Speaker 1: Did you have any reservation at all about having that child?
Speaker 2: Of course not.
Speaker 3: Did you ever have any.
Speaker 1: Second thoughts about why did I have this child in
Speaker 1: the first name?
Speaker 2: Never. My children were everything to me.
Speaker 4: I'm Nancy Glass and this is Burden of Guilt, Episode five,
Speaker 4: Game on. It was the second day of testimony in
Speaker 4: the State of Georgia versus Jan Barry Sandlin. His ex
Speaker 4: wife Tracy Roquel's mother, Kathy Allman, was on the stand.
Speaker 4: She would be questioned for six hours. Jeff Brickman went
Speaker 4: first for the prosecution.
Speaker 3: How had you met Jan Barry Sam?
Speaker 2: I met him in the sixth grade, when I was
Speaker 2: about eleven or twelve years old.
Speaker 3: Did you care for mister Sandlin back in nineteen seventy.
Speaker 2: One, Yes, I did.
Speaker 4: Lead Assistant District Atturne her Nae. Jeff Brickman then wanted
Speaker 4: to know what happened in the hours leading to Matthew's death.
Speaker 3: December twenty seventh, nineteen seventy one. I want you to
Speaker 3: tell members of the jury. It's best you can remember
Speaker 3: what it is you did that day, starting in the morning.
Speaker 2: I fed the kid's breakfast, bathed im like I always do,
Speaker 2: got them dressed, played with Matt. That's pretty much for
Speaker 2: the morning. Then I took Tracy to the pediatrician.
Speaker 4: In episode three, I told you how Kathy brought Tracy
Speaker 4: Raquel to the doctor to be treated for bruises and
Speaker 4: a bleeding ear. And as for the baby, before Kathy
Speaker 4: left the house that day, she laid the baby down
Speaker 4: for a nap and then left him under Jan's supervision.
Speaker 3: When you put him down for a nap on December
Speaker 3: twenty seventh, nineteen seventy one, as far as you knew,
Speaker 3: was he healthy?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 4: Was he breathing yes, Kathy says. When she came home,
Speaker 4: Jan told her to leave Tracy Roquel with him and
Speaker 4: go get the laundry out of the car. She says,
Speaker 4: when she came back into the apartment, Racy Roquel was
Speaker 4: nowhere to be seen.
Speaker 3: Then what did you do?
Speaker 2: I panicked and wanted to know where Tracy was, and
Speaker 2: Jan said, I don't know. She was right here in
Speaker 2: front of me. And I was panicking, like, well, why
Speaker 2: didn't you see where she went? She's only two years old.
Speaker 2: You should keep an eye on her.
Speaker 3: So what did you do?
Speaker 2: Started frantically running around the house looking for Tracy.
Speaker 3: Were there only a certain number of rooms in whish
Speaker 3: to look.
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: Did you look in the room?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: Did you find her when you first started looking for her?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: Where did you find her?
Speaker 2: And Matt's bed?
Speaker 3: What was she doing in the bed sitting? Did you
Speaker 3: see Matt?
Speaker 2: Not at first?
Speaker 3: Do at some point seeing Then.
Speaker 2: I walked in over to Tracy because I thought she
Speaker 2: was in the bed with Matt, and I panicked. And
Speaker 2: then when I got to the bed, Matt wasn't in there,
Speaker 2: and I saw him laying on the floor next to
Speaker 2: the chester drawers.
Speaker 5: What did he look like?
Speaker 2: He looked fine, but he was breathing real heavy.
Speaker 3: Did you have a chance to look at his face
Speaker 3: or his ox?
Speaker 2: Yes? I held him and looked at him. He wouldn't
Speaker 2: wake up, and one eye was dilated all the way
Speaker 2: in and one was all the way out, and he
Speaker 2: just wouldn't wake up, and he was breathing funny.
Speaker 4: Matthew would never wake up.
Speaker 3: What if anything, did mister Sandlin do?
Speaker 2: He started to grab Tracy up and spanker.
Speaker 4: One child was dying and the other was being punished.
Speaker 3: If you would describe for the member of the jury
Speaker 3: as best you can, what was your condition right then?
