Chiropractor Husband Fed Wife Poisoned Vitamins Laced with Lead

This is a case that left even a seasoned. judge stunned. Alabama chiropractor. Brian Man has been sentenced to life in. prison for attempting to murder his wife. by poisoning her with lead disguised as. daily supplements. The evidence was. chilling, but what truly shocked the. courtroom was man's disturbing behavior. during trial and what the judge said at. sentencing. You won't believe it. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. life in prison. That is the sentence.

That is the fate for the former Alabama. chiropractor Brian Man, who was. convicted back in June of attempted. murder of his wife, Hannah Man. Tried to. poison her with lead back in January of. 2022 when she was admitted to the. hospital with abdominal pain. The staff. concluded she had ingested a lot of lead. over an extended period of time. This. was no accident. And while she was. recovering in the hospital for months, it turns out Brian was the one who put. her there. Supposedly, he had been.

giving her daily supplements that were. laced with something that can be quite. deadly. And apparently, they were going. through a divorce. In fact, at trial, Dr. Felicia Hathaway, who treated. Hannah, testified that safe levels of. lead in someone's body would be around. the number 10. Hannah tested in the 80s. Hartell Police Chief Allan McDermund. said, quote, "She had been there for a. few days prior to them contacting us. The Department of Human Resources. immediately told us that Brian was a.

suspect. I don't want to walk into a. case with just tunnel vision." So, he. talked with everyone involved, and Brian. was always on the forefront. And the. chief indicated that while Brian. initially was helping with the. investigation, he soon lawyered up, would only have his attorney speak for. him with police. quote, "To me, that's a. pretty red flag when we're trying to. figure out what's wrong with your wife. and you're not giving us all the. information you can to help us." The. lead that was in her colon was very. pronounced. It is something you can say. tangibly is there. It shows 100% that. this stuff was ingested, that it was in.

her body. It looked like glitter on the. X-ray. And referencing the supplements. and the vitamins that Hannah took, the. chief, who was shocked, by the way, said. he stood there while she took them. So, all that together just points more and. more towards him. By the way, a. contractor apparently tipped off police. that he believed man got the lead during. a construction project that was being. performed at man's office. They were. fortifying the X-ray rooms with lead. And apparently he left this extra. remaining lead with man. So, you know.

what was also a big piece of evidence, by the way? The fact that there wasn't. lead in the house, that it wasn't in the. system of their kids. So, again, we're. not talking about accidental exposure or. something that everybody was being. poisoned with. It was argued, and this. is an important point, too, that Brian, in order to cast off suspicion, tried to. poison himself. Get this. He goes to the. Decatur Morgan Hospital saying, "Hey, I. did an X-ray on myself at my clinic and. I saw something in my stomach." Problem. is, prosecutors said when looking at the. X-rays, it was determined that the lead.

in his system had only been ingested a. few hours before. Oh, and for a first. scan for him, when he was told that he. would need a second scan, a nurse. reportedly said that Brian became very. nervous. Thought he may leave. Hm. Yeah, that's not great. And by the way, what. was also interesting about Dr. Hathaway's testimony was that they. reportedly performed a 24/7 irrigation. of Hannah's colon, and that is when they. knew a crime had been committed. Hannah. was in such bad condition that they. actually had to temporarily paralyze her. because any slight movement could have.

dangerously tipped off the pressure to. her brain. Again, further indicating. that this amount of lead in her body. could only have been ingested. Oh, and. it sure didn't help that Brian. apparently took out life insurance. policies on his wife worth over a. million dollars, including just days. before Hannah was rushed to the. hospital. You know what we call that? We. call that financial motive. And when we. talk about how egregious this is, how. vicious, how strange. Do you know what. happened at sentencing? The judge, Charles Elliott, was so bothered by man.

apparently snickering during closing. arguments and the facts of this case. that when he sentenced man to life in. prison with the possibility of parole, he told the prosecutor to let him know. if man actually comes up for parole. because he wants to be there to testify. against him. The judge said this, "I've. seen a lot in the six and a half years. I've been a circuit judge, and I saw a. lot when I was a prosecutor with the. DA's office. I've sat through and. participated in hundreds of trials over. the last six and a half years, and I. have never seen a defendant snickering.

