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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 it during any question. If you can't afford one, the court appoint one for you. Do you understand your rights?
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Then the wolf is at your door oh, you running over that's for sure he already knows all about you
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Cut
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you down no matter about you now you better watch the light Feel I feel cry.
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Warning this episode of Real Life, Real Crime. The podcast may contain descriptions of acts of violence or that of a sexual nature and should be for people that are 18 years or older. He my warning people, I do not get the facts of these cases off of the Internet or for some television show. The facts I'm retelling, you were presented to me by the victims of the crimes or the perpetrators who committed the crimes against the victims. My descriptions of the crime scenes, what I saw with my own two eyes. If you're gonna get offended, please turn this podcast off now. Thank you. Hello everybody and welcome to this episode of Real Life, Real Crime, the podcast. As always, I'm your host, Woody Overton. And today going to continue this series Monsters With Monsters Part eight. Y' all been trying to figure out how to tie this all together at the end because it's a lot of legal stuff. It's going to be different than the rest of the episodes, but you need to know what happened and in the court battles what happened and how it all ended up. And I'll tell you at the end why I decided to do this, this episode or these, the series, if you will, and what I'm going to do to try to make a change for everybody at the end of it. So I, I, I don't normally use notes in a lot of today I won't be using notes but I do have a lot of legal paperwork and y' all known in the past if you hear me shuffling papers and stuff, well, that's because I want to give it to you straight and give it to you correct. And there's a lot on this. I'm going to be reading some stuff from different things, but I'm also going to be telling you my personal insight on situation. But before we begin, I want to wish everybody a happy New Year's and this is the first episode that's being recorded in the year 2021. And I hope you're all staying safe and well and appreciate love each and every one of you. Thank you for sharing us and continuing to help us grow thank you, patron members for your support. I really appreciate it. And your patron members, who took advantage of the. The yearly discount by signing up and paying ahead of the whole year. I appreciate that. And, you know, you don't have to wait for your benefits. And if we owe y' all anything, please let me know. Message me and let me know. Or message Cindy and let her know and we'll get it straight. Also, I had the privilege of speaking with several different harassment level patron members this week. Awesome. People chatted on the phone probably a minimum of an hour with each one of them, some of them more, and it was awesome. So thank you. And y' all know who you are. Hey, but if you're on the harassment level, set up your appointment to talk to me. Man, I'm. I'm down to earth, and I'd love, love, love to chat with you. Stay tuned at the end of the show for some announcements. All right, so let's just get started. And, you know, I'm gonna. I'm unscripted and raw and I'm bouncing around. So I think the way I want to do this is tell you what happened with him first and then her. So, you know, we had him under arrest, and he was booked in for first degree murder, which is in the state of Louisiana. For first degree murder, you're eligible for the death penalty. For it to be first degree murder, there has to be second degree murder with aggravating circumstances. And the aggravating circumstances in this case were beyond the brutality of the crime. It is the fact that our victim was over 65 years old. She was in her 80s, and it was a horrible crime. And again, my heart goes out to the family and y'. All. That's why I'm not. I'm not calling names and anything like that. And you'll understand when I get done hopefully today with this episode, if I can get it all done in one. So I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do the names. A lot of y' all already know, and that's fine. Please respect the family's privacy. That lady's been through so much, and this family's been through so much, and we just don't need to re. Traumatize them any more than they do living with it every day. Okay, so he's under arrest. Last time I spoke to him, Thanksgiving Day directly was Thanksgiving Day, and he told me he. He had this great attorney, Arden Wells, and he's going to get manslaughter. I'm thinking, yeah, whatever. Right. So he's locked up for almost six months before we arrested her when the DNA evidence came back. Now, does he sit there quietly? Hell to the no. And, and the court battle start immediately. They challenged everything. They. The. Now remember, this is a Super Bowl. The district attorney actually filed the bill of indictment and said, we are seeking the death penalty period on this case because it was, it's so horrible. He murdered his mother in law in, you know, shot her, shot her in the head and you know, all the rest of it. Right. So quickly he doesn't have Arden Wells. I don't know why. Maybe Arden bowed out when he found out what the real facts of the case were. I don't know. But he gets two court appointed attorneys and then this one start looking at some notes. But he gets two court appointed attorneys. Why y', all, everybody has a right to defense, okay? And I believe in that. I mean, I want them to have defense. I, you know, if you can beat me, beat me, right? And, and that's, that's just part of the deal. But on a death penalty case, they, they're gonna make sure they have at least two attorneys for the original trial. Why? Because every thing is going to get challenged. We're going to win the trial. There's no doubt about it. And, but the jury comes back with the verdict of guilty, they are going to death row. Oh, and okay, so there's two phases to the trial. You have the trial itself, and if the jury comes back with the verdict of guilty, then you have the sentencing phase. Now the sentencing phase in Louisiana is pretty tough. The, the both sides