Speaker 1: M M.
Speaker 2: A Wall Street line, shackle change, Oh, do someome gird
it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's
been a tentery juice as the huge stream game Wrangle three.
Speaker 1: Come here be by me to die inside these walls,
inside the wild and went no girl as I.
Speaker 3: Hey won. And Welcome back to Bloody Angola Podcast one,
forty two years in the making, the complete story of
America's bloodiest present. I'm Jim Chapman and we are back
with the second episode in the Peaceful Warrior series. Of course,
the conviction and incarceration of Eric Michelson and Christy oh Priye.
So the last time we left you, Eric Michlson had
confessed to the murder, dismemberment, and disposal of the remains
of Christy o' prye in dumpsters around Caddo Parish, Louisiana,
and while police are working to locate those remains, on
Friday July twentieth of two thousand and seven, the funeral
for Charles Martin is held at First Baptist Church in
Boser City, Louisiana. Also around this time, more information comes
out through the confession made regarding Christy o'price's death. Now,
it seems that though Michelson told detectives he disposed of
Christy's remains in dumpsters, that was not initially what he did.
According to Michelson, he strangled Christy with his bare hands
than disposed of her body in a pond on his property,
even claiming that he had to weigh the body down.
Then he said some time later that he moved the
remains to several other locations. And to tell you how
sick this sum bitch was. Police, when they're trying to
get an idea of where Christy's remains are, they asked him, Eric,
don't you think her family deserves closure? And of course
you never get closure, right when something like this happened.
She might get what you would consider justice, but you're
never gonna get closure. But irregardless of that, they asked
Eric Michelson that in his response was let it be
a festered open wound that is half ass healed now
quote unquote what an asshole. So on August twenty third
of two thousand and seven, the Caddo Parish Sheriff's office
they charge Mickelson with second degree murder in the death
of Christy Opry, saying Michelson's confession was cooperated with evidence
found near a location he said to have left Christie's body. Then,
on September fifth of two thousand and seven, Michelson and
Author were indicted by a Caddo Parish grand jury on
the first degree murder charges for the death of Charles Martin,
so about ten days after he's charged with the second
degree murder charge in the death of Christy opryh Now
Betty Copeland, Beverly, Author's mother, said if she killed Charlie,
I hope she gets what she deserves life. Of course,
referring to her daughter, they didn't have any mercy on Charlie,
Poor Charlie. He didn't deserve that. This is not my
little girl. This is a monster. Susie is a smart
girl and a good girl, but she got on drugs
and started doing bad things. Betty also gave a little
bit of breaking news to investigators when she told them
that Charles Martin came to her house around midnight the
day before he was reported missing and he was questioning
Betty about Mickelson. Betty said she was quoted as saying
Charlie knocked on the door and asked me, is that
the same Eric that Susie knew from Amelia Street. I
told him yes, and he left. She said, so police
have all this evidence, slash information, slash witnesses saying things,
and even with all that, it took five years to
get from the point of Michelson confessing to this shit
and Author and actually going to trial. And Michelson was
up for trial first, and he was up for the
murder of Charles Martin. This is on July thirtieth, two
thy eleven. And during the trial, Michelson's attorney, Mario Guatemalade,
said that Eric Michilson did not possess the specific intent
to kill Charles Martin and did so only because his
mentally damaged brain quote unquote was taken over by cocaine,
and that statement is going to become very important as
we go on today. His attorney also said that Michelson
was Author's puppet throughout the crime and used him like
she did Charles Norton to obtain drugs. The defense attorney
referred to Charles Martin as Author's sugar daddy quote unquote,
and said Author is a predator willing to do whatever
is necessary to get what she wants. So he's doing
what any defense attorney should do, and he's trying to
point the light away from his client. Right. But it's
interesting that even Mickelson turns on author and basically his
defense attorney blames everything on her. She's a manipulator, right,
She manipulated Charles Martin, she manipulated Eric Mickelson. She's just
this girl going around wanting drugs and manipulating all these men.
And that's why Micholson killed Charles Martin. Just ridiculous shit.
