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LIVE BLOG: Monserrate Shirley takes the stand

Posted at 12:30 PM, Feb 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-11 12:30:33-05

RICHMOND HILL TRIAL DAY 13 – FEBRUARY 11, 2016

The below testimony was given by Monserrate Shirley on July 1, 2015, at the trial of Mark Ray Leonard. It has been excerpted up to the point where Shirley has testified in the trial of Bob Leonard, Jr.

9:22 a.m. – Monserrate Shirley called as witness by the prosecution.

9:23 a.m. – Monserrate Shirley enters courtroom in shackles, escorted by sheriff's deputies. Her hair is much longer than when she was arrested – un-styled, it falls in damp ringlets past her shoulders. Mark Leonard sits quietly as she enters, his eyes following her movements.

9:24 a.m. – In a mousey voice with more than a trace of accent, Shirley states her name for the courtroom, and that she was charged as a co-defendant to Mark Leonard in the Richmond Hill explosion.

9:25 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Have you since being charged, have you pled guilty in this case?"

Shirley: "Yes."

9:29 a.m. – Hollingsworth asks if she knows what sentence range she faces. Shirley: "20-50 years."

9:29 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "You know the judge could suspend part of your sentence? But you realize, having pled guilty, you could be sentenced to 50 years?"

Shirley: "Yes."

9:31 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "I want to talk about your home. Did you live at 8349 Fieldfare Way as of November 2012?"

Shirley: "Yes."

9:31 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "At that time of your life, who were you married to?"

Shirley: "John A. Shirley."

9:32 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "What is your occupation, ma'am?"

Shirley: "I'm an RN. A registered nurse."

9:33 a.m. – Shirley says she worked at the VA hospital in Indianapolis for 17 years in the ICU department. She says she also worked at St. Francis Hospital South and Community South Hospital.

9:34 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "When you lived with your ex-husband, who did the maintenance work around your home?"

Shirley: "That was John Shirley."

Hollingsworth: "Did you ever do anything like that?"

Shirley: "No."

9:36 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Once John replaced the fireplace [with the log lighter], did you ever smell gas in the house?"

Shirley: "No."

9:36 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Once John left, did anybody in your house ever use or mess with the fireplace?"

Shirley: "The last time was Mark Leonard."

Hollingsworth: "We'll get to Mark Leonard in a minute."

9:37 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "In your house, did you have a microwave?"

Shirley:  "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "And did it have a programmable timer on it?"

Shirley: "Yes."

9:38 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "How did you meet Mark Leonard?"

Shirley: "At a bar. Crazy Street."

9:38 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Do you know approximately the date you met Mark Leonard?"

Shirley: "Nov. 12, 2011."

9:39 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "How did you come to meet Mr. Leonard."

Shirley: "My friend Mary and I went to have a drink that night. I wanted to stay local, close to my house. So she said she had a place better to go, that I would like better. She took me to Crazy Street. We walked through the door. Mark Leonard was staring at my right away. I was looking at him too."

9:40 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "You speak with a bit of an accent. Where are you from?"

Shirley: "I'm from Puerto Rico." Says she moved to the continental U.S. when she was 25.

Shirley: "I ordered some beer for me and my friend. She only wanted a Coke, so I drank a beer. He kept staring at me. We moved to the end of the bar near where he was. He introduced himself. About 10 minutes later, Mary said she had to go, and I was in good hands."

9:41 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "What did you think of Mark Leonard when you first met him?"

Shirley: "He wears nice clothes. Handsome man. Very handsome. Blonde, bleached hair. White shoes. Nice jeans. He was driving a Hummer."

Hollingsworth: "How did the evening end?"

Shirley: "He was with some friends. I asked some ladies with him if I would be safe if he took me home, and they said yes."

Hollingsworth: "Is that how you got home that night?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "What happened then?"

Shirley: "We went into the house and he spent the night."

Hollingsworth: "Was he still there when your daughter came home the next morning?"

Shirley "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "Did you want him there?"

Shirley: "No. I asked him to leave, because my daughter was coming. I said I don't like to have nobody in my house when my daughter was coming – no men there. He said he was good with kids. I said no, no, please leave. He said he would hide in the bathroom, and so he did."

Hollingsworth: "And did your husband come into the home?"

Shirley: "No, he texted me."

Hollingsworth: "Without getting into details, is it safe to say the text had to do with the Hummer in the driveway."

