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The Cell Phone Murders /// Part 2 /// 785
00:45:02
The Cell Phone Murders /// Part 2 /// 785 Part 2 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com On September 25, 1996 just before midnight, a 911 call came into emergency services. A crying woman requested police and ambulance personnel to her home. She reported a lot of gunfire in her home with several people down. Within minutes, Police, Fire, and EMTs were on the scene. A young man covered in blood ran up to the responding Sheriff’s deputy saying “They shot them all, they shot them all.” The savage brutality of these murders is shocking. The 1996 Cell Phone Murders would be better described as a massacre. Beer of the Week - Red Rocker Lager by Red Rocker Brewing company Garage Grade - 3 and 3 quarter bottle caps out of 5 Recommended - Check out www.KOGSafe.com a not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting women and girls. We recommend the Angel in Disguise - Self Defense Key Chain. More True Crime Garage can be found on Patreon and Apple subscriptions with our show - O...
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- [00:00]
Nick
At Edward Jones we believe rich means opening yourself to new possibilities. That's why your dedicated financial advisor meets you where you are, helping you move forward with confidence. Let's find your rich Edward Jones member sipc. Picture this.
- [00:16]
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- [01:33]
Nick
Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick and with me, as always, is a man who did the Van Halen Best of both Worlds strut into the garage this morning.
- [01:45]
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Here is the Captain.
- [01:47]
Captain
Oh yeah, it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll. It's good to be seen. Good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.
- [01:59]
Nick
The Red Rocker don't quit and neither does this lager. Today we are still drinking some fresh coldies from Red Rocker Brewing Company. Red Rocker Lager is a golden medium bodied Mexican style lager that is light, crisp and refreshing. Garage grade three and three quarter bottle caps out of five and and let's give some cheers to our friends. First up, a big shout out to Jezree Watkinson in Waverly, Nebraska and a
- [02:26]
Captain
big shout out to Madeline from Turlock, California.
- [02:29]
Nick
Here's a cheers to Jason from Austin. He wants to be clear, not Pflugerville, Texas. And last but certainly not least, we have Jennifer Wolkers from Highland Ranch, Colorado. Everyone we just mentioned went to truecrimegarage.com clicked on the pint glass, helped us out with this week's beer fund and for that we thank you.
- [02:47]
Captain
Yeah, BWR you in beer run. Pflugerville, schnoogerville. Go to truecrimegarage.com go to the store page and purchase the Colonel's book the Delphi Murders, the Quest for the man on the Bridge. Signed copies are available now@TrueCrimeGarage.com and Colonel, that's enough of the business.
- [03:07]
Nick
All right everybody gather round. Grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. At a September 27, 1996 joint arraignment for all three suspects, we have the Three Stooges standing there, shackled together, facing the judge, Nicholas Ackland and Corey Johnson looked somber. But the media captured a photo of Joey Wilson smiling and seeming carefree. I guess he was too dumb to recognize how much trouble he was in. The judge found that there was ample evidence for trial, and a grand jury indicted the three on four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. First, we have Joseph Joey Wilson, AKA Doughboy. He was tried first, the prosecutor's office stated. We wanted to try Wilson first because he is the one that caused it. He is the one who led it, and it's his show. Wilson was also the one who was accused of stealing Lamar's cell phone. In other words, he's the instigator. Since he was only 19 at the time of the murders, Wilson petitioned for youthful offender status so he would be tried as a juvenile. Guess what? No dice. The judge ruled that the allegations were too serious and Wilson needed to wear his big boy pants, be charged as an adult. He pled not guilty to the charges. On Oct. 23 and Wilson's August 1998 trial, prosecutors termed him the ringleader in the brutal crime. They introduced testimony about Wilson bragging that the other two guys were his crew and so on. There are a bunch of people that testified, obviously, at this trial, but we'll go through some of the more important key figures here. Dr. Ken Warner, the state medical examiner, testified that the victims all died from gunshot wounds. Brian Carter had been shot seven times with a Ruger. P89 Wilson had been. He's the one that had been holding that gun all of that night, the night of the shootings. Johnny Couch had been shot twice in the head with a different gun, 9 millimeter. Michael Beaudet had been shot from above as he sat on a mattress. The bullet traveled from the left side of his head and lodged into his right jaw. He was also shot in the leg. And finally, Lamar Hemphill was shot once in the head. Brent Wheeler of the Alabama Department of Forensic Services testified that 13 of the cartridges were fired from one of the Larson pistols and the remaining six cartridges were fired from the Ruger. Michelle Hayden testified about who held what gun that night. This is important to the case here. Who was doing what at the scene? She talked about Wilson shooting her and shooting the other victims. Because you can't have a situation where they're all arraigned together. They're all going to be tried separately, and you don't want this Doughboy to be sitting there in court just blaming the other two people that were with him that night. And as the prosecutors told us, we believe he's the ringleader, he's the instigator, he's the one who caused all this. It's his show. You're trying him first to set the bar for the other two trials and to set up some of the facts that are agreed upon of that horrible night.
