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for the love of home. Welcome

1:31

to True Crime Garage.

1:42

Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks for

1:44

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1:46

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1:48

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1:51

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1:53

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1:59

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3:14

Alright everybody gather round, grab a chair,

3:16

grab a beer, let's talk some true

3:18

grime. At

3:25

a September 27th, 1996 joint

3:28

arraignment for all three suspects,

3:31

we have the three Stooges

3:44

standing there shackled together

3:46

facing the judge. Nicholas

3:49

Acklin and Corey Johnson

3:52

looked somber, but the media

3:54

captured a photo of Joey

3:57

Wilson smiling and seeming

4:00

carefree. I guess he

4:02

was too dumb to recognize how much trouble

4:04

he was in. The judge

4:06

found that there was ample

4:08

evidence for trial and a

4:10

grand jury indicted the three

4:12

on four counts of murder and two

4:14

counts of attempted murder. First,

4:16

we have Joseph Joey

4:19

Wilson, AKA dough boy.

4:22

He was tried first. The

4:24

prosecutor's office stated, we

4:26

wanted to try Wilson first because he

4:28

is the one that caused it. He

4:31

is the one who led it and

4:33

it's his show. Wilson was

4:35

also the one who was accused of

4:37

stealing Lamar's cell phone. In

4:39

other words, he's the instigator.

4:41

Since he was only 19 at the

4:43

time of the murders, Wilson petitioned for

4:46

youthful offender status. So he would be

4:48

tried as a juvenile. Guess

4:50

what? No dice. The judge ruled that

4:53

the allegations were too serious and Wilson

4:55

needed to wear his big boy pants,

4:58

be charged as an adult. He

5:01

pled not guilty to the charges

5:03

on October 23rd and Wilson's August,

5:05

1998 trial prosecutors termed

5:08

him the ringleader in the brutal crime.

5:12

They introduced testimony about Wilson bragging

5:14

that the other two

5:17

guys were quote, his

5:19

crew and so on. There

5:21

are a bunch of people that testified

5:23

obviously at this trial, but we'll go

5:25

through some of the more important key

5:28

figures here. Dr. Ken Warner, the state

5:30

medical examiner testified that the victims all

5:32

died from gunshot wounds. Brian Carter had

5:34

been shot seven times with

5:36

a Ruger P 89. Wilson

5:38

had been, he's the one

5:40

that had been holding that gun all of

5:43

that night, the night of the shootings. Johnny

5:45

couch had been shot twice in the

5:48

head with a different gun, nine millimeter.

5:50

Michael Baudette had been shot from above

5:52

as he sat on a mattress. The bullet

5:54

traveled from the left side of his head

5:57

and lodged into his right jaw. He

5:59

was also, shot in the leg. And

6:02

finally, Lamar Hemphill was shot once in

6:04

the head. Brent Wheeler

6:06

of the Alabama Department of Forensic

6:08

Services testified that 13 of

6:11

the cartridges were fired from one

6:13

of the Lorissen pistols and the

6:15

remaining six cartridges were

6:17

fired from the Ruger. Michelle Hayden testified

6:19

about who held what gun that night.

6:22

This is important to the, to the

6:24

case here. Who was doing

6:26

what at the scene? She

6:28

talked about Wilson shooting her and

6:30

shooting the other victims because you

6:33

can't have a situation where they're

6:36

all a rain together. They're all going

6:38

to be tried separately. And you don't

6:40

want this dough boy to be sitting

6:42

there in court, just blaming the other

6:45

two people that were with him that

6:47

night. And as the prosecutors told

6:49

us, we believe he's the ringleader. He's the

6:51

instigator. He's the one who caused all this.

6:54

It's his show. You're trying

6:56

him first to set the bar for

6:58

the other two trials and to set

7:00

up some

7:03

of the facts that are

7:05

agreed upon of that horrible night.

7:08

I know the details matter, but

7:10

I feel not with just

7:12

the loss of life, but the torturing,

7:15

the sexual assault, and

7:18

then the other injured victims. It's

7:21

simple life for all. We

7:23

get all of the survivors that testify

7:26

in court. We get a bunch of

7:28

the first responders, the officers are testifying.