will get to put on their arguments of, of, for and against the death penalty. His side's going to come out with everything from, you know, the drug use and, and he was a good guy other than this, and maybe he was abused as a kid or whatever. They can dig out of his past any typ that they could try to reach one juror to make them say, well, you know what? This dude was so messed up, we'll just lock him away for the rest of his life and not give him the ultimate penalty, which is the death penalty. Well, shit, you know what, There's a reason that you have the death penalty is for cases like this with monsters. Okay? So having a minimum of two. You want them to have the proper defense for the trial said because it's going to get challenged later on. All right, let's say he's found guilty and then you go to sentencing phase, sentence phase. The defense does what I told you. Then the prosecution is simply going to get up there and say, hey, he executed her. She was above 65. Under Louisiana law, that's an aggravated circumstance and we believe this case warrants the death penalty. I mean, he is a monster. He not only executed her, he stood above her with the wrong. After beating her and went back and did more dope and by his own admission, went back and did more dope and heard her gurgling in the blood and goes down there and sees, can't believe she's alive. Goes down, gets the rifle, comes back, stands above her. Click. Wrong. Well, it doesn't fire. Ejects around, click, doesn't fire again. Oh, I got the wrong bullets. Walk back through all the blood. They get the right bullets, go back and stand above her and shoot her and shoot her in the head like a. You wouldn't do a rabid dog, right? So, I mean, it just doesn't get any more damn aggravating than that. The. But the age certainly is a factor and the fact, the, the fact that he. The greater after even more after death by trying to make it look like a rape and all that, it's just, it's, you know, I don't believe every case deserves it, but I certainly believe he deserves it. And, but when you do that, and the DA did it, formally charged, said, yes, we're going for the death penalty against him. When you do that, it's a whole new ball game. And people don't understand that when you, you, when you are sentenced to death, at least in the state of Louisiana, when you sentenced to death, it just takes forever. Now remember Gerald Bordelon's case? The. He wanted to die and it still took years. He waived all his appeals and it still took years because then the state, the state had to find that he was sane and all that. Right? I mean, just, it's craziness. But I think the average person stays on death row from 18 to 25 years in the average cost to put somebody to death is in the millions, millions of dollars. And guess who has to pay for it. It ain't coming out of the state of Louisiana's funds on a case like this. It's coming out of the pocket of the citizens of the parish of Livingston Parish. Now you're talking the 18 to 20 something years of appeals that when this happens, the family has to be brought in every time there's a hearing and they have to live the nightmare over and over and over again. And then they're the cases when they get the death dates Right. So you get your witnesses, the family and certainly I would want to be there. And they, they show up at the death house and they go through the thing and then these get a last minute stay from the Supreme Court for whatever reason, you know, that's being challenged, et cetera. So think about that. You get there and you ready to see him die and finally have it behind you. And then it gets canceled again. So I mean it just goes on and on and on. Now it is much cheaper to house an inmate for the rest of their life. I think it's like used to be the average was like $28,000 a year. That includes food and medicines and cost of the guards and everything per inmate. Right? So 28,000 a year. And he was, he was I think 49 at the time of the arrest. And so the citizens of Livingston Parish are starting to pay the tab right then right from when we would pick them up in Allen Parish. And if he lives and then look, he's not in the best, best of health. He's, he's a big dude, heart attack waiting to happen and all that. And just certainly, I mean, you know, long history of drug use, etc. So how long is he going to live? I don't know. Let's see. 59, 69. Let's say he lives 30 years. Do the math on that real quick. 30 if he lives to be 59. 69, 79. 30 years if he lives to be 79 in prison, which was, that's pretty old, y' all in prison years, right? Let's do that 30 times 28,000. I know some of you math people out there can tell me right off, but I'm not a math guy, okay? So it, it would cost $840,000 to house him at Angola Penitentiary for the rest of his life. But as saying he lives 30 years, 840,000 versus the appeals process, which is going to go on for 18 to 20 years. So you pay in the house them anyway, right? So you got that, that cost no matter what you're paying a housing 18 to 20 something years or sometimes even longer. Right now they have the moratorium because the Attorney General for the state of Louisiana and the governor are fighting over the legality of the drugs used in execution. So it could go forever and in. But all that comes at a cost, at a price. Millions and millions and millions of dollars. And who's making the money? The attorneys are, okay? The defense attorneys are making the money. So when you see these shows in the original court attorney goes by the wayside. They make that a little bit of whatever the state pays them to defend a death penalty case. But then you always see these, these attorneys come in. A lot of them are from big firms that donate pro bono. So, so much amount. You know, I've spent a lot of years investigating some of the darkest cases out there and seeing things most people couldn't imagine. But I'll tell you this, the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with wasn't out on the scene. It was happening in my own mind. I have ocd and for a long time I didn't even realize that's what it was. You see, OCD is nothing like the stereotypes you hear about. It's not being need or organized and it's a serious condition and it's a lot more common than people think. It's these persistent, unwanted, intrusive thoughts that come in and don't let up. They cause real distress. And then you feel driven to do certain things, mentally or physically