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[Music] the coold miner's daughter christe Martin Christy Martin was a public figure sports star a
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Pioneer she put boxing on the map for females she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated she made millions of dollars
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Bo boxing christe was married to Jim Martin uh Jim was a boxing trainer and Jim trained her go take her out there go
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take her out for years it was christe and Jim as a team together I think that the marriage
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between Jim and chrisy was professionally driven where it first they used each other to both get ahead
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page number 2 say the Florida versus James V Mar this is one of the most memorable
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cases I had in approximately 5,000 that I handled as a prosecutor it has a little bit of
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everything you have drugs there's a sex tape this is one of the most fascinating cases I've ever
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been a part of what did you want the jury to know about about this marriage that Jim Martin wasn't a a loving caring
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husband Jim's control LED to psychological abuse physical abuse he started to provide her with controlled
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substances and would put christe in a very compromised position to where she had to rely on Jim or else her career
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would be over Christy had told him that she wanted out of the relationship how did Jim take the news that Christy
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wanted out like his world was collapsing how did he take the news that she was seeing someone else horribly but I don't
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think anybody truly believes that the person that you've built a life with would all of a sudden turn and want you
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dead inside the couple's Orange County home James Martin stabbed his wife with a buck knife four times in the chest and
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back he then ultimately gets a firearm he stands over her and shoots her in the chest so Jim pleads not guilty what's
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your reaction expected she's the one that had the gun Jim was just trying to defend himself
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and they fought over the gun there is not convincing evidence in this case Beyond a reasonable doubt that
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Mr Martin intended to kill Christie the way Jim described it Christy was hooked on drugs and she was extremely
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aggressive break break break it up he was constantly afraid of physical attacks by
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her jury's entering all right it's not every day that the target of a murder ends up living to tell their story on
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the stand it's rare at this time the State of Florida calls Christy Martin Christy was the
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boxer Jim was the opponent the jury was the audience and the judge was the referee and Christy had always talked
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about she wanted to win 50 fights in her life well christe won 49 professional boxing matches in her career that
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courtroom was the 50th fight he's taking my head and he's beating it into the where the drawers
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are and I said you cannot kill me I told him you cannot kill me and I meant it just like the sun came up this morning I
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meant it christe Martin [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] is [Music] and what was the thought that went
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through your mind when you saw the defendant with that knife in the bedroom I said to him are you going to
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kill me on April 24th 2012 in this courtroom in Orlando Florida boxing champion Christy Martin boldly faced
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down her fiercest opponent yet her ex-husband James Martin the last time you had seen Jim he's
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standing over you with a gun you know I thought about it a lot and how am I going to react to being in
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the same room with them hundreds of thousands of Court TV viewers watched as a prize fighter known for knocking out
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32 opponents testified that her much older and seemingly frail husband had nearly killed her this case Rose and
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fell on the credibility of christe and Jim prosecutors Ryan vesio and Deborah Bara were worried that the jury might
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have some doubts about the matchup she became famous beating the hell out of people exactly so it's pretty plausible
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that she might beat the hell out of her husband absolutely barah says she believed christe's story The Good the
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Bad and the Bloody she was very open about her marriage she was very open about everything it was just very much
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matter of fact this this is who I am Christy bared it all starting with her childhood in the Tiny Town of itman
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West Virginia itman West Virginia is literally 1 mile from welcome to now leaving her Father John suters was a
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coal miner as a fighter Christy would brand herself the Coal Miner's Daughter I was always out with my Dad we passed
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football we passed baseball I shot basketball she says her dad pushed her to dream big
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with one ex excruciating exception her love life when did you first realize you were a
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lesbian I think I knew that I was attracted to women fifth or sixth grade did you
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confide in anyone no Christy lived a double life and kept her first love a a secret fellow High School athlete 3
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years her senior Sher Lusk she went away to college we tried to keep it together
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for a while but distance and time and age and it just doesn't work did you ever see circling back with her later in
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life um no she says eventually her parents found out that she was gay and could not
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accept it so she moved out went to college in Athens West Virginia and started boxing
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with no formal training Christy won every amateur fight she entered just you know got hooked I love the sport spotted
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by a promoter at one of those contests Christy went [Music] pro a little over a year later
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22-year-old Christie was offered formal training with a boxing coach named Jim Martin I walked into the gym thinking
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that I was going to meet this guy that you know wanted to train me it was just the opposite the a 47-year-old didn't
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think that women belonged in the ring but saw dollar signs he thought and it would be a sideshow but I think I can
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get her in position to where we can make some money christe says she just wanted
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to box and so she put all of her faith and trust in her new coach how much did Jim Martin know about your past Jim
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Martin knew everything about my past I looked at him like this guy's going to be my coach and an athlete and
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a coach to have a really good Bond like they have to be able to get in your head
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they have to know what makes you tick in order to make you perform just double ja
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double ja tell me about when the relationship with Jim went from professional to personal it was a a few
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months I was getting a lot of pressure from my family to not be gay it just seemed like it was easy but christe also
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had a girlfriend in town that is until Jim found out he said that he had called my dad and my dad told him to just throw
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my stuff in the ocean they didn't want me and so I went the next day and married
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Jim really yeah because I felt like I had to the couple moved to apka Florida outside Orlando they opened a boxing gym
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and worked on christe's Career still living a double life christe was always dressed in pink Jim being very homop
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phobic would always tell me at a press conference if I'm fighting some girl that's clearly there with her girlfriend
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uh make sure you say something derogatory about her uh sexuality big steroid why did you continue to listen to
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him Jim Martin convinced me that the world hated me I'm talking about family friends the boxing
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world then her career took off spotted by a trainer who worked for the world famous boxing promoter Don King
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Christy became his first female fighter I mean to go to fight in Las Vegas then King's the promoter We going
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show you on Friday that's bigger than I could have ever dreamed but that was just the
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start is that you that is me dark hair long time ago in 199 6 King featured Christy in a fight on a Pay-Per-View
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event headlined by Mike Tyson with tens of millions of people watching christe stole the
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show her nose was split open and bloody by the third round but Christie won that
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was the most profitable bloody nose in boxing history I mean I'm bleeding everywhere and people are starting to
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take notice wow look at this woman she's still fighting and she's winning the fight Christy became the only female
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boxer to ever make the cover of Sports Illustrated but with the fame she says came a tightening of Jim's already firm
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grip he would always say I'm going to tell the world you're lesbian and for whatever reason you know
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I just wasn't strong enough in me to say go ahead I keep thinking of the people who will watch this and say how does a
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woman who's so powerful and strong and successful at being aggressive how is she not able to stand
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up for herself at home I know that people think that that I I should be strong and tough and all
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those things but I didn't have that same type of mental strength to overtake him in 2001 Christy parted ways with Don
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King by 2007 her career was on the ropes and according to Christy Jim had spent all of their money feeling that she had
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nothing left to live for Christy tried some cocaine that Jim allegedly brought home he
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throws a baggie down on the table and he said one of the fighters gave it to him
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because he was going to get clean and I let it lay there for a couple days and then finally I was like you know what
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might as well just do this and then it just it was every day all day she claims Jim became her supplier
