Real Life Real Crime | Attorney C. D’Aquila Breaks Down the Jacob Mansell Case – Part 1

Summary

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Real Life Real Crime | Attorney C. D’Aquila Breaks Down the Jacob Mansell Case – Part 1

Podcast: Real Life Real Crime
Host: Woody Overton
Guest: Defense Attorney C. D’Aquila
Date: May 15, 2026

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Overview

In this gripping and complex episode, Woody Overton welcomes Attorney C. D’Aquila to break down the controversial Jacob Mansell case. Focusing on the tangled web of custody disputes, allegations of abuse, and concerns about parental alienation, Woody and D’Aquila provide listeners with both legal expertise and real-world perspective on a case that has sparked considerable attention on social media and in local news. The discussion sheds light on how accusations can be influenced by family dynamics, the forensic process, and the broader issues within the justice system when it comes to custody battles involving children.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background of the Jacob Mansell Case

[03:16 – 04:33]

• Jacob Mansell, represented by C. D’Aquila, is embroiled in a custody battle following allegations involving his ex-wife and her father (the children's grandfather).
• The case originated from a family law/custody matter where Mansell believed his ex-wife violated an existing custody judgment.
• The mother responded with her own allegations, eventually leading to a protective order hearing.

2. Timeline & Nature of Allegations

[04:33 – 10:32]

• The allegations derived from the oldest daughter, who allegedly reported inappropriate behavior by her grandfather, not Mansell.
• Initial complaints were vague, often made via third parties like nurse practitioners (not directly to law enforcement).
• Child underwent multiple interviews, including with the Child Advocacy Center (CAC), where initial disclosures were inconsistent or absent.
• Law enforcement explained to the mother that there was insufficient evidence to support charges based solely on discomfort or uncertainty.

Woody Overton [06:02]:
“The child does [the disclosure]? Or the moment that - ”
D’Aquila [06:04]:
“That’s correct. So allegedly, the child.”

3. Court & Forensic Evaluations

[10:48 – 15:41]

• Renowned forensic psychologist Dr. Alan Taylor was court-appointed to conduct child custody evaluations in 2022 and after the protective order hearing.
• Dr. Taylor’s assessment described the mother as having significant mental health concerns, including borderline and histrionic personality disorders.
• The doctor's reports emphasized that the mother was "toxic to the children" and highlighted the dangers of "spillover" from parental mental health issues.

Woody Overton [11:10]:
“It’s not a defense attorney and it’s not the prosecution. It’s not unfairly swayed. It’s appointed by the judge... The judge is like, you know what, let the professional F around and find out, right?”

4. Parental Alienation

[20:34 – 26:58]

• Dr. Taylor identified “the worst case of parental alienation he’s ever seen” in his many decades of practice.
• Alienation was observed during child interviews: children behaved positively with their father in Dr. Taylor’s presence, but instantly reverted to distress upon reuniting with their mother.
• Parental alienation was described in detail: the mother, herself a childhood trauma survivor, unknowingly projects her past into her children's present, prompting them for negative experiences during or after visits with their father.

D’Aquila [22:44]:
“Dr. [Taylor] said that this was, this is the worst case of parental alienation that he has ever seen in his career.”

Woody Overton [23:56]:
“So parental alienation is whenever one parent turns the children against the other... It can be deliberate or non-deliberate.”

5. Issues with Interview Procedures

[26:58 – 38:27]

• The child was interviewed an “alarming” six times by various authorities (CAC, nurses, detectives), far exceeding best practice.
• Both host and attorney criticized detectives for bypassing standard protocol: after a CAC interview, law enforcement should NOT conduct additional interviews that risk contaminating evidence or coaching the child.
• D’Aquila emphasized the risk of repeated questioning leading children to “say what they think adults want to hear” rather than the truth.

Woody Overton [29:29]:
“I don’t know how the detectives got to interview this child three separate times besides CACs, that in itself is... it’s alarming... It’s unfathomable.”

D’Aquila [28:20]:
“One of the facets [of admissibility] is that the statement was not made in response to questioning, calculated to lead... to make a particular statement.”

6. Sequence of Allegations and Shifting Details

[30:28 – 38:38]

• Mother repeatedly brought the child for medical exams and additional interviews, consistently seeking out new professionals to prompt disclosures.
• The content and severity of the child’s allegations shifted over time, sometimes absent, sometimes present, raising doubt about their reliability.
• Final allegations included touching over and under clothing, with details appearing to evolve after each new adult interview.

