Was Aileen Wuornos Given A Fair Trial? | Snapped | Felony Files — Transcript

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1. 0:03To soften Aileen's sentencing for the
2. 0:05Mallory murder, the defense tries to
3. 0:07show that a traumatic past warrants a
4. 0:10life sentence for Wournos instead of the
5. 0:12death penalty.
6. 0:13Psychologist Dr. Elizabeth McMahon spent
7. 0:16many hours with Wournos. She said
8. 0:19Wournos and her brother were raised by
9. 0:21an abusive grandfather.
10. 0:22They wish they could take them out in
11. 0:24the backyard and shoot them.
12. 0:26Um, hang them from trees. That they were
13. 0:28more trouble than they were worth.
14. 0:30Aileen's mental health finally came up
15. 0:32during the penalty phase.
16. 0:34Which the defense said was caused by
17. 0:36childhood trauma.
18. 0:37Ms. Wournos is probably one of the most
19. 0:39primitive people I've seen outside of an
20. 0:40institution.
21. 0:41But that backfired in a big way.
22. 0:44Barry Wournos
23. 0:45Her own brother testified at the trial
24. 0:48about the family life.
25. 0:49So what we saw in the courtroom was
26. 0:52Barry Wournos sit up there and basically
27. 0:56call his sister a liar.
28. 0:58Well, I would say it was uh
29. 1:00a normal lifestyle. We were pretty uh
30. 1:03pretty straight straight narrow family.
31. 1:06He said there was no child abuse. He did
32. 1:09not support her stories of everything
33. 1:11that had gone on in the household.
34. 1:14Very little trouble in the family.
35. 1:16But he testified for the prosecution.
36. 1:20You don't often hear that.
37. 1:22To hear somebody sit up there and say
38. 1:24that about a family member, that was one
39. 1:26of the most chilling moments in my
40. 1:30crime reporting years.
41. 1:33Why Barry did this doesn't make sense to
42. 1:34me, but it doesn't fit in the pattern
43. 1:36and the information we had about her
44. 1:38childhood.
45. 1:40It may be the fact that Barry may have
46. 1:41known more than he claimed. He was just
47. 1:43ashamed of his family history.
48. 1:45So now the jury has new witness
49. 1:47testimony. Now they have to take this
50. 1:49information and decide whether Aileen
51. 1:51Wournos lives or dies.
52. 1:53By warrant of the governor of the state
53. 1:55of Florida, you,
54. 1:57Carol Warners, be electrocuted until you
55. 2:00are dead. And may God have mercy upon
56. 2:03your court.
57. 2:06The jury that convicted Wuornos on
58. 2:07Monday Thursday recommended that she be
59. 2:10sent to the electric chair instead of
60. 2:12life in prison.
61. 2:13Do you have anything to say?
62. 2:15And I was framed.
63. 2:17I was tortured.
64. 2:19I wasn't surprised she was sentenced to
65. 2:21death, but it's still a sobering moment.
66. 2:24It was probably the right thing all
67. 2:26those far as I'm concerned. Life without
68. 2:28parole would have been appropriate.
69. 2:30Why did this jury find you guilty?
70. 2:32I think it's the media coverage.
71. 2:35Do you know it wasn't easy to sentence a
72. 2:39person to death.
73. 2:41There was a lot of tears, but there was
74. 2:45nothing in question.
75. 2:47She had a tough life,
76. 2:50but not an excuse for murder.
77. 2:56When you look back at Ms. Wuornos' case,
78. 2:59we see error after error after error at
79. 3:01every stage of these proceedings. And I
80. 3:03don't think we ought to go forward with
81. 3:05executions
82. 3:07where the process wasn't fair, and we
83. 3:09can't be confident that the outcome was
84. 3:12reliable.
85. 3:13How Aileen Wuornos arguably did not get
86. 3:15a fair trial is absurd. And I'm now a
87. 3:17defense attorney,
88. 3:19and I know what critical errors are.
89. 3:22They did not occur in that case.
90. 3:25The jury chose to sentence someone to
91. 3:27death who should have not been sentenced
92. 3:29to death.
93. 3:30You had media influence infecting the
94. 3:32trial. The edited confession tape, deals
95. 3:35with Hollywood producers, Tyris'
96. 3:37questionable testimony,
97. 3:39the prosecution being allowed to bring
98. 3:40in the other murders, and a defense team
99. 3:43who was way in over their head.
100. 3:45Do you think she deserves the death
101. 3:46penalty?
102. 3:46I certainly do.
103. 3:47This is not what the trial should have
104. 3:48been about.
105. 3:50This was a perversion of justice.