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Shannon McDonald Goldstein

Shannon McDonald Goldstein

California criminal defense attorney (State Bar admitted 1993, based in Palm Desert) and recurring guest on her sister Heather McDonald's podcast "Juicy Crimes."

Oct 21, 2026

34:25
So you're like, why would he be so quick to want to kill this woman, lying in wait to kill this woman? Why wouldn't he have been in the middle of a robbery when they came? Well, it's
34:36
interesting.
34:36
And that happens around 2002.
34:38
And it's really, really sad because obviously this resulted in two deaths, right? And then it looks really, really bad because it looks like, I mean, the way Randolph basically...
34:48
said what happened is this guy comes in supposedly i don't know him he's an intruder he shoots my wife i need to protect the situation and i shoot him so this guy is a you know the real bad guy he's a murderer and then this guy randolph is defending himself and therefore you know he dies but he's but now you know but it's in self-defense right so you really almost really feel bad for the poor intruder because, you know, he somehow got roped into this thing, but he can't speak for himself.
35:23
But immediately the main detective kind of threw this whole case and stays with this case.
35:28
Again, here's another detective that goes, I'm not buying this.

29 MINS LATER

64:34
saw the witness that came and said, oh, I heard shots the night of the murder, and I swore I saw her.
33:03
Okay, so then 5, 6, or 7 is the one whose attorney that I saw that was like, he did not participate sexually, and why is he being named in this?
33:13
Well, I'm sure she's backtracking and saying something because she's obviously listed them as the Cornell 7.
33:22
But what's so interesting is...
33:24
And I'm going to kind of break it down because this is the way I understand it.
33:27
So she likes the first guy.
33:28
The first guy, she agrees to a threesome with the number one and number two.
33:33
Number one and two are happening.

27 MINS LATER

60:37
Explain the legal thing a little bit.
30:06
Oh.
30:06
Because they started looking into him when they looked at the surveillance video, and they started realizing what he had done.
30:13
No, nobody knew that, that this had been going on for, like, so many years.
30:17
She finally told s- so, so some of her family, 'cause her mom unfortunately- While the grooming was going on, her mom passed away, so she really only had her cousins.
30:27
But as I understand it, when she said she was pregnant, she was pretty quiet about it.
30:31
She didn't say who the father was.
30:33
Then she only gave, like, a first name and said that he happened to be in law enforcement.

20 MINS LATER

50:24
So she lied over and over again.
30:41
romantic guy anymore that you know they're not putting up with their husband their priority is their child so like that would be how I would
30:51
proceed Well, I mean, I think from her perspective, I think there's no doubt that this has been, and it's embarrassing, it's been a much more toxic, controlling, narcissistic relationship than any woman would ever want to admit.
31:04
And I do think that when you have a child, whether special needs or not, it is very important that you show your child that you are a strong person and you are standing up for yourself.
31:14
And I think she is definitely doing that.
31:16
Again, I think the concern is why it's that it's happening all now, that it's really been kept to the forefront.
31:25
And I'm talking about the legal element of a restraining order.
31:29
because of social media, because of what he put out there.

37 MINS LATER

68:23
Do you want to give your prediction of what do you think will happen?
11:41
Well, your daughter goes to Alice- your daughter goes to LSU.
11:44
She does, but she, and she doesn't know anything about Penn State, but I guess what, she's not that surprised that, maybe, maybe she's surprised by the sheer, uh, volume of this and the fact that it had been going on for two years.
11:57
But she's not that surprised that there are, number one, drugs on or around campus, and that people are using them, and that they're being sold maybe by- ... other students, whether it's fraternity related or not.
12:08
We'll just say that without, she doesn't have any inside scoop.
12:10
She's just saying in the large college campus arena, partying arena, not totally completely unheard of, which is unfortunate.
12:22
Well, um, so is it in the news again today? 'Cause I s- know there was, you know, some, um, articles about it today.
12:29
Is it because now they're, they're set to go to trial or what? They were arrested? Oh, yeah.

42 MINS LATER

54:49
"I was, I was cheating
6:42
Right
6:42
... you have other children doesn't mean that you went through postpartum.
6:44
But I still found that kind of interesting.
6:46
She obviously was a very capable mother and worker, quite frankly, as a labor and delivery nurse.
6:52
Um, and so, um, I, I, I, I just thought that was kind of interesting that she just, that this, it kind of started, and it often does start, started very sudden.
7:01
So as soon as it starts, you know, this is where it gets a little confusing to me, but obviously there were a lot of medical providers.
7:08
Assuming they're all working together, what becomes kind of alarming is that at least at the time of the incident, she was on 13 psychotic medications, or at least had been prescribed them.

8 MINS LATER

15:02
You know, I guess we'll just ke- I, and then they also said, "Oh, and then you went away for two days?" "Yes, I went to New York for his work for two days."
2:47
... all seniors, and his name is Nolan.
2:51
Yeah, so we have, this is the case of Nolan Wells, and this is actually super, super sad, and I really hope we get to the bottom of it.
2:58
So Nolan is, um, 18.
3:00
Um, he's African American man.
3:02
He is actually a freshm- he's 18, but he's actually, uh, going to community college.
3:06
He's going to the, uh, I wanna say it's, uh, Southwest Mississippi Community College, and he is a wide receiver, so it's pretty cool.
3:15
You know, he's doing, he's playing sports, which a lot of kids like to do in college, and he has a bunch of friends, probably high school friends.

51 MINS LATER

54:39
So shortly thereafter-
3:02
She's Irish.
3:04
She's Irish.
3:05
Okay, so we got Shannon Marie O'Connor.
3:07
She's, I think, approximately in her 50s.
3:10
She does have a son, and her son is re, um, you know, similar age group of these kids that she had over.
3:16
So I think what's kinda interesting about this is this was around COVID when it started.
3:20
So now you're starting with schools don't know what to do with these kids, very, a lot of isolation as far as where these kids go.

27 MINS LATER

30:54
Do you know how much my bill was from the Costco high noons?" Like I don't know what his point of view was and

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