Original subtitles

- It was a cold case that had been

ruled as an accidental death.

- Medical records said that I had killed my baby brother.

- Tracyraquel, she had to doggedly pursue the truth.

- The fractures we observed would meet the manner

of death known as homicide.

- Jan Sandlin, he's a stone-cold criminal.

There's no question in my mind about it.

- The first trial started in July 1997.

- In trial 1, Kathie was wigged out.

She didn't know whether the jurors would believe her.

- Jan told me it was a terrible accident

and I needed to accept it and get over it.

- Did you think he had done anything to him?

- No, I didn't.

- Kathie was framed as the person

who helped cover things up.

- She said, you just don't understand.

When you're in love with someone that much,

you'll do anything.

We just wanted a new life.

I feel like it wasn't just Matthew that they made

this plan to kill that day.

They did the same to me.

- Jan Barry Sandlin assaulted his daughter.

- So Kathie had to take me to the doctor

because I was bleeding from both my ears.

- That was the real reason Kathie and Tracy

left the apartment that day.

- The first trial had a great head of steam at that point.

- But in 1997, it wasn't normal to have

cameras in the courtroom.

- I caught a glimpse of Kathie on the television.

- Everything came to a crashing halt.

- There has been an egregious violation of the witness

sequestration rule.

I cannot fix it.

- So they mistrialed the case.

- There's no such thing as a slam dunk in criminal cases.

There just isn't.

- But because there's no prosecutorial misconduct,

we damn sure did it again.

- The atmosphere in the second trial

was probably even more amped up than the first.

- The defense attorney had a finite number of defenses.

In trial 1, it was reasonable doubt.

And then in trial 2, it was an all-out assault.

It was one person did it.

It was Kathie Almon.

- Ms. Almon is responsible for the death of her child.

- It was game on.

- All my life, I knew there was something wrong

with Matthew's death.

But I was not prepared to learn the truth.

- This is a call from an inmate

at a Florida Department of Corrections institution.

- Everyone wants to ask questions

that I'm supposed to be answering about something

that happened 50 years ago.

I don't know how to explain the unexplainable to you.

- I think we all have to find a way to confront our demons.

- Hello.

- Hello, Jan.

Let's go back to the date, December 27, 1971.

What happened the day Matthew died?

- Kathie leaves with Tracy to go do laundry.

I'm sitting with Matt.

And she brought Tracy up.

And then she told me get off my backside

and help get the laundry in.

And Kathie is there with Matt in her arms.

And that's when she said, something's wrong with my baby.

And when Kathie handed him to me,

there wasn't any injuries on him.

- But, Jan, why do you and Kathie

have such different stories about what happened?

- Oh, that's really an excellent question

I don't have an answer for.

- In the trial, she said she felt you tricked her.

- There's no way Tracy could have done that to him.

The only person there was Jan.

And he tricked me by making me go

downstairs and get the clothes so he

could put Tracy in the bed.

I am sure of it.

- I remember exactly what she said in trial.

I have not forgotten one thing.

Kathie can say whatever she wants.

- Jan Sandlin, he's an habitual liar.

He's a con man.

He believes what he says,

and he believes he can make you believe it too.

- I don't doubt for a minute that Kathie Almon had doubts

about what Jan told her.

Jan told her it must have been an accident.

Tracy must have thrown Matt out of the crib.

I absolutely believe it weighed on her.

Her child had been killed, and she was

trying to make sense of it.

But she was in love with him.

She had dated him for years, since they were teenagers.

- Kathie Almon was reasonably cooperative

with the investigation, but she had a lot of apprehension

of what all of this meant to reopen something that

was so deeply personal and such a significant loss in her life.

- Kathie agreed to testify.

And if you've never testified before in a courtroom,

it's not easy.

- I now believe that he did it.

- OK, then why, in 1985, didn't you say that?

- I wasn't sure of it in '85.

- I mean, she was very vulnerable.

She was easy to pick on.

But Kathie did great.

We knew she wasn't responsible for killing Matt Golder.

Jan Barry Sandlin did it.

It's pretty simple.

- Ladies and gentlemen, this is a case about murder.

Jan Sandlin did not testify at either of the trials.

- His defense attorney, Corinne Mull, was never

ever, ever, ever going to put Jan Barry Sandlin's hands

anywhere near Matt Golder.

It wasn't going to happen.

- All I remember is that he was a person

who made a lot of eye contact.

Ladies and gentlemen, Matt Golder

is crying out to you today, as he must have

cried in December of 1971.

But today he's crying very differently.

He's crying for justice, ladies and gentlemen.

