Original subtitles

Courthouses are supposed to be places

of calm and dignity,

where order is maintained and justice is served.

But often, when stakes and emotions are at their highest,

cool heads don't always prevail.

Coming up,

an enraged father out for revenge.

You cannot put other people in danger,

and you must respect justice.

Your job is to do your job, not to worry about me.

You worry about your self.

Defendants with no respect for a judge

or a grieving family.

And a gang member tries to silence a snitch.

You don't rat on another individual.

All the jaw-dropping moments...

-10,000. -Are you serious?

I am serious. Adios.

...Plus key insights from our team of

crime and legal experts...

The emotion was raw, it was real,

and it was stronger than she could bear.

...On chaos in court.

Hailed as the must-see sports doctor

known for treating america's most elite gymnasts,

54-year-old larry nassar is about to be sentenced by

judge janice cunningham after pleading guilty to criminal

sexual conduct in lansing, michigan.

Larry nassar is the former sports doctor who used to treat

the u.S. Women's gymnastics team,

also michigan state university.

If you got an appointment to see

larry nassar, people thought it was like,

my god, I got in to see him.

He's the olympic doctor. He's a michigan state doctor.

Whatever I have hurting, he's gonna get fixed.

You're talking about some of gymnastics top names

in the business, some of olympics' greatest --

simone biles and aly raisman,

who were victimized by this monster.

You are so sick,

I can't even comprehend how angry I feel

when I think of you.

You lied to me and manipulated me to think that when

you treated me, you were closing your eyes

because you had been working hard,

when you were really touching me, an innocent child,

to pleasure yourself.

He would assault them,

and he would, in many ways, manipulate these young girls

into thinking that what he was doing

was actually medical treatment.

In 2017, larry nassar received 60 years

on federal child pornography charges.

A year later, in neighboring ingham county, michigan,

nassar is sentenced on state charges of up to 175 years for

seven counts of criminal sexual conduct

in the first degree.

You're a danger.

Then, just over a week later,

nassar's back in court in another jurisdiction for

the third and final sentencing for alleged activities against

another 50-plus young women in eaton county, michigan.

The courtroom was packed. I think every seat was taken.

Various young women

were permitted to give victim impact statements

that's made to the judge to try to explain, from their vantage

point, what their experience was with the defendant,

how that impacted their life, and how or what they want

in terms of what the sentencing will be.

It does affect us in the way that we sentence.

It could be the difference between 5 years or 10 years,

so impact statements are important.

Randall margraves is in the courtroom.

He is the father of not one, not two,

but three of the women who are victims of larry nassar.

I got to know randy through the course of what occurred.

He is a hard-working father,

he is a loving father and husband.

Randall margraves's youngest daughter, madison,

an aspiring gymnast,

began seeing nassar for medical treatment

when she was only nine years old.

Nassar began touching her inappropriately

and sexually assaulting her during her physical exams.

During all of my many visits in nassar's office at msu

sports med, one of my parents was always in the room.

So even when things seemed to be -- make me uncomfortable,

I never thought anything of it.

Grewal: I hate to use this word,

but he got off on having the parents in the room.

The reason being is that the parents are sitting there

talking to him as he is doing this procedure

with his hands underneath the sheet

on their daughters in places they shouldn't be.

The parents have no idea this is going on.

To my parents,

thank you for all your love and support

through all of this.

To larry nassar,

I want you to know that you no longer

hold power over me or my thoughts.

Grewal: He was looking down.

He was in denial, and eventually,

he was not giving any of these women

that ounce of respect,

to look at them when they wanted to try and heal.

While training to become a gymnast,

madison's sister, lauren margraves,

was also assaulted several times by nassar in 2006.

My mind immediately thought about the time when I was 13,

just a kid, laying on a table at msu,

and you put your ungloved hands all over my rear

and slipped your thumb into the most private area of my body.

To be able to face your offender and for the offender

to face those that have accused him of hellacious crimes is

an emotional state in which words probably cannot describe.

This was the first time that mr. Margraves heard from

his daughters' own voices

the sexual assault that occurred by larry nassar

to each one of them,

and it was devastating to him.

I trusted you, my parents trusted you,

and now I feel like I'll never be able to trust another man

ever again.