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she also says he had hidden cameras around their house documenting her addiction so it was all about blackmail
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do you believe that Jim was controll to the extent that he was trying to help her with the drug problem I do Jim
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Martin's defense attorney Bill Hancock says if there were tapes of Christy doing drugs they were meant to show her
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how aggressive she was when she was high he was a boxing goats not a boxer he was
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always in fear of her aggression did you ever beat him did I fight back sometimes
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absolutely yeah after 19 years of feeling controlled christe said says she kicked the cocaine and threw in the
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towel on the marriage and I told him I said I want out I'm done Christy had already consulted with a divorce
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attorney when she says she told Jim there was someone else that high school sweetheart she never thought she'd see
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again Sher Lusk when I told him I'm going to see Sherry he said if you leave me I will kill
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you and I stopped I turned and I looked at him right in his eyes and told him do
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what you have to [Music] do for 20 years he told me that if ever I left he would kill
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me Christy Martin says she knew she was signing up for a life or death battle with her husband Jim Martin when she re
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United with her high school sweetheart Sher Lusk in November of 2010 so in the days leading up to the attack you saw
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Sher several times right yes I told him that I was leaving to go see Sherry and I told him I wanted a divorce the day
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before she was stabbed and then shot Christy drove to Daytona to spend the night with Sherry Jim followed her there
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and then started texting and calling he said to me that he saw me greet her he also said that he was so close he could
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touch [Music] me Jim's trial attorney Bill Hancock says his client admits he was in Daytona
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that day but he claims he was there to protect his wife Jim had to intervene one time previously because Christy was
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going to Daytona for her drug connection the next day Christy decided to head home I have to go back back and
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either live or die because I'm not going to look over my shoulder for the rest of
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my life so I had no choice she says Jim was there when she arrived home and so I said my head's
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killing me I'm going to lay down just as soon as my head stops hurting I'm going
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to go work out she says she was lying on the bed when she heard Jim talking he's
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on the phone with people telling him you know that I'm a lesbian and that I've left him for a woman the entire time
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he's sharpening a knife if I can hear the knife sound sh sh unable to sleep Christy says she was putting on her
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running shoes when Jim walked in and said he had something to show her and then he put his hand behind his back I
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like lean around and I see that he has a knife stuck down in his shorts and I said what are you going to
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do kill me and it was like bam instantly he stabbed me Bam Bam Bam the fourth stab went through my breast and so I
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tried to kick him away from me when I kicked him he cut my calf muscle almost completely from my
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leg I'm trying to still fight with him and at this time I can feel he has a gun in his pocket it was this pink 9mm gun
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and it belonged to Christie I can't get it away from him he's too strong he gets
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the gun out of his pocket and he starts to beat me Bam Bam he's beating my head and Bam just like that the switch
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flipped I told him you cannot kill me right then it changed I have to live she says Jim stopped to tend to a cut on his
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hand and then she started begging you know I tell him everything I love you I'm sorry you know I've always loved you
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I'm pleading for my life don't let me die please don't let me die this is christe being interviewed by
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investigators while in the emergency room fighting for her life I get don't let me
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die finally I realize he can't let you live he gets the 9mm stands at my feet and I tell him he
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don't have the balls to shoot me and he shot me he missed my heart by 3 in I passed
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out and he thought I was dead an hour had passed since the stabbing started when christe says she
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regained Consciousness heard Jim taking a shower and decided she was not down for the count I picked up the gun
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because he had cleaned the gun off laid it down and picked up the car keys with a punctured lung a bullet lodged inches
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from her heart and her leg split wide open Christy says she got up and left but I get to the car it's the wrong Keys
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there's no way in hell I'm going back in that house she ran into the middle of this road where Rick Cole pulled over
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and before I could even say hello she's handed me something through the window it was heavy and she said that's my gun
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I'm like okay wait a minute what's really going on here because she's the one with the bloody gun I took the gun
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so I could show somebody this is what he shot me with Rick Cole rushed christe to the
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emergency room where she was stabilized and then airlifted to a nearby Trauma Center meanwhile Jim had vanished Goes
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On The Run prosecutor Ryan IO says it took the police 7 days to find Jim Martin he had been hiding in a friend
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shed across the street from the crime scene and with the buck knife used to stab Christie this is what he told the
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police guys said that mife on purpose cuz I know Christy's fingerprints got to be on that knife Jim claimed he had
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spent the week slipping in and out of a diabetic coma I didn't know how long I was there because I was just out he ran
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in the shed to to protect himself he was afraid she was going to continue to come
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after him Bill Hancock believes that Jim was the victim not the aggressor I think
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chrisy had come home not in a great mood she indicated she was suffering from migraine and Jim went in concerned about
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her health and got attacked she jumped up grabbed the knife was laying there I grabbed the knife blade or Str a knife
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laid Jim says it was christe who brought out the gun I guess you must reach underneath her pill she come out with
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the pink gun so you think they're fighting over the gun right and the gun goes off
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yeah Jim was charged with attempted first-degree murder and pleaded not guilty but to claim self-defense he
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would have to admit that he stabbed and shot his wife to save himself he comes into the courtroom all Fe like so we
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thought okay here we [Music] go a little more than 6 months after nearly bleeding out on her bedroom
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floor Christy Martin got back in the boxing ring with Dakota Stone Christy was hoping for her 50th
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win there you go down goes Dakota stone for the only time in her career instead the fight was called when
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Christy broke her hand in nine places she had to be rushed to the emergency room again and then she had a
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stroke I can't walk I can't really talk and I can't see prosecutor Ryan besio was worried would Christy be able to
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testify at the trial she is the only live witness to what occurred this entire case completely fell on her
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shoulders determined to take that stand Christy approached Physical Therapy like
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she was training for the match of her life the fight is on and it's going to be the fight of public opinion in a
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courtroom Jim Martin who had been denied bail was doing everything he could to discredit his wife we intercepted a jail
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telephone call from Jim to one of his friends that they were trying to Blackmail christe even while Jim was
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incarcerated pending trial I got some tapes you know I got some awful dirty dirty tapes at her they were trying to
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sell these sex tapes to Media Outlets the tapes never sold but that didn't stop Jim Martin who told the media that
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he was the victim I thought thank you I I like it when defendants talk Jim's defense became pretty clear in April
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2012 when the trial began and his attorney Bill Hancock set Christy up as the aggressor James Martin was about two
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or three weeks away from his 68th birthday christe Martin was 43 years old training for her upcoming boxing match
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that was going to begin her comeback in boxing Ryan vesio declared that the evidence
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would show Jim Martin had tried to kill his wife We Believe ladies and gentlemen
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that this case at its Essence is about a man losing control the prosecution called christe's
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friend and hairdresser Dianna gross who testified that she saw Jim be controlling um he would look through her
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phone so you would see him actually walk over pick up her phone and go through it
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yes Sher Lusk testified about that reportedly terrifying afternoon in Daytona when Jim seemed to be lurking in
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the shadows we didn't know what to do it's hard to explain how you're shaking so
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bad when you think you're about to get shot the jury saw photos of christe's injuries and heard from the doctors who
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saved her life raise your right hand face this young lady to is it fair to classify the lung injury or the chest
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injury as a life-threatening or critical injury yes yes that's correct deputy sheriff Todd Moore testified about Jim
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going missing for 7 days and said he was found wielding the knife used to stab chrisy forcing Deputy Moore to draw his
