320: Jesse Dirkhising

the beginning of something massive. That little store eventually grew into Walmart, the largest retail corporation in the world, and even as the company exploded in size and scope, Rogers clung to its roots. Today, the historic downtown is preserved with brick paved streets in turn of the century storefronts, cafes, and boutique shops. Away from the queen downtown along South Dixieland Road lies the Rogers Police Department. This is where

the nine one one Dispatch Center is housed. Here, the center dispatches police, far and EMS units not only across Rogers, but also neighboring Benton County agencies. It homes with routine calls from vander Bender's domestic disputes and everything in between. That's how the morning of September twenty sixth, nineteen ninety nine began. But at around five am that morning, a phone call came in that would change everything. There was a man on the other end of the line. He

sounded panicked as he said, I have a guy. He's dead. We're trying to resuscitate him. Hell he ain't, but fourteen, I don't know what the fuck went wrong. The operator tried to get more details, but the caller was frantic. He continued, we was playing some kind of goddamn game and tying each other up and all that shit. Officers were immediately dispatched. Officers Aan Smith and Jason Curry were the first to respond. Their cruiser pulled in to asleep.

He called the sack lined with duplexes one two oh seven West Sunset Drive with the RAM style unit that didn't stand thout, low brick and wood paneling typical of the area. It was the kind of place you would drive past without a second thought. Just across the street, the baseball field at Northwest Park sat under the soft morning hayz, empty and still. Before the officers could even reach the front stone Epps, the door burst open a naked man rushed towards them. He's not breathing, he shouted.

Greasy Valley Road winds its way through the hills outside Prairie Grove and Arkansas, just past the small town of Clyde. It's a quiet, rural stretch of road, framed by open fields and sprawling farmland. It was along this unassuming stretch of countryside the thirteen year old Jesse durk Heising lived with its family in a modest trailer, tuck between tall grass and farmland. Their home wasn't grand, but it was theirs.

Jesse was the eldest of three children born to Tina and Timothy Durkaisin, but his parents' marriage didn't last just two years, and after the divorced, Timothy drifted out of his son's life, leaving a quiet vacancy where our father figures should have been. That space was eventually filled by Miles Yeats, Tina's new partner. Jesse called him Dad, and to his younger siblings Chatham Renee, Jesse was more than just a brother. He was a protector, a playmate, and

somebody that they could look up to. Jesse was said to have an easy going charm that made him well liked, not just at home, but at school as well. He was in the seventh grade at Lincoln Middle School. While he was popular, school didn't come easy to Jesse. According to the principal, Beverly Davenport, he lacked something to be desired. He had to repeat the seventh grade. But Jesse made up what he lacked in academics with heart. Before the morning bell rang, he'd be out on the grass with

a pack of fifteen other boys playing touch football. They did the same thing at lunch. He was a kid who loved the outdoors, from hiking, fishing, and hunting. He especially loved camping trips with the family. There was nothing extraordinary about Jesse Durkaising, nothing that would have caught the eye of the world. He was just a regular boy living a regular life in a quiet patch of America. But sometimes the most horrifying stories don't come from the

place as we expect. When Officers Ain Smith and Jason Curry pulled up outside the low rise duplex on West Sunset Drive, they were met at the door by a naked man. He was visibly shaken, his eyes wide with panic. His name was Davis Stawn Carbenter, he was thirty eight years old, and he was frantic. He's not breathing, he kept repeating, over and over, like he was trying to

convince himself more than anybody else. Carpenter quickly led the officers inside through a narrow hallway with Warren carpets and low ceilings. The apartment was small and save for the distant hum of a television left on in another room, the smell of faces hit the officers almost immediately. Standing in the hallway was another man, twenty two year old Joshua Brown. He was completely naked, clutching a flashlight in one hand and a telephone in the other. Braun didn't speak.

