All language subtitles for Episode 03 Sex, Lies and Crimes

Courthouses are
supposed to be places

of calm and dignity,

where order is maintained
and justice is served.

But often when stakes and
emotions are at their highest,

cool heads don't
always prevail.

Coming up...

...a belligerent defendant
threatens a judge's life...

...and a scandalous affair

between a tutor
and her teenage student

plays out in court.

He forced me to have sex
with him.

All the jaw-dropping moments...

He runs out of
the courtroom,

does an electric slide
over the banister.

Plus insights
from our team

of crime and legal experts...

There's one great way to
increase your sentence --

that's to curse
at the judge.

...on "chaos in court."

In a ground rapids,
Michigan, courtroom,

a forbidden
and salacious affair

has led to criminal charges.

Rendel Abigail Simon
is 35 years old.

She is a former tutor from
catholic central high school.

Miss Simon is on trial
for an alleged affair

with a 15-year-old
that she used to tutor.

After an 11-day trial,

the defendant anxiously
awaits the verdict.

Right behind
the defendant is her mother,

other family members,
and they are so tense.

They -- they are not sure
what's gonna happen here.

They're hoping for the best,
but it could be the worst.

Two years earlier,
in the fall of 2012, Simon,

then 33, was assigned to help
a 15-year-old star athlete get

his grades up.

Abigail Simon began
tutoring this young man.

He was applying to colleges,
looking for scholarships.

She was a very attractive
young woman,

and he was a young guy, and...

Things started to develop.

In spring of 2013,

seems like mom
found on her son's phone

some racy photos of Ms. Simon
in lingerie,

also some -- some texts that
were totally inappropriate.

The boy's mother
discovers thousands of

lurid messages between

Simon and her son over
a three-month period.

She was appalled,
and she immediately brought

the phone to the attention
of the catholic

central authorities,

and they did the right thing.

School officials
immediately contact

the grand rapids
police department.

They send a detective to
question the boy first.

So at first, he lied.

He flat-out lied and said
there was no relationship.

But, of course, the phone
showed that they had

a relationship.

Then he told them that well,
he was the aggressor.

He was the person responsible,
and she was an innocent victim.

He was truly in love
with his tutor,

and he was protecting.

No matter how this --
this young man felt,

the bottom line is, it is
illegal for a woman of her age

to have sex with a minor.

That's it.

The police then confront

Abigail Simon
with the text messages.

Ladies and gentlemen,
she is a tutor

at a catholic high school,

and when asked by detectives
if she had sexual relations

with this minor child,

she said, "I don't know what
your definition of sex is."

Dawson: So the police do not
buy her story at all.

She's arrested,
and she is charged

with multiple counts of
criminal sexual misconduct.

Assistant prosecutor
Helen brinkman

is assigned to the case
and faces

the unusual scenario where
the aggressor is a woman.

It is difficult, I think,

especially for males
to see males as a victim.

After a five-month
investigation, the prosecution

decides to offer
a generous deal to Simon

in lieu of going
to trial,

something that would spare
both herself and the teen

public scrutiny.

Abigail Simon
is offered a plea deal

that puts her in prison
for one year.

She could do decades if
she goes to trial and loses,

but for some reason,
she feels motivated

to -- to roll the dice.

Abigail's background
is that her family is

full of attorneys,

and they hire a very solid
defense team.

Those who feel they're bigger
than the system will

oftentimes deny that plea and
take their chances at court.

A year and a half later,

on November 12, 2014, Abigail
Simon goes to trial.

The prosecution's
key evidence,

the graphic text messages, are
laid out for all to see.

Assistant prosecutor brinkman

questions the victim,
who is now 17 years old.

Whereas when he is initially
spoken to by law enforcement,

he describes himself
as the aggressor.

When he takes the stand,

he gives a very different
version of events.

So...

Um...

Some of these requests
from her,

he had no idea
what she was talking about.

He had never
done these things before,

and he was a little confused.

