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[Music] on October the 29th of 2017 Kaye mandad and Mark Howton go to the maluna music
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festival in San Antonio they arrived late in the afternoon and they consumed ecstasy there's an argument and Kaylee
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and Mark leave and at some point they pull off of the road for what Mark describes as makeup sex and afterward
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she tells Mark she's not feeling well there are hours that are unaccounted for she goes
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unconscious and at 10:30 at night he goes to the hospital and he Flags down the nearest EMT she has no pulse she's
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covered head to toe in bruises and unclothed from the waist down and her bra above her chest oh I'm just looking
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for we we're uh quiet place to talk quiet place to talk [Music] so she was perfectly normal having sex yes just
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like always J was Nor when I first got to the hospital I saw something I could have
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never imagined I was kayle's best friend I know she was definitely mine it just felt
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absurd the amount of life support that she was on doctor came in and we asked what's the prognosis and he said there
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is none he said she's not coming out of this I'm telling you right now I'm sorry the
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medical examiner ruled that kayy had died from blunt force trauma to the face and to the head and Mark Howton is
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arrested this is a case where there's more than meets the eye and things aren't always as they seem he tried to
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perform CPR on her while trying to operate a motor vehicle a client isn't exactly The Brightest Bulb in the box at
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this moment but he's attempting to try and assister her it's not a homicide in my opinion this is I think a terrible
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terrible accident Mark Howton he's a dangerous person he is a textbook example of a
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domestic violence abuser it's about control with him kayy Madi she had just turned 19 she was coherent she was
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walking on her own and she got into the car with that defendant after what can only be described as a dramatic trial
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all right J the jury ultimately hangs and ladies and gentlemen jury I'm declaring a
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mistrial devastated by the result of the first trial kayle's parents feel the need to take things into their own hands
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and to see that Justice was served in the second trial I spent hours and hours studying
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autopsy photos we knew she had suffered big blow on her left side and I wanted to see what did her head hit at after
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taking that blow Lawrence tell me about this car Peter this is Mark howerton's car and you bought this car is that
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right yes I did I needed to be able to show the jury what happened to Kaylee what did you figure out so we determined
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that kayle's head likely struck that locking knob resulting in fatal injury they commission a reenactment of what
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they believe happened to their daughter the video could be a game changer this is the moment of
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truth will their daughter get Justice [Music] [Music] Kaye mandar and Taylor Clement best
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friends since 9th grade had a streak Snapchatting every morning every single day she was much more of a morning
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person so I would get mine first thing in the morning but Monday morning October 30th
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2017 no word from Kaylee I didn't get a Snapchat at 8:00 in the morning like I usually do and that's
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actually how I knew something was really wrong both good students they bonded in
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science class Taylor says she was instantly drawn to Kaylee she had like a really infectious smile and the big eyes
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and like the loving heart the two separated to go to different colleges that October morning Kaye was on
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Taylor's mind as I'm working in the library it's in the back of my head like I haven't heard from her Taylor didn't
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know it but just hours earlier kayle's mother Allison steel and stepfather lorrence bitand were awakened at 4 in
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the morning with horrifying news your daughter has been involved in some incident and she's been LIF flighted to
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Kyle Texas they raced from their home in Houston to the hospital praying Kaye was
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okay what was it like when you entered that room what did you see I saw my daughter's body
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smashed I could see that she was on a ventilator and my heart just stopped and I knew that it was bad within hours
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kayle's parents were told told there was no hope for Recovery their daughter just
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19 years old once so full of life was soon declared brain dead Lawrence and Allison want the world to know what
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happened to her all that potential had been destroyed and not knowing how it happened or how it was even
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possible they invited kayle's friends to see her one last time Taylor sat with Allison as she held kayle's hand and
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prayed I remember her repeating over and over this has to be for something this has to be for something Kaylee had
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previously requested that her organs be donated to help others as she was taken to surgery for that procedure her
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parents said goodbye it was very emotional of course we didn't want to let her go but this is
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what had to be just days before things seemed to be going well for Kaye a sophomore
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Communications major at Trinity University in San Antonio she had joined a sorority and was a cheerleader and she
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met a boy Kaye at the time was very much in love with the only serious boyfriend
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she had ever had his name was Jet burin Jet was a trinity football player and fraternity brother Kaylee dated him for
