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00:00Investigation, the pursuit of justice, and the lasting impact on the loved ones left behind.
00:09We got a tentative count of six wounds to her body.
00:13There's a lot of anger there.
00:15This is a violent death.
00:18We're gonna give it every ounce of the respect that she deserves.
00:22Her life matters.
00:24For those most affected by a homicide.
00:26I searched my heart to see who would have done this to my mom.
00:30It had to have been somebody that she knew.
00:33The first 48 is just the beginning.
00:36This is not a typical homicide case.
00:38Did I blow my foot here too?
00:40Do we have another victim here?
00:42Is he dead?
00:44And I'm like, oh my God.
00:46It's just like light bulb.
00:47Come out with your hands off.
00:48Is he gonna have a weapon?
00:49The defense was gonna try to paint Ms. Campbell as a very violent aggressor.
00:58It was either him or her.
00:59So we had a very viable self-defense claim.
01:02If they were successful, we knew that he would be acquitted.
01:05This is the story of the fight for justice.
01:08In the weeks, months, and years.
01:11I miss her so much.
01:14Oh, man.
01:16After.
01:17The first 48.
01:31In the Treme neighborhood.
01:34You all the police, hello?
01:36Yeah, but we didn't learn.
01:38It's locked.
01:39She's full of blood.
01:40First responders race to the scene.
01:46But it's too late.
01:48The woman is dead.
01:59When you're up for a homicide, you're kind of on edge.
02:03You're just waiting for that bell to ring.
02:06And when that bell rings, it's go time.
02:08My daddy worked in homicide.
02:12This, to me, is a career.
02:13It's not a job.
02:15And it is a calling.
02:16It's your stabbing, dude.
02:27Find the ID.
02:30Fanny Campbell.
02:31Fanny was 58 years old and worked as a cook in the Treme neighborhood.
02:39She leaves behind two daughters and a grandson.
02:45Everyone's life matters.
02:46She did not deserve to be murdered to death that morning.
02:50And, like, her life has value.
02:51Like, her life has value.
02:53That's why my job is to solve this crime.
02:56Her throat's cut.
02:59That's probably the fatal one there.
03:01She's got a tentative count of six wounds to her body on the side of her neck.
03:10One above her breast.
03:12The front of each shoulder.
03:15She has two puncture wounds to her abdomen.
03:17There's a lot of anger there to actually stab somebody that many times.
03:24This is a violent death that she endured.
03:30You know that it's up close and personal.
03:33She had defensive wounds.
03:36Obviously, she was in some kind of struggle with her attacker as she was being stabbed.
03:42So, who, what, when, where, why this happened?
03:45All these answers, we don't know.
03:48It was just kind of like an atypical crime scene.
03:52I take the big picture first and then start moving in smaller and smaller.
03:57Perfume.
03:59Got some peppermint candies.
04:00It could have been a robbery that went wrong.
04:10But a woman stabbed to death.
04:12We leaned towards domestic.
04:14But, you know, no one heard any screaming or any fighting.
04:17And then the white sheet is very uncharacteristic of something happening there.
04:21Which kind of started making us lean more towards her body.
04:24It was actually discarded there.
04:26And the crime happened somewhere else.
04:28And that was our starting point.
04:30This is going to be an old-fashioned whodunit.
04:39Five hours in.
04:40I'm going to do a criminal history check.
04:45I needed to get an understanding of who my victim was.
04:52His prior convictions only for cocaine.
04:56Looks like her last arrest was in April of this year for aggravated battery.
05:01We found some things in Fannie's past, but that didn't change the fact that me and Rob were going to run on that case and give it every ounce of the respect that she deserved.
05:17This is Detective Ward.
05:19Yes, ma'am.
05:22Sorry about your mama.
05:23Fannie's daughter just learned from the coroner's office that her mother was violently murdered.
05:30When I got the phone call that Fannie was found dead, literally my toenails caught a fire.
05:36I screamed from the pits of hell to heaven gates because I couldn't understand.
05:41How I was just with her, and she was going just like that.