Speaker 2: I was in a state of shock.
Speaker 3: Do you recall much about what happened after that night?
Speaker 2: No, I don't.
Speaker 4: According to the recorded phone call between Kathy and Tracy Riquel,
Speaker 4: Kathy had no memory of the two weeks that followed
Speaker 4: Matthew's death, and she says Jan kept her in seclusion.
Speaker 3: Did you have any idea how he had died?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 2: I thought it was an accident in a horrible accent.
Speaker 4: But records show that authorities were told that two year
Speaker 4: old Tracy Riquel threw Matthew out of the crib and
Speaker 4: killed him.
Speaker 3: At any time, were you led to believe that it
Speaker 3: was an accident?
Speaker 2: Yes, how through the police and everybody around me.
Speaker 3: Did you believe that?
Speaker 2: Yes? I believed.
Speaker 3: Did you have any reason not to believe that?
Speaker 2: I didn't.
Speaker 3: At any time, did you have an opportunity to talk
Speaker 3: with mister Sandlin about what happened to matt that day?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: What did he tell you?
Speaker 2: You tell me it was a terrible accident and I
Speaker 2: needed to accept it and get over it.
Speaker 3: Did you take him out his work?
Speaker 2: Pretty much?
Speaker 3: Anything about that?
Speaker 4: Kathy Aumen was asked why all those years later she
Speaker 4: stuck with that story and repeated it to her daughter,
Speaker 4: even when it didn't make sense.
Speaker 3: Do you recall telling her that there was easier to
Speaker 3: believe what I was led to believe? Yes, what did
Speaker 3: you mean by that?
Speaker 2: What I meant was, when you're in a state of
Speaker 2: shock and you just lost your child, it's somehow emotionally
Speaker 2: easier to accept an accident than it would be to
Speaker 2: accept that he was murdered.
Speaker 3: Did you want to believe that it was possible that
Speaker 3: he could have done this to your child? Did you
Speaker 3: want to believe that then?
Speaker 2: No, This was a person that I loved since I
Speaker 2: was twelve years old. I thought he was the love
Speaker 2: of my life.
Speaker 1: Did you have any reservation at all about having that child?
Speaker 2: Of course?
Speaker 1: Did you ever have any second thoughts about why did
Speaker 1: I have this child in the first time?
Speaker 2: Oh? Never? My children were everything to me.
Speaker 4: Jeff Brickman asked Kathy about her own involvement in her
Speaker 4: son's death.
Speaker 3: Did you kill him?
Speaker 2: No? I didn't.
Speaker 4: She also told the court why she kept this a
Speaker 4: secret from Tracy Riquel.
Speaker 3: Why wasn't it easy for you to talk about this
Speaker 3: with Tracy.
Speaker 2: Because I didn't want to hurt her if she had
Speaker 2: done it. I really wasn't sure.
Speaker 3: Did she question you about it?
Speaker 2: Yes, a lot lot, for about ten years.
Speaker 3: Was there a point in time when Tracy asked you
Speaker 3: to grant a release of the medical records?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: Did you do that?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: Why did you do it?
Speaker 2: Because I want the truth to come out.
Speaker 4: I want to know what happened to my son and
Speaker 4: for Kathy. The idea that Tracy Raquel killed her brother
Speaker 4: didn't seem out of the question.
Speaker 3: If it was an accident, was Tracy the person it
Speaker 3: would have been the cause of the accident.
Speaker 2: Yes, well, either her Jan, I don't know. They were
Speaker 2: the only two in.
Speaker 4: The house, that's true. The only two people home were
Speaker 4: a grown adult and a two year old Jan. Sandlin's lawyer,
Speaker 4: Carrin Maul was ready for the cross examination.
Speaker 5: Now, Tracy was and is a fairly a very intelligent
Speaker 5: young lady, isn't she? And she was developmentally advanced. She
Speaker 5: was walking when she was nine months old, right, and
Speaker 5: she was talking.
Speaker 2: She wasn't talking yet, she was about twelve months. She
Speaker 2: wasn't talking yet. She could just say MoMA and bye bye.
