- 2 days ago
35 years after 12-year-old Jonelle Matthews disappeared from her home in Greeley, CO, her remains are recovered. Investigators charge former Idaho Gubernatorial candidate Steve Pankey with murder.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00it's incredibly rare for murder defendants to take the stand it's a risk very few take
00:16at stake their freedom or even their lives this is steve pankey he stands accused of the murder
00:25of 12 year old janelle matthews who went missing in 1984 her remains found 35 years later pankey
00:33insists he's innocent when you shot janelle matthews in the forehead was she begging for her
00:37life but prosecutors believe he knew a key detail that only someone involved with janelle's murder
00:47would know that there were footprints in the snow and they'd been raped will the jury believe him
00:53to be a conniving killer who almost got away with it or will they believe there's another suspect
00:59who hasn't been charged a few jurors said that norris drake seems like he might be a better suspect
01:08take a courtside seat with the defense attorney is steve a jerk guilty as charged is steve a murderer
01:15no a legal analyst there was no dna no fingerprints no blood evidence and that's something that juries
01:23really can struggle with the officer who investigated the case why would an individual need immunity if
01:29they had no role in the crime and the podcaster who covered it when the verdict came back i have to
01:37admit i was personally stunned i'm dan abrams and this is taking the stand raise your right do you
01:46solemnly swear i'm being honest with everything i say to you do solemnly swear the whole truth and
01:51nothing but the i would like to testify the testimony you are about the truth and nothing but the truth
01:56so how you got
01:58the evidence will show ladies and gentlemen that steve pankey did not know and had never met anyone in
02:09the matthews family including janelle there is no physical evidence of connecting him to the to this
02:15crime what you will hear over and over and over again ladies and gentlemen is the type of evidence
02:22older than time itself statements statements and behaviors that will lead you to but one conclusion
02:29that he is the individual we have been looking for for 37 years
02:34steve pankey is now at the center of a decades-old cold case
02:44accused of the 1984 murder of janelle matthews if convicted he faces life in prison
02:52the state argues that pankey's own statements in the wake of the murder point to guilt
02:58every statement about janelle matthews was made up i'm not gonna go that far but his defense team
03:04insists that pankey is innocent and the statements he made were just false bravados it sounds to me
03:11like you are saying here that you were in the matthews home at the time janelle disappeared so is that
03:18what you're saying no it was just me trying to be a big man be in the case okay i had no knowledge
03:27the jury had to decide is steve pankey a guy that just keeps inserting himself and is just a big old
03:37liar and has nothing to do with the disappearance and murder of janelle matthews or is he actually the
03:44person that did it so the defendant was someone who kind of drifted through life and you haven't
03:57been able to hold a job for very long in the course of your lifetime correct he was an emt at one point
04:02the no-code detective agency seven up a welder a church janitor a used car salesman mortuary services
04:09he was trying to run for governor of idaho at one time and then tried to run for sheriff uh he was
04:16unsuccessful in both uh campaigns he ran a business called aaron auto out of his own yard
04:24you got a lot of jobs i've had a lot of jobs
04:28steve pankey was a devoutly christian individual almost to the point of being flamboyant
04:37about his religious beliefs and i did become a member of sunnyview church church of the nazarene
04:44yeah okay you were asked to leave the church in 1977 and did that in fact occur yes okay steve
04:53pankey was excommunicated from this church because of his his odd behaviors verbally violent outbursts
05:01after he got kicked out he would still drive by this church and then the matthews family joined the
05:08church shortly thereafter
05:11janelle matthews seemed like a pretty average 12 year old girl had a nice family involved in school
05:20activities
05:30on december 20th 1984 janelle's sister at a basketball game and janelle had a choir concert scheduled at the
05:40same time her mother was out of town visiting her sick parents in california and jim matthews was kind
05:47of a sports fan and so he chose to go to the basketball game after the concert she was being
05:53driven home by russ ross he also went to the same church that steve used to be a part of and her friend
06:01was in the car as well they dropped her off that evening at home they watched her go into the house
06:07and turn on the light they knew she was okay at that point they drove away
06:13and janelle was never seen again
06:19this was about 8 30 in the evening on the night of december 20th her father gets home at about 9 30 so
06:32we have been a one hour window when jim matthews got home there was nothing disturbed it looked like
06:37she had been in the house he called her name she didn't answer he called his pastor and he said call
06:43the police and that's what he did there was nothing missing no sign of forced entry and there was no
06:49evidence of a struggle inside the residence but out in the yard there are shoe prints in the snow
