- Reverend,
you're on duty today.
Can you think...
just think about the man
whom you are going to encounter
in an hour from now,
less than an hour from now.
- I really am going there
without any expectations.
I'm going there to experience
what God has prepared for me,
for him,
for all of those involved,
and I don't
preconceive anything.
Not today.
I will let that happen
as it occurs,
as time gets there.
We have a loving, caring,
forgiving, merciful God,
and in time of joy
and in time of need,
in time of trial
or tribulation,
God is always there for us.
I want to make
that presence to them.
- And technically when he is
led to the gurney,
what is your duty then?
- After everything
is completed,
as far as the preparation,
then I walk over, and I stand
as he has allowed me to stand.
I always ask permission
to be able to stand at his feet
and hold his ankle,
and I move toward
that position,
and I place my hand
on his ankle,
and then that's what...
what I do
until death occurs.
- And if there is
no family interested
in taking care of the body,
the condemned men would end up
right behind you?
- Yes, they end up here
at the state cemetery,
and they're buried
by the state.
No names on the crosses,
only numbers.
- Why does God allow
capital punishment?
- I don't know the answer.
I believe that
there's always a purpose
why God allows
things to happen.
God has created so many things
in this world.
I play golf sometimes.
I love to be on
the golf course,
because one thing I do,
I put my phone on a silent mode.
I go out there sometimes
by myself with no distractions,
and I can see
the beautiful grass.
I can see the squirrels,
from time to time, running.
Sometimes the deer are running.
Sometimes I look across
the golf course,
and I see a cow or a horse,
and... and I... and I stop,
and I acknowledge life.
Life,
the things
that God has created.
- Please describe
an encounter with a squirrel.
- An encounter with a squirrel,
I was driving the golf cart,
and I was on the golf...
on the cart path,
and I saw two squirrels.
They were chasing each other,
and as I was getting closer,
they were running across
the cart path,
and I put on my brakes,
and they stopped in
the middle of the cart path
and looked at me,
and I said, "How about this?"
"If I wouldn't have stopped,
"I could have run over
one of these squirrels.
Their life would have ended."
And that reminds me...
of the many people
that I have been with
in their last breath of life,
and due to bad choices and
mistakes in their life, they...
their life is taken away
in that moment.
So life is precious,
whether it's a squirrel
or a human being.
So I will sometimes meditate
on that experience.
Make a little noise,
and the squirrels will take off
and continue their life,
but I cannot do that.
For someone on the gurney,
I cannot stop the process
for them.
But I wish I could.
- Good, yeah.
You are not wired yet,
so we have to wire you first.
Michael Perry,
now from all of us,
the whole team here,
we would like to offer
our condolences.
Your father passed away.
- Right, on the 10th.
My dad died 13 days ago.
- 13 days ago.
- Yeah, on June 10th.
- But you will die or you are
scheduled for execution...
- Right.
- In only eight days.
- Yes, sir.
- How are you doing?
- You know... you know,
I'm a Christian, so, you know,
I believe that, you know,
paradise awaits
one way or the other,
so I tell people all the time,
I'm either going home
or home, so...
I'm either going home
to the world or home to God,
so I... you know,
as the days get closer,
I can feel the pressure
on my shoulders.
They call it clinical depression
where I just start having
less motivation to do things,
less energy.
You get frustrated at the...
at the system.
How can they not see, you know,
my situation is wrong?
You know, I... I used to
write all the time
and have a lot of energy,
and I just don't
have it any more.
I just feel like
I've been beaten down.
- I have the feeling
that destiny, in a way,
has dealt you
a very bad deck of cards.
It does not exonerate you,
and... and when I talk to you,
it does not necessarily mean
that I have to like you,
but I respect you,
and you are a human being,
and I think human beings
should not be executed.
- Mm-hmm.
- As simply as that.
- Right.
- Lieutenant, this looks
idyllic and safe.
- Well, and you would
think that.
This is a gated community,
obviously.
The houses that are out here
are very large houses,
very expensive houses,
and you would think
that this is...
this is a very quiet area,
and you would, I guess,
associate that with security.
But this house right here
is actually the house
where Sandra Stotler
was murdered.
This is where Michael Perry
and Jason Burkett
parked out on the street
and went in and...
and murdered her.
At the time that we found her,
she was actually
baking cookies,
and there was evidence of that.
There was... there was
cookies out.
There was cookie dough out.
So she was in the process
of that when she was killed.
- But apparently
the first plan was not murder.
- Well, and that was something
that we were told,
that initially the...
the boys were all...
when I say "boys,"
Michael Perry, Jason Burkett,
Adam Stotler,
and Jeremy Richardson...
they were acquaintances
through, you know,
some mutual friends.
They weren't
really friends themselves,
but they... they were
acquaintances,
and what we were told was...
is that they came here
with the intention
of trying to get Adam Stotler
to allow them to stay the night
by telling them they didn't have
a place to stay,
and they were going to try
to get the keys to the car
and steal it.
That's what they were after,
was the red Camaro
that was in the garage.
Upon going to the door
and talking to the mother,
and she said that they were out,
the boys were out,
and so they left,
and that's when
their plan changed,
that they were just going to
kill her and take the car.
So they went back up
to the door,
and the garage was open,
and the door going into
the house was open.
Michael Perry,
by his own admission,
entered that garage door
and went into the laundry room
at the time that Jason Burkett
knocked on the front door.
And as their truck
was out here,
he told them
that the truck wouldn't start
and they needed to call someone
to come and assist them.
So she let him in the house
to use the telephone,
and while he was doing that,
Michael Perry stepped
out of the laundry room
and knocked on
the back garage door,
which made her come
and answer it,
and he stepped out from the
laundry room from behind her,
and that's when he shot her.
The actual garage door itself
was open
when our deputies
arrived on the scene.
The master bedroom,
which is in the back part
of the house
behind the garage over here,
they went in,
and they took the top bedding,
the blanket and the...
the top sheet,
and that's what they
wrapped her in.
They brought her out,
put her in the truck,
and they drove her out
to Crater Lake
to dispose of her body.
- And how does it happen?
Was it drugs?
- You know, I don't know
that there was ever
any direct evidence
as far as, you know,
drugs relating particularly
to this case.
I mean, honestly, it was just...
you know, they had a car.
You know, this lady owned a car
that they wanted,
so, you know, it was...
unfortunately, you know,
people died for a theft.
Other than it being dark,
this is pretty much
the way it was
that night
when we came out here.
You'll see all kinds of debris
and trash here, as I said.
This is... was pretty commonly
used for a dumping ground.
They've pulled lots of vehicles
out of... out of Crater Lake.
We've had, actually,
a few other bodies
that we've... that we've gotten
out of Crater Lake.
This is Crater Lake here.
This little area right here,
this is where the tire treads
in the dirt was actually here.
At the time that they first
came down here,
they actually backed up to that
and tried to slam
on their brakes,
hoping to eject the body
in the water,
and that didn't work,
so, again,
that was just something that...
that we heard.
I don't know that that's
actually what happened,
but you could tell from...
there wasn't any distinct
tire wear in the ground.
You could just tell
that a tire...
tires had been
spinning there, so...
So it seemed to fit the story,
but they ended up
getting the body
and... and carrying it out here,
and it was just dropped
in the water.
We didn't know when we
processed the scene here
and when we processed
Sandra Stotler's residence,
we still did not know
that we had any other victims
other than her.
This is the gated community
of Highland Ranch.
Inside those gates is the house
where Sandra Stotler
was murdered.
When Michael Perry
and Jason Burkett came back here
to get the Camaro
that they were after,
these gates were...
were shut and locked,
so they didn't have access
to it,
so they waited around
and parked
until Adam Stotler and
Jeremy Richardson returned home,
and that's when they got them to
come out in the woods with them
and... and murdered them
so that they could get
basically the clicker
to come back and get access in...
you know, into this gate
so that they could go back
to the house
and take the Camaro.
- So only because they
didn't have the code here
and it was closed at night,
two more young people
had to die.
- Yes, sir.
That's correct.
- Lieutenant, Jason Burkett
and Michael Perry
bragged about
what they had done.
How clear evidence was that?
