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More Time: The Murder of Sean Babbit · PNW Haunts & Homicides

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Speaker 2: Sean Babbitt enjoyed a joyful Easter Sunday with his family
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Speaker 2: on April twenty first, twenty nineteen, watching The Golden Knights
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Speaker 2: and Game of Thrones and playing with hula hoops with
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Speaker 2: his nieces. Seawn was in good spirits. His attorney had
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Speaker 2: told him that he had a very good chance of
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Speaker 2: modifying his custody agreement, and he was hopeful that he'd
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Speaker 2: soon be spending more time with his three year old son.
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Speaker 1: The next morning, Sean drove to his former mother in
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Speaker 1: law's house for his weekly supervised visitation with his son.
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Speaker 1: While Sean was feeling positive about the future, his mother
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Speaker 1: in law was distraught and decided to take matters into
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Speaker 1: her own hands.
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Speaker 2: Hi and Welcome to Sins and Survivors, a Las Vegas
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Speaker 2: true crime podcast focus on cases that deal with domestic violence,
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Speaker 2: as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean.
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Speaker 1: And I'm your co host John.
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Speaker 2: This week's story is similar to the story of Dennis
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Speaker 2: and Ashley Prince, which we covered in episode thirty six.
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Speaker 2: Ashley and Dennis were murdered by her ex father in
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Speaker 2: law during a deposition in the custody case between Ashley
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Speaker 2: and her ex husband. Her ex father in law, Joe Houston,
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Speaker 2: was representing his son and Dennis, Ashley's husband, who was
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Speaker 2: also an attorney, was representing his wife. Matters of family
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Speaker 2: law and custody disputes can be painful, ugly, and contentious,
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Speaker 2: and the case we have this week is another heartbreaking
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Speaker 2: example of that. Sean Babbitt was a father to a
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Speaker 2: three year old boy who was shot and killed by
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Speaker 2: his ex mother in law during his scheduled visitation with
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Speaker 2: his son. For me, this is an example of the
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Speaker 2: court or officers of the court trying to do the
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Speaker 2: right thing but ultimately creating a dangerous situation. I don't
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Speaker 2: want to get ahead of ourselves, so let's start out
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Speaker 2: by sharing what we know about Sean.
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Speaker 1: Shaan Babbitt was born in Las Vegas on August twenty seventh,
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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six. One interesting fact we found out about
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Speaker 1: him is that he had the same birthday as his
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Speaker 1: father and also his son. His parents are Jennifer and Brian,
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Speaker 1: and his stepdad is named Dan. He had an older
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Speaker 1: brother named Chris and a younger sister named cassiel Sewan
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Speaker 1: was a musician, which is something that runs in the family.
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Speaker 1: Both his brother Chris and his sister Cassielle played in
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Speaker 1: bands with him. According to an article about Chris's music career,
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Speaker 1: their dad was a rocker and a hippie, and he
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Speaker 1: played Black Sabbath while he vacuumed around my crib. Sewn
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Speaker 1: played the guitar, sang, and also composed and published music
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Speaker 1: on band camp. He loved Halloween, playing Dungeons and Dragons,
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Speaker 1: metal music, and star Trek. He graduated from Cornado High
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Speaker 1: School and worked as a manager for a limousine company
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Speaker 1: and was also an uber driver. We are so grateful
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Speaker 1: to his brother, stepdad, and sister and other family members
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Speaker 1: and friends who were so open about Sean and what
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Speaker 1: he meant to all of them. He was described as
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Speaker 1: being generous, loving, kind, selfless, and brilliant. His brother called
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Speaker 1: him a magnificent human being who was easy to love.
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Speaker 1: He was a good person down to his core, and
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Speaker 1: he showed that to everyone he ever met.
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Speaker 2: Shawn married Erica in two thousand and eight, and the
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Speaker 2: two of them lived with Erica's mother, Pamela Bordeaux, in
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Speaker 2: the far northwest part of Las Vegas, near Floyd Lamb Park.
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Speaker 2: Their son was born in August of twenty fifteen, and
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Speaker 2: that November, Erica filed for divorce before their son was
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Speaker 2: even three months old. According to Shawn's stepdad, Dan, Shawn
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Speaker 2: had a passive personality and it was very much like
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Speaker 2: him to do what his wife wanted. He didn't complain
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Speaker 2: a lot after they divorced. His stepdad described it as
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Speaker 2: getting Sean back, which could mean a few different things.
