transcript

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 3:
[02:41] Dillon was just very, very sweet. Everybody adored him. He'd sit in your lap and cuddle, and that's the way that I want to remember him.

Speaker 4:
[02:56] Amanda DeBerry always dreamed of having a family. What is your favorite photo?

Speaker 3:
[03:01] My favorite photo is this one, just because he looks so innocent, you know, just really the true face of innocence.

Speaker 4:
[03:09] Her baby boy, Dillon, and his big brother, Lucas, meant the world to her and to each other.

Speaker 3:
[03:15] When Dillon was born, I told Lucas, you know, this is our baby, and Lucas enjoyed Dillon.

Speaker 4:
[03:22] But in her effort to give her boys a safe and loving home, Amanda wound up losing Dillon and putting Lucas in the middle of a heartbreaking mystery that will change his life forever.

Speaker 3:
[03:36] Love you. Look at this one. Okay?

Speaker 4:
[03:41] She's only twenty-one, but Amanda has had to grow up pretty quickly.

Speaker 3:
[03:46] That one? Okay, put a circle around that one.

Speaker 4:
[03:48] And she admits to making mistakes along the way. You had your first baby at the age of sixteen.

Speaker 3:
[03:53] Yeah, I had Lucas at sixteen.

Speaker 4:
[03:55] Why was it important for you to have children at such a young age?

Speaker 3:
[03:59] My parents got divorced, and when I was like thirteen, I'm like, okay, well, I want to have a family.

Speaker 4:
[04:10] But that ideal family life never happened for Amanda. Instead, she found herself at age nineteen trapped in an abusive relationship with Lucas' father and pregnant with her third child.

Speaker 3:
[04:23] You know, all these goals and all these dreams, you know, and it was hard because I felt like I failed again.

Speaker 5:
[04:34] The biggest mistake is the mistake that I made.

Speaker 4:
[04:36] She was too embarrassed to tell her mother, Judy Tinsley.

Speaker 5:
[04:40] For whatever reason, I made my daughter feel like she couldn't come to me and say, hey mom, I've messed up, I'm pregnant again, I need help.

Speaker 4:
[04:52] Amanda sought refuge at a shelter for battered women here in Houston, Texas, and she decided to put the baby she was carrying up for adoption. When doctors put her on bed rest, the shelter urged her to have someone else care for the boys until she gave birth. It was a decision that will haunt her for the rest of her life.

Speaker 3:
[05:13] You know, I really thought when I put my kids into foster care and when I was giving the baby up for adoption, I was doing the smart thing, and it didn't turn out like that at all.

Speaker 6:
[05:26] Homes of St. Mark, may I help you?

Speaker 4:
[05:27] Amanda turned to the Homes of St. Mark.

Speaker 2:
[05:30] Are you interested in newborn adoption?

Speaker 4:
[05:33] A private foster care agency licensed by the state of Texas. The agency had what seemed to be an ideal solution. A couple with 17 years of experience as foster parents. Charles and Linda Forshee.

Speaker 7:
[05:51] Babies were always on me. It didn't matter. The little ones, the big ones. You know, they were showing love to you and you were showing love back. Ready, mama? Go.

Speaker 4:
[06:03] The Forshees had two sons who were adopted and over the years took in more than 90 foster children.

Speaker 8:
[06:10] Here, this is Julian.

Speaker 4:
[06:13] Why accept that many children into your home over all these years?

Speaker 7:
[06:17] Why not? It's the only answer I can give you. They needed a place and we had the room at the time.

Speaker 8:
[06:26] I think when we got married, we said we wanted a big family, didn't we?

Speaker 7:
[06:29] Yeah.

Speaker 8:
[06:29] So we had it.

Speaker 7:
[06:32] For us, it wasn't chaotic. This was normal.

Speaker 8:
[06:35] It was normal.

Speaker 4:
[06:37] Charles was a technician for Southwestern Bell. While Linda stayed home and took care of the children, the Forshays, once honored as foster parents of the year, seemed to be the answer to Amanda's prayers. When you saw them during the visits, did the boys seem okay?

Speaker 3:
[06:53] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[06:54] You thought your children would be safe in their care?

Speaker 3:
[06:56] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[06:58] But two months into the children's stay, there was trouble inside the Forshay home, the evening of June 21st, 2001. After Lucas and Dillon had gone to bed that night, Linda went into the room and found Dillon unconscious in his crib.

Speaker 8:
[07:16] So I picked him up and took him out in the front room and told Charlie something was wrong. And I happened to notice that he was a little blue around the lips. And Charlie took him and started CPR on him. I had a little boy that I put to bed and I went and checked him and he was not breathing. He was crying when he went to bed. My husband's got him on the floor trying to do CPR.