- Well, because it came
from multiple people.
It wasn't just one.
We got reports
from several people
from the different hangouts
that they had said
that they had killed people.
That's how they got
the vehicles.
It was pretty convincing.
I mean, we believed it.
Although, again, we...
we didn't have evidence
that we had other bodies
at the time.
- Only after Perry confessed,
he pointed you to the location
of the two young boys.
- Yes, sir.
- As soon as I found out
my mother...
her body had been found,
that whole week is just a blur.
I was watching the news.
It was Monday morning,
and I saw helicopters flying
over Ronny's truck stop here.
Well, we live a mile,
and I had a glimmer of hope.
I said, "Adam got away.
He's found his way home."
Because that's the exit you'd
get off to come to my house.
So I told my husband.
I said, "Get in the car.
We're going down there."
'Cause they showed
the crime scene,
the helicopters.
My brother's car
was there on the news.
So we went up
to Ronny's truck stop,
and I saw all that stuff
on the car,
and I'm like,
"oh, that's not Adam's car.
He doesn't have all that stuff
on there."
- "Stuff" meaning?
- The stickers and the...
- "Gauge," "A.B."?
- Yeah, I saw all that stuff.
I was like,
"oh, that's not his car."
You know, and then I looked at
the license plate.
The car was riddled
with bullets,
and they had just
chased them down
and caught them at
the apartment complex,
and I was kind of
trailing behind them,
and they left to go
to the hospital,
and they told me...
I was like, "Please tell me,"
because Adam had been missing
now since Wednesday,
and it was now Monday,
and I said,
"Please tell me,
was Adam with them?"
And they said, "Adam got shot",
and they took him
to the hospital."
Now, Michael Perry
is still saying he's Adam.
He got out of jail.
He bonded out of jail.
- Perry just had his ID.
You believed...
- I believed he was alive.
- Your brother was safe,
only wounded,
because you were told
Adam was safe...
- Was shot.
- And shot but in hospital.
- And I... you know,
I was like...
Thank God.
So I started calling
the hospitals
trying to figure out
which hospital he was at,
and I described him,
and she's like...
I finally got a nurse
who would talk to me,
and she's like, "That's not
the kid that's here, ma'am."
- But you had hopes, I mean,
substantial hopes
that your brother Adam
was wounded but safe.
- Yes.
- Alive.
- Yeah.
- And all of a sudden...
- My world was ripped out
from underneath me.
Everyone was gone.
I called Lieutenant Davidson,
and he told me to come down
to the police station,
and I told him,
"I'm watching you on TV
right now.
Just tell me
if that's Adam."
And he said,
"I really would like you
to come down
to the station."
And I said, "Just tell me."
And he said,
"Yeah, it's Adam."
He said, "It's Adam,"
and my knees gave out,
and I never knew that your knees
really went weak, you know,
but that saying is true,
"Weak in the knees."
My knees went weak,
and I fell to the floor.
- This is Lindsey Lane.
This is where we were directed
on this road
by Michael Perry
in his confession
that we would find
two additional bodies
of Adam Stotler
and Jeremy Richardson.
We came down this road,
and then we split up.
We went to the end of the road,
and we actually walked
back this way
and discovered Adam's body.
They lured them into this area
by telling them that there was
a mutual friend of theirs
that had gotten hurt
while they were hunting.
This house obviously
was not here at the time.
You can see,
as this is coming out,
how it's coming around,
so it's gonna be
somewhere about...
somewhere in that concrete
is gonna be
about where his body
was discovered.
Once we actually
processed the scene
and we moved the body,
once we moved the body,
there was a cigarette butt
under it, which we collected,
and there was also another
cigarette butt close by,
but the one that was
under his body,
once we submitted it
to the state lab for DNA,
it had Michael Perry's DNA
on it.
- Which means the body
had fallen...
- Had fallen on the cigarette
after it was already discarded
on the ground.
The other body
was Jeremy Richardson.
From where we actually
found his body,
it was so dense with trees,
we couldn't even get into it.
I don't know
how he got into it.
We couldn't hardly even get into
it without taking machetes
and... and cutting back
some of the brush.
Jeremy, he ran
for some distance
while he was being shot at.
I don't know if it was 'cause
he heard the gunshots here
and got startled,
or if Jason pointed
the shotgun at him,
and he realized it
before he was actually shot,
and he took off running.
- Charles, you lost
your brother, Jeremy.
Do you remember the moment
when you heard about it?
- I was in Georgia,
and I got a phone call
from my aunt
saying for me to call home.
Something bad had happened.
I tried to call.
I didn't have no money
at the time,
and my phone wouldn't let me
call long distance,
so I tried to call collect,
and my grandpa hung up on me.
He didn't want to...
he didn't even want to pay
$2 to talk to me
to tell me my brother was dead.
I had to actually
get my aunt to call
and find out what was going on,
and then she called me back,
and my first thought was...
just because on the phone
she says,
"Do you know Jason Burkett?"
I said, "Yeah."
She said,
"Well, something's happened,
and your brother's dead,"
and, uh...
My... my first thought was,
you know,
Jason was just driving,
being stupid
the way he normally was
and had wrecked,
and then she told me no,
that Jason shot my brother
over a car.
I... I just fell out.
I fell out.
My uncle came
and picked me up, and, uh...
We just went driving around.
- And your father?
Where was he?
- He was in prison.
- How serious?
- Well, it was the first time
he was in jail for murder,
in prison for murder.
- Life sentence?
- Well, no.
He... he was doing
his 15 year sentence first,
and then he was out
for about a year,
and then he went
and got a life sentence,
and he's just getting out
after that.
- And you flew in
for the funeral?
- Yeah, I flew in
for the funeral.
The cops said I had jumped bond,
and the cops were there to...
to take me to jail
over my brother's...
Can I tell 'em
what it was for or...
I mean, would it be okay
to tell 'em,
you know, it was
a drug possession?
- So you took the jail time
for your brother,
and you were arrested?
- Yeah, at the funeral.
The cops came in there.
There was six cops came in
and identified me
and told me they were gonna
take me to jail right then.
I asked them, you know,
could I at least stay
for my brother's funeral.
- And the teardrops,
the tattoos,
what do they signify?
- I lost my...
my brother and my sister.
- Brother murdered.
Your sister,
what happened to her?
- She was coming to my house,
and she crossed the freeway,
and she got ran over by a car.
- Tell me about
your brother Jeremy.
Can you show us?
- Jeremy was... he was...
he was just the golden child.
He was a good kid,
trusted his friends.
He would get in trouble just...
just to...
to have that attention,
but he wouldn't
do nothing serious.
He would... he would never
do anything too serious.
He got in trouble for
making people laugh, you know,
talking during class, you know,
stuff like that.
He was a very sociable person.
Everybody loved him, and, uh...
Everybody said that
I was the one
that was supposed to be dead
before I was 21 and not Jeremy.
- And you loved him.
- Of course.
He was my...
he was my best friend.
He was my best friend
growing up.
He's all I had.
- You took care of him.
- I tried.
Turns out the only thing
I did was hurt him.
I introduced him to the people
that killed him.
He'd tell me all the time,
it was me and him
against the world.
I tell my wife
the same thing now.
It's just me and him
against the world.
- I believe from the time
that we got the initial call
until they were caught,
it was within a week.
It was, I believe,
five to seven days.
- And you arrived at the scene
where they were apprehended?
- Yes, sir.
- Can you describe?
Was it mayhem?
- Yes, sir, it was.
There was a truck stop...
actually, the truck stop's
not there any more,
but it was at the... kind of
the side parking lot
of a truck stop,
and there was
an abandoned warehouse,
and then on the other side
of that, an apartment complex,
so the entire scene spanned
from that parking lot
all the way well into
the apartment complex.
There was shotgun shells.
There was cartridge casings
where they had exchanged fire
with the officers
that were there.
There was wrecked vehicles,
and, I mean, there was
just people everywhere.
- And the police officer
was run over?
- Yes, sir, his leg.
There was a vehicle
wrecked out,
and all the glass
in the vehicle
had shattered
from the gunshots.
Burkett and Perry both sustained
gunshot wounds.
