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[Music] the details of this case are very difficult to hear extreme child abuse and child murder are involved this one
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won't be for everybody there are far more audio clips the narration in this episode it is a one-off and won't be a
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regular thing in the future the courtroom confession is detailed and horrific listener discretion is advised
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Colin case number 15 5 6 8 8 1 the people of the state of Michigan versus Michelle Angela Blair miss Blair is
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charged in this case count one child abuse first-degree felony life or any time of years
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count two child abuse first-degree felony life on each arm of yours how three child abuse first-degree felony
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life or any term of years now for Olivia's first degree life run a term of years out five child abuse first-degree
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committed in the presence of another child felony life for any term appears state your name please thank you
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[Music] this story takes place in Detroit Michigan at Martin Luther King homes a
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low-income public housing complex containing 312 units located on st. Aubyn Street at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday
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the 24th of march 2015 an eviction crew from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office attended unit 804 in the Martin Luther
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King complex the bailiffs were there to evict the tenant Mitchell Blair who lived there with her four children her
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two daughters aged 17 and 13 and her two sons aged 2 9 and 8 Mitchell was described as a nice friendly person the
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kids were described as polite and respectful sometime around 2012 Mitchell had pulled all four of her kids out of
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school opting to home-school them instead it was around 2014 when neighbors started to notice that they
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hadn't seen Mitchell's 13 year old daughter Stoney Blair or her 9 year old son Stephen Barry for a while
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Michelle explained that they had been spending a lot of time with an auntie and that when they were back at home
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they didn't really like going out and being around people they preferred the stayin side Michelle had been living at
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a unit for the last ten years she was unemployed receiving a government benefit she had money issues and she
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hadn't paid her rent that's why she was being evicted she owed two thousand two hundred and
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six dollars Michele knew she was getting evicted she had been served the notice and had seen
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the dumpsters delivered out the front where the eviction crew planned to throw all of the stuff Michele didn't really
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want to be there when the eviction crew arrived so she arranged to stay with a friend who also lived in the same
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housing complex she took her eldest daughter and her youngest son with her to her friend's
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house explaining that her other two children were with their art the eviction crew arrived and knocked on
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Michele's door they got no answer so they forced entry and started the eviction process they were met with the
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disgraceful mess of a unit with rubbish and food scraps all over the floor items
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of clothing and other junk thrown around everywhere the conditions were described is barely
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livable the eviction crew got to work clearing out the furniture of the house and they came across a chest freezer
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they opened it up to see what was inside 11:37 3 singing sweetie call officer sandy Bayliss who was in this complex
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among the uniforms conducting an eviction and it was during that eviction process that they discovered two young
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children and freezing further investigation revealed that appeared to be to a male that we're
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saying is approximately 11 years old female 14 years old inside of the plastic bag
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appeared to be frozen the eviction crew opened the chest freezer and located the
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frozen body of Michelle's 13 year old daughter Stoney Blair that's when they called 9-1-1
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it wasn't at all shortly after that they realized there was a second body underneath Michels a nine year old son
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Stephen Barry Mitchell Blair was also known by her nickname angel described as a nice friendly person by her neighbors
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her facebook profile read loyal to my babies and there is no greater blessing than being called alone
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Michelle Blair had some serious questions to answer and it didn't take long for police to catch up with it
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we were fortunate yesterday that a member of our community stopped our investigators and led us to the location
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where we found and arrested the mother of the two children found dead in her apartment
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our homicide team continues to work diligently to bring some closure to both family and their friends the medical
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examiner will be performing autopsies in the next day and at that time we will know the cause of death of these two
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children as you can imagine this is a very complex case while we all understand your desire and desire to
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know more about what happened in the home I will ask you to be mindful of the two children who are also in the home
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they're still alive the two surviving children were taken into protective custody while police got to work trying
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to find out what happened a background check showed that between the years 2002 and 2005 Michele Blair
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had been investigated on two separate occasions for allegations of child abuse the abuse claims were substantiated her
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punishment was counseling she was early advocate custody of her children as part