during the state's closing arguments. until you. I've never even heard of. anything like that. He continued by. saying, "Your wife's condition continued. to deteriorate, and yet you continued to. push her to take out more and more life. insurance policies on herself, and then. you have the gall to berate her when she. doesn't like wearing ankle weights to. defraud an insurance company." The. testimony from your wife's medical. providers was jarring to say the least. And here's the big statement. I want to. ask the DA's office to personally notify.

me for whenever Mr. Man comes up for. parole. So, in the event that 30 years. from now, if I'm not in this position. anymore, I will drive to Montgomery. myself to speak against it. Wow. Wow. I've never heard that before. Okay. Now, according to 48 WFF lead prosecutor. Garrick Vickery said regarding the. judge's comments, quote, "I believe this. was a good glimpse into Brian Mann's. character. I don't know if he took this. seriously or if he takes anything. seriously outside of himself and his. pursuit of money. It's a peak into his.

soul. I believe and Judge Elliot saw. that and sentenced him appropriately. We. will be in separate vehicles, but we. will be in Montgomery to protest parole. right alongside Judge Elliot." Hey, real. quick. I want to give a shout out to. Morgan and Morgan for sponsoring today's. law and crime YouTube takeover. Now, Morgan and Morgan is a firm with over a. thousand attorneys. You know why they're. so big? You know why they have so many? Because they win a lot. They have. recovered over $25 billion for more than. 500,000 clients. Think about that. In. the past few months, a client in Florida.

received $12 million after the insurance. company offered just $350,000. Out in Pennsylvania, a client was. awarded $26 million. That is 40 times. the insured $650,000 offer. Another. client in Pennsylvania received $29. million after being offered only. $500,000. And even if you think your. case isn't worth millions of dollars, why not just start a claim and fight for. what you deserve? Morgan andorggan makes. it so simple. You can start a claim from. your phone in just eight clicks. So if. you're injured, you can easily start a. claim at forthepeople.com/youtube.

by clicking the link below or scanning. the QR code on screen. So, let me bring in right now victim's. rights attorney John Phillips. John, thanks so much for coming on. It seems. to me when we talk about this sentence, it was probably a foregone conclusion he. was getting life in prison. I looked a. little bit at Alabama law for attempted. murder. I think it could have been 10 to. 99 years. I know it was reported that. the defense didn't really have much to. say. Maybe they were asking for mercy at. one point. Man didn't say anything.

reportedly during sentencing. But to. have a judge make a comment like that, I. want to be at his parole so I can. testify against him. It seemed like life. in prison for this crime was what was. going to happen. >> It did, you know, and and prosecutors. and investigators did a good job laying. out, you know, not only the crime, but. the the motivation. And I just I feel. like we're in an era where we just keep. seeing, you know, spouses that can't go. through a simple divorce that that are.

plotting each other's murders. And it's. a very disturbing trend and this is a. very disturbing case. >> Yeah. And I'm not sure under Alabama law. when parole could come up. I think it's. based on a variety of factors. It might. be different in every case. But what. could man ever say or do to actually. make parole? Because one of the things. that the prosecutors really highlighted. was this is not a one-time thing that he. was doing this daily, day in day out. His wife was getting sicker. He was not. taken to the hospital. H how can anybody.

like that ever be allowed to be free? >> Exactly. Like it it's the way that it. was described is it was almost a daily. premeditation, you know, like like day. upon day upon day upon day, you know, not just the one we think about where. somebody draws up a map of how they're. going to kill somebody. This is this is, you know, without mercy, too. you know, seeing your your your wife, you know, suffer and lead poisoning is as we know. is just just one of those things that.

that people talk about that's just so um. you such a horrible way to go. So, and. thankfully she was saved although she's. got a you know long road to recovery. through this. John, you were you. surprised by the verdict in this case. because according to the uh Heartell. Inquirer, man's defense argued that the. evidence in this case was collected. improperly. You know, according to this. local newspaper, man's defense pushed. back on how evidence was collected in. the case and they tried to block it from.

