(Operator speaking)
(Bryan speaking)
Bryan: There's nothing in this world
that compares to having to take a life.
Nothing.
Bryan on recording: Oh, god.
Bryan: All I do is think about every second of what happened that day.
And if there was another option,
I didn't know it.
Bryan on recording: I couldn't take it no more, sir.
Bryan: I'm looking at the rest of my life in prison
but no matter what the outcome of this,
my mind will always be trapped in a prison cell.
You'll never escape that, no matter what.
(Operator speaking)
(Bryan speaking)
Announcer: This is news channel 11 at noon.
A man accused of first‐degree murder
in the shooting death of his wife in January
had his case bound over to the grand jury this week.
Bryan Lawson is charged with first‐degree murder and reckless endangerment
in the death of his wife, Beth chandra Lawson.
Church hill police say a home surveillance system
recorded Lawson shooting his wife.
Investigators said that video also showed
the pair in an argument before the shooting.
The couple's small child was standing beside chandra Lawson when she was shot.
Larry: It's a very serious charge.
It's not a death penalty charge,
but it is a first‐degree murder charge.
Theoretically, he could go to jail for the rest of his life
and he believes that he has a good case of self‐defense
because he was in an abusive relationship.
The state's going to argue that it was not self‐defense, that he intended to do this,
but my personal feeling is,
when the jury does see what was taking place,
they're going to realize that he had to defend himself
and he doesn't wish to harm or hurt anyone.
(Knocks on door)
Larry: Hey, Bryan. Bryan: Hey, Larry.
How you doing? All right.
Larry: We're gonna look at the film, okay? Bryan: Okay.
The events that led up to the actual shooting.
Larry: Why don't you tell us,
what the plans were this morning?
Bryan: I got up that morning, sitting there waiting on her.
She was in the bedroom, watching TV.
I went back,
she opened the door, greeted me,
it was fine at that point.
And I started saying, "hey, we gotta go.
"We're already behind schedule, running late."
And she snapped.
Larry: Is there a reason why you just didn't get up
and hit her back at that point?
I was too scared to.
Larry: Why do you think she continued to hit you
as many times as she did on the video?
She enjoyed it in these states.
When she got into these fits of violence,
anything was possible.
She was very dangerous.
Had I said the wrong word right here,
she would have killed me.
She would have hit you with the bat.
Yes.
And my whole goal during this situation was
to do everything to calm her down,
any sign of aggression would have pushed her further.
Larry: Why do you think
she tries to strike the ground where your feet are?
She knows that my left foot on this side is crippled.
And she knows that my foot's been through multiple, multiple operations.
She was trying to cause me the most pain and anguish she could that day.
Larry: How many different times would you say, over the years,
she's used the ball bat on you?
At least 10, 15 times.
Okay.
What about hit you in the throat with her fist or her knuckles?
Almost every time.
And that would be upwards of hundreds of times.
Larry: The video speaks for itself
and that is very important to your defense in this case.
If it wasn't for the video,
you'd be looking at a serious amount of time
but I suspect the state's gonna argue
you did this knowing it was all gonna be on camera
and set her up to cause her to beat on you,
get her started beating on you so you could, in essence, pull the trigger.
You need to be able to tell the jury
why you had an internal security system in your apartment.
About a year prior to this,
one night, I went out and I caught a girl that,
about a week before had been arrested
for breaking into another apartment.
So, me and my wife
decided to get a surveillance camera
in case our apartment was broken into.
She picked them out,
she purchased them,
she brought them home, and I had them installed.
I'd been with her almost 10 years at this point
and she abused and abused and abused on me.
And I took it
because there was no controlling her.
And right here, she says, "I haven't decided for sure
"how you're gonna die but you're going to."
Why did you not walk away from this?
I couldn't leave my son, she had him in the back room.
And I believe that had I left
or even called the police, before they would have got there,
she would have took our lives.
Larry: Was there access to weapons?
She had a 12‐gauge, three‐and‐a‐half inch Magnum
set up to shoot.
It was hanging in her bedroom a little while.
Also there was a Taurus .38 special back there.
And right here's when I retrieved the pistol
from behind the couch,
and I just got it, put it in my pocket for safety,
tried to defend me and my son's life
to the best of my ability.
Larry: There's no dispute that Bryan shot her.
There's no dispute that he said he shot her.
The dispute is why he did it.
I kept the domestic abuse a secret
because I didn't want people to know
that she was doing things like that.
I didn't know what to do.
