The fates of Frank Carson and his co-defendants are decided, and jurors explain their reasoning. The DA’s office is sued for malicious prosecution, but prosecutors stand by their case. An interview with the state’s star witness, now out of lockup, raises troubling questions about the state’s handling of the case.
As Frank Carson's trial approached its end, his secretary would find him standing on the back porch of his office, drinking a soda and soaking in the sunlight.
He had never forgotten how chilly it had been during his 16 months in jail.
Now it was as if he could never get warm enough, as if he'd never really left the cell.
He was just, like, permanently frozen.
This is Felicia Walden, who had worked for him throughout the trial.
And he would just stand out there.
And then finally I went out there and asked him, like, what are you doing?
And he was like, oh, it's just nice and warm out here.
And, you know, I don't know when or if, you know, there will come a time where I won't be able to do this anymore, stand out in the sun.
And so I'm just enjoying it while I can if things go left.
Bobby Atwall, one of Carson's co defendants, told me that as verdict day approached, he prepared for the possibility that he'd go to prison.
He went to Costco and stockpiled supplies for his family to live off in his absence.
Stock, toilet paper, paper towel for my daughter, diapers, extra diaper for her and wife.
Know that, too, what I'm doing.
But she never asked me.
The Atwals were Sikhs from the Punjab region of India, and Bobby Atwal told me that as the verdict approached, he turned to his faith and its history for courage.
Over and over, he played a Punjabi language video featuring stirring images of Sikhs riding into war on horseback and of choreographed swordplay.
It made Bobby Atwall feel connected to a history of warriors who had faced death without flinching.
This is another bar.
You gotta go through it.