,
and she don't care."
Everybody just wanted Chiquita.
When you met Chiquita,
you just knew you wanted her
on your side.
She was all work, all the time,
didn't leave much room
for a social life,
and she really
wasn't looking for love.
But it sure found her.
By her being so feisty,
I never imagined her being in
a serious relationship.
She was trying to get
her career established first.
I don't think Chiquita
was looking for anybody,
and I think that's why
she ended up with Greg
because she wasn't looking.
He just kinda snuck up on her.
And you know,
that's kinda when it hits you,
when it just sneaks up on you
and you're not looking for love.
Chiquita told me
that she had met this guy
at a red light.
And she said,
"And guess how I met him."
And I said, "How?"
She said, "I was ready
to beat him up
'cause he cut his car
in front of me."
And she cursed him out
about pulling and cutting
in front of her.
They had passed words
and whatever,
and they exchanged numbers.
Whatever she said to him,
it must have turned him on
because they ended up dating
after that.
He probably said, "Ooh, Lord.
This is a nice-looking lady
and a Corvette, too?"
Oh, he was ready.
Every woman wants to feel
like a queen.
I think Greg
made her feel special.
Greg just wasn't another male
trying to get at her
because of who Chiquita was.
He had his own job.
He was a contractor
making a good bit of money.
And that probably won
her over, too.
Before long,
Chiquita moved in with Greg,
and she was ripe and ready
to give her man an upgrade.
She was like, "Well,
I'm gonna fix up the house
to where it doesn't look
so much like a bachelor pad."
Chiquita Tate was the one
who put her income
into redecorating the home
and making it
a very beautiful showplace.
She made that house
into the home that it became.
She gave to him
a beautiful Hummer
that had a personalized
plate on it.
She was generous.
She ultimately fell
in love with him,
and there were
some glowing days.
She was ready.
She was looking for someone
who could come in
and they would be able
to just flow together.
She said, "I think
I'm gonna marry him."
"You gonna ma... you?
Chiquita Tate
is gonna marry somebody?"
She's like,
"I think I'm gonna marry him."
And I was like, "Oh. Okay, well,
invite me to the wedding."
One minute, you curse a man out,
and the next minute
you marry him.
Greg was happy to have
Chiquita as his wife.
911, what's your emergency?
Okay, can you give me
an address?
On February the 20th,
Baton Rouge Police Department
received a 911 call
from a male who advised
that his wife hadn't come home
from work the night before.
He worked on Third Street
at her office,
and he requested that someone
go in and check on his wife.
So your vehicle is still there?
He tried with a great effort
to get inside the building.
About that same time,
a police officer was driving by.
He advised that his name
was Greg Harris
and that his wife
was Chiquita Tate.
Her office was on
the third floor,
and he asked the patrol officer
to go up and check on his wife
because she did not come home
the previous night.
The police officer went upstairs
to the third floor,
and once he entered her office,
he saw her body on the floor.
It was pretty apparent
that Chiquita Tate,
the victim, was deceased,
so he backed out
and secured the scene.
When I got there and parked,
I see all this yellow tape.
And I looked across the way,
and I could see her family
just pacing back and forth,
back and forth,
hugging each other and crying
and carrying on.
And then I see another
police officer friend,
and I said, "What has happened?"
He said, "Someone stabbed her."
I said, "Is she alive?"
He said, "No."
And they was like,
"Ma'am, you can't go in there."
And I said, "My sister."
I said, "I gotta get
to my sister."
And they said,
"You can't go in there."
So I just started screaming.
Can you imagine that feeling?
Can you imagine that loss?
I know what I'd be thinking.
Who's gonna avenge
my sister's death?
Who's gonna get justice
for Chiquita?
When I first arrived at
the scene, it was chaotic.
I was nervous
when I went upstairs.
Just knowing a member
of the bar had been killed
was more than just going
to see a murder scene.
When I realized
what she had gone through,
how hard she had fought
for her life,
I leaned down to her.
I said, "Chiquita,
I will make this right.
I will make this right for you."
Why was powerhouse
defense attorney Chiquita Tate
brutally murdered?
Was someone thirsty
for her money,
her power, or even her man?
The cops were digging
into the clues at the scene.
We went into the office building
with crime scene investigators.
As I walk into the front door
of the office,
I immediately start noticing
blood spatter
in certain spots of that office.
It's quite apparent
it was a knife attack
because you can see
the injuries to her body.
You can see the blood evidence
on the wall as well.
And you can tell that it was
a very vicious struggle
between Chiquita
and her attacker.
This case is 17646-09,
currently located...
I've been a police officer
for 21 years,
and I've never,
never ever seen a crime scene
that was this bloody,
this violent,
in my entire 21 years.
To see someone that you know
bloody and cut up,
honestly, it was shocking.
This was not a happenstance
stranger on stranger
robbery, burglary,
intrusion crime.
She had jewelry on.
She was still wearing
her diamond engagement ring
as well as her wedding ring.
She had diamond-stud earrings.
She had a TAG watch
on her wrist,
which is an expensive watch,
and her purse was there also.
If it's a robbery,
why would it still be there?
She had hair
inside of her left hand.
We saw that it was weave.
Our thoughts were,
"Okay, could it be a woman?"
Chiquita was always known
as a fighter.
Could it be she got
into a fight with a female
and actually
pulled her hair out?
There was some kind of fight
that took place.
Chiquita was not gonna go down
without a fight.
She was stabbed more
than 30 times.
Some of the cuts
were actually post-mortem,
which is after the death
of the victim.
Even after she was dead,
this person continued
to stab her.
That suggests to me
that this was personal.
The killer knew her.
And they killed her
three times over.
If you're coming to rob me,
there's no need
to stab me 38 times.
All I could think of
was how cruel this was.
If I get a paper cut on my hand,
I think about my sister
and what she went through
in that office and...
...and they just stabbed her
that many times. Why?
She didn't deserve it. Why?
Why you couldn't just let her
go ahead on with her life?
Oh, Lord have mercy.
I don't wanna cry.
Who would have killed Chiquita
so brutally?
So savagely?
We was hearing all kinds
of different stories
about who it was and what...
What it was about.
They said it was a Latino woman
with long black hair.
Then they said it was
a homeless man.
It was different stories.
As a defense attorney,
she took on hardcore clients
with rough reputations.
We had to look into
the possibility
that the homicide case
that she was working on
had something to do
with her death.
Being a defense attorney,
that's a very dangerous job
because the kind of clientele
you represent sometimes.
Sometimes their clients feel
that they didn't do
the best job for them,
so it's a dangerous area.