05:48That is a day I'll never forget.
05:51My life changed completely.
05:53If it's okay with you, me and my partner would like to come over and talk to you.
05:58All right.
06:00She may have some insight as to what's going on.
06:03We meet people on their worst day.
06:11The investigation is still new right now.
06:14When the detectives came to my house, I searched my heart to see who would have done this to my mom.
06:20We're trying to find out anything we can about your mom, about her history.
06:24I can give it to you.
06:26She gave me up for adoption.
06:27I found her at 16.
06:29She's been rough her whole life.
06:31I'm not ashamed to say my mom did drugs.
06:33Right.
06:33Because she left me with a good life.
06:35So I can't see nothing bad about my mom.
06:39I'm grateful to her because I didn't have to go through the struggle.
06:44I was not there with her addictions.
06:47I was adopted from 29 days old.
06:50And when I was introduced to Fannie, we didn't rekindle pain.
06:55We brought laughter and happiness to each other.
06:58She was just living her life.
07:00But it was snatched.
07:02Was she stabbed and shot saved?
07:04No, ma'am.
07:04She was just stabbed, but she was stabbed several times.
07:07It was a brutal stabbing?
07:09It was not somebody who had some anger in her heart.
07:13Listen to me.
07:14Listen to me good.
07:15My mom wasn't the type of woman that you can just fight her and get away with.
07:21She used to carry a razor blade under her tongue.
07:22She's not scared.
07:24It had to have been somebody that she knew to get that close up on her to do that much
07:29damage to her.
07:31That's why I want to ask you if there's anybody that you suspect of who might have done her.
07:36So that's when I told them I knew it couldn't have been nobody but him.
07:41To be honest with you, from my gut, one person that really would want my mama hurt like that
07:46would be Tom.
07:49Tom Seaborn Gibson was my mom's boyfriend of 30-plus years.
07:55My mama was a beautiful spirit, so she would gravitate to everybody.
07:59And he didn't like that.
08:01Tom was a very controlling person.
08:03Like this old little man, he didn't want nobody to have his family.
08:07He's older.
08:08Is he capable of this, you think?
08:10That's the only person I could see.
08:12Looking at the violent nature of her death, I'm not thinking that someone of that age could
08:19have been responsible.
08:21She's got a history of drugs, so it could have been a whole different person that stabbed
08:25Fanny.
08:26We needed to find out more.
08:27When was the last time you went to the house on St. Philip?
08:30I talked to Tom and everything was all good.
08:31He said, your mama crazy.
08:33She said, he's crazy.
08:35He'd be hiding that age.
08:36And then he was back and forth.
08:38There was a history of domestic violence, which doesn't mean he killed her, but it's a possible
08:44motive.
08:44What is Tom drawing?
08:45Is it called him?
08:46Tom was black with rims.
08:48F-150 is burgundy.
08:50Burgundy F-150.
08:53And he just hasn't called you enough like that?
08:54Haven't called me, haven't told me nothing.
08:58Tom can be the guy.
08:59We have to explore him further now, because that's the only name we have at this point.
09:05Man.
09:07Y'all had pictures of her?
09:15She's looking different than he is.
09:20You're going to have that one?
09:21It was a booking photo.
09:24I certainly wasn't going to deny her that opportunity to have that photo of her mama.
09:30Very sorry for this.
09:32It's all right.
09:37Your common law wife for 30 years is dead.
09:40If everybody else knows it, I'm sure he knows it.
09:42Me and Rob thought it was suspicious that C-Bond hadn't reached out to Danielle.
09:50We needed to figure out why.
09:52We needed to figure out pretty quick.
09:53We were making famous fried pork chops.
10:14She was just so full of life.
10:18Made me smile.
10:19Kept me going.
10:20Kept me to where I wanted to be.
10:22Just like her.
10:23So, I'm making what I know she would love.
10:26Chops.
10:28We live in a world where everyone judges.
10:31But not my mom.
10:33She didn't.
10:33Me coming out in 1996 out of the closet.