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of the investigation Michele surviving children were interviewed what they detailed was a
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real-life house of horrors both of them were physically beaten by Mitchell they were regularly whipped with an
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extension cord and hit with a piece of wood both had also been burnt with annoyin at
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the time nail taken by child services both kids had numerous scars and injuries her son had 25 different scars
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on his back alone there was clear medical evidence to back up their story that they were the
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victims of prolonged physical abuse from their mother Mitchell was initially only
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charged with child abuse this was because the police had to wait for the results of the autopsy to determine
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exactly how the children died and the autopsy was delayed as they had to only on the bodies the thoria before it could
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be conducted Michele was arraigned two days later Thursday the 26th of March she was charged with ball counts of
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first degree child abuse which is punishable by 15 years in prison she was also charged with one count of
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committing child abuse in the first degree in the presence of another child that carries a life sentence
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her bond was set at 1 million dollars within a week the autopsy's had been completed the conclusion there was no
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deal Stoney Blair and Stephen berry had been murdered Michelle's charges were upgraded to two
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counts of felony murder two counts of premeditated murder at one can of torture Stephen Berry was killed around the 30th
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of August 2012 Stoney Blair was killed about nine months later in May 2013 both had been left in the freezer until the
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eviction crew found them in March 2015 how didn't anybody notice Stoney and Stephen missing well some neighbors did
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notice that they hadn't seen them for a while but when they asked the question they believe Michelle's story that they
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spent a lot of time with an art and when they were home they didn't like to go outside no alarm bells were raised at
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school because they didn't go there in the first place their fathers hadn't seen them for several years so they
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didn't notice either sadly Stoney and Stephen were able to go missing for two years and nobody did anything other than
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ask a passing question as the way they were nobody asked any real questions or looked closely at all they took in a
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fiction crew to follow them in the freezer before anybody realized that were really gone
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and the whole time the kids were in the freezer which I'll continued to accept government benefits for them Michele was
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subjected to numerous evaluations by doctors and psychiatrists to make sure she was competent to stand trial and
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that she could be held criminally responsible for her actions but material didn't want to wait for those reports
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she just wanted to plead guilty she tried numerous times to plead guilty and have the matter finalized but the
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court would no way out straight away court needed to make sure everything was done properly
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they had possible future Appeals in mind they wouldn't accept the plea until all
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doctors evaluations were officially on record it's my understanding to get a trial it's the kids who the truth right
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I'm already saying that I did it I'm really giving myself and expecting life in prison I'm already giving myself to
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you like hey I did this what's the problem and I'm not gonna come back like I didn't use down my rights and I'm not
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a coward you know what I'm saying I don't have that second report from dr. tscheiner yet okay
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the forensics one is not good enough no that's why we were we requested an independent - okay now my understanding
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is that his evaluation is complete but we just don't have it yet these are some very serious charges and
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various understand all of y'all give me a baby's mouth give me another - I professed three times not stop saying
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what I need do you get what I'm saying I understand these are very serious charges with very serious consequences
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if you were to plead guilty to a first-degree murder charge that is life in prison without the possibility of
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parole I notice I'm happily fan life in prison you have everything I will take that I
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don't care that's my baby period I'm not gonna change my mind I'm not changing anything I don't need the
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week to think about it when all doctors reports were eventually placed onto the record the court made a
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ruling that Mitchell was competent to stand trial and she could be held criminally
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responsible for her actions as such if chanel wanted to play guilty the court would accept it Michelle wasn't insane
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she knew exactly what she was doing and understood the consequences of her actions
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Michelle pled guilty straightaway during her guilty plea she described the how and why of what she did just the warning
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the following clip is very graphic in detail it may not be suitable for all listeners all right no matter we're here
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today because you better get to the beam want to plead guilty to two of the counts that are identified in the
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information as much of today's proceeding will be a dialogue between me and you the first thing I'm going to do
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is really do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give today will be the truth yes
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thank you what is your name ma'am you know Blair miss Blair how old are you 36 are you
