Chris Watts Sentencing Hearing Revisited — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00mr. Watts si indicated when we began you
2. 0:03have the right to make a statement if
3. 0:05you choose to would you like to make a
4. 0:08statement thank you so the court has
5. 0:14considered the arguments made by the
6. 0:17attorneys the court has considered the
7. 0:20statements made by the victims in this
8. 0:24case the courts gonna find that the plea
9. 0:27agreement is fair and reasonable under
10. 0:30the circumstances I want to acknowledge
11. 0:35the rusik family as well as the Watts
12. 0:38family that showing mercy on mr. Watts
13. 0:45is understood and I respect that
14. 0:49decision to request that the district
15. 0:52attorney not seek the death penalty in
16. 0:54this case and so the court is going to
17. 0:57accept this plea bargain under the
18. 1:00circumstances words that come to mind
19. 1:04when I hear the evidence in this case
20. 1:08are a senseless crime and the
21. 1:13viciousness of the crime and equally
22. 1:18aggravating in this court's
23. 1:20determination is the despicable act of
24. 1:26disposing of the bodies in the manner in
25. 1:28which they were done in this case I've
26. 1:33been a judicial officer now for starting
27. 1:35my seventeenth year and I could
28. 1:41objectively say that this is
29. 1:46perhaps the most inhumane and vicious
30. 1:51crime that I have handled out of the
31. 1:53thousands of cases that I have seen
32. 1:59hello and welcome to true crime rocket
33. 2:02science in this episode we'll look at
34. 2:06the what sentencing hearing which
35. 2:08happened on November 19th 2018 which was
36. 2:11Thanksgiving last year
37. 2:15I would have covered this on the actual
38. 2:21anniversary of the sentencing hearing
39. 2:25November 19 this year but I was
40. 2:29preoccupied with the Frazee trial which
41. 2:33concluded after just 11 trial days on
42. 2:38November 18th and then the the discovery
43. 2:41was released shortly off to that as it
44. 2:48happened I live blogged the events of
45. 2:51November 19 and I think that will make
46. 2:53for very interesting review a year and
47. 2:58eight days later so let's get into that
48. 3:02before we do if you haven't subscribed
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56. 3:31anyway let's get started
57. 3:41so I was actually up at the same time
58. 3:45that the trial was sort of going to be
59. 3:48covered in America and just following
60. 3:53everything that was sort of coming out
61. 3:55of Denver and Greeley and and World
62. 4:00County and this was the result you can
63. 4:03go never look at the blog to see the
64. 4:05images and the tweets and the news
65. 4:08coverage but I'll try to provide as much
66. 4:11of that here as I can and so this was
67. 4:16how the coverage unfolded welcome to
68. 4:20what appears right now to be the end of
69. 4:22the legal road in the watts Chris Watts
70. 4:24case November 19 is just three months
71. 4:28and six days after the tragic murders
72. 4:30that rocked the small thriving Colorado
73. 4:33town of Fredrick in mid-august today the
74. 4:37legal journey is expected to conclude
75. 4:39with judge cop car officially accepting
76. 4:41Chris Watters guilty plea on all charges
77. 4:44in exchange Chris Watts will be spared
78. 4:47the death penalty and sentenced to life
79. 4:49behind bars without the possibility of
80. 4:52parole irrespective of the legal outcome
81. 4:55of this case an entire family has been
82. 4:57completely destroyed through the events
83. 5:00that made out sometime between August
84. 5:0212th and 13th this year according to the
85. 5:06district attorney they have and are
86. 5:08satisfied with a partial motive to this
87. 5:11crime this partial motive will be
88. 5:15revealed in court today by Michael Roark
89. 5:19brief background
90. 5:23there's more to it than this of course
91. 5:25on November 6 sorry on November 16th the