Carpenter continued to lead the officers towards the back of the apartment and into a small bedroom. The door creaked open. There on the floor was a mattress, no frame, no sheathes, no blankets, just a bare, stained mattress in the middle of an otherwise empty room, and beside it with a teenage boy lying motionless. It was Jesse dark Eysing. He was naked, His small frame lay awkwardly beside the mattress,

and his genitals and abdomen were smeared with feces. The smell that had clung to the hallway now swallowed the room hole. It was, as officers Curry later said, overwhelming. The officers rushed to Jesse's side. His lips were tinged blue and his skin was cool to the touch, but there was still a pulse that was faint and barely there, although he wasn't breathing. The officer scanned him quickly, instinctively, noting every detail. There was doc tape rapped tightly around

his right hand. They turned to Braun and asked what it was doing there. Braun looked up and softly responded, we were playing a game. As they waited for paramedics to arrive, the officers swept their flashlights around the room. That's when they started to see more. On the mattress was an empty prescription pill bottle. On a nearby mirror was loose pills scattered around a razor blade. There was also drug paraphernalia. The quid of the neighborhood was shattered

by the sudden arrival of paramedics. Red and blue lights flashed across the street. It was just past five am, and most of Rogers was still asleep, unaware of the horror unfolding inside this unremarkable apartment, The medics moved quickly. They lifted Jesse carefully on to a stretcher, shielding his body with a blanket. As the ambulance roared away from West Sunset Drive with their sirens wailing, The team worked

furiously to keep Jesse alive. They were headed to Saint Mary's Hospital as Jesse Jurchising's life hung in the balance. Back at the apartment, the officers believed they were standing in the middle of a crime scene. Nothing about what they had just encountered appeared to be normal. A naked teenage boy, naked men, and a collection of disturbing items. While normally a search warrant would be executed, detectives didn't

need one. They had asked if they could search the apartment, and Davis Carpenter had responded, well, you're going to look anyway. You're going to get a search warrant and look. He then signed a consent to search form as a warning. The next section of this episode deals with the abuse of children. Please listen with caution. In the living room and bedroom, detectives recovered numerous small green pills, various wattles of prescription medication, which included amatriptolene, which is a heavy

sedative commonly used to treat depression. There was also a small quantity of meth amphetamine. But it wasn't just drugs that detectives found. There were countless tubs of petroleum jelly. In the bedroom. Two cucumbers were recovered. One was covered in petroleum jelly while the other was covered in faces.

Nearby was a tube shaped sausage and crushed banana. In another corner of the bedroom, they came across bondige items including bells, stock tape, strapping tape, nylon rope, rubber jump rope, and electric cord. Discarded on the floor lay a plastic disposable douche bottle with the applicator secured in place with jock tape. The search then continued in the living room. The computer was still running and up on the screen was a program that was titled Medical Drug Reference four

point zero. On a computer table lay a piece of paper with a handwritten note addressed to baby in the right corner of the note with the names of three types of prescription pills. The note referred to making somebody take those pills. It then referenced positioning pillows beneath this person in a certain way. A different section of the same note said to tell him not to fight. Over

the next fourteen hours he would be sexually assaulted. Nearby, detectives found the second note the reference to piece of meat being inserted into somebody's anus. The note also referred to Davis engaging an intercourse with Yu blindfolded on pills. Another note was discovered, once more addressed to baby. This note referred to docor tape and included a hand drawn

diagram of somebody bond to a bed. There were notations that referred to pillows, tape all the way around faced on, and the barocks of a person being raised approximately two feet. There were other letters discovered in various parts of the apartment. One addressed a baby, was signed by Davy. In this letter, Davy describes saying baby's little ten year old blonde hour at her bus stop in the morning. He went on to graphically describe how he would envision baby engaging in

sexual acts with this child. The search of the apartment continued and detectives found another pad of handwritten notes. In these notes, the writer described a man making a fine crushed white powder from the small, oddly purple colored pill. He described cutting the pill into four sections so there would be enough to do this again in four rs. The note continued, describing the man giving a nine year old girl a glass of milk with the powdered mixture it.

