Original subtitles

All right, here's the room we're going to be in.

Can you sit in this chair?

And if I ask you a question and my words are too big

and you don't understand what I'm asking,

then just tell me that you don't understand

and I'll ask it a different way.

And if I ask a question and you don't know the answer,

then it's best you say, "I don't know,"

and not make something up.

Okay?

What does it mean to tell the truth?

What does it mean to tell the truth?

Okay.

♪ low dramatic music ♪

♪

[Pat Kondelis] How are you doing?

Good, how are you doing?

Good.

This wa-- is this water for me right here?

That's for you.

I just-- I got back from rec.

I was in-- I was in the rec yard.

-Yeah. -That was-- it's hot outside.

Yeah, it is.

It's-it's about 100 or more.

♪ low dramatic music ♪

♪

♪ theme music ♪

♪

♪

♪

♪

♪ low dramatic music ♪

High school football in Texas is probably, uh, behind,

uh, God and-and guns.

Well, I don't know-- right behind God, probably.

In the state of Texas, there is no bigger

community-involved activity than high school football.

Each community around each high school football program

is invested in that football team.

It brings a lot of recognition and it brings a lot of pride

to your-- to your town.

The identity of a lot of towns comes from the

success the football team has.

And Leander's one of those school districts.

High school football L-- in Leander is huge.

It's-it's a huge deal.

I mean, it's like a religion.

[indistinct background chatter]

[David Anderson] We have a stadium that seats

12,000 people.

Press box is about 60 yards long.

You have your band, your dance teams, your cheerleaders

and, uh, big-time rivals.

[crowd cheering]

[Marlon Berduo] It's Friday Night Lights.

You know, that's-that's what it is.

Standing room only sometimes, you know.

Uh, so it's impressive.

[Jonathan] You know, you can -- you can feel the vibration

in the stadium.

Everyone's going crazy.

It's-it's everything;

it brings people together.

It's just a team and it's just a town.

Whether you're on the

wrong side of the tracks or right side of the tracks,

whether you're white, black, brown, orange, green,

money, no money, you know,

Baptist or Buddhist,

we all believe in that same goal,

is on Friday nights for 48 minutes that we're trying

to represent our community, our family and, you know,

whatever school you're at.

[crowd cheering]

[Clint] Greg came in as a sophomore my very first year

as the head coach there.

And, uh, we played him on the varsity,

and we played him on defense.

This is 5A football.

We're not talking about 1A or 2A football,

where pretty much everybody gets to play.

This is 5A.

This is the top of the line in Texas high school football.

And Greg was good enough to play as a sophomore

in probably one of the toughest districts in the state.

[John] Greg was a very, uh, dynamic player.

Uh, not only was he really strong but he was really fast.

[Marlon] He was one of the best out there.

I mean, he was one of the fastest, if not the fastest,

on the team.

[John] He was one of the best football players

I've been around, uh, by far, by speed, size, weight.

He was just a superior athlete.

[crowd cheering]

[Clint] He was a lot more physical,

I'd probably say a lot more defensive-minded,

didn't really mind striking you.

I think one of the hardest hits was against--

that I've seen in high school football was against Rouse.

Number two came off the right side,

Greg came off the right side

and hit, uh, the quarterback.

His intelligence level, his physical-ness, his size--

those were all things that just pointed that he was going to be

a really, really good football player for-for Leander High

for his whole high school career.

[crowd cheering]

We were always in the top 10.

We were always playing big games every week.

You may not win every game but there was one game

you had to win, and that was Cedar Park

because we got a daily reminder when we walked outside

that we saw Cedar Park on the water tower

just a couple of hundred yards away.

Leander and Cedar Park are-are right next to each other.

Cedar Park is a school in Leander ISD

but is a town in itself in Williamson County.

[Shawn Dick] Williamson County is a-a community just north

of the city of Austin, Texas.

We are a little bit more of a rural community,

uh, although we're growing.

We're one of the fastest-growing communities

in the, in the country.

I would say that a lot more, uh, wholesome values

and-and they like to say that it's more of a,

kind of a down-home attitude, I think, in Williamson County,

a little more conservative--

uh, a lot more conservative,

to be quite honest with you.

It is known as kind of a no-nonsense county.

And I think that a lot of that conservatism

plays into the way, uh, law enforcement handles cases

in Williamson County.

If you're going to do it, don't do it in Williamson County.

[male reporter] One Central Texas city is seeing a

dramatic downward crime trend.

That's Cedar Park.

So what that tells me is the police in the community

are doing a really good job of being proactive

in-in getting bad guys off the street.

Our goal is for those bad guys to learn to recognize the

city limit sign at Cedar Park.

Cedar Park is a, uh, dynamic part of the Austin metroplex.

Uh, it's a, uh, community of about 73,000 people.

It's a, um, fairly, uh, affluent community,

very prosperous.

[David] We've been here for 30 years now.

It's a place where our family, our girls, have grown up.

