1
00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:10,560
[suspenseful music playing]

2
00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:17,200
[man] So, when I was a kid,
my grandfather brought home a shotgun.

3
00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,040
And I remember the first thought
that went through my head

4
00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,800
was, "Damn, it would be
so much easier in life

5
00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:30,600
if I were to just kill her
and get this over with."

6
00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:35,040
But it was just a thought.

7
00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,120
You know, it was just…
It was just a thought.

8
00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:41,480
[suspenseful music continues]

9
00:00:57,120 --> 00:00:59,640
[man] I wish I could go back
and tell me not to do it.

10
00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,240
To literally do probably
just about anything else but that.

11
00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:09,400
And I hate that it's ended up impacting
so many people in so many negative ways.

12
00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,040
Especially Ashley.

13
00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:26,560
[Ashley] The loss of our victim's life
weighs heavy on me.

14
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:34,520
And I don't think I've gotten over
what happened to this day, fully.

15
00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,560
But I'm not really a murderer.

16
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:44,320
And it's a… title I have to carry
for the rest of my life now.

17
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,000
[music swells]

18
00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,000
[music fades]

19
00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:54,240
[theme song playing]

20
00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,000
[man 1]
we could all be dangerous people.

21
00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,480
[man 2]

22
00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:02,840
[man 3]
saying I'm innocent.

23
00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,560
[man 4]
some guy in cold blood.

24
00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:08,440
[theme song fades]

25
00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:18,800
[rain pattering]

26
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:23,440
[uneasy music playing]

27
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,320
[man] When someone
knocks on your door after midnight,

28
00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:34,880
something is not right.

29
00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:38,480
My wife was concerned.

30
00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,120
And thinking back on it,
she was probably correct.

31
00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,880
When I opened the door,
I had a young couple standing there.

32
00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,000
They were cold, and they were wet.

33
00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:56,800
They told me that
they'd had some car problems.

34
00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,600
So I… I told them I'd drive them
a couple miles down the road

35
00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:05,160
to where they were going.

36
00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:06,520
[dramatic sting]

37
00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:15,000
What happened after that
was totally beyond my comprehension.

38
00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:23,120
I… I couldn't have imagined that, uh,
they were even capable of that.

39
00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:27,400
[police siren sounds]

40
00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:37,120
[music fades]

41
00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,560
[suspenseful music playing]

42
00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:56,360
[Ashley] My name is Ashley Morrison,
and I was sentenced to 30 years.

43
00:03:57,720 --> 00:03:59,600
I was 17 when I got arrested.

44
00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,000
[Christian] My name is Christian Sims.

45
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,720
I have a 35-year sentence
for first-degree murder.

46
00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:14,600
I was 16 when I was arrested.

47
00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,360
[Christian]
I've had a lot put on me in my life.

48
00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:29,560
It was just too much.

49
00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:33,480
I just couldn't take it anymore.

50
00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,480
I me… Everybody has their breaking point,
and I think that was mine.

51
00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:43,440
[Ashley] When I look back,

52
00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,800
I feel, like,
this really big sense of loss.

53
00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,760
And always that question of just, like,

54
00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:53,840
"What if?"

55
00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:57,000
[music fades]

56
00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:00,720
[hopeful guitar music playing]

57
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,760
[Ashley] We moved to Texas when I was 11.

58
00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:22,840
It was a small town.

59
00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,560
They have generations
that have grown up there.

60
00:05:30,280 --> 00:05:33,400
At the school that we went to,

61
00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,560
I was always really quiet and shy.

62
00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:40,120
I was very insecure.

63
00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,240
So, yeah, I guess I was kind of a nerd.

64
00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:46,760
I definitely had bullies.

65
00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,440
But band gave my life a purpose.

66
00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,360
I was actually able
to be a leader in my section.

67
00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,160
Almost all of my friends
were in band, yeah.

68
00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,040
Me and Christian met
'cause we both played the clarinet.

69
00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,600
And at first, he was very standoffish.

70
00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,760
He didn't talk to anybody,
he didn't have any friends.

71
00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:20,280
Um…

72
00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,800
And I remember liking the mystery of it,

73
00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:30,080
where he gave off this impression
of being somebody that was not…

74
00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,200
Like, almost untouchable because
nobody really knew anything about him.

75
00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:37,840
It drew me more to him.

76
00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,120
[music fades]

77
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,560
[Christian] As… As a teenager,
I mean, I… I was fairly introverted.

78
00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:53,160
I was living with my grandparents,

79
00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,560
and if I'm just being perfectly honest,
I hated it.

80
00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,440
It was not enjoyable.

81
00:06:57,920 --> 00:06:59,960
My grandmother was not very…

82
00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:03,560
How do I put this?

83
00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:06,280
She was very heavy-handed.

84
00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:09,040
She, if I'm just being honest,

85
00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:13,120
went out of her way to, uh, destroy
quite a few friendships that I had formed.

86
00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:17,080
So I just never allowed myself
to get very close with people,

87
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:20,040
because I'd intentionally
always set myself apart.