Notable Moment:
Woody Overton [38:01]:
“You ask it the first time and you get the negative answer, and then you... ask it again. At a certain point, a kid’s gonna tell you whatever it is they think you want to hear because they don’t want to be in the room talking about people touching their privates.”

7. Arrest Warrant & Legal Response

[38:38 – 44:54]

• Arrest warrant was obtained based solely on the final detective interview, not the entirety of the child’s statements or the care team’s findings.
• D’Aquila criticized the affidavit for probable cause as misleading by omission.
• Mansell was charged with sexual battery and second-degree rape, both serious felonies.
• After his arrest, further evidence (Dr. Taylor’s report, a polygraph, records of school absences) supported the defense; the court reversed the protective order and returned custody to Mansell pending a full hearing.

Woody Overton [39:09]:
“Where she asked her multiple times. Anyone insert that?”

D’Aquila [41:17]:
“He [Dr. Taylor] said, you can tell by the way that she’s talking... this is a child that’s trying to please one parent but not want to get the other parent too much in trouble...”

8. Judge’s Decision & Ongoing Proceedings

[44:02 – 45:14]

• Judge Jones, after reviewing all evidence and hearing from Dr. Taylor, granted emergency (“ex parte”) custody to Mansell, revoked the protective order, barred contact with the mother, and scheduled a hearing.

D’Aquila [44:54]:
“After hearing everything that we discussed with him, she granted my client the ex parte custody... lifted or dismissed the protective order that was issued against him, and said mom can have zero contact with the children and set it for a hearing on April 29th.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Woody Overton [03:10]: “There are basically three sides to every story: his, hers, and the truth.”
• D’Aquila [22:44]: “This is the worst case of parental alienation that he [Dr. Taylor] has ever seen in his career.”
• Woody Overton [29:29]: “It’s... unfathomable” (on multiple interviews with the child by detectives).
• Woody Overton [38:01]: “At a certain point, a kid’s gonna tell you whatever it is they think you want to hear.”
• D’Aquila [41:17]: “You can tell that this is a child that’s trying to please one parent but not want to get the other parent too much in trouble.”

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• [03:16] Introduction of Attorney C. D’Aquila and Jacob Mansell's case background
• [04:33] Description of initial allegations and protective order process
• [10:48] Role and findings of forensic psychologist Dr. Alan Taylor
• [22:44] Dr. Taylor’s conclusions on extreme parental alienation
• [26:58] Critique of repeated forensic/child advocacy interviews and the risk of leading questions
• [38:38] Arrest warrant proceedings and issue with limited evidence cited
• [44:02] Emergency court decision returning physical custody to Mansell

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Conclusion

This episode illuminates the tangled, emotionally charged, and easily misunderstood world of family court and child abuse allegations. Woody and C. D’Aquila dissect not just the legal mechanics but the very human frailties and conflicts that can drive such cases off the rails. Meticulously laying out the timeline, psychological assessments, and procedural errors, they invite listeners to consider how easy – and devastating – it can be for family dynamics, trauma, and systemic lapses to upend lives.

To Be Continued:
The episode ends with Woody announcing a follow-up episode that will address the actions of local authorities and dive further into the explosive reactions on social media and in the press.

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Transcript

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[Woody Overton]

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney prior to and during any question. If you can't afford one, the court appoint one for you. Do you understand your rights?

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And the wolf is at your core. Your running's over, that's for sure. It already knows all about you

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Cut you down no matter about you now you better watch the I feel. I feel.

[Woody Overton]

Hello everybody, and welcome to this episode of Real Life, Real Crime, the podcast. As always, I'm your host, Woody Overton. Today I'm gonna take a little bit of different spin on something. Y' all know I don't usually get involved in any type of politics or, you know, ongoing cases and stuff, but I think this is an issue that needs to be addressed. It's come across social media a couple nights ago because of some news reports that were put out. And then last night the the defense attorney who's involved the case in the case made his own fake book post about it. And I think the world needs to see that there are basically three sides to every story. His, hers and the truth. But this one the I can't tell you how I had some personal knowledge of it, but I can just tell you that I have the attorney, the defense attorney side to Quilla with me on the phone. He's listening right now. Say hi.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Sigh how you doing, Woody?

