Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott VORDIEZ. This radio station has been taking you through
the timeline the past couple of years of the death
of a wonderful girl with an incredible smile here in
the Omaha community, Carly rain Wood. It was November of
twenty two when she was at a party here in
(00:22):
Omaha and not exactly sure what happened, but everyone suddenly
got out their guns and Carly was killed in the crossfire.
We've talked with her mom, Amberwood, a number of times
over the past couple of years, and she's been through
so much, not just in terms of obviously emotionally, but
(00:46):
also the legal proceedings here and there was a bit
of closure last week. Amber, Welcome back to eleven to
ten kfab. It's great to have you in the studio here.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Hi, Scott, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
So what happened last week?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
It was actually two weeks of we went through trial
finally after three times of being reassigned, and the jury
deliberated for I believe it was like thirteen or fourteen hours,
but over the course of three days, and there was
seven counts that I'm a tub Davis was being tried for.
(01:27):
And when the jury came back I will tell you
this process is torture.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, we'll talk about that.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But the jury came back of seven counts of guilty. However,
for Carle for her murder, they came back with manslaughter
rather than second degree, which was definitely not.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
There were two issues at play here, and that was,
as I said, kind of everyone started pulling out their
guns and Carly was in the middle of this issue,
and so it was difficult, I suppose to determine who
fired the shot and why. And the other big problem,
which Omaha police will tell you all the time, is
a huge problem. Suddenly there are no witnesses. There were
(02:12):
tons of witnesses there, but no one would talk to
the police. So how are you able to overcome those
hurdles and get anything? I mean, manslaughter isn't a murder charge,
but it's something. How were you able to overcome those
hurdles and get that?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Well, actually, I think I got to put almost all
of that on our detective. Detective Dustin Morris, did an
amazing job because it was extremely scientific and it was matching, luckily,
a couple of projectiles that were still inside Carly to
the one gun that was found. And I do believe.
(02:55):
Actually to judge when he releases the jury, he says,
now you can talk to anybody. I would really hope
that at some point maybe a juror reach out to me,
because second degree is still you do not have to
be like shooting at Carly. You just have to be intent, yeah,
intent of harm.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, you're a fellon in possession of a gun and
you're basically shooting indiscriminately.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
A small room with about fifty to seventy people, and
he unloaded a magazine which is about thirteen to sixteen bullets,
I believe, And to me, that's harm. You're intending harm. Now,
whether whether you intended Carly or not, we'll never know.
But she got shot eight times.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
The sentencing trials coming up, what's he looking at?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
His maximum is two hundred and seventy two years, with
a minimum, I believe of fifteen, which is a very
wide range.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So quite a window if it's fifteen, which I would
think that probably wouldn't be on the low end, considering
you've got someone who's already been in plenty of legal
issue troubles. But then you cut that sentence in half.
Because of Nebraska, it's good time law and I know
you and I have talked over the years that this
person never should have been at this party. Several people
at this party never should have been out on the streets, right,
(04:12):
because we just have a revolving door of injustice, as
I refer to it all the time on this radio station.
We got someone who it's a slap on the wrist,
it's a probation, it's you remove an ankle monitor. There's
so many different things that play here in our community.
What was the situation with this individual who's been found
(04:32):
a guilty of manslaughter in the death of your daughter
that had him on the streets that night.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well, you can look at his record and he's a
four time repeat violent offender, which was not allowed to
be told to the jury. By the way, he was
repeatedly released from probation for failure to comply, which also
is a failure in my eyes by the system, because
(05:01):
you know, I call it bad parenting, like, oh, well,
we can't control them, so just let them go. And
a lot of this process, I've learned so much through
day one on.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
But I feel like.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
The system has definitely gone a little, you know, it's
skewed towards criminals. And I don't want to say defendants.