7:31

One little additional piece of evidence here

7:33

is Wilson, thanks

7:36

to his own narcissism at

7:38

his trial, at this trial, one

7:40

of Wilson's friends, his name is

7:42

David newbie, testified that Wilson called

7:44

him from jail after the shooting,

7:47

talking about what happened that night. So

7:50

he's bragging to his friend over

7:53

a jailhouse phone. This

7:55

guy, this guy's got two brain cells

7:57

left in their fight and each other. Newbie.

8:00

at Wilson's trial that he was told

8:02

by Wilson to quote finish the job

8:05

meaning which which he says he took to

8:07

mean he wants me to go

8:10

kill the surviving witnesses of

8:12

course this man doesn't do it he

8:14

tells police about this and testifies against

8:16

Wilson at court so he's in

8:19

prison telling him hey that two surviving

8:21

people I want you to go kill

8:23

and he just thinks that this guy

8:25

is gonna just do it cuz

8:28

they're a part of my crew right on

8:30

yeah he thought he was something that he

8:32

clearly wasn't he told this guy go finish

8:34

the job this guy's testifying edge this guy's

8:37

testifying I took that to mean go kill

8:39

the witnesses right finally one of Wilson cellmates

8:41

who spent three months in a cell with

8:43

him testified that Wilson bragged about his involvement

8:46

that night you know and this

8:48

is just horrible stuff saying you know I blasted

8:50

this one blasted that one he I mean he

8:52

just really was bragging

8:54

about this the defense called no witnesses

8:57

this that's not a good feeling when

8:59

you are sitting there the defendant and

9:01

your defense seems like yeah we we

9:03

got nobody we got nobody to to

9:06

say something good about you on

9:08

cross they tried to push their theory

9:11

so their theory as I

9:13

had mentioned earlier their theory was exactly

9:15

that they were going to try to

9:17

push more blame onto one of the

9:20

other suspects than their client yeah all

9:22

right so they're claiming that Nick Acklin

9:24

had been the one that shot all

9:26

the victim it seems a little stupid

9:28

to me though that we're gonna try

9:31

to put blame on people when we

9:33

do have eyewitness accounts and then we

9:35

obviously have multiple guns

9:37

used and then we

9:40

can fingerprint those guns and so we know

9:42

that not just one of the

9:44

killers used all the guns to

9:46

kill all the victims oh yeah this I

9:48

mean this is a defense for when your

9:50

client has no true defense you

9:53

you build a story and try to

9:55

steer the narrative in a way that

9:57

could confuse the jury or jurors into

10:01

thinking that while we

10:03

know the outcome and while we know

10:05

everybody that was there that night, oh,

10:07

we got all these different stories and

10:09

things and it gets all convoluted. It

10:11

comes down to, we know

10:13

who did it. We know the three people responsible,

10:15

but who's mostly responsible?

10:19

And who is responsible to somewhat of

10:21

a lesser degree? Well, these shit turds

10:23

were trying to sell a shit sandwich.

10:26

At closing arguments, the

10:28

prosecutor said that quote, this has

10:30

been described as a murder over

10:32

a cell phone. And when you

10:34

listen to the evidence, probably

10:37

the saddest thing was that it

10:39

was less than that. It

10:42

wasn't even a murder over a cell

10:44

phone. I think it

10:46

was a mindless murder over some kind

10:49

of distorted image of tough guy stuff.

10:52

After the prosecutor gave his closing argument,

10:55

the defense lawyer delivered his closing arguments

10:57

saying initially that there was not enough

10:59

evidence against his client to support the

11:01

finding of capital murder. The

11:04

other prosecutor, his name's Ken Taylor, said

11:07

in rebuttal, quote, remember the horrible night

11:09

and particularly the horrible 10 or 15

11:12

seconds that these three young people

11:14

that lived went through. Ladies

11:17

and gentlemen, I submit to you that

11:19

there are veterans of war who

11:22

have spent a full year in

11:24

a combat theater and not seen

11:26

the carnage, the slaughter, the cold-blooded

11:29

killing that these young people have

11:31

seen to traumatize them for the

11:33

rest of their lives. Joey

11:36

Wilson killed these people as sure

11:38

as he put the gun to

11:40

everybody's head and pulled the trigger,

11:43

end quote. It only

11:45

took the jury three hours to convict Wilson.