As his daughters spoke,

I could see his body language, that he began to tense up.

In most courtrooms, parents are

also allowed to give impact statements.

But when mr. Margraves asks to take the podium,

he makes an unusual request.

I would ask you to, as part of the sentencing,

to grant me five minutes in a locked room with this demon.

Would you do that?

Yes or no?

And the judge denies that request, because obviously,

we, as judges, cannot allow someone to impose justice on

their own by having a physical altercation

with even a convicted person as mr. Nassar was.

Whitmore: From a father's perspective, the role of

a father is of protector, to keep them safe.

And to know and to hear that every bit of his daughters'

innocence was taken from them by larry nassar was completely

overwhelming for him.

Would you give me one minute?

Bove: You can understand that that's what he wanted to do,

but right now, you have to protect everybody in

the courtroom, and right then and there,

your radar goes up like, hey, all right, this guy's

talking stuff that he wants to do.

He's agitated, so it's time to tighten up your boots.

Judge: You know that I can't do that -- that's not how

our legal system... -Well, I'm gonna have to...

hands behind your back!

He bull rushes after larry nassar.

The three court officers get to him barely in time.

One of the court officers steps in front between

larry nassar and the father,

and also the attorney for larry nassar steps in.

Well, I'm gonna have to...

When the father attacks him,

he backs up and is actually pulled from the scene.

He is rescued from this father.

This is not what nassar expected when

he sat down for this court proceeding.

Stay down! Stay down! Stay down.

Let me at that son of a!

Stay down. -I want that!

Who wouldn't understand? But the bottom line is,

their job as court officers is to control the environment,

and if it takes 2, 3, 4 of these guys

to sit on dad and get him cuffed,

that's what they gotta do.

Hands behind your back.

If they don't want to be cuffed,

it's tough to get him cuffed.

Give me one minute with that

once they get the father standing,

he turns to the officers and he says...

,,,and one of the officers seemed to sympathize with him,

like I understand, I understand.

Thankfully, the law enforcement that tackled him

acted quickly, because no one was injured.

After the father lunged at larry nassar,

the judge obviously had him detained and put him in

a holding cell.

That's not uncommon, because you want to make sure

that you bring calmness and control back to the courtroom.

After I spoke to mr. Margraves in the holding cell,

both he and I were brought up in front of

judge cunningham, because this would be a contempt hearing

if he's to be held in contempt of court.

You cannot put other people in danger,

nor the judge, and you must respect justice.

The judge is there to do a job.

The judge knows what she's gonna do.

My heart does go out to you

and your family because of what you've gone through.

Three of your girls were injured physically

and emotionally by somebody sitting in a courtroom.

I can't fathom that -- there is no way that

this court is gonna issue any type of punishment

given the circumstances of this case.

She understood that this was a highly emotional situation,

that the father just lost control, and,

most importantly, that she was gonna administer the justice to

mr. Nassar, and the father didn't have to.

After being bombarded by the press,

mr. Margraves addresses reporters later that day.

I feel very remorseful, um,

very apologetic.

I was embarrassed.

I want to make it real clear that I am no hero.

My daughters are the heroes and all the victims

and the survivors of this terrible atrocity.

You can tell from his demeanor, from his actions,

that he reacted honestly, and his apology

was heartfelt, it was sincere.

Randall margraves's eldest daughter, morgan,

who did not give a victim's impact statement in court,

now speaks up for her father.

He reacted in a way that I feel most fathers would

have done and probably wanted to do in a situation

like this,

but after reflecting on what happened earlier,

my father is -- is remorseful,

and justice cannot be served by one individual.

It must go through the judicial system.

Judge cunningham gives larry nassar up to 125 years for

the sexual assault of over 50 female athletes,

some as young as six years old.

With all three sentences combined,

larry nassar is given a life sentence with no possibility

of parole.

There are over 500 victim-survivors

of larry nassar.

I actually think we are in a watershed moment,

because you could look at the weinstein case,

and look at the cosby case, and even epstein, man.

I think sexual assault survivors are being believed

for the first time historically without having to

come forward, being put on the stand,

being cross-examined, and victim-shamed.

Dorsey: It's difficult, but it's courageous,

and it's empowering, I think,

when others see, because you never know what

kind of an influence you have on someone else who's watching,

who's saying me, too, but no more.