I want to say criminals because they know the system.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
You're not saying the trial itself. I mean, the trial
itself should be always skewed towards having to prove someone
as guilty. That you have the presumption of innocence here,
and we're upholding that ideal in this country. But you're
saying everything leading up to that point, including as you
mentioned here, you can't mention that you know this is
(05:50):
a guy who's a dangerous individual, because they'll say, oh,
anything he's done in his past life has nothing to
do with what happened that night.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Right, But it does. I mean, And that's something.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I don't blame you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
That's something we're going to have to go to legislature
and change because I keep getting told, well, that's prejudicial,
that's prejudicial. But the defense is allowed to make the
victim to try and get the jury prejudice against a
victim who can't even be there to defend themselves.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
That's what you told me in the text message leading
up to this conversation. We're talking here with Amber Wood.
Her daughter Carly Rainwood was killed almost two years ago
here in Omaha, and one of the individuals was found
guilty of manslaughter in her death. Just the other day
here in Omaha's court. You said that the victim, your daughter,
(06:40):
was shredded during this process. That's the term you use.
What do you mean by that.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, they're allowed to the jury or the defense is
allowed to create that doubt, right, And yeah, it was
right down to the defense attorney literally like he was
making jokes a lot. And I understand that sometimes it's
a presentation and you're trying to get the jury on
your side, but after a while it's like, I'm glad
(07:08):
you're all making jokes while I'm here because my child's dead.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And what do you mean making jokes?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Oh, just little giggle things happen or he chuckles to
try and seem like he's the nice guy and almost.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
TV like, not making jokes about your daughter, just trying
to present.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Keep it light. But at the same time, trying to
make a joke with a pathologist was I guess uncouth
to me and a lot of the people that came,
and we had a ton of support and I thank
everyone for coming, but there was so many people going, Oh,
my gosh, what I want this guy. We had to
go through every single bullet wound and hear the pathologists
(07:51):
talk about the path that takes in the body and
on top of pictures and things, but uh that he
wouldn't It's like, he wouldn't let my child die. He
kept trying to the pathologist said six of these bullets
out of eight were fatal, and the defense attorney would
(08:16):
not let He's like, well, isn't this one right here
less serious than this one? And he kept pressuring this
witness who's a doctor, to try and obviously create doubt.
But at some point, I'm I was just overrun with
emotion and like, please let my kid die. Like and
the guy, you know and a pathologist was great because
(08:38):
he's like, I don't know how you want me to
define serious, because fatal is fatal. Like, so he just
was hammering it, and it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Was why did you put yourself through that.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Being there?
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Because I have to. It's my daughter. And unfortunately I
feel for some other families because I've been told that
some time, victims don't have a lot of people there.
And when you think about people that have, you know,
strict jobs, and then you get ready and you go
to trial and then they go, oh, we move it,
and then that person has to take off time. I
(09:12):
mean we lost some people who's like I took off
for the first trial and it got moved, and that's
why how people lose witnesses too. I think, you know,
everything gets moved in the Shenanigans. It feels like Shenanigans,
and it's just a very tortuous. But there's no way
I was going to miss it. That's my kid.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, how are you able to put yourself through that? Then?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I don't know. I think it's just not an option.
You know, it's not for me. It's not something that
that I was going to miss.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
You have turned the tragedy of the death of your
daughter into a crusade to try and change some of
the loss here in Nebraska. We've talked about this, what
you're trying to do with the legislature. You've talked a
lot with Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson, who's been a
great partner with you in this, to say, yeah, the
system is set up that it coddles criminals too often.
(10:08):
And so we're two years almost two years into this
and this major trial here, what would you like to
see done in Nebraska to change the laws, and do
you see evidence of that starting to happen now because
of what happened with your daughter.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Well, I think I'm definitely not going to slow down.
I want to get Carly's foundation going and we want
to do all the things we want to do. And
I do think Sheriff Hansen, and I do think Suzanne
Geist who is a former senator, and we have made
some changes. Victim reparations has doubled. I think that there
(10:49):
are a lot of things right now as far as
what I want to see change, I would like to
see something some more victim. I feel like victims get
lost in the system. Victim and not just the deceased
victim and a homicide, but the families too. And I
think that the court process, you know, how many chances
(11:11):
do you get if you are a four time felon?