10:39My mom was my best friend for that.
10:40She said, baby, God don't judge.
10:42So, how can I judge?
10:44That was the most important thing for me in the world.
10:49She said, whatever I wanted to be, we're going to do a test.
10:53Look at her.
10:54Ain't that pretty?
10:55Mm-hmm.
10:58Even though my mother had her own struggles, she was still my mother.
11:02And a human being.
11:05Well, mama, we get to eat a pork chop together.
11:09Oh, listen to that.
11:12Ooh-wee.
11:18That's good eating right there.
11:20This was the last time that we actually hung out together.
11:23And she told me, she said, baby, this is on it up again.
11:27Who would have known that that meant this is the last time?
11:37I miss you, mama.
11:40Oh, God.
11:42How far away is the house on the field?
11:58Four or five blocks.
11:59That's a pretty big clue that they lived together.
12:04And, you know, the closer the scene.
12:07Eight hours since Fanny was killed.
12:10Fanny had been in a tumultuous, violent relationship for over 23 years with a guy you got to follow up on at that point.
12:19There's a Tahoe with rims.
12:23There it is.
12:24And two trucks.
12:25All right.
12:26He's home.
12:26He's home, dude.
12:28Let's look at his car, dude.
12:29Yep.
12:29So get into the apartment.
12:31We see Sibon's vehicles.
12:32Several peppermints in the back of his truck.
12:42We located peppermint on the scene.
12:45Sometimes in an investigation, you get little hints, and I felt like I was in the right direction.
12:52I see the blood back here.
12:53I see Sibon live upstairs, and we're looking at this locked gate.
13:07Like, the only way in there is up.
13:10You think I'm climbing that fence?
13:11I'm climbing the fence.
13:11There's no way I'm climbing that fence.
13:14You can climb the fence.
13:15I enjoy supper time too much to climb that fence.
13:23Get it?
13:23It's very dark.
13:29I see, like, a broken pane of glass.
13:35We don't know if, like, did the crime happen here.
13:38Is Tom a victim?
13:40Is Tom okay?
13:42Blowing the floor.
13:43Huh?
13:44I think there's blowing the floor back out.
13:46On the floor, there's, like, dark droplets.
13:48Not a lot, but a few.
13:50So I would definitely get a search warrant for this place.
13:52It was a rush.
13:58It was exciting knowing that we possibly found the initial crime scene when this crime actually occurred.
14:0411 hours in, while I was typing in the warrant for his residence, Rob was looking up Sibon.
14:15Sibon, Tom Gibson, is a retired truck driver who's lived in New Orleans for over 50 years.
14:22He's 75 years old.
14:24He had parole for attempted secondary murder, 95, 97.
14:29So he has aggravated burglary, 93, theft.
14:35Just looking at him and his age, it just didn't register that he was our perpetrator.
14:42What's the chances, though, of a 75-year-old man overpowering and killing the victim?
14:49Do you think this man could drag her down the steps and put her in a truck and dump her?
14:53Do you think he's got the strength to do that?
14:54I don't know.
14:56I don't know.
14:58We had three options.
15:00A, Sibon did it.
15:02He killed Fanny.
15:02He somehow got her in this truck, got her to this field, and he's our guy.
15:06B, he killed Fanny, and then maybe he killed himself.
15:11Or C, do we have another victim here?
15:14Is he dead?
15:16This is weird.
15:18We'll see what happens, man.
15:18See what's in that house.
15:22Old vehicle's still there.
15:32Burayer finds Tom's landlord.
15:43He's alive, but I couldn't see his hands.
16:13No, no.
16:14See your hands, Tom.
16:15Come out.
16:16Come out with your hands up.
16:16See your hands, Tom.
16:17It was pretty tense.
16:18I'm trying to get him out because is he going to have a weapon?
16:32Come out.
16:32Come out with your hands up.
16:33See your hands, Tom.
16:34I couldn't see his hands.
16:35And you're starting to think, hey, what's really going on here?
16:38Come on.
16:38Come out here.
