01x05 - Episode 5

[bunniefuu]

[TV static drones]

[bright tone]

[eerie music]

[♪ ♪]

We went to the apartment.

I see it in my dreams.

The people that we were with,
like, Winslow and all them,

I have that in my mind.

I remember
going to the apartment.

I have nightmares
of seeing her dead,

scenes of her, Helen Wilson,

how she was tied.
I have bad memories of that.

I thought I was guilty.

I thought we were guilty,
so yeah,

when they said that we weren't,
I was surprised.

Yep.

[dramatic music]

[♪ ♪]

[font color=#FF00FF]*MIND OVER m*rder*[/font]
[font color=#00FF00]Season 01 Episode 05[/font]

Episode Title: [font color=#FFc30f]"Episode # 1.5"[/font]
Aired on: [font color="#00ffff"]July 18, 2022.[/font]

[chuckles]

My family
has always stood with me.

People I've grown up with,

people that have known me

since I was youngster,

people who were born
after I left

that were just told about me...

They looked at me
as one of theirs.

They're my family,
and I'm theirs.

[soft orchestral music]

[♪ ♪]

That's what kept me going.

[♪ ♪]

When Joseph
came out of prison,

he said the first week
he was home

that I was glued to him.

[chuckles]

He said, "She never let me
out of her sight."

[chuckles]

Oh.

For about the first week
after he came back,

he stayed around the house

and worked
in the garden again.

[dog barking]

Hey, there.
Whoo-hoo!

He liked being outside.

What?
What?

What, what, what, what, what?
Let's dance.

He and his girlfriend Paige
were getting married.

[♪ ♪]

They were
in high school together,

and they got reacquainted,

and then
they moved in together

and were planning
their life together.

Right now,
working on get a job

and start putting
some money together.

Then I also want to do
a motorcycle tour of America,

just going around
with a camera

and take some pictures of
the beauty that's out there.

In fact, I'm wanting
to put together

a sort of coffee table book.

Already got the name
of it picked out.

"An American Odyssey:

"A Man, a Motorcycle,
and a Camera

in Search of Freedom
and Beauty."

He was looking for work.

He couldn't get anything

other than pick up
construction jobs, and...

then a friend of Paige's

got him a application
at ABC Coke.

[♪ ♪]

Coke is coal
that has been refined

and used
to produce electricity,

and it was very, very hot.

And...

He went to work one night,

and worked over for...

One of his coworkers,
and some way or another,

got...

between the machine
and the coal bin

and was crushed.

[sighs]

Now, that...
When I heard about that,

it was really more unbelievable

than when he come
and told me he'd been arrested.

[♪ ♪]

He was kind of into
western type movies,

and he just liked the idea
of being Lobo...

Which is a lone wolf.

I don't think he was really

as much of a lone wolf
as he wanted to be

because Joseph
was always looking out

for the little guy,

and lone wolves
don't usually do that.

Joseph did all this.

He got us all exonerated
and pardoned,

and he got to enjoy it
for a year and a half.

And then
right before he got married,

he died.

Where is the justice?

In my eyes,
Joseph White's a hero.

I mean, it's plain and simple.

He's a hero.

'Cause he
actually solved this crime.

It wasn't Burdette Searcey
and all them.

It was... it was...

Joseph White.

[♪ ♪]

When Joseph
came out of prison,

he thought
they all deserved justice,

so they did the civil suit.

Gage County
had made a terrible mistake,

and they needed to pay for it.

And although he thought
if he got money,

that'd be okay, but if he
proved Gage County...

to be wrong,

that was the big idea.

The civil suit
started in 2007.

[♪ ♪]

Jeff Patterson
spent countless hours

working for
justice for Joseph.

This story is so complex.

I was certain
that it would take a long time,

but I didn't know
that it would take ten years.

[dramatic orchestral music]

When I first got this file
and took a look at it,

I wondered, "How in the hell
can this possibly happen?"

Very early on,
I knew that we

were gonna have to explain
why people falsely confessed.

I ended up representing
Joseph and Tom

and JoAnn Taylor
and Kathy Gonzalez.

James decided
to go a different way,

and he hired a local attorney
named Herb Friedman

who I'd known quite well,
and so Herb then joined us,

and the sixth
of the Beatrice Six

was Debby Shelden.

[indistinct speech]

I felt that we could not
represent Debby

because, at that time,
Debby still believed

that she was involved
in a m*rder.

When the whole story broke,
the local paper did a story

on everything, and I know
that she told reporters

that she believed
that she was still there.