- [07:01]
Captain
I know the details matter, but I feel not with just the loss of life, but the torturing, the sexual assault, and then the other injured victims. It's simple life for all.
- [07:17]
Nick
We get all of the survivors that testify in court, we get a bunch of the first responders, the officers are testifying. One little additional piece of evidence here is Wilson, thanks to his own narcissism at his trial. At this trial, one of Wilson's friends, his name is David Newby, testified that Wilson called him from jail after the shooting, talking about what happened that night. So he's bragging to his friend over a jailhouse phone. This guy, this guy's got two brain cells left, and they're fighting each other. Newby testified at Wilson's trial that he was told by Wilson to, quote, finish the job. Meaning which. Which he says he took to mean he wants me to go kill the surviving witnesses. Of course, this man doesn't do it. He tells police about this and testifies against Wilson at court.
- [08:11]
Captain
So he's in prison, telling him, hey, the two surviving people I want you to go kill. And he just thinks that he told us, I is going to just do it because they're a part of my crew. Right, son?
- [08:23]
Nick
Yeah. He thought he was something that he clearly wasn't. He told this guy, go finish the job. This guy's testify. This guy's testifying. I took that to mean go kill the witnesses.
- [08:32]
Colonel
Right.
- [08:33]
Nick
Finally, one of Wilson's cellmates who spent three months in a cell with him testified that Wilson bragged about his involvement that night. You know, and this is just horrible stuff saying, you know, I blasted this one, blasted that one. I mean, he just really was bragging about this. The defense called no witnesses. This. That's not a good feeling when you are sitting there, the defendant and your defense team's like, yeah, we. We got nobody. We got nobody to. To say something good about you on cross. They tried to push their theory. So their theory, as I had mentioned earlier, their theory was exactly that. They were going to try to push more blame onto one of the other suspects than their client.
- [09:15]
Captain
Yeah.
- [09:15]
Nick
All right, so they're claiming that Nick Ackland had been the one that shot all the victims.
- [09:21]
Captain
This seems a little stupid to me, though, that we're going to try to put blame on people when we do have eyewitness accounts and then we obviously have multiple guns used, and then we can fingerprint things, those guns. And so we know that not just one of the killers used all the guns to kill all the victims.
- [09:41]
Nick
Oh, yeah, this, I mean, this is a defense for when your client has no true defense.
- [09:46]
Colonel
You.
- [09:46]
Nick
You build a story and try to steer the narrative in a way that could confuse the jury or jurors into thinking that while we know the outcome and while we know everybody that was there that night, oh, we got all these different stories and things, and it gets all convoluted. It. It comes down to, we know who did it, we know the three people responsible, but who's mostly responsible and who is responsible to somewhat of a lesser degree.
- [10:15]
Captain
Well, these shit turds were trying to sell a sandwich.