There's no class for me and other guys to say,
"hey, if your wife's beating you,
"you need to do this,
"these are the steps you need to take
"if you're having these types of problems in a relationship."
I'm 6'5". 250, 260 pounds.
Why didn't you jump up and do anything?"
Well, if I would have hit her,
she would have killed me for sure.
I tell you, one time, I did get mad enough to leave
and she got a pistol out and put it in her mouth
and had it not jammed, she would have killed herself.
You know I love her just as much right now
as I did the first day I met her.
And I always will.
I wish I would have done something different.
It just spiraled out of control.
Well, he's certainly guilty of pulling the trigger.
Now, did he have reason to feel that his life was in danger?
And that he was defending himself?
I certainly think he does. Yes, I do.
I think it's a classic case of self‐defense.
Bryan: I met chandra when I was probably about 24, 25 years old.
I guess it was just one of those love‐at‐first‐sight things.
It was a fire that I was attracted to
and it was not only warm to feel around you
but it was beautiful to gaze upon.
There were no bad times for so long.
Everything was just beautiful.
She was my queen to put on a pedestal.
She was in the national guard at the time
and she was about to do two tours of Iraq.
But she got her neck broke during the training process.
Due to her neck injury, they couldn't really deploy her.
We turned to the doctors
and they started giving her pain pills,
hundreds and hundreds of narcotics a month.
And then before you know it,
she'd become addicted to it.
I mean the love we had for each other,
nothing could stop us in the beginning,
but when the drugs came in, it just...
It destroyed a lot of it.
Larry: I interviewed Dr. Tom schock yesterday.
The forensic psychologist who's been furnished
substantial mental health records
of the deceased lady, chandra Beth Lawson.
What her mental health records show is that
she was a substance abuser and she had a bipolar condition.
Substance abuse mixed with a bipolar condition
directly results to a problem with violence.
Is he in a position to say that the medications that she was on
or abusing exacerbated the bipolar disorder?
Aggravated it. Okay.
He went ahead to say people who have a bipolar condition
and people who are substance abusers
are six times more likely to commit a violent act
than the average everyday person.
And we also know that we have a document
in her mental health file which says, when manic, she abuses her husband.
That document itself it's a gold‐plated document
that we wanna be sure and get into the record.
Bryan: I was born with what they call severe clubfoot.
It was almost turned completely backwards.
From six months to 17, I had surgeries all the time.
Doctors...
You get to the point where there's nothing they can do other than take it off.
So, it was pain management from then on out.
I've been on morphine, I've been on opana.
Any pain medication that there is out there, I've been on it.
You keep getting more and more and more and then you start abusing them.
You start crushing them.
You start snorting them.
And then you wake up one morning and you say "I'm a junkie."
You know, I've ruined my hands, my arms, it's all from shooting up
and when you get to that stage...
It's hard to come back.
I was in rehab, called home to check in with my wife,
she said she was pregnant.
And it hit me...
And I thought, "oh, god,
"if you take the needles out of my arm, I wouldn't put them back."
And I left the drugs and I left them behind.
I think him being born saved my life.
And I have never shot up since.
But she never gave up the needle,
and I never could convince her to.
The worse the drugs got, the worse the violence got.
Had we been able to skip the drugs,
we wouldn't be sitting here right now.
Larry: Okay, Bryan, are you telling me, without an absolute doubt,
that this woman mainlined every day?
Bryan: Yes.
Every day? Every day.
Three times a day?
Three times a day.
She would go into the bedroom, back bedroom, where the camera's at,
shut and lock the door because she didn't want kids or nobody to walk in on her,
and she shot up.
It's on that video, I promise you.
So we want to try to see what's going on here.
If it does show her using drugs intravenously,
that could be very important to us.
We can show that she's not an innocent victim,
her actions are as much as what led to the event
as anything, if not the lead cause of it.
So I think it's important to show that to the jury.
I don't know. It's not working is all I can say.
It's not playing it. It's not a video file.
There could be some exculpatory evidence on this
that we really could hang our hat on,
but it could potentially prove problematic for us
if we can't access or see it.
Larry: Okay, Bryan,
let's just bring you up to date a little bit on what's going on.
We've been working on this camera footage.
We've been unable to pull it up and I think it's part of the state's attempt
to try to keep us from getting that information
because it shows that this lady had a problem with drugs.
I don't know why they're having such trouble.
They handed us over the first 24 hours.
More likely than not,
they'd prefer us not to have this information.
That's my personal opinion.
They should be able to just hand it over.
I think there's a problem there.
Wait and see.
