(tense music playing)
(police officer speaking)
(michael ward speaking)
And he said...
Then I realized...
Ward: Being charged with first degree murder, it's a crock of bull.
I was on my own land, I was defending myself.
My whole future depends on the outcome of this trial,
So this is a case that I have to win.
(railway crossing alarm beeping)
(train horn blaring)
My name is misty fields and I am michael ward's criminal defense attorney.
He is accused of shooting sean allen in the back.
Michael is charged with first degree murder.
It doesn't get much bigger than that.
The state is going to say
That because mr. Ward shot a man in the back
And the man died,
He is technically guilty of first-degree murder.
But the big question is,
Did mr. Ward have a right to defend himself in that situation?
Sean allen was a known felon.
He had an extensive criminal record.
Burglaries, drugs, carrying firearms.
He was just a bad dude.
Mr. Allen had spent months terrorizing mr. Ward.
He had perpetually trespassed on his property,
Taking his belongings
And mr. Ward did everything that he could to prevent this.
I believe mike ward was justified in taking another life.
I believe the victim is on trial here.
The only way to right that is to win at jury trial.
(suspenseful music playing)
(birds chirping)
Ward: I retired and I decided to move to spavinaw,
Where it's peaceful and quiet.
It's the dream of every american.
They want to own their own home.
Their own little slice of paradise
That they can say that they worked for it and it's theirs.
It's my own little piece of heaven.
I had a good life here,
Being retired, relaxing, enjoying myself.
And then, the neighbor from hell moves in.
That's when all my problems got started.
One day you're living your life.
The next day you're charged with murder.
It's real devastating.
You watch these shows on tv,
You think to yourself, "that'll never happen to me."
I found out it can happen to anybody.
When I go to court for this, I'll clear my name
And this nightmare will finally be over with.
And that's what I'm looking forward to in the future.
(aspirational music playing)
Fields: Today, michael is coming
To talk about the events on that day.
Mike is in his 60s and has never been charged with a crime before.
He has to understand what he's charged with,
And the sentences that that carries,
Which are very serious.
-Mike. -Yes.
-You ready? -Ready.
Why don't you just tell me your version of the events as you remember them.
Ward: I had decided to go up on my land that morning
And sight in my deer rifle
'cause the deer season was going to start the next week.
Okay.
As I got up a bit close to my barn,
I noticed sean allen coming towards me.
(intense music playing)
He was trespassing on my land,
I knew he had warrants out on him,
Told him to go ahead and stop,
And I told him I was making a citizen's arrest and calling the law.
I told him, "get down on the ground, stop," you know, and he just kept coming.
So, he kept coming and then what?
Next thing I know, he'd got too close
And he grabbed the barrel of the gun
And tried to take it away from me.
What did you do?
I fought over the gun.
I didn't want him to take my gun.
What was going through your mind while you were wrestling over this gun?
I said, "he gets this gun, he's gonna kill me."
The two of you were wrestling over the gun.
Yes.
And you were thinking, if he gets your gun away from you, he was gonna kill you?
Correct. Finally, I jerked the gun away from him.
He turned to run.
What did you do?
I was scared and I throwed up the gun and...
...Pulled the trigger.
I thought he had a gun on him.
Fields: And after you shot, what did you do?
I said "oh, god, I've hit him,"
And I grabbed my phone and called the law.
I said, "I've had to shoot sean allen.
"we got in a fight over the gun and I need an ambulance.
"I need it quick."
-You did that to try and get help as soon as possible? -Get help as quick as I could.
-Okay. -I'd been having trouble with him for a year and a half.
I'd had several incidents where he'd been trespassing on my land.
Cutting trees, breaking into my barn, cutting the locks off.
I'd call the law every time.
They didn't do anything.
Fields: Okay, mike.
I think because you shot him in the back,
The prosecution is probably going to say that there was no threat.
However, I think you were absolutely reasonable
In your belief that he could have been armed
And reasonable in the fear for your own life,
So, I think this is absolutely defensible.
Yes.
You have one count of murder in the first-degree, deliberate intent.
There are three possible sentences.
They are life,
Life without parole, and death.
This is very, very serious.
(dramatic music playing)
Fields: I think mike was victimized by this person
Who had no business even being on his property.
Really, there was no way out for him.
It was either continue to be abused by this criminal
Or fight back.
The biggest hurdle that we have is to convince the jury that this was self-defense.
Ward: I'll never plead guilty to first degree murder,
'cause it's not first-degree murder.
My whole future depends on the outcome of this trial.
