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[Music] 2023 [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
00:01:45
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a guy who sips Bob seager's diet tequila light moves most
00:01:53
nights after dinner here is the C it's good to be seen and good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling
00:02:00
a [Music] friend today we are still sipping on some magic hobo monkey Juju juicy IPA say that three times fast it's
00:02:15
hard to say it's a a very long name magic hobo monkey is a citrusy hoppy and bold IPA with tropical fruit I taste
00:02:23
some grapefruit in there which I love most people are very surprised how well grapefruit Blends so well with the
00:02:30
natural bitterness of an IPA the two complement each other very well I believe magic hobo monkey is 88.2% avv
00:02:39
so you might want to drink this at home in your garage our garage grade for this
00:02:44
beauty is 4 and a half bottle caps out of five and let's give some praise and thanks to our friends for helping us out
00:02:51
with this week's show yeah first up we like your jib goes out to sue Jacobson in pinan New York and we have a big big
00:03:00
thank you that goes out to longtime listener Kelly drinking the good beer out in the great state of Montana
00:03:06
everyone we mention they went to True Crim garage.com and helped us fill up the fridge for this week's show yeah BW
00:03:13
aru in beer run make sure you subscribe to the podcast and ladies and gentlemen that's enough of the business all right
00:03:21
everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime
00:03:37
[Music] on Friday August 11 1995 a around 12:30 a.m. 16-year-old Brian Michael bassette
00:04:03
and his 17-year-old friend Nicolas James McDonald broke into Brian's home and murdered Bryan's parents this is Wendy
00:04:12
and Michael and Brian's 5-year-old brother Austin some say this was revenge for kicking Brian out of the house
00:04:20
others say that it was so that the two could steal money a vehicle and belongings and run off to California and
00:04:28
a lot of people believe that it was probably both that inspired the events of that night that fateful night in
00:04:37
August of 1995 the two perpetrators hid the bodies taking two of the bodies to a Logging
00:04:46
Road about three miles from the home and then concealing the other body in a pump
00:04:51
house that was outside of the house adjoining the house Brian's parents van was stolen and the two were in route to
00:05:01
the state of California when Nicolas McDonald decides to walk into a police station and tell them just what went
00:05:12
down hours prior to his confession so of course when you have murders like these
00:05:17
when you have crimes like these everybody wants to know why and especially we want to know why when it's
00:05:23
committed by perpetrators of such a young age 16 and 17 and so in anytime we do a case that involves a youth
00:05:33
committing murder I always refer back to an old book this one's called kids who kill by Charles Patrick ying and they
00:05:41
have a lot of Statistics in there now keep in mind this book was published in 1990 the case that we're talking about
00:05:47
comes from 1995 so some of these statistics while they're still meaningful today they come from yester
00:05:54
year and I want to read a couple of portions a couple paragraphs from this book if you will allow me there Captain
00:06:02
nope do it on your own time skipping that uh but in kids who kill Charles Patrick euwing says every year at least
00:06:09
1,000 and often more than 1500 American youngsters under the age of 18 intentionally take the lives of others
00:06:18
and are arrested for murder or manslaughter some of these killings are crimes of premeditated violence
00:06:24
motivated by greed lust or a desire for Revenge others are Crimes of Passion impulsive over responses to provocation
00:06:34
by the victim or to some explosive Drive within the killer right still other cases seem utterly senseless who are
00:06:42
these kids who kill to begin with kids who kill are really a rare breed while homicides committed by children and
00:06:50
adolescents Fascinate the public and generate a great deal of media attention these killings are actually quite
00:06:57
infrequent people younger than 18 constitute roughly one quarter of the total resident population of the United
00:07:04
States yet annually the past decade or so again this would be from 1990 and prior consistently fewer than 11% of all
00:07:14
individuals arrested in the United States for murder or intentional manslaughter have been under the age of
00:07:20
18 in 1988 for example there were 16,32 murder and intentional manslaughter arrest in the United States
00:07:32
only 1,765 again roughly 11% of those arrested were under 18 years of age to put it another way fewer than five
00:07:43
juveniles in every 100,000 are arrested for intentionally killing someone approximately half the adult arrest rate
00:07:52