She defended murderers,
drug dealers,
child molesters, rapists,
and you name it,
she had that type of client.
When someone works
in criminal defense,
not only are you
defending someone
who has, perhaps,
a heinous background,
or a violent individual,
you also have
an entire victim's family
who are very angry at you.
One case that I remember
was a homicide
in a Baton Rouge law office
by a woman who had lost
the custody of her children,
and she felt her attorney
had not done the best job.
She went and shot him.
We searched the files
in her office looking for
a possible motive
for someone who may have
wanted her dead as a client.
But we located no one
that came on the radar for us
as a viable suspect
who may have killed Chiquita.
The last day that I saw her,
close to 5:00,
which was the time
that we closed.
And I told her,
"Quita, don't stay
in here too long."
She said,
"I'm not gonna be here long.
I'm just gonna
work on this brief
and try and get it filed,
and I'll be leaving."
And that was the last time
that I saw her alive.
That gave an opportunity
to the person who wanted
to kill her a window
because she's alone
in her office.
Who knew she was gonna be there?
Once we finished
the crime scene,
we had to talk to Greg.
Greg ended up getting
questioned by the cops.
Now hold up.
I know what you're thinking.
That doesn't mean he did it.
The husband is always a suspect,
especially when he's the one
that called 911.
We needed to know
as many details
about Chiquita as possible,
and the most reasonable person
to talk to was the person
who she lives with.
She called and asked me
to come by, help her
with the books...
You didn't call her.
She called you first?
- Yes, she called me first.
- Okay.
We're talking to Greg
in the interview room,
he tells us that
he was going home.
Chiquita calls him and said,
"Bring me something to eat."
She was at the office,
so he got his Mercedes Benz
that he drives
and stopped at McDonald's,
and proceeded downtown
to her office to bring her
something to eat.
By the time he got there,
the building was in lockdown.
She had to actually come
and open the door.
He started to assist her
with remodeling her office.
He told her that he would
help her throughout the night.
But Chiquita told him to,
"No, baby, go on home."
She was saying, "Baby,
I got one more client to see.
I gotta do my deposition.
Go home and get some rest.
We have a lot of work
to do this weekend."
And so Greg advised
that he left her office
around 10:00 or so
and went home and went to bed.
And during the night,
she had not come home.
He tried calling her
several times,
and she wouldn't answer
the telephone.
Around two in the morning,
he called Chiquita's
sister Danita,
and told Danita
that Chiquita's not home.
Where is she?
So he went to the office
to check to see
where Chiquita was.
He sees the light on
in her office.
And so he became alarmed,
and that's
when he started calling 911
to try to get some help.
You think I don't
regret leaving my wife
there that night?
While we were engaging Greg
in the interview room,
we had a team of detectives
searching his house,
and they located a bleach bottle
with red stains on it.
It turns out to be
some kind of blood evidence.
Didn't I just tell you
I washed last night?
- Last night?
- Yes.
So, what kind of clothes
was you washing?
I washed my khaki...
I washed some khaki...
some more khaki pants.
- And what else?
- A couple of shirts,
and that was it.
- You put bleach on khakis?
- Uh, yeah.
- I always wash
my khakis with bleach.
- Okay.
- I was just wondering.
He washed khaki pants
with bleach.
Who does that?
Bleach on khakis?
What y'all think?
If it isn't bleach on white,
something ain't right.
Hours after Chiquita Tate
was viciously murdered,
the cops were still questioning
her husband Greg Harris
when a jaw-dropping discovery
brought the interrogation
to a halt.
10:30, the night of the murder,
Chiquita Tate's
missing Gucci wallet was found
in a very high-crime area
of Baton Rouge
by a lady who was in her car.
She sees that it's for
a Chiquita Tate.
The next morning,
she hears that Chiquita Tate
had been murdered.
She immediately calls
the police.
At that point,
nobody has taken out
credit cards,
nobody has started
spending anything.
We felt that
that wallet was left
in the middle of the road
so someone could find it.
And when someone finds it,
they will go
and utilize the credit cards
at different stores.
And that way,
that would throw us on a trail
of the person
who's using her cards.
We immediately had to go back in
and ask Greg
about his whereabouts.
When you left last night
from the office,
where did you go?
Where did I go? I went home.
- Straight home? Which path?
- I went straight home.
We led Greg to believe
that we could track his movement
either through GPS,
through crime cameras,
or through the cameras on top
of the traffic signals.
- There are cameras all over
the city in Baton Rouge.
- I know that.
Really, I didn't
give him an opportunity
to even lie to me.
When was the last time
you been on Gardere Lane?
Gardere Lane?
Okay. Whoa, whoa, hold up.
Did y'all see that?
Let's rewind that.
When was the last time
you been on Gardere Lane?
Gardere Lane?
Right there, stop.
Oh, see?
Greg is thinking hard
right there.
"How do I answer this?"
I went through
Gardere Lane last night.
- Really?
- Yes.
We were just blown away.
He said he went straight home
from the office.
Now he's saying,
"Oh, I went to Gardere."
"Oh, Gardere." So, to us,
that was a slam dunk.
What time you went
through Gardere Lane?
I don't... I don't know
what time it was.
Approximately.
One thing was asked Greg is that
was he ever physical
with his wife?
I never hit this girl
a day in my life.
- Of course, he said no.
- Last couple of months,
y'all had a pretty good
relationship?
- Yeah, it's been fine.
- No problems?
- No problems.
- But was Greg telling
the truth?
Did he ever hit Chiquita?
While we were talked to Greg,
we learned that there's
an outstanding warrant
for Greg's arrest
for domestic battery abuse
from Baker Police Department.
You know how this look now, huh?
You have domestic abuse battery.
- Now if I didn't think...
- You have a warrant...
You have a warrant
for your arrest for
domestic abuse battery.
Just six weeks
before the marriage,
there was a terrible blow-up.
He beat her to the point
that she called 911.
She is wailing
and desperately
pleading for help.
That was proof to us that,
yes, you hit your wife before.
So at that point,
Greg wasn't going home.
This is out of our hands now.
This is a warrant.
This is a warrant
for your arrest.
They were allowed to hold him
in jail deliberately
so that we could process
the crime scene evidence
from Chiquita
to see where it led.
So there's this abuse
that takes place before
their marriage,
but she makes the decision
to marry him anyway.
I kinda understand why
she didn't tell it,
because she's Chiquita Tate,
the big, bad attorney
that saves everybody else.
It's just another side of her
that I think
a lot of people hadn't seen,
because she would go in a court
as this high-powered attorney,
but she was also a victim.
