Killer Cases: Family Betrayal, Courtroom Twists & Shocking Testimony — Full Episode Marathon

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: I'm just so scared. I'm scared he's going to come try to find me. Please. Information about a deadly rampage in a St. Johns County neighborhood. Investigators say James Cawley shot and killed his wife and her best friend. [00:00:25] Speaker 2: You know there's five children that lost their mothers on that day. [00:00:28] Speaker 3: Little baseball games are attended within that blue chair. [00:00:38] Speaker 4: For Lindy to sit down and watch Patrick play. [00:00:42] Speaker 5: Always take domestic violence seriously because you never know at what point it might escalate and something happened like what happened to Amanda. [00:00:50] Speaker 6: This is what he's going to tell you to get out of that situation and I grab the gun trying to find the first place to put a body no sir the only thing they could do was kill it you want to say anything leave a jury to find the defendant. [00:01:02] Speaker 7: It's a planned community with pools. It's a very nice neighborhood a very nice area of our counties. [00:01:08] Speaker 8: In the entire portrait of this family just didn't speak to something that would end in such violence and bloodshed. [00:01:26] Speaker 2: Amanda and J.R. Cawley had been married for eight years she was the life of the party she was outgoing gregarious everybody wanted to be friends with her. [00:01:48] Speaker 5: Amanda she lit up a room and she lit up a room and she was gorgeous and confident. I mean she was the perfect package she was everything you would want in a friend. [00:02:08] Speaker 9: Amanda and J.R. James is a very personable man he he could easily become a friend with somebody. Amanda he worked in the banking industry he was in he was that worked in the mortgage department. Amanda he was great I mean he spent all the time he could with the kids he coached their teams he took them on vacations. [00:02:29] Speaker 10: But friends began to hear not everything was wonderful at the Kali home. [00:02:41] Speaker 5: He was jealous of her spending time with friends. You would have to be a strong person to and be very self-confident to be with Amanda because she was so friendly. [00:02:52] Speaker 9: I think he probably drank too much you know if he started drinking sometimes it was hard to stop. We all have some demons but I think his probably ran a little deeper and he did abuse things on occasion. [00:03:04] Speaker 5: She tried to make it work as long as she could and when it came to the point where the scales tipped to where his behavior was affecting the family. Then I think that's when she decided that this this needs to be we just need to separate this needs to be over. [00:03:21] Speaker 10: The separation papers were filed in the middle of July but J.R. would still come to visit. [00:03:33] Speaker 9: It would go from you know three days of being a family to three days of don't talk to me to three days of being a family to three days stay away from me. It came out in court that they had sex together and she said well I felt like I had to in order to you know keep them happy so I wouldn't get hurt. [00:03:48] Speaker 2: She had a new beau even though that was something that she kind of kept to herself from her husband. He had a girlfriend. [00:03:54] Speaker 5: I mean he had already moved on but he still didn't want to let go of Amanda. [00:04:06] Speaker 10: On a weekend that Amanda was away J.R. sneaked into the house. [00:04:10] Speaker 11: Mad that you know thinking whatever he was thinking about where she was and what she was doing. [00:04:15] Speaker 5: He gathered her clothes out of the closet and burned them in the backyard. That's not normal behavior. [00:04:19] Speaker 10: Amanda filed for divorce and a temporary injunction to keep J.R. away from the home. Writing in the court papers J.R. would cut me up or kill me if he ever found out I was cheating. [00:04:31] Speaker 5: And part of the reason why I think it took Amanda so long to take action was because he did try to be a good father to the kids. And she did not want to you know nobody goes into it wanting to have a divorce. Nobody wants to tear apart their family to be torn apart. [00:04:51] Speaker 10: J.R. had asked neighbors in the cul-de-sac to keep an eye on Amanda and the house to report if anyone was visiting her. He received this picture from a neighbor of a bare chested man mowing the lawn at Amanda's house. [00:05:29] Speaker 11: And I think once he found out that was too much that was confirmation of okay this is the guy. [00:05:38] Speaker 10: J.R. also sent messages to the neighbor who had taken the picture. Over the next six hours Cowley would become increasingly enraged. A neighborhood surveillance camera saw J.R. Cowley's car heading to Amanda's home. [00:06:04] Speaker 12: Nobody was home. Amanda was not there. He ransacked the house and destroyed TVs and furniture and walls. [00:06:17] Speaker 13: Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. Really funny you don't want to talk yet huh? You know what we don't need to talk. [00:06:29] Speaker 14: Don't do nothing to me. I won't do nothing to you. I won't bring this up in court about what you really are. You're lucky I don't tell our children about this Amanda. You're disgusting. That's what you are. [00:06:48] Speaker 15: Cawley had been in court that very morning. [00:07:04] Speaker 11: He was coming to court for a violation of that injunction for having contact with her. [00:07:10] Speaker 9: The night before he had been drinking. He can't sleep. He takes some Ambien because he'd been prescribed that. [00:07:17] Speaker 15: Put your hand down. Please tell me your full name. Mr. Cowley how old are you sir? Have you ever been treated with any mental illness? No. Are you now one of the influence of any intoxicants? No. [00:07:29] Speaker 10: The judge was unaware of Cowley's rampage just a few hours earlier at Amanda's home. And agreed to let Cowley attend anger management classes instead of being sent to jail. [00:07:40] Speaker 15: This is going to be unsupervised probation. And Mr. Cowley you wish to enter a plea to charge. No contest. Yes sir. [00:07:48] Speaker 16: All right. [00:07:49] Speaker 15: The plea is accepted. Adjudication will be withheld. Which means this is not a criminal conviction on your record. You'll be placed on 12 months of unsupervised probation with early termination if you complete everything early. [00:08:03] Speaker 9: So he ended up getting a better deal than he had originally anticipated. [00:08:07] Speaker 15: All right. So in addition to that you're going to have no violent contact with Amanda Quilanager? Sorry. All right. [00:08:18] Speaker ?: Is that all you had? That's all I had. [00:08:20] Speaker 15: Thank you. Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. You're welcome sir. Next case. [00:08:27] Speaker ?: Next case judge. [00:08:28] Speaker 11: He had his employee badge on and he was dressed in like slacks colored shirt like he'd be going to work. [00:08:34] Speaker 12: And when he left court, he tried to call Amanda. [00:08:42] Speaker 17: Please talk to me. Please. Amanda, I'm out of court. Please talk to me. Maybe I, please. This is the last time I'm calling and begging you. Please. [00:08:53] Speaker 11: She picks up the phone and they have a 14, about a 14 minute phone call. Something happened in that call. And instead of going to work, he went and he made us one stop at a gas station, filled up his tank, and then at that point he bought beer. [00:09:19] Speaker 10: It's now 10:11 in the morning and J.R. Colley is heading to South Bellagio Drive. In the car are two fully loaded guns. [00:09:37] Speaker 6: St. John's County Sheriff's Office 4. Hi. My sister lives at 260 South Bellagio Court. Uh-huh. She has an injunction against her husband. They're going through a divorce. Apparently he broke into her house about 4:00, 4:30 this morning and busted every TV in the house. I'm not sure if she called to report it, but I want to make sure. [00:09:59] Speaker 10: Amanda had returned home and was taking stock of the damage from J.R.'s rampage a few hours earlier. With her was the man she was dating, Lamar, and two friends. [00:10:10] Speaker 12: Lindy Dobbins and another friend, Rachel Hendricks. [00:10:15] Speaker 18: And I'm here with Rachel Hendricks. This will be a sworn recorded interview. [00:10:20] Speaker 10: Rachel would later describe what happened that day at Amanda's house. [00:10:24] Speaker 19: Gave Amanda a hug immediately. She was crying on my shoulder. She was very upset over the way that the house was trashed and ransacked. [00:10:33] Speaker 12: The sheriff's office actually responded to the residence and she declined to write a report. [00:10:43] Speaker 19: She didn't want to press charges on James because she did not want to have him put in jail for a year and be away from his kids for one year. [00:10:52] Speaker 10: So the sheriff's officer left the scene. [00:10:56] Speaker 12: James is traveling to the residence at that point. He parked behind the residence. Amanda and Rachel, Lindy and Lamar are all in the living room kitchen area. They look out the window and see him. [00:11:12] Speaker ?: I looked over at Lamar. [00:11:15] Speaker 19: I said, what the hell? Lamar saw and screamed gunshots and he ran. I never saw him again. [00:11:28] Speaker 10: Surveillance video from a neighbor shows Lamar running down the street away from the house. [00:11:33] Speaker 19: And I heard James's voice. And he was screaming at Amanda and he wanted to know. I heard James's voice. And he was screaming at Amanda and he wanted to know. [00:11:40] Speaker 12: Um, where is he? Where is he? Where the F is he? He was looking for Amanda's boyfriend. Mm-hmm. And I heard James's voice. [00:11:49] Speaker 16: And he was screaming at Amanda and he wanted to know. Um, where is he? [00:11:52] Speaker ?: Where is he? Where the F is he? He was looking for Amanda's boyfriend. [00:11:56] Speaker 19: Mm-hmm. And I heard James's voice. And he was screaming at Amanda and he wanted to know. Um, where is he? Where is he? Where the F is he? He was looking for Amanda's boyfriend. Mm-hmm. Put that down. Put it down! [00:12:15] Speaker 16: Hello? Hello? [00:12:23] Speaker 12: And Lindy was also on the phone with 911 in the closet. [00:12:27] Speaker 16: 911. Oh my God! Hello? [00:12:33] Speaker 12: James goes to the closet door and starts trying to get inside. Well, Rachel is holding the door from the inside. And he can't get in. And so he says, let me in or I'm going to shoot through this door. Well, he did. [00:12:48] Speaker ?: Oh my God! [00:12:50] Speaker 16: Ma'am! [00:12:51] Speaker 12: Ma'am! [00:12:53] Speaker 20: Is that gunfire? Oh my God. Go ahead. He just said on the other line, somebody said put it down. It was the same area. [00:13:00] Speaker 19: So when he came into the closet and he walked past me and walked up to Lindy, she screamed, "Oh my God, no!" And he just shot her. He didn't say anything to her. [00:13:11] Speaker ?: Nothing. [00:13:11] Speaker 19: Just shot her. [00:13:12] Speaker 12: Rachel is standing behind the door. So when the door swings open, she's essentially concealed. At which point Rachel circles out of the closet and runs. [00:13:22] Speaker 19: The whole time I was running, I was thinking, he's going to shoot me from behind. Be prepared to fall. I'm going to get shot in the back. [00:13:29] Speaker 13: What's the answer? He was in the house shooting and I ran. I just ran. We need to send paramedics. I think he shot everybody. He has a handgun. He's shooting everybody. We've got people coming. I know. I know. I am so scared. I know. It's just taking driving time to get there. I'm so scared. Hold, listen to me. I got grazed by a bullet. She said she got grazed by a bullet when he started firing and she ran to the neighbors. But he point-blank shot my friend that was right in front of me. I mean, I'm scared to death for my life. Is that Amanda? He shot Amanda and he shot Lindy Dobbins, our other friend that was there with us. I'm hiding in a closet at the neighbor's house. I'm scared to death. Okay. What's your name? My name is Rachel Hendricks. Oh, my God. This is the worst thing that's ever happened in my entire life. Just hang on, okay? I'm going to keep going. I know. I'm just so scared. I'm scared he's going to come try to find me. Please. [00:14:35] Speaker 2: It was just such a tragic and appalling and just shocking incident. Of domestic violence really was off the scale. [00:14:44] Speaker 1: Information about a deadly rampage in a St. Johns County neighborhood. Investigators say James Cawley shot and killed his wife and her best friend in the Mirabella neighborhood. [00:14:54] Speaker 2: This case took over the local news when it happened. We were intensive covering the aftermath. Several detectives are here. [00:15:02] Speaker 21: They're inside the home right now. Breaking news right now. Three St. Johns County schools are on lockdown as police look for a shooter. [00:15:12] Speaker 12: And our fear was that he was going to go take the kids. [00:15:15] Speaker 22: Investigators are still actively searching for James Cawley. [00:15:18] Speaker 12: We learned that he left the residence. He called his dad and his sisters and told them that he had shot Amanda and killed her. What's your name, sir? [00:15:29] Speaker 23: James Cawley Sr. What did your son tell you when he called you? He told me he shot two people. Was that his exact words or? Yes. He said, Dad, she put me back in jail. Said, I can't handle it no more. Said, I don't know what to do. He said, you know, it's over. Said, I've tried to do everything I could. But she keeps on putting me in jail, aggravating me, and just won't let it go. He said, so I've done what I had to do. [00:15:55] Speaker 12: And he then went and got some items from his sister's house and began fleeing out of the state of Florida and went northbound. It was not a whodunit. It was a, we need to find James Cawley and put him in jail. [00:16:17] Speaker 13: I've got a report of a complainant. [00:16:19] Speaker 10: The first sighting of James Cawley after the murder was in Virginia. [00:16:23] Speaker 13: There was a vehicle with port-a-tags following her, attempting to run her out of the roadway. [00:16:28] Speaker 12: A woman was driving and he was behind her and continually trying to run her off the road. [00:16:33] Speaker 13: He just had me come to a complete stop in the road and tried to hit me. I had three small children in my car. [00:16:41] Speaker 12: So police caught up and conducted a traffic stop on him and took him into custody. He was intoxicated. He didn't resist their efforts, but he was definitely intoxicated. [00:16:51] Speaker 18: I drove here from Florida, 10 hours to talk to you, to get some answers, get your side of the story and everything that happened there. [00:17:00] Speaker 12: He knew where I was from and I read him his Miranda rights and he immediately said that he wanted an attorney. [00:17:09] Speaker 24: Which I think you're going to need to take me back to Florida, so I can have an attorney before I talk to anybody. [00:17:16] Speaker 12: It was a very uneasy feeling being near him. And I'd been around many people who have committed similar crimes, but he had a different aura about him. Creepy. [00:17:29] Speaker 11: Pretty early on, the horrific nature of these crimes, the type of crimes, we as prosecutors were already thinking ahead of, you know, this could potentially be a death penalty case. And then our job ultimately became proving that it was, in fact, a premeditated murder. But in order to get the death penalty, we have cold calculated and premeditated as a factor and a motive and exactly how many opportunities Mr. Colley had to stop and change course. [00:18:11] Speaker 10: Colley got the photo of Lamar mowing the lawn just a few days before the murder from his neighbor, Mike Dickens. [00:18:18] Speaker 25: This is why I wanted to find out, was she cheating? You know, and that's why I took that picture and I'm like, what? He said, man, all this S&M and all this stuff. I'm like, okay, James, big deal. Big deal. You knew she was cheating. Nobody knows who the boyfriend is. She's cheating. You're going through a divorce. You filed for divorce. Leave her alone. And says, don't let this ruin your life. You know, this was, you see what time it was. He didn't give me nothing that he was going to do something stupid. [00:18:49] Speaker 13: Hello, you have a prepaid call from. [00:18:53] Speaker 26: James Colley. [00:18:54] Speaker 13: An inmate at Duffield Regional Jail Facility. [00:18:57] Speaker 11: Our investigators have access to jail calls. [00:19:02] Speaker 10: Colley was on the phone with his family almost every day after his arrest. [00:19:06] Speaker 27: What kind of questions did they ask you this morning? [00:19:09] Speaker 26: Nothing about anything like that. Just, uh, am I thinking about killing myself? No. You know, have you thought about killing yourself? No. [00:19:19] Speaker 27: Are you sure you're okay, Bob? Are they considered? Yeah, man. [00:19:22] Speaker 26: I mean, you know. It's just a situation, but it's all right. [00:19:27] Speaker 10: Is it okay? All right. Is it okay? Colley wanted to know about his children. [00:19:32] Speaker 27: Yeah, they know Amanda's gone, but they don't know how she's gone. Right. Okay. What do they think about me? Yeah. Trey looked at mom and Johnny and he said, "You know what, Uncle Johnny? I don't care what my daddy did. I'm gonna love my daddy no matter what he did." [00:19:49] Speaker 10: And Colley urged his family to make sure Amanda's relatives did not get custody of the children. [00:19:54] Speaker 26: Well, that's, that's my only really concern on everything else. I don't really give a about to tell you the truth. Once my kids are secure. Once my kids are secured with you, I really don't give a what happens. Start throwing mud. Don't play nice. [00:20:08] Speaker 11: It does give you a very good insight, even if they're not talking about their case, into their personality type. [00:20:15] Speaker 26: Hey, is there any football on the night? Ask them. [00:20:19] Speaker 20: Hey, Jared, when you're talking to that counselor, you just make sure that you don't say anything that'll incriminate yourself with the others. [00:20:27] Speaker 26: I thought about it and I was just going to say that, you know, what happened. I don't remember anything from Thursday and I kind of don't remember anything on Friday. I had little bits and pieces and then, you know, my memory started coming back, you know, my memory started coming back on Saturday, pretty much, and then all day Sunday. [00:20:46] Speaker 20: And just go, "We know, Bob. You just snapped." [00:20:49] Speaker 11: I remember things like, "I'm going to be out of here in less than 20 years." Do you really think he's going to get a manslaughter conviction out of this? [00:20:56] Speaker 26: I love all you guys. [00:20:57] Speaker 20: Well, we love you, too. And you remember that, Bob, no matter what. We love you. I know. Hey, Jared, can we say a prayer real quick? [00:21:05] Speaker 26: Yeah, go ahead. [00:21:06] Speaker 20: Dear Lord, please watch over my brother. Help him get home safely. Please watch over us and give us that strength to get through this. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. [00:21:16] Speaker ?: Amen. [00:21:17] Speaker 10: While in jail, Colley also talked a lot with one of his cellmates, Andrew Cherry. And Cherry was quick to become a jailhouse informant and tell prosecutors what Colley had to say about the victims. All the time. All the time. [00:21:31] Speaker 28: All the time. It goes around saying, , blah, blah, blah, blah. And , got what they deserve. And all this other stuff. I mean, it's just -- it's just real spiteful things. And -- [00:21:44] Speaker 18: Who does he say that in reference to? Amanda and Lindy. That they got what they deserve? Mm-hmm. [00:21:51] Speaker 10: The decision was made to seek the death penalty, with Lindy's 911 call a major factor. [00:21:58] Speaker 16: Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Hello? [00:22:02] Speaker 11: When a victim knows of their impending doom, their impending death, that's psychologically heinous, atrocious, and cruel, that they're going through that mentally and they know they're about to die. She clearly knew she was going to die. [00:22:21] Speaker 29: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have now been selected as the jury to try in the case of the state of Florida versus James Terry Colley Jr. [00:22:34] Speaker 9: We knew he was going to be convicted of something. The plan was try to save his life so he didn't get the death penalty. Our whole defense was this never would have happened but for, you know, the drinking the night before, the drugs the night before. We had to basically admit that he had committed the crime. [00:22:57] Speaker 10: So, even before the opening statements, Colley had to agree to the defense strategy before the judge. [00:23:03] Speaker 29: Your lawyers will be admitting that you committed or discharged a firearm that resulted in the death of the two folks. [00:23:13] Speaker 30: Is that your understanding? Unfortunately, yes, sir. Okay. [00:23:17] Speaker 11: The guilt was overwhelming, and so the penalty is really what this case was going to be about. [00:23:21] Speaker 29: All right, so you may present your opening statement. [00:23:24] Speaker 11: You're disgusting. That's what you are. Call me, or I'm going to come find you. whore. These are some of the last words Amanda Colley heard from her estranged husband on the morning she was murdered. I do it to grab their attention. I don't think there's any better words to use against someone than their own words. The state is confident that we will meet our burden in this case, and that you will have no doubt, no doubt, that this is a case of premeditated murder and felony murder. [00:24:12] Speaker 29: The question here is who did that. [00:24:26] Speaker 31: It's never been a question who did that. The question is why did it happen? How could this happen? How could a person that loved his family more than anything in his life do that? [00:24:42] Speaker 12: He started with an Ambien defense, that he was under the influence of Ambien when all of this occurred. [00:24:48] Speaker 31: We believe that based on our witnesses, based on the medication he was on, based on everything that took place, we want to be able to come back with a first degree. Congratulations. [00:25:05] Speaker ?: Thank you. Thank you very much. [00:25:14] Speaker 10: The prosecution's first witness was Rachel Hendricks. [00:25:17] Speaker 11: She was our eyewitness that put James Colley there. You saw Mr. Colley with a handgun in his hand when he came in the closet? Yes. Did you see him point at Lindy? Yes, at her head. And nobody can tell that story like Rachel can. [00:25:35] Speaker 19: Mr. Colley was trying to get to the bathroom door, saying, open the door, open the door, I'm going to shoot. The door came in on me, I backed up and let the door come in on me, and Mr. Colley walked past the door straight over to Amanda. I mean, I'm sorry, to Lindy, who was kneeling down, heard Lindy say, oh, my God, no. And I ran out of the closet in her shot and ran out the front doors of the home. [00:26:07] Speaker 11: Do you see James Colley in the courtroom there today? Yes, I do. He's sitting there. He's sitting there. [00:26:14] Speaker ?: He's sitting there. He's sitting at the table. Yes, he is. And then the other survivor of the shooting. David called Lamar Douberly. [00:26:19] Speaker 11: Amanda's boyfriend, Lamar Douberly, the man seen cutting the lawn in the photo that so enraged James Colley. [00:26:27] Speaker ?: Is that up here, right here? Yes, sir. [00:26:28] Speaker 10: I picked up this bullet hole about the same time the second shot came through, which was a ballpark right in this area. Okay. [00:26:34] Speaker ?: And then I heard, where is he? [00:26:34] Speaker 10: Where is he? It was faint. the man seen cutting the lawn in the photo that so enraged james collie is that up here right here [00:26:42] Speaker 31: yes sir um i picked up this bullet hole about the same time second shot came through [00:26:47] Speaker 29: which was ballpark right in this area and then i heard um where is he where is he and it was it was faint what did you do i left i i thought that that was the uh the target individual and so i wasn't [00:27:04] Speaker 10: armed i left on cross-examination college lawyer terry shoemaker asked about amanda's sex life [00:27:13] Speaker 31: were you aware of the fact that they were still having marital relations when you i guess i'm done okay you're still sexually active i guess some sexual toys that have been that have been purchased by min's college did you ever see those i never put my eyes on do you know when she received those uh i believe it was the weekend before the incident i'm assuming they were going to be used between you and miss kyle [00:27:57] Speaker 5: i yes sir i assume so they were just grasping at straws just shows how far they were reaching to try to find some reason of why he would be mad that also was a dig to try to embarrass amanda you know and and to kind of tarnish her reputation or tarnish her image on social media the defense lawyer was attacked [00:28:19] Speaker 9: for what some saw as victim shaming that's the last thing i'm going to do is is try to try to victim shame i'm just trying to save jr's life to the best that i can [00:28:39] Speaker 10: day three of a high profile death penalty trial in st john's county and the defense had to decide [00:28:44] Speaker 9: whether james collie should testify i think that jr is charismatic enough he could have possibly you know won over some sympathy votes but you know you never know you know you get up there and you have a prosecutor you know hammering it down your throat about calling your wife those names that you hear on the 911 call so it was his choice at the end of the day not to testify the defense case lasted less [00:29:16] Speaker 10: than an hour most of the time spent with collie's sister rhonda what was your goal with us in the [00:29:22] Speaker 32: relationship um i guess i was kind of the go between in between the two and all you know i'm [00:29:33] Speaker 9: i wanted to try to show that as he was trying to save the marriage amanda was trying to get out of the [00:30:02] Speaker 29: marriage all right now we'll get started with the closing arguments the evidence you've been [00:30:10] Speaker 11: presented in this case overwhelmingly proves not only that the defendant committed these murders and all the other charges in the indictment but why he committed these murders and these acts because he was angry not a sudden anger but an anger and a resentment that built over time he committed these murders because he was rejected rejected by amanda asking you to return a verdict of guilty as charged as to all seven counts in the [00:30:50] Speaker 31: the indictment just give me the fortitude that i ask for and i can move on just let me go those are the things that james collie had been asking his wife for some time as he knew what was going on in her life because he knew that there was a relationship between him between her and another man but she continues to tell him no it's not what you think there's nobody else and it was this emotional roller coaster back and forth back and forth that led to these terrible terrible events nothing that was premeditated nothing that was planned out just a snap reaction because of that i would ask you to [00:31:51] Speaker 29: the