[dramatic music]
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- Hi, everyone, I'm dan abrams, and this is "courtcam."
- You ready to take the plea? [group shouting]
- [bleep] you!
♪ ♪
- I killed all you [bleep] [bleep].
- I hope you die in prison as well.
♪ ♪
- First up, we're in volusia county, florida,
For the arraignment of 33-year-old
Xavier cummings.
He's been charged with escape,
Fleeing and attempting to elude,
Armed burglary of a dwelling,
Two counts of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon,
Two counts of grand theft of firearms,
And two counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle.
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So how did he rack up that laundry list of crimes?
Just watch and see.
This cruiser is not being driven
By an officer in pursuit.
It's actually xavier cummings
Behind the wheel of a stolen police unit.
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- Cummings stole the cruiser after police confronted him
While responding to a disturbance call
In a nearby motel,
And he hasn't looked back.
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Officers try a pit maneuver by bumping his rear end,
But cummings is able to steer out of it.
- Every unit behind us, stop traffic.
We got plenty up here.
- Seconds later, another bump
At over 100 miles an hour
Sends him spinning off the highway.
♪ ♪
- 10-3. 10-3.
Someone just pit him into the woods.
- Car in the woods. Can't see the driver.
- Air one does not have eyes on the suspect.
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- More officers arrive on the scene, including a k-9 unit,
As the team prepares to approach the vehicle.
- Heads up.
He's trying to drive the car out of the woods.
- Outnumbered and outgunned,
It appears cummings will have no choice but to surrender.
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But apparently no one told him that.
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Cummings can be seen here making a break for it.
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Right to the driver's seat of another police unit.
[siren wailing]
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Nope. Not kidding.
And just like that, he's on the road again.
- Follow that car. He's got another car.
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- Up the interstate, more officers are staged
And prepare to deploy a spike strip.
♪ ♪
The officer's toss is perfectly timed,
And after running over to the spike strip,
Cummings car begins slowing down.
- Okay, vehicle is smoking going into the inside lane.
♪ ♪
- All right, he's breaking for the median, guys.
He's breaking of the median.
- But now as officers prepare to engage cummings
For a second time, they have a new concern.
♪ ♪
With cummings now possibly having access
To police weapons inside the vehicle,
The situation continues to escalate.
As three officers approach the suv...
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They find cummings facedown outside the vehicle.
[siren wailing]
For the 60-mile cross-county high-speed chase,
Xavier cummings was hit with a litany of charges,
Including escape
And two counts of grand theft of a motor vehicle.
♪ ♪
But cummings has just one question.
- No bond or nothing?
- But before the judge can answer...
Cummings gets the last word.
♪ ♪
Xavier cummings is currently being held without bond
While he waits trial.
- Help! Help!
[shouting indistinctly]
♪ ♪
- Next, we head to burlington, vermont,
For the trial of james burke.
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The 51-year-old was charged with sexual assault
For allegedly drugging and raping
A 21-year-old homeless woman in his mobile home.
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The incident occurred six years earlier,
But burke's accused by the state
Of deliberately stalling the legal process
By, among other things,
Filing more than 150 pretrial motions.
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Once the trial begins, burke, who's representing himself,
Continues to disrupt the proceedings
With loud outbursts...
And wild accusations.
- This is the most corrupt state's attorney
In the country.
♪ ♪
- On the stand,
Burke continues to attempt his bullying tactics
By attacking the victim's testimony.
- That was a complete fabrication
To back up this bogus date rape drug allegation,
Which is, you know, off the wall.
- Burke then doubles down on his defense
That the sex with the 21-year-old was consensual.
- I was rubbing her shoulder
And giving her a backrub and stuff, and--and, you know,
This is just to break the ice with her
To see if she would resist me, because if she was going to,
I was gonna stop and not mess with her.
To see if she would resist me.
♪ ♪
- And, finally, burke mentions how he'll go about
Collecting evidence should he ever find himself
In the same position in the future.
- I'm going to get myself a video camera,
And from now on, you know, I got--
I got, like I said, an address book full of girlfriends,
And they're going to be secretly videotaped from now on
Just to cover my [bleep].
[person groans]
- Now with the jury done deliberating,
Burke enters the courtroom,
Toting a box of legal documents
Emblazoned with the message "100% innocent."
And as the judge calls for the jury's verdict...
He takes a moment to straighten his signage
And then seemingly appears to smirk with confidence
As the big moment finally arrives.