And I've often seen
this pressure
that women put on themselves
to make the marriage work,
because you have
this public persona.
You have a successful
law practice,
this tall, good-looking husband,
the perfect life
from outsiders looking in,
but it's hell on the inside.
And then he choked me,
and I couldn't move!
We know of three women
that he battered.
One he married,
one he had a child with,
one he lived with for
a substantial period of time.
Greg swept me off my feet
when I first met Greg.
We were dating for six months,
and then we moved in together.
It was around tax season time,
and I was getting taxes back.
And I used my money
to get the house that he bought.
Oh, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
came out then.
On at least three occasions,
he had beaten her.
One day,
me and him just fussing.
And before you know it,
he was choking me.
And my youngest son,
he said, "Mama, I'm scared
that he will kill you
and kill all of us."
When we found out
about the real Greg.
We see that was just a pattern
that he did with women.
When Greg get whupped
from one woman,
he'll move on to another woman.
And then he get it
from the other woman,
he'll move on
to the other woman.
Greg thought he had
hit the jackpot
when he got with Chiquita.
Greg had the thirst
to be wealthy,
to have a lot of money,
to live like the rich
and the famous lifestyle.
And with Chiquita, he was able
to quench his thirst.
His nickname was Super G.
So that pretty much says it all.
He felt that he was the man,
and Chiquita made him
more of the man.
She made him look like
more than what he was.
He would always say,
"I make my own money."
But your money
didn't match her money.
It's not just money
for money's sake.
It's that money
gets you something.
Money makes you bigger.
And this is a man who
desperately needed to be bigger.
The thirsty person
is rarely satisfied,
because the more they get,
the more they want.
With Greg behind bars
on the outstanding warrant
for abusing Chiquita,
the cops returned to his house
in search of fresh clues.
During the second search
of their residence,
there was so much blood
in that house, it was amazing.
We also had a search warrant
for the vehicle
that he drove that night.
And during that search,
I found a pair of safety goggles
under the seat of the driver.
There appeared to be blood
on those safety goggles.
I found a recorder
inside of a closet,
and once we played the audio
from the recorder,
very surprising what we heard.
When we play this tape,
this wonderful, happy marriage
that he described
is not so happy.
It's obviously
about the division
of community property.
"You're not taking everything!"
Greg complained that Chiquita
was taking his cars,
taking furniture out
of the house.
And it ended with him saying,
"What goes around comes around."
It's the only way that can be
taken, as a threat.
All the investigators stood
there with their mouth open
when we heard the recording.
It was almost like her talking
from the grave.
He couldn't handle the fact
that his meal ticket
was gonna leave him.
When Chiquita leaves,
the status leaves,
the money leaves,
the upgrades leave.
And I don't think Greg wanted
to lose any of those things.
And in that situation,
someone who is used to
having power and control
will snap.
Now if you're thinking
the case against Greg
was open and shut,
hold on a second.
'Cause the next thing you know,
the cops' phone rang
with a whole new twist.
Someone called and advised
that she had information
about Chiquita Tate
being involved in a lesbian
love triangle.
Chiquita in
a lesbian love triangle?
Maybe Greg didn't do it
after all.
Chiquita's husband was in jail
and under suspicion for murder,
when suddenly,
the case took a wild left turn.
Detectives got a tip saying,
"Check out the fact
that Chiquita Tate
may have been involved
in a lesbian love triangle."
I called this person back.
And she tells me that
a friend of hers
overheard a girl
while they were at Chili's
advise that
she and Chiquita Tate
were involved in
a lesbian love triangle
and she was responsible
for Chiquita's death.
The detectives interviewed
Lessie Hookfin
to find out did she have
lesbian clients?
Was there anything like that?
And Lessie was like, "Yeah,
she was handling an adoption
for a lesbian couple."
I knew the two ladies
were lesbians,
but Chiquita was not a lesbian,
and I told them
that was the farthest thing
from the truth.
And I personally went to
their house and talked to them.
I wanted to find out
if they had weave in their hair
that matches what I saw
at the crime scene.
But their hairstyle
was not consistent
with what I found
inside of Chiquita's hand.
Not only did they not have weave
that matched what was left
in Chiquita's hands,
they were extremely happy
with her work. They loved her.
Somebody took the time
to call me
and give me a false lead.
So I want to find out
who made the phone call,
and even moreso, why?
We tracked down the number,
and it led us to Texas.
Once we got to Texas,
we met the female who made
that telephone call,
and we couldn't believe
what we discovered.
I said, "Well, I'm investigating
the murder of Chiquita Tate."
And she was like,
"Oh, okay, I know Chiquita."
And I was like,
"You know Chiquita?
How do you know Chiquita?"
And she said that,
"That's my brother's wife."
I was shocked.
Is Greg making calls from jail?
Did he get his sister to call us
and try to throw us off
his track?
To me, if you're innocent,
why would you do that?
Greg Harris lost control
of Chiquita Tate.
She was tired of him.
She expressed that
by going and signing a lease
a month before she died.
And it was a very,
very lovely place a block
from her office
where she turned on the cable,
she put a TV set in there.
She started slowly moving
her things in,
and Greg did not like that.
And he was like,
"Oh, my wife is never
gonna leave me."
Okay, but who pays
three months rent
on an apartment
they're never gonna move into?
As much as Chiquita was torn
about leaving Greg,
there came a time
when she finally had to say
enough is enough.
The morning of the 19th,
Chiquita called me,
and she said,
"I don't think I can do
this marriage thing anymore."
So I said,
"Girl, okay. Whatever. Bye."
And I hung up on her,
'cause she had been
saying that lately.
But then she'll turn around
and say that, you know,
she decided she gonna try
to make it work.
And I... I just regret hanging up
that phone because...
...Greg started calling me
at 2:00 that morning
about her not coming home.
And I just never got
to talk to her again.
No murder charge yet,
but Greg's story
was falling apart.
We didn't believe that
Chiquita called Greg
and told him to bring her
something to eat.
There was a McDonald's
five minutes
from her law office.
She could have had anybody
bring her dinner
had she been inclined.
That was just a ploy
on his part to say,
"Hey, honey, here I am."
You know,
"Let me in the building."
He already
had the hair with him.
We know that.
Greg brought the weave
to the office,
which was planted
inside of her hand,
as well as taking the wallet
from the crime scene
and placing it
to another part of the city.
All of this was a plan to throw
the investigators off
after he killed his wife.
I had voicemail,
and it was from
the District Attorney saying,
"The crime lab
has some DNA information."