Speaker 4:
[07:45] The paramedics arrived quickly, but it was too late. By the time Amanda and her mother, Judy, were called to the hospital, Dillon had died.

Speaker 3:
[07:55] You know, they had all kinds of things hooked up to him and I went over there and I wanted to hold him, but I don't even think at that point I realized that he was dead.

Speaker 5:
[08:08] As I was running into the room, I said, Dillon, it's okay, grandma's here. We're going to get you out of here. And the nurse said, I'm sorry, you know, we've done everything we can. He's gone. And he was cold. He was so cold.

Speaker 4:
[08:30] Amanda and her mother were in shock.

Speaker 8:
[08:33] I'm sorry.

Speaker 4:
[08:35] And the Forshees say they were just as devastated.

Speaker 8:
[08:41] That night's been a nightmare, because it was like losing one of our own children. I'm sorry.

Speaker 7:
[08:49] I felt I lost a child that night. He was my child, and I lost him.

Speaker 4:
[08:57] Everyone wondered how Dillon could suddenly die one month shy of his second birthday. The unbearable answer came three months later when the autopsy report was released.

Speaker 9:
[09:09] They ruled it a fixie due to suffocation homicides.

Speaker 4:
[09:13] Dillon had been murdered, and Sergeant Bruce Williams says police knew who was responsible.

Speaker 9:
[09:19] We think Charles Forshee actually committed the murder.

Speaker 4:
[09:23] Charles Forshee, a man who devoted his life to taking care of children, was charged with an unthinkable crime based on the statement of an eyewitness to the murder. What did he say?

Speaker 3:
[09:36] He said, Mr. Charlie put the pillow on Dillon's face.

Speaker 4:
[09:40] Dillon's brother Lucas, who was only three at the time.

Speaker 3:
[09:44] And he hurt him and we had to come to the hospital.

Speaker 4:
[09:48] A little over a year later, the future of a 56-year-old man is in the hands of a now four-year-old boy. Lucas doesn't realize it yet, but he's about to become the state's star witness as Charles Forshee goes on trial for murder.

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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 3:
[13:12] I miss you, baby boy. Keep guiding mommy through her dreams. We love you and miss you so much. Today is Dillon's birthday, and we're gonna let all these balloons go. You hold that part and I'll hold this part. We're gonna say a prayer, and hope they all get to them. Are you ready?

Speaker 4:
[13:32] Amanda DeBerry's son, Dillon, would have turned three today.

Speaker 3:
[13:36] Everybody let him go.

Speaker 12:
[13:37] Let go, let go.

Speaker 3:
[13:40] Here we go.

Speaker 13:
[13:41] Off to Dillon.

Speaker 8:
[13:42] Happy birthday, Dillon.

Speaker 3:
[13:44] Today I'm just trying not to think about Charles Forshee.

Speaker 7:
[13:50] This is the room that the boys were in.

Speaker 4:
[13:52] Charles Forshee is the man Amanda believes is responsible for her son's death. He was Dillon's foster father.

Speaker 7:
[13:59] This is my leg monitor.

Speaker 4:
[14:01] Now he has been charged with his murder.

Speaker 7:
[14:04] For twelve hours a day, I'm tied to this house.

Speaker 4:
[14:08] And he's been waiting for over a year to go on trial.

Speaker 7:
[14:12] At my age, with what the charges are, if I go in jail, I probably won't come out.

Speaker 4:
[14:20] Forshee is fighting for his life because of what his other foster son, Lucas, said the night Dillon died.

Speaker 3:
[14:27] Lucas was just grabbing my shirt, and he was like, Mom, I have to tell you something. I have to tell you something. I have to tell you something.

Speaker 4:
[14:33] What did he say?

Speaker 3:
[14:34] He said, Mr. Charlie put the pillow on Dillon's face, and he hurt him and we had to come to the hospital.

Speaker 14:
[14:42] How old are you, Lucas?

Speaker 4:
[14:43] Lucas repeated his story the next day in this videotaped statement obtained exclusively by 48 Hours.

Speaker 14:
[14:52] Charlie lay on him. He lay down, and he put the pillow on his face, and the police took him to the hospital. Why was Charlie yelling at Dillon? Because he told him to lay down. We don't like that pillow for his face.

Speaker 4:
[15:14] And you believed him that very first time?

Speaker 3:
[15:17] Oh, yeah. Kids just don't say things like that off the top of their head.

Speaker 4:
[15:23] But kids do have wild imaginations though, Amanda.