♪ ♪
Burke seems a bit confused by the verdict at first
And then refuses to accept it.
♪ ♪
Five months later,
Burke is back in front of judge matthew katz,
This time, to learn his sentence.
- The sentence is 18 to 20 years to serve--
- Burke's outburst in the background,
Gets him removed from the courtroom,
But not before he gets in a few choice words
For judge katz.
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- James burke would later appeal his conviction,
But it was denied by the vermont supreme court.
Burke's earliest chance for release is 2031,
When he would be 71 years old.
♪ ♪
- That hurts! That hurts!
- On a previous episode of "courtcam,"
We featured this story
Showing an unruly defendant being taken down and tased
By two sedgwick county, kansas, deputies.
[person screaming]
One of those officers was brett seacat.
At the time, he was praised for his quick action
Subduing the defendant.
[indistinct shouting]
But seven years later, he's back in the courtroom
Wearing a different kind of uniform.
♪ ♪
Seacat was found guilty of first-degree murder
And aggravated arson for shooting and killing
His 34-year-old wife, vashti seacat,
Then setting their house on fire
As part of a cover-up scheme.
The prosecution claimed the murder plot was put in motion
Just days after vashti seacat filed for divorce.
♪ ♪
Brett seacat maintained his innocence,
Claiming his wife had actually set fire to their home
Before taking her own life.
The jury, however, did not buy it.
- Count one, murder in the first degree--
We, the jury, find the defendant,
Brett t. Seacat,
Guilty of murder in the first degree.
♪ ♪
- Now at sentencing...
- Mr. Seacat, if you would stand please, sir.
♪ ♪
- When given a chance to speak,
37-year-old seacat begins a nearly 20-minute dissertation,
Systematically attacking members
Of the victim's family,
Beginning with her father.
- Glen forrest, you took the podium
And addressed the entire courtroom as vashti's father,
But you have never been vashti's father,
Ever.
I spent 19 years trying to protect vashti
From the damage that family had done.
And in the end, I failed.
- Next, he singles out his brother-in-law in the gallery.
- He talks about his beloved sister...
But...
He never treated her like a beloved sister.
See, vashti--vashti told me
What he did to her when she was 22 years old--
- Your honor, I'm going to object.
♪ ♪
It's inappropriate.
This is supposed to be his time to speak about his actions,
And I think this is improper.
- Judge larry solomon agrees to put an end
To seacat's disparaging claims against the victim's family.
But after redirecting him, he becomes the new target.
- I understand, even though I'm the one being sentenced,
This is not--this day does not belong to me.
This day was meant for people who made sure it would happen.
This day belongs to you, judge solomon.
This is your day.
This is the day you get to take your place
In front of the cameras
And pass sentence on a man you worked so hard to convict.
Go ahead and pass the sentence that you hope
Will get the biggest headline.
Go ahead and pass sentence you think will land you a spot
On the kansas supreme court.
Go ahead and pass the sentence
That guarantees your spot in hell...
Because the sentence you believe
Will profit you most in this life
Is going to damn you in the next.
♪ ♪
- Seacat may have gotten in some verbal shots,
But it's judge solomon who gets the final say.
- Your guilt in this case was overwhelming.
Evidence to support your defense of suicide
Was totally unbelievable
And virtually unsupported
By any credible evidence.
Your statement this morning confirms to me
That you live in some sort of...
Bizarre alternate reality.
It bears zero reality
To the case that was tried
And the evidence that was presented in this matter.
And we do know that you thought
You were smarter than law enforcement.
You thought you were smarter than fire officials.
And you thought you were smarter than 12 jurors
Who heard this case.
And in the end, of course,
We know that you weren't smarter than any of them.
One of the victim's family asked me to show you no mercy,
And I don't intend to show you any mercy.
You didn't show vashti any mercy.
♪ ♪
- And with that, judge solomon hands down
The maximum allowable sentence on all charges,
Totaling 31 years to life in prison.
♪ ♪
- You mentioned the spotlight had been on this case
For quite some time.
The spotlight wasn't on me, mr. Seacat.
It was on you.
♪ ♪
And now, thankfully, it goes out.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
- Next, we go to cleveland, ohio,
For a bond hearing.
The defendant is 32-year-old antonio swanson.
He's been charged with ten felonies, including murder,
Aggravated murder, and attempted murder.
Swanson allegedly shot and killed his half sister
Willnita hill over a dispute involving a car.