for these same crimes well you said those are statistics from 1990 that was from 1988 yeah I wonder where that sits
00:07:59
today with the amount of mass shootings we have in schools yeah and you have certainly you have that increased over
00:08:07
the years as well as crime Trends especially in larger cities right now are showing an uptick in youth
00:08:15
crime and youth violent crime as well so that could be a little bit higher now what's
00:08:22
intriguing as far as this case goes too is around the same time in 1995 we talked about this in our episodes
00:08:34
titled trail of blood with the concern the growing concern of what what many officials were
00:08:45
calling the youth super Predator right and uh a strong effort by many to increase the penalty and the
00:08:56
consequences for violent crime crime committed by this nation's Youth and and the the consequences got much more
00:09:06
strict and severe in the 90s at the same time this is 1995 when this case that we're talking about this week takes
00:09:15
place now at trial the state of Washington introduced Brian bassett's statement that he made to police that he
00:09:24
and McDonald had tried to kill bassett's parents twice before the actual crimes took place but those attempts were
00:09:32
foiled for one reason or another I'm wondering if he simply wasn't able to gain access to the house in those
00:09:41
attempts yeah or access to the gun McDonald at trial testified and admitted after Brian bassette had already shot
00:09:49
Michael Brian's father that quote I felt he was suffering and so he testified that he shot him again to end Michael's
00:09:59
suffering he said that he went into the house with Brian and found the parents already having been shot by Brian and
00:10:07
Brian was quote yelling and screaming at his parents and kicking at their bodies
00:10:12
end quote well like I said on yesterday's show you use the term hate and I would I would say that's the most
00:10:21
fitting term in in this case to explain Brian McDonald's McDonald's involvement is very strange to me but I yeah because
00:10:31
he confesses to this hours afterward yeah and it sounds to me from everything we're being told from
00:10:39
McDonald and Brian and and and all parties that have examined this case is that McDonald knew going to the house
00:10:48
that night what they were going to attempt to do right as as Brian said at trial that they had attempted to
00:10:58
kill the parents twice before right McDonald denied that he shot Wendy betet at trial and despite his earlier
00:11:06
statements to the Grants Pass police he also denied having drowned Austin McDonald claimed that his earlier
00:11:15
confession which the details were slightly different uh confessing to Austin's murder
00:11:21
was simply because he was trying to conform to a story that McDonald and bassette had come up with
00:11:30
together he referred to it to it as a concoction that me and Brian had come to and now he's on the stand and he's
00:11:37
claiming that he entered the bathroom only to find that Brian had already drowned Austin in the bath yeah it's
00:11:45
very strange because like like I said the first confession initially it sounds like he's trying to distance him himself
00:11:52
from the crime and and being the perpetrator of the crime but then when he admits to drowning the the child you
00:12:00
go well this this guy's a admitting to being a monster right and so you want to believe
00:12:08
him and then you get on the you get in the trial and now you now you're stepping away well and the thing too
00:12:15
that I have to keep reminding myself because I you know you hear about these crimes and it's it's very easy to lash
00:12:22
out an anger and a knee-jerk reaction and go you know what go ahead and go ahead and string them both up right and
00:12:28
I don't care what what McDonald says I don't care how it varies from Brian's version of the events string them both
00:12:36
up but then I have to remind myself at the end of the day as bad and horrible as what McDonald witnessed and
00:12:45
participated in he still walked into the police station hours later and told them
00:12:50
what happened I mean these guys could have been on the Run they could have Brian could have killed other
00:12:56
people who knows how how much more violence could have could have taken place with these two being on the run
00:13:03
and and I said yesterday that I didn't think this was a very good plan because even had he not confessed you know it's
00:13:10
there's a reason and people will go oh you guys tell these stories and it's cheesy you bring up the the the police
00:13:17
asked family members and and Friends of the the deed and who would want to hurt who would want to harm the person that
00:13:26
was killed well yes it's it's a easy question mhm from police but nine times out of 10 in the cases that are
00:13:37
solved the reason why they're asking that question and will do so forever till the end of time is because nine
00:13:43
times out of 10 the person that that is mentioned by name to police is often the
00:13:49