Shirley: "He asked, 'Do you have a boyfriend?'"

Hollingsworth: "Does Brook meet Mark Leonard?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "Was it a friendly meeting at first?"

Shirley: "No. She was having a problem with him."

Hollingsworth: "Did that initial encounter eventually lead into a romantic relationship?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "What did you think of Leonard at the time?"

"He was a nice guy. We used to cook together, have dinner together, go to restaurants with Brook. Very charming. Very loving man."

Hollingsworth: "And at the time you were single, thought he was good looking, and so you moved in with him."

Shirley: "Yes, that's correct."

Hollingsworth: "At some point, did that relationship become not so good?"

Shirley: "Yes. After about five months."

9:48 a.m. – Hollingsworth asks Shirley about when Leonard got sick. She says he had a headache and drove himself to a clinic. She eventually took him to Community Hospital where she worked, and they determined Leonard had an autoimmune disease and a hemoglobin of 5. Shirley: "That's a very sick man."

9:50 a.m. – Shirley says Leonard had to get multiple blood transfusions, and was at one point in a coma and on a ventilator. Shirley: "They had to radiate his blood to give it to him. That was the problem."

9:53 a.m. – Shirley says they found clots in Leonard's lungs and aorta.

Hollingsworth: "While he was at IU Medical Center, did you stay with him?"

Shirley: "Yes, I stayed every night."

9:53 a.m. – Shirley says he eventually recovered and they went home for one day, at which point he relapsed. Once Leonard was finally able to come home, Shirley says she had to take care of him for several more months.

Hollingsworth: "About what month was he able to get out and about again?"

Shirley: "Probably about the end of April, beginning of May."

9:55 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "When you first met, did the topic of employment come up?"

9:55 a.m. – Shirley: "When I first met him, he said he owned a construction company. He said it was a roofing company. He said it was called Mastercraft Restoration."

9:56 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Now, did Mark Leonard have any business involving cars?"

9:57 a.m. – Shirley: "Yes. He would sometimes buy cars and fix them up to resell them."

9:57 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "And to fix those cars, did he have a set of tools?"

Shirley: "Yes, he did."

9:57 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Prior to meeting Mark Leonard, had you ever been to a casino?"

Shirley: "No."

9:58 a.m. – Shirley says Leonard took her to the Hollywood Casino three or four months after she met him.

9:58 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Where you a gambler?"

Shirley: "No."

Hollingsworth: "Did Mark Leonard gamble?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "What did he play?"

Shirley: "Blackjack."

Hollingsworth: "Did you ever play blackjack?"

Shirley: "He couldn't get a card to play, so at the time he gave me $3,000 to play in his name. He sat beside me and told me what to do."

Hollingsworth: "And how did that go?"

Shirley: "He lost it all. He said, 'That's how it goes.' Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."

Shirley says Leonard would wager from $3,000-$10,000 regularly on blackjack.

Shirley: "He said he's been doing it for a long, long time, and he's good at it."

Hollingsworth: "What is the most money you ever saw Mark Leonard lose in one evening at a casino?"

Shirley: "Like $7,000."

Hollingsworth: "Would these be weekend trips, or were these sometimes during the week?"

Shirley: "Sometimes while Brook was at school. We would come back up."

10:03 a.m. – Shirley says when she would go to the casino. Glen Hultz's daughter or wife/girlfriend would babysit Brook.

10:05 a.m. – Shirley says Glen Hultz worked at Ray Skillman. She says Mark Leonard wanted her to sell her 2006 GM Envoy.

Shirley: "Mark Leonard told me he needs to be driving a better car than what he was driving. So he took me to a rental car place and I rented a car with my credit card. Then he told me Ray Skillman wanted to buy my car for $10,000."

"Was there something wrong with your GM?"

Shirley: "No. I liked it."

Shirley said Mark eventually convinced her to sell her GM, saying he would buy her a BMW.

Hollingsworth: "And what car did you end up with?"

Shirley: "A 200 Ford Taurus for $750."

Hollingsworth: "You ended up with a $750 car?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "What was Mark Leonard driving at this time?"

Shirley: "A Cadillac STS."

Hollingsworth: "And how did Mark Leonard get a Cadillac STS?"

Shirley: "He was doing some work for a hotel at that time. He stole a bunch of stuff from the hotel and sold it and bought it at an auction."

