Disgraced Page #10

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decided to--

or his lawyers decided for

him to plead guilty.

The change of plea

took only maybe ten minutes,

at most.

Carlton Dotson was never

even placed under oath.

The first thing that

is addressed is the

competency of the individual.

Everyone was asked about

his competency except him.

He is the most important person,

that we need to make sure

is competent on that day,

at that hour, at that minute,

at that second.

Why, in this case, did the judge

not ask him if he was competent?

Why did he not inquire of

his mental health history?

Why did he not ask him if

he was on any psychotropic

medications at the day that he

was giving his change of plea?

Why not ask him whether or

not he felt okay that day?

Is it affecting his ability to

understand and comprehend

what's going on?

The State is required

to read a factual allegation

against Carlton Dotson.

They must do that.

The judge asked that that

initially be done in this case,

at the change of

plea proceeding.

The lawyers for Carlton Dotson

said, no, we waive that reading.

So, he plead guilty and

judge accepted his plea.

[Irvin] A pre-sentence

investigation report

was ordered by the judge.

He said, "I want

it back in a week.

You're going to be

sentenced next week."

This was out of the ordinary.

Is it-is it adequate?

The judge thought it was.

[Kondelis]

I was...

Yeah, I would say

I was surprised.

I've seen the Probation

Department take six weeks

to do a pre sentence report

on it-- on shoplifting.

I was really shocked at the

way things evolved.

I hadn't seen it done

this way before.

This case had so much

going on and the sentencing

is probably five pages long,

which probably took

all of four minutes...

to have the whole proceeding.

[Segrest] Judge Strother came

back and assessed

a 35-year prison sentence

for murder.

I was a little befuddled.

I was a little flummoxed,

by the sentence.

I thought really it

should be higher.

[Kondelis]

Yeah. Well, yeah.

Again, you can make

of it what you want.

[Abel Reyna] We really felt that

Judge Strother would be fair.

We really felt that he would

consider everything.

I have nothing but praise

for Judge Strother.

He did what he felt like

was fair.

[Irvin] I find no comfort in

the outcome and apparently,

Carlton found no comfort in

the outcome because within

a matter of days of saying he

wouldn't appeal, he appealed.

He seeks an appeal.

He seeks an appeal.

Maybe that's the day that

he's thinking clearly.

And he persisted in

an appeal for years,

only to be rejected

at every turn.

Ineffective assistance of

counsel, is a legal term

which a person who is

being represented

is complaining about the

level of representation

that they received.

Carlton has given up his right

to appeal, so he doesn't have

the benefit of legal counsel.

It's hard for him to complain as

a layperson, so he's boxed in.

He can't even get a lawyer

appointed by the State of Texas,

to represent him in

making such a claim

because he gave up that right.

I think anyone on the outside

looking in, has to say,

"Oh my gosh, he gave up

everything.

He gave up everything."

He's not only being put away,

he is essentially being shut up.

[Perry] I would have loved to

have seen him get life,

but our court system is our

court system and the mere fact

that he is convicted as a

convicted murderer

and he is going to serve time in

prison beats the heck out of a

long trial and a not guilty

because one juror isn't sure.

[Segrest] We didn't hear

what people's version

of the truth was.

It doesn't necessarily

obscure the truth.

The truth is still

there somewhere.

[Irvin] People forget courts

are designed for public viewing

so we will know that our

system of justice is fair.

That's what they're

designed for.

The public got none of that.

What the public got in this

case was a result that

seemed to be... let me be

careful how I say it...

that some would be happy with.

Alumni, boosters, anyone

associated with those programs.

And people who did not want to

see their beloved university

or their beloved program hurt.

[Segrest] The risks of going

to trial and have all this

brought out and Lord knows

what the Baylor part

would have played into.

Would we have gone off

on a tangent on that?

Would that have become a

sideshow in the trial?

Would we have lost focus

on guilt, innocence,

on proper punishment?

Would it have been

Baylor on trial?

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure that we could

have kept it from that.

I have to believe that everyone

does what they're supposed to do

in good faith and

I have to believe

that that's what occurred

in this case.

No one knows why

this happened.

You know, I wish I did.

I wish I knew a motive.

We never really knew what

surrounded the

greater picture, why Carlton

would shoot Patrick.

[Dotson's grandmother]

...because he keeps saying "we".

When they first told me

that they thought

Carlton killed Patrick,

I was completely shocked.

I thought they were

truly best friends.

I always assumed it was Harvey,

just because of all the beef

and all the paranoia

and all the anxiety.

I mean, it was horrible.

I mean, Patrick was miserable.

He feared for his life.

[Okopnyi] Carlton may have

pulled the trigger,

but there may have been

other forces at work.

I still believe that

Harvey knows more

about what went on

than he's letting on.

If Patrick and Carlton

hadn't felt threatened

in the first place, the guns

wouldn't have been there.

Had the guns not been involved,

we wouldn't be missing

a Baylor basketball player

right now.

He would still be around,

he'd probably be in the

NBA right now, in fact.

I never had any altercations.

Like I said, the time I spent

with those guys was short.

I mean, I was only there maybe

a week, a week and a half

before the whole thing happened.

So, I don't... I don't know why.

[Kondelis]

No, never.

[Kondelis]

No, far from it,

far from it.

[Kondelis]

I'm not sure.

That's a question

I want to know too.

I want to know the

answer to that too.

[Fuller] At one particular

point in the investigation,

I got a call from an employee

at the Greyhound Bus station

and he asked if I would come by

and speak with him,

that he had found something

and he didn't know if it would

be part of my investigation.

I found that he had

a manila folder.

It had photographs in it of

Baylor basketball players.

Through my investigation, it

was revealed that Harvey Thomas'

cousin, Larry Johnson had

ridden the Greyhound bus

back to his home in Virginia.

[Abar] Prior to Patrick being

found, the coaching staff

gave me the money to purchase

a ticket and then I dropped

Larry off at the bus station.

I become concerned about why

Larry was asked to leave town

so quickly and why I was tasked

with putting him on a bus.

I prayed that it wasn't

because he had done something.

low dramatic music

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