person who committed the the murder and so in this case while they're trying to conceal their crimes hide the bodies
00:13:57
again Wendy's body is still on the property it sounds like they did they took efforts to clean up the crime scene
00:14:05
there's been a lot of reporting out there that says that you could walk in that house and tell that there was a
00:14:10
violent struggle that that likely a murder took place in the home and You' only have to ask one person right we we
00:14:17
gave plenty of statements from people that knew Brian and knew the family in yesterday's episode you'd only have to
00:14:23
ask one or two people to find out that oh well did you find their son Brian because he's he's violent they were
00:14:31
scared of him right the mother was sleeping with a baseball bat again like you said it could be a crime can be
00:14:38
premeditated but that doesn't mean that the perpetrators thought it thought out the
00:14:45
crime thoroughly McDonald at court admitted to driving off alone with the bodies of Austin and Michael and hiding
00:14:52
them along a Logging Road he also conceded that he helped Brian hide Wendy's body in the beset pump house and
00:15:00
that he cleaned the bassett's home after the murders in order to conceal evidence
00:15:04
of the killings a forensic pathologist testified for the state his testimony revealed that Michael betet had been
00:15:12
shot five times and that either of the two gunshot wounds to Michael's head including the one that McDonald
00:15:20
admitted to would have been fatal so regardless of of the stories we have the pathologist telling us
00:15:29
that both of the suspects both of the persons being charged where the wound takes place and the nature of the wound
00:15:37
indicates that the intention was to kill this man according to the pathologist the order in which the injuries occurred
00:15:45
to the father could not be determined so what we're seeing here is you're going to have two individuals that were both
00:15:54
involved in committing triple homicides yet they're both going to be charged with with different charges right which
00:16:01
will ultimately mean that they're facing different consequences yeah like it like
00:16:06
I said that's normally how this works when you have one guy come forward those detectives are going to
00:16:13
try to protect that individual a little bit from the prosecution the Grace Harbor County Sheriff this is Dennis
00:16:20
morett said a case this heinous should prompt State lawmakers to consider allowing the death penalty for teens as
00:16:27
young as six again I already referenced the youth or teenage super Predator if you want to go
00:16:34
back and review that case that's true crime garage trail of Blood episodes 416 and 417 and that's the story of the 1995
00:16:44
again 1995 yeah the 1995 murder of Janet Downing age 42 who the state says was committed by
00:16:52
Eddie O'Brien just 15 years old of Somerville Massachusetts who lived across the street and any crime
00:16:59
committed against a child there's that knee jerk reaction especially from me where I just go like you said just hang
00:17:08
hang them up hang them up in the middle of town square to let them know let everybody know this is what happens when
00:17:16
you want to harm a child well that goes to intent or the the premeditation of these crimes to begin with I mean the
00:17:26
the truly sad thing sad part of the story is they could have stolen money a vehicle belongings of of value from
00:17:35
anyone from anywhere they could have even stole these things from Brian's parents they didn't have to commit any
00:17:41
murders right to run off to California for whatever reason that they were planning to to go to California now we
00:17:49
talk about intent here well that's what the defense was going to want to talk about as well too because we have two
00:17:55
people it's not a question of if they did this right it's they did this who's responsible for what and why did this
00:18:03
happen so I'm going to read a an Associated Press article because they put it together better than I could have
00:18:11
typed it up myself but the article headline is defense blames rock song attorney asked to play song at teens
00:18:20
triple murder trial again this is from the Associated Press and the article reads the attorney for one of two
00:18:26
teenagers charged in a triple wants to play a rock song as part of his opening statement at the trial he contends the
00:18:35
lyrics are a key to the boy's Behavior Grace Harbor County Superior Court Judge Mark mcau said he will decide the matter
00:18:44
before opening statements get underway at a pre-trial hearing Tom copelan attorney for 18-year-old Nicolas
00:18:52
McDonald also said he plans to call McDonald to testify at length about how the song affected him quote this is
00:19:00
almost a script it's relevant to everything the legal issues the mental issues why this happened the way it
00:19:08
happened Copeland said of the song Israel's Son by the Australian alternative rock group Silver Chair day
00:19:16
