01x02 - Smoke and Mirrors

[bunniefuu]

[reporter]
The trial of the third person

with ties to the Mineola
Swingers Club

came to a stunning halt
in Smith County, Monday,

when foster parent
John Cantrell,

a man awarded custody
of three young siblings,

who allegedly performed
at the swingers club,

was arrested in Wood County.

Living in the Cantrell's house
was like a t*rture chamber.

I never felt safe.

And so when I'm starting
to see this stuff come on TV

about the swingers club,

and Margie Cantrell bringing
these kids involved with it,

how could I do nothing
and just sit there

when I knew exactly what
those kids were going through?

[Margie] There's no words.

There's really no words
to describe it.

It wasn't true,
and I knew that.

[tearfully] He never
ever did anything.

[Jenna] My early childhood
in California,

my biological mom

was doing drugs
and drinking a lot

and when CPS found us

we were malnutritioned
and in soiled diapers.

Then we went
through foster care

and this lady said,
"Well, I'll take all of them."

And that was Margie Cantrell.

I thought, "Yes,
this sweet lady

and this guy that
looks like Santa Claus

wants to be our parents."

But right after I got adopted,

the abuse with both
of them started.

When I was 7, that's when
John Cantrell started being

very physically sexual
with me.

Touching, licking, kissing,

trying to teach us how
to French kiss.

John Cantrell would tell me,

"Well if you tell anybody,
you're just going to go back
to foster care."

Everything with Margie

went very hatefully a*usive,

putting her hands
around my neck

and just kind
of strangling me

and telling me how much
she hates me and she
wishes I would die.

I was depressed.

I started drinking when
I was about 9, 10 years old.

Basically I was trying
to self-medicate.

[Margie] When we
adopted Jenna, back in 1985,

she had a lot
of problems. A lot.

A low, low mentality.

There was a time when
she decided

to microwave our cat.

And somebody ran in
and got the cat out.

The cat did live,

but it was horrifying.

[Jenna] In 2004,
we moved to Texas.

I was 24 at this time.

There's a couple of reasons
I had stayed with them
for that long.

My confidence
was so low

that I really felt like
I couldn't live on my own.

I had no ID,

I didn't have
my birth certificate,

I didn't have my
social security card,

I had nothing.

Margie, she would
tell me stuff, like,

"Well, nobody's going
to want you anyways."

She would make you feel
like you really

couldn't do anything
without her.

[Margie] Shortly after
we moved to Texas,

Jenna met a man
down the block, David,

and they got together.

And they went on
and got married.

[Jenna] Margie did not think
anything would come out
of this relationship.

But It's real.

It's a real love that...

Never had that, you know,
growing up.

So I still get all
the butterflies
and everything.

[David] Me and the Cantrells
didn't get along.

I could definitely tell
something was shady

between Jenna and John.

Just the way they, you know,
went about carrying themselves

kind of seemed
kind of like hidden.

[reporter] The children were
allegedly forced to dance

and perform sexual acts
with each other.

[David] And then when I heard
their story on the news

about what had happened
with these kids,

my wife told me what had
happened to her,

you know, in detail.

[Jenna] I was hoping that
when I found my husband,

I would never tell him
the abuse I went through

because John and Margie
both told me

that if I ever said anything,

my spouse or my boyfriend
would leave me.

When I told him
I started crying,

and he goes, "No no,
come here, come here,
come here."

And he rocked me
in the chair.

And he just held me.

[David] I love my wife
very much.

I'm an emotional guy.

So, when I heard those kind
of things, it bothered me.

It bothered me a lot.

I suggested that she tell
the truth to the authorities.

So she did.

I can say that as far as
like accusations go

about my mom and dad,

I knew it wasn't true.

It was straight up lies.

[Jacob] I hold a lot
of anger towards Jenna.

When you are willing
to lie about somebody

and potentially
put them in prison,

I have no room
in my life for you.

[Margie] When John
was arrested, that hurt,

but I wasn't going
to tell Jenna,

"You can't be part of this
family. You can't come home."

There's something
that is in me that just
doesn't give up on them.