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gun and give a warning if he didn't drop the knife that I was going to shoot but the main event was clearly
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when christe got up on that stand m'am come follow would stand in front of the podium the size of that courtroom is
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about the size of a boxing ring raise your right hand face the cour CL can be swor you could feel christe's
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intensity she did not stop from staring down Jim with Ryan vesio questioning her
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Christy calmly gave her account of the attack you stab me three times under under my left arm she
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described Jim's only significant wound that cut on his hand when he s me I think it was one of
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the times on the three on my side his hand slid up the knife and it cut his hand but according to Bill Hancock Jim
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got that cut while defending himself the only way you can get that cut on your hand is defending against someone who's
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wielding the knife but she was cut up one side to the other doesn't mean that he wasn't defending himself Hancock
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hammered home that argument in his questions to Christie did you try to shoot Jim Martin no sir but Hancock pointed
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out that when police interviewed Christie did you recognize that she asked if Jim was dead do you recall
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responding to detective Evans saying you we're pretty sure you heard one gunshot
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and then asking if he was dead no sir you okay to still talk for a little bit this is from that police interview
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recorded at the emergency room right after the attack can you tell me where he got the gun when Christy was fighting
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to survive we're still trying to find them and then there was this detective Evans
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says okay what did you try to do and your answer was I tried to shoot him but I was too scared of him pointed a gun at
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him and if I missed or something the day after the attack while on painkillers in
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a hospital bed Christy told investigators this I got to gun out of his pocket and the P9 mm and and like pointed at
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him but then I was scared to I I was scared to shoot did you tell her that I really don't remember christe's in the
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hospital a police officer interviews her and she says to him is Jim dead sounds to me like the woman wanted
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him dead it's not a good fact to have to deal with on day four the state rested and
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now it was Jim's turn to tell his story but the prosecution was worried would the jury believe him would you
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give the verdict forms to the court Deputy [Music] [Music] please the state has rested and and Mr
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Hancock what's your pleasure sir defense attorney Bill Hancock insists that his client Jim Martin was a loving and
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devoted husband I think Jim was trying to work on the marriage I think Christy was trying to create a situation to
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where she could proceed with whatever divorce paperwork she was starting Jim claims Christy is the one who was armed
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that day with her gun and the knife I know she says he brought it into the room um he's like no she had it and that
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bullet that just missed Christy's heart that was an accident Hancock says while wrestling over the gun the fact that
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chrisy got shot with her own gun I think bolsters the fact that Jim was just trying to defend himself and they fought
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over the gun but remember to tell that story and claim self-defense Jim would have to admit
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that he stabbed and shot his wife to save himself Jim is such a control freak and believes
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in himself so much that he would think that he could convince anybody of anything but first Hancock tried to
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present a different view of the Martin household from friend and neighbor Scott selker did you know your neighbors
00:28:45
Christie and Jim Martin yes I did was there ever times that you witnessed Jim Martin in a controlling manner over
00:28:53
Christy Martin no Selkirk testified that just da before the attack Jim came over
00:29:00
to his house to ask if he could store his gun collection there in seler's Words it was to avoid a hostile
00:29:08
situation had Mr Martin brought his gun collection to your house before yes how many
00:29:15
times probably three Selkirk also said he saw Jim the day of the incident and he seemed fine was he angry or
00:29:24
aggressive no later that evening he says Jim showed up at his door bleeding and what did he tell you that
00:29:33
he had been shot in St and then what did he do he turned and left selker says he
00:29:41
gave Chase but Jim disappeared cross please then it was the state's turn to question selker good
00:29:50
morning sir good morning sir you're actually really good friends with Jim correct I'm good friend J okay and would
00:29:57
you describe your relationship almost like brothers good friends okay barah pointed
00:30:04
out that when police arrived at the crime scene cirk refused to share Jim's cell phone number sir isn't it true that
00:30:12
you said to Sergeant Callahan Jim is my friend and I don't want to get him in any trouble so I'm not going to say
00:30:19
anything I can't recall that sir do you remember being on the phone with somebody else while the police were in
00:30:27
your res and you indicated to the person on the phone I've got some cops out here and
00:30:34
they're acting like heads I probably said that you you remember saying that oh I'm sure I said that okay cirk pushed
00:30:41
back when barah asked about a trail of Jim's blood that led right to selkirk's front door and Beyond sir isn't it true
00:30:49
that the blood went further into your house into your kitchen area no I don't know where you got that barah got that
00:30:58
from a police report and photos of blood found in selkirk's kitchen sir you free to go back to
00:31:06
business thank you sir now the jury didn't hear this but it was selkirk's shed that Jim Martin admits he was in
00:31:15
when he went missing for 7 Days Chris barah to the stand please Hancock's second witness was Chris Gara another
00:31:24
friend who testified that he never saw Jim be aggressive he also said he had Jim over for dinner the night before the
00:31:31
incident and he seemed calm was there anything unusual about Jim that evening when he was at your home for dinner no
00:31:40
Geral was on the stand for only 4 minutes with no cross-examination and then do you have any additional
00:31:47
Witnesses you wish to call it this time hon at this time your friends would arest Hancock surprised everyone and
00:31:53
rested his case after calling just two w wies Jim Martin would not be going toe-to-toe with his ex-wife Ryan and I
00:32:05
looked at each other and we were just like he didn't get it you have a world champion boxer uh who's in much better
00:32:12
physical shape so we thought what is he going to say and it was nothing as we got into the trial I think
00:32:21
Jim became more fearful about testifying and concerned about how his work words would be
00:32:30
twisted I personally think it was just that Jim couldn't bring himself to tell the world that he needed to protect
00:32:37
himself from Christy Martin members of the jury it has been difficult I'm sure in his closing
00:32:46
Hancock reminded the jury that the pink gun belonged to Christie and he insisted
00:32:52
once again that she was the one with the knife whose blood is on the blade James
00:32:59
Martin any contribution or any DNA from Christie Martin no that is nothing more than asking you to speculate Ryan vesio
00:33:10
reminded the jury that the knife was in Jim's possession for 7 days after the incident and he insisted that the
00:33:17
evidence showed Christie never even had a chance to defend herself there's no evidence of a
00:33:25
struggle there's no evidence that this was a an equal force fight did you think a guilty verdict was a given nothing's
00:33:33
ever a given in a courtroom all right after 5 hours of deliberating the jury and the trial of Jim Martin had a
00:33:58
decision members of the jury have you reached verdicts in this case christe says she was worried it was
00:34:05
the first time ever I realized maybe they didn't believe me state of versus James C Martin Verdi as count one the
00:34:14
jury find the defended guilty of the lesson included offense of attempted second degree
00:34:20
murder guilty of attempted murder but not premeditated you have prosecuted for first deegree attempted murder they said
00:34:31
second degree attempted murder did that feel like a loss no I felt that was a a good verdict I knew that he'd be facing
00:34:40
substantial prison time and I knew that would kind of vindicate Christy christe says hearing the word guilty was a huge
00:34:50
relief but insist the verdict was only half right do you think Jim's attack on you was pre meditated
00:34:59
absolutely without a doubt Bill Hancock says he accepts the jury's decision but he also disagrees do you think Jim
00:35:07
Martin is innocent I believe my client nine weeks later at Jim Martin's sentencing why don't you just have a
00:35:18
seat to the right Christy took the witness stand One Last Time judge Thompson Jim threatened my
00:35:26
life for over 20 years she wanted the judge to know that she was still terrified he would also tell me that he
00:35:34
knew people that could quote unquote make me disappear then she turned and called out
00:35:42
the man now convicted of trying to kill her look at me [Music] Jim the entire time I testified I looked
00:35:51
him straight in the eyes and when he would look away from me I would say look at me you shot me with my own
00:36:00
gun basically Point Blank and guess what I walked out on the stand you said that from the stand one time the judge
00:36:12
told me to be quiet and I just kept talking cuz what's he going to do put me and
00:36:15
jaill judge I hope that you'll see fit to sent Jim to the maximum of life in prison as she left the stand Christy had
00:36:28
one more thing she wanted to say to Jim I walked right directly at him and said I hope you burn in
00:36:37
Hill to me it was telling him I don't fear you anymore but Christy didn't get the last
00:36:44
word judge at this time Miss Martin would like to address the court Jim Martin finally took the stand turned to
00:36:52
the judge and once again claimed he was the victim outside the ring I was scared
00:36:58
of Chris christe you know because I never wanted to do anything to make her mad his fear of Christie he said also
00:37:07
explained why he fled the crime scene chrisy was gone I ran through the house looking for her and then I got thinking
00:37:14
Christie's got the gun then Jim Martin apologized but not for attacking his wife I'm very sorry for that day and I
00:37:22
apologize I should have just turned walked off and whatever happened what happened happened I got stabbed I should
00:37:29
have just turned and walked away I never even would have turned her into the police cuz that's not me cuz I loved her
00:37:34
so much do you believe he loved you no he loved what I gave to him I mean the man never had a job that was his
00:37:44
personal ATM Ryan vesio says to this day he remains surprised that Jim never properly claimed self-defense because in
00:37:54
your opinion that would have been the most predictable defense oh it would have been most likely a successful
00:38:00
defense vesio asked the judge to sentence Jim Martin to the maximum life in prison you have any questions Mr
00:38:08
Martin no sir but like the jury the judge pulled his punch and handed down the minimum mandatory sentence 25 years
00:38:18
thank you he mate Jim Martin will serve every single day of those 25 years there is no parole
00:38:26
in Florida the chances are he's probably not going to live the 25 years so was it a life
00:38:34
sentence probably so am I okay with it yes Christy was left to pick up the pieces and while she tries to stay in
00:38:46
shape doctors have recommended no more competing or she may die and going forward so Christy followed in the
00:38:56
