Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Chaos in the Courtroom - full transcript

- After a shocking mistrial,

- After a shocking mistrial,
Quinton Tellis will stand

trial for the second time
on September 24th, 2018

for the murder
of Jessica Chambers.

- The evidence won't say
he did this, you know.

And I believe it
with all my heart.

- On December 6, 2014, the
19-year-old was burned alive.

Investigators searched
for a suspect for 14 months

before charging 27-year-old
Quinton Tellis

with her murder.

In October of 2017,



after nearly two days
of deliberations

and two false verdicts due
to confusion among the jurors,

a mistrial was declared.

Prosecutors immediately
vowed to retry Tellis,

but there was drama before
the new trial even begins.

- This is a motion for a recusal

of the district attorney.

- Darla Palmer
accuses DA John Champion

of prosecutorial misconduct
and ethical violations.

- There's no way this person
produced an articulate sound.

- And all you could hear
was "ack."

- I know that
he's going to be innocent.

- Free Quint!

- Free Quint!
Free Quint!



- There's no winners
because Jessica's still gone.

- You know, the fact of it is,

they deliberated,
they couldn't reach a verdict,

and now we're gonna have
to come back and do it again.

- Will you do that?

- Absolutely, we will
absolutely retry this case.

I have no regrets whatsoever.

Obviously, seven people
believed us anyway.

- I definitely want him retried.

I want Jessica to have justice.

- I mean, Batesville,
Mississippi,

it's gonna always be remembered
that Jessica Chambers

was murdered
in Courtland, Mississippi.

Who wants to be
remembered for that?

- You know, it's just taking
a toll on the whole community

because it's breaking
the community up.

- Free Quint!

- I've been following

this divisive case
for four years now,

sat through the first
emotional trial,

and now, three months before
the retrial was to begin,

a bombshell
from the defense team.

- Explosive allegations tonight

against north Mississippi's
top prosecutor.

New court filing
claims DA John Champion

tried to coerce a witness
before the upcoming retrial

in the death
of Jessica Chambers.

- This new filing
asks for Champion

to be thrown
off the case altogether.

- It all started when defense
attorney Darla Palmer

got a call from an inmate she
represents named Jalen Caudle,

who claims the district
attorney asked him to testify

against Tellis
in the upcoming retrial.

- In exchange for leniency
in his own case.

- If Jalen Caudle
is telling the truth

that John Champion
wanted him to lie

at Quinton Tellis' retrial,

then the district attorney
is creating evidence,

which is both unethical
and illegal,

to fix the biggest problem
with the prosecution's case,

that Jessica apparently
named her killer as Eric.

After Jalen Caudle testified,

John Champion took the stand
to answer the allegations.

- In April of 2018,
did you receive information

from another attorney
about Mr. Tellis?

- I did.

I was advised that Quinton
Tellis had told Jalen Caudle

that Jessica Chambers
had called him Eric

as kind of a pet name.

- If it were deemed to be true,

would Quinton Tellis making
that statement be a big deal?

- It would be a huge deal.

I did not believe him.

I felt like Mr. Caudle

was probably looking for help
on his case,

and I just did
not believe it at all.

- I've heard no evidence
in this case that would lead me

to believe that there's been
any misconduct that would

prejudice Mr. Tellis' case.

This case will proceed for trial

beginning on September the 24th.

- If the judge had removed
Champion from the case,

the reputation of a 25-year
career district attorney

would have been destroyed.

If Jessica said Eric,
Quinton's charged,

his sister has
"Eric" tattooed on her hand.

What are the chances?

That is too much
of a coincidence.

Social media went crazy.

So I asked Laquinta
what's up with the tattoo?

So that's somebody
you used to date?

- That's somebody from my past.

We both got each other's name
tattooed on us,

I mean, this tattoo has been
on my hand, I know,

almost six, maybe seven years.

- Is he still around?

- He's been out the picture
many years ago.

- And would he be one
of the Erics or Dereks

that the police looked at
here in Panola County?

- No, ma'am, he wouldn't be

because he's not even from here.

- Jessica trusted
too much in everybody.

She always wanted to see good
in everybody, you know.