Larry nassar will never see the light of day again,

and that's as good as it gets.

Well, I'm gonna have to get...

Coming up, a convicted gang member

testifies against one of his own.

That's something that you don't do.

In salt lake city, utah,

a new u.S. Federal courthouse has just opened.

25-year-old siale angilau,

also known by his gang street name, c-down, is on trial for

his role in a string of violent crimes.

This young man is part of a tongan group, mostly

pacific islanders,

that is an offshoot of the crip gang, and it's called

the tongan crip gang.

This gang has a very specific m.O.

They tag everything, a little graffiti on signs, on buildings.

They have a very complex organization going on

in the salt lake city area.

Angilau's charges include racketeering, robbery,

assault on a u.S. Marshal, and weapons violations.

He faces up to 30 years in a federal prison.

Dawson: In fact, it's a rico case,

which means they've committed several crimes over the course

of many years, breaking many different laws.

The fbi began rounding up these gang members

back in 2010.

They got 17 of these violent criminals.

Now this guy's in court as

the last defendant in this whole process.

He's the guy that's gonna wrap up the case for the fbi.

So we're in this new federal courthouse,

and the drapes haven't even come in.

Now, drapes are used for a very specific purpose.

They are to go around the defendant's

and the prosecutor's table so that

no one can tell whether or not a defendant is in shackles

or handcuffs.

The drapes help to disguise the shackles,

because you do not want to prejudice the jury.

And in this case, the judge decides, in fairness,

not to have the defendant in his shackles at that time.

Bove: Some of the court officers

didn't realize that he wasn't shackled,

and in any type of law enforcement situation like this,

the right hand always has to know

what the left hand is doing and vice versa,

because, at any time, it could become an explosive situation.

And there's a big problem for c-down.

The witness who's testifying on this particular day

is what is commonly known as a snitch.

His fellow gang member, vaiola tenifa,

is already serving 30 years for his role in

the racketeering enterprise.

Whitmore: There's a hierarchy in gang, in membership,

and in that membership, your friends, your brothers,

there is a level of trust, and you don't rat on

another individual.

It is tense in the courtroom.

The defendant, just to the left of his attorney,

there's also the prosecution, family members of victims.

This is the ultimate moment for the folks in this courthouse

who have suffered from the crimes this guy has committed.

If you look at the defendant's table,

I didn't see any security right next to the table,

and that really is shocking, because you know that this is

a high-intensity, high-emotional case.

So as this defendant realizes that his fellow gang member

was about to be as disloyal

as anyone could be about testifying against him,

everything changes in a hot second.

The defendant walks around his attorney,

he grabs a pen, he grabs a pencil,

he grabs a highlighter.

You can kill somebody with a pencil.

and as he is literally mid-air,

a u.S. Marshal jumps into action.

He fires shot after shot after shot after shot.

four shots

that go directly in to c-down.

In less than five seconds,

this defendant goes down -- everybody in the courtroom

is shocked.

This has happened in the blink of an eye.

The judge and cooperating witness are

quickly ushered out by court officers.

Three bullets hit angilau in the back.

The other goes in his left shoulder.

He dies later at the hospital.

Whitmore: It is a rarity in which the defendant actually

follows through with what he wants to do, and in a moment's

notice he did what his -- his gut was telling him to do,

and the deputies had to shoot him down

to protect the witness,

to protect the judge, and those in the audience.

It's difficult to be put into a situation where the situation

is constantly changing,

it's constantly changing and evolving,

and we, as law enforcement officers,

have to improvise and adapt to an ever-changing situation.

Siale angilau's grieving family holds a vigil

after his death and doesn't believe

the shooting was justified.

Katoa: I was not in court that day, and think goodness,

because honestly, if I had been,

I wouldn't be here speaking, because I would be dead, too.

You've got maybe 10 officers in there,

all fit, well-trained, armed.

They don't need to shoot to kill

this young man who's going over a witness partition.

They weren't entitled to use the death penalty on him.

In my opinion, that firing of the weapon was

a little excessive.

They had the ability to get him under control physically,

either by using their hands or even a taser,

but I don't believe that shooting a gun in a courtroom

is the safest alternative,

especially because you have a witness

just a few feet away.