footsteps of the legendary Don King and became a boxing promoter this past July in the middle of the pandemic good
00:39:03
evening christe Martin what an exciting night of boxing Christy held a 14 fight event in Daytona
00:39:12
Beach the winner as a fighter I didn't settle and I'm not going to settle as a promoter what's remarkable about
00:39:21
Christie today is getting to see how she's living her her second lease on life and she's able to be who she is
00:39:30
doing what she loves and loving who she wants to love in November 2017 Christy married
00:39:38
fellow boxer and onetime opponent Lisa holne she is uh one of the most genuine human beings I've ever met there is a
00:39:48
sweetness to her that no matter all the awful thing she's been through is still there christe now goes by her maiden
00:39:55
name Salters and advocates for victims of domestic abuse through her nonprofit Christy's Champs she also donates a
00:40:04
portion of her fight proceeds to the cause I think it's a remarkable story because you have a world famous champion
00:40:15
boxer and she could still be in a domestic violence relationship because that isn't about physical strength it's
00:40:24
about mental abuse but you can always survive it Christy says she can now look back and see that she did get that 50th
00:40:33
win just not in the boxing ring finally I've been able to come with to terms with I got the 50th win when I got up
00:40:42
off the floor November 23rd 2010 and got out of my house that was my 50th win christe Martin
00:40:52
[Applause] [Music] 48 hours to miss it would be a crime were you at all prepared for what
00:41:10
happened in this case [Music] [Music] [Music] how significant are horses in your life
00:42:07
they're the most significant thing I don't think they can live without them in my life hi hey good
00:42:14
boy 139 by Michaelis why did she want to ride with Michael everyone wants to ride with
00:42:25
Michael and Champion he was a legend he was the most sought after trainer in the world
00:42:34
everybody wanted to train with Michael barisone he had competed in the Olympics as a riter he had also trained writers
00:42:41
who competed in the Olympics he's a larger than life character he walked the walk and he
00:42:49
talked the talk what did Lauren want from Michael more than anything his undivided
00:43:00
attention she felt like um as a paying customer she should be treated a certain way she wanted to be the star of the
00:43:07
barn I think she became extremely upset when Michael's full attention wasn't focused on
00:43:15
her Mary H Haskins was the one who in her mind was standing in her way of getting to her
00:43:22
goals two women both buying for Michael's attention as one of the best trainers in the world yeah yeah yeah
00:43:28
Michael barisone stuck between two women his love interest and Lauren his love interest and his financial need that he
00:43:37
needed how would you describe Lauren's treatment of Michael on social media [Music]
00:43:46
horrible there were things coming out on social media that were horrific so I think we live in this world now where
00:43:55
your reputation or your career or your identity can be changed like that and uh can be
00:44:02
devastating I remember complete and total panic everybody says I was unglued I was
00:44:12
unglued did you want Lauren canak dead I wanted Lauren can to leave to go away why would I want anyone
00:44:22
dead I i1 operator 32 with the isimportant every man woman has a Breaking Point please help please help
00:44:35
I'm losing a lot of blood your little girl just Indescribable it was horrible she'd flatlined several times we had no
00:44:43
idea whether she was going to live or die did you shoot Lauren Krick I'm told I did pulled it out pointed it boom boom
00:44:54
just like that but I have no recollection of that that event zero [Music] nothing I could not believe in my world
00:45:02
that Michael would do something like this now did you have a plan to destroy Michael
00:45:09
barisone at some point yes none of that is a justification to get shot good morning doctor morning she
00:45:19
drove him crazy she gaslighted him and she drove him over the edge is it possible to actually drive a human crazy
00:45:29
that's exactly what happened Michael barison should be in state prison for the rest of his life
00:45:37
[Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] and our champion Michael we see pictures of you at the
00:46:35
Olympics looking like a king and then we see you in the courtroom looking like a
00:46:39
defeated man yep how do you reconcile those two images I am a defeated man 58-year-old Michael barisone spent a
00:46:47
lifetime standing proud in The Winner Circle but come spring 2022 he was in a Morristown New Jersey courtroom he
00:46:56
claimed the time of the shooting he temporarily lost his mind he knew what he was doing when he loaded bullets into
00:47:03
the gun prosecutor Christopher shellhorn made the case that barisone was sane that he knew exactly what he was doing
00:47:11
when he took that pistol and tried to kill one of his own riding students Lauren Shay canak he pulled out a gun
00:47:20
and shot me once twice directly in the chest yet with the help of emergency surgery Lauren survived can you imagine
00:47:30
a life without these beautiful animals no no chance see it is a sensational trial with
00:47:40
Lauren herself Accused by the defense of deliberately driving barisone insane she
00:47:46
did the worst thing any human being could do to another human be an international superstar in the
00:47:54
equestrian sport of Dr she was the person that was shot and almost lost her life that day Michael
00:48:01
barisone charged with two counts of attempted murder facing 80 years she sees his hand come up and then just boom
00:48:12
boom in court the once Regal Rider appeared as a disheveled shadow of his former self it is as far a fall from
00:48:22
grace as his Elite Sport has ever seen as he awaited judgment his fellow Olympians rallied around him for you to
00:48:31
see him like that how did it feel it's hot but we're going to get him back now 77 years old in 1992 Michael Poland took
00:48:46
home a medal from Barcelona you want a bronze at the Olympics yes ma'am I love Michael when he was 11 very
00:48:56
energetic IC and um very intense to learn were you like a father figure to him I was his
00:49:05
mentor it's rare to find a young man with that energy and that desire but Michael boy he hung on to it tough he he
00:49:13
wanted [Music] it Philip Dutton is a two-time Olympic gold medalist one of the best in the
00:49:21
world you got the feeling that if you were on Michael's team you know he was going to back you all the
00:49:28
way and then there's Olympian Boyd Martin he recalls first meeting Michael had a big cowboy hat on that was sort of
00:49:37
marching around and yelling and you're like who the hell's that guy you know and and someone said oh it's Michael
00:49:43
barisone he was passionate he was loud but he was a big teddy bear too barisone knew he was a good writer by CIA Jersey
00:49:53
he also knew he was an even better coach and as a coach having someone that's got
00:49:59
a track record that's been there and done it it's a wonderful thing the demand for barisone allowed him to
00:50:05
acquire two magnificent Farms to accommodate a sport Rich enough to chase the seasons 45 minutes outside of Palm Beach
00:50:16
lockah hatche Florida is Baron's winter headquarters Michael's Larger than Life while he is that he's also so down to
00:50:25
earth Jordan Osborne her mother Lara Chelsea Westra and their horses too have all been coached by
00:50:34
barisone in a sport that's all about discipline and restraint control mhm a lot of control disa's dreams also
00:50:44
brought all three women here the jewel in their Champions Crown 53 Acres of prime New Jersey Horse Country an
00:50:53
equestrian Paradise Michael Baris called it Hawthorne [Music] Hill you had dozens of horses these
00:51:07
beautiful Rolling Green Pastures an outdoor Arena a huge beautiful indoor arena Barn was
00:51:16
huge and come 2019 Jordan and Chelsea had become working students living above the barn 24/7 taking care of the horses
00:51:27
in exchange for lessons from an Olympian yeah that that is the dream you know to train with someone who is one of
00:51:35
the best in the world come come good boy Lauren canak had her own rage dreams of becoming a
00:51:43
champion see it's good to Bow your head and they know that you mean them no harm
00:51:48
at 37 Lauren knew exactly what she needed and wanted in Seeking a top trainer what were you looking for
00:51:57
in Seeking a top trainer I'm looking for somebody who I think's going to push me
00:52:02
someone who has been there and done that we have Michael barison at s it seemed to describe Michael barison to a tea so
00:52:11
Lauren made her way to Hawthorne Hill hoping barisone was the one there's a million different reasons or things that
00:52:19
could make a trainer relationship work or not work but few could imagine how barisone and canak would assume clash
00:52:28
and crash and [Music] burn I'm losing a lot of BL where where are you [Music] it is their love for horses that led
00:53:04
canak and barison paths to cross it would twist into a road to ruin something neither could have imagined
00:53:12
when each first climbed into a saddle tell me about Lauren canak the little girl who fell in love with horses
00:53:20
it all started at a barn we met up with Lauren at a small horse farm in Wellington Florida how old were you
00:53:27
probably two or three when I first saw or got like rode a horse or got and I like never stop thinking about them
00:53:35
after that basically that was it that was it I did have a little girl dreaming of a pony and her love for horses and
00:53:41
riding began y Lauren's father retired Wall Street Attorney John canak took fast note of his daughter's
00:53:51
determination Lauren really wanted to do this I always knew I was going to get my
00:53:55
own horse and at the end of high school you know one day I was just like this is
00:53:59
happening what was that like that was amazing the first of the many dreams which came true it is a fairy tale but
00:54:09
with it comes great responsibility cuz you have your horse to take care of Lauren took the reins and headed
00:54:16
towards the ballet movements of d d means training in French it's dancing with horses it's about Harmony John
00:54:27
wasn't quite sure what dancing horses was all about well my experience with horses you know was wind play show you
00:54:35
know at the at Belmont as Lauren won her first amateur ribbons Dr Superstar barisone was a spokesman for the sport
00:54:43
Michael thank you so much for having me even educating a beused Steven coar now is this how you start it you just pull
00:54:51
this like a lawn mower all right lean back not too much The Tiara is yours woo do you think you've gotten to that
00:55:03
point where you are the best Rider you can be definitely not March 2018 The Olympian was hosting a clinic for
00:55:12
respiring Riders at his Florida horse farm Lauren signed up and while she was there Michael barisone approached her
00:55:19
apparently saw that maybe she had some aptitude and asked her to come and train with him at that
00:55:25
point cutor Christopher shellhorn and defense lawyers Ed binkis and Chris dininger would eventually become
00:55:32
adversaries immersed in the lives of barisone and canak why did she want to ride with Michael everyone wants to ride
00:55:40
with Michael so she decided to have her horses boarded at his farm and decided to go and train with him barison said no
00:55:49
we can go places come up and you know leave yourself in my hands it was an offer that couldn't be refused the range
00:55:55
was $5,000 a month she had two horses in training at that point in time Michael barisone agreed to speak
00:56:02
with 48 hours with the support of his attorneys on the day we talked with him he appeared calm while he says he has no
00:56:11
memory of the crime he does remember the events leading up to it at Hawthorne Hill this was my life that was my home I
00:56:19
built that from scratch that was a labor of love barisone provided housing there
00:56:26
for Lauren canak and her boyfriend Rob Goodwin I said all right as long as when they're in training I'll throw in an
00:56:33
apartment that seems very generous we all have bills to pay overnight Lauren wasn't just
00:56:40
training with barisone she and Rob were living with him and that was different than any other Arrangement that he had
00:56:49
with anyone else the apartment was in the white farmhouse that barisone shared with his assistant trainers Justin
00:56:56
Harden and Mary H Haskins gray a respected Grand Pre writer and divorced mother of two we lived together she was
00:57:04
my partner I thought we were going to have a life together she was Michael's girlfriend
00:57:11
and the assistant trainer at the barn Mary had two young children MH that lived there with her and with Michael at
00:57:18
times yes how was Michael's relationship with Mary's young kids he loved them yeah he adored them and they really
00:57:27
adored him it all must have given Lauren Great Expectations the child who dreamed
00:57:33
of a pony now the student of a Dr Master she was even posting pictures on her Facebook of her and Michael barisone I
00:57:42
knew at least this could work out for a time and be good so why not try it out and it was supposed to be a great
