All language subtitles for Episode 06 Murdered His Mother or Falsely Accused Part 1

I'm being accused
of murdering my mom

by my dad,

my sister and my brother.

But there's one thing
I do know,

I'm going to see my mom
again someday.

That's for damn sure.

To think
of your worst day

and take it times a million.

Shirley Carter's dead,
and it's a family torn.

In less than 72 hours,

Jason Carter has gone
from the 911 caller

who reported
a woman's murder

to the suspect
criminally charged
with murder.

Jason Carter is accused
of murdering his mother,

of shooting her
at their family home.

Murder in the first degree
in Iowa

carries a sentence of life
without the possibility
of parole.

In Iowa, there's
no worse sentence.

Jason Carter has never had

any type of charge
against him,

and he is seeing this process
for the first time,

and with amazing consequences
ahead of him.

Alison kanne:
On June 19th, 2015,

Shirley Carter
was in her kitchen,

in her farmhouse.

Someone came in
and shot her twice.

There's the door leading in.

This is the angle that
somebody walking into
the kitchen would've had.

And so there's Shirley.

You can see blood
pooling around here,

dried droplets of blood
down by her foot.

You can see some drawers
are gone through,

so it looks like a burglary.

Whoever that was also took

a high-powered rifle
from the basement,

and we don't know that
that missing gun
is the murder weapon.

But she was shot
with a high-powered rifle,

and the murder weapon
has never been found.

The state believes that
Jason pulled into the driveway,

went inside,

and either got into
some kind of argument
with his mom,

or knew he was
going to do what he did.

There's two competing theories
there about whether
or not they argued

and Jason lost his temper,

or whether or not
Jason had planned
to do this the whole time.

Um...

That's a picture of my mom.

She was so proud.

And this is a picture...

Of me and my mom,

and a kitten I had.

She looks so young there.

I don't know
how old I was there.

Gosh...

Forty years ago.

It's terrible seeing him
go through this. Um...

It's something that,
you know, not only
has affected Jason

but it's affected
our whole family.

Jason's mom was just
such a part of our lives.

If he needed help,
she was always right there,

and if she needed help,
he did the same.

She was there when
the kids were delivered
in the delivery room.

She just was the kind
of person that was so giving.

That's a picture
of my mom and my dad.

That's chase.
-That's our son.

I really miss my mom.

This evening, we'll be
going over the timeline
with Jason

in order to make sure
that we understand

what his recollection was

and that he can explain
his timeline well,

or whether this all falls

outside of the time
where Jason even

should be a potential suspect.

Hi.

Branstad: Ali, do you want
to walk through the timeline
with Jason?

Kanne: Yeah, okay.

You texted a local
grain company at 10:55 A.M.

And said, "hey, can you drop off
a load of chemicals
at my dad's house?"

Then what did you do?

Took off driving

to mom's, and then
I went on down,

pulled up and around
the trees by the shed,

and parked right by
the fuel barrel,

got out, and I walked
in the house,
walked straight in.

You opened the door...
Opened the door,

screen door.
You stepped inside.

Stepped inside
and seen mom's legs
and feet sticking out.

Kanne: What was the first
thing you did?

I knelt down,

and grabbed ahold
of her right pant leg

and shook it,
and said, "mom."

And...

I could see the blood
around her left arm.

Kanne: What did you do next?

I think
I called my sister.

'Cause I wanted
somebody to be there

now.

I called my dad

and I tried
calling Shelly too.

Nobody would answer.

And then I think

my sister called me back,

and I told her
how I found mom.

And while I was
on the phone with her,
dad came in,

he stepped across her,

he knelt down,

and he gave mom
a kiss on the forehead,

and said, "mama."

Okay.

Branstad:As a person,

Jason Carter is the guy who

fixed one of the attorney's
cars when it broke down.

He's the client who won't call

when he knows that
I'm spending time
with my children.

Everything that I've seen
has indicated that Jason Carter

is a kind and good person.

And a jury's going
to decide if he

ever sees freedom again.

It's terrible
losing your mom, you know?