A place where you feel safe.

A place where you have a great school district.

It's a place we love.

♪ low dramatic music ♪

[Lindsay Armstrong] I think I first heard about this story--

it was probably when my mom texted it to me.

She, uh, she's all about the news.

So I got a text message with, uh, Greg Kelley's photo.

And it just said, "Do you know this kid?"

And I was like, "Yeah, yeah, I've heard about him.

Why?"

And she was like, "Oh, well, he's all over the news."

In high school I knew of him,

but I knew of him because of Gaebri.

And, you know, Gaebri was the hot-shot Blue Belle that was,

you know, new and up and coming.

And so-- and anyone in my high school knew the Blue Belles.

You know, they were the "it" girls.

They were who you wanted to be involved with.

So anyone that was popular within the Blue Belles

and was dating someone was immediately like

popular within our high school.

I met Greg for the first time in a math class in seventh grade,

started off friends and then started dating.

And the rest is history.

He was one of the football stars.

That was his focus.

He wanted to go be--

get a full-ride scholarship to a college.

And he had that in mind so he, you know, committed to it

and went for it.

And he was, yeah, he was definitely considered like,

the football star.

[Jonathan] The plan was, since middle school,

he embedded in his mind, you know,

he-he wanted to go to college.

He didn't want my mom to, uh, to have the burden

of paying for his college tuition.

He took the means, you know, two-a-days, you know,

working out, making sure that, you know, he stayed, uh,

mentally focused, you know, eating right.

He took all those steps in order to do that.

Gregory received four offers for scholarships,

so he did get a-an offer, for a full ride, to Rice University.

Um, he also got a-an offer as a full ride to Texas State

and also to UTSA.

Things were on the up and up.

That's for sure.

I don't believe they did, you know.

And there's the story, uh, you know.

It just-- he had a very, very tough, uh, junior year.

[Tracey] Greg's father, uh, suffered a stroke.

And, um, it was pretty severe and so he needed to be

in a facility to take care of him.

And Greg's mother was recuperating from a brain tumor.

So finishing the year where he's at,

we've done all this work together.

We spent many a days running 200s,

lifting weights, sweat on the floor.

Blood, sweat and tears is what most people like to call it.

So for him to finish his high school career

where he started is-- was important.

He wanted to finish out with his team

and that's when, you know,

Shama said, "I'll take him in."

Shama was a big booster for the football team.

She was completely behind Greg,

believes in Greg.

Her house was the hangout for a lot of the high school kids.

Well, she has a son

that's about a year younger than Greg, Johnathan.

And, uh, they both played on the football team.

And then Shama just seemed to be an open-arms to

any high school kid that wants to come and hang out.

And Gaebri would even hang out there.

I mean she would be there a lot.

She was frien-- good friends with Johnathan,

very good friends with Johnathan.

Johnathan was one of my best friends in high school.

Greg and Johnathan were friends.

They were on football together.

[Greg] He was on JV.

At the time, I was on varsity.

We started becoming really good friends, and I would come over.

And, uh, we just pretty much hit it off.

[Greg] Shama, Johnathan's mother, uh, knew the situation

in my family.

And she, uh, she opened the door to me.

She asked, um,

"Why don't you stay here until your family gets better?"

[Gaebri] Greg had two choices, to move in with Johnathan

or another one of his friends.

Shama was all for it.

"Greg, move in with me.

We'll take care of you.

We'll feed you.

We'll bring you to school.

We'll give you a car, a phone, totally, you know,

take care of you."

So I went to my parents with it and, uh,

we all agreed to it.

And I started staying there.

♪ soft dramatic music ♪

The house just seemed like a really good place

to live, you know, just for the time being.

Shama and Ralph would treat me great.

Shama was running an in-home daycare.

Ralph had a lawn care service.

They were loving parents.

They would treat me as one of their own.

She would pack snacks for me and Johnathan and--

to go to school.

And she was a-a, a loving mother figure.

[Clint] He was having a rough semester.

And I know football was a big thing for him

because that kind of got him through both of his parents,

uh, being ill at the same time.

When I was living there, I was so serious with athletics

that I wanted to live in the gym.

So at 5:00 a.m.,

in the gym, I'd go to practice.

That's-- practice would start at eight.

Go to school,

go to practice after school,

go back to the house,

eat dinner, watch a little TV, go to sleep,

start all over again, five days a week.

There's a lot of kids I've coached that have

a lot of talent, and they're not mature enough.

And that was one of the things I always thought about Greg,

was how mature he handled himself.

And so I never had to worry about Greg.

At that time I had a mentality where, um, I wanted to grow up.

I wanted to feel like an adult.

I wanted to have goals and I wanted to have priorities.

I wanted to, uh, make something for myself.

I committed to UTSA in the beginning of June

at the McCarty's house.

I was wearing my UTSA shirt and everything at the time,

and they took a picture of me on the phone.

And the next thing you know, within hours,

I'm all over the social media:

Gregory Kelley committed to UTSA.