06:55along the windows but also rake marks obliterating the shoe prints that certainly led them to believe
07:05that this was not a runaway but an abduction somebody had gone to the house and taken her
07:10but they could not forensically scientifically connect any particular person to the house
07:19so it was a very circumstantial case
07:21they did have some evidence that could help identify the killer and they kept that to themselves
07:31the footprints that were found on the matthews property that were raked over that was a detail
07:38that law enforcement chose not to share with the media they didn't want the suspect to know that
07:45they had a piece of information that might be able to identify who abducted janelle matthews
07:52jonelle matthews of greely colorado would have celebrated a happy 13th birthday with her family
07:58just last month but five days before christmas jonelle disappeared from her home
08:06jonelle became one of the first milk carton cases when you listen to the radio the tv everything
08:15it was all about the janelle matthews case steve pankey was not on anybody's radar at all in december
08:27of 1984 then all of a sudden in early 1985 he comes in and he says he has information about janelle's
08:36disappearance he was reaching out to law enforcement he would write letters and mail them to prosecutor's
08:43office mailed them to various law enforcement agencies and made multiple statements over time
08:49without evidence i think police initially thought that he was just some kook but a lot of disappearances
08:57have people who want to infuse themselves they love the attention so they had just blew him off
09:05okay okay so we hear what you're saying and they started looking for the better suspect
09:12when the officers started doing the neighborhood canvas and they knocked on the door across the
09:17street from the matthews residence francis drake lived there she says that she didn't see or hear
09:26anything but her son norris drake had left the residence after nine o'clock p.m five years later i'm
09:35reviewing the entire case file and i didn't see any follow-up on norris drake so i started contacting
09:43people who he was associated with norris drake was a grown man at the time his ex-girlfriend testified
09:52he had a thing for young girls he went to visit his mom on the night janelle matthews was abducted
10:01his mother said they had watched something on tv that evening and that was his alibi to show
10:08that he was actually at the house when janelle went missing and in 1989 after he was interviewed
10:16he asked for an attorney so we never got to speak to him again so nobody no crime scene and now a suspect
10:24who we can't approach any longer with no new leads everyone's worst fear comes true the case has gone cold
10:35most likely she's um she is dead and um you might you know our hearts are torn
10:44in wanting um to put a closure on it yet keeping a hope there is nothing more to do other than
10:53keep rereading through the reports looking for that that missing information that could be the key
11:00then nearly 30 years later investigators get the break they've been waiting for
11:06on july 20th 2019 oilfield workers uncovered a shallow grave that had the remains of a small female
11:21based on the clothing the visible braces on the teeth the investigators knew that it was janelle's body
11:30that changed the case from a missing person case to a homicide
11:36were you afraid that they were going to charge you were you afraid that they were going to charge
11:42you with miss matthews murder i thought that they might charge me with miss matthews murder or
11:49something after 35 long years the body of 12 year old janelle matthews has been found transforming the
11:56case from a missing person to a homicide within an hour of the body being discovered i got a call saying
12:04and we think red i get emotional thank you john
12:14the body uh had evidence of a gunshot wound to the skull entering at the front of the forehead
12:24and then traveling downward
12:33when you find a body and you certainly can determine that the person was murdered
12:40and that changes everything but there was no forensic help on her remains at all nothing was brought
12:47up regarding anybody else's dna's besides janelle's being on the remains no hair fibers anything like
12:54that now investigators always kept the case open but this recent discovery shifts the question from
13:01who might have abducted janelle to who would have had reason to kill her police go back and look at their
13:09notes from the 1980s and norris drake and steve panky's names come up and unfortunately is norris also now
13:17deceased yes he died in march of 2007. norris drake by that time in 2019 was already deceased but steve panky
13:27was still alive now steve panky is one of the most unique characters that i've run across you just don't
13:36sometimes know what he's going to say why does his ethnicity matter it does matter because you didn't respect him
13:55he made statements to the police suggesting that maybe he knew something about the case
14:00he says he has information so they'd contact him and see if he'll provide all the information this
14:07time but when officers make contact with steve panky he makes an odd demand you told them i want immunity
14:15i want a deal yes no one comes into a discussion with law enforcement just asking for immunity
14:24if you're doing that that means that you know you can be charged with something there's those cases
14:30where you can look back in the reports and the police missed the bad guy and that might be the case