00:57:49
relationship and was for a long time barisone found that Lauren could be demanding still nothing unusual we all
00:57:59
have difficult clients they're not all going to be easy relationships you know there say like go as far as you can see
00:58:07
and then you can see farther and that's kind of what I live by like I will challenge myself every single day Lauren
00:58:14
canak was comfortable talking about her horses and riding but she chose not to speak with 48 Hours about Michael
00:58:21
barisone and all that happened at Hawthorne Hill but Jordan Lara and Chelsea Say by
00:58:29
summer tension set in and that it started with those expectations about the degree of attention the student
00:58:36
would get from the master was part of the deal that Lauren would train exclusively with Michael that was you
00:58:43
know Lauren's understanding when everyone wants to be trained by the name on the door The Olympian yep exactly
00:58:49
just because we need to set the record straight here I never exclusively trained any of my clients you are
00:58:56
trained by this community that means Justin Harden it means Mary H Haskins it means me and it's understood that the
00:59:03
head trainer will help you sometimes the assistant trainers will help you other times I think she became extremely upset
00:59:10
when Michael's full attention wasn't focused on her Mary H Haskins was the one who in
00:59:17
her mind was standing in her way of getting to her goals two women both buying for Michael's attention as one of
00:59:24
the best trainers in the world yeah yeah the Tranquility of Hawthorne Hill was on track to being
00:59:34
shattered it just happened so fast it was sort of a very cold war until August 1st it became a a hot war is a war and
00:59:42
it's going to be dealt with right now I've had enough of these people I need them gone
00:59:58
[Music] come come H how important is trust in your relationship with your horses it's
01:00:09
really important canak barisone and his staff had the trust of their horses but over summer 2019 all human trust began
01:00:19
to fray and would soon rip apart the fact that they were all around one another almost 24/7 and definitely put
01:00:27
some stresses on those relationships how was Lauren's relationship with Mary I think it was very uh strained while a
01:00:36
top trainer Mary has Haskins gray wasn't the Olympic champion Lauren felt she had
01:00:41
signed up for so a trainer needs to be someone that you can trust and has the best intentions for
01:00:48
you it was a different kind of competition with Lauren and Mary H Haskins at the center of the contest
01:00:56
jealousy and not romantic uh you know just didn't like Michael giving his attention she wanted to be the best and
01:01:02
didn't want anyone else in her way I mean Michael barisone is is the best and maybe she was hoping some of that would
01:01:09
rub off on her I almost it feel as though there was some level of obsessiveness there with her interest in
01:01:16
Michael but Baron's time wasn't the only issue there was that $5,000 the cans were paying him every month michaelo
01:01:26
wanted his money and he wanted to keep his girlfriend he had a problem Lauren was upset and wasn't going to be quiet
01:01:34
at what point does social media become an element to The Strain in this relationship probably sometime in July
01:01:40
of 2019 elaborate Lauren was very active on Facebook Lauren launched her online offensive she began by creating a dark
01:01:51
Hawthorne Hill Universe based on a chess board Michael bar the King has been captured and killed
01:01:59
Mary H Haskins the queen must be sacrificed to protect the castle our heads can't comprehend what she was
01:02:08
thinking two weeks later her post grew ominous anyone who repeatedly kicks a resting Beast will eventually wake her
01:02:17
up there was a Fear Factor building she was using it to terrify Michael she says
01:02:23
it's war I've declared war on them the war raged on Lauren told her father she was concerned about her horse's safety I
01:02:33
mean they're the reason I wake up in the morning literally there also the reason
01:02:36
I can't sleep at night literally she claimed that her animals were not being treated properly Lauren told me that her
01:02:44
horses are being misfed know they were just making things uh you know very difficult for her you know abusing the
01:02:51
horses not feeding the horses overfeeding the horses none of that was true barison supporters count her it was
01:02:58
Lauren violating Barn rules she just went in the barn was in the middle of the night there were rumors of that she
01:03:05
was going to do stuff to the horses and come in in the middle of the night but according to Lauren one of her horses
01:03:10
needed special care then came a disturbing Discovery and it had nothing to do with horses when did you first
01:03:18
learn about the recording devices Lauren put in the barn about mid July we started hearing rumors and start Ed
01:03:26
talking Lauren and her boyfriend Rob Goodwin had hidden small voice recorders at Hawthorne Hill Lauren said she was
01:03:34
making recordings because she was fearful of barison Staff what do you think Lauren was listening for anything
01:03:42
to help her in whatever plan she had to destroy him Cana took to Facebook and came for Baron's career she branded him
01:03:53
racist homophobic and anti anti-semitic allegations barisone passionately denies
01:04:00
but that could get him banned from the sport there were things coming out on social media that were horrific it shook
01:04:09
him to the Bone the damage was done were the comments on social media by Lauren impacting Michael's reputation in the
01:04:17
equestrian world yes absolutely absolutely so I think we live in this world now where your reputation
01:04:24
or your career or your identity can be changed like that and uh can be devastating the champion made his name
01:04:31
facing down all challenges in the saddle but he says this Onslaught from Lauren canak overwhelmed him but have somebody
01:04:40
attack me or somebody um hurt me and I crumble I fall apart I run from confrontation Lauren claimed it was just
01:04:52
the opposite Lauren posted saying a 63 man was bullying her and she was fearful for her life did you ever see Michael
01:05:00
Bully Lauren of course threat Lauren no no never never Michael barison I would stake my life and everything I got
01:05:09
family and everything barison says he felt unsafe in his own home he says living under the same roof as Lauren and
01:05:16
Rob became impossible barisone and H Haskins moved out of The Farmhouse her daughter was away at camp now her son
01:05:25
was sent back to his dad and I had to hug him and kiss him and said buddy I love you you're my favorite guy in the
01:05:29
whole world but I have to send you home it's not safe we fled we moved a quar mile from
01:05:36
the house to The Stables after welcoming Lauren canak here to Hawthorne Hill it now seemed Michael barisone wanted
01:05:43
nothing more from her than to pack up take her boyfriend and horses and leave his farm why didn't Lauren just leave
01:05:51
Michael never asked Lauren to leave did you ask Lauren to leave many times and she said
01:05:57
refused many many many many times and eventually you call 911 yes now1 361 with the address of emergency July 31st
01:06:06
2019 at 900 p.m. Michael barisone makes what would be his first of four calls to
01:06:13
police The Olympian pleaded for help they have chased us out of our house and I need this deal with tonight did you
01:06:20
notice Michael's demeanor start to change oh absolutely he was spiraling out of control and this barisone had a
01:06:29
pistol a pink and black 9mm handgun that belong to one of his clients the gun was
01:06:36
locked up in a safe in his office his choice to get a gun a pink and black 9mm handgun to point that gun at Lauren and
01:06:46
pull the trigger twice [Music] Michael barisone says his paradise had turned to hell and I walked outside and
01:07:06
around that building all night every night in the dark I never stopped chaos replaced control he wasn't sleeping he
01:07:15
wasn't eating you could hear it in his voice he was cracking Lauren canak kept up her online attack you were scared
01:07:23
yeah of course scared for your life wife at times again Lauren took to Facebook everyone should be worried I'm not
01:07:32
responsible for anything my other personalities do when they're threatened they're nuts they're stalking us they're
01:07:40
harassing us and again barison took online threats seriously and turned to police we are in fear for our lives
01:07:50
local cops headed over but may have seen it all as nothing more than a landlord tenant dispute when you learned that 911
01:07:58
calls were being made by Michael barisone regarding your daughter what are you thinking I'm thinking barison
01:08:04
was making you know bogus 911 calls but there was nothing bogus about what went down as the sun came up August 7th
01:08:12
Lauren posted all my moves against them have been planned for months everything I've done to them so far has been
01:08:21
Child's Play the war was about to get very ugly what put Michael over the edge I mean we can't say for sure my guess is
01:08:31
CPS coming and I remember a minivan driving in and that was the lady from Child Protective Services it was a casew
01:08:38
worker from the New Jersey Department of Children and Families and she said I need to see Miss gray and I yelled for
01:08:45
Mary H Haskins I said she needs to talk to you they're going to take the kids how did Child Protective Services end up
01:08:53
at the farm child protective Services was contacted by safe sport safe sport is a watchdog group authorized by
01:09:00
Congress dedicated to ending sexual and other abuse in sports and Lauren had filed a complaint with them Lauren K had
01:09:09
made a report to Safe sport about some of the bullying that she was experiencing by Michael barisone and by
01:09:15
Mary H Haskins gray and how do you destroy someone in that Community safe sport this is Lauren's complaint she
01:09:23
alleged barisone was being a bull and body shaming her the safe sport for asked does this report involve
01:09:30
allegations or concerns of child abuse or child sexual abuse Lauren said yes she said the abuse was verbal not
01:09:40
physical the breaking point is when Child Services show up the case worker was there to check on the welfare of
01:09:48
Mary H Haskins two children but by now both were gone from Hawthorne Hill nothing worse than being accused of
01:09:55
Haring a child the worst thing that anyone could ever be accused of did you ever see any sign that Michael in any
01:10:04
way abused Mary's kids no absolutely not he loved them and they really adored him
01:10:12
have you ever seen any evidence that Michael barisone abused or neglected Mary's children or any children I don't
01:10:20
think there's any direct evidence was brought out uh of that but the suggestion of possible child sexual
01:10:28
abuse was too much for the Olympian to Bear he jumped to the conclusion that they were to investigate him for sexual
01:10:35
abuse he acted emotionally and decided that he was going to get the gun and end it by killing Lauren canak there's not
01:10:44
much worse than being accused of harming a child perhaps being shot Mary H Haskins and the case worker were in
01:10:51
Baron's office do you remember going to get a gun at any point no I remember going in my office was the
01:11:00
gun in your office in a safe yes barisone interrupted the meeting with the social worker he kissed Mary he
01:11:08
asked them both to wait outside then he opened his safe took that gun and went out the door Michael barisone headed
01:11:17
down to the white farmhouse exactly what happened next remains unclear but at 213
01:11:23
that same day in canat called 911 gasping for air I've been the Lauren was fighting for her life her
01:11:37
boyfriend Rob Goodwin struggled to subdue Michael [Music] barisone in the chaos Lauren and Rob's
01:11:50
dog attacked barisone there were two men on top of each other and a woman shot twice in the upper left chest and in the
01:11:57
hand Corporal Derek heer had driven alone straight into an active crime scene I rolled Mr barison over and there
01:12:03
was a gun next to his left hand what kind of gun it was a Ruger 9mm Ruger handgun the cop grabbed the gun and
01:12:10
tended to Lauren she was pretty pale almost gray canak bleeding out got the first ambulance barisone beaten by
01:12:18
Goodwin and cuffed by himer came next the horsemen whispered five words that said everything I had a good life he
01:12:26
repeated that a couple of times the war at Hawthorne Hill was done Lauren canak was struggling for her life they didn't
01:12:35
know if she had brain damage they said we put her in a medically induced coma she had tubes in her all over the place
01:12:41
the next day Michael barisone was charged with two counts of attempted murder he's never been a violent person
01:12:48
I said to the cops in my statement that night she broke his brain and she absolutely did what was your reaction I
01:12:56
cried I remember waking up in a hospital bed and I remember pulling to move out of it and my hand was handcuffed to the
01:13:05
rail that detail he recalls but again verason says he does not remember shooting Lauren canar
01:13:15