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United face it enough yes okay so the information I have before me is that you want to be guilty to cop to the
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premeditated murder of Stoney Blair yes count 3 the felony murder of Stephen Barry yes
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am I correct that you want to see guilty to those counts yes do you understand that if I accept a
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guilty plea you'll be subject to a mandatory sentence of life in the Michigan Department of Corrections
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without the possibility of parole or both cases understand you understand Michigan does not have a dump I do now
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what did you do thus Tony Blair that makes you guilty she raped my son I intentionally killed
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her how did you do that um started from the game when I found out about what Stoney was doing to Matthew there was
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nine months later after finding out about Stephen so for the whole nine months we were in the house she was
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still raping my child didn't I know that when I first found out after Matt he told me um I took a minute because I
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it's not understanding you know that she did that to him but um I repeatedly punched her on many occasions my son I
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told him to tell me every single thing she did to him so as she was telling me he was telling me more and more things
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that she did I thought that hour every time he told me what she did to him um I thought I mean I punched her I have put
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a bag over her head so she lost consciousness um I threw hot water on her scalding hot
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water from the faucet yes I hit her in her head multiple times over and over that was actually dead before she died
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and the day she died okay um I hit on her back it's like why the tailbone I kicked her
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okay just fine clarify things and perhaps you don't know but did this happen on or about May May 2015 stash Li the
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day she died well the day I killed her and you said you killed her bite yes um that day
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Maddie would tell me different things cuz he was doing this to him for years I did not know that you get what I'm
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saying and I didn't find out when I was later she had started with Stephen she ruined it my son okay she started with
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Stephen before he even started so yes I put a bag over her head but on it got worse that day yes I did it got worse
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that day because Matthew would tell me how she would take her pad her minstrel pad and squeeze her blood out in his
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mouth okay and it was just it was over went after that it was all the way he I definitely meant to kill her was intact
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no not at all if I had a chance to do it again I would when you wouldn't got the
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grocery bag and suffocated her that was Georgia yes um she was standing in the bathtub I was
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still my hot water on her my son was standing to my right outside the bathroom door
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and he was telling me everything he was funny I looked at her and I'm like you did this and she was like yes so I
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actually had a stick and I was hitting her in the head every time he told me something I hit her very hard in her
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head and I was throwing hot water on her and when I actually took her out of the
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bathroom I still got back in her room and I just kept staring at her and I said she's my
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language by my lot of doing this to him just like you know I'm constantly asked her she kept saying I hate him I'm like
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hate him you know and she admitted to me that she hate got real shame she had everybody
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and I'm asking her why she says they everybody always think Matthew so cute and I'm like so you [ __ ] your brother
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because you get what I'm saying so is I meant to I definitely meant to and I do not feel any remorse for what I did to
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Sony because she had no remorse what she did to my son it's not only Laketown she gang raped
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him with Stephen Matthew Ross sitting on the floor and he was telling me this heart out about both of them doing it
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together it was too late Stephen was gone but Matthew told me that Stoney would actually make him sit
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there why and his words him miss Tony her and Stoney did the nasty stuff and then they did it to him and now they're
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definitely okay where did that happen what we're doing good not for actual death yes all right
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the location of the house where did you live at the time Oh 8:04 cent on the street yes did you ever actually see
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anything of any sexual abuse of any time between either Stephen and stony I reject her question but I will answer it
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because no one will say this did not happen because they'd actually be I just want to have a clear record okay so far
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all you told me was that you just heard it did you ever get they intimated no I did not get what I'm saying yeah no but
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as I went back in my head and thought back to all the many things that was wrong with Matthew over the years and
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I'm like that's what was wrong with you he'll use the bathroom say mom my foot hurts my poop Oh Matthew so I started
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giving him 100% juice to make his stool softer maybe to help him use but if that
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wasn't the problem it wasn't your stool it was that he was being raped okay my son looked me in my
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eyes and he gave me a very detailed talk everything they did Matthew was not a violent boy he is a very sweet little
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boy so for him to stand there and look at me and say do it again he was hurting you know okay at a certain point I've
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told him to stop talking I said stony you tell me what [ __ ] you did to my son that's that Matthew if she's saying
