the front door was locked and dawn took him around the back where a sliding glass door was unlock and they walked down the hall and then, said james, dawn pointed him towards the master bedroom. i turned around and she was going into alyssa s room. into the room? yeah. she was about half her body was into the room. she was going to take alyssa with her. i said you can t take alyssa. was this true? remember alyssa, just 6 years old at the time, told police she remembered seeing someone in her doorway. i looked down and i saw someone walking in. then, said james, he walked into the master bedroom and saw ben and melissa sleeping in the moonlight. i raised the gun and that s where everything in my mind that should have happened three or four hours ago happened.
dawn was released from prison in march of 2014. but not to be the mother of alyssa. the judge terminated her parental rights. both alyssa and brandy went to live with melissa. she offered them a kind of family life they didn t know with their biological mom. it is a family. that s what i need. in 2011, having pleaded guilty to murder, james prepared to be sentenced. is there redemption for a person like you? i don t know. i don t expect anybody they hurt to forgive me for what i ve done. you are talking to them, right? basically talking to melissa. i m sorry. in exchange for his guilty
but there was more. james told his attorney it was time to tell the whole story. i could tell he was telling the truth. over the course of 15 months, he always told the same story. now comes another story. james story. not a love story this time. nobody could believe that i did what i do. i had never been a violent person. james did not have an easy start in life. by the time he was a teenager, he was drinking, doing drugs and stealing things. i had given up any hope on continuing successfully in life. dawn, after her marriage to ben, befriended james. made him feel rescued and gave him a place to live. he had been paroled from prison after doing time for stealing a truck. for gave me a sense of hope that there was someone besides my mom that cared.
immunity agreement she signed with the d.a. james is not the type of boy who s going to go out and commit a murder in the hopes that dawn will find it acceptable. he didn t do this as a surprise gift. reporter: dawn herself declined our request for an interview. but her mom, the retired deputy sheriff, has remained in her corner. i know that a lot of people believe that, that it was a blatant conspiracy on her part. but i don t think dawn really wanted ben dead. i don t think dawn was there. you re trying to hold it all together. all the way along, and even now. you ve got to understand. ben was a good guy. they had their problems.
believing dawn was in the house that night? yes. that s where they firmly agree. only half a measure of justice since dawn is protected by the immunity agreement she signed with the d.a. james is not the type of boy who s going to go out and commit a murder in the hopes that dawn will find it acceptable. he didn t do this as a surprise gift. dawn herself declined our request for an interview, though her mom, the retired deputy sheriff, has remained in her corner. i know that a lot of people believe that, that it was a blatant conspiracy on her part. but i don t think dawn really wanted ben dead. toinlt think dawn was there. you re trying to hold it all together, all the way along and even now. you have to understand ben