All language subtitles for Burden.of.Guilt.2025.S01E02.A.Case.For.Justice.720p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-FLUX

Imagine all you know is
that you had a brother.

The brother died when
he was four months.

You've heard a
variety of reasons,

and ultimately that
you killed him.

But I just didn't believe it.

There's no way in hell that
this child died from being

pushed out of the crib.

But if I didn't do it, who did?

This can happen...

Just like that.

So we were going to have
to put that crime scene

back together.

Let's crank it up.

Game on.

This extraordinary case
has come over 25 years

after the death
of Matthew Golder.

Do you have a brother named
Matthew Stephen Golder?

Finally, her day had arrived.

You had this feeling
as everything

hangs on a knife edge.

The story you have
heard here today

is the story that Kathie Almon
today wants you to believe.

Now she's beginning to read
this as the cover story.

You're sort of damned if
you do, and you're damned

if you don't.

And that's up to the
judge to determine.

You're not going to be sent
away for life in prison.

Well, I have spent
a life in a prison.

What just happened?

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

All my life, I knew
there was something

wrong with Matthew's death.

But I was not prepared
to learn the truth.

♪ My blood runs cold ♪

This was a
once-in-a-lifetime case.

Tracy had been told that she was

responsible for killing her

four-month-old brother, Matt.

It's kind of an
unimaginable sort of trauma

to inflict on a person.

While we were looking
at what happened

to Matthew Golder, it
kept gnawing at me,

and Dr. Burton as well,

that there was a stone that
had not been turned over.

There had not been an autopsy.

We had medical records
saying that Matthew Golder

died from a fall.

But it was very unclear
as to the manner of death.

And because of that,
the decision was

made to exhume Matt's body.

Exhumations are very rare.

No one, to their
knowledge, had ever heard

of an exhumation of a child.

And no one had ever heard of
an exhumation of a child that

had been underground
for 25 years.

I think the general conclusion
was that we were wasting

our time, that there was
nothing going to be there

when we opened that casket up.

You don't know what to expect.

I've seen bodies that were
buried six months earlier

that were nearly skeletonized.

Knowing how small this
little human body was

and not really knowing how the
embalming process might have

taken place, Dr. Burton and I,

I don't think either one of
us would have been surprised

if the casket was opened, and
there was nothing identifiable,

perhaps, other than bones.

But if that was
the case, we could

argue we tried to see
whether there was any

physical evidence still around,

and it wasn't there.

But we also said in
the unlikely event

that Matt's body was
still intact, wow.

Boy, that would be
some powerful evidence.

The day of the exhumation
was March 17, 1997.

I remember that
day quite vividly.

I do remember feeling
a bit more somber.

It seemed to me that we were
disturbing a sleeping baby.

And that really bothered me.

But like so many things
that we don't want to do,

we have to get through it.

The setting was very quiet.

It was very serene, the
way a cemetery should be.

I remember Dr. Burton talking

about Matthew, using his name.

And that really stuck
with me, that there

was a level of compassion
about the experience,

and not just looking at what we
were doing as exhuming a body,

but looking at it as trying
to find out the truth

of what happened to Matthew.

When I got to the grave
site, the dirt had already

been moved off the
vault, so right then,

we knew that at least
there had been a vault.

And coincidentally,
the grave digger

who put Matthew in the ground
was the same grave digger

that dug him back up.

The vault is
concrete and contains

the casket on the inside.

There are times in
exhumations where

the vault lid is lifted off,
and everything's underwater.

And in cases like
that, the chances

of finding any
remains that can be

subjected to a meaningful
examination is almost zero.

But in this particular case,
the vault lid was so tightly

sealed, the backhoe
had picked up the vault

to separate the seal.

It was that tight.

There was some sort
of adhesive that

stretched like rubber cement.

It was just this image
that has stuck with me.

Once we got to the morgue
and the casket was opened,

Dr. Burton's not exaggerating
in his report when he said,

we were amazed at what we saw.

I remember Dr. Burton
carefully opening the casket...

And remember seeing

a little boy

completely intact.

He had on a onesie,

and he had a teddy bear.

It was an unforgettable,
horrible, unimaginable moment.

No matter what your beliefs are,

you've got to believe
that God preserved

that child until we got there.

It absolutely blew
us away. It just did.

I mean, there was nothing
that anyone could have

done to prepare us for that.

