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now in store and on target.com [Music] thank you [Music] foreign garage wherever you are whatever you are
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doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a guy who
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sips Bob Seger's diet tequila light moves most nights after dinner here is the cat it's good to be seen and good to
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see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] today we are still sipping on some magic
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thanks to our friends for helping us out with this week's show yeah first up we like your jib goes out to Sue Jacobson
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and pinyan New York and we have a big big thank you that goes out to longtime listener Kelly drinking the good beer
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out in the great state of Montana everyone we mentioned they went to truecrime garage.com and helped us fill
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up the fridge for this week's show yeah BW double arguing Beer Run make sure you
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subscribe to the podcast and ladies and gentlemen that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a
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chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] on Friday August 11 1995 around 12 30
00:03:44
a.m 16 year old Brian Michael Bessette in his 17-year-old friend Nikolaus James McDonald broke into Brian's home and
00:03:53
murdered Brian's parents this is Wendy and Michael and Brian's five-year-old brother Austin some say this was revenge
00:04:02
for kicking Brian out of the house others say that it was so that the two could steal money a vehicle and
00:04:08
belongings and run off to California yeah and a lot of people believed that it was probably both that inspired the
00:04:17
events of that night that fateful night in August of 1995. the two perpetrators hid the
00:04:25
bodies taking two of the bodies to a Logging Road about three miles from the home and then concealing the other body
00:04:34
in a pump house that was outside of the house adjoining the house Brian's parents van was stolen and the two were
00:04:43
in route to the state of California when Nicholas McDonald decides to walk into a police station
00:04:53
and tell them just what went down hours prior to his confession so of course when you have murders like these when
00:05:00
you have crimes like these everybody wants to know why and especially we want to know why when it's committed by
00:05:07
perpetrators of such a young age 16 and 17. and so anytime we do a case that involves a youth committing murder I
00:05:18
always refer back to an old book this one's called kids who kill by Charles Patrick Ewing and they have a lot of
00:05:25
Statistics in there now keep in mind this book was published in 1990. the case that we're talking about comes from
00:05:31
1995 so some of these statistics while they're still meaningful today they come from yesteryear and I want to read a
00:05:39
couple of portions a couple paragraphs from this book if you will allow me there Captain nope
00:05:45
do it on your own all right skipping that but in kids who kill Charles Patrick Ewing says every year at least 1
00:05:54
000 and often more than 1500 American youngsters under the age of 18 intentionally take the lives of others
00:06:01
and are arrested for murder or manslaughter some of these killings are crimes of premeditated violence
00:06:07
motivated by greed lust or a desire for Revenge others are crimes of passion impulsive over responses to provocation
00:06:17
by the victim or to some explosive Drive within the killer still other cases seem
00:06:23
utterly senseless who are these kids who kill to begin with kids who kill are really a rare breed while homicides
00:06:32
committed by children and adolescents Fascinate the public and generate a great deal of media attention these
00:06:39
killings are actually quite infrequent people younger than 18 constitute roughly one quarter of the total
00:06:46
resident population of the United States yet annually the past decade or so again
00:06:52
this would be from 1990 and prior consistently fewer than 11 percent of all individuals arrested in the United
00:06:59
States for murder or intentional manslaughter have been under the age of 18. in 1988 for example there were 16
00:07:09
326 murder and intentional manslaughter arrest in the United States only 1765 again roughly 11 percent of those
00:07:21
arrested were under 18 years of age to put it another way fewer than five juveniles in every 100
00:07:28
000 are arrested for intentionally killing someone approximately half the adult arrest rate for the same crimes
00:07:36
one you said those are statistics from 1990. that was from 1988. yeah I wonder where that sits today with the amount of
00:07:45