10:10 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Did you and Mark Leonard have a discussion about the insurance on your house?"

Shirley: "Yes, about two weeks after he moved in."

Hollingsworth notes Shirley said Leonard moved in around December 2011: "He's in your house not two weeks, and insurance is being discussed?"

Shirley: "We were in the house and he asked me, 'Whose house is this? Whose name was in the house?' I said it was in my name. He asked if John Shirley had anything to do with the house. I told him John doesn’t have no rights to the house anymore. He told me to show him my insurance papers."

Shirley: "He looked at it and he said my house was under-insured … that I needed to raise the insurance more."

Hollingsworth: "At this time ma'am, had you ever raised any concerns about the insurance on your house?"

Shirley: "No."

Hollingsworth: "What led to this conversation?"

Shirley: "He just asked me. He told me to call State Farm and told me I needed to increase it to $300,000."

Shirley says her house was insured at the time for about $180,000, and the contents for about $150,000.

Shirley: "He said he was going to buy a lot of things for the house or bring stuff into the house and fix it up."

Hollingsworth: "Did Mark Leonard ever bring things into your house, or fix it up?"

Shirley: "No, he bought two TVs."

Shirley says it was "very easy" to increase her insurance. Shirley: "I'd been with them for so long."

Hollingsworth: "Did you question Mark Leonard on this, why it was necessary?"

Shirley: "I just did it."

Hollingsworth: "What about insurance on the Cadillac?"

Shirley: "He told me to call State Farm. It was easier for me to get insurance because he had so many points."

10:18 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "About 2011, what was your financial condition?"

Shirley: "After my husband left? My husband and I agreed we were going to take care of Brook together, and I would get a second job to help pay the bills."

Shirley said she was working full-time at Community South and worked on a resource team part-time.

10:20 a.m. – Shirley says she put her house up after she and her husband divorced: "[The Realtor] told me to do a short sale, because it was so upside-down. But after we got the offer on the home, I kinda felt bad. Because it was Brook's house. So I took it off the market."

Hollingsworth: "To be clear, it was your decision to take the house off the market?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "At the time, were you dating Mark Leonard?"

Shirley: "I had just met him. But I made the decision before I had met him."

10:25 a.m. – Hollingsworth asks Shirley about her neighbors, the Olveys and the Longworths. Shirley begins to cry as she talks about Dion Longworth coming over sometimes to talk to her ex-husband John Shirley. Shirley says she was familiar with the Olvey daughters, but not the parents.

10:30 a.m. – Hollingsworth displays pictures from the inside of Shirley's home before it exploded.

Hollingsworth: "As far as you know, when you woke up, was that big-screen TV in your bedroom?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "Was Brook's TV still in her bedroom?"

Shirley: "Yes."

10:33 a.m. Hollingsworth: "At some point in time, Ms. Shirley, was there a discussion about possibly setting a fire in your home?"

Shirley: "Yes."

10:35 a.m. – Court recesses for quick break.

10:57 a.m. – Court resumes.

10:57 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "When do remember first having a conversation about burning the house down?"

Shirley: "February 2012."

Hollingsworth: "And who brought the conversation up?"

Shirley: "Mark Leonard."

Hollingsworth: "How did that conversation come about?"

Shirley: "He just told me, 'I'm going to show you how to make money. You know, Glen's house was set on fire for money. It was very easy. Gary Thompson was the one who set it. He got the money no question. He said it will be very easy for me because I don't have no criminal background. No claims. And it was going to be a small fire in the garage."

Hollingsworth: "What did you say back to him?"

Shirley: "I thought it was crazy, but I went along with him. I said OK."

11:01 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Did the topic come up again?"

Shirley: "Yes, July 4, 2012."

11:01 p.m. – Hollingsworth: "What were the circumstances of the topic coming up again?"

Shirley says Glen Hultz invited her and Leonard to a pool party near Geist Reservoir.

11:04 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Did there come a time when the subject of a fire came up again?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Shirley says she, Mark Leonard and Glen Hultz were alone near the pool when Leonard initiated the conversation.

11:05 a.m. – Shirley: "Mark told Glen Hultz, 'Tell Moncie how Gary set fire on your house. Tell her how easy they will give you the money. How it will be a small fire and not to worry.' Glen said we better be careful, that he knew somebody who committed arson and got 75 years in prison. Then he asked who would get the money. Mark said, 'Of course, me. I always get the money.'"