I hope they picked a jury

that don't know nothing
about the case and let them

just hear the evidence
and try it that way.

That's where you--where you
know you got a fair judgment

wherever, you know, but that
will never happen, you know.

- I don't know how they're
gonna be able to do that.

- They can't 'cause
of the justice systems.

Everything's backwards.
- It is.

- A murderer's got more rights
than me and you do.

- Yeah, I told you
I loved this picture of him

because I knew that he was
looking at you and smiling.

- The justice system
is terrible.

It's not a fair justice
system in Panola County.

- That's right.

- The jury for the retrial

will be sequestered
like the first trial,

but this time, they'll be
bused in from another county

120 miles away from Batesville.

- It's day one,

back in Batesville for
the retrial of Quinton Tellis.

All the same players
are going to be

back in the courtroom
in a few minutes:

the same judge,
the same defense attorneys,

the same prosecutors,
the same courtroom,

but the jury, of course,
is different.

Now, the prosecution
has given notice

that there'll be some
new witnesses,

including
a speech language pathologist,

who's probably gonna testify
that Jessica Chambers

could not enunciate
and say the words

that the first responders
thought they heard,

particularly the name Eric
as the person who did this.

- I will recognize
the state of Mississippi

for opening statement.

- Good morning.

We want you to come up here
having no agenda,

having no bias, being fair
to Quinton Tellis,

and being fair
to Jessica Chambers.

You're gonna hear about
an intelligence analyst

during the course of this trial.

Every bit of that information

that was brought in
by the sheriff's department

was sent to this
intelligence analyst,

and he compiled records
upon records

on each of these
different suspects.

Ultimately, every one of them
were excluded as suspects.

I want you to be
observant and listen,

because I know based
on the evidence that's gonna be

put before you that
you're gonna have plenty

of information to find him
guilty of capital murder

beyond a reasonable doubt.

Thank you.

- The court recognizes
Miss Palmer

for opening statement
by the defense.

- Good morning.

December 6, 2014.

Minutes after Miss Jessica
walked towards trained people

who were standing and kneeling
as close to her

even closer than
what I am to you now,

and she told these
first responders one name,

and that name was Eric.

Now, don't get distracted
by state witnesses

that say Jessica could not have
possibly said that on that day.

Guess what?
They weren't there.

It's never gonna change
that Eric did this,

and we will ask that you find
Quinton not guilty as a result.

Thank you.

- My expert opinion is,

it would be impossible
to make sounds in any way.

- You don't do
medical diagnoses.

- Do people have
a reason to lie?

- They do,
'cause they're guilty.

- When his sister got up there,

she made a fool out of him.

- She kept telling me,
"I'm gonna die."

- I have found,

- I have found,
in my experience,

that national attention
in Mississippi

always turns to race.

- It's not about that.

It's about the death
of a 19-year-old

at the hands of an evil monster.

- I just hate everybody trying

to make it a black-and-white
thing, you know.

It ain't that way,
shouldn't be that way.

Murder is murder
regardless of who it is.

- Like many aspects of this
case, there's division.

There are people who believe
Quinton Tellis is guilty

and those who believe he is
the wrong guy on trial.

Like last year,
Jessica's mother, Lisa,

will be
the state's first witness.

She has to relive
this whole ordeal again.

I've got a feeling the attorneys

will be more aggressive
this time around.

- Do you know that she had
some problems with drug use?

- That she had smoked weed,
yes, ma'am.

- She had been admitted
to some type of rehab.

Do you agree with that?

- Um, yeah, if you want
to put it like--

but not for drugs, yeah.

- This would have been
around the time of her death.

- Ma'am, I can't give you
an exact date.

- Were you also aware
that she had been involved

in selling marijuana?
- No.

- You didn't know that?
- No.

- Okay, thank you.

I tender the witness,
Your Honor.

- Like my mama always told me,

if you hang around
a barbershop long enough,

you'll get a haircut.

You hang around dopeheads long
enough, you're gonna do dope.

- The prosecution is going
to have to get past

their biggest weakness
in the case if they want

a conviction,
which is that around 10:00,

first responders
heard Jessica say,

"Eric set me on fire.
Eric did this."