and just to try to get some relief. But no matter what you do, those thoughts keep coming back. And the hardest part, they latch on to the things that matter most to you. Your family, your health, your relationships, even your identity. They can feel real. And that's what makes them so upsetting. I know a lot of y' all reached out to me about this over the years. So if any of this sounds familiar for you or someone you love, I want you to hear this. Real help exists. OCD is a highly treatable with the right kind of specialized therapy, specifically ERP, or exposure and response prevention therapy, which is proven to be the most effective treatment. That's where NOCD comes in. NOCD provides specialized treatment for OCD and is the world's leading provider of OCD. Treatment is covered by insurance for over 138 million Americans. And all their licensed therapists specialize in the ERP therapy. They'll work with you in live, face to face virtual sessions to help you learn how to take the power away from your intrusive thoughts so they don't cause the same level of distress. And they also provide support between sessions when you need it most so you're not facing OCD alone. If you think you or someone close to you might be struggling with OCD, please don't wait. Go to nocd.com to schedule a free 15 minute call with their team and find out how they can help. That's nocd.com Alright y', all, I want to talk about something real for a minute and that's financial stress. Because the truth is, money problems don't just affect your bank account. They could affect your sleep, your mood, your relationships, and the way you carry yourself every day. A lot of people put that pressure on themselves and feel like if they're struggling, they somehow fail. But that's not always the case. Sometimes life just gets heavy and you're doing the best you can to figure it out. And therapy can help with that. Not by giving financial advice, but by helping you work through stress, the anxiety and the emotional weight that can come with money worries. It can help you better understand your relationship with money and build healthier ways to cope so you don't feel like you're carrying all of it alone. BetterHelp connects you with licensed therapists and matches you based on your needs and preferences. And if it's not the right fit, you can switch to different therapists at any time. With over 30,000 therapists and millions of people served worldwide, BetterHelp has helped a lot of folks get support when life feels overwhelming. When life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com RLRC that's B-E-T-T E R H E L P.com RLRC to Covis is the go to for premium handcrafted western boots. Stop by any store location for a warm welcome, a cold drink in hand and a truly one of a kind shopping experience. Let our friendly staff help you find your new go to boots whether your first pair or your 50th. Finish things off with a complimentary boot brand to make them extra special. Come for the boots. Stay for the good times. To Covis Forever West a monetary amount every year to doing free work. I guess it makes them feel good. So you can charge their clients $1,000 an hour and they can could pat themselves on the back because they're doing a little pro bono work. Right. But the the it still costs filings and then there's a lot of them that aren't pro bono that somehow these people come up with attorneys or the attorneys take the case because they know they're going to get paid and and it goes on forever and then you get the different projects and like the innocent project or whomever involved. And look I'm not saying they shouldn't have appeals. Okay if it I don't want to put an innocent person to death and certainly there have been cases are proven through DNA, DNA, etc. Where the person is innocent and I hate that. I hate those. I hate to Watch those shows. I hate to see it. And I don't, I don't, I don't hate the fact that they're innocent. I hate the fact that they've been innocent all this time and locked up and their life has been stolen from them. And that makes me sick to my stomach. I pray to God I never had one. But I can tell you something. This some bitch wasn't one of them, okay? But he's gonna get those 20 years of appeals and it's gonna cost millions and millions and millions of dollars. Meanwhile, you housing them, you're feeding them, he's got the best medical care and, and, and it's just. I don't know. I don't know. So right away, the. They start the legal wrangling. Of course, we were challenged on the confession. We coerced the confession. You have to go in and we did a grand jury all. And the grand jury finds the true bill for first degree murder. Even though we had the, the warrant, arrest and all that. Because it's second degree or above, you've got to go before the grand jury. It's just the way it is. And present the case all over again. And the grand jury indicts him. Boom, we got that. The indictment first three, murder and the. So we did that part. But then the challenges start. The challenging to throw out our confession. We coerced the confession. We, you know, call you everything but a child of God on the stand. Well, it's bullshit. We didn't, you know, it happened to the best of my memory, it happens just like I told you. And he's, he's guilty af. Right. And he confessed and he wanted to talk. So that was uphill that, you know, then the, they challenged, they. This is funny. It's not funny. It's kind of stupid. But the. All right, so Livingston Parish, whenever you get arrested, there's a judge that is allotted to be on duty that day or not on duty that day. Whenever you get arrested, whoever gets arrested in a certain time frame, your case gets allotted to a judge, but it's by lottery, right? So you don't know what judge you're gonna get until they picket the judges that are gonna handle the cases for that date. So. But I could tell you right now, Charlotte, the night at the time, her name was Charlotte Abare, she was the shit hot ADA that handled all the big cases. Now the district Attorney Scott Paralyu didn't handle those cases. He was, he was a public figurehead. Certainly he had a say so in him and he's super intelligent guy and he would come sit in on the trials and stuff like that. But Charlotte was the workhound. Charlotte was the beast. Charlotte was the one who got all the convictions and had all the major cases. And you've heard me talk about her many, many times. And