11:06 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "At that time, did Glen Hultz do what Mark Leonard asked him to do and tell you about how easy it was?"

Shirley: "No he did not."

Hollingsworth: "Was there any more substance to that conversation?"

Shirley: "I told them that was crazy. I didn't want to do that."

Hollingsworth: "Anything else?"

Shirley: "Mark said Glen Hultz got money, he didn't want Mark to have more money than him. That's why he wouldn't tell me about it."

11:07 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "At the time, what was your impression of the plan?"

Shirley: "I didn't think it was going to happen. I didn't think he was going to do that to my house."

11:08 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "To the best of your memory, when was the next time that discussion came up?"

Shirley: "I believe it was a week before Halloween."

Hollingsworth: "Who brought up the subject this time?"

Shirley: "Mark Leonard. He told me he talked to Gary Thompson and told Gary Thompson we were ready to do it. He was going to bring Gary Thompson to my house, and I was going to tell Gary Thompson that I was OK to do it."

Shirley says she then saw Gary Thompson at her house a week before the first attempt.

11:09 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "You said the first attempt. How many tries were there before the explosion?"

Shirley: "Two."

Hollingsworth: "Essentially, did Mark Leonard give you instructions on what to tell Gary Thompson?"

Shirley: "He told me to tell him it was OK to set a small fire in my house. He told me all the time that it was going to be a small fire. Nobody was going to get hurt. It was just my house, and that we could get the insurance money."

11:13 a.m. – Hollingsworth enters calendars into evidence.

11:14 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "What was the first day the house was supposed to be burned down?"

Shirley: "October 27, 2012."

Shirley says Gary Thompson came over at Mark Leonard's invitation on Oct. 22, 2012: "We was in the garage, and Mark Leonard told Gary that I was ready. Mark told Gary, 'Tell Moncie how easy it was when Glen burned his house, how he got the money.' Gary told Mark he should not be telling me everything that had happened. Gary said, 'Don't be telling Moncie those kinds of things.' He said we're going to do a small fire."

Shirley: "We looked around, and then Gary went and looked at the thermostat. I heard a conversation; Gary said they were going to do something to the thermostat, that it would click and send something to the fireplace to start a fire."

11:18 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Did you say anything to either Gary or Mark Leonard"

Shirley: "No, I did not."

Hollingsworth: "Did you have any suggestions you could have given."

Shirley: "No, I did not."

Hollingsworth: "So it was the defendant and Gary Thompson working this out."

Shirley: "Yes."

11:20 a.m. – Shirley: "[Mark] said it's going to be a small fire, nobody's going to get hurt. It's just going to be so we can get the insurance money."

Hollingsworth: "Were you asked by Mark Leonard to do anything in preparation for this?"

Shirley: "He said to get a babysitter for Brook. He said to get a reservation for the hotel. He didn't care too much about the cat, but he said if you want to keep that cat, you could get a reservation for it."

Hollingsworth: "We heard Mark Leonard didn't care about the cat, but were you going to let anything happen to it?"

Shirley: "No."

Hollingsworth: "So your job was the babysitter, the hotel and the cat?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "So what did you do?"

Shirley: "I made a reservation at the hotel. The cat needed a haircut, so I made a reservation for her at Sugar Grove. And I found a babysitter for Brook."

Hollingsworth: "Had you ever boarded Snowball before?"

Shirley: "No."

11:24 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Did anything else happen before the arson that was supposed to happen on the 27th?"

Shirley: "Yes. Mark Leonard asked me if I had any sentimental things from Brook when she was a baby I wanted to keep. I found some pictures and stuff when she was little, and took down the picture from the living room, and we were going to take it to Glen Hultz's house."

Hollingsworth: "Why did you take the picture down?"

Shirley: "Because I didn't want anything to happen to that picture."

[While Shirley is testifying about Leonard helping take pictures down, he is shaking his head 'No.']

11:28 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Does somebody show up to get the picture?"

Shirley: "Yes, Gary Thompson."

Hollingsworth: "What vehicle did Mark Leonard pick Gary Thompson up in?"

Shirley: "The white van."

Shirley says Leonard and Thompson loaded the pictures into the van.

Shirley: "I spoke with Glen and Glen was supposed to have them. That was the deal."

Hollingsworth: "As far as you knew, they were supposed to go to Glen's?"

Shirley: "Yes."