11:49

During the penalty phase of the trial, the

11:52

jury had to decide whether to give Wilson

11:54

the death penalty or not. And

11:57

the prosecution was pushing for it big

11:59

time. So we believe

12:01

that his crime would

12:03

warrant the death penalty, but

12:06

at the trial, we're gonna have people that

12:09

will speak for the victims and

12:11

speak for this murderer. Yeah, and

12:13

in Alabama, to be

12:16

eligible for the death penalty, for

12:18

that to be the appropriate sentence,

12:23

what is stated is that the murder

12:25

or murders are

12:28

to be deemed heinous,

12:30

extremely wicked, atrocious, and

12:32

shockingly evil. And

12:35

the sheriff testifies that in

12:37

his opinion, that's exactly what

12:39

these murders were. The

12:43

defense calls Joey Wilson's father, Robert, to

12:45

the stand who cried and begged the

12:47

jury for mercy on his son, and

12:49

then we get Joey Wilson himself called

12:51

to the stand to speak on his

12:53

own behalf. He admitted that he cut

12:55

off Johnny Couch's ponytail and stomped on

12:58

his chest. And then he said, quote,

13:00

I shot Brian Carter. I want to say I'm sorry

13:02

to Mr. and Mrs. Carter for

13:04

what I did to your son. I hope

13:06

you will forgive me. I want to say

13:09

to the other families that I didn't give

13:11

any orders to kill any of your family

13:13

members, end quote. When asked

13:15

why he shot Brian, he said, I don't

13:17

know. He had no

13:19

explanation for his actions, no justification, and

13:22

no real remorse. His attorney

13:24

tried to tell the jury that

13:27

had Nick Ackland not started shooting,

13:30

they would not be in this courtroom. He

13:33

pointed out that Wilson apologized to the families

13:35

and asked the jury to give Joey Wilson

13:38

a life line so

13:40

there was no more loss of life, meaning

13:44

give him a sentence of life in

13:46

prison. But only after one

13:48

hour, the jury sentenced him

13:50

to death. The vote was unanimous.