16:40Come out here.
16:41Come out with your hands up.
16:44Do you have any weapons on you, Tom?
16:45Do you have any weapons on you?
16:48All right.
16:4914 hours into the investigation.
16:52At that point, I'm like, there was no way he could have dragged a human body down those stairs,
16:58got her in a truck.
16:59It just didn't seem logical.
17:01He could pretty much barely walk.
17:03Was Tom capable of committing this crime?
17:05Perhaps, real quick.
17:06You're going to step right there.
17:08You okay?
17:10Oh.
17:11We're trained to look at people's hands when they come out because it's the hands that can hurt you.
17:16How about to your hand, man?
17:18I cut my hand on my hand.
17:20Today?
17:21Today?
17:22No.
17:23When you're involved in a violent encounter, like a stabbing, a lot of times a perpetrator cuts himself.
17:27Can we go up to the headquarters and talk?
17:29Okay.
17:31He was not under arrest at this point.
17:33I didn't want to make him think that I believed he was my prime suspect.
17:38I had a theory, so let him ride in the front seat with me up to headquarters.
17:42And I stayed behind and do the search and the processing of the crime scene.
17:53It was really important for me to get him to trust me enough because I need this man to give me information.
18:01Can you tell me about what you've been doing all day?
18:05I've been home all day.
18:07Okay.
18:08Well, you have a living girlfriend or wife.
18:12What's her name?
18:13Fanny Camel.
18:15When was the last time you spoke to Fanny?
18:20Friday evening.
18:22I think it was my trade.
18:25Oh.
18:26That was two days ago.
18:29I'm thinking, nah, no way.
18:31Fanny hadn't been out in that field since Friday.
18:34Those injuries were fresh.
18:35Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Fanny is deceased.
18:40Hi.
18:43Say, bro, I tell that girl many times.
18:47I say, Fanny, you know you ain't got no business in the streets out there.
18:51Somebody gonna hurt you sooner or later.
18:53He tried to project that her lifestyle may have led to her death.
18:58You didn't seem too concerned, though.
19:01That one put me through a lot of stuff.
19:03I'm telling you, Fanny was a terrible one.
19:08Seabon is telling me his story of how he was a victim.
19:13We're conducting a search warrant on your house right now.
19:16Okay.
19:17We noticed there was some blood in there.
19:21Can you explain that?
19:22I was able to get him to tell me about the tussle, but he constantly wanted to minimize
19:36his involvement in this.
19:39What happened after the little thong?
19:41I don't know.
19:41She left.
19:43As long as he was talking to me, I was happy.
19:45I sat with that man for over three hours, and I just wanted him talking, because I knew
19:50Rob was back at that apartment.
19:52And I knew he was getting a better story.
20:00It's a lot of blood, dude.
20:02It just happened in here.
20:03It had to have.
20:05Everything pointed to that being the crime scene.
20:07But I wanted to find the murder weapon.
20:10How do you get her downstairs, man?
20:11There's only one way.
20:12Right.
20:12You got it.
20:13He's like 74 years old.
20:15There's blood on this mattress.
20:25Now, this room leads to the roof.
20:28Is that blood on the floor here, too?
20:30It forms a trail leading up the stairs.
20:36This is not the typical homicide case.
20:38This is more of a puzzle, like an onion.
20:40Everything's kind of stuff.
20:41It's unpeeling.
20:45We found a peppermint.
20:49It's on the roof, and I'm like, oh, my God.
20:53It's just like light bulb.
20:57Based on, I guess, the angle of the roof where his truck's parked, the fact that there's
21:01no blood going in the main staircase, I mean, he got a sheet from the house, rolled her up,
21:06rolled her off the roof, and that was it.
21:09That's my theory.
21:10That's my theory.
21:17Then.
21:22They knife with a serrated edge with blood on it.
21:31At that point, we were pretty confident we found the murder weapon, which is great.
21:34That's rare.
21:35Chuck's ready to go have a Gatorade on the sideline, and I'm going to come in fresh.
21:41I can kind of go at him with actual physical evidence.