88
00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,240
But with Ashley, you can say
that she finally made me feel accepted.

89
00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,400
I was in sixth grade
when I met Ashley Morrison.

90
00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:32,640
She was in seventh grade.

91
00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:33,760
[laughs]

92
00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:35,680
Uh…

93
00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,480
I mean, she was a pretty girl.

94
00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:41,600
I don't know
if you would call it chemistry.

95
00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:44,400
It was funny.
We had some sort of rivalry going on.

96
00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,040
She ended up texting me,
and it kind of just went from there.

97
00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,520
[Ashley] As I did get to know him,
Christian told me about

98
00:07:55,600 --> 00:08:00,880
how he had gotten adopted
by, um, his grandparents

99
00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:03,440
because of his home life not being okay,

100
00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:05,640
his parents not being able
to take care of him.

101
00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:09,920
And that's why
he never felt like he belonged.

102
00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:17,280
He told me about his grandparents
and how he wasn't really happy.

103
00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:19,720
[pensive music playing]

104
00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,840
Me and my mom
didn't have the best relationship either.

105
00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,400
But he made me feel like I had finally
met somebody who understood me.

106
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:36,360
And it was so nice to feel completely
just understood for once in my life.

107
00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:40,120
That, um, I think in that moment,

108
00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:43,040
is the moment
that I fell in love with him.

109
00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:48,360
We were obsessed with each other.

110
00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:51,760
Looking back,
it wasn't even like I was myself.

111
00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:54,800
I was like an extension of him.

112
00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:57,360
Like, it didn't matter
what I wanted, what I thought.

113
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Like, everything and anything for him.
And I was okay with that.

114
00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:06,800
[Christian] It ended up
sparking pretty quickly.

115
00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:09,720
I mean, we would see each other every day.

116
00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:11,960
I guess because I fell in love

117
00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:14,600
or whatever it may have been,
I ended up letting her in,

118
00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:17,200
ended up getting close to her,
talking with her about stuff

119
00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:19,680
that I didn't talk with anybody about,
you know.

120
00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,120
Most likely, that… that was
what was drawing us closer together.

121
00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,400
We were trying
to find comfort in each other.

122
00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,920
[Ashley] So, one night, me and my mom
got into a really bad argument.

123
00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:43,240
And, um, my very first instinct
was to tell Christian,

124
00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:45,520
because he'd protect me.
He'd be there for me.

125
00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:49,280
He and I got together,
and we fabricated a story

126
00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:51,680
for him to be able to move in with me,

127
00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:55,840
because I thought
that he'd be able to protect me.

128
00:09:57,480 --> 00:09:59,480
[pensive music playing]

129
00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:11,680
[Ashley] At first, it was great.

130
00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:20,480
But I didn't know about his mental health
until he moved in with me and my family.

131
00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,560
I don't really think
I fully comprehended it.

132
00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,840
Little things would make him so angry.

133
00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:34,960
He'd get angry around my sisters,

134
00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,000
especially the youngest one,
who was only three at the time.

135
00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:43,200
And he had guns in the house,
um, that he had brought with him.

136
00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:45,960
It made it scary.

137
00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:50,760
[Christian] At first, it was great.

138
00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:55,200
Uh, I obviously didn't have
my grandmother there making my life hell.

139
00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,440
But it just seemed like
the more time went on,

140
00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:01,480
the less smooth things started to go.

141
00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,440
And it just seemed like everything just
kept tumbling and getting worse and worse.

142
00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:09,400
And I just wanted to get away from it.

143
00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:13,760
And suddenly just, like, you know,
it's, "Fuck it. I'm just gonna leave."

144
00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,720
I ended up telling Ashley, "Hey, uh,
I don't know if you wanna come with me,

145
00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:20,360
but I'm leaving."

146
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:22,840
And she said, "I wanna come with you."

147
00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:23,960
I told her…

148
00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:26,640
[softly] Well…

149
00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:31,640
Anyway, she ended up
deciding to come with me.

150
00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:38,440
[Ashley] We had one plan,
which was to run away together.

151
00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:42,160
Typical teenager stuff.

152
00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,520
But it transformed.

153
00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:52,320
He mentioned wanting
to kill his grandparents,

154
00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:53,880
steal everything from them,

155
00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,920
go start our own life.
No rules, no authorities.

156
00:11:58,040 --> 00:11:59,160
I wasn't okay with that.

157
00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:04,000
Did I believe him? Not really.

158
00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:09,760
But I just remember at that point,
like, I wasn't really happy anymore

159
00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:11,080
being with him.

160
00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:16,560
[voice breaking] But he brought my family
into it and threatened them.

161
00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:24,120
When he said, "Well, if I just take away
the reason that you would not go with me,

162
00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:28,280
then you're gonna go with me one way
or the other." Basically, regardless.

163
00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,760
At that point, it didn't matter
whether I believed it or not,

164
00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:35,480
because I wasn't gonna take the risk

165
00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:39,560
of not believing he was capable
of something like that and being wrong.

166
00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:41,640
[unsettling music playing]

167
00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:48,720
I honestly don't remember
how that day started.