mass shootings we have in schools yeah and you have certainly you have that increased over the years as well as
00:07:52
crime Trends especially in larger cities right now are showing an uptick in youth
00:07:58
crime and youth violent crime as well so that could be a little bit higher now what's
00:08:05
intriguing as far as this case goes to is around the same time in 1995 we talked about
00:08:14
this in our episodes titled trail of blood with the concern the growing concern of
00:08:25
what what many officials were calling the youth super Predator right and uh a strong effort by many to
00:08:37
increase the penalty and the consequences for violent crime committed by this nation's Youth and in
00:08:47
the the consequences got much more strict and severe in the 90s at the same time
00:08:54
this is 1995 when this case that we're talking about this week takes place now at trial the state of Washington
00:09:02
introduced Brian bessette's statement that he made to police that he and McDonald had tried to kill
00:09:10
bessette's parents twice before the actual crimes took place but those attempts were foiled for one reason or
00:09:18
another I'm wondering if he simply wasn't able to gain access to the house in those attempts yeah or access to the
00:09:26
gun McDonald at trial testified and admitted after Brian Bessette had already shot Michael Brian's father that
00:09:35
quote I felt he was suffering and so he testified that he shot him again to end Michael's suffering
00:09:43
he said that he went into the house with Brian and found the parents already having been shot by Brian and Brian was
00:09:52
quote yelling and screaming at his parents and kicking at their bodies end quote well and like I said on
00:09:58
yesterday's show you use the term hate and I would I would say that's the most fitting term in in this case to explain
00:10:08
Brian McDonald's McDonald's involvement is very strange to me but I yeah because
00:10:15
he confesses to this hours after yeah and it sounds to me from everything we're being told from McDonald and Brian
00:10:24
and and all parties that have examined this case is that McDonald knew going to the house
00:10:32
that night what they were going to attempt to do right as as Brian said at trial that they had attempted to kill
00:10:41
the parents twice before right McDonald denied that he shot Wendy the set at trial and despite his earlier
00:10:50
statements to the Grants Pass police he also denied having drowned Austin McDonald claimed that his earlier
00:10:58
confession which the details were slightly different uh confessing to Austin's murder
00:11:03
was simply because he was trying to conform to a story that McDonald and Bessette
00:11:11
had come up with together he referred to it to it as a concoction that me and Brian had come to and now
00:11:20
he's on the stand and he's claiming that he entered the bathroom only to find that Brian had already drowned Austin in
00:11:28
the bathtub yeah it's very strange because like like I said the first confession initially it sounds like he's
00:11:33
trying to distance himself from the crime and and being the perpetrator of the crime but then when he admits to
00:11:41
Drowning the the child you go well this this guy's a admitting to being a monster
00:11:49
right and so you want to believe him and then you get on the you get in the trial
00:11:55
and now you now you're stepping away well and the thing too that I have to keep reminding myself because I you know
00:12:02
you hear about these crimes and it's it's very easy to lash out an anger and a knee-jerk reaction and go you know
00:12:08
what go ahead and go ahead and string them both up right and I don't care what what McDonald's says I don't care how it
00:12:16
varies from Brian's version of the events string them both up but then I have to remind myself at the end of
00:12:23
the day as bad and horrible as what McDonald witnessed and participated in he still walked into the police station
00:12:31
hours later and told them what happened I mean these guys could have been on the
00:12:37
Run they could have Brian could have killed other people who knows how how much much more
00:12:43
violence could have could have taken place with these two being on the run and and I said yesterday that I didn't
00:12:49
think this was a very good plan because even had he not confessed you know it's there's a reason and people will go oh
00:12:56
you guys tell these stories and it's cheesy you bring up the the police asked family members and and Friends of the
00:13:04
the decedent who would want to hurt who would want to harm the person that was killed well yes it's it's a cheesy
00:13:13
question from police but nine times out of ten in the cases that are solved the reason why they're asking that
00:13:22
question and will do so Forever Until the End of Time is because nine times out of ten the person that that is
00:13:29
mentioned by name two police is often the person who committed the murder and so in this case while they're trying
00:13:38
to conceal their crimes hide the bodies again Wendy's body is still on the property it sounds like they did