92. 5:30Greeley Tribune spelled some of the
93. 5:32shenanigans out number one Chris waters
94. 5:36parents do not want him to accept the
95. 5:38plea deal and have claimed they've been
96. 5:40denied access to their son and that the
97. 5:43plea deal was or is coerced if that's
98. 5:46true the plea deal is invalid the
99. 5:49district attorney has not responded to
100. 5:51these allegations
101. 5:52but the ROO six have been through and
102. 5:57the the ROO six have through an
103. 6:00anonymous legal representative number
104. 6:04two according to the Tribune on Monday
105. 6:08November 12th the court received an
106. 6:10email from a Kay almond an assumed
107. 6:13representative for sandy and Ronnie
108. 6:15watts in the letter to judge cop cow
109. 6:19almond claims the Colorado Public
110. 6:21Defender's Office which is defending
111. 6:23watts has denied sandy and Ronnie access
112. 6:26to their son Cindy Ronnie and an unnamed
113. 6:29sister finally gained access to watts
114. 6:32for 30 minutes each the night before the
115. 6:34sentencing hearing aldeman claims cindy
116. 6:37oscar son if a plea deal is what he
117. 6:39wanted do not ask him that we will shut
118. 6:45this expletive down said an unnamed
119. 6:47attorney before watch could respond
120. 6:50according to almonds later almost said
121. 6:55that
122. 6:58so almond said that type of bullying has
123. 7:01been common in a wats families dealing
124. 7:02with the public defender's office it's
125. 7:05the opinion of mr. Watts his family that
126. 7:08he has been coerced has been denied his
127. 7:10constitutional rights and more all in an
128. 7:13attempt to quickly close this case
129. 7:15almond wrote they want to have a new
130. 7:18attorney speak to Chris on their behalf
131. 7:20to determine if this is a true
132. 7:22confession or one that is based on
133. 7:24inhumane treatment at the hands of the
134. 7:27public defender's office of world county
135. 7:31almond closed the letter by saying sandy
136. 7:34Watts wanted to speak to judge cop-car
137. 7:36about her son's case and possible
138. 7:38mistreatment cop-car issued an order
139. 7:41saying he was barred from having any
140. 7:43conversations about the case outside of
141. 7:45the courtroom number three the autopsy
142. 7:49reports regarding the remains of Shannan
143. 7:52Watts 34 Bella Watts fall and Celeste
144. 7:55Watts three have not been released prior
145. 7:57to sentencing these reports completed on
146. 8:00October 2nd will be released after
147. 8:02sentencing according to the district
148. 8:05attorney this release of the autopsy
149. 8:07reports will likely neutralize a civil
150. 8:09hearing on the matter that was
151. 8:11originally scheduled on sorry scheduled
152. 8:16for December 21st the civil hearing was
153. 8:20going to be undertaken by the media the
154. 8:25district attorney's original position on
155. 8:27the autopsy reports was unusual in that
156. 8:30it was claimed their release could taint
157. 8:32witnesses make it difficult to seat an
158. 8:35impartial jury and the victims cause of
159. 8:37death could be critical evidence at
160. 8:39trial this is me speaking in 2019 if you
161. 8:48think about the fact that there was a
162. 8:49plea deal then there was no question of
163. 8:51tainting witnesses and there was no
164. 8:53question of an impartial jury and there
165. 8:55was no question apparently of it causing
166. 9:00critical evidence to be leaked at trial
167. 9:03or before trial
168. 9:05I do think this particular evidence had
169. 9:08to do with the high alcohol
170. 9:11found in Shannon's remains which will
171. 9:15get you in a further episode now back to
172. 9:20the contents of that particular blog
173. 9:25post again going back to point number
174. 9:27three if Rock felt the autopsy evidence
175. 9:30was so sensitive then why did the
176. 9:32defense feel they had no case to plead