Speaker 3:
[15:28] About monsters, about, you know, creepy things in their closet, not about someone they know walking into a room and hurting their best friend.

Speaker 15:
[15:42] I had a lot of fun.

Speaker 16:
[15:43] These were all my friends.

Speaker 15:
[15:46] I played with all these babies, took care of them.

Speaker 4:
[15:49] Forshee's sons, Richard, twenty-eight, and Brian, twenty-one, say he was a great father.

Speaker 15:
[15:55] He's been there through everything, thick and thin.

Speaker 4:
[15:56] A firm disciplinarian, but never physical.

Speaker 5:
[16:00] He has a stern voice. He has never raised a fist to us, never got spanked.

Speaker 8:
[16:06] You know, so many people, even at church, and that would tell us, oh, you've got a special gift. And everybody would say, oh, you're going to be rewarded in heaven, you're going to have your own special star. And I feel like, I don't know why we're going through this hell right now.

Speaker 10:
[16:29] We are left with a child who was clearly murdered. He did not die by accident. He was murdered.

Speaker 4:
[16:35] Prosecutor, Anshu Sunny Mitchell, says Forshee snapped that night because he was exhausted from working overtime, thirteen days straight. She says Forshee just couldn't cope with Dillon's crying and smothered him.

Speaker 10:
[16:49] Anybody's capable of snapping at any point. I mean, anything can change how you've been all along.

Speaker 4:
[16:58] One thing is undisputed. On the night of June 21st, 2001, Dillon and Lucas were rambunctious and refused to settle down. A third foster child was already asleep.

Speaker 7:
[17:11] Dillon was screaming and basically I figured Lucas was aggravating his brother.

Speaker 4:
[17:18] First, Linda tried several times to calm Dillon down. Then her husband went into the room and says he tried soothing the baby with a back rub.

Speaker 7:
[17:27] I put my hand in the middle of his back and was rubbing his back to calm him down and told him if he wanted to cry, cry in the pillow.

Speaker 4:
[17:34] How much pressure were you applying?

Speaker 7:
[17:37] Just put my hand on his back.

Speaker 4:
[17:39] But what Forshee told police that night was far more incriminating. His statement reads, I flipped him over onto his stomach. I then placed my hand on the middle of his back to hold him down. Dillon was trying to get up and I held him down. Forshee says Dillon was still crying and therefore very much alive when he left the room. Shortly after that, Linda found Dillon unconscious in his crib.

Speaker 8:
[18:05] Lucas was standing next to the bed with his hand in the baby's bed and he hurried up and jumped over the end of his bed and made a nosedive into the pillow. But Dillon didn't move. So I picked him up and took him out in the front room and told Charlie something was wrong.

Speaker 7:
[18:22] I laid him on the floor and started CPR and told her to call 911.

Speaker 4:
[18:28] Is it possible, Charlie, that you don't know your own strength? Is it possible that you lost your temper that night? Is it possible you manhandled the child?

Speaker 7:
[18:39] No. No. No. No.

Speaker 13:
[18:48] This is such a tough, tough case. You have a dead child and a wonderful man.

Speaker 4:
[18:52] Forshee has hired prominent defense attorney Stanley Schneider, who plans a defense that seems just too incredible to believe. He says Charles Forshee did not kill Dillon, but he knows who did. Dillon's brother Lucas. Are you telling me that this boy, who was three at the time, is capable of murder?

Speaker 13:
[19:16] We're not talking about murder. If someone caused the death, there's a possibility it was Lucas.

Speaker 4:
[19:22] His own brother.

Speaker 13:
[19:23] Yeah. And I don't think it was intentional. I don't think he realized what he was doing.

Speaker 4:
[19:28] The Forshees say that from the beginning of the boy's stay, they were concerned about Lucas' overly aggressive behavior. They knew Amanda had been physically abused by Lucas' father, and that Lucas had seen the violence.

Speaker 7:
[19:43] He has put pillows over his brother's head, pushed his brother's head into pillows.

Speaker 4:
[19:49] You saw him do that?

Speaker 7:
[19:50] Yes.

Speaker 4:
[19:52] Linda documented Lucas' behavior in her monthly reports to the foster care agency. She even took a photo of bruises, she claims, were from Lucas kicking and punching her. Then one night, it was something Lucas said that had Linda especially worried.

Speaker 8:
[20:08] He came in and told me he was going to kill his brother, his mother and me. And I got on the phone and I called the agency right away.

Speaker 4:
[20:17] The agency set up a meeting for the following week, but it was too late. Dillon died two days after Linda's friend had called. Do you miss Dillon?

Speaker 11:
[20:28] Yeah.