she's actually a judge now, but her brother was a judge at the time and he's a great judge. I mean, he was more than fair. I've seen him eat plenty of cops out and. But if, if you guilty, you didn't want to go in front of him. But the. So let me tell you what they did. I'm gonna read you an article from the Morning Advocate. All right. Judge Doug Hughes, now that was Charlotte Hebert's brother, okay? That, that a bearer was her married name at the time. Judge Doug hughes of the 21st Judicial District on Monday rejected a defense motion to recuse the district attorney's office in a first degree murder case where Hughes sister is the lead prosecutor. Prosecution and defense attorney said Hughes decision comes less than two weeks after another district court judge in the same case rejected District Attorney Scott Perlew's motion to have Hughes recused because of the family tie. All right, so interrupt you, Scott Perleu, the district attorney, want to make sure he filed a motion to make sure Doug Hughes did not get the case because he, I mean, obviously that can be something that's going. He was trying to avoid appeal down the line. And hell, there's enough judges where Doug, Judge Doug didn't have to be on the case because we. Scott basically is saying Charlotte's gonna be my go to person. We don't want any kind of impropriety or bad act looking things. So we're gonna roll with it. Okay? And so Scott had actually filed a motion to have Judge Doug Hughes removed. And on that motion on March 1, Judge Ernest Drake Jr. Another great guy, more than fair and in both ways. But he ruled against the district attorney's motion saying he didn't like the appearance of a district attorney having influence on the random allotment of elected judges. Per Loo is planning to appeal that decision again. Paralyu was going to appeal it because he knows it's going to come up after the conviction on appeals. All right, back to the article. The legal dispute is part of the preliminary motions in the first degree murder case against our guy. 49 years old of Watson. He is accused of killing his mother in law in November. And I'm leaving his name out, y'. All. He has been indicted on the charge and pleded not guilty Jan. 8. Court records show prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. He has also been booked but not formally charged with two counts of felony theft and possession of cocaine. Prosecutors said. On Monday, Hughes was prepared to disqualify his sister, parish prosecutor Charlotte Hebert, when defense attorney Albert Benzabat III objected, saying he wanted the entire district attorney's office recused. Hughes took a closer look at the defense pleading before deciding to reject the motion, Attorneys Ben Satat and Abair said. The motion called for the office office's recusal but not a bear's disqualification, they said and Hughes rejected the defense the defense motion on recusal. All right, let me finish the article and I'll explain it to you. Benz said after the hearing that he want the entire office recused because Abare has been involved in the case from the early stages and therefore the office is tainted. Benzabat said he plans to file a separate motion to seek Hebert's disqualification when Hughes ruling Abare said with Hughes ruling, Abare said she remains on the case. Another hearing has been set for 1pm May 7th. All right, so let me explain it to you. The and again it's all legal wrangling. All right. So the our own district attorney wanted to take Judge Doug Hughes, who's who's his top prosecutor's brother out of the allotment to be drawn for who was going to sit in judgment on this case as the judge on this case. Judge Ernest Drake is another great but hard ass guy and comes back and he tells the district attorney no, I don't like you have an influence on who's randomly allotted to by our system to handle the cases. I told you he's fair but he's hard. Right? But then Ben Sabat comes in and files to have the whole district attorney's office recused because Charlotte it Charlotte was going to be the lead. The eight he he filed to have the whole office removed. He didn't say Charlotte specifically. He want the whole office removed because Judge Hughes is in the pool to be allotted to be drawn and could possibly be drawn to sit to hear this case. But he didn't. He wasn't smart enough old Ben Sabat to list Charlotte specifically. Would you. It just so happens that Judge Hughes, Charlotte's brother is the one who is hearing Benzemat's motion to have the whole district attorney's office thrown out. And Hughes is fair. Doug Hughes is fair and Judge Hughes is fair and he says well you know what you didn't say anything about Charlotte. You just only said you wanted the the whole DA's office recused and you didn't say anything about Charlotte specifically and she's going to be one handling the case. So I'm just denying your right. So y', all this is just the tip of the iceberg, the beginning of the legal wranglings. Okay. And it does not look like we're going to make it the hurt stake because I'm getting long winded. I think I I can read you this part. All right. I'm going to read you this one. This is also from the Advocate is talk about where we arrested her. Okay and and him also. But you need to know this the legal wrangling that's going on. So it said we arrested her on Wednesday and booked her with first degree murder of her 82 year old grandmother in November. The victim's son in law, 49 of Watson already is in jail in connection with the slaying of our victim who lived in his house in Watson. Evidence indicates she, who's 39, was present during the killing, Jason R. Chief of operations for the Living Parish Sheriff's Office, said shortly after her arrest. Detectives previously interviewed her in the case and she gave conflicting statements or said. However, detectives delayed arresting her until Wednesday. Investigators didn't take her into custody until they had received a report from the State Police crime lab showing she was at the scene of her grandmother's murder, Art said. Authorities said that evidence indicates the victim I'm not gonna say her name, may have been killed after she stumbled upon evidence of drug use by him. She is his stepdaughter and the biological granddaughter of, I'm gonna say the victim, art said. He left the Watts in the area. Anyway. It's but that part's cut off and we know basically he left the Watson area and drove away in a company vehicle