mate McDonald and Brian betet 16 are charged with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the deaths of
00:19:22
BET's parents and 5-year-old brother at the family home in McClary goes on to say that jury selection for McDonald's
00:19:29
trial begin will begin soon and it says that after the killings Brian betet danced around the room kicking the
00:19:37
corpses of his parents to the strains of the rapid fire heavy guitar song according to the attorney and they quote
00:19:47
some of the lyrics here in the article saying quote hate is what I feel for you I want you to know that I want you dead
00:19:55
I hate you and your apathy you can leave you can leave I don't want you here hate
00:20:02
and execution put your hands in the air put your hands in the air prosecutors dispute the contention that the song was
00:20:10
a factor in the brutal slangs saying what does this prove that's a quote from the prosecutor Jerry Fuller and he goes
00:20:19
on to say does this prove that betet hated his parents does it prove that he had motive to kill his parents no all it
00:20:27
proves is it was a song that he played says the [Music] prosecutor this show is sponsored by
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[Music] that all right we are back cheers mates cheers to you Colonel cheers to you
00:23:05
captain again that song Israel's son is off of Silver chair's 1995 album frog stop which were just teenagers
00:23:16
themselves when they put out that record yeah yeah and there was reaction right Daniel Johns is the the singer for the
00:23:26
band Silverchair singer guitar player he says in an interview with request magazine this interview took place in
00:23:32
November of 1995 that song was about an execution I saw on telly I got this video of an execution and I just saw it
00:23:41
and I was watching it one night and I had a dream about it and I woke up and thought Oh yeah that's pretty cool and I
00:23:47
wrote a song about it but of course when asked the band's manager gave a statement to the regard of hey
00:23:56
McDonald's lawyer and betet lawyers they want to play this song They're blaming this song for their actions for for
00:24:05
their involvement in in in planning and carrying out a triple homicide John Watson the
00:24:13
band's manager was quoted as stating on behalf of the band Silverchair Silverchair do not have not and never
00:24:20
would condone violence of any sort the band is appalled by this horrific crime and they hope that justice will prevail
00:24:27
in Prosecuting whoever is responsible for it the ban extends its sincere sympathies to the families and friends
00:24:35
of the victims in this case Silverchair absolutely rejects any allegation that their song is in any way responsible for
00:24:43
the actions of the alleged murders well it seems like such a cowardly defense but what else do you expect from
00:24:53
these coward murderers you know we're going to sneak sneak into my house we're going to
00:25:00
attack my parents catch them off guard the statement goes on to say it is a matter of public record that the song in
00:25:06
question Israel's song was inspired by a television documentary about wartime atrocities Israel's son was never
00:25:14
intended to provoke violence and cannot be interpreted by any reasonable person as doing so in fact the song seeks to
00:25:21
criticize violence and War by portraying them in all their horror yeah I just think it's a cowardly defense and I I
00:25:31
don't understand what they're trying to prove blame this song blame this artist blame this other
00:25:38
teenager for putting thoughts out into the universe that this individual didn't understand yeah or these these
00:25:47
individuals don't understand I mean we've seen this before where people have blamed other rock stars and other rock
00:25:55
songs it it's one of those situations that unfortunately and we we talked about this when we reviewed the John
00:26:02
Wayne gasey Case his attorney and rightfully so said look when you are representing somebody like John Wayne
00:26:11
gasey when when a serial killer who they have a mountain of evidence against they find the bodies in
00:26:19
his home when that guy is your client your only job as the as his attorney is to attempt to save his life attempt to
00:26:29
get him get him anything other than the death penalty and in this case the two perpetrators were not
00:26:38
facing the death penalty in this case but they are facing life in prison without the possibility of parole and so
00:26:47
these attorneys are then it's not a question of guilt it's a question of why is there anybody else to blame and what
00:26:56
kind of sentence is appro for a 17 and 16y old that commit these types of crimes so you're trying to
00:27:02
throw everything at the wall hoping that someone on the jury will sympathize with
00:27:08
your client and maybe your client does not get life in prison without the possibility of parole yeah like a little
00:27:15
silly monkey throwing his feces against the wall to see what sticks and I think it's also it's this idea that if there's