And then one night,
the kids and I went to Walmart

and Jenna and David
were there.

And I said, "Jenna,
come here."

And he's like, "No."
And she's like, "I can't."

And I'm like,
"Jenna, come here."

And she's like, "I can't."

And then Shelby
said to me,

"That's the tattooed man
that was at the club.

He's the one that
was molesting me
at that club."

[Jenna] Next morning
I get these subpoenas

and they're saying, well,
these kids are saying
David's name.

And they're saying that
he's involved with all this.

[David] I go in
with this police officer.

He thought I was affiliated
with this swinger's club.

And they asked me
to take my clothes
down to my underwear

and stand with my arms out.

The children had said that
the DJ at the club

had a tattoo of a dragon
on his back.

I don't have any tattoos
on my back

[Margie] Now whether he
was ever at the swinger's club

to just be a swinger
or to look at the place

or do anything, that's not
for me to decide.

No. No. That's not David.

David's never been like that.
It's completely lies.

Margie's getting back at me

because I came out
about her and John.

Eventually, the police
informed me that

I was no longer needed
in the trial.

I knew the capabilities
of this woman.

I didn't think
it would go that far.

She'd have been happy
if I'd have went to prison.

I didn't know nothing
about the swinger's club.

[Margie] When John
went to court

I sold everything we owned

so I could hire an attorney
for my husband.

When we went
into the courtroom

the judge heard all
of their evidence that
they said they had

and he said, "No,
I'm not taking this at all."

And the judge said,
"Mr. Cantrell, go home."

There was no evidence
that was even credible,

so they dropped it.

And that was the end of it.

They threw it out
because it was false,

it wasn't what happened.

Anybody can accuse
anybody of anything,

it doesn't mean
that it's true.

And unless you have
actual proof,

maybe just don't try
to ruin somebody's life

just because you
don't like them.

If you don't like them,
just keep it moving. Move on.

Her biological children
never got abused,

because they were
the real kids.

The ones that would get
abused a lot of the times

were her foster kids.

And I believe in her mind
she was thinking,

"Nobody wants them."

She's the only way.

She's the only hope
that you have in life.

You do what she says
and you'll be okay.

If you don't, there's gonna
be hell to pay.

[Margie]
It was a made-up story.

And I think that
that's disgusting.

[Michael] In the community,
some people thought

it was just unfair mudslinging

against Margie's husband,
kicking against Margie.

But it just seemed
such a weird coincidence,

that her husband was being
accused of the same thing

that her foster kids were
accusing other people
of doing.

[Mike] Patrick Kelly's
nickname was Booger Red.

And it was Booger Red,
who was the one who
had the trailer

where apparently the sex
kindergarten had taken place.

[Mike] And then they'd
come up to Mineola

and they'd dance on stage
for money.

[Mike] Patrick Kelly's trial
was actually going
to be a little bit different.

For one thing, Patrick Kelly's
mother cashed in her 401(k)

to get him an actual lawyer.

Patrick Kelly had
Thad Davidson,

who was a bulldog
of a defense lawyer,

former Marine, very dramatic,
and very smart guy.

[Thad] When I first took on
the case, I went to the jail

and met with Patrick Kelly.

...and organized crime.

[Patrick] I didn't even know
there was a swingers club
in Mineola.

[Thad] I thought
he was believable.

He had no prior history of any
significance whatsoever.

We looked for fingerprints...

DNA...

Blood...

Other witnesses...

Forensic investigation...

None of which existed.

[Melinda] When Thad came
to me and asked for the help,

I really thought that

he was blowing this
out of proportion.

But then I start looking
through the evidence.

That's when I really began
to realize that

Thad wasn't overly exaggerating.

I believe he was not guilty
of what these kids

and the Cantrells were saying
that he did.

Patrick Kelly, was
a simple man,

and he lived a simple life.

The big thing for him would be
after his hard week of work,

was to go buy a 30 pack
of Natural Light Beer

and a family size
of chicken legs,

and have the different friends
and stuff come over,

and they would barbecue.

[fire crackling]

[Patrick] My world's been
turned upside down with
all this going on.

