BARD - Nolan Wells Mystery: Questions, Distress Call & What Happens Next

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:31)
This is Beyond A Reasonable Doubt with your hosts, Mark Geragos and Gary Smith.

**Mark Geragos** (0:40)
Well, returning champ Lauren Conlin, coming back. You know why I really wanted you this week?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:48)
Tell me.

**Mark Geragos** (0:49)
Because of how angry you are about the Nolan Wells case. I mean, you're so angry that I thought it would be great to give you a platform to talk about your anger and bent.

**Lauren Conlin** (1:03)
Yeah. And Mark, I have not done a full video on LA Mag about this case yet. I've gone back and forth because I know people feel very strongly about it. Very, very strongly. But I think a lot of people are not listening.
I think they're not listening to what certain people are saying and they're not understanding how investigations work. But with that said, I acknowledge the distrust of law enforcement and police in Mississippi. I understand that goes back.
Emmett Till, I mean, that's the most unspeakable thing I've ever heard. I mean, truly, Mark. So I understand that. But what we're talking about with Nolan Wells, besides the fact that he was the only black kid among the friend group on that boat, I mean, nothing about this case is racially charged or motivated. And nothing was until Ben Crump said it was, in my opinion. This is my opinion. Everyone is welcome to disagree. But guys, what does Ben Crump do? He's a lawyer that makes money off of wrongful deaths, civil suits. He wants this to be a murder. He wants it to be a murder so badly, so badly, so he can make money. I just, I don't understand why that's not registering to some people because everything else right now, factually, factually is not pointing to anything criminal. And if you're going to point to facts you saw from content creators or facts you saw spewed through, you know, multi-different channels, I can't take those with a lot of weight, although I can consider them in totality, if that makes sense.

**Mark Geragos** (2:47)
So what's your take? Because I've got questions. First of all, in full disclosure, I know Ben, I've known Ben for a long time, and I think he's got, don't shake your head, or you can shake your head. But he does, he brings attention to the client's cases. And in a lot of cases, there are things that turn out to be that the police have done wrong and he's exposed them and you should get credit for that.
And then there are other times, I suppose, where maybe it doesn't pan up. But I will tell you, having been on kind of the receiving end of cases that look like, and I think about a case in Utah in particular, but they look like, oh, it's fine, you know, somebody's unhinged or the family is looking for answers or this or that. And then it turns out, wow, there is something there. So I'm never, I tend to say, wait and see what pans out. No, in this case, there's a second autopsy, undetermined, correct?

**Lauren Conlin** (3:55)
Yes. Well, yes, yes.

**Mark Geragos** (3:58)
Doesn't that give you some pause?

**Lauren Conlin** (4:01)
No, it's undetermined because we don't have, I mean, look, they requested, and just to back up a minute, what you said about Ben Crump bringing attention to cases, agreed. That is a positive. I think for this case, yes, the attention is on the case, and that is wonderful for the family. They want answers. Any parent would want answers, and any parent-

**Mark Geragos** (4:25)
But I said, you can throw stones or people can throw stones.
I've said this, I can't tell you how many times. I swear it robs my soul every time I represent a parent who's lost their child. I don't know how they do it. I don't know how they get through it, and it's just unspeakable. And so I think even when I'm defending somebody who's accused of robbing a parent of that, it's the same thing. I mean, it's just the human tragedy of it is just, right?

**Lauren Conlin** (4:57)
Exactly.
So again, I go back to saying, of course, he's bringing attention to this case. They want answers as they should want answers. It's their baby, it's their everything. So like you said, I cannot imagine this. But at a certain point, when you have an attorney that's sharing unproven theories on social media, I think that convolutes the case and actually really does hinder the real investigation that's going on. I mean, he was sharing the photo of the kids in the pool, which content creators are saying, oh, that was the same night. And then it came out like, no, this was in June. This wasn't even the same month. And then it's like, okay, well, why would the lawyer share that? Why would he put Nolan Wells' face next to Carmelo Anthony's face? Do you think Nolan Wells' mom appreciated that? Nolan didn't do anything wrong. I mean, it's just like I, the whole thing at this point, like I said, I just want to go back to a few things.