Certain there should be a certain level of okay now
you are a repeat felon rather than just a felon,
because those stipulations matter to jury's And again, when you're
looking at the juvenile system right now, all of these
(11:32):
guys involved with this are products of that same juvenile system.
And again those are sealed too. So if you have
someone that's repeatedly proving over and over that they are
defying law, that they have reckless care for life, et cetera,
et cetera, a gun if it's a gun charge, if
it's relevant, I think it should be allowed. And I
(11:52):
know that that's a long shot, but it doesn't mean
we can't try.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
So when people come back and say, well, we don't
have enough room in the pre as it is right now.
Plus it's expensive, we can't build a new prison. We're
not going to spend the money. We're not going to
keep people in prison very long. We just either put
some of the juveniles in a halfway house they can
walk away from, and we'll give them an ankle monitor
they can cut off or ignore, and some of these
people who've been through jail will give them automatic good
(12:19):
time and we'll let them out there and hope that
they don't add to the ricidivism rate. As not only
someone who's become an advocate, but for the reasons why
you're advocating, you lost your daughter. When people give you
those excuses, what is your reaction, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Have a lot of ideas. Some of them wouldn't be
welcome too much. But at the same time, my first
thing is while you have public safety should be number
one period and there needs to be a very very
robust teeth system of monitoring because they are not monitor
(13:00):
as they should. I went and I went and with
the director of Corrections and I saw what they do.
I believe it needs to be a more hands on,
twenty four hour system that watches these kids if you're
going to let them out or these pre travel lease people.
(13:20):
If not, you know what, open a night court. We're
a big city, now, why can't we have a night court?
If they have to wait for a judge for all
these things, you know, may I don't know how that works.
I don't know what parameters you need to achieve to
get it. And then also we can't have a smaller
(13:40):
juvenile detention facility. I feel like these community programs need
to be implemented while they're in and required to do them.
Does that make sense like letting them off on the
streets and saying, oh, go if you want to or
come home or don't or leave in the middle of
the night. That isn't consequence.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, well they say that, Well, we can't lock up
these teenagers, so you can't have locked doors. You can't
and if you're really that young, can't do anything. We've
seen this happen in Omaha a lot. Do you see
any evidence that there are people at the legislative level
trying to change any of this?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Yes, I believe there's some bills that are going to
be put together, and they're working on some things. I
think I believe something was put in in twenty nineteen
and that has created a big problem with the juveniles
more so. But my biggest thing is if there is
a tough enough consequence, criminals are going to think twice.
(14:42):
And in fact, that's what I want to call my
plan is called think twice, because if it is tough enough,
they're not going to do it. But they know they
know the system better than some prosecutors, you know. And
I really really think that if you are tough and
also creating some sort of trust with witnesses, because there
(15:05):
would be a lot less scary people on the streets
if witnesses would come forward. And that's fact. But once
the police catch them and once they're convicted, you got
to keep them and you got to make them do
the programs and do the work to earn their time back.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
One of the big reasons that so many people don't
talk to the police as witnesses is because of threats.
We've noted these past couple of years that since your
daughter was murdered, they upset the wrong Mama bear here.
You didn't just no one would have blamed you if
you just sat in the corner and cried for the
rest of your life. You've done plenty of that, but
(15:45):
you've also turned it into this force of nature where
you're trying to get some of these policies changed, You're
working at the legislative level, you're working with other victims' families.
Have you been threatened in any way? Do you feel
that perhaps you've got to target on on you now
based on the element that you're trying to keep in jail.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Well, I don't think it's a personal thing. I think
maybe there's some people in this case that you know
don't like me. But at the same time, I've made
a lot of allies also because I am just saying,
if that's how you are when someone dies, or if
your child died, that's everyone's different, And no, not everyone
(16:29):
can come out here and scream and yell. You know,
some people have to just go sit. But I have
also said if you aren't as witnesses, if if you
aren't fighting against the crime or the people doing bad things,
then you're almost advocating for it. And I'm not gonna
(16:49):
stop screaming for my child because there is she she
should be here. But at the same time, I can't
just I'm not gonna blame just guns because it's not guns.