[♪ ♪]

As the case was developing,
I thought,

"We need to have Debby in it,
and we need

to try and figure out
a way to get her in it."

Without her in it,

it was just too much
of a glaring omission.

Why isn't... for a jury,
they're gonna look at it

and say, "Why isn't
this sixth person in it?"

Thomas Winslow told me
I had stayed there.

So I contacted
a colleague of mine,

Maren Chaloupka,
who is a very skilled lawyer,

and I asked Maren
if she would be willing

to get involved
and take Debby as a client.

A lot of my work
is in the intersection

of mental illness,
law enforcement,

jail and prison,

and a case like this one
was the worst of all worlds.

You had law enforcement
close a case

off of the backs of people
they see as disposable.

[♪ ♪]

I knew
it would be a challenge.

I knew that I would want
to have a plan

to understand why

she believed
that she was still involved.

Yeah, okay.

Your instinct
is to say, "Deb,

come on,
you weren't there, Deb."

And as I learned more
in working on the case,

I backed away from that.

The better approach
was to just try to understand

and be a better advocate.

[soft dramatic music]

[♪ ♪]

Deb has lived on the margins
her whole life.

She was raised in foster care.

When she was about 19 or 20,

she was able to connect
with her birth mother

and lived
with her birth mother

and a stepfather
after high school.

[♪ ♪]

My step dad was an as*h*le.

I didn't get along with him
at all,

so I had troubles with him.

He r*ped me at one time,

and my mom said
it was my fault.

[♪ ♪]

It was in that time frame

that she had a baby
and she got married.

The marriage fell apart
very quickly.

She had another boyfriend,

and the boyfriend
abused her daughter,

and the state became involved.

She was referred
to Blue Valley Mental Health

where she was examined
by a psychologist

named Dr. Wayne Price.

They told me to go to him

to get evaluated
and stuff like that.

He said I wasn't
taking good care of her.

She was being abused and stuff

by the boy
that I was living with.

She had bruises on her buttocks
and stuff like that,

and I guess
he was being a*usive to her,

but I was... I didn't see it
because I wasn't around.

I was out working
and stuff like that,

or something I was doing.
I was always gone.

[♪ ♪]

Dr. Price evaluated her
and wrote a report

expounding that Deb
was just not able

to appreciate consequences
of her actions.

Through the courts
and stuff, I lost her.

I lost all my rights
to her and stuff,

and that was trauma because
it upset me quite a bit.

It took me a long time
before I got remarried.

[chuckles]

She met Cliff.

Just kind of
met him around town.

I think they had
known each other

maybe about a month,
and he proposed to Deb.

I asked Cliff for a baby,
and he said no,

so we got... it was his birthday,
and I got him drunk,

and I r*ped him,

and that's
what he tells everybody.

I r*ped him to get her,
but I got her.

[♪ ♪]

She was a gift of God,
I guess,

because I cherished...
I was happy and everything.

Yep.
I had a good time.

It was fun, pretty funny
until he got in trouble,

and then they took him.

[♪ ♪]

When Cliff was arrested
for his involvement

in the Harvester Motel
as*ault,

Cliff was looking for a way
to improve

his own criminal outcome
for this as*ault.

He began telling
the Lincoln police

and ultimately then
Burt Searcey

that he had information
about the Helen Wilson m*rder.

And Cliff
gave them a statement

that falsely incriminated
his own wife.

When they told me
that Clifford is the one

that turned me in,
I got to thinking,

"Wow, you know, really?"

If he knew it,
then it must have happened.

If he said that,
then it must have been true.

[♪ ♪]

They've been married
for 40 years now.

- There's "Divorce Court."
- No.

- There you go.
- No.

[chuckles]

Deb says that Cliff
is the best man

that she's ever known.

Deb says that Cliff
is her rock.

Deb says
that if Cliff ever left her,

that she doesn't know
how she would make it.

She thinks
in a very simple, linear way.

She was arrested and told,

"You participated
in a m*rder."

She can't look at a man
in an authority position

and say, "This is bullshit.
I wasn't there."

She's going to listen to him
and say,

"Well, he's saying this to me,
and if he's saying that,

"and he knows what the facts
of this crime scene are,

then I must have been there."

Those thoughts can be put
into her head,

and they get internalized,
and they become true to her.

Eventually, she wanted
to become involved

in this civil rights case
but wasn't really sure why.

If that doesn't quite
make sense to those

who are hearing this,
I understand that.

Deb's mind works differently.

Joseph White, he started it.
He got it going.