00:27:23
other factors that are to blame that this individual wouldn't be like that and that there's hope for this
00:27:30
individual and that he can be rehabilitated and he can live a productive life into society later on
00:27:38
well and prosecutors would agree with you here captain in the belief that the defense was silly and there were other
00:27:46
things that were brought up by the defense obviously in both of these trials But ultimately the prosecution
00:27:53
was able to convince the jury that the murders were committed in order to steal money belongings the vehicle and run off
00:28:01
to California so both are found guilty but they each were facing different charges and so they received different
00:28:11
sentences the jury acquitted McDonald of the murder of Wendy betet remember according to his story that already
00:28:19
occurred before he even entered the home right so they found him guilty of second
00:28:24
degree murder uh two counts of second degree murder this would be the murders of Austin and Michael betet Brian betet
00:28:32
was found guilty of all three homicides all in the first degree so what did they
00:28:36
sentence them to so this is from a a February article from 1996 McDonald was found guilty of second deegree murders
00:28:45
of Michael and Austin acquitted for Wendy sentenced to 65 years in prison not long enough judge Mark mcau imposed
00:28:55
a 50-year sentence for the the drowning death of Austin and he to prove a point he had the courtroom silenced for
00:29:07
three minutes yeah which would be the amount of time it would have taken Austin to drown in a cold tub of water I
00:29:13
mean that's absolutely horrific Stephanie remember this is Brian's sister who was not home the night of the
00:29:21
murders in court she said quote he deserves to wake up every morning wishing he was not alive he deserves to
00:29:28
be locked up for the rest of our lives McDonald apologized in court saying the only thing I can do is apologize for the
00:29:37
loss of their loved ones Brian was convicted of three counts of aggravated first-degree murder and the trial court
00:29:44
sentence beset to three consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole well well like we said about
00:29:52
Brian he had three other siblings I wonder if they had any fear that that if he did get out that he would go after
00:30:00
them well that is part of what we're looking at here now because unfortunately the three consecutive
00:30:07
terms of life without the possibility of parole that sentence doesn't hold up here's a good news clip to sum up where
00:30:16
the case has moved to in the current day a man who killed his parents and his brother in 1995 will be resentenced in
00:30:23
Grace Harbor County this morning Brian Basset was just 16 years old when he killed his family members King 5's
00:30:29
Angelie cockade here this morning in the studio with more on what the court hearing is about today Angelie his
00:30:34
surviving sister trying to keep him locked up this is a very complicated case right yeah that's exactly right
00:30:40
Jake and Basset was originally sentenced to life in prison but the Washington state supreme court throughout those
00:30:46
sentences back in 2019 ruling life sentences for teenagers was unconstitutional since then he's had two
00:30:53
sentence hearings now the first hearing resentenced him to 60 years but an appeals court overturned that ruling
00:30:59
deeming it excessive the last was earlier this month bassets attorney argued prison Rehabilitation has worked
00:31:06
and called for his release Basset himself also took the stand asking for forgiveness the state however is still
00:31:12
calling for 40 years a move backed by his sister Stephanie Basset as the only surviving family member she is set to
00:31:19
testify during today's sentencing that she fears she would have been killed too had she had been home at the time of the
00:31:25
murders every day that he's behind bars I can breathe I can feel safe and I can live because I don't have a
00:31:42
doubt that the target is on my back now the court hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m. we'll have the latest on KING5 news
00:31:50
at noon for now in the studio Angelie hock so what we're faced with here captain
00:31:56
and As Told To Us by that news story there in 2015 Brian betet argues that due process in the appearance of
00:32:05
fairness entitle him to a new judge when facing a resentencing hearing basically
00:32:11
what they're saying is that it's unconstitutional to sentence a child a youth offender to the max of life and
00:32:21
prison without the possibility of Parole in his efforts in his efforts in court to get a resentencing we have Dr Jeffrey
00:32:30
Hansen who says he counselled Brian Basset in 1995 he testified at the resentencing
00:32:37
hearing once once one was granted around 1995 Brian betet ran away from home sometimes to hurt his mother he was
00:32:46
still trying to establish his identity had average cognitive ability had suffered a self-induced alcohol overdose
