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Hey everyone, and welcome back to Exposed, Scandalous Files of
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the Elite. I'm your host, Jim Chapman, and as I
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told you in yesterday's episode, I have been dropping an
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episode obviously every day. If you listen to Exposed, then
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you know we are bringing you the content, and all
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of that content lately has been about Seawan Combes. A
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lot of people are enjoying this, We're getting great downloads.
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But I want to assure everybody that this trial is
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just about over. We probably got I think we're going
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to reach a verdict by next Tuesday or Wednesday, in
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which case there's not many days left now. The jury
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was off today in the Shawn Combes trial. Tomorrow starts
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the closing arguments, etc. Which is today if you're listening
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to this right now, because I'm recording this on Wednesday,
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but I wouldn't have an update obviously because the jury
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was off today. So some of you are aware you
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listen to my other podcasts that I have called Bloody
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in Gola. It tells the history of Louisiana's most notorious prison,
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which is Louisiana State Penitentiary and in Gola, but many
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of you are not aware that I have that other podcast.
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So here's what I'm going to do for you today.
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I wanted to bring you something, so I'm bringing you
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this week's recording of Bloody in Gola podcast. I hope
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you enjoy it. If you do enjoy it, in the
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description of this video, I am linking the link so
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you can go listen and follow Bloody in Gola very interesting.
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I tell all kinds of different stories in this week's
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is fire, so if you're so inclined, go check it out.
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But here is this week's Bloody in Gola podcast. And
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I will be back with you tomorrow on another update
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of the Diddy trial. And it looks like we're going
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to go back to our normal episodes of Exposed SCANDALUS
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Files of the Elite very soon, probably by the end
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of next week. So thank you so much for listening.
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And here is Bloody Angola.
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A Wall Street line shackle change, Oh, who's some girdie.
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It's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's
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been a century juice as the huge stream game Wrangle three.
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I'm here by me to die inside these wall.
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Inside I know why.
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I know its bloody.
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Hey everyone, and welcome back to Bloody Angola a podcast
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one and forty two years in the making, the complete
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story of America's Bloodiest Present. I'm Jim Chapman, and today
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I'm going to tell you what is a little known
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story in the state of Louisiana outside of the area
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that I live in, and that is the story of
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the Good Year Killer. Now, this story centers around a
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guy by the name of Charles ray Spears, and not
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a lot is known about Charles ray Spears prior to
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his incarceration in what is known as Jackson Barracks. So
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I need to tell you a little bit about Jackson
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Barracks if you're not familiar. Jackson Barracks is located in
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New Orleans. It was established in eighteen thirty four and
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it was originally a US military base. Now, during the
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nineteen sixties, a work release prison was established within that
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Barracks and that played a big role in what we
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are going to discuss today. Now, in the nineteen nineties,
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that prison underwent renovations as part of what was known
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as the Jackson Barracks Prison Project. It included adding educational
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programs for inmates that were on work release. However, in
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nineteen ninety three. It closed after a notable escape and
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a murder, and I may tell you about that in
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a future episode. After that event, the former prison was
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converted into a police training facility. And then Hurricane Katrina hit.
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This was in two thousand and five, and that caused
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significant damage to Jackson Barracks, including the destruction of that
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police training facility. And today the barracks is currently the
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headquarters of the Louisiana National Guard. So that's a little
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history on that. And we're going to go back to
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July twenty ninth of nineteen seventy five when Charles Ray
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Spears escaped from Jackson Barracks. He was working in the
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work release program there and he was serving time on
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a petty theft charge. Eleven days after that escape, a
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robbery and murder at a good Year Tire store in
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ham In, Louisiana would change the course of history in
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several people's lives, including that of Charles Ray Spears. Now,
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ham In, Louisiana a relatively small town in nineteen seventy five, however,
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Hammon was and still is the largest city in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana.
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Hammond is the home of Southeastern Louisiana University. And aside
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from rambunctious nature of kids right college kids in nineteen
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seventy five, things like when I Am about to tell
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you about they just didn't occur often in Ham and Louisiana.