[Woody Overton]

All right, brother. I'm doing good. So the let's y' all talking about a case of a guy, a dad, a name Jacob Mansell. Is that correct, sir?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That's Correct.

[Woody Overton]

And he's a client of yours?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That is correct.

[Woody Overton]

All right, so the. If you want to just take it kind of ad lib from the top. I mean, I know what I know. Tell us how you came to be your client, what charges are and then we'll give discuss in what has and hasn't happened and what shouldn't have happened and everything else.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Sure. So I started representing Mr. Mansell in a. In a. He came to see me and I was retained to begin representing him on a family law matter, a custody matter and.

[Woody Overton]

Meaning he and his wife.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

He and his ex wife.

[Woody Overton]

That's right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

The last, the last custody order, I think was in place back in 2022. There were some things that, that the mother of the children had done that was in violation of the previous judgment. So we, we went to hold her in contempt of court on that and, and then asked the court to modify custody based upon some of the decisions she had made.

[Woody Overton]

Okay.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

The mother then files and of course brings out a long laundry list of things that my client allegedly did in the next partake custody order. The. The trial judge denied it. And then two days later, the mother files a protective order on behalf of the children, making allegations that. Not my client, but my clients, her, actually her dad. So her dad was living with my client. That goes to tell you the family dynamics.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Her. Her dad was living with my client and supposedly the. Their oldest daughter made some allegations that the grandpa inappropriately touched her. Right. Right. So in. In the protective order that she filed, she only said in the written part of it. And the minor child revealed that something sexually inappropriate occurred at my client's house.

[Woody Overton]

And who, who did the child supposedly cry this out to? The mother?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Well, no. So I think the child. And this is fun. This is a pattern of conduct that's going on ever since this began. The. For whatever reason, the mom just. Just so happens to bring the child into the doctor's office to speak to a nurse practitioner and then while she's there, she reveals these things to the nurse practitioner. Right.

[Woody Overton]

The child does. Or the moment that.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That's correct. That's correct. So allegedly the child.

[Woody Overton]

Right, right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

I don't have those records yet.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

So anyway, we had. We had a trial on the matter. Unfortunately, the minor child had to testify and her testimony was scattered at best.

[Woody Overton]

Let me interrupt real quick. The. Let's go back to the original judge, the modified custody that y'. All. We're talking about east and west Luciana, that pretty sure the alleged victim lives in St. Francisville which is West Feliciana. But there's two judges on the bench and it's Judge Betsy Jones and Judge Sidney Walker, who was handled the original one.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

So. Right. So the custody matter is in Judge Betsy Jones division.

[Woody Overton]

Okay.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Always has been.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Okay. Okay. So we're having this hearing with, with Judge Jones. The little girl couldn't really recall any specific incident. Kind of. She kind of said that. That dad might have brushed up against her or touched her. I mean, not that grandpa. Some kind of way, but she kind of blacked out and doesn't remember anything.

[Woody Overton]

Right. I gotta interrupt you again. Approximately how old is she?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Just turned 13.

[Woody Overton]

And was there a CAC interview, a child Advocacy center interview done before this hearing?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Yes. So there was one at that point in time, there was one CAC interview that was done. And at that CAC interview, she didn't reveal anything. And the investigating officer said, after all those interviews, I spoke with the children's mother. I explained that while I understood her concern, there was not enough evidence at that time to pursue criminal charges based solely on the children reporting discomfort or uncertainty about events.

[Woody Overton]

Okay.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

All right. So we had that hearing and shocking to me, Judge Jones granted the protective order. Right. Because she said that there's obviously something going on in this minor child's life. Like in other words, she could tell that she was reaching out for some type of help.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

And I think at the time Judge Jones felt the best thing to do would be to get her out of

[Woody Overton]

an uncomfortable situation, to err on the side of caution, as any good judge would be.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

I can't. I can't fault Judge Jones.

[Woody Overton]

No, no.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

She's always made great rulings and she. She basically restricted my clients contact with all three minor children to every weekend for just four hours a weekend. Okay. Now after that hearing that we had, the child then goes back for a third interview, she was referred back to cac, where she was then referred to the care team for medical and forensic evaluation.

[Woody Overton]

Right. Which is pretty standard, y'. All. In any case, when they. They would. No matter what age the child is, one of the parts they're going to do is look for any physical signs of trauma.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

So then. Right. So then of course, the police report states that later that evening Ms. Williams contacted me and stated that after leaving the first CAC interview, the minor child began to share additional statements. Right. How convenient.

