(line dialing)
(dispatcher speaking)
(man speaking)
(dispatcher speaking)
-(man speaking) -(dispatcher speaking)
(man speaking)
Kristina kerlus: The autopsy came back.
It was homicide, and they think, you know, they're accusing you.
And I remember this feeling in my stomach.
I just buckled.
The prosecution believes
Kristina decided to shake her baby so violently
That ultimately, it led to the baby's death.
Kerlus: To lose your baby, like...
I can't grieve.
I'm facing life in prison.
Ryan helmick: My name is ryan helmick.
I'm a las vegas criminal defense lawyer.
I represent kristina kerlus.
She's being charged with first degree murder
For murdering her own baby.
If convicted of that,
You can face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
It's one of the worst things
That can possibly happen to somebody.
One of the biggest nightmares somebody could ever be in.
In the morning of October 5th,
-Kristina has to go to work. -(kerlus laughing)
Kerlus: Hi, baby.
Helmick: And so, the father of jocai wakes up.
The baby's cranky, fussy.
He puts the baby in the bassinet and tries to feed him.
Now, at this particular point in time,
Jocai is not acting normal.
He begins to start falling asleep
And his eyes start to roll in the back of his head.
And so, jaevone is getting worried.
He calls 911.
They're guiding him through the process of cpr on the baby.
As soon as kristina is called, she rushes back to the house.
Then she follows the ambulance to the hospital.
She gets to the hospital and, uh, they're trying to save jocai's life.
When the baby was taken into the emergency room,
The er doctors identified three symptoms
That could be indicative of shaken baby syndrome.
The reason that they chose her,
As opposed to, um, her boyfriend, jaevone,
Who was the last person with the baby
Is because of pictures that she took that showed in their eyes,
That she must have done something to the baby because the baby looks off.
I love you. I love you.
Helmick: The second picture, the baby's head-down, and is asleep
And there's a shadow on the baby.
The detectives' position is that the baby appeared to be abnormal.
The prosecution's theory of the case
Is that within those two hours
Kristina decided to shake her baby so violently
That it ultimately led to the baby's death.
I decided to take on this case
Because, really, the injustice of what was taking place.
You've been charged with murdering your baby.
And so now you have to fight for your life from being taken away.
So the stakes are as high as it gets for kristina.
Kerlus: Wow, this is so cute.
So this right here is jocai.
He is my youngest.
He'd be five years old this year.
I remember this day.
I had just given him a bath, and then I put this little outfit on him.
(chuckles) he was so happy.
He loved baths.
Definitely a water baby.
Jocai was born July 17th, 2018.
It's one of the best days of my life.
And then, uh, two months later, on October 5th,
Everything, all that happiness...
Was gone.
Um, my son was rushed to the er.
And then he passed away on October 7th.
And then my children were taken away from me that same day.
Nine months later, I remember ryan called me
And said the autopsy came back
And, um, they'd, you know...
It was homicide,
And they think, you know, they're accusing you.
And I remember this feeling in my stomach.
I just buckled.
But to have to go through everything at once,
Like, the loss of your baby, your children being taken
And being falsely accused of murder, all in one. (sobs)
It broke me.
I can't grieve.
Like, you can't grieve while you're fighting something like that.
Like, I'm facing life in prison.
(sniffles)
This is a pain like no other.
Nothing can top this.
Helmick: Today, we're going to meet with kristina
So I can sit down with her and talk to her
About exactly what took place in chronological order.
Helmick: There she is. Hey, how you doing? Kerlus: Hey.
Kerlus: Good. How are you? Helmick: Good to see ya.
-Kerlus: Good to see you, too. -(helmick clears throat)
Helmick: All right, you ready to sit down and talk? Kerlus: Yeah.
(helmick sighs)
Helmick: So, let's go to October 4th.
Kerlus: So, October 4th, um,
-I was at work and I came home. -Helmick: Mm-hmm.
Jaevone ended up leaving to handle his errands.
Before he came home, he had asked me, "oh, what are you guys doing?"
So, um, I told him that, you know, the kids are chilling.
Um, and I sent him a video of me and jocai, you know, playing, dancing.
Helmick: Yeah. Kerlus: Um, a video of me and him
Singing the barney song, I love you.
Two hours later, I turn and look at him.
He fell asleep.
And I took a picture of jocai and I sent it to, um, jay.
-And I'm like, he finally fell asleep, like, slumped. -Helmick: Yeah.