168
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,160
I remember packing my bags…

169
00:12:56,480 --> 00:13:02,560
and my mom coming into the bedroom
and asking what was going on.

170
00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,680
And I… I remember crying
and telling her, like,

171
00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:10,000
"I have to get out of the house. Like,
we're moving out. Like, we're leaving."

172
00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,560
And as I went to go out the door,
my mom shoved me out.

173
00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:14,960
She took my keys. She took my phone.

174
00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:16,480
I wasn't coming back. I was…

175
00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:19,320
[voice breaking] I was done
in that family.

176
00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:21,920
[uneasy music playing]

177
00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:33,400
[rain pattering]

178
00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:35,200
[Ashley] So, we started walking.

179
00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:37,160
It was nighttime.

180
00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:41,040
We walked for a long time.

181
00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:46,560
We eventually got to a house…

182
00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:51,960
where… we knocked on the door
and asked for a ride.

183
00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:58,920
This man gave us a ride

184
00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,720
to somewhere in the vicinity
of Christian's grandparents' house.

185
00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:05,720
[music builds]

186
00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:27,240
[Christian] We go to my aunt's house.

187
00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:28,760
Uh, the door was locked.

188
00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:32,480
I end up popping the screen off,
opening the window. We go inside.

189
00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,400
So I go looking through the house.
I end up finding the gun.

190
00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:39,600
I check all the rounds, load it back up.

191
00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:44,240
Tell Ashley, "Hey, I'm going to be back
in, like, 15 minutes. Just wait here."

192
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:45,280
And I leave.

193
00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:48,800
[suspenseful music playing]

194
00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:02,600
[dramatic sting]

195
00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:05,480
[Christian]
I go up to my grandparents' house.

196
00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,120
I can see my grandmother in the house.

197
00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:14,520
I grab some rocks
out of the gravel driveway.

198
00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:16,000
And, uh,

199
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:20,080
I threw the rocks at the washtub on
the back, trying to get her to come out.

200
00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:23,480
[softly] I don't know, man. This is…

201
00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:27,680
[sighs] So,

202
00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:30,920
she came out.
As soon as she looked at me, I shot.

203
00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,000
[dramatic music playing]

204
00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:40,480
I ended up walking up to her.

205
00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:42,680
She was still shaking.

206
00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:45,840
So, I was thinking,
"Well, she may still be alive."

207
00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:47,920
So, I put another one
in the back of her head.

208
00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:50,760
[music swells]

209
00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:55,880
"I fucked up." [chuckles]

210
00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:59,160
That was the first thing
that went through my head. "I fucked up."

211
00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:00,600
"What have I done?"

212
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,640
[Ashley] He came back and was… manic.

213
00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:22,680
I mean, I knew something wasn't right,
that something was wrong in that moment.

214
00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:26,720
He was waving the gun around,

215
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,200
talking about,
"Hurry, get our stuff, get in the car,"

216
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,760
screaming at me because
I wasn't moving fast enough.

217
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:35,480
I was confused.

218
00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,600
He told me that he had killed his grandma.

219
00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:41,760
[dramatic sting]

220
00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,680
I don't really think I fully
comprehended it in that very first moment

221
00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:49,560
or even the moment after that.

222
00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:56,160
He had told me, but, like I said,
I didn't really believe him.

223
00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:01,600
I don't really know which moment
my brain decided to shut down

224
00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,880
in the process of everything.

225
00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:08,320
It was like a reality I wasn't gonna face.

226
00:17:09,120 --> 00:17:12,240
What he said to do,
I did without hesitation.

227
00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,240
I never thought to save myself.

228
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:16,760
Um…

229
00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:20,920
And I… I just… I don't know why
I never thought to do that.

230
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:22,720
[suspenseful music builds]

231
00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:36,840
[dramatic sting]

232
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,680
[suspenseful music swells, then fades]

233
00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:52,400
[uneasy violin music playing]

234
00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,000
[Christian] I told an officer immediately
it was all me. She had nothing to do.

235
00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:15,240
You know, if I'm just being honest,
she's an innocent bystander in all this.

236
00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:17,520
Like, she…

237
00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,840
She definitely doesn't… doesn't deserve
to be locked up for some…

238
00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:23,920
for my mistake, you know?

239
00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,040
[violin music intensifies]

240
00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:34,520
[music fades]

241
00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:41,920
[hopeful guitar music playing]

242
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,320
[man] There's no real words to describe

243
00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:55,640
what it feels like to wake up one morning

244
00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,760
knowing you've sat next to a murderer
on the school bus.

245
00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:04,200
To this day, it's still difficult
to wrap my head around.

246
00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:07,560
But I think that,

247
00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:11,160
had Ashley not been in the picture,
this wouldn't have happened to begin with.

248
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:14,120
My name is Eric Shelton,

249
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,440
and I went to school
with Ashley Morrison and Christian Sims.

250
00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:22,560
[guitar music fades]

251
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,840
I've known Christian
for probably 12, 13 years.

252
00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,840
I would describe Christian
as… a private person.

253
00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:38,920
You could tell that
he was a very intelligent kid.