[Woody Overton]

And Ms. Williams is the mother.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That is correct. So then the child goes to this care team. The detective on the case did not go there. However, the care team did what they had to do and reported back to the detective. And the detective quotes in her report, following the care team's assessment, staff reported concerns that some of the allegations may have been influenced by outside conversation or coaching. Period.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Then she goes on to say that at this time, based on the available information, the lack of corroborative evidence, and the care team's findings, I am closing this case pending any new information or evidence that may arise.

[Woody Overton]

Right. So basically, y', all, she's taking it. The criminal charges, any, any likelihood of criminal charges off the table unless she finds out something else.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Right. Which the mother knew about it. Okay.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

So four years ago, whenever the parties initially went through this custody battle, Dr. Alan Taylor, who is a clinical psychologist and forensic psychologist in Baton Rouge, does child custody evaluations. Back in 2022, he was appointed to do a custody evaluation on the parties back then.

[Woody Overton]

And y', all, I'm gonna interrupt you outside so the regular people can understand. First of all, I know of Dr. Taylor and, and the reputation, but the main thing is he's appointed by the court. So it's not, it's not a defense attorney and it's not the prosecution. It's not unfairly swayed. It's appointed by the judge. I'm assuming it's Judge Jones at this time still.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That is correct.

[Woody Overton]

And so the judge is like, you know what, let the professional F around and find out. Right?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That's. That is correct. So Dr. Taylor's. I can't tell you the number of cases I've been involved in where he is court appointed.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

As, as the, you know, as, as the child custody evaluator. So four years ago, when he goes in and does his assessment, he basically says, hey, look, mom's got a pretty significant mental condition. And as a matter of fact, at that time, I wasn't representing Mr. Mansell. He was being represented by another attorney.

[Woody Overton]

Right. Hey, let me, let me say this real quick. I know I'm interrupting, but listen, this very important. When you go through these things, y', all, they test the parents, they test the children, they test. It's all kinds of. They don't just go sit down and have a 10 minute interview with this doctor. It's a series of things, steps that are proven because it's been used in so many other cases and they've been adapted over the years. These are, it's a. Everybody's given the same fair shot, correct?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Everyone is given a battery of tests, mental, mental health tests to where they, they could diagnose you if you have A severe mental disorder. Say, here's your issues. Correct. And they interview the parties. They interview the children. They interview. If children have counselors. There's a parenting coordinator.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah. Witnesses or whatever. Yeah, Yep.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That is correct. So. And when Dr. Taylor completes his report. Well, completes his investigation in the case, before he renders a report, he always gets the attorneys that come in the chat with him. Okay. And like I said, I wasn't the attorney that. That represented Mr. Mansell at the time, but obviously, they went in for the meeting that they had with Dr. Taylor, then they. They discussed certain things in there, and then he issued his report. Okay, well, once he issued his report in 2022, it was different from what they had discussed in the meeting with him. And Mr. Manel's previous attorney send him a letter kind of calling him out on it, which he has admitted to me is correct. And in that. In. In that, Dr. Taylor stated that the mom cannot stop stuff from spilling over to the kids. And he stated that mom was toxic to the children.

[Woody Overton]

Right. Hold on one second, man. Earth again, y'. All. When you. When the. Any type of child sexual allegation goes on, the first thing they tell the parents and for specifically the cops, you don't ask any questions. That's what we have cacs for. But back to the parents, they say if the child brings it up, you can leave it on open and question, but you're not supposed to discuss it in detail with the child because they are in fear that you will unfairly influence them. And that's the truth.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Yeah. Yeah. And so this was back in 2022, before there was any. Before there was any. Any allegations of any sex abuse. And he. He said that mom was toxic to the children, that dad was indulgent in passes, but there was no drama in his household, and he was not toxic to the children. He also stated that the mom had a severe personality disorder, which he labeled as a borderline personality disorder and histrionic. And he also stated that if they stay in mom's care, mom's issues will spill over directly and. Will spill over and directly affect and hurt the children. Okay, Right. So that was back in 2022. Judge Jones ordered that Dr. Taylor do a reevaluation after we had the hearing on that protective order. So he did a reevaluation, which he basically did the same thing over again.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

And,

[Woody Overton]

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[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

now. So maybe I'm putting the cart before the horse.