The momentum he had at that point in time

is unlike most students ever experience.

He's smart.

He's athletic.

He has opportunities in front of him.

He had a bunch of upside.

My brother called me right after a

football summer strength conditioning camp.

I was walking out of the gym

and I got a missed call from my brother, Marlon.

And, uh, and it was a lot of them,

so I knew something was going on.

I called him, said, "Hey, man, you calling me?"

He says, "Hey, man, don't come to Shama's if you're

thinking about coming here."

Shama is very frantic

and she tells me there's a parent,

obviously at her daycare which she ran from the house,

uh, accusing Greg of sexually molesting

one of the kids there.

I'm like-- I thought it was a joke.

I'm like, "Dude, stop joking with me."

And he's like, "No, I'm not kidding, man.

I w-w-- I'll try to straighten this out, see what's going on."

And he pretty much stopped me cold and said,

"No, no way.

They're lying.

Why would I do that to a kid?"

And that's exactly what he said.

I don't know what's going on.

I mean, this accusation is so serious that

how are you supposed to react?

I'm li-- I'm like--

I-I started like breaking down and crying.

I said, "What?"

[Gaebri] Yeah, okay, so I remember it

like almost like it was yesterday.

I was in California and, um, Greg had found out.

And the first person he went to is my parents.

He didn't come to me because he didn't know what to do.

[David] The first time I ever heard about anything about this

was a shocking moment, because I got a phone call first.

Greg said, "I need to come talk to you."

He shows up.

It was Greg, it was Shama, the daycare owner,

and then also Rosa.

And they walked in and he told me,

he says, "Coach, I don't,

I don't know what to tell you except this is happening.

I'm-I'm getting somebody saying that I did something

I didn't do."

I quickly went on the defense,

trying to ask questions, saying, "Greg,

is there something that you can tell me?"

And I was looking him in the eyes.

He said, "I have nothing-- nothing happened.

And now they're saying they're going to charge me

for something that I didn't do."

Then they gave him the advice to call me.

I was in California.

And he told me everything.

I told her-- I was like, "You sitting down?" you know.

And, uh, she was like-- I was like, "You might, uh,

you might want to get by yourself for this.

I have to tell you something."

And I explained everything to her, uh, from the,

from the get-go.

I remember-- I still get this feeling a lot

when I find out bad news.

It's like, I just turn numb, like,

this can't be true, this can't be true,

and then going to: well, it's okay.

Like, you didn't do it so we're going to make this clear.

We'll find out who did it.

She was getting angry, you know, at anybody

who would make an accusation like that towards me.

[room ambience]

[interviewer] All right, here's the room we're going to be in.

Can you sit in this chair?

And can you find the camera that I told you about?

That's it.

It's 2:54 on July 23rd, 2013.

And today, it's very important that we only tell real things.

Do you promise today to tell real things?

Can you use your words?

Okay.

And I promise to tell you real things too

if you have any questions.

Okay?

So, [bleep], um,

tell me what you had to come talk about today.

With Greg?

He's always putting his pee-pee in your mouth?

Okay.

Um --

Oh, he has a bigger pee-pee than you?

Oh.

Okay.

[Sean] So the outcry interview is the actual basis

by which the investigation really begins.

That's the interview in which the child first goes on record

stating what had happened to him and in the case where

they know, you know, who did it to him.

And in this particular case, both of those pi-pieces of

information were included, the what happened and who did it.

Okay.

Just two times?

Okay.

And tell me what Greg did.

He put his pee-pee in your mouth?

What happens, uh, in these cases is

after the outcry, uh, statement is made, uh,

then the investigation, uh, really begins in earnest.

That's where, uh, if there is evidence to be collected,

the detective would go out and collect that evidence.

If there's other interviews, uh, to be had, uh,

that's when those would take place.

[Greg] I chose Patricia through, uh, Shama,

through, uh, McCartys because Shama told me that

sh-she was a good lawyer.

She told me that, um,

"We're going to have to turn you in, Greg.

Uh, we're going to have to turn you--

turn you in to the County Jail.

We're going to get you out the same day.

We don't want them coming and putting you in handcuffs

in front of everybody.

So, uh, we'll just get this, do this process done

and we'll continue fighting."

The next morning, we drove to Williamson County

and, uh, I turned myself in.

They put me in handcuffs.

I spent 13 hours in Booking.

So, uh, I was completely drained when I got--

when I, uh, came home that night.

[Clint] I always talk to our kids.

Uh, I talk to them about

there's three things as a family:

I don't, I don't want you to ever embarrass yourself,

your family

or this program,

because there's been a lot of people

that have gone before you to make this program

really, really good.

It's never going to have your name in the front of-of the

Austin Statesman.

It's not going to say your name.

It's going to say

"Leander High School Football Player Arrested."

That makes us all look bad.

[Greg] With me being an athlete for Leander

and being a college commit,

I knew this was going to be front-page news.