177. 9:34why did they make or accept the plea
178. 9:37deal number four a raft of publications
179. 9:42including the Tribune claimed in a court
180. 9:44motion on October 12th that the
181. 9:46withholding of the autopsy reports from
182. 9:48public scrutiny could cause substantial
183. 9:50injury to the public interest November
184. 9:5719 welcome to a bitterly cold day in
185. 10:01Greeley Colorado minimum temperatures
186. 10:03today were 17 degrees Fahrenheit minus 9
187. 10:07degrees Celsius at 6 o'clock and may
188. 10:10climb to a crisp
189. 10:1146 degrees Fahrenheit 7 degrees Celsius
190. 10:14by the time the press conference is
191. 10:16scheduled at 1300 hours the day will
192. 10:20start mostly sunny in the early morning
193. 10:22and remained bright and sunny throughout
194. 10:23the typical early winter's day in
195. 10:26Colorado with a slight breeze blowing
196. 10:29over the snow-covered Prairie this is
197. 10:33sorry this is a big change from the
198. 10:35weekend which saw a big cold front roll
199. 10:37in and dumped snow and drizzle of the
200. 10:40mountains and plains surrounding Denver
201. 10:42on thenk on Thanksgiving Thursday
202. 10:45another cold front is due to move in and
203. 10:48change the region's weather for the
204. 10:50worse so it was almost as if the weather
205. 10:53knew what is coming in terms of the
206. 10:55watts case a couple of tweets
207. 11:00highlighted included one from Gary
208. 11:03Shapiro
209. 11:03today Chris Watts will be sentenced for
210. 11:06the deaths of his pregnant wife Shannon
211. 11:07and their two daughters four-year-old
212. 11:09Bear Bella and three-year-old Celeste he
213. 11:12is expected to get life in prison as
214. 11:15part of a plea deal to avoid the death
215. 11:16penalty complete coverage online news
216. 11:24it's a 555 one hour until sunrise
217. 11:27sunrise on August 13th was oh six oh
218. 11:31eight forty two minutes earlier than
219. 11:33today at this time three months ago
220. 11:35Chris Watts was on the road driving to
221. 11:38serve a319 in ten minutes the Sun will
222. 11:44rise over the sandstone courthouse in
223. 11:46Greeley Colorado did you know Greeley
224. 11:48was the setting for Pulitzer
225. 11:50prize-winning historical fiction author
226. 11:52James Michener's Centennial machinist
227. 11:56studied in Greeley and was so inspired
228. 11:58by the setting and the history of the
229. 11:59region he used it as the backdrop for
230. 12:02his bestseller which was also made into
231. 12:04a miniseries in the 70s the scene in
232. 12:11front of world county centennial center
233. 12:13noticed the spattering of snow in the
234. 12:16background in the Morning News two large
235. 12:21fires are under investigation including
236. 12:24one that started as an explosion in
237. 12:26Aurora the Aurora fire included reports
238. 12:30of a gas leak days prior and conflicting
239. 12:33reports on whether the gas company
240. 12:34notified residents in advance via email
241. 12:38other news making the headlines the
242. 12:41weather on the run-up to Thanksgiving on
243. 12:43Thursday Black Friday sales a shocking
244. 12:46report on flu vaccinations rezoning
245. 12:49plans a new name for baseball team a new
246. 12:52Disney on Ice Show getting water supply
247. 12:55from a distance mind to Aurora a new
248. 12:58marijuana store opening in Longmont
249. 13:01Longmont is a town close to Frederick
250. 13:03way across Watson Shannon worked at a
251. 13:05Ford dealership how to prevent peanut
252. 13:08allergies a surge in ports piracy
253. 13:11denver-based furniture ah sorry
254. 13:15denver-based furniture row racing
255. 13:18finishing second at the NASCAR
256. 13:20championship Christmas tree cutting tips
257. 13:23a Christmas countdown what teens want
258. 13:26for Christmas according to a recent
259. 13:27survey and lower gas prices
260. 13:36then a tweet by Megan Lopez happening in