00:32:54
at the age of 15 had ongoing relational issues with his parents and felt hopeless and had an adjustment disorder
00:33:04
resulting in poor emotional behavioral responses to stress Dr Hansen further testified that betet faced the stressors
00:33:12
of homelessness joblessness and possibly having had an unwanted sexual relationship with McDonald it's here's
00:33:20
the thing you you sit here and you listen to a doctor try to defend this person who killed three people killed a
00:33:29
boy killed a little boy and it's it's it's hard to feel anything other than stabbing him in the
00:33:38
butt with a hot poker hate towards him right it's it's it's it's incredibly difficult to try to
00:33:44
sympathize with or for this person that you know did such horrible things and and and I'm sorry I
00:33:52
sit here and I go okay doc gu weed Cry Me a River here man betet was facing the stressors of homelessness well he
00:33:59
wouldn't be homeless if he would just get along with Mom and Dad yeah if he wasn't acting like a jackass and I don't
00:34:06
know the relationship between him and McDonald but to for a doctor to sit there on the stand and
00:34:12
say and the stressor of possibly having an unwanted sexual relationship with flicky flicky with this friend okay well
00:34:19
then quit hanging out with the friend yeah no more flicky flicky there are very simple actions that this
00:34:24
16-year-old was old enough to to recognize and understand that he could have done yet he chose not to do these
00:34:32
things and instead he chose to climb up a ladder and pull a gun on Mom and Dad and gun them down inside their home well
00:34:39
don't you think there's some evidence that if anybody was manipulating anybody in this relationship it was Brian that
00:34:49
was manipulating yes it's it's very hard to say because we don't know what was going on between McDonald and bassette
00:34:58
yeah it's not hard to say their plan was to kill Brian's parents not the other way around yeah it seems like it seems
00:35:06
at least to me from where I sit that sit on the throne of lies that it's not a situation where McDonald had his hands
00:35:12
on the steering wheel and was directing everything it it looks to me that if if McDonald did have a hand on the steering
00:35:19
wheel well Brian had both of his hands on the steering wheel as well now they go on to state that Brian stated that
00:35:26
when he entered prison as a juvenile he first thought of how much trouble he would be in when his parents learned
00:35:33
that he was in prison because the reality of his crimes quote didn't click three weeks after the murders Brian had
00:35:40
written qu I wish I hadn't done anything because now I think of all of the good times that my dad and me had before I
00:35:47
was just thinking of all of the things they did to piss me off betet expressed remorse at the resentencing and
00:35:55
explained the challenges that he faced as a homeless youth at 16 again homeless they're painting him as a victim while I
00:36:04
I believe that he homelessness was an option for him an option that he chose well is also hanging out in that shed
00:36:13
and I think that it's easy to lose track of the justice that needs to be held up
00:36:21
here for this this killer when you sit there 20 years after these people were killed
00:36:30
the victims almost start to fade away and you start to lose touch with the victims it's important to make this man
00:36:40
this boy face the most severe of consequences when these crimes are fresh when you're still hurting when the
00:36:46
community is still in pain right but then 20 years later you've had the opportunity to heal a bit and you you
00:36:55
start to forget just how cruel his actions were you know who didn't forget the people that you
00:37:02
brought up earlier the surviving family members of the perpetrator and the victims and imagine Their
00:37:10
Fear how the hell can they go on and live their a normal life right we we're all told that we are afforded the right
00:37:20
to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness I you know you say it's unconstitutional to convict this kid and
00:37:28
keep him in prison for the rest of his existence I say it's unconstitutional to let him out so his sisters and their
00:37:36
children and their husbands and their extended family they cannot experience life liberty in the pursuit of happiness
00:37:43
with this guy out I get it it's it's difficult you don't know what is the proper thing the proper punishment for a
00:37:51
16-year-old I find no problem questioning that but the thing that I can't get over is how how good do I feel
00:37:57
about letting a guy out who committed three murders coldblooded murders of people that he was supposed to love and
00:38:05
care about right and and here's the here's the other scary thing in this case in this in this exact case you know
00:38:14
not to date myself here but but you're old as [ __ ] well Brian bassette and I are roughly the same
00:38:22