After more than a week
of testimony and evidence,

it's Abigail Simon's turn

to speak in her own defense.

Why did you tell detective
lowry that you didn't have sex?

Because I didn't.

Can you elaborate
to the jury what that means?

I didn't engage
in sex with him.

Well, what happened?

He forced me
to have sex with him.

- Was it against your will?
-Yes.

So first she takes
this young boy

and seduces him and has sex
with him, underage.

And then she turns around

and makes him a rapist

in front of the jury and
the court and on national TV.

You can't point to one
time where you said no, can you?

-In any...
-Those texts kept him at bay.

Those texts kept him
away from me.

They kept me from getting
assaulted that night.

Everything that happened,
I was doing to appease him,

because if I didn't,
then he would be violent.

He would hurt me.

So he raped me and then kept
me as a prisoner,

and that's why these text
messages sounds so salacious.

I had to do that
to appease him.

So for her to play the victim
and expect US to assume, believe

that somehow she was raped
by this young man is offensive,

to me.

I dubbed this case
the theater of the absurd.

It's like trying a case in

opposite world, bizarro land.

I mean, everything was
completely opposite of what

they were proposing.

He was told
it doesn't matter.

He was told
it wasn't his fault.

He was told he was never
gonna get in trouble.

Like, I don't get --
I really don't get it.

Whitmore:
These crocodile tears --

are they consistent with
someone who feels

they're going to spend
the next 10 years in jail,

and it's that fear?

Or is it the sadness that
she is actually a rape victim?

Simon's testimony
on the stand has some

convinced that she truly
could be the victim.

Dorsey: Well, we know that
you just need to convince

one juror, right?

Reasonable doubt is something
that can be easily accomplished

if you can convince one juror,

and I believe that Abigail
thought that she could do

just that.

After 11 days,
the case goes to the jury,

and while evidence seems
stacked against Simon,

deliberations
go on for nine hours.

I worried about, you know,
a pretty young tutor,

crying on the stand and saying

she's the victim --
that's gonna get to people.

It really is.

On November 26, 2014,

the jury
finally has a verdict.

Now in the courtroom,
there's a calm before the storm.

Dawson:
Her family's behind her.

They're hugging,
they're embracing.

Everyone's ready.
It's tense.

Will the teacher
be found guilty of

having illegal contact

and criminal sexual
conduct with a 15-year-old boy?

You can tell that it's still
kind of up in the air.

In this case,
I don't think

anybody has a clue
what's gonna happen.

On the charge of
criminal sexual conduct,

first degree,

we find -- we the jury,
find the defendant,

Abigail Simon, guilty.

No!

My god!

My god!

Did they finally realize
that their sister,

their daughter,
had lied to them?

And at the time of
the verdict,

when the verdict came in,
for that type of reaction,

particularly from her mother?

Abigail Simon, guilty.

No!
My god!

There are no words.
I was repulsed by it.

I was disgusted by it.

Judge:
As to count four?

Wo on the charge
of criminal sexual conduct...

I couldn't, in any way,
justify that reaction.

I think the family
reacted the way

any family member would be
expected to react.

No one wants to think
the worst of their child,

no matter the age.

Simon's defense
might have worked if

it hadn't been
for the text messages.

Abigail Simon was shocked.

Abigail Simon's
family was shocked,

but you know
who wasn't shocked

and who felt
that this was justice?

That child's mother.

Abby was offered plea bargains
to avoid a trial,

but instead decided to make up
this incredible story.

She decided she was
to be the victim.

During sentencing
two months later,

there's more drama
in the courtroom.

Abigail Simon
collapses twice and throws

herself on the mercy
of the court.

Abigail Simon takes
the Liberty to, again,

show absolutely no remorse

for what occurred
with this 15-year-old child.

It felt like I was drowning,

and I'm so sorry that I wasn't
strong enough to get

away from him and save both
of US from all of this.

Even after the verdict,
even as she's giving

her impact statement,

she was still blaming
the victim.