She called and checked
on all of US

every single day almost.

She was just there
for everything all the time.

And, you know,
I really miss her.

Mom kept our
whole family together.

Now that she's gone,

the whole family
is falling apart.

It's terrible.

The whole family is just

a complete shambles.

It's like everybody just
went their separate ways.

I thought that
I'd be helping my dad

put crops in

and trying to

keep him at ease.

It didn't happen that way.

I'm being accused

of murdering my mom,

by my dad,

my sister

and my brother.

Branstad:Agent Mark ludwick
is the lead investigator

in the case
against Jason Carter.

He listened to the 911 call
before arriving on the scene,

and before arriving
on the scene,

had become suspicious
of Jason Carter.

I listened to

Jason Carter's 911 call
to the Marion county
sheriff's office,

and right away,
that set bells off.

Every time he would cry,

I'd chuckle at his

lack of, drama skills.

Kanne: Right, you guys ready?

Nathan Olson: Yeah. Hey.

Branstad:Certain factors
show guilt

and certain factors
show innocence

within a 911 call.

So, in this case,
we really have to look at

whether or not the 911 call
is truly indicative of guilt
in any manner.

Branstad:
The "I don't know
what happened"

is probably what they say
is the biggest red flag,

when he's observed
the whole and seems to know

what happened better
than anyone else.

Kanne: What about the two hours?

I agree that's an
odd thing for him to say,

but he had no reason
to think that

other people would
think it had been two hours.

He had no reason
to think that that would

turn suspicion
away from him in some way.

When I listened to it,
I honestly got
kind of emotional

because he sounded
so absolutely

just heartbroken.

Branstad: But that's
because you know him.
I know.

Branstad: I agree
that he sounds fake

to someone who
doesn't know him.

When he gets upset,
he always sounds hysterical,

and so we got to
figure out a way
to show the jury that,

and I don't know
how to do that.

People react differently
in stressful situations.

How can you say

that definitively, based on
something they say
in a stressful situation,

that they're
most certainly guilty
or not guilty.

I just don't think it rises

to the level
of scientific certainty.

Agent ludwick says
that he focused

on our client
based on the 911 call.

Our argument is that

no expert can listen
to a 911 call

and say that guy's
guilty or not.

Kanne:Motive in a murder
investigation is important
to understand.

It's not something that
the state is required to prove,

but it does help explain
why someone might do this.

One of the motives that
the state has put forth

for Jason allegedly
murdering his mother

is a financial motive.

Kanne:Jason's a farmer.

Essentially,
the state is saying

Jason was broke

on the day of the murder,
and that he was desperate.

And because Jason stood
to inherit his parents' land

in the event of both
of their deaths,

the state's saying that
he killed his mother
as sort of a step toward that.

It's really important
for US to understand

whether or not Jason
and Shelly were in
financial distress

on the date of the murder.

So, today we're going
to go over

Shelly and Jason's
financial records.

How do you answer
the question,

"why do you have $83
in your checking account

"on June 19th, 2015?"

Well, actually,
'cause on June 19th...
I get paid on June 20th.

I'm not joking.
The 20th of every month.

So, you're saying
that's your salary

that's going into
the checking account?

My salary goes
into the account

the 20th
of every month.

Kanne: Okay.

So, what we want
to be able to ask you
on the stand is,

if you wanted to get money
on June 19th, 2015...

...how much
could you have gotten?

I had the $20,000
line of credit

that was connected
to my checking account.

I had a $10,000 credit card
that had a zero balance,

and I also
could have contacted

Smith fertilizer
and grain,

told them to cut me a check
for over $15,000.

So, right there alone,
on that day,

I could've accessed $45,000.

And then, we had $145,000
worth of grain

sitting in the bins
that we hadn't sold yet.

Kanne: Right.

So, when we ask you
those questions,

I don't want you to lead
with the credit cards.

I want you to lead
with the amount of cash
that you had access to,

because, you know,
I've got a credit card too.

So, you mean $145,000?
Kanne: Yeah.

Essentially,
just showing that

you're not financially
desperate in any way.
No.