00:13:46
they took efforts to clean up the crime scene there's been a lot of reporting out there that says that you could walk
00:13:52
in that house and tell that there was a violent struggle that that likely a murder took place in the home and you'd
00:13:58
only have to ask one person right we gave plenty of statements from people that knew Brian and knew the family in
00:14:05
yesterday's episode you'd only have to ask one or two people to find out that oh
00:14:10
well did you find their son Brian because he's he's violent they were scared of him right the mother was
00:14:16
sleeping with a baseball bat again like you said it could be a crime can be premeditated but that doesn't mean that
00:14:24
the perpetrators thought thought out the crime thoroughly McDonald at court admitted to driving
00:14:32
off alone with the bodies of Austin and Michael and hiding them along a Logging Road he also conceded that he helped
00:14:39
Brian hide Wendy's body in the bessette's pump house and that he cleaned the bassettes home after the
00:14:46
murders in order to conceal evidence of the killings a forensic pathologist testified for the
00:14:53
state his testimony revealed that Michael Bessette had been shot five times and that either of the two gunshot
00:14:59
wounds to Michael's head including the one that McDonald admitted to would have been fatal so regardless
00:15:08
of of the stories we have the Pathologists telling us that both of the suspects both of the persons
00:15:16
being charged where the wound takes place and the nature of the wound indicates that the intention was to kill
00:15:23
this man according to the pathologist the order in which the injuries occurred to
00:15:30
the father could not be determined so what we're seeing here is you're going to have two individuals that were both
00:15:38
involved in committing triple homicides yet they're both going to be charged with with different charges right which
00:15:45
will ultimately mean that they're facing different consequences yeah and like it
00:15:49
like I said that's normally how this works when you have one guy come forward those detectives are going to try to
00:15:57
protect that individual a little bit from the prosecution the Grays Harbor County Sheriff this is Dennis morsett
00:16:04
said a case this heinous should prompt State lawmakers to consider allowing the death penalty for teens as young as 16.
00:16:12
again I already referenced the youth or teenage super predator if you want to go back and review that
00:16:19
case that's true crime garage trail of Blood episodes 416 and 417 and that's the story of the 1995 again 1995. yeah
00:16:29
the 1995 murder of Janet Downing age 42 who the state says was committed by Eddie O'Brien just 15 years old of
00:16:39
Somerville Massachusetts who lived across the street any crime committed against a child there's that knee jerk
00:16:46
reaction especially from me where I just go like you said just hang hang them up
00:16:52
hang them up in the middle of town square to let them know let everybody know this is what happens when you want
00:17:00
to harm a child well that goes to intent or the the premeditation of these crimes
00:17:07
to begin with I mean the the truly sad thing sad part of the story is they could have stolen money
00:17:15
a vehicle belongings of value from anyone from anywhere they could have even stole
00:17:22
these things from Brian's parents they didn't have to commit any murders to run off to California for whatever reason
00:17:29
that they were planning to to go to California now we talk about intent here well that's what the defense was going
00:17:36
to want to talk about as well too because we have two people it's not a question of if
00:17:40
they did this right it's they did this who's responsible for what and why did this happen so I'm gonna read a an
00:17:51
Associated Press article because they put it together better than I could have typed it up myself but the article
00:17:57
headline is defense blames rock song attorney asked to play song at teens triple murder trial again this is from
00:18:06
the Associated Press the article reads the attorney for one of two teenagers charged in a triple murder wants to play
00:18:12
a rock song as part of his opening statement at the trial he contends the lyrics are a key to the boy's Behavior
00:18:22
Gray's Harbor County Superior Court Judge Mark McCauley said he will decide the matter before opening statements get
00:18:29
underway at a pre-trial hearing Tom Copeland attorney for 18 year old Nicholas McDonald also said he plans to
00:18:38
call McDonald to testify at length about how the song affected him quote this is
00:18:44
almost a script it's relevant to everything the legal issues the mental issues why this happened the way it
00:18:52
happened Copeland said of the song Israel's Son by the Australian alternative rock group silver today mate
00:18:59
McDonald and Brian Bessette 16 are charged with three counts of aggravated first degree murder in the deaths of
00:19:05