From the judge's perspective,

if you're not accepting guilt,

you're not accepting
your actions,

and so why should I be lenient
on what I give you for

a sentence?

She is very immature,
and that is

exactly the nature
of this kind of crime.

What other 33-year-old woman
has sex with

a 15-year-old except someone
that is so insecure?

Abigail Simon is sentenced

to 8 to 25 years in prison.

Rendel
she will be required to serve,

at the minimum,
eight years incarceration.

She also will have to register
as a sex offender,

where she will be permanently
on a registry and have to wear

an ankle monitor
for the rest of her life.

Dawson: That ankle bracelet
for the rest of her life --

that is really extreme, but it
depends on the jurisdiction in

which the crime was committed,
and, unfortunately,

where she lives, that is
an appropriate sentence.

Though the boy was
never named or photographed

during the trial,

his identity was common
knowledge in grand rapids.

The thing that makes me
the most upset is

this kid had everything
going for him, everything.

And he lost it all.

Everybody at school knew,
and he was not

getting scholarships now.

A teacher having
a sexual relationship with

their student --
it's not the fantasy

it's cracked up to be,

especially in the age of...

Digital information.

Abigail Simon thought
she was going to walk

out of court that day,

and she denied
the one-year plea deal

because she couldn't
see herself

spending one year in prison.

Wo Simon, guilty.

My god!
My god.

Coming up,
a family's heartbreak

after a young father snaps.

He was not telling the truth

about what had happened
to his 11-week-old child.

At the Gibson
county courthouse

in Princeton, Indiana,

23-year-old kwin boes
has just been sentenced

for a tragic killing.

He is a 23-year-old
fast food worker.

Kwin boes
has a criminal history,

but it's mostly consisted
of petty crimes.

Rendel
kwin is a new father.

He and his girlfriend,
jayme hartley, have just had

a baby named Parker hartley,

and Parker is 11 weeks old.

The morning of may 3, 2018,

kwin has just finished
a night shift.

Jayme has two children
from another relationship.

On this particular day,
kwin comes home from work,

but jayme has to take
the children to school, so she

does that while he stays home
with the 11-week-old child.

20 minutes
after she leaves the home,

kwin boes calls her
in a panic.

He is crying.

He is screaming.
He is scared.

He is stating that the child
was non-responsive.

Kwin tells jayme that he put
little Parker down for

a nap on a pillow,

and when he came back to check
on the baby, he was crying

and had rolled off
onto the floor.

Little Parker is
rushed to the hospital,

and for three days,
he survives,

but ultimately, he passes.

And the cause of death made it
clear that kwin boes was not

telling the truth about what

had happened
to his 11-week-old child.

The autopsy evidence --

severe hemorrhaging
of the brain,

bruising to the eyes,

ligature of the neck, and
bruising on the inner thigh.

This baby suffered some pretty
horrific, aggressive wounds.

Dorsey: What could happen
that would make anyone

attack, strangle,

and cause those kinds of
injuries to a helpless,

defenseless
three-month-old child?

I would imagine that the baby
was doing what, you know,

three-month-old babies do,
which is cry incessantly.

I would just
have to assume

that he snapped.

Kwin boes is charged
with aggravated battery

and failure to take care of
a dependent child.

These charges --
he's looking at up to

40 years in prison --
prior to trial,

they offer a deal to kwin.

They call it a charge bargain
there, which is basically

a plea deal, and they're saying
to him, "hey,

"take this deal,
and you'll get 25,

but you'll serve
at least 17."

So kwin takes the deal.

Families never want to hear
about a plea deal unless that

plea deal is
to the maximum charge

with the maximum jail time.

So whenever you're looking at
a situation where somebody may

deal their way
to a lesser jail time,

the family will not
be satisfied.

And, in fact, it's not even
about satisfaction.

It's about the family's
heart being ripped out.

On July 3, 2019,

kwin boes receives
his sentence at the courthouse.