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So on August eighth of nineteen seventy five, the Goodyear
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Tire and Appliance store, they were just finished wrapping up
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another day. The tills were being pulled, cash et cetera,
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being placed in a money back, all the things you
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do when you close the day as a retail establishment.
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It was five thirty PM and the staff had not
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even locked the front door yet when a man enters
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the store. Now at the time, the store manager John Reid,
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he was forty seven, and the assistant manager a guy
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by the name of Roy Walters who was twenty six.
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They were in the store alone at this time. The
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guy walks up to them and he approaches John Reid
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and he asked him about looking at radios. Remember we're
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in the year nineteen seventy five. Reid went ahead sold
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him a radio. The man turns to leave, then he
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turns back around and he asked about some cassette tapes.
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So before either of the managers could respond. The man
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pulls out a snubnose thirty eight caliber revolver and he
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orders both of those men to the floor, pulls out
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some handcuffs, and he handcuffs both of the manager's arms together.
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He starts going through the cash rugis starts approaching the safe,
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all those sorts of things. He goes back and he
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asks the men, are you going to remember me? John
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Reid says what all of us would say at this point,
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which is no. But at this time, the assailant pulls
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a gun and he shoots both of these men in the.
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Back of the head.
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He then exits the store, so Roy Walters he looks
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over and he discovers that John Reid is already dead. Now.
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Roy Walters at this point as a thirty eight caliber
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bullet in the back of his head, but he's still
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alive in what you can only describe as a miracle.
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Although he loses his sight at this point, he can't see.
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He's totally blind now. Despite this, Walters does manage to
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drag John Reed, remember they were handcuffed together, across the
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floor to the telephone, where he manages to call police.
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The police show up and Reed is pronounced dead on
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the scene and Walters gets rushed to Auctioner Hospital in
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New Orleans and he is in critical condition now. Despite
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Walter's condition, when police first arrived at the scene, he
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was able to provide some details regarding a description of
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the man. He described the man as being six foot two,
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He was a black male, medium bill and had what
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was known at the time as Afro style hair. He
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was wearing a brown shirt with green pants and black shoes,
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and the police determined after talking to other employees that
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between two and three thousand dollars had been taken in
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the robbery. At this point, he gets rushed to the hospital.
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The police are shutting down roads, they're setting up roadblocks,
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forming a perimeter, trying to catch this guy, but unfortunately
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no one was captured. Now, five days after this event,
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in sly Della, Louisiana, which is just a half hour
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or so from Hammon, Louisiana, a police officer by the
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name of Earl Alfred, who was thirty one, He responds
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to the call of a silent alarm which was triggered
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at a jewelry store called Champagne Jewelers. This is on
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August thirteenth of nineteen seventy five. He arrives with the
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robbery still in progress. He sees the robbery suspect going
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out the back door. Alfred was the first officer to
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arrive on the scene. He gets into a struggle with
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the assailant and he was shot and killed with his
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own service revolver inside of that jewelry store. Betty Graves,
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who was a twenty year old store employee, she lay
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stabbed twenty two times with a pair of scissors. So
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somehow she manages to crawl to Sergeant Alfred's patrol car
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to call for help, but she loses consciousness before being
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able to do so. Incidentally, she did survive.
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Now.
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Witnesses reported seeing a black and white nineteen sixty four
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Chevy truck on that scene. But again police do what
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they do, roadblocks, et cetera. Yet the killer gets away.
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And at this point this is big news. People all
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over South Louisiana totally freaking out and they're thinking these
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robbery slash murders may be related. In the case of
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the Hammond, Louisiana robbery, the Chamber Commerce gets into the act.