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freshman year but they broke up what she told me was I don't know that he wants a
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serious relationship and she did I think that part of her life got very murky for
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her very fast there was another man in kayle's life Mark Howton he was 22 years old and had been a star high school
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baseball player I've been a pretty good hitter I just keep my weight back and keep your eye on the ball and
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and whack it Mark lived in Houston but was often on Trinity's campus visiting friends that's where he met Kaye I think
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that they're both very beautiful people and I think that that was the primary attraction John Hunter is howerton's
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lawyer I think that there were problems with her relationship with jet and Mark was offering an alternative to that both
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Jed and Mark knew Kaye was seen the other man and neither friend and say like the
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competition then just one month into this new relationship Mark Howton rushes Kaye to a small rural Hospital in Luling
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Texas the chapel is actually really quiet while medical staff tended to Kaye police officers interviewed Howton in
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the quietest place they could find okay it was recorded on the officer's body cam so tell me where where we all at
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today Howton told officers that he and Kaylee went to the music festival there they
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drank alcohol and took MDMA a drug known as Molly or ecstasy Christy Jack is an attorney based in
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Fort Worth we asked her to look at the files in this case she says things took a troubling turn at the music festival
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they saw jet burchum at some point and began to argue Howton says sometime after 400 p.m. he and Kaye left in his
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Mercedes still arguing after Kaye told him she still had feelings for jet I was pretty much saying you need to get over
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this dude you ain't worth your time your friends are fake as I was just telling her all I was trying trying to get it
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through her head Howton said they then stopped in a parking lot where they had make up sex we were having sex not
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but it wasn't like kill it it wasn't it wasn't like that rough said Howton but consensual 500% consensual after we had
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sex like she um still talked to me for five six minutes afterwards that's when she was like I'm not feeling too good
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but then she just passed out but Howton told officers they got back on the road hours passed Howton says at some point
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Kaylee stopped breathing and he tried to resuscitate her and at 10:30 at night he
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sees a sign on the road that indicates a hospital the next exit he pulls off emergency medical workers told
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investigators they instantly knew Kaylee was in bad shape she was nearly naked bruised and had no pulse you have a
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paramedic or a nurse who says these were on her when she arrived at the hospital
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in Luling why isn't she responding Howton told the police officer Kaye already had bruises on her
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legs earlier in the day she bruises easy she look seriously she gets drunk and she falls over and she
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bruises police interviewed Howton several times but he was not charged with any crime related to kayle's death
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then 3 months later her autopsy report was released the medical examiner ruled that Kaylee had died from blunt force
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face and head trauma it was ruled a homicide Mark Howton was charged with murder he pleaded not guilty and was
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released on bail there were a large amount of drugs taken over the course of this weekend Mr
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Howton brought the decease to a hospital which is something you don't typically C murderers don't usually do
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that no all rise to the jury the idea that it was open and shut is a mistake as the trial begins John Hunter says he
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has evidence that will surprise the jury in December 2019 2 years after Kaya manda's disturbing demise Mark Howton is
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finally brought to trial for allegedly kidnapping assaulting and murdering her call rise for the jury
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I to your what was it like to see Mark Howton in the courtroom like everybody else I Tred not to look at him too much
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the trial begins with prosecutor Alesandra crenshaw's opening statement I think the best way to tell
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this story is to start where Kaye mad's life ended and that's in the car of this
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defendant prosecutors alleged that Howton forcefully escorted Kaye from the maluna music festival to his car he then
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drove her to a parking lot where he sexually assaulted and beat her causing a fatal brain bleed these photos show
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kayle's condition about 18 hours after she arrived at the hospital I believe that you will have No
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Reservations about finding this defendant guilty of the offensive murder things are not always as they
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seem in his opening statement defense attorney John Hunter attacks the very foundation of the prosecution's case Mr
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Howton did not caused kayy mad's death no one saw anything that transpired between Mark Howton and kayy mandad that
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evening on the 29th there are no eyewitnesses the state begins its case with paramedic Cheryl Lane Sol is squ
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tell the truth who was driving an ambulance up to the Luling hospital that night when a vehicle suddenly appeared
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behind her there's a black car behind us honking and flashing the lights before I even get out I see a gentleman
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that's hollering and screaming I open the door he's telling me that his girlfriend is not breathing and he needs
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help when Lane looked inside howerton's car she saw a disturbing scene she was exposed her pants and