I'm gonna go to the source, the monster that is releasing.
You know, are you rehabilitating while they're there or are
you just locking them up? Because there is a fine line,
(17:10):
and I don't want to just see people sit forever.
What does that do for us? So as far as
jails go, when you brought that up, I think there's
a lot easier way that jails don't have to be
as expensive. And I don't know how many people would
agree with me. But you know, again, if inmates had
more things to do and they were assigned to do,
(17:32):
you have to grow your own food, you know, you
have to learn how to get along, You have to
learn learn a task, learn plumbing, learn whatever, because then
if you get out, you have a self worth. You
don't just get to sit there and do weights and
whatever they get to do in there, you earn that bed.
So outside of labor and electricity, you know, I really
(17:54):
think that we could cut costs. And I believe me,
I am no expert on this. It's just a layman
ladies brain going. We could really implement some things.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, and you're trying and in this fight and in
your passion, your daughter lives on. So we hope soe this.
I know this is not the end of this, certainly
not for you, and not on this radio show either,
So keep us posted here and let listeners know what
they can do to help in this cause.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
All right, and if everyone could pray that you know,
this is down to one judge, so if everyone can
pray that he sees that it's time for this person
to sit down for a long time, that'd be great.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Amber Wood, mother of Carly Rain, would thank you very
much for your continued battles on this and thanks for
keeping us posted here. On eleven ten, Kopabe, we'll talk again.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Thank you, Scott.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Now here's another reason why criminals feel emboldened in our community.
A state senator who generally does a pretty good job
of staying above this. Fray made not only a really
dumb comment here yesterday, but also something that is going
(19:10):
it doesn't lead to anything good, and he knows it.
He in this instance is north Omaha State Senator Terrell McKinney,
and the issue is Saturday night. Two Omaha police officers
conduct a traffic stop in his district, Northeast Omaha thirty
first in Taylor Streets. It's early Saturday evening and they
(19:33):
pull over this car. The twenty two year old driver
gets out of the car and the officers say, we
need you to stay in the car. The officers are
telling this guy, sir, stay in the vehicle, stay in
the vehicle. He decides not to now he takes off.
(19:57):
During the foot pursuit, the guy I tries to pull
out a gun. He pulls out a handgun, according to
the Omaha Police, pulls out a handgun from the front,
whether it's in his tucked in his waistband or in
a hoodie or whatever. As he's climbing over a fence,
and that's when the officer fired his weapon. We don't
(20:19):
know how many shots, but it was enough to kill
twenty two year old Steven Pitts. Police provided a picture
of the gun that this guy was in possession of.
Body cameras captured this, dash camera captured this, and nearby
surveillance video captured this. We have yet to see these things.
(20:43):
State Senator Terrell McKinney has yet to see these things,
but he still decided to tie this in with this
incident from just about a month ago, which, as you
heard on kfab's Morning News last week, Police Chief Tod
Schmater said that whatever happened in this no knock search
(21:04):
warrant here in Omaha that led to the death of
a guy named Cameron Ford, bad guy. They were executing
a no knock search warrant on him. He didn't follow commands,
he got himself shot and killed. But police Chief Schmater,
this is still going through a grand They're still going
through an investigation of grand jury is to determine whether
(21:25):
or not he can be a cop again. But he
faces termination by the chief, which is obviously emboldened people
like Saint Senator Terrell McKinney, who says, quote in this
new instance, he says, quote, seeing that another black male
has been killed by police in this city, it just
further makes it clear that we need some real changes
(21:47):
in law enforcement. Unquote. I've expressed that I understand why
police does the no knock search warrant. You got a
bad guy, you need to have every opportunity for you
not to be killed in this instance, you being the
police officer. But I also understand that some bad guy
(22:09):
has people break into his house and they call, they say, hey,
we're the police. Maybe they are, maybe they're not. According
to this guy, that's the world he lives in. I
don't necessarily blame him for retaliating, and in these instances
often they get shot. It's not great, but this is
(22:29):
the real world the police officers, like swat teams deal with.