Today, I'm going to court for a motions hearing.
We've asked for the footage from the camera system
that was operating in my house at the time
and the hard drive they sent was completely blank.
So, that's going to be the biggest issue we're addressing.
It's a really big deal because if we go to trial,
we need all that footage to compile a good defense.
Court official: All rise for the honorable judge John dugger, presiding.
Thank you. Be seated. Good morning.
This is case number 17cr070,
state of Tennessee v. Bryan Lawson.
Now, there was a motion about...
You have a copy of the video by the tbi, a hard drive or something,
that's been downloaded, that you're not able to open it.
Larry: The point I'd like to make is this, your honor
is they were able to give us that 45 minutes of the incident
when the shooting began and ended.
What I saw in the courtroom.
What you saw in the courtroom,
why can't they just give it to us like that?
Well, your honor,
we don't have any obligation
to provide voluminous material
that we don't think is remotely relevant.
Of course, it's relevant
we don't think we should spend our time or taxpayer money to produce something
that's never going to see the light of day in the courtroom.
What do you want to say about that?
Larry: I think this is something that's exculpatory to him
from the standpoint of how often, daily, she used these syringes.
Let's assume, for the sake of argument,
that she was using every day.
What is the possible relevance to why he shot her three times?
What is the possible relevance?
I'll tell you exactly what the relevance is.
A person who has a bipolar personality
and who is addicted to any kind of opiate‐type medication
is six times more likely to commit a violent act.
Okay. So I am telling the state
that they need to, technology‐wise,
make sure that the tbi technology person talks to him
so they can look at it. Yes, sir.
I want this done before February.
We're not getting to February and going, "I didn't get to see all the hours."
This case needs to be tried.
Court's adjourned. Thank you.
Liam is my wife's son.
So, he'd be my stepson.
I was with him for about 10 years
and we had a really great relationship.
He's absolutely a great kid.
From day one, I loved him.
We don't get into the details of what happened.
We're trying to help each other move on
but I've got to be realistic about it.
No matter what the reasons that I had that day,
that's still his mother.
(Doorbell rings)
Come on in, buddy. Howdy.
Good to see you.
(Grunting) I love you so much.
Liam: I love you, too. (Grunts)
Good to see you.
Come on. Let's go get you something to drink.
So it's great to have you here.
You have no idea what it does for me.
I have something to be happy about.
I just think it's no good to hold hate toward somebody.
You're right, you're right.
What good does it do to me to sit in a room
and just be filled with anger towards you?
And nothing good comes from anger.
You can see that anywhere, anytime.
These situations with drugs and domestic violence...
I've lived through it. Right.
I've been on one end of it, you've been on the other end of it.
I knew something was going on
and it was causing problems. Right.
I hope you can forgive me for those times.
And I apologize to you for that from the bottom of my heart.
So... 'Cause, I love you.
You coming to see me and you coming to hang out with me...
It's the best thing I have going in my life right now.
God love you.
I love you, Liam. I love you, too, buddy.
Liam: I loved my mom she was a very good mother she was very supportive,
she was always there, but my mother had a bit of a temper
and she let her anger take the best of her.
I didn't like the arguing, I didn't like the yelling,
the fussing, those moments were what...
Um...
It was just a hard thing to deal with.
It was a terrible thing that she died,
but you can't keep that hate because anger will destroy you.
When my stepson comes to me and tells me he still loves me,
that's the greatest love I can ever have bestowed upon me.
And you've become everything your mother would want you to become.
And I want you to know that
I may not necessarily be the right person to tell you this,
that she would be proud of you,
but she would be.
To a degree, I have forgiven you,
but you will always be the man that killed my mother.
The level of trust that we had before
is never going to be there fully, completely.
There's damage done that's always gonna be there.
We can still love each other,
but we will never be there for each other in the same way that we were.
You still have to atone for what you did.
There still needs to be that justice served.
And if that's your freedoms being taken away,
whether it be five to 10 years,
or 10 to 20 years, that's fine by me, I guess.
Bryan: Larry has called me to come in
and we're going to go through the video
and I'm going to try to remember what was said.
It makes you relive what happened that day,
but without the video I wouldn't even have a shot at a defense.
Who would have believed me? You know?
Okay, Bryan you found anything new
that appears to be different
or enlightens you on anything that we've...
There's a couple of things.
One thing, I did notice this round about 8:07.
She starts telling me that she will bash my brains in.
She's telling me she wants my mother to have to clean my brains up.
And that's why she gets the bat.