No responsibility for Michelson. Right now, KADO Assistant District Attorney
Leah Hall read from a state satement Mickelson gave the
police in which he said, quote unquote, I wrung his
neck like a pit bull would lock up. The audio
of this interrogation was played and Mickelson is heard saying
on that audio in open court, I locked up like
a pit bull. I locked up, and he quit hissing,
he quit grunning, he quit everything. Members of the jury
were shown photos of Charles dismember body. Sergeant Danny Duddy,
a Shreport police crime scene investigator, said it appears the arms, legs,
and head were separated from the torso. It appears there
were some tool marks or damages to the side of
the torso. So what they're trying to do there is
they're trying to paint a picture of how heinous this
actual crime was. He didn't just choke him and Charles
Martin died, this eighty six year old war hero after
he did that. He chopped him into fucking pieces. And
he wants that jury, obviously, the prosecutor, they want that
jury to have that picture and feel absolutely no mercy
for Eric Michilson because he overkilled in this case. Now,
according to court testimony, Author had been getting money from Charles,
but he was threatening to cut Beverly Author off. And
they're trying to establish motive, right, why would Eric Micholson
do this, Why would Beverly Author do it? Well, it
was all about money and getting drugs and those sorts
of things. The jury also heard jailhouse phone calls of
Michelson admitting on those phone calls to killing Charles to
his mother. Michelson had hoped to take all of the
blame for the crime, according to his jail calls, so
that his girlfriend would be free. But we know now
that we have the benefit of hindsight looking at that
trial that that was far from the truth. He may
have been saying it on those phone calls, but when
it came down to reality, they were trying to point
everything at Beverly author. So on August second of two
thousand and eleven, Eric Dale Mickelson is found guilty of
first degree murder in Charles Martin's death, and it took
the jury only about an hour to reach that verdict. Now,
first degree murder in the state of Louisiana, he's in
a bind, right, that is the death penalty on the
table when you're convicted of first degree murder in the
state of Louisiana. So his sentencing is scheduled for just
a week later, and on August tenth of two thousand
and eleven, Michelson is indeed sentenced to death for the
murder of Charles Martin. Now at the sentencing here in
Christio Priz's daughter, who was eighteen by this time, she said,
Eric Micholson got just what he deserved, and I'm glad
the court went the way it did today. I think
that was the most difficult part, just having no idea
what had really happened to my mom. Referring to Christio Pry.
Michelson was sent to Angola to serve his sentence on
death row and eventually get that needle. Right. So two
years later, and I don't know why it took two
years to get to the point where Beverly Author's trial
came up. It's ridiculous how slow things moved. Five years
it took Eric Michelson to actually get a trial after
a confession. This was a situation where the guy confessed.
They had tons of evidence, They had people saying that
just the day before the deceased Charles Morton, the guy killed,
was at their house, meaning Beverly Author in her mother's house.
You got all that evidence, it still took you five
years to bring the guy a trial. Then it takes
another two to get to Beverly Author's trial, but it
finally begins. This is on April of two thousand and thirteen.
So Author enters a guilty plea in Caddo Parish District
Court to second degree murder in Charles Martin's death. And
that kind of surprised me. Apparently I am opining here,
but I would think that first degree murder was on
the table, which means the death penalties on the table,
and she took a plea to second degree murder, which
is life in prison in Louisiana, a lot better than death,
I guess in her eyes. But I would have been
surprised with a first degree charge when you weren't the
one actually committing the murder. But in this case, something
happens and she pled to second degree murder. And you
don't do that without a deal. You got nothing to
lose if they're going to automatically charge you with that anyway.
But that's what she did. In District Judge Ramona Emmanuel
sentences Author to life in prison without the benefit of parole,
probation or suspension of sentence. An Author, of course, was
immediately reminded to the custody of the Louisiana Department of Corrections.
So at this point in time, you have Eric Michelson,
he's awaiting the needle, he's in Louisiana State Penitentiary's death Row,
Bloody Angola, and you have Beverly Author in jail for
the rest of your life. Right, no problems, We're just
waiting on justice to serve. Well, there was a big
problem a year later, in September of twenty fourteen, a
shocking ruling is made when the Louisiana Supreme Court completely
throws out the conviction and the death sentence for Eric Michilson.
So let's talk about this for a second. Not only
did they take the death penalty off the table, he
had been sentenced to death, they totally threw that out.
They didn't just say, well, you're getting life in prison. Instead,
they threw out the fucking conviction. This dude gets a
brand new trial. It's not unprecedented that this stuff happens,
but it's very rare, especially when someone's been sentenced to death.
So what happened to make the Supreme Court vote four
to three to throw out his conviction and his death sentence. Well,
apparently Michelson had appealed his conviction, and he argued that
the district court failed to allow the defense to exercise
what's done as a preemptory challenge and excuse a prospective
juror from the case because he would not consider intoxication
as a mitigating factor in the sentencing phase. Now, part
of Mickelson's defense was that he was high on cocaine.