I would have a way of finishing my closing arguments that I did

almost every time that would involve walking close to where

the defendant was and looking them in the eye

and pointing at them.

He wants you to tell this man, what you did was wrong.

What you did was murder.

Thank you.

Most defendants looked away when I did that.

But he looked me right in the eyes.

I remember that.

- He smiled into the camera.

He would smile at witnesses.

He tried to smile at Tracy.

- He just had a smirk.

He thought it was funny.

- What I saw in him was almost like satanic.

I just felt pure evil from him.

- I really do think he found pleasure, in a way,

of making everybody who came in there

to testify against him pay.

He's a sociopath.

But Lee Anne did a great job in closing argument.

She eloquently said to the jury,

we can send a strong message to that guy over there

that if you take those horrible, vicious steps

to end a little baby's life,

there will be a heavy price to pay.

- Now it was up to those 12 citizens.

And the only thing I ever wanted to leave a trial with

was knowing that we had done the best job we could

to present the most important evidence

as effectively as possible.

- It is so different prosecuting a case

that happened so long ago.

You've got jurors who, some can't remember

what they did last week, much less accept something

that happened decades ago.

- We didn't know what was going to happen.

It was emotional.

Back in the day, the way you would

get notification of a verdict was you were wearing a pager.

And so when you got the page,

you knew the jury had a verdict.

- Ladies and gentlemen, it's my understanding

that the jury has reached a verdict.

I was nervous.

- This is a three-count indictment.

- I never, in any case that I tried,

tried to predict what a jury would do.

- I'll read the verdict on each of the three counts.

- We knew what the facts were.

We knew what the medical evidence was.

But were we able to convince the jury?

- Count one is the malice murder count.

The verdict of the jury--

we, the jury, find the defendant,

Jan Barry Sandlin...

Not guilty of count one.

- My stomach dropped.

Lee Anne's stomach dropped.

As a prosecutor, when count one is not guilty,

bad thoughts start happening.

- It was a moment of complete silence and shock.

But we had to take a deep breath.

- Count two is a felony murder.

We, the jury, find the defendant...

Guilty of count two.

- And then the slew of guilties came right afterwards.

- Count three is a felony murder.

We, the jury, find the defendant

guilty of count three.

- The jury found him guilty of felony murder.

What that meant is, they, as a group,

decided, oh, we absolutely believe

beyond a reasonable doubt that he caused Matt's death.

We just don't think he intentionally killed Matthew.

- Mr. Sandlin, if you'll stand, please, sir.

You've been found guilty of two counts of felony murder.

On each of those two counts, sir, I sentence you

to life imprisonment.

Do you have any questions about that sentence?

- It was a really big, huge moment.

And there was a huge sense of relief

and validation, I think.

- The lesson from this case is the strides

that we, as a community, have made to make sure

that child abuse cases are taken seriously,

that they are fully investigated.

- But a year later...

I got a phone call from the prosecution.

And I absolutely just could not believe it.

- When Mr. Sandlin was convicted,

there was a motion for new trial by the defense.

- The defense attorney, Corinne Mull,

said that she was ineffective in that second trial.

- The defense was, I, defense attorney, am ineffective.

I'm throwing myself under the bus.

- So he was granted a new trial.

- And we were all scratching our heads...

- I was shocked.

- Because it was not anything that Corinne did

that convicted Mr. Sandlin.

It was the evidence that convicted Mr. Sandlin.

- I'd had cases against Corinne before,

and she was tough.

She was a very seasoned lawyer.

This did not make sense.

All I can tell you is that it gives me a little pause.

- I just thought, this is never going to end.

- Did you ever hurt Matthew?

- No, I've never hurt a child.

- So how did Matthew get a cigarette burn on his foot?

- I don't have a clue.

I can assure you, I didn't harm that little boy.

I've never hurt a child in my life.

- Honestly, it wasn't about me before.

It was about Matthew.

You know, the statute of limitations had run out,

and there just wasn't a place in a courtroom

to worry about what had happened to me as a child.

You know, according to Kathie, nothing had happened to me.

It all happened to her.

I've talked about some of it.

I haven't talked about most of this, but he--

he was violent.

Jan was violent.

You know, he was a beater.

And he really likes Camel cigarettes.

I was 2, 3, 4 years old, and he was in the shower,

and he called me to come and get his cigarette.

And I didn't know what to do with the cigarette.

I just kind of stood there.

So he punished me.

He put that Camel cigarette out on me.

I have a lot of nightmares that revolve around

events in my childhood and just always being terrified

and never feeling safe, and--and that

comes from not being stable and, you know,

getting thrown out of your house

in the middle of the night

and people getting beat up and abuse and sexual abuse.