with3.600 in cash belonging to the lumber company where he worked, deputy said. Officials with the District Attorney's office have indicated they plan to seek the death penalty against him, but said they have not made a decision on whether to seek the same penalty for her. A question about how to proceed with Pender's case is before the state First Circuit Court of Appeals. The matter went to the higher court because Doug Hughes, the 21st Judicial District Court judge randomly selected to hear the case, is the brother of Assistant District Attorney Charlotte Hebert, prosecutor in. The the prosecutor and the District Attorney's office asked. For the for Judge Doug Hughes to be dismissed from an involvement in the case. District Attorney Scott Perleu asked the judge Hughes be removed from the case and that his office be allowed to proceed with the prosecution. Judge Ernest Drake Jr. Rejected district attorney's motion to recuse Hughes, a decision Paralu has appealed. Drake, who was signed to the hearing to hear the prosecutor's motion after Hughes declined to step aside, has not considered the defense motion to keep District Attorney's office from handling prosecution. At this point, no judge has been selected to hear the case against her, a bear said Wednesday evening. All right, so I might have got this too. Back with y', all, but it doesn't matter. You get the. Just to the facts. The. We're not even into the legal wrangling yet, and we're already at the First Circuit Court of Appeals. So Judge Hughes was randomly selected from the allotment Paralou, rightfully so. The District Attorney files to have him removed. Judge Drake comes back and says, no, I don't want you to have any involvement. Only gets on who gets selected to hear cases. And so Paraloux appeals, it goes to the First Circuit of Court. Then you get Ben Zabat, who comes in and wants the whole DA's office kicked out. It's just a bunch of bullshit, okay? It's a bunch of bullshit. And that's just the start. Remember that. It wouldn't be this way for one death penalty case. All right, so what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna finish him out today, y'. All. I'm gonna finish him out today because I have a lot on her and it needs to be told. And I just can't do it all in one day. There's no way. Sorry. It's going to be a part nine. Just made that decision. All right, so we go through the legal wranglings. It comes back down. Finally there is a judge. I'll save you a lot of time on. On that part, okay? It goes on and it goes on and it goes on. And the court comes back down and says that. And rightfully so, that Hughes should not sit in this, should not be the sitting judge on the case because his sister is the lead prosecutor. Okay, we get that. That's what the District attorney wanted anyway. But they. They did select another judge to hear the case. That was Judge Brenda Bed. So Ricks. All right, Judge Ricks Fireball, she's a pistol. And she. I have nothing to say bad about any of the Judges in the 21st Judiciary, y'. All. And I. And I've had, you know, battles with all of them, but I've had great Things with all of them too. And. But the. I can tell you one thing that I'm sure some of y' all out there don't like. Some of them for whatever reason they convicted you for whatever. But the. I've seen it go both ways. I've seen it go against the cops. I've seen it go for the cops. I've seen it go against the prosecution and seen it go for the prosecution and you know, judges, human beings also. But Judge Ricks, she was no nonsense. She's. Hope you don't take offense, Judge Riggs, but she's a little short lady, dark hair, and she had been a judge as long as I'd been with mess with the 21st. So you. But you couldn't ask for a fair judge. I mean, she just, she just was. Okay, so the legal wrangling goes on. Um, and I want to close y' all out with him, okay? So I, I would. By this time, y', all, I. I'm long gone to the state police as a criminal investigator. I left on November 1st of 2007. And remember, we got her just that year in May, right. So I was at headquarters in Baton Rouge. I would get subpoenas to come into these hearings in case they needed to call me as a witness for whatever. A lot of times I was sequestered, meaning I had to stay outside and couldn't hear what was going on, what they were arguing. That way my opinion wasn't biased and I couldn't repeat something another witness said or whatever. But it's just a ton of shit, right? And it goes on and on. I'm talking about both hers and his, but his specifically, he's up against the death penalty. And in 2009, years after he murdered her, after he murdered her victim, they're getting ready to go to trial, to take the shit to trial. And guess what? The. Offer was made to him to take life in prison instead of the death penalty. Not because it wasn't a slam dunk case, because you don't get a more slam dunk case than what we had at this time. I'm just telling you it was slam dunk death penalty all the way. I, I don't see how any sane person would sit on that jury after finding him guilty and seeing the crime scene photos and hearing all the evidence and the horror. Horrific story. I mean, it was his mother in law, his wife's mother, that, that is shot in the head, okay? Because he's wearing women's underwear and doing cocaine and fooling around. And just didn't happen to hear her coming down the hallway on a walker. Keep all that in mind. And. And I mean he's a piece of. To begin with. And the. Now I gotta explain this to you. And this is why we're gonna have to go into another part on her. They don't. The district attorney would never make that decision by himself. It's not like he's gonna be like, oh well, you know, we could take the death penalty off the table and. And give him a chance to plead the life so we don't go to trial. Nope, nope, nope, nope. It's not about that. It's about the family. Okay? In the. Think of the victim's daughter, the female suspect's mother and the wife to the trigger puller. All right? She has been through hell and her other. Other sons and daughters also and. And family members and friends. But she lost everything the day they murdered our victim. All right? She lost her mama in her elderly sweet heart of gold mama. To the worst circumstances I have ever seen in a single murder. And she's the one that found her. And that son of a knew he was gonna. She was gonna be the one to find her. He knew his wife, the