21:47So, what's his last story?
21:48So I know where I'm going with this.
21:49He says they got into a fight.
21:51She left.
21:52He hasn't seen her since.
21:53Okay.
21:54We have a lot of evidence now to support that Tom did this, but what we don't have is Tom
21:59confessing.
22:00I needed that.
22:02For me to be able to make that arrest, I needed him to admit to it.
22:07We searched your house, and we found a lot of things at your house that contradict what
22:14you said.
22:16We found the knife.
22:18You have wounds in your hand that are basically indicative of that type of struggle, conflict.
22:24We found blood in two adjoining rooms that lead to the roof.
22:28You know what we don't have?
22:29We don't have your story, Tommy.
22:31We don't have the truth.
22:33I'm screaming inside.
22:35Just say it.
22:36Just say it.
22:37Just say that you did this.
22:39You can see him processing what I'm telling him.
22:41There were no adamant, like, denials.
22:43He's thinking, how can I respond to this?
22:45What do I say?
22:46What happened last night?
22:50Think about it.
22:51It could have been so traumatic, it's kind of cloudy for you.
22:55You want to give you a second to think about it?
22:57We'll come back in.
22:58Yeah, we'll take it right back.
22:59Think about it last night.
23:01Think about everything I told you.
23:02And we'll come back in about five minutes, Tommy.
23:04Let him smoke a cigarette, dude, get his mind straight, boom.
23:13We'll go in again.
23:15I'll say it.
23:16As long as you want to go, we'll go at him.
23:17I think in that moment where we stepped out, his mind's probably racing.
23:24You're not going to interrupt that pause.
23:27You're not going to interrupt that silence.
23:28Is he going to lawyer up, or is he going to come off?
23:4618 hours into the investigation.
24:04It's intense.
24:05It's an intense feeling.
24:07And I'm watching this man, and in my head, it's just loudly saying, come on, man.
24:12Just tell the truth.
24:13Did she have it first, or what happened?
24:32I think that's what happened.
24:34Okay.
24:34Then what happened, Tommy?
24:37I believe that's when I got cut in my hand.
24:40I was trying to take that knife from her.
24:42It was very important that they found that knife, because it was a crucial piece that
24:48Rob could use to break down Sibon's lies.
24:52And what happened?
24:55I guess she had got cut.
24:58Where'd she get cut?
25:00In the chest.
25:02After we had scuffed with that knife, she wouldn't sit in that background.
25:10I had went inside and sat down.
25:14We got into it again.
25:15At what point did she pass away?
25:21She went to the end of that porch or something.
25:24Not a roof.
25:25Laid down there.
25:26I had went back inside, but when I come back again, she wasn't moving.
25:30Did you put her in something?
25:32Whatever.
25:33I'm trying to think, what that is.
25:35She that throws over up.
25:36We had a lot of evidence suggesting that Tom did this.
25:41But it's so much stronger when someone admits to doing something.
25:44Stover put her body on the truck.
25:48How'd you get her down?
25:50Right off the roof in my truck.
25:54Back it up and get a roller in there.
25:56I don't know where I'm at.
25:57That was amazing, because we had our theory, and then he filled those gaps in with his statement.
26:07And what happened then?
26:09I left one on back home.
26:12So I mopped her for a little brother and went on back in the bed and went to sleep.
26:17You know, these girls don't threaten me so much, I'd be scared to be around.
26:23It's the way they're the best for one of us to go down.
26:27I'll sit tight one second, and I'll be right back with you.
26:30He tried to make it a self-defense kind of thing, but there were no tears.
26:36I didn't see any sympathy, any sorrow, remorse.
26:39It was just like, this is what happened.
26:43I didn't have sympathy for Siavon.
26:46And I saw how many times she was stabbed, how violently.
26:50My sympathy was with Danielle.
26:53When I found out that Tom confessed, I cried.
26:57Because now, who can you trust?
27:00Someone you spend half of your life with can be the person that take your life.