So in order to do that,

the state calls a new expert
witness, a speech pathologist.

She's expected to cast doubt
on whether Jessica

would have been capable
of naming her killer.

- Could you tell the jury
a little bit

about what is speech
language pathology?

- Speech language pathology
is the assessment and treatment

for individuals
from birth to death

that have
communication disorders.

- If the lungs are affected,
say by fire,

would that affect the ability
to make a understandable sound?

- It would because you have to
have the breath pressure first,

so if the lungs are damaged,
they're not going

to be elastic enough
to take in the amount, the air,

to allow that to push
on through the vocal folds.

- Did you form an opinion as to
whether or not Jessica Chambers

would be able
to make articulate sounds?

- My expert opinion is that,
given the severity

of what I saw, it would be
impossible for her--

for this person to make
individual sounds in any way.

- Tender the witness,
Your Honor.

- Dr. Higdon, is it your
opinion that on the date

in question,
it would have been impossible

for Miss Chambers
to say the word "Eric"?

- There is no way this person
produced an articulate sound

from very soon
after this burn started.

- But you indicated
in your testimony

to the district attorney's
office, Dr. Higdon,

that you don't
do medical diagnoses.

- Speech language pathologists
are not MDs.

They don't do medical diagnoses.

- Tender the witness,
Your Honor.

- I don't think
that Dr. Higdon

made an impression on the jury.

I would not have thought,

"Okay, wow, Jessica Chambers
could never have said that,"

after hearing her testimony.

- Would you state
your name for the record?

- Cole Haley.

- Mr. Haley, did officers with
the Courtland Fire Department

respond to Herron Road
for the car fire?

- Yes, sir.

When I got to her,
she was walking towards me,

her arms outstretched

saying, "Help, help me,
help me."

Not loud, but I could understand

she was saying
"help me."

- She was attempting to speak,
is that correct?

- Attempting,
it was very garbled,

but she said,
"Somebody set me on fire."

She kept telling me, you know,
"I'm gonna die."

- Tender the witness,
Your Honor.

- All right, you may cross.

- Good afternoon, Mr. Haley.

- Good afternoon.

- You're not saying that
you could not understand

the things that Jessica
was saying to you.

- No, she was saying,
"Help, help, help me."

I could understand that.

- You testified that she
had said, "I'm gonna die."

You understood that?

- Yes, ma'am.

- Jessica saying,
"I'm gonna die,"

is a new statement
from Cole Haley

that he did not mention
in the first trial.

- Describe her breathing to us.

- The more we talked to her,

the more difficult it became
for her to speak.

It would get more breathy.

- Did you, in fact, make out
what you thought was a name?

- I did.

It was like, "He--he--Heric."

It wasn't just like, "Jessica,
who did this to you?" "Eric."

That was not the case.

- At the first trial,
Daniel Cole seemed certain

that Jessica clearly
said the name Eric.

- I did hear,
"Eric did this to me.

Eric set me on fire."

That's what I heard.

- What is your name?
- Will Turner.

- Were you able to hear
what she was saying?

- All you could hear
was "ack, ack."

Just--she was trying
to get something out,

but I couldn't hear.

- Some of them appeared

that they had maybe
been coached,

but no matter how they tried
to make it sound,

it still sounded like
she had said Eric.

- I do not believe she said
her name was Jessica Chambers.

I do not believe she said Eric.

- Eric is nowhere close
to Quinton.

- You've got a great distrust
among all of them.

Are they really framing him?

Can we trust our cops anymore?

It has very much
turned to a situation

where this town
no longer trusts each other.

- I can't call my sister

- I can't call my sister
every week and talk to her.

Jessica's story
was not finished.

I pray every day, every
morning, noon, and night,

that she gets justice,

and I feel that she
absolutely deserves it.

- Today marks day two of the
retrial of Quinton Tellis.

- Well, this year, the
prosecution has given notice

that there will be
some new witnesses.

One of them is Sherry Flowers,
who says she picked up

a man that night not too far
from the crime scene.