This is the real world that gangsters and criminals end
up dealing with. And saying that that situation is the
same as this one police pulled over a guy. Comply
with the officers. You go home, or if you've sitting
(22:50):
there with guns in your lap, open bottles of liquor
and a bunch of fentanyl in the back seat and
a dead body in the trunk, maybe you're not going
home that night, but you're gonna be a lot. You'll
see your day in court. This guy did everything wrong
and he got himself shot because he tried to pull
a gun that he had against law enforcement. They stopped
(23:14):
the threat. And to say that one is anything like
the other is just evidence that you state Senator Terrell McKinney,
you hate cops. You want to defund the police. You
think that the streets are more safe without police officers
in the streets. Saying you need real changes in law enforcement,
you know what you want. You don't want any cops.
You want the criminals to continue to run rough shot
(23:34):
across the streets. You want good people to move out
of the community or cower in fear because they can't move.
To say, another black guy has been killed by police
in the city, that's a racist comment on your part.
It's racist because you're racist against blue people, the boys
in Blue, Omaha's law enforcement. This isn't anything close to
(23:58):
that last one. And you know it. You just revealed
yourself as a cop header. You're emboldening criminals in our
community and you're gonna get more young black guys killed
because they think, according to you, police are in the wrong.
When they pull you over and they say get out
of the car, stay in the car, show me your hands, whatever,
(24:18):
stop running, don't pull a gun, put the gun down.
You think, Ah, I don't need to do any of
this stuff. And that's why we have more criminals in
this community, and that's why occasionally some of them get
shot by police. As far as criminals shooting other criminals,
(24:39):
I know you don't care at all about that. Anytime
someone brings that up, it's always incredibly inconvenient. Scott Voices,
mornings nine to eleven on News Radio eleven ten KFAB
Scott VORDIEZ. This radio station has been taking you through
the timeline the past couple of years of the death
of a wonderful girl with an incredible smile here in
the Omaha community, Carly rain Wood. It was November of
twenty two when she was at a party here in
(00:22):
Omaha and not exactly sure what happened, but everyone suddenly
got out their guns and Carly was killed in the crossfire.
We've talked with her mom, Amberwood, a number of times
over the past couple of years, and she's been through
so much, not just in terms of obviously emotionally, but
(00:46):
also the legal proceedings here and there was a bit
of closure last week. Amber, Welcome back to eleven to
ten kfab. It's great to have you in the studio here.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Hi, Scott, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
So what happened last week?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
It was actually two weeks of we went through trial
finally after three times of being reassigned, and the jury
deliberated for I believe it was like thirteen or fourteen hours,
but over the course of three days, and there was
seven counts that I'm a tub Davis was being tried for.
(01:27):
And when the jury came back I will tell you
this process is torture.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Yeah, we'll talk about that.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
But the jury came back of seven counts of guilty. However,
for Carle for her murder, they came back with manslaughter
rather than second degree, which was definitely not.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
There were two issues at play here, and that was,
as I said, kind of everyone started pulling out their
guns and Carly was in the middle of this issue,
and so it was difficult, I suppose to determine who
fired the shot and why. And the other big problem,
which Omaha police will tell you all the time, is
a huge problem. Suddenly there are no witnesses. There were
(02:12):
tons of witnesses there, but no one would talk to
the police. So how are you able to overcome those
hurdles and get anything? I mean, manslaughter isn't a murder charge,
but it's something. How were you able to overcome those
hurdles and get that?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Well, actually, I think I got to put almost all
of that on our detective. Detective Dustin Morris, did an
amazing job because it was extremely scientific and it was matching, luckily,
a couple of projectiles that were still inside Carly to
the one gun that was found. And I do believe.