My little boy was in the bedroom,
she states that after she kills me,
she's going to take Brayden and herself in the bathroom
and get in the bathtub and cut their arteries with a scalpel.
I tried to plead with her to put the bat down, stop talking about killing,
but anything I say to her only makes her angrier.
And then she very plainly points to the door
and then she starts pointing at me.
And then I remember now that she's telling me
that no matter who comes in that door, everybody's dying.
I ask her why she won't leave Brayden alone
she said he was put on this earth to pay her back
for every bad thing she'd ever done.
Larry: There's your little boy patting his ears there.
Bryan: Yes, because she's screaming.
He's just as scared as I am.
About 8:31 she brings Brayden into the room.
Up to this point she's done nothing but tell me how she's going to kill him.
So, for my own son's safety,
I retrieved the pistol from behind the couch
and I just put it in my pocket for safety.
I didn't arm myself at the beginning.
I armed myself when she convinced me that
she was aiming to do him harm.
Points at me, everybody's going to die
Larry: Is that what she said? Yes, yes.
Bryan: Right then. I wasn't going to risk his life.
He was too precious.
I couldn't take that chance.
(Gunshots)
After I pick up my little boy
my whole intention was to get to that phone
and get help as fast as possible.
(Operator speaking)
(Bryan speaking)
(Operator speaking)
(Bryan speaking)
(Operator speaking)
(Bryan speaking)
(Operator speaking)
(Bryan crying on recording)
(Bryan speaking)
That's it.
(Sighs deeply)
Bryan: Since those bullets left that pistol
my mind has been nothing but pain and anguish.
I regret she lost her life with all my heart and soul.
All I do is think about every second of what happened that day.
And if there was another option I didn't know it.
I had to shoot my wife to save my son.
But what I thought I did to save everything
ended up being what made me lose everything.
Bryan: The day that I was arrested, I was sitting in the police department
and a tbi agent walked in and he says,
"son, I got something I need to talk to you about."
"Have you ever heard of this man?" And I said, "yes, I have."
And he said, "have you ever heard
"that he might be the father of your son?"
And I said, "no, I have not. Never."
He just showed up to the jail and said, "that's my son,
"but nobody knows about it."
I was still in such shock at what had happened that morning.
I couldn't take it all in, but I thought there's no way.
Me and Larry talked it through
and he says we gotta do DNA immediately.
So I get called in to Larry's.
And then he gives me a copy of the DNA test.
And it says Bryan Lawson is not the biological father.
Bryan on recording: (Making playful noises) Yeah!
I love you, love you.
Brayden: No! No!
Bryan: The most important thing in my world was that boy.
It destroyed me because me and him had such a tight bond.
In my heart, he's still mine,
but they won't let me around him in any way, shape or form.
So...
My mom and my mother‐in‐law, chandra's mother,
they have custody of him and he goes back and forth.
I can't talk to him. I can't be anywhere he is.
We go to trial and I win I can see him immediately.
The court would have no reason to hold him from me.
I miss him beyond belief.
But...
That little boy is what gives me the strength to keep living.
Larry: Okay, Bryan, we're going to look at the film again, okay?
Bryan: Okay.
One of the cameras is in the bedroom,
which is where we're looking at now.
Yep. And I already found her shooting up four times.
So, right now, she's got the syringe in her hand.
Now this, is Brayden's personal blanket.
And she lays it out there.
And, uh...
She shoots up on top of his blanket.
So now it's going in.
See the black plunger going down? Mmm‐hmm.
She's getting it in, right there.
She's gonna be more relaxed because she's got her fix.
It's over and done.
If she hadn't had any, that's when you would notice it.
Well, the significance of this, that Dr. Schock tells me,
is that, the day that all this event happened on,
she didn't have an injection or we'll call it "a fix",
and it made her far more agitated... Yes.
Than she normally would've been... Yeah.
And this triggered the event that ultimately took place.
I think it would be wise at this point,
that you let Daniel and me take these to the da's office.
And let them see what's there to be seen.
And it may help modify their position.
Bryan: Okay.
Larry: But let me tell you, if you didn't have that videotape,
you'd be looking at 50 years. Bryan: Yeah.
Absolutely.
Bryan, you know, I think now, the state is beginning to realize
that there might be a problem with their case.
We were approached by the da's office, Dan Armstrong,
and he's beginning to talk some sense about trying to make a deal.
Daniel: What they have proposed is,
that they've come down to voluntary manslaughter.
But, instead of considering you a standard offender,
they're gonna consider you a mitigated offender.
That just means you'd serve 20% of your sentence.