I call the analyst back,
and she said,
"Well, there was a pair
of Nemesis safety goggles
under the seat of the car
he was driving,
and Chiquita's blood
is on the left lens.
A combination of their blood
is on the right arm
of these glasses."
I told the analyst, "Thank you.
I will try this case
based on that alone."
To us, it was a smoking gun.
At that point,
we had enough to charge Greg
for the death and murder
of Chiquita Tate.
Why would he kill Chiquita Tate?
There were creditors that were
calling him about money.
That led us to believe
that money, number one,
was a big part
of why he killed her.
The day before the homicide,
he went and asked
his boss for money.
The boss said, "I can't do it.
I've already lent you money.
You have money being taken out
of your paycheck every month.
I can't do it."
His boss said, "I have never
seen him so distraught
and distressed
as when I told him no."
His house was in arrears
and was going into foreclosure.
It's like a snowball becoming
a avalanche financially,
with the loss
of the trophy wife,
with the loss of his pride.
I don't think that Greg
really cared
about Chiquita leaving.
It was what Chiquita
was taking with her.
The money.
Greg found that he could
no longer cajole,
seduce, threaten,
control Chiquita,
and that he was was going
to lose all the things
that made him feel
like a worthwhile person,
things that made him feel big.
With the death of his wife,
Greg Harris stood
to inherit her half
of any community property
that they had.
He also tried
to get his hands on $65,000
of a quarter of a million dollar
life insurance policy.
She was worth more to him dead,
knowing that she
was about to leave him.
Greg's thirst was finally out
in the open for everyone to see,
and he was headed to trial.
But get ready for this
'cause you're never gonna
believe the verdict.
Two years after
Chiquita Tate was murdered,
her husband Greg Harris
went to trial.
Now if you were accused
of murder,
maybe you might come to court
looking humble and heartbroken.
Not Super G.
Greg Harris, every day,
came in as if he were
a movie star.
We called him "Mr. GQ."
He's a good-looking man.
He wore great suits every day.
He didn't testify in his trial,
but he testified by sitting
in that courtroom.
He told a story.
"Am I the type of person
who would stab my wife
over 40 times?
Do I look like
that type of man?"
Mr. GQ, who was not too fancy
to soil his hands
with the blood of his wife
after 43 slashes to her.
The most damning evidence,
I believe,
came from the 911 call
before the marriage.
Hearing her voice screaming
and stuff like that,
I had to get out
of the courtroom.
To hear that 911 call,
and knowing if
she would have just told us,
wouldn't have never
went that far.
The tape of the confrontation
about the community property
was also her mouth
and his mouth.
That's one of the last things
I played to that jury.
I had no doubt
when I left that courtroom
and finished my argument
this was second-degree murder.
When they went back
to deliberate,
we all went to eat.
And when the jury
was coming back in,
it was like every female
in the juror stand
was boo-hoo crying.
The jury came back
and found him guilty...
of manslaughter,
which is a lesser charge.
Manslaughter?
Did I miss something here?
I was very disappointed
when the jury came back
with manslaughter.
And when you read
the appellate opinion
in this case,
they clearly state
that every element of the crime
of second-degree murder was,
in fact, proven.
I just simply said to myself,
"They don't understand
what happened in that room."
Some must have thought
she started the fight,
or that she was sassy
or whatever,
and that he just got upset
and he just happened
to kill her.
But we felt that we proved
that the only fight
that occurred
is her defending herself.
This girl's fighting
for her life.
She was fighting for her life.
How can you tell someone
you love them
and you supposed to be there
to protect her,
and you said that
in the eye of God,
and you killed her?
He deserved to spend
the rest of his life in jail.
Greg Harris received
the maximum sentence
allowed under the law,
which is 40 years
without benefit of parole,
probation,
or suspension of sentence.
And this is a man who maintains
his innocence to this day.
He's a very violent,
demented individual,
in my opinion.
40 years is not enough.
I would love for Chiquita
to be remembered for
her outgoing personality,
her knack for lighting up a room
when she walked in it.
I would like to remember
my sister by her happiness,
the fun we had,
the arguments we had.
She was a fighter,
she was beautiful,
her smile was beautiful,
and she's just gonna say
what's on her mind.
Have a good one.
Greg Harris won't
be eligible for parole
until he's in his seventies.
Is that enough time for a man
whose thirst
for money and status
took a shining star away from
the people who loved her?
A self-made millionaire
who worked hard
and played even harder.
Lance Herndon wanted excitement.
He wanted crazy sex.
He wanted a lot of it.
He spent lavishly.
He was putting it out there
for everybody to see.
Everybody wanted a taste
of his luxurious lifestyle,
and somebody was thirsty
enough to kill him for it.
Is this a deadly
sexual encounter?
It was shocking, vicious,
and personal.
This is a real whodunit.
anything to get there.
These are tales
of the desperate thirsts
that drive people to murder.
Viewer discretion advised?
Hell, yeah.
She was a pit bull in Prada.
She was a fighter,
she was beautiful,
and she was gonna get
the last word.
A hotshot attorney, smart,
successful, and stylish.
The cars,
the clothing, the shoes...
She was just that person
that wanted to be more.
Everybody envied Chiquita Tate.
Now the party can start.
Chiquita Tate has arrived.
Someone wanted her life so bad,
they were even willing
to kill her for it.
She was butchered.
She was cut in her face.
I've never seen a crime scene
this brutal,
this violent, this bloody.
Who killed Chiquita Tate?
Someone who wants to look you
in your eye and watch you die?
It was personal.
A fistful of weave at the scene.
Could it have been a woman?
Was it one of her clients?
She took on the worst
of the worst.
Accusations of a lesbian
love triangle.
I was like,
"Okay, the hits keep coming."
A secret recording
from her past.
911, what's your emergency?
He choked me,
and I think he broke my arm.
It's a twisted trail that leads
to murder in the thirst.
To everybody in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana,
Chiquita Tate was a star...
Smart, successful, stylish.
But the beginning of her story
was much more humble.
My mom had seven kids,
and Chiquita was number four
out of the seven.
Her mom died,
and she was ultimately raised
by her grandmother
and a very loving sister
who became the matriarch
of that family, Danita Tate.
As a child,
she always was right,
always had to have
the last word.
My grandfather,
he used to tell her,
"Girl, with that mouth,
you better be a preacher
or a lawyer when you grow up."
Chiquita was the first to go
to college in our family.
She was a law student at
Southern University Law Center.
She was determined
to be an attorney,
and Chiquita wanted to be that
first person in her family
to strive to that next level.