Tom Winslow,
everybody was telling

their behalf but me.

I was the only one
that wasn't,

so they told me
I should go see about it,

see what could be done,

so I went and found out,

and then the whole ballgame
just went boom, boom, boom.

[chuckles]
We were going wild then.

[chuckles]

Got all started,
all the trials,

all the meetings,
everything, yep.

We were ready
to go to trial in 2014,

both Maren and Debby
were now in the case.

And so we sued
a number of defendants.

We also sued Gage County

because they're the only ones

that are gonna be able
to pay anything.

We had to show that there was
a reckless investigation,

so you start
with the investigators.

[♪ ♪]

Please state your name
for the record.

Burdette Lee Searcey.

Do you solemnly swear
to tell the truth,

the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth so help you God?

- I do.
- Counsel, you may inquire.

Thank you, Your Honor.

The strategy was to show
that law enforcement

in Gage County were
deliberately indifferent

to whether the evidence
that they were compiling

was true or false.

Deputy Searcey,
Mrs. Wilson's body

was discovered at 9:30.

Lisa Podendorf told you
that there were police cars

all around the building
at 7:30,

two hours before
the m*rder is discovered.

Should cause you to question

Lisa Podendorf's credibility,
shouldn't it?

No, sir.

Burt was blinded by his ego,

and he wanted to be the guy
that solved the big crime,

and he had this lead from Lisa
where he just thought,

"Well, I'm gonna go with
what Lisa Podendorf told me."

That's not what
an investigator should do.

If he's looking for evidence
or looking for the truth,

he should be asking questions
and dealing with the answers,

and that's not what he did.

Every interview
or interrogation he went into,

he went in with an objective
to get certain words

out of that person's mouth.

I don't remember
the other guy's name.

During this interrogation,

the one thing Burt
wanted her to say

that she
couldn't really come up with

was who was the other boy
with Lobo?

They want her
to name Tom Winslow,

and they kept making
little subtle hints.

He thought
that saying "windmill"

would be close enough
to saying "Winslow"

that she would come up
with Tom's name.

I mean, it's just ridiculous
the kind of things

that Burt Searcey would do

to suggest
an answer to someone.

Deputy Searcey, you knew
after you arrested Tom Winslow

that none of the people
that you had arrested

- had type B blood, correct?
- At that time, yes.

It appears to me as though

you picked up
the investigation

by just going back
to the friends or associates

of Tom Winslow, Joe White,
or JoAnn Taylor.

Is that right?

I think, for the most part,
that's true.

So one of the guys
they wanted to question

was Debby Shelden's husband
Cliff Shelden.

[♪ ♪]

Cliff said his wife Debby

was there
and that she cut her head

falling against a mirror
and breaking a mirror, right?

That's what it says, yes.

There's no broken mirror
in Mrs. Wilson's apartment.

- Is that correct?
- I don't believe there was.

What investigation
did you do to follow up

on Mr. Shelden's statement?

I can't answer that
at this time.

I'm not sure
what we may have done.

[♪ ♪]

Next day,
they go pick Debby up.

They tell Debby,
"You're gonna lose your child

"because your husband's
in prison

and you're gonna go to prison
for the rest of your life."

[♪ ♪]

Turns out that Debby
doesn't have type B blood.

Her blood type is AB,
so guess what.

They're still looking
for the person

with the type B blood,
and they ask Debby,

"Who else was there?"

She then went back
to her cell

and had some sort
of unrecorded communication

with Dr. Wayne Price.

[♪ ♪]

And the next day,
she gave another statement.

And in her new statement,
she now added another m*rder*r.

James Dean
was one of the names

they brought up to JoAnn.

So James Dean was just a name

that they always had
in their mind

who could be a source
of the type B blood.

He knew Joe White.
He knew Tom Winslow.

I'm not saying
it's good investigation.

I'm just saying
this is what it was.

I suspect that, before
she gave this statement,

Burt Searcey did
what he typically does.

He previewed
what Deb was gonna say

before the camera started,
before the recording started,

and the reason why
I think that's true

is that, in this statement,
when Debby says

that James Dean was with them,
you see no reaction

from Burt Searcey.

[♪ ♪]

Do you have any idea
how James Dean

all of a sudden
became involved

in Debby's story?

No, sir, I don't.

You didn't seem
the least bit surprised

when she said that to you.

You didn't question her
about that at all, did you?

I never questioned anybody
during an interview

that they're telling me stuff.

[♪ ♪]

Deb Shelden says,
"Oh, by the way,

I think James Dean
was there too."

