S1: Ep 6 - Battlefield

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He had this twinkle in his eye. I got the sense that he thought he was smarter than everybody. He would smile, He smiled into the camera. He would smile at witnesses. He tried to smile at Tracy. He tried to stare down Kathy in a way. I thought he found this was sort of a game.

That's lead Assistant District Attorney Jeff Brickman talking about the demeanor of the defendant. I'm Nancy Glass and this is Burden of Guilt, Episode six, Battlefield. Tracy Riquel told the prosecution that she had seen some of her mother's testimony on television, and since witnesses weren't allowed to watch the court proceedings due to sequestration orders, the judge was left

Jeff and I felt pretty deflated by the fact that the mistrial had been declared. When Judge Fuller declared the mist trial, he did make that ruling in a way that allowed us to make a decision about whether we wanted to retry the case.

We are in the dumps. I mean, don't get me wrong, but you know, you look at each other and go, this guy killed a four month old.

District Attorney Jay tom Morgan.

I was furious.

I mean, all the work that Leanne and Jeff had put into it, and so my job as a DiscT attorney was to get my two assistants in there and say, take a deep breath, let's do this again.

After all of this had happened, I came into work to a voicemail message from Tracy saying please don't give up.

I basically just called the prosecution and said, look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mess everything up. Could you do this again.

After going in and talking about it with Jay Tom and looking at each other and realizing, you know, this doesn't change what happen.

Happened.

It doesn't change the facts. And as I told Leanne, you know what, last time I checked, there's no such thing as the one free murder rule in Georgia. And we were back at it within a month, supercharged out.

The prosecution once again set out to prove that Jan Berry Sandlin killed four month old Matthew.

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

The theory a man was left alone with a baby. By the time the baby's mother came home and found him, he was near death. The child was a victim of the man's abuse. That man was Tracy Riquel's father, Jan Barry Sandlin, a person with a history of cruel and abusive behavior towards his children. And as we told you, Tracy Riquel has spent a lifetime dealing with the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father.

He would just show up in milanit row us on the street. We spent lots of time just sleeping on a park bench. He put that camel cigarette off on me. I was in the car with Kathy and she said, day after tomorrow is Matthew's birthday, and I just had this child like remark of you don't take me to the cemetery of nervousbetian, she told Jan, and he beat me terribly. He really enjoyed the belt, the wrong end of the belt.

We shared how he fed her roaches on toast as a form of punishment, and how Tracy Raquel spent much of her childhood navigating the emotional and physical abuse between Kathy and Jan. We told you how he beat Kathy and locked her in closets. For Tracy Raquel, those memories were like a bad dream.

Nightmares are an ongoing thing for me. I never have nightmares about Matthew. I have a lot of nightmares that revolve around events in my childhood and just always being terrified and never feeling safe, and that comes from not being stable and getting thrown out of your house in the middle of the night, and people getting beat up and abuse, like all of these things don't go away.

Lead Ada Jeff Brickman imagined how the series of events unfolded between Jan and the baby who was not his son.

Leanne and I were recent parents of two year old We had learned in the last couple of years what it's like to have a baby at home who can't speak, who cries a lot. They're crying, You're upset, they won't shut up. You want to sleep. You're not real jazzed up about the fact that you're being left at home with this four month old is not even yours, and you just wanted to be quiet. Just like that, You'll get your quiet. You'll be dead, but you'll get the quiet.

Jeff Brickman knew if the prosecution was going to win this trial, the jury had to believe that's what happened. As for the defense, they learned something from the first trial and this time honed in on a single strategy.

This time, the defense was none too subtle, and we knew, Karen, it was not going to be a well just can't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. It was one person did it. It was Kathy Almon.

There was more of a focus on Kathy Allman as someone who may have had something to do with Matthew's murder.

I distinctly remember talking to Kathy, going, let me tell you what the defense is. You killed your four month old. You get it. Now, it's up to you. I can't get up and testify. You need to be convincing.

Adyajff Brickman was saying Kathy could make her break this second trial, and he was worried about her state of mind and her lack of self assurance on the stand.

Kathy was kind of damaged over the years, and she was very vulnerable. She was easy to pick on, and karenn was great at finding weaknesses.

They were introducing a suggestion that perhaps there's not enough evidence to demonstrate that Jan Sanmlin was solely responsible.

On day one of the t Tracy Roquel was the second witness to be called. Assistant District Attorney Lee and man Gone asked Tracy Raquel about the time she contacted her father in prison.

When you were younger, did you make a telephone call to the defendant yes I did. Did you ask him for an explanation for Matt's death? Yes, I did, And in that telephone call, what was his response, asked your mother.

She couldn't get a straight answer from Jan and her mother, Kathy wouldn't provide any clarity either.

Do you and miss Rain have any information which would indicate that your mother is responsible for Matt's death?

No?

Can you tell the members of the jury why it is you have worked so hard to find out what happened to that? Well?