The writer then wrote of the man laughing out loud, knowing that in twenty minutes the drink would make her helpless and drunk. He then described in detail the man having the girl masturbate and then perform oral sex on him. It was clear that what had happened inside that apartment was anything other than an accident. The two men standing before detectives were clearly child predators, and Jesse jurk Heising was their victim. By now, more officers had arrived at

the apartment. One of them was Corporal Rick Simmons. He separated Carpenter and Brown and began questioning Joshua Brown. Without warning, Brown lunged at him. He swung a fist towards Simmons. He was restrained before he could make contact. Officers quickly placed him under arrest. Detective Martha Armstrong stepped in and read him as Miranda rights. That's when Braun began to talk. He told him that he and day of His Carpenter, were in a relationship. He said Carpenter called him Baby,

a detailed that immediately called the detective's attention. It was the same name used in the disturbing letters found throughout the apartment. Braun said that he and Jesse frequently tied one another up, but he insisted it wasn't sexual. He described what happened that night. He said he snuck up on Jesse, tied his hands behind his back, and stuffed a pair of underwear into his mouth. He secured it with a bandana and DUC tape, and then blindfolded him

again using DUC tape. Told everything in place. A T shirt was pulled over Jesse's head, but Braun claimed he made sure that Jesse's nostrils were left uncovered. He said he then by Jesse's legs with belts tight around the knees and ankles. Once immobilized, Broun said he untied Jesse's hands, only to secure them again, this time to opposite corners of the mattress. Jesse was then placed on his stomach.

Braun told investigators that he penetrated Jesse with different objects, including a cucumber, a sausage, a banana, and a douche bottle, but he wasn't finished there. Broun said he then prepared an enema using his own urine mixed with the sedative ame triptolene, and administered it. Then he took the cucumber again, this time taping it in place. After that, Braun said he went into the kitchen and made himself a sandwich. When he left Jesse in the bedroom, he said that

the boy was kicking around and acting goofy. He said, we was mess and irond and stuff. I left him for five minutes. I didn't think I tied his hands that tight. I left his nose uncovered so he could breathe. When Braun returned, he said that Jesse wasn't breathing. He claimed he removed the bindings, including the t shirt, the bandana, the tape, the underwear from his mouth, and then ran to wake up Carpenter. Carpenter, however, told a different story.

He said that he had been asleep when Braun woke him, saying that Jesse wasn't breathing, but when Carpenter walked into the bedroom, he said that Jesse was still bound. He claimed he attempted tapor and then called nine one one, But nothing about this version matched the scene or the evidence. It was clear that Jesse had been the victim of calculated, sadistic abuse, and it was just as clear that both men had played a role. The handwritten notes tied Carpenter

directly to the abuse. Many of them had been written by him addressed to Baby, his pet name for Braun. The two men were then taken into Costudy and transported to the Rogers Police Department for formal interrogation. Joshua Braun sat down in front of detech of Sergeant Hayes Minor. His story had since changed. He now claimed that he and Jesse had been sexually involved for approximately two months, since Jesse was just a child. However, Brin had actually

been grooming and molesting him. They weren't sexually involved, as he had put it. He described the sexual assaults he had inflicted his games in playing. According to Braun, he and Jesse had spent the entire weekend sneaking up on one another and tying each other up. He described cutting Jesse's clothing off, telling the detectives I told him a how do you like that? Brum was then questioned about Carpenter's involvement in the rape of Jesse. He now admitted

that Carpenter wasn't asleep. He said Carpenter had stood in the doorway of the bedroom he was naked and masturbated. Braun then admitted that the notes in the home were indeed from Carpenter. Various ones were telling him what to do to Jesse. Car had even purchased the items used in the sexual assault. While Braun had initially characterized the assault on Jesse's horseplay gone wrong, he later changed his tune.