Speaker 5: She was walking at nine months. And she was a
Speaker 5: caretaker in a sense, wasn't she of Matt. She took
Speaker 5: care of her. You called her once the little mother,
Speaker 5: didn't you.
Speaker 4: It's hard to know what Karen Mall was going for here.
Speaker 4: How would Tracy Raquel's ability to walk and talk around
Speaker 4: the age of one make a difference in this case.
Speaker 4: Karin's next line of questioning was about baby Matt's condition
Speaker 4: on the day he died.
Speaker 5: When you left Matt, there wasn't anything on his body.
Speaker 2: What do you mean there was?
Speaker 5: I mean there wasn't any old bruises on house neck. No,
Speaker 5: no mark Sorr. There wasn't anything on his left heel.
Speaker 4: Now, remember when Matthew was brought to the hospital the
Speaker 4: night he died, doctors noticed a bruise clavicle and a
Speaker 4: burnmark on his left foot.
Speaker 5: No, okay, So it must have shocked you when you
Speaker 5: read those medical reports, Yes very much. Now you testified
Speaker 5: here to day that you ran around the house frantically
Speaker 5: looking for Tracy. And we've already established that we basically
Speaker 5: got two bedrooms, right, right, very small apartment, so not
Speaker 5: a whole lot of running around, right, I mean we're
Speaker 5: going in one bedroom, in the other.
Speaker 2: Correct, right, and in the kitchen and on the back
Speaker 2: porch and on the front. I was looking everywhere.
Speaker 5: For you didn't go into the bedrooms. Evidently didn't go
Speaker 5: into Matt's bedrooms.
Speaker 2: At first, I looked in there and I didn't see her.
Speaker 2: But I wasn't looking at his bed because I thought
Speaker 2: he was a sweet Okay.
Speaker 5: But it's a small room. If you had stood in
Speaker 5: the doorway and looked in, you'd have seen whoever was there.
Speaker 2: Like I said, I glanced in the first time the
Speaker 2: second time I found.
Speaker 4: Let's step out of the courtroom for a minute here
Speaker 4: and talk about what Racy Raquel had been through over
Speaker 4: the course of her life. As you know, Tercy Raquel
Speaker 4: suffered a lot. During her childhood, jan Salmon was extremely
Speaker 4: abusive and some stories were frankly too horrific to broadcast.
Speaker 4: As a teenager, she had attempted suicide and her mother
Speaker 4: tried to have her committed to a psychiatric hospital. By
Speaker 4: the mid eighties, Tracy Raquel had read the incident report
Speaker 4: that showed Matthew had suffered a head injury, but there
Speaker 4: was no investigation. Despite her fragile state, she wanted answers.
Speaker 5: Nineteen eighty six, she starts confronting you, and during this
Speaker 5: period of time, you tell her the truth? What do
Speaker 5: you believe is the truth? Yes, you tell her that
Speaker 5: she's responsible.
Speaker 2: No, I didn't tell her that.
Speaker 5: Okay, what did you tell her?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know how to answer that question. She
Speaker 2: was having problems in trying to help her with the problems.
Speaker 2: I brought it up.
Speaker 5: What did you say?
Speaker 2: I told her what had happened, that it was an accident.
Speaker 5: Did you tell her that she threw the baby out
Speaker 5: of the crip?
Speaker 2: I may have at some point, I really don't remember.
Speaker 5: Let's just step back from that. Sometime in eighty five
Speaker 5: or eighty six, to help your daughter, you brought up
Speaker 5: the fact that she may have been responsible for throwing
Speaker 5: the baby out of the crib.
Speaker 2: Well, the truth is my mother actually told her how
Speaker 2: Matt died. I told therapists and people what I thought happened,
Speaker 2: and we were trying to help Tracy deal with.
Speaker 5: Let's take one fact at a time. Did you tell
Speaker 5: your daughter sometime in eighty five or eighty six that
Speaker 5: she maybe No?
Speaker 4: I told her therapist Tracy Raquel didn't know, but Cathy
Speaker 4: had no problem stating it as fact. Her two year
Speaker 4: old was capable of murder.