bessette's parents and five-year-old brother at the family home in McCleary goes on to say that jury selection for
00:19:12
McDonald's trial begin will begin soon and it says that after the killings Brian Bessette danced around the room
00:19:20
kicking the corpses of his parents to the strains of the rapid fire heavy guitar song according to the attorney
00:19:29
and they quote some of the lyrics here in the article saying quote hate is what I feel for you I want you to know that I
00:19:37
want you dead I hate you and your apathy you can leave you can leave I don't want
00:19:44
you here hate and execution put your hands in the air put your hands in the air prosecutors dispute the contention
00:19:52
that the song was a factor in the brutal slangs saying what does this prove that's a quote from the prosecutor Jerry
00:20:01
Fuller and he goes on to say does this prove that Bessette hated his parents does it prove that he had motive to kill
00:20:09
his parents no all it proves is it was a song that he played says the prosecute [Music]
00:20:29
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00:25:43
cheers to you Colonel cheers to you captain again that song Israel's son is off of
00:25:50
Silver chairs 1995 album frog stop which were just teenagers themselves when they
00:25:57
put out that record yeah yeah and there was reaction right Daniel Johns is the the singer for the
00:26:06
band Silver Chair singer and guitar player he says in an interview with request magazine this interview took
00:26:12
place in November of 1995. that song was about an execution I saw on telly I got
00:26:19
this video of an execution and I just saw it and I was watching it one night and I had a dream about it and I woke up
00:26:25
and thought Oh yeah that's pretty cool and I wrote a song about it but of course when asked the band's manager
00:26:32
gave a statement to the regard of hate McDonald's lawyer and besets lawyers they want to play
00:26:40
this song They're blaming this song for their actions for for their involvement in in planning and carrying out
00:26:50
a triple homicide John Watson the band's manager was quoted as stating on behalf
00:26:55
of the band Silver Chair Silver Chair do not have not and never would condone violence of any sort the band is
00:27:03
appalled by this horrific crime and they hope that justice will prevail in Prosecuting whoever is responsible for
00:27:10
it the ban extends its sincere sympathies to the families and friends of the victims in this case Silverchair
00:27:18
absolutely rejects any allegation that their song is in any way responsible for the actions of the alleged murders well
00:27:26
it seems like such a cowardly defense but what else do you expect from these coward murderers
00:27:36
you know we're going to sneak into my house we're gonna attack my parents catch them off guard
00:27:43
the statement goes on to say it is a matter of public record that the song in question Israel's song was inspired by a
00:27:49
television documentary about wartime atrocities Israel's son was never intended to provoke violence and cannot
00:27:56
be interpreted by any reasonable person as doing so in fact the song seeks to criticize violence and War by portraying
00:28:04
them in all their horror yeah I just think it's a cowardly defense and I I don't
00:28:12
understand what they're trying to prove blame this song blame this artist blame this other teenager
00:28:20
for putting thoughts out into the universe that this individual didn't understand
00:28:26
yeah or these these individuals don't understand I mean we've seen this before where people have blamed other rock
00:28:33
stars and other rock songs it's one of those situations that unfortunately and we we talked about this when we reviewed
00:28:42
the John Wayne Gacy case his attorney and rightfully so said look when you are representing somebody like
00:28:51
John Wayne Gacy when when a serial killer who they have a mountain of evidence against they find the bodies in his home
00:29:01
when that guy is your client your only job as the as his attorney is to attempt to save his life attempt to get him
00:29:10
right get him anything other than the death penalty and in this case the two perpetrators were not facing the
00:29:19
death penalty in this case but they are facing life in prison without the possibility of parole and so these
00:29:27
attorneys are then it's not a question of guilt it's a question of why is there anybody else to blame and what
00:29:36
kind of sentence is appropriate for a 17 and 16 year old that commit these types
00:29:41
of crimes so you're trying to throw everything at the wall hoping that someone on the jury will sympathize with
00:29:49
your client and maybe your client does not get life in prison without the possibility of parole
00:29:54
yeah like a little silly monkey throwing his feces against the wall to see what sticks and I think it's also it's this
00:30:02
idea that if there's other factors that are to blame that this individual wouldn't be like
00:30:09
that and that there's hope for this individual and that he can be rehabilitated and he can live a