14:36here law enforcement decided to start looking more deeply into steve panky's internet history
14:42and once they did they found him obsessively googling this case
14:49why did you google that trend then i googled everything that i googled but the most important
14:56piece of evidence was this statement that steve made in the 1980s steve panky was aware that the
15:05shoe prints had been raked out steve brought up the footprints fairly early to the police before you
15:15talked with detective lockwood did you know about the raked footprints uh in the snow i had never heard
15:22that before mark lockwood comey but steve panky is a liar and that little tidbit was something that
15:30law enforcement deliberately did not share with the media this indicates that steve may have had
15:37knowledge of the crime scene that only a person involved with janelle's disappearance could have
15:42investigators missed that detail in 1985 but now with this rediscovery in conjunction with steve's
15:51statements over the years and his google searches police moved to rectify the error they made nearly
15:57four decades four decades ago steve was arrested in october of 2020. officials announced today that steve
16:07panky who has been indicted on charges of murder and kidnapping while steve panky's previous statements
16:14are damning as the case heads to trial the defense has one big thing working in their favor
16:20norris drake was still a person of interest that had never been cleared his mother lived across the
16:28street and they did verify that on the night of janelle's disappearance he was uh at the mother's
16:36house she remembered him sitting in the driveway for a few moments after he left the house perhaps
16:42looking you know into his rearview mirror at the matthews home norris drake's mother had said that he'd
16:49left after janelle's father had discovered his daughter missing but years later drake's sister
16:56testifies that drake may have left the house sooner than that my brother had come over we went downstairs
17:05and we watched bill cosby's show where he was up on the stage do you recall the time frame of when it
17:12started when it ended do you recall that i think it was from seven to nine
17:19the revised time frame suggests that drake could have been out of the house at the time that janelle
17:24was taken and the defense would score another victory by unearthing an old interview norris drake
17:31did with police in 1989 he talks about telling his roommate's sister about janelle's disappearance on
17:39december 21st 1984 and that they found raked out shoe prints in the snow so he's talking about the
17:47raked out shoe prints less than 12 hours after her disappearance a lot of people knew about the
17:56footprints all the neighbors knew this was not a piece of information that was as protected as police
18:01thought so the jury then starts thinking the guy who's across the street whose best alibi is his
18:07mother who makes weird comments about a missing girl is going to make a better suspect than a 30 year
18:13old guy who lives two miles away who had no connection to the family at all
18:20but there were a lot of people who had a lot of bad things to say about steve
18:25and that was a huge gift to the prosecution ma'am i'm handing you what's been marked
18:36it's people's exhibit 198 um do you recognize that yes it's a decree of divorce for steve and my marriage
18:48when steve pankey's ex-wife angela got on the stand she was a wealth of information for the
18:54prosecution my younger son carl at the age of 20 was murdered steve and i hope god didn't allow
19:03this to happen because of janelle matthews and i just thought oh no
19:17and what was your reaction when he said that i mean it was just made my blood run cold
19:24steve pankey's defense team delivered a strong alternate suspect in his murder trial but the
19:30prosecution has the defendant's ex-wife angela hicks who will recount what happened after the night
19:36of janelle's disappearance steve's dad and mom had invited us to big bear for christmas but there was
19:44no plan to go describe what happens on december 21st at your house
19:50steve came home and he said get us ready to go we're leaving before before daylight tomorrow
20:02morning to go to big bear for christmas
20:03i was just shocked because the last thing i'd understood was that we weren't going
20:12it's right after janelle matthews went missing and him making that snap judgment of going to california
20:19was something that was completely out of character the purpose of that for the prosecution
20:24was to show that steve wanted to get out of town so he asked you to turn on the radio on the way home
20:32so we in my flipping around came to a portion of a news report that had indicated that a girl had gone
20:42missing from really colorado so this was specifically about janelle matthews
20:48yes um what happens when you get back to greeley he drives us to the safeway store parks and tells me
20:57to go get the gorilla tribune and the number post so i took those back to the car and he asked me to
21:06read him the article about janelle matthews and i recall him having me read each one at least three times
21:13his strange behavior continued back home shortly after jonelle matthews disappearance steve pankey
21:24set a car on fire on their property on the pankey property
21:32the car you fire you described that was at the back of the property did the defendant make any
21:37statements to you about why that car was put back there well when he came in after i'd been
21:43out and he told me to go back in he eventually came in the house and i said what happened i mean