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clothes were in the floorboard by her feet she had bruises on her just multiple bruises that I just remember
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seeing that's when I started CPR but Hunter says not everyone at the hospital believed Kaye had been attacked
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the treating physician at the Ling Hospital approached this as a drug overdose wasn't that because Mark had
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told them he thought she had overdosed correct but the symptoms she was presenting were consistent with that
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patient history was this woman beaten or not no Hunter insists the photos showing
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bruising on Kaylee don't point to Foul Play by the time that the sexual assault nurse exam photographs
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her she has been resuscitated six times I believe maybe eight she's had chest tube inserted she's had IVs placed on
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both arms she's been worked over by those physicians at the Ling Hospital in a traumatic
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way while the medical team fought for kayle's life police interviewed I'm just trying to figure out what's going on and
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photographed Howton police officer Chris Adams while I was taking photographs of my notice
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the tops of both of his hands they look red to you yes sir and usually red yes sir evidence investigators believe that
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Howton did hit Kaye those actually do look like they scabs already on them the mark Howton arrested after
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kayle's death was an enormously muscled intimidating figure kayle's friends say he use steroids even in such a confined
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space it would have been relatively easy for him to cause that kind of damage to
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her head Mark Howton initially cooperated with investigators allowing police to search his Mercedes where they
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found a gun and marijuana if he was worried about himself he would have told the police to get a warrant instead
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Hunter says Howton was much more concerned about Kaye I found out of update on here
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please is there any ways is there anything else you the only person who could counter Howton story was dead
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investigators hoped kayle's remains might speak on her behalf swear to tell the truth Dr Susanna Dana performed the
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autopsy and says the evidence shows Kaye was beaten to death she had a number of
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what I call blunt force injuries to her face and her head and what is this that we see behind
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the ear that's a bruise that's a contusion defendant's exhibit number one but during cross-examination hunter gets
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Dr Dana to admit at least one of kayle's injuries was caused by her medical care
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so CPR can cause a lot of different injuries not just simply superficial on right yes in this case the rib was
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broken is that correct I believe so yes the medical examiner says the cause of death is complications of blunt force
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face and head trauma and the manner of death is homicide is the examiner wrong I believe the examiner is definitely
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wrong whatever the jury thinks about how Kaye died they're about to learn much more about her troubled love life with
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Mark Howton um he had grabbed her and drawn her against the wall [Music] in the agonizing Final hours of Kaye
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mad's life her friends gathered to say goodbye kayle's childhood friend Taylor Clement met her College friends for the
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first time they bonded talking about Kaye even in that situation she was bringing people close that would have
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never met before some of those friends now nervously wait to testify in Mark howerton's murder
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trial do you recognize this person who is this individual her roommate Morgan Samson
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told of a stormy history between Kaylee and Mark including one particularly disturbing incident just a few weeks
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before kayle's death she was planning to go to a party and says Mark got upset when she invited Kaye to come along Mark
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and Kaye were out on the balcony um and he had thrown her up against the brick wall Kaye ended up going to that party
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against howerton's wishes soon neighbors reported hearing loud banging in Kay's room campus police officer Roderick
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Lewis was dispatched to investigate when I arrived at the location male subject was exiting the room so you're in the
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room just waiting on her while she's at party exactly okay any mind if I take a look in the room man no this Howton
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resisted officer ls's requests to see inside I'd like you to step out here with my partner right
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now when officer Lewis did go into kayle's room he found the glass door to the balcony was cracked and kayle's
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clothes were scattered in the trees friends say howon later smashed kayle's laptop on the street the university
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barred him from camp Kaye told her ex-boyfriend jet buram that she wanted to get back with him she
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was really torn between two different people and both of whom were vying for her
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affection jet told the jurors it all came to a head at the music festival she she wanted to break up with
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them at Malla cuz there' be plenty of witnesses and people around did she seem worried about
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breaking up with him yes Howard picked Kaye up to go to the music festival but first he says they pulled
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into a nearby car wash to take MDMA or Molly Howton said they had more once they got to the
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festival we're talking about massive doses well above what would be necessary for it to effect be effective uh to gain
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the experience when Kaye didn't show up on campus that night her friends started