Out of the blue.

She could have easily said

it was Mickey Mouse
that was there.

He was just an average guy,
and he finds himself

in the middle
of this awful nightmare.

From the very beginning,
they knew that it wasn't

his blood or semen
that was there.

There was no physical evidence
that connected him.

And they throw him in jail.

He doesn't sleep.
He doesn't eat.

He's scared out of his mind.
Nobody believes him.

And I think three
or four times,

Dr. Price came to visit him
at the cell

to calm him down.

And then Burdette Searcey
showed James

videotapes that showed
the dead body of Mrs. Wilson.

They showed me the pictures.
Then the dream came.

The dead body, the lady's body.

That was probably the one
that stuck with me the most.

[♪ ♪]

He reached
his breaking point.

After 22 days in jail,
he finally said,

"I think I'm guilty."

James Dean thought

when he gave
his false confession

that he was telling the truth.

After Dean's arrest,
they don't have anybody

who's the source of the semen,

the source
of the type B blood.

You have JoAnn Taylor,
Debby Shelden,

James Dean,

Joe White, and Tom Winslow

all arrested, right?

You're still looking for
someone who has type B blood.

That's correct.

At this point in time,
Searcey thought

that it might be Kathy Gonzalez
because Kathy lived

upstairs from Mrs. Wilson,
and she was Joe White...

She knew Joe White.

Didn't you retrieve
a photograph of Kathy Gonzalez

from the Beatrice Police,

bring it to Deb Shelden's
jail cell,

- hold it up for her to see?
- I did not.

I never had... I never went.

I would had to... there would've
had to been evidence

that I entered
the evidence room.

Do you see
what exhibit 49 is?

Yes, it's a Beatrice
Police Department report.

Lieutenant Fitzgerald
reports on 5-18-89

Deputy Searcey from the
Gage County Sheriff's Office

came to
Beatrice Police Department

at 2330 hours wanting to know
if we had a picture

of Kathy Gonzalez.

He indicated
that it might be used

in a photo lineup

in the Helen Wilson
homicide case.

One photo of Kathy Gonzalez
was removed

from the police department
mug and print file

and given to Deputy Searcey.
I read that correctly?

You did.

Do your recall showing

this single photograph

of Kathy Gonzalez

to Deb Shelden?

I did not.

Do you dispute
these records?

Yes.

On May 24th,
both Debby Shelden

and James Dean
remember Kathy Gonzalez

being at the crime scene.

Was it just a coincidence

that they both remember
on the same day?

They were coming up with
added information continually.

How did Debby tell you
that she remembered

Kathy Gonzalez being
at this brutal incident?

I'm not sure
just exactly at this point.

[♪ ♪]

They were willing to
interview and to interrogate

and to arrest essentially
anybody they could

and then see
if they had type B blood,

so Kathy was
just one of those people

who happened to know Joseph.

If Kathy Gonzalez
hadn't been someone

who had type B blood,

we'd be looking
at the Beatrice Seven

or the Beatrice Eight
or the Beatrice Nine

or however many it took to get
to someone with type B blood.

I was the last one
to be arrested.

I knew from the first day
they arrested me

that this was serious.

I just thought
I would tell the truth,

the truth would set me free,
and I'd get to go home

to Colorado.

Boy, was I wrong.

[♪ ♪]

Back in '89,
I was in Denver, Colorado,

when they arrested me.

And I was still saying, "No,
I was not in her apartment."

Once they got the results
of my blood typing test,

they closed the investigation.

I had B positive blood.

That's what
they were looking for.

By God, that's all they needed.

[dramatic orchestral music]

They kept saying from the day
they arrested me,

"You were there.
You just don't remember it."

Especially any time
Burdette Searcey was around.

They said
it was 100% my blood.

How do you explain that?

I couldn't,

and I kept saying that I can't,

and Burdette just kept saying,

"Well, this proves
that you were there,

that you
just don't remember it."

[♪ ♪]

I was exhausted.

I don't know
exactly how long it was

after they put me in the cell,

but they wanted to know
if I wanted to talk

to somebody
that would help me calm down

and try to gather my thoughts,

and as Burdette said,
"Remember what happened."

[♪ ♪]

This guy come in,
and he introduced himself

as Dr. Wayne Price,

and he said
that the crime was so violent

that I was traumatized.

That's why
I didn't remember it,

but that he was pretty sure

if I would just calm down
and relax,

I would remember,
and it would come to me,

and I would remember
my dreams.