one he stood at the altar with. And through sickness and health and the good times and bad and you know all that professor's love for and I'm gonna take care of you and everything else he is a piece of in drug use or not. You messing around with your. With your daughter in Well I guess stepdaughter. It's not daughter in law so you mess around with. I don't care what you call it. It's your daughter messing around with your daughter. You doing dope. You in your women's underwear and you. The elderly victim comes down and sees you and then what does she do? She freaks out. I'm calling your wife. I'm calling your mother and you know, Think about the last seconds her life just, you know, I often times think about my victims in the last seconds of their life. And I do not believe that she thought for a second that they would kill her. You know, think about that. She all she could do. She was worried about getting back down the hallway because they blocked her. She couldn't get to the kitchen. She's worried about getting back down the hallway, getting to her phone and calling her daughter and saying what she saw. She didn't know she was going to be beaten like that. Just. Just absolutely mutilated and then left for dead. And then all that blood in the hallway, y'. All. And him going down there because he heard a noise and seeing that she was still alive, saying, I can't believe ain't dead. And when got the gun. And I know I keep saying it over and over again, but it just shows you how cold and calculated and determined he is that he went down there with the wrong bullets, tried, tried again, and then said got the wrong bullets, walked back through the blood, dug for the right bullets, and went back down there and then shot her in the head him. And that he deserves the death penalty. But now our victim's daughter, his wife, Lost her mama and her husband in that day. And in six months later, she loses her daughter. Nightmare all over again. And that's why I'm not saying the names on this. Those of you who know don't do post about it, all right? She's been traumatized enough. Let me tell you something. This lady's tough, and she's a christian lady, and she is just what I remember. She's stoic, tough. I mean, how do you go on living after that? You know, you lose your mama and your husband in the same day, and six months later, you find out your own daughter, your own flesh and blood you gave birth to would and all that involvement that she had. So the d. A. Would have gone to the family, or the family would have gone to the d. A. I don't know which happened probably. I think the. The family, they. They always have meetings with them, and they have a victim's advocate and stuff like that that stays in touch with the family of violent crimes like this. And until all the way through the trial process and even during the appeals. So at some point, they would have had a meeting to discuss the options, and Scott and charlotte would have had to tell him, you know, say, hey, look, here are the possibilities. One, we go to trial and we lose. Not going to happen. Right, but he's got to list all the possibilities. Two, we go to trial and we win, and then we do the penalty phase and he gets the death penalty. Three, we go to trial and we win, and we go to penalty phase, and he doesn't get the death penalty. He just gets life in prison. They drop it. A second degree murder. Okay, but then he has to explain the appeals process, which most people just don't know how many years that check goes on, you know, 20 years on average. A lot more in most cases. And would have to explain it to this poor lady who has lost everything and now knows her daughter was involved and has to tell him you know, when and during this process, all these appeals and these hearings, I'm a need y' all there to show the judge that the family cares. And, you know, you want to go through the death penalty process and look, shit, there's a lot of families that did. They don't care. Then we're like, shit will be there, and we don't care how long it takes. But he said the other option is we give him the option to take the death penalty off the table and just give him life in prison, which he's gonna die, y'. All, it's still a death sentence, okay? Life in Louisiana means life. There's no probation, no parole. You ain't get a pro here, and you wave when. If you take the death penalty off the table and you sign it, you can't even appeal your shit. You're done. That. That. That is what you get for not being put to death or. Or having to sit on death row. You waive your right to appeals. You are done. Stick a fork in you. And I think that after explaining it in detail to the family, that. That they. I mean, they didn't make decision right then. Y'. All. I know that much that they preyed upon and they thought about it, and they had another meeting, and the victim's daughter said, you know what? Make him the offer. And in as long as he's locked away and he can't hurt anybody else and they know what he did, what he's in for, it won't be easy time for him. And we can put this behind us. Not put it behind you. Never put the murder, your husband murdering your mother and your daughter being involved. You'll never put that behind you fully. Right? You're gonna live with it every day. But you don't have to keep going back to court. I mean, until Shell. She might die before he does, because the state's gonna take good care of him. And that's the one thing on death row. They take care of them, boy. They. They want to make sure you're healthy to put your ass to death. And like Derek Todd Lee, you know, fortunately, fires, hell burn hotter for him. He died on death row, but. Which is a rare occasion. But anyway, so she made the decision to let the DA make him the offer of. If we take the death penalty off the table, you have to plead to guilty to second degree murder. You waive all your rights to appeals, etc. But you gonna stand up and you go say what you did. And he knew this good goose was cooked. Okay? And Then that his defense attorney would absolutely advise him, you better take this and run with it. Because guess what? His defense attorney had access. Everything I had access to the photographs, the statements, the, you know, everything and the, the behavior. And don't think it wasn't coming out about him. You think the squash thing is like funny and shit, but guess what? It may be, it may be the butt of jokes, but when you go to a jury trial