turn of a second degree murder thank you we will now proceed with the state's final closing argument [00:32:02] Speaker 11: the defense just told you that amanda collie is the reason why that she is the reason this happened she didn't give him the fortitude he needed she didn't tell the truth she wouldn't confirm what he already knew was true it's her fault that's what the defendant just told you and he's here as we know to get across his point that she's evil she's a bitch and it's her fault [00:32:36] Speaker 2: all of amanda's family and lindy's family and friends were there they would dress in purple um because that was you know sort of the color of domestic violence remembrance [00:33:09] Speaker 29: james kerry collie jr as far as guilty as charged of both first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree felony murder contrary to farts statute section 78204 and guilty on all the other counts too guilty as charged guilty as charged [00:33:31] Speaker 9: guilty as charged once they started checking the guilty boxes they just kept checking you know kind of he shook his head a little like i expected it you know something like that [00:33:47] Speaker 33: the james collie case when he was found guilty on all charges he could face the death penalty that same jury will have to determine what happens to him and that penalty phase will begin today [00:34:00] Speaker 10: amanda's sister tammy malone [00:34:05] Speaker 34: she was smart she was funny she was kind compassionate genuine her life mattered it mattered to so many people in so many different ways and he took that from all of us [00:34:24] Speaker 3: lindy's husband chris dobbins though the baseball games are attended within that blue chair [00:34:34] Speaker 4: for lindy to sit in and watch patrick play ada's swim team t-shirts with a sign of the swimming for lindy logo to remember ada's mom [00:34:53] Speaker 10: collie's lawyer for the penalty phase gary wood thought his best case to prevent a death sentence was to present collie as a man who was under the influence of ambien [00:35:04] Speaker 22: the ambien is known to and did in this particular case cause mr collie not to remember and not to be able to perceive and deal with from a mental health perspective the things that were going on that morning including court and the events as they unfolded in this case mr collie was substantially impaired at the time of the shooting and that will be for your consideration but in rebuttal the [00:35:33] Speaker 10: prosecution played the video of collie's court appearance just an hour before the murders are you now one of the influence of any intoxicants and then called as a witness the judge who presided at [00:35:44] Speaker 18: the hearing charles tinlin do you have any concerns over impairment or his ability to understand i did [00:35:52] Speaker 35: i knew exactly what he was going to testify to i knew exactly what he was going to testify to i was [00:36:04] Speaker 9: hoping it wouldn't come across so strong for the for the state but it really did it came across great for them [00:36:15] Speaker 10: so the defense was left with an appeal to the jury from collie's sister crystal who described family photos from a [00:36:23] Speaker 11: happier time that is uh my nephew trey over his birthday princess he was an amazing father [00:36:33] Speaker 36: and i was like a man of collie and lindy dobbins were human beings and now they're dead and they're dead because of one man the choices that one man made what the defendant did in this particular case was [00:37:08] Speaker 37: horrific it was unnecessary i'm asking all 12 of you not because i think you should or anybody thinks you should because that's the right thing to do and it's going to require courage to do it the defendant deserved the death penalty [00:37:27] Speaker 22: he is to a human being in his life and his career and his family as a venture should be taken in consideration and will be taken into consideration if you impose a life without the possibility of for all sins for these counts he will leave he will leave prison and plant bodies that's what that sentence guarantees [00:38:02] Speaker 9: he's going to die in prison that's what we're talking about jr always believed that people would see the whole situation and that um they they couldn't possibly give him the death penalty based on everything that happened it was a mistake and and he really thought people would see that you know something that just happened because of the circumstances that occurred on that day [00:38:34] Speaker 38: breaking news out of florida right now we're showing you a live picture out of the saint john's county courtroom uh where it seems the jury has reached a verdict as to whether or not [00:38:45] Speaker 11: james collie should get the death penalty the all 12 it has to be unanimous if just one person doesn't want to do it you're you're done it's a live sentence at that point [00:39:04] Speaker 29: in the state of florida versus james terry collie jr we the jury unanimously find that james terry collie jr should be sentenced to death [00:39:19] Speaker 11: judge in florida can um reduce a death sentence um to life [00:39:25] Speaker 30: this is going to be the last chance to say in this case and i'm sorry for all parts [00:39:55] Speaker 11: there was never an ounce of remorse that came from him [00:40:00] Speaker 9: i think what he was trying to obviously i can't put words in his mouth but it was more of a this is nothing that i intended to do but it certainly didn't help his uh his sentencing [00:40:12] Speaker 39: uh you characterize what happened in this case as a horrible accident nothing could be more further from the truth based upon the evidence that was presented in this case for the first degree murder of amanda collie you are sentenced to death in the manner provided by the law for the first degree murder of lindy doffins you are sentenced to death [00:40:40] Speaker 21: you can see there the family of the victims amanda collie and lindy dobbins crying and then on the other side of the courtroom james collie's family he turns to them and says he loves them and gives them a wink as he is led away [00:40:59] Speaker 5: i just prayed i prayed and cried it doesn't bring her back but at least she gets justice [00:41:05] Speaker 2: there is a a park there that they dedicated not long after the murder you know there's five children that lost their mothers on that day so it it was it's a generational grief it's not something that's going [00:41:17] Speaker 5: to go away for the family so my hope would be that the right people would hear her story would see this and that at least take a look at the loss i wish that there had been a mental health check-in with him i wish that a deputy had escorted him home amanda had done what she could do within her rights within the law and an injunction is just a piece of paper what i would want the viewers to know always take domestic violence seriously to not take anything lightly any act of violence any act of aggression to take it seriously because you never know at what point it might escalate and something happened like what happened to amanda [00:42:15] Speaker 40: this isn't miami this isn't atlanta this isn't a cartel hub it was a terrible scene the worst i've [00:42:33] Speaker 41: ever seen in my life she fought like a real hero for her kids they were doing their homework when they got murdered they were stacked on top of one another and the tub was full of water you can't drown children [00:42:46] Speaker 40: while you stare into their gasping faces without being the devil you know why would someone want to [00:42:52] Speaker 42: kill children you have any idea why someone wanted just being a black man inside of a small room with two [00:42:59] Speaker 43: white guys with guns kind of scared and intimidated a little bit that guy really hates women maybe a woman might get under his skin she's acting the same question over and over no she's big quiet what it [00:43:12] Speaker 40: says on the back of this envelope is death before dishonor did you end up directing associates of yours to kill brandy peters yes sir i did he's a crazy person so i don't know how much of his story is true but he had this girl killed you don't remember what she looked like not at all this ain't baby mama drama stuff this is the most heinous violent offense in the history of tallahassee [00:43:42] Speaker 7: this is what he's going to tell you how to get out of that situation and i grab the gun trying to find [00:43:47] Speaker 44: the first place to put a body no sir the only thing they could do was kill him you want to say anything [00:43:52] Speaker 8: leave the jury and you find the defendant [00:44:15] Speaker 45: this is forensic specialist annie pressy id 867. it is saturday november 20th at 2 45 p.m we obtained a [00:44:25] Speaker 10: search warrant we entered a police evidence video of what had once been the happy family home of brandy peters [00:44:36] Speaker 41: it was a terrible scene the worst i've ever seen in my life brandy peters was shot several times [00:44:44] Speaker 43: in various parts of the home starting in her bedroom she was able to escape the bedroom get into the foyer and out the front door dragged back