The controversial shooting sparks a five-year

fbi investigation into why the prisoner wasn't shackled.

Angilau's family also sues the federal

government and marshal service for negligence.

Shootings in courthouses are extremely rare,

and it was ultimately determined that the shooting by

this court officer was justified, and he was not found

responsible for negligence in the civil lawsuit.

They neutralized the threat,

and unfortunately, somebody died in the process.

The judge was not found to have done anything wrong,

because she has the ability to

make sure her courtroom is safe,

and she has the ability to make certain decisions in

regard to how her courtroom operates.

It's really too little, too late.

Yeah, the judge admits she made a mistake,

but their loved one is still dead.

penelope soto.

18-year-old penelope soto is

at a bond hearing in miami, florida,

before judge jorge rodriguez-chomat.

Good morning, miss soto.

You're being charged with possession

of xanax, b-a-r-s, I don't know what that is.

-Bars. -Man: Xanax bars.

-It's how they're referred to. -Xanax bars.

Police encountered penelope after responding

to a call about

an injured teenager who'd crashed her bicycle

and suffered minor injuries.

Soto immediately admits to police at

the scene that she's high on xanax bars.

Xanax bars are really

just a slang term for xanax pills that happen to have

a rectangular shape, and penelope fesses up

right away that she's got 26 more of them in her purse.

When an individual gets arrested,

the judge looks at the charges against that person

and makes a determination based as to what,

if any, appropriate bail should be set.

-Man: Miss soto, you working? -Yes.

How much money you making a week, approximately?

Approximately about 200 bucks a week.

While the judge is questioning penelope on bond conditions,

penelope seems to be under the influence of some type of

alcohol or narcotic.

Have you had any kind of drugs in the last 24 hours?

Actually, no.

No? Well, penelope's behavior

is about to get even more bizarre.

penelope soto.

18-year-old penelope soto is at

a bond hearing after being arrested on drug

possession charges.

She's all smiles and giggles and having

a really good time as she appears in court.

Man: Okay, and do you own any property of value?

A house, a car, bank accounts, significant amounts of jewelry?

-Yes. -What do you own?

I own a lot of jewelry, all right.

Certainly, whatever happens here could have life-altering

complications, if you will,

-for this young woman. -How much would you say

your jewelry's worth?

the judge has to ask penelope how much assets

she has for the purposes of bond.

You just made me laugh. I apologize.

It's all right. How much is your jewelry worth.

-It's worth a lot of money. -Like what?

Like...

It's worth...Money. -Ma'am...

You'd think she would act a little more demure,

maybe realize that she's in a bit of a problem,

a bit of a jam.

We are not in a club -- be serious about it.

I'm serious about it -- you just made me laugh.

I can see you're serious, all right.

At first, the judge is kind of playing along,

nice and easy with the young lady,

and what people don't realize is that

it's that judge's courtroom.

Number one would be 5,000, proper cause found.

Well, the fun and games had to stop

at some point, and the judge decides

maybe it'll straighten her up to impose the bond for bail.

$5,000 -- for somebody who makes 200 a week,

you know -- that's gonna make a dent.

-Bye-bye. -Adios.

The bottom line is the judge does not

think that she's taking this situation seriously.

Come back, ma'am. Come back.

Come back.

And that's when he began to take the attitude that, hey,

she's not respecting this court, and I have to let her

know who's the boss in this particular courtroom.

Count one will be 10,000.

her jaw literally drops.

-Are you serious? -I am serious. Adios.

he doubles the bail to $10,000,

and now she turns her flip attitude

into flipping off the judge.

going back again. Come back again.

And I'll tell, you when people walk through the courtroom

or walk out of the courtroom saying "f you" to a judge,

I've heard that a million times, and it's always shocking.

You mother.

Come back again.

That judge wasn't having it, and most judges wouldn't either.

Bring her back again.

-What's up? -I believe I heard you saying

to... -Yes, I did. I'm not going to deny it.

I believe you -- did you say me?

-Actually, I did. -Did you say that?

Yes, sir, I did. -You did say that?

I find you in direct criminal contempt.

30 days in the county jail.

She didn't realize the judge can do that.