nothing nothing I don't have any recollection of that nothing I don't know what happened sis State versus
01:13:22
barison nearly 3 years of legal maneuvering would come to an end March 2022 Christopher sh on beh of the state
01:13:30
Edward link appearing out on behalf of Michael fisel he was Furious he was frustrated and he most certainly knew
01:13:38
what he was doing was wrong when he tried to kill them help I fear for my life those are the
01:13:48
cries for help from Michael barisone those cries fell on deaf ears soon the jury would hear from Lauren and
01:13:58
she wanted to remind them that she was the victim I was in a coma for 4 days in the ICU for 3 weeks unable to speak cuz
01:14:07
I had a ventilator shut down my throat like my life was almost ended binkis and dining are set a rare strategy Michael
01:14:15
barisone was temporarily insane an insanity defense is not one we hear every day they hardly ever worked you
01:14:24
took a risk yep I took a huge risk I have had a number of insanity defense cases in my career did
01:14:34
you win them this was the first one that went to trial Michael barisone needed to sell
01:14:52
Hawthorne Hill his relationship with Mary H Haskins ended do you s the testimony
01:14:59
that be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes ma'am but she testified that the summer of 2019 was
01:15:06
his time of Terror he continued to become more and more fearful um to unravel to be in panic sheer
01:15:16
Panic as for Baron's relationship with her children Child Protective Services reported no issues and Haskins was EMP
01:15:24
atic he was wonderful to my children did Michael barisone love your son very much do you swear in the presence of
01:15:34
almighty God that shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I
01:15:37
do Mr Martin have a seat the Olympians Barone had trained now stood by his side you know I love the guy he was
01:15:44
instrumental on helping me get to my first Olympic Games and great mentor coach competitor the lawyer's
01:15:53
Battleground became bar 's brain in my mind I wanted him examined by a a topnotch forensic
01:16:03
psychiatrist how'd he do doctors Steven simmering and Charles Hassen spent hours
01:16:10
examining barisone why did he do it she drove him crazy she gaslighted him and she drove
01:16:19
him over the edge did you have a plan to destroy Michael barison at some point yes she played with his
01:16:28
reality and she enjoyed playing with him toying with him and he cracked under that
01:16:37
pressure have your breaking point you don't take a gun and try and kill two people shellhorn had his own strategy
01:16:45
and his own forensic psychologist Jud the state will call Dr loose leser hi doctor good afternoon
01:16:52
taking a bead on barisone his it and his story he claimed that he doesn't have memory only for the criminal behavior
01:17:01
only for the CRI his memory for everything else is excellent are you kidding that's a red flag because Dr
01:17:08
Lewis linger didn't buy that Baron's mind short circuited so what does he not remember getting the gun loading the gun
01:17:19
driving to where Lauren was the only thing you don't remember is the criminal Behavior why why is
01:17:29
that Robert Goodwin hit him on the head which is probably the most likely reason
01:17:34
that he lost memory Lauren testified she felt she had been lied to prevented by barisone from
01:17:45
reaching her lifelong Dr Dream Baron's legal team says her frustration fed her appetite for Revenge you wanted to ruin
01:17:55
his business correct I think finally yeah that was in my mind and according to Goodwin if Lauren
01:18:04
did want things resolved peacefully she never got a final chance she didn't get the same much to Michael before he
01:18:11
pulled up the gun he wasn't there for a conversation he was there to kill us at the center of this Arena sat
01:18:20
barisone silent teary ragged he looked very different at the time of trial than he did at any other point before that it
01:18:31
was a joke you know they had him you know ready for the insanity defense after two weeks the lawyers
01:18:40
rested four tense days pass with regard to count one attempted murder of Lauren canak what is your
01:18:49
verdict Not Guilty by reason of insanity not guilty him crumbling and falling into my arms I
01:19:00
feel emotional just talking about it there is nothing greater in life than that Fe that feeling it's unfathomable
01:19:08
how satisfying it is when it goes the right way and you win it's a great day in the legal system today Michael
01:19:15
barisol Not Guilty by reason of insanity what does Not Guilty by reason of insanity mean it means he's not
01:19:24
responsible for his conduct the jury ruled that at the time of the incident Michael barisone was
01:19:32
insane they were not charged with deciphering the distressed man sitting before them what was Lauren's reaction
01:19:40
to the verdict shocked dismayed couldn't believe it Lauren is the victim in this
01:19:48
story has that been lost no I think so unfortunately that's uh that's been lost people in the sport
01:19:56
think Michael barisone has been Vindicated she drove Michael barisone crazy who does that to another
01:20:03
individual you know Michael barisone is a is a victim when we spoke with barisone it was just hours after the
01:20:10
verdict Mr no longer looking at 80 years in prison he seemed a different person he
01:20:18
had just checked in with the nurse and she said how are you and I said well interestingly enough it's probably the
01:20:25
best day of my life you know and our chion then the Fallen Horsemen turned reflective I'm I'm lost I'm shipped
01:20:37
without a Rudder the world I knew isn't any longer there so I have to rebuild a new
01:20:43
world and within weeks after the verdict barisone was transferred to a psychiatric
01:20:51
hospital Michael barisone supporters hope they will soon get the chance to welcome him home when you think about
01:20:59
the day he might walk back in here how do you envision that a lot of Tears yeah a lot of tears from everyone
01:21:09
they'll be happy to see him absolutely horses are great healers at some point your relationship
01:21:17
with Michael changed yes it did across the walls of a jail Lara Osborne and Michael barison became a couple you
01:21:26
couldn't go on a date no no certainly couldn't go on a date hopefully that will change
01:21:33
soon have you learned anything about your daughter through all of this she's even tougher than I thought it it is a
01:21:41
miracle where will we see Lauren canak in 10 years hopefully still on a horse while
01:21:48
51 years old and hopefully I'll have a lot more horses I want everyone in this whole thing to
01:21:59
go on and have beautiful lives everyone I only want everyone to do well with the dreams that they
01:22:18
have 48 hours to miss it would be a crime were you at all prepared for what happened happened in this case
01:22:31
[Music] [Applause] that day was full of laughs we got there the energy was great my whole family was
01:23:20
there I think I made all the games and homecoming we were all we were all there we had driven up and we were there to
01:23:27
see the game DJ he was my shadow he and I were together all the time my family's
01:23:34
uh really close really close always been really close we are like a um our own little Universe the five of us dad
01:23:43
called him DJ mom would call him Danny Danny always he was uh the surrogate dad to his siblings they looked up to him I
01:23:54
struggled with math as a high school student and he'd be the first one to sit down and be like okay well let's figure
01:24:00
it out he um was oh my gosh a joy a pi Piper in the neighborhood all of the kids loved him
01:24:17
the biggest smile you've ever seen and a very gentle spirit [Music] we had driven up there the same day
01:24:27
watched the game hung out and then drove back home so very early in the morning I was
01:24:35
startled awake and I said to Angela someone is at the door it was uh two police officers they said Mr Henry your
01:24:43
son has been in an accident he handed me a a slip of paper and said you need to call this
01:24:49
number the nurse on the phone said are you Mrs Henry I said yes I heard my son was in an accident and I kept saying
01:24:56
well what happened what happened and she said he was shot and I said who would shoot him I I
01:25:03
can't I can't understand who would shoot him the nurse gave the phone to the one
01:25:08
of the attending physicians who got on the phone and said he died I remember just falling to my knees DJ
01:25:18
Henry was a 20-year-old Pace University junr back in October of 2010 when he was
01:25:23
fatally shot in his car I heard what sound like firefighters and I heard a car Screech I didn't think
01:25:32
anything of it homecoming someone's probably have fireworks last thing I thought about was what ended up being
01:25:38
the case everybody wasn't buying the original story it immediately didn't fit together so I had suspicions from day
01:25:47
one people believed fervently that they knew what happened and whenever you hear
01:25:53
of a a case like this you can't believe First Impressions something really significant
01:26:00
happened in this car do you keep evidence from every case that you handle this was an unusual situation I needed
01:26:07
it to be here so perhaps a day like today would come when we could tell the story what really happened
01:26:13
[Applause] [Music] here I never thought in a million years it would turn out the way it did we
01:26:22
don't need some version of the story that protects one side of the other our whole goal was to just get the
01:26:31
[Music] [Music] truth it was in the early morning of October 17th 2010 it was early uh it was after the
01:27:00
Midnight Hour the serenity of Dan and Angela Henry's Home in eastn Massachusetts was shattered with the
01:27:07
unfathomable news that their eldest son DJ had been shot to death and I think they heard me scream that he died and
01:27:16
came back down and I just remember laying on the floor crying and Kyle came over and stood over
01:27:23
me and he just grabbed my shoulders and he said mom look at me it's going to be okay their younger son Kyle we just
01:27:31
rushed out of the house I don't even remember if we locked anything up uh I didn't even have shoes on the drive from
01:27:38
Easton to the Westchester County Medical Center in New York was over 3 hours we didn't want him there by himself and so
01:27:46
we we prayed all the way what was it like when you got to the hospital as soon as we saw him
01:27:54
we all just screamed and cried and Dan grabbed him and just held him and talked to him prayed with him
01:28:02
told him that we loved him to see your brother the person you grew up with my whole life has been with him and then
01:28:11
you see this person lifeless it was the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my
01:28:15
life he had scrapes and scratches and cuts that he didn't have I just couldn't believe it
01:28:24
the Henry's daughter Amber got to the hospital later so my mom came out of the doors she said um I need to come take
01:28:34
you to say goodbye it was definitely a moment I I knew I knew right there that my life was going to
01:28:43
change the life that Henry's built was an American Dream Dan an Ivy League graduate enjoyed a successful career as
01:28:52
a human resources executive his wife Angela made the choice to stay home with their three children so we knew right
01:28:59
away that we wanted to to work as hard as we could to provide for our children a stable home two parents Amber a recent
01:29:06
college graduate is the youngest we are so full of love and we just want the best for each and everyone of
01:29:16
us Kyle an independent music artist is in the middle always had each other's backs always been
01:29:24
very strong in each other's lives in the cafeteria right now the cafeteria Danny
01:29:30
a handsome student athlete was the oldest when he played Sports there was inevitably another Dan or Danny and so
01:29:40
Dan started calling him DJ DJ embraced his family so much that it inspired him to get a tattoo was first tattoo was
01:29:49
family first I looked down and saw what he did and said oh that was that was well
01:29:55
played the kid DJ he's an amazing kid he wasn't perfect but man was he a good guy
01:30:02
with immense promise so what happened how did the Henry's end up in a hospital crying over
01:30:11
their 20-year-old son's body Dan called the police investigator in charge and was floored by what he was told so he
01:30:20
said DJ was trying to run over two police officers and that they had to shoot him to stop him the Henry's were
01:30:32
dumbfounded they knew DJ was out celebrating with friends after homecoming but they could not imagine
01:30:39
their son running down police with his car something had to have happened if that happened like what caused him to do
01:30:46
something that's so outside of his character and Brandon affirmed for us that he didn't Brandon Cox DJ's best
01:30:54
friend was also at the hospital Brandon came in and sat down next to Danny's bed
01:30:59
and he just said he didn't deserve this from what the Henry's could piece together DJ Brandon and another friend
01:31:09
were in DJ's car waiting outside of a bar and police asked them to move out of a fire lane Brandon said they weren't
01:31:17