254
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,320
Um, smart, he was studious.

255
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:45,080
Um… He just wasn't the most outgoing.

256
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,720
[pensive guitar music playing]

257
00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,800
There is no question that Christian was
dealing with some demons from his past.

258
00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:56,320
But he made good grades in school,

259
00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,400
and you could tell just by
talking to him that he had a future,

260
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:02,680
he had a plan, he was going somewhere.

261
00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:09,560
Ashley was a year older
than Christian and I.

262
00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:11,800
[uneasy music playing]

263
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,720
And when you're in high school,
a one-year age difference is huge.

264
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:20,560
The power dynamic between them was,

265
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,360
if she walked,
he kissed the ground she walked on.

266
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:25,640
If Ashley asked Christian
to jump off of a cliff,

267
00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:30,160
not only would he do it, but he would ask
her what he should wear when he does it.

268
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,760
It's hard to speak on
what happens behind closed doors,

269
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:38,040
'cause obviously I don't know 100%.

270
00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:40,840
But I saw
what their relationship was like.

271
00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:43,240
What she wanted, went.

272
00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:47,080
But all of a sudden,
when something bad happens,

273
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:48,280
of this nature,

274
00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:50,080
that is punishable,

275
00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,360
she says she has
no participation at all whatsoever.

276
00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:57,640
That's what sticks out to me.

277
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:14,680
[woman] From the beginning,
we looked at this as a case

278
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,480
that there were two individuals involved.

279
00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:24,080
But one of the difficult things for me is,
you know, why did this happen?

280
00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:28,560
To me, there was no clear motive.

281
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:31,840
My name is Jill Drake,

282
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,520
and I was an assistant district attorney
here in Lamar County, Texas,

283
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,680
when this murder was committed.

284
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:40,520
[pensive guitar music playing]

285
00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,320
I was involved with the case
from the beginning.

286
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:50,800
When the call came in and
we learned that it was the Sims family,

287
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,640
we all said,
"Oh my goodness, Christian Sims,

288
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:56,080
he was a victim in a case previously."

289
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,760
And, kind of,
the memories started flooding back.

290
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:08,160
Christian had been a victim of a child
physical abuse case way back in '06.

291
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:12,520
It was quite a horrific case.

292
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:19,240
His mother's boyfriend had physically and
potentially sexually abused Christian Sims

293
00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:21,600
when Christian was eight years old.

294
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,400
[Christian, on recording]
ended up getting with some guy.

295
00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,280
His name was Anthony Trenton Barbour.
I remember his name.

296
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,200
I don't know. It's kind…
It's kind of difficult to talk about.

297
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,200
He was just what you would call demented.

298
00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,000
There's quite a few different things
that ended up happening.

299
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:46,960
I mean, there's beatings,
diff… different things like that.

300
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:49,600
I was scared, I would piss the bed.

301
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,200
And one of his remedies for that
is that he would take a clothespin

302
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,480
and he would put it on,
you know, my privates.

303
00:22:57,560 --> 00:22:59,760
I… I guess you could call it
sexual in nature.

304
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:08,280
[Jill Drake] As a child abuse prosecutor,
it's very difficult for me to hear

305
00:23:08,360 --> 00:23:12,920
the things that Christian says happened
to him, some of which I know are true.

306
00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:15,920
[voice breaking] And it hurts me
to hear that.

307
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:23,520
It was just a horrible situation
for this child to be in.

308
00:23:25,120 --> 00:23:27,120
[pensive, soft music playing]

309
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:50,200
His grandparents, they were a very
well-known and well-respected family.

310
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:55,000
And, you know, did the best they could
and gave him a home.

311
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,960
But this child was going to have PTSD.

312
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,320
He was going to have
to work through these issues

313
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,200
throughout the rest of his adolescence.

314
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:10,120
And we hoped that
being in the loving home with the Sims,

315
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:11,840
um, that he would get that help.

316
00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:17,760
[Christian, on recording]
with my grandparents.

317
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,080
And, uh, pardon my French, but fuck it.

318
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:24,440
[chuckles] I might as well
just go ahead and talk about it. Uh…

319
00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:27,160
You're not supposed
to speak ill of the dead,

320
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,720
but my grandmother
was definitely the worst,

321
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:31,760
most poisonous person that I've ever met.

322
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:36,160
My grandmother mentally,
physically, and sexually abused me.

323
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:40,680
Uh, she would come in late at night.

324
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,400
She'd do pretty much the same thing
Trent would do, except

325
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,920
instead of beating me and stuff, she's
trying to cause me pain in other ways.

326
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,600
She would, uh, grab my privates and twist.

327
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:56,560
I don't know, she was just real… sadistic
with the things that she would do.

328
00:24:58,160 --> 00:24:59,400
Far worse than Trent.

329
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:00,960
[dramatic sting]

330
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,760
[Jill Drake] Well, that was
very interesting. [sighs]

331
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:12,960
It's the first time I've heard
any allegations of this nature.

332
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:18,680
I hate to discount when I hear
a person say that they were abused.