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calling her Howton answered kayle's phone I was like have you seen Kaye have you heard from her like are you with her
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and he said she can't talk right now and then hung up the phone panicked they began searching for Kaye jet buram who
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also attended the festival says he saw Mark and Kaylee move towards the exit seemingly against kayle's wishes Kay
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looked like she was trying to create space and kind of just get away now what did you see do uh as she's trying to
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step away I see him reach out his right arm and hook it around her shoulder and pull her in closer and then turn and
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walk away this is important testimony it's important testimony because it's showing that she's being taken someplace
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against her will defense attorney John Hunter hammers him on cross-examination it immediately falls
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apart almost from the very first question in his questioning Hunter confronts jet want you to take a look at
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that revealing how he initially misled investigators about what he had seen and you advise the police that you saw Mark
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phally pick her up and place her in his car isn't that correct yes sir and it differs from the testimony that you gave
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today right yes sir I did not see him put her in the car beram admits he exaggerated to
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police but why prosecutors say he was worried about kayle's safety and wanted to conv against cops to search for her
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Hunter then challenges jet regarding inconsistencies in his testimony to the grand jury about the timeline at the
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music festival would it surpris you to learn that the phone call you placed to KY M's phone was made at 7:00 no sir in
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an effort to undermine Jet's credibility he is asked about an unrelated drug charge you were on probation at the time
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were you not Mr mering correct in 47 minutes of brutal questioning money and marijuana it was on your phone buram
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takes the Fifth byth Amendment 30 times by by the fth amendment that's his lawyer by his son by the fth amendment
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the damage is done tell me the impact of him saying over and over that he's taken
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the fifth the impact I think can't be understated it's a it's a huge thing to see somebody do that Hunter has a star
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witness of his own Dr William Anderson good afternoon a forensic pathologist and former medical
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examiner who reviewed kayle's autopsy and records for the defense so you look at the autopsy you're going to see
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you're going to see what look like bruises now Anderson presents the Crux of Hunter's case that kayle's bruising
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was caused in part by resuscitation efforts and the organ donation process he goes one step further pointing to a
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thin line in a photo of kayle's skull starting here we have this Jagged line it's like I said it's like a crack in
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the that is a skull fracture a skull fracture which Hunter says could indicate that kayle's brain bleed was
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caused by a fall she was in a car she was in a car for portions of that day hematomas don't kill people
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instantaneously thank you doctor if you can I don't think that you can overstate
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the importance of his testimony from a defense perspective it creates the impression that all of these injuries
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occurred by every other means but Mark Howton once the defense rests prosecutors bring the medical
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examiner back to challenge Dr Anderson's testimony is that a school fracture no it's not the faint line that Dr Anderson
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was referring to came from a picture I didn't believe it I thought it was Reckless for him to have that
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opinion opinion so definitively with only a picture all right the jurors must now
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make a momentous decision did Mark Howton kill [Music] Kaye after just 10 hours of deliberating
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the jury in the mark Howton murder trial sends a note to the judge all right jury
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there will be no verdict after careful deliberation discussion unfortunately we cannot come to an an decision ladies and
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gentlemen jury I'm declaring a mistrial mistrial are you happy is that in a way a victory for you anytime that your
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client doesn't go to prison it's a victory it was a little bit disheartening but at the same time
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I was mentally prepared for that outcome prosecutors David Lunen and Alexandra Cranshaw were disheartened too did you
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feel as though you'd let the family down well sure yeah absolutely but it doesn't end there the
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prosecutors plan to retry the case and get busy preparing for round two starting with the defense star witness
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medical examiner Dr William Anderson I was not prepared for Dr Anderson to testify uh to what he testified to
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they'd been stunned by his claims that Kaye had a skull fracture and her bruising was caused in part by the organ
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donation process so do you find that this notion that organ harvesting caused these bruises to be absurd absurd absurd
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in this instance it's absurd while the prosecutors work to address those claims defense attorney
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John Hunter files a motion to get the whole case dismissed based in part on what he says were jet burcham's lies The
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Knowing use of false evidence by the prosecution undermines our entire faith and confidence in the judicial system if
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that can happen then there's no point in even having a trial kayle's mom Allison steel and
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stepdad Lawrence baand sat through the first trial and concluded jurors needed more information about what happened
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inside Mark howerton's car you became investigators we did yes I knew we needed to show what happened