I was emotional.

Then we got another surprise.

It turns out there was an
autopsy performed back in 1971.

We did see a previous saw
cut by the pathologist who

performed the first autopsy.

We weren't aware
of that at first.

And those records turned
out to be difficult to find,

but eventually,
they were located.

I heard that they had a coroner,

not a medical examiner,

at the time.

He took all those records home.

He just didn't file the records.

He said that it was
just an accident.

There was no discussion in
the original autopsy report

on how it may have happened.

And in particular,
there was no manner

of death assigned
by the pathologist

who performed that autopsy.

Knowing the stakes that were
involved in a case like this,

one that had not
been initially judged

to be homicide,

I knew that we had to
do everything right.

To me, it felt like the case
had started right there.

First thing I noticed
when Dr. Burton

did the head X-ray was
bilateral fractures on each

side of the child's skull.

And it was a very
complex fracture.

It had multiple
arms of the fracture

going in different directions.

The skull itself was depressed.

It was pushed in about
an 1/8 of an inch or so.

That is highly indicative
of an inflicted injury

by a larger person.

Part of it looked like a
backwards question mark,

2 inches or so across.

What looked like the
side of your fist.

It's as if he was laying
down on a hard surface

and was hit on one
side of the head,

and then causes fractures
to the other side.

But they don't
connect, and that's

how they know that they're
from a specific type of trauma.

Also, they could see
other evidence of abuse

against Matthew.

He had a third degree
burn on his instep

of one of his little feet.

He had what looked like an
old fracture to his clavicle.

He had lots of
bruising on his body.

He had a bruised penis,

something I can't even imagine.

All of those details that,
when you start adding

them all up there,
it's a mountain.

So all of this information,
they felt they had enough

to take it to a grand jury.

At this point, we were
asking a group of citizens

to bring formal charges against
someone based on something

that we believed happened
over two decades before.

It was not the normal case.

My role was to testify
to the grand jury,

to help explain to them
why Dr. Burton and I felt

the injuries we found in
Matthew could not be explained

by his two-year-old
sister pushing him

or dropping him from a crib.

There were only two people,
two adults, who could have been

involved in Matthew's murder.

Either Jan Barry
Sandlin or Kathie Almon.

And it was clear from the
get-go that it was not Kathie.

Remember, Kathie had been
out running some errands.

And that just left
one possibility.

It had to be Jan Barry Sandlin.

The grand jury decided that
there was probable cause,

sufficient evidence
to go forward

with the prosecution of
Jan Sandlin for the murder

of Matthew Golder.

Jan Sandlin was charged with
malice murder, felony murder,

cruelty to children,
and aggravated assault.

And at the time, Mr. Sandlin
was in prison in Florida,

and so he was brought
up to Georgia for trial.

Finally, somebody's listening

to what I have to say.

And it... you know,
it means something.

Child abuse cases, they are very

different than any
other kind of case,

because your first hurdle
is proving there was abuse.

Dr. Burton was clear that
this child died from abuse

and torture prior to the abuse.

The fractures we
observed in his head

were not accidental,

were not from a
fall from the crib.

They had been inflicted
by another individual.

And this would meet the manner
of death known as homicide.

So when we changed
the death certificate

from accident to
homicide, that really was

the turn of the case.

We knew that one of
the things we wanted

to impress upon the
jury was how quickly

this crime could be committed.

It can be very
difficult to have a baby

at home who can't speak.

They're crying, they're upset,

and you just want
them to be quiet.

And new parents have no
idea what's bothering them.

It doesn't take much
for someone to lose it.

This can happen...

Just like that.

And he had every
reason to do that.

Jan Barry Sandlin
wasn't real jazzed up

about being left at home
with this four-month-old

that wasn't his.

Matthew was not Jan's child.

He was Ted Golder's child.

When Kathie was pregnant with
me, she married Ted Golder.

Ted was drafted into Vietnam,
and she was seeing Jan,

you know, the whole time.

When Ted came home, Jan was
married to Nancy Tegeder.

And so Kathie was trying to
work things out with Ted,

and that's where
Matthew occurred.

We believe, given the
nature of the injuries,

Jan Barry Sandlin
decided, just like that,

that he was going
to shut him up.

Matt died from
blunt force trauma.

I never really
wavered in the idea

that Jan Barry Sandlin
had killed Matthew Golder.