That woman passed the bar
the first time,
and within a very short time
did something that is absolutely
unheard of even to this day...
S single female who was
of African-American heritage
in the South
beginning a law practice.
As a young
African-American woman,
going out,
starting your own business,
it's not easy to do.
But she did it,
and then she did it well.
Let me tell you this,
it was clear
nothing was gonna
hold this girl back,
and all her hard work
started paying off.
She initially started out
as a family
and personal injury attorney,
but she loved criminal work
and became
a criminal defense attorney,
recently winning a very large
half-million dollar verdict
in a civil case.
Chiquita knew
that to be a success,
you had to look like a success.
Chiquita always had
designer bags.
She always had designer shoes,
and she always dressed nice.
She loved the high heel shoes.
Oh, my gosh.
And I could not understand
how she walked in them.
She always wore stilettos,
and you'd hear those stilettos
come into the courtroom...
...hear the door open.
She always made an impression,
and you remembered her.
One day after court,
a lady saw one of those infamous
pairs of stilettos
that she had on,
made the comment to her,
"Those are beautiful shoes."
Chiquita's reaction?
To take the shoes off
and to give them to that lady.
She was generous.
Elvin Howard, Jr.:
And Chiquita was
a very classy lady.
The building that she worked
on Third Street
is prime real estate.
When someone walks in
that office,
she wanted them to know
that they're walking into
something of a high stature.
We're constantly getting
calls every day
from people who wanted her
to represent them.
Criminal, whatever.
It didn't matter.
They wanted Chiquita.
There was nothing
that would stop her.
There was no case that was
too hard for Chiquita Tate.
Everybody wanted Chiquita
to represent them,
and then suddenly they would
start saying,
"Chiquita, that's our
ghetto superstar.
That's our ghetto hero.
Get Chiquita because
she's not scared.
She's not scared.
She's gonna go up against them,
and she don't care."
Everybody just wanted Chiquita.
When you met Chiquita,
you just knew you wanted her
on your side.
She was all work, all the time,
didn't leave much room
for a social life,
and she really
wasn't looking for love.
But it sure found her.
By her being so feisty,
I never imagined her being in
a serious relationship.
She was trying to get
her career established first.
I don't think Chiquita
was looking for anybody,
and I think that's why
she ended up with Greg
because she wasn't looking.
He just kinda snuck up on her.
And you know,
that's kinda when it hits you,
when it just sneaks up on you
and you're not looking for love.
Chiquita told me
that she had met this guy
at a red light.
And she said,
"And guess how I met him."
And I said, "How?"
She said, "I was ready
to beat him up
'cause he cut his car
in front of me."
And she cursed him out
about pulling and cutting
in front of her.
They had passed words
and whatever,
and they exchanged numbers.
Whatever she said to him,
it must have turned him on
because they ended up dating
after that.
He probably said, "Ooh, Lord.
This is a nice-looking lady
and a Corvette, too?"
Oh, he was ready.
Every woman wants to feel
like a queen.
I think Greg
made her feel special.
Greg just wasn't another male
trying to get at her
because of who Chiquita was.
He had his own job.
He was a contractor
making a good bit of money.
And that probably won
her over, too.
Before long,
Chiquita moved in with Greg,
and she was ripe and ready
to give her man an upgrade.
She was like, "Well,
I'm gonna fix up the house
to where it doesn't look
so much like a bachelor pad."
Chiquita Tate was the one
who put her income
into redecorating the home
and making it
a very beautiful showplace.
She made that house
into the home that it became.
She gave to him
a beautiful Hummer
that had a personalized
plate on it.
She was generous.
She ultimately fell
in love with him,
and there were
some glowing days.
She was ready.
She was looking for someone
who could come in
and they would be able
to just flow together.
She said, "I think
I'm gonna marry him."
"You gonna ma... you?
Chiquita Tate
is gonna marry somebody?"
She's like,
"I think I'm gonna marry him."
And I was like, "Oh. Okay, well,
invite me to the wedding."
One minute, you curse a man out,
and the next minute
you marry him.
Greg was happy to have
Chiquita as his wife.
911, what's your emergency?
Okay, can you give me
an address?
On February the 20th,
Baton Rouge Police Department
received a 911 call
from a male who advised
that his wife hadn't come home
from work the night before.
He worked on Third Street
at her office,
and he requested that someone
go in and check on his wife.
So your vehicle is still there?
He tried with a great effort
to get inside the building.
About that same time,
a police officer was driving by.
He advised that his name
was Greg Harris
and that his wife
was Chiquita Tate.
Her office was on
the third floor,
and he asked the patrol officer
to go up and check on his wife
because she did not come home
the previous night.
The police officer went upstairs
to the third floor,
and once he entered her office,
he saw her body on the floor.
It was pretty apparent
that Chiquita Tate,
the victim, was deceased,
so he backed out
and secured the scene.
When I got there and parked,
I see all this yellow tape.
And I looked across the way,
and I could see her family
just pacing back and forth,
back and forth,
hugging each other and crying
and carrying on.
And then I see another
police officer friend,
and I said, "What has happened?"
He said, "Someone stabbed her."
I said, "Is she alive?"
He said, "No."
And they was like,
"Ma'am, you can't go in there."
And I said, "My sister."
I said, "I gotta get
to my sister."
And they said,
"You can't go in there."
So I just started screaming.
Can you imagine that feeling?
Can you imagine that loss?
I know what I'd be thinking.
Who's gonna avenge
my sister's death?
Who's gonna get justice
for Chiquita?
When I first arrived at
the scene, it was chaotic.
I was nervous
when I went upstairs.
Just knowing a member
of the bar had been killed
was more than just going
to see a murder scene.
When I realized
what she had gone through,
how hard she had fought
for her life,
I leaned down to her.
I said, "Chiquita,
I will make this right.
I will make this right for you."
Why was powerhouse
defense attorney Chiquita Tate
brutally murdered?
Was someone thirsty
for her money,
her power, or even her man?
The cops were digging
into the clues at the scene.
We went into the office building
with crime scene investigators.
As I walk into the front door
of the office,
I immediately start noticing
blood spatter
in certain spots of that office.
It's quite apparent
it was a knife attack
because you can see
the injuries to her body.
You can see the blood evidence
on the wall as well.
And you can tell that it was
a very vicious struggle
between Chiquita
and her attacker.
This case is 17646-09,
currently located...
I've been a police officer
for 21 years,
and I've never,
never ever seen a crime scene
that was this bloody,
this violent,
in my entire 21 years.
To see someone that you know
bloody and cut up,
honestly, it was shocking.