- [10:18]
Nick
At closing arguments, the prosecutor said that, quote, this has been described as a murder over a cell phone. And when you listen to the evidence, probably the saddest thing was that it was less than that. It wasn't even a murder over a cell phone. I think it was a mindless murder over some kind of distorted image of tough guy stuff. After the prosecutor gave his closing argument, the defense lawyer delivered his closing arguments, saying initially that there was not enough evidence against his client to support the finding of capital murder. The other prosecutor, his name's Ken Taylor, said in rebuttal, quote, remember the horrible night and particularly the horrible 10 or 15 seconds that these three young people that lived, went through. Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you that there are veterans of war who have spent a full year in a combat theater and not seen the carnage, the slaughter, the cold blooded killing that these young people have seen to traumatize them for the rest of their lives. Joey Wilson killed these people as sure as he put the gun to everybody's head and pulled the trigger, end quote. It only took the jury three hours to convict Wilson. During the penalty phase of the trial, the jury had to decide whether to give Wilson the death penalty or not. And the prosecution was pushing for it big time.
- [11:53]
Captain
So we believe that his crime would warrant the death penalty. But at the trial, we're going to have people that will speak for the victims and speak for this murderer.
- [12:06]
Nick
Yeah. And in Alabama, to be eligible for the death penalty, for that to be the appropriate sentence, what is stated is that the. The murder or murders are to be deemed heinous, extremely wicked, atrocious and shockingly evil. And the sheriff testifies that in his opinion, that's exactly what these murders were. The defense calls Joey Wilson's father, Robert, to the stand, who cried and begged the jury for mercy on his son. And then we get Joey Wilson himself called to the stand to speak on his own behalf. He admitted that he cut off Johnny Couch's ponytail and stomped on his chest. And then he said, quote, I shot Brian Carter. I want to say I'm sorry to Mr. And Mrs. Carter for what I did to your son. I hope you will forgive me. I want to say to the other families that I didn't give any orders to kill any of your family members, end quote. When asked why he shot Brian, he said, I don't know. He had no explanation for his actions, no justification and no real remorse. His attorney tried to tell the jury that. That Nick. Had Nick Ackland not started shooting, they would not be in this courtroom. He pointed out that Wilson apologized to the families and asked the jury to give Joey Wilson a lifeline so there was no more loss of life meaning. Give him a sentence of life in prison. But only after one hour. The jury sentenced him to death. The vote was unanimous. Judge Frey pronounced at the end of sentencing, quote, by any standard acceptable to civilized society, this crime was extremely wicked and shockingly evil. The defendant was unnecessarily torturous in the commission of these crimes. While the court recognizes that all capital offenses are heinous, atrocious and cruel, to some extent, the degree of heinousness, atrocious, atrociousness and cruelty which characterizes this offense exceeds that which is common to all capital offenses. It is the judgment of this court that you be punished by death. End quote.
- [14:23]
Captain
But this is a true sign of a monster to me, because like you were saying, when. When he gets up and addresses the families, everybody in the courtroom is saying there is no sign of remorse. But that is because there is none inside of him. And somebody that cannot show remorse because there is none inside of them. They have no soul. They are just pure evil. And the only reason why he probably spoke at all is, maybe this will save myself. Or maybe he does not even care to save himself, but maybe he did it to save face with his family or something.
- [15:06]
Nick
So the state had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Joey Wilson shot and killed Brian Carter. The three surviving witnesses all testified that Corey Johnson didn't fire his gun. That meant that all the other victims were shot by Nicholas Ackland. Ackland was tried before a jury on the charges that he intentionally murdered Charles Lamar Hemphill, Michael Beaudet, Johnny Couch and Brian Carter pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct, and that he attempted to murder Ashley Rutherford and Michelle Hayden. At trial, the evidence against Ackland was overwhelming. The three survivors, eyewitnesses to the shootings testified that they saw Ackland shoot first. He first shot Ashley Rutherford in the head and then moved to the other victims, shooting them one by one. As Joey Wilson also began shooting at the victims, the guns used, all of the guns used to kill the four murder victims were found in his home, in his residence. There was some pushback and argument over the search. Was it legal? Later, his girlfriend's going to say, I didn't consent to a search. One of the searches, she signed a paperwork and she said, well, I didn't know what I was signing. It's a little too late. After you sign it, there's this thing called reading. You ask to see the document.
- [16:30]
Captain
Can you imagine how bad of a person this is to hear what happened, to know the brutality and also, just also the pain of the surviving victims, to know all that and then to do anything to defend him? Because when you initially hear the story and they go, hey, does he have guns? Can we see them? And she tells the cops, go ahead. Now you're recanting that. And so now you're defending this monster after you know what he did. She did the right thing when she didn't know what he did. And now that she knows how bad of what he did, she then defends it. I mean, you're a scumbag.
