She was a hard-partying, drug-using, club-going, shameless flirt who spent money like it was going out of style and beamed as she was photographed naked in a pile of cash \u2014 but a California mom long ago convicted of murder insists she\u2019s no killer.<\/p>\n
Mary Ellen Samuels \u2014 known for orchestrating the murders-for-hire of her ex-husband Robert and a hitman who allegedly helped do him in \u2014 says in newly filed court papers that her 1994 trial was \u201cfundamentally unfair\u201d because prosecutors slut-shamed her instead of presenting actual proof.<\/p>\n
Now 78 and a great-grandmother, Samuels, who is serving life without parole in the Central California Women\u2019s Facility at Chowchilla, wants her sentence overturned.<\/p>\n
This photo of Mary Ellen Samuels, taken by a boyfriend, did \u201cmore damage\u201d to her case than anything else, a juror later admitted. LAPD<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prosecution focused on dehumanizing Ms. Samuels by weaponizing her sexual expression, social habits, and fundamental identity as a woman, rather than presenting evidence that bore on her guilt,\u201d she said in a Jan. 20 California Federal Court filing.<\/p>\n
The trial featured \u201clurid\u201d letters from one of Samuels\u2019 lovers, and witnesses who claimed she did cocaine with one of her children and splashed $800 on outfits from a store called Trashy Lingerie, court papers show.<\/p>\n
Allegations even included testimony that Mary Ellen flirted with a cop at the crime scene, \u201cnuzzled\u201d up to him with her breasts, and rubbed his head while saying she \u201cliked bald guys,\u201d according to legal papers.<\/p>\n
But the pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance for the prosecution was a single picture of a beaming Mary Ellen lying nude on a white bed, with her body covered by stacks of cash.<\/p>\n
The $20,000 was part of the nearly $500,000 Mary Ellen received from Robert\u2019s life insurance policy, money she spent with abandon on a condo in Cancun, a Porsche for her boyfriend, a 30-inch television; a car phone; two faux fur coats, and a $2,500 birthday party \u201cto which she arrived in a limousine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The jury foreperson later admitted the photo, which helped Samuels earn the nickname the \u201cGreen Widow,\u201d \u201cdid \u2018more damage\u2019 than any other evidence the prosecution introduced at trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Authorities also had sexually explicit letters from one of Samuels\u2019 boyfriends, Steven Breggia: \u201cWhen you came into my room in a fur coat. I\u2019ll never forget it when you peeled that coat back and I really saw your beautiful body for the first time. Your full breasts bursting from that lace teddy and your tiny waist.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mary Ellen has repeatedly appealed her conviction. Colorado Department of Corrections<\/p>\n
Robert Samuels and Mary Ellen were neighbors growing up, before the two married. Samuels Family<\/p>\n
It shows \u201cjust how shocking, sexualizing, and incendiary\u201d the prosecution\u2019s strategy was, Samuels now contends.<\/p>\n