SAM BATEMAN Trial - Jury Seated & Nerves High as Sam Preps His Opening Statements

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: County Courthouse in Flagstaff, Arizona with an update, a trial update and some information. So just want to make sure everyone can hear me. And while I'm waiting for people to join, I'm going to see if I can't pull this chat up. It says, Hey, Grayson, my chat is not showing up again. I have clicked. I'll just show this. Can I show you? Yeah, here's Grayson. I have like, so like I've said, um, all messages and it's like just not showing up. Oh, there's games. Yeah. Games. Someone needs a new phone. I think it might be a phone issue. I'll see. I put all messages chats enabled. That's so strange. I know. Right. I don't know. I was hoping to fix it yesterday for those that were with me. Um, you know, that I didn't have chat and I love chat. That's my favorite thing about life. So I can see all of you and talk to all of you anyway. Uh, Grayson is checking out chat and I want to fill you in on the Sam Bateman trial. I'm actually going to head to the car because I want to talk about jury selection and some things going on, um, about the Sam Bateman trial. And there are people here that I cannot hear about the case witnesses in other words. So we can't talk about the case with them. So I'm going to head to the car. Here's the, um, courthouse though. This is where I am. I'll just show you beautiful, beautiful flagstaff. It's so nice here. And, um, let me tell you about this case too. Uh, I I'm honestly, I'm so surprised that this trial has been sort of under the radar and that people haven't heard about it. Sam Bateman for those that don't know, trust me, the false prophet documentary. So they didn't necessarily know what this trial is about. Sam Bateman. He's been sort of known as Warren Jeffs 2.0 for those that know who Warren Jeffs is and an FLDS false prophet. Someone that, uh, was a cult leader that took many, many wives who to abuse them, including children, horrific, horrific crimes. And trust me, a false prophet is a Netflix documentary. It was number one worldwide. So I assumed that many people had seen it. I understand that not everybody even has Netflix. It follows the investigation into Sam Bateman, Dr. Christine Marie. She is a friend of mine. She is this hero in this show, following along, trying to get the FBI involved, trying to get law enforcement involved, showing the abuse, her and her husband, Tolga film, send stuff to the FBI, get an investigation open. And ultimately through that Netflix documentary, he is, he is charged and convicted on federal charges because he was crossing state lines with children for criminal acts. Thus, um, thus, uh, you know, the FBI gets involved. Hold on. I've got someone coming over. What's up? I can fix it. I'm just gonna put this here and you can see live chat there. Oh, okay. I can see the live chat. Now it does make me feel better. Okay. Like I do. I want to see everyone. Hey everyone. Hello. Hello. So I just think it's, I have a very old phone. I think my phone's just, you know, I think they pull a switch on Apple when your phone hits a certain, uh, age, just, uh, just to be like, you know, it shut down every aspect of her phone and make it not work. So she's forced to go buy a new phone. I think that's happened. I think they flipped the switch on my phone, the deconstruct. So anyway, I can't see the, I can see the chat now. Hello, everybody. Lynn and Lindsay Mortensen is asking if this is going to be televised. So this, this is why we're here. Actually a lot of, so, well, first, let me, I will answer that. Uh, first, let me, yes. And no is the answer. It's complicated. So first, let me explain what this case is. So there's this federal case. He has 50 years in prison on his federal charges, plus lifetime supervision for transporting, uh, conspiracy to transport a minor across state lines for criminal acts and conspiracy to kidnap. He took a plea deal and, and those were ultimately his charges and his sentencing. What people don't seem to realize is he was never, he never went to trial until now for his state charges in the state of Arizona. And this is all based on the infamous traffic stop where a 911 caller calls saying they see little tiny fingers sticking out of the slats of the trailer. What's going on a trailer being pulled by a vehicle. So police pull the person over who's on the freeway to find out that there are miners in the truck. There were actually three miners in the back of the truck. There were other people, including gnomes or Naomi from the Netflix documentary that were in the cab, not in the back of the truck, in the trailer. Yeah. And the trailer and they were, uh, they were, I believe 10, 11, the ones in the truck and, and 14, maybe 12. Yeah. No 12. There was a 12 year old, 10, 11, 12. I'll double check. But as I recall, those were the three ages and all three of those girls will be testifying at this trial. So back to Lindsay's question about, will this be televised? There is going to be a photographer in the courtroom and we will have access to that footage. It is not going to be live stream