I always knew that he had died, and it was always a very if subject with everyone in my family, and I guess that just sparked me to think that something was wrong, and I thought if there was something wrong, you needed to fix it.

I had no idea of it.

It was because they thought that I had love.

That was obviously very emotional for Tracy Riquel. She regained her composure and lee Anne continued her questioning. She asked Tracy Roquel what happened when she asked her mother to have Matt's death investigated.

What generally was your mother's response when you were talking about that issue.

That she didn't want to deal with the pain. She was not capable of dealing with the pain, she didn't have the support that she needed.

Kathy Almand's mother, Tracy Riquel's grandmother, Anne Davidson, took the stand. She testified about an incident that occurred when she came home with Kathy after Jan was alone with baby Matthew.

Were you when and matt was screaming? And Kathy 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.

Could you tell what the appearance was at this chart?

Bob was crying, his eyes were red. What did Kathy do? If anything?

She took the.

Baby and she got a washcloth and washed his eyes out, gave him a bottle, and pretty soon he stopped crying.

Was there any further discussion that day as far as you remember about what happened?

No, never was mentioned again.

Then the questioning turned to the night Matthew died.

At any point once you got to the hospital, did you make any effort or attempt to talk.

To kat Yes, I did. I just went straight to her and said, Katy, what happened? And Jan just came forward and said that Tracy threw little Matt from the crib and he was hurt real bad, and that's why they were there.

Eighty eight.

Jeff Brickman asked Kathy's mother, Anne Davidson, those questions to establish a history of abuse by jam. On the other hand, defense attorney Kren Malls seemed to say, if the pepper incident was so bad, if there was abuse, why didn't anyone call the police, Miss Davidson?

What was the name of the police officer you spoke to being told about this pepper incident after Matt died. I didn't speak you didn't You didn't happen to say, God, this land not only has he killed my child, Let me tell you about the pepper incident. No, didn't say that to anybody?

Did you?

First time you ever mentioned it is July nineteen ninety seven to these folks.

Defense attorney Krin Mall pointed out that Kathy's mother didn't share that information with anybody until the second trial.

Did you hear a singales soul besides your daughter, say Jane Mary Sandwin told them that this child was thrown out of the bed by his sister.

No, I didn't, okay, And your daughter.

Also said she didn't know if he did or not, didn't she That's right, neither do I.

Corin Mal had spent hours questioning Kathy during the first trial, and she had no plans to ease up in the second. In fact, she would press Kathy even harder about inconsistencies.

You have told her, and you have told us that besides your initial different stories that you told her the Krim dead, banging the head on the throwing out, crushing the baby shoes, besides those different stories, you have always you said, maintain what happened that day to everyone having you, and you maintained to everyone that you believed she'd thrown the baby out of the bed. That's what I thought for many, many years.

The defense wanted to make the point that even while jan was out of their lives and in prison, Kathy continued to communicate with him. It seemed like she still wanted them to have a relationship.

It was almend you wrote a letter to your ex husband. Correctly, you've written to them, yes, and you wrote to him about Tracy making accusations.

Right.

I don't really recall what I wrote in those letters. Isn't it truth in this Almond that you told in your letters, don't worry about Tracy. You know my parents, they've just been saying some ugly things about you.

I don't recall what was in those letters, so I can't say I was very depressed when I wrote him.

I know that.

I thought something's wrong with me. I don't know in those letters. In the last letter that you wrote to mister Sandlin, do you recall telling him in there not to be concerned about Tracy because she just resented him not being there, I have I don't know.

In another letter, Kathy had expressed frustration about Tracy Raquel's younger brother, Jason. He was the second child Kathy had with jan Didn't.

You tell Jason that you told mister Sandlin he's bothering me. I'm going to beat him with a baseball.

I don't recall that.

Yes, that's what she wrote, that she was going to beat her son with a baseball bat.

Let me show you something and see if that refreshes nor recollection.

Yes, I did say it in a joking way.

And you did say in a joking way, I'm going to beat him with a baseball.

Yes, the prosecution came back one last time with Kathy to put the focus back on Matthew's death.

And on that day when you did leave matt for the second time with that man over, there was this child who was depicted in States five just two days before his death. In this picture.

Was he healthy?

Yes, he was healthy.

Was he as alive as could be, live as could.

Be, happy as could be in a very good, wonderful baby.

When the prosecution finished, the defense left the jury with this, isn't.

It truth that the accident, and he was an accident, was caused by hums Ho.

No, there was no more suggesting or circling around it.

There.

It was the defense put on the line. It was your fault, Kathy. The defense never called a single witness, and Jan never took the stand. Jeff Brickman remembers observing Jan's behavior as he watched the testimony.

He had this twinkle in his eye. I got the sense that he thought he was smarter than everybody. He would smile, he smiled into the camera. He would smile at witnesses. He tried to smile at Tracy. He tried to stare down Kathy. He would stare back at us. And he just kind of stared through you.

In a way.