So, as you can see,
we had well and enough

to cover
all of our expenses.

I would think
the documents
speak for themselves.

Kanne: Well, yeah, you know,
before looking at
all these documents

it looked, you know, not bad,

but it looked, you know,
relatively average.

This makes you guys look good.

Thanks, Ali.

Kanne:The main issue
that the prosecution
has pushed,

"well, you had $83
in this checking account
on that day.

"Therefore, you're desperate,
therefore, you murdered
your mother."

I, frankly, really don't think
the prosecution has a point.

Um, you know,

I've seen a lot
of different clients

that actually have
financial issues

and these aren't one of them.

Everybody that we've talked to
who knows about
farming has said

this is totally normal
for a farmer.

Jason's timeline
is extremely important
to our case.

We need to establish,
to the best of our ability,

what time Jason
could have arrived
at the crime scene.

Bart Howard:The day
of his mother's murder,

Jason, he was taking grain

from his different
farm locations

to the cargill
processing plant.

We know that he had
a timestamp, 9:58 A.M.

So, what we're trying
to do is establish
the amount of time

it takes from cargill plant

to the farm where
Shirley Carter was murdered.

And if we can prove
that the time

doesn't fit
the actual timeline,

there's no way that
Jason could be responsible

for the actual murder
of his mother.

Jason's going to go as fast

as he feels comfortable
driving the truck.

The speed limit is 65 here.

So we're going
seven miles over the limit.

We should tell
the prosecutor,

"go buy your own damn semi
and run your own test,

"and you take all the risk."

But nope. Here I am
going like hell.

Unbelievable!
UN-freaking-believable.

Howard: We're back at the farm
where the semi stays,

and we're going
to hop into Jason's truck

and we're going
to head to, um,

the Carter residence

where the actual murder
took place.

Kanne:Whoever shot Shirley

has got to pull up
in the drive,

get out of the car,

get the gun,

and position themselves

in the position
that they would need
to shoot Shirley.

Then they shoot her twice,

stage the burglary,

go to the office, ransack it,

go to the bedroom,
ransack it,

and then they've got
to hide the gun,

because the gun
was never found.

That's a lot to get done.

There's mom
and dad's place right there.

Howard: 5407.

I don't think the timeframes
of what we're seeing

give US any,

any time where he could
actually commit a murder.

Kanne:If Jason had drove
at the fastest speed,

the earliest he would
have gotten there
would have been 10:54 A.M.

That gives him 14 minutes

to murder Shirley,
get rid of the gun,
all of these things.

I mean, that is the maximum
that it could
possibly have been,

and we think it was much less.

The state will argue

that he could have
murdered his mother
within that timeframe.

From our perspective,
that's impossible.

Kanne:Special agent
Mark ludwick is the lead
case investigator

for this homicide
investigation.

The murder happened
on Friday, June 19th, 2015.

Um, on the Monday
following that,

Jason was approached
by agent Mark ludwick

outside of his home.

I would say Jason Carter
became my primary suspect

on Monday, the 22nd,

after we had

face-to-face time
that morning,

that conversation
was very powerful to me.

Kanne:It came out through
the course of that interview

that Jason had,
in fact, had this affair.

Kanne: Inconsistencies are
a pretty standard way

to call into question
a witness's credibility.

If you can show that

somebody has lied in the past

it brings the question
to the jury's mind,
"well, are they lying now?"

Kanne:That interview
goes on for 11 hours.

On, and on, and on,
"you murdered
your mother, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't."
"You did, didn't you?"
"No, I didn't."

Law enforcement
is allowed to do this,

but it's very bullying,

and he's really defensive,
with good reason.

Shelly:During his interview
at the sheriff's office,

I wanted to talk
to Jason about

planning his mom's funeral,

and the agent said to me,

"you probably should know

"that your husband's
having an affair,"

and I...

Just speechless, heartbroken.

It's been very hard
for our marriage,

and, you know, I know that
that has nothing to do

with his mother's death.

People make mistakes,

and to be a good Christian
is to forgive.