into the home and was beaten to death [00:44:59] Speaker 40: she fought with great passion she took shot after shot after shot with all kinds of blunt objects bats and gun handles and crowbars she fought like a real hero for her kids as we continue to go through the [00:45:14] Speaker 41: house we entered the bathroom and that's where we found the remaining victims inside of the tub [00:45:27] Speaker 10: the bodies of randy peters twin girls and a three-year-old son they were stacked on top of one another [00:45:36] Speaker 40: and the tub was full of water javante the youngest had been drowned one of the twins had also been [00:45:43] Speaker 10: drowned and one of the twins had been shot the crime scene video told the story of the chilling last moments of the lives of randy peters and her three children some were in their pajamas some were still in [00:45:54] Speaker 43: their daytime clothes sometime after dinner but before bed in the home there was the books of the girls [00:46:02] Speaker 46: that was there in the crime scene in the middle living room they were doing their homework when they [00:46:07] Speaker 10: got murdered detectives scrambled to understand why brandy peters and her family had been targeted ruling out [00:46:15] Speaker 47: robbery she was not living a lavish lifestyle that would indicate that she was in section eight housing [00:46:23] Speaker 40: didn't own her own property pretty much had no money there was foreign dna under brandy's fingernails from scratching there was foreign dna on the phone in her bedroom that had been ripped out of the wall and [00:46:37] Speaker 47: then had the cord cut it became apparent from the beginning that there was no forced entry into the house that told us either the victims knew the perpetrator and they were welcomed in or the door is simply left [00:46:52] Speaker 10: unlocked and soon police began the sad task of notifying the next of kin including brandy's boyfriend henry segura who already had heard rumors from a friend okay what'd she tell you that brandy and the kid is on my field this morning that's true the little boy giovante was henry's son yeah i'm sorry to [00:47:17] Speaker 41: tell you but he has he passed away [00:47:22] Speaker 47: persons who are murdered usually know the offender and that fender is close to them you do want to get information from them but at no time was he a suspect during this interview tell me about brandy what kind of [00:47:35] Speaker 42: person is she spunky okay she's she's down on earth she's real sweet she's a cool person [00:47:46] Speaker 10: segura said they met at a gas station in tallahassee four years ago they immediately started dating one [00:47:52] Speaker 41: another or did she know you were married yeah she had no problems with that what about your wife malika [00:47:59] Speaker 10: does she know yeah eventually segura told the detectives there had been doubts about the paternity of the little boy and that he was behind on court ordered child support payments you haven't paid it any reason [00:48:16] Speaker 42: why just haven't had the money to pay okay because you're out of a job no just bills backed up just haven't had time and haven't had the money to put put towards them okay i got another kid in my land two three four three now head five different women my two sons with my wife and i had javante with her and i got a little girl in orlando [00:48:55] Speaker 10: and i said he had not been at brandy's home for at least two days prior to the murder and told the detectives he was at his home the night of the murder when they said how are we going to prove [00:49:05] Speaker 43: that you weren't over there that night or how are we going to know that you were home he said well [00:49:09] Speaker 10: check my phone the phone's gps tracking data confirmed his alibi the primary cell phone number that he gave us placed the handset the cell phone at his residence and segura's wife malika came in to bolster the alibi [00:49:28] Speaker 47: she was sick that day and was under medication so she went to sleep in a different bedroom in the house she says she saw henry there when she went to sleep and she would have known that if he left because the door or the house was alarmed and it chimes every time the door opens and closes [00:49:48] Speaker 41: your wife don't like brainy does she she didn't like that unless she would have killed her [00:49:57] Speaker 43: in his interviews he was laughing a lot laughing just all throughout his interview and it was you know really inappropriate behavior that you don't expect to see in that type of situation i mean the investigators weren't laughing this is a tragedy this is a real tragedy you can't figure [00:50:17] Speaker 24: out why why why would someone want to kill children do you have any idea what's the only one [00:50:28] Speaker 47: during the interview i noticed a cut on mr segura's hand in the area of his pinkie [00:50:35] Speaker 41: would you mind removing your shirt just to make sure you have no injuries or anything like that on your [00:50:39] Speaker 10: person or anything you're concerned about asking about a number of minor scratches and red marks on his body [00:50:46] Speaker 41: could you get this little scratch right there did you get some scratch right here [00:50:52] Speaker 47: do you know how'd you get all that i said would you mind if we photograph that that injury [00:50:57] Speaker 41: do you mind if i just take some pictures [00:51:01] Speaker 42: no i don't mind okay is this gonna be like used against me or something [00:51:07] Speaker 47: that that was chilling that made my hair rise up it still sticks with me in the back of my mind we're [00:51:11] Speaker 41: doing an investigation i don't know like i said i was going to ask you if you wouldn't mind give me some dna as well but the ultimate thing what we want to do is solve this crime [00:51:20] Speaker 10: right i want us all so without any hesitation segura voluntarily gave a sample of his dna confident it would put an end to any suspicion that he was involved in the murders [00:51:36] Speaker 40: tallahassee's a bigger city that got a small town feel this isn't miami this isn't atlanta this [00:51:42] Speaker 10: isn't a cartel hub but in the world of crime tallahassee the florida state capital and home to florida state university is certainly on the map as the place where an infamous serial killer roamed free for too many years ted bundy left his morgue here in tallahassee so the unsolved murder of brandy peters and her three children had people here worried there was pressure from the public to find out what [00:52:08] Speaker 47: happened and to get this case solved there was no shortage of leads to follow among the items [00:52:17] Speaker 10: discovered in brandy peters home was a series of cryptic letters from an apparent one-time boyfriend [00:52:23] Speaker 40: that shed new light on her background you had a known tallahassee drug dealer who was dating brandy [00:52:31] Speaker 10: who had fallen into a drug debt himself a man identified as james carlos santos serving time [00:52:37] Speaker 40: in prison at the time of the murder mr santos ultimately was identified as a member of a drug [00:52:44] Speaker 10: trafficking organization the los zetas cartel and dna found at the crime scene on that phone cord was a possible match to yet another convicted drug dealer who was then living in italy we went into brandy [00:52:58] Speaker 47: peters life we followed up on every lead every person that came into her life around that time of her [00:53:06] Speaker 10: murder at tallahassee police headquarters henry segura was called back in for a second round of questioning and he was upset that detectives mark lewis and ann marie johnson had contacted some of his [00:53:18] Speaker 41: girlfriends they don't know anything about our relationship that we had henry i already explained this thing to you earlier i said there is no stone that's being unturned and you're not the only person who's been confronted with these hard hitting questions so to speak it's not hard hitting questions it's just [00:53:36] Speaker 42: that i just don't see no i don't see where is it going to get you this isn't a case that's going to get [00:53:41] Speaker 41: solved in two days two hours two weeks maybe even two years i have to go to everything i have to know everything about everyone and you have a child with a dead lady it just turns out that your child with that dead lady happens to be dead that is serious you understand that's why i need to know everything about henry segura i need to know everything about henry segura's children i need to know that about [00:54:11] Speaker 42: your parents everything i need to know what makes you tick you know that nothing will make me tick enough to kill anybody especially brandy and her kids [00:54:24] Speaker 10: and then homing in on his alibi that he was nowhere near brandy peter's home that friday did you go [00:54:30] Speaker 48: over to brandy's at home on friday someone seen that brandy house on friday um i've got to ask the [00:54:38] Speaker 42: question i don't know what would somebody tell us that i don't know i've been seeing a bunch of stuff i've been hearing about a bunch of stuff on the news on the internet