(02:55):
Actually to judge when he releases the jury, he says,
now you can talk to anybody. I would really hope
that at some point maybe a juror reach out to me,
because second degree is still you do not have to
be like shooting at Carly. You just have to be intent, yeah,
intent of harm.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Yeah, you're a fellon in possession of a gun and
you're basically shooting indiscriminately.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
A small room with about fifty to seventy people, and
he unloaded a magazine which is about thirteen to sixteen bullets,
I believe, And to me, that's harm. You're intending harm. Now,
whether whether you intended Carly or not, we'll never know.
But she got shot eight times.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
The sentencing trials coming up, what's he looking at?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
His maximum is two hundred and seventy two years, with
a minimum, I believe of fifteen, which is a very
wide range.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
So quite a window if it's fifteen, which I would
think that probably wouldn't be on the low end, considering
you've got someone who's already been in plenty of legal
issue troubles. But then you cut that sentence in half.
Because of Nebraska, it's good time law and I know
you and I have talked over the years that this
person never should have been at this party. Several people
at this party never should have been out on the streets, right,
(04:12):
because we just have a revolving door of injustice, as
I refer to it all the time on this radio station.
We got someone who it's a slap on the wrist,
it's a probation, it's you remove an ankle monitor. There's
so many different things that play here in our community.
What was the situation with this individual who's been found
(04:32):
a guilty of manslaughter in the death of your daughter
that had him on the streets that night.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well, you can look at his record and he's a
four time repeat violent offender, which was not allowed to
be told to the jury. By the way, he was
repeatedly released from probation for failure to comply, which also
is a failure in my eyes by the system, because
(05:01):
you know, I call it bad parenting, like, oh, well,
we can't control them, so just let them go. And
a lot of this process, I've learned so much through
day one on.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
But I feel like.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
The system has definitely gone a little, you know, it's
skewed towards criminals. And I don't want to say defendants.
I want to say criminals because they know the system.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
You're not saying the trial itself. I mean, the trial
itself should be always skewed towards having to prove someone
as guilty. That you have the presumption of innocence here,
and we're upholding that ideal in this country. But you're
saying everything leading up to that point, including as you
mentioned here, you can't mention that you know this is
(05:50):
a guy who's a dangerous individual, because they'll say, oh,
anything he's done in his past life has nothing to
do with what happened that night.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Right, But it does. I mean, And that's something.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I don't blame you for saying that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
That's something we're going to have to go to legislature
and change because I keep getting told, well, that's prejudicial,
that's prejudicial. But the defense is allowed to make the
victim to try and get the jury prejudice against a
victim who can't even be there to defend themselves.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
That's what you told me in the text message leading
up to this conversation. We're talking here with Amber Wood.
Her daughter Carly Rainwood was killed almost two years ago
here in Omaha, and one of the individuals was found
guilty of manslaughter in her death. Just the other day
here in Omaha's court. You said that the victim, your daughter,
(06:40):
was shredded during this process. That's the term you use.
What do you mean by that.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Well, they're allowed to the jury or the defense is
allowed to create that doubt, right, And yeah, it was
right down to the defense attorney literally like he was
making jokes a lot. And I understand that sometimes it's
a presentation and you're trying to get the jury on
your side, but after a while it's like, I'm glad
(07:08):
you're all making jokes while I'm here because my child's dead.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And what do you mean making jokes?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Oh, just little giggle things happen or he chuckles to
try and seem like he's the nice guy and almost.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
TV like, not making jokes about your daughter, just trying
to present.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Keep it light. But at the same time, trying to
make a joke with a pathologist was I guess uncouth
to me and a lot of the people that came,
and we had a ton of support and I thank
everyone for coming, but there was so many people going, Oh,
my gosh, what I want this guy. We had to
go through every single bullet wound and hear the pathologists
(07:51):
talk about the path that takes in the body and
on top of pictures and things, but uh that he
wouldn't It's like, he wouldn't let my child die. He
kept trying to the pathologist said six of these bullets
out of eight were fatal, and the defense attorney would
(08:16):
not let He's like, well, isn't this one right here
less serious than this one? And he kept pressuring this
witness who's a doctor, to try and obviously create doubt.