13:53

Judge Frey pronounced at the end

13:55

of sentencing, quote,

13:57

by any standard acceptable to civilize

13:59

the. This crime was extremely wicked

14:02

and shockingly evil the defendant was

14:04

unnecessarily Torturous in the

14:06

commission of these crimes while

14:08

the court recognizes that all

14:11

capital offenses are heinous atrocious

14:13

and cruel to some extent

14:15

The degree of heinousness atrociousness

14:17

and cruelty which characterizes this

14:19

offense Exceeds that which is

14:21

common to all capital offenses

14:24

It is the judgment of this court

14:26

that you be punished by death end

14:29

quote but this is a true sign

14:31

of a monster to me because Like

14:34

you were saying when when he gets up and

14:37

addresses the families Everybody

14:40

in the courtroom is saying there is no sign of

14:42

remorse but that's

14:44

because there is none inside of him and

14:48

somebody that Can't

14:51

show remorse because there's

14:53

none inside of them. They

14:55

have no soul they haven't They're

14:59

they're just pure evil And

15:01

the only reason why he probably spoke at all

15:04

is maybe this will save myself

15:06

or maybe he doesn't even care to save

15:08

himself But maybe he did it to

15:11

save face with his family or something

15:13

So the state had proven beyond reasonable

15:15

doubt that Joey Wilson shot and killed

15:17

Brian Carter The three

15:19

surviving witnesses all testified that Corey

15:21

Johnson Didn't fire his

15:24

gun that meant that all the

15:26

other victims were shot by Nicholas Acklin Acklin

15:29

was tried before a jury on the

15:31

charges that he intentionally murdered Charles

15:35

Lamar Hempel Michael

15:37

Baudette Johnny couch

15:39

and Brian Carter pursuant to one

15:41

scheme or course of conduct and

15:44

that he attempted to murder Ashley

15:46

Rutherford and Michelle Hayden At

15:49

trial the evidence against Acklin was

15:51

overwhelming the three survivors eyewitnesses to

15:53

the shootings Testified that

15:55

they saw Acklin shoot first he

15:58

first shot Ashley Rutherford in the head head

16:00

and then moved to the other victims, shooting

16:03

them one by one as Joey Wilson

16:06

also began shooting at the victims. The

16:09

guns used, all of the

16:11

guns used to kill the four murder victims

16:13

were found in his home, in his residence.

16:16

There was some pushback and

16:18

argument over the search. Was

16:21

it legal? Later his girlfriend's

16:23

going to say, I didn't consent to the search. One

16:26

of the searches, she signed a paperwork

16:29

and she said, well, I didn't know what I was signing. It's

16:32

a little too late after you sign it.

16:34

There's this thing called reading. You asked to

16:36

see the document. Can you imagine how bad

16:38

of a person this is to hear what

16:40

happened? To,

16:42

to know the brutality and also

16:46

just the, also the pain of

16:48

the surviving victims to know all

16:50

that. And then

16:52

to do anything to defend

16:54

him, because when you initially hear the story and

16:56

they go, Hey, does he have

16:58

guns? Can we see them? And, and, and she tells

17:02

the cops go ahead and

17:04

now you recanting that. And so now

17:06

you're defending this monster after,

17:09

you know, what he did. She did the right

17:11

thing when she didn't know what he did. And

17:15

now that she knows how bad of what

17:17

he did, she then

17:19

defends it. I mean, you're

17:21

a scumbag. The prosecutor, Ken

17:23

Taylor told the jury that

17:25

Nicholas Ackland was quote, the

17:27

worst killing machine ever in

17:30

Madison County. If

17:32

Joey Wilson was the ringleader, Nick

17:34

Ackland was the enforcer and quote.

17:37

Here again, captain, the defense

17:40

calls zero witnesses. Other

17:42

than the argument about the illegal

17:44

search, the defense really

17:46

had nothing going for them. And remember

17:48

a lot of the facts about the

17:51

case were already predetermined prior to this

17:53

trial, because we've already had one murder

17:55

trial. The jury found

17:57

Ackland guilty in the penalty phase.

17:59

Ackland. introduced his parents, his aunt,

18:01

his grandmother, a retired police officer,

18:03

an employee at a youth organization

18:05

and two reverence to testify on

18:07

his behalf. His father was

18:10

also a Reverend and testified that his

18:12

son had been raised in a loving

18:14

and supportive home. Specifically, he

18:16

testified that he asked quote,

18:19

where did I go wrong? Nicholas

18:21

was raised in a God fearing home. I

18:24

took him to church. He sang in the

18:26

youth choir. He was an usher. He was

18:28

a good kid. Nick and I had a

18:30

good relationship. I went to his parent teacher

18:33

conferences. I took him to

18:35

the dentist. That's a relationship I wanted

18:37

with my son because I was

18:39

denied that relationship with my father. Nonetheless,

18:42

Ackland's defense claimed that

18:45

his childhood had been troubled in

18:48

consideration to the sentence. The

18:51

court noted that Ackland had a

18:53

common law wife and two children

18:55

and that he was known to

18:57

be quiet and polite. But

19:00

as for his assertions that

19:02

he came from a troubled family and therefore

19:05

wasn't his fault that he had shot a

19:07

bunch of people, the

19:09

evidence didn't back that up. The

19:12

court found that quote, most

19:14

killers are typically the products

19:16

of poverty, a dysfunctional family,

19:18

physical or sexual abuse and

19:20

or social deprivation. Ackland

19:23

was the product of a loving middle-class

19:25

family as the jury saw it. Ackland

19:28

was exposed to all the values that are central

19:30

to an ordered society.