He blamed Jesse for initiating sexual compact. He claimed that nights earlier, Jesse, who was a thirteen year old boy, had come on to him and performed a sex act. Over at the hospital, doctors fought desperately to save Jesse's life, but it was tragically too late. He died shortly after he arrived. His body was transported to the medical Examiner's office, where the autopsy revealed the cause of death, positional asphyxia. Jesse couldn't breathe the way he had been restrained and

positioned cut off his air. Toxic levels of a powerful sedative found in his system had also contributed to his death. Joshua Braun and Davis Carpenter were subsequently charged with first degree murder. At the court hearing, Judge David Klinger refused to set bail for EA. Their man prosecutor, Brad Butler, stood before the court and announced his intent to seek

the death penalty. He spoke with Deake conviction as he said, what I saw inside that apartment was the most horrific thing I've witnessed in my eleven years as a prosecutor. It was a horrible, brutal crime. No one deserves to lose a child this way. Bron and Carpenter were then sent back to jail and each were placed into isolation for their own safety. But before they were separated, Carpenter

had already spoken to some inmates at the jail. He admitted to them that he had taken part in Jesse's assault. He said he had forced pills do on his throat. He claimed he didn't know whether it was the drugs or the tape binding and gagging him that caused his death. But for detectives, questions still remained. How exactly had Carboner and Braun come to know Jesse, who had a child, ended up in their grasp. Davis Carpenter wasn't a stranger. He had been a friend of Tina and Miles Yets.

He had first met Miles through methamphetamine. Miles had sold it, and Carpenter had been a client. But more recently, Carpenter was managing a local beauty salon. In the months before Jesse was killed, Carpenter had offered him a job sweeping hair on the weekends. He knew that Jesse was saving up money to fix an old pickup truck. Tina and Miles agreed they trusted Carpenter. They also trusted Braun. Jesse

was over the moon. Fifty dollars a weekend was a lot of money to him, so each Saturday and Sunday, Tina or Miles would drive him to the salon from their home in Prairie Grove and pick him up again that evening. But Carpenter soon offered to make things easier. Jesse could stay over on Saturday nights and come home Sunday. Saved to petrol. It saved time, but in the end, it cost everything. The Monday after Jesse was murdered, his space on the school bus sat empty. The ride was

unusually quiet. Bus driver Gary Trambley noticed the silence. Then he noticed something else. Somebody had left floorers on Jesse's safe. One of the children sat there. They had silently decided it would remain Jesse's. At school, councilors were brought in. Jesse's classmates were barely teenagers themselves, but they came together in grief and love. They wanted to do something anything. They started collecting money for Jesse's funeral flowers and for

his family. Gary allowed them to keep a collection box on the school bus. By Tuesday morning, they had raised thirty dollars. Gary said one of Chad's little bodies must have cleaned out his piggy bank, and he was right. A nine year old friend of Jesse's little brother handed over everything he had. His mother, who asked not to be named, said that her son often worried that Jesse's

family didn't have enough to eat. Back in Rogers, where Braun and Carpenter lived, the community was just as horrified. Their apartment sat in a six unit complex, close quarters where neighbors knew one another. Most of them thought that the two men were brothers. Carpenter was known as a nat freak brawn came off as friendly and approachable. Connie nw Coome, who lived next door, commented, you never heard any noise, no wild parties, no craziness going on just today.

Before Jesse was killed, Carpenter had invited Diane Watkins to bring her ten year old daughter's soccer team to his heirslon Her husband, Tom commented, it scared my wife and daughter a hole lot. It just scared them to death. My daughter was scared to sleep in her bedroom for a few days. Even Connie's ten year old son had been inside the men's apartment. He'd gone in to play with their cats. The horror of what had happened shook

the entire neighborhood. Half of the tenants moved out. They couldn't leave that close to the place where something so monstrous had happened. On the thirteenth of October, Joshua bron and Davis Carpenter appeared in court, where they pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. Their defense teams filed the motion for gag orders, hoping to keep the disturbing details of Jesse's murder sailed from the public, but the judge denied the request. Still, despite the brutality of the case,

media coverage remained strangely sparse. A few local papers had covered Jesse's murder, but there was no national outcry, not until a week later, when The Washington Times ran aheadline the demanded attention media tune out torture death of Arkansas boy. The piece criticized the near silence surrounding the crime. Sim Graham, director of Media Analysis that the Media Research Center, commented,

nobody wants to say anything negative against homosexuals. Nobody wants to be seen on the wrong side of that issue. David Smith, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, quickly responded and said this has nothing to do with gay people. The article drew a sharp comparison between the lack of attention to Jesse dark Heising's murder and the intense media response to the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay man who was beaten to death in Wyoming the previous year.

