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Season 1_ Sidebar 6(M4A_128K) · NO FILTER

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome to this week's Proof Sidebar. I'm here
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: this week, which is Into Davis and Kevin Fitzpatrick to
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: discuss episode eight of our series on the cases of Lee,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Clark and Kane's story, And this week we heard about
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Dallas Battle.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: To me, Dallas Battle has always been at the center
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: of the controversy surrounding this case. I mean when I
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: first learned about the story, he was sort of, you know,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: if not the first, then one of the first names
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: that came up, and there was just a lot of
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: questions about could he have done something improper or him
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: really holding all of the answers to what happened with
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: this investigation. So I think it was you know, about
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: time and really interesting to stepped through to look at
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Dallas Battle himself.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I was really looking forward to interviewing him for quite
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: a while, and then unfortunately he passed away just shortly
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: before we started getting fully into this case and working
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: on it next making trips down to Rome, so we
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: never got a chance to And I don't know if
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: you had talked to us. Part of me tells myself
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: that he wouldn't talk to us anyway, So we didn't
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: miss out on anything.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: But I still remember actually getting the message that he
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: had passed away, because I mean, it couldn't have been
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: more than a week or two before the first trip
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: to Rome, and I think it was a text chain
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: between the three of us.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was earlier that month, but he'd been in
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: ill health for a while, I believe. And now Dallas
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: was one of two officers who worked the most in
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: this case, although he was the one who was at
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the start of the case. He was the lead officer,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: so he was the one who knew most about it.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: But we're still hopeful to speak to David Stewart, who
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: was the other investigator who worked on it.
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: It feels like people want to talk about it, they
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: want to make comments about battle on the record, but
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: they can't. You know, they're being told they can't talk
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: to us for one reason or another by Floyd County
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: Police Department in DA's office.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: And plus is the obvious no one wants to speak
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: ill of the dead. It's you know, an awkward and
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: unfortunate topic. And he is not here within himself, So
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: in that sense, no, it's not fair that there's no
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: one to speak up for him. But that doesn't mean
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: his story shouldn't be told because it's a huge part
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: of this case.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I do think that you have both offered
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: people the opportunity to speak on his behalf and they've declined,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: either because they've been told they can't speak.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Or they simply declined.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: I mean, I was there when you fill them to
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: the widow's house and she politely declined to comment. So
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: you have reached out to people to try and get
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: to present his side of the story.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: And like you said, Susan, it's not a story can't tell.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: We have to tell the story because you know, as
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: Glenn Clark says in the opening of this episode, is
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: we probably wouldn't be here looking at this case right
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: now if it wasn't for Dallas Battle.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: And Dallas Battle had a checkered career, I guess you'd
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: say at the Floyd Countice apartment and later on he
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: was there for a very long time, almost thirty years,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: and he was an investigator for quite a good chunk
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: of that. So he appears in a lot of the
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: high profile cases that occurred in Floyd County over that
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: time period. He also was involved in the Joy Watkins case.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Not only did he testify about Isaac's truck allegedly not
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: being identifiable from where it crashed inside of the road.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: He was also the officer who interrogated the prime alternate
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: suspect in the case, Heath Wilson. He also was the
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: officer that handled probably the highest profile case in Floyd County,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: or at least in terms of true crime notoriety, which
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: was a Michelle Reynolds case. And I know there's a
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: lot to talk about how he's the reason that case
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: did not end up in a death penalty situation because
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: of a search warrant that he improperly obtained and that
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: resulted in evidence that was found being suppressed in a
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: plea deal being reached supposed to a death penalty connection.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: We also heard this episode from the confession tape that
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: was recorded of Cain's second interview with Dallas Battle and
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the one in which he says that he accidentally shot Brian,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: or at least that the gun accidentally went off Wells
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: in his hand. And the recorded portion of the interview
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: was short, It's about sixteen seventeen minutes. We don't know
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: how long it was going on before that, but you
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: can hear of the course of the interview. How Cain
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: starts off saying no, I didn't do this, didn't do this,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: didn't do this, And by the end he says yes,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: he agrees with what Dallas is offering and says, yes,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I accidentally shot Brian.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: And just to back up a little bit about this tape,
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: we only recently got our hands on this tape. I
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: think we've mentioned before. We had a file Emotion that
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: was granted and we were able to duplicate the tape
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: and as everyone who's listened to the episode knows, it's
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: not the greatest sound quality, but we still felt it
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: was important to play it so people could hear it
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: for themselves. And we don't I guess did Kin give