Speaker 4:
[20:29] Yeah?

Speaker 17:
[20:30] But what do you miss the most about him?

Speaker 14:
[20:34] I love him.

Speaker 11:
[20:35] You love him.

Speaker 4:
[20:37] Now the question is, will a jury believe a child so young could be so violent?

Speaker 3:
[20:44] Most of the human population will be able to see that a four-year-old child is absolutely in every way incapable of being the spawn of Satan.

Speaker 14:
[20:57] I have to tell the whole story.

Speaker 8:
[21:21] Okay, I think we're all ready.

Speaker 7:
[21:24] I'm gonna get downtown.

Speaker 8:
[21:25] Yep.

Speaker 4:
[21:26] Charles Forshee, a foster father who has cared for more than ninety children, is nervously waiting to go on trial for murder.

Speaker 7:
[21:34] I'm hoping that the truth comes out, and I'm exonerated.

Speaker 4:
[21:40] The victim, Dillon Ferrar, the two-year-old he once promised to protect, the accuser, Dillon's brother Lucas.

Speaker 3:
[21:49] All right, come on.

Speaker 4:
[21:50] On the other side of town, Lucas and his mother Amanda are just as anxious.

Speaker 3:
[21:58] Because he's just four, you know, and he's scared to death.

Speaker 4:
[22:02] How have you explained to him his role in the upcoming trial?

Speaker 3:
[22:06] He's going to be Dillon's superhero. He's going to be Spider-Man, and help out all the people of the city by being Spider-Man and telling the truth about what he saw.

Speaker 14:
[22:19] We're off to see the wizard.

Speaker 4:
[22:21] Lucas has been meeting with the therapist and prosecutor Sonny Mitchell to help him get ready to take the witness stand. Lucas, do you know the difference between a lie and a truth?

Speaker 14:
[22:38] I can't know the lie. I only know the truth.

Speaker 4:
[22:43] Is he credible?

Speaker 10:
[22:44] Lucas is credible. In my opinion, Lucas is credible. He spontaneously, within hours of his brother's death, told his mother, Charlie heard him. Charlie did it. And a year later is still maintaining exactly what he said then.

Speaker 14:
[23:01] Okay. And when Charlie put the pillow over his head, Lucas, was Dillon laying on his tummy or his back then? He was laying on his tummy. He was laying on his tummy.

Speaker 10:
[23:14] His story is consistent. He always identifies Charlie as the one that hurt Dillon.

Speaker 14:
[23:19] And he put his pillow over his face. And he put it...

Speaker 6:
[23:24] Given what his level of comprehension was and just what a three-year-old knows, if he did see a smothering, it would be very hard for him to explain.

Speaker 4:
[23:34] Psychologist Maggie Bruch, an expert on child testimony from Johns Hopkins University, says it's always a gamble to rely on a witness who's so young.

Speaker 14:
[23:44] What does it mean to tell the truth and to tell a lie? I don't know.

Speaker 4:
[23:49] We showed her the videotaped interview Lucas gave investigators the day after Dillon died.

Speaker 14:
[23:55] What happened to Dillon? Totally lay on him. He lay down, and he put a pillow on his face, and the police took him to the hospital, and he was breathing, and mommy come in.

Speaker 4:
[24:17] Was this valuable?

Speaker 6:
[24:18] I think it was something to start to investigate, that this child said Charlie put a pillow over Dillon's face.

Speaker 14:
[24:24] Mommy took on Dillon, and she was crying. Mommy, don't cry.

Speaker 6:
[24:30] Something happened. I mean, I think the child saw something. I think that child was confused about what he saw.

Speaker 14:
[24:37] What happened right after he told Dillon to lay down? He said no. Who said no? Charlie said no. Charlie said no to Dillon?

Speaker 6:
[24:47] But I also think that they didn't or they couldn't help him to elaborate.

Speaker 14:
[24:53] What did the pillow look like that he put over his head, his face? He was crying. He was crying? Who was crying? Dylan was crying. Dylan was crying? He didn't like that pillow over his face. He didn't like that pillow over his face, so he was crying.

Speaker 4:
[25:14] One year and three months after Dillon's death, the trial begins. Mitchell decides to save Lucas' testimony for last. She first presents what she believes is equally compelling evidence against Charles Forshee.

Speaker 18:
[25:30] Cause of death was due to asphyxia, due to suffocation.

Speaker 4:
[25:35] Then medical examiner Dr. Joy Carter testifies Dillon could not have died of natural causes. He was forcibly suffocated.

Speaker 10:
[25:44] Could this child's death have been caused in a manner consistent with pushing down the child's head causing his face to be pushed into a pillow?