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in that car the jury needed to know how it happened she's a scientist he's a NASA engineer they got to work I spent
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hours and hours studying autopsy photos and I really fixated on one of the autopsy pH photos that showed an impact
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on kayle's head you know right in front of her ear this photo of a small dot above kayle's right ear other photos
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show deep bruising above kayle's left ear like this one described by the medical examiner in the first trial and
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what is this that we see behind the ear that's a bruise that's a contusion kayle's parents believe that when taken
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together the photos tell a story we believe that of all of the injuries the blows that he landed on her the Fatal
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one occurred when he reached from his driver's seat HIIT her in the left ear and drove her head into the window and
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onto the lock button of the car in fact in a recorded audio interview with police the day Kaylee died Howton
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admitted he had previously done just that did you ever push Kay's up against the
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window um I pushed her and she hit the window one time that was over a week ago yes so in many respects it was like same
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song second verse they'd need proof to convince a jury kayle's parents had it to a used car lot where Allison posed in
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a car similar to the Mercedes Howton drove that night and I'd photographed her head in different positions while
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I'm holding the autopsy images trying to see if they match up with the door and it's a near perfect match Lawrence
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decided to go a step further so then I loaded this 3D modeling program building a 3D model of kayle's head the first
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thing you can do is you can create a solid out of that 3D mesh and then and you can project an image on to it and
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bringing them closer to having actual proof so this gave me the confidence to go to the next step which
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was just seek out the Killer's car Mark Howton sold the car in 2018 Lawrence Tracked Down the new owner and bought
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the car what' you think of that uh well this is new this is uh not something I've been uh accustomed to hearing uh in
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other cases show me what what you believe went down let's go up here to the passenger side the car Kaye was
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fatally injured in is sitting in her parents' driveway Lauren says driving at home was a haunting experience it's
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torturous um but it's also you know she was showing us what happened you know she was guiding us to
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this car and you believe that he struck her when he did she came over to this knob
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her hit her head hit it now you notice when you push it down it doesn't go FL it doesn't go flat right this will not
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retract fully no matter how hard you hit it kayle's parents decided to make a video to demonstrate their theory in
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court they went and found two actors a male and a female to dress the parts they were um similar size similar weight
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if we did the Reconstruction ourselves it would be considered biased and probably thrown out or at least
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discredited so they hired a private investigator to produce the demonstration they didn't even look at
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it in case they were called to testify about it the video is simple showing three angles of what kayle's parents and
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their experts believe happened would showing a jury a video like this potentially help the prosecution's case
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if if it's allowed jurors are very visual it makes it easier for them it shows how it can happen and it answers a
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number of the questions that the jury had in the first trial John Hunter says however Kaylee got that
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dot above her ear it's all speculation it could be from something at the hospital it could have been from
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something before she got in Mark's Car could it be that that is from a locking thing on the door I mean sure it could
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also be that A Space Alien came and put a little you know Mark on her I almost feel like it's not worth discussing
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because it's so unscientific years go by I am not law enforcement that's not my background
00:32:59
Allison worked to pass the Texas Clear alert bill it enables law enforcement to quickly initiate searches when people
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aged 18 to 64 go missing in 2021 a district court in Texas denied John Hunter's motion to dismiss the case
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ruling there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct relating to Jet bur's testimony Hunter app healed that
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ruling it was horrible just waiting and not knowing what was going to happen Hunter filed appeals all the way to the
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United States Supreme Court which declined to hear the case we lost in every Court we could take it to and so
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more than 5 years after kayle's death a date for a second trial is set May 23rd 2023 what's at stake here our feelings
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running High I running High I don't think the stakes could be any [Music] higher what do you make of Kay's parents
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investigation see more evidence from the case at 48 [Music] hours.com in May of 2023 Mark Howton is
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about to go on trial for the second time time for the murder of Kaye mandadi I felt confident that this was
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her time in the five plus years since kayle's death Howton was active on social media posting things like come at
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me legally I'll beat you showing little remorse wow 75% of people think I'm guilty that just means 75% of people and
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the world are going to have to suck he was living large and bragging about having beaten the state of Texas
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in a court of law howerton's attorneys John Hunter and Haley peas say acting out on social