This was not a happenstance
stranger on stranger
robbery, burglary,
intrusion crime.
She had jewelry on.
She was still wearing
her diamond engagement ring
as well as her wedding ring.
She had diamond-stud earrings.
She had a TAG watch
on her wrist,
which is an expensive watch,
and her purse was there also.
If it's a robbery,
why would it still be there?
She had hair
inside of her left hand.
We saw that it was weave.
Our thoughts were,
"Okay, could it be a woman?"
Chiquita was always known
as a fighter.
Could it be she got
into a fight with a female
and actually
pulled her hair out?
There was some kind of fight
that took place.
Chiquita was not gonna go down
without a fight.
She was stabbed more
than 30 times.
Some of the cuts
were actually post-mortem,
which is after the death
of the victim.
Even after she was dead,
this person continued
to stab her.
That suggests to me
that this was personal.
The killer knew her.
And they killed her
three times over.
If you're coming to rob me,
there's no need
to stab me 38 times.
All I could think of
was how cruel this was.
If I get a paper cut on my hand,
I think about my sister
and what she went through
in that office and...
...and they just stabbed her
that many times. Why?
She didn't deserve it. Why?
Why you couldn't just let her
go ahead on with her life?
Oh, Lord have mercy.
I don't wanna cry.
Who would have killed Chiquita
so brutally?
So savagely?
We was hearing all kinds
of different stories
about who it was and what...
What it was about.
They said it was a Latino woman
with long black hair.
Then they said it was
a homeless man.
It was different stories.
As a defense attorney,
she took on hardcore clients
with rough reputations.
We had to look into
the possibility
that the homicide case
that she was working on
had something to do
with her death.
Being a defense attorney,
that's a very dangerous job
because the kind of clientele
you represent sometimes.
Sometimes their clients feel
that they didn't do
the best job for them,
so it's a dangerous area.
She defended murderers,
drug dealers,
child molesters, rapists,
and you name it,
she had that type of client.
When someone works
in criminal defense,
not only are you
defending someone
who has, perhaps,
a heinous background,
or a violent individual,
you also have
an entire victim's family
who are very angry at you.
One case that I remember
was a homicide
in a Baton Rouge law office
by a woman who had lost
the custody of her children,
and she felt her attorney
had not done the best job.
She went and shot him.
We searched the files
in her office looking for
a possible motive
for someone who may have
wanted her dead as a client.
But we located no one
that came on the radar for us
as a viable suspect
who may have killed Chiquita.
The last day that I saw her,
close to 5:00,
which was the time
that we closed.
And I told her,
"Quita, don't stay
in here too long."
She said,
"I'm not gonna be here long.
I'm just gonna
work on this brief
and try and get it filed,
and I'll be leaving."
And that was the last time
that I saw her alive.
That gave an opportunity
to the person who wanted
to kill her a window
because she's alone
in her office.
Who knew she was gonna be there?
Once we finished
the crime scene,
we had to talk to Greg.
Greg ended up getting
questioned by the cops.
Now hold up.
I know what you're thinking.
That doesn't mean he did it.
The husband is always a suspect,
especially when he's the one
that called 911.
We needed to know
as many details
about Chiquita as possible,
and the most reasonable person
to talk to was the person
who she lives with.
She called and asked me
to come by, help her
with the books...
You didn't call her.
She called you first?
- Yes, she called me first.
- Okay.
We're talking to Greg
in the interview room,
he tells us that
he was going home.
Chiquita calls him and said,
"Bring me something to eat."
She was at the office,
so he got his Mercedes Benz
that he drives
and stopped at McDonald's,
and proceeded downtown
to her office to bring her
something to eat.
By the time he got there,
the building was in lockdown.
She had to actually come
and open the door.
He started to assist her
with remodeling her office.
He told her that he would
help her throughout the night.
But Chiquita told him to,
"No, baby, go on home."
She was saying, "Baby,
I got one more client to see.
I gotta do my deposition.
Go home and get some rest.
We have a lot of work
to do this weekend."
And so Greg advised
that he left her office
around 10:00 or so
and went home and went to bed.
And during the night,
she had not come home.
He tried calling her
several times,
and she wouldn't answer
the telephone.
Around two in the morning,
he called Chiquita's
sister Danita,
and told Danita
that Chiquita's not home.
Where is she?
So he went to the office
to check to see
where Chiquita was.
He sees the light on
in her office.
And so he became alarmed,
and that's
when he started calling 911
to try to get some help.
You think I don't
regret leaving my wife
there that night?
While we were engaging Greg
in the interview room,
we had a team of detectives
searching his house,
and they located a bleach bottle
with red stains on it.
It turns out to be
some kind of blood evidence.
Didn't I just tell you
I washed last night?
- Last night?
- Yes.
So, what kind of clothes
was you washing?
I washed my khaki...
I washed some khaki...
some more khaki pants.
- And what else?
- A couple of shirts,
and that was it.
- You put bleach on khakis?
- Uh, yeah.
- I always wash
my khakis with bleach.
- Okay.
- I was just wondering.
He washed khaki pants
with bleach.
Who does that?
Bleach on khakis?
What y'all think?
If it isn't bleach on white,
something ain't right.
Hours after Chiquita Tate
was viciously murdered,
the cops were still questioning
her husband Greg Harris
when a jaw-dropping discovery
brought the interrogation
to a halt.
10:30, the night of the murder,
Chiquita Tate's
missing Gucci wallet was found
in a very high-crime area
of Baton Rouge
by a lady who was in her car.
She sees that it's for
a Chiquita Tate.
The next morning,
she hears that Chiquita Tate
had been murdered.
She immediately calls
the police.
At that point,
nobody has taken out
credit cards,
nobody has started
spending anything.
We felt that
that wallet was left
in the middle of the road
so someone could find it.
And when someone finds it,
they will go
and utilize the credit cards
at different stores.
And that way,
that would throw us on a trail
of the person
who's using her cards.
We immediately had to go back in
and ask Greg
about his whereabouts.
When you left last night
from the office,
where did you go?
Where did I go? I went home.
- Straight home? Which path?
- I went straight home.
We led Greg to believe
that we could track his movement
either through GPS,
through crime cameras,
or through the cameras on top
of the traffic signals.
- There are cameras all over
the city in Baton Rouge.
- I know that.
Really, I didn't
give him an opportunity
to even lie to me.
When was the last time
you been on Gardere Lane?
Gardere Lane?
Okay. Whoa, whoa, hold up.
Did y'all see that?
Let's rewind that.
When was the last time
you been on Gardere Lane?
Gardere Lane?