21:51and he said i knew it was going to catch fire so i took it back there
21:56he took the burnt out wreck to salvage it kind of leads you to think was he destroying evidence but it
22:02wasn't just what steve pankey did that was of interest to the prosecution it was also what he said
22:08to his ex-wife angela hicks he had made statements that people could interpret as guilty statements
22:19he said the police were persecuting him and i said why would they do that why would they do that and he
22:27said because i won't tell them what they want to know about janelle matthews it was just like such a
22:33shock that he would say that because i thought what would he know about janelle matthews and so
22:39i said janelle matthews and he kind of turned to the side and looked at me and he said do you really
22:48think i would hurt her when she looked so much like you i mean it was just made my blood run cold
22:57it was just like this awful awful feeling and you know your mind's thinking oh god please don't
23:06let anything have happened to her because she looked like me
23:17that's a very perry mason type moment
23:19that is not something that usually occurs in the average trial angela's testimony was devastating
23:29to steve pankey's case there was not a whole lot he can do to come back from that but to get
23:36on the stand and to let the jury know all the failings in the investigation i mean steve wanted to take
23:43the stand steve loves an audience right he loves being the center of attention but also there's a
23:50lot of evidence in this case that needed to be explained but putting steve pankey or any person
23:57like him on the stand is risky because these people you never know what they're going to say
24:06you sound may swear or affirm under penalty of perjury the testimony you give me the truth
24:09the whole truth nothing about the truth you got a shot the sixth commandment is what well shot
24:23after some difficult testimony from his ex-wife steve pankey is about to take the stand in his own
24:29murder trial but pankey is unpredictable to say the least and his team was understandably concerned about
24:39what he might say he's looking at life in prison so there's a lot of pressure when the defendant
24:43testifies so i knew there was a decent chance that steve was going to say something outlandish
24:48during his testimony the jury please a little bit about your childhood in california i graduated from
24:56an alternative high school i went to work for ambulance service i had witnessed a lot of clear
25:04police abuse there was a sheriff's deputy that wrecked the car and his leg was broken and mangled
25:11i didn't put an air splint on it to stabilize it and i just sat there and let him scream in pain
25:18and the reason i did that is because i had so much hatred for these cops for some of the things that i've
25:24seen done but my thinking was is i could get one more white cop off the road if if his leg was mangled
25:34so much he couldn't be a police officer again i don't know why that came out it certainly was not
25:40in response to a question i asked but he volunteered it and it was out there going direct but when
25:46questioned about statements he made over the years pankey presents another shocking and bizarre admission
25:54in the little jail cubicle before coming up here i was praying and i was thanking god
26:01maybe i shouldn't testify at all because i'd be just telling more lies
26:10so the truth is that i made a lot of stuff up out of bitterness and because i hated the police
26:20it was a polite way of flipping them the bird basically he's admitting he's a liar steve hated police
26:28officers and that was one of the reasons that he lied to the police sometimes the best way to show
26:34that a uh person is a liar but is believable it's just to show well they'll just say anything uh so
26:41you shouldn't take what he said over all of these years very seriously but what about the incriminating
26:47comments his ex-wife angela recounted about janelle's disappearance you've heard testimony that within
26:55a matter of a few days you i guess towed a car to a remote area of the yard and lit the interior
27:04you're on fire i heard that okay and what's your response to that
27:11didn't happen in december of 1984 mr pankey did you
27:18have plans to travel to big bear california yes so this was not a sudden impulse decision to go to
27:26california then is that right this was planned so did you tell angela that you couldn't have hurt
27:31janelle matthews because she looked just like her no based on the pictures you've seen of janelle
27:38matthews in the paper do you think miss hicks looked just like janelle matthews i think that's
27:47a stretch of the imagination i don't see a comparison but okay the defense was going to try and counter
27:56angela's testimony by making her seem like a disgruntled ex-wife there was one time that angie
28:02came out and she said told me i would she was mad and she said i'd rather masturbate than sleep with her
28:11and i turned and told her making love to her was an act of mercy not passion and so i mean
28:20that's just one example it just wasn't good all the way through it's our position that she was
28:31bitter you know about the way she'd been treated by steven and she he hadn't treated her well we
28:35admitted that i had never imagined that
28:41and she would be as big as liar as i am and
28:49that's the truth why would you need a deal
28:54in order to tell the police or the district attorney that you knew absolutely nothing