[Thad] Patrick Kelly,
to be frank,

is a redneck, uneducated,

impoverished, living in
a trailer out in the woods.

And in Smith County,
that makes you a target.

Soon after I took on the case,
a senior officer of Mineola PD

shows up at my office
with boxes of information.

She goes, "There's
all this stuff that,

we're pretty sure you don't
have and have never heard of.

Did you know about this?
Did you know about this?"

She gives us all this stuff
that we've never seen before.

And I'm sitting there
thinking, "Holy [bleep] ."

It was long hidden,
exculpatory evidence.

Exculpatory reports,
exculpatory interviews,

exculpatory information
from June of 2005,

when the Mineola PD and
the Wood County DA's office

looked at the case and said,
"We don't have anything here".

Anything that tends to show
a defendant is not guilty,

must be turned over
to the defense.

And the state is not allowed
to collect the evidence,

sit on it, hide on it,
lie about it, pretend they

don't know about it,
which they did.

[Melinda] We had learned
before, that swingers club

had already closed down.

A few of the officers,
were running license plates

to see who were swingers,

to see if any of them
were local, just gossiping.

And so, if we could
get those license plates,

then we could get in touch
with some of those swingers

to come forward and
say that if, or if not,

the defendants were
at the swingers club.

So we subpoenaed the records.

Maybe three weeks goes by,

and then they finally
responded and said,

as strangely as this is,
they couldn't find anything.

Eh, there's no other
way to explain that

other than, they were erased.

That was suspicious.

I believe the Texas Rangers
made that decision

at that time to erase them.

Because, if they came forward
with all the license plates,

but none of the
defendant's cars,

not one car came back to them,

well that might prove
our client is innocent,

and they wouldn't
want to give us that.

And then we learned,
another reason they
would've done this.

We discovered that officers
in Mineola had spoken with

the swingers club owners,
Sherry and Russ Adams.

If those officers
were in there,

that's not against the law,

but they would've
had to have said,

there were no
children in there.

And I believe by that point,
Ranger Kemp was so involved,

he didn't want this
case to stop.

And then we dig deeper and
we find out Ranger Kemp

interviewed Sherry Adams
in the DA's office,

there in the courthouse.

[Sherry] We were cramped
in this little corner office

and he put them pictures
out on his desk,

and he slammed them.

"I know who...
you know who this is."

-"I don't."
-"Well, then you know
who this one is."

"No, I don't."

"Well, you know
what they've done?"

"No, I don't. I don't know
who they are."

He said, "You're a liar.
And I'm gonna put you in jail
with the rest of them.

You will rot in prison."

[Thad] I'm sitting there
thinking, oh my God,
this is bad.

This won't even go to trial.

There is no case here.

This is smoke
and mirrors [bleep].

[Melinda] We wanted
the recording of that
meeting with Sherry Adams.

But there was no recording.

It wasn't in a report.

There was nothing of that.

And to destroy
any evidence is ill*gal.

Kemp testified he wasn't sure
if it had been recorded.

But then Thad Davidson
found out that

Kemp had actually
been interviewed,

by the Attorney
General's office,

about the whereabouts
of the recording.

[Melinda] In 26 years,
a Texas Ranger's never

conducted an investigation
on sexual as*ault of a child

or indecency with a child

or sexual performance
by a child.

Kemp had no idea
what he was doing.

Why are you allowing Margie
to sit in on these interviews

and insist and push
and force these kids

to say what they said.

[Thad] Kemp did not bother
to check out Cantrell.

Kemp did not bother to go,
let's talk about you,

let's talk about your background.

That kind of critical thinking

that should have
been taking place

by Kemp, or any law
enforcement agent,

of Cantrell did not happen.

[Tamara] Thad Davidson
was relentless,

he called me
over and over again.

He kept saying like,
"I'm telling you,
this is a set-up."

And so finally, I sat down
with him and heard him out.

And I, I saw the passion,

it wasn't just a defense
attorney that wanted to

convince me that,
his defendant wasn't guilty.

No, he was trying
to tell me, like,

you don't understand,
there's layers to this.