Both were he and his crimes both involved vulnerable victims, but only one had made headlines across the nation. Even Prosecutor Christopher Plumley admitted he was surprised by the quiet reaction. He didn't want to speculate why, but noted that Jesse's rape and murder had occurred in a small town with a low violent crime rate. He saw outrage and rogers on Prairie Grove, but not the kind of national response that Matthew Shepherd's murder had sparked. After the Washington Times article,

other outlets finally began covering the case. The New York Post published a column by Brett Bosel, editor of Media Reality Czech, who wrote, why would this story go on? Told had Jesse Durchising been shot inside his Arkansas school, he would have been an immediate national news story, but his national interest grew so the political agendas and de gay hate group seized on the case. They accused the

media of downplaying the story out of political correctness. Conservative activist Peter le Barbera called on others to use Jesse's death as a rallying cry, just as Matthew Shepherd's death had become a symbol for LGBTQ plus rights. Back in the courtroom, the growing publicity prompted Carpenter's attorney Tim Buckley to file a motion for a change of venue. He argued, it's been on everyone's lips down here for a month and a half. Benton County is a very conservative county.

It's the corporal headquarters of Walmart. It's always been a bassi of Republican conservatives. He believed that his client could get a fair trial. Braun's attorney, Charles Duel, filed his own motion requesting a separate trial. In February. Judge David Klinger granted the request and said that the men would be tried separately. He also ordered Braun to undergo a

psychological examination at the State Hospital in Little Rock. Its attorney, Lewis Limb, made it clear they were exploring an insanity defense. They were trying to determine whether Braun had been seen at the time of the murder and whether he could assist in his own defense. The results came back in September. Joshua Brown was found to be competent, so was David's con There would be no mental health defense, no diminished capacity. Both men would stand trial. It was decided that Joshua

Broun would be standing trial first, but first. The judge said he wanted to hear from potential jurors before deciding whether the trial needed to be moved. The jury selection began in March and in preparation security was tightened. Members of the westbor Baptist Church had announced they were going to be outside the courtroom to protest. They referred to the case as a conspiracy from hell and accused the National press of covering up Jesse's murder because the suspects

were gay. By the fourteenth, the jury was selected and seated, meaning that the trial was indeed going ahead in Benthamville. The jury was warned that details of the case were going to be extremely horrific, and after that opening statements got underway. Prosecutor Bob Balf told the jury, this case is not about homosexuality. The charge in this case concerns the rape and murder of a child. This case is

about child's sexual abuse. He said it didn't appear as though Braun intended on killing Jesse, before adding if you commit a violent act and it ends in death, it's still capital murder. Prosecutor Balf led out the facts of the case, describing how Jesse was propped up with pillows and sodomized by Braun during the prolonged or Dale Carpenter had left the apartment and gone to a nearby grocery store to purchase items that would later be used in

the assault. He stated, this wasn't some spontaneous act that got out of hand. This wasn't a consensual act, he continued, stating, while Jesse was bound and helpless and naked in this position, he was repeatedly raped over a period of ours by that man Joshua Braun. Jesse slowly suffocated and died. Braun's defense attorney Lewis Limb described Braun during his opening statements as a lost young man who was under the corrupt

influence of Carpenter. He drew parallels between the childlike Braun and Jesse, who he described as mature for his age. He mentioned how both had been abandoned by their fathers at a young age, and both were susceptible the Carpenter's parent like attention. Lim also set the stage for the defense to shift blame from Braun to Jesse's parents. He revealed to the jury for the first time that Myles had known Carpenter through their dealings with Metham Fermine. The

night that Jesse died. He said that he had taken the drug with Carpenter and Braun it had been found in his system. The defense attorney then spoke on Braun's upbringing. He said he was placed into state custody at nine years old after his mother struggled with mental illness and couldn't care for him. He bonced from fall Mister Home to Foster Home until he was seventeen, when he moved

to Mississippi, where his mother had moved to. He described Braun as a troubled, insecure teenager with drug addictions when Carpenter walked into his life in nineteen ninety seven. Garbinder was a successful hairdresser at the time. He befriended Braun and offered him a job. Lim said to the jury, Carpenter realized, this is a young man who I can bring into my fold. By the time they moved to Rogers in nineteen ninety nine, Braun depended on Carpenter financially.