11:30 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "The house was going to catch on fire and burn that Saturday. What assurances did you have that Brook was not going to come back to the house that day?"

Shirley: "Oh, she would not come back to the house, because I told her not to."

Hollingsworth: "I take it you didn't give her a reason?"

Shirley: "No."

11:31 a.m. – Shirley says she and Leonard then went to the Hollywood Casino for the night.

11:32 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Did either Gary Thompson or Mark Leonard ever indicate what time the fire was supposed to happen on that date?"

Shirley: "No. He just told me to wait for the phone call."

11:33 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "As far as you knew, how was the fire supposed to start that day?"

Shirley: "Gary was supposed to come back to the house. The thermostat was supposed to be set to click-in with the fireplace and start the fire."

11:33 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "With you and Mark down at the casino, how were you expecting to hear about the fire?"

Shirley: "Abby Johnson would have called me. We were best friends."

Hollingsworth: "Did you ever get a phone call?"

Shirley: "No. Mark kept asking me, 'Did you get a phone call?"

Hollingsworth: "What was Mark's demeanor during this?"

Shirley: "We were just drinking and dancing. He kept asking did no one call, did no one call?"

11:35 a.m. – Shirley said they left the casino the next morning and drove back to Richmond Hill, but did not stop at her house. Shirley: "He was very upset. He told me Gary Thompson didn't do the job. The house was still there. He told me we were going to go to his house."

Hollingsworth: "Was Gary Thompson home?"

Shirley: "When Gary came out of the house, Mark said, 'You can't even do a fire. You're a piece of shit. You can't even do anything.' Gary told him he was pulled over by a cop and that he couldn't get to the house. Mark said that couldn't be true. And I said that couldn't be true too."

Hollingsworth: "How mad was Mark Leonard?"

Shirley: "He was very, very mad at Gary."

Hollingsworth: "What was Gary Thompson's reaction to this?"

Shirley: "Nothing. Mark insulted him and he didn't say anything."

Hollingsworth: "At any point in that conversation did Mark indicate he should have had someone else do it?"

Shirley: "He said he should have had Glen do it, because Glen owed him a favor."

11:39 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "Well, it didn't work, so was there another conversation within the next couple days about burning your house down again?"

Shirley: "Yes."

Hollingsworth: "What happened? Who brought it up?"

Shirley: "Mark Leonard said we have to do it again. It has to be done."

Hollingsworth: "Was Brook around to hear this conversation? Was Brook ever around to hear this conversation?"

Shirley: "Absolutely not."

11:40 a.m. – Shirley: "I told him this is crazy. My house is too big. He said this needed to be done and we're going to do it."

Hollingsworth: "He didn't take no for an answer?"

Shirley: "He never took no for an answer."

11:41 a.m. – Shirley says Leonard arranged for Gary Thompson to return to the house to attempt to start the fire in the same way.

Shirley: "Mark said they should put cardboard on the fireplace so they don't lose the gas when they turn it on." Shirley says they placed cardboard to block the chimney flue.

Hollingsworth: "Is this being done by both Mark Leonard and Gary Thompson?"

Shirley: "Yes. Both. They helped each other."

Hollingsworth: "So Mark Leonard was physically doing this?"

Shirley: "Yes."

11:44 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "So has a date been set as to when this is going to be tried again?"

Shirley: "Yes. It was going to be Saturday, Nov. 3."

11:45 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "What is the next thing that occurs to prepare for that attempt?"

Shirley: "I believe it was Nov. 1. Mark was on the phone, and he was giving the address to someone to come to our house. I asked him who he was talking to. He said, 'My brother, Bob, you're going to meet him.' He said, 'He doesn't look like me. He would do anything I ask him to, so he's coming to the house tonight."

11:47 a.m. – Shirley says she met Bob Leonard for the first time that night.

11:48 a.m. – Shirley: "They went to the garage, and Mark Leonard was telling Bob about the job he had for him to do. He was to do the fire in the house. When I walked in he introduced me to Bob. Bob asked if I knew everything that was going to happen, and Mark said not to worry about it, that I knew enough and I was with them."

Hollingsworth: "So Bob's asking Mark if you knew about this, and you did?"

Shirley: "Yes, I did."

11:49 a.m. – Shirley: "[Mark] just said that his brother would do it. That his brother would do anything. That there was going to be a small fire and it was going to happen. That he was going to pay Bob Leonard to do it."