age I'm not I'm not an elderly man I'm not some that is incapable of physical violence prove it put your hands up I
00:38:31
have the physical ability to do that tough guy I don't have the mind set or or the heart to do that or the balls but
00:38:40
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 he
00:38:49
hasn't aged out of this physically at least no and I think the other issue too is it's not just one murder victim
00:38:58
it's three murder victims right I mean and so to say that it's unconstitutional to give him life without the possibility
00:39:07
of a prle i g I guess that argument would make more sense or I guess easier to swallow if there was one victim but
00:39:18
there's three victims and one of those victims being a child themselves and here's what I'm hoping and praying that
00:39:23
somebody is reminding the people that are reviewing this case and reviewing the sentencing for Brian
00:39:31
betet I hope and pray that somebody informed that panel that do you know had he not
00:39:38
climbed that ladder and gone into that house that night and murdered three members of his family do you know that
00:39:46
Austin would only be 33 years old today right only 33 years old today and you're
00:39:53
telling me that this guy has served enough of a of a sentence that we should think about letting him out so as of
00:39:59
February 2017 19 States and the District of Columbia have banned all juvenile life without parole sentences in 2019
00:40:10
the state of Washington which is the state where he was sentenced the Washington State Supreme Court ruled
00:40:16
life sentences for teenagers were cruel and thus unconstitutional since then 2019 Brian
00:40:24
bassette has had two sentence hearings his attorneys making the case for his release argue and say look this guy
00:40:33
served 65% of his life sentence now it is common especially here in Ohio that one would typically serve
00:40:45
between 60 and 80% of their sentence before being up for release in August of 2022 this is from the harbor
00:40:57
news it says Brian betet has been in and out of Gray's Harbor County courtroom since 2019 pleading for his release from
00:41:06
prison it says betet was resentenced to one more year in prison this was from 2022 his sister Stephanie betet who my
00:41:16
heart goes out to in the biggest form she says quote I ask the court for myself for my family especially for my
00:41:25
children or my parents or Austin that every day that he's behind bars I can breathe I can feel safe and I can live
00:41:32
because I don't have a doubt that a Target is on my back end quote yeah and what we live in a very strange
00:41:43
world where we go oh we we don't want to be too cruel to the individual that took three
00:41:50
people's lives yeah and then instead of accepting some responsibility initially or later on in life blamed a rock
00:42:01
song blame blamed everybody Under the Sun I mean it's I I I I don't understand I don't understand this world sometimes
00:42:12
where we want to be sympathetic or apathetic to or think that we are growing as a society because we can now
00:42:21
forgive him and let him out well and look okay so he takes one line so you give him life sentence without the
00:42:28
possibility of parole he took another life so give him another life sentence without the possibility of parole he
00:42:34
took another life so give him another life sentence without the possibility of parole and then he can serve those
00:42:39
sentences you know so he can serve 60% of the one sentence and then serve 60% of the next one and he'll never get out
00:42:47
of jail and that would be fine with me and that would make the most sense so a judge Amma Millow I hope that I'm saying
00:42:54
that name correctly a m a m i l o shared her opinion on the matter saying quote the betet family mlar which is the city
00:43:05
that he was from and the Grace Harbor County community at large need to know that Mr bassette is not likely to be a
00:43:13
threat to anyone when released if and when he gains release Brian bassette will have a mandated anti-harassment and
00:43:23
lifetime no contact order against his sister okay this guy does not strike me as somebody that likes to play by the
00:43:30
rules so we're we're going to put these little ticky tacky rules on him oh you can't go over and talk to your sister
00:43:37
you can't have any contact with her we we're supposed to believe for a moment that a that a guy that climbs into a
00:43:43
home breaks into a home and guns down people that he's going to care for an anti-harassment lifetime no contact
00:43:50
order the most recent news unfortunately comes from May of 2022 this from from the harbor news again that states that
00:43:58
Brian's release is dependent on a number of factors including tight controls related to substance use he must
00:44:04
participate in the champion programs recommended after care to include sober support groups he will be expected to
00:44:12
participate in electronic monitoring for the first 90 days of his release oh great well what about day 91 or day 92