Like, all of these things don't--

don't go away.

- Yeah, but I'm--you know-- [sighs]

It's really hard to sit here,

do all this, and then think there's

not something wrong with you,

what you're talking about.

It's so embarrassing.

Roaches and butter on toast.

That was a...

Form of punishment from Jan.

- Yeah.

While he masturbated.

I can't see-- I can't even--

It's, like, such a huge phobia, and I just--

excuse me.

- She can make her mouth say anything she wants.

- Jan Barry Sandlin is a mean son of a bitch.

- So why didn't you talk to Tracyraquel

about what happened that day?

We acted like nothing had ever happened.

- So why did you let people believe that Tracyraquel

had killed her baby brother?

What's done is done and can't be undone.

- Did you ever abuse Kathie?

- No.

I've never put my hand

on Kathie Almon

or any other woman that I have ever shared time with.

- Jan physically and emotionally abused

my best friend, Nancy Tegeder.

There was a couple of times she had bruises on her face.

If Nancy said something to another guy, he'd slap her.

The first time he smacked her in the face,

I told her he wasn't worth it.

She would be better off back home.

But Nancy, she had went against her parents.

She had went against a lot of her friends by being with Jan.

It was like admitting failure to everything

she believed in to leave Jan.

And I only know that because that's what she'd say.

She'd say, no, I can't.

Jan would beat the hell out of me.

But I guess she wasn't the only one.

- Listen, I don't know where y'all keep coming up with this

malarkey bullshit story,

but you've got me a little bit evil right now.

Ask yourself this, if I was all that bad

of a villain, why, for all that time,

Kathie never said anything?

Why did they wait 25 years to tell this?

Why didn't she go to the police at the time this happened?

She didn't.

They didn't because they didn't believe any of that.

- Well, Matthew was not your biological child,

but you were the person entrusted

with Matthew's care that day.

- That's true.

- How did you feel about the baby?

- What do you mean? He's a baby.

You take care of him.

You do the things for them that they can't do for theirself.

They're babies.

- It's completely speculative, but I

believe that Jan is of the personality type

that's very primal.

I only take care of my own, so to speak.

And I think that Jan never knew whose child I was.

And then just the allegations of how

his first wife, Nancy Tegeder, died,

her death was determined a suicide.

But I had heard that he murdered her

because he thought that she was pregnant

with somebody else's child.

And then Matthew and myself, I mean,

he doesn't know if I'm his child or not.

So if you don't know who is yours,

then I feel like it makes perfect sense that he would

have murdered Matthew and tried to kill me

if we're not his children.

- In 1998, we have a third trial.

So one new element of the third trial

was a new defense attorney, Steve Sadow.

- The first trial ended in a mistrial.

Second time around, Mr. Sandlin was convicted,

but the lawyer claimed ineffective assistance

of counsel.

So new counsel was necessary.

- Steve Sadow is, you know, a very gregarious,

inquisitive, powerful presence in the courtroom,

sort of known for that.

And he certainly was in this case.

- Does it mean sometimes you get caught up in what you're

saying and you rely on things that never really happened

or you see more or hear more than what's really there?

Yes.

The reason I got involved in the case

is because, ego-wise, I thought that I could try it better

than anyone else could and if he stood any chance to win,

it would be with me.

As terrible as a crime might appear,

my job is not to be in the judging business.

I'm in the defending business.

I was focused only on how to defend him and attempt

to get a not guilty verdict.

Go back to conviction only on facts.

The state's case was clearly that Sandlin

had done something.

I believe there was equal evidence that Tracy had,

for whatever reason, accidentally or otherwise,

pushed the child out of the crib.

- Unfortunately, I think almost anything

is possible under the appropriate circumstances.

How do mothers, when their child has fallen

underneath the wheels of a car, pick up the car

and get the child out?

How does a man who suffers from Parkinson's disease,

how does that man, when he sees his grandchild about to fall

off the edge of a cliff, get up and run to the grandchild

and save the grandchild?

The answer is, it's not possible, but it happened.

- Did I see it? No.

Do I believe it?

I believe the possibility exists.

That doesn't mean that the likelihood that it happened

is present.

Whole different thing.

And remember, Tracy, according to Kathie Almon,

was a pretty physically mature child.

Walking at nine months.

I have to do what's in my client's best interest.

- The defense attorney made outlandish statements

just to rattle me.

- You put Tracy down just for a moment in the baby's bed.

Just for a moment.

Who would expect anything to happen?