It'd be 15 years, 20%.
So, you'd serve roughly three years
and then you're eligible for parole. Okay.
It doesn't mean you're automatically released,
it means you get your parole hearing.
Okay. Okay?
Right now, and is that what you would advise?
Well, I... The final, the final decision always has to be yours.
But, you know, I think that you've got
a very good chance of acquittal.
This is as strong a case of self‐defense as I've ever seen.
Daniel: I would like for Bryan to go to trial.
If it goes perfectly, I think he gets acquitted.
But, the thing about jury trials
is you never know what a jury is gonna hang their hat on.
You kind of roll the dice sometimes.
But with this kind of case,
sometimes it pays off big to go ahead and roll that dice.
If it was me, I'd take it to trial.
Bryan: I have to let the da know if I'm gonna go to trial or I'm gonna take the plea.
Under no circumstances, does her family want it to go to trial
because they don't want all this stuff to come out about chandra.
I know they want to hush this up,
I take my plea.
They wanna see me serve some time.
The reason to do the things they have asked,
is because they have control of Brayden.
Right now, he's between my mother, Evelyn, and chandra's mother.
I know that if I go against her family's wishes,
then they can take him away from mom.
But if I take the plea,
I know that they'll still let Brayden be a part of her life.
One minute, I'm ready to take the plea,
one minute, I'm ready to go to trial.
It's the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life.
But if I had to make a decision right now,
I'd go all the way to the jury.
I think I have a good chance that I would win.
And there is an advantage, because I have just told the flat‐out truth.
Bryan: Today is February 1st and, uh, I have to have a decision.
It's either plea or trial.
I'm just an absolute nervous mess.
Can't sleep, can't eat.
I don't feel well. I've been throwing up.
You know, just knowing that...
The end's coming, but not certain on what the end is.
Taking a life fills you with so much emotional pain that it becomes physical.
You'll never lose that pain. Never.
This is Brayden's latest picture.
I haven't seen him or spoke to him,
or held him since that day.
I've missed everything.
He was in the room when his mother was shot and killed.
Bryan: I did it to save him and me both.
But will he understand that? I don't know.
You know, that's his mother...
Period.
(Breathes deeply)
That little boy should have his mother.
Bryan: It's hard to believe that...
The moment's here.
Two years ago, I didn't think it was ever gonna come
and now it's here, I wish it never would have.
I'm ready.
(Indistinct conversations)
Court official: All rise.
Court is back in session. Judge: You can be seated.
This is case number 17cr070.
State of Tennessee v. Bryan Steven Lawson.
We're here today on a plea.
General, you want to tell us about the plea?
Your honor, count one, will be amended
to voluntarily manslaughter.
This plea offer was made on the recommendation of the mother of the victim
and the eldest son of the victim.
Is the victim's family here?
Man: The son is, your honor.
Judge: I'll say thank you for being here.
State your full name for the court.
Bryan Steven Lawson.
You were originally charged by the grand jury with first‐degree murder.
You've heard the Attorney General amend the charges today,
to voluntary manslaughter.
Do you know what voluntary manslaughter is? I do.
Is this your signature on this waiver of rights
to plead guilty? It is, your honor.
Did you read it? Did you understand it? I did.
You understand by pleading guilty, this is the only trial,
the only hearing you will ever have on these charges,
there will be no opportunity for you after today
to present evidence of your innocence
or to plead not guilty? I do.
What you are agreeing, is to take a 15‐year sentence.
Do you understand that? I do.
And it's gonna be, because you have no record,
to a 20%.
And do you understand 20% doesn't mean
you're automatically released after serving 20%?
You could be required to serve every day
for 15 years. I do.
Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? Yes, sir.
Any force, threats or pressure? No, sir.
Anybody promise you anything other than
what's on this waiver of rights to plead guilty? No, sir.
Are you satisfied with your lawyers? I am.
Did they do everything you wanted them to do? Yes.
Do you have any statement, or anything you want to say?
I'd just like to let the family know
that I appreciate all their support during this.
And I express every level of remorse
that I have in my fiber to them.
And I'm sorry this happened.
In Hawkins county case 17cr070,
I find you guilty to voluntary manslaughter
and sentence you to serve 15 years,
which means you're now a convicted felon.
All right, you'll be in custody.
You'll go over here with the sheriff.
Bryan: With all my heart, I wanted to go to the trial.
But it's not all about me.
It's about a little boy's life.
If I could take that suffering, off of him by going to jail...
Even if it's 100 years,
I'm going to take it.