Right there, stop.
Oh, see?
Greg is thinking hard
right there.
"How do I answer this?"
I went through
Gardere Lane last night.
- Really?
- Yes.
We were just blown away.
He said he went straight home
from the office.
Now he's saying,
"Oh, I went to Gardere."
"Oh, Gardere." So, to us,
that was a slam dunk.
What time you went
through Gardere Lane?
I don't... I don't know
what time it was.
Approximately.
One thing was asked Greg is that
was he ever physical
with his wife?
I never hit this girl
a day in my life.
- Of course, he said no.
- Last couple of months,
y'all had a pretty good
relationship?
- Yeah, it's been fine.
- No problems?
- No problems.
- But was Greg telling
the truth?
Did he ever hit Chiquita?
While we were talked to Greg,
we learned that there's
an outstanding warrant
for Greg's arrest
for domestic battery abuse
from Baker Police Department.
You know how this look now, huh?
You have domestic abuse battery.
- Now if I didn't think...
- You have a warrant...
You have a warrant
for your arrest for
domestic abuse battery.
Just six weeks
before the marriage,
there was a terrible blow-up.
He beat her to the point
that she called 911.
She is wailing
and desperately
pleading for help.
That was proof to us that,
yes, you hit your wife before.
So at that point,
Greg wasn't going home.
This is out of our hands now.
This is a warrant.
This is a warrant
for your arrest.
They were allowed to hold him
in jail deliberately
so that we could process
the crime scene evidence
from Chiquita
to see where it led.
So there's this abuse
that takes place before
their marriage,
but she makes the decision
to marry him anyway.
I kinda understand why
she didn't tell it,
because she's Chiquita Tate,
the big, bad attorney
that saves everybody else.
It's just another side of her
that I think
a lot of people hadn't seen,
because she would go in a court
as this high-powered attorney,
but she was also a victim.
And I've often seen
this pressure
that women put on themselves
to make the marriage work,
because you have
this public persona.
You have a successful
law practice,
this tall, good-looking husband,
the perfect life
from outsiders looking in,
but it's hell on the inside.
And then he choked me,
and I couldn't move!
We know of three women
that he battered.
One he married,
one he had a child with,
one he lived with for
a substantial period of time.
Greg swept me off my feet
when I first met Greg.
We were dating for six months,
and then we moved in together.
It was around tax season time,
and I was getting taxes back.
And I used my money
to get the house that he bought.
Oh, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
came out then.
On at least three occasions,
he had beaten her.
One day,
me and him just fussing.
And before you know it,
he was choking me.
And my youngest son,
he said, "Mama, I'm scared
that he will kill you
and kill all of us."
When we found out
about the real Greg.
We see that was just a pattern
that he did with women.
When Greg get whupped
from one woman,
he'll move on to another woman.
And then he get it
from the other woman,
he'll move on
to the other woman.
Greg thought he had
hit the jackpot
when he got with Chiquita.
Greg had the thirst
to be wealthy,
to have a lot of money,
to live like the rich
and the famous lifestyle.
And with Chiquita, he was able
to quench his thirst.
His nickname was Super G.
So that pretty much says it all.
He felt that he was the man,
and Chiquita made him
more of the man.
She made him look like
more than what he was.
He would always say,
"I make my own money."
But your money
didn't match her money.
It's not just money
for money's sake.
It's that money
gets you something.
Money makes you bigger.
And this is a man who
desperately needed to be bigger.
The thirsty person
is rarely satisfied,
because the more they get,
the more they want.
With Greg behind bars
on the outstanding warrant
for abusing Chiquita,
the cops returned to his house
in search of fresh clues.
During the second search
of their residence,
there was so much blood
in that house, it was amazing.
We also had a search warrant
for the vehicle
that he drove that night.
And during that search,
I found a pair of safety goggles
under the seat of the driver.
There appeared to be blood
on those safety goggles.
I found a recorder
inside of a closet,
and once we played the audio
from the recorder,
very surprising what we heard.
When we play this tape,
this wonderful, happy marriage
that he described
is not so happy.
It's obviously
about the division
of community property.
"You're not taking everything!"
Greg complained that Chiquita
was taking his cars,
taking furniture out
of the house.
And it ended with him saying,
"What goes around comes around."
It's the only way that can be
taken, as a threat.
All the investigators stood
there with their mouth open
when we heard the recording.
It was almost like her talking
from the grave.
He couldn't handle the fact
that his meal ticket
was gonna leave him.
When Chiquita leaves,
the status leaves,
the money leaves,
the upgrades leave.
And I don't think Greg wanted
to lose any of those things.
And in that situation,
someone who is used to
having power and control
will snap.
Now if you're thinking
the case against Greg
was open and shut,
hold on a second.
'Cause the next thing you know,
the cops' phone rang
with a whole new twist.
Someone called and advised
that she had information
about Chiquita Tate
being involved in a lesbian
love triangle.
Chiquita in
a lesbian love triangle?
Maybe Greg didn't do it
after all.
Chiquita's husband was in jail
and under suspicion for murder,
when suddenly,
the case took a wild left turn.
Detectives got a tip saying,
"Check out the fact
that Chiquita Tate
may have been involved
in a lesbian love triangle."
I called this person back.
And she tells me that
a friend of hers
overheard a girl
while they were at Chili's
advise that
she and Chiquita Tate
were involved in
a lesbian love triangle
and she was responsible
for Chiquita's death.
The detectives interviewed
Lessie Hookfin
to find out did she have
lesbian clients?
Was there anything like that?
And Lessie was like, "Yeah,
she was handling an adoption
for a lesbian couple."
I knew the two ladies
were lesbians,
but Chiquita was not a lesbian,
and I told them
that was the farthest thing
from the truth.
And I personally went to
their house and talked to them.
I wanted to find out
if they had weave in their hair
that matches what I saw
at the crime scene.
But their hairstyle
was not consistent
with what I found
inside of Chiquita's hand.
Not only did they not have weave
that matched what was left
in Chiquita's hands,
they were extremely happy
with her work. They loved her.
Somebody took the time
to call me
and give me a false lead.
So I want to find out
who made the phone call,
and even moreso, why?
We tracked down the number,
and it led us to Texas.
Once we got to Texas,
we met the female who made
that telephone call,
and we couldn't believe
what we discovered.
I said, "Well, I'm investigating
the murder of Chiquita Tate."
And she was like,
"Oh, okay, I know Chiquita."
And I was like,
"You know Chiquita?
How do you know Chiquita?"
And she said that,
"That's my brother's wife."
I was shocked.