27:06Siavon Gibson is charged with second-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
27:11I felt good, but the work wasn't done at this point.
27:15There's still a huge step that has to take place, and anything can happen at Troy.
27:22We had the murder weapon.
27:31We had DNA evidence where the victim's blood was found in his residence.
27:35And I felt like that would have quite an effect on the jury.
27:38But there was a very real issue we were having to battle.
27:41The defense wanted to exclude the evidence.
27:45Initially, when Rob hopped the fence, he didn't have a warrant.
27:48It was a locked fence, which meant that you couldn't just go in.
27:55When you're a criminal defense lawyer, someone's life is on the line.
27:58I believe that law enforcement, in this case, illegally entered into the property.
28:04You need probable cause.
28:06So I filed the motion to suppress evidence.
28:08So we set a hearing date.
28:09If the judge granted the defense's motion, we as the prosecutors would not have been allowed
28:16to use any of the evidence found within Mr. Gibson's home.
28:21That would have been the end of the case.
28:26Eight months after Siavon's arrest, testimony begins at his hearing.
28:34We argued that the stairwell is technically a common area of this apartment complex.
28:38So since Robert didn't enter the home of the defendant, there was no Fourth Amendment violation.
28:46The judge agrees.
28:48We were definitely relieved that the physical evidence was ruled admissible.
28:52Unfortunately, it didn't go our way.
28:54For this case, I knew we had challenges.
28:56But I had a plan for each one.
28:59I knew there was going to be an argument for self-defense.
29:03And so I definitely wanted to try and explore the violent nature of their relationship first.
29:09Because I knew there was something more to the case.
29:13She had previously attacked Mr. Gibson two months before the actual incident took place.
29:19Here, we have a violent offense from Ms. Campbell as the perpetrator to Mr. Gibson as the victim.
29:26Mr. Gibson had been attacked.
29:28She hit Mr. Gibson over the head with a hammer.
29:31She would have these moments of violence and explosive behavior.
29:35Mr. Gibson was the victim.
29:37But this time, Mr. Gibson fought back.
29:40The worst case scenario is that the jury is going to feel for the defendant.
29:45The jury was going to see Mr. Gibson as a victim and Ms. Campbell as an aggressor and find Mr. Gibson innocent.
29:53I felt confident heading into trial because I felt as though the jury would sympathize with Mr. Gibson.
30:13He was in his mid-70s.
30:15Fannie previously attacked him with a hammer.
30:17We had a very viable self-defense claim.
30:24A year after Fannie's death, a jury will hear the case against C-Bond Gibson.
30:30This was my first murder trial, and it was nerve-wracking.
30:35The stakes feel higher because I wanted to get justice for Danielle.
30:39My nerves was rattling.
30:42I was queasy because I didn't know that I was going to be that close to Tom.
30:48After opening arguments.
30:49It was very clear that the defense was going to try to paint Ms. Campbell as a very violent aggressor.
30:57The case was essentially going to be an attack on Fannie, but she wasn't going to be able to give her side of the story.
31:03So we definitely needed to call somebody to humanize our victim.
31:07And so we wanted to do that with Danielle.
31:10I wanted the jurors to see my mother as an individual, not an aggressor, not a drug user, but as a human being.
31:26She was a beautiful grandmother and a wonderful mother to me.
31:31I feel like me telling my mom's story was her speaking for herself.
31:36Ms. Campbell had her own demons that she was battling throughout her life.
31:42But that doesn't take away from the fact that she was the victim here.
31:48I really wanted to show the jury that the way that Fannie was treated, it was so heinous and so brutal.
31:56The medical examiner was able to show just how much damage Fannie suffered.
32:01But on cross-examination...
32:03I questioned the medical examiner about victims' toxicology.
32:08There was evidence that suggested that Fannie had cocaine in her system and also alcohol.
32:15We were concerned that a jury would hear this information and assume she's actually the violent aggressor and Mr. Gibson is the victim.
32:23It was either him or her, and he tried to survive.
32:26It definitely did go into the defense's theory that this isn't the first time.