Rodriguez-chomat: 30 days in the county jail.

But after spending just four days

in jail for contempt, penelope is back in court,

and this time she has a very different attitude.

My behavior was very irrational,

and I apologize not only to the court and you,

but to my family.

Penelope's attorney provides an explanation

for her disrespectful behavior in court.

Her judgment on that day was impaired

by her ingestion of drugs and alcohol.

She expresses remorse for her behavior from the days before,

and the judge does sympathize with her,

and he demands that she goes into rehab.

Thank you.

Lucky for penelope, the judge

vacates the remainder of her sentence.

The lesson to be learned is that drugs are bad,

and, most importantly, don't act a fool in court.

-Are you serious? -I am serious. Adios.

your job is to do your job, not to worry about me.

That's what I'm saying -- well, I worry about me.

You worry about your self.

That's brice rhodes,

talking back to judge charles cunningham in October of 2019

at a hearing to set a trial date.

He's accused of a gruesome triple homicide in

louisville, kentucky.

Carrizales: Brice rhodes is a 25-year-old gang member

with an extensive criminal history and a local

rapper there in louisville, kentucky.

Two of rhodes' victims are teenagers, 16-year-old

maurice gordon and his little brother,

14-year-old larry ordway.

They both appeared in one of his rap videos in late 2015.

In may 2016,

rhodes is out riding around in a car

with these two young teens.

Whitmore: He was somewhat grooming them to become

more like him.

So imagine from the perspective of a 16- and a 14-year-old

who are brothers, who are trying to be cool,

to look up to brice, to become the next best rapper.

While the three of them are riding around in the car,

rhodes stops,

gets out, and guns down a man on the street.

it's a guy he thinks is out to get him.

It turns out that his victim,

40-year-old christopher jones, is the wrong guy.

But now rhodes has two witnesses.

So after the murder of christopher jones,

rhodes gets nervous.

He's worried that this 14-year-old

and 16-year-old will snitch on him.

Two and a half weeks passes, and, you know, rhodes

is getting even more and more paranoid.

The teenage brothers have not said a thing

to anybody, but rhodes doesn't know that.

He thinks the worst.

How's he gonna take care of it?

He's gonna eliminate these teenage brothers.

But when the teenagers don't come home

the night of may 21, 2016, their mother is worried

and goes to the police.

The mother of these two boys, marie wren, reports

both are missing.

Their bodies were found a day later

behind an abandoned house.

mercy: Marie wren's two teenage boys were stabbed,

beaten, and burnt to death,

one of the most inhumane ways to die.

A few days later, marie wren attends

a balloon release for her murdered sons.

the grief-stricken mother can't handle the pain

and collapses.

She's lost the only thing that she ever had,

and it was her boys.

Brice rhodes is arrested four days

after the teenage boys' murders.

But a year and a half later,

marie wren is still waiting for justice.

Rhodes's bad behavior in several hearings has

caused one delay after another.

A judge ordered his face covered at one court appearance,

because he'd spit on his first defense attorney.

Mercy: So at that point, the judge had to make a choice.

He made the choice to put a spit mask over brice rhodes.

Now here's the thing -- the spit mask,

although it protects the attorneys, it is very

prejudicial in brice rhodes's case.

It makes him look like hannibal lecter.

Rhodes is now on his third attorney.

Rhodes is just kind of workin' the system here,

trying to basically delay everything and make everything

draw out.

That can be painful for family members

waiting for it to play out.

But it's the law, it's the way it works.

It's just so heartbreaking for those that want justice.

In this 2018 hearing, marie wren is

sitting only a few yards away from her son's alleged killer,

just out of the camera's view.

Mercy: Essentially, marie wren had to sit in

the same courthouse in the same courtroom

with the bogeyman.

Then, suddenly, the tense situation turns explosive.

25-year-old gang member brice rhodes is accused

of killing teenage brothers larry ordway and maurice gordon.

At this hearing, intended to set a trial date,

rhodes seems to enjoy taunting the victims' mother,

who is sitting behind him.

He enjoys the attention and power he gets from

causing chaos.

Her rage and anguish build until

it suddenly becomes too much to bear.

Marie wren couldn't take it anymore.

let me get to him!