Speaker 18:
[25:55] Yes.

Speaker 4:
[25:57] Two police officers say Forshee's own words that night made him a suspect.

Speaker 16:
[26:02] At that point he explained to me that they had been doing the foster home for about twenty years and that his wife liked to tend to the younger children.

Speaker 10:
[26:12] And did he tell you how he felt about that?

Speaker 16:
[26:14] Yeah, he told me that he was upset with it, kind of tired of it.

Speaker 12:
[26:18] Ms. Mitchell, you may call your next witness, please.

Speaker 10:
[26:20] Amanda Tinsley DeBerry.

Speaker 4:
[26:22] Then Amanda takes the stand and repeats what Lucas told her the night Dillon died.

Speaker 10:
[26:27] What did Lucas say?

Speaker 3:
[26:30] Lucas told me Charlie did it.

Speaker 4:
[26:33] And the stage is set for the jury to hear from Lucas himself.

Speaker 12:
[26:37] We need to take a short break before the next witness to get set up.

Speaker 4:
[26:41] Lucas will testify sitting on a couch in a room next to the judge's chambers. The jury will watch via close circuit TV. At his mother's request, Judge Joan Huffman orders the news cameras turned off.

Speaker 12:
[26:55] Nobody can film and nobody can record. Everybody understand the rules. Thank you.

Speaker 4:
[27:01] At first, when the prosecutor questions Lucas, he answers easily. Who hurt Dillon? Charlie. What did Charlie do to hurt Dillon? He pushed on his back and on his stomach and on his face. What did he punch him with? A pillow. After he hit Dillon with the pillow, what did Dillon do? He stopped crying. But when defense attorney Stanley Schneider questions Lucas, the four-year-old can't even remember basic details about living with the Forshays, like whether or not they had a dog. Lucas' answer to many questions is a simple no or nope. And that's how he answers when Schneider asks Lucas if he had ever placed a pillow on his brother's head. After about forty minutes of questioning, Lucas seems tired out and the court has to take a break.

Speaker 12:
[27:51] Well, ladies and gentlemen, we try to plan for everything, but we just can't predict. The witness is napping.

Speaker 13:
[27:59] That's never happened to me before. I've had a juror throw up during a final argument, but I've never had a witness fall asleep.

Speaker 9:
[28:07] That child's not competent.

Speaker 4:
[28:09] Is Lucas Ferrar a good witness?

Speaker 6:
[28:13] No. I wouldn't have put him on the stand, not because I think he's lying. I don't know that he has enough to tell the jury that's of value.

Speaker 10:
[28:27] I thought Lucas did well. Lucas remembered what was important for him to remember.

Speaker 4:
[28:32] Amanda is just relieved her son's ordeal is over.

Speaker 3:
[28:36] Who's in heaven? Dillon. Do you like being his hero?

Speaker 4:
[28:42] But the defense is about to argue that Lucas is not a hero, that in fact, he's his brother's killer.

Speaker 19:
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Speaker 4:
[30:33] Amanda still calls Dillon her sunshine baby.

Speaker 3:
[30:38] This is kind of my, my Dillon shrine. I feel like, you know, having all his pictures up here, it's him watching over me and Lucas.

Speaker 14:
[30:50] This is my Spider-Man.

Speaker 4:
[30:52] Lucas was a hero for Dillon, says his mom, when he testified in court.

Speaker 3:
[30:58] He might have just been this little bitty boy who was Spider-Man. You know, he was a superhero just by words, you know, if nothing else.

Speaker 4:
[31:10] You're certain without a shadow of a doubt that the right person is charged.

Speaker 3:
[31:15] I believe my son. I believe my son.

Speaker 4:
[31:18] But will a jury believe young Lucas? And take away a man's freedom?

Speaker 7:
[31:25] I'm looking at the fact that I have twelve people who I have no idea who they are are going to decide my life.

Speaker 8:
[31:34] I don't know whether I could even live if he went to jail, because he's my whole life.

Speaker 7:
[31:43] Okay.

Speaker 13:
[31:44] The pressure is incredible. The worry. You know, I've got to figure out ways to do this, and everything has to be perfect.

Speaker 4:
[31:51] The defense attorney Stanley Schneider has devised a risky plan of attack. He will accuse a four-year-old boy of being responsible for his brother's death.

Speaker 13:
[32:03] We have a very disturbed young man.

Speaker 4:
[32:06] Schneider believes Lucas, despite his age, is downright dangerous.

Speaker 3:
[32:11] Give me a kiss.

Speaker 13:
[32:15] And we had six people describe Lucas putting pillows over other children's heads and cutting off the air to other children.