29:01i was afraid they might charge me with lying or something like that
29:06all right so what do you recall then about the night of december 20th 1984 we were going to go
29:14to bed earlier because we're going to get up to head to big bear lake california on the way home
29:21there came a news report on the radio that there was a missing 13 year old girl in greely colorado
29:30that's the first time i heard that there was a missing child so i guess i just need you to explain why
29:40should the jury believe that i have always clearly stated that from december 20th to december 26 i didn't
29:50know i didn't know who the matthews were you have any first-hand information about the circumstances
29:59surrounding janelle matthew's disappearance i do not have first-hand information no i thought
30:06that steve did pretty well he explained that he had been untruthful in the past and he explained why
30:12but he made some statements that were against his self-interest and so during cross the d.a really
30:17focused on that he could be impeached with nearly 35 years of statements when he got on the stand for
30:25cross-examination so it's just one of those gifts to the prosecution and a complete curse to the
30:31defense you're asking for immunity demanding it for murder and kidnapping before you'll say anything
30:39about janelle matthews repeatedly right i'm trying to get there but you're right i don't
30:56i didn't know who janelle matthews was janelle matthews was a 12 year old girl who loved to sing
31:04she actually was singing christmas carols on december 20th of 1984 just before she was dropped
31:11off walked into her family's house and was never seen again and the only piece of forensic evidence
31:19was the bullet hole in her skull
31:24steve pankey is on trial for the murder of 12 year old janelle matthews facing the possibility of
31:29life in prison pankey has admitted on the stand to being a liar but he absolutely denies killing
31:37janelle will the prosecution be able to poke holes in his story and more importantly tie him to the
31:44murder of the seventh grade girl at the heart of the case the prosecution had to show that no
31:55innocent person would truly act like steve pankey did between 1984 and 2021 there was the incident
32:04where he used to be a part of a church one of the pastors had made a comment around well jonelle matthews
32:14will be brought home safe and he made the comment of a false prophet you certainly bristled at the note
32:20very mention that the lord himself had sent word that she would be found safe
32:24and reunited with her family i thought that was totally financical why would you say that
32:32especially when everyone has hope that janelle matthews is still alive do you remember the time
32:38where you found out that there was no dna evidence where janelle matthews was found and two days later
32:43you go and volunteer your dna steve offered to provide dna to the prosecution but that was used
32:48to me that means he's doing it proactively to say look i'm cooperating look i'm not a suspect but
33:04actually that's a bit disingenuous because you're offering your dna because you know that you can't be
33:11linked to anything on april 8th 2019 what you've been asking for for years meaning the police to come
33:18talk to you is actually occurring but you still demanded immunity before you would say anything to
33:25them it would have been very easy for you at that point to say law enforcement officers never mind i made
33:31it up but you didn't do that did you i started to the prosecution's strategy on cross-examination
33:45was to pin down all the opportunities that he had to step away from that lie that he had information
33:53that could help solve janelle matthews disappearance and you've had 37 years to think about what you were
33:59going to say if you ever had to sit on that stand and that's what you came up with yesterday i made it
34:06up yes next the state moves on to the testimony from his ex-wife angela which pankey claims were just
34:17the lies of a bitter ex in your mind what is angela hicks motive for lying about you in a murder trial
34:25do you think she wants money yes and what money would she be able to get a hold of
34:34money inheritance but regardless of how this trial turns out whether you're convicted or not
34:39there is no legal way that angela hicks can get any of that money under the terms of your divorce correct
34:45uh correct there was just no benefit that she really would have gotten by having steve pankey
34:58in prison for the rest of his life so she's held this grudge in your mind for whatever happened during
35:04your marriage and whatever caused your divorce for decades oh that's all i know it may not be the
35:13best answer but the prosecution has to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and there still is
35:19the lingering question of what motive would pankey have had to hurt janelle matthews
35:25it all had to do with steve getting kicked out of the church then the matthews ended up then becoming
35:34members of that same church and they became good friends with the pastor who was the target of steve
35:40pankey's anger about being excommunicated steve would like point the middle finger at the church
35:47and yell even though nobody was there just any time he'd go by but also russ ross the individual who
35:54provided the ride home for janelle matthews that evening december 20th 1984 he was also a member of
36:03the church the state's theory is that steve abducted and killed janelle as retribution to the church and