The ultimate punishment is death,
So this is a case that I have to win.
This is just a complete injustice
That can happen to anybody in america.
(tense music playing)
Fields: I'm going to review the interrogation video of michael ward
To evaluate any potential issues that I may need to prepare to deal with at trial.
I'm gonna back it up just a minute.
Where he says,
"I ran a little bit and then shot."
That may be a huge issue.
Officer: Mm-hmm.
Fields: I wish he had not stated that part.
It strengthens the prosecution's case.
Their argument is the more actions that took place
Between the struggle over the gun, and the actual shooting,
The more time there was to formulate intent.
The prosecution is going to paint that as,
"sean allen was running for his life, he was no longer a threat,
"there was no longer a need for deadly force,
"and mr. Ward ran after him and shot him down like an animal."
If they can convince 12 jurors of that,
Mr. Ward could be convicted of first-degree murder.
(dramatic music playing)
Today we are going to michael ward's property,
So I can walk through the crime scene.
For about 18 months,
Sean allen had continually gone on michael ward's property,
And cut expensive black walnut trees,
And broken into buildings and done a lot of damage to the property.
I have to understand the terror that mike had lived in,
In order to explain whether or not he was reasonable in his fear
That sean would kill him that day.
-Hi, mike. -Ward: Hey, how're you doing, misty?
Ready to check out the property today?
-Yeah. -Okay, let's head up this way.
Fields: We're coming from your house. Ward: Uh-huh.
And this would have been the way you walked that day. Correct?
Ward: Yeah, correct. Uh-huh.
Sean would come up here, cut the locks off my barn,
Take whatever he wanted,
And I'd come back up and replace more locks on it,
And he'd come right back, do the same thing again and carry more stuff off.
All right, and where was sean living at the time?
He was living in the house right down there.
Whenever I'd come on my property,
He'd come running out of his house with his trash,
And he would go over here and set fire to it.
Fields: Did you ever confront him about burning trash on your property?
Ward: I knew if I said something it was going to be a fight,
And I tried to avoid any confrontation with him.
I wanted the cops to handle it and I showed them, I said,
"you was not doing anything about it."
Fields: So, are these the walnut trees, some of them?
I had one right down here and one over there that he cut.
He got to four of them.
Rumor was that he was selling them for $3,000 apiece.
This is the first one that he cut on.
And he had three of his buddies with him
And they were jacking it up,
Putting it on the trailer and I come up through here.
I'm by myself and I didn't have a gun on me or nothing.
I was scared and nervous,
And, you know, he's laughing about it
And thought it was real funny and everything,
And he said, "by god, you better be scared."
I was thinking, oh, what's going to happen next, you know?
I said, "he's doing whatever he wants to on my land."
I said, "he'll be up my house next."
I sat and thought about it one day.
If he gets rid of me, then he could cut all them trees,
He could do whatever he wants to,
If I'm out of the way.
I mean, I stayed nervous all the time.
Fields: And rightly so, it sounds like.
And I did not want to be out here without protection.
And that probably saved my life 'cause I did carry a gun.
(pensive music playing)
I kept calling the cops,
Asking them for help, I said,
"hey, I just want him to leave me alone."
And, uh, it just fell on deaf ears.
And then, that day, once he had grabbed hold of the gun barrel
And grabbed hold of me and stuff,
I knew right then I had to either shoot him or he's going to kill me.
Fields: Show me how you turned and squared up.
Okay, when I jerked the gun, I just stumbled back like this.
Fields: Uh-huh.
Then I, you know, moved forward a bit, swung around
And I just shot him instinctively.
Fields: When you hear mike tell the story, it's clear that he was scared to death,
He was afraid for his life.
No one should have to beg the police to help you and have them just ignore you.
That's ridiculous.
I think the police just failed him.
(dramatic music playing)
(sighs)
-Michael heath: Hi, mr. Hoskins? -Hello. Yes.
Michael heath with diamond security, how are you, sir?
-I'm fine, thank you. -Good, good.
Hoskins: Well, just have a seat. Heath: Okay, all right.
First of all, did you have any personal interaction with sean allen?
I just tried to stay away from him and his bunch.
They're a pretty scary bunch.
He was down there cooking meth.
You could smell it 'cause the fumes from that would blow this direction.
At that time,
Sean was continuously breaking into mike's barn down there.
I mean, that type of person in the drug world,
They'll take anything they can steal to make a buck.
Sean would just say,
"I'll break in there any time I want
"and nobody's gonna stop me."