[♪ ♪]

Usually what happens
is pieces will start

to come back in dreams.

Then it will become clear,
but odds are it looks like

you were there and blocked it.

One of the things
that can happen, though,

as the shock
starts to wear off,

things that were traumatic
will come back in some ways,

often in dreams,
in little bits and pieces.

They will come back to you
in little pieces

like a jigsaw puzzle
that don't make a lot of sense

but after a few dreams
or a few days,

enough pieces
will come together

in which you start having
some recall,

and you can help yourself
by remembering.

If I had seen what took place,

I would have blocked it,
too, Kathy,

but we'll work with you.

We're not out to railroad you
in any way, okay?

Okay, I want to remember.

Thank you.

[soft dramatic music]

So what do you think
of Dr. Price?

His role in establishing
these false memories

is just... wow.

His role is different

than Searcey being, like,
an interrogator, you know?

It almost makes it feel...

more sinister and more...

- Almost malicious...
- Yes, yes, yes.

Because instead of,
"Okay, let's really try

"to figure out
what you remember.

Let's try to figure out
where you were, how you were."

It's more goal orientated in,
"We need to make sure

that you were there."

And he's using his skills,
this do no harm skills,

being a doctor,
against these people.

[♪ ♪]

Please state your name
for the record.

Wayne R. Price.

Could you tell us
whether you would prefer

to be called Dr. Price
or Deputy Price.

I think,
in this circumstance,

Deputy Price.

[♪ ♪]

So he was actually
a commissioned deputy sheriff.

When the law enforcement
needed to consult

with psychologists
regarding everything,

anything about a case,
they'd go to Doc Price.

[♪ ♪]

Wayne actually was JoAnn's
treating psychologist in 1983,

so he knew about her diagnosis

and knew how frail she was.

Dr. Price,
you had diagnosed JoAnn

as having borderline
personality disorder

with sociopathic features.
Do you recall that?

Yes.

It wasn't unusual
for JoAnn to hallucinate

- about unreal events, correct?
- Correct.

Is borderline
personality disorder

a condition that'll go away
with treatment?

No.

[♪ ♪]

Do you recognize exhibit 288
concerning an encounter

that you had
after JoAnn's arrest in 1989?

Yes.

You wrote, "She did not have
any hallucinations

or flashbacks."
I read that correctly?

Yes.

"The borderline
personality disorder

"seems to be in better control
that at any time

during the clinical contact
with her in the past."

- I read that correctly?
- That's correct.

[♪ ♪]

He had also treated Debby
and was involved

in the termination
of her parental rights

with her first child.

You found that Deb had,
and your quote was,

"A lack of awareness
of consequences

and social ramifications
of her actions."

Yes.

You made findings
that Deb Shelden

- was impulsive, correct?
- Yes.

"She needed help
to become more effective

"in her interactions
with others

and with society."
Correct?

Yes.

You recommended
psychotherapy

- for Deb, correct?
- Yes.

Now, I should clarify,

was your encounter
with Deb Shelden

in October of '78
as law enforcement

- or was it as a therapist?
- As a therapist.

Okay.

[♪ ♪]

Now, your next encounter
with Deb

was about 11 years after that
when we get up to 1989.

This time is when
she was in custody

- for Mrs. Wilson's homicide.
- Correct.

And then you were contacted

to evaluate
Ms. Shelden's intelligence.

You found that Deb Shelden
was fully competent, correct?

Yes.

You found that she had

normal intellectual function,
correct?

Correct.

In 1989, was your encounter
with Deb Shelden

as law enforcement,
or was it therapeutic?

It was not therapeutic.

That leaves
law enforcement, correct?

Yes.

He's a deputy
with the lead agency

investigating this case.

The selection of Dr. Price
as the psychologist

to evaluate Deb's competency
was shocking.

Dr. Price said I blocked
a lot of things out.

He says,
"You don't remember this.

You don't remember that."

Searcey would show me pictures
and things like that.

Then I started to remember
all the things

in the apartment
that happened.

Dr. Price thought that James
and all these other people

had repressed
the memory of this,

and by God, it was there,

and now
it came back miraculously.

[♪ ♪]

You also had some contact
with Mr. Dean.

Mr. Dean did not admit to you
at that time

that he was involved
with the Helen Wilson m*rder.

No.

But at that point in time,
you began telling him

he might have repressed
the memory.

- Is that right?
- Might have.

Did you know what the facts
of the case were?

No.

Didn't know
what the blood types were

- that they found?
- No.

Didn't know
what the photographs showed?