doing anything and that out of the clear blue some guy flashes across with a gun
01:31:21
and starts shooting and then before he knows that he's on the the car and he's shooting at them Brandon was sitting
01:31:27
next to DJ in the car he was shot in the arm but escaped Serious injury and we said Brandon we need to know everything
01:31:36
and Brandon said no we were driving we were leaving and he just kept saying he didn't deserve this the family wanted
01:31:45
answers and that morning headed to the Mount Pleasant police station just hours after saying goodbye to their son and we
01:31:53
wanted to look him in the eyes and just say you know you need to know a little bit about our son what the Henry did not
01:31:59
know is that the police chief Lewis alago had already conducted a press conference implicating their son at
01:32:07
about 1:20 a.m. this morning M Pleasant police received a call of a disturbance un sponsor finans fight in
01:32:15
progress Al lagno said several police officers responded to a fight at Finnegan's grill a local bar about 2
01:32:23
miles from Pace University's campus reportedly unruly patrons had spilled into the parking lot it looks like it's
01:32:32
just a large Gathering of the bar outside according to Al agno when a policeman approached the car in the fire
01:32:39
lane the vehicle sped off and struck an officer for an unknown reason a vehicle that had been parked in a fire lane near
01:32:48
Finnegan's Grill accelerated from the scene Village of pleas officer attempted to stop that vehicle that vehicle struck
01:32:55
that officer he was propelled onto the hood got offic down a vehicle alno said the car continued to accelerate and the
01:33:04
officer on the hood of the car shot the driver that driver was DJ Henry I'm truly saddened by the events that
01:33:12
occurred this evening my condolences go out to the family of the young man that died in this event the Henry's didn't
01:33:20
want condolences they wanted to know how chief alag could make a public statement
01:33:25
about their son without talking to them first and you asked the question that they would conduct a press conference
01:33:33
without even having talked with you as family and the response was that's what the officers on the scene told me
01:33:40
happened basically and we pressed and said look we want to we want truth what we want is
01:33:45
truth that moment began a long legal Journey that would take the Henry's from a strip mall in New York all the way to
01:33:54
the United States Department of Justice we're not anti- police we're just trying
01:33:58
to understand what the facts tell us was it a Justified shooting or was it not justified because if it wasn't it was
01:34:12
murder WCBS news time 104 police in Westchester in the community of Mount Pleasant fire at a speeding vehicle
01:34:19
killing the driver identified as a Pace University student we we were pushing hard against
01:34:25
a very strong current in those early days because they beat us out there with a narrative and that narrative as DJ's
01:34:33
parents saw it was that police were blaming DJ for his own death good morning everyone the day after DJ was
01:34:41
killed Chief Lewis alago held a second press conference and gave more details the Pleasantville officer that was
01:34:48
involved was police officer Aaron Hess police officer has was the officer that ended up on the hood of the
01:34:56
deceased vehicle officer H drew his pistol and fired into the vehicle and he said DJ was accelerating toward a Second
01:35:05
Officer Ronald Beckley who had also fired at his car another officer Mount Pleasant officer Beckley was also
01:35:12
standing in a fire lane as this vehicle drove towards him he also discharged his
01:35:16
weapon at the vehicle the effort clearly was to villainize our son it was to make him
01:35:23
seem like a criminal Thug that needed to be stopped but DJ's friends say that is
01:35:29
not how it happened we weren't doing anything wrong we we're in a wild wild west that's what it felt like DJ's
01:35:37
teammate Desmond Hines was in the car that night with DJ Brandon and two other friends who went to finans as long as
01:35:44
the football team was together that's where we wanted to be having fun after that fight broke out the
01:35:52
bartender called called police and soon six officers arrived DJ and his passengers were not
01:36:00
involved and they headed to the doors so it seemed a little bit early but the lights came on and uh the bouncers were
01:36:07
telling everybody to get out and I heard DJ's friend Brandon Cox they said it's done it's done so we're
01:36:14
leaving you can see DJ here in security footage just minutes before he was shot DJ
01:36:24
Brandon and Desmond waited outside in DJ's car for their two other friends Brandon was in the front seat as they
01:36:32
were waiting he remembers an officer tapping on the back window asking them to move and he started to make a forward
01:36:39
motion to move forward that's when DJ puts the car into drive and uh starts to pull away we just pulled off slowly so
01:36:46
where we were parked it was like there was like a a curve in the in the roadway as we come around that curve I
01:36:54
can see somebody running from in between those two cars with their gun raised I look and I see this
01:37:01
dance two hands on something I never I didn't see the gun two hands pointed at pointed at the vehicle within seconds
01:37:10
that somebody officer hes was up on the Hood shooting I could feel something hit
01:37:16
my arm at that moment not sure what's going on not sure what it is and I'm just ducking down to just try to get out of
01:37:24
Harm's Way Brandon and Desmond both say they never saw that Second Officer Ronald Beckley at all I didn't hear
01:37:33
anything it was like everything was silent but I just saw bullet holes after bullet holes there was three or four
01:37:39
total at least one bullet hit the seat next to Desmond Brandon had that graze wound to the arm and DJ was shot twice
01:37:50
through his lungs and his heart TJ goes they shot me they shot me and then he just made this moan this
01:37:59
moan that I would never [Music] forget DJ's car crashed into a parked Cruiser and stalled to a stop here two
01:38:11
officers took DJ out handcuffed him and laid him on the ground Desmond remembers
01:38:17
being pulled out by yet another officer and he slammed me on the ground and I go
01:38:22
officer we did absolutely nothing wrong and he had a gun and he pointed it to the back of my head he said shut the up
01:38:30
and at that point I thought I was going to [Music] die I was asking everyone what happened
01:38:38
what happened Daniel Parker was friends with Desmond and DJ from the football team and every no one said anything you
01:38:46
know everyone was just like staring he came out of fegans shortly after hearing a disturbance outside cell
01:38:54
phone video shot by a fellow student captured that scene Daniel spotted Desmond here on the sidewalk also in
01:39:02
handcuffs and I was like Desmond are you okay and he was saying like they shot DJ this is dash cam video from a cruiser
01:39:12
that pulled in after the shooting on the right is Officer hes behind him is DJ lying in the road you know I saw that no
01:39:22
one was by him and I was looking I was like you gotta be kidding me like what's happening right now why why is no one
01:39:28
helping you the first person to try and revive DJ was this woman in the white sweater a civilian I saw her struggling
01:39:37
to try to give him compressions and I was like hey you know that's my teammate can I go help him I said I'm CPR
01:39:43
certified can I help him no answer is it's like get the back and his like eyes was open and I
01:39:50
saw like blood in his mouth and that's at the moment I was like like y'all killed him Daniel says after saying that
01:39:58
he was also thrown to the ground and handcuffed 10 long minutes had elapsed from that first call about the shooting
01:40:05
before a DJ was finally hooked up to a defibrillator in the days after losing their eldest son Dan and Angela Henry
01:40:17
had to confront more than just their grief they were facing two very different vers versions of events one
01:40:25
from the police and another from DJ's friends so we immediately had a conflict clearly we knew we needed to have
01:40:31
counsel but I needed a really good local attorney who who would push hard to get
01:40:39
at truth the Henry's hired Michael susman a legendary civil rights attorney from New
01:40:46
York and I remember in that first meeting danro looking at me and saying to me I don't want to make this about
01:40:54
race I don't want that to be the narrative I want to understand the details of why it
01:40:59
happened officer Hess his knee badly injured was also taken to the hospital that night and soon he too had a lawyer
01:41:09
of his own he doesn't see himself as some kind of hero Aaron Hess is a victim [Music]
01:41:28
we gathered together to talk about being a catalyst for change let us pray together I have to get up every day
01:41:38
without him I have to come home to an empty room I'll often stare at his picture and
01:41:47
just I'll just talk to him I'll just sit there and just just really try to absorb the fact
01:41:58
that this is how I'm supposed to be living now in the months after DJ's death as
01:42:08
his family grieved the Westchester District Attorney's Office began an investigation standard procedure at the
01:42:15
time in January of 2011 they convened a grand jury to see if officer hes should be charged with crime DJ's father Dan
01:42:25
Roy was called to testify the only questions I was asked two weeks before the grand jury wrapped up was did I know
01:42:32
that DJ uh drank occasionally that's it a month later Mr Henry got a call Aaron hes was not indicted on any charge
01:42:44
the DA's Office in Westchester County executed a sham pretty strong words yeah it was that that's that's what they did
01:42:51
and if I could think of a stronger word I use it the gentleman was not charged with anything criminally negligent
01:42:57
homicide manslaughter murder anything there should have been a charge and there should have been a criminal trial
01:43:04
the Henry should have had the if you will the satisfaction not that it's much satisfaction of believing that their
01:43:10
son's life had that much value hours after the grand jury decision after susman's repeated urging
01:43:17
the US Department of Justice began a separate investigation looking into a possible civil rights violation a
01:43:24
federal crime Weeks Later hess's Union named him officer of the year they said afterwards the award was not meant to be
01:43:34
public they wanted to do that privately to boost Aron hessa's morale to boost the
01:43:42
officers because he had been through a lot because he had been through a lot while the Department of Justice was
01:43:50
looking into the case the Henry's filed wrongful death suits against Aaron Hess the village of Pleasantville where hes
01:43:57
worked and the town of Mount Pleasant where DJ was shot your right please in August 2012 nearly two years after DJ's
01:44:08
death hes came to the US District Courthouse in Westchester for deposition in the wrongful death
01:44:16
cases were you the first police officer on the scene yes with their attorney Michael
01:44:23
asking questions Dan and Angela Henry were there it was really really important to us to be in the room we
01:44:29
wanted to look in the eye of the guy that shot our son we wanted to hear him tell us why to to see his face to have
01:44:35
him look Us in the eye to see Dany when he looked Us in the eyes that night specifically was a bad
01:44:42
night I only reacted to what I thought that I was going to be killed originally I was
01:44:50
worried that I was going to go in there and be just filled filled with anger but
01:44:54
I saw him and I just I didn't feel anything for him at the time DJ was killed in 2010
01:45:05
Aaron hes was 33 years old married and expecting twins he had served four years in the Marines and had been a police
01:45:13
officer since 2000 first in New York City and later for his hometown of Pleasantville New York that was Aaron H
01:45:22
well like Brian sakoff represents Aaron hes up until October 17th 2010 he had never fired his weapon in
01:45:33
the line of duty sponsor finans fight in progress hes arrived at finans shortly after the call went out about the
01:45:44
fight when that officer tapped on DJ's window hes says he was standing in the parking lot about 30 ft away Aaron h
01:45:53
who's around the bend observes three things happen simultaneously a he hears an engine rev B he hears an officer yell
01:46:05
stop that car or stop that vehicle and he sees an officer get turned off balance turned off balance suggesting
01:46:15
that suggesting that something was a Miss hes says that's why he stepped across the road
01:46:23
to face DJ's car as it drove toward him could you determine its rate of speed fast he puts up his hand and yells
01:46:35
stop stop the car doesn't stop he draws his weapon why didn't you move out of the
01:46:47
way of the vehicle cuz I thought the vehicle was going to stop why did you believe that I believed it was going to
01:46:53
stop because every other vehicle I've asked to stop in my career have stopped as a vehicle was coming towards
01:47:01
me I luned forward as it hit my legs at that time as I was on the hood the engine revved up