333
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:23,800
I can tell you,
I'm… I'm not sure I believe it.

334
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:29,640
If his grandmother had done
something to him to make him kill her,

335
00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:34,320
then it sure would've been important for
him to tell his lawyer that at a trial.

336
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,000
[pensive piano music playing]

337
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:57,600
[Jill Drake] It's shocking to me to hear
Christian say his grandmother abused him.

338
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:00,520
If… If that had come out,

339
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:05,280
we certainly would've investigated that
further and taken that into consideration.

340
00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:08,080
That's what we do.
Prosecutors seek justice.

341
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,040
But he pointed a gun at her
and shot her in the cheek,

342
00:26:12,120 --> 00:26:13,880
shot her right in the face.

343
00:26:14,360 --> 00:26:16,000
And, to me,

344
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:21,400
that is… his way
of making himself feel better

345
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:23,600
that he's in prison for killing her.

346
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:25,680
[music continues]

347
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:33,480
[music fades]

348
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,280
[sheep bleat]

349
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,200
[woman] My mom was the best mom
that you could ever have.

350
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,840
Just very giving and loving.

351
00:26:54,920 --> 00:27:00,240
For Christian to even say that
my mom would've ever mistreated him

352
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:02,240
is a complete outrage.

353
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,520
It's just another stab in the heart,

354
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:09,040
a stab in the back, that

355
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:15,560
my parents did all this for you,
and then this is how you react.

356
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:20,040
I'm Laurie Geer,

357
00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:24,200
and my mom was Annie Lois Sims.

358
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:27,000
[soft music playing]

359
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:29,240
[sucks teeth]

360
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:32,440
Um, here's a photo of my mom and dad,

361
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,000
and this would have been
probably right after church.

362
00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:38,080
There's my mom in the kitchen.

363
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:39,600
Yeah.

364
00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:43,080
I wish I could call her today
and ask her some cooking questions.

365
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:44,880
[pensive, guitar music playing]

366
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,840
When my parents first took Christian in,

367
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:51,320
it was 100%, you know,
"This is what we need to do."

368
00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,400
And there's no way in hell that
my mom would have ever mistreated him.

369
00:27:55,480 --> 00:28:00,880
That's not who she was, and that's never
anything she would have ever done.

370
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,640
They, um, raised him
like they did my brother and I.

371
00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:08,720
But he had been through a horrific thing,

372
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:13,000
and so they tried to get him the help
that he needed and the counseling,

373
00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:17,120
and then provide a stable,
you know, loving home

374
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,240
to help support from that side of things.

375
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:26,880
So, there was nothing that… that
he would've needed that he didn't get.

376
00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:31,760
[uneasy music playing]

377
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:37,840
The first time I found out about Ashley
was when they went to prom together,

378
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:39,800
and I saw the pictures.

379
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:47,080
You know, you could tell from the picture
that he was, you know, really into her.

380
00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:54,040
But once Ashley came along, uh,
Christian, you know, totally changed.

381
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,200
[soft music playing]

382
00:28:56,280 --> 00:29:00,320
He became, you know,
rebellious and argumentative, and,

383
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,440
you know, th… that kind of stuff.

384
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:09,680
I just don't believe that Christian
would've done anything like this

385
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:14,040
if it weren't for meeting
and being in a relationship with Ashley.

386
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:19,240
I hate Ashley Morrison.

387
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:22,800
You're not supposed
to hate people, but I do.

388
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:30,160
Uh, I believe Ashley is
just as guilty as Christian, 100%.

389
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,120
She just thought
she could do whatever she wanted,

390
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:40,400
and that she wasn't gonna have to,
you know, pay the consequence.

391
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,600
I knew Ashley had changed her story.

392
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,320
I think she's very manipulative.

393
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,640
[pensive guitar music playing]

394
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:17,800
[man] When you go into an
interview, you hope for the best outcome.

395
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,080
And when I was going to interview Ashley,
I was hoping that she would tell me

396
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,800
100% the truth
about everything that happened

397
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,640
and answer every possible question I had.

398
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,400
But do I ever get what I want? No.

399
00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:36,960
My name is Stacy McNeal.

400
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,120
I'm a Texas Ranger
assigned to Paris, Texas.

401
00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:45,320
When I first met Ashley,

402
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:48,520
my initial impression of her was

403
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:53,760
she looked like a typical
17-year-old high school student,

404
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:56,320
maybe a little bit on the immature side.

405
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,800
She spoke very freely and openly,

406
00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:02,600
and she chose to go ahead
and speak with me

407
00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:04,920
outside the presence of her attorney.

408
00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,640
She denied having any knowledge,
at that time,

409
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,120
of Christian's grandmother
even being dead.

410
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:15,200
And she made a statement

411
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,680
that Christian did not have a rifle
when he'd left the house.

412
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:21,000
Ashley was saying,

413
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,760
"I'm just a poor, frightened girlfriend

414
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:27,440
that was afraid that Christian
was gonna do something to my family

415
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,080
if I didn't just go along with him."