That mama bear does emerge, and it --

and it just happens in such a huge way

she can't restrain herself -- she jumps at rhodes.

All she sees is red.

The emotion was raw, it was real,

and it was stronger than she could bear.

Wren: Every Sunday, you go to church,

and you pray, and you try to forgive.

The anger still builds up in your soul.

Less than a year after marie wren

lunged at rhodes in court,

she endures more bad behavior at yet another hearing,

and he seems intent on making her life a living hell.

In this scenario, you have a family that's grieving,

and you want the court to be in control.

But when you notice that the defendant is starting to

control the entire courtroom and the entire situation,

the family doesn't know if anyone's gonna put

the defendant in check,

and they began to feel helpless, and honestly,

that judge should put and end to the situation.

You can't let the defendant run your courtroom.

Rhodes continues to provoke the victims' family.

-Look at me again. -Man: Ma'am!

Mercy: Brice rhodes is blowing kisses,

is making a mockery of the court system.

Brice rhodes symbolically waved

the middle finger at marie wren.

Ma'am. Ma'am.

-He keeps turnin' around. -Ma'am, I told you once before.

Let me please help you understand.

If you can't handle him lookin' at you,

respectfully, all I can tell you to do is don't be in

my courtroom, 'cause he's gonna keep doin' it,

particularly now that he knows that it irritates you.

Mercy: Brice rhodes is a sinister man.

He likes inflicting pain.

He revels in the pain of his victims.

And marie wren and her two teenage boys

were no different.

When the case goes to trial,

rhodes will face the death penalty or life without parole.

As of spring 2020,

that trial date still has not been set,

and the family's agony continues.

In my opinion, there's no type of rehabilitation for somebody

who displays the behavior

and the complete lack of remorse for this disgusting crime.

people vs. Brian taylor.

21-year-old brian earl taylor is

in a michigan courtroom facing judge darlene o'brien.

He's in front of the judge for sentencing on two counts,

one unlawful imprisonment and also carrying

a concealed weapon.

In November of 2015, brian claims

someone stole his stepfather's gun from him one night.

But by then, an eyewitness

had already called the police.

At the time of his arrest,

he was already on parole for two counts of larceny and had

multiple felony warrants.

Mr. Taylor, is there anything you'd like to tell me

before I sentence?

When a defendant has a statement to make prior

to sentencing, the goal is to get

the sentence as favorable to the defendant as possible,

so what you say is very important.

But what this guy did, was very unusual.

so I was facing, like, 17 years altogether,

so I just went with my inside

and my gut instinct, and I just did it.

in this life I chose

in all my years as a prosecutor, as a defense attorney,

I've never heard an individual sing a song.

Mercy: You have to do what you have to do.

I've seen people singing.

I've seen people tap dance, dance.

I've seen people moonwalk.

You have to do whatever you have to do

to get leniency from the judge.

Whitmore: So when you talk about crimes,

sometimes we talk about premeditated.

In this situation,

the defendant premeditated this song.

this song is inspired by the popular singer adele,

but let's just call this his special jailhouse edition.

He actually changed the lyrics enough to prove that he took

some time and put some thought

into what he wanted to present to the court.

it's like when I hear a song,

and it does something to me, I'm an artist.

When you hear something, and you can hear pain

in the song, like it does something to you.

thank you, your honor.

Did he think it was gonna get him less time?

I'm not sure.

Did he think it was gonna get him a record deal

once he made his way out of prison?

I'm not sure about that either,

but one thing for sure,

he does get points for being unique and seeming to

be sincere.

I didn't really know what to expect because when I was

watching her and I was singing, like,

her cheeks were, like, red, so I'm like,

is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Thank you, mr. Taylor.

Well, you're obviously a talented young man,

and I hope that you'll be able to use your time productively

when you're in the michigan department of corrections

so you will be able to reach your goals on your release.

I don't think it works.

It's -- I think the judge is a backstreet boys fan because,

she sent him bye, bye, bye.

Despite his unique performance,

the judge sentences brian to two years in the michigan

department of corrections for

illegally carrying a concealed firearm and another 18 months

to 15 years for unlawful imprisonment.

At that point in my life,

when I was about to go do time, I was like, I finally reached,

like, my lowest of lows, like, to me, it was like...