And, um, the next morning I wake up jay, and I'm like,
When jocai wakes up, he's gonna be hungry 'cause he hasn't eaten.
The last time I fed him was, like, 2:00 in the morning.
-Helmick: Yeah. -So, um,
I told him, "have a bottle ready for him."
-And then I leave and take kyrie to school. -(helmick clears throat)
Helmick: And then what happens?
Before you even get to work.
Jaevone calls me.
And, um, he called me a couple times, but I don't see his call.
And, um,
He just kept saying, "he's gone, he's gone."
And I'm like, "who's gone? What are you talking about?"
And he was like, "jocai."
I'm like, "you need to hang up with me and call 911 right now."
So I drive to summerlin hospital, and I run inside.
They take me to a room where, you know, they have him.
And I... They're immediately trying to keep resuscitating him.
-Helmick: And you can see all this? -Yeah, I see everything. (sobs)
Kerlus: There was so many people in there. Helmick: Trying to help jocai?
Yes.
Kerlus: So, after jocai was born,
I got a phone call from the hospital
Saying that his blood work came back
And his hemoglobin levels were abnormal.
Um, and that he, you know, had sickle cell trait.
Helmick: When do you start noticing differences in jocai's behavior?
Kerlus: Close to the end of September,
I started noticing that he was acting, um, more fussy.
He was, um, not eating as much, and he was not really sleeping as much, either.
And he was projectile vomiting.
It wasn't like a 24-hour thing, every single day.
So I wanted to talk to the pediatrician, like, maybe he's just colicky.
Maybe it's nothing serious.
And you already had an appointment scheduled for October 5th.
Kerlus: Yes. Helmick: Okay.
So we have to show the prosecutor
That jocai died of natural causes.
Because what they say... It couldn't be more false.
Yes.
Kerlus: I can't believe that I'm being charged with first-degree murder.
My biggest worry is going to trial and it not going as planned.
Um, I do have kids, young kids,
And I can't see myself sitting behind bars
And not...
And not being able to be a mom to them
Or not being able to be part of their lives.
What we're gonna do right now is we're going to look at the, uh, autopsy report
And, uh, the coroner's report
To basically see what their theory of the case is.
And to see why they believe, uh, that this was a homicide.
They're saying, number one, there was bleeding between the layers of the brain.
-Okay? -Renteria: Yeah.
Helmick: Swelling of the brain and then, bleeding behind the, uh, back of the eyes.
Three, uh, symptoms of shaken baby syndrome.
And so that's when they call in the detectives.
The first doctor to rule it a homicide is the autopsy doctor.
What they're saying here is that the baby
Had blunt force trauma to the head and neck trauma.
Blunt force trauma is, uh, in my view,
Is that the baby was hit with something
-Uh, in the head, you know. -Renteria: Right.
Blunt force by some sort of an object.
Likewise, neck trauma would mean an injury to the neck.
They're saying the baby was shaken.
How are you gonna handle that?
Because a jury would think blunt force.
You would think bruising, you would think a laceration,
Um, bleeding, blunt force.
-Abusive blunt force calls for that. -Helmick: Right.
-But yet there isn't abrasions, bruises, bleeding. -Helmick: Mm-hmm.
We don't have any external injuries whatsoever.
But yet the baby was shaken so violently
That it was killed by the shaking.
That it caused all these symptoms
By the violent shaking.
The jury is going to sit there and hear "abusive head trauma."
All of those traumatic words mean they're out for blood, right?
-Who did it? -Helmick: Right.
From the beginning of the trial, we'll be the underdogs.
We know this baby was not murdered.
And so the biggest challenge for us
Is to have our own experts look at the case
And have them show, unequivocally,
That the baby died of natural causes.
Now, take that paper and underneath "carts," write "barn."
Good job. All right. Now we're gonna do a new word.
-Card. -Kerlus: Card.
(boy sighs)
Kerlus: There you go. Good job.
Mm. It's gonna taste all good 'cause of you.
Chef kairo in the building.
I'm very limited on what I can and can't do when it comes to the kids.
Um, all my visitation has to be supervised.
So I'm here for a couple hours after they get out of school.
Cook, homework.
You know, mom stuff, and then head off.
Kind of the new norm, nowadays.
Davis: Six fingers.
All right. Now, add two. How many you got?
-Eight. -Davis: There you go.
Okay, good.
-Okay, go put your computer upstairs and charge it. -(davis speaking indistinctly)
Davis: I'm the father, so the boys need that motherly love.