The prosecution plans to suggest

that it was Quinton Tellis
she picked up,

which would fit into their
timeline establishing

Quinton's whereabouts the
night Jessica was set on fire.

- Miss Flowers, when you left
your house, what did you see?

- I saw a person walking.

- Did that individual
say anything to you?

- Well, he wanted to know
which direction I was going,

and I asked him where
he was trying to go.

And he told me he heard

his aunt's house
had caught on fire.

- Were you okay
giving him a ride?

- I was.

- And was it a African-American
or Caucasian male?

- African-American.

- And you didn't know
this person, correct?

- No.

- And why didn't you come
forward to law enforcement?

- I just--I couldn't
remember the person,

and it felt like
it was irrelevant.

- Your Honor,
I tender the witness.

- Cross.

- You've not felt compelled
to tell this story to anyone.

What brought it now?
Why now?

- I was questioned now.

- Have you been threatened?
- No.

- Has anyone promised you
anything for your testimony?

- No.

- You have one son
that's been incarcerated?

- Yes.

- Have you been
promised anything

in regard to your son?
- No, I haven't.

- You don't know Quinton
Tellis personally, do you?

- No, I don't.

- We were expecting the
prosecution was going to say,

"And was that man
Quinton Tellis?"

But no one ever said that.

- We stand together
in the name of Jesus.

- Yes, God.
- Jesus.

- We're not finna to pray evil,

but we sure enough
finna pray for justice.

- Amen! Amen!

- When I think
I can't take another step,

I get another burst of energy,
you know, and I think,

"Thank you, Lord,
somebody's praying."

- All right, you may
call your next witness.

- Dr. William Hickerson.

- Mr. Hickerson,
were you contacted

regarding a young female
named Jessica Chambers?

- Yes, sir, we felt
at that time that the burns

that she had sustained were such

that she was not able
to survive that injury.

All of this, this that looks
white, third-degree burns.

It's where that outer layer
of skin has literally

been pulled back like a glove.

- And that torso
becoming like leather

and not having any elasticity,

would that affect her ability
to speak in volume?

- Yes, sir.

- In your expert opinion,
do you believe

that Jessica Chambers
could have been speaking?

- Not with what I see here, sir.

- I tender the witness.

- All right,
you may cross-examine.

- Dr. Hickerson took the stand
just like last year,

but this time, his
testimony focused on Jessica's

absolute inability
to enunciate and speak,

and this time,

Dr. Hickerson was far more
adamant in his opinion.

- Good afternoon,
Dr. Hickerson.

There are ten persons
who heard her say a name

as well as,
"Eric set me on fire."

Would you change your opinion
if those individuals said

that that's what they heard?

- No, ma'am, in this case,
I wouldn't.

For those individuals,
there's a shock phase as well.

They're gonna try their best
to hear anything.

She has the desire,
but the ability to do so,

I don't think,
is going to happen.

- Despite what all of the other
reports have indicated.

- I'm trying to be honest.

My mama didn't raise no liar.

- You got two expert witnesses

that have been doing
this stuff well over

40 years that tell you she was
not saying coherent words.

- On day three of the retrial,

the prosecution has asked
to take the jury

on a nighttime field trip,

something they didn't do
at the first trial.

What the prosecution wants to do

is reconstruct the crime scene,

bringing the fire trucks
that were there that night,

sirens, engines running,
to create the noise level.

- The noise is a factor.

I mean, it's total
confusion out there.

You cannot hear out there.

- I've been informed,
the defense have some motions.

- We do not believe that
it's possible to recreate

the situation or to recreate it
substantially

to be of any benefit to a jury

who went out
and witnessed this recreation.

- We're recreating the noises

from the actual vehicles
that were there that night,

and we certainly contend
that that is relevant.

- Objection is noted
and be overruled.

- Y'all wanna fire them both up?

- So they go out there.

It does appear to be ridiculous.

And the judge appeared
to have regretted that decision

because he cut it short.

- Apparently, the judge
realized the difficulty

in recreating the scene
for the jury that night.

To me, cutting off
Alton Peterson in the middle

of the cross examination
right in front of the jury

was unbelievable and totally
unfair to the defense.