When this defendant
steps out into the hallway,

again, looking kind of beat,
like a dog,

he's resigned to his fate.

He shuffles along,
and he doesn't get

more than a couple of
steps before...

Boom!

Out of nowhere, pow, he gets
hit right in the kisser.

It's kind of like
a Superman punch.

He goes flying
through the air

and just sucker punches him,
takes him out.

Rendel
Matt hartley was the uncle

of little Parker, and he had
been so enraged by

what kwin boes had done to
this little baby boy,

he felt he couldn't
control himself.

The uncle, Matt hartley,
he's taken to the ground.

He's handcuffed.

Court security
detain the uncle

and bring him out of the area
and arrest him.

Normally, after a plea in
which the plea was accepted,

the defendant goes out back
and is always separated from

the victim
and the victim's family.

Bove: They should have security
in front of the defendant

and behind the defendant,

as well as areas
where the public

cannot get
at the defendant.

So that's where
the problem lies,

and that's why we had
this chaos in the court.

Ultimately, the uncle
had his own problems now.

He's charged with contempt.
He's charged with battery.

The judge
sentences Matt hartley

to 179 days in jail.

Rendel
hartley eventually apologized,

expressed remorse for his
behavior, and indicated that it

didn't solve anything and that

his actions would not bring
back baby Parker.

But the one person
hartley won't apologize to

is kwin boes,

now serving 19 years with
the Indiana department

of corrections.

Whitmore: I think most people
would understand that

the uncle's behavior and actions
were justified based

on the fact that his little
nephew Parker is now dead at

the hands of boes.

People will have outbursts.

People are gonna
respond emotionally.

And so I understand
why the judge

gave the uncle 179 days
in county jail.

You have to set a standard and
expectations in your courtroom.

In Cleveland, Ohio,
42-year-old David chislton is

about to learn his fate at
the cuyahoga county courthouse.

He's awaiting sentencing in
court after pleading guilty

to aggravated arson,

felonious assault,
and domestic violence charges.

It all begins
on April 10, 2017,

when chislton's
girlfriend accuses him of

molesting
her 15-year-old daughter.

So the young daughter
disclosed to the mother

that Mr. Chislton was
touching her inappropriately.

The mother confronted chislton
and then called the police.

While the lights and sirens
were coming down the road,

chislton allegedly
pistol-whipped both of them.

When the police arrived,
he had barricaded himself

inside the apartment
with a gun.

His girlfriend
escapes, but a SWAT team

has to force chislton
out of the apartment.

And as the SWAT team
attempted to get him out,

he set a fire

inside of the apartment,
causing damage to

over 20 units
inside of his building.

Public defender
Aaron brockler

is assigned
to defend chislton.

He qualified for free council,
so that's how I got on the case.

He had an extensive criminal
history that

he had all these repeat
violent offenses.

Chislton also faces
a long list of charges,

including rape,

corruption of a minor,
and individual arson charges

for each apartment destroyed.

Dorsey: As a result of
those numerous charges,

he was facing
significant prison time.

I understand exactly
why the defendant is concerned,

because any time you go to
prison, and you've been accused

or convicted of being
a sexual abuser of a child,

you run the very real risk of
being a victim yourself in jail

of either being assaulted,

possibly being raped,
and/or being killed,

brockler says
he negotiates a plea deal

that could lead to a sentence of
anywhere from 9 to 100 years.

Repeat violent offender
specifications

add 10 to 25 each of
those counts.

Then you have the felonious
assaults and arsons,

so everything just
stacks up.

With the volume of charges
that he was facing,

he knew that there was --
you know, prison time

was a virtual certainty,
so what we constructed was

a range of felonious assaults
and arsons,

and with a floor of nine
years, I told him,

"I'll ask for the minimum,

"they'll ask for the maximum,
and it will probably come out

right in the middle."

When you tell a defendant that

the range starts at nine years,

the rest is "wah wah wah
wah wah wah wah."

They don't hear anything.