Shirley says Mark was going to pay Bob Leonard $10,000 to do it.

11:50 a.m. – Shirley says Mark Leonard was expecting to receive $300,000 for the contents on the house, as well as the car and the motorcycle in the garage. She says they weren't expecting to receive anything back from insurance on the house itself due to the mortgages.

Hollingsworth: "So we're talking about a lot of money?"

Shirley: "Yes. A lot of money."

11:51 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "What was the next thing that occurred?"

Shirley: "Mark asked me to make a reservation for Snowball, for Brook for a babysitter, and at the hotel."

Shirley says she made a reservation at the hotel for Nov. 2, 2012. Glen Hultz's girlfriend Sharon was to watch Brook. Snowball was boarded at Arbor Lane Kennel.

Hollingsworth: "How come you didn't go back to the place you did the first time?"

Shirley: "Oh, I just went to a different place close to home."

11:54 a.m. – Shirley says she and Leonard left for the casino on the morning of Nov. 3, 2012.

Hollingsworth: "Did somebody do something to your house to make it burn before you left the vicinity?"

Shirley: "No."

Hollingsworth: "So how was the fire supposed to start?"

Shirley: "Gary was supposed to set the thermostat, and the fireplace was supposed to be running, and it will click and make a spark and start the fire."

Hollingsworth: "Who was supposed to leave the fireplace running?"

Shirley: "He just turned it on. That's it."

Hollingsworth: "When did he turn it on?"

Shirley: "Saturday morning."

Hollingsworth: "Did you actually see Mark Leonard turn that valve?"

Shirley: "Yes."

11:57 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "So, you understand Gary Thompson is to set the thermostat to click. When was Gary Thompson supposed to set the thermostat?"

Shirley: "The last time I saw him was after the first time when he was supposed to set the thermostat. After that, Bob Leonard took over."

11:58 a.m. – Hollingsworth: "When was something supposed to happen to your house?"

Shirley: "Sometime around 11 to midnight."

Hollingsworth: "Did you get any phone calls?"

Shirley: "No."

Hollingsworth: "What was Mark Leonard's reaction to this?"

Shirley: "He kept asking, 'You didn't get no phone calls? You didn't get no phone calls?'"

11:59 a.m. – Shirley says they left the casino the next morning and went to a CVS to wait for Bob Leonard.

12:00 p.m. – Shirley: "Mark told me to take the car and go and get Brook."

Hollingsworth: "So you weren't privy to this conversation?"

Shirley: "No."

Hollingsworth: "So where were you supposed to go after that?"

Shirley: "I got a call on the way to Glen's house. Mark said it was too cold and to get a hotel."

12:01 p.m. – Shirley: "I got to Glen's house and asked to speak with him privately. I told him Mark said it was going to happen tonight. That Sunday night. Glen said between Mark and Gary they were going to explode the whole neighborhood."

Hollingsworth: "Did you take that as a joke at the time?"

Shirley: "No I did not."

12:04 p.m. – Hollingsworth: "Did you think at that point something was going to happen to your house?"

Shirley: "I was thinking they tried twice and couldn't do it. I thought it wasn't going to happen."

12:04 p.m. – Shirley says she eventually returned to her home on Monday. She said she noticed there were three gasoline cans in her house.

Shirley: "One was when you go into the laundry room, and the other was in the left hand side."

Shirley says she normally only had one gas can.

Hollingsworth: "Did you need two more gas cans?"

Shirley: "No I did not."

Hollingsworth: "Did you ask the defendants about the gas cans?"

Shirley: "No."

12:06 p.m. – Hollingsworth: "The house is still standing. It hasn't been blown up yet. Does the conversation of starting a fire come up again?"

12:08 p.m. – Court recesses for a lunch break.

1:19 p.m. – Court resumes session.

1:20 p.m. – Hollingsworth: "Did there come a time when you called a heating and cooling company?"

Shirley: "Mark Leonard asked me to call a heating and cooling company. It was for me to make sure they weren't coming to the house, that if something happened there would be a trace." Shirley says they weren't having any problems with the heating in the house.

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Call 6 Investigator Rafael Sanchez and Senior Digital Correspondent Jordan Fischer will be in Fort Wayne covering the trial every day. Download the RTV6 app to get the latest live blog posts as the proceedings unfold.

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RELATED LINKS | Richmond Hill Special Section |  Mark Ray Leonard convicted on all counts

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