He said that Carpenter had done to Jessee what he had done to Braun, isolated him from his family before stepping down. The defense attorney conceded statutory rape, but said that Braun never intended for Jesse to die. Testimony got underway with the officers who responded to the crime scene that morning. Officers Jason Curry and Ian Smith both said that they didn't attempt to revive Jesse at the scene.

They explained they weren't carrying masks necessary to protect the from disease, Department policy mandates their use during resuscitation efforts. They explained, Officer Curry had left to go and get the masks, but paramedics arrived and begun resuscitation efforts before he got back. The defense team suggested that Jesse might have survived if resuscitation efforts were performed immediately. Lim asked paramedic Jackie Weissman. Could one breath have made a difference.

She responded, yes, Sir. That same day, Jesse's mother, Tina Yates testified. She told the jury that she had known that Braun and Carpenter were lovers, but it didn't matter to her. They were like family. She said she trusted them. She had even been inside their apartment. Nothing raised red flags. Through sobs, she stated, Jesse was my best friend. Jesse and I did a lot of growing up together. Jesse and I had no secrets from each other. Tina told the jury that Jess as he hadn't wanted to work

the weekend that he was killed. He wanted to stay home and ride his motorcycle, but he went anyway, and the plan was for Carpenter to bring him home on Sunday. She recalled their final goodbye steering Jesse gave me a hug and a kiss, and I gave him one. She admitted to using drugs when she was younger, but said it was never in front of her children. She also claimed she had no idea that Miles had sold methamphetamine.

Tina explained that she and Miles had told Jesse if he ever wanted to experiment with alcohol or drugs to come to them first. We wanted to know what he was taking, she said. The jury then got to hear bronze taped confession. In it, he claimed that he and Jesse had agreed to tie each other up, and that Jesse had agreed to at least one act of sodomy. He stated the night before he had hogtied me, so I thought I'd get him back. I left him for five minutes. I kept checking him and stuff, but I

killed them anyway. During the trial, the grim notes found inside the apartment were presented. It was suggested that the blonde girl that Carpenter referenced was Diane Watkins's young daughter. Diane testified that five days before the murder, ron had handed her a note inviting her daughter and her friends for hair cuts. By Carpenter, she said he knew Healy played soccer, he knew how to spell her name. I

was concerned how he knew her her daughter. Haley's skillbuss stopped in front of the apartment, and she often visited an elderly woman who lived next door. The judge had allowed the notes to be entered into evidence, although the defense had tried to have them blocked. The judge referred to them as blue prints for child rape. Thankfully, Diane's daughter was never harmed by the men, but the descriptions of acts they wanted to perform on her were very

similar to how Jesse was drugged, bond and sodomized. When Braun was first interviewed, he downplayed Carpenter's involvement. He first of all said that he was asleep throughout the entire deal. However, he finally admitted that all of the notes were written by him. They were instructions on how they abuse children. He further admitted that he had gone to the store midway through the assault to purchase the cucumber and sausage.