I've never seen this before.

- It's day four

- It's day four
in Quinton Tellis' retrial.

But first, the judge
is expected to address

his own actions last night
when he abruptly cut off

the jury field trip
without giving the defense

a chance to cross-examine
at the crime scene.

The procedural matters

that went on there last night
that I stopped,

I want you to understand that
that is 100% my responsibility.

That is 100% my fault.

- The defense attorneys
were worried

that jurors would think
they did something wrong,

but with the judge's
instruction to the jury,

hopefully that issue
was taken care of.

And although the judge

takes responsibility
for his actions,

perhaps it was a mistake

to allow any testimony
at all that night.

The sole purpose
should have been

to recreate the noise
level at the crime scene.

- With that, you may
call your next witness.

Mr. Champion.

- What is your name?

- Scott Meadows.

- Scott, where are you employed?

- I'm special agent for
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,

Firearms, and Explosives, ATF.

- And did you participate
in the interviews

in this particular case?
- I did, yes, sir.

- Do you believe that Quinton
was being deceptive purposely?

- I do indeed, yes, sir.

- Do people have a reason to lie

or be deceptive?

- They do.

- And what would that reason be?

- Because they're guilty.

- Mr. Peterson,
you may cross-examine.

- So he was visibly upset
when you tried

to implicate him
in Miss Chambers' death.

- He was visibly upset when
we showed him the evidence.

- Is that really what
you were trying to do?

- We just wanted the truth,

as we told him
time and time again.

- A man named Jerry King
testified last year

that he found the keys,

but this year, we're told,
he's not going to testify.

The prosecution says
they couldn't find him,

but we've since learned
he was, in fact,

in Panola County
during the retrial.

I'm Mary Tiner.

Jerry was here yesterday,
y'all, and he came

to our little girl's
birthday party.

I think they chose not to find
Jerry because they just--

they didn't want his testimony
this time

because of the substance abuse.

I don't believe Jerry

could probably keep
his story straight, honestly,

because he's just
not a reliable witness.

- Good morning.
- Good morning.

- What type of profile
were you able to generate

from these keys?

- It was a mixture of DNA,

a mixture
involving multiple people.

- How many individuals
are in the mixture

that you found on the keys?

- The keys and the keychains
and the lanyard

did give a mixture
of at least four individuals.

- Okay.

What was your conclusion
concerning Quinton Tellis

when you performed
the male-only DNA testing?

- Quinton Tellis
could not be excluded

as a potential contributor.

- If your DNA can't be excluded,

it doesn't mean you're included.

DNA from four men
is on Jessica's keys,

and because there are
other males on the keys,

Tellis' DNA
cannot be singled out.

- Cross.

- He cannot be excluded
as a potential contributor.

Does this not necessarily mean
that his DNA was on the keys?

- That's right.

I can't ever say
that it is his DNA.

- On the first type of testing,
the mixed autosomal STR DNA,

statistically, that type
of testing is stronger.

- Yes, it is
statistically stronger.

- Okay.

And in this particular testing,

Quinton Tellis was excluded.

- Correct.

- This was a point
for the defense,

because the state could
no longer get up in summation

and say Quinton Tellis' DNA
was on those keys

'cause their own expert
said she couldn't say that.

- Knowing Jessica
as I knew Jessica,

she would be so excited
over all this attention.

But thank God she can't
see what's going on,

and thank God there's
no sadness in heaven.

- I wish they would
just let my brother go,

because he didn't do it.

I'm just lost for words.

- I just hope they do right.

- It's day five in

- It's day five in
the retrial of Quinton Tellis.

Paul Rowlett,
the intelligence analyst

who testified
at the first trial,

walks the jury through
Jessica's last day.

He summarizes
the prosecution's theory.

They allege that
Quinton Tellis somehow

incapacitated Jessica
in her car,

thought he had killed her,

and needed
to get rid of the evidence.

According to their timeline,
at 7:26, Quinton Tellis

drives Jessica in
her car to the crime scene.

Soon after, Sherry Flowers
picks Tellis up and drops him

off near his sister's house,
where he gets her truck.

At 7:50, he pulls into his
driveway and gets a gas can.