because of the nature of this trial where many of the witnesses are still miners and they are the victims of Sam Bateman, some of them, his young wives. And for that reason, not live streaming. And they're going to be mostly, sometimes even during these witness testimonies, not filming, but they will be filming Sam Bateman. Why? Because Sam Bateman, the grandiose, you know, God-like figure that he thinks he is, uh, will be representing himself. He will be his own attorney. So as I pointed out, Lori Vallow, 2.0, which also makes this trial, in my opinion, a very big deal. We have somebody that has been convicted of heinous crimes, a prisoner who has, has done horrific things to, to women and children. And he's going to represent himself, be his own attorney, which means ultimately that these child victims who are still children will not only be having to testify and relive some heartbreaking things. They're going to have to face their abuser again, but they're going to be cross-examined by him. In other words, they're going to be questioned on the stand children by Sam Bateman himself. I mean, again, for those that know, this is like Warren Jeffs doing this. Can you imagine that? I know that more people are more familiar with Warren Jeffs until this documentary, you know, broke, uh, who Sam Bateman is, uh, you know, in this FLDS community in short Creek, it's on the border of Arizona and Utah, Hilldale, Utah, Colorado city, um, Colorado city, Arizona. And by the way, I used to report there as a TV reporter. That was a place I was, as I was a correspondent for Salt Lake city reporting there. That's actually how I got to know Dr. Christine over a decade ago. And she has been a dear friend of mine for years and gnomes, Naomi, uh, someone people really got to know and watch her transformation in this Netflix documentary will also be testifying, which is actually why I came into the vehicle. We have been hanging out with gnomes, but we cannot talk about the case with her. We know gnomes, uh, she can't hear about the case. She can't talk about the case. And we're going to talk about jury selection right now too. So we definitely can't bring anything up. So, um, in fact, I'm looking and there's Dr. Christine is out there. Naomi's out there gnomes on the FBI agent. Yeah. Dawn the FBI agent is out there. She's in the, uh, Netflix documentary as well. Um, in fact, I'll just, so they're all there hanging out, but again, no one is to talk about any part of this case with any of them. So here we are in the car and she's also going to have to face her, um, abuser on the stand. Many of them are. So what I believe the court's plan is right now, just so you understand, is that once jury selection is over, they're going to start with the youngest victims and work their way up. Youngest to oldest, uh, you know, and I, I, everybody that was at this traffic stop, ultimately this, the, the trailer of the truck was filthy. There was a makeshift toilet in this truck. It was getting hot in this truck. And those little fingers that, that the 911 caller saw sticking out of the trailer, the reason why that was happening was because they couldn't keep, they were on the freeway and could not keep the, uh, trailer door shut. They were holding on for dear life, hoping that it didn't fling open and they all go out into the, to the freeway. That also so dangerous. I also learned yesterday, I was on web sleuths yesterday with Trisha Griffith, kind of giving the first day of jury selection. So go check that out. Web sleuths. Um, I was on, and I actually misspoke on web sleuths. I, I, I correct myself. I said that, well, a couple of things I said only at one girl was holding the trailer door open. It was actually a group effort back there. They were holding on for dear life. Also, I misspoke and said that like, yeah, how could they call Sam Bateman, right? Who was up driving this, the vehicle and say, Hey, by the way, the, the trailer doors are flinging open. I learned otherwise, actually there was a cell phone in the trailer and they did call Sam before he even got on the freeway and said, the trailer door is not latch. It's not shutting. And he ignored it. And he's like, you know what? I'm gonna, I'm gonna just keep driving. We'll worry about it at the next exit. Can you believe that? I mean, that was, that was an element I had not understood. So there you go. Anyway, this trial, yes, there will be footage of Sam Bateman. It will not be live. We will have the footage. We will be bringing you the latest updates. And that's why we're here. At Hidden Two Grant, we always ask what trials can we bring value to? How can we bring value to reporting, um, on a certain trial? And with this, uh, being not very, you know, highly publicized, not having a live stream, understanding that not every victim's testimony is going to be, uh, filmed. We want to bring you everything happening in the courtroom each day. And Sam Bateman, of course, uh, representing himself is just wild. And honestly, to me, this is a power move. What I think is, is why is Sam Bateman doing this? He took a plea. He, he took a plea for the federal charges, right? He was offered