- No.
- Didn't know any of that?

No.

You formulated an opinion
that he witnessed the scene

and that he repressed
the memory.

- Is that right?
- Yes.

And that was your opinion
as a deputy sheriff

or as a psychologist?
Which one?

Both.

[♪ ♪]

Deb and James
both started having dreams

of Mrs. Wilson's homicide
after speaking with you,

- correct?
- Correct.

It did not trouble you that
Deb recalled Kathy Gonzalez

in a dream after you had asked
her who else was there,

- correct?
- Correct.

Well, as you know
from this case,

Deb Shelden has held onto that
memory for decades now, right?

Right.

And she has been tormented
by that memory, hasn't she?

Yes.

And you can't answer
whether in 1989

you really thought
that Deb's memory

of Mrs. Wilson's m*rder
was authentic, can you?

No.

When you interviewed
Kathy Gonzalez,

you provide Ms. Gonzalez
with some advice.

"But the important thing
is the odds are

"at this time it looks like
you were in

but did in fact block it."

"Did in fact block it."

That's what you said
to Ms. Gonzalez.

Yes.

Well, it sounds to me
as though

you had already assumed
that she was guilty, right?

Because in your view, she was,
in fact, blocking it, right?

- It appeared that way.
- It appears that way.

I asked Dr. Price
if he had ever imagined

what it would be like
to be arrested

because someone
had dreamed about him...

And he said he'd never imagined
what that would be like,

but to think of what...

Of how horrifying
that would be,

that you would be arrested,

and your life ended

because someone
had dreamt about you.

[♪ ♪]

That's not what
we're supposed to do.

[♪ ♪]

All the stuff that came out
in trial I couldn't believe

because yeah.

All the stuff
that was testimonies and stuff.

The police and everything,
they all lied on the stand.

They sat right there and said
a bunch of stuff

that was not true,

and then when I heard
all the lies

and everything,
I put two and two together.

I couldn't
have possibly been there.

At the trial,
the civil trial in 2014,

how was it, like,
seeing Burt Searcey again?

Sickening stomach wise.

You had a knot in your stomach
when you saw him...

When I saw him the first time
after all those years.

He walked in just like he did
any other time in life

that I'd seen him.

Just...

Nonchalantly.

He would wear his uniform,
his sheriff...

I mean, like, "Mm,
I'm still a police officer."

You know what I'm saying?

That's the attitude he gave off

when he came
into the courtroom.

Burt Searcey looked... the look
on his face was pure defiance.

If there was a thought bubble
over his head,

it would've been "Screw you."

Burt...
[sighs]

You know, Burt, again,
is a guy that...

He is just... he's so c*ck
and so sure of himself

when he's just so wrong.

It would be easy for a lawyer

to just really make him
look bad and embarrass him,

and that's something
that I didn't want to do.

But out of all of 'em,
I would say Dr. Price

probably was the one
that was the most saddest...

And thinking that maybe
he really, really did

make a lot of mistakes.

He didn't say it,
but you could see it

in his facial expressions
and the way he'd look at you

when he walked in or whatever.

He wasn't cold.

You could see the emotion,
feelings there,

like he was really sad
for what he did.

I do have a certain amount
of professional respect

for Wayne Price.

What he did at that time
was just despicable,

but I'd be very surprised
if he doesn't regret it

at this point in time.

d*ck Smith
is a different story.

[♪ ♪]

d*ck Smith is an evil man.

He knew exactly what he did.

Exactly what he did.

[♪ ♪]

If I had done
what d*ck Smith had done,

I would have a difficult time
living with myself.

It was all about ego
for d*ck Smith.

He was gonna solve
the Helen Wilson m*rder.

He was gonna be the big hero.

[♪ ♪]

d*ck Smith had
a fake law enforcement badge

made for himself
with the number one on it

because he was the chief
law enforcement officer

in Gage County.

We felt that he was as much
an investigator in this

as he was a county attorney.

He was always involved
in the interviews.

He was always involved
in the whole thing,

saying, you know,
"Hey, you need to tell us

what happened."

And is there anyone else
present in this room

at this time other than
yourself and myself?

My attorney John Berry.

County Attorney Richard Smith.

d*ck Smith would be
someone that's...

In a powerful position,
and he...

thinks he's okay
to abuse that power

because he makes himself
believe he's untouchable.

And every time
that a trial lawyer

tries a case
and a jury comes back,

the system worked,
and in this case,

the state won the case.

d*ck Smith knew
that the evidence

wouldn't convict everyone.