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media was his way of coping with the pressure of being falsely accused of murder he was using social media as an
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outlet to relieve some of that tension during the first trial jurors had only one charge to consider felony murder
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this time around lawyers add more charges including aggravated assault and criminally negligent
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homicide then came time to consider the video kayle's parents had made did you want the jurors to see that video I did
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initially presenting the video came with risks including the risk that Hunter's cross-examination about it might
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undermine the whole case the judge said I'm going to let it in but if so then the parents are now Witnesses and they
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will no longer be allowed to sit in the trial and the prosecution went and talked to the parents and they decided
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to withdraw the exhibit on May 23rd trial 2 begins this one without television cameras Alexandra
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crenshaw's opening statement is nearly the same I basically told the jury that the best way to explain this case is to
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start working KY mad's life ended and that's in the car with this defendant but there is a big change to the witness
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list no jet burchen there was nothing to be gained and prosecutors add a witness an expert
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on domestic violence who told jurors Howton was a textbook abuser who isolated and manipulated kayy and
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ultimately became enraged and lost control a pattern particularly difficult to handle at just 19 years of age I
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think she had no idea the dangerous predicament she was in John Hunter wants jurors to give Howton the benefit of the
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doubt the presentation of how Kaylee looks in the hospital and how she looked at the autopsy does not mean that she
00:37:21
was being his case this time around relies heavily on the testimony of a a pharmacologist who said the high levels
00:37:30
of MDMA or ecstasy in kayle's system could have caused her brain bleed I've always felt that that was the
00:37:40
major precipitating reason for her death but prosecutors and kayle's family say hunter grossly exaggerated the danger of
00:37:51
MDMA there's never been a single documented case anywhere of MDMA causing a subdural hematoma what do you say to
00:38:00
that well first of all they haven't done much research on this at all Hunter plans one Final witness the former
00:38:09
medical examiner whose testimony about organ donation and a possible skull fracture caused so much damage to the
00:38:17
prosecution in the first trial Dr William Anderson this time prosecutors are ready
00:38:25
for him with a new Witness a respected medical examiner who told them Anderson's claims in the first trial
00:38:33
were irresponsible they realized that we were going to be more than prepared to shoot
00:38:39
down all those claims that he had made in the first trial I didn't need to have a fight about the skull fracture so the
00:38:45
defense rests without Dr Anderson it was a shock you could hear a gasp in the courtroom now a second set of 12 people
00:38:56
will determine Mark howerton's fate it's an agonizing second wait for kayle's parents this is the moment of truth will
00:39:07
their daughter get Justice agonizing for John Hunter 2 he'd spent nearly six years working to keep
00:39:15
Howton free so the jury comes back in what do you hear the two most beautiful words in
00:39:22
the English language not guilty not guilty of murder my my heart sank when we heard
00:39:29
not guilty on the murder they're thinking dear God this is the Final Nightmare he's going to walk out of the
00:39:36
courtroom but there was more Howton was convicted of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury everyone was
00:39:46
hugging each other and expressing their relief that that Mark Howton was going to prison I turned to my left
00:39:54
and eight Sheriff's off officers had assembled to take him to jail eight so that
00:40:05
was their way of saying we're here for you so that was a that was a nice moment to see that Howton was sentenced to the
00:40:15
maximum 20 years in prison to kayle's family not nearly enough Mark Harton's a monster and he does what a monster does
00:40:27
for kayle's friend Taylor the wound remains raw I miss my best [Music] friend Lawrence and Allison say they
00:40:41
have no regrets about spending time and money on a video the jury never got to see it helped us learn what happened we
00:40:51
would do it over again if we had to we showed Alice in that video for the very first
00:41:01
time it's hard to see it because that's most likely the blow that killed her kayle's mom who prayed something
00:41:11
good would come from her daughter's death continues her fight to help other victims of
00:41:19
violence what I would like is for her sacrifice to help other people that's what she would want I have absolutely no
00:41:29
doubt about [Music] that a good family man disappears I knew something bad was happening to him I
00:41:44
felt it then a highspeed Chase reveals Clues it was like the scene out of a movie and a powerful motive Revenge I
00:41:53
had no idea the type of evil we were dealing with 48 hours Saturday on CBS at streaming on Paramount
00:42:00
[Music] [Applause] [Music] plus hello and welcome to another episode of 48 Hours postmortem I'm CBS
00:42:15
News correspondent anarie green and today we're going to take you inside the most recent episode of 48 hours for the
00:42:23
love of Kaye mandad you're going to hear the dramatic story of not one but two trials as family members and Friends
00:42:33
seek Justice for the death of Texas College cheerleader Kaylee mandad and joining me now for a deeper dive are
00:42:40
Peter vanent and Chris riten who have been reporting on this case since 2019 thank you so much for joining us hello
00:42:48
Amar hey Anmar good to see you again um I know folks have a lot of questions about this episode but first of course
00:42:54
as per usual we're going to start with a short recap of the case one October night Kaye mad's sometime
00:43:03
boyfriend Mark Howton brought her to a hospital in rural Texas he told police officers they'd consumed ecstasy and
00:43:12
after rough sex in the car 19-year-old Kaye stopped breathing she was nearly naked and bruised Howton Express concern
00:43:22
why isn't she responding she died a day later a medical examiner ruled Kaylee died of
00:43:29
blunt force trauma to the face and head Mark Howton was charged with murder all right jury 2019 prosecutors argue that
00:43:40
Howton beat Kaylee but his lawyer said her bruising was caused by resuscitation efforts at the hospital and possibly a
00:43:49
fall it ended in a mistrial a second trial was set for 2023 kayle's mom Al steel and stepdad Lawrence baand went on
00:44:01
a mission you became investigators we did yes they tracked down howerton's car and bought it Kaye was assaulted in the
00:44:09
passenger seat they commissioned a video using actors could this convince a second jury that Mark Howton killed
00:44:19