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Speaker 2: Perhaps he felt that Sean was trapped in this relationship,
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Speaker 2: or maybe they didn't get to spend as much time
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Speaker 2: with him while he was married. Dan said he had
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Speaker 2: lost a lot of weight and would tremble and shake
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Speaker 2: with nerves for the first three to four months after
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Speaker 2: their divorce. Under the divorce decree, Erica was granted sole
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Speaker 2: legal and physical custody of the baby. Shawn was granted
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Speaker 2: only one hour of visitation every week from seven am
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Speaker 2: to eight am Monday mornings, contingent on him attending counseling,
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Speaker 2: and these visits had to be supervised. Erica's mother, Pamela,
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Speaker 2: would be the one to supervise these visits, and the
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Speaker 2: visits were to take place inside of Pamela's home. Pamela
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Speaker 2: Bordeaux was fifty one years old when Erica and Shawn divorced.
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Speaker 2: She had worked as a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police detective.
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Speaker 2: She was a single mom and joined the force in
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Speaker 2: December of nineteen ninety three, when Erica was a young girl.
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Speaker 2: She retired in twenty seventeen after being a part of
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Speaker 2: Metro for nearly twenty five years.
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Speaker 1: Before we get into what led up to Shawn's murder,
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Speaker 1: I want to mention a few things. Sean was paying
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Speaker 1: eight hundred dollars a month in child support, and Dan
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Speaker 1: told reporters that the big love of his life was
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Speaker 1: his little boy. He couldn't wait to see him for
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Speaker 1: that hour he got to spend with him. We think
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Speaker 1: any reasonable person would be confused or question this custody arrangement.
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Speaker 1: Nevada is a state that leans toward a fifty to
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Speaker 1: fifty custody split and one hour of supervised visitation each
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Speaker 1: week is a very restrictive schedule so restrictive in fact,
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Speaker 1: that we think it's natural to wonder what the cause
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Speaker 1: of that was. We want to be clear that nowhere
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Speaker 1: in our research was it ever alleged or noted anywhere
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Speaker 1: that Sean had been abusive toward Erica, Pamela, or the baby.
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Speaker 1: There were no stories of neglect, mental health concerns, or
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Speaker 1: alcohol or substance use disorder issues, nor was it ever
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Speaker 1: mentioned in the press what the required counseling was for.
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Speaker 1: Dan said that he didn't know. The closest thing we
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Speaker 1: could find to an explanation for this custody agreement was
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Speaker 1: that Erica said that Sean had once referred to himself
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Speaker 1: as an unfit parent. As these visits had to be
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Speaker 1: supervised and held inside of Pamela's home, it's not clear
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Speaker 1: to us how much of an opportunity Sean's family members,
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Speaker 1: the baby's grandparents, or Shawn's siblings had to spend time
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Speaker 1: with him. This arrangement lasted about three and a half
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Speaker 1: years until April of twenty nineteen, when Shawn met with
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Speaker 1: a lawyer and filed papers to increase his visitation with
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Speaker 1: his son. The lawyer believed he had a very good
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Speaker 1: chance of succeeding. During this time, Erica had moved on
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Speaker 1: and had remarried very shortly after their divorce was finalized.
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Speaker 1: She was no longer living at her mom's house and
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Speaker 1: had recently had another baby. Shawn's stepfather, Dan, later told
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Speaker 1: the court that Erica had asked Seawan for permission to
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Speaker 1: change their son's last name to the name of her
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Speaker 1: new husband, and Sean had refused. Dan also said that
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Speaker 1: he knew that Erica was aware of Sean's petition to
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Speaker 1: increase the time he could spend with his son, because
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Speaker 1: she had started calling him frequently. In hindsight, the custody
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Speaker 1: and visitation of their son was becoming a contentious issue,
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Speaker 1: and things were escalating quickly.
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Speaker 2: As we mentioned in the opening of the episode, April
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Speaker 2: twenty first, twenty nineteen, was Easter Sunday that year. Shawn's mom, Jennifer,
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Speaker 2: described it as a Golden Knight's Game of Thrones Easter
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Speaker 2: Sunday and said that Sean was in great spirits that
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Speaker 2: day playing with his nieces. The next morning, Monday, the
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Speaker 2: twenty second, Sean drove to Pamela's house to enjoy his
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Speaker 2: one hour visitation with his son. Everything seemed to go smoothly,
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Speaker 2: and at the end of the visit, around eight o
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Speaker 2: five am, Erica led their son upstairs so he could
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Speaker 2: use the bathroom. Sean was putting his shoes on and
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Speaker 2: getting ready to leave. Before she could get her son
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Speaker 2: to the toilet, Erica heard multiple gunshots coming from downstairs.