I'm more tougher. (laughing)
And she... She gets a knack for it.
But, you know, at the same time, I know that she's hurting inside.
I know that she wants to do so much,
But, you know, it's only so little that she can do.
Just try to be supportive and, you know,
Just to let her know it's going to be okay.
But you might be going to jail for the rest of your life.
How do you tell somebody it's going to be okay?
Kerlus: Who wants chicken with alfredo? Boys: Me.
Kerlus: It's very important for me
That they don't see mommy crying or sad.
So I make it as normal as I can despite the situation.
-Kairo, how was school? -Kairo: Good.
-I got a 90 on my test. -Kerlus: Good job.
Kerlus: All right, guys. Mommy's leaving.
Jahlil: (kisses) I love you. Kerlus: I love you more.
Jahlil: Mom, what's in there? Kerlus: You know it's grandpa and your brother.
Jahlil: Can I see it? Kerlus: Mm-hmm.
Jahlil: Dad and jocai? Kerlus: Mm-hmm.
Jahlil: Oh.
Jocai, uh, we carry his legacy.
We're gonna keep his name going.
That was my baby.
And, you know, I carry him with me every day.
-All right. Close the door for me, okay? -Khyree: No teasing.
Helmick: What I want to listen to is
The police interviews of, uh, kristina and, uh, jaevone.
The setting of these interviews is, I think, is very, very important.
Not only did it take place at the hospital,
It took place in the same room as where the baby is.
And you can hear the monitors, and all the noises,
And all this stuff going on in the background.
We're not talking about interviewing somebody, you know,
Three weeks, two weeks, a week later, or anything like that.
Right now,
Your child's at the hospital, fighting for his life.
Helmick: Listening to these interviews,
Not a single one of them talk about jocai,
His symptoms getting worse over time.
As far as him being fussy and him not eating as much,
And him projectile vomiting him, uh, him not sleeping as well.
And so the prosecutor is going to jump all over that.
What they're going to say is, "you didn't say it here.
"right, but now you're saying it here
"because you want it to match your theory of the case.
Helmick: How you doing? Kerlus: Good, and you?
Helmick: Good, yeah. Good to see you.
Kerlus: Good to see you.
Okay, so what I want to go over with you
Is, uh, the photo of jocai in the boppy.
We need to look at the video
That you took from your phone.
And then look at the times.
This is really the key to their case in regard to when the shaking, uh, took place.
This is the one where you're holding jocai and singing the barney song.
That was taken at 6:59 p.M. On October 4th, 2018,
The night before the morning where he became unconscious.
I was recording, um, snapchat videos and, uh, jay had texted me,
"what are you guys doing?" and I sent this video to him.
(kerlus sighs)
I love you. I love you.
I still remember that. (sniffles)
-I know you do. -Yeah. (sighs)
So that was taken at 6:59 p.M.
Then we have their photo of jocai in the boppy at, uh, 8:59 p.M.
And this is the picture that the prosecution hones the whole case on.
Given the angle of which he's sleeping,
The angle of which his head is sitting down,
They make it seem like something happened to him.
So in trial, you are, uh, certainly going to be asked about this photo.
You know, what are you going to say?
He's been up for hours, like, all day, basically.
And then when I seen him falling asleep,
I took a picture to show, you know, jay,
-That, "look, he finally fell asleep." -helmick: Mm-hmm.
Kerlus: And then when I sent him the picture,
I said, "don't worry, I'm fixing his head."
As soon as I send him that message, he walked through the door.
And when he walked in the room, when jocai heard his voice,
He opened his eyes.
-Oh. -And then that's when jaevone picked him up
And started playing with him.
Like, he didn't even go to sleep.
This was like a split second.
But the only video they don't have
Is the one where he was stuck watching tv
Because that was never sent to jay.
They only had the videos that was sent to jay
Because they never had access to my phone.
So this is taken at 8:52 p.M.
And that's him sitting in the boppy.
-The prosecution didn't have this one. Good. -Kerlus: Mm-mm.
Kerlus: I posted that on snapchat
Because I was like, "oh, my god, he's actually watching tv."
None of my kids sat there and watched tv.
So they're alleging that between 6:59 p.M. And 8:59 p.M., I shook him.
But if you compare the videos between the 8:52 p.M. And 8:59 p.M.,
He hasn't moved.
What they don't know is we just chopped
Their whole timeline and their whole position down to seven minutes.