- [17:15]
Nick
The prosecutor, Ken Taylor, told the jury that Nicholas Ackland was the worst killing machine ever in Madison County. If Joey Wilson was the ringleader, Nick Ackland was the enforcer. End quote. Here again, Captain, the defense calls zero witnesses. Other than the argument about the illegal search, the defense really had nothing going for them. And remember, a lot of the facts about the case were already predetermined prior to this trial because we've already had one murder trial. The jury found Ackland guilty in the penalty phase. Ackland introduced his parents, his aunt, his grandmother, a retired police officer, an employee at a youth organization, and two reverends to testify on his behalf. His father was also a reverend and testified that his son had been raised in a loving and supportive home. Specifically, he testified that he asked, where did I go wrong? Nicholas was raised in a God fearing home. I took him to church. He sang in the youth choir, he was an usher, he was a Good kid. Nick and I had a good relationship. I went to his parent teacher conferences, I took him to the dentist. That's a relationship I wanted with my son because I was denied that relationship with my father. Nonetheless, Eklund's defense claimed that his childhood had been troubled. In consideration to the sentence, the court noted that Ackland had a common law wife and two children and that he was known to be quiet and polite. But as for his assertions that he came from a troubled family and therefore wasn't his fault that he had shot a bunch of people, the evidence didn't back that up. The court found that most killers are typically the products of poverty, a dysfunctional family, physical or sexual abuse and or social deprivation. Ackland was the product of a loving middle class family. As the jury saw it, Ackland was exposed to all the values that are central to an ordered society. However, he chose to reject them. He made a conscious choice to become a killer. He was not born to it.
- [19:34]
Captain
But I still think that's weak and pathetic to these people that do horrible things. To blame it on somebody else. Some other reason this was done to me. So therefore this is how I turned out. It's accepting no responsibility.
- [19:50]
Nick
Yeah. Here too we get the jury that would recommend the death penalty in this case as well. The judge agrees with was not such a unanimous vote as in the previous case. This was a 10 to 2 vote. On August 24, 1998, the trial court sentenced Nicholas Ackland to 20 years imprisonment for each count of attempted murder to be served consecutively and ordered him to pay a fine of $10,000 and a $10,000 victims compensation assessment for each count. For the capital murders, the trial court sentenced him to death.
- [20:27]
Captain
So we have two of the three murders trials they took place. Now we have convictions. Now we have what their sentencings are going to be. So then what happens to the third murderer?
- [20:44]
Nick
So Corey Johnson is our third suspect. And according to our witnesses, surviving witnesses, they're saying that his behavior was very different from the other two suspects and perpetrators. And forensic evidence proved that he didn't fire a shot. Witness statements proved he didn't fire a shot. Furthermore, those statements said that he tried to convince the other two perpetrators that they shouldn't shoot any of the victims, that he tried to persuade them multiple times that the victims would not report the home invasion, that we weren't. We're not leaving witnesses because they're not going to tell on us. They're not going to call this in. We just need to get out of here, he actually went at one point and got ice and towels for some of the victims who had been smacked and beaten by the other two perpetrators. So it's really difficult to look at this and separate one from the other, or in this case, one from the
- [21:47]
Captain
others, because they're all part of it.
- [21:51]
Nick
Correct.
- [21:51]
Captain
But then at the same time, again, if you didn't pull the trigger.
- [21:56]
Nick
Well, and that's what the Madison County District attorney is saying and says to the court and says to the newspapers as well, after we've reviewed all the information and the evidence, the witness statements, and talked to all the perpetrators as well, that our office's conclusion is that there was no intent by this suspect to actually kill anyone, and he didn't kill anyone. So they were not going to make this a death penalty case for Corey Johnson. They're saying we're not. He's not guilty of capital murder, so we're not going to charge him with that. But he was engaged in a felony, whether it be a burglary or an assault, whatever you want to label it at the time of the deaths. So he needs to be charged for that. But there was no intent by this individual to kill anybody.