Speaker 5: Isn't it true, Miss Almond, that you told them that
Speaker 5: it was possible that you believed that Tracy, with her
Speaker 5: heavy baby shoes, stepped on Matthew's head. Yes, to tell
Speaker 5: that to Sergeant Unis when you talk to.
Speaker 2: Him in nineteen eighty five, I don't remember.
Speaker 5: Do you tell that to mister Brickman and Miss Mango?
Speaker 2: I may have mentioned it, I don't remember.
Speaker 5: You don't well, missus Almond. You wrote a statement for
Speaker 5: Sergeant's Unis, didn't you, from nineteen ninety five. Yes, you
Speaker 5: put it in that statement.
Speaker 2: I don't remember.
Speaker 5: Did Miss Mangold ask you to sign a release so
Speaker 5: that she could see the records from PIA No.
Speaker 4: PIA stands for the Psychiatric Institute of Atlanta, the facility
Speaker 4: where Kathy had Tracy Rikel committed.
Speaker 5: She never asked you that. Did you ever tell her
Speaker 5: that you had talked to folks at PIA.
Speaker 2: No. Tracy was only there for a brief time, just
Speaker 2: to be evaluated, but you had told I told him
Speaker 2: about Matt's death because I thought maybe that was what
Speaker 2: was wrong with her.
Speaker 5: And you told them that it was possible that Tracy,
Speaker 5: with her heavy baby shoes, stepped on Matt's head and
Speaker 5: then possibly.
Speaker 2: I was trying to figure out what happened.
Speaker 5: You also mentioned that there was some thought that maybe
Speaker 5: mister Sanduli did it right.
Speaker 2: Right, okay, but that.
Speaker 5: You believed and correct me if I'm mistaken. That she
Speaker 5: was wearing heavy baby shoes right, yes, and that she
Speaker 5: could have crushed the baby's skull.
Speaker 2: That one, well, I don't remember exactly. I was just
Speaker 2: trying to throw up ideas of anything that would help her.
Speaker 4: I'm having a hard time with this. Kathy wants to
Speaker 4: help Tracy Raquel get over something she isn't even aware of.
Speaker 5: And so I'm making sure I understand January first, nineteen
Speaker 5: eighty five, when you're talking to the social worker. At
Speaker 5: that point in time, Tracy doesn't know that she is
Speaker 5: in any way responsible, So you're not trying to help her, right.
Speaker 5: I'm trying to help Tracy, okay, but you're not telling
Speaker 5: Tracy this right right?
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 5: So January of nineteen eighty five, you're talking to therapists, correct,
Speaker 5: And you mentioned about Tracy possibly throwing the baby out
Speaker 5: of the bed, right. You mention about crushing the baby's skull, right,
Speaker 5: and you mentioned about, well, the authorities have some suspicion
Speaker 5: that maybe it didn't happen that way, right, right, that
Speaker 5: it had been ruled an accident. Yes, And that you
Speaker 5: had married this man in nineteen seventy three, Yes, and
Speaker 5: that you had lived with him as a married you'd
Speaker 5: been married until nineteen eighty right. And at that time
Speaker 5: you told the therapists that you believed that Tracy threw
Speaker 5: the baby out of the bed.
Speaker 2: Right, That's what I believed for a long time. The
Speaker 2: police and investigation and all led me to believe that.
Speaker 5: Okay, So it was the police and the investigation investigators
Speaker 5: that led you to believe that Tracy threw the baby
Speaker 5: from the bed.
Speaker 4: Yes, what investigation in nineteen seventy one, There was no investigation.
Speaker 4: That's what got Tracy Riquel so interested in the first place.
Speaker 5: Did the police also lead you to believe that Tracy
Speaker 5: might have stepped on the baby's head with her heavy
Speaker 5: baby shoes.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't remember where that came from.
Speaker 2: I thought maybe I was just trying to figure it
Speaker 2: out in my mind somehow.