[female reporter] Local high school football player arrested

on a child sex abuse charge.

[male reporter] Leander is still in shock tonight after

a high school student there is arrested,

accused of sexually assaulting a young child.

Obviously, everything went crazy.

He was on TV.

He was on the newspaper.

And that's when all of the circus started.

[male reporter] A star high school football player is

making waves for what he's accused of off the field.

[female reporter] Now, a spokesperson with the

Leander School District said they cannot comment

on any action they may take due to privacy laws.

[male reporter] And with football practice getting

underway tonight, it's unclear if he's still

a member of the team or even the school.

Greg was not allowed to go back to Leander.

It was the se-- his senior year.

[Aldo] Once all these allegations came forward,

he was essentially expelled.

He was put into more of a probational facility.

They kicked me out of the district and they put me

in the JJAEP, which is, uh,

where felons go to.

And it's military based,

and I was forced to go there

just to continue with my education.

[male reporter] The arrest of 18-year-old Greg Kelley

is bringing up questions.

I know that he was living in the home that, uh,

was also a daycare, uh, business during the day.

Uh, so there was, uh, regular contact or exposure

to where the kids were.

We had a press conference to announce, first of all,

that, uh, an arrest had been made because there was media,

uh, interest in this particular, uh, case.

And we put out there that if anybody else had children

that may have been exposed to Mr. Kelley, uh, you know,

to contact us if there was any, uh, the thought that

something may have happened to their child.

Uh, and that's when a second victim came forward.

♪ somber music ♪

[male reporter] A high school football star is behind bars

for the second time.

Leander High School senior Greg Kelley

is now accused of sexual contact

with two different four-year-olds.

[Bryan] It seemed like with a--

okay, well, one kid could get it wrong.

But then you have two kids saying

essentially the same things.

I know that that made it seem more legitimate,

at least in my mind, as a crime if you have

two people saying the same thing.

[male reporter] This senior is weighed down with

two felony charges of sexually abusing preschool-age children

at a home daycare in Cedar Park.

He had been staying there for about a half a year until June.

The first complaint came in mid-July.

An adult high school student

taking advantage of little kids.

When the second one comes, I mean, it's human nature

to think, "Wow, so there may be something that's going on here.

What-what is it?"

[Sean] There are people that are dramatically impacted.

And in this particular case, uh, you know,

I hope that everybody, uh, you know, keeps their eye

on the fact that the victims here

are two four-year-old children that have to live with, uh,

whatever occurred for the rest of their life.

Another-another kid.

So...

Super-aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Um...

two counts of that.

It is worse than murder

because the least you can get

is 25 years without parole.

The most you can get is 99 without parole.

And you can get any number between that without parole.

It is only-- this is the only charge where you can get

no parole because the kid has to be a certain age.

So that's why they upgrade it to that charge.

What a responsibility you have when you believe

that your client is innocent.

And on top of that, you know you're dealing with probably

one of the m-- with one of the most emotional topics,

which is child sexual abuse.

And then there's this hammer that the State has chosen

to use, um, which is the super-aggravated sexual assault.

Which means, by God, if we don't get it

and the jury doesn't get it right,

it means potentially a life sentence

for my 19-year-old client.

So the first time I heard about the Greg Kelley case,

uh, you know, I was familiar with Greg's lawyer.

I was familiar with the prosecutors

involved in the case.

Uh, I also knew at the time that the defense lawyer

seemed to believe that Greg Kelley was innocent.

And I knew the prosecutors believed he was guilty.

I feel like in Williamson County, they do--

they do like you to know that they are on top of the case.

They are very up front.

Many c-- many times they're very up front about how

they relay information to the media.

And, uh, and they're not afraid to tell you

when they have their man.

And-and that's been a few cases over the last few years

that have sparked a-a little controversy i-in the way

it's b-- it was handled.

The first controversy I think that was really

widespread and publicly known was this is the county

that the Michael Morton case originated out of.

[Bryan] The Michael Morton case, uh, was probably the

biggest in-in my time here.

That was the case that involved a man being sent to prison

for 25 years for a crime he ultimately didn't commit,

the murder of his wife.

[female reporter] Christine Morton was found

beaten to death in her Round Rock home.

In February, 1987, her husband Michael was convicted

of the crime and sentenced to life in prison.

I didn't do this.

[male] I'm sorry, what?

I did not do this.

Ken Anderson was the District Attorney,

um, that handled the Michael Morton case.

And then John Bradley took over for Ken Anderson.

And then John Bradley was the prosecutor that was, um,

at least publicly questioned about how long he waited

to test DNA evidence in the Michael Morton case.

[female reporter] We asked Bradley about his

strong opposition to testing a bandanna

found near the crime scene.

If I got a promise from Michael Morton

that he would accept criminal responsibility

for killing his wife,

should the bandanna exclude any other mystery killer,

you know what?

I would consider doing that.

He just assumed that Michael Morton was guilty

based on what he had learned from his predecessor.