But at some point, I'm I was just overrun with
emotion and like, please let my kid die. Like and
the guy, you know and a pathologist was great because
(08:38):
he's like, I don't know how you want me to
define serious, because fatal is fatal. Like, so he just
was hammering it, and it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Was why did you put yourself through that.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Being there?
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Because I have to. It's my daughter. And unfortunately I
feel for some other families because I've been told that
some time, victims don't have a lot of people there.
And when you think about people that have, you know,
strict jobs, and then you get ready and you go
to trial and then they go, oh, we move it,
and then that person has to take off time. I
(09:12):
mean we lost some people who's like I took off
for the first trial and it got moved, and that's
why how people lose witnesses too. I think, you know,
everything gets moved in the Shenanigans. It feels like Shenanigans,
and it's just a very tortuous. But there's no way
I was going to miss it. That's my kid.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, how are you able to put yourself through that? Then?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I don't know. I think it's just not an option.
You know, it's not for me. It's not something that
that I was going to miss.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
You have turned the tragedy of the death of your
daughter into a crusade to try and change some of
the loss here in Nebraska. We've talked about this, what
you're trying to do with the legislature. You've talked a
lot with Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson, who's been a
great partner with you in this, to say, yeah, the
system is set up that it coddles criminals too often.
(10:08):
And so we're two years almost two years into this
and this major trial here, what would you like to
see done in Nebraska to change the laws, and do
you see evidence of that starting to happen now because
of what happened with your daughter.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Well, I think I'm definitely not going to slow down.
I want to get Carly's foundation going and we want
to do all the things we want to do. And
I do think Sheriff Hansen, and I do think Suzanne
Geist who is a former senator, and we have made
some changes. Victim reparations has doubled. I think that there
(10:49):
are a lot of things right now as far as
what I want to see change, I would like to
see something some more victim. I feel like victims get
lost in the system. Victim and not just the deceased
victim and a homicide, but the families too. And I
think that the court process, you know, how many chances
(11:11):
do you get if you are a four time felon?
Certain there should be a certain level of okay now
you are a repeat felon rather than just a felon,
because those stipulations matter to jury's And again, when you're
looking at the juvenile system right now, all of these
(11:32):
guys involved with this are products of that same juvenile system.
And again those are sealed too. So if you have
someone that's repeatedly proving over and over that they are
defying law, that they have reckless care for life, et cetera,
et cetera, a gun if it's a gun charge, if
it's relevant, I think it should be allowed. And I
(11:52):
know that that's a long shot, but it doesn't mean
we can't try.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
So when people come back and say, well, we don't
have enough room in the pre as it is right now.
Plus it's expensive, we can't build a new prison. We're
not going to spend the money. We're not going to
keep people in prison very long. We just either put
some of the juveniles in a halfway house they can
walk away from, and we'll give them an ankle monitor
they can cut off or ignore, and some of these
people who've been through jail will give them automatic good
(12:19):
time and we'll let them out there and hope that
they don't add to the ricidivism rate. As not only
someone who's become an advocate, but for the reasons why
you're advocating, you lost your daughter. When people give you
those excuses, what is your reaction, Well, I.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Have a lot of ideas. Some of them wouldn't be
welcome too much. But at the same time, my first
thing is while you have public safety should be number
one period and there needs to be a very very
robust teeth system of monitoring because they are not monitor
(13:00):
as they should. I went and I went and with
the director of Corrections and I saw what they do.
I believe it needs to be a more hands on,
twenty four hour system that watches these kids if you're
going to let them out or these pre travel lease people.