00:30:14
productive life into society later on well and prosecutors would agree with you here Captain and the belief that the
00:30:23
defense was silly and there were other things that were brought up by the defense obviously in both of these
00:30:30
trials But ultimately the prosecution was able to convince the jury that the murders were committed in order to steal
00:30:38
money belongings the vehicle and run off to California so both are found guilty but they each were facing different
00:30:49
charges and so they perceived different sentences the jury acquitted McDonald of
00:30:55
the murder of Wendy Bessette remember according to his story that already occurred before he even entered the home
00:31:02
so they found him guilty of second-degree murder uh two counts of second-degree murder this would be the
00:31:09
murders of Austin and Michael Bessette Brian Bessette was found guilty of all three homicides all in the first degree
00:31:16
so what did they sentence them to so this is from a February article from 1996 McDonald was found guilty of
00:31:24
second-degree murders of Michael and Austin acquitted for Wendy sentenced to 65 years in prison not long enough judge
00:31:32
Mark McCauley imposed a 50-year sentence for the drowning death of Austin and he to prove a point
00:31:44
he had the courtroom silenced for three minutes yeah which would be the amount of time it would have taken Austin to
00:31:51
drown in a cold tub of water that's absolutely horrific Stephanie remember this is Brian's sister who was not home
00:31:59
the night of the murders in court she said quote he deserves to wake up every morning wishing he was not alive he
00:32:08
deserves to be locked up for the rest of our lives McDonald apologized in court saying the only thing I can do is
00:32:16
apologize for the loss of their loved ones Brian was convicted of three counts of aggravated first-degree murder and
00:32:23
the trial court sentenced beset to three consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole well like we said
00:32:32
about Brian he had three other siblings I wonder if they had any fear that if he
00:32:38
did get out that he would go after them well that is part of what we're looking at here now because unfortunately the
00:32:46
three consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole that sentence doesn't hold up here's a good news clip
00:32:54
to sum up where the case has moved to in the current day a man who killed his parents and his brother in 1995 will be
00:33:03
re-sentenced in Grays Harbor County this morning Brian Bassett was just 16 years
00:33:07
old when he killed his family members King 5's Angelique here this morning in the studio with more on what the court
00:33:13
hearing is about today Angela his surviving sister trying to keep him locked up this is a very complicated
00:33:18
case right yeah that's exactly right Jake and Bassett was originally sentenced to life in prison but the
00:33:24
Washington state supreme court threw out those sentences back in 2019 ruling life
00:33:28
sentences for teenagers was unconstitutional since then he's had two sentence hearings now the first hearing
00:33:35
re-sentenced him to 60 years but an appeals court overturned that ruling deeming it excessive the last was
00:33:42
earlier this month bassett's attorney argued prison Rehabilitation has worked and called for his release Bassett
00:33:48
himself also took the stand asking for forgiveness the state however is still calling for 40 years a move backed by
00:33:55
his sister Stephanie Bassett as the only surviving family member she is set to testify during today's sentencing that
00:34:01
she fears she would have been killed too and she had been home at the time of the
00:34:05
murders every day that he's Behind Bars I can breathe I can feel safe and I can live
00:34:21
because I don't have a doubt that the target is on my back now the court hearing will begin at 9 00
00:34:28
a.m we'll have the latest on King 5 News at noon for now in the studio Angelica so what we're faced with here captain in
00:34:37
As Told To Us by that news story there in 2015 Brian Bessette argues that due process in the appearance of fairness
00:34:46
entitle him to a new judge when facing a re-sentencing hearing basically what they're saying is that it's
00:34:52
unconstitutional to sentence a child a youth offender to the max of life in prison without the
00:35:02
possibility of parole in his efforts in his efforts in court to get a re-sentencing we have Dr Jeffrey Hansen
00:35:11
who says he counseled Brian Bessette in 1995. he testified at the re-sentencing hearing once once one was granted around
00:35:20
1995 Brian Bessette ran away from home sometimes to hurt his mother he was still trying to establish his identity
00:35:29
had average cognitive ability had suffered a self-induced alcohol overdose at the age of 15 had ongoing relational
00:35:38
issues with his parents and felt hopeless and had an adjustment disorder resulting in poor
00:35:46