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Speaker 2: She quickly called nine one one. Las Vegas Metro officers
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Speaker 2: approached the house and initially treated it as a barricade
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Speaker 2: situation where they needed to get Erica, her son, and
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Speaker 2: Pamela out of the house safely. They knew a shooting
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Speaker 2: had occurred in the home, but didn't have all the details.
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Speaker 2: Erica herself was unsure about what happened. She would later
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Speaker 2: state she didn't hear any argument, shouting, or any kind
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Speaker 2: of disturbance before she heard the gunshots. Police used a
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Speaker 2: ladder to evacuate Erica and her son from the second
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Speaker 2: floor of the house. After twenty six minutes, Pamela exited
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Speaker 2: the home and surrendered to the police, and she was
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Speaker 2: placed in handcuffs. Bodycam footage shows an officer questioning Pamela
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Speaker 2: about the shooting in the house. Metro officer is Shawn
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Speaker 2: down Bordeaux, Yes Metro officer, is he four nineteen? Bordeaux,
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Speaker 2: I don't know, Metro officer. Does he appear like he's dead? Bordeaux?
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Speaker 2: I don't know, Metro officer. Is he moving? Bordeaux? I
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Speaker 2: don't think so. Metro Officer. Do you hear any moaning
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Speaker 2: anything like that? Bordeaux? No, Metro officer.
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Speaker 1: No.
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Speaker 2: Is he holding the gun or is the gun near him? Bordeaux?
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Speaker 2: It was my gun, Metro officer, it was your gun.
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Speaker 2: Where is it at? The officer then repeats himself twice,
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Speaker 2: saying did you shoot him or did he shoot himself? Bordeaux,
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Speaker 2: I'm always armed when he comes, I shot him. Metro officer.
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Speaker 2: Huh you shot him? She nods yes.
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Speaker 1: When the police entered the home, they found Sean dead
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Speaker 1: on the living room floor with his shoes nearby. There
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Speaker 1: was no sign of a struggle in the house. The
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Speaker 1: autopsy would reveal that Sean had been shot ten or
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Speaker 1: eleven times. He had been shot in the top of
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Speaker 1: the head and three times through the back, and he
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Speaker 1: had significant defensive wounds to his hands that indicated that
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Speaker 1: he had had his hands up to deflect the attack.
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Speaker 1: Only one weapon, Pamela's gun, was found in the home.
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Speaker 1: According to Dan, Seawan had no way to retreat from
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Speaker 1: the room, and he was shot by Bordeaux as she
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Speaker 1: was standing at the top of the stairs firing down
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Speaker 1: at him. Sean's brother, Chris, would later claim that Sean
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Speaker 1: had been shot while he was putting his shoes on,
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Speaker 1: Although Detective Gary King couldn't confirm that. Erica, her new husband,
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Speaker 1: and Pamela's friend Mark were all interviewed at the scene.
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Speaker 1: Mark is also a Metro detective who happened to be
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Speaker 1: on duty and responded to the call. When they were interviewed,
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Speaker 1: all three told police that they thought the motive for
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Speaker 1: the shooting was that Sean was trying to increase custody
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Speaker 1: and Pamela was distraught with the situation. When Pamela was
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Speaker 1: taken into custody, officers noted that she had no blood
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Speaker 1: or tissue on her hands, face, or clothes. Her face
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Speaker 1: and hands had no injuries, no marks, no scrapes, no
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Speaker 1: broken fingernails. According to the RJ Chief Deputy District Attorney
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Speaker 1: Michelle Fleck called the shooting a completely unprovoked attack and
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Speaker 1: an absolute execution.