19:33

However, he chose to reject them. He

19:35

made a conscious choice to become a

19:38

killer. He was not born to it.

19:41

But I still think that's weak and pathetic to

19:44

these people that do horrible things to

19:46

blame it on somebody else. Some

19:48

other reason this was done to me. So

19:51

therefore this is how I turned out.

19:54

It's accepting no responsibility. Yeah. Here

19:57

too, we get the jury that

19:59

would recommend. the death penalty in

20:02

this case as well. The judge

20:04

agrees with it. It

20:06

was not such a unanimous vote as

20:09

in the previous case. This was a 10

20:11

to 2 vote. On August

20:13

24, 1998, the trial court sentenced Nicholas

20:16

Ackland to 20 years imprisonment

20:18

for each count of attempted murder to be

20:20

served consecutively and ordered him to pay a

20:23

fine of $10,000 and a $10,000 victims' compensation

20:28

assessment for each count. For

20:30

the capital murders, the trial

20:32

court sentenced him to death.

20:34

So we have two of

20:37

the three murders trials. They

20:40

took place. Now we have convictions.

20:42

Now we have what

20:44

their sentences are going to be. So then

20:48

what happens to the third murderer?

20:50

So Corey Johnson is our third

20:52

suspect and according to our witnesses,

20:55

surviving witnesses, they're saying that his

20:57

behavior was very different

20:59

from the other two suspects and

21:02

perpetrators and forensic

21:04

evidence proved that

21:06

he didn't fire a shot. Witness statements

21:09

proved he didn't fire a shot. Furthermore,

21:12

those statements said that he tried to

21:14

convince the other two perpetrators that they

21:16

shouldn't shoot any of the victims, that

21:19

he tried to persuade them multiple times

21:22

that the victims would not report the home invasion, that

21:24

we weren't, we're not leaving witnesses because they're not going

21:27

to, they're not going to tell on us. They're not

21:29

going to call this in. We just need to get

21:31

out of here. He

21:33

actually went at one point and got

21:35

ice and towels for some of the

21:37

victims who had been smacked and beaten

21:39

by the other two perpetrators. So it's

21:44

really difficult to look at this

21:48

and separate one

21:51

from the other. Or in this case, one from the others.

21:55

Because they're all part of it. Correct. But then

21:58

at the same time, Again,

22:00

if you didn't pull

22:02

the trigger. Well, and that's what the

22:04

Madison County district attorney is saying and

22:07

says to the court and says to the

22:10

newspapers as well, after we've

22:12

reviewed all the information and the evidence,

22:14

the witness statements and talk to all

22:16

the perpetrators as well, that

22:19

our office's conclusion is that there was no

22:22

intent by

22:24

this suspect to actually kill anyone.

22:26

And he didn't kill anyone. So

22:29

they were not going to make this a

22:32

death penalty case for Corey Johnson. They're

22:34

saying we're not, he's not

22:37

guilty of capital murder. So we're not going

22:39

to charge him with that, but he was

22:41

engaged in a felony, whether it

22:43

be a burglary or an assault, whatever you want

22:45

to label it at the time of the deaths.

22:48

So he needs to be charged for that, but

22:50

there was no intent by this individual to kill

22:52

anybody. Well, I'm assuming he's

22:55

a lot more cooperative with law enforcement.

22:58

Yes. He strikes a deal with the Madison

23:00

County prosecutor's office. He pled guilty there. They

23:02

didn't need to have a trial for

23:04

him. And in fact, he, he not only

23:07

did he plead guilty, but he also said

23:09

that he would testify against the other two

23:12

in court, but he was never called to,

23:14

to testify. Yeah. But this is a

23:17

sign of remorse. Yeah. Obviously

23:19

we have one murderer in this

23:21

case that thinks he's big, bad.

23:23

His shit don't stink. I

23:25

got my crew shows no

23:28

remorse. This individual is going,

23:30

Oh, by the way,

23:32

I'm going to plead guilty. Cause I am guilty.