And so what I was
always focused on

was whether the
evidence supported that.

And I didn't have any evidence
that didn't support that.

You had a four-month-old who
couldn't speak for himself.

You had a two-year-old
who literally

choreographed the case
getting to the DA's office.

You had a mother
who had maintained

that it was an accident.

And you had a defendant who
didn't have to say a word.

So we were going to have to put
that crime scene back together

and explain to them why
there was only one person who

could have committed
the offense,

and it was Jan Barry Sandlin.

Unfortunately, Judge Fuller did

not allow us to introduce
the other injuries

on Matthew's body.

As I recall, we didn't
have any evidence

to unequivocally
suggest that Jan was

responsible for those
injuries to Matthew,

so they were inadmissible.

But also, Jan Barry Sandlin
was serving a life sentence

in Florida for armed robbery.

That's not what we were
allowed to tell the jury.

And there was evidence that
Kathie had been physically

and verbally assaulted
over a period of years,

but it wasn't admitted.

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

There just isn't.

And we knew that.

At that point, I don't
know that they had tried

very many cases that
dated back this far

with very little evidence.

So I was realistic.

I was assigned to give
the opening statement,

to let the jury know what
your theory of the case was

and what you believe the
evidence was going to show.

These injuries could
not have occurred

but for an intentional
and forceful assault.

The theory was simple.

Matt Golder was four months old.

He was in a crib.

He was left alone with an adult.

A four-month-old can't
jump out of a crib.

A two-year-old can't climb
up a crib like Superman.

There's one adult in the room.

There's only one person
that could have done this.

Matthew Stephen Golder
was killed by that man.

That man's life is going
to be placed in your hands.

And it is important for
you to know the full story.

Corinne Mull was Jan Barry
Sandlin's defense attorney.

She was very comfortable in
this particular courtroom.

Corinne was a bulldog,
and so we knew that she

was going to be prepared.

That baby did not
fall out of that bed,

did not get pushed
out of that bed.

In her opening statement,
she conceded that

the two-year-old
throwing him out

of the crib was preposterous.

Her defenses were reasonable
doubt, somebody else did it.

The story you have
heard here today

is the story that Kathie Almon
today wants you to believe.

Tracyraquel, while she was so
important to the prosecution

of this case, I remember
being really nervous

putting her on the stand.

I didn't want to do
anything that would

cause her additional trauma.

Tracy, this is somebody
who, for her whole life,

had fought to get to that point

of trying to bring justice.

And so she was, you know,
understandably nervous.

It was really hard.

It was difficult to
walk into that courtroom

for the first time.

She didn't feel comfortable
being in the same room

as Jan Barry Sandlin.

She hadn't seen him since
she was probably 10.

And finally, her
day had arrived.

Raise your right hand.

I've seen the horrible
things that Jan's done.

I know the things
that he did to me.

Jan was a young man that thought

he could have
anything he wanted,

and he drank very heavily.

Then Jan got hostile.

We would be settled somewhere,

from the time I
was a little child,

and he would just show up
in the middle of the night,

beat the door down, and
beat Kathie up really bad,

and throw us on the street.

We spent lots of times just
sleeping on a park bench.

♪ Oh, it's the
dead of the night ♪

Kathie described persistent
harassment from Jan.

He would track her
down at her job,

so she would have
to quit her job

and set up an apartment
somewhere else.

♪ Oh, you can run
all you like ♪

He was possessive.

Jan Sandlin was
not a person that

knew how to treat
a woman properly,

no matter how old she was.

♪ I'll give you
some room to hide ♪

The woman was very battered.

He beat her up so bad.

Just some of the things that...
it's just a horrible thing

for a child to see.

And no one should
go through that.

Just, you know, him beating
her beyond recognition

and raping her and
beating her again.

It happened in front of me, yes.

Do you have a brother named
Matthew Stephen Golder?

Yes, I do.

When was he born?

I wasn't prepared.

I didn't realize, you
know, how much of a witness

I was gonna have to be.

Have you ever spoken to
the defendant in this case

about what happened
to your brother?

Yes, I have.

What was his response?

Ask your mother.

You now believe that your mother

withheld information about the
death of Matt Golder, correct?

Yes.

During this whole
process before the trial,

I ended up having a
conversation with Kathie,

where I recorded the
conversation that

was entered into evidence.

