S31.E28: The Good Girl (Michael Sinclair)

[Ohmo]

The episode number may need to be adjusted.  I'm not certain if it's correct.

I had an almost instant dislike of Noriella, and while I can accept that she was abused and that should be a mitigating circumstance, there was still something else about her that I didn't like.  I agree with the juror who said she seemed coached.  She didn't seem genuine to me, and even considering the abuse she suffered, I thought she should have faced some prison time for luring Michael to his death.

[LDHW]

She had nothing to say except "sorry isn't enough."  Well........saying I'm sorry the first time when asked, would've been a good start, but what do I know.

Tears...where were the tears??

I call BS and she should've served time!

[mythoughtis]

As always, there seemed to be a whole lot of missing parts to the story. Her dad is a police officer. She’s a high achiever in high school, yet she moves in with a loser while in high school. Where were those parents? Where were those parents during all those years of abuse and hospital stays? What was this high roller family friend to her? 

She was a high achiever, seemingly intelligent-yet years later, the loser guy tells her to come back and she goes.  The story seemed vague at whether she broke up with Michael to go back to Daniel or whether Michael broke up with her and then she went back to Daniel. 

I do not understand why the abuse could not be mentioned during the trial. It pertains to why she did what he told her to do.  Maybe it’s because she wasn’t on trial? 

Something was off with her. I don’t know if she was lying, or if she’s ‘damaged’ due to the abuse, but she just didn’t seem normal.  As in, in my opinion.she could be part of doing something like this again. 

Edited March 4, 2018 by mythoughtis

[tobeannounced]

So why should anyone who has suffered abuse be held accountable for their actions? Maybe Daniel was abused during his childhood and it caused him to overreact to Michael sleeping with his girl and possibly giving her, thus him, an STD (which she declined to comment on).

mythoughtis, I agree that a lot seems to have been left out.

Edited March 4, 2018 by tobeannounced

[Ohmo]

I can understand the need to give her a deal in order to get to Daniel.  However, he got 25 years.  Noriella should have gotten something like 4-5, IMO.  In one breath, the judge said she had opportunities to stop what happened, and yet, in the next breath, the judge says he can see no reason to send her to jail.  I have no issue with her abuse history lessening her jail time, but six months (time served) is too little for leading someone to his death.

You hear about robberies and crimes like that.  The driver or the lookout or whatever still bears some degree of culpability.

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As in, in my opinion.she could be part of doing something like this again. 

Completely agree.

[junemeatcleaver]

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You hear about robberies and crimes like that.  The driver or the lookout or whatever still bears some degree of culpability.

I suspect those people didn't have a prosecutor that damn near sounded like a defense attorney on their cases.

[ari333]

Something seemed very off about Noriella and I cant put my finger on it

[thejuicer]

She seemed like a big fat liar.

[BusyOctober]

Agree with all of you...something definitely “off” with this girl, too many details not included.  This woman stuck me as a cold, calculating and manipulative person.  I think she may be smart enough to know how to play the system.  I just found her hard to believe.  Her affect was flat and I didn’t see any real emotion from her.   If she was molested as a child, I am very sorry she had to experience that. I also empathize if her relationship with Daniel was an abusive one.  It still doesn’t excuse her from culpability in Michael’s murder.

[valdawn]

I watch way too many true crime shows and of course always feel sorry for the victims, but I really felt extra sad for Michael. Poor guy didn’t know what was happening. Made me sad. Her on the other hand, I had not one ounce of sympathy for, nor did I believe a damn word out of her mouth! It all seemed like total bullshit to me. Her little wannabe anything but what he was “tough guy” boyfriend was a total douche too. Hated them both!

[tobeannounced]

I think maybe the real story is the DA just needed her to convict Daniel, so she allowed Noriella to play the victim card. I read online that the STD that Michael supposedly gave Noriella, who passed it on to Daniel, was herpes. Maybe Noriella was out for just as much revenge as Daniel was.

[One Tough Cookie]

That philanthropist?  She' totally living with and banging him. 