- [22:47]
Captain
Well, I'm assuming he's a lot more cooperative with law enforcement.
- [22:51]
Nick
Yes. He strikes a deal with the Madison County Prosecutor's office. He pled guilty. They didn't need to have a trial for him. And in fact, not only did he plead guilty, but he also said that he would testify against the other two in court. But he was never called to testify.
- [23:08]
Captain
Yeah, but this is a sign of remorse, obviously. We have one murderer in this case that thinks he's big bad, his shit don't stink. I got my crew shows no remorse. This individual is going, oh, by the way, I'm going to plead guilty because I am guilty. And I. And I guarantee you if he is listening to our show and we said those actions, you being there, not stopping, and that makes you a piece of shit, probably agree with us.
- [23:40]
Nick
Well, yes, but let's not.
- [23:42]
Captain
Yeah, I'm. I'm not trying to give him a trophy.
- [23:45]
Nick
Well, that's what the least piece of
- [23:47]
Captain
shit of these horrible pieces of shit.
- [23:50]
Nick
Let's not hand out any flowers just yet.
- [23:52]
Captain
I wish he would have stopped this.
- [23:54]
Nick
He was released in 2011, and it appears that while he had no intent to kill anybody, he. Whatever lesson it was for him to learn, he did not learn that lesson. So he. He's released in 2011.
- [24:07]
Captain
Oh, great. So now I'm going to be the
- [24:09]
Nick
shipback November 30, 2016. Huntsville Police receive a 911 call that a victim had been cut up. Officers responded to a home in the 2600 block of Del Norte Lane around 5pm when emergency personnel arrived at the scene, they found that this was the home of Corey Johnson. He's the guy that the captain was going to get a trophy. Yeah, no trophies.
- [24:34]
Captain
I'm the dumbest boy in school.
- [24:36]
Nick
Well, Corey Johnson, he was the one that in fact called 91 1. So when they arrive at this home, his home, he's sitting on the porch waiting for the cops. He tells the first responders that they needed to lock him up because he's the one that did it. And what he's talking about is what they're about to find inside. Inside the house, the first responders found 42 year old Candace Wilson face up on a blood soaked bed. She had been stabbed multiple times. I, I don't want to go too far down this road because we know he's guilty. He admits when they show up.
- [25:15]
Captain
So essentially he's a guy that does horrible, shitty things and then he feels bad about it afterwards.
- [25:23]
Nick
Yeah, he, he called it in. She had been stabbed like 60 times or something. That, the other thing that's really, really crazy and bizarre here too is Candace Wilson. That's not the first time that you've heard her name. She, she was mentioned before. She's Doughboy's sister.
- [25:44]
Captain
Right. Well, this makes me the dumbest boy in school. Biggest douche canoe. I got my foot in my mouth and there's a little bit of dog poo on my shoe.
- [25:54]
Nick
Well, she was with Nicholas Ackland. She was the one that, remember she said, oh, I didn't, I didn't consent to the search of our home.
- [26:01]
Captain
Right.
- [26:02]
Nick
Where you guys found the gun and she had the two, the guns. She was the one that had two kids with the other perpetrator. And after they all went away to prison and he gets out at some point, they strike up a relationship together and he I guess believed that she was running around on him. And they, they, this, this relationship had a lot of problems, a lot of issues, uh, but certainly nobody wanted this to be the outcome. She ends up dead. He ends up back in prison. He pled guilty to her murder in 2020, avoiding the death penalty. He received a life sentence for Candace's murder.
- [27:05]
Captain
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- [28:39]
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- [33:48]
Captain
All right cheers mates. We are back Talk Hands in the air. Cheers to you Colonel.
- [33:54]
Nick
Cheers to you, Captain.
- [33:56]
Captain
So of the three murderers. Mm. The one that was going to get the lesser sentence or got the lesser sentence, he gets out, ends up killing somebody else. I almost gave him a trophy. I feel awful about it. You can send your hate mail to captain@truecrimegarage.com but what happens with these other guys? Because they're sentenced to death. But we know that there's going to be appeals.
- [34:23]
Nick
Yeah, they're. And as we know from the three amigos, there will be a plethora of appeals. So there.