And the whole purpose was just
to get her to say anything.

I didn't expect she
would say anything.

But she did.

She had said to me that
it was easier to say

that I was responsible for...

excuse me... for
Matt's injuries than it

was to say that the
man she loved was

and watch him go to jail.

She was backed in a corner.

She said, you just
don't understand.

When you're in love
with someone that much,

you'll do anything.

We just wanted to start over.

We wanted a new life.

You just don't know what
it's like when you'll

do anything for somebody.

You were astonished that
your mother had been content,

as you put it, to
let him die in vain

and to let you be
offered up as the person

responsible for this.

Yes.

I had also tried
calling everybody.

Most people didn't
want to talk to me.

But Jan's brother,
Butch, he did.

He didn't have a
problem talking to me.

And he said he didn't
know the details.

But he thought that
they were responsible,

and that he felt like they
were gonna blame it on me.

♪ I've got secrets
I can't tell ♪

He thought that they
had planned this.

♪ Whispers that go
through this hell ♪

Butch showed up at
the hospital right

after they arrived at the
emergency room with Matthew.

He said, you were
sitting on a...

like a concrete slab
where ambulances pull up.

And they were, you
know, a football

field away in the parking lot.

And he felt like he
walked up on them

getting their story straight,
what they were gonna say.

And he grabbed Jan
and said, what...

what the... have you done?

You know, what have you done?

Isn't it true that as a mother,

you would do almost anything
to protect your children?

Isn't that true?

Yes.

Even if it meant shouldering
blame upon yourself.

Isn't that true?
- Yes.

You would protect them
till your dying day.

I would... yes.

That's what you do
when you love someone.

Tracyraquel was not a
fact witness, per se.

She certainly didn't
have any memory of what

happened to her baby brother.

But Kathie Almon,
seemingly knowing

what really had happened, was
so important to the prosecution

of this case.

I want to direct your
attention, please, ma'am,

to December 27, 1971.

OK.

I want you to tell the
members of the jury,

as best you can remember,
what it is you did that day.

I took Tracy to
the pediatrician.

Where else were you gonna go?

Uh, the laundromat.

I had to wash clothes.

Where was Matt?

Matt was at home with Jan.

As best you could tell
as a mom, was he content?

Yes, he laughed out loud
for the first time that day.

Kathie always told the story
that she went to do laundry

and took me with her and
left this four-month-old

baby with Jan, and that she came

back and found him that way.

When you got back and you parked

in front of the apartment,
what did you do?

I took Tracy in, and
I sat her in the chair

in the living room.

And Jan was sitting
on the couch.

And I started in
to check on Matt.

And he jumped up in front
of the doorway and said,

Matt is fine, he's asleep.

Just get the clothes
out of the car.

What's the next thing that you

did after you got the laundry?

I walked back up
the stairs with it.

Did you see your
daughter, Tracy?

- No.
- What did you do?

Started frantically
running around the house

looking for Tracy.

I then found her in Matt's bed.

Matt wasn't in there, and I
saw him laying on the floor

next to the chest of drawers.

Did you try to wake him up?

Yes.

Did it work?

No.

What, if anything,
did Mr. Sandlin do?

He started to grab
Tracy up and spank her.

Did you talk with
Mr. Sandlin about what

happened to Matt that day?

Yes.

What did he tell you?

He told me it was a
terrible accident,

and I needed to accept
it and get over it.

Did you care for
Mr. Sandlin back in 1971?

Yes, I did.

Did you think he had
done anything to him?

No, I didn't.

♪ I confess ♪

♪ It's cruel to be kind ♪

I suspect on some level,
Kathie always knew

that that story
didn't make any sense.

♪ This madness ♪

♪ These violent times ♪

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

this plan to kill that day.

They did the same to me.

♪ I'm lost in the game ♪

♪ Of hatred and shame

Why she left that day, it
wasn't just to go do laundry.

But she also had to
take me to the doctor,

because I had fallen down two
stories of concrete stairs,

supposedly, and was
bleeding from both my ears.

Jan Barry Sandlin had
assaulted his daughter.

In my opinion, I
think their intention

was to get rid of both of us,

just like she said
in her comments.

We just wanted to start over.

To me, it's, "You
guys were expendable,

so I could be with
the man I love."

♪ I'm haunted by
the lullabies ♪

♪ Haunted by this
devil inside ♪

You know what, it's
horrible, and it's shocking.