emotional behavioral responses to stress Dr Hansen further testified that Bessette faced the stressors of
00:35:53
homelessness joblessness and possibly having had an unwanted sexual relationship with McDonald it's here's
00:36:01
the thing you you sit here and you listen to a doctor try to defend this person who killed three people killed a
00:36:09
boy killed a little boy and it's hard it's it's hard to feel anything other than stabbing him and in the butt
00:36:18
with a hot poker hate towards him right right it's it's it's it's incredibly difficult to try to sympathize
00:36:25
with or for this person that you know did such horrible things and and I'm sorry I sit
00:36:32
here and I go okay doc Gooch weed Cry Me a River here man Bessette was facing the
00:36:38
stressors of homelessness well he wouldn't be homeless if he would just get along with Mom and Dad yeah if he
00:36:44
wasn't acting like a jackass and I don't know the relationship between him and McDonald but for a doctor to sit there
00:36:50
on the stand and say uh and the stressor of possibly having an unwanted sexual relationship with
00:36:57
flaky flicky with this friend okay well then quit hanging out with the friend yeah no more flaky flicky there are very
00:37:03
simple actions that this 16 year old was old enough to recognize and understand that he could have done yet he chose not
00:37:12
to do these things and instead he chose to climb up a ladder and pull a gun on Mom and Dad and gun them down inside
00:37:19
their home well don't you think there's some evidence that if anybody was manipulating anybody in this
00:37:26
relationship it was Brian that was manipulating yes it's it's very hard to say because we don't know what
00:37:36
was going on between McDonald and Bessette yeah it's not hard to say their plan was to kill Brian's parents not the
00:37:42
other way around yeah it seems like it seems at least to me from where I sit then sit on a throne of lies that it's
00:37:50
not a situation where McDonald had his hands on the steering wheel and was directing everything it it looks to me
00:37:56
that if if McDonald did have a hand on the steering wheel well Brian had both of his hands on the steering wheel as
00:38:03
well now they go on to state that Brian stated that when he entered prison as a juvenile he first thought of how much
00:38:10
trouble he would be in when his parents learned that he was in prison because the reality of his crimes quote didn't
00:38:17
click three weeks after the murders Brian had written quote I wish I hadn't done anything because now I think of all
00:38:25
of the good times that my dad and me had before I was just thinking of all of the
00:38:29
things they did to piss me off Bessette expressed remorse at the re-sentencing and explained the challenges that he
00:38:37
faced as a homeless youth at 16. again homeless they're painting him as a victim while I I believe that he
00:38:46
homelessness was an option for him an option that he chose someone is also hanging out in that shed and I think
00:38:54
that it's easy to lose track of the justice that needs to be held up here for this this killer
00:39:04
when you sit there 20 years after these people were killed the victims almost start to fade away
00:39:13
and you start to lose touch with the victims it's important to make this man this boy face the most severe of
00:39:23
consequences when these crimes are fresh when you're still hurting when the community's still in pain right but then
00:39:30
20 years later you've had the opportunity to heal a bit and you you start to forget just how cruel
00:39:38
his actions were you know who doesn't forget the people that you brought up earlier the surviving family members of
00:39:45
the perpetrator and the victims and imagine Their Fear how the hell can they go on and live
00:39:55
their a normal life right we're all told that we are afforded the right to life liberty in the pursuit of happiness I'll
00:40:04
you know you say it's unconstitutional to convict this kid and keep him in prison for the rest of his existence
00:40:11
I say it's unconstitutional to let him out so his sisters and their children and their husbands and their extended
00:40:19
family they cannot experience life liberty in the pursuit of happiness with this guy out I get it it's it's
00:40:26
difficult you don't know what is the proper thing the proper punishment for a 16 year old I find no problem
00:40:33
questioning that but the thing that I can't get over is how good do I feel about letting a guy out who committed
00:40:40
three murders cold-blooded murders of people that he was supposed to love and care
00:40:46
about right and and here's the here's the other scary thing in this case in this in this exact case
00:40:53
you know not to date myself here but but you're old as [ __ ] well good Brian Bessette and I are roughly the same age
00:41:03
I'm not I'm not an elderly man I'm not somebody that is incapable of physical violence prove it put your hands up I
00:41:11
have the physical ability to do that tough guy I don't have the mind set or the or the heart to do that or the balls