36:14its members for how they treated him it's a bit of a flimsy premise but if they can get steve to admit
36:21his hostilities on the stand it just might sway the jury your testimony is that you made up all of
36:29these lies in order to get back at russ ross the greenley police department and sunnyview church of
36:35the nazarene that would be secondary or third day or third uh level uh mesa but as cross-examination
36:46comes to an end the state hones in on some of the most damning statements that pankey's made did you
36:53enjoy watching that sheriff's deputy suffer no his car accident caused him to suffer no i took him to
37:03the hospital but i did not give full aid during cross michael rourke really focused on that like you
37:13treated this police officer in a heartless manner isn't this the same way you treated janelle matthews
37:19that's been a theme in your life isn't it to try and get mis get enjoyment out of the misery of
37:24others no when you shot janelle matthews in the forehead was she begging for her life
37:32did you look in her eyes never heard no further questions the prosecution was feeling pretty good
37:39given that they portrayed steve as a liar for the defense uh of course the plan was well he's a liar
37:46and most importantly he's lying in the statements he had made over the years about the disappearance
37:52this is not your typical murder trial and both sides made big risky bets as the case comes to a
38:00close both teams are uncertain of the outcome i thought just he did pretty well i felt like we'd put
38:06on a good case but you know it was a tough case they did have a fair amount of circumstantial evidence
38:13and i was i was definitely concerned
38:21the latest group that you want to manipulate now are these ladies and gentlemen of the jury by saying
38:27i made it all up no steve pankey's taken the stand in his own defense for the 1984 abduction and murder
38:35of janelle matthews as the month-long trial comes to an end the jury will have to determine whether the
38:41defense provided enough reasonable doubt in a mostly circumstantial case or whether the prosecution met
38:49the burden of proof finally giving her family and community closure
38:58the search ladies and gentlemen for justice for janelle
39:01janelle matthews ends today the evidence in this case has proven beyond a reasonable doubt
39:08that janelle matthews was kidnapped janelle matthews murdered and the master manipulator did it
39:17ladies and gentlemen the death of janelle matthews was a terrible tragedy but it would be a travesty to
39:24convict steve pankey on the basis of the evidence that evidence has been presented in this case
39:29and we ask you to find steve pankey not guilty of all charges thank you
39:35the most stressful time for any attorney is waiting for the verdict because all you do is go through in
39:42your mind criticizing your performance i felt like we had neutralized the majority of their evidence
39:50during trial so i was holding out hope most cases that are tried or result in conviction so i was
39:59concerned when the jury was out on this case i don't think anyone had an idea of which way uh the jury
40:07was coming i think you're seated thank you
40:14so ladies and gentlemen uh realize the jury was unable to reach a verdict
40:18your duties as a juror in this case are discharged with the thanks of the court
40:28for the first degree murder and felony murder the jury could not unanimously agree
40:33even after three days of deliberation and so it was a mistrial meaning that the case adjourned without
40:40a verdict when the jury came back and it was determined that it was a mistrial i wasn't surprised
40:46i mean i thought that the defense had done a pretty good job obviously i liked our norris drake evidence
40:53a lot and i like the fact that we put him on i mean i do his demeanor on the stand helped to explain
40:59some of the falsehoods that he had made steve cannot be connected to that location or to janelle
41:06nothing could show that he was on the street that night if i'd have been a juror that would have been
41:10something that would have been prominent in my mind but he testified that he was untruthful with the
41:15police steve was found guilty on the charge of false reporting sentenced to six months in prison
41:23and although the jury was hung on the murder charge that did not necessarily mean that they were out of
41:29options now at this juncture when there's a mistrial the prosecution has to make the decision do they
41:38want to try this case again ultimately the state decided to retry the case and almost a year later
41:45it went to trial but this time there was one significant change in the second trial steve decided
41:53to not take the stand and one very different outcome we the jury find the defendant steve and
42:02dana pankey guilty of murder in the first degree when steve pankey was found guilty i initially was
42:12happy for the matthews family at least they have some closure and some answers as to what happened on
42:19december 20th 1984. receiving the guilty verdict today marks the end of our earthly justice journey for janelle
42:32but it's only the beginning of your journey of the accountability of the death of my sister
42:37and there is one more day of accountability still yet to come only you and your god will be present for
42:43that defendants are never forced to take the stand but that decision is likely the biggest one
42:51they'll ever make they'll ever make for taking the stand i'm dan abrams
43:08you
Recommended
42:47
|
Up next
42:49
43:04
42:50
41:31
42:56
45:31
41:31
41:31
43:04
41:33
41:31
41:31
43:00
41:31