And so between the seven minutes, they're saying
All of a sudden he became so frustrated
And, uh, there had to be some reason why you took him out of the boppy
And shook him so violently,
As the, uh, the coroner stated.
-And then put him back in his boppy. -(kerlus scoffs)
Helmick: So, I mean, it just doesn't make any sense at all.
When you have photos and you have videos in a case,
It gives the jury something beyond, uh, just facts.
It can be very beneficial, it can be very damaging to a case.
Every video that we have,
We feel it's extremely beneficial to us.
Kerlus: Hi, how are you? Woman: Good. How are you, dear?
Kerlus: I've had to wear my ankle monitor since 2019
So they can, um, keep track of me 24/7.
I can't leave las vegas, can't leave clark county.
It sucks. It really sucks.
It's a... It feels like an invasion of privacy.
Is this kind of uncomfortable for you?
How's it, like, wearing it?
It's heavy, very uncomfortable.
Woman: Must be hard. I can't even imagine.
Kerlus: My kids ask a lot of questions, like, when I first got it,
They were like, "mommy, what is that?"
-I told them, "something to help mommy lose weight." -(chuckles)
I was in the car with jahlil, and he, um...
He just started asking, like, a lot of questions.
And he's like, "mommy, if, um..." (sobs)
"if jocai comes back, are they going to take that off your ankle?
Woman: (clicks tongue) aw.
And it broke my heart.
(kerlus sniffles)
Renteria: Hey, ryan. Helmick: Hi.
Renteria: Are you ready to go over the preliminary hearing transcripts?
Helmick: Yeah. Renteria: All right.
Helmick: We needed a preliminary hearing.
You're able to test the evidence
So you'll be more prepared for the trial in regard
To, "hey, you know, this witness may testify this way,
"or this witness may testify this way."
-For you. -Helmick: Thank you.
Okay.
The prosecutor's saying that jaevone never told the detectives
When he was first interviewed about jocai being fussy or vomity.
"in neither interview did you mention this supposed projectile vomiting
"in the days leading up to his death?"
"correct." "in fact, you described him as normal and happy
"when he wakes up in the morning." "correct."
So,
She's really hitting jaevone hard over the head
-Here with this stuff. -Renteria: Yeah.
Helmick: They could say he went to the gym for two and a half hours
While she's at home, watching the newborn and all the three kids
And, uh, taking care of the household
And he just comes home and sits and wants to watch the lakers game.
And then wake the kids up and go to sushi.
I went to sushi at 10:00 p.M.
-Waking up the kids at 10:00 p.M... -Helmick: Mm-hmm.
The prosecutor is going to make sure
That the jury and everyone in that courtroom
Realizes that that is highly inappropriate for any parent to do.
Right, they're gonna try to make this look like a chaotic household,
That she was stressed out, that she was frustrated.
Renteria: That would piss me off. Helmick: Mm-hmm.
Renteria: I'm at home with a newborn.
You have the luxury of going to the gym,
And then you want to come home and watch a game,
-And then you want to go to sushi? -Helmick: Mm-hmm.
Think about all the things she has to round up just to do that.
The prosecution is going to say that she just, you know, lost it and shook the baby
And, you know, kind of look at the background and you can see
This is why she lost it.
She had gotten frustrated, right?
That's the, uh, the way that they are going to spin it.
You could see that their goal here was to really try to attack the character
Of kristina through jaevone.
And so we've got to get ready for, uh, his testimony at the trial.
Knowing now the direction that they're going to, uh, take him down
And how they're really gonna use him.
Do you want to put the, um,
The string on the "happy birthday"?
Yes, ma'am.
Today is my oldest son's birthday.
He's 10 years old.
And we're throwing him a surprise party.
He's been through everything with me, so...
I've been trying to make things and everything as perfect as possible.
Because what if it is the last birthday I spend with him?
(indistinct whispering)
(knock at door)
-All: Surprise! -(kerlus laughing)
-Kerlus: Hi. (kisses) -khyree: What is this?
Kerlus: What is this? I love you.
-I love you. -Khyree: I love you, too.
Kerlus: Happy birthday, baby. Khyree: Thank you.
Kerlus: All right. Make a wish.
-Make a wish, baby. -That's my boy.
Davis: Come, on.
Kerlus: Now he doesn't want to blow too hard, okay. (laughs)
(boy laughs)
(all cheering)
-Oh, oh, my thing. -You're ten. (squeals)
Kerlus: They know mommy's being accused and they know mommy is innocent
And she's fighting, you know, not only for me but for them.