261. 13:40less than four hours Chris Watts will be
262. 13:42formally sentenced to prison for the
263. 13:44murders of his pregnant wife and two
264. 13:46young daughters here's a look at how
265. 13:48this case unfolded Chris Decker defense
266. 13:55attorney was interviewed regarding the
267. 14:00Watts case and what he said was I wasn't
268. 14:03surprised I think Michael Roark deserves
269. 14:05quite a lot of praise he was smart and
270. 14:08brave and acquiesced today the family's
271. 14:11desires this is in terms of the plea
272. 14:14deal David Beller defense attorney the
273. 14:17speed at which this trial sorry that the
274. 14:20speed at which this deal was reached is
275. 14:22extremely unusual then a tweet that I
276. 14:30sent out Denver seven believes Nicole
277. 14:32Kissinger won't testify today at that
278. 14:35time there was no indication whether she
279. 14:38would testify or not whether she she
280. 14:40would even be seen in court or not
281. 14:45triple rainbow observed this morning 40
282. 14:48miles from Frederick Rachel Gibbs from
283. 14:54Nags Head North Carolina said she also
284. 14:56spotted a rainbow this morning
285. 15:04Megan Lopez there's a lion already
286. 15:09forming outside the courtroom for the
287. 15:10sentencing for Chris Watts there's a lot
288. 15:13of media here and a few family friends
289. 15:24Madeline sent ammo I'm in Lyon at Weld
290. 15:28County Court for the sentencing hearing
291. 15:30for Chris Watts it's mostly reporters
292. 15:33with a few people who have been
293. 15:35following the case as well what to
294. 15:40expect from today's sentencing hearing
295. 15:42in a nutshell Shannon's family can speak
296. 15:45Chris Watson parents can speak Chris
297. 15:49Watts can speak judge hands down
298. 15:51sentence
299. 15:53Megan Lopez has treated a couple of
300. 15:56photos about the media presence outside
301. 15:58court wish we could see more pictures of
302. 16:00the court building just a wide shot to
303. 16:02give a sense of the whole area
304. 16:10then I tweet from Katie foodie
305. 16:12sentencing hearing for Chris Watts
306. 16:14Colorado man who pleaded guilty in
307. 16:16family killings set for 10:00 a.m. then
308. 16:21Katie foodie again around 40 people
309. 16:24including national media of lined up for
310. 16:26a courtroom seat this morning court
311. 16:28staff have prepared an overflow room
312. 16:30with video stream for those who can't
313. 16:32get in hashtag Chris Watts megan lopez
314. 16:36says she'll be tweeting from outside
315. 16:38court because no tweeting is allowed
316. 16:39inside court seems excessive an extreme
317. 16:42doesn't it well this happened to be the
318. 16:44same the same rule imposed in the Frazee
319. 16:50case no live tweeting megan lopez they
320. 16:54started letting people in the courtroom
321. 16:55no electronics are allowed inside jane
322. 17:01Kowalewski will be in there i'm going to
323. 17:03stay outside and tweet the proceedings
324. 17:05for people who don't have access to our
325. 17:07Denver Channel live stream then a tweet
326. 17:16from crime rocket Michael Roark reads
327. 17:18Frankie rusik statement on his behalf
328. 17:21Chris watch glances quickly up at him
329. 17:23and then back down to be honest you're
330. 17:26not even worth the time to pen this
331. 17:28paper why did you really think this was
332. 17:31your best option another tweet from
333. 17:35crime rocket after 15 minutes Shannon's
334. 17:38family are done Chris watch swallow
335. 17:41shakes head drums his foot on the floor
336. 17:46another tweet by crime rocket we hope he
337. 17:50embraces that moment to be given a life
338. 17:54sentence and I think that was a quote
339. 17:57from
340. 18:01the representative of the Watts family
341. 18:06another tweet by Crom rocket Chris watch
342. 18:10looks down swallows hard Franky choking
343. 18:13back tears while Rahl continues to read
344. 18:15his statement quote no one has the right