Remember I told you that at the time of the murder.
And so let's break this down. A juror actually said
that even if Michelson was high on cocaine, it doesn't
excuse him from killing somebody. And I would I would
place my vote in court as him being guilty regardless
of what his mental condition was at the time of
the murders. It's okay. Everybody has their opinion, and that
was his. The problem was they didn't dismiss him at
that point. That was a major problem. As a matter
of fact, let's get into it. Cado District Court Judge
Scott Krichton, he denied the defense request to bring the
juror back for further questioning in order to challenge the
inclusion of the juror. Crichton reminded counsel that it is
inappropriate to take one isolated, out of context statement of
one perspective jur and micro dissect it to the point
of reaching an absurd result. In his opinion. Now, the
Supreme Court found that the jur did not make just
a one out of context statement, but that he stated
unequivocally on the record, not once, but five times that
he would not consider evidence of intoxication as a mitigating
factor in his determination of the appropriate sentence. The ruling
also stated, rather than retract from that statement, the last
time he was questioned on the subject, he indicated that
not only would he not consider intoxication as a mitigating circumstance,
but that he would give the guy the penalty if
he was on drugs and alcohol and go out and
kill somebody. And he emphasized, yes, I would do that,
repeating his lack of equivocation. The final response to questioning
indicates not just an unwillingness to consider intoxication as a
mitigating factor in the sentencing during determination, but a predisposition
to vote for the death penalty if drugs or alcohol
fueled the crime. When a perspective jur is not excused
for cause and the defense exhaust its preempatory challenges as
occurred here, this is reversible error. So they fucked up,
for lack of a better term, you had this jur,
this perspective jur that ended up being chosen on that
jury telling in vardir that whether someone's high or on
drugs or drunk or whatever, if they go out and
kill somebody, they're responsible. It's okay. He can have that opinion.
And I'm not saying I disagree with him. But the
problem is the defense objected to that juror and they
would not dismiss that juror based off of that statement,
and it came back to totally bite them in the ass.
It's absolutely crazy. But Mickelson gets a new trial. It
was set to start on October of twenty fifteen, and
this guy who has been sentenced to death now not
only has an opportunity to get off of death row,
but get out of jail completely over this mistake. That's
why it's so important that every tea is crossed and
every eye is dotted. So they do this whole thing,
this whole trial while over again. Can you believe it?
So on October twenty fifteen, once again Mickelson's trial begins,
and it was not without its theatrics. Let's just say
that even threats from council lawyers threatening other lawyers. At
one point during the retrial, Cado District Attorney Dale Cox
threatened to cut the throats of defense counsel representing Mickelson.
In court documents, Mickelson's defense council wrote that they were
within earshot of Cox when they overheard the prosecutor tell
his co counsel, he wanted to kill everyone in here,
quote unquote, I want to cut their fucking throats. I'm
just being honest, and if any of them want to
go outside, we can do it right now, he said.
According to the transcript attached to the filing, the comments
were made while First Judicial District Court Judge Katherine Dora,
who was presiding over the case, was out of the room,
so lead defens's earning Catherine Sheeley. She questioned Mickelson's close
friend and his mother, and each spoke about how Michelson
could be delusional, imagine that claiming to have special powers
such as the ability to levitate and frequently has out
of body experiences. They also talked about his crack cocaine
addiction and its effects on his mental state. Now the
defense also called a forensic psychiatrist and a neuro psychologist
both spoke on Michelson's mental stability, claiming he suffered from
schizo effective disorder, which is characterized by suffering from symptoms
of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Forensic psychologist doctor Brushan Akbar
said that Michelson was delusional, citing his claim to have
made three point six million dollars by stealing quarters from
vending machines, and he used that as a major example.
Of course, that was total bullshit. Michelson did not ever
in his life have three point six million dollars da Dale.
Cox said the fact that two doctors say he had
schizo effective disorder and was impulsive does not necessarily mean
he had an extreme mental disturbance. Indeed, everything about Mickelson's
conduct before, during, and after the murder of Charles Martin
reveals that he was cold, calculated, and under complete control,
and so there is not extreme mental or emotional disturbance.
Cox used Mickelson's own words against him during his closing arguments, saying,
I'm a killer and I love ringing people's neck. And
what was he trying to get out there that DA?