a plea for the state's case. Like he could just, uh, they, they, they offered him essentially six years. It could be served at the exact same time as his federal charges. Like that's a pretty damn good plea deal. And he didn't take it. And not only did he not take it, he wants to represent himself. So in my opinion, looking at this from an outsider, I'm thinking this is a power move. He wants to face his victims. He wants some last words, some final moments and nerves are high. You know, why else do this? That's my thought. So this brings us to jury selection. Let me tell you what's going on. Yesterday, jury selection was a little bit more, uh, a little bit more, uh, basic. Oh, and I want to say this too. This courthouse has been very transparent with everybody as much as they can be. Again, there will be a videographer in there. This is voir dire jury selection, which is very, it's usually the most, um, carefully, you know, guarded part of a trial because you have to protect jurors identities and nobody can really sit. We learned in this courtroom because it is so tiny and they, it is full of potential jurors. If there was room, they would let us sit and there just simply isn't room. They have actually allowed us, uh, uh, those that need to hear the media that's here audio. So we are listening in on the, on voir dire on the jury selection yesterday, more basic. They were essentially asking groups of jurors, um, really simple questions. They did mention that this is a child abuse case. Some potential jurors requested at that moment to be released because they simply could not do child abuse charges. And then they also, uh, you know, just sort of generally asked if they had any prejudices or, or biases against police, which is a common question in a jury selection. Today, it's gotten a little bit more interesting. They have been taking potential jurors in one by one for additional questioning. This was a favorite moment of mine this morning. A, um, a potential juror goes in and essentially the judge, this is a quote from the judge. He said, you know, we just have to suss out a few more things. Um, I don't know why I giggled. I just never heard a judge say that he just needed to suss some things out. But I was like, I hear you judge. Suss these potential jurors out. Suss away. So, uh, this, this individual, um, he, he was a preacher for a while and he specifically asked this potential juror if he's has any prejudice against any religious groups. He said, no, he actually focuses on compassion. And then the judge specifically asked about the FLDS faith. So they are bringing up the FLDS faith to potential jurors. So they're going to know that this is, um, a unique, case before they go in there. Cause I wondered, I was like, are they going to be shocked when they see the prairie dresses on that infamous body camera footage, uh, that we've all, many of us who've been following this case have seen on the trust me documentary, but, uh, he is letting potential jurors know that this is an FLDS case. And the response from this gentleman was what's a FLDS. What does the F stand for? And the judge said that stands for fundamentalist. And you could hear this potential juror sort of taking this in going, Oh, okay. Um, no. And then he kind of reiterated, no, I, you know, I'm, I'm for compassion. Um, he also admitted to helping somebody who did have a sex crime conviction, uh, post once they were out of, out of prison. Um, you know, I don't know if he'll be ultimately chosen as a juror, but made it very clear that, uh, he holds no prejudice against any religion. So they are today bringing up specifically that this is a case that involves, uh, sort of a fringe group, right? And the FLDS, uh, religion and people that will be sitting in the courtroom are wearing prairie dresses. There are people that are FLDS on both sides of this, both the, the defense and the prosecution that are FLDS, those that, um, and I'll tell you a little bit about Sam Bateman's witnesses. Sam Bateman has called witnesses. He has three witnesses, although I will say he looks like he's going to strike one. So none of these witnesses, by the way, this is interesting, have been subpoenaed by Sam Bateman. What does that mean? That means they're like willing to testify. They're like, yeah, I got you. I got you, Samuel Bateman. Uh, I'll testify for you for the defense. Um, although again, there is, and I'm going to go through all the witnesses and, um, on Sam Bateman, the defense's side that are going to testify for Sam Bateman. Cause it is fascinating. You're like, cause I don't know if you're thinking what I'm thinking, but I'm like, who, who would, would testify for Sam Bateman right now? Right? Like Warren Jeffs, for example, Warren Jeffs had a hold on the entire community. He was profit over the entire FLDS community. That's not the case with Samuel Bateman. Samuel Bateman started sort of his own offshoot called the Samulites. He would never said that I am the prophet over all the FLDS. I mean, he did say he was the prophet over like the world. He thought like Jesus Christ should be worshiping him and, and Joseph Smith and, and you know, the