I believe Jason Burkett
was shot three times,
if I'm not mistaken,
and I'm not really certain
about Michael Perry,
but they... they both had wounds
from gunshots
and obviously glass cuts
and scrapes.
- So there was a wild,
hot pursuit,
and you were
in this wild chase.
Did you actually open fire
at them or...
- What had happened...
- I don't want to be
too indiscreet, but I think...
- Well, I can tell you.
I can tell you.
I pled guilty.
I've got 10 years done on
a 15 year sentence for it, so...
- I see, yeah.
- We were asleep.
We had been drinking
the night before.
We were sleeping in the car
because we couldn't
get to the motel,
which was on
the other side of a fence.
I don't remember this other guy
that was in the car with us.
I don't know
how he got with us.
I don't know his name.
I don't know anything
about him.
Michael Perry and me
were drinking,
and somehow this guy
got with us that night.
I remember getting woke up
and getting shot in the car.
I looked around.
Michael Perry
wasn't next to me.
It was some other kid
next to me,
but Perry was in the backseat,
and Perry tried to get
out of the car in the back,
and then he shut the door.
I started the truck,
and I went to flee,
and everybody says,
"You shouldn't have ran.
You shouldn't have ran."
I had just been shot,
and the only way for me
to not to get shot again
was to get out of there,
and I wasn't thinking clearly.
I didn't know about a murder.
I didn't know about
what they were looking...
I didn't know the extent.
I didn't even know
they knew who I was.
And when I drove off,
the officer was
right in front of me.
I drove to the right,
and he shot me through the door
right here in my arm.
- How badly were you wounded?
- I was shot right here.
- Can you show it higher for me?
- I was shot right here
in my wrist.
I was shot right here
in my hand, my finger.
I was shot right here.
I was shot right here,
and I was shot right here.
Right here, I had a piece
of the car door in my side.
- Still lodged in your side?
So how do you get through
a metal detector?
- Well, it came out afterwards.
It came out.
It did finally come out
in the jail.
Right here in my collarbone,
I had a piece of glass
from the car door, went inside.
I crashed into a building
because I couldn't steer.
My blood's all in the truck.
They said,
"Well, your DNA's on the gun."
My DNA's on everything
in there.
I was shot.
My DNA was on Michael Perry.
My DNA was on every seat
in there from being shot.
Blood went everywhere.
Whenever I crashed,
I jumped out and ran.
I ran.
I ran in the building.
There was cops
shooting at the building
where we were crashed into.
They were shooting
from every direction.
The window in the back
of the building's like this.
You can't get through it.
I shot one time with the gun
through the window.
I probably shouldn't
have done that,
but I was trapped,
and I was panicking.
I didn't know what to do.
And when we got through there,
we ran to some apartments,
and, you know, I... I carried Perry
half the way,
but, I mean,
we got to the apartment.
- You... you dealt with it
like real tough men.
I remember reading somewhere
that Michael Perry shouted,
"This is it.
Put the balls at the walls,"
or something.
"Let's bolt.
Let's fight back."
Can you remember
something like that?
- I remember reading that
they said, "Balls to the walls,"
or, you know, something.
I don't recall him saying it.
He could have said it.
- Too much commotion.
Too many bullets flying.
- I didn't really understand
what was happening.
All I knew is, where we were at,
we could not stay there.
- Yeah.
- And... and he was screaming,
"Balls to the walls," they say.
- Well, um, how can I say?
I... I don't want to go into
the details of...
of what happened,
but fact is that
three people were killed.
- Mm-hmm.
- And you deny that you were
even close to the scene or...
how... how do you...
- Well, there's no longer
a question.
There's no longer a question
of my innocence.
That's... question
is out the door.
The question is, what is anyone
gonna do about it now?
I mean, a perfect example is,
you're here with these guys.
They show up
at your hotel room in a car.
You're gonna assume that
that car is...
you know,
these are your friends,
so when Jason shows up
to pick me up in a car,
I'm gonna assume it's okay.
You get in it,
and you get arrested,
and you come to find out he just
murdered someone from that car,
you're gonna end up
on Texas death row.
You're gonna end up right here
because you trusted
one of these guys
to show up and pick you up
in a... in a real car
that wasn't just stolen.
- But trusting in Jason
was a bad choice.
- Oh, absolutely.
- I mean, let's face it.
He was some sort of a bad apple,
and so... so were you.
- I was homeless and starving,
so it was...
- And using drugs and stealing.
- He offered me drugs.
He offered me a place to stay.
He offered me food,
so I chose...
I chose that,
which I shouldn't have.
I regret it every...
every minute now.
Cherish every minute, huh?
Cherish every minute.
Make the most of it because,
you know,
they can... they can...
they can do you like me.
Be in the wrong situation
at the wrong time,
and there's no telling
where you end up.
You might want to get out of
Texas as soon as possible, huh?
They might arrest you
any... any second, huh?
- I went over
to my buddy's house.
There was a guy there,
and he wanted to fight me,
and he run up on me
as I got out of the truck,
and... and I just
kind of blew him off.
You know what I mean?
"Just go on, man,
go on about your business."
And everybody said he was saying
he was gonna stab me
when I got out of the truck.
You know,
it kind of pissed me off,
so I... I went back,
found the dude,
and run up on him,
and I was taking off my shirt,
and I threw my... threw my
shirt up like that, you know,
and threw it up over my elbow.
I was gonna take it off,
and when I did that,
he hit me right here
with a screwdriver, you know,
a screwdriver about that long,
and it was a Phillips,
you know, them little skinny,
long screwdrivers.
It sunk in to the handle,
and after that, uh...
- All the way to the handle?
- All the way to the handle.
- How did it happen?
- Man, it's probably,
probably about right in there.
It went straight...
straight through under my arm,
into my chest,
and I never went to the hospital
or anything.
- And what did you feel?
You felt the...
- Yeah, just a...
I felt the... the...
you know, the pressure of it
when it hit.
That's all I felt,
and I kind of jumped back
out the way,
and... and I looked,
and my buddy threw me a knife,
and I looked down at the knife
on the ground,
and I was like, you know,
I'm thinking to myself
in my head, you know,
"I'm going home
to my kids today."
You know, so I didn't even
pick it up,
and then my other buddy come out
running by the yard,
and I had to be at work
in 30 minutes.
Matter of fact, I roof...
I was roofing a house
with Jason's brother.
What is it, Chris Burkett?
And I was roofing
a house with him.
- Chris was not in jail
at that time.
- Nah.
- And you went to hospital?
- Nah.
They was asking me
if I needed to go
to the hospital or anything,
but it just...
some, like, puss
and a little bit of blood
come out,
and, you know,
I thought I was good.
Evidently, I guess I am.
So I was lucky there.
- But you have never been in...
in real trouble with the law?
- I had a felony.
That's the only bad...
bad one I had.
- But you're a working man.
- Yes, sir.
- You have a job?
- Yeah, I ain't been in trouble
in four years.
- Can I see your hands?
- Yeah.
- When we shook hands,
I noticed your calluses.
You are working...
- Yeah.
- In a paint shop?
- Yep.
- Cars.
- Yes, sir.
- Solid work.
- Yes, sir.
- And the tattoo in here?
Can I see this?
Can you show it?
- Bailey.
- You had been with her
when you met Burkett?
- Nah.
- Not yet, uh-huh.
- No.
I've been with her
for three years,
and I got a 17 month old baby
with her.
- Oh, yeah.
So you are staying with her?
- Yeah.
- Now the tattoo is forever.
- Yeah, it's forever.
They just don't come off.
- And what happens if
the relationship unravels?
What happens to "Bailey"?
- Guess I'm gonna have to get
"Bailey sucks" right there.
- Can you talk about
Jason Burkett?
How did you meet him?
How did you know him?
What do you know about him?
- First time I ever met him,
seemed like a pretty cool guy,
you know?
So we hung out,
and I introduced him to
a few girls and everything,
and then we used to
go huntin' together.
One time, he tried to kill me.
I introduced him
to these girls,
and her dad and him
had something going on.
I don't know.
Well, anyway, he thought
I wanted to get with that girl
and come over
to another girl's house
and rushed me with a gun.