[♪ ♪]

At sentencing, Toney Red man
asked for DNA testing.

[dramatic orchestral music]

d*ck Smith told the judge
"DNA testing isn't available.

"If the state
could have done it,

the state would have done it."

DNA testing
was in its infancy in 1989.

It could have been done
and d*ck Smith knew that.

August 8th of 1989,
you received a letter

from a company
called Cellmark.

Do you recall that?

I didn't recall it,
but I've seen it since.

Can you tell us
what exhibit 22 is?

It's a letter written to me

from some guy
from Cellmark Diagnostics.

And this concerns
your inquiry

to Cellmark Diagnostics

regarding DNA profiling,
correct?

Correct.

And the company
sent a letter

to d*ck Smith's office saying,
"Absolutely, we can help.

"Here's what we can do.
We can work with old samples.

"We can work
with blood samples.

We can work
with whatever you've got."

"Cellmark Diagnostics
can provide results

"that differentiate
individuals from one another,

"sometimes to the degree
of excluding

the world's population."
Correct?

That's what it says, yes.

Had d*ck Smith
done that DNA testing,

it would've cost him probably
$250 a DNA test,

but he said, "No,
we don't want to do that."

And I don't think he turned
any of that information over

to the attorneys
that were involved.

It's d*ck Smith who's working
with the defense attorneys

to get stories straight
because the stories

that were being told
were all over the place

up until the time
of Joseph White's trial,

and they needed to get
some coherence to the story.

In working with d*ck Smith
as the county attorney,

he always let me know
that he was the man.

He was in the driver's seat
down there,

in the position of power,

and if he was the king,

I was the...

I was the citizen,
and I was the supplicant

that came to beg from him.

I have never had problems

with him in any other case.

This is the only case that has
come back in this manner,

but I've... in the past,
he's dealt with me

in reasonable ways.

We always gotten along fine.

I considered him a friend.

I thought we got along well
in this case

until I discovered
long, long after the fact

that there was information
that I hadn't received.

I won't give you yes or no.

I will tell you that I cannot
isolate a single action

that he took
or a single decision he made

that would have me

filing complaints against him,

so no, I cannot think
of a single action.

When you look at
the whole thing put together,

yeah, it becomes
a little problematic.

Okay.

So there was a DNA test done
in this case?

Uh-huh.

It wasn't sent to me.

And it wasn't sent
to Toney Red man.

Okay.

"Cellmark Diagnostic

"offers
a unique combination of..."

"Results that differentiate

individuals
from one another..."

"Enclosed you will find
information kit

that you have requested."

All right.

No, I don't ever remember
seeing that at all.

Yeah, I would have liked
to have known this.

If they had done the tests,

there would have been
exculpatory information.

If there was
exculpatory information,

it would have had
to have been turned over to us.

If it had been turned over
to us,

then there would have been
no convictions

and no wrongful incarcerations,

so this is a very...

This is sad.
This is a sad thing to see.

So much of this is sad.

[soft dramatic music]

I will choose to believe
that it was carelessness

on Richard's part
or lack of sophistication

or something other...

that was not sinister.

That is
what I prefer to believe.

That's what
I'm comfortable believing.

I hate d*ck Smith.

Wasn't it d*ck Smith
that was supposed to say,

"You know what?

"I'm not seeing any actual
scientific evidence here.

Why should I put these names
to the judge?"

When I got sentenced,

they took me into
an offshoot room

because they were waiting
for another deputy

to show up to escort me back
to the jail,

and d*ck Smith came in...

and asked me how I was doing.

And I said something
to the effect,

"I just signed ten years
of my life away for nothing.

How do you think I'm doing?"

And he kind of chuckled
and he said,

"Well"...

He said, "Well,
just between you and me,"

he said, "I always knew
you were innocent."

There was no air in the room.

I said, "How do you sleep?"

He goes, "I sleep just fine."
And he left the room.

[♪ ♪]

Gage County
fought ferociously.

Gage County's theory
in defense the whole time

was that Joseph and Tom
and JoAnn and Kathy

and Debby and James
were actually guilty,

that the confessions were true.

The defense may inquire.

Defense called JoAnn Taylor.

Ms. Taylor, you see exhibit 77

now on the screen
in front of you.

Yes, sir.

[♪ ♪]

You could
hear her screaming.

You saw the blood and also
saw Lobo with the knife

- in his hand stabbing her.
- Yes, sir.

Exhibit 79.

- Yes, sir.
- What did you say?

"I was present
at the time it happened."