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They offer one thousand dollars for any information leading to
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the capture of the suspects. Actually up that to twenty
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three hundred dollars with collections from members for information on
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the Good Year killer. And it wasn't too long before
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police did manage to unconnect, if you will, the these
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two robberies in short order, when three days later after
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that Hammond robbery, at twenty six year old by the
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name of David Eugene Lewis turns himself in for the
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murder of that police officer. This guy turns himself in
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and he was later convicted of first degree murder, attempted
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first degree murder, and armed robbery, and he was given
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a life sentence. Now, unfortunately the Goodyear slayings they would
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take much longer. But a big break in the case
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does surface when the following February of nineteen seventy six,
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police arrested a man by the name of Larry Donahue
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who was twenty four after he was caught perse snatching
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in New Orleans. So they start questioning people in Donahue's circle,
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including his cousin. His name was Clay Spears, and Clay
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tells police that Donahue had told him that he robbed
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and killed a New Orleans man in Hammond, Louisiana, with
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the help of two cousins, guy by the name of
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Leroy Donahue and a guy by the name of Charles
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Ray Spears, which that got the attention of police because
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they're still looking for Charles Ray Spears who walked off
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of that work release site in Jackson Barracks, and they
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knew that he would be desperate, likely dangerous, etc. So
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armed with this information, they interrogate Clay Donahue further for
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another four hours, and he eventually cracks and he tells
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him that Larry and Charles Ray Spears robbed a drug
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dealer of his money and his drugs, but that it
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was Spears that actually killed the drug dealer, so the
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police they then bring this information to Larry Donahue and
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he coroborates his cousin's story, complete with fingering Spears as
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the killer of that dealer, who intimately was named Ernest Smith.
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So in short order, the NOPD they fire and they
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arrest Charles Ray Spears and they charge him in the
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murder of Smith, but not so fast. A defense lawyer
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for Clay Donahue, he argues in court what is known
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in the legal world, as quote the fruit of the
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poisonous Tree doctrine, which states that any evidence obtained through
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unconstitutional means is rendered inadmissible in court. The lawyer argued
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to the state that Clay Donahue's information that he provided
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was done so due to coercion by the police, and
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in this case the judge agreed and charges against all
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three men were dropped because none of the information that
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this guy gave them could they use but hand. The
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police they had been following this and they felt like
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they had a case against Spears for the good Year
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robbery slash slang, especially after a man inside jail was
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Spears when he was incarceraty for the Smith killing, actually
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speaks up and says that Spears admitted that he was
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the good Year killer. So when he was cleared of
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these charges for the Smith murder, ham and police they
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pick him up and he's charged with murder and attempted
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murder as well as two counts of armed robbery in
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those Goodyear tire slangs. This was on March twenty seventh
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of nineteen seventy six. Of course, at this point it
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goes to a grand jury. The evidence is presented and
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he is indicted. He goes to trial, and on August
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thirtieth of nineteen seventy six, the News Digest in Amy City, Louisiana,
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they came out with an article and I'm going to
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reference that now because it really covers the trial in
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great detail and it reads Charles Ray Spears, defendant in
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the good Year murder case, was found guilty of second
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degree murder attempted second degree in two counts of armed robbery.
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Spears will be sentenced September sixteenth by Judge Gordon Causey.
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A pre sentenced investigation must be returned honor before that date.
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The trial began August twenty fourth near five pm, and
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it continued until seven point thirty when Causey recessed the
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proceedings until nine am on August twenty six. Spears stands
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convicted of murder by shooting good Year store manager John
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Reid as he lay on the floor of the Hammond
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store handcuff to Roy Walters Junior. Spears is also convicted
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of attempted second degree murder of Walters by shooting him
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in the head as he lay on the floor handcuff
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to Reed. The two convictions for armed robberies stemmed from
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Spears taking money from the store's cash drawers safe and
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from Reed's wallet. The incidents occurred on August eighth of
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nineteen seventy five. The State, represented by first Assistant District
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Attorney Joe Simpson, told the jury they would hear the
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story of one of the most cold blooded and horrible
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murders ever committed in Tanjebahoe Parrish. Assistant District Attorney Billy
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Quinn assisted in the case. Timothy Higgins, a public defender,
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told the jury in his opening statement that the case
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was one of mistaken identity. Doomas, who was retained by