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Speaker 2: Pamela's explanation was that she had acted in self defense
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Speaker 2: that Sean was a violent and dangerous person. Two days
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Speaker 2: after she was arrested, her attorneys, Robert Draskovich and Michael Horvath,
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Speaker 2: gave a statement to the press where they claimed Sean
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Speaker 2: was a deviant. They said he had a dark side
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Speaker 2: that it's likely his family members were unaware of. They
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Speaker 2: explained that Pamela was a grandmother who was trying to
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Speaker 2: protect herself, her daughter, and her grandson. The attorney stated
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Speaker 2: that they had reached this conclusion based on the custody agreement.
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Speaker 2: They argued that the visitation being supervised in just once
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Speaker 2: a week for one hour was evidence that there had
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Speaker 2: to be a reason for that, and they claimed they
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Speaker 2: would be launching a full investigation into the reasons why.
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Speaker 2: Shawn's family and his stepdad Dan in particular, had a
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Speaker 2: lot to say about this. As you might imagine, Dan
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Speaker 2: believed that the motive was very straightforward. I think for
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Speaker 2: the first time he stood his ground and said, no,
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Speaker 2: I'm getting more time with my son. I don't think
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Speaker 2: she could stand that he wanted more access, so he
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Speaker 2: served them with papers and he would have gotten more access,
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Speaker 2: and the next visit he was murdered. This is just shocking.
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Speaker 2: Sean filed for more time with his son, and this
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Speaker 2: is what happened. Seawan was a very peaceful boy and
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Speaker 2: he wouldn't harm a fly. I know they know that.
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Speaker 2: While this would be the motive that prosecutors stress during trial,
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Speaker 2: the investigation did also reveal that during their marriage and
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Speaker 2: before their son was born, Pamela and Erica convinced Sean
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Speaker 2: that he needed a life insurance policy. They took out
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Speaker 2: a policy on him, with Erica as the primary beneficiary
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Speaker 2: and Pamela as the secondary. The policy was worth three
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Speaker 2: hundred and five thousand dollars and a claim was made
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Speaker 2: on that policy on April twenty fourth, just two days
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Speaker 2: after his murder. Though her attorneys tried to have the
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Speaker 2: charges dropped based on self defense, they failed, as the
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Speaker 2: prosecutors explained, a general claim of dangerousness is both unreasonable
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Speaker 2: and not a legal defense to murder. This case is
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Speaker 2: a clear demonstration that Bordeau's reaction to other family members
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Speaker 2: seeking time with her grandchild is to resort to extreme violence.
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Speaker 1: As we stated, initially, she was held without bail and
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Speaker 1: the judge denied her request to be released, stating that
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Speaker 1: she was a threat to the Babbitt family. About two
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Speaker 1: months later, on June twenty ninth, twenty nineteen, she had
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Speaker 1: a separate bail hearing and bail was set at one
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Speaker 1: million dollars. Bordeaux posted that bail and was placed on
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Speaker 1: house arrest pending trial. The trial didn't begin until June
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Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four and lasted six days. Erica was
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Speaker 1: a witness for the state and she testified about what
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Speaker 1: we already shared here, that the visit was normal, there
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Speaker 1: was no argument or fighting, and that she didn't hear
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Speaker 1: anything before she heard the gunshots. Pamela's friend, the detective,
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Speaker 1: testified that he knew her to be a steady and
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Speaker 1: calm person, but the Saturday night before the shooting, he
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Speaker 1: said she was distraught. She told him that she was
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Speaker 1: upset about the possibility of Sean getting custody, saying family
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Speaker 1: courts don't give a damn and they want to give
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Speaker 1: fifty to fifty custody. Forensic evidence also showed that Pamela
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Speaker 1: was not close to Sean when the shooting took place.
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Speaker 1: She was at a distance of at least two feet,
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Speaker 1: which is why she didn't have any blood evidence on her.
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Speaker 1: After the shooting, It's also important to note that two
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Speaker 1: separate witnesses testified they heard several gunshots and then, after
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Speaker 1: a pause, several more gun shots. There was also evidence
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Speaker 1: that Bordeaux had manipulated the scene following the shooting. One
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Speaker 1: of Sean's socks had blood on it, and it was
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Speaker 1: demonstrated by evidence that the likely cause was that Pamela
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Speaker 1: had taken the sock off his foot and used it
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Speaker 1: to move the shell casings into one part of the
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Speaker 1: room in a close cluster. She didn't get them all, though,
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Speaker 1: and prosecutors would argue that was because they were hidden
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Speaker 1: in the room, under a shoe, behind a door, and
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Speaker 1: even under Sean. The prosecutors emphasized that Pamela was a
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Speaker 1: creature of habit. She had a routine for those Monday
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Speaker 1: morning visits where she would come downstairs, open the blinds
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Speaker 1: to see if Sean was at the door, then leave
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Speaker 1: the blinds open for the visit, and then close them
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Speaker 1: after the visit. She would also closely supervise those visits,
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Speaker 1: and she would have her gun, pepper spray, and handcuffs
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Speaker 1: at the ready. On the day of the murder, however,
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Speaker 1: she kept the blinds closed. The blood spatter evidence in
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Speaker 1: the home confirmed they were shut at the time of
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Speaker 1: the murder. For the prosecution, this meant premeditation, not self defense.