When I finally do get from under this mess,

like, whatever transpires, I'm a new person.

Hello, like, from the other side, this is me.

In the end, brian earl taylor

only spends 3.5 years in prison,

but while behind bars, he teaches himself

the keyboard and starts writing his own songs.

so now he's moving in a different direction,

maybe he's starting on a new career,

and hopefully, he's putting crime behind him.

and also, it was humbling, because like, it just showed me,

like, hey, like...

No matter what trials and tribulations you go through,

like, you can -- you can do what you want in life.

Dorsey: He's really a good guy, just made some poor choices

and realized in the 3.5 years that he spent in jail,

that I need to do better and I'm gonna do better,

and so everybody deserves a second chance, and I hope

that he'll do well with his singing career.

Coming up, a judge's act of kindness

and life-changing impact.

When I get out,

I'm definitely gonna be a better person.

In louisville, kentucky,

judge amber wolf holds back-to-back

hearings for a young couple charged with robbery.

24-year-old james roeder and his wife, ashley,

had been accused of burglarizing a warehouse

and, you know, givin' the five-finger discount

to six big tvs.

Both of these individuals are in the courtroom

at the same time for hearings

on their respective cases.

At the time of the robbery,

three months earlier, ashley was pregnant.

James has been locked up in the county jail

and hasn't seen his wife since they were arrested.

I know you have a no-contact order between you

and miss roeder that I have --

um, that I issued, and I'm not changing that.

Yes, ma'am.

And the judge entered a no-contact order,

likely for the purpose to make sure that they didn't try to

connect or manipulate their stories or their defenses.

I don't want you to say anything to me about your case at all.

Don't say anything.

Your lawyer is not present right now.

Ashley, holding her baby,

waits for her own hearing and sits to the right of the judge

when judge wolf calls james into the courtroom.

And during the time that they were awaiting trial,

ashley had given birth.

James hadn't seen the baby.

Is this what you want to do?

All right, just stay right there for just a second.

Ashley's in court with the couple's newborn baby.

Just a month old, and the judge sees this

and starts to realize wow,

this guy has never met his son.

But I understand that there is a chance

that you're gonna go back to todd county

and that your baby is a month old

and you haven't met that baby yet, is that right?

Yes, ma'am.

Miss roeder, do you want to come up here?

So even with that no contact order in place,

the judge then decides to give them

the extraordinary opportunity to meet his newborn child.

I'm making a temporary exception right in front of me

on the record so that you can meet this baby.

This is your son.

Here.

I thought this would be a good opportunity

to let him see his son for the first time

and for probably the only time in the near future.

My first time actually being able to see him

is pretty emotional, for real.

I can't even remember if I said thank you or anything.

It just made my day.

She's a judge after my own heart.

When I watch this, it really made my heart swell.

This is an example of

the fact that judges can utilize discretion.

Watching him be given the opportunity to hold his child

and then seeing how delicately

he holds his child as ashley

has a tear running down her face.

You see his little shirt?

Yeah. Yeah.

He's emotional. He's holding his baby.

Baby's looking at him, he's looking at the baby,

and then it's tissues for everybody.

Yep.

All right.

Ashley: Even the judge was crying.

Thank you.

She actually seen that, you know, we're still people,

even though he's incarcerated and I'm his co-defendant,

we're still people.

Dang.

Any small act of kindness that we can do, whether it's in

a courtroom or just in general,

has a positive impact on our community,

and it's the right thing to do, and you don't even know

how far it can go for people.

This is your son.

I've always thought judges was mean people, and,

you know, I really did.

You know, they didn't care to throw people's life away.

When I get out, I'm definitely gonna be a better person.

-Thank you. -All right.

All right, mr. Roeder, we'll see you back on August 29th, okay?

Heartfelt emotion assigned,

james and ashley don't get a free pass.

He's sentenced to four years behind bars,

but with good behavior,

there's a possibility he'll get out sooner

to see his family.

Ashley gets probation so she can

take care of the couple's two children.

It's incredibly important for a judge to recognize that

a defendant is not defined by that one bad action.

Um, he's -- he or she is defined by much more than that.

And in fact, it may change the way that

this young man behaves for the rest of his life,

that judge showing that type of compassion.