And his position was not to test the DNA for a long time

until the Court finally made-made them.

The District Attorney at the time had information

that would have served Michael Morton

that was not introduced.

And ultimately it would have exonerated him at the time.

[female reporter] ...as the District Attorney, Bradley,

pushed to prevent DNA testing of evidence that would

eventually free Morton.

And in 2013, another man named Mark Norwood was found guilty

of Christine Morton's murder.

Michael spent 25 years in prison

for a crime that he did not commit.

What people were upset about is they had put their

faith and trust in John Bradley

to do the right thing.

And a lot of people were concerned that maybe he

hadn't done the right thing by withholding, uh,

Michael Morton's ability to test DNA.

And I-I do believe that a lot of people were disappointed.

They put their faith in Williamson County's

justice system.

And so I know Miss Duty made that a central part

of her campaign.

[Jana Duty TV ad] Mr. Bradley fought tooth and nail against

testing some very critical evidence in that case.

And by withholding evidence, refusing to do DNA testing,

a serial killer was allowed to walk the streets for 25 years.

My motivation is to protect our families

and to protect our tax dollars.

I'm proud to say that we live in a safe county.

I'd like to think that I had something to do with that.

[Bryan] It appeared like there was a changing of the guard.

There was a changing of attitude, it felt like.

Enough voices were being heard,

and eventually it got to the point on Election Day where,

uh, votes were cast and changes were made.

Change was the-- was the key word.

And she was the person to bring that change.

There needs to be fairness in the system, uh,

so that what happened in the Michael Morton case

doesn't happen again.

I mean that's-that's what it comes down to.

[Shawn] I think Williamson County residents

were embarrassed.

They were embarrassed by the-the perception that-that

not only the Williamson County community had but, y-you know,

nationally I think Williamson County got people's attention.

And, they no longer wanted to be the focus of bad things.

They wanted to be the focus of-of positive developments.

[Bob Cole] From the Williamson County District Attorney's

Office, Geoffrey Puryear:

Greg Kelley's contact with these young children,

four years old-- you're sure beyond,

uh, any shadow of a doubt, you've got the right guy,

he's 100% guilty as sin?

[Geoffrey Puryear] What I can tell you and your listeners is,

uh, that I felt extremely comfortable proceeding

on the charges we did against Mr. Kelley and-and felt

deep down in my heart that he was absolutely guilty

of every criminal offense we charged him with.

[Bob] Did you guys i-initially offer him a plea bargain in--

uh, uh, instead of even going to trial?

[Geoffrey] Yes, we did.

Yeah, I got offered a plea bargain

days before my-my trial:

10 years probation,

lifetime sex offender registration,

a certain amount of fines,

a certain amount of time in jail.

I said no.

They came back with five years probation,

lifetime sex offender registration.

And my mom was breaking.

My mom said, uh,

"Mijo, think about it."

And when you see your mother breaking,

it's breaking you.

I'm trying to stand firm, and I'm actually thinking about it.

That night I called Gaebri.

And I was like, "You cannot do it."

For him to physically say like, "I'm a sex offender"?

No.

Absolutely not.

I don't think he could even-- I don't even think he could

find it in him to ever say that.

She pretty much kicked my butt in shape.

So she reminded me just to keep fighting.

♪ dramatic music builds ♪

♪

♪

I followed the Greg Kelley case,

and I noticed that it was getting a lot of publicity.

I noticed that there were dozens of people

lined in the hallway every day for that trial.

[Greg] When I first walked in that courtroom,

I was nervous.

And I'm-- I don't know what to expect.

I'm just hoping that the truth will come out...

the jury will see it for what it is,

I would go home.

[juror] The very first time I saw Greg Kelley,

I was sitting in the hallway of the Courthouse

before they were starting the proceedings.

And I stood up and I saw a guy walking,

nice, clean-cut, suit.

I thought, aw man, he must be one of the lawyers.

Little did I know that

he was the one that was being accused.

He didn't look like anybody that would

probably ever do that.

Well...

Jeffrey Dahmer didn't look like anybody [laughs]--

like somebody that would do what he was doing.

[male reporter] Greg Kelley's attorney said the star athlete

with so much support is only sitting here accused of

sexually assaulting children because of the lies of adults.

False accusations are created by adults...

and carried by children.

[juror] "Greg put his pee-pee in my mouth."

♪ somber music ♪

I remember that.

Wh-what's going through my head is

whoever did that is pretty sick.

[Sunday Austin] Essentially both children, um,

particularly the first one, out of nowhere very innocently

made a statement to his mother detailing essentially

oral sex that had occurred between him and Mr. Kelley.

And at the time, uh, both kids were actually

barely four years old.

[male reporter] The mother of an alleged victim,

who will not be identified,

she told the jury about the day her son,

using words a four-year-old would use,

said Greg Kelley had him perform oral sex.

You know, you don't expect your four-year-old

to say something like that to you.