Well, I had this girl
tell me to come outside,
and I was eating supper,
and he rushed me with a gun.
So we fought
for about 45 minutes
with a gun to my head
in this girl's house.
It was a .22 caliber
single-shot pistol.
Yeah, he held... held it
to my head,
banged me in the head with it.
We were fighting all through
the house with the gun
till I locked myself
in this bedroom,
and he was gonna
kick in the door,
so I just opened the door
and let him in
because I didn't want him to
tear this girl's dad's house up,
and after that,
we started fighting again,
and he pinned me on the bed,
and he pulled the trigger.
- Where did the bullet go?
- Nah, it misfired,
because the bullet
come out the gun,
and you could tell on
a 22 bullet, there's like...
it's just that round,
flat piece on the bottom.
Well, if the firing pin
ain't long enough,
it don't hit it, and...
and it don't... it won't go off,
but it hit it, but I don't know
why it didn't go off.
- You were lucky.
- Yeah.
- Very lucky.
- Yeah, I kind of
blacked out there.
But, yeah, real lucky.
And then him killing
those people, man,
I feel sorry
for their families.
Me and my friend Big Justin
was up at the bar one time,
and he come up there with these
new cars, him and Perry,
and we're like, "Man",
where'd y'all get
these new cars at?"
He's like,
"oh, we was holding hands"...
him and Perry was holding hands
and scratched off
a lottery ticket together
and won them two cars.
Well, me and my buddy
knew it wasn't right,
because they're both felons,
you know what I mean?
Ain't nobody gonna sell them...
ain't neither one
got a driver's license,
so, you know, and... and the cars
were, like, fully loaded,
CD's, skateboards,
and stuff like that in there,
and so we knew something...
something was up with it,
and he started giving people
joy rides up at the bar.
- Jason and Michael
came up to the bar
to show off two new vehicles
that they had purchased,
and at first, we...
nobody really understood.
They explained that they had
purchased a lottery ticket,
and that's how they got
the money to buy the cars,
and at that time, it started
getting a little weird.
- What didn't sound right
about this?
- The amount of
the lottery ticket was $4,000.
They said they cashed it
in a gas station.
That doesn't usually happen.
The vehicles themselves
didn't look like
they just came off a car lot.
- You drove these cars?
- I rode in them.
I didn't drive them.
Yeah, they...
Jason and Michael
were kind of giving everybody
test drives,
and I rode in both vehicles.
The... the red Camaro,
when I rode in it,
they were showing off guns.
There was a 12 gauge shotgun,
and I don't remember
the other one,
but I did see 'em in the trunk
of the red Camaro that night.
From what I heard, rumors,
you know, they were into...
initially planning on stealing
a car of my roommate
at the house I was staying at,
and that scared
the hell out of me,
'cause that could've been me.
You know, if he would've
decided to come
and get the car in my driveway,
where would I be?
I've... I've managed
to block it.
I've managed to try
to not deal with it
and not think about it.
I guess being in the situations
that I've been in,
just from being employed
at that bar,
I have seen so many awful things
that I don't deal with them.
I just kind of put them back.
- Did Jason brag about crimes?
- He never bragged to me
and my buddy Big Justin.
We didn't even know
what had happened,
and they was... they come got us
from Justin's house,
the police did,
and they took us up there,
and they was like,
"Y'all read the paper?"
And I told 'em, well,
I couldn't read,
and then they didn't
believe me,
and they looked at my record
and found out I can't read,
and then, so they read
the paper to me,
and they told me
what they had done.
- Mm-hmm.
Do you read now?
- Oh, yeah.
- So late, you started to learn
how to read.
- Yeah, I learned how to read.
- Wonderful, yes?
I find this
a great achievement.
- Yeah, it is awesome.
- You are much more
connected now.
- Yeah.
- How does it feel
not to be able to read?
You have to be much smarter
than the others
to understand the world anyway.
- Yeah.
It's... it's kind of tough
out there when you can't read,
but, I mean,
'cause they ain't always have
somebody gonna read it for you.
But, I mean,
I learned how to read in jail
so I could write letters
and read the letters,
and other than that,
I don't plan on going back,
but I'm glad I learned
how to read there.
- And you are doing good now?
- Oh, yeah.
Staying busy at the paint
and body shop.
- Reading?
- Oh, yeah.
- Writing?
- Not much writing.
A lot of sanding.
- I'm interested in your
relationship with Michael Perry.
How did you two meet?
How does this thing happen?
- In 2000,
I had a girlfriend in 2000.
She had a friend named Miranda.
I ended up going to jail,
and Miranda, I seen her
on the side of the road
arguing with Michael Perry,
and I said...
I pulled over, and I asked her
what was going on,
and she said,
"He's living in my trunk,
"and I can't get him...
"you know, he can't live there
no more.
"My dad's seen him.
"My dad got in a fight with him
this morning.
He can't live there."
So he was living
in the trunk of a car,
and I said, "Well, I don't know
what to tell you."
And she asked me,
"Can he live with you?"
And at that moment, I told her,
"No, he can't live with me."
And then, I looked at him,
and she's, like, sad and crying,
and she said, "Please, let him
live with you just for a month."
This was when we were living
in the camper trailer,
and I told him,
"You can live with us.
Get your stuff, put it
in my truck, and come home."
And from that day on,
I fed him, gave him money,
took care of him.
He was like a...
like a little brother,
kid brother
that was pushed on you,
and... and when they... he's older
than me by a few months,
but I had to take care of him
because he had nothing.
He had nobody.
Little did I know he had
a very supportive family.
His mom and dad
were both supportive.
He just didn't want
to follow rules.
He was just like me
and didn't want to follow rules,
and that's why he ended up
living with me,
'cause they said,
"Work and you can live with us."
He didn't want to work.
- And you were sent on a
outward Bound trip into Florida.
What happened?
What was that, yeah?
- Well, you know,
I'm a city boy at heart,
you know what I'm saying?
I'm really not into
the nature and bugs
and... and the weather
and, you know.
So, you know, when... they sent me
on a two week canoe trip.
- Which sounds wonderful
for me, but...
- Yeah, you know, you know,
I like to canoe,
but what it...
what was...
It wasn't the canoeing
that was bad.
It was that it was
in the Everglades.
I mean, we're seeing alligators
everywhere.
Now, my question is...
and I didn't even realize that
until I got here...
what happened
if I would've fell out
and got eaten by an alligator?
Who would've been responsible?
You know, did my parents sign
some type of waiver?
Because there was
alligators everywhere.
- Well, a young man of 13,
you better watch out
and... and handle
the alligators well, yes.
- Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
- But what happened then?
You didn't...
- Well, I think it was on
the third or fourth day.
We would canoe until, like,
nighttime and pull in.
I guess they had certain
designations marked,
and sometimes we'd pull in,
like, at midnight.
There's bugs... you can reach out
and grab a handful of bugs,
and then they'd want us
to cook dinner,
and, you know, I'm like,
"Man, I can't."
And one of the things
of the program was
to teach you immediate...
you know, every action
there's a... there's a reaction,
so immediate consequences
to your decisions,
and one of the things
I learned is that
if I don't pay attention
to the lessons...
we had these bags
for our property,
and you had to seal them right,
or they wouldn't be waterproof.
Well, I didn't listen,
and it fell in the water,
and all my stuff got wet,
so I didn't have my own tent.
I didn't have no
toilet paper any more,
and I didn't like that.
So basically, I... I was
my typical stubborn self,
and I told them, "You know what?"
I ain't doing this no more.
Take me home."
- But you were not attacked
by alligators, but...
- No, we were attacked
by monkeys, though.
- By monkeys.
What happened?
- Absolutely, monkeys
were jumping from one side
to the trees
on the side we were at
and come... trying
to come over there,
and they couldn't figure out
where the monkeys came from,
but there was
a whole bunch of them,
a whole bunch.
I wanted to get out
and get one,
but they said
they have diseases, right?
- So best... case scenario,
if you are granted parole
in 2041,
how old would you be then?
Does this ever occur to you?
Do you want to think about it?
- I'll be 59, 60.
I was 19.
I have to do 40 years from 19,
which will be 59 years old.
Long time.