What's he trying to prove and what was the defense
trying to prove? Obviously the defense is trying to prove
that Mickelson is crazy, he's out of his mind. But
the problem is the premeditation and post meditation with this crime,
when you make an effort to conceal the fact that
you committed a crime. In this case, they buried and
hid Charles Martin's remains. When you make an effort to
do that, you're proving at that point that you knew
what was wrong because you're trying to cover it up.
And if you know right from wrong, in the eyes
of the law, you're not crazy. So he knew what
he was doing was wrong because he tried to hide
and cover it up, right, And I think the prosecution
did a good job of pointing that out. Now. Thankfully,
at the retrial, Michelson was again convicted, thankfully, But but
Mickelson was taken off of death row and was granted
life in prison without parole by that second Caddo Parish jury.
So that one mistake with that one juror in the
very first trial totally flipped Mickelson's fate. Instead of facing
the death penalty, which he faced it at that second trial,
there was an opportunity, but the jury would not give
him the death penalty that second time around, So that
one mistake made that big of a difference. So Christy
Opri's sister, she commented about the sentence change from death
to life, and she said, if what he did didn't
deserve the death penalty, nothing does. In the state of Louisiana.
They put people on death row, but they don't kill people.
They hardly ever do. Charles's grandson said, a killer, a
murderer that murdered countless people and is proud of it.
He gets to live out the rest of his life
in prison. I figured they give him the death penalty.
Especially with what this guy did. Every guard is going
to have to walk him to and from and every
single person is in danger. He added, to make us
go back through it. And then at the end of it,
just one more dagger, we pray for Eric Mickelson's soul. Now,
by twenty eighteen, Michelson had exhausted all of his appeals
and even as if today, remains in prison for the
rest of his life. And what about Christy O. Priye. Well, Sadly,
Christy O. Prize remains have never been found and Michelson,
though charge, was never tried for her murder. Now on
July tenth of twenty sixteen, her family did hold a
memorial service for Christy and in lieu of flowers, the
family requested memorial donations be made to dog Tired Ranch
the Living Memorial of Christy gwyn Oh Pry and this
living memorial celebrates Christie's life and blesses the lives of
many in her honor. Every day. So Dog Tired Ranch
has celebrated over two thousand dogs being adopted in Christie's name,
and y'all, that gives me absolute goosemumps. I stumbled across
another podcast as a matter of fact, while looking at
this case and a pome I thought was fitting for
this episode. Her sister shared via this podcast or on
this other podcast, and she wrote, the loss of her,
the loss of anyone, my sister, my blood. So many
years of uncertainty. Words could never express the sadness. Happier
she is, with beaming smiles and radiant eyes of glow,
an invisible plane right before me, her scent still lingering
in my soul. Good night to you? But where are you?
Oh God? Holding back emotions, learning to live with such agony,
numb my family, an empty place, an empty space where
she should be? How do I do? What do I say?
Hold back? I still can't imagine, visions haunting my being forever.
Where is she? Where could she be? She could be
under my feet, Oh God, mend me. I could have
walked right past her. I could have been down the street,
I look up at the black night sky and say
good night, for I know she is here with me.
And that was a poem from her sister that she
wrote shortly after her disappearance. As for Charles Martin, his
headstone reflects the way in which he lived as a
heroic tribute, saying Charles Martin, Corporal, US Army, World War II,
May fourteenth, nineteen twenty one to July eleventh, two thousand
and seven, Purple Heart. And right there as the last
line on that headstone reads peace full Warrior, and there
it is, thank you so much for lessening. And next
week we have another crazy case for you, complete with
conviction and incarceration into Bloody and Gola. But we're going
to bring you on a journey to a bunch of
killings in New Orleans as we cover the Storyville Slayer
of New Orleans. So that's coming to you next week.
Check out the Patreon if you would like to help
support what we do here at Bloody in Gola. Thank
you as always to Rachel Spiller's and Rachel Spiller's research
for the amazing details provided for this episode. And until
next time for Bloody and goa a podcast one forty
two years of making the complete story of America's Bloody
Is Prison. I'm Jim Chapman, Peace, a.
Speaker 2: Wall Street line shackle Chaine. Who's some girdie it's calling
my name? There is no mercy and this's been a
teneri juice as the hill Stream game. Wrangle three, I'm here.
Speaker 1: Fum me to die inside these walls, inside the water.
Speaker 3: And when wal
Speaker 1: I know it's overbody angle, obody angle,