and you go to the penalty phase and you get 12 jurors up there who are regular Joes who don't. Most of them don't listen to true crime and not knock a true crime, right? But most of them don't watch this stuff because they don't want to. They're sheep. They don't want to believe there's wolves in the world. But guess what? You get stuck on that jury, you're going to get the full wolf view. And they would have seen every photograph blown up. They would heard the, the forensic pathologists tell everything. They would have heard everything from him saying that he used to squash and dressed up in, in the big blue panties and, and did hookers every night and did cocaine while he was on the run. I mean, that, that goes. And his, his attorney would have been like, hey, mama, if they didn't just have you on the DNA in your own confession. I mean, if I was on the jury deciding the death part and you tell me after you murdered her in cold blood like that, did you partied every night and were doing hookers with squash and wearing women's underwear? No. No, regular people can't handle that. They were run screaming from the room. You damn well better believe they coming back with the death penalty. And I can't tell you his d. His defense attorney told him this, but I can damn well imagine it, right? I mean, everything that doing your, your own daughter, even if it's by marriage, doing cocaine with her and in the. I mean, it's just. He'd have got it, I'm telling y', all, he'd have got it. So they made him the offer and he jumped on that with both feet like he stole something. Okay, and, and I'm gonna read you the article and then I'll tell you what, what I remember about that day. All right, this is from the Morning Advocate. A state district judge sentence a Watson man to life in prison Tuesday in the beating and shooting more than two years ago of his 82 year old mother in law after she called him shooting up cocaine. Judge Brenda Bedsol ricks of the 21st Judicial District Court handed down the sentence after. I'm not gonna say his name. Almost messed up. After he 51, pleaded guilty to first degree murder at the parish courthouse Tuesday. Excuse me Toby. Boom. On November, November 15, 2006, our victim, they gave her name, was beaten and shot in the head with a.22 caliber rifle in his house where she also lived, prosecutors have alleged in court records. He who has told investigators she walked in on him while he was using cocaine and threatened to tell his then wife fled but was caught and arrested Nov. 22, 2006. As part of a plea agreement he signed Jan. 30, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. J. Garrison Jordan, his court appointed defense attorney, told Judge Ricks. When Ricks asked Pender to explain. Oh boom Toby, take it out I I'm reading article I it up boom Toby, take his name out. All right, I'm gonna start back. As part of a plea agreement he signed Jan. 30, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. Jay Garrison Jordan, his court of turn court appointed defense attorney, told Judge Ricks when Ricks asked him to explain what he was pleading to, he replied I killed and he said her name. I'm guilty of that. A first degree murder charge requires an aggravating circumstance in this case the fact that she was 65 or older. His life sentence is at hard labor and comes without probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Ricks told him. As Judge Ricks shortly before sentencing, two of the victim's daughters, including his ex wife and they gave her name, gave tearful victim impact statements emphasizing the loss and sense of betrayal from the actions of a man who once professed that he was a Christian. You used to say, and I quote, you can't con a kind and I'm the best. That is the only thing I know you said is the truth, Said his wife who divorced him in June of 2007. He wore a hearing aid during sentencing and could be seen wiping his eyes on several occasions. Assistant District Attorney Charlotte Hebert, who prosecuted the case, said the plea avoids the need for the victim's family to go through a trial. Prosecutors have one other trial in the victim slain her granddaughter and his stepdaughter gives her name. 41, was arrested in May of 2007 and now faces a second degree murder charge. She was present when Short was killed. Prosecute. Fuck boom Toby take it out Said the name again. She was present when the victim was killed, prosecutors said and has told investigators she and him were having a sexual relationship. End of end of. End of the article. Y' all your Patreon members, you get this. Please don't repeat the. The names that you heard in there. And I don't care if you Google it, whatever. I don't want this to go viral on. On social and all that. But let me tell you what happened that day. The. I knew I. I got a phone call in. I've been state police for several years by now, and that. Um. But I kept getting asked by one of the secretaries at headquarters, and she was friends with her before the murder. And. And anyway, I'll get into that next week. But she kept asking me about status, case status cases. I don't know. I mean, I went to several hearings on it early on. I know they're going for the death penalty and he's going to get it. They're going to cook his goose, right? And. But then I got the call that they. They were take the plea, and I went just to hear the. The victim's impact statements. I went to my show my support for the family and the. The. It was. It was bad. Look, they talk about our victim's life and how she was a foster mama and how she never heard a fly, and she spent her life giving and loving and just doing for others and not herself and basically a saint, y'. All. And she had been sick and she had had some small strokes, and, I mean, there was no way she could defend herself. And now you. You know, they're standing up in front of the court, it's dead silent. This is their chance. They've been living with this for three years now, and this is their chance to address the judge before she sentences him right in the. They. I mean, they laid it out and it wasn't a dry in the courtroom, including mine. And this fat slob. Let me tell you this. They bring him in now, once he takes the. If he'd gone to trial, they'd have brought him in in street clothes, you know, a suit, not handcuffed, before the jury and all that, before they bring the jury in and all that. So he'd have been all dolled up. Well, guess what? He took it