- When it came to the phase
after your trial was over,
for punishment phase,
your father showed up in court.
Can you describe the scene?
- I knew he was coming,
and I knew what he was gonna
testify to,
but to hear him testify,
it's like...
I was born with neuroblastomas.
I... I had 18 surgeries
by the time I was five,
and I... I don't know
a lot about it
because it's something
that I try to shy away from.
I knew he was gonna testify
to my raising,
and I was a...
in pain all the time,
and he'd watch me cry to sleep,
and...
It was difficult,
because I seen him cry.
I mean, if you ever see my dad,
he's 6'6 ", 6'7", 300 pounds,
big old guy, tattooed.
- And they brought him
in from... from prison.
- He came in from prison.
- Is he still incarcerated?
- He's right across the street
on Ellis Unit.
- Mr. Burkett,
how are you doing?
- Just... I'm doing fine.
Doing fine.
Little sick.
- How fine?
- Little bit sick.
- Mm-hmm.
You are in here
for how many years?
- 40.
- 40 years.
- Yes, sir.
- Eight felony counts,
is that correct?
- Yes, sir.
- That's pretty serious.
- Yes, sir.
- And you spent some time before
this 40 year sentence in jail.
Is that correct?
- Yes, sir.
- Yeah.
- I've been in prison
five times.
- How many years already?
- A 2 year sentence,
a 5 year sentence,
a 30 year sentence,
and then this 40.
- That's a lot.
- Yes, sir.
- What went wrong?
- Drugs and alcohol.
- Can you explain?
- Well, I started using drugs
when I was about 13,
drinking and drugging,
and, uh...
Selling and manufacturing.
Some stealing and burglarizing
going along with it
to sup... support the habit
and always end up
back in prison.
- There's one significant moment
when Jason, your son,
was found guilty
for capital murder...
- Yes.
- And triple homicide.
During the sentencing phase,
you appeared in court.
Can you describe what you said
to the jury?
- Well...
I explained to 'em
what prison life was about,
and I explained...
I explained to 'em
that I didn't think killing him
was gonna bring back those
people or really, you know,
do anything to correct
what happened,
and I asked
the jury to, you know,
"Please, you know,
don't kill my son."
I asked 'em.
I said just,
"Please, don't kill my son."
He never had a chance.
He didn't have a father.
I told 'em that, you know,
he did... I was never there,
and his mother was a, you know,
single mother
with four children,
and... and she had handicaps.
She... she's on disability.
Most of that time,
she was living on disability,
and so they...
they really didn't...
they lived off food stamps,
and, you know, HUD housing
and that type of thing,
and... and he...
he really...
he really had a real poor life
growing up.
I just asked 'em
not to kill my son.
It wasn't his fault.
I... it... I wished I could...
I wish that I could
take the time, his time.
I wish I could, 'cause I feel
like that it's my fault.
I... I... really do.
I feel like it's...
I'm as much at fault as he is,
'cause if I'd have been there,
it, quite possibly, maybe not,
but... but it might possibly
have been different.
He'd have had a better chance.
You know, he'd have
a whole lot better chance,
if I'd have been there
helping his mother raise him,
but I wasn't.
The jury got up to leave,
and the door was right here
to my right,
and as the door closed
behind them,
I heard two ladies break down.
I'm... I'm real emotional,
and I'm crying
through the whole thing,
but as they went through
that door, and the door closed,
I heard two ladies
break down crying.
They broke down,
and then the...
when it... it was all over
and his lawyer come told me,
he said...
I remember the... his words.
He said, "You got him."
- You saved a life.
- He said... he said,
"You got him."
I said,
"What do you mean?"
He said, "You got him."
And that's where I...
that's what saved...
there was two votes.
It was ten to two,
and there was two votes
that voted not to kill him,
and I think those were the
two ladies right there that...
they're the ones
that saved his life.
- But you can be proud
of this moment.
- Yeah.
I had some help too.
God helped me.
He did.
I asked God to help me,
and I think He did.
I didn't deserve
any help for him.
He may not deserve the help,
but we got it
from some place, so...
- The hardest part
was to look at him
and for him to look at me,
and I seen that he was sincere,
that he really was sorry for,
you know,
what he had done throughout
my whole childhood,
and he had been in prison.
I don't blame him for it,
but I seen right there
that he understood
that it did affect us,
and I cried that one day,
that was it, through the...
the whole trial.
Even after conviction,
the only thing that hurt me
was my... my dad testifying.
- Whenever I went back
and testified,
his brother went back
and testified too.
His brother was in...
in prison, Chris,
and... and we,
me and Chris went...
came back to
the diagnostics together,
and then...
and I'm embarrassed,
but all of three of us,
we had Thanksgiving together,
me and Chris and Jason over
at the diagnostics unit.
You know, and they, uh...
They think that's kind of cool,
but as a father, I thought
that was pretty embarrassing
to be sitting there
in prison with my sons.
- All of them incarcerated.
- Yes, sir.
And then me and Jason went on
over to the next place together,
handcuffed together in the bus,
and that's something that
I never in my life
would ever dreamed... dreamed of
that would've happened,
that that same little baby
that was...
We had to hold him down to
take bone marrow tests out of,
the same little 6 pound baby.
- Describe the feeling to me
when you are handcuffed together
with your own son
in the same bus.
Can you describe that?
- No, not really.
It... it's, uh...
- Try to describe it for us.
Well, I don't know.
I just felt like
a total failure,
total failure as a father.
- And you could feel his hand,
can't you?
- Yes.
Yeah, we were handcuffed to
this hand and his right hand,
and we were sitting there,
and... and I was just...
it was just total failure.
That's what I felt like.
I felt like crap, you know,
and I used a different word
to the jury,
and... and... and that's...
and that's what I meant.
You know, he had trash for a...
for a father,
and... and then here I was
sitting with my baby son
on a prison bus,
and, I mean, I don't think it...
I don't think it gets much
lower than that, you know?
It just don't.
Knowing me or him,
neither one'll ever, you know,
get out again.
I just got a three year set
off again
about a week ago, so...
We'll never... me or him
will never get out again.
- And will he ever
get out again?
- I don't think so.
He comes up for parole
the first time in...
in 1942 for the first time.
- 40 years
after his conviction.
- Yes, sir, 1941.
I'm sorry.
Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
- Yeah, 2041.
You're a century back.
- Yes.
- Behind.
- 19 yeah, 2041.
I'm sorry.
- Well, it doesn't matter.
It's time must be.
- A long time.
- Time is probably different
for you in here.
- Yes, sir.
- This is actually the vehicle
that was in Sandra Stotler's
garage.
This was the vehicle
that Michael Perry and
Jason Burkett was... was after.
Three people died for this car,
a car that was
in their possession
for less than
Within a couple of years,
I mean, this vehicle
was just trashed,
the inside of it,
because there was actually
a tree that had rooted
and had come up through
the center of it,
and it tore the floorboard up,
and whenever we actually had
to move it over to this lot,
it was a little bit difficult
because of that.
- A tree grew inside of it.
- A tree grew up
from the bottom up into...
up into the car.
- Why did they die?
- I ask myself that question
every day.
I mean, for a vehicle?
You know, I... I don't know.
I don't know.
People die every day over
giving people a dirty look
or, you know, $2.
People rob each other,
and I don't know.
I don't know why they died,
the greed of these two boys.
I don't know.
I don't...
I don't have an answer.
- Can you speak about
the family of victims?
Nobody seems
to address that side.
- I... I don't...
- How do you live
with all this?
I didn't for a while.
I'm starting to live again,
but basically I just shut down.
Montgomery County has
a victims assistance program,
but when you... when your whole
family's ripped from you,
you... you know, you're kind of
like, what's the point?
What's the point
of living any more?
I don't have a family
to share it with.
And I know I have to live
for my children,
to raise my children.
I don't want them to have
a miserable life
or have a depressed mother
all the time.
But for about four years,
I didn't go anywhere.
I stayed in the house,
took the phone out of the home.
I don't like to talk to people.
I figure, if I don't
get close to anybody,
I don't... you know,
I won't get hurt again.
I don't know.
I just...
I just shut down, really.
My grandmother shut down.
Our... our lives are...
are empty, very empty.