345. 18:18to take the life of another even someone
346. 18:21like you in quote hashtag TCR ace
347. 18:26another tweet from cram rocket Chris
348. 18:29Watts on the morning of the murders
349. 18:30called Primrose school to tell them the
350. 18:33girls wouldn't be enrolled anymore he
351. 18:35called a realtor to discuss the selling
352. 18:37of his house and he takes that his
353. 18:39girlfriend another tweet from prime
354. 18:43rocket a tuft of Bella's hay was found
355. 18:45on the heads of one of the oil tanks
356. 18:47scratches were found on Bella's buttocks
357. 18:51another tweet from crime rocket this is
358. 18:55quoting michael roark in quotes
359. 19:00he was seen from the neighbor's doorbell
360. 19:02camera going back and forth to struck
361. 19:04three times each time for each of the
362. 19:06bodies
363. 19:07end quote another creat another tweet
364. 19:12from crime rocket but of inappropriate
365. 19:16chuckling there this is perhaps the most
366. 19:19inhumane and vicious crime that I've
367. 19:21handled in thousands of cases in quote
368. 19:23from judge cop cow then after less than
369. 19:3045 minutes the court was in recess and
370. 19:33and that was it that was the end of the
371. 19:35sentencing trial what stood up and
372. 19:39walked in front of the court leaving
373. 19:42before anyone else were in kind of an
374. 19:45orange jumpsuit and spectacles
375. 19:52so from beginning to end the sentencing
376. 19:54hearing lost at less than 45 minutes a
377. 19:57total of about six people spoke
378. 19:59including Cindy watts a representative
379. 20:02on behalf of Ronnie Watts Frank rusik
380. 20:04Michael Roark reading Frankie rusik
381. 20:07statement
382. 20:08sandy rusik a brief 15-second statement
383. 20:12by Chris waters legal representative and
384. 20:15then a delineation of the evidence by
385. 20:19the district attorney which lasted about
386. 20:21ten minutes throughout the proceedings
387. 20:23watts drummed his foot on the floor and
388. 20:25appeared to struggle to contain his
389. 20:27emotions he breathed heavily but made no
390. 20:32sound and repeatedly called his lip and
391. 20:35bettered at one point while his father
392. 20:37speaking I believe the single tear
393. 20:39streamed down his cheek at the end when
394. 20:43Judge koepcke asked him if he wished to
395. 20:45say anything what's answered softly no
396. 20:47sir his legal representative spoke
397. 20:50briefly on his behalf saying that he was
398. 20:52truly sorry what was unreal was the
399. 20:56mismatch between the crime the district
400. 20:57attorney and the judge were describing a
401. 21:00vicious calculated monstrous Act and the
402. 21:03demean of the defendant passive
403. 21:06voiceless trying his best to be
404. 21:08emotionless as if a lack of emotion
405. 21:11under these circumstances was some sort
406. 21:14of virtue when he rose and walked out of
407. 21:17the packed Court watch looked down not
408. 21:19making eye contact with anyone not his
409. 21:21mother not his father welcome to a
410. 21:25living hell will Nicole Kissinger
411. 21:29testify and this is a tweet from Jays
412. 21:34for justice I just got word that Nicole
413. 21:36Kissinger will be making a statement at
414. 21:38the sentencing tomorrow another tweet
415. 21:43from Ashleigh Banfield Kris Watts has
416. 21:45now been led out of the courtroom after
417. 21:47hearing his life sentences for murdering
418. 21:50his family in Colorado this summer he
419. 21:53said nothing nor did he seem to even
420. 21:55shed a tear during the victims impact
421. 22:02and then I provided links to the press
422. 22:07conference and the autopsy reports and
423. 22:10finally I provided the following
424. 22:12analysis of Monday's hearing there were
425. 22:17a few things that were downright weird
426. 22:19about the hearing no actual witnesses
427. 22:22testified only family members and