[sainte-chapelle]

She struck me as a manipulative sociopath. Just because your BF beats you does not mean you were a victim in all of this. She reminds me of Karla Homolka.

[applecrisp]

Did not like her. Was not happy with the sentence. The judge was snowed by her. She had some resources, how many millionaires do you know? And he bailed her out.

Just a frustrating and upsetting show.

[Jolie]

I wonder if Noriella would have gotten a reduced sentence if she weren't so attractive. At times, I was almost sucked into believing her. I wondered if I would have been had she been a homely person. Regardless, of the abuse, there should be consequences for your actions. Six months of time served and 5 years probation seems to be very little for a cost of a life. I'm not convinced the murder would have happened without Noriella's help. For all of Dan's tough guy posturing, he did have someone else do all his dirty work. He was an abuser and a coward.

[UsernameFatigue]

It seems like everyone here pretty much had the same opinion of Noriella as I did. I did not like her, or believe her for the most part. And yes, she may have been abused by Daniel but she had no ties to him via marriage or children so no reason to keep going back to him. I know there are abused women who say they have no choice, but I don't think that is the case with Noriella. I think she was just as manipulative as her boyfriend, and she was playing the helpless female card to the hilt. 

I didn't really understand in the trial why it could not be revealed that she was abused by Daniel, but the abuse by her step grandfather could be revealed? At least that is what I remember as I watched the show several days ago. The abuse by Daniel seems much more relevant when she is claiming that she was afraid of him. 

[Ohmo]

On 3/8/2018 at 3:57 PM, UsernameFatigue said:

I know there are abused women who say they have no choice, but I don't think that is the case with Noriella.

Word.  I have heard of abuse situations where women feel they must return to the abuser because there are children involved, but there were no children in this situation, and Noriella and Daniel were separated for what, 6 months.  Then, she goes back to him because he suddenly threatens her family?  Sorry, not buying it, and even if that were true, why not ask her rich benefactor to help her and her family relocate?  He ended up paying $750,000 to bail her out of jail.  I don't buy that her family was threatened.  Her story is all kinds of hinky, but it apparently worked because the judge sure bought it.

[MeekaJoy]

I knew Michael Sinclair. We use to work together. He was such a sweet and funny guy. He was respectful to everyone. He was not an aggressive person and he came from a good family. I was so mad when I found out that this girl got away with her part in his murder. Then I found out she did an interview blaming everything on everyone else and just said sorry to his parents who lost their only child. The things she said I don’t believe Michael would have said to her . If you know Michael you know he would have never asked her to be his girlfriend.  Micheal probably was being his usual nice laidback self and she took it a whole other way.She knew Michael did not give her the STD that’s why she did not want to talk about it, but she could not tell the boyfriend who really did. She could have stop the whole thing from happening and did not. Thank all of you from seeing through her bullshit!

To his parents Mr. and Mrs Sinclair. You raised an amazing man. He was so proud of both of you. He told me how his dad was a teacher and had his PhD and his mom was a computer specialist.  I use to tease him and say he grew up like the Huxtables. I am so sorry you loss your baby ,but know that every person that came in contact with him saw what an amazing job you did as parents.

To those three friends that talked about him thank you. That was Michael. When I saw you speak about him I felt so much better. I was so mad at this girl but seeing you three made me feel better.

On 3/5/2018 at 9:38 AM, One Tough Cookie said:

That philanthropist?  She' totally living with and banging him. 

He is the one that gave her herpes.

On 3/5/2018 at 6:54 PM, sainte-chapelle said:

She struck me as a manipulative sociopath. Just because your BF beats you does not mean you were a victim in all of this. She reminds me of Karla Homolka.

I agree. I think she wanted more from Michael than he was willing to give.    She wanted the relationship and he didn’t.Girls use to fall for Michael hard and I think that what happened here.She went back to her boyfriend knowing how jealous he was and lured Michael to die.She is a manipulator for sure. She is crazy. Im waiting to hear the real story because what she said was bullshit.