Very empty.
That's Adam.
That was his six...
he was 16 there.
That was his last
school picture.
My brother, my brother
was my best friend.
He was...
he was only 16.
It is true that he is not
my real brother.
My sister was...
got pregnant when she was 16,
and my parents adopted him,
and they were actually
out of town the day he was born,
so I was the first one
to hold him,
and I just... I had this feeling
his whole life
that something
was gonna happen to him,
and I remember calling my mother
and saying, you know,
"What's Adam doing?
Where's Adam?"
You need to make sure...
y'all just moved up to ohio.
"You need to make sure
you're watching him."
And my mom was like,
"I've raised five children.
I can take care of him."
And when he hit 16,
I knew he was... he was good.
He was safe.
He was a man.
He'd be able to
take care of himself now.
He was such a great kid.
He was in love for
the first time in his life.
And, um, one... one thing
that sticks out for me,
my mom always protected me.
One thing that I remember,
I was supposed to get married.
Well, I did get married
September 16, 1995,
but my dad, Mel,
he was a preacher,
and he was supposed
to marry me and Kenneth.
He died six months
before the wedding.
He was hit by a train,
him and my older brother
and the family dog.
And so we got... I refused
to get married in a church,
so we got married on the boat
in Lake Conroe.
Right as I was
walking out the...
walking out the door
to go down the aisle,
my mother pinned my dad's
wedding ring inside my dress
right over my heart,
and she said, "I didn't want
your dad to miss this."
And, you know, that just...
- You loved her.
- Yes, and I know she was
in so much pain that day,
but she hid it
because I was so happy.
She hid her pain for me,
and, you know, she... she just
made it through the day.
I just miss 'em a lot.
Our family's just so incomplete,
so incomplete.
You know, sometimes my kids
will ask me things,
and I'll go, "I don't know."
I wonder what my mo...".
You know, there's things
at all times of day and night
I want to call and ask her.
It took me forever to realize
she was really gone
'cause I would want to pick up
the phone and call her.
- Is this why you
got rid of the phone?
- Yes, I... I did not want
another phone call
telling me somebody else
in my family had died.
I couldn't handle
those phone calls any more.
I couldn't handle 'em any more,
so I just cut myself off
from the world.
I can't... I can't
have a phone on.
I just don't like to hear
the phone ring any more
'cause all it ever brought me
was bad news.
- The worst.
- The worst.
- Not just bad, yeah.
You had to... to face it.
- Yeah.
Well, you know,
it's just, I mean,
not only did I lose my mother
and my father and my brother
to tragic circumstances.
I mean, my grandfather
had a stroke.
My uncle hung himself.
My other uncle
had a heroin overdose.
My stepbrother shot himself
'cause he had pancreatic cancer.
My real father died
in his sleep.
All this was in six years,
a six year period.
I lost everyone in my family,
everybody.
- Mr. Burkett,
if you close the eyes
and you think about
a different life
and it could start all over,
how would you raise
the children?
- Well...
It's hard to answer something
that you've never done,
and, you know, embarrassing...
it's embarrassing to say that,
but... but I know when...
I would like...
I would like to them have...
I had a scholarship
to the University of Texas
in 1973, in football,
and I quit school
in my senior year,
quit football and quit school
and lost that,
and I wish I could go back
to right there.
- Yes, go back to right there.
Now you have the children.
- Then I have the children,
and... and I would had...
I would have done
everything in my power
to... to help them finish school
like I didn't.
You always tell them,
"Don't be like me."
Well, I wished...
I wished I would've been
something they could've been,
and I wish they could've
finished school.
I wish we could've played
baseball like I did
when I was little,
in Little League.
I wish that we could've
played baseball.
Two of them did
for, like, one time.
I wish we could've
played baseball,
and I wished I could've went
to their football games.
And I raised a steer in...
in school for FFA.
I wish they could've did that.
We lived in the country.
That's what I wish
we could go back, all of us,
and... and... and go to school,
school events.
I got to watch one of my sons
play the horn
one time in school,
and... and that's the stuff
that I remember.
That's the good stuff,
and this all
wouldn't have happened.
- I want to say this
on the record.
I'm not saying that my husband
was a Boy Scout.
I'm not saying that
Jason Burkett did absolutely...
had no knowledge
and was, like, selling cookies
or raising money for camp
when that happened.
I'm saying that Jason did not
kill one, two, or three people.
Sandra, Jeremy, and Adam
were not killed by Jason.
- And you asked your husband...
you asked Jason point blank,
"Can you tell me what...
what happened?"
because you wanted
to make sure.
What did you ask him?
- I've asked Jason
multiple times
to tell me everything
that I need to know.
I said, "Jason..."
Jason doesn't have
a whole lot of money,
so we do most of his stuff
pro se,
which is where we file it
ourselves,
and me and his father have
pretty much done his appeal,
and I always ask him,
"I need to know
everything you can tell me
to help you get home,"
and that's basically
how we start our conversations,
and Jason will recall things,
and, you know, more and more,
it's, like, been a snowball
that I've picked up
exactly what I think happened.
- Yeah.
And you are told
he was innocent.
- Yes.
- And you do believe him.
- I do believe him.
I... like I said, I believe
that Jason had involvement.
I don't believe
he killed three people.
I wrote Jason
for maybe two years
before I went to meet him,
because really I could do most
of the stuff through the mail,
and one day
I was talking to his mother,
and she said something
to the effect of,
"You'll never guess what Jason
said to me today,"
and I said, "What?"
And she said, "He told me
that he was in love with you."
And I said, "That's crazy."
And I remember, to give you,
like, the pre-story,
I was with my best friend,
and when I hung up,
I said to my best friend...
her name's Kat...
I was like, "Kat, Jason
Burkett's in love with me."
She goes,
"That's probably pretty good
'cause you're
in love with him too."
And I said,
"What are you talking about?
"Don't be an idiot," you know?
And she said,
"Dude, when is the last time
"you've been on a date?
"When was the last time you
haven't spent a Saturday night
with Jason Burkett's
court paperwork?"
I was like,
"Hey, that's not nice."
But I ended up driving...
I lived in Nebraska
at the time.
I ended up driving from omaha
to Abilene
because I wanted him
to tell me himself,
and he was at
the Robertson Unit.
- You were two days
and two nights driving?
- Yes.
I drove it...
it seemed, like, endless too.
I drove, and I got there,
and I remember,
I just asked him.
Like, that was the first thing
I said.
I was like, "Hi, we've never
seen each other in our lives",
"but hi.
Your mom told me
that you're in love with me."
But I didn't say it.
I wanted to be coy, so I said,
"Your mom told me you told her
something in a visit."
I said, "What...
what did you tell her?"
And he said,
"I need stamps?"
And I was like,
"I wouldn't be in Abilene
"because you need
stamps, right?
What are you...
don't play games with me."
And he goes,
"oh, that part where I said
I was in love with you?"
And then I dropped the phone
because I was nervous,
and I didn't know what to say,
and I kind of fumbled
through that whole visit
because I didn't immediately go,
"I love you too."
It wasn't, you know,
like a movie.
I was very nervous.
I'm not that girl that
falls in love with an inmate.
And I was like, okay,
I'm just gonna be cool with it,
and then when I left,
the day I met Jason,
there was a rainbow,
and I'm not...
This is true.
It's in our letters.
There was a rainbow
that went from one gate...
side of the gate
to the other side of the gate,
and I thought that was the most
miraculous sign that this is...
this is the boy
that I'm supposed to be with
and this is...
he is innocent,
because how many times
do you see a whole rainbow?
And we saw a whole rainbow,
and my friend was with me.
He saw the rainbow too.
I have a witness.
And when Jason...
when I got home,
I had a letter waiting for me,
and he said,
"Did you see the rainbow?"
- At the gates of the prison.
- It went from one side,
my side on the outside,
to the inside to him.
- I believe in me,
you know, I know what...
I know what happened
back in 2001.
I know that I wasn't
a part of it,
and I believe strongly in...
in my faith,
in my attorneys,
and in the outcome,
but at the same time, I don't
even recognize these walls.
I don't pay attention to this,
because if you do,
you're gonna lose your mind.