I thought he found this was sort of a game. I really do think he found pleasure in making everybody who came in there to testify against him.

Hey, the last person to testify was the medical examiner who performed the second autopsy, doctor Burton. The prosecution strategically saved him for the end. He was their key witness. The prosecution's case was straightforward. Matthew's death was from unspeakable abuse.

Do you have an opinion, doctor Burdon, as to whether these injuries could have been inflicted by a two year old child throwing the baby out of a crip?

Well, first of all, a two year old child couldn't throw the baby out. It's a squirming ten pound weight, and so to throw it out would be virtually impossible. To say that a two year old could get in the bed and somehow tug it up over the edge of the rail and let the baby tip over the edge of the rail and fall. It's possible, but even that is not likely.

In the last episode, you heard, defense attorney carin Mal questioned Kathy about Tracy Riquel's heavy baby shoes because Kathy had said she thought Tracy Riquel had stepped on Matthew's head with her heavy baby shoes and that led to his death. A Leean Mangune showed doctor Burton a pair of those shoes.

These shoes have leather soles and rubber hills on them. The soles and hills have edges on them. There's nothing in any of the records to describe any type of a pattern of bruise or abrasion to Matthew's head. This tells us that the impact happened on a surface smooth, but no proturberances on it. There's not enough mass in the foot and leg of a two year old to cause fractures on both sides of this baby's head to

Further emphasizing it was no accident, the prosecution asked how a child would sustain the injuries found on Matthew, so.

That the jury better understands the force which must have been used in this case. Under what non abusive circumstances would you expect to see these types.

Of injuries fractures like this that are bilateral complex fractures. You see an automobile wrecks, you see them, and children are people who fall heights like fifteen twenty feet.

Do you, doctor Burton, have an opinion based on a reasonable degree of medical certainty as to the manner of death of Matthew Stephen Golder on December the twenty seventh of nineteen seventy one.

I do the injuries that resulted in Matthew's death were inflicted or caused by another person?

Carin Mal did not mince words during the cross examination.

The scenario that you were given was mainly to disprove that this child had not been thrown out by a two year old onto the floor from a bed from a crib. Correct.

Yes, I was trying to decide whether this was an accidental death or some other type of death.

And it is true, doctor Burton, that this injury could have been inflicted several different ways, and you have shown some of them, correct.

And there may be others.

But bottom line is that this child is not thrown out of a bed by a two year old. This child died as a result of abuse from an adult. Correct.

I think that's the probability, Yes, ma'am.

So which adult was it? Would the jury believe it was Jan or did the defense raise enough doubt by presenting Kathy as a culprit Ada Lee and Mangon went first in closing arguments.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a case about murder. This is a case about the murder of a four month old little boy, about the murder of a child who lived on this earth for less than twenty weeks. This is the case about a murder which could have been committed by only one person, and that person is sitting right there. Jan Berry Sandlin is guilty of murder.

Leanne held up a photo of Matthew.

Matt Golder is speaking to you, ladies and gentlemen. He's saying, my name is Matthew Stephen Golder. I died when I was four months old. I was robbed of my opportunity to run, to jump, to laugh. My innocence was taken from me. It was taken from me by that man. Ladies and gentlemen. Matt Golder is crying out to you today as he must have cried in December of nineteen seventy one. But today he's crying very differently. He's crying for justice, ladies and gentlemen.

He is asking that you send the loudest and clearest message that you can. He wants you to tell this man what you did was wrong, what you did was murderers.

Thank you.

Defense attorney Carin Maul gave her summation.

While it is true that there's nothing worse than the death of a child, and those of us who have suffered it know how poignant that is and know how debilitating that is. But second to that is to convict an.

Innocent, Carin Maul then focused on Kathy's strange behavior, specifically towards Tracy Riquel. Kathy told the same story over and over again, even to Tracy Raquel's doctor when she was just a teenager.

You're giving information to your child's doctor that you so badly wanted. You don't lie to that doctor. You tell them everything. You especially would not tell your child's doctor that your child had thrown the baby out of the bed when any fool could have seen that didn't happen, and you certainly wouldn't blame it on a child. From nineteen eighty two to nineteen ninety seven, when your child is in your face, telling you, how could you do

There was no more to say. Arguments were finished, the trial concluded, and now the waiting began.

I always knew that it was up to those twelve citizens. We slept with a jury out. We went home one night and came back the next morning. I don't remember them deliberating a long time, but I remember the call that we got being that there was a verdict.

We the jury found the defendant Jan Barrysilin.

This case takes yet another turn, and it was a shocker.

My stomach dropped.

That's next time on Burden of Guilt. Stay tuned for Burden of Guilt at documentary coming in twenty twenty four and airing only on Paramount Plus. If you would like to reach out to the Burden of Guilt team, email us at Burden of guildtpod at gmail dot com. That's Burden of Guilt pod at gmail dot com. If you or someone you know was worried about maltreatment or suspect that the child is being abused or neglected, call the