And that was the
first time I think my eyes

really, really opened,

to what was taking
place and everything.

So, by the time we entered
the third trial with,

Patrick Kelly, Booger Red,
I was ready, finally,

to kind of get a different
side and understand

what the truth is
behind all of this.

[Thad] I believed
we had a good case,

but the tide was
completely against us

when the trial started.

Any time anybody gets
arrested on a first-degree,

big sex offense crime,
or frankly any

kind of big crime,
it's all over the news.

[Tamara] This case is
constantly in the headlines.

The media and
the newspaper in town,

knew that people were hungry

and that they wanted
more, more, more.

Give us more about this
Mineola sex ring club.

[Thad] What that means
is that the jury pool,

of course, knew
about these cases.

If you know about it, it's
going to affect you in trial.

[Tamara] Local news
was a really big deal.

It was whatever was
printed or reported,

was gospel in many ways.

And it did feel like it was
very, very dominant,

and heavy-sided for the DA.

[reading] Defense attorney
Thad Davidson

says during Friday's pretrial,

he will also ask for
a change of venue.

The reason, potential jurors
in Smith County

are only seeing one side
of the child sex ring story.

[Thad] When the trial started,

we called Margie Cantrell
to the witness stand.

We knew that John Cantrell
had been indicted out

in California on
child sex charges.

The issue is, well, if he's
doing it, is she doing it too?

Because people are
saying that she is.

We were interviewing former
foster kids, now adults.

[Jenna] They were
asking me what happened,

and I told them the abuse
I went through and I said,

"I know what she's doing
because she's done this
kind of stuff before."

She was saying,
"Margie Cantrell beat us.

Margie Cantrell
told us what to say,

Margie Cantrell
would punish us

if we didn't say what
she wanted us to say

or do what she
wanted us to do."

These were adults saying that.

We were ready to destroy her.

The problem is, Margie, with
the assistance of her attorney

told her to shut the hell up,

"You are not going to say a
damn word on the witness stand

other than 'I take the fifth
amendment',"

which is what happened.

[Mike] More than 100 questions
he would ask Margie Cantrell,

and she had the same
answer for each one.

She would say "I'm exercising
my Constitutional Right

to not answer the question,"

and this went on and on.

[Margie] People have
said that John and I,

took our Constitutional Right
because we were guilty.

But my attorney told us,

"You're going to
plead the fifth."

They said they didn't want
to keep muddying it up

with this John
and Margret thing,

because he was innocent,

but he had been
completely slandered,

smeared, and everything.

They want to keep it that out

and they wanted to just
keep it straight on the kids,

what the jury hears,
the testimony the jury hears,

and that was that.

[Thad] The nightmare
didn't end.

The prosecutor, Murphy, kept
talking about how

the previous two defendants
had been convicted

and gotten life sentences.

It's unconstitutional.
I objected.

Judge Skeen let him do that.

This was a [bleep] show agenda
to a one-way destination,

which was, "We're
gonna get convictions."

[Tamara] I still remember
vividly, Thad Davidson

was just shot down,
over and over.

And that was the first time
I think my eyes,

really, really, opened,
to what was taking place.

This was the first time
that I thought,

"We're failing this person."

Not only we as
the media, but...

these people that we trust,
and these investigators,

also didn't do due diligence,

and investigate
this case right.

When the verdict came back
for the Patrick Kelly case,

it took probably
about two hours,

and it was guilty for him.

And he was gonna be
sent away like the other two,

for the rest of his life.

I felt grieved in that moment.

It was just gross in a
lot of ways, like it was

very sad what happened to him.

I feel that what happened
here, to my client

was a travesty of injustice,
was a r*pe of justice.

And that the people
responsible for it,

and let me be blunt,

Margie Cantrell,
John Cantrell,

Ranger Kemp, Joe Murphy,

Matt Bingham, Judge Skeen,

all of these people
should be held responsible.

That the harm they inflicted,

should be the harm
they suffer.

I don't hide evidence.
I've been here 16 years

and I try stuff fairly.

You know the defense just
doesn't like the fact that

their client got convicted
and got a life sentence.

I mean, let's
call it what it is.