[Woody Overton]

All right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Dr. Taylor was is doing these evaluations. Okay, so he's talking to mom with he's talking to the kids, talking to dad. And. Remember, the children are primarily living with mom now because the protective order was in place, which by the way, we did a file an appeal on it and hadn't been heard yet. But it's, it's moot now. But anyway, he sits down, he talks to mom and then he meets with mom and the children. And while he's in the room talking with mom and the children, he's like, okay, you and my y' all had a good visit with Mom. He the next visit visit is going to be with dad and Dr. Taylor said that as soon as he said that, the children started jumping up and down, acting hysterical. Oh my God, I can't be in front of my dad. No, please don't make me do it. X, Y and Z. And Dr. Keller. No, no, no, no. This is what's going to happen the next visit. Dad's gonna already be in the room. Mom's gonna bring you here, I'm gonna walk you up, we're gonna visit with dad. When we get done visiting with dad, I'm gonna walk you back down the mob. And he said once he told him that the children calm down.

[Woody Overton]

Right?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

He said the visit with dad, Dad's in the room, brings the children in the room, the children interact with dad. He said absolutely the most normal thing that I've ever seen in my life. The children are happy, they're joking with dad, they're playing with dad. Everything was fine. He said when it was time for me to bring him back down the mom. And his office is two stories. He says as I'm walking them down the stairs, they flip the switch and go back to this hysterical outcry of, of how terrible it was to have to meet with dad.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Dr. He said that this was, this is the worst case of parental alienation that he has ever seen in his career. And I don't want to put an age on Dr. Taylor, but I think he's in the 70s.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

And he's, and he's done hundreds of these things.

[Woody Overton]

Well, hey, let's, let's talk about that real quick. The. So people. And I'm, I am almost 1000% positive Dr. Taylor would record it. The interviews with the children. He's in the room with them by himself, maybe had an assistant or what have you. So there. I mean, if he says it's totally normal, the. And it's good. And then when he. As soon as they are away from dad and they're going back down to mom, they flip the switch again. And so, but so I need you to define for. Most people don't even know what my, the, what the parent alienation is.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

So parental alienation is whenever one child turns, when one parent turns the children against the other. Okay. It can be deliberate where they tell the children negative things that have happened in dad's life. Or it could be non deliberate where conscientiously, they don't think that they're doing anything wrong, but they're actually doing it.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

And that's, that's the case with this.

[Woody Overton]

Let me get you again, brother. Just. I Know I interrupt you a lot. So y'. All. Mattelia. I've had cases on both sides where one, it's a nasty custody battle and the parent is, you know, sometimes it just happens and it's unfortunate with the parents. She's going to ride the other parent no matter what. Right. Because they're with someone else or whatever, not paying. Whatever it may be, not paying child support or whatever the other one is being. Back to what I told y' all earlier about you're not supposed to question your children death. If they start to talk about it, they want to talk about, they say, just listen to what they have to say and report it for the next thing. Now, as a parent, if your child is telling you this about dad and what have you, and you start to question the further and further than your human being side, your parent side takes over, whether it's mama bear or daddy bear or whatever, and you're like, you're pissed off. And then you're throwing things out there that you don't even realize you're throwing out there. And the kids pick up off of that and they feed off of that and they go with it. And I'm just telling you from my past experience, and that equals the parent alienation on whether, you know, you intended to do it, which some people just do. And, or. Or you're feeding off of because you want to protect your child, you're feeding off. Your child's feeding off your negative response to anything that they said.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

So the way. So, for instance, in this situation, this mother was allegedly raped when she was younger. When this little girl, who was 12 years old at the time, testified at the protective order hearing, her mother told her that she was raped. And that's what Dr. Taylor meant by mom's life is going to spill over onto the kids and it's going to be toxic. Because mom had such a bad life growing up, she thinks that her kids have got to have that bad, that type of life. And if not, then something's not right. The way Dr. Taylor described it was if the kids come back home from dad and mom says, how was it at dad's house? If they say, oh, everything was great, everything was fine, mom would just fall out. Oh, my God, it can't be. Surely something had to have happened at dad's house, right?

[Woody Overton]

And again and again, that's, that's, that's where you're not supposed to press them or ask him any kind of questions. That's why you have courts and lawyers.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That's what Dr. Taylor said over time the children have learned to say negative things. Go on at dad's house to make mom feel happy. So that's how. That's this type of parental alienation. And you know, it's kind of like the children say something and then mom says, okay, and then what else?