00:41:18
but what I'm trying to point out here is if you let this guy out I believe he will always be a danger to somebody
00:41:29
he hasn't aged out of this physically at least no and I think the other issue too
00:41:33
is it's not just one murder victim it's three murder victims right I mean and so to say that it's unconstitutional
00:41:45
to give him life without the possibility to approach I get I guess that argument would make
00:41:53
more sense or I guess easier to swallow if there's one victim but there's three victims and one of those victims being a
00:42:01
child and here's what I'm hoping and praying that somebody is reminding the people that are reviewing this case and
00:42:07
reviewing the sentencing for Brian Bessette I hope and pray that somebody informed
00:42:15
that panel that do you know had he not climbed that ladder and gone into that house that
00:42:22
night and murdered three members of his family do you know that Austin would only be 33 years old today right only 33
00:42:31
years old today and you're telling me that this guy has served enough of a of a sentence that we should think about
00:42:37
letting him out so as of February 2017 19 States and the District of Columbia have banned all juvenile life without
00:42:47
parole sentences in 2019 the state of Washington which is the state where he was sentenced the Washington State
00:42:55
Supreme Court ruled life sentences for teenagers were cruel and thus unconstitutional since then 2019 Brian
00:43:04
Bessette has had two sentence hearings his attorneys making the case for his release argue and say look this guy
00:43:13
served 65 of his life sentence now it is common especially here in Ohio that one would typically serve between
00:43:25
60 and 80 percent of their sentence before being up for release in August of 2022 this is from the
00:43:37
harbor news it says Brian Bessette has been in and out of Gray's Harbor County courtroom since 2019 pleading for his
00:43:45
release from prison it says Bessette was re-sentenced to one more year in prison
00:43:50
this was from 2022. his sister Stephanie Bessette who my heart goes out to in the biggest form
00:44:00
is she says quote I ask the court for myself for my family especially for my children or my parents or Austin that
00:44:08
every day that he's behind bars I can breathe I can feel safe and I can live because I don't have a doubt that a
00:44:15
Target is on my back end quote again we live in a very strange world where we go oh we we don't want to be
00:44:26
too cruel to the individual that took three people's lives and then instead of accepting some
00:44:35
responsibility initially or later on in life blamed a rock song blamed everybody under the sun
00:44:46
I mean it's I I I don't understand I don't understand this world sometimes where we want to be
00:44:54
sympathetic or apathetic to or think that we are growing as a society because we can now forgive him
00:45:02
and let him out well and look okay so he takes one life so you give him life sentence without the possibility of
00:45:09
parole he took another life so give him another life sentence without the possibility of parole he took another
00:45:14
life so give him another life sentence without the possibility of parole and then he can serve those sentences you
00:45:21
know so he could serve 60 of the one sentence and then serve 60 of the next one and he'll never get out of jail and
00:45:28
that would be fine with me and that would make the most sense so a judge AMA Milo I hope that I'm saying that name
00:45:35
correctly a-m-a-m-i-l-o shared her opinion on the matter saying quote the Bessette family
00:45:43
McCleary which is the city that he was from and the Grays Harbor County community at large need to know that Mr
00:45:51
Bessette is not likely to be a threat to anyone when released if and when he gains release Brian Bessette will have a
00:46:01
mandated anti-harassment and lifetime no contact order against his sister okay this guy does not strike me as somebody
00:46:08
that likes to play by the rules so we're gonna we're gonna put these little Tiki
00:46:13
tacky rules on him oh you can't go over and talk to your sister you can't have any contact with her we we're supposed
00:46:19
to believe for a moment that a that a guy that climbs into a home breaks into a home and guns down people that he's
00:46:26
going to care for an anti-harassment lifetime no contact order the most recent news unfortunately comes
00:46:34
from May of 2022 this from the harbor news again that states that Brian's release is dependent on a number of
00:46:40
factors including tight controls related to substance use he must participate in
00:46:46
the champion program's recommended Aftercare to include sober support groups he will be expected to
00:46:53
participate in electronic monitoring for the first 90 days of his release oh great well what about day 91 or day 92
00:47:01
in addition McDonald's should be supervised at the highest level for the first year in the community documents
00:47:07