I've forgiven Jason,

but I will never forget it.

Kanne:Jason's family has

definitely not stuck by him
throughout all of this.

The first day when
Shirley was murdered,

the entire family came out
very strongly saying that,

"no way Jason did this.
We know him.

"It's not possible.
It's not in his character."

That includes jana,
Jason's sister,

and his brother,
and his father, bill.

Shelly: Hi, guys.

Hi.
Olson: Hey, guys.

Kanne:Our current theory
as to why

Jason's family members
turned against him

is that agent Mark ludwick
deliberately manipulated them

into believing that
Jason was guilty.

Shelly, what happened there?

It was just so strange
to be that distraught,

and disturbed,
and it just felt like

everything was going crazy
and falling apart,

and he's like,

"jana, why don't you
just come back here
with me so we can talk."

And I just thought, "what?"

All right.

Kanne: See, look,
"what did he have to gain now?"

She's already...
She's come to
the conclusion at this point.

Yup. Why didn't she
come outside...

Come the next day
and eventually say something.

This is the point where

she got set on that path.

And it's really hard
to bring people back
from a path

of believing
what they believe.

And then ludwick gets
back into his car

with another
law enforcement officer,

I don't know who it is,

um, and they say something
really interesting.

Kanne: You hear that?
He said, "is your mic on?"
"You're not recording..." Yeah.

One of the biggest
weaknesses in our case

is that your family's
against you.

And one of
my biggest concerns

is the jury's gonna
look at it and say,

"well, if his family
thinks he did it,
he must have."

It's unusual to have
an investigator
trying to recruit

family members
or other individuals

over to his position
with regard
to an investigation.

I don't think there's
any question that

strategically,
agent ludwick intended

to get jana
to turn against Jason,

and that was the effect
his words had.

This is a really
rare picture

of my mom and dad,

me, and my brother
and sister.

This is my brother,

and that's my sister, jana,

of course me,
and my mom, and my dad.

Sure were happy then.

Ludwick absolutely

used the affair against me,

and,

pretty much tried
to paint a picture

to my dad and sister,
you know?

If he can have an affair,
he can shoot his mom.

They sure bought it
hook, line and sinker.

It's just like they lost

all their common sense.

You would think

that your own
flesh and blood

would know that deep down

there is no way in hell

he could do this to his mom.

They blame me
for my mom's death

because they listened
to Mark ludwick.

I've never seen
a more evil

officer in my life.

I grew up on a farm
just east of here.

If we drove
to the other end
of the field

and looked straight across
that open gap over there,

you can see my dad's place.

The the only place
I ever remember.

I was the youngest
child by far.

When my brother left,
I was eight years old,

and my dad showed me
what chores he did.

I was expected to do that
morning and night.

And I did it,

you know, you weren't
gonna tell him no.

I think that's my dad.

That's my dad right there
seeing what's going on.

Seems like whenever
I'm over here,

somebody's driving by
to see what I'm doing.

I used to be worried

he might harm me
in some particular way.

Um... I guess over time
we've gotten over that.

You know,

my dad's always been
right about everything.

And I really, honest to god,
can't think of

one time he's ever admitted
to being wrong.

I don't know, he kinda just
carries around an iron fist.

And god help you
if you cross him.

Kanne:This green
metal gun cabinet here

is where the missing
gun came from.

You can see
there's an unspent round

for a .270 in that door.

Crime scene team originally
did not document that.

I mean, they took
this picture of it,

but didn't give it
any significance.

They also didn't collect
this gun cabinet.

Now, it's doesn't take

a background in
crime scene investigation

to know that when you think
a murder weapon has come

from a particular location,

you may wanna
dust it for prints,

or, you know,

keep it from being
contaminated with further

by removing it
from the crime scene.

Unfortunately, there were
some failures

on the investigation
of her body.

We don't know
the time Shirley died.

We just wish her
body temperature was taken.

It's not indicated
on any report.

Both Jason and bill
have said that Shirley
was cold and stiff.

Bill, in particular,
used the words
"rigor mortis" repeatedly.