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Speaker 2: The defense made the argument that Sean had been erratic
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Speaker 2: lately and that he may have had a propensity for violence.
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Speaker 2: He was characterized as a jealous and emasculated ex husband.
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Speaker 2: The defense had an expert clinical and forensic psychologist, John
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Speaker 2: Paul Garrison, who did an assessment of Sean based on
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Speaker 2: what the defendant told him and emails and text messages
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Speaker 2: he had sent to Erica during their marriage. According to
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Speaker 2: his assessment, Pamela had a reason to be afraid of Sean.
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Speaker 2: We have more to say about this when we get
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Speaker 2: into the prosecution's closing arguments. They also claimed that Seawn
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Speaker 2: was still upset over his divorce and Erica's new relationship.
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Speaker 2: He was also alleged to be jealous of the newborn
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Speaker 2: that Erica had with her new husband in December of
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Speaker 2: twenty eighteen. Just a remind her here that Erica remarried
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Speaker 2: just a few days after her divorce was finalized in
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Speaker 2: twenty sixteen, so they had been split for about three
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Speaker 2: years by the time the shooting occurred, and the baby
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Speaker 2: had been born about five months earlier. Pamela took the
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Speaker 2: stand in her own defense and described that she went
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Speaker 2: to open the front door of the house to let
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Speaker 2: Sean out, and when she turned around, he was coming
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Speaker 2: down the stairs toward her with his hands outstretched like
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Speaker 2: he was going to strangle her. The defense explained that
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Speaker 2: Bordeaux had an excellent record of service both in Metro
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Speaker 2: and in the military, and that she had no duty
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Speaker 2: to retreat in her own home. Her killing was justified
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Speaker 2: based on Shawn's deviant behavior. I think this is a
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Speaker 2: good time to read the statement Shawn's brother Chris made
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Speaker 2: about his brother before the trial started. I want to
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Speaker 2: help prepare friends, family, and supporters for the abhorrent ugliness
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Speaker 2: that lies ahead. The assassination attempt of my brother's character
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Speaker 2: will be heart wrenching and enraging, but we must stand
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Speaker 2: united and continue to always show Shan in his true light,
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Speaker 2: as the true light he was in so many of
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Speaker 2: our lives, now that his has been barbarically taken. In
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Speaker 2: their first statement, the murderer's legal defense team has already
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Speaker 2: cited untruth. This may very well set the tone for
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Speaker 2: what is to come. Understand, there was nothing dangerous about
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Speaker 2: my brother, my dearest friend, my daughter and niece's favorite uncle,
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Speaker 2: my inspiration in art and life, my soulmate, my gentle
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Speaker 2: and ingenious brother, Sean Babbitt was murdered in cold blood,
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Speaker 2: and because all the evidence leads to this fact, the
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Speaker 2: smear campaign to malign and distort his true character has
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Speaker 2: already begun. Because there is no way to interpret the
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Speaker 2: brutal slaying and summary execution of my brother in any
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Speaker 2: other way than murder based on all the physical evidence,
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Speaker 2: the legal defense team for Shawn's murderer are already taking
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Speaker 2: to the media to try and manipulate his image with
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Speaker 2: half truth and grossly simplified or exaggerated labels to try
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Speaker 2: an engender doubt and discust in the public eye by
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Speaker 2: presenting a one sided story for which they require no
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Speaker 2: burden of proof or evidence beyond its introduction. Because you
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Speaker 2: cannot legally slander the dead, and they therefore have no
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Speaker 2: consequences to keep their tactics from becoming more than mudslinging
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Speaker 2: without evidentiary foundation, they intend to distort his true character
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Speaker 2: by painting my kind hearted, sweet, generous, and tender brother
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Speaker 2: as aggressive or possibly even stretch it as far as
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Speaker 2: to portray as deviant. The killer's defense team is strategically
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Speaker 2: saying the word deviant with specific intent, and they are
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Speaker 2: coupling the word deviant with statements about his child intentionally
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Speaker 2: so that when you think of those two things, you
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Speaker 2: will associate deviants and children, and you will make your
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Speaker 2: own assumptions by drawing horrific conclusions based on no facts whatsoever.