- [34:31]
Captain
Would you say I have a plethora of appeals?
- [34:34]
Nick
These two guys do. They're sentenced to death in the state of Alabama. And let's skip over Wilson because none of his appeals seem to carry any weight. Everyone that's been been filed to date has been overruled or the basically the death sentence has been upheld every time they've reviewed any of this other information.
- [34:55]
Captain
Do we know when he's going to be sentenced to death or if he will be sentenced to death?
- [35:01]
Nick
I believe that he will be. Now, Nicholas Ackland, who also has a bunch of appeals. Yeah, there's one that stands out here. So in 2002, he files a claim that's worth discussing because it was taken all the way to the Supreme Court. Ackland claimed that his attorney had a conflict of interest, resulting in ineffective assistance and counsel because of his loyalties were not to him, the client to Nicholas Ackland. Here's what happened. So his attorney agrees to represent him after he met with his mother and father. The mother and father were divorced in September of 1996. His mother, Velma, promised to pay a $25,000 retainer to the attorney, even though it was obvious to the lawyer that she was in financial distress. He'd never get paid. Right. So Velma, the mother, paid about $1,900 over the next two years. His father, Thaddeus paid $2,900. The attorney worked nearly for free. When you consider. When you add those two amounts together, it gets nowhere near $25,000. But that's the amount he was paid to work this case and represent their son. Two days before the trial in 1998, the mother goes to the attorney telling the attorney that that her husband had perpetrated several abuses against her and her children. Pretty serious stuff. Siri Allega. Serious allegations. We should say these are allegations. The abuse included multiple allegations of Thaddeus threatening her and the children with a gun. She testified at an evidentiary hearing that Thaddeus would Have a gun in his hand and would shake it and would shove it down her mouth and. And that the two sons would be screaming, telling their dad not to hurt their mom. He didn't hurt them, but he disciplined them with fear and threats of violence. And it's some pretty aggressive, disturbing stuff. The short of it here, captain, is that at some point, the claim that our suspect is going to make in his appeal is that this should have been brought up at his trial as a mitigating factor on the sentencing. He's not saying I'm innocent. He's just saying, you know, this. This shaped me. It molded me, affected me in a way that made me a violent individual. It was one of the blocks that built me to becoming a murderer. This would ultimately get shot down, even though it was a. It was on its face, a pretty good, solid appeal. What he's claiming is that, well, my attorneys never brought that up because they didn't have my best interest at heart. They were worried about getting paid. And when these allegations were brought up by my mother to the attorneys, my father then said, okay, but if that comes out at trial, I'm not paying you guys your fee. So he's telling the appellant court that I had bad representation because their best interest was getting paid by my father, not with protecting me or keeping me out of prison.
- [38:41]
Captain
Right.
- [38:42]
Nick
However, what was learned was that it was in fact the suspect that had signed off that none of that information would come out at his trial. It was. He was the determining factor that that wouldn't be brought up at trial. And once that was reviewed during the appellate, during the appeals process, it was overturned. So while it looks good on its face, what the court's going to say is, well, if this was such a big, serious deal, then why did you say why? Why didn't you want this presented at the first trial? Why are we doing it years later?
- [39:17]
Captain
And obviously he's going, hey, my dad's paying some money for my attorney's fees, so it makes sense that this stuff is not going to come out. That's probably why I to it. But then it's like you agreed to it, so you can't later say, my lawyer's messed up. No, you messed up again. But even if your dad was abusive, even if your dad was threatening family members with a gun, even if it goes beyond that, even if it's unspeakable actions, it makes no sense to go into this house over a bag of weed and a cell phone and some tough guy shit and torture these people. Killing four victims, leaving two injured, and then creating all these other victims. All the people you murdered, their families now have to suffer.
- [40:10]
Nick
The community suffers.
- [40:12]
Captain
And then on top of that, now there's three murders that are behind bars, that are going to be locked up, and then that destroys other families.
- [40:20]
Nick
Well, and there's a standard for appeals process. You can't just have somebody that's sentenced to death that goes. Well, I don't agree with it. Here's an appeal. No, you have to have grounds for an appeal. So this, on its face, is grounds for appeal. But what is that appeal? The appeal itself is I had poor counsel. My lawyers did not have my best interest at heart during my trial, so I had ineffective counsel. Is. Is the term used for this appeal?