Is Greg making calls from jail?
Did he get his sister to call us
and try to throw us off
his track?
To me, if you're innocent,
why would you do that?
Greg Harris lost control
of Chiquita Tate.
She was tired of him.
She expressed that
by going and signing a lease
a month before she died.
And it was a very,
very lovely place a block
from her office
where she turned on the cable,
she put a TV set in there.
She started slowly moving
her things in,
and Greg did not like that.
And he was like,
"Oh, my wife is never
gonna leave me."
Okay, but who pays
three months rent
on an apartment
they're never gonna move into?
As much as Chiquita was torn
about leaving Greg,
there came a time
when she finally had to say
enough is enough.
The morning of the 19th,
Chiquita called me,
and she said,
"I don't think I can do
this marriage thing anymore."
So I said,
"Girl, okay. Whatever. Bye."
And I hung up on her,
'cause she had been
saying that lately.
But then she'll turn around
and say that, you know,
she decided she gonna try
to make it work.
And I... I just regret hanging up
that phone because...
...Greg started calling me
at 2:00 that morning
about her not coming home.
And I just never got
to talk to her again.
No murder charge yet,
but Greg's story
was falling apart.
We didn't believe that
Chiquita called Greg
and told him to bring her
something to eat.
There was a McDonald's
five minutes
from her law office.
She could have had anybody
bring her dinner
had she been inclined.
That was just a ploy
on his part to say,
"Hey, honey, here I am."
You know,
"Let me in the building."
He already
had the hair with him.
We know that.
Greg brought the weave
to the office,
which was planted
inside of her hand,
as well as taking the wallet
from the crime scene
and placing it
to another part of the city.
All of this was a plan to throw
the investigators off
after he killed his wife.
I had voicemail,
and it was from
the District Attorney saying,
"The crime lab
has some DNA information."
I call the analyst back,
and she said,
"Well, there was a pair
of Nemesis safety goggles
under the seat of the car
he was driving,
and Chiquita's blood
is on the left lens.
A combination of their blood
is on the right arm
of these glasses."
I told the analyst, "Thank you.
I will try this case
based on that alone."
To us, it was a smoking gun.
At that point,
we had enough to charge Greg
for the death and murder
of Chiquita Tate.
Why would he kill Chiquita Tate?
There were creditors that were
calling him about money.
That led us to believe
that money, number one,
was a big part
of why he killed her.
The day before the homicide,
he went and asked
his boss for money.
The boss said, "I can't do it.
I've already lent you money.
You have money being taken out
of your paycheck every month.
I can't do it."
His boss said, "I have never
seen him so distraught
and distressed
as when I told him no."
His house was in arrears
and was going into foreclosure.
It's like a snowball becoming
a avalanche financially,
with the loss
of the trophy wife,
with the loss of his pride.
I don't think that Greg
really cared
about Chiquita leaving.
It was what Chiquita
was taking with her.
The money.
Greg found that he could
no longer cajole,
seduce, threaten,
control Chiquita,
and that he was was going
to lose all the things
that made him feel
like a worthwhile person,
things that made him feel big.
With the death of his wife,
Greg Harris stood
to inherit her half
of any community property
that they had.
He also tried
to get his hands on $65,000
of a quarter of a million dollar
life insurance policy.
She was worth more to him dead,
knowing that she
was about to leave him.
Greg's thirst was finally out
in the open for everyone to see,
and he was headed to trial.
But get ready for this
'cause you're never gonna
believe the verdict.
Two years after
Chiquita Tate was murdered,
her husband Greg Harris
went to trial.
Now if you were accused
of murder,
maybe you might come to court
looking humble and heartbroken.
Not Super G.
Greg Harris, every day,
came in as if he were
a movie star.
We called him "Mr. GQ."
He's a good-looking man.
He wore great suits every day.
He didn't testify in his trial,
but he testified by sitting
in that courtroom.
He told a story.
"Am I the type of person
who would stab my wife
over 40 times?
Do I look like
that type of man?"
Mr. GQ, who was not too fancy
to soil his hands
with the blood of his wife
after 43 slashes to her.
The most damning evidence,
I believe,
came from the 911 call
before the marriage.
Hearing her voice screaming
and stuff like that,
I had to get out
of the courtroom.
To hear that 911 call,
and knowing if
she would have just told us,
wouldn't have never
went that far.
The tape of the confrontation
about the community property
was also her mouth
and his mouth.
That's one of the last things
I played to that jury.
I had no doubt
when I left that courtroom
and finished my argument
this was second-degree murder.
When they went back
to deliberate,
we all went to eat.
And when the jury
was coming back in,
it was like every female
in the juror stand
was boo-hoo crying.
The jury came back
and found him guilty...
of manslaughter,
which is a lesser charge.
Manslaughter?
Did I miss something here?
I was very disappointed
when the jury came back
with manslaughter.
And when you read
the appellate opinion
in this case,
they clearly state
that every element of the crime
of second-degree murder was,
in fact, proven.
I just simply said to myself,
"They don't understand
what happened in that room."
Some must have thought
she started the fight,
or that she was sassy
or whatever,
and that he just got upset
and he just happened
to kill her.
But we felt that we proved
that the only fight
that occurred
is her defending herself.
This girl's fighting
for her life.
She was fighting for her life.
How can you tell someone
you love them
and you supposed to be there
to protect her,
and you said that
in the eye of God,
and you killed her?
He deserved to spend
the rest of his life in jail.
Greg Harris received
the maximum sentence
allowed under the law,
which is 40 years
without benefit of parole,
probation,
or suspension of sentence.
And this is a man who maintains
his innocence to this day.
He's a very violent,
demented individual,
in my opinion.
40 years is not enough.
I would love for Chiquita
to be remembered for
her outgoing personality,
her knack for lighting up a room
when she walked in it.
I would like to remember
my sister by her happiness,
the fun we had,
the arguments we had.
She was a fighter,
she was beautiful,
her smile was beautiful,
and she's just gonna say
what's on her mind.
Have a good one.
Greg Harris won't
be eligible for parole
until he's in his seventies.
Is that enough time for a man
whose thirst
for money and status
took a shining star away from
the people who loved her?
A self-made millionaire
who worked hard
and played even harder.
Lance Herndon wanted excitement.
He wanted crazy sex.
He wanted a lot of it.
He spent lavishly.
He was putting it out there
for everybody to see.
Everybody wanted a taste
of his luxurious lifestyle,
and somebody was thirsty
enough to kill him for it.
Is this a deadly
sexual encounter?
It was shocking, vicious,
and personal.
This is a real whodunit.