Nine -- that's all they hear,
and that's all they want

to hear --
the chances of him actually

getting nine years
is basically zero.

As chislton stands next to

his attorney, Aaron brockler,

awaiting sentencing, the
deputies are wearing body cams.

To have an officer wearing

a body camera in the courtroom
is unusual.

Usually you see that more with
cops that are on the street.

Dawson: These deputies
are in charge of bringing up

the defendants from jail,

so they need to have
the record of what happened from

the moment they began to
interact with the defendant

who's in custody all the way
until he gets into

the courtroom.

And this defendant
knows what the judge decides is

going to change the course of
his life forever.

Whitmore: And you can just
sense the tension in

his body that something was
about to happen.

42-year-old David
chislton has taken a plea deal

and is about to be sentenced
for felonious assault

and arson.

He's standing at the podium
with his defense attorney.

He's handcuffed in front,
and he is handed down

his sentence.

Chislton hopes for
the minimum sentence

of nine years that
his attorney requested.

But as the judge instead
handsome a sentence of

47 years, the body camera
audio hasn't kicked in yet.

Chislton hears the judge's
sentence, and it takes a beat

to sink in.

He gives his attorney
a double-handed

ax chop to the head.

When the deputy lunges
towards chislton,

the motion activates the audio
on the body camera.

Some deputies' audio
doesn't tap in until they press

a button or they make
certain movements.

And this officer
with the body cam

and many others charge
to take over the defendant.

There's a big pile on -- in
the middle of the courtroom.

The deputy talking to David
is a way of kind of

de-escalating -- I feel like
the guard is kind of

letting him know, dude,

I understand, you're going
to prison for a long time,

and you're not happy,

but I need you
to knock this off.

Bove:
The court security

then starts giving
the defendant orders

that they were going to

uncuff him from the front
and place

his hands and cuff him
from behind.

The defendant, surprisingly,
complies to their orders.

Meanwhile,
Aaron brockler is just

coming to
on the courtroom floor.

I just, you know,
got sucker punched.

It just totally
caught me by surprise.

I kinda just remember,
you know,

regaining consciousness
underneath the trial table.

Brockler: Thank you, yeah.

Security: Are you sure?

Brockler: I had a broken nose
and a concussion.

When I fell, I hurt my knee
and my hip.

A man that needed
SWAT to take him into custody

would have absolutely
needed a deputy closer to him

during his sentencing.

Chislton is hauled off to jail.

Brockler believes
the defendant should

also have been
better restrained.

Typical procedure was that
they have to

be either restrained
in the back or there --

there's gotta be a waist shackle
connecting them to the front.

If you have a violent offender
in the courtroom,

you want his handcuffs
to the back.

But, in this case, the deputy
decided to cuff him in

the front -- obviously,
that was not the best call,

because that created
the opportunity for Mr. Chislton

to sucker punch his attorney.

Fortunately, there were
enough deputies in

the courtroom to squash
this little riot.

Chislton later admits
he punched brockler

because he was upset
about his sentence,

but he never apologizes
to him.

It's normal that attorneys
get blamed.

In fact,
attorneys get blamed for

everything that doesn't
go right in court.

This whole incident was sad
all the way around,

because I had a great
relationship with the client,

did everything
he asked me to do.

Dawson: So ultimately,
for attacking his attorney,

he's charged
with felonious assault.

Chislton's new
court-appointed attorney

manages to get him acquitted

because the injuries
to brockler are not serious.

The way the whole thing
went down

is not good for criminal
defense attorneys.

You know,
when you don't get your way,

you just attack your attorney,
it's -- and it's no big deal.

Dawson: So though we can blame
attorneys all day long,

you still can't punch 'em
when you're in the courtroom.

36-year-old
Alan mccarty Jr. is

entering the courtroom
of judge Matt foxman.

He's on trial for the serious

charge of threatening
a public official.

If found guilty, he faces
up to 40 years in prison.

Mccarty is in court today
because of

the threats he made to
another judge,

a judge named stasia Warren.