Speaker 4:
[32:25] Do you believe Lucas is responsible for his brother's death?

Speaker 7:
[32:30] I do not know, truthfully. I do not know what happened in that room after I left it.

Speaker 14:
[32:40] Do each of you solemnly swear that any testimony that you may give in this case...

Speaker 4:
[32:43] Schneider launches his defense with Forshee's niece.

Speaker 5:
[32:47] Lucas was always beating up on Dillon.

Speaker 18:
[32:50] His sister......are pushing him down or taking a toy away from him.

Speaker 4:
[32:54] And the boys' babysitters.

Speaker 5:
[32:56] Lucas pushed his brother around a lot.

Speaker 2:
[32:59] Lucas had a hold of him, just a dead hold on his neck.

Speaker 3:
[33:03] Their allegations against my son are absolutely insane.

Speaker 4:
[33:09] Schneider's tactics have infuriated the entire family.

Speaker 5:
[33:13] This slime ball is trying to blame a murder on a three-year-old child. How low can you go?

Speaker 4:
[33:23] Schneider is about to use Linda Forshee to score another key point of his defense.

Speaker 8:
[33:29] Go ahead, ma'am.

Speaker 14:
[33:30] Yes, I'm at forty-two fifteen in Janet Gate.

Speaker 4:
[33:33] And it's right on the 911 tape.

Speaker 8:
[33:36] My husband's got him on the floor trying to do CPR.

Speaker 4:
[33:38] Okay. What Lucas really saw that night, Schneider claims, was not a vicious murder, but instead vigorous CPR.

Speaker 1:
[33:48] Is he breathing at this time?

Speaker 8:
[33:50] No, but a lot of stuff is coming out of his nose and mouth.

Speaker 4:
[33:52] Okay.

Speaker 13:
[33:53] Now, when stuff was coming out of his nose and mouth, what did you do?

Speaker 8:
[33:59] We grabbed a diaper that we used as a burp bib and start wiping the fluid.

Speaker 4:
[34:04] According to Schneider's theory, when Lucas testified Charlie hurt Dillon with a pillow, Forshee was, in reality, wiping fluid from Dillon's face with a diaper.

Speaker 1:
[34:14] Okay, pump his chest rapidly, five times.

Speaker 8:
[34:17] Okay, one, two, three, four, five.

Speaker 13:
[34:20] When you're counting, what did Charlie do with his hand?

Speaker 8:
[34:23] He was pushing during the compressions.

Speaker 13:
[34:25] Where was Charlie's hand?

Speaker 8:
[34:27] On the baby's chest.

Speaker 22:
[34:28] Was that him patting him on the back?

Speaker 8:
[34:30] Yeah.

Speaker 22:
[34:30] Don't do that, okay?

Speaker 8:
[34:31] Oh, don't pat him on the back.

Speaker 13:
[34:32] And did he ever hit Dillon on the back?

Speaker 8:
[34:35] Yes, he was patting the back until they told him to stop.

Speaker 4:
[34:38] When Lucas told jurors, Forshee pushed on his brother's back and on his stomach and on his face, Schneider says Lucas was actually describing the frantic efforts to save Dillon.

Speaker 22:
[34:50] Okay, one, five, five pumps.

Speaker 8:
[34:53] Nope.

Speaker 22:
[34:54] Keep going, okay?

Speaker 8:
[34:55] One, two, three, four, five. Nope. One, two, three, four, five. Nope. One, two, three, four, five. Nope.

Speaker 12:
[35:07] He's always swearing the testimony he was giving his case on Charles.

Speaker 4:
[35:09] Now Charles Forshee takes the stand to speak for himself.

Speaker 13:
[35:14] Was crying children in your house the norm?

Speaker 7:
[35:17] All the time.

Speaker 4:
[35:20] Schneider argues that Forshee was used to the stresses of parenting and could never have just snapped.

Speaker 13:
[35:26] Did you ever force his head into a pillow?

Speaker 7:
[35:28] No, I did not.

Speaker 4:
[35:29] He was simply trying to soothe Dillon.

Speaker 7:
[35:32] I put my hand on his back and his buttocks to calm him down.

Speaker 10:
[35:38] That's not what it says in your written statement, is it, Mr. Forshee?

Speaker 4:
[35:41] Prosecutor Sonny Mitchell bores in.

Speaker 10:
[35:44] You know, you keep talking about soothing him. In your statement, you said, I held him down. You didn't say anything about giving him a soothing back massage, did you?

Speaker 7:
[35:54] No, ma'am.