but like what kind of stuff someone said something about i gotta i had a key to her house i couldn't afford to pay the child support so i killed her before my wife would find out about her [00:55:09] Speaker 10: because my wife didn't know about her just a bunch of stupid stuff but in fact in the 10 days since the first interview detectives learned that henry owed almost 20 000 in child support to brandy and the [00:55:23] Speaker 43: state of florida was about to garnish his wages the mother of the child is taunting him and saying you better pay me my money or you're going to be in jail which was completely against everything he [00:55:36] Speaker 47: told me in the initial interview where he told me that the two of them get along fine and that she's okay with him making child support payments when he can and that's not all that he failed to disclose [00:55:50] Speaker 48: let me ask you this what's your other cell phone number i don't have a cell phone you got a second phone you do have a second phone i know you have a second phone okay i'm 100 positive you have a second phone the only thing i don't know is why you don't want to tell us about the second phone his secret cell phone [00:56:10] Speaker 43: records showed that his location was consistent with being at brandy peters's home the time that these homicides would have happened what happened on friday yes i had anything to do with whatever [00:56:25] Speaker 42: happened with brandy you were there friday okay i was at her house friday you were there friday [00:56:34] Speaker 48: how do you figure this okay i'm telling you you were there friday okay you can't think that when something like this happens that they're not going to find evidence okay you can't think that we have to get past that there's there's there's no question here okay we have to get past that okay [00:56:56] Speaker 47: that point in time henry segura became a suspect i don't understand okay i didn't kill brandy and my [00:57:05] Speaker 37: kids and her kids you were there okay what did we need to do to hurt you just saying nothing just it nothing you wasn't upset with each other you were you were there we have to get past that okay you were [00:57:23] Speaker 47: there i wasn't there we just kept on revealing lie after lie he was definitely being evasive didn't [00:57:32] Speaker 10: want to provide information so one last try to get a confession as detective lewis and his partner [00:57:40] Speaker 48: tried a softer approach i don't believe that you're an evil person and from what i'm gathering about brandy brandy wasn't the nicest of people okay i've talked to other people about her she had no problem like you said she she didn't hold her tongue for anybody all right she she said well she thought there was no filter she had no forms about ruining other people's lives she had no forms about running people's marriages about ruining their relationship with their kids she cared about what was for her and what money she was going to get i understand all of that i empathize with you i do what you empathize with me for because i can understand the position that you're in that [00:58:32] Speaker 42: she placed you in i wasn't in no position i just had to pay some child support [00:58:41] Speaker 10: no confession still defiant and not enough evidence to charge him henry segura walked out of the police station in tallahassee a free man through cooperating and now looking for a good lawyer who would believe his story [00:58:55] Speaker 40: you have to have a special kind of evil in you to do something like this it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up if you have a sense for it and i just couldn't sense anything like that with henry for me personally i knew when i finished my interview with him he didn't commit the offense [00:59:15] Speaker 47: it's a special kind of evil person who would kill three children and for almost a year tallahassee [00:59:23] Speaker 46: police were on the hunt for that person or persons this is probably one of the most detail oriented [00:59:30] Speaker 10: investigations that i've ever seen and authorities could not ignore the possibility that the murders of brandy peters and her three children were some kind of drug cartel hit as her one-time boyfriend james carlos santos had claimed from his prison cell james carlos santos claimed that he was a member [00:59:49] Speaker 47: of a criminal organization and that under his direction brandy peters was running drugs for him and his allegation was that miss peters was skimming cocaine from him when he became aware of it he ordered her and her family to be murdered he did have contact via letters and emails with brandy peters where he was asking her to marry him maybe in his mind the two of them developed in a relationship the investigation [01:00:26] Speaker 10: showed that was not true and detective lewis learned that it was not the first time that santos from prison [01:00:33] Speaker 47: had claimed responsibility for a number of other crimes james carlos santos was evaluated by a psychiatrist and during that evaluation it was shown that mr santos is delusional the pathological liar [01:00:51] Speaker 10: and simply cannot be trusted but there was still that other possible drug connection the dna found on the phone court a possible match to a convicted drug smuggler found living in italy he agreed to meet fbi agents at the u.s embassy in rome he's supposed to be some monster drug cartel [01:01:12] Speaker 47: guy we told him what we were investigating more than willing cooperating he said i will meet you anywhere he went to this united states embassy walked inside made contact with an fbi agent and voluntarily gave us his dna that sends information to me that this person's not bald his dna and that of [01:01:33] Speaker 10: four others in the national criminal database were all potential possible matches each one of them were [01:01:40] Speaker 46: eliminated as potential suspects either through incarceration dead things along those lines or [01:01:46] Speaker 10: alibis that played out and stuff like that the final step in the investigation of the cartel hit theory was the significance of a spade shovel discovered at the crime scene the argument was that the mexican [01:02:02] Speaker 46: cartel's calling card is a spade's calling card is a spade a bunch of hooey even if a spade is their calling card why they would have a spade shovel and lay it down instead of a ace of spades from a deck of cards that can easily be brought in just didn't make any sense [01:02:22] Speaker 10: having debunked the cartel hit theory only one suspect remained [01:02:30] Speaker 46: at one point i said not to charge henry segura because i didn't think we had sufficient evidence we bat this around a lot and take this responsibility very seriously in bringing charges against somebody especially something as severe as homicide in the end for prosecutors the [01:02:48] Speaker 43: 20 000 in back child support seemed to be the motive he didn't pay he was gonna get put in jail so we believe that it was all of those things that caused him to snap even if he only killed brandy the only way that he would get out of paying this child support was if javante segura died if brandy died and not javante he would still be on the hook for the child support and the prosecution theory [01:03:17] Speaker 10: went the two twin girls were just in the wrong place at the wrong time i don't know that he was [01:03:23] Speaker 46: necessarily trying to kill to my aunt naya they were supposed to be at their grandmother's house but when he went into the home they unfortunately became victims of the plan as well [01:03:36] Speaker 49: a tallahassee man has been arrested in the brutal murder of 27 year old brandy peters and her three children henry segura was located in minnesota and has been charged with four counts of first degree [01:03:47] Speaker 10: murder and the key to bringing the case had been segura's repeated lies to detectives about his alibi [01:03:55] Speaker 40: his second phone they didn't get one additional piece of evidence after that interview the entire case was fundamentally based on the fact that he lied to him and that's it that's why it's either better to talk with a lawyer who can tell you whether to tell them the truth or not or just don't talk [01:04:13] Speaker 10: hours after being arrested segura called his wife malika from jail all she wanted to talk about [01:04:19] Speaker 50: was his philandering you're gonna get out and you're gonna be with her and i'm the other one that gave up the most you don't understand how much i love you but you don't care because you love her and i'm just [01:04:30] Speaker 51: what the apples are all right why don't we just worry about me coming home right now because i wanted to know you [01:04:36] Speaker 50: want to be with me what difference do it make because i'm separate i'm sacrificing so much you know that makes me feel [01:04:50] Speaker 46: he was essentially saying he screwed and he is going down for murder and going to spend the rest of his life in prison and he did it for her [01:05:21] Speaker 10: but as the case was set for trial henry segura's lawyer had a plan a risky strategy he had used [01:05:27] Speaker 40: successfully