Thad Davidson was
complaining about the DA.

The DA was complaining
about Thad.

But the one thing that Thad
Davidson said that made me...

really think was,

there's no evidence here,

and there were no
grown-up witnesses.

And so I thought, wow, this
could really be a story.

If these guys did it,
it's one kind of story.

And if these guys
didn't do it,

it's another kind of story.

So I decided to interview
some of the Cantrells'
other foster kids.

One of her sons called her
the "puppet master."

Kids in California said
that she was manipulative.

So I called her several times,

'cause I really did
want to talk with her.

And it was toward the end
of the reporting process

where I did get
her on the phone.

[ringback tone]

I put up my back to
not be taken in by this woman,

and within seconds
I felt like I was being
pulled along a conveyor belt

by an impossible force.

And if she's that way
with grownups,

imagine her with kids.

[Margie] Michael Hall said
that I was a puppet master mother.

And it really shocked me
and it hurt so deep,

deeper than you could
ever imagine.

Mind you, I was a mother
of 15 teenagers at one time,

I was pretty regimental, yes.

Everybody had a chore
and I expected it done.

Puppet master, no.

[Mike] There are so many lies
in this story.

Margie knows how to

push people's buttons
and manipulate them.

You go to each one
of my children

and you try to demonize me
through my own children?

[sniffles]

[Tamara]
After the third trial,
everything completely turned,

it was like the mic drop time,
like, "What is going on?"

[female reporter]
With the recent developments,
all eyes will be

on the fourth trial
in the Mineola sex-ring case.

Dennis Pittman, a friend
of convicted defendants,

Shauntel Mayo
and Jamie Pittman,
will begin trial Monday.

[Mike] The fourth trial
was Dennis Pittman.

He was local guy,
been around for a long time.

Pittman has a really good
lawyer, Jason Cassel,

young guy,
based out of Longview.

Jason's a smart guy,
he knows something's up,

he, he believes that
Pittman is innocent.

[Jason] Dennis was
real soft spoken and
when I first met with him

he was basically like,
you know,
"I didn't, I didn't do this,

and I don't know why
this is being said about me."

[Mike] I got there early
on the first day of trial,

and I found a seat
in the courtroom.

And all of a sudden
I'm aware of this figure

kind of moving really slowly

to the right and in front
of me,

and I finally look up
and it's Dennis Pittman.

He looks like somebody
in a hospital who is
heavily sedated.

I just knew that this guy,
you know, he was doomed.

Bingham did not
pull back one bit.

He was going full boar
to get a conviction
of Dennis Pittman.

And of course,
the three previous juries

had found guilty verdicts
right away.

I think most people there
thought, "It's probably
gonna happen again."

But during the trial,
a bombshell dropped.

[Gabby]
During the first trial,
I was seven.

Then there was
the questioning,

going over my testimony,
which sometimes lasted
hours as well.

[Ranger Kemp] Alrighty.

[Gabby] During
the Dennis Pittman trials,

I was going into middle school

and I wanted to move on
past this.

Matt Bingham,
that was questioning me,

I, you know,
had heard him stating

earlier in the day
to Joe Murphy that,

"I'm gonna have to treat
her like a hostile witness."

Well, I had had enough
of that so I

made his day worse

by finally saying, you know,
what he didn't want to hear.

When they were questioning me,

that I had kind of recanted
in a way, it was--

it blurted out of my mouth.
I, It just came out.

[Mike] In all the times
I've been in courts
covering stories,

I've never seen somebody
with that kind of courage.

She is absolutely fearless
and I, I remember thinking,

"Where is this gonna go?"

[Jason] When Gabby testified,
that was really one of
the times where I thought,

you know,
"Oh, you know,
we got a [bleep] chance."

I needed an explanation for
as to why I was changing
my story

and, you know,
I went to church every Sunday
for three hours.

God made me tell the truth.
God told me to do it.

I felt better
once I had said it.

There was always, like, this
knot in the pit of my stomach.

And the second that I said,

"That didn't happen.
God told me to tell
the truth,"

that knot loosened.

I had never in my life,
you know, met Dennis Pittman.