32:31She had a pending case for aggravated battery in which Seabon Gibson was the victim.
32:37There was no way around it.
32:38We had to face it head on.
32:39I have here the original gist from the incident.
32:45And this really just says that Seabon Gibson was the victim and that Fannie Campbell hit him in the head with a hammer.
32:52But it actually says here in the report that she says Mr. Gibson struck her in the face with a closed fist.
32:58And that's when she retrieved the hammer just to break the window to try and unlock the door.
33:04So even though Fannie was the one who got arrested, it probably should have been Seabon.
33:09It's always great when you can take the defense's evidence and use it to your own advantage.
33:13It certainly took some sting out of our theory, but I don't think the jury bought that.
33:16On the second day of trial, we were able to play the taped interview that the detectives did with Mr. Gibson.
33:28What's interesting is that the prosecution and the defense are going to see it from two very different angles.
33:37Did she have it first?
33:41Obviously, he doesn't want to tell us he just killed this woman in cold blood or whatever.
33:45Well, now he's painted himself into a self-defense story, so he's got to come up with an idea to make that seem sensible.
33:52You know, I do believe that he was telling the truth here, and he was justified in doing what he did.
33:59He comes off very credible.
34:01Sort of that grandpa nature of him.
34:03How do you go to sleep after that, dude?
34:14Like, just nonchalant, you go mop the blood up, and I went to sleep.
34:18I think it shows the callousness of it.
34:21You've been with this woman 30 years.
34:23Rolls her off the roof, goes and hides the body, comes back, and just, like, in his own words, go on about my business.
34:29Yeah.
34:30That's cold, man.
34:31It is.
34:31That is so cold.
34:32It is.
34:33It's very telling.
34:38There was such a tumultuous relationship between the two of them.
34:42There's a powder keg ready to blow.
34:44He lays it out there enough to where it aligns with the self-defense justification defense.
34:50We felt confident that we had enough to plant a lot of doubt in the jury's mind for that murder charge.
34:59It was really worrisome, because there's a risk of a hung jury.
35:02But even if they found that he was justified in killing her, he definitely wasn't justified in moving her body, throwing it off the roof, and dumping it in that field.
35:13He had to clean it up before they'd catch me.
35:18So I got to dot my eyes and cross my T's.
35:21He missed a couple of eyes and didn't get all the T's.
35:25The evidence was so strong on this case for obstruction.
35:28There was no way a jury could not agree with that.
35:31I remember the prosecutor turning to me, saying, what are you going to do about the obstruction charge?
35:39And I remember just looking at him and being like, I have something.
35:42Something we as the prosecution had to be able to face head on and prepare for.
35:47The defense attempted to use an intoxication defense, claiming that Mr. Gibson didn't understand the nature of his actions.
35:55In Louisiana, there's a justification defense of intoxication.
35:59But the issue with using that defense was that I had no evidence of it.
36:06There weren't any drug screens or blood tests taken when Mr. Gibson was apprehended.
36:11So I knew it was going to come down to Mr. Gibson's testimony.
36:15We had to call Mr. Gibson to the stand.
36:18But any time your client takes a stand, it's high risk.
36:21Day two of C-Bond Gibson's trial.
36:36I was surprised to see Mr. Gibson take the stand because he did seem like an unpredictable witness.
36:42Everything he says, everything he doesn't say, how he says it, is going to be weighed significantly by the jury.
36:52But I didn't have anything else in order to try and defend him from the charge of obstruction of justice.
36:58So in order to get that evidence of intoxication out, the only thing I had was Mr. Gibson's memory.
37:03It was beneficial to the defense case that as he walked to take the stand, you could see that this was an elderly man.
37:14And it is certainly a difficult argument to make that this is, in fact, a cold-blooded killer.
37:19So I asked him, Mr. Gibson, were you intoxicated?
37:23Were you drunk at that time?
37:25He says, I was feeling pretty good.
37:27I had drank enough to not know really what I'm doing.
37:29Then I asked him, but when you realized that she had passed, did you know what to do?