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Speaker 2: In the court of public opinion, their statements may run
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Speaker 2: rampant with suggestion, without factual support, and without objection or rebuttal,
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Speaker 2: allowing the public imagination to form its opinion based solely
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Speaker 2: on the half truce and outright untruths they are being fed.
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Speaker 2: The defense has no evidence to support their case on
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Speaker 2: legal grounds, so they will say anything they can to
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Speaker 2: try and breed doubt. The sickening way in which my
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Speaker 2: brother was literally shot to pieces is the only obscene
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Speaker 2: fact of this case that should turn your stomach or
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Speaker 2: sway your opinion. They want to introduce and extrapolate wild
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Speaker 2: what if ideas to sow the seeds of doubt throughout
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Speaker 2: the public opinion via the media because they know Sean
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Speaker 2: is not on trial and no longer alive to defend himself,
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Speaker 2: and thus they do not have to prove their allegations.
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Speaker 2: They only have to introduce loose possibilities to poison the
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Speaker 2: public well with the stuff of fiction or at most
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Speaker 2: private communications from which they will likely try and stretch
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Speaker 2: and squeeze far fetched ill intention using contextless snapshot of
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Speaker 2: his life. Shawn was utterly devoted to his son. With
19:03
Speaker 2: the best intentions, and in a civil and peaceable manner,
19:06
Speaker 2: he pursued the legal means to regain the custody rights
19:09
Speaker 2: that he had been manipulated and bullied into signing away.
19:13
Speaker 2: His attorney was immensely confident that Shawn would absolutely regain
19:16
Speaker 2: the rights to see his son he loved so Dearly
19:19
Speaker 2: the week after his attorney filed and served the papers
19:21
Speaker 2: that would ensure Sean would regain his rightful custody, Shawn
19:25
Speaker 2: was murdered by a member of the family who received
19:27
Speaker 2: those papers. I implore you to share this story and
19:31
Speaker 2: to stand with us in unity to present the true
19:33
Speaker 2: and beautiful Sean Babbitt admissed the ugliness to come.
19:38
Speaker 1: Earlier in the episode, we mentioned that we were confident
19:40
Speaker 1: there was no evidence of Sean being abusive or negligent,
19:44
Speaker 1: as no specific evidence came to trial, and while some
19:47
Speaker 1: text messages were reported in the press or on that later,
19:51
Speaker 1: there were never any allegations of Sean physically harming Erica, Pamela,
19:56
Speaker 1: or his son or anyone else for that matter. We think,
19:59
Speaker 1: due to Pa Simla's defense for the shooting that something
20:02
Speaker 1: would have come out about that, but it hasn't. As
20:05
Speaker 1: Chris predicted. During the trial, the defense alluded to Sean
20:08
Speaker 1: being deviant, but nothing specific about his relationships or past
20:12
Speaker 1: actions with his son, Erica or Pamela was brought into evidence.
20:16
Speaker 1: During her closing argument, d A. Fleck dismantled the defense
20:19
Speaker 1: argument piece by piece. First, the forensic evidence simply didn't
20:24
Speaker 1: match Pamela's story and testimony, and the fact that she
20:27
Speaker 1: had purposely moved the shell casings to try to match
20:29
Speaker 1: her story was particularly damning. She had shot him ten
20:33
Speaker 1: times and never missed a single shot. Bordeaux testified that
20:38
Speaker 1: she shot and emptied her gun at Sean, but two
20:40
Speaker 1: independent witnesses had heard two sets of shots with a
20:44
Speaker 1: pause in between the state concluded that she had shot
20:47
Speaker 1: him a few times and then a few more times
20:50
Speaker 1: to make sure that he was dead. Pamela also waited
20:54
Speaker 1: twenty six minutes before exiting the house to make sure
20:57
Speaker 1: he didn't survive. The events stated that Sean was upset
21:02
Speaker 1: about Erica's new baby, but Fleck explained that it was
21:05
Speaker 1: over a year earlier that Sean found out she was pregnant,
21:08
Speaker 1: and he had congratulated her when he had heard and
21:11
Speaker 1: if that were true, why would he attack Pamela and
21:13
Speaker 1: not Erica. In one of the most moving parts of
21:16
Speaker 1: the trial, Fleck played a video Sean had recorded the
21:19
Speaker 1: morning of the murder. It was a selfie video of
21:21
Speaker 1: himself singing Elton John's Your Song. He then wished his
21:25
Speaker 1: girlfriend a good day and blew her a kiss. Michel
21:27
Speaker 1: explained that Sean was in love, he was happy, and
21:30
Speaker 1: he was hopeful about finally having more time with his son.