Speaker 5: Didn't miss Rain tell you that to find out at
Speaker 5: the age of fifteen that she was responsible for the
Speaker 5: death of her brother, that that was pretty traumatic for her. Yes,
Speaker 5: and she says to you at that point that it
Speaker 5: has caused her a lot of pain and anguish to
Speaker 5: carry the burden from nineteen eighty five, when she's fifteen
Speaker 5: to today, at that time, nineteen ninety four, that she
Speaker 5: was responsible for the death of her brother.
Speaker 2: Right. That's where she says.
Speaker 5: Miss Almond. Isn't it true that Tracy told you that
Speaker 5: she has spent fifteen years believing that she was responsible
Speaker 5: for the death of her brother, right?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 5: And she told you that you never said anything different
Speaker 5: from the fact you told her that she was responsible.
Speaker 2: Correct, That's what I believed.
Speaker 6: Your mother told your daughter that at the age of fifteen,
Speaker 6: that she threw her baby brother out of the bed.
Speaker 6: You told her therapist that she stepped on the baby's fell,
Speaker 6: Miss Armond, Right, I.
Speaker 2: Don't recall that, but I could have. She had on
Speaker 2: neview shoes.
Speaker 5: You've tried to stop her from digging into it, haven't you.
Speaker 2: No, I haven't tried to stop her from digging into it.
Speaker 2: I have tried to stop her from harassing me. There's
Speaker 2: a big difference.
Speaker 5: From harassing you from using you.
Speaker 2: If she was accusing me of not knowing what happened
Speaker 2: that I should have known? I.
Speaker 5: I was the mother you testified earlier. She accused you
Speaker 5: of being directly responsible at one time.
Speaker 2: Well, she has had lots of different about it all.
Speaker 5: Isn't it true that your daughter suggested to you that
Speaker 5: there Isn't it by some chance possible that Jen coersed
Speaker 5: you into saying that I was responsible for it, and
Speaker 5: maybe that you told the hospital folks that and that's
Speaker 5: why they didn't pursue it. Doesn't she ask you those
Speaker 5: sort of things, yes, And your response is I don't
Speaker 5: think that that's true, right?
Speaker 4: And then Cathy pointed the finger at Jam.
Speaker 2: It had to be him because it wasn't me, and
Speaker 2: no one else was in there but Tracy. And when
Speaker 2: we saw the medical reports, there's no way Tracy could
Speaker 2: have done that to him. It had to be done
Speaker 2: by somebody else. And the only person there was Cham
Speaker 2: And he tricked me by making me go downstairs and
Speaker 2: get the clothes so he could put Tracy in the bed.
Speaker 5: I am sure of it, Okay, Then why in nineteen
Speaker 5: eighty five didn't you say that.
Speaker 2: I wasn't sure of it in eighty five?
Speaker 5: Why miss Almond? If you remember it clear as a bell.
Speaker 5: Didn't you say anytime in nineteen eighty five when you
Speaker 5: were talking to the social worker, why did you suggest
Speaker 5: to her that your daughter threw the baby out of
Speaker 5: the bed or crushed the baby with her heavy baby shoes.
Speaker 5: Why didn't you say he blocked my way? And I'm suspicious.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I was simply giving background information to
Speaker 2: them so they could help Tracy. And if I thought
Speaker 2: it was because she was having bad memories about what
Speaker 2: happened to man.
Speaker 5: The tombstone that was on the grave at the time
Speaker 5: of the exhumation says mother's little Angel resting snow.
Speaker 4: Yes, but when Matthew was buried in nineteen seventy one,
Speaker 4: his tombstone read great grandson of Arthur Ahmann, and that
Speaker 4: was it.
Speaker 5: That's not the original stone, Isn't That stone was placed
Speaker 5: two or three days before the exhibition, two or three
Speaker 5: days before you and Ms Mango and mister Rickman and
Speaker 5: everybody else that was at the exhbition or three days
Speaker 5: before that.
Speaker 2: Yes, I wanted to take the opportunity to correct it
Speaker 2: at that time, to make a new one show everyone.
Speaker 5: No, you did not wait until after the exhalation.
Speaker 2: No, I just wanted a place for the reburial, and
Speaker 2: that was the time that we could get it done.
Speaker 4: Or it was because the media would be covering the exhumation.