37:34He said, no.
37:35I've never been into nothing like that.
37:37I don't know nothing.
37:37I was crazy myself.
37:39I didn't know which way to go, up or down.
37:42He was acting delirious.
37:44Like he didn't know, like he was incompetent.
37:47He played pitiful.
37:49The defendant definitely created a perception of someone who didn't understand what was going on.
37:56If they were successful with the intoxication defense, we knew that he would be acquitted.
38:02And so it created another hurdle for us.
38:05But on the other hand, we were thrilled to be able to question Mr. Gibson.
38:09Because we get to question him on his past.
38:12To kind of flip that narrative and show that it was, in fact, Mr. Gibson that had this pattern in his history.
38:18We went and got those old police reports from the 90s and found out that, once again, this is another domestic situation where he attempted to kill someone else that he was in a relationship with.
38:28He has a prior conviction for attempted murder.
38:30You actually say, were you defending yourself or did you just try and kill that woman?
38:35He says, I wasn't trying to kill nobody.
38:37And then you said, why did you plead guilty to attempted murder?
38:40And again, he says he doesn't even remember.
38:42Right, which is kind of like his theme throughout everything is, if I don't remember it, it didn't really happen.
38:51The prosecutor opened old wounds that reveals the real C-Bond Gibson.
38:58You paint this she-devil over here, but look at you.
39:02You won't get away this time.
39:04But it was a tale of two stories.
39:06And which story is the jury going to believe?
39:08Waiting for a verdict is gut-wrenching.
39:18Time kind of stands still.
39:20I was getting shocked when my anxiety levels were brought through the roof, and I prayed.
39:26I said, God, I just need more justice.
39:28After seven hours of deliberation.
39:33They were at a standstill.
39:36All 12 members of the jury believed that Mr. Gibson was guilty of something.
39:41There were no votes for not guilty.
39:42But they could not come to a decision between murder and manslaughter.
39:47So ultimately, that led to a hung jury.
39:49You know, I couldn't understand it, I couldn't grasp it, because the evidence was right that clear in state.
40:01But then, the jury delivers their verdict on the second charge.
40:08They found him guilty as charged of the obstruction, which carried up to 40 years.
40:12But, the judge could have handed out a sentence of zero years, and that would have been perfectly fine under the law.
40:19I do remember the judge addressing the defendant.
40:25He said, you had no remorse for her, her daughter, or her grandchild.
40:34So I have no remorse for how I'm going to sentence you.
40:38He had ended up giving Mr. Gibson 27 years.
40:43This is basically a life sentence.
40:53And yet, C-Bahn could still be retried for murder.
40:58We had the option of either bringing the case back to trial, or resolving it with some type of plea agreement.
41:03I didn't want to drag myself and my son through that pain.
41:08So, I took it.
41:10I took a plea deal to give Fanny to peace.
41:14I finally could breed again.
41:16I got justice.
41:26Domestic bodies, it has no gender, has no race.
41:30Don't be afraid to reach out.
41:32Speak in behalf of Fanny Elaine Gamble.
41:35We were able to give her some dignity.
41:39Her life mattered.
41:41I think we did right by Fanny.
41:48This is where Fanny's from, right here.
41:51Nine years after the trial.
41:54If I want to come and feel Fanny, this is the spot where I come to, right here.
41:57On this corner, right here.
41:58It's from Eastwood.
41:59My mom was a wildflower.
42:03She just had her way with people.
42:06Everybody knows Fanny in this neighborhood.
42:08Hey, haunted fives.
42:11And everybody want to take a picture with her.
42:13Come in, Miss Fanny.
42:14How you doing, Miss Fanny?
42:16Whatever she got to say on her mind, it's going to come out.
42:18And this is Fanny getting down a happy soul.
42:22The charisma of, and as you can see, it's her character.
42:26That's her character.
42:27That's how she lives her life.
42:29I still, to this day, can people ask me about Fanny.
42:34I miss her so much.
42:37That's my Fanny boo.
42:38He he he he he.
42:42He he he.
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