[Woody Overton]

Right. Yeah, that's. And that's, that's what you're not supposed to do and that's what you're not. That's.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

And that's exactly what's happened in this case. Especially if you look through the police report, they interviewed this child six times, three times by the detective, which is the. No, no. And then three times.

[Woody Overton]

Let's talk about that. And I'm not trying to throw them under the bus, but the. When a detective or detectives have cac Child Advocacy center interviews with trained forensic interviewers, where they monitor it through closed circuit tv, they're another room they have the interview has a earbud in their ear. If they. The interviewer is trained to not ask any type of leading questions. Right. But if you want, if you want something asked, I've done thousand of these and you want something asked, you can, you can say it in the interviewer's ear. And they may or they may not be able to do it because of their guidelines. And their guidelines are in place because they know this shit's going before the court and they. And they don't want a defense attorney or the prosecution to say they were unfairly influenced one way or another.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

So. And basically one of the factors that you look at to the admissibility of a videotape statement of a minor child in these types of cases. One of the facets though, for the statement was not made in response to questioning, calculated to lead the protected person to make a particular statement.

[Woody Overton]

Absolutely. What I just said in your big lawyer terms, look at that. The big brain on side. Right, but that's exactly right. And y'. All the. And I've seen all. I've seen everything from where kids don't say anything at all to kids you know, will keep continuing to spill. And some of them, you know, they start out. And my fans have heard me tell these type stories before they start out. They get the kid in the room, hi, I'm such and such the. I mean, you know, I talk to all kinds of kids. Some have problems, some don't. Da, da, da, da. You know, this is why we're here today. Then they establish what is the difference between the truth and a lie. If I told you these walls were Pink. Would that be a truth or a lie? And the kid says, lie. Why is that? Because they're white. And then they go on and on and on. It's a very, very strict process. You know why? Because our babies are the best things we have. And we want to protect them. And everybody wants to protect them. But. I'm sorry. Go ahead.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Yeah. So after the detective had closed the case previously.

[Woody Overton]

Me again. I know you're gonna kill me. But listen, y' all detectives, when you get the case, as a detective, you make contact with the parents and you say, I am setting up a child advocacy center. Interview. You do not interview the child when they come out of the cac. You do not interview the child. You don't. And that's so a defense attorney, like, psy can't say, well, you interview my. You interview the child three times. What a child's going to tell anybody, a person wearing a badge and a gun, anything right there. I mean, there's very, very strict rules on that. I don't know how the detectives got to interview this. This child three separate times. Besides, cacs, that in itself is. Is, you know, it's alarming. I mean, maybe they're not trained, I don't know. But that's. It's. It's just. To me, it's an old hand. It's unfathomable.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That's right. So after the November 2025 care team assessment, where they said, it appears the children were coached, the mother, the child knew that she needed. She needed some more information. Right. She needed. She needed some more allegations to come out. So on December 10, she brings the child to her. To a doctor for. She's on her period. She has these hard menstrual cramps or whatnot. So then the doc, that doctor says, all right, I'm gonna do like, I need a CT over abdomen, make sure she doesn't have anything going on with her system. I don't even know if mom followed through with that. All I do know is that on December 19, she brings her to this other nurse practitioner to check her out. And while she was there, she requested that that nurse practitioner do a physical exam to see if there was any previous sexual abuse.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah, right. Well, none of this was discussed with

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

the doctor, by the way.

[Woody Overton]

If law enforcement had believe that, they would have got it done immediately. And we used to take them to Children's Hospital in New Orleans just for that reason.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Right, so then Fast forward to February 2nd. Okay, February 2nd of this year. No, February 3rd. Mom brings the child Back to detectives. Okay. And so this would be the fourth interview that this child has now had, the second one with the detectives. And in that interview, well, mom says, oh, I received. I received some further details that may be regarding the case. Right. So within that, She asked if there's anything uncomfortable about your father. And she's like, well, he would stay awake late at night, and he. A couple times I woke up, and I observed him standing over me while I was lying down. And when. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he was making sure I was sleeping. And then she. She told her that it made her feel uncomfortable after that. Okay. She said it happened on two or three occasions. Okay. Then the. The interviewer discussed. Asked her specifically, has anyone ever touched in a way that made you feel uncomfortable? She said, my grandfather would sometimes rest his hand on my leg or thigh.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

And then she was specifically asked, has anyone ever placed anything inside of your body? She stated she did not believe so.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

She was then asked again if her father had ever made her uncomfortable in the same way that her grandfather had. And she says, no, she was not aware of anything similar at that time. Okay. This is February 3rd. All right. The law enforcement officer also talks to mom at the same time. And mom says, yeah, I asked her if anyone had ever touched her in any way that made her uncomfortable. And she told me, no, can't do it.