But it's exactly who she is.

Now, Tracy was
developmentally advanced.

She was walking when she
was nine months old, right?

Right.

And was a caretaker in a
sense, wasn't she, of Matt?

She took care of him.
- Oh, yeah.

And, you know, she...
you called her once

the little mother, didn't you?

Yes.

I was always nurturing, I think.

For me, it's not a hard stretch.

I'm taking care of everyone,
including children.

And yet, they blamed
me for Matthew's death.

Now she's beginning to read
this as the cover story

that her mother
engaged in with Jan.

When you're in a state of shock

and you've just lost your child,

it's somehow emotionally
easier to accept

an accident than it would be
to accept that he was murdered.

You never said, "I believe that

Jan Barry Sandlin did this."

You didn't...
- I think I may have.

OK, who to?

I don't recall.

I've had doubts, but I didn't
really know what happened.

Kathie was wigged out.

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

When we saw the medical reports,

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

And 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.

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

I wasn't sure of it in '85.

Corinne was going to do
her best to point out

the inconsistencies in previous
statements Kathie had made

and suggest to the jury that
she wasn't worthy of belief.

Your mother told your daughter

that she threw her baby
brother out of the bed.

You told her therapist that
she stepped on the baby's

skull, Ms. Almon, right?

I don't recall that.

You're sort of damned if
you do, and you're damned

if you don't.

If Kathie had said the exact
same thing every single time,

Corinne's defense would
be, she's a parrot.

She's a wind-up toy.

It's hard to remember
every single conversation

over the last 25 years.

If she said something a
little different, ah-ah,

she didn't get it
right this time.

She can't be believed.
She's not consistent.

Did you ever have any
second thoughts about,

why did I have this
child in the first place?

Oh, never.

My children were
everything to me.

Did you ever have a conversation

with Mr. Sandlin
about children?

- Yes.
- What did he tell you?

He didn't want any children.

I want the truth to come out.

I want to know what
happened to my son.

I think that Kathie
was not there,

but I feel like
she was involved.

In my opinion, Kathie and
Jan did this together.

Like, this is crazy.

For 15 years, she's
carried the burden

that she was responsible
for that child's death.

That is a big weight
for a child, right?

Kathie was quite emotional.

You know, she was
framed as the person

who helped cover things up.

She was the enabler of
much of Jan's behavior,

and the keeper of secrets.

So in general,
Corinne was trying

to raise doubt to demonstrate

the kind of person Kathie was.

The tombstone that was
on the grave at the time

of the exhumation says
"Mother's Little Angel,"

"Rest in peace now."

Yes.

That's not the
original stone, is it?

No.

For 26 years, the tombstone
said "Great grandson of..."

- Right.
- "... of Mr. Alman."

- Right.
- Right?

But you felt the need, two days
before the body was exhumed,

two days before that
whole group of people

ended up at that tomb,
to change the tombstone.

Well, I wanted it
there for the reburial.

You wanted it there
for the exhumation.

I wanted it there
for the reburial.

To show everyone, right?

No.

Kathie experienced a lot
of trauma in her life.

I don't presume for a
minute to put myself

in Kathie Almon's
shoes, knowing the abuse

she had been through.

I don't hold Kathie responsible

for Matthew's
death, but could she

have done a whole lot
more for her daughter?

Yeah.

Tracyraquel was finished
with her testimony,

but she was not released
for her subpoena.

But I knew that she had
young children at home.

So Judge Fuller
granted her permission

to go back to Savannah,
because it was

unlikely that she was going
to have to testify again.

And the defense attorney would
have agreed to that as well.

The judge had said,
no one is supposed

to watch any of the trial.

You're a witness, so
sequester yourself.

OK.

The rule of sequestration says
that if you are someone who is

on a witness list,
you cannot watch any

of the coverage of the
case during the time

you're under subpoena.

Because this could potentially

affect their testimony.

Made sense.

There were family in the
house, and people were in.

And the court was on in another
room in the den in the house.

And I walked from the laundry
room back into the other room,

and I caught a glimpse of
Kathie on the television.

And that was it.

I would call Tracy at the
end of each court day just

to let her know what happened.

I called her that night.

I remember I was
standing in my kitchen.

And Lee Anne had
mentioned, your mom did

great, to which Tracy says...