[Music] Kaye so like I said earlier you've been reporting on the death of Kaye for 5
00:44:28
years what was it like for you revisiting this case for me there was this emotional attachment that we have
00:44:35
that we have to the story to kayle's memory to her parents and wanting to see justice so Peter I'll say you know I I
00:44:43
was there for both trials and you know I'll say that the first trial is actually one that I will never forget um
00:44:50
you could feel the tension in the room you know when you see the photos of bruising on Kaye mad's body and when you
00:44:58
learn about Mark howerton's past abuse of Kaye the fact that defense attorney John Hunter was able to persuade jurs
00:45:06
otherwise shows just how good of a lawyer you know he really is yeah hter is one of the most impressive young
00:45:14
defense attorneys I've seen in the United States and for kayle's family though they see him uh In a Different
00:45:22
Light So speaking of Attorney John Hunter he was part of another case we recently talked about on this podcast
00:45:29
yeah John Hunter represented Air Force Major Andre McDonald in another San Antonio case McDonald was found not
00:45:37
guilty of murder uh but guilty of manslaughter in the death of his wife and Dre and this was the case in which
00:45:44
Andre McDonald confessed to killing her just a couple days before the trial started and
00:45:52
yet Hunter was able to get a manslaughter as opposed to a murder conviction for him uh that was a a big
00:45:59
victory so so Hunter's a big deal he's a big deal in Texas he played a pivotal role in the first trial when it comes to
00:46:06
the testimony of kayle's ex-boyfriend jet did he ever and Jet buram uh who was a former boyfriend of kayle's he was a
00:46:16
very important witness because when she and Howton got inside howerton's car at this music festival in San Antonio and
00:46:25
drove off everyone who knew the two of them was they were concerned about kayle's safety and so jet burum decides
00:46:32
to tell authorities that howon man handled her to get her into his car well so he gets up on the stand to tell this
00:46:41
this story and it turns out that portion of it was a lie and Hunter knew this and
00:46:49
Hunter takes him apart in a cross-examination unlike anything I've ever seen and you advise the police that
00:46:58
you saw Mark physically pick her up and place her in his car isn't that correct yes sir and it differs from the
00:47:03
testimony that you gave today right yes sir I did not see him put her in the car and then there was that crazy moment
00:47:11
where he took the fifth since he had been on probation for a drug charge at the time of kayle's death you know I'll
00:47:17
say you know sitting in that courtroom when jet took the fifth 30 times um you know my jaw literally dropped never seen
00:47:27
that before I know you've seen your fair share of court cases yes this this like
00:47:31
I hate to say it this way but it was like watching a slow motion train wreck seriously I I it was I will never forget
00:47:39
it and the fantasy if you're the prosecutor or defense attorney is to turn the other side star witness into
00:47:46
your witness and that's what John Hunter did here and by the time buram stepped off of that stand he was a broken
00:47:54
witness and Lord knows what what the jurors at that point are thinking about wait a minute are these prosecutors
00:48:01
telling us the truth do they have their act together it starts to raise Reasonable Doubt in this episode you
00:48:09
mentioned that investigators really hoped kayle's remains would speak on her behalf the bruising would be evidence
00:48:17
that she had been beaten to death by Mark Howton but then the defense called forensic pathologist William Anderson to
00:48:24
the stand yeah and here was another devastating moment for the prosecution side of this because the prosecutors
00:48:33
were trying to make the point that this was the result of a beating inside that car of a jealous boyfriend who took it
00:48:40
out on her and and she died as a result of that but uh William Anderson a forensic pathologist um his testimony
00:48:50
raised the possibility that some of these bruises may have been from the times that they tried to resuscitate her
00:48:56
in the hospital chest compressions you know putting in lots of needles in the arms legs into veins and things working
00:49:04
the body over and also uh the fact that she had previously signed a document that if she ever died that she would
00:49:12
donate her organs and so they did an organ removal and so what they were able to argue to the jurors is that no no no
00:49:21
a lot of these bruises are from the medical personnel themselves and and that was an enormous moment and his
00:49:29
testimony was powerful and Chris Mark Howton never took the stand never took the stand absolutely he had spoken to uh
00:49:38
investigators at the hospital they took him into the chapel and he answered a number of questions without an attorney
00:49:45
uh volunteered to do so and so they got somewhat of a baseline at least of his story of what happened that night but by
00:49:54
not taking the stand at trial Howton never subjected himself to cross-examination and trust me that is
00:50:01
one area these prosecutors would have been ready to strike you know a lot of the times um why victim's families trust
00:50:08
48 hours to tell the story is because um you guys have really done a lot of work
00:50:14
behind the scenes building up trust and Chris you kept in touch with kayle's mother and stepfather this whole time
00:50:20
right yes um you know I talked to them a lot uh throughout these these last five
00:50:27
years and I can tell you that they were suffering you know as a parent myself I really can imagine their pain you know
00:50:33
not only losing their their daughter but the fact that one the first trial ended
00:50:38
in a hung jury and then they had to wait so long almost 5 years for retrial and they coped with their grief by really
00:50:49
looking for for answers here are her parents Allison and Lawrence just speaking about that I knew we needed to
00:50:56
show what what happened in that car the jury needed to know how it happened she's a scientist he's a NASA engineer
00:51:04
they got to work I spent hours and hours studying autopsy photos and I really fixated on one of the autopsy photos
00:51:13
that showed an impact on kayle's head you know right in front of her ear it it's really incredible yeah their
00:51:22
their belief is that Mark Howton you know hit Kay in the left ear and drove her head into the window and onto the
00:51:32
lock button of the car yeah what they did with this information remember is as you just heard one's a scientist one's
00:51:40
an engineer and they tapped into a brilliant network of experts as far away as the United Kingdom and uh and
00:51:50
Lawrence ends up creating this 3D imagery of of kayle's head and using photos from autopsy and their own
00:52:00
personal photos he creates a face that was just remarkable it's it's almost for some though kind of uncomfortable so we
00:52:08
didn't put the face on on television but he created this and and so he could demonstrate exactly where these injuries
00:52:16
were on the head so you know these are science-minded people they want to be as accurate as possible so it's not just
00:52:23
about just the Imaging they actually bought Mark howerton's car in between trials Lawrence kept telling me that he
00:52:32
was looking for howerton's car and I really didn't believe him you know that he would actually find it and and buy it
00:52:40
um once again I feel like there's a lot of first in the story and this was yet another one I never really experienced
00:52:46
anything like this just how chilling is it to hear him talk about driving the car home this is the car in which you