23:35

And I, and I guarantee you if he

23:37

is listening to our show and we said

23:40

those actions, you being there, not stopping. And

23:42

that makes you a piece of shit. Probably

23:45

agree with us. Well, yes,

23:47

but let's not. Yeah. I'm

23:50

not trying to give him a trophy. Well,

23:52

that's what I was going to say. Piece of shit of

23:54

these horrible pieces of shit. Let's

23:56

not hand out any flowers just yet.

23:58

Because she would have. stop this he

24:01

was released in two thousand eleven and

24:03

a but appears that while he had

24:05

no intent to kill anybody he'd whatever

24:08

lesson it was for him to learn he

24:10

did not learn that lesson so he

24:12

he's released in two thousand one all

24:15

great so now i'm going to be the

24:17

ship and november thirtieth two thousand sixteen huntsville

24:19

police receive a nine one one call that

24:21

a victim had been cut up officers

24:23

responded to a home in the

24:25

twenty six hundred block of del

24:28

norte lane around five p

24:30

m when emergency personnel arrived at the

24:32

scene they found that this was the

24:34

home of corry johnson he's the guy

24:37

captain was going to get a trophy now

24:40

no trophies under dummies boy

24:42

in school well corry johnson

24:46

court he was the one that in fact called nine

24:48

one one so when they arrive

24:50

at this home his home he's sitting

24:52

on the porch waiting for the cops

24:55

he tells the first responders that they

24:58

needed to lock him up because he's

25:00

the one that did it and

25:03

what he's talking about is what they're about to

25:05

find inside inside the

25:08

house the first responders found forty two-year-old

25:10

can this will send face up on

25:12

a blood-soaked bed she had been stabbed

25:15

multiple times i

25:17

don't want to go too far down this road

25:19

because we know he's guilty he admits when they

25:21

show up so essentially he's a guy that does

25:24

horrible shitty things and then he feels

25:28

bad about it afterwards yeah he

25:30

he called it in she

25:32

had been stabbed like sixty times or something

25:34

that the other thing that's really really crazy

25:38

and bizarre here too is candace wilson that's

25:40

not the first time that you've heard her

25:43

name she she

25:47

was mentioned before she's doughboys sister

25:51

well this makes me the dumbest boy in school

25:54

biggest douche canoe i got my foot in my

25:56

mouth and there's a little bit of dog poo

25:59

on my shoe. Well, she was with

26:01

Nicholas Ackland. She was the one that remembers,

26:04

she said, oh, I didn't, I didn't consent

26:06

to the search of our home where you

26:08

guys found the gun. And she had the

26:10

two, the guns. She was the one that

26:12

had two kids with the other perpetrator.

26:16

And after they all went

26:18

away to prison and he

26:21

gets out, at

26:23

some point they strike up a

26:25

relationship together. And he, I

26:28

guess, believed that

26:30

she was running around on him and they, they,

26:32

this, this relationship had

26:35

a lot of problems, a lot of issues.

26:39

But certainly nobody wanted this to be

26:41

the outcome. She ends

26:43

up dead. He ends up

26:45

back in prison. He

26:47

pled guilty to her murder in 2020, avoiding

26:51

the death penalty. He received

26:53

a life sentence for Candace's

26:57

murder. So

27:20

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28:28

right, cheers, mates. We are back. Talk

28:30

hands in the air. Cheers to you,

28:32

Colonel. Cheers to you,

28:35

Captain. So of the three

28:37

murderers, the

28:39

one that was going to get the lesser

28:41

sentence or got the lesser sentence, he gets

28:44

out, ends up killing somebody else. I

28:47

almost gave him a trophy. I

28:50

feel awful about it. You can

28:52

send your hate mail to

28:54

captain at truecrimegarage.com. But

28:57

what happens with these other guys, because

28:59

they're sentenced to death, but we know

29:01

that there's gonna be appeals. Yeah, and

29:05

as we know from the three

29:07

amigos, there will be a plethora

29:09

of appeals. Would you say I

29:11

have a plethora of appeals? These

29:13

two guys do. They're sentenced to

29:15

death in the state of Alabama.