00:44:21
in addition McDonald should be supervised at the highest level for the first year in the community documents
00:44:27
state that McDonald has demonstrated positive prison behavior for approximately the past 5 years well
00:44:34
congratulations right uh I won't be handing out any awards to people that have demonstrated positive prison
00:44:40
behavior for the past five years and it goes on to say with no serious infractions since his last Board hearing
00:44:46
which was approximately five years ago the parole document noted that he quote does not appear to experience any acute
00:44:55
distress or psychiatric dysfunction that increases his risk for violence end quote so unfortunately the decision to
00:45:03
allow for his release was unanimous by the board as of May 12th of 2022 he still housed at Airway Heights
00:45:12
Correctional Facility pending release I don't believe that he's been released because it would be newsworthy it be
00:45:18
something that we have found but what it sounds like to me Captain from everything that that I could find is
00:45:24
that it's not a question of if he will be released more of a question of when and unfortunately the articles that I
00:45:31
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
00:45:39
here I understand what's going on I understand that you are are evaluating this individual as such and you the
00:45:46
panel you the board have decided that he is okay to be released back into society
00:45:54
back into the communities look I don't want want to sound like the the old grumpy man shaking his hand shaking his
00:46:00
fist at a black cloud but it's like okay cool you say he's not a threat you say he's not a danger let him live in your
00:46:06
backyard let him live next door to you and next door to your kids yeah let him live in your shed and and You better
00:46:14
lock those windows cuz he's going to be crawling in this case is a a case that I've heard of since the 9s and a case
00:46:24
that I've always wanted to die into more and last year I was watching a documentary called future never about
00:46:33
Daniel Johns and they ask him about Brian blaming their song for the murders and how he feels about it all these
00:46:43
years later so I don't know if you've been asked this before but in 1995 there were two American teenagers
00:46:51
who uh killed one of the boys parents and his 5-year-old brother and they blamed it on your song Israel's son you
00:47:00
were just 16 years old when this was all happening and uh how did you feel when when this was going on did you take it
00:47:09
did you internalize this at all yeah I I didn't realize at the time but but I did at the time I was still
00:47:23
um I guess I it affected me but I had to act like it didn't and I had to also I couldn't acknowledge it I guess
00:47:37
that was part of the pattern like if I acknowledge that that could interrupt talk about having blinds on I was like
00:47:45
that is [ __ ] up and that's going to [ __ ] me in the future but for now I've got this to do I didn't realize that
00:47:52
that would continue to happen for a really long time and I just push everything away and just focus
00:47:58
on the music it's that's it's pretty devastating to write a song when you're a teenager and then like
00:48:10
have someone's lives taken because apparently it influenced the people to murder
00:48:20
someone that's that's too much I don't like that people look to me for GU I don't s my songs I don't like
00:48:29
[Music] it oh I would have love to interview Daniel John's I would ask him do you eat
00:48:46
kangaroos for breakfast mate want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage each and every week make sure
00:48:54
you tell a friend and tell your mother tell your mother about this show Colonel do we have any recommended reading for
00:49:01
the beautiful listeners this week we are recommending the Supreme gentleman Killer by Brian Whitney this is a story
00:49:09
a true crime story about a man named Elliot Roger Elliot Roger considered himself to be intelligent refined
00:49:16
handsome fashionable and Charming in fact he thought of himself as the Supreme gentleman but women paid no
00:49:24
attention to him so Roger decided to get revenge and he spent months planning what he called his day of
00:49:32
Retribution read and learn how and why this young man became a spree killer check out the Supreme gentleman killer
00:49:40
the true story of an incel mass murder by Brian Whitney we have featured several of Brian's books in this segment
00:49:47
over the years this is just another great one go to True Crim garage.com to find great titles like the Supreme
00:49:54
gentleman killer and many more recommendations including books podcast and documentaries yeah and while you're
00:50:02
there sign up on the mailing list because we like to send out promo codes to you and one's coming at you pretty
00:50:07
soon so make sure you sign up on the mailing list until next week be good be kind and don't
00:50:14
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