before i put 44 time convicted felons on the stand and had the jury find them not guilty [01:05:34] Speaker 31: on the basis of their own credibility i swear if i'm just not giving this history and that was the plan [01:05:40] Speaker 10: he had to win the case for henry segura you have to be totally honest and forthright and that includes [01:05:46] Speaker 40: putting the defendant on stand no matter what that risk is [01:05:58] Speaker 52: we are in the trial of florida it's a death penalty case versus henry segura for a quadruple [01:06:03] Speaker 10: homicide it's a retrial a retrial so henry segura and his lawyer nathan prince had reason to be optimistic because an earlier trial had resulted in a hung jury we felt very confident going into the [01:06:17] Speaker 40: second trial if anything i think that my strategy was to be slightly more aggressive i was confident [01:06:23] Speaker 10: in our evidence and the prosecution team knew it had to up its game you've got to bring your a game at [01:06:29] Speaker 46: all times especially against an opponent like mr prince and it's hard to do ladies and gentlemen you are here because on november 20th 2010 law enforcement officers responded 908 [01:06:44] Speaker 10: saddle creek run prosecutor john fuchs focused almost entirely on the lies henry segura had told about his cell phone which put him at the murder scene he thought he could pull one over the eyes [01:06:56] Speaker 46: the police department what they did they found out he had a separate phone number that he didn't tell them about and what they did when they checked that cell phone record is determined he was in fact there at the time that brandy peters and the kids were killed and the jury was shown the disturbing crime [01:07:14] Speaker 10: scene police videos and told it was all about segura upset with brandy peters threats to put him in jail [01:07:21] Speaker 46: for non-payment of child support mr segura has now found a girl he can't manipulate he gets frustrated more and more and more and ultimately apparently decided the only way out was to kill her what the evidence is going to show you henry segura had the motive he had a means and he had the opportunity to commit [01:07:39] Speaker 10: these murders and he did in fact commit them for the defense nathan prince was all in on the theory that it was a drug cartel hit not a dispute over child support payments [01:07:49] Speaker 40: you can't talk about motive though without talking about the other folks who had motive to kill brandy peters you're going to hear about carlos santos mr santos will testify in this trial that he ordered the murders that he orchestrated the murders and that's exactly what happened the prosecution knew its biggest [01:08:09] Speaker 10: weakness was the lack of physical evidence tying segura to the crime scene without incriminating dna they [01:08:16] Speaker 46: feared the so-called csi effect these tv shows have created a very unrealistic perception of the way an investigation is done a lot of the things that we do now we call analysts to explain to people why we don't have dna rather than for the purpose of showing why we do but the strength of the prosecution [01:08:39] Speaker 10: case was the police interviews and segura's lies to detective mark lewis and talking to him how many [01:08:47] Speaker 46: times in the second interview did you say he wasn't at brandy's house 23 23 times in the second interview [01:08:53] Speaker 10: never always said he was not there yes sir the tracking data on his second secret cell phone said otherwise [01:09:02] Speaker 46: i personally you interviewed henry segura is he in the courtroom yes he is please indicate you know please want him to indicate off the building he's a gentleman at the defense table wearing a black [01:09:12] Speaker 33: jacket we're going to be back live this morning in what should be an absolutely incredible day in the [01:09:27] Speaker 10: retrial of henry segura convicted felon james carlos santos was brought from prison to testify for the [01:09:35] Speaker 40: the reason i put carlos santos on the stand is because narrative matters got to give the jury as much of a narrative as you can did you end up um directing associates of yours to kill brandy peters yes sir i did and why was that um she had stolen money and drugs so why now are you willing to take the stand admit under oath and open court that you directed these murders to take place well because [01:10:19] Speaker 53: i'm on a active yard in the u.s penitentiary and being known as someone who stole from a cartel and i'm on the compound with them in fact one of them was my roommate so that could be very dangerous [01:10:32] Speaker 33: for me if i didn't did i not promise fireworks at the beginning of the day did i not say that this [01:10:38] Speaker 10: was going to happen his testimony made headlines but on cross-examination santos had a hard time remembering simple details about brandy peters how tall was she i don't remember sir you don't remember [01:10:51] Speaker 46: how tall she was was she taller than you no well she's shorter than you um i don't remember don't remember how tall she was either no this was a long time ago sure but you had this girl killed you don't remember how old she was you don't remember what she looked like no not at all this girl that ran drugs for you all these years you don't remember what she looked like you don't [01:11:11] Speaker 53: remember how tall she was i just told you what she looked like she was a dark skinny black woman [01:11:19] Speaker 47: but i think the biggest thing is he said he's known her for 10 years before she died that would make her about what 16 or 17 driving across the country to make contact with some mexican drug cartel persons and they're gonna load your car up with cocaine you can bring it back brandy peters didn't have her own car she was a child at the time [01:11:38] Speaker 10: even segura's lawyer knew santos and his testimony had problems [01:11:44] Speaker 40: you know he's crazy he's a crazy person so i don't know how much of his story is true he's lied about a lot of things do i know for certain that he ordered it and he's this big shot [01:11:53] Speaker 10: like he says i don't know that but for the defense strategy to work there was one witness who the jury absolutely had to believe current at this time the defense repel henry segura a risky but calculated decision for the defense i'm not looking for a hung jury i'm trying to win the [01:12:13] Speaker 40: case you got to give them what they want if you want a chance to win what they want is to hear from the defendant the defendant has to explain why he lied so the whole time i was there i kind of [01:12:24] Speaker 42: felt cornered i felt like i was a suspect so to speak do you remember exactly what that was based on your feeling that you were being cornered or looked at as just just being a black man inside of a small room with two white guys with guns and i was kind of scared and intimidated a little bit so [01:12:43] Speaker 40: only henry could explain why his cell phone was where it was during the time that the state showed [01:12:49] Speaker 42: it was near the victim's house at the time you lied to him right yes i mean because i didn't i honestly didn't think that me lying to him about having sex with a bunch of different women would [01:12:58] Speaker 40: you know result in me being arrested for murder that was a lie that you persisted in throughout your interviews with them correct even after they confronted you about the 408 phone yes you never gave in and just told them yeah that's my phone yeah i'm hooking up with all these women no sir henry is a dog like a lot of guy are dogs that cheat on their spouses or girlfriends or or whatever but you can't drown children while you stare into their gasping faces without being the devil you know [01:13:32] Speaker 10: that's the devil and now the prosecution needed to prove in their cross-examination that that's exactly [01:13:40] Speaker 52: who he was henry segura is back on the stand he is subject to cross-examination having finished his [01:13:53] Speaker 10: direct testimony this morning prosecutor sarah dugan got the assignment from her boss to handle the cross [01:14:00] Speaker 43: examination someone said that guy really hates women maybe a woman might be better able to somehow get under his skin maybe you know dugan should should do the cross starting with his dispute with brandy [01:14:15] Speaker 10: peters over child support payments you say no we never had an argument about child support you said that didn't you yes that's not true is it of course not no it's natural and then exposing one lie after [01:14:31] Speaker 40: another and that was a lie yes ma'am so you were lying to police obviously sarah is like a methodical cross-examination robot that just sets it up knocks it down sets it up knocks it down and that's just a [01:14:44] Speaker 43: perfect stylistic matchup for someone like henry you lied to your wife repeatedly you lied to your the rest of your family you lied to your girlfriends you lied to uh the police multiple times over the course of interviews and i mean you lied to god too right when you made all your promises to him yes and yet you're [01:15:09] Speaker 42: asking this jury to believe everything you have to say today yes because in the in the process of me lying and doing all these lines i had a whole lot of time to sit down and think about all the mistakes i made all the kids i had outside of my marriage and i've learned how to right my wrongs [01:15:30] Speaker 43: he's getting nervous and realizing he's not able to keep his story straight at one point the judge [01:15:37] Speaker 10: even interrupted as sagura and the prosecutor went back and forth we was arguing about she [01:15:41] Speaker 42: know i killed my son we're gonna arrest you for killing your son and i hung up on him so your testimony [01:15:47] Speaker 43: is that you told police in this case over the phone investigated johnson wait a minute don't interrupt [01:15:52] Speaker 54: your question mr skirt let her finish your question she's asking the same question over and over no [01:15:57] Speaker 55: she's be quiet now she has you question you wait until she finishes i'm a grown man and then answer it okay and she won't interrupt your answer either because the court reporter can't take down two people at [01:16:11] Speaker 43: once is that clear sir yeah that's very clear all right you felt the whole room tense up and i felt the jury tense up that really gave them an opportunity to see what a bad temper he has what we saw right there [01:16:31] Speaker 42: you have a little bit of a temper right i'm getting aggravated you keep asking me the same questions over [01:16:36] Speaker 43: and over like you're expecting a different answer if he would react like that to a judge just saying hey wait for her to finish her question before you answer it like how would he react to this woman who's trying to take his money for a child that she's taunting him about and saying isn't his you told your attorney that you didn't commit these murders i told the world i didn't commit these murders okay why [01:17:01] Speaker 42: wouldn't you you say why wouldn't i right because i have no reason whatsoever to kill my son or those twins neither brandy so you just have no reason to do it no reason whatsoever i wouldn't what would [01:17:13] Speaker 54: i kill a child for let alone children the attorneys now will present their final arguments the big [01:17:28] Speaker 46: question is how is the state proven that henry cigarette did this let's talk about it who has the motive who has the means and who has the opportunity to commit this murder because that's what law enforcement looks like we know that henry segura owed child support to brady peter so is there motive certainly the next returning means who's got the means to do this who's got the strength to do that aspect who's got the anger to do those beatings in the manner that they were done who's got the strength to use a [01:18:05] Speaker 10: weapon in order to cave in her skull then to the lies he told detectives all captured on the video shown [01:18:12] Speaker 46: to the jury he lied 23 times in that video alone 23 times in that one alone and then the jail phone [01:18:22] Speaker 10: called to his wife after he was arrested she says i've given up my life for you and what does he say [01:18:30] Speaker 46: looking like i gave up mine for you looking like i gave up my life for you as well after you've just been arrested for homicide and when you take all of that and put it in context he is guilty killing brainy peters to my peters to niah peters and javante's girl and ladies and gentlemen it cannot be lost that today is the ninth anniversary of these murders [01:19:07] Speaker 10: defense lawyer nathan prince knew that the jurors were particularly upset over the deaths of the three [01:19:12] Speaker 40: children it's hard to get them to get past the emotion of seeing dead children a lot of those jurors were parents and that makes a jury want to punish someone in some ways they would rather punish the wrong person than that nobody get punished folks uh this ain't baby mama drama stuff this is the most heinous violent offense in the history of tallahassee right that's not domestic violence stuff that's not oh darn i gotta pay another 200 bucks a month that's not what causes that this offense that doesn't make a father of four go drown babies doesn't make a man just had sex with this woman go [01:19:49] Speaker 10: beat her face in that doesn't make sense what did make sense segura's lawyers told the jury was the defense theory that it was a drug cartel hit on brandy peters and her children ordered by james carlos santos [01:20:03] Speaker 40: they found like seven or eight letters from santos to brandy and these are all sent within like the two weeks leading up to the murder what it says on the back of this envelope is death before dishonor word is bond bond is life and a man should give his life before his word fails dear mr mailman if this letter happens to get lost just send it to heaven because it's going to an angel on the other side it says i thank god for you and i ask that he look out for you and our three little angels chilling right [01:20:34] Speaker 10: and then an effort to explain his client's outburst the day before with the judge i put him on the [01:20:40] Speaker 40: stand knowing he's not a superstar witness all i told him was get up there and be real but you've waited for this moment get up there and be real and be you and they want to try and say because he gets frustrated that he's the killer is that your best evidence that he's the killer he got frustrated i ask that you follow the law that you promise to follow that you hold the state to its burden [01:20:59] Speaker 46: that you find mr segura not guilty when mr prince gave his closing argument i remember thinking uh-oh it was very good very passionate i thought we were we were screwed i thought we were going to be [01:21:13] Speaker 43: not guilty but then uh they came back in pretty quickly i think it was in less than three or four hours [01:21:23] Speaker 54: state of florida versus henry segura we the jury find as follows as to count one of the indictment concerning the murders of brandy peters the jury finds the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder as to count two the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder as to count three we the jury find the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder as to count four we the jury find the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder it's been dated and signed by the four person [01:22:08] Speaker 46: it was surreal quite frankly i can feel it right now uh it's you get lightheaded you think holy crap we did it and of course the sadness that the only reason you're there is because poor people lost their lives [01:22:24] Speaker 55: the moment that henry snapped at the judge i think that gave them the excuse that they [01:22:32] Speaker 40: were looking for to say yeah that's the guy we can punish somebody that was the moment i think we [01:22:37] Speaker 10: probably lost the trial but now even higher stakes as the jury would decide whether segura would get the death penalty or a sentence of life in prison this is not a case of a single murder it is a multiple [01:22:51] Speaker 56: murder it is a murder of a family it is a murder of children but then a surprise as the defense came [01:22:59] Speaker 10: up with an unconventional and aggressive strategy frankly we were hoping for a death verdict because [01:23:06] Speaker 40: as you can probably tell i'm pretty cynical about the entire process and know that you don't get the same attention from appellate courts without a death verdict on the table and henry and i talked about that and we talked about what a psychotically aggressive strategy that was to invite the death sentence we believe the best way to protect him was to invite a death verdict do you wish them to make an argument [01:23:28] Speaker 54: in opposition to the death penalty no i didn't know and what is your thinking on this i'm thinking [01:23:36] Speaker 42: that whoever's responsible for these crimes deserved it if they feel i'm guilty then they should send me to death [01:23:43] Speaker 54: so you understand by taking this action it's just going to increase the likelihood that the jury will come back and recommend a death penalty and that ultimately i would order that penalty if they so [01:23:59] Speaker 10: recommend it yes and that's what you want to happen yes the jury did not take long to make its decision [01:24:08] Speaker 54: on how henry segura should be punished we the jury unanimously find that henry segura should not be sentenced to death as to each of the four counts not sentenced to death but life in prison exactly [01:24:25] Speaker 10: what henry segura did not want to have happen a surprise outcome that denied segura what his lawyers [01:24:32] Speaker 40: thought was his best shot at appeal i don't know if the life sentence was reflective of doubt or if they just did it to screw us because obviously we were inviting a death sentence justice in its own way for [01:24:46] Speaker 10: the murders of brandy peters and her three children condemning henry segura to a life behind bars without [01:24:53] Speaker 54: the possibility of the possibility of parole there's nothing further we'll be in research