Yeah, I walked by and saw
Kathie, and she was testifying.

Not, "Yeah, I sat there,
and I had it on record."

Yeah, I overheard that
as I was walking through.

And so when she told
that to Lee Anne...

My heart sunk.

That was going to be a problem.

I remember Jeff and I
talking with J Tom, our boss.

She let us know.

And it was our duty to let
the judge know because it was

a technical violation of
the rule of sequestration,

that she could not
watch any of the trial.

That was the rule.

Everyone understood
it, we thought.

And I remember the next morning,

we went into the judge's
chambers and talked about it.

Then they called back
an hour later and said,

OK, we need you in court.

I arrived, walked into the
courtroom, and no jury,

nobody in the court, just
the judge, the prosecutors,

the defense, and Jan.

Then the judge asked
me if I had seen

anything on the television.

I heard various parts
of the Court TV,

what was on Court TV of
my mother's testimony.

When someone breaks a
rule, but it doesn't really

have an effect on the
outcome of the trial,

that can be harmless.

She had been excused, and no
one was going to call her back.

Defense could have
said, we withhold

the right to call her at a
future date, but they didn't.

They excused her.

I have spent my entire life
waiting to hear this testimony.

I would have preferred to
have heard every word of it.

But I don't think that I have
done anything wrong to affect

this man's rights.

He has more rights than I have.

You're not going to be sent
away for life in prison.

Well, I have spent
a life in a prison.

You may not agree with that,
but I have, to some degree.

This extraordinary case,
brought over 25 years

after the death
of Matthew Golder,

has drawn extensive
media coverage.

And with that attention has come

problems in trial management.

There has been an egregious
violation of the witness

sequestration rule, which,
in the context of this case,

is irreparable.

I cannot fix it.

The ability to present
the best available defense

has been destroyed, at least
for now, perhaps forever.

The defendant's motion
for mistrial is granted.

I was furious.

It was a mistrial over testimony

that had no real
basis as to guilt

or innocence of the defendant.

I think I was just in shock.

Like, first of all, I
didn't see it coming.

I felt set up.

And of course, there's
all of these things.

It's humiliation, it's anger.

It's, what just happened?

Like, I didn't do anything.

It just... it just
really floored me.

The mistrial can be declared
in a couple of ways...

one that would allow for a
retrial and one that would not.

And that's up to the
judge to determine.

And of course, if there
was no retrial allowed,

then Jan Sandlin would
never be held to account

for Matthew's murder.

The very next evening,
I got a call from Jan

while he was in the county
jail in DeKalb County

on transfer for the trial.

I don't know how he
got my phone number,

but he called laughing.

He threatened to set me on fire
and watch me burn to death.

There were a couple
of other phone calls.

And then the last phone call
was a talk show was playing,

and that's all you could hear.

And it was describing
a lawn mower that had

run over this
little girl's legs.

And that was the first
indirect threat to my children.

Ultimately, Judge
Fuller did decide

that if we wanted
to retry the case,

that we could do so.

Because there's no
prosecutorial misconduct

or intent on the part of the
prosecution or the witnesses,

the judge had to
let us do it again.

Before we got to that, the
decision had to be, are we...

is the DA's office
going to try it again?

I came into work to a
voicemail message from Tracy...

and I remember it being long...

saying, please don't give up.

After going in and talking
about it with J Tom

and looking at each other
and realizing, you know,

this doesn't change
what happened.

It doesn't change the law,
it doesn't change the facts.

And as I told Lee
Anne, you know what?

Last time I checked,
there's no such thing

as the one free murder
rule in Georgia.

Let's crank it up.

Game on.

After the mistrial, a
real quick turnaround,

they went back to trial again.

We were super charged up.

This guy killed
a four-month-old.

Let's go.

The atmosphere in
the second trial

was probably even more
amped up than the first.

You had all the same
ingredients and the players

of the first trial, but now you
had this feeling as everything

hangs on a knife edge,
and a judge who's

a little testy and
watching the proceedings

like a hawk to make sure
things go better this time.

We didn't really change the
theory of the case at all.

A two-year-old didn't throw
this child from a crib.

He was intentionally
and forcibly assaulted.

Compared to the first trial,
Jeff and I had a comfort

level with the evidence.

And particularly, I
remember Dr. Burton

being so critically important.