[attorney] So you asked him how many times it happened.

And what did he say?

[Sunday] The parents who had this first child discussed it

amongst themselves, um, consulted a friend that was

a-a police officer, ultimately decided they need to,

they need to report it to the police.

You said earlier that it happened another time?

And then did it happen in another room

or in the same room or something else?

In two rooms.

What was the other room?

The couch room?

Oh, where sometimes you sleep?

Was anyone else in the room when that happened?

Just Greg and you?

Yeah.

Has something like this ever happened with someone else?

Just Greg.

[male reporter] Kelley's guilt or innocence could come down

to those children, who will tell the jury in their

own words what happened.

And the children are expected to testify,

but it will be through close-circuit television

to help them feel more comfortable.

[female reporter] Five-year-old gives his testimony,

holding a stuffed penguin.

Prosecutors questioned the alleged sexual assault victim,

but he denies Greg Kelley did anything to him.

[female] Did Greg ever have you touch him in any way?

Did you ever touch Greg?

Is-- what's your answer?

The kid changed his story and like there's--

something's going on.

And I think it was even clearer and just more like

a breath of fresh air whenever that second kid dropped

his accusations and he 100% recanted everything.

When the second kid recanted or took back what they had said,

and I thought, man, I just don't see how a jury

can convict on this little evidence.

[Aldo] Everything was going in the right direction,

and it was almost like that eleventh hour,

like that prosecution team needed to bring

the silver bullet or one last blow just to try to,

um, completely change directions.

I don't know exactly when I first met Greg Kelley.

Um, he was a member of our gym.

He was a great guy.

He would come in, uh, really athletic.

He looked-- you know, probably one of the stronger guys

in the gym.

Yeah, during that time I-I got to know him pretty well,

um, as far as, you know, members go.

I remember specifically I took a phone call,

a work phone call, and I kind of walked through the hallway

towards the entrance.

Well, that's when the gym owner--

um, where they escort him in.

He had an-- a complete escort.

He has law officers that escort him in

and escort him out.

When that guy walked in,

it was weird because he got up there

and I'm asking myself: what is this guy doing here?

Greg would come in pretty often,

probably at least five days a week.

Uh, conversations with Greg were, you know,

just strictly small talk.

A lot of times they did involve, you know,

him talking about his military service and-and he s--

you know, that he was in the Marine Corps and-and, you know,

his deployment to-to Afghanistan.

Well, I-I was in the Air Force.

I served from January, 2000

through October, 2005.

Yeah.

That was, that was common ground with us,

is because I knew him as another service member.

It is a little bit more of a bond when you,

when you hear that from somebody and-and you can talk

about experiences downrange and-and where you've been.

You know, I-I had no doubts that he was

in the Marine Corps.

I didn't doubt it just because he was so convincing.

And t-- come to find out he was a high school football player,

you know, and-and had never gone, you know,

anywhere beyond that.

So right then I just--

you know, I felt like this guy is--

I-I don't-- I don't know who he was.

He's-he's a liar.

I was pretty upset for-for being lied to.

It's just, you don't--

people shouldn't lie about military service.

[female reporter] Forbes told the jury he wouldn't believe

anything Kelley said.

I still feel that way because-because what I know

of Greg is what I know of Greg.

Um, and-and-and everything that I know pretty much

became a lie.

As far as if-if I saw him today, I'd--

you know, I wouldn't have an opinion of his-his

character overall but I would just know that

I-I wouldn't trust anything that he says.

You know, I was asking myself: where-where did that come from?

And I told my attorney,

I said, "Man, this is complete BS."

She said to me that this is completely irrelevant.

We don't have to worry about this.

I don't believe that my brother ever told this

gym owner that he was a Marine.

Now, the gym owner might have gotten him confused

with a Marine because at the correctional school,

they do have uniforms.

And those uniforms resemble what a service member

would wear, somebody from the Army or the Marines

or any of those branches.

[Greg] I don't --

No.

I never told him that.

I never-- I've never even said--

I've never even said that to anybody before.

That-that is completely false.

If Greg tells anybody that-that I'm a liar

and that I made this up, then,

yeah, I just--

I would just really lose any--

he'd lose any credibility at all with me.

A-and I wish, I wish anybody that he told that to

would come talk to me, because I don't,

I don't lie about anything like that.

There's no reason for me to.

[female reporter] Both prosecutors and the Defense

left the jury with some strong words

and a lot to think about.

You heard from a lot of people yesterday

that the Defendant is, uh, a dedicated football player,

a devoted boyfriend, uh, you know, safe around kids.

He is who he needs to be in front of people.

But if you look at the law and you look at the evidence,

you're going to find him guilty.

And that's the only proper verdict in this case, folks.

I'm not saying that I believe those parents

concocted this story and said, "We've got to get Greg,"

because the truth is, I don't know what we've got.

All I know is we've got a lot of issues.

Now, we will continue to stand by into the night

for a verdict.

It could come down at any time.