21:33
Speaker 1: The bottom line was he had no reason or motive
21:36
Speaker 1: to attack Pamela, especially three years after the visitations had begun.
21:40
Speaker 1: In her own testimony, she had stated that he had
21:42
Speaker 1: never provoked her or done anything violent to her in
21:45
Speaker 1: any of the previous one hundred and fifty six visitation sessions.
21:50
Speaker 1: And lastly, why would he risk it when he had
21:52
Speaker 1: good news from his attorney, but also when he knew
21:55
Speaker 1: that she's always armed during visitation. Fleck called this an
21:59
Speaker 1: active revival for asking for more visitation with his son,
22:03
Speaker 1: saying that Pamela was losing control of the situation and
22:06
Speaker 1: it acted as judge, jury and literal executioner. The state
22:10
Speaker 1: asked for a conviction of first degree murder.
22:13
Speaker 2: In the defense's closing argument, the part I was able
22:16
Speaker 2: to watch was centered on how it was reasonable for
22:19
Speaker 2: Pamela to be scared and that she had been a
22:21
Speaker 2: good cop and a good soldier. After about three hours
22:25
Speaker 2: of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict of first
22:28
Speaker 2: degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon. During
22:32
Speaker 2: the sentencing hearing, Michelle Fleck stressed that at no point
22:35
Speaker 2: had Bordeaux ever taken any personal responsibility or shown any
22:39
Speaker 2: remorse for killing the father of her grandchild. Bordeaux had
22:42
Speaker 2: taken away his son's right to have a relationship with
22:45
Speaker 2: his father. She also noted that in the sentencing memorandum
22:49
Speaker 2: the defense had prepared that it was once again focused
22:52
Speaker 2: on what Pamela thought about Sean the whole deviant thing,
22:55
Speaker 2: which the prosecution called delusions. She told the judge that
22:59
Speaker 2: the assessment that the Diffe had presented at trial was backed
23:01
Speaker 2: by an expert whoever had the opportunity to meet Sean.
23:04
Speaker 2: It was entirely based on what Pamela had told him
23:07
Speaker 2: and text messages that had been taken out of context
23:10
Speaker 2: as part of a conversation Sean had with Erica during
23:13
Speaker 2: their marriage. Da Fleck was notably irritated about the report,
23:17
Speaker 2: and while she didn't accuse anyone outright, she reminded the
23:21
Speaker 2: judge that the assessment must have been leaked to the media,
23:24
Speaker 2: and the media had done tabloid reporting revealing that report
23:28
Speaker 2: without investigating any of the lies in the document. The
23:31
Speaker 2: implication here is that the defense had attempted to poison
23:33
Speaker 2: the jury pool and the court of public opinion by
23:36
Speaker 2: releasing that report. Again, what Chris wrote years earlier seemed
23:40
Speaker 2: to be true. The defense said that Pamela was sorry
23:43
Speaker 2: for what happened and asked for a lighter sentence because
23:46
Speaker 2: of her age. Pamela was sixty at the time, and
23:49
Speaker 2: even the judge acknowledged that the minimum sentence could be
23:52
Speaker 2: a life sentence for her. Chris was present to give
23:55
Speaker 2: a statement during the hearing. He first read a statement
23:58
Speaker 2: from their mom, Jennifer, where she talked about how Shan's
24:01
Speaker 2: last day had been a day filled with joy, love
24:03
Speaker 2: and hope. Chris choked back tears as he told the
24:06
Speaker 2: court that his little brother was his favorite person and
24:08
Speaker 2: his best friend. He was the other side of his coin,
24:11
Speaker 2: his soulmate, and the void would not fill and it
24:13
Speaker 2: couldn't be fixed. He said he aspired to be like Sewan.