When Jeffers and Inmated also testified about Carpenter's involvement, he had been in a cell above braun cell and they had communicated through the events. Braun had told him he didn't really know Jesse, that Carpenter was the one who really knew him. He said that Carpenter had lured Jessee into the situation by offering him money. He then drugged Jesse. Jeffers told the jury he was reluctant at first, and

Carpenter made it sound like a game. Braun told him that Jesse had wanted to go home, but that Carpenter started to hit him and then sexually assaulted him. He stated he was crying. He was really crying. He wanted to go home. Brown also told him that he had sexually assaulted Jesse too, and he had wanted to release him, but Carpenter told him now that he wanted to keep him bond as his sex thing. Braun told Jeffers that

he and Carpenter had checked on Jesse twice. The first time he was struggling and the next time he wasn't breathing. The defense then began their case. They tried to portray Jesse, a thirteen year old boy, as a drug user. They called on fourteen year old Carissa Melbourne, who claimed she saw Jesse in the apartment of a forty three year old woman near the apartment of Carpenter. According to her,

the woman was injecting Jesse with metham pheramine. The defense were clearly trying to claim that the metham pheramine and Jesse's system and the overdose of antidepressant hadn't come from Braun. The defense also called on Braun's mother, Judith Wesson, who spoke about his time in foster care. When he was a teenager, he had been physically abused by an uncle. Judith told the jury, I didn't know Joshua had homosexual

tendencies until after he was arrested. While Braun had admitted to saying Jesse take two am a triptolene pills on the day of his death and giving him an enema of the drug that same day, the defense called on doctor Jimmy Valentine. He suggested that Jesse had taken the drug up to two weeks before his death. The defense then called on Marianna Arragon. Carpenter had been her family's hairdresser. She portrayed him as controlling, telling the jury mister Brown

was totally dominated by mister Carbenter. He was a very mixed up kid who got lost in the shuffle. And after that, the trial came to a close. During the closing arguments, prosecutor balf said that logic showed a thirteen year old boy was not a willing participant in a sexual bondage game that led to his death. He spoke about Carpenter going to the store midway through the assault, asking the jury why did they need more duct tape?

Was it because he was struggling. Carpenter had purchased the duct tape, sausage and cucumber at the store, but he also picked up two sandwiches. The prosecutor touched on this and said Jesse wasn't going to get anything to eat. It wasn't stopping any time soon. Defense attorney Limb said during his closing arguments that his client was guilty of nothing more than statutory rape and manslaughter. He stated, I think we can all agree that Josh didn't knowingly cause

his death. This is pointing to negligence. On rebuttal, the prosecutor declared, this isn't a car accident, folks, this is the binding, gagging, and raping of a thirteen year old boy. The jury were then sent off to deliberate. Ultimately, they found Joshua Brown guilty of first degree murder and rape. They rejected the more serious kind of capital murder, which would have come with the death sentence. Brown was then sentenced to twenty five years in prison for the rape,

in life without parole for the murder. In handing down the sentence, Judge David Klinger told him, usually a murder is over in a minute. In this case, this victim was left helpless and bond Trying to imagine his thought process has sent shivers down my spine. The judge said that Braun and Carpenter had also devised a plan to rape Jesse. He rejected the defense's claims that Braun had been manipulated by Carpenter, stating, I don't find that Jesse ever agreed to that that he agreed to become a

sex toy of two grown men. Brawn was given the opportunity to speak during the court hearing, he began to cry before he wakely said I say I'm sorry. The guilty verdict was in good news for Davis Carpenter. He and his defense attorneys knew that if he went to trial, the outcome would almost certainly mirror Bronze or even be worse. Almost immediately they began working on a Playdale to spare

him the death penalty. On the eighteenth of April, Carpenter stood before the court and pleaded guilty to the rape and murder of Jesse Dark heisinc He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Then, in a voice void of the cruelty he'd once inflicted, Carpenter turned to Jesse's parents and said, I'd like to say to Milesintena that I'm sorry Jesse's gone. I tried to

save him but couldn't. Every day I pray for them, and I will continue to pray for the rest of my life that the Lord will heal the hole in their heart. Well, best Sie's That is it for this episode of Morbidology. As always, thank you so much for listening, and I'd like to say a massive thank you to my newest supporter up on Patreon Amy. The link to patron is in the show notes if you'd like to join, and there are absolutely no obligations. You can cancel your

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I really would appreciate it. Remember the check is id at morbidology dot com for more information about this episode and to read some true crime articles. Until next time, take care of yourselves, stay safe, and have an amazing week.