In late 2017,
judge stasia Warren

presided over
a child custody hearing

involving Alan mccarty
in family court.

Mr. Mccarty was denied custody

and became furious
with judge Warren.

Judge Warren had presided
over many of

mr mccarty's hearings
for the custody battle.

Judge Warren never took
custody away from

Mr. Mccarty, because he never
had custody.

Alan mccarty has
a criminal record that spans

over three states,

including charges of
domestic violence, kidnapping,

indecent exposure,

cocaine possession,
and disorderly conduct.

He was in judge Warren's
court for threatening

his children and violating
a no contact order.

Rendel Alan mccarty Jr.
is very unhappy

with judge stasia Warren.

For whatever reason,
he blames her,

and he's furious with her.

On September 29, 2017,

mccarty calls 911
and threatens judge Warren.

He is going
to commit a crime.

And he tells
the dispatcher to

get this judge out into
the parking lot

so he can execute her.

He's belligerent.
He's cursing.

He's,
not making sense at all.

Someone who does this
is just out of their mind.

Do they really think that
they're gonna present the judge

to him so he can follow
through with his wishes?

Mccarty hangs up,
but soon, another dispatcher

gets a call and then another.

He called 911 not once,
twice, three times,

but four times.

In the 911 tape,

Mr. Mccarty never stated
his name,

so they had to do some
investigation to try to find

who was threatening
the life of judge Warren.

Whitmore: Eventually, they were
able to locate him,

track him down,
and charge him for threatening

a public official.

He was placed
in jail with no bond

and was there for 12 months
before his trial.

This is typical
with people that

have shown their ability
to threaten witnesses.

So in 2018,
the trial begins,

and it's not
in front of judge Warren.

Obviously, judge Warren
was the victim in the case.

Instead, it's in front of
a new judge.

And Mr. Mccarty isn't happy
with judge foxman either.

Fox all right, raise
your right hand.

I'm gonna swear you in.

-I'm not under oath!
- And flipping

the bird is
just a warning sign.

Mccarty is about to take
his threats to another level.

You wanna take
my kids from me

and act like that? You
and that.

36-year-old Alan mccarty is

on trial for threatening
a public official.

He made multiple 911 calls in
2017 saying he wanted to kill

a female judge that
he mistakenly believes

took his children away
from him.

-I'm not under oath.
-Fox all right,

raise your right hand,
let US swear you in.

-Do you solemnly swear...
-I'm not under oath.

In court, mccarty
refuses to wear a suit

and tie or to cooperate with
his court-appointed attorney.

So he remains in his orange
jumpsuit in full shackles.

Security had to make sure
that they were

prepared for anything
that was going to happen.

Brought your dress today
you little.

You wanna take
my kids from me

and act like that?

You and that.

Alan mccarty Jr is upset with
the legal system -- in his mind,

he believes that basically
every judge is his enemy,

and he continues to think that

judges are trying
to ruin his life,

take away custody of
his children, and just cause him

a world of trouble.

Do you want
to be here or not?

No, I don't -- this is all
being done unconstitutionally,

unrightfully.

You ain't allowing
my evidence.

You ain't allowing
my people.

Fox we haven't started
the trial yet.

It doesn't matter!

You still denying.
-Fox denying what?

Mccarty, like a lot of
defendants in jumpsuits,

is quite the legal scholar.

He says that what's happening
is unconstitutional,

his attorney's
screwing things up,

the judge is messing things up.

Everybody is against
Mr. Mccarty.

Every right I supposedly
have, you've violated.

Can I get some water, please?

I got a lot more cussin'
to do,

and I need my throat wet
right now.

Judge foxman handled
the situation as best as

he could -- he had a sense of
calm, even though mccarty was

very irate.

He actually maintained a sort
of control and demeanor of,

I've heard it, I've been
down this road before.

Mccarty,
in court this day,

has already threatened
to kill one judge.

Now he's in front of
another judge.