- [40:50]
Colonel
Right.
- [40:51]
Nick
The. In 2013, after a hearing. These are multiple hearings. People much smarter than you and I, Captain. Sorry to speak for the both of us.
- [40:59]
Captain
Come on, man. I'm. I told you already. I'm the dumbest boy in school. Now you got to kick me when I'm down.
- [41:04]
Nick
Judges and officers of the courts reviewed this information and what was Decided after a 2013 hearing, the judge ruled that Nicholas acknowledge. Nicholas Ackland was the one who chose not to present that evidence at trial. So he cannot now blame that on his lawyer, because it wasn't his lawyer that refused to present it at trial. It was the client. But this is the lawyer. Is the lawyer has a fiduciary duty to the client. If the lawyer says, no, we should present this, and the client says, no, I don't want to. Well, he's got to do what his client wants.
- [41:45]
Colonel
Right.
- [41:46]
Nick
So he can't, in retrospect, go back and flip the script and blame it on somebody else.
- [41:51]
Captain
But this is another example. When you. When you said at the beginning that these guys aren't rocket scientists, this is just another example of the stupidity.
- [42:05]
Nick
Yes. And then you have the. The one youngster who's trying to talk the other guys at the scene out of doing this. We don't have to shoot anybody. Clearly, he shows remorse for his involvement there. And then he gets out. And this is one of those situations, Captain, where you look at it, it's like, was this dude bad all along? Is he just not great at controlling his actions? Does he surround himself with dumb, bad, violent people?
- [42:31]
Captain
Yeah, because we know, you know, that he can control his actions to a certain point because he didn't pull a trigger.
- [42:38]
Advertisement Voice
Right.
- [42:38]
Colonel
And.
- [42:39]
Nick
And after he stabs Candace Wilson, he calls police.
- [42:44]
Captain
Yeah. Then it makes you wonder what happened to him. In prison.
- [42:48]
Colonel
Right?
- [42:48]
Nick
That's one of those. We. We talk about it all the time. Anytime the serial killer conversation is. Is being debated, it's a lot of debate of nature versus nurture. I usually tend to think that it's a bit of both.
- [43:04]
Captain
It's a mixed bag.
- [43:06]
Nick
And then you have other people that say, well, prison doesn't reform anybody. It doesn't rehabilitate anybody. And I think that we can show great examples of people that have been rehabilitated. And I think we can also show great examples where maybe it did shape and mold somebody into more of a criminal. And it's hard for us to sit here and say if that were the case here. But we know the result, right? We know that he. He killed this woman. He's charged with capital murder, which. Which is right to do so, even though he's the one that calls the cops. Because Alabama law says that anyone who has a previous murder conviction within 20 years of a second murder must be charged with capital murder upon commission of the second homicide. So that was the big thing for them to sort out at his second murder trial, if you will. You know, everybody understood who killed the victim. The weapon was found inside the home. It was a small pocket knife. He had simply set it on the dresser in the bedroom before going outside and calling police.
- [44:16]
Captain
Hide the evidence. But I think I asked you before if you ever seen the movie Shot Caller. I think it's a complete fictitious story, but the idea is this guy goes to prison for his buddy was killed in the car of the car he was driving, but he was drunk, so he got vehicular manslaughter and he pled guilty. So he's only supposed to be in prison for maybe a couple years, maybe 18 months. Now getting out of prison, it's going to really affect his life in the long run because he's going to be. He's going to have this charge on his record, but because it is a murder charge, he has to go to prison with some bad dudes and he has to become a bad dude himself just to survive those 18 months to two years or whatever it is. When I watch the movie myself, I go, if I was put in the situation, I don't know what I would do. If you're in a situation where you're surrounded by the worst of the worst bad dudes that don't give a shit and not going to show remorse, then don't you have to become an animal yourself just for survival? And what would that do to you? Depending on how many Years you had to do that for. I felt awful though, because I went to give him a trophy and now I feel like I'm giving him excuse and I'm not.