Speaker 4:
[35:55] After caring for ninety foster children over the years, Mitchell believes that Lucas and Dillon were two children, too many. For Charles Forshee.

Speaker 10:
[36:07] Kids can get on your nerves, can't they, Mr. Forshee?

Speaker 7:
[36:11] You can get on my nerves. Anybody can get on anyone's nerves.

Speaker 4:
[36:15] She says he was fed up with crying babies. And just wanted the noise to stop.

Speaker 10:
[36:24] Tell us how you told him to be quiet.

Speaker 7:
[36:26] As a general rule, probably, shut up and go to sleep.

Speaker 10:
[36:30] And you held him down, according to your words, for about a minute.

Speaker 7:
[36:37] As a figure of speech, yes, about a minute.

Speaker 4:
[36:39] Next, Mitchell forces him to relive what happened that night.

Speaker 10:
[36:44] I'm just asking you if according to your demonstration, the child's face is in the pillow.

Speaker 7:
[36:48] I don't know if Dillon's face is in the pillow or on the bed or not.

Speaker 10:
[36:53] And that's not my question too, Mr. Forshee. My question is, in this demonstration, is the child's face down?

Speaker 7:
[36:59] In this demonstration, the doll's head is face down.

Speaker 4:
[37:02] Mitchell scores another damaging blow with pediatric pathologist, Dr. Harry Wilson.

Speaker 10:
[37:08] Could a three-year-old child have caused his death by suffocation?

Speaker 23:
[37:12] Not possible. A three-year-old child cannot and would not do that.

Speaker 4:
[37:16] He says a child that age simply doesn't have the strength.

Speaker 13:
[37:20] You don't know about how aggressive a specific three-year-old might be.

Speaker 23:
[37:24] To affect suffocation, to do it for three or more minutes, no, they would not do that.

Speaker 5:
[37:37] The truth is, Charles Forshee murdered my grandson.

Speaker 8:
[37:46] It's so scary. I say, I don't think I ever lived in fear. I knew what fear could be like until now.

Speaker 7:
[37:56] I'll never be the same that I was. But I would like to be able to live a normal life again. I'm ready for it to be over.

Speaker 4:
[38:10] This case will be over soon, one way or another.

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Speaker 4:
[39:38] Defense attorney Stanley Schneider must find the right words.

Speaker 9:
[39:42] The entire state's case.

Speaker 4:
[39:44] What he tells the jury in closing arguments could set Charles Forshee free. If he fails, Forshee will be condemned as the killer of Dillon Ferrar.

Speaker 13:
[39:54] I need to remind them who Charlie is. A loving, caring, and giving man stands for you charged with murder.

Speaker 4:
[40:05] Why?

Speaker 13:
[40:05] Why would Charlie do anything out of the ordinary to a kid? This is a man who for seventeen years loved children. The voice of reason, the truth about Charles Forshee, about who he is. I'll tell you, there's only one verdict. Not guilty.

Speaker 10:
[40:29] To acquit the defendant, you have to believe Lucas killed Dillon.

Speaker 4:
[40:35] Prosecutor Sonny Mitchell argues Lucas wasn't physically capable of murder. It was Forshee who killed the baby in a fit of rage.

Speaker 10:
[40:43] By God, he was going to make him go to sleep. And you can bet he grabbed his head, pushed it down and said, I said shut up and go to sleep.

Speaker 4:
[40:53] In the final moments of the state's argument, Prosecutor Mitchell asked the jury to imagine the final moments of Dillon's life.

Speaker 10:
[41:01] Mr. Charlie, I can't breathe. Mr. Charlie, please, let me get up. I want to get up. Please let me get up. Please, Mr. Charlie, I promise I'll be good. Please, Mr. Charlie, I promise I'll stop crying. That's what Dillon went through. But you can write the moral to the story. You can teach the lesson to the story with your verdict. He is guilty of murder.

Speaker 12:
[41:26] Thank you, Ms. Mitchell. The jury may begin our deliberations.

Speaker 1:
[41:30] All rise for the jury.

Speaker 17:
[41:31] We basically went around the room and everybody said what they thought.

Speaker 4:
[41:35] As the jury begins to weigh the evidence, the Forshays wait, reliving the past...

Speaker 8:
[41:41] I lost my life in the night...

Speaker 4:
[41:43] .and fearing for the future. You're an experienced defense attorney. What does your gut tell you now that the jury has begun deliberations?

Speaker 9:
[41:52] I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[41:56] I've had so many people tell me it's in the bag.

Speaker 4:
[41:59] What would satisfy you, Amanda?

Speaker 3:
[42:01] For him to spend the rest of his life in jail. Nothing less. Nothing less.