You're gonna... you're gonna go...
you're gonna lose your mind.
Recently, another guy just
killed himself the other day,
and he left a note saying that,
"Y'all have to live around
all this craziness,
and I'm gone,"
and that's because
he was focusing on it,
but I don't.
I don't focus on it.
You know, I just...
I just distract myself.
I stay busy.
I work on my case.
I have a great family,
a lot of supporters
that help me,
so I have enough distractions.
If I didn't have
enough distractions,
I might be in
a different position.
- How does time occur to you now
in your situation?
- Wow, that's a...
that's a good...
it... it really varies,
but, you know,
because, I'll...
like, I'll forget.
I'll literally forget,
and then I'll look at
my calendar
or I'll hear someone
say something,
and I'm like, "Man."
And I'll sit back,
and I'll just stare at the wall,
and I'll be like,
"Man, eight days,
seven days, six days,"
or whatever, and it's like...
it's just... I must not be
comprehending the fact
that it's that close,
because, you know,
it's hard for me to say,
you know what...
like, I talk to people,
"You know, in eight days,
these people
want to murder me,"
and it's just something that,
it's hard for me to...
hard for me to believe
that the state of Texas wants
to murder me in eight days.
- And worst case scenario,
you know exactly what is
going to happen on July 1st?
- Yeah, the execution.
Mm-hmm.
- You will be transported
to Huntsville?
- Right, the Walls Unit.
- That's a death house?
- Yes, sir.
- And you will be checked
by a medical examiner?
- I don't... no, no medical people
can be involved.
- I think they...
they have to check you
that you are fit
to be executed.
- I've never heard that,
but it might be.
- I think it's
one of these absurdities.
If you are unconscious,
for example,
you cannot be executed.
- Oh, yeah?
- Or if you are stark mad
or something...
- Yeah, yeah.
- They would not execute you.
- Yeah, that is true.
- Or if you are bleeding
from a gunshot wound,
they would not put you
onto the gurney.
- Right.
They got to treat me first
and then kill me, huh?
- Probably, yes.
That's... that's kind of crazy
to think about, right?
Yeah, I just... I just can't
allow myself to think.
I can't even picture myself
laying on a gurney,
but if it happens,
I'll have to deal with it, huh?
You know, I'll have to
deal with it,
and I'll be able to watch over
my mom from heaven
with a clear conscience
and be at peace.
You know, like I said,
for a long time,
my life has been unhappy,
so finally I can find me
some peace, huh?
- And you are
at peace with yourself.
- Now.
- Mm-hmm.
Took a long time.
- Yes, absolutely did.
Took a long time
to realize what a man was.
I was out there
acting like a child.
I acted like a child
when I got in here at first,
but I'm confident in...
in who I am now.
- Michael Perry,
I wish you all the best.
- Yes, thank you.
I don't know
what's gonna happen, huh?
We're gonna see.
We're gonna find out.
I'll find out on Monday.
- They knew
what I was telling them
was gonna be the truth.
I mean, I'm not gonna
tell you anything that...
I'm gonna tell you everything
that's gonna happen back here.
At 4:00, a guy's
gonna come in here,
and they're gonna
fingerprint you.
Shortly after that,
we're gonna allow you
to take a shower,
and then we're gonna put you
in free world clothes,
let you... let you dress
in free world clothes.
Free world clothes would be
clothes you and I would wear.
request for the last meal,
they'll bring it in,
and you'll sit there
and eat your last meal.
During that time, if you need
anything else, just ask.
You know, you need
some more juice, punch,
or whatever else
we got back here, just ask.
You know, and they...
you know,
sometimes we get
strange requests.
You know, within reason,
I'm gonna get it for you.
- Give me one
of those requests.
- Oh, one was,
"Man, I'd sure like to
smoke a doobie right now."
Well, that's not gonna happen,
you know.
The guy with the key,
he opens the door,
swings the door open.
There's another
correctional officer behind him
and another one behind me.
So soon as he does,
he follows me in,
and then the other
correctional officers
follow right in behind him.
So there'll be two in front of...
in front of the inmate,
and then the other three
right behind him.
I tell him jump up
on the gurney,
which then I automatic...
- It's only a few steps
from the cell.
- I would say no more than
ten steps, if that much.
I would immediately
go around to the gurney
'cause I always took care
of the left leg.
So soon as he laid down,
I took care of the left leg.
The other person
who was in front with me
would take care of the right.
The... the three
that fell in behind,
one would take care
of the... the right arm.
The other one would take care
of the left arm,
and the other one would be there
in case the inmate,
once he lays down,
if he had a response
to try to get back up,
his job was to hold...
to hold his shoulders down.
You know, you're not...
once you're up there,
you're up there, you know.
Within that time,
us four people
would have him done.
Probably within about
he'd be strapped down
that quick,
'cause we all knew
exactly where our straps were
and what we were
supposed to do.
The time.
Do... do a process.
We trained on it.
It's the last time
you're gonna see...
I'm gonna see him
with his eyes open,
because after
the execution's done
and the process went
and then... then they call
the doctor in
to pronounce him dead,
then everybody leaves.
My job begins again 'cause
I have to go back in there,
and that's... that's all...
also kind of difficult
because here you sit with this
individual eight or ten hours,
all day long,
and now the last thing
you're doing
is removing those straps.
The straps have to be removed
and put him on another gurney
for the funeral home.
And then, you thought...
you didn't think about
none of this
while you're doing this,
the procedure.
You know, none of this, you're...
you don't keep...
you don't put those emotions
out there.
Do you... you do the job
and go home.
- You did how many executions,
roughly?
- It was over 125, 120.
It was somewhere over 120.
It was a bunch.
We got to the point to where,
especially after I...
I think I promoted to captain
in '90.
We were doing two a week,
and that was getting tiresome.
- And what happened to you then?
I... back when they...
when they brought in
Karla Faye,
I stayed back there with her.
Now, definitely that was
the first female
that we were fixing to execute.
I remember one thing
so vividly,
that it was an hour before,
and I was standing there,
and the chaplain
was standing there,
and she looked at me,
and she goes,
"Thank you, Captain Allen,
for everything you've done."
I said, "You're welcome."
You know, that's all
I could say, you know.
What else can...
what else am I gonna say?
What, "I'm fixin' to strap
you down in another hour"?
Which we went...
procedure and everything went
just the way it was supposed to.
You know,
she was pronounced dead.
I went back in there,
and I took the gurn...
took the straps off,
put her, you know,
on the gurney and that stuff.
We locked everything up,
went about our business,
and... and everything
was fine.
I had a little shop
in the back.
It was 6:00, and the news
come on over the radio,
and it started again,
and for some reason,
just out of the blue,
hearing it, it triggered me
seeing her hurt,
and I just started shaking.
I don't know what's wrong,
and then, it was...
- How badly did you shake?
- It was... it was...
it was a shake.
It was a shake.
Like, I couldn't...
why am I shaking?
And then I could see my...
I was sweating and in tears.
All of a sudden,
man, this... this is hurtin'.
I remembered her...
this was two days afterwards.
I remembered her execution.
Hers wasn't no different
than anybody else,
but it was hers,
and then I started actually
visualizing the other inmates
as... you asked me, "Did you look
in their eyes when they're"...
I could see 'em.
I could actually see 'em
in their holding cell again,
you know,
one right after another,
and it seemed like
there was just...
My wife goes,
"What's wrong with you?"
And I don't know.
I need to talk to somebody.
And the first person I could
think of to call was Carroll,
Chaplain Pickett,
and he come over to the house,
and we sat on that old swing,
and I started coming down,
and I... he says,
"What's wrong?"
And I told him,
and then I looked at Carroll,
and I said,
"I can't do it no more.
"That's it.
I'm... I'm done.
I can't... I can't
go back there any more."
- Could it be that you thought
that this was not yourself
but maybe it was
your real self that moment?
- That's a good possibility.
- What's really
deep inside of you...
- Yes.
- Came out.
- That's a good...
that's very...
I mean, that's...
I mean, from that point on,
I mean, I've had
a different outlook in life.
If executions was the law,
then I was gonna make sure
that it was done professionally,
with integrity.