Do you have an
opinion, Dr. Burton,

whether these injuries
could have been inflicted by

a two-year-old child throwing
the baby out of a crib?

Joe Burton was recognized
throughout the country

as an expert on crimes against
children, particularly child

abuse and child homicides.

This child, Matthew,
was 4-plus months old

at the time of its
death, probably weighed

at a minimum of 10 pounds.

And it isn't like a 10-pound
weight that a two-year-old

would have to pick up.

It's a squirming
10-pound weight.

And so to throw it out and
cause injuries like this

would be virtually impossible.

We had Dr. Burton,
in his testimony,

talking about how
it was possible

that he could have
been killed by someone

smashing the hand down.

If I have Matthew's head
on a non-giving surface,

and I were to strike Matthew
on the side of the head,

I could break both sides
of Matthew's skull,

causing a death in this case.

The defense was going
to have a tough time

combating with Dr. Burton and
fighting the medical evidence.

I've never seen
complex fractures

bilateral in a
child or an infant

outside an automobile
wreck or a fall

from significant
heights, otherwise.

Tracy's grandmother, Anne,
testified to something that

the law calls a
"similar transaction,"

which is evidence that
is allowed to be admitted

because it demonstrates
a prior similar event,

which may be relevant to
a jury's consideration.

Jan was left alone with Matt.

We went in, and
Matt was screaming.

And, uh, Kathie said,
what's wrong with the baby?

And he said oh, I was playing
with him here on the table.

And he picked up
the pepper shaker,

and I guess he got
it in his eyes.

And so she testified to Matthew

having pepper in his
eye that Jan Sandlin

would have put there,

which is certainly
an act of abuse.

Again, left alone,
doing atrocious things

to a helpless four-month-old.

We were confident, but it
was a retrial of a case.

And so I knew that the benefits
accrue to all of the parties.

In order to even begin to
think that Mr. Sandlin is

guilty, you have to be
able to trust and believe

and rely on Kathie Almon.

And I submit to you, you
will not be able to do that.

Corinne had a finite
number of defenses.

One is reasonable doubt.

That's the go-to.

Ms. Kathie Almon has told a
multitude of different stories

as to what has
happened in this case.

And so Kathie's testimony
became much more important.

In 1985, you didn't
say to anybody,

"I know Jan Sandlin did this."

Probably not.

You thought that it was possible

that Tracy had
stepped on Matthew's

head with her heavy
baby shoes, right?

I was trying to make some kind

of a sense out of something
that didn't make sense.

But then it was very
clear, wasn't it,

that those were the lightest
and softest baby shoes

around, wasn't it, Ms. Almon?

I thought they were
pretty clunkers back then.

Isn't it true, Ms. Almon,
you told your daughter

that the child died
from crib death,

SIDS?

Didn't you?

You've told your daughter he
hit his head against the bed.

Isn't that one of the
stories you told her?

I told her he may have,
or the chest of drawers.

You also told them your
daughter threw the baby out

of the bed, correct?

Probably so.

Well, probably,
Ms. Almon, or yes?

Well, it's hard to remember
25 years' worth of hell.

Kathie was kind of
damaged over the years,

and Corrine was very effective
at finding weaknesses.

And she had a perfect
victim to go after.

♪ Trapped with your old sin ♪

♪ You wait with your torment ♪

Ms. Almon, isn't
it, in fact, true

that you wrote
Mr. Sandlin in 1988

and expressed frustration

about your son,
Jason, bothering you?

- Yes.
- OK.

And did you ever tell
him, he's bothering me.

I'm going to beat him
with a baseball bat?

I don't recall that.

OK, let me show you
something and see if that

refreshes your recollection.

Ha-ha.

Yes, I did say it
in a joking way.

♪ You've now told ♪

♪ One too many lies ♪

And then the second
part of the defense

was none too subtle.

You've caused your
child some harm.

Isn't that why
you've always tried

to shift the blame onto Tracy?

No.

It was, one person did it.

It was Kathie Almon.

It was game on.

1997, still trying
to blame Tracy.

What makes sense?

She knows what happened.

She's the only one that
knows what happened.

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

We knew what the facts were.

We knew what the
medical evidence was.

But were we able to
convince the jury?

We, the jury, find
the defendant...

My stomach dropped.

I just thought, this
is never gonna end.

They weren't a
mother and a father.

They were monsters.

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