queen of England. I mean, the guy's grandiose, but he was never proclaimed like the prophet over the FLDS group. Like Warren Jeffs was, who still has a strong hold. So Samuel Bateman, again, a lot of those that are FLDS are like, we hate this guy. So who would he get to testify for him? It was, it was a question for me. Like who could he possibly get? Here are the three people, although one of them looks like they're going to strike. So, and I, I want to share a little bit more about them. One of them is Galilee Biceline. So Galilee Biceline is a Samuel follower still. Yes, there are still Samuel followers. If anybody was wondering, there you go. So Galilee Biceline was married to Liddell Johnson. Liddell Johnson is behind bars. For those, for a quick reminder, Liddell Johnson and Moroni, those two are behind bars because they essentially trafficked young girls and, and gave Samuel their wives and, and trafficked and sexually abused. So the, so Galilee Biceline was married to Liddell Johnson and has two kids with Liddell Johnson, who is behind bars. She's still kind of, she considers herself married still to him. Right. That's what I said. She's married to Liddell Johnson and has two kids with him. Yeah. Sam strike Galilee based on her desire to not testify. So again, none of these witnesses have been subpoenaed. They don't have to. And Samuel saying, yeah, sure. No problem. But why? Let me tell you why. So essentially she's requested to not testify for him as a witness for the defense, but she plans to be in the courtroom every single day. As we know, if you're testifying in a trial, you don't get the privilege of sitting in the courtroom and listening to all the other witnesses testify, right? You have to wait your turn and the defense is last. So Galilee, if she testified for Samuel Bateman, should not be able to show up until after all of the prosecution's witnesses go, all of Sam Bateman's victims, the minor girls, everything. She wouldn't be able to watch that and hear it. And maybe perhaps report back to Sam and other Samulites and other followers of Sam. So I think this is a strategic power play, in my opinion, speculation for I'm seeing from the outside looking in. I think that Galilee saying, you know what, Sam, I'm not going to testify for you. Um, but I'm going to sit in the courtroom every day as a Sam follower is a strategic move to be able to kind of report back and be a mole. Essentially, we call those moles, right? Snitches. Here's what's going on. Here's what all the minor, here's what all the children are saying. And, and this is where they all stand. So I find it fascinating that this witness is now, uh, maybe, uh, willingly going to be striked by struck, I don't know, by, um, Sam. In other words, she's not going to be a witness anymore. And they agree on it. Thank you so much, Susie. I really appreciate it. We need caffeine. We're going to use that for caffeine. Thank you. So then Brenda Barlow, this is another fascinating witness for the defense for Sam Bateman, because this one kind of blows my mind. This is like a continuation of trust me, a false prophet. You want to find out what happened to many of the women who were essentially charged, convicted and sentenced and put in prison for their part in the abuse of young girls. Even if they were, you know, some people say they didn't know what was happening. Gnomes spent time. Yeah. Yeah. Go check out. Yeah. Go check out what's happening. Gnomes spent, oh, people are walking into the courthouse guys. Jury selection might be over. Gnomes, uh, you know, has, you know, she says prison saved her life and she's out and she her, her, her world has been opened. So you think, oh, did that happen to every one of these women behind bars once they got out of prison yet? Grayson's running. She's running. She's hustling. She's saying, get out. Okay. Trial starts opening statements. I'll just finish this as I walk out. Um, anyway, Brenda, I'm just gonna say this, Brenda, um, we grabbed that. I know Brenda, um, was a wife of Sam's, Brenda Barlow. She gets out of prison. What does she do? Goes back to Sam. So yeah. So, so it's prison didn't save everybody's lives. She literally just like went back and listen to this. Brenda was originally charged with, uh, she spent time in prison. Uh, she was charged with 11 counts of kidnapping, transporting a minor for sexual activity, transferring obscure material to minors. And then after her release, she went back to Sam's cult. Uh, she did plead guilty. She took a plea deal and she pleaded guilty to only one count conspiracy to commit tampering with an official proceeding in exchange for other charges dropped. Then the third witness for Sam, I'll rush through this is Pamela Johnson Barlow. Sam said that she was married to Johnson, married to Barlow, mother of, of Brenda. She's the mother of Brenda and she is still a Sam follower. Um, Sam is also, Sam has also declined to interview any of his witnesses for. It's gonna be fascinating. We're headed into opening statements. We'll be bringing you the latest tonight. We'll see ya. Hit subscribe, hit notification. You never want to get it live. See you guys. Bye.