- I thought, seriously, why are you doing that?

Now we all had to live through this again.

- What about the science makes it

susceptible to two totally opposite interpretations?

The answer is, it's because it's subjective.

- Correct, I couldn't find a coroner

to say anything different or a medical examiner.

Was the reason for that because there was no difference

of opinion or because no one of any stature

would be willing to come in and try

and defend the death of the baby under those circumstances?

Because that doesn't sound right to me.

As the expert would say, I've now destroyed my career

by taking that position.

- The position may sound wrong

but still could be scientifically defendable.

So if I could create doubt as to what happened that day,

then I could create doubt as to whether or not

he was responsible.

So what are we doing here, folks?

You see, that's the problem here.

You've got a lot of possibilities.

But possibilities are not proof of guilt

beyond a reasonable doubt.

And that's why you can't trust it.

Because tears are not facts.

No one should have to go through this--

not Tracy, not Kathie, certainly not my client, Jan.

It was an accident then.

It is an accident now.

Jan's not responsible for it.

A child died, and it's horrible.

But don't make this a second wrong.

Speak the verdict.

Speak the truth.

Not guilty.

- Mr. Sandlin, would you stand, please, sir?

This is the verdict of the jury.

- You could have heard a pin drop.

- As to count one...

We, the jury, find the defendant guilty.

As to count two, we, the jury, find the defendant guilty.

- Finally, it was done. It was over.

- I was so happy, because Jan Sandlin

is not fit for society.

- There's one defendant that I have periodically

googled over the years just to see

whether they've been released.

And Jan Barry Sandlin is that person.

I don't know, I just have felt better knowing where he is.

- I didn't think there was any way in the world

that they would convict me.

- So why didn't you take the stand?

Why not testify on your own behalf?

- Do you feel guilty that he died in your care?

- I feel that every day.

- Did you hope that everybody would think

it was just a tragic accident?

- I don't know what I hoped.

- We don't talk.

Kathie has always said and to this day always says

I ruined her life.

I--I was being selfish.

It was all about me.

I just wanted attention, and I didn't care

that I was breaking her heart,

making her have to relive all this.

- It's hard for me to have a lot of empathy for Kathie,

because I'm looking at Kathie as Tracy's mother

right now instead of Matthew's.

And I don't think that Kathie understood

what it did to her daughter, Tracy.

- It's a shocking thing.

It's hard to articulate and put it into--

into words, I suppose, but in my opinion,

I thought Kathie should have been charged

when Jan was charged.

I think Kathie has as much culpability as he does, yes.

- Is Kathie Almon home?

- Who? - Kathie Almon.

- Oh, hi. - Are you Kathie?

- I'm Sheila, her sister.

- Is she here? - Yes. Kathie?

- Kathie, hi. - Hi.

- I wanted to talk to you about your son Matthew's death.

You know Tracyraquel has her side.

And I'd really like to hear your side as well.

- I'm not interested. I cannot do it.

My nerves are just too bad.

I just can't get drawn into Tracy's fantasies anymore.

She has been lying and torturing me for 30 years.

I can't take it anymore.

- But what is she lying about?

- Everything.

Make her go, Sheila.

- I've been living and around my sister all my life.

I know her like a book.

She had nothing to do with Matt's death.

She never abused her children.

Never.

They were happy children.

- You don't think that Tracyraquel was abused?

There's all kinds of evidence.

- I know for a fact she was not abused.

I was there.

- I try to be fair, but then there's anger sometimes.

And that's just-- that's just wrong.

But how many times has Sheila been arrested?

- So are you saying that everything Tracyraquel

is saying is a lie?

- Yes.

- Do you have any sympathy for Tracyraquel,

considering what she's been through?

- I'd like to know what the hell she has been through.

- But you don't think that Tracyraquel has the right

to be upset by the fact that her father told people

she murdered a baby and her mother

didn't come to her defense?

Don't you think Kathie should have stepped in

and protected her daughter?

- She always protected her daughter.

- How could anybody believe that a two-year-old

could throw a little baby out of a crib?

- Because that's what Jan had said, and we all believed him.

I mean, Jan Sandlin is the one that's

responsible for this whole fricking mess.

He's a horrible, evil monster.

He murdered that baby.

He is insane.

And I'm so sorry that Tracy has his blood.

- OK, I'm sorry.

- I don't think genetics makes you a parent.

So no, I don't refer to them as a mother and a father.

They weren't that.

Jan was never a father.

Kathie stopped being a mother, I would say,

when I received those records and it all really set in

that she had blamed it on me.

They weren't parents to me.