416
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:32,760
[dramatic music playing]

417
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:40,480
In the second interview,

418
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:45,360
she's trying to keep from implicating
herself in a criminal offense.

419
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,040
But what she actually ends up doing

420
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,280
is implicating herself more thoroughly.

421
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:56,040
In the second interview,
she's changed a lot of vital information.

422
00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:01,920
She admitted to
helping Christian load a rifle.

423
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:08,360
This was the first time that she admitted
that Christian had a weapon when he left.

424
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:14,600
And then Ashley admitted
that Christian had told her

425
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,200
it was his intent
to go out to the residence

426
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:19,400
and kill both Mike and Annie Lois Sims.

427
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:23,760
She told no one, she took no action.

428
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:26,160
She didn't do anything
to try to prevent this.

429
00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:32,160
They were working together,
in concert, to commit this offense.

430
00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:37,040
No doubt you're a party to this.
You're a defendant. You're a murderer.

431
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:44,160
[uneasy music playing]

432
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:02,600
[Jill Drake] You might think, "Okay. Well,
you can't charge me with murder

433
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,960
unless I was the person
who was the shooter."

434
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:11,280
Well, in Texas, if you help in any manner
in the commission of a crime,

435
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:12,880
you are a principal.

436
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,040
You are the one who did it,
whether you pulled the trigger or not.

437
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,800
And we believed
Ashley Morrison aided Christian

438
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,000
before, during, and after the crime.

439
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:28,520
[music fades]

440
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,200
[soft piano music playing]

441
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,240
[Jill Drake] One of the key pieces
of evidence at trial

442
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:47,400
were the text messages between
Ashley Morrison and Christian Sims.

443
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:53,200
These are text messages
that were on December 16th, 2014,

444
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:55,320
which would be two days before the murder.

445
00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:59,120
Christian, "I'm going to my grandparents'
and robbing them blind."

446
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,280
"I guess we will have to start early."

447
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,800
Ashley, "Yeah, without a car or money."

448
00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:07,600
"Or yeah, all of those
with my grandparents."

449
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:09,880
Ashley, "Yeah, I guess so."

450
00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:12,120
Christian, "We could do it tonight."

451
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:15,240
Ashley, "I don't know
if she's gonna let me go or not."

452
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,360
"Especially if Dad gets involved."

453
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:19,880
"Well, they can fuck off.
I will kill your dad."

454
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:21,120
"Okey dokey."

455
00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,920
As a result of these text messages,

456
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,920
it was very clear for us
that they planned to leave,

457
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,080
they were gonna rob grandparents blind,

458
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:34,680
they were gonna kill whomever they needed.

459
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:37,240
It's all right there.

460
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,160
"I'm gonna kill your dad." "Okey dokey."

461
00:34:40,240 --> 00:34:41,400
What was that?

462
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:45,200
She's… She's a participant.

463
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:47,720
[music fades]

464
00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:56,720
[Ashley, on recording]
'cause I didn't feel that I was.

465
00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:01,440
I thought that the truth
was gonna get put out there,

466
00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:04,360
and they were gonna see…

467
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,040
[voice breaks] Like, they were
just gonna see me.

468
00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:09,400
And, um,

469
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:14,560
that just everything was gonna be okay,
and I was gonna be able to go home.

470
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:20,520
But they said, because I never
reported him before it happened,

471
00:35:20,600 --> 00:35:22,480
after he told me what he wanted to do,

472
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:25,320
I was just as guilty
as if I had pulled the trigger,

473
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:27,840
even though I wasn't
the one that pulled the trigger.

474
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:35,200
I didn't know that he was
actually able to kill his grandmother.

475
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:38,960
I mean, he had told me,

476
00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:43,320
but, like I said,
I didn't really believe him.

477
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:47,920
[Christian] I understand the things
that we had talked about and whatnot,

478
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:53,560
but those are just the ravings of somebody
who was angry and hurt, you know?

479
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:58,280
I mean, just, what kind of… what kind
of 17-year-old girl is gonna think

480
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:02,320
that her 16-year-old boyfriend's
actually gonna do that, you know?

481
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:05,080
I mean, who could…
who could reasonably expect that?

482
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:08,960
[pensive music playing]

483
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,400
Honestly, I feel like it's a bit unjust.

484
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,520
[on recording] Because in my mind,
when I look back,

485
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:32,600
I don't think there was anything
I could have done to have saved her.

486
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:41,520
[Jill Drake] I hear Ashley saying
that she feels like it's unjust.

487
00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,240
But we charged her, and she was convicted.

488
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,400
That's all there is to it.

489
00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:56,440
This is just Ashley Morrison
rewriting what happened in her own mind

490
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:58,560
so she can live with herself.

491
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:00,080
To me, it's an excuse.

492
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:02,800
It's just something
for her to say at this point

493
00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:07,360
to make her feel better about the fact
that she willingly went with him.

494
00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:14,120
[uneasy violin music playing]

495
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:18,280
[man] At the trial, the prosecutors said

496
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:25,360
that Ashley Morrison was a party
to the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

497
00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:31,680
But the key piece of evidence
that I'm concerned with

498
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:33,480
is Christian Sims' statement.