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thing it's not right tell me she started telling many things many things and I also asked her so why didn't Steven tell
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me that when I asked him did anybody do this to him why didn't he tell me that you did Sam because Sony was going
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upstairs beating Steven's ass threatening him basically and a certain point after I
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was hitting Steven I didn't want to look at him I didn't want to I didn't want to
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look at him so I told him to go see his mom when it came time to eat I didn't want to take my food up so I say
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Sonia because she volunteered not knowing at that time the story was breaking either of them but every time
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she went upstairs I wouldn't have known if she hit him not because I had put many bruises on him so every time she
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went upstairs she admitted to me that she was hitting him also knocking the hell out of him tell him you bet not
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telling nothing forget what I'm saying I understand when she admitted these things to you were you always being the
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first time no we was sitting there she denied it denied it denied it cos to me I'm like stony you better tell me the
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truth Matthew sitting here he'll know nothing about but he constantly you get what I'm saying
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who would admit that who would admit that they didn't I do it basically the same thing
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next to a question first the people standing behind me this woman would just ask the question is she trying to make
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it seem like this did not happen no no we just have to have a clear record okay all we're trying to do is
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just make sure right now this is just you choosing to plead guilty but people do not have any
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agreement yeah because you know it's like I'm willing to take a polygraph test it's like because I understand
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people don't want to hear me period but I'm gonna get on everything you tell me what happened to Stephen um
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I came home one day my daughter Gabrielle my oldest met me at the door she's like mom come see the man he doing
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with his dolls and I'm like what is he doing he was making one dial his little restaurant man hop on top the other no
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I'm like Maddie why was you doing that I said anybody ever doing this to you he said no I said then why are you doing
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that and he said yes Stephen did and I was like so this is the first I'm hearing about that period this was nine
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months before Stoney okay Stoney wasn't downstairs and I she was always in the background I wish to God I had
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questioned everybody together but I did know this was before August August artist when he died this was maybe a
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week or we can have before yes yes I went upstairs because something was upstairs in him his and Matthews mom and
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I went upstairs downstairs Stephen Matthew said she was humping on him and a Steven stood up and he looked at me
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and right then I could tell I could tell something was wrong in his face cuz he was just like this ain't normal kid I
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know my kid would have been like what that's not what he did he stood up and looked at me like he lost his mind okay
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and it's just hearing that from him had [ __ ] up in my head period but I asked myself Stephen tell me the [ __ ] truth
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well she hung on matches he said yes but that was all and I said did you hump on
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him with your underwear off he said no Matthew yelled out yes he did and I just remember going in a hallway
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walking back and forth flight and I walk back brother you [ __ ] your brother so I'm looking
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at them to one look at them like what I can't understand so I started punching Steve me you know I'm like [ __ ]
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throwing at him I just I just start asking him questions Matthew at this point is just billing
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out he's just pulling out and mom and he's doing like this and you do this thing almost every night he tell me how
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he was it he's not put back over Stephens head because if he had Maddie I thought Maddie Peter bed my son was
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never a bad winner didn't know it was Stephen waking up every morning picking on Matthew like he was a damn piece of
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[ __ ] okay they had bunk beds Stephen would get off the bed in the middle of night you'll break him in his own bed
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you pee on him I started going to the bathroom I'm waking up every morning thinking Matthew's the bed wetter so we
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just wash him up and going you know bear wonder like so what you did the reason I
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put bags on the Stephens head because my son told me that the plastic on his bed
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because I thought he was a bad water it's that sometimes mom I couldn't breathe Stephen was laying on me and he had my
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face down in the plastic on the bed I couldn't breathe he was humping on my butt like basketball fast when I got
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garbage bag and start putting it over Stephens head and I started asking him [ __ ] you're gonna shoot this feel like
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you can't breathe he's pumping like that's my son you could not breathe on top of getting ready he was six years
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old at the time you get on Sam so I put a bag over his head she lost consciousness I did that a couple of
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times uh-huh he tell me then Neffe Maddie would be facedown he had stuff around his neck so I grabbed Stephen I grabbed
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your belt and I put a belt around his neck and I lifted him up like do you like how this feels me a trunk for the
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belt so I dropped him I held him up until he lost consciousness it swam no I did not intend to kill Stephen no I'm
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not my question you weren't uneasy didn't look it's your serious physical harm but not killing