Heath: You heard him say that?
Oh, yeah, myself, the police, he didn't care who heard.
He feared no one and he'd stand there and tell you,
"I'm not afraid of you, I'm not afraid of the police, I'm not afraid of anybody,
"and I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do."
And I went over and pulled sean aside
To try and work something out with him,
Like just stop everything.
And sean stood up, right here face to face with me and said,
"if mike ever gets in my way, or confronts me, I will take him out."
Amazing.
(intense music playing)
Fields: Blood was taken from sean allen's body at the autopsy.
The blood was tested for illicit drugs
And he was positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine
At the time of his death.
It appears from my research that death can occur from methamphetamine levels
As low as 0.05.
Sean allen was positive for 0.38.
It's substantial. He was high.
So that tells me that he had used that morning.
Methamphetamine is a stimulant.
It absolutely increases violent tendencies.
It makes you think that you're ten feet tall and bulletproof,
When you're not.
So, I believe that the meth definitely affected his decision to charge mike
And try to take that gun away from him.
It's absolutely a must that the jury understand
That this man was very high at the time of the shooting.
I think if that is not put in front of the jury,
Mr. Ward could be sent to prison for the rest of his life.
(pensive music playing)
Starting to cook.
Today we're having a neighborhood cookout.
I've invited some of my neighbors over, just a little get-together.
(motorbike engine roaring)
Ward: Anybody wants to go ahead start eating, go ahead,
We've got most of it ready and the rest of it's cooking.
Ron langford: Mike's a great guy.
I don't think I've met anybody more honest.
What happened to him is a travesty.
Just like any red-blooded american, you know,
What they want to do is live in peace.
But sean moved in and then all the trouble started.
Geoff: I don't care if the guy's on drugs, but I care if he's on crank.
Whole different universe, you know.
Hoskins: They're out of their mind, they got superhuman strength.
Geoff: Yep. And they're violent.
And... Yeah, and you can't stop them.
Once he got on that stuff, he got his mind set,
There was no stopping him from what he was going to do, it didn't matter.
If somebody come up on me and tried to take my weapon away from me,
I'm going to defend myself.
Mike's going to remain my good friend regardless, one way or the other,
And I support him in everything he does.
I can only hope for the best.
Ward: My friends mean the world to me.
They treat me just like family.
You know, that means a lot.
Without them, I'd be kinda lost.
Everyone around here in spavinaw believes in the right to defend yourself.
Protect your property.
That's all I was doing.
Gps: The destination is on your left.
-Oh, that's it there. -Gps: Arrived.
This should be interesting.
(intense music playing)
My name is michael heath and I'm a private investigator.
I'm working with mike ward's defense team.
Can you tell me how you know sean allen?
I live in that house, he lived in that house.
Can you tell me what the experience was like living next door to sean allen?
Sean was a very dangerous man. He had guns.
They brought the drugs in.
Heath: You ever know them to use drugs, cook drugs?
How do you know they were cooking drugs?
Could you smell it or you see it?
Burch: Smell it.
They did all kinds of horrible things over there.
Heath: Were you afraid of sean?
Yeah, terrified.
-I couldn't hardly sleep at night. -Damn.
Is there a specific incident that occurred
To where you could say, "this is why I was afraid of him"?
-I was right there and he had his torch. -Right.
And he said he was gonna catch my house on fire and stuff.
-He told you that? -Mm-hmm.
I don't know if you can see it, but there's burn marks on my gate there.
Heath: Where's the burn marks?
-He burned them apart. -Wow.
Did you ever personally see him on mike's land?
-Oh, yeah. Uh-huh. -All the time?
Heath: Did you ever see them--
And I know mike gave him a lot of warnings,
A lot of warnings, saying this is...
You shouldn't be on this land and stuff like that.
Uh-huh.
It was a horrible time.
(intense music playing)
(photocopier whirring)
(dramatic music playing)
Fields: I have just received some radio call logs
From September 27th.
It's the day before the shooting.
At 8:18 in the evening,
The police attempted to make an arrest.
Sean allen ran on foot.
(suspenseful music playing)
Sean allen was a fugitive from justice,
He ran into the woods, spent the night in the woods,
And then the following morning saw mike ward
And chose to just charge and try to take this gun away from him.
That's insane.
But given the amount of meth that we know that he had in his system,
It's pretty clear what happened here.
If sean had been apprehended that night by police,
None of this would have happened.
Sean allen would be alive,
His mother would not be mourning for a lost son
And mike wouldn't be on murder charges.