Two minutes later, at 7:52,
Tellis pulls

out of the driveway,
returns to the crime scene,

and sets Jessica
and her car on fire.

His nickname is Big Mike.

He was one of Quinton Tellis'
alibi witnesses.

Quinton said he had borrowed
Big Mike's truck

on the evening
of December 6, 2014.

- Do you know Quinton Tellis?

- On December the 6th of 2014,

which would be the day that
Jessica died, or was burned,

do you remember that day?

- Okay.

- Do you remember what time
you left going to Nashville?

- So if Quinton Tellis
told investigators

that he borrowed
your truck Saturday night

and drove up to meet
Jessica Chambers in your truck,

would he be telling the truth
or would he be telling a lie?

- Nothing further, Your Honor.

- Cross.

- Good morning, Mr. Sanford.
- Good morning.

- Did you see Quinton Tellis
on December 6?

- That morning.

- You saw him that morning?

And when did you
come back from Nashville?

- That Sunday evening
after the game.

- The next day.

- Big Mike, who was the
big hole in Quinton's alibi.

Once he said
he was with Big Mike

and then that story changed,
that became a big deal.

- Do you solemnly swear
or affirm the testimony

you're about to give regarding
this case is the truth?

- Did you know Jessica Chambers?

- Yes.
- You did, okay.

How did you know her?

- I'd see her uptown,

give her a ride
and bring her home

because I knew
she was from Courtland.

- Okay, back on
December 6th of 2014,

where did you go?

- Well, I was at the house.

Big Mike came and got me
around about 11:00,

and we rode around
and ended up in the sandbox.

- And is it kind of
a hangout spot?

- Yes, ma'am.
- Okay.

How long would you say you were
over there at the sandbox?

- Well, all day.

He brought--he dropped me off
when it was getting dark.

- I would tender the witness,
Your Honor.

- Cross.

- Are you aware that Big Mike's
on video at the store

at 2:00 in the afternoon
by himself?

- No.

- The jury's got that.
- Okay.

- If the jury looks at
the video and sees him on video

on Saturday not with you,
what are they gonna think?

- Well, he probably left
and went to go to the store,

but we was together
all that day.

- Okay.
- I have no reason to lie.

- You don't?
- No.

- Nothing further.

- Family members, they'll do
anything to help is the belief

so that you can't really
trust a family member.

They need to be put to the
test of a cross examination

to challenge
what they're saying,

and that's what
John Champion did.

Not only did he challenge her,

he put on a witness
with affirmative proof

against Shaneeka.

- When his sister got up there,

I mean,
she made a fool out of him.

Was she gonna get up there

and say, "No, they
all lying. He was with me."

And they had Big Mike
on camera, you know.

But what do you say.

That's his sister.
I can't blame her.

I would have probably
done the same thing

if it'd been my brother.

- Well, following
the defense's case,

they're going to do
their closing arguments,

hopefully convincing
the jury to go their way.

I definitely got the impression

that the prosecution
learned from the last trial.

This time seemed to be
a little clearer making points

that they probably should
have made the last time.

- The state will recognize
the state of Mississippi

for a closing argument.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

you heard that first responders
responded to Herron Road

on December the 6th of 2014.

They responded to a car fire.

Not a single one of them
had a clue

what they were
about to embark on.

Jessica in shock?
Yes.

But those first responders
would have also been in shock.

And, absolutely,
did she want to communicate?

I have no doubt.

Jessica Chambers was just unable

to articulate
what she wanted to talk about.

Now, what do we know
about those keys?

Well, one, we know
those are keys

that belonged
to Jessica Chambers.

I'm not gonna sit here
and tell you

that DNA evidence
is 100% accurate.

What I can tell you

is that Quinton Tellis' DNA
cannot be excluded.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I contend to you

that we have proven
every element required

to prove him guilty
of capital murder

beyond a reasonable doubt.

- Miss Palmer?

- Thank you, Your Honor.

On Saturday, December 6, 2014,
nearly four years ago,

Miss Jessica
walked and she talked.

She said,
"Eric set me on fire."

Those are the facts.