29:17

And let's skip over Wilson, because

29:19

none of his appeals seem to

29:21

carry any weight. Everyone

29:23

that's been filed to date has been overruled, or

29:29

basically the death sentence has been upheld

29:31

every time they've reviewed any of this

29:33

other information. Do we know when he's

29:35

gonna be sentenced to death? Or

29:38

if he will be sentenced to

29:40

death? I believe that he will be. Now,

29:43

Nicholas Anclin, who also has a

29:46

bunch of appeals, there's

29:49

one that stands out here. So

29:51

in 2002, he files a claim

29:53

that's worth discussing because

29:56

it was taken all the way to the Supreme

29:58

Court. Ackland claimed that

30:01

his attorney had a

30:03

conflict of interest, resulting in ineffective

30:05

assistance and counsel because of his

30:07

loyalties were not to him, the

30:10

client to Nicholas Ackland. Here's what

30:12

happened. So his

30:14

attorney agrees to represent him after

30:17

he met with his mother

30:20

and father, the

30:22

mother and father were divorced in September of 1996.

30:26

His mother Velma promised

30:28

to pay a $25,000 retainer to the attorney,

30:34

even though it was obvious to the

30:36

lawyer that she was in financial distress.

30:39

He had never get paid, right? So Velma,

30:42

the mother paid about $1,900 over the next

30:44

two years. His

30:47

father Thaddeus paid $2,900. The

30:52

attorney worked nearly for

30:54

free. When you can, so when you add those

30:56

two amounts together, it gets nowhere near $25,000, but

31:00

that's the amount he was paid to

31:04

work this case and represent their son. Two

31:07

days before the trial in 1998, the

31:11

mother goes to

31:13

the attorney telling the attorney

31:16

that, that her husband

31:19

had perpetrated several abuses

31:21

against her and her children.

31:23

Pretty serious stuff. Siri, allogate,

31:25

serious allegations. You should

31:28

say these are allegations. The

31:30

abuse included multiple allegations of

31:33

Thaddeus threatening her and the

31:35

children with a gun. She

31:38

testified at an evidentiary hearing

31:41

that Thaddeus would have a gun in his hand

31:43

and would shake it and would shove it down

31:45

her mouth and that the

31:47

two sons would be screaming, telling their dad

31:50

not to hurt their mom. He

31:53

didn't hurt them, but he disciplined

31:55

them with fear and threats of

31:57

violence. And it's,

38:00

examples where maybe it

38:02

did shape and mold somebody into

38:04

more of a criminal. And

38:07

it's hard for us to sit here and say

38:09

if that were the case here, but we know

38:12

the result, right? We know that he, he killed

38:15

this woman. He's

38:17

charged with capital murder, which, which is right

38:19

to do so, even though he's the one

38:21

that calls the cops because Alabama law says

38:24

that anyone who has a previous murder

38:26

conviction within 20 years of

38:28

a second murder must be charged

38:31

with capital murder upon commission of

38:33

the second homicide. So

38:35

that was the big thing for them to sort out at

38:37

his second murder trial, if you

38:40

will, you know, it, it, everybody

38:42

understood who killed the

38:45

victim. The weapon was found

38:47

inside the home. It was a small pocket knife.