[Woody Overton]

Should have been instructed, but go ahead.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

All right, so then they send the child back to a CAC interview, the fifth interview now on February 20th of 2026. Okay. And at that interview, and of course, the detective is very vague on how this interview went, because the majority of the other interviews are paragraphs. This one is only a small paragraph.

[Woody Overton]

Hey, they didn't record it.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

I'm sure they did, but.

[Woody Overton]

Okay. All right. All right, good.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

During the child's interview on this time, she stated her father touched her breast area while lying in the bed and also. Also touched her thighs. She also stated that he attempted to move underneath her clothing, but she ensured he did not and stated that was the only time she told him to stop. And she did not recall whether he ever touched her genital area. All right, so that's on February 20th. CAC interview. Right. February 26th of this year, which would be the sixth interview that this child has. She was brought to another nurse practitioner. How she got there or why she got there, I have no idea. But basically, she reveals some more things to this nurse practitioner.

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[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

After two different times of talking to the nurse practitioner on the same day.

[Woody Overton]

Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

She disclosed that her her father eventually began touching her genital area, which caused her to become very upset. So nurse practitioner mandatory reporter calls and reports that detectives come over, start questioning

[Woody Overton]

the child and again back to the cac. They they looked. She's already been through two or three. Why not schedule another one? You're not supposed to. You're not supposed to interview the child yourself. Period. Go ahead.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Yeah, so. So this time, when, when, when the, when the detective is questioning the child says she began to remember events when she would experience nightmares and would go to sleep in her father's room. She would not be alone during those times. Her father would lean over and touch her. She stated that she yelled at him to stop and the following day he apologized. Didn't. Didn't say how he touched her. But anyway, she was very upset because she says that dad claims he was sleepwalking. And she said that over the following weeks of a failure occurred. Again, she would pretend to be asleep and would move away or attempt to swat his hand away. When asked where she had been touched, she pointed to her genital area.

[Woody Overton]

And this is by detectives. It's not a cac. On the cac. They, they have an outline of, of a human body and they have circle wet area and stuff like that.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

So here's the kicker right here. This is the good part. I then asked the child if her father had ever inserted anything inside her body.

[Woody Overton]

This. This is the detective.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Yes. The child stated she did not think so. She continues to talk to the child some more. And then she says I the child was asked again if anything had ever been inserted into her body. She stated she did not think so, but also stated my dad might have

[Woody Overton]

but the but and I don't know. This is detective y'. All. I'm just saying the you ask it the first time and you get the net the negative answer no. And then you just, you don't believe her. So you're going to go and ask it again. And at a certain point a kid's going to tell you what that whatever it is they think you want to hear because they don't want to be in the room talking about people touching their privates.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Okay, so what I just read from is the police report, Woody, that I got yesterday. Okay. I just received this yesterday.

[Woody Overton]

All right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

The arrest warrant, the affidavit of probable cause to get the arrest warrant issued did not contain. How about this? The child was interviewed six times. The affidavit for the arrest warrant was only. Only contained the last interview that the detective did on that shot, which is

[Woody Overton]

where she asked her multiple times. Anyone insert that?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That is correct.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Had the. Had, had, had. And of course, this arrest warrant went before Judge Sidney Piku Walker. Had any judge had the entirety of the report that I just read from you, they could have easily said, well, hold up. If the care team is suspecting that this child is being influenced by outside conversations or coaching, and we have all of these things, how. There's nothing definitive to show probable cause that anything happened.

[Woody Overton]

Right. And for the record, the warrant was for what?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Sexual battery and second degree rape.

[Woody Overton]

Yeah. See, all that's penetration, no matter how slight. No matter what. With what? Of a body orifice. And the sexual battery, naturally, is when you touch someone on the outside with, with the intent of pleasure in yourself or them.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

That. That is correct. So we're looking at two serious felonies that my client is not.