- [45:54]
Nick
You have nothing. You're guilty of nothing here, sir.
- [45:57]
Captain
But other than being the dumbest boy in school.
- [46:02]
Nick
So when he goes back to prison, okay, we know he pled guilty. So he avoids the death penalty there. He receives a life sentence. But also part of that is it's ordered that he, Johnson be restricted from contact with Joey Wilson and Nick Ackland. Right. We don't want these three joining forces and forming Voltron inside of this prison. Now, the prosecutor, who was the prosecutor for all three of these individuals in talking about Johnson after he gets out and then commits the murder on Candace Wilson, he told AL.com's you've got as close and personal to mayhem and criminal activity of the highest level and you learned nothing from it. We incarcerate you for 15 years, you get out and you've learned nothing. You make choices and you go right back to it.
- [46:59]
Captain
But it's tough though too, because when you watch these shows or these documentaries on these prisons, a lot of these prisons don't have actual programs. They're not forcing these individuals to have some kind of education. It's available to them, but they don't have to do it. And I think if I was to create a prison system, I think I wouldn't have a situation where you can just sit in your cell all day because what are you learning from that?
- [47:35]
Nick
Today the home where the cell phone murders happened has been demolished. The prosecutor, Rob Browser, told WHNT News. Every time I glanced at the house, I thought about the case. Horrible tragedy occurred in that house. You think about four young people just barely out of their teenage years who haven't been with us for the last 20 years. Every time I look at that house, it had a certain sadness about it. Joey Wilson and Nick Ackland remain on death row to this day. They are each being held at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. Their appeals went on and on and on. Sherry Carter, the sister in law of one of the victims, Brian Carter, told whnt that 25 years was way too long to wait for justice. We have family members that have fought cancer and all kind of illnesses to stay alive just to see the justice carried through. And unfortunately, every one of our victims has lost a parent or grandparent or something during this time of us waiting. And they are still waiting to this day. Both Wilson and Ackland remain on death row and Joseph Wilson's appeals very recently ran out. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals recently upheld his conviction and death penalty. That was decided June 28, 2024. And these families are still waiting for these sentences and justice to be carried out.
- [49:37]
Captain
Want to thank you so much for joining us here in the garage. Make sure you go to truecrimegarage.com and purchase the Colonel's book. We got signed copies available or if you just want to listen to it, you can check it out on Audible as well. Colonel, do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners?
- [49:54]
Nick
We got a very special recommendation for everybody out there this week. Right now I'm really in love with this website out there. It's called Keeping Our Girls Safe. So k o g safe.com and their partners are Defense Gear HQ.com Back in July of 2016, Sierra Jogan went for a bicycle ride in the rural area of Northwest Ohio. Sierra was kidnapped less than 500ft from her home and it was later learned that she had been murdered by a previously convicted violent offender. Keeping Our Girls Safe is a grassroots organization created by the family of Sierra's long time boyfriend to honor Sierra's legacy. K o g safe.com advocates and educates, empowers and engages against violence towards women. They offer free survival classes focused on women's safety that they perform at high schools in Northwest Ohio. They also have a program that they began for first responders. So check out the good work that they're doing. But specifically check out an arm yourself. They have a product called the angel in Disguise Self Defense Keychain. Its patent pending design. Created specifically for Keeping Our girls Safe by Defense Gear hq. It comes with a self defense tip card. It's simple to use. Make the attacker let go allowing you the valuable seconds to get away and seek help. Check out their website, pick up the keychain and keep our girls safe.
- [51:38]
Captain
And if you need more True Crime Garage for your earballs, we'll see you on off the the Record. Until then, be good, be kind and don't litter.
- [52:24]
Colonel
The Colonels cooked up a new $10 bucket of the day just for you. Monday 24 nuggets for $10 Tuesday 8 piece fried chicken for $10 Wednesday 10 wings for $10. Thursday 8 tenders for $10. Friday 24 nuggets for. Oh you guessed it, didn't you? $10 finger licking machine. The $10 bucket of the day deal. Every weekday only at KFC. It's finger licking goo prices and participation variable supplies.
- [52:52]
Captain
Last amount available on third party ordering platforms tax extra.