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Transcript

SnapShot: Courtroom Crossfire: Transparency Protects You When The Truth Is Uncomfortable · Murders to Music: Crime Scene to Music Scene (Streamline Events and Entertainment)

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to a murders to music snapshot.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: 10 minutes of something that I want to talk to you about.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: And today it's going to be about a lesson learned early on in my career.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And in this case, growing up in Alaska and growing up in a small town, it was pretty common to get to know everybody.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you find yourself growing up with them and then maybe working with them or working with their kids.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And a small town, everybody knows everything about everybody.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: So as I'm growing up, I play music, I play drums, and there's one music store in town called The Music Box.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I spent a lot of time as a young kid growing up in that store.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: And during that time, I met a man named Jamie.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And Jamie worked there at the store.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was a few years older than I was.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: But Jamie and I became friends.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And into the teen years, I started working with Jamie and we would install PA systems at various churches and just different things that we would do together.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then Jamie installed car stereos.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So in my car stereo days of 16, 17 years old, he would help me install those.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: But again, he's a few years older than me.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Jamie was a perfectionist.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Everything Jamie did was perfect.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that means if Jamie is putting in a line of screws and flathead screws into a box or a stereo system, when he's done, all of them will be in a perfect straight line.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: All of the wiring is nice and tight and 90-degree corners and zip tied down.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Everything he did was a perfectionist.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: I really like Jamie.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: I knew the family very, very well.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I knew Jamie's dad.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: I knew Jamie's mom.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I knew them all.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So then I become a police officer.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And when I become a police officer, Jamie and I, we go our separate ways, but not intentionally.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm now married.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: I am expecting some kids.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Jamie is still living in the community, dating some people.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're just not seeing each other as much as we once did.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't take away that history.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So Jamie is driving to Anchorage from Keenye or Kenyeye back from Anchorage, somewhere in there.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Jamie, I mentioned he installed stereo systems.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one of the things he did, this is in the time when there was a TV screen, you know, the little flip-out LED screen on these head units, stereo head units.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Jamie overrode the safety on that so it would play movies while driving.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: You see, those are wired just like the ones in your car.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: That when the car is in gear, it's not supposed to play movies and maybe limit access to your keypad or you know your navigation system or whatever it may be.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And all that stuff is put in there in an effort to help make driving safer.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Jamie, having the abilities that he did, he overrode that safety feature and was able to play movies in his car.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So as he's making this road trip, there's a movie playing in the DVD player in his car.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And this road trip is about a three-hour, three and a half hour road trip from one city to the other.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's sometimes two lane, sometimes four-lane, sometimes five-lane highways.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And during that drive, something occurred where Jamie crossed the center line and got into a tragic accident, ultimately killing somebody in the other vehicle.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, with that being said, he ultimately was charged by our local district attorney.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: The same district attorney that I worked for.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not involved in Jamie's case.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: It happened a long ways away from me, but I know Jamie.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: I know the case.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard of it.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: It made the news.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Jamie, are you okay?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude, I'm good.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm getting charged with this.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I'm sorry to hear that.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And we kind of go about our separate ways.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one day, let me back up and tell you about this prosecutor.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: This prosecutor, a lady, uh, and ultimately I like her a lot.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: She is a bulldog.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: She will not rest until justice has been served.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: She will go above and beyond.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: She will push.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: She will push the envelope more than I did in my career.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: But she ultimately wants to see justice served.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in this case, she took on these charges against Jamie, and I believe the charges, it's been years, but I believe the charges were in the range of murder, murder in the second degree.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And as a police officer, when I heard those charges, I didn't necessarily agree with them.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: I thought they were a stretch.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: But at this time, I've been a police officer for a year or two.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: What do I know?
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the DA, who I look up to, who I consider somebody that I want to impress, somebody that I want to work with, uh, she is saying these charges are applicable.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they're not asking me for my opinion.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't really matter.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: She's going to do her thing, she's got experience.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Go forth and conquer.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, Jamie, you're on the other side.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So then I find myself in court one day, completely unrelated to anything about this conversation or this story.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I see Jamie in the hallway.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I walk up to him and I'm like, Jamie, how's it going, dude?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I shake his hand, I give him a hug.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And about mid-hug is when that prosecutor steps out of a courtroom and sees me in uniform hugging my friend.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: My friend happens to be her defendant.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this upset her.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And she gave me a look and I separated from Jamie, not knowing what I had done wrong.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: She then later calls me in and chastises me about uh associating with the other side and what that image might look like.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I tried to explain that he's been my friend for the last 15, 20 years, and she didn't seem to care.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: So all that fell on deaf ears.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, she wrote a letter of reprimand for me and sent it to my department saying that I was siding with the defense and that I gave a bad image when I'm hugging a defendant in her murder case.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: But in the flip side, I'm just hugging my friend.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, the defense attorney subpoenaed me to testify in court on Jamie's behalf.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: As a result of that, prosecution subpoenaed me to testify on behalf of the state.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: So in uniform, for both testimonies, I step up and I testify for the state about my relationship with Jamie.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not asked my opinion on the law, but I have to talk about it and I have to talk about my relationship with Jamie.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the questions are led in such a way that I can't answer them honestly about Jamie, and it's painting Jamie in this negative light.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: So then when defense gets me up there and they want to interview me, they're painting it in a positive light.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for me, it's easier for me to answer defense's questions because I'm Jamie's friend.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: State wants me to answer them against Jamie, and I am stuck in the middle.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: I got done with that testimony and a couple things that I learned.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, Jamie was found not guilty on those charges.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is due to the way that the case and the facts of the case and the way they presented in court.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: For me, all I could do is be honest.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I can't sway, I can't be biased, I can't say one way or the other what I think.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: The court doesn't care about my feelings.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: They want to know the facts.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, when I testified the facts about Jamie being my friend, long before I ever wore a badge, that resonated true in the court's ears.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: The one thing that I learned is transparency will protect me even when the truth is uncomfortable.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that I was open with both sides in that situation is what protected me.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Being transparent in an uncomfortable situation for me was the way that I got through that.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And even having integrity.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Having integrity in that situation, answering those questions, and refusing to lie for somebody that you love.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: I got asked if Jamie could modify the wiring in a car.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I got asked about my history, installing stereos with them.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I got asked about all of those things.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Could he bypass the safety wire?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: The answer is yes.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: He absolutely could.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: But did he do it and intentionally kill somebody?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: No, there was no intent there.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, shit happens, and I get it.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying a distracted driver shouldn't be held accountable for their actions.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: But in that case, there are laws that are applicable for the crimes and for the actions that occurred.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: And now having spent many, many years as a homicide detective and understanding what does and does not constitute murder, looking back, I was right on track in 2003, 2004.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, that is a murders to music snapshot.