After Karla... and I was
pro capital punishment.
After Karla Faye
and after all this,
until this day,
No, sir.
I don't... nobody has the right
to take another life.
I don't care if it's the law.
And it's so easy
to change the law.
- I... I don't want to sound, um...
Like a evil person or...
but I am so glad
I went to the execution.
I really am.
I fought with my...
with myself about going.
I reserved this... the seat
so I could be there,
but I'm glad I went.
I'm really glad I went.
It... it really
did something to me.
- Yeah.
What did it do?
- I don't...
I don't know what...
I don't know what happened,
but I...
immediately after the execution,
I felt like a...
that saying,
a huge weight had been lifted.
I actually could take
a deep breath.
My heart didn't ache as much.
I remember walking in
and thinking,
"This looks like a boy."
I had built this huge monster,
evil, you know,
murdering monster in my head,
and he was just a boy.
He was just a boy
laying on that gurney.
When I walked in,
he looked at me,
and he looked away,
and he did a double take.
Same thing Jason Burkett
did in court.
I look like my mom.
I look a lot like my mother.
- And what did he say?
- He forgave us.
He forgave us.
Yeah.
And I was upset
when I walked in.
I was crying.
You know, our whole...
my whole family,
we didn't want to see
someone die, you know.
No one should have to do...
go through that,
but we were there for my mother,
you know, and my brother,
and we were crying,
and when he said he forgave us...
- For what?
- For the atrocity
brought against him.
And then he said
he's ready to go.
I heard his mother cry,
and they gave him
the injection.
He gasped for air four times.
I watched his shirt thump,
you know, his heart
beating on his shirt.
I watched it till it stopped,
and it stopped at 6:14.
One tear fell down his eye,
one tear.
And he was gone,
and it was over.
- And the prospect of someone
who is gonna be locked away
for life without parole,
would that satisfy...
- Definitely.
- Yes.
- Definitely.
- So it would be definitely
an alternative,
because death penalty sounds
a little bit too much
like old Testament,
the wrath of God.
- An eye for an eye.
- Jesus probably would not
have been an advocate of...
- Probably not.
Probably not.
But some people
just don't deserve to live.
- Can I say something?
- Please.
- I know on July the 1st
is when they...
they executed Michael,
and... and I knew Michael
pretty well.
- Yeah.
- And I kept up with...
I have every kind of clipping
and website thing
I have on him and Jason.
I have, like, a whole
locker box full.
So I know as much about him
as anybody,
and Michael was just...
just like Jason.
They were both young,
and whatever they did
or didn't do, I don't know.
I was not there,
but Michael was just a...
was just a young... a young kid,
and I know he...
I know when they executed him,
I know how he...
I know his last words
and everything else,
and I know,
by executing Michael,
I don't think it brought
any of those people back,
and I don't think
it deterred anything.
I... I don't think it deterred
anybody out there.
As much publicized as it was,
it did not deter anything,
and I really do not believe
that it solved anything
by taking another life,
and it hurt me.
When it come time
for his execution,
I knew it was gonna be
about 6:00,
usually a few minutes
after 6:00 P.M.,
and I was on my knees
at my bunk for Michael,
praying for Michael,
and a feeling come over me
right about ten...
five or ten minutes after 6:00,
a feeling come over me
that's hard...
very, very hard to explain.
It was like I felt the loss of...
of what used to be
my son's best friend.
I felt...
I felt that.
I felt that pain
whenever they killed him.
But I just wish those fam...
the family members
would know that,
how much that I... I hurt
for their loss.
That's very important,
and Michael never, never...
that's what upset them,
'cause Michael never tried
to reach out to 'em.
I wished I could
and say I'm sorry.
- Yeah.
Melyssa, let me address
one thing.
Among death row inmates,
there's such a phenomenon
like death row groupies,
the same way rock stars
have groupies,
and you have seen women
like that.
- I have seen women like that,
in fairness.
I've also seen women who are
married to death row inmates
in truly committed
relationships
that I believe
are not disingenuous
and I believe
come from their heart.
You know, some people are just
supposed to be together,
whether there's a cage
and lawman between you.
I believe that.
I mean, I do believe that
there's a fair amount of women
who want attention,
who want media coverage,
who seek out infamous men.
I mean, like Scott Peterson
gets a hundred letters a day
on death row in California.
That's ridiculous.
- He murdered
his pregnant wife.
- Yes.
- Is that correct, that case?
Yeah, a good... looking man.
- Good looking man.
- However, Jason
is not an ugly man either.
Describe him to us, please.
- Like, physically?
- Yes.
You only have touched his hand.
Describe his hands to us.
- They're a lot bigger
than mine.
I'll start there.
I have really tiny hands.
He always... Jason,
he holds hands funny,
and he always holds my hand
kind of like that
as opposed to intertwined,
so he holds on to me,
and I just know
that his hands are massive,
because he wears
a ring size 11.
Our wedding rings,
it's an 111/2,
and I wear a 4,
so he can totally cup my hand.
- Were you allowed
to touch each other?
Hug each other?
Exchange rings?
- No.
I still can't get a ring.
- And you were separated
by a glass wall or...
- Just like this right here,
except for we had a phone,
and it was solid right here,
solid glass.
- But when she comes for visits,
are you allowed to hug her?
- I am now.
After we married,
I'm allowed to hug her.
I'm allowed to give her a kiss
before and after visit.
We're allowed to hold hands
on the table
and have contact and speak.
- But of course... of course
with a guard present.
- As close as you are to me.
- And you would like
to have children.
- Yes, sir.
- How would that happen?
How... what sort of option
is there?
- I want 50 children.
She wants 2.
So, I mean,
we have to work on this.
I want children
for different reasons.
I want children with her
specifically because I love her.
I want to be with her.
I want to give her something
that she'll always have with me.
- I'm under the impression
seeing you now
that you became pregnant
only a few days
after we met your husband.
- You guys met him
on the 18th of october?
- I think so, yeah,
something like that.
- Yeah, I believe my baby
was made
on the 23rd of october,
approximately.
- Right after
we saw your husband.
- 23rd or 24th.
- You went into action.
So to speak.
- And the father of the baby
is your husband.
- Legally, will be Jason, yes.
- And it is Jason biologically,
legally...
- I can't say that.
- In every single sense.
Since you are not allowed
to do more than touching hands,
how do you become pregnant?
There's a mystery.
- Yeah, it's kind of a mystery.
There's people involved
that I don't want to mention.
- No, we would not
imply anyone,
but I have to speculate.
Is there such a thing like
contraband entering prisons,
like, let's say, drugs,
cell phones, illegal messages,
there seems to be something
the other way round,
contraband from the prison
to the outside,
and you became pregnant.
- Well, we...
- Can we formulate it
like this?
- We... we prefer to say that
I was artificially inseminated.
- Do you have a name
for the boy?
- Well, we've...
we came up with Easton.
Easton Aaron.
- Can you show us?
I think there's a face.
Can you point it out?
- It's right there.
If you actually can see it
close enough,
you can tell my baby
has my strong jaw.
You live on
through your children,
and the love
that you put into them
projects to the world.
My parents are both gone,
and I had this big hole
in my heart,
and I realized
that what you do is,
you take all of that love,
and you give it back.
I mean, nothing else matters.
- I actually have this shirt
tacked up on my wall.
- Can I see the shirt?
Can you turn it around?
- I just make sure...
and somebody told me about the...
the live your dash,
and that's really,
after all this...
that I went through
and quit and everything,
then I heard the story
telling me live your dash.
How do you... how are you gonna
live your dash?
And I didn't understand.
"What are you
talking about 'dash'?"
It's on your tombstone.
You got your birth date,
and you got the day
that you decease,
and you got that little dash
in the middle.
That's your life right there.
That's your...
that's everything between
from the time you was born
from the time you die.
How are you gonna
live your dash?
And that's where I'm at now.
I'm gonna live my dash
and make sure that everything,
try to make everything right
for the family, everybody.
Hold still and watch the birds.
And you know, once you
get up into your life like that
and once you feel good
about your life,
you under... you do start watching
what the birds do, you know,
what the ducks are doing,
like, the hummingbirds.
Wow, there's so many of them.