Kelley could face 25 years to life in prison,

since the alleged victim is younger than six years old.

[juror] When we go in there, they automatically want us

to come to a vote.

After we deliberated the closing arguments, yeah, the vote was,

to the best of my c-- recollection was six to six.

Some of the jurors wanted to:

"Well, we want to hear this testimony again."

Um, we started discussing a little bit more.

It's nine to three.

Then it's ten to two.

And then it's eleven to one.

It was late.

We'd been there all day.

Um, they said, "Well, we're going to let you go back

in the jury room.

You can call your loved ones or whatever and have them

bring you a change of clothes, toiletries or whatever,

because we're going to put you in a hotel room.

You're not going anywhere.

Unanimous...

or you don't go home."

[male juror] We, the jury, find the Defendant, Gregory Kelley,

guilty of the offense

of super-aggravated sexual assault.

♪ somber music ♪

[Greg] I put my head down.

I released a huge sigh,

almost like a cry.

And at that moment, I broke down.

I remember him putting his head down,

shaking his head, and basically saying, "I didn't do it.

I didn't do it."

[female reporter] A jury found Greg Kelley guilty on

two counts of super-aggravated sexual assault.

But a jury found him not guilty of the one count of

indecency with another child.

Kelley's family and friends have stood by his side

since the trial began.

They were in the courtroom when the verdict was read,

and as you can see many of them were sobbing

when they heard the decision.

[Gaebri] The first cry I heard I remember was Shama.

Because she was just screaming, loud, loud, loud.

And I remember like literally feeling like I lost my hearing

and everything was numb.

It was-- well, I could easily name that as

one of the worst days ever.

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪ dramatic music builds ♪

[Patricia] The jury had said guilty in regard to the

two counts of super-aggravated sexual assault.

So the only issue remaining was what would the jury do

as far as punishment

and understanding that a super-aggravated sexual assault

carries with it a minimum 25-year sentence

with a maximum of life.

And, there's no parole.

So, the scary part is will they get it right

as far as punishment is concerned?

And right by definition for me, would have to be the minimum,

but you don't know.

[Greg] The next day, they came and got me

and, uh, took me to my sentencing hearing...

took me to a room with my family

before I went to court.

The attorney walked in...

told me that she talked to the judge,

that the judge was willing to give me the bare minimum

of 25 years if I waived my right to appeal.

She said, "This is a decision that you have to make."

There were two bailiffs and, uh, they were standing

back there and they told us we have five minutes.

My hands were already tied behind my back.

I'm literally in cuffs.

What do you do?

Do you want to go home at 44?

You know?

When I heard that, I looked at my brothers and I asked them,

I said, "I-I want to ask you a question.

What do you want me to do?

I don't know what to do.

I don't want to make decisions anymore."

You know?

Um...

and I gave them the power to-to, uh, choose for me.

And they all chose, uh, I go home at 44.

Our attorney never explained to us if he was

going to be found guilty, um,

the-the implications or the options that we would have.

Um, no, she never did that.

That was, like I said, it was decided within three minutes

before he was taken away.

The agreement is 25 years, uh, Count One,

25 years, Count Two.

I went in the courtroom and saw all my supporters,

smiled at them for the last time...

♪ somber music ♪

signed a paper and off I go.

This was a very fair trial.

This was a very fair process.

These cases are-are very tough.

You know, to-to try a case with two four-year-old victims

is-is difficult.

Um, but I think this case is proof that-

that they can be won.

It's good that we can close the chapter on this case,

move on, and-and start addressing the needs

of other people that need our help in this community.

♪ somber music ♪

♪

[male reporter] He was a star high school football player

when he committed the crime.

When he's free, he'll be 44 years old.

Greg Kelley will spend 25 years in prison after

his conviction for sexually assaulting a young boy.

The people that thought he did it

were completely on board with the fact that he was guilty.

They wanted him to fry.

They wanted him to go pay the price.

The very vast majority of the people

support these little boys.

[Bryan] If he was convicted of-of stealing a-a-a t-shirt

from Target, that's a crime.

But this is something that really affected people.

It's the greatest fear for a parent,

to have your kid in a daycare be taken advantage of

or molested by someone without you having

the power to do anything about it.

So the crime itself is-is just horrible.

So the-the divide was clear.

There weren't many people on the fence with this one.

♪ somber music ♪

When I'd heard that the child had come out

and outcried to his mom, I was, I was like:

that's what I believe,

just the initial things that he said, to me.

And that is probably personally because I was a victim,

and it kind of reminded me on how I told my mom.

I just think that their initial "this is what happened"--

that's where I'm-I'm sticking.

♪ somber music ♪

[Douglas Kelley] The next day, we were just in disbelief.

And we were-- the whole family was kind of shocked.

And, uh, I get a phone call and he goes,

"I'm Jake Brydon.

Uh, I want you-- I want you to listen very carefully.

I've been staying in-in very close touch with what's

going on and I want to help you and your family

get your brother out of, uh, out of this mess."