The defendant also took aim at hill's boyfriend
As well as his own father.
Both men were uninjured.
Swanson's a repeat offender
With convictions dating back to 2006.
He's making his first court appearance today
In front of judge suzan sweeney.
♪ ♪
As he lumbers forward, swanson begins making
Seemingly nonsensical comments.
- Good morning, mr. Torres
Sir...
I'm gonna ask that you be quiet.
- Then he begins making remarks about his bond.
- Thank you. Mr. Torres.
- November 7th.
- As the prosecutor, jose torres,
Goes over the case,
The defendant makes a series of hand gestures.
Then he challenges the state to increase his bond amount.
- The state will ask for a $5 million bond in this case.
In regards to the bond
And the threats to the prosecutor--
- Sir, sir...
- The judge then decides
To go beyond the state's requested bond.
♪ ♪
- Actually, sir, based on your requests,
This bond's going to be $15 million,
Cash or surety.
♪ ♪
- A few weeks later, swanson is brought
To a different court for his arraignment.
- Mr. Swanson, have you received a copy
Of your indictment now? - Yes, sir.
- Have you had a chance to look at it?
- It's ridiculous, sir. - No, no, no.
The question was, did you have a chance to look at it?
Do you want to enter a plea?
Okay, well, I will enter your plea
Of not guilty at this time.
Not guilty by reason of insanity by court rule
Has to be in writing.
- Because the case was moved to a different court.
Swanson will receive a new bond amount.
- The state of ohio requests a bond of at least $2 million
For this defendant based on the heinousness of the acts
That he committed in this case against his sister
And his father and another individual.
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- I don't care.
- At the court's discretion.
- $2 million bond is set, cash, surety, or property.
Sir, your first pretrial's a week from today
On the 25th of November at 9:00 a.M., all right?
Okay. Thank you very much. Have a good day.
- Swanson's case was assigned to the mental health docket.
He's currently in the county jail awaiting trial.
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- Next, we're in houston, texas,
In the trial of susan wright.
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The 27-year-old housewife and mother of two
Was charged with first-degree murder
After she admitted to stabbing her husband
More than 190 times
And burying his body in their backyard.
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Wright's defense team argued the murder
Was an act of self-defense--
The culmination of years
Of alleged physical and mental abuse
She says she suffered at the hands of her husband.
- He threw her down, grabbed her by the arms,
And began punching her,
And he kicked her with his bare feet.
- The prosecution, however, claimed the killing
Was motivated by money--
Specifically her husband's
$200,000 life insurance policy.
- This case is not about self-defense.
This case is about selfishness.
- During the trial, lurid details were revealed
That on the night of the murder,
Wright seduced her husband with the promise of sex
And tied him to the bed using neckties
And a bathrobe sash.
- Jeffrey was nude.
He had all of his clothes off.
The evidence will show you
That susan wright lit candles in the bedroom.
- Those candles were then used to drip hot wax
On jeffrey wright's genitals.
Then, the prosecution argued, the sadistic play
Soon turned deadly.
Wright grabbed a hunting knife
And began stabbing her husband in the neck and head
With enough force to break off the tip of the blade.
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But even in a case full of graphic details,
The prosecution dropped the ultimate bombshell
With the introduction of state's evidence number 56.
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The actual bloodstained mattress
From the wrights' bedroom.
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Then in front of an already stunned courtroom,
Prosecuting attorney kelly siegler has a colleague
Tied to the bed and then climbs on top of him
To assume the position of susan wright.
Just feet away from the live demonstration,
Wright can be seen sobbing.
♪ ♪
And after an eight-day trial...
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Jurors reached a verdict.
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- We, the jury, find the defendant,
Susan lucille wright,
Guilty of murder as charged in the indictment.
- The victim's brother and sister-in-law
Would get custody of the couple's two children.
And later at sentencing,
The victim's father tearfully recounted
The horror his son suffered the night of his murder.
- It's unbelievable.
I mean, how can a human being
Do what she did to my son...
Stab him in the eyeballs when he's awake?
[sobbing] he did believe, he did,
That she's evil.
- Susan wright was sentenced to 25 years in prison
For the first-degree murder of her husband.
Her sentence would later be reduced to 20 years.
And in 2020, after serving just 16 of them,
Wright was released on parole.
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That's it for this edition of "courtcam."
I'm dan abrams. Thanks for watching.
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