Speaker 4: Let's get back to Tracy Raquel. She was home when
Speaker 4: Kathy was on the stand because she had been dismissed
Speaker 4: and had two small children waiting for her in Savannah.
Speaker 7: The judge had said, no one is supposed to watch
Speaker 7: the trial. You're a witness, so to question yourself. Okay.
Speaker 7: I went home and there were family in the house,
Speaker 7: and people were in and the court was on in
Speaker 7: another room and the den in the house, and I
Speaker 7: walked from the laundry room with the laundry and I
Speaker 7: caught a glimpse of Kathy on the television and she
Speaker 7: was testifying. The prosecution called.
Speaker 4: Me that night, former Assistant District Attorney Leanne Mangon. I
Speaker 4: called her that night.
Speaker 8: I remember I was standing in my kitchen and this
Speaker 8: was back in the days when there was bones on
Speaker 8: the wall with the cord, so I remember standing there
Speaker 8: with this phone and said something about your mom testified.
Speaker 8: It all went okay, And I don't remember her exact words,
Speaker 8: but she told me she had watched it on TV and.
Speaker 4: My heart sunk. Tracy kills his It wasn't intentional, it
Speaker 4: was only a few seconds, but it was enough. Lead
Speaker 4: Assistant District Attorney Jeff Brickman.
Speaker 9: We didn't think we had any choice but to bring
Speaker 9: that to the attention immediately to Judge Fuller, and we hoped,
Speaker 9: the hope of hopes that he wasn't going to declare
Speaker 9: a mistrial. I don't think Tracy did anything intentional. Tracy
Speaker 9: thought her testimony was over. There was nothing that she
Speaker 9: did wrong. It wasn't going to change the course of anything.
Speaker 8: She was not a fact witness who had something to
Speaker 8: offer about what happened on the day that Matthew was murdered.
Speaker 8: So while I knew it was a problem, and I
Speaker 8: knew unquestionably it was something I needed to let the
Speaker 8: judge know about, it didn't immediately strike me as something
Speaker 8: that was going to result in a mistrial.
Speaker 4: The prosecutors did their duty and notified the court.
Speaker 7: Then they called back an hour later and said, okay, court,
Speaker 7: So there's a five am flight. I arrived, walked into
Speaker 7: the courtroom and no jury, nobody in the court, just
Speaker 7: the judge, the prosecutors, the defense. In jan and asked
Speaker 7: me if I had seen anything on the television.
Speaker 4: As expected, defense counsel pounced on what happened.
Speaker 7: The defense asked for a mistrial, that I had broken
Speaker 7: sequester orders.
Speaker 4: Judge Fuller heard arguments for and against a mistrial. Everything
Speaker 4: hung in the balance.
Speaker 2: I don't think that I have done anything wrong to
Speaker 2: affect this man's rights. He has more rights than I have.
Speaker 2: And I'm sitting here and I'm not charged.
Speaker 5: You're not going to be sent away for life in
Speaker 5: prison as well.
Speaker 2: I had spent a life in a prison.
Speaker 4: Corrin mal blamed cameras in the courtroom for causing the problem.
Speaker 5: This is a man's life, and Jerry Springer is calling.
Speaker 4: Us and she didn't seem totely moved by Tracy Riquel.
Speaker 5: That's something to look forward to, getting her up on
Speaker 5: the stand so she can do what she did. Just now,
Speaker 5: sit and cry, a beautiful crying girl. That's what I'm
Speaker 5: going to confront.
Speaker 4: Would Judge Fuller allow the trial to continue? Tracy Riquel
Speaker 4: held her breath. It was finally possible to get justice
Speaker 4: for Matthew, and now her actions could undo all the
Speaker 4: years of work Tracy Riquel Burns had spent years of
Speaker 4: her young life persuading law enforcement that the death of
Speaker 4: her baby brother in nineteen seventy one wasn't an accident
Speaker 4: but a vicious murder, and she had succeeded. But five
Speaker 4: days into the trial, she had violated the judge's order
Speaker 4: of sequestration and saw her mother's testimony on television. Defensettorney
Speaker 4: Corin Maul argued for a mistrial and went after the prosecution.