38:50

He had simply set it on the dresser

38:53

in the bedroom before going outside and

38:55

calling police, hide the evidence. I

38:58

think I asked you before, if

39:01

you ever seen the movie shot caller

39:05

and I, I

39:07

think it's a complete fictitious story, but

39:09

the idea is this guy goes to

39:12

prison for his, his

39:15

buddy was killed in the car

39:18

of the car he was driving, but

39:20

he was drunk. So he got the

39:22

vehicular manslaughter and he pled guilty. So

39:24

he's only supposed to be in prison

39:27

for maybe a couple of

39:29

years, maybe 18 months. Now,

39:32

getting out of prison is going to

39:34

really affect his life in the long run. Cause

39:36

he's going to be, he's going to have this

39:38

charge on his record, but

39:40

because it is a

39:43

murder charge, he

39:46

has to go to prison with some bad dudes

39:48

and he has to become a bad dude

39:50

himself just to survive those 18

39:53

months to two years or whatever it is. When

39:56

I watched the movie myself, I go, if I was

39:58

put in the situation, And I don't know what I

40:01

would do. I, if

40:04

you're in a situation where you're

40:06

surrounded by the worst

40:08

of the worst bad dudes

40:10

that don't give a shit

40:12

and not going to show remorse, then

40:15

you don't, you have to become an

40:17

animal yourself just for survival. And

40:20

what would that do to you? Depending on how many

40:22

years you had to do that for.

40:26

I feel awful though, because I went

40:28

to give him a trophy and now

40:30

I feel like I'm giving him excuse

40:33

and I'm not. You have nothing. You're

40:35

guilty of nothing here, sir. But other

40:37

than being the dumbest boy in school.

40:39

The, so when he

40:42

goes back to prison, okay, we

40:44

know he pled guilty. So he avoids

40:46

the death penalty there. He receives a

40:48

life sentence, but also part of that

40:51

is it's ordered that he Johnson be

40:53

restricted from contact with Joey Wilson and

40:55

Nick Aclan. Right.

40:58

We don't want these three joining

41:00

forces and forming Voltron inside of this

41:02

prison. Now

41:05

the prosecutor who was

41:07

the prosecutor for all three of these

41:10

individuals in

41:12

talking about Johnson after he gets

41:14

out and then commits the murder

41:17

on Candace Wilson, he told al.com

41:19

quote, you've got as close and

41:21

personal to mayhem and criminal activity

41:23

of the highest level. And

41:26

you learned nothing from it. We incarcerate

41:28

you for 15 years. You

41:30

get out and you've learned nothing.

41:33

You make choices and you go

41:35

right back to it. But

41:38

it's tough though, too, because when you

41:41

watch these shows or these documentaries on

41:43

these prisons, a

41:45

lot of these prisons don't have

41:48

actual programs. They're not forcing these

41:51

individuals to have some

41:54

kind of education. It's it's available to them,

41:56

but they don't have to do it. And

41:59

I think. think if

42:01

I was to create a prison

42:04

system, I think

42:06

I want to have a situation where you can

42:09

just sit in your cell all day. Cause

42:12

what are you learning from that? Today,

42:14

the home where the cell phone murders

42:17

happened has been demolished.

42:20

The prosecutor, Rob browser

42:23

told WHNT news. Every time I

42:26

glanced at the house, I thought

42:28

about the case, horrible

42:30

tragedy occurred in that house. You

42:33

think about four young people just barely

42:35

out of their teenage years who

42:37

haven't been with us for the last

42:39

20 years. Every time

42:41

I look at that house, it had a

42:44

certain sadness about it. Joey

42:46

Wilson and Nick Ackland remain

42:48

on death row to this

42:50

day. They are each being

42:52

held at Holman Correctional Facility

42:54

in Atmore. Their

42:56

appeals went on and on and

42:58

on. Sherry Carter, the sister-in-law of

43:01

one of the victims, Brian Carter told

43:05

WHNT that 25 years

43:08

was way too long to wait

43:10

for justice. We

43:12

have family members that have fought

43:15

cancer and all kinds of illnesses

43:17

to stay alive, just

43:20

to see the justice carried through.

43:23

And unfortunately, every one of our

43:25

victims has lost a parent or

43:27

grandparent or something during this time

43:30

of us waiting and

43:32

they are still waiting to this

43:34

day. Both Wilson and

43:37

Ackland remain on death row. Joseph

43:39

Wilson's appeals very recently ran

43:42

out. The Alabama court of

43:44

criminal appeals recently upheld his

43:46

conviction and death penalty. That

43:49

was decided June 28th, 2024. And

43:56

these families are still waiting for these

43:58

sentences and justice to be carried.