state that McDonald has demonstrated positive prison behavior for approximately the past five years well
00:47:13
congratulations right uh I won't be handing out any awards to people that have demonstrated positive prison
00:47:20
behavior for the past five years and it goes on to say with no serious infractions since his last Board hearing
00:47:27
which was approximately five years ago the parole document noted that he quote does not appear to experience any acute
00:47:35
distress or psychiatric dysfunction that increases his risk for violence end quote so unfortunately the decision to
00:47:43
allow for his release was unanimous by the board as of May 12th of 2022 he still housed at Airway Heights
00:47:53
Correctional Facility pending release I don't believe that he's been released because it would be newsworthy it would
00:47:59
be something that we have found but what it sounds like to me Captain from everything that that I could find is
00:48:04
that it's not a question of if he will be released more of a question of when and unfortunately the articles that I
00:48:12
read made it sound like that could be this year and that's that's when you go okay I understand what you're saying
00:48:20
here I understand what's going on I understand that you are evaluating this individual as such and you the panel you
00:48:27
the board have decided that he is okay to be released back into society back into the communities yeah look I
00:48:36
don't want to sound like the the old grumpy man shaking his hand shaking his fist in a black cloud but it's like okay
00:48:42
cool you say he's not a threat you say he's not a danger let him live in your backyard
00:48:47
let him live next door to you and next door to your kids yeah let him live in your shed and and You better lock those
00:48:55
windows because he's going to be crawling in this case is a case that I've heard of
00:49:02
since the 90s on a case that I've always wanted to dive into more and last year I was watching a documentary called
00:49:11
future never about Daniel Johns and they ask him about Brian blaming their song for the murders
00:49:21
and how he feels about it all these years later so if you've been asked this before but in 1995 there were two
00:49:30
American teenagers who uh killed one of the boys parents and his five-year-old brother and they
00:49:37
blamed it on your song Israel's son you were just 16 years old when this was all
00:49:43
happening and uh how did you feel when when this was going on did you take it did you internalize this at all
00:49:53
um yeah I didn't realize at the time but but I did at the time I was still [Music]
00:50:03
um I guess a it affected me but I had to act like it didn't and I had to also I couldn't acknowledge it I guess that
00:50:18
was part of the patterns like if I acknowledge that that could interrupt talk about having blondes on I was like
00:50:25
that is [ __ ] up and that's gonna [ __ ] me in the future but for now I've got this to do
00:50:31
I didn't realize that that would continue to happen for a really long time and I'd just pushed everything away
00:50:37
and just focus on the music yeah that's that's it's pretty devastating to write a song when you're a teenager and
00:50:48
then like have someone's lives taken because apparently it's influenced the people to murder someone
00:51:01
that's that's too much I don't like that people look to me for guidance in my songs I don't like it
00:51:08
thank you [Music] oh I would have loved to interview Daniel Johns I would ask him
00:51:26
do you eat kangaroos for breakfast mate well and thank everybody for joining us here in the garage each and every week
00:51:34
make sure you tell a friend tell your mother tell your mother about this show Colonel do we have any
00:51:40
recommended reading for the beautiful listeners this week we are recommending the Supreme gentleman Killer by Brian
00:51:46
Whitney this is a story a true crime story about a man named Elliot Roger Eliot Roger
00:51:54
considered himself to be intelligent refined handsome fashionable and Charming in fact he thought of himself
00:52:00
as the Supreme gentleman but women paid no attention to him so Roger decided to get revenge and he spent months planning
00:52:09
what he called his day of Retribution read and learn how and why this young man became a spree killer check out the
00:52:18
Supreme gentleman killer the true story of an in-cell mass murderer by Brian Whitney we have featured several of
00:52:26
Brian's books in this segment over the years this is just another great one go to True Crime garage.com to find great
00:52:33
titles like the Supreme gentleman killer and many more recommendations including
00:52:38
books podcast and documentaries yeah and while you're there sign up on the mailing list because we like to send out
00:52:45
promo codes to you and ones coming at you pretty soon so make sure you sign up on the mailing list until next week be
00:52:52
good be kind and don't litter [Music] thank you [Music] let's talk fashion whether you're
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