Speaker 5: They deliberately deliberately violated your order and your honor. I
Speaker 5: hate to say that I told everyone so, but I did.
Speaker 4: She also went after Tracy Riquel.
Speaker 5: She has been tainted and she violated this rule. And
Speaker 5: now when it comes down to it, she's a pretty
Speaker 5: lovely young woman, and she's gonna sit there and cry
Speaker 5: and cry and cry and cry. I have no way
Speaker 5: to process them, no way.
Speaker 4: She saved her last words for the media.
Speaker 5: Having these folks in here was just basically putting the
Speaker 5: feed into the witnesses, into the juror's homes, so that
Speaker 5: they could go home and see what they were not
Speaker 5: able to see, either because they were sequestered or because
Speaker 5: they were in a jury room.
Speaker 4: Defense attorney Krinn Mall made it seem like the most
Speaker 4: important thing was not proving who did it, but who
Speaker 4: did didn't do it? And if she could do that,
Speaker 4: why would you need a trial?
Speaker 5: Dad, I'm gonna Warner one and I'm sure they're getting
Speaker 5: the stay size and the certificate for Tracy, and you're
Speaker 5: on her concided with can all sited members of the press. Tracy,
Speaker 5: you are not responsible for the death of your brother,
Speaker 5: and let's go home. She isn't responsible, she never was responsible.
Speaker 5: Her mother made her responsible. She now has ruined this trial.
Speaker 5: He can't have a fair trial. Let's put an end
Speaker 5: to the show of want. Please, John, I want for mistrial.
Speaker 4: With prejudice, with prejudice. Let's talk about that. For a
Speaker 4: sec asking for a mistrial with prejudice was an important distinction.
Speaker 4: If the judge announced that the case was dismissed with prejudice,
Speaker 4: that meant it would be permanently dismissed and could not
Speaker 4: be retried. And while the prosecution was upset Tracy Raquel
Speaker 4: broke the sequestration order, they weren't giving up roder.
Speaker 8: I take strong exception with Ms Maul's contention that this
Speaker 8: was a purposeful violation. Clearly, if this were wilful disobedience
Speaker 8: of the court's order.
Speaker 5: She never would have told me about it.
Speaker 8: It was not something which was done intentionally, and it
Speaker 8: does not rise to the level of an error which
Speaker 8: warrants a mistrial.
Speaker 4: Prosecutor Leanne Mangun implored Judge Fuller to let the trial continue.
Speaker 8: There are any number of cases which support the position
Speaker 8: that what is affected by her violating the rule is
Speaker 8: her credibility, not her ability to testify.
Speaker 4: Judge Fuller listened, but he would take his time to
Speaker 4: make a ruling.
Speaker 10: I am not prepared at this moment to rule on
Speaker 10: the motion for miss Trump. I'm going to recess the
Speaker 10: trial until Monday morning. In the meantime, I may or
Speaker 10: may not grant a miss Trump. I don't blame it
Speaker 10: on the TV coverage, but without it, it wouldn't occurred. There
Speaker 10: are times in our society that we must pay a
Speaker 10: price for other freedoms that we have. It could be
Speaker 10: that this case ends up being a casualty in order
Speaker 10: to guarantee that we have other rights.
Speaker 4: What was your reaction to the idea of a mistrial.
Speaker 7: I didn't do anything. It just really floored me. I
Speaker 7: was run over by freight train. I didn't understand.
Speaker 4: When Monday finally came around, all sides anxiously awaited the
Speaker 4: judge's decision.
Speaker 11: That's true to come in. Please, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 5: I have a statement to make.
Speaker 11: There has been an egregious violation of the witness sequestration, which,
Speaker 11: in the context of this case, is irreputable. I cannot
Speaker 11: fix it. The ability to present the best available defense
Speaker 11: has been destroyed, at least for now, perhaps forever. One
Speaker 11: must remember that missus Rain is not an incidental witness.