499
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,160
"It was all me.
She didn't have anything to do with it."

500
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,080
[soft piano music playing]

501
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:50,080
My name is Roland Mosher,

502
00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:52,840
and I am an attorney
in the state of Texas.

503
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:58,720
I practice criminal defense, and I did
most of the work on Ashley's appeal.

504
00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:03,000
[keyboard keys clacking]

505
00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:05,760
I think that there is a sense

506
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,520
in which Ashley was associated
with Christian Sims' actions.

507
00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:11,480
She didn't call the police.

508
00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,280
She didn't refuse
to get in the car with him.

509
00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:15,760
She went with him.

510
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:23,640
But there's enough of a case to be made
that Ashley was coerced.

511
00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:27,560
It's critical to the assumption
of the law of parties

512
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,600
that you be a willing participant.

513
00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:32,720
And if you're being coerced,
you're not a willing participant.

514
00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:39,440
The state's case, essentially,
is that Ashley, a 17-year-old girl,

515
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:46,160
didn't go out of her way
to… disagree with or interfere with

516
00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:51,440
her demonstrably emotionally
unstable and homicidal boyfriend.

517
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:58,120
But if your crazy boyfriend
comes to your front door and says,

518
00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:02,360
"I'm gonna leave and you're coming with me
and I'm gonna murder people today,"

519
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:07,240
it's very reasonable to conclude
that, if you do something to offend him

520
00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:09,560
or if your family
does something to upset him,

521
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:11,920
that… they'll be next.

522
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:17,840
[pensive music playing]

523
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:31,800
[pensive music continues]

524
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:38,160
[woman] The person who's
responsible for this matter is Chris,

525
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:40,080
not Ashley.

526
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:46,280
I think when people vilify Ashley,

527
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:50,680
it's partially because
there's intent that's attributed to her

528
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:55,080
that I don't believe is at all accurate.

529
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:02,120
My name is Rycke Marshall.
I'm a clinical psychologist.

530
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:07,040
I did an evaluation with Ashley Morrison.

531
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:12,400
And I have Ashley's full permission
to discuss this case.

532
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:19,760
I met with Ashley on four separate
occasions for a total of 12 hours.

533
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:25,240
She was friendly, but she was traumatized.

534
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:29,120
Almost childlike, in some respects.

535
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:34,280
And she's someone
who could be easily manipulated.

536
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:44,920
For an adolescent to be interviewed
by police, without an attorney present,

537
00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:47,160
would be terrifying.

538
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:50,840
It's not a level playing field.

539
00:40:52,720 --> 00:40:56,920
And I don't think it's surprising at all
if her story changed.

540
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:02,240
Chris said,

541
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:04,960
"I could kill both your parents,

542
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:08,160
and I could make it
look like a murder-suicide."

543
00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:09,480
[dramatic sting]

544
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:13,800
It seemed like a very real threat to her,

545
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,960
so she had no choice but to go.

546
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:21,080
You know, it was Chris's plan.

547
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:23,960
It was his actions. It was his thoughts.

548
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:25,800
It wasn't what she wanted.

549
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:33,720
I just hate it when I think
somebody's being treated unfairly.

550
00:41:35,320 --> 00:41:40,080
And I think she would have
a good chance of a different result

551
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:41,720
if she were tried again.

552
00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:46,600
But, unfortunately,
that's not what happened.

553
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:48,640
[soft, dramatic music playing]

554
00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:07,000
[pensive guitar music playing]

555
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:13,200
[Ashley] So I changed my plea to guilty
during my second trial

556
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:17,040
because… I was guilty.

557
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:18,440
And I am guilty.

558
00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:25,000
Regardless of my frame of mind,

559
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:30,280
regardless of the fact
that my family was threatened,

560
00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:33,680
[voice breaking] regardless
of those things, like, I had a choice.

561
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:35,840
I could've made the choice
to try to stop him.

562
00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:38,600
I could have made the choice to get help.

563
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:44,560
And I do take responsibility
for my choices.

564
00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:49,600
I don't know if I could have stopped it,

565
00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:54,240
but a really big part of me
wishes that I had just tried.

566
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,040
[music fades]

567
00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:11,200
I was given 30 years all over again.

568
00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:19,600
Honestly, it feels unjust,
when I did not commit the murder.

569
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:24,240
That's me speaking from my point of view.

570
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:29,920
That's me speaking… from watching
my life slip through my fingers.

571
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:35,800
But now it's my opportunity
to tell the truth.

572
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:41,640
My interviews with police,
I was terrified. [chuckles]

573
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:46,320
But I remember very distinctly
thinking to myself,

574
00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:50,960
"They'd never believe me if I tell them
the truth of what really happened."

575
00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:53,800
I wanted to paint things
in a better light.

576
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:58,720
But I just wished that
I had told the truth from the beginning,

577
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:03,440
because now it will always be a question
of, "Well, what really was the truth?"

578
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:08,800
[Stacy McNeal, on recording]
When I was gonna interview Ashley,

579
00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:11,000
between the first
and the second interview,

580
00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:13,960
she'd changed a lot of vital information.