01:47:11
again and seemingly it seemed to me that was trying to get thrown off the vehicle at that time as when I
01:47:23
uh I fired my [Music] weapon as he was shooting hes says he could not see anyone inside the car he
01:47:35
who did you aim at the center mass of the driver so you saw the driver I saw the silhouette I didn't physically see a
01:47:46
driver it wasn't until they were both lying in the road H says that he first saw DJ the first time I observed the
01:47:55
driver he was face down handcuffed could you tell whether he was alive no could you see whether he was
01:48:02
breathing no now what were you doing at that point uh Li lying on the ground as well was anyone tending to you at that
01:48:16
point I want to take a break just give me a second sure take your time I'd like somebody to tell me what
01:48:32
other alternative Aaron hes had on the hood of a moving vehicle other than trying to save his own life or closing
01:48:40
his eyes and saying his prayers did you hear any comments or remarks about his status on the
01:48:47
scene yes what did you hear I heard someone say he's dead Aaron hes did not return to work
01:49:00
after the shooting he was on paid medical leave for 2 years then retired with disability for his knee injury at
01:49:07
the scene then a few weeks after Hess was first deposed the Henry's found support
01:49:15
from a very surprising source offic that second officer whom Chief alago had said also fired at DJ's
01:49:26
car Ronald Beckley he was willing to go against the script to try to stand up for what was
01:49:46
[Music] true the Henry's lawyer Michael susman is determined to keep J Henry's memory
01:49:54
alive in the driveway of his home why do you keep this car the car is a tangible
01:50:00
representation of what happened and when you see the bullet holes and you see the
01:50:04
situation with the axle of the car here and the wheel you have a very clear constant reminder of what happened and I
01:50:11
think that's very important to the truth-telling process that truth says susman would
01:50:18
come out during the wrongful death suits in the testimony of one Brave police officer officer Ron Beckley who is he
01:50:27
he's an American hero Ronald Beckley directly refuted the official version put out by his own Department in fact
01:50:35
the police chief's version was that DJ Henry was threatening Beckley which Beckley disavowed and said
01:50:42
this is not what happened according to sworen testimony in those wrongful death suits Mount
01:50:49
Pleasant police officer Ronald Beckley arrived on the scene that night night and fired his weapon for the first time
01:50:55
in his 30-year career at Aaron Hess he sees a person as he described it in dark clothing jumping on a
01:51:08
vehicle and he takes out his weapon and he fires a shot because he sees the person jumping on the vehicle as the
01:51:18
aggressor and believes that that person is shooting an endanger in other people and he has to try to stop
01:51:27
him Beckley did not realize that hes was a fellow officer within hours of the incident Beckley reported his account to
01:51:36
his superiors but the official version from Chief Lewis alago misrepresented beckley's version leaving the impression
01:51:45
that Beckley was shooting at DJ Henry another officer Mount Pleasant officer Beckley was also standing in a fire lane
01:51:52
as his vehicle drove towards him he also discharged his weapon at the vehicle he was willing to go against the
01:51:58
script to try to stand up for it was true when Ronald Beckley did that it was an answer to
01:52:05
prayer Aaron hess's lawyer Brian sakov says Beckley is no hero and that he broke department rules officers are
01:52:16
forbidden from firing at a moving vehicle instead of saying he was firing in at the moving vehicle he then says I
01:52:26
was firing at Aaron Hess Mr Beckley didn't lie Mr Beckley showed tremendous courage both at the scene and afterwards
01:52:33
because the blue cat of Silence does exist and Beckley knew in a certain sense that his career was
01:52:42
over Ronald Beckley retired three months after DJ Henry's death he was denied a full Disability Pension the person who
01:52:51
apologized the Henry's the person who cried with the Henry's was officer Ronald Beckley who said to them in my
01:52:58
presence I wish I could have stopped this and broke down and then there is the question of
01:53:06
how fast DJ Henry was driving Michael susman gave us this video of a test conducted by Westchester County police
01:53:15
in it DJ's car is shown accelerating to where Aaron hes was standing [Music] but DJ's friends made it clear that he
01:53:27
was driving slowly I would say maybe 15 10 to 15 miles hour nothing Reckless nothing
01:53:33
Reckless nothing dangerous no not endangering anybody you saw no pedestrians at all nope there were no
01:53:38
pedestrians in the way there was there was nothing blocking our blocking our path initially what was told to me by
01:53:45
the DA's office was that there were a group of civilians who were crossing the path in the parking
01:53:53
lot and that the thought was he had to stop this car from running over those civilians and we started pulling it
01:54:02
apart no one could ever identify these civilians where they were what how hes knew anything about them it just it
01:54:10
there was no justification it made no sense did he officer hes not have the option the alternative of getting out of
01:54:19
the way no not at the time that he felt his life was in danger so no room to to maneuver not once he felt his life was
01:54:26
in danger however Michael susman says this security video from the parking lot that
01:54:32
night shows the brake lights of DJ Henry's car as he was nearing Aaron Hess he was slowing down so I don't have to
01:54:41
rely on a million eyewitnesses I have the video showing the slow down I have the bullet
01:54:49
holes DJ was every Young man DJ was not doing anything that was out of character
01:54:56
out of ordinary he it just wasn't but just after DJ's death a toxicology report was leaked to the
01:55:04
press that showed his blood alcohol level at .13 that means DJ would have been impaired that night the Henry's lawyer
01:55:14
disputes that the bar owner who we spoke to and all the other people we spoke to
01:55:20
about DJ in that boss said he had nothing to to drink in the bar I did not see him have one drink at finnean the
01:55:26
entire evening the entire evening that was there according to DJ's friends he did have one drink earlier in the
01:55:32
evening back at the dorm that night I witnessed him having one drink that's it that was
01:55:42
it in a video from the bar that night DJ does not appear to be impaired I didn't
01:55:48
see him wobbly I didn't see him behaving in any kind of a baren or unusual way what whatever Brian sakoff insists the
01:55:54
toxicology report proves that DJ was breaking the law and had a reason for trying to leave the parking lot quickly
01:56:02
he did have a fake ID he was intoxicated we produced a report by a an eminent toxicologist there's no other evidence
01:56:13
on this there's been no other report no other expert contradicts this for those who say DJ Henry was drunk okay let me
01:56:21
make something very clear no officer at that that scene had any knowledge of DJ's drinking so he wasn't acting like
01:56:29
he was drunk if he was drunk we have no real reason to believe he was it's that simple I want to make this clear we are
01:56:37
not looking to demonize Dam Roy Henry who tragically lost his life that night an officer is entitled to protect his
01:56:48
own life and that's the answer DJ was devalued it's the simplest way to put it he was some kind of common Criminal
01:56:59
Who was handcuffed thrown to the gutter through their pain as the wrongful death suits dragged on the
01:57:14
Henry's were still waiting to see if the justice department would bring criminal
01:57:18
charges in their son's case we just want wanted to know if he was if he was justified in taking our son's
01:57:26
[Music] life These are DJ's ashes Burberry was his favorite so that's why we have this
01:57:42
Burberry finish and then someone gave us this Angel which we felt was fitting to
01:57:47
to be here by 2015 it had been 4 years since the justice department began its investigation the Henry's hopes were
01:57:57
with then us attorney prit barara and he said look I'm not afraid to prosecute these things I'll take them
01:58:04
on you should know I'm not afraid to do it so we were hopeful but they were warned that it wouldn't be easy he said
01:58:12
to us that the standard for prosecution was a high standard known as willfulness
01:58:17
there had to be a willful violation of civil rights so you saw the driver I saw the silhouette proving willfulness would
01:58:24
be hard because Aaron hes said he could only see a silhouette when he made the choice to shoot DJ Henry from Point
01:58:31
Blank Range Aaron hes could not see into the car he did not know the race the gender the age of anybody in the car do
01:58:43
you think that the events of October 17th 2010 would have unfolded differently if
01:58:50
the occupants of the car were white absolutely not the Henry's did not get the result
01:58:59
they sought it they chose not to pursue federal civil rights charges there were no charges the US attorney found that
01:59:08
Aaron hes had to make a split-second decision and the law allows latitude for an officer's
01:59:18
judgment despondent after exhausting all Criminal options in 2016 the Henry's decided to settle their wrongful death
01:59:27
suit with the village of Pleasantville and Aaron Hess The Village paid $6 million it's in a trust we won't touch
01:59:36
it it's it's blood money to US blood [Music] money they want you to put a dollar
01:59:44
amount on your child's life how can you do that there is no appropriate amount [Music]
01:59:57
in 2017 the Henry's also settled the wrongful death suit with the town of Mount Pleasant for an undisclosed amount
02:00:05
but they got something more valuable to them a public apology they wanted to apologize in private but we felt that
02:00:13
they mischaracterized our son in public so the apology should be made public knowing that even in his death they
02:00:20
continued to bash his name and say such negative things is is just adding salt to the wound the town released this
02:00:28
statement which read in part quote the town regrets any statement made on its behalf in the immediate aftermath of the
02:00:36
incident and regrets the misimpression of DJ Henry those statements may have caused
02:00:44
if it were up to me I wouldn't even want them to say anything they've said enough
02:00:53
by what they've done theyve said enough but something big was achieved seven long years after the tragic death
02:01:06
of their promising young son the Henry's cleared Dan Roy Henry Jr's name it was important because we knew who our son
02:01:17
was and is do you consider that public apology and admission of guilt yes I mean that's how we took it I think
02:01:27
in the public apology they say it's not but that's how we took it but the fact remains that no criminal
02:01:35
charges were brought in DJ Henry's case today Aaron hes is employed in private security when you do think about
02:01:44
officer hes what are your thoughts I'm praying that at some moment in his life life he
02:01:53
will fall to his knees and ask for forgiveness for what he did and I pray that he never has to deal
02:02:00
with it with his children I I try not to think about him I try not to good evening my name is Dan Henry through
02:02:17
their sorrow the Henry's have found a way to honor their son's memory in 2011 they started a charity called
02:02:27
the DJ Henry dream [Music] fund the foundation was a way to honor our son's love of fitness and sports the
02:02:39
fund sponsors children in need from New England to attend summer camps and programs so far it has given away over
02:02:47
half a million dollars to deserving kids I me what moves me the most is when kids
02:02:53
that come and tell their story say thank you to Danny that's [Music] powerful DJ Henry's life was powerful
02:03:07
childhood friend Brandon Cox keeps a wristband it says this is to the memory of Dan Roy
02:03:14
Henry no matter what I'm going to remember him he's a part of me forever today the Henry spend a lot of time on
02:03:30
Martha's Vineyard they came here as a family when DJ was alive now they keep him alive in their
02:03:38
hearts with a memorial bench that overlooks the ocean I'm try not to get sad yeah what do you want people to remember
02:03:52
about DJ about Danny I want them to remember his life not his death I want them to remember the the the giving kind
02:04:01
nurturing loving spirit that he is we should know that he would have done great things if he was here
02:04:10
destined for great things an amazing person that this world Lov Danny would walk around the house
02:04:18
and say I have to travel I don't have the time you know I have to do this I don't have the time and we would look at
02:04:24
him and say you have all the time you have your whole life in his mind I think he knew that
02:04:31
maybe he wasn't supposed to be here on this Earth in a physical form for very long that he was maybe supposed to help
02:04:37
in a different way I know that there's more I just know at the end of the day I'll get to be with them again
02:04:50
[Music]