Lots of deputies handy, because
this guy is dangerous.

Whitmore: It comes to a point
that the judge had

no other choice but to remove
mccarty from the courtroom.

Take all my paperwork
so I can't

show these people.

Dawson: The judge had him
taken to a holding cell

where he could be heard,
but he couldn't be seen,

and the judge was probably
hoping that would give him

the opportunity to calm down,
but it didn't.

Mccarty is placed
behind this two-way mirror,

but the room is
not soundproofed.

Mute is not one of
the settings on this guy.

Mccarty:
You chose to do this, sir!

He's still so loud you can
hear him through the glass in

the observation room,
still disrupting this hearing.

But he's chosen...

Whitmore: Imagine what
the jurors were thinking.

I know innocent until
proven guilty,

but when you hear and see
the behavior of such,

it's really difficult,

I would think, to keep
an unbiased opinion.

After closing arguments,

the jury deliberates
for just 30 minutes

before convicting Alan mccarty
for threats against

a public official.

Judge foxman sentences him
to 20 years

for his threats
against judge Warren.

Dawson: That judge got his point
across and had the last word.

In Spanish fork,
Utah, 35-year-old

Christopher Clay rudd
is waiting

his turn at
an arraignment hearing.

Christopher Clay rudd
is having a bad day,

because he failed to appear
to his court-ordered

treatment program.

Rudd already
has a long history of addiction,

as well as a record
for petty crimes,

including theft,
weapons possession,

and various
drug-related charges.

Rudd is sitting here
in the jury box.

How court is typically set up
for a hearing such as this is

that there are many defendants
in the court,

and it's --
you take your turn.

The first case is up,
second case is up.

There may be several
defendants at a time

waiting in the jury box
to go in front of the judge.

At one point,
an officer sitting behind

rudd gets up and exits
the courtroom.

Whitmore: Mr. Rudd was
kind of looking around,

looking and watching people's
actions and movements,

doors opening,
doors closing.

In his mind, he's thinking,
all right, I'm in trouble.

I didn't do what
the judge asked me to do.

Maybe this is not the best
place for me to be.

He looks left,

he looks right,
and he takes his chance.

Christopher jumps up, bolts,
runs out of the courtroom.

Whitmore: You have the camera
view from the second floor,

and you see this railing,
and you see these stairs.

It was disaster
waiting to happen.

Christopher Clay rudd
is waiting to be arraigned for

failing to appear at his court-
ordered drug treatment program.

But after thinking about
his situation for a few minutes,

he decides there are other
places he'd rather be.

He runs out of the courtroom,
through the doors,

into the hallway,
does an electric slide

over the banister.

Eighteen feet below,

bailiffs are Manning
the security check.

Patrick nielson is one of
the bailiffs down in

the lobby who's handling
security for people

coming into the courthouse.

Little did he know that it was
going to be raining convicts.

Maybe he thought
he was gonna do a quick

flip to the next floor
and run out the door.

But instead, it's a fall all
the way to the bottom floor.

Nielson makes
a dash for rudd,

thinking at first
it's a child.

Officer nielson
had quick reflexes

and tried to soften the blow

and then realized
it wasn't a child at all,

but a defendant trying
to escape the courthouse.

He didn't die, but he
sustained some significant

injuries when he went over

the banister -- because he's
handcuffed in the front,

he wasn't able to break
his fall.

Christopher rudd
suffers a fractured skull.

He also breaks
his leg and pelvis.

Defendant rudd is lucky to be
alive, falling face-first

18 feet,
landing on a hard floor.

It was -- it was disaster
waiting to happen.

He's lucky
he only broke a few bones.

As it turns out,

the defendant hits his head
on the bailiff's shoe,

and he literally
saved this guy's life.

The deputies
were heroes that day.

I think it says a lot about

the man who was trying
to save this person,

um, that he didn't know.

He didn't know
if it was a baby.

He didn't know
if it was an adult.