'Cause that's
a big issue here,

because if she died,
as the state has said,

between 10:50 A.M.
and 11:08,

then there's no medical
possibility that she was
in rigor mortis.

But if she was
in rigor mortis,

there's no medical possibility
that Jason did this.

What law enforcement
is supposed to do

is look at
the evidence first,

then come up with
a theory about who did it.

What happened here,
pretty apparently,

is that they
picked a theory first,

and then law enforcement
wasn't really interested

in pursuing any leads
that didn't fit the theory

that Jason was guilty.

Branstad:I talked
with ed bull, the prosecutor.

Ed has pretty much said

if you wanted to plead
to voluntary manslaughter,

which is
a 10-year sentence,

I'm gonna say between
three and five years served,

but it's closer to three
in everything I've seen,

that he would
consider an alford plea...

What's that?

Branstad: An alford plea
is a plea where

the defendant doesn't
directly admit anything,
but says,

"even though I'm not admitting
this, I want to take
advantage of the plea."

Most of the time
when you do that,
that's essentially

a guilty plea
without pleading guilty.

This is an offer so good

that we have to wonder

how confident
the prosecutor can
feel about this case.

You need to talk about
and think about it.

You're the one who has
all the real risk here.

I mean,

I've told you,
I mean, if we lose,

Ali will cry for days,

I will be beside myself,

ward will feel terrible,
Nate will beat himself up,

but we wouldn't be
serving the time.

And you have to make
the final decision.

You just have
to think about that.

And you can decide any time,
but the sooner the better.

Branstad:This is an offer
that you don't often see.

This would be
a difficult decision
for anyone.

Whether unfairly
accused or not,

and you're looking
at life in prison,

a deal that has you

in prison
for a much shorter time,

and able to get out
of prison in time

to see your child
graduate from high school

and meet your grandchildren

is tempting.

The prosecutor,
ed bull, offered a plea.

And...
I was up all night.

I laid there and I watched
my wife sleep.

I almost
went and got a coin

and flipped it.

But...

I'm not a gambling man.

It's hard to,

give up a guarantee

to see your wife
and kids in a few years.

But I'm not...

I'm not doing it.

I'm not...

Not accepting Ed's plea

for something I didn't do.

Um...

My family and my mom
would be really disappointed.

And quite frankly,

I wanna see Christine
hand them their ass in court

and bring this all to light

on how everything's been done.

Win or lose,

I want her lay it all
out there like it really is.

Branstad:We've received
police reports

provided by the state.

Mostly, they are
audio recordings

from individuals who

went to law enforcement

and said, "hey, we've got
information that
may help you

"solve this murder case."

This is certainly information

that calls into question
the investigation,

calls into question
the analysis

of what really happened
on June 19th, 2015.

Okay...

Kanne: So, I thought maybe
we could listen

to charity roush's
audio.

I've read a report.
Have not listened
to the audio.

Okay.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Branstad: Whoa!

Olson: Wait, what?

Branstad: She's saying
that Joe said

he did it.
Kanne: He did it.

Okay.

It's very clear that
she heard something

that she believes
was about the murder,

and she heard it back
when it was going on.

Finished it?

Holy moly.

Branstad: Your honor, we have
statements by law enforcement

showing an unwillingness

to pursue leads.

This is hearsay.

How is this going
to be admissible?

Kanne:The state wants
to exclude the evidence

of these other suspects.

Even though it's hearsay,

we're not offering it
for the truth of the matter.

We're offering it to show

that law enforcement
did a really
bad investigation.

Absolutely
UN-freaking-believable.

I could make
or break the case.

Really makes
a guy wonder,

what the hell
are they trying to pull?

We're scared.

Branstad:I get that.

We have two kids that
he has to go home to.

Branstad:
There's no DNA evidence,
no fingerprint evidence,

no ballistic evidence.

In order for
the state's theory
to be true,

every single person
who did make an analysis

as to time of death
is wrong.

Only two people know
what happened that day.

One of them is dead,

and the other one
is sitting in that chair.

Find him guilty
as charged.