I was in disbelief.

I was like: who is this guy?

He-- boom, boom, boom.

I heard about Greg Kelley, um,

shortly after moving back to Austin.

I was watching the evening news and saw a clip about

the trial that was going on.

And a couple of things stuck out to me at that time.

And so I just kind of paid attention to it

but, like anybody else, I wasn't involved

and just turned it off and went to sleep.

I woke up the next day and a buddy of mine called me

and said, "Did you hear?

Greg Kelley was found guilty."

And I said, "What is the deal with this Greg Kelley kid

and what do you know about it?"

Then he said something to me that really got my attention.

He said, "You know, this trial was a sham,

but there's nothing we can do about it."

And when he said that to me, I said, "Well, hang on a second.

Maybe there is."

If our justice system makes mistakes like this

and we don't have the ability to make that right,

that scares the hell out of me because that could have been me.

That could have my brother.

That could have been any of us, right?

And so I wanted to just first of all figure out:

if-if this was a mistake, what can we, the people,

do to hold our justice system accountable?

I let them all know that night: "Hey, I'm going to

s-start investigating this.

And if at any point I feel like the County made the

right decision, guys, I'm going to go from being

your best friend to your worst enemy because I'm going to

shut this thing down real quick, and I'm going to make my--

you know, I'm going to get out of this."

Right?

New at 10 tonight, verdict backlash.

Supporters of Greg Kelley are rallying,

saying the former football star is innocent.

[female reporter] More than 200 people gathered

at Leander High School to show they still support Greg Kelley,

despite his conviction for sexually assaulting

a four-year-old boy at an in-home daycare.

[female reporter] There is no chance of appeal here,

but that's not stopping them from trying.

There's been an injustice here.

This is wrong.

This should have never seen a courtroom.

[Bryan] The story from that point became the people

that were in his corner.

We never forgot about the victims in the press.

Obviously, the young boys are the main focus of our coverage.

Uh, there was a crime committed

according to this four-year-old boy.

But following the conviction,

it became a story of the steadfast support

this young man got from his girlfriend,

from his friends,

from perfect strangers that thought:

this case doesn't seem right.

[crowd chanting] Justice for Greg.

Justice for Greg.

Justice for Greg.

I think I would say I was shocked

when I realized that there were supporters for Greg Kelley.

You know, it's always usually people sticking up for the,

um, abused and not the abuser.

You assume that the family will stick up for him

and you assume his close friends will

and you assume people that knew him would.

But it was when people that didn't know him at all

started saying that for him, complete strangers that have

never even heard about him, you know, hopped on this bandwagon

and got heavily involved in his case

that was really shocking to me.

We've stood by his innocence the whole time

and we still believe that he's innocent.

He has a lot of faith.

He has a lot of heart.

And, uh, he definitely deserves justice.

You know, in the 35 years that I've been doing this,

I've never seen anything like it, a person, uh,

convicted of child molestation, to get the kind of

blind support that he's gotten, because, you know,

to hear people from the, uh, the group that supports him,

uh, there's a common theme:

I don't know Greg, but I know he didn't do this.

No.

I've not met-- I've not met Greg.

If it can happen to her son, it can happen to your son,

it could happen to your son, it could happen to me.

So the people that have caused this to happen

for political gain,

we're going to take that political gain.

We have to get angry, though.

Well, hell, now I'm, I'm committed, right?

And-- but at this point, I still don't know

if Greg did it or not.

And I have no interest in fighting for a

convicted pedophile

that is a pedophile.

No, I didn't touch any kids.

Ever.

Mr. Kelley has lied about several things.

The-the child was clear about something having

happened to him.

The child was, uh, clear that it was sexual, uh,

in nature and described things that a four-year-old child

just shouldn't and wouldn't know

absent the act actually taking place.

And the child said who did those things.

Nothing at all.

There's nothing that could be misinterpreted.

It's a crime that, um, not only was he accused of twice

but a crime that is extremely, uh, aggressive,

extremely horrific, that any normal person would have

been accused of would be almost appalled.

You're almost, um, in a sense insulted that someone would

accuse you of that because it is just so awful.

And he just kind of took it with, "Eh, you know,

it wasn't me.

Eh, we'll see how it goes."

And to me that was, that was very strange.

That immediately struck me as odd.

Nothing.

Never alone with them, never touched them, anything.

Nothing.

I-I think Greg Kelley is guilty.

I'm completely innocent of these accusations.

I picked up the phone and I called Gaebri Anderson

and I said, "Gaebri, is there any chance that he did this?

If there's anything there, you need to tell me

because we're going to find it.

It's going to come out.

The truth always comes out."

"No, I swear, he couldn't have done it."

What does it mean to tell the truth?

What does it mean to tell the truth?

[Jake] There's going to continue to be revelations

and-and all of those point towards the fact that

somebody else probably did this.

It may not be as it appears.

They got it wrong.

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪

♪