But what he did instinctually
was to try to save the life of

someone that was falling
from two stories up.

As a result of this
really failed escape attempt,

Mr. Rudd gets 36 months
probation, which is a gift,

because had it not been
for that shoe,

the penalty
would have been death.

49-year-old Arthur booth

is in court facing
judge mindy glazer

for his bond hearing on
a whole host of charges.

Hi, mr booth.

-How are you?
-How are you doing, ma'am?

Normally, what happens
at bond hearings,

it's really your first hearing
after you're charged.

It's basically the judge's
opportunity to decide

if he or she is gonna
let you out of jail.

And technically,
how much is it gonna

cost for you to get out
of jail?

You have actually three arrest
affidavits -- reckless driving,

damage to property,

leaving the scene of a crash
with serious injury.

With no serious injury.

I'm sorry,
no serious injury.

Okay?

Occupied burglary,
grand theft,

criminal mischief,
and resisting an officer

without violence.

Rendel
Arthur booth had been in

and out of trouble
his entire adult life.

After dropping
out of high school,

booth gets caught up in
a vicious cycle of drug use,

a gambling addiction,
and incarceration.

Dawson: He's standing there.
His head is down.

He looks up once or twice,

has a very angry
look on his face.

Negative about
the legal system

and the judge
and the justice system.

And that's expected, because
he's been here before.

Mr. Booth,
I have a question for you.

Yes, ma'am.

Did you go to nautilus
for middle school?

My goodness.

Dawson:
Mr. Booth looks up,

and all of a sudden,
that scowl that was on

his face turns into a smile

as he recognizes the judge as

somebody he went to
school with.

My goodness.

My goodness.

All he can say was,
my goodness.

So overwhelmed with emotion,
so overwhelmed with

really being confronted with
the fact that he wasn't

always like this,
and it moved him to tears.

My goodness.

What the judge does is
probably the most

heartwarming thing I have ever
seen in the courtroom.

And what we hear next
just hits your soul.

This was the nicest kid
in middle school.

My goodness.

He was the best kid
in middle school.

I used to play football
with him, all the kids.

He was a young man of so much
talent, smarts, and potential.

Arthur booth used to be quite
the student -- in sciences,

in math, he taught himself
Spanish, you know,

he wanted to be a neurosurgeon,

but somewhere along the way,
he got on the wrong path,

and he never finished school,
he got involved with drugs,

ended up stealing to support
that habit

and a gambling habit.

And once he went down that
path, he just never recovered.

And look what has happened.
I am so sorry.

My goodness.

Rendel on the one hand,
it's beautiful in a sense

to see judge mindy glazer
treat him with

such respect and talk to him
and remind him of

what he could have been,

but there's something so sad
when we see him realizing that

he never achieved
what he could have --

what he could have achieved
and what he could have become.

I'm sorry to see you there --
I always wondered what happened

to you, sir.

He realized
perhaps they were

on the same path
in middle school.

His path veered
strictly right,

and she kept going.

She is now a judge.

He is, unfortunately,
a 2-, 3-time criminal.

Mr. Booth, I hope you are
able to change your ways.

Dawson: He was embarrassed,
embarrassed about

his state in life,

embarrassed about the problems
that obviously she can see on

that piece of paper,
and embarrassed to be there.

And that's obvious.

What's sad is
how old we've become.

Despite
the emotional reunion,

judge glazer has a job to do
and sets booth's bond

at $24,000.

Good luck to you, sir.
I hope you are able to...

Come out of this okay
and just lead a lawful life.

So maybe, you know, being
embarrassed in front of

a classmate 30 years later
was his rock bottom.

Booth: My goodness.
You really? You?

My goodness.

Dorsey: Certainly,
spending time in jail over

and over again wasn't
sufficient enough

to get Arthur to change
his ways.

I hope and believe that
this encounter will be

very impactful

and meaningful in getting him
back on the road to recovery.

This story was really
heart-wrenching.

It was really heartwarming
all at the same time.

My goodness!