Speaker 11: In retrospect, it was too much to expect this young
Speaker 11: woman to ignore not only her mother's testimony, but all
Speaker 11: of the commentaries in her words and I quote, I
Speaker 11: have spent my entire life waiting to hear this testimony.
Speaker 11: How many of us, under similar circumstances could have resisted
Speaker 11: this temptation. The defendant's motion for mistrial is granted. Whether
Speaker 11: prejudice attaches will be the subject of further discussion with counsel.
Speaker 11: It is my hope that miss Rain will receive some
Speaker 11: comfort from knowing that she caused this case to be reopened,
Speaker 11: that the cabcating responded in extraordinary fashion, and it has
Speaker 11: been established in a court of law, acknowledged by all
Speaker 11: that she did not cause her brother's death.
Speaker 4: It was a devastating blow. Tracy Riquel had waited decades
Speaker 4: to get justice from Matthew, and it was over.
Speaker 9: It was a carefully worded statement letting Tracy know that
Speaker 9: he didn't fault her, and he took some blame about
Speaker 9: the cameras, but that despite her valiant efforts, this may
Speaker 9: be the end. And then we went back to the office,
Speaker 9: tail between our legs.
Speaker 4: As for Tracy Riquel, she already knew she hadn't killed Matthew.
Speaker 4: She wasn't there for that. She was there to bring
Speaker 4: a child's killer to justice. Judge Fuller's words didn't make
Speaker 4: a difference. You must have had so many feelings at
Speaker 4: this point.
Speaker 7: I think I was just in shock. Of course, there's
Speaker 7: all of these things. It's humiliation, it's anger, it's what
Speaker 7: just happened.
Speaker 4: Nobody enjoying this moment more than her father, And somehow
Speaker 4: Jan Barry Sandlin managed to get a hold of Tracy
Speaker 4: Riquel's phone number.
Speaker 7: I went home and the very next evening got a
Speaker 7: call from Jan, which is not supposed to happen.
Speaker 4: It was ominous she could hear something faint in the background.
Speaker 7: It was a talk show or something that was playing,
Speaker 7: and that's all you could hear. And it was describing
Speaker 7: a lawnmower that had run over this little girl's legs.
Speaker 7: And that was the first indirect threat to my children.
Speaker 4: Did he say anything?
Speaker 7: He was laughing and said, see, I told Ed I'll
Speaker 7: win the war. He may have won a battle, but
Speaker 7: I'm the one who's going to win the war.
Speaker 4: Next time on Burden of Guilt.
Speaker 9: Last time I checked, there's no such thing as a
Speaker 9: one free murder rule in Georgia. Let's crank it up
Speaker 9: game on trial too.
Speaker 2: Let's go.
Speaker 4: Stay tuned for Burden of Guilt at documentary coming in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four and airing only on Paramount Plus. If
Speaker 4: you would like to reach out to the Burden of
Speaker 4: Guilt team, email us at Burdenofguiltpod at gmail dot com.
Speaker 4: That's Burden of Guilt Pod at gmail dot com. If
Speaker 4: you or someone you know is worried about maltreatment or
Speaker 4: suspect that a child is being abused or neglected, call
Speaker 4: the Child Help National child abuse Hotline. You can call
Speaker 4: or text one eight hundred four. A child that's one
Speaker 4: eight hundred four two two four four five three. One
Speaker 4: way to show support is by subscribing to our show
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Speaker 4: Burden of Guilt. Five star reviews go a long way,
Speaker 4: A big thank you for listening, and also be sure
Speaker 4: to check us out and follow us on Instagram at
Speaker 4: Glass Podcasts. Burden of Guilt is a production of Glass Podcasts,
Speaker 4: a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 4: The show is hosted and executive produced by me Nancy Glass,
Speaker 4: written and produced by Andrea Gunning and Carrie Hartman, also
Speaker 4: produced by Ben Fetterman and associate producer Kristin Melchiori. Our
Speaker 4: iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Crincheck. Special thanks
Speaker 4: to Tracy Raquel Burns and her husband Bart. Audio editing
Speaker 4: and mixing by Matt Delvecchio. Burden of Guilt's theme composed
Speaker 4: by Oliver Bains. Music library provided by my Music and
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