24:17
Speaker 2: Even though he was the big brother, he was closer
24:19
Speaker 2: than a twin to him. Chris explained that he had
24:22
Speaker 2: been trying to hold it together for his wife and
24:24
Speaker 2: his two kids and the rest of his family, but
24:27
Speaker 2: Seawan was gone for nothing and for no reason. His stepdad,
24:31
Speaker 2: Dan also gave a statement. He thanked the judge and
24:33
Speaker 2: shared some information about how he viewed his son's relationship
24:36
Speaker 2: with Eric and Pamela. He said he wanted him to
24:39
Speaker 2: stay away from them and that it had been horrific
24:41
Speaker 2: living with the fact that he wanted to protect Seawan
24:44
Speaker 2: from them, but he couldn't. He said that his wife,
24:46
Speaker 2: Jennifer still cries every Monday morning.
24:50
Speaker 1: District Court Judge Carly Kearney said Bordeaux was a successful
24:54
Speaker 1: police officer but a terrible mother in law and a
24:57
Speaker 1: terrible grandmother. She sentenced her to life with the possibility
25:01
Speaker 1: of parole after twenty four years. Shawn's celebration of life
25:05
Speaker 1: was held at the Westgate Hotel on Saturday, May fourth,
25:09
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. Chris asked that it be a true celebration
25:13
Speaker 1: of life and said, please come dress to rock and
25:15
Speaker 1: let's send Sean to Valahalla style. Hundreds of people came
25:19
Speaker 1: from across the country. The event was appropriately filled with
25:22
Speaker 1: lots of music, which was a huge part of Shawn's life.
25:26
Speaker 1: Later that summer, a video game music festival in San
25:28
Speaker 1: Diego was performed in his memory, with some of Sewn's
25:31
Speaker 1: former bandmates and attendance. Shawn's story is one we wanted
25:35
Speaker 1: to share, not only because he was an exceptional person
25:37
Speaker 1: who was loved by so many, but also because it's
25:39
Speaker 1: another example of how child custody disputes can turn violent.
25:44
Speaker 1: In hindsight, it was never a good idea to have
25:46
Speaker 1: Bordeaux supervised visitation, and it definitely wasn't a good idea
25:50
Speaker 1: for it to be in an isolated place like Bordeaux's
25:53
Speaker 1: own home. I can imagine what a tense and ominous
25:56
Speaker 1: environment that was for Sean to have to spend limited
25:59
Speaker 1: time with his son with Pamela sitting there with her gun,
26:02
Speaker 1: pepper spray and handcuffs. The fact of the matter was
26:06
Speaker 1: that if anything had ever happened, it would always have
26:08
Speaker 1: been his word against hers, and neither of them would
26:11
Speaker 1: have had any protection if any accusations were raised. While
26:16
Speaker 1: this probably seemed to be a very reasonable arrangement for
26:18
Speaker 1: the family Court at the time it was created, since
26:21
Speaker 1: Sean's son was just a small infant, but this truly
26:24
Speaker 1: put all four of them at risk. We hope that
26:27
Speaker 1: Shawn's family has had the opportunity to build a relationship
26:30
Speaker 1: with his son, and we know they will do what
26:32
Speaker 1: they can to continue to keep Shawn's memory alive.
26:36
Speaker 2: John and I will be talking more about this episode
26:39
Speaker 2: in this week's Swing Shift, so be sure to subscribe
26:41
Speaker 2: so you don't miss it. Thank you to everyone who
26:44
Speaker 2: has reviewed the show, and we encourage all of our
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26:49
Speaker 2: It really helps us grow the show and get these
26:51
Speaker 2: important stories out there. Thanks again for listening, and remember
26:55
Speaker 2: what happens here happens everywhere.
27:17
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27:40
Speaker 2: If you are someone you know as affected by domestic
27:43
Speaker 2: violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources
27:46
Speaker 2: or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources
27:49
Speaker 2: is available on our website, Sinsensurvivors dot com. Sins and Survivors,
27:54
Speaker 2: a Las Vegas true crime podcast, is research, written and
27:57
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28:00
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28:03
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28:06
Speaker 2: Links to source material for this episode can be found
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28:12
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28:15
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28:19
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28:27
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