(breathing heavily)
(keyboard clacking)
(tense music playing)
(bell on door jingles)
Today, mike is going to watch the video of his interrogation.
He seemed to have no emotion on the video, which is very bad.
We will start to go over that with kirby.
-Okay, mike, let's step into the conference room. -Okay. Okay.
(ward speaking)
What were the actions surrounding that statement?
Ward: He was just shaking his head and he said, "no way."
Okay, but then, at some point,
You are both in contact with each other.
How'd that happen?
He just, uh, kept coming towards me.
I thought he was going to stop you know, but he never stopped, he just kept coming.
Kirby: So, "he's running towards me yelling, 'no way.'" or, "he said, 'no way.'"?
He's coming towards me saying, "no way."
Kirby: Better storytelling, thank you.
Fields: Your ability to tell the story
Is the crux of this whole defense.
-Yes. -You have to be a good storyteller.
Kirby: Moving forward? Okay. Fields: Mm-hmm.
(ward speaking)
Fields: Stop it.
That's the biggest problem that we have in this whole case.
Because you said you chased him a little ways.
-I never chased after him or anything. -Kirby: Okay.
Well, that's how they're gonna go after you.
They're gonna paint you as a cold-blooded killer
Who chased a man down and killed him like an animal.
Ward: That's not what happened, though.
Fields: Well, the prosecutor will be relentless with that.
It's two things that are happening, mike. It's the actual event,
And it's your words about the event.
We can't really do anything about the actual event.
But at this point, you have an opportunity to have another say.
-Your mouth can get you in, it can get you out of it. -Fields: Mm-hmm.
Explain it in a different fashion,
The same story, but it's a whole different fashion.
Ward: I need to tell my story with some feeling.
That is the way out.
Fields: You have to realize that, right now,
You are literally fighting to save your life.
-That's what's happening. -(tapping pen)
That's... We're all fighting to save your life.
(tense music playing)
Fields: I call michael ward to the stand.
Stand right here in front and the judge will tell you to raise your hand,
She'll ask you if you swear to tell the truth.
I do.
Patrick abitol: So, sir, is it a fair statement
That on September 28th of 2018
That you shot and killed sean allen?
Yes.
Abitol: So that day, you carried a rifle, is that correct?
Correct.
That firearm was chamber loaded, is that correct?
That is correct.
Abitol: Is there any reason that mr. Allen wouldn't think
-That you were out there to shoot him? -(kirby whispering)
I don't know.
When he runs up,
What... What does he do? What's the first thing he does with his hands?
Ward: Grabs ahold of my gun barrel.
Abitol: Okay, so you grab the gun away from him.
What happens at that point?
-Ward: I stumble back. -Okay.
(fields whispering)
Abitol: And then what does allen do?
Ward: Turn to run.
Abitol: The day that you decided you were gonna shoot and kill him,
He had turned,
And in your statement,
He was 15 yards away from you.
Fields: Mike, this is where it's time to lose your (bleep).
I thought he had a gun on me and he could have killed me at any second.
Abitol: But the only person
Showing any degree of aggressive conduct
Is not mr. Allen, it's you. Fair statement?
No. I had to shoot him in self-defense.
Fields: No, this is where you say,
-(smacks table) -"I was afraid for my life. He was fixing to kill me.
"I thought I was gonna die."
(dramatic music playing)
(intense music playing)
Ward: The trial is finally starting today.
Been a long time coming.
A lot of pressure. Lot of stress.
My nerves are shot.
This is harder than I thought it would be.
Fields: Defending someone who is on trial for murder,
Who could literally spend the rest of their life in prison
Comes with incredible pressure and stress.
I fight as hard as I possibly can.
I fight with everything that I have.
Ward: Your mind's never at ease.
You're always thinking about going to prison.
I just want it to be over with.
Fields: Are we ready?
(suspenseful music playing)
Fields: The prosecution said to the jury,
Michael ward took a deer rifle and went onto his property to hunt sean allen.
He tried to indicate that there was absolutely no struggle over the gun,
Which couldn't be further from the truth.
Fields: The state is working overtime to try to keep out
Evidence regarding sean allen's extracurricular activities.
That is problematic because mike was afraid of sean,
By and large, because of his criminal history.
He was a career criminal.
He'd been to prison multiple times.
He was terrorizing an entire town
And that all factors into mike's beliefs about his safety on the day of the shooting.
We have to get it in front of the jury as soon as possible.
(intense music playing)
Fields: If the jury doesn't understand
That he was in fear for his life,
That is a failed self-defense,
And that amounts to a conviction.