because he's a little punk bitch and he didn't want to get the death penalty, and he knew he was going to get it. So they bring him in in his jumpsuit, big fat slob, handcuffed and shackled, big thick glasses on. Now he's got hearing aids on right now. All of a sudden, he can't hear anymore. They were actually. That. They brought that out way back when. But saying he couldn't hear and shit like that. Well, guess what? Guess who's paying for the hearing aid? Us and the taxpayers. But he damn well heard them. The the family members give the victim impact statements and a little bit of wiping his eyes. That's what that reporter said. Oh yeah, he did it. And but he wasn't sobbing uncontrollably or anything like that. And when he got up there and the judge said, okay, part of your plea is you going to tell the court what you did. And he said I'm guilty of killing. And he said the victim same he said I did that. He wasn't crying when he said it, y'. All. And when my personal belief is he's tearing up a couple of times or fake tearing up a couple of times because he knows his con man ass game is Especially when his ex wife called him out and said you always said you can't con a con and that you were the best. Well, guess what, you con game's up. You ride now you got to die in prison. So. But he had to say what he had to say first. That. That he killed her victim. That he was guilty of it. The victim impact statements were just absolutely gut wrenching and some of the strongest family members I've ever seen. Again, I swear to want it out there the but I there is a reason I'm doing this story and you gotta hear it next week when I conclude with her. I did not mean to go into a part nine. Y' all gonna have a shit fit, I'm sure. But it's a lot and it's so important. It's the reason I'm doing this and it'll come out next week. But he sat there and you know, wouldn't look at him because he's a little bitch. And. And you know, they read their statements and the judge sentenced him, said I sent you to life without the possibility of probation or pro at hard labor at Angola Louisiana state penitentiary at Angola gavel down and you know, the family leaves and that part of their misery is over. That monster is going to the land of monsters and. And he's going to. To the place you don't want to go, right? And I told you, Ann goal well over 5,000 inmates and over you don't get sent angle unless you have get sentenced to more than 80 years. And over 5,500 inmates, well over 5,000 have more or at least one life sentence, if not more. So he's going to die there. And I don't know if he's alive now him if he isn't him. And I hope. I hope he's doing a hard time so. Because he was a monster and he is a monster. And he can run whatever kind of con he wants to run on those people up there, but he'll always be a monster. Just think about all the facts of the case. Anyway, next week I'm going to conclude it with her. The so it's a lot on the legal part. I just touched on his y' all because I mean there was no doubt and. And he hadn't had any appeals or anything. He weighed his right to all that. So her whole different story. And again, if you think you know, you just don't know. And there's no way you can know because I didn't find out until right before I started this series. So tune in again next week for the conclusion. I guess it'll be part nine of monsters and I swear it's the last part. I have all the paperwork right here in front of me and it's pages and pages and pages and I cannot do this. It's going to take me at least an hour to to conclude her they are I thank you all for listening. I love and appreciate each and every one of you. Please. Keep the victim's family. All victims families. Any prayers all right. And according to Coco we're waiting on justice. Okay so I'm gonna say about it and the the but not gonna wait forever. In Ms. Barbara Blunt's case, please continue to call on your tips. The reason I mention her every week is because every time I mention her name we get another tip. All right. So that case is being worked by dedicated professionals when they have time. Covid has a screwed so screwed up and with new strands coming out and more contagious and you know the vaccines supposed to been 20 million by January 1st. They got 2 million done. This is such but the live shows, y'. All. We still have the live show. The Crew Bash is booked and And I'm gonna wait a couple days or wait to see what how this virus thing is going to shake out. But regardless two weeks if this date doesn't come first. Two weeks after John Bel Edwards says the state of Louisiana is fully relifted, lifted on restrictions and go back to normal functions. We are going to have the mother of all parties the second annual Crew Bash. And we got a lot of stuff to celebrate. So love and appreciate each and every one of you patron members. Thank you again. You're getting this episode hopefully on Tuesday everybody else if you can't be a patron member, you don't want to. I get it. I love you know love and appreciate you. Anyway y' all please continue to leave me reviews on itunes or wherever you listen to podcasts and don't forget about all our social media at Real Life Real Crime in at Overton Woody on on Instagram and then we have all our Facebook pages and I think our, our our Real Life Real crime friends, fans and crews is pushing like pushing 29,000 members now. It's close to that and so but yeah, if you like true crime and you like Real Life Real crime go asked to join and our dream team moderators will get you approved. I'm on there every day. I answer everything and then we have all the rest of social media all so much I just, you know, I just forget so but please continue to share and help us grow. I I thank you for that. Hang in there A conclude monsters next week Lopa, LA Organ Procurement Agency Be a Hero Go to Lopa.org Sign up to be an organ donor. If on the rare chance that your organs are used, you're going to save lives. Save lives and give the gift of sight. Okay, that's my calls. One person goes and does it and it'll be worth you hearing it every week. And that's how I'm in the show. And I'm Woody Overton, you host of Real Life Real Crime the podcast and 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 got a right to an attorney prior to or during any question. If you can't afford one, the court appoint one for you. Do you understand your rights?
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