Speaker 4:
[42:12] In just two hours.

Speaker 12:
[42:14] Ladies and gentlemen, we have a verdict, and the jury will be...

Speaker 4:
[42:16] The jury decides Forshee's fate.

Speaker 12:
[42:19] Bring the jury in, please. Please be seated. Mr. Foreman, has the jury reached a verdict? You may hand it to the bailiff, please, sir. We, the jury, find the defendant, Charles Richard Forshee, not guilty, so I... Sit down, please.

Speaker 4:
[42:47] Amanda and her family are too stunned to leave the courtroom.

Speaker 3:
[42:51] I just felt like I was in a dream, I didn't feel like it was real.

Speaker 4:
[42:58] As Charles Forshee walks away a free man.

Speaker 8:
[43:01] I believe we got our lives back.

Speaker 7:
[43:04] I spent a year in prison. I spent a year in prison for the last year. And finally somebody listened to what was going on.

Speaker 5:
[43:11] You can kill a two-year-old, get away with it, because you got twelve ignorant, stupid people on a jury who refused to listen to evidence.

Speaker 17:
[43:20] You know, I don't think the baby died of natural causes, but nobody's convinced me of who did it.

Speaker 4:
[43:26] Jurers David Kelley, Jim Butler and Don Sheberg sat down with us to explain their verdict. Were you ready to accept the word of a child over an adult?

Speaker 2:
[43:36] I was ready to, yes.

Speaker 17:
[43:37] He would have been credible to me if he could have answered Stanley Snyder's questions.

Speaker 2:
[43:41] He didn't.

Speaker 17:
[43:42] Snyder did a very good job of saying what Lucas saw was the CPR action.

Speaker 4:
[43:48] That was the most persuasive argument for you?

Speaker 17:
[43:50] To me it was.

Speaker 12:
[43:51] You used the word flit.

Speaker 10:
[43:53] I believed very strongly in the defendant's guilt, and I knew that if I wasn't successful in convicting this defendant, that Lucas was going to have to live with the fact that people didn't believe him and that people believed he had killed his brother.

Speaker 4:
[44:07] Do you believe Lucas Ferrar was somehow responsible for his brother's death?

Speaker 17:
[44:12] I don't think he did it, and I don't think any of us thought he did it.

Speaker 4:
[44:15] So if Charles Forshee, gentlemen, did not kill Dillon Ferrar, who did?

Speaker 17:
[44:21] That was not our job and we were not charged with that. That wasn't the question.

Speaker 4:
[44:26] I'm asking you the question.

Speaker 17:
[44:27] Our charge is to presume the man is innocent. If they can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt that he did it, then we ought to say he's guilty. And if they had, I would dead come well say he was.

Speaker 4:
[44:39] So in the end, the boy who was encouraged to tell the truth is now sheltered from it. Where does he think Charles Forshee is today?

Speaker 3:
[44:49] He thinks he's in jail. And that's what's best for him.

Speaker 4:
[44:54] Why?

Speaker 3:
[44:55] Because he's so terrified. I think if he knew, he would grow up looking over his shoulder, and I don't want him to do that.

Speaker 14:
[45:02] I'm going to kindergarten one day.

Speaker 4:
[45:05] What do you want to do when you grow up?

Speaker 14:
[45:07] I want to be a policeman.

Speaker 4:
[45:09] You want to be a policeman?

Speaker 14:
[45:11] Why?

Speaker 5:
[45:11] Why a policeman?

Speaker 14:
[45:13] Because...

Speaker 4:
[45:14] They get the bad guys, right?

Speaker 14:
[45:15] Uh-huh, and I have gun pockets. Gun.

Speaker 4:
[45:19] Gun pockets.

Speaker 14:
[45:20] I'll put my gun in my...

Speaker 4:
[45:23] Your pocket?

Speaker 14:
[45:24] Yep.

Speaker 4:
[45:25] For now, Amanda hopes that Lucas will live a life more typical of a four-year-old, and prays he'll always remember that he once had a baby brother.

Speaker 14:
[45:36] Give him a kiss.

Speaker 4:
[45:43] Charlie, is there anything you would like to tell Dillon's family?

Speaker 7:
[45:48] I'm sorry he died, I didn't do it. I wish I could have saved him. I did everything I could that night to save his life.

Speaker 3:
[45:55] My message to him is, I know he did it.

Speaker 4:
[45:57] You know what happened that night.

Speaker 3:
[45:59] Yes, I do, because my son told me, and I believe in my son.

Speaker 23:
[46:15] In 2003, Amanda DeBerry and her children were awarded a $300,000 settlement from Charles and Linda Forshee.

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