Damn it.
(suspenseful music playing)
Fields: Did you sleep last night?
Not too good, to be honest.
-Yep. -Nerves, I guess.
-I recommend that you don't eat. -Okay.
The art of war says you never eat in battle.
I...
And I find that the hungrier I get, the meaner I get, so...
Fields: Mike's performance in the mock was less than stellar,
And I'm being kind there.
If mike folds in his testimony,
I think that could send him to prison.
He has to tell his story and bring the jury into his mind
And make them feel what he felt.
(tense music playing)
Ward: It was rough.
It's not easy to sit there. You're under scrutiny.
You can feel their eyes on you.
Fields: Mike performed beautifully.
He told his story with emotion.
He held it together honestly better than I expected him to.
And I believe that
He's probably saved his life
A second time.
(intense music playing)
Ward: Yeah.
So we're gonna... (clears throat) go back in...
Ward: Mm-hmm.
...And I think we're gonna rest.
I almost want to blindside them with "we rest."
But I'm gonna try to do it fast, okay?
-Okay. -'cause I want to rest today.
Okay, I trust you.
Okay, let's do this.
(dramatic music playing)
Tell us the story and let us make a decision.
That's typically what juries want,
And that's essentially what we've done today.
Bailiff: All rise.
-Judge gore: Be seated. Thank you very much. -(door closes)
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
You will now listen to the argument of counsel.
Miss fields, you may close on behalf of the defendant.
Yes, ma'am, thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, the truth is like a lion.
You turn it loose and it will defend itself.
In the interview, he said repeatedly,
"I was afraid for my life. I was scared." repeatedly.
And you watched his demeanor change on the stand
In talking about the struggle over the gun.
And the realization that, "if he gets this gun away from me,
"he was gonna kill me with my own gun."
You heard him talk about mustering every bit of strength that he had
To get that gun back away from this man,
In a fight for his life.
And he ran back up on the trail and sean allen was turning around, he could see him.
And he said he raised his gun and he shot it
And he intended to do so,
Because he believed that that person was coming back for him.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want justice for michael ward.
What justice looks like in this case
Is michael ward walking out these doors a free man.
(suspenseful music playing)
Let's just say sean allen was absolutely trespassing.
Let's say he was absolutely stealing trees.
That that angered mr. Ward.
He was frustrated. Law enforcement was doing nothing about it.
Michael ward decided he was gonna put an end to it.
Michael ward went out there
Fully planning on finding sean allen.
If sean would have hit the ground and said, "you're right, you got me."
Maybe that's where it would have ended.
But no way.
Sean was a runner. Ran from the law.
Michael ward knew that.
He told you in front of this court
That he had the deliberate intent to kill sean allen.
He said that.
If you believe everything he said,
He is guilty of murder in the first-degree.
That boy deserves justice.
And you give it to him.
(ward whispering)
(fields whispering)
Fields: Waiting for the verdict is the most intense pressure that I've ever felt.
Mike's innocent, he doesn't deserve prison,
But I feel very good about this case.
Now we wait.
(suspenseful music playing)
(cell phone ringing)
(fields clears throat)
Hello?
We have a verdict.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
Have you reached a verdict?
(jury foreperson speaking)
Ladies and gentlemen, is this in fact your verdict?
(jury foreperson speaking)
We will have the court clerk publish the verdict.
Court clerk: "the state of oklahoma, plaintiff,
"vs. Michael ward, defendant,
"verdict, count one, murder in the first degree,
"we the jury in the above-entitled cause do, upon our oath, find as follows:
"defendant is guilty and fixed punishment at life and no fine."
Judge gore: Does either side wish to poll the jury?
No, ma'am.
Judge gore: Mr. Ward, the jury of your peers has made a determination
That you are in fact guilty of murder in the first degree.
You're remanded to the custody of the sheriff.
We are in recess. Thank you.
(mournful music playing)
(fields whispering)
(chains clinking)
Fields: The verdict means mike dies in prison.
A sweet old man comes to oklahoma
To spend the remainder of his years in peace,
And now he is spending them in the penitentiary.
I don't know that I'll ever bounce back from this.
The jury did not understand the threats that mike faced from sean allen.
The judge did not allow us to get into his meth use.
We weren't allowed to let the jury know that he was high on meth at the time.
I don't think they were allowed to know the whole story.
The plan at this point is to launch an appeal for mike
To try to get him a new trial.
I feel like this was the worst miscarriage of justice that I've ever seen.