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: you any indication, Susan when you spoke to him about
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: how long they had been talking before they hit the
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: record button.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: He did not remember, but it had been. It hadn't
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: been like a couple of minutes. There'd been an ongoing discussion.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: It was a longer interview, possibly as much as an
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: hour before that.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: And just to remind people to set the scene a
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: little bit, Caine is by himself in a room with
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: battle and the other sergeant who's now chief of police
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: down in Floyd County, and he's seventeen years old. He
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: does not have an attorney, and he does not have
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: a parent present with him.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: His mom drove him down there. She thought that was
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the right thing to do.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: She drove him down, but she wasn't in the room
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: with him.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: I spoke to June, and she was stunned when Dallas
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: came out to say that Caine had admitted to kill
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: She was stopped.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Now, what I was stunned by was when I found
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: out that this confession tape had actually been heard by
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the jury. I had known that it was ultimately excluded
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: from trial, that it was deemed an admissible under Georgia
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: law because it was obtained by literally telling Kane, say
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: you did this, and nothing will happen to you. We're
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: not going to charge you. So I knew that the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: confession was ruled and admissible, was not evidence that the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: jury could consider. But I hadn't known is that the
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: jury had already heard it. I'm still baffled by this
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: part of the case because to me, it's it's inexplicable
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: that a judge would not only let this tape in,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: but then when they realized they had a mistake and
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: it shouldn't have come in at all. Decide that an
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: instruction to the jury is enough to cure the problem,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: and that the jury will somehow be able to exclude
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: this from their mind and not remember this or think
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: about this when they're making their decision about guilty and
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: sense there's just no possibility whatsoever if the jury's gonna
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: ignore it.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Did they play the tape in totality?
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Yep, And remember this tape, lisays made him think that
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Cain might be guilty, or he actually believed for a
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: while that Caan either may have or must have accidentally
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: shot Brian because of it. So if Lee Clark is
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: thinking that, well, of course the jury is going to
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: reach a conclusion of guilt.
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you can understand that the tape. It's not like
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: what you see on TV or movies where they're like
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: yelling at him and up in his face, and you know,
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: he just kind of casually at the end says, yeah,
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: I went off in my hand accidentally. It doesn't feel forced,
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: it doesn't feel pressured. List that's how I heard it.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: I don't know if you guys agree with that. You
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: can understand how it was, but it doesn't feel that way.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: I was so interested to hear it because for the
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: longest time we had the transcript of it, and in
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: your mind you play out how it must have been.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: And it was more subtle on the tape than I imagined.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: It in my mind.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: And I think it's easy to forget that he's a
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: seventeen year old kid.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: He's not spoken to an attorney. He said it in
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: the episode. If I'd known then I could have just
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: stopped the interview. I would have. It's important to remember
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: that he was a kid and he was in there alone.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: And he also believed what Dallas Battle said about Say
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: you did it accidentally and we can all go home.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: That's all the family needs to hear. That's all we
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: need to hear. Just say those magic words and everything
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: goes back to normal and life goes on right.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Everything will be fine. You won't get charged. He's probably
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: thinking he'll go back to school the next day. He
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: has no idea. And like you said before this, hearing
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: this convinced Lee for a while. So you're right, what
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: did the jury think? And once you hear it, you
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: can't unhear that You've heard him say the words that
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: it went off in my hand. How do you forget
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: having heard that?
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: And there's no discussion of this being a false confession
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: because technically it was excluded, so it doesn't come up
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: in closing, and no one is addressing it, Like the
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: defense is not saying, hey, remember that tape you hard,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Here's why it's a false confession, here's what we know
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: about false confessions, here's why this one matches perfectly. None
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: of that comes out, so instead of like actually addressing
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: this issue, it's just ignored. But the jury has already
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: heard it, and at that point it seems to me
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: unlikely that the jury is going to believe that Brian
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: shot himself because they just hurt someone confess that it
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: was definitely not self inflicted. So at that point, all
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: it's left for them to decide is how and who
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: actually did the shooting.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: We talk about a little bit in the episode, but
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: I don't think they spell it out. And you just
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: said it again, like, this is a false confession. Why
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: is this a false confession?
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: You say, false confession that refers to someone who is
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: innocent and makes a false statement claiming guilt for the crime.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: In this case, it's either a false confession in that sense,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: and that king confessed the thing he had no guilt for,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: no liability for, or it's just a lie confessing to
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: a