And I take it you believed
you were telling the truth

- at that time.
- Yes, sir.

In the Joseph White trial,

you consistently
told jury at that time

that you were present at
Mrs. Wilson's m*rder, correct?

Yes, sir, I believe so.

There was so much
that she was questioned about,

statements she made that she
just could not recall making,

and she seemed deceptive
because of that.

[♪ ♪]

When we were in trial
in 2014,

Deb was afraid
that the outcome

of the civil case
could put her in prison.

She didn't have
an understanding

that this was a civil trial,

that the outcome of it
could have no chance

of putting her in prison.

She became more nervous,
and the more nervous she got,

the less she could explain.

Ms. Shelden,
do you remember anything

concerning the investigation
of the Wilson homicide

- from 1989?
- No, I don't.

Okay,
do you remember anything

from the period of time
in 1985

- when Mrs. Wilson was m*rder*d?
- No, I don't.

Do you remember ever talking
to Dr. Price?

I don't remember it, no.

So you have
no independent recollection

- of talking to Dr. Price?
- No.

Do you remember talking
to d*ck Smith

- in 1989?
- No, I don't.

And you don't remember
talking to anybody

- while you were in the jail?
- Correct.

And you don't remember
talking to

any law enforcement officers
while you were in the jail?

Correct.

I don't know how much
is a loss of memory

and how much
is a defense mechanism.

There may be part of it
where she fears

that if she
remembers something,

she will be challenged on it,

and if she's challenged on it,

she's afraid
of what will happen,

and so it is a safe place to go

to say she doesn't remember.

[♪ ♪]

When you're putting
a decision

in the hands of 12 people
that you don't know,

it's really a big roll
of the dice,

and you just don't know.

You don't know
what resonates with them.

You don't know
how it's gonna come out,

and you just have to take
whatever it is.

[♪ ♪]

The jury was hung,
and so Judge Kopf

declared a mistrial,

and that was the end
of this trial.

When that happened,
there was a lot of profanity

coming out of my mouth,
so we appealed,

and I knew that I just
had to double down

and win that appeal.

[♪ ♪]

The phenomena of people
believing false stories

is something
I never really considered

until I got involved in this.

I mean, I know it happens...

but I've just
never really looked

at how prevalent it is,
and I've never really thought

about how destructive
it can be,

and, of course, this destroyed
not only the six lives

of the people
that I represented,

but their families.

What they're going through
is just not fair

to them either, but...

fair has got nothing
to do with it, I guess.

[♪ ♪]

After going through
all the evidence

and everything that was said
and everything that was done...

I just couldn't have
imagined anybody...

not coming back with a verdict.

But when we were told that it
came back the other way,

it was like...

Disbelief that there was
actually some people

in there
that didn't get reached.

But then we go back
to Gage County now.

There's still some people
that's not reached.

Right?

[dramatic orchestral music]

[♪ ♪]

Yeah, I don't think
anybody will ever know

exactly what happened
that day.

I mean, we can all say
that they were responsible,

and then you'll have some
that say they weren't,

and, I mean,
I think it's pretty divided

on that front,
but I mean, it seems apparent

that they were there.

The gentlemen that were doing
the original investigating

are really pretty respected
here in our area,

and so I think there are
probably still people

who doubt whether or not

the overturn
was correct or not.

I think most people just
think that they were there,

it was... things happened.

I think that there's more to it
than what we know.

Scene 27, civil trial.

Originally,
I thought the six were there

because that's what we heard
in the news,

but then
as working on this project,

it's like,
"No, there's no proof

that they were there."

Anybody that we can
tell the story to,

they're gonna tell the story
to somebody else,

and maybe we can get rid
of some of the anger

and the misinformation
that surrounds it now.

I guess that's what
my hope is for this

is that this may be an ending,

something definitive

that everybody
can move on from.

I hope they embrace it
with an open mind

because how we react right now

is how we'll be known
probably forever.

Now to a real life drama
that's being played out

at the Beatrice
Community Theatre.

The show is called
"Gage County, Nebraska."

All 16 actors
are from the area,

each portraying
real-life people from the case

and in the community.

Putting together the play

didn't come
without its challenges.

Some in the community
were against revisiting

such a painful story.

This project was receiving
social media feedback.

Several people
were accusing us

of being just as bad
as people

involved with the m*rder.

We have asked
the Beatrice Police Department

to make sure that we've got
some presence

on the nights of the show.

The play runs from
August 13th to August 15th

at Community Players Theatre
in Beatrice.

[♪ ♪]

[bright tone]