428. 22:24although each statement was emotional
429. 22:26and tugged at the heartstrings he did
430. 22:28precious little to advance the narrative
431. 22:30of the Watts case walk did that himself
432. 22:33in a 10 minute or so summary in which he
433. 22:36provided a few very few insights into
434. 22:39the case he mentioned Bella biting her
435. 22:42tongue and fighting for a life a tuft of
436. 22:44hair snagged on the side of the thief's
437. 22:47edge and stretch marks on her buttocks
438. 22:49incurred when she was forced into the
439. 22:50tank what is more interesting in the
440. 22:53sentencing hearing wasn't what was
441. 22:55mentioned but what was left out nothing
442. 22:58about time of death whatsoever no one
443. 23:01close to the Watts family in Colorado
444. 23:03testified for or against him the thais
445. 23:06didn't appear to be in court
446. 23:08neither did Nicole you Toft or Nicole
447. 23:10Kissinger just as a small aside to this
448. 23:14analysis I did see a photo of Nicole who
449. 23:18talked with Neil ethnical Atkinson with
450. 23:21he died kind of a purple color
451. 23:29so this image appeared very late in the
452. 23:33aftermath to the the sentencing and this
453. 23:39this image that seems to confirm that
454. 23:41Nicole Atkinson was present at the
455. 23:45sentencing I did find it very weird that
456. 23:49the press didn't seem to get any photos
457. 23:52of anyone of interest at the sentencing
458. 23:56which I think was part of the sort of
459. 23:58demand of the of the sentencing judge
460. 24:04although this was the case it does seem
461. 24:06kind of extraordinary that given the
462. 24:08high-profile nature of this case none of
463. 24:11the sort of members of the public were
464. 24:14really photographed and this brings us
465. 24:17to the final concluding sentence from
466. 24:20the review of November 19th in fact the
467. 24:26families appear to be ushered into court
468. 24:27via private entrance and I should out
469. 24:30privately - it was all committed all
470. 24:33conducted with seamless precision the
471. 24:35crowds roared afterwards justice is
472. 24:38served
473. 24:40thank you for listening
474. 24:49it's been alluded to this morning but
475. 24:51the defendant was certainly eligible for
476. 24:53the death penalty in this case under the
477. 24:55existing law in the state of Colorado as
478. 24:58you heard Shannon's family strongly
479. 25:00opposed my office seeking the death
480. 25:02penalty and being bound to the Grimm of
481. 25:04criminal justice system for the next
482. 25:06several decades that's in large part as
483. 25:09you've heard why we have reached the
484. 25:10agreement that we have for lives were
485. 25:13lost at the hands of the defendant on
486. 25:15August 13th for reasons that we will
487. 25:17never fully understand nor will we know
488. 25:19in the end the rusik family was much
489. 25:22more merciful towards him than he was
490. 25:25towards his wife his daughters and his
491. 25:27unborn son prison for the remainder of
492. 25:31his life is exactly where he belongs for
493. 25:34murdering his entire family thank you
494. 25:37are you seeking 91 days to file a
495. 25:40request for a restitution I am your
496. 25:42honor please I'll grant that request mr.
497. 25:46Woltz will you be speaking on behalf of
498. 25:48your client thank you good morning miss
499. 25:52Farrell
500. 25:57good morning Your Honor mr. Watts has
501. 25:59asked us to share this morning that he
502. 26:01is devastated by all of this and
503. 26:04although he understands that words are
504. 26:06hollow at this point he is sincerely
505. 26:09sorry for all of this thank you Thank
506. 26:13You mr. Watts açaí indicated when we
507. 26:18began you have the right to make a
508. 26:19statement if you choose to would you
509. 26:22like to make a statement thank you
510. 26:42[Music]
511. 26:59you
512. 27:02[Music]
513. 27:13you