I don't know if they really understand that.
Mommy's facing life.
And that... (sobs)
That it's still a possibility that they may never see me again.
Helmick: I'm going to meet up with, uh, dr. Evan matshes,
Who is the, uh, very well-known forensic pathologist.
So the prosecution allege that jocai has been killed
By abusive blunt force head trauma.
And so if we're able to show
That jocai died of natural causes,
Now we're going to be able to provide it with medical certainty,
It's gonna be the crux of the case.
Dr. Matshes: Ryan helmick: Matshes.
Dr. Matshes: Good to see you. Nice to meet you in person.
Helmick: Yeah, it's finally meet you in person. Yeah.
After you.
So this is a photo from the state's autopsy.
He does have bleeding around his spinal cord.
Right.
So, the prosecution, in your experience,
That's what they're gonna label as a neck trauma, right?
Correct. That is the only evidence that I can see
That they're presenting as neck trauma.
Right.
-But I believe that this is not due to trauma of the neck. -Helmick: Right.
That this is the result of the blood that's inside the head
Tracking down the spine.
If we look at jocai's ct scan,
-The white part is the bone on the outside. -Helmick: Mm.
And every area that I've labeled here in yellow and red is bleeding.
And that's unusual in a little baby.
Now, what's really interesting,
And important to this case,
Is this piece of evidence.
So I was able to use a special stain here to help identify blood vessels.
And outlined in here is a very enlarged,
Dilated and dead blood vessel.
Which died while jocai was still alive
And ruptured, resulting in this bleeding.
It's died because it's fully clotted off with sickled cells.
That's huge.
-Absolutely huge. -Dr. Matshes: It's a game changer.
Inside that blood vessel,
We can see an abundance of obviously sickled cells
In the middle of a organizing blood clot.
Red blood cells, and that's what we're looking at,
Should be shaped like a double-sided disk.
They usually have two dimples in the middle.
And his are like ellipses, like sickles.
You don't expect most sickle cell trait people
To develop sickling.
But he has, and it's widespread.
Helmick: Throughout the whole body?
Dr. Matshes: Throughout the whole body.
We know that jocai was sickly
-In the days before his death. -Helmick: Yeah.
And people with sickle cell disease
Usually go into sickle cell crisis
Because of something that stresses them out.
Cold, flu, what have you.
So, what is the conclusion,
Uh, in regard to explaining how jocai died?
That jocai died
Because he clotted off a blood vessel
That was full of sickled cells.
He's died a natural death.
Kerlus: I work a grave, which is midnight to 8:00 a.M.
I used to be a manager for a company before all this happened.
When I got arrested, I lost my job.
So now, I am a phone operator at a limo dispatch company.
Kerlus: When I read the report, I was in tears
Because, you know, I needed that clarity.
He had, you know, photographic evidence
To prove everything that he's saying, to prove my innocence.
And the only thing that I question is, is it enough?
Is this enough?
You know, this has always been the battle of the experts.
Is the prosecutor gonna see and hear all this and say, "hey, you know what?
"my expert missed this.
"let's dismiss it." or...
She's gonna say, "mm, quite frankly, I don't care."
Helmick: I just got a call from the prosecutor
In kristina's case, uh, out of the blue.
She said that she did what she was going to do
And taking a second look at this thing
And having her expert review it.
And she has told me
That she is going to dismiss the case.
And this is what we have been shooting for for three years.
Are they gonna dismiss the case with prejudice?
Which means they can never bring the charges back again.
Or they can dismiss the case without prejudice.
And they can at some point, whenever they feel,
Bring the charges back against kristina.
Kerlus: After ryan and I had a conversation,
I got on the phone. I called my sister, called my mom and called jay.
We were all just, all crying, just happy.
Just, like, wow, it's over, like, it's done.
But if they dismiss it without prejudice,
That means that they can come after me for murder
Involving my son forever, which means I'd have to go through this again.
I'm gonna get arrested and have to post bail.
If bail is granted, house arrest again.
And if they put those stipulations on me.
The thought of having to redo this is just...
Like, if you don't want to dismiss with prejudice,
You might as well take it to trial.
That's how I feel.
Take it to trial, because if I go to trial
And I get a "not guilty" which is what I'm gonna get,
You can never come after me.