[Woody Overton]

The, the, the. The other one. They've changed it since my day. It used to be aggravated. Right, but that's life without. Right. Oh, second degree. It's not first degree. Okay, go. Yeah, but well, still, it's a long ass time.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Yeah. So anyway, that the, the. The arrest warrant was signed on. On March 5th. My client was arrested on March 6th. As soon as my client was arrested, I get a copy of this affidavit, probable cause for the arrest warrant. I send that to Dr. Allen Taylor. I let him know of these things because I knew that he was a He. He was close. We had already had a, A time slot scheduled the following week to go in and meet with him to discuss his findings. So I send him all that so he can do his due diligence. So he gets that. He calls up the nurse practitioner that this child allegedly said the things to. He. He re. He reads everything

[Woody Overton]

and

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

he's. He's like, yeah, yep, yep, yep. Got it, got it, got it. There's no, There's. There's no definitive evidence to show that this man did it. Without a doubt in his mind. It was all. Not necessarily. I'm not going to say coerced, but the statements were made from that parental alienation that was going on with the mom. Okay, so we have the meeting with, with Dr. Taylor, myself and, and her previous attorney. And he tells, he tells us that this is the worst case of parental alienation that I've ever seen. Well aware of all of these facts and the allegations. He, he read everything that the, the minor child said allegedly happened. And he said, you can tell by the way that she's talking, it might have happened. She doesn't necessarily remember these nightmare issues. He said, you can tell that this is a child that's trying to please one parent but not want to get the other parent too much in trouble just because that's the way that, that they, that, that they think mom wants it to happen.

[Woody Overton]

And that's again, goes back to why you don't question, even though you want to as a parent or grandparent, whatever they make that the, you know, some type of statement, you'd be like, holy shit. Because I, I used to have parents come out and they just made another statement. So write it all down. Let's get another CAC. Right.

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

So the, so, so anyway, Dr. Taylor writes his report and, and he says, my recommendation is going to be that the father of the children be the sole custodian of the children until mom can do certain things. So he writes his report, I get the report. The next day. I file an ex parte custody application, which is basically, is a petition to the court saying, court, I need you to hurry up and give me custody of these children. Because if they're left in the care of the other parent, immediate and irreparable home or injury will occur. I had Dr. Taylor's report. My client passed the polygraph test, had a polygraph report attached to it. The minor child missed a whole bunch of days of school. I had that attached to the backup. She wasn't sending the child to school. We, I, I go and it was a day that we were all supposed to be in court. It was April, the first 15th. Everyone was supposed to be in court that day. We show up there that morning, the mom's not there, no attorney's there. So I filed my forte application in open court and granted it.

[Woody Overton]

Said, is it before Judge Jones or

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

it's still before Judge Jones? That's correct. Before Judge Jones. We, I filed in an open court. We go in the back, we get Dr. Alan Taylor on the phone, he gives his spill. You gotta also remember that protective order that Judge Jones issued back in November of last year was still in a play and still have been placed in effect. Right after hearing everything that we discussed with him, she granted my client the ex parte custody of the children, lifted or dismissed the protective order that was issued against him, and. And said mom can have zero contact with the children and set it for a hearing on April 29th.

[Woody Overton]

Okay, hey, you know what, Sal? I'm gonna stop you right there. So the judge says give him back to the dad as soon as possible. And. And that happens. This is just a, you know, a month ago, right?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Yeah, April 15th.

[Woody Overton]

All right, so we're going to continue this episode tomorrow. Y' all tune back in and listen to the rest of it because there's a lot more than needs to be said. And I have some things to be said about the. The powers that be in east and West Luciana also that I want to add. Si, thank you very much for being on. And we'll pick it up in a minute. All you lifers out there, I love and appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for liking and listening, sharing and all that. Good podcaster. I'm supposed to say, I know this is a different episode, but you need to be able to see I saw the storm and it came up on social media. And we'll get into that and news reports and all that in a minute. But y' all tune in tomorrow. I'm on the phone again beside Aquila, the defense attorney for Mr. Mansell. And I'm Woody Overton. You host the Real Life Real Crown, the podcast until next time or ever. Don't let me catch you down on Murder by you. Peace. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You gotta write to an attorney prior to or during any question that you can't afford one. The court portal point one for you. Do you understand your rights?

[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

And the wolf is at your home.

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[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Cut you down no matter about you. Now you better wonder.

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[Defense Attorney (Aquila Mansell's Lawyer)]

Done.