581
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:19,800
She admitted to
helping Christian load a rifle.

582
00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:25,080
And then Ashley admitted
that Christian had told her

583
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:28,560
it was his intent to kill
both Mike and Annie Lois Sims.

584
00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:34,480
[Ashley] I did not go
to his grandparents' house.

585
00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:37,600
I did not commit the murder.

586
00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:42,080
And, in my mind,
I was never helping him load the rifle.

587
00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:45,320
There was a bunch of bullets
on the ground,

588
00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:48,400
and he wanted me to pick the bullets up
and count them back to him.

589
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:50,440
And that's simply all I did.

590
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:53,680
I mean, obviously, looking back now,

591
00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:57,560
there's no way I couldn't think that
he was gonna go harm somebody, right?

592
00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:01,800
That's what everybody thinks.
But at the same time,

593
00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:04,640
you don't believe somebody
is capable of something like that,

594
00:45:04,720 --> 00:45:08,080
especially somebody you love,
somebody that you're in love with.

595
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:15,120
[Jill Drake, on recording] It was
very clear Ashley Morrison aided Christian

596
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:18,160
before, during, and after the crime.

597
00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:21,600
They were gonna kill whoever they needed.

598
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:25,160
Christian, "I will kill your dad."

599
00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:26,840
Ashley, "Okey dokey."

600
00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:30,320
"I'm going to kill your dad."
"Okey dokey."

601
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:31,680
What was that?

602
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:33,400
She's a participant.

603
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:38,160
[Ashley] Those texts, that looks horrible.
Like, I understand that.

604
00:45:38,240 --> 00:45:41,080
I understand, from the outside
looking in, how bad that is

605
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:42,880
and how bad that looks.

606
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:47,200
But I know for me
that I was brushing Christian off.

607
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:50,960
Any time I said "okay" or "okey dokey,"

608
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:53,480
that was my "whatever" to him.

609
00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:57,920
I didn't take him seriously.

610
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:00,920
But it became serious.

611
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:06,560
I definitely regret

612
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:10,400
not trying to stop what happened.

613
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:18,960
And if I could say something
to the Sims family, I would tell them,

614
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:23,680
even though it makes up for nothing,
that I'm genuinely sorry.

615
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:31,080
But, at the same time, I cannot
take responsibility for what he did.

616
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:37,480
I do believe
I should be… in prison for my involvement.

617
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:39,000
Yes.

618
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:43,640
Do I believe that I should've gotten
30 years for my involvement, though?

619
00:46:43,720 --> 00:46:44,840
No.

620
00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:50,760
Because the man who pulled the trigger

621
00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:55,080
and concocted the plan only got 35.

622
00:46:58,240 --> 00:47:00,240
[dramatic music playing]

623
00:47:09,840 --> 00:47:14,560
[Christian] I shot my grandmother because
she had beaten and molested me as a child.

624
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:18,360
I would not have done it
for any other reason.

625
00:47:19,640 --> 00:47:22,360
But, from the outset,
there was no, like, plan.

626
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:27,320
If I'm just being honest, uh,
I'm an incredibly intelligent individual.

627
00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:31,960
Uh, and I don't mean to say this to sound
uh, like an asshole or anything like that,

628
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:36,280
but had I planned this out, it would have
happened in a completely different way.

629
00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:42,200
The reason why
I didn't mention the… the prior abuse

630
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:45,760
is because I didn't think
that I would be believed.

631
00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:50,520
[Laurie Geer, on recording]
For Christian to even

632
00:47:50,600 --> 00:47:53,960
say that my mom
would have ever mistreated him

633
00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:56,360
is a complete outrage.

634
00:47:57,080 --> 00:48:00,240
And that's never anything
she would have ever done.

635
00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:04,280
It's just another stab in the heart,

636
00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:05,920
a stab in the back,

637
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:09,320
that... [sighs] ...my parents
did all this for you,

638
00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:13,080
and then this is how you react.

639
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:17,920
[Christian] Nothing I can do
or say's gonna convince anybody.

640
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:20,520
They weren't there.
They didn't have to experience it.

641
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:23,040
And, if I'm just being honest,

642
00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:25,760
I don't have remorse
for her being dead as a person.

643
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:27,720
Uh, I think that…

644
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:31,760
I think that she deserved
a lot worse than what she got.

645
00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:35,400
I just hate that it was...
[scoffs] ...my dumb ass who did it.

646
00:48:37,800 --> 00:48:40,400
I honestly couldn't say
what Ashley thought.

647
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:44,800
[scoffs] What I think that
she's probably told y'all

648
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:49,120
is probably some truth
with a bunch of bullshit mixed in.

649
00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:54,480
Like, she's talking about how she's
scared of me and other shit like that.

650
00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:56,640
I treated the girl like a princess.

651
00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:02,640
Like, I never did anything to…
to hurt her.

652
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:06,080
Uh, I didn't force her to do anything.

653
00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:08,160
[dramatic music continues]

654
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:12,000
[end theme music playing]

655
00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:38,720
[music fades]