Why have this dangling over my head, and I still can't sleep at night,
And have that what if, today, the freedom that I have,
Or I'm going to have to put my family through it again?
No.
Like, I don't want... I don't wanna. (sobs)
I don't want to be half-free.
Helmick: This has been a four-year ordeal.
So this has been just an absolute nightmare for her.
We're ready to get this over with and kristina to have this nightmare end.
My hopes is that we just walk in there, real simple.
She says she's going to voluntary dismiss the case with prejudice.
We say, "thank you, your honor."
Then we walk out.
Kerlus: I have so many mixed emotions.
Like, I'm happy, I'm excited.
I'm anxious, I'm scared.
I just can't wait until I go to court
Because it can go so many different ways.
The prosecutor can change her mind for all I know.
We were expecting it to be dismissed,
And she's like, "oh, if I decide at a later time to prosecute,
"I want it to be without prejudice so I can come after her again."
Davis: It's been a long four years
Of, you know, family being apart.
Just not being together,
It took a toll on the kids.
You know, you've got people looking at you crazy,
People judging your situation, and they don't know, you know what I mean?
So finally, we just hoping to get our life back.
(people speaking indistinctly)
Woman: Come on up, miss kerlus.
Woman: All right, miss kerlus is present out of custody with mr. Helmick.
We have miss jovy for the state.
This is on for calendar call. Miss jovy, how are we proceeding?
Your honor, based on further investigation,
The state does not believe it can prove the elements
Of the criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
Therefore, the city is voluntarily dismissing this case.
Judge: It is without prejudice as this is at the da's request.
Helmick: No objections to that.
But there is gonna be an objection to without prejudice.
This woman has been dealing with the loss of her child for four years,
And her children, all three of them,
Have been taken away from her for three years.
She still doesn't have full custody of her kids.
If it's without prejudice, she has this gray cloud
That's still gonna hang over her head
For the rest of her life
'cause we don't know if this charge will ever come back.
The medical science here is absolute.
Every single expert that we have talked to
Has said that this baby died of natural causes,
All due to, uh, complications with the sickle cell trait.
Nothing is gonna change.
Judge: At the end of the day, I don't make the charging decisions.
The state gets to decide when and how they prosecute cases.
You have obtained a pretty miraculous result already,
With them agreeing to dismiss it voluntarily.
I don't believe that I have the authority
At this point to maintain that it's said without prejudice,
Because I don't have any of this information, actually, in front of me.
Helmick: I understand. Judge: So, ultimately, it is dismissed at this time.
I'm going to vacate any future trial dates
And congratulations on a good outcome for your client.
Helmick: Thank you very much. Jovy: Thank you, your honor.
For them to acknowledge that they don't have enough to prove this case is big, okay?
For them to voluntarily dismiss a murder case, it's huge.
I mean, the judge using the word "congratulations," right?
When do you hear a judge say that?
Kerlus: I'm happy, but I feel like my happiness is not real happiness
Because I have to live
With that over my head, like...
It's, like, bittersweet.
You've got medicine and facts on your side.
Helmick: Everything is on your side. Renteria: Okay?
Renteria: Everything is on your side.
Is it fair to you? No.
But are you free today?
Yes.
-But you're gonna... -No more cps, no more people popping up.
-Renteria: Yeah. -You know, we can... Take trips,
-Spend time with the kids. -Helmick: And everything is gone.
-Helmick: It's all gone. -It's dismissed.
-Helmick: It's gone. -It's dismissed. This is what we wanted.
Feeling like we've been drowning for the last four years,
And, you know, being trial dates, court dates,
Everything has been, you know, what's next, what's next, what's next?
So now, I just think this is the first step
To, you know, getting some normalcy again in the household
And being able to, really, you know, enjoy, you know, our freedom again.
Helmick: Think of the positive here, that it is done,
And, uh, it's still an absolutely phenomenal, uh, result.
-Okay? -Kerlus: Thank you, ryan. Thank you.
-(kerlus sobbing) -you fought like hell, too, okay?
All right?
Helmick: And we thank you for them making the right decision,
-Finally, after four years of trauma. -Kerlus: Yes.
It's a phenomenal result.
Unfortunately, just tainted a little bit
In regard to it being without prejudice.
I wish they would have flat-out dismissed it
And been done with it today.
Kerlus: Finally. All: Amen.
Kerlus: This is definitely a win.
Yet no matter how they want to slice and dice it,
Or how much their hand's in the pot,
I won today.
It's a victory.