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definitely did you also punch him yes I did most of the time yes yes I did you talked about
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choking him did you also burn yes I did okay how did you do that hot water scalding hot water okay again you knew
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you were seriously harming him but you didn't intend to murder no but your actions ultimately cost yesterday were
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you Stephens mother yes using your custody I don't claim him as my son I do not claim Tony as my
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daughter I have two children that state came and phone away or Damien's period this is my question at the time he died
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he was in your custody of care yes how old Stephen was nine and again this happen in your house in the city of
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Detroit yes what you did to Stephen was punishment for what you did to Maddie is
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that right or what he did sin many stars for what Stephen did yes that was punishment and if I had killed Stephen
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intentionally I definitely will be proud to say I did you weren't allowing them to treat your other children like this
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for you what do you mean you weren't allowing them to sexually assault no I wasn't allowing that I never knew that
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took the girl but I'm saying that's exactly what I want to know you didn't know until afterwards so man I don't
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regret none of this I don't regret any of it Matthew was my son that's my baby there's no way the his brother his first
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fish you know what he feels like I'm inside in no way I don't feel no remorse for the death of them demons okay all
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right why it's we unless either counsels dissatisfied with the testimony that was just
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provided by miss Boyer I believe there was a sufficient factual basis to accept the city at this point
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her claims that both Stoney and Stephen were sexually assaulting her youngest son were never substantiated the reason
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she says she reacted so violently was that she herself was sexually assaulted which she was younger she reported the
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assault to her mum and her mum failed to do anything of the other her mother's failure to protect her affected her for
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the rest of her life it led her to tell her own kids that if anybody ever touched them to tell her about us
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straight away so she could do something when a youngest son reported to her that
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he was assaulted by staying in Stephen she reacted Alexandre Dorsey was the father of Stoney Blair and the surviving
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17 year old girl he hadn't seen either of his children for two years prior he says that Mitchell barred him from the
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home he had a prior criminal history and he actually owned thirty nine thousand dollars in child support
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it was Dean that he failed to protect the children from an unfit home environment when the children were
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physically abused tortured and murdered he was not only out custody of his surviving daughter
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Stephen berry senior was the father of Stephen berry and to the surviving eight-year-old boy he last saw his
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children three years prior he also says that Michelle prevented him from seeing them he owed ten thousand dollars in
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child support payments he also had a criminal record and it was also deemed that he neglected to protect his
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children from an abusive environment he was not awarded custody either both surviving children lived in absolute
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terror and will need extensive trauma therapy and counseling the eight-year-old boy was displaying
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problems with his neurological development due to the horror he experienced every day although Alexander
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Dorsey was not awarded custody unlike Stephen Barry senior he actually retained his parental right and the
00:31:01
judge did this for good reason if he removed or seized parental right then his daughter would only qualify for
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services until she was 19 years old but by keeping dorsey's parental right intact she qualifies for services until
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she is 20 by services they're talking about helping her go to college classes to teach her to live independently and
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obviously therapy the court ruled it would be in her best interest to qualify for these services for an extra year she
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mentioned that she wanted to go to college and become a veterinarian the judge said it would be totally up to her
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what sort of relationship if any she wanted to have with Dorsey Michelle Blair's parental rights to her two
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surviving children were terminated she was sentenced on the 17th of July 2015 you this will happen to you when
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you're a child you had the opportunity grow up truth you had the opportunity to become an adult you had the opportunity
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to make your own decisions with respect to running your own life and you even have to look for children
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store needs even are never going to have yet they don't have those same opportunities and when I think about all
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of the possible joys that they could be missing out on one thing that strikes me
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is the greatest tragedy here is that they will never know what a life is like without experience and fearing them they
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will never know the joy of what could have been in their life without having you in it they lived in terrible fear of
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you and I find that just so sad in this case after all once I'm done you'll impose the death penalty on your own
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children I did and you readily admit it and if you want to take responsibility of it you're there for sentence for the
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Michigan Department of Corrections for the rest of your life without possibility of parole
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meaning of course that you will never get out [Music]