Now, I know the state had
Dr. Hickerson there to testify,

but Dr. Hickerson
was not there.

The medical personnel was there.

The emergency responders,
the firefighters,

they were there.

And then we got Mrs. Rogers
from the Mississippi crime lab

that said the keys
excluded Quinton.

No DNA on the keys at all.

Where is Eric,
who she said did this?

There is reasonable doubt
in this case.

We ask that you find
Quinton Tellis not guilty.

- All right,
ladies and gentlemen,

I will now read you
the instructions of law.

- The jury instructions
are critical in this retrial.

Last year's jury was confused
by the judge's instructions.

The judge is being very careful
to make sure jurors understand

that they need to be unanimous
in their decision.

- The court instructs the jury
that all 12 of you must agree

on the verdict in order
to find the defendant guilty.

The court further instructs
the jury that, likewise,

all 12 of you must agree
on the verdict in order

to find the defendant
not guilty.

- How do you think
the trial went this time?

- Great.

I mean, I have
no complaints so far.

- Would you say that
you hope the jury

understands the instruction
this time?

- I'm leaning
toward a conviction,

but only slightly so.

- If he's guilty, I feel
so sorry for his mother.

I want justice
served for Jessica.

I want that
'cause I miss Jessica.

I miss her terribly.

- The jury's tired.

They're tired.

- Doing a peaceful protest.

We're just here for the support,

not only for Quint
but Jessica too.

- No one deserves
to die like that,

but they still need
to find the right killer.

- Well, the Quint I knew,

I don't think
he's capable of murder.

- I don't have nothing bad
to say about Tellis' family,

but all this standing outside
with signs up,

I mean, that's just showing
your ignorance, man.

Ignorant.

- I don't know how a parent
can go through this once,

and now they're
going through it another time.

- Today is day two
of jury deliberations.

We had about
4 1/2 hours yesterday,

but the question is, you know,
why do they need more time?

- Regardless of what
the verdict is today,

there's no winners.

If it's a guilty plea,
there's still no winners,

not even for our side
because Jessica's still gone.

- Just been a long,
drawn-out four years.

- Free Quint!
Free Quint!

- Hey, free Quint!

- They can protest all day long

as long as they do it
in a civil way.

- Obviously,
they're having some questions

or giving serious consideration
to all the testimony.

- Looks like y'all don't
feel like y'all are gonna

be able to reach a decision
in this case.

Is that the feeling of the jury?

- With that, I'm going

to declare a mistrial
in this case.

We'll be sending you home
very shortly.

- The jury was evenly split,

six guilty, six not guilty.

Two mistrials in two years.

I don't know what more
the prosecution can do.

The evidence is what it is.

- What else can we say?

What else can we do?

I think they put it
all on the table.

It was a much better
trial this time

with the prosecution.

I just don't know
what else could be done.

- You know, obviously,
I'm extremely disappointed.

I felt like, you know, we put
on a good case last time

and a much, much better
case this time.

- Will you try him again?

- I'm not gonna
say that here today.

We just got to sit down
and assess things.

- I want him to pay for Jessica.

I don't care.
I want him to pay for Jessica.

Definitely.

I have no doubt
that he's the one.

I feel it 100%.

- Hopefully, this will open
a lot of people eyes

on the prosecution and let them
know how this town really is.

- It was here nearly four
years ago that the case began

when Jessica and
her burning car were found.

Will there ever be
resolution in this case?

Will there ever be
justice for Jessica?

- The trial went
just like I knew it would.

I knew we wouldn't get justice.

They just could not get
that Eric out, you know.

They just could
not overcome that.

I don't see why they should
try it again, you know.

I mean, I think they'll
be wasting our time,

the DA's time,
the county's money.

You get the same results,
you know.

Right here, this is Jessica.

I see every day in my mind.

I miss most her smile.

The last day
I let her out at work,

she looked so beautiful.

I'll never forget it.

And she looked back
at me and she said,

"I'm doing better,
ain't I, Daddy?"

I said, "Yeah, you are, baby.

You're doing real good."

Just hurts so bad.

You don't realize
how bad you miss somebody

till they're gone.