00:52:56
know he believes that his daughter was killed in I want to play some sound it's torturous um but it's
00:53:06
also you know she was showing us what happened you know she was guiding us to this
00:53:14
car I know it took him a very long time to find it and the details I'm not really sure about but um I can tell you
00:53:23
he Lauren spent hours many long hours you know tracking it down wow all right so we're GNA take a short break when we
00:53:31
come back kayle's family finds hope in a second trial welcome back before we get back to
00:53:46
the case itself Peter you mentioned you observed something about yourself while watching the episode again can you talk
00:53:52
about that so we're in Fort Worth I'm doing an interview with Christy Jack a very prominent defense attorney and
00:54:00
former prosecutor who uh is helping us on this story we had set up a studio inside this large Ballroom it was all
00:54:08
lit but all around it was completely pitch black long story short one of the crew guys put a sandbag we'd been using
00:54:14
to keep a door open in the darkness I'm walking uh back onto the set and my toe hits this bag I I tumble over forward I
00:54:27
break my right large toe I land on the barely covered floor which is concrete on my right knee so I'm in excruciating
00:54:38
pain the knee is swelling up and within about two minutes after I had done this she comes back in Christy Jack comes
00:54:45
back in with her Entourage so I'm like oh yeah have a seat Christy Let's uh we because I still had another hour of
00:54:51
interviewing to do so if you look during the show you'll see at some point that I
00:54:56
my hair's a little messed up my face is sweating a bit and a little bit red and it's because I am in screaming
00:55:03
excruciating pain with a broken toe and a uh damaged right knee and she never knew she had no idea Peter I'm trying to
00:55:12
hold back I don't want to laugh at you but that is hilarious and as soon as you said toe everyone knows it's the
00:55:18
smallest piece of real estate on the body but it just cannot take any pain at all uh how are things looking right now
00:55:25
full recovery all is healed yeah I'm doing just fine I'm just still embarrassed so the big reason that we're
00:55:32
doing this follow-up episode uh on the death of Kaye mandadi is that the case went to a second trial in May of 2023
00:55:41
but before it does Mark Howton is posting on social media here he is in a video that he posted
00:55:51
online wow 75% of people think I'm guilty that just means 75% of people in the world are going to have to
00:56:03
suck when I saw it the first time I fell out of my chair well I'm sure his defense attorneys must have been like
00:56:10
can you please get off of social media when Peter asked them in the interview they basically said that Howton was
00:56:17
coping with the pressure of just being falsely accused and um basically said quote is relieving some of that t
00:56:27
okay that I suppose that's one way to do it um so Chris can we talk about the second trial and just like how did it
00:56:34
feel different so the first trial you know the pro they just had one charge felony murder this trial they decided to
00:56:43
have more charges including aggravated assault and criminally negligent homicide felony murder wasn't going to
00:56:51
stick in Texas the bar is very high to prove intent to kill um and also the defense did not call forensic
00:56:59
pathologist William Anderson no here's the star witness and he's not even called in the second and why because
00:57:07
this time the prosecutors knew everything that he had to say from the first trial they were ready to counter
00:57:13
it they had their own expert ready to counter it and through Discovery John Hunter learns that they've got somebody
00:57:21
who can basically Checkmate their star witness so they don't uh bring him on another person who does not appear in
00:57:29
the second trial is the ex-boyfriend jet of buram no they were not going to bring
00:57:35
jet burchen back on the stand uh for humiliation round two he was right he played no role whatsoever so can we also
00:57:44
talk about uh that video that kayle's Mom and stepdad commissioned they used actors to demonstrate just how Mark
00:57:52
could have assaulted Kaylee in the car they faced quite a choice at Tri here's attorney Christy Jack explaining the
00:57:59
judge said I'm going to let it in but if so then the parents are now Witnesses and they will no longer be allowed to
00:58:06
sit in the trial and the prosecution went and talked to the parents and they decided to withdraw the exhibit remember
00:58:13
the parents even though they're the scientists behind this they did not take part in the production of the video they
00:58:19
hired a private investigator but the parents did tell us that they didn't realize if they introduced this because
00:58:26
they funded it uh that um uh they would not be able to sit in for the rest of the trial and they told us that was the
00:58:33
main reason why they ended up going along with not showing the video and just to reinforce what you said they
00:58:41
actually didn't even see the video until after you screened it for them that's right and we screen it uh during the
00:58:47
course of the hour but that was part of the condition where they would have no influence no bias whatsoever with this
00:58:55
video and and you know listen Allison is a very um everyone deals with their pain
00:59:01
differently and she's she's not an emotional person but when she saw that video um for the first time she did
00:59:08
break down and um she said to us that she felt like she was watching how her daughter was killed because that's how
00:59:18
Visual and how strong strong the video was it was a powerful moment okay let's talk about the verdict
00:59:25
um Mark Howton was found not guilty of murder but he was convicted of aggravated assault causing serious
00:59:32
bodily injury and he was sentenced to the maximum for that 20 years in prison I I know the family really wanted murder
00:59:39
um but Mark howon will be locked up for 20 years and um they do feel some sense of relief about that but I do know that
00:59:53
they are still angry and during the allocution part of this of this trial Lawrence basically gave some statements
01:00:01
and he directed a lot of of his anger um you know at John Hunter Mark Harton's attorney in fact I want to play a little
01:00:10
sound my statement after this sentencing hearing was to hold Mr Hunter accountable for his actions to make him
01:00:18
aware of what he's doing to the victims and his own legacy and his relationships
01:00:24
with the people around him are going to change because of his lack of moral character and Hunter ended up standing
01:00:31
up during this hearing and he walked out of the room now John Hunter told me he resented the insinuation or outright
01:00:39
accusation that he had done anything unethical or dishonest in his presentation of the evidence you know
01:00:47
he's a grieving man and um in his mind this is black and white and the fact that it wasn't black and
01:00:58
white in reality and the fact that there was a lot of complexity to it and the fact that there was reasonable doubt
01:01:05
that acquitted Mark of murder obviously infuriates him um I'm sure John Hunter thought that
01:01:13
he was doing what he's supposed to do um it's a great episode as usual thank you
01:01:18
so much Peter and Chris for joining us today thanks amarie thanks amarie so listen be sure to join us next
01:01:25
Tuesday Tuesday of course for another postmortem and watch 48 hours Saturdays 109 Central on CBS and streaming on
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