I had never been introduced
to him by my parents.

The truth of the matter is,
is that it didn't happen,
it never happened.

They brainwashed us.

[Mike] So, when Gabby finally
said, "This didn't happen,"

I mean, if this were
a Hollywood movie,

the whole case would've
fallen apart right then.

Margie Cantrell would've
fessed up

to making the whole thing up.

The, the judge would've
declared a mistrial,

and everything would've been
hunky-dory.

But this is Smith County.
[chuckles]

And in Smith County
you keep going.

[Jason] At the end of the day,

with the way that they
tried the case

and the way that they
argued it,

going after hearts
rather than minds,

I just felt like they would
sit there and say,

"We're gonna
find this guy guilty."

[gavel bangs]

[Jason] And that's what
they did.

In the back of your mind,
when you believe that
this guy is not guilty,

it stings, you know,
that's the thing that
really hurts is knowing...

[door buzzer rings]

...an innocent man
went to prison.

[Gabby]
After Dennis Pittman's trial,

it got to the point where
I was not mentally okay

because my parents' trials
were coming up really quickly.

I knew that they were next.

I was going through
a lot of mental struggles

at the time that this picture
was taken. I was suicidal.

I wrote a suicide letter,

stating that I couldn't
do this anymore.

It was after that that,
you know,

they finally, you know,
started making the deals,

and making it to where
I didn't have to testify
against my parents.

And they make it sound like
it's for my health
and well-being,

but I really think that
it was because

they knew if I got back up
on that stand,

it was not gonna be
what they wanted.

At that point, Jimmy had been
behind bars for four years

and he said, "I'm done.
I'll, I'll take a deal.

I will admit guilt
to something I didn't do."

Shelia said the same.
In exchange for the plea

and agreeing to not have
contact with Gabby
till she was 18,

Jimmy and Shelia were released
in August 2010.

This is the new
Smith County Jail.

This is the old one.
That's the one I was in

for three years,
11 months and 23 days.

That recreation was
the only sunlight we ever got,

and we probably got it,
maybe, once a week,
if we were lucky.

I was on the third floor.

Those were the infirmary windows.

[interviewer speaking]

Oh, yeah, several times.

Getting stitched up.

My memory here is straight up
hell on earth.

I wouldn't wish this
on my worst enemy,

especially for someone
being in jail

when they didn't
commit a crime.

When I took the plea bargain,

my attorney told me that
I had to sign my rights
over to Gabby.

That was the saddest day
of my life.

I always told my daughter
that I would never give up
on her,

and at this time I did.

She was my baby girl.

Everything in this world
did not matter to me
unless it involved Gabby.

[Shelia] Gabby was
the love of my life,

and she's still
the love of my life.

We were very proud parents.

Jimmy said he only ever wanted
one and that's what he got, one.

[Jimmy] I never thought
I'd be living back here
in Mineola, but here I am.

Considering all
the nightmares.

The media had painted
such a horrible picture of us,

that we were monsters.

We were the worst scum
on earth.

Little building right here
is the newspaper place.

And then that building
up there

is where
the swingers club was.

[exhales sharply]

Just being here
makes me sick to my stomach.

This is
a piece of [bleep] place,

it needs to be tore down,
as far as I'm concerned.

And it's a reminder of evil.

Straight up evil.

It's not none of the kids'
fault that we went through this.

It's the Cantrell family.

Margie Cantrell
and John Cantrell.

What do you think about
these allegations that are
being made against you?

- We don't even know
most of them yet. [chuckles]
- Mmm-hmm.

- [female lawyer] Margaret!
- Yes, ma'am.

- [female lawyer] Go.
- [Margie] Yes, ma'am.

- Go!
- No.

Hurry up. Go.

[Mike] Everything they'd said
was a lie,

sex kindergarten,
the swingers club.

And that ruined a bunch of
people's lives

and sent a bunch of people
to prison

and ruin a bunch of children's
childhoods.

- [car engine starts]
- [Mike] And then we found out

why they would've done
all this in the first place.

[Jimmy] They don't care
who they hurt.

What family they devastate.

They're in it for the money.