They were monsters.

I didn't harm that little boy.

Kathie didn't harm that little boy.

- But, Jan, if you're saying you knew

that Tracyraquel didn't do it,

then why did you allow it to be blamed on her?

- True, I should have never, ever let Tracy be blamed.

That was wrong.

That goes without saying.

I can't change that. I can't fix it.

I can't correct it.

That's one reason I don't want to talk to her.

Now, let me make this plain so that maybe Tracy

and anybody else that's watching this

wants to see this, all right?

I've got 43 years behind the fence.

You can ask me 1,000 questions, and it's not

going to change nothing.

Now, whether anyone believes that,

I don't really give a damn.

The whole world can kiss my backside.

- Mostly, I try not to look back anymore,

although there are times when it's unavoidable

because I feel like there's still more to do.

Matthew's fine, OK?

He's been taken care of. I know he's fine.

Nancy Tegeder is not fine.

- I love Nancy to death and always will.

I had a real difficult time accepting the fact

whenever they said that Nancy had taken her own life,

that she shot herself in the stomach through a pillow.

Now, I do know that at that time,

she was dating a policeman, and she said she was pregnant.

I made the assumption that he might be the dad.

But to Jan Sandlin, Nancy was his possession,

and no one else was supposed to have any part of her,

even when they weren't together.

And I had talked with her on the phone that night she died

until she said, I think Jan is here.

And then she said, I think there's

somebody in the car with him.

And I said, well, call me back.

But the next day, she was dead.

And then when they said that Tracy had thrown

her brother out of a bed and her being blamed,

I could not imagine that.

And I even said, you people are crazy.

Jan Sandlin killed that kid,

just like he killed my best friend.

- This is a letter from Jan Barry Sandlin to Tracy

before any of the trials, while he's in prison.

"Sometimes you can say too much.

"This is between you and me

"and your crazy-ass mother.

"Leave Nancy out of this.

"She was a very fine and beautiful person.

"She was the best thing that ever happened to me.

"You have no 'right' to bring Nancy into this.

You leave her alone."

That's a threat.

In my opinion, as an investigator,

when you read this, what he's doing is making sure

everybody realizes, I didn't shoot her.

Please. [chuckles]

The bottom line is, there was never

enough sufficient evidence to charge

Jan Sandlin with that.

- Nancy and Jan's son, Jason, wanted

to reopen the investigation.

But Nancy's parents would not agree to it

because they felt like it would be

carrying their name and their daughter's name

through the mud.

- I have no emotion for Kathie or Jan.

That's the healthiest way to deal with them.

I spent a lot of years walking around with hate for them,

but you're just beating yourself up

if you just hate continuously.

You just can't do that.

So the best thing is just to have nothing for them.

They just shouldn't matter.

And they don't.

I feel really thankful for the life that I have.

The people around me are beautiful.

I have great children.

This is me and Hunter and Goldie.

I have a great husband.

- When Tracyraquel told me the story of her life,

I was, I guess, just flabbergasted.

You watch a movie or read a book

or you hear a story about something like this,

and you go, wow.

But here, when you're face-to-face with somebody

that you deeply care about, it's just surreal.

But it didn't change anything for me.

In fact, it just made me realize

this is why there's this strong, independent woman

in front of me.

It's part of the reason I fell in love with her.

Yeah, she's--she's a hero.

- I love my mom to death.

It is--it's hard to-- to think about.

The fact that she had to go through that,

most people come through that and they

end up in much worse places.

But she, you know, ended up in a good place

and fought for justice.

- Not once have I ever heard my mom

use the fact that she was abused

or accused of murder as an excuse.

And to then grow up and be a beautiful person, she should--

she should definitely, you know, be proud of that.

She gave us love and always protected us.

She didn't want to be what her parents were.

Her goal was to give love to everyone.

- The one thing that still sticks with me to this day,

her motto, "If you see a problem

"and you don't do anything about it,

you're part of that problem."

- I wish I could just give Tracy

the childhood that she deserved,

but I'm extremely proud of her

for being a voice for all the kids out there

that are silenced.

- I think one of the things I take away from this case

and this story is that it's--

you know, it's never too late to uncover the truth.

It's never too late to tell your story,

to feel that conviction, you know,

and to liberate yourself.

And that's what she did.

- My life doesn't look like anybody else's.

- To survive certain things,

I think you need things to hold on to.

And I think Matthew, he was my touchstone.

He was my purpose.

It's taken a lot of work, a lot of self-reflection.

And yes, in the end, I didn't realize

I needed to rescue me too.

- I would do it again in a heartbeat.