coming into trial. There was a claim. that police had actually extracted lead. from Hannah's urine in the parking lot. of the police station using a bucket. This is according to WAY. You had man's. defense attorney Chad Morgan say, "I. didn't think that they proved that there. was an overt act on his part by any. means anywhere by any kind of evidence.". So, were you surprised by the verdict? Yeah, there was a lot of pre-trial stuff. that happened that I mean I wasn't. surprised by the verdict, you know, kind. of how we got there. The thing to know. about this part of Alabama is it's very. small. You know, everybody kind of knows.

everybody. Um I had some fraternity. brothers at Alabama from Hartzell in. that area and and probably went to law. school with some of the lawyers involved. in the case or at least their, you know, their cousins. But it's a very small. area and you know when you deal with. justice in small towns particularly in. Alabama people know the people and. there's people and I don't know I don't. know this chiropractor Brian man for. anything but you know the people on a. potential jury did the judge did you. know the investigators did and they.

certainly were determined to use the. evidence no matter how they got it to to. to pursue justice. >> Well John listen to this. So, the. defense didn't call any witnesses. Any. witnesses, even though they originally. planned to call seven. Now, Chad Morgan, this defense attorney, he said, well, you know, they felt that the state's. case had not proven attempted murder, that again, there was no overt act. So, they decided to not call witnesses. And. Morgan now seems to say that might have. been a mistake. Quote, team decision.

Brian was involved in that. He's the one. who makes the call on all that mostly. We put together something at lunch. yesterday just trying to figure out what. we need to do and decided to make that. call and obviously it wasn't the right. call. What do you make of that? >> It's why judges, you know, before the. end of every trial and and particularly. at the defense case, are you happy with. your attorney? Have you have you been. able to give input in your attorney? Because the next motion that comes after. something like this, particularly when. the defense attorney is like, "Oops," is. the ineffective assistance of counsel.

motion. And there's some aspects of. trial law, criminal or civil, that's. gambling, right? You're taking some. chances. I think calling no witnesses is. giving the house, the prosecution, all. of the advantage. Um, and and was a was. a fatal error here. >> And by the way, at trial, uh, Hannah. testified. She testified about taking. the pills, getting sick, Brian supplying. them to her, thinking they were just, you know, benign vitamins. And it was. her mother who had urged her to go to. the hospital because apparently man.

didn't want her to go. And she had been. experiencing back pain and abdominal. pain and nausea, difficulty walking, lethargic. This was since summer 2021. she was taking these pills and how even. though she's still fighting the effects. of lead toxicity, she actually testified. and said that she forgives Brian. I've. forgiven him and I just wish that he. could change someday to change his ways, you know, for his family and children. That's incredible. That's remarkable. >> It is remarkable. And again, growing up.

in Alabama, there's just something sweet. tea, you know, something sweet tea about. Alabama. We try to forgive everybody. You know, I now live in Florida and I'm. not quite as forgiving as I used to be, but try. But it is stunning and shows, you know, and and I think it worked into. sentencing, too. here you have somebody. that's forgiven him, somebody that just. went along and that made what Brian man. did, you know, more malicious, >> right? And just finishing this up with. the sentencing, the words from the. judge, that is clearly somebody who's.

not forgiven for what he did. He was so. bothered by the facts of this case and. so bothered by Brian Mann smirking or. snickering during closings that he's. like, "When parole comes up, let me. know. I'm going to drive over there and. I'm going to testify against him." I've. never heard a judge say that. >> It It's not common because it, you know, invariably there's there's appeals and. there's there's times that a case comes. back to a judge. We had it with Joe. Exotic. So Joe Exotic's judge at. sentencing took some shots at him and.

his lifestyle and you know, invariably. we needed the judge to modify the. sentence and we sought to recuse him. because he had taken this shot and he, you know, as a federal judge chose not. to recuse himself. But judges tend to. hold that stuff back because it only. works against them later. There's just. no need for it. But here, that judge. wanted to send a clear message of of of. why he did what he did and why he. sentenced how he sentenced. >> John Phillips, thank you so much. Appreciate you taking the time. >> Absolutely. Thank you.

>> And that is all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank. you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get. your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].