(13:20):
If not, you know what, open a night court. We're
a big city, now, why can't we have a night court?
If they have to wait for a judge for all
these things, you know, may I don't know how that works.
I don't know what parameters you need to achieve to
get it. And then also we can't have a smaller
(13:40):
juvenile detention facility. I feel like these community programs need
to be implemented while they're in and required to do them.
Does that make sense like letting them off on the
streets and saying, oh, go if you want to or
come home or don't or leave in the middle of
the night. That isn't consequence.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, well they say that, Well, we can't lock up
these teenagers, so you can't have locked doors. You can't
and if you're really that young, can't do anything. We've
seen this happen in Omaha a lot. Do you see
any evidence that there are people at the legislative level
trying to change any of this?
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Yes, I believe there's some bills that are going to
be put together, and they're working on some things. I
think I believe something was put in in twenty nineteen
and that has created a big problem with the juveniles
more so. But my biggest thing is if there is
a tough enough consequence, criminals are going to think twice.
(14:42):
And in fact, that's what I want to call my
plan is called think twice, because if it is tough enough,
they're not going to do it. But they know they
know the system better than some prosecutors, you know. And
I really really think that if you are tough and
also creating some sort of trust with witnesses, because there
(15:05):
would be a lot less scary people on the streets
if witnesses would come forward. And that's fact. But once
the police catch them and once they're convicted, you got
to keep them and you got to make them do
the programs and do the work to earn their time back.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
One of the big reasons that so many people don't
talk to the police as witnesses is because of threats.
We've noted these past couple of years that since your
daughter was murdered, they upset the wrong Mama bear here.
You didn't just no one would have blamed you if
you just sat in the corner and cried for the
rest of your life. You've done plenty of that, but
(15:45):
you've also turned it into this force of nature where
you're trying to get some of these policies changed, You're
working at the legislative level, you're working with other victims' families.
Have you been threatened in any way? Do you feel
that perhaps you've got to target on on you now
based on the element that you're trying to keep in jail.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Well, I don't think it's a personal thing. I think
maybe there's some people in this case that you know
don't like me. But at the same time, I've made
a lot of allies also because I am just saying,
if that's how you are when someone dies, or if
your child died, that's everyone's different, And no, not everyone
(16:29):
can come out here and scream and yell. You know,
some people have to just go sit. But I have
also said if you aren't as witnesses, if if you
aren't fighting against the crime or the people doing bad things,
then you're almost advocating for it. And I'm not gonna
(16:49):
stop screaming for my child because there is she she
should be here. But at the same time, I can't
just I'm not gonna blame just guns because it's not guns.
I'm gonna go to the source, the monster that is releasing.
You know, are you rehabilitating while they're there or are
you just locking them up? Because there is a fine line,
(17:10):
and I don't want to just see people sit forever.
What does that do for us? So as far as
jails go, when you brought that up, I think there's
a lot easier way that jails don't have to be
as expensive. And I don't know how many people would
agree with me. But you know, again, if inmates had
more things to do and they were assigned to do,
(17:32):
you have to grow your own food, you know, you
have to learn how to get along, You have to
learn learn a task, learn plumbing, learn whatever, because then
if you get out, you have a self worth. You
don't just get to sit there and do weights and
whatever they get to do in there, you earn that bed.
So outside of labor and electricity, you know, I really
(17:54):
think that we could cut costs. And I believe me,
I am no expert on this. It's just a layman
ladies brain going. We could really implement some things.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah, and you're trying and in this fight and in
your passion, your daughter lives on. So we hope soe this.
I know this is not the end of this, certainly
not for you, and not on this radio show either,
So keep us posted here and let listeners know what
they can do to help in this cause.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
All right, and if everyone could pray that you know,
this is down to one judge, so if everyone can
pray that he sees that it's time for this person
to sit down for a long time, that'd be great.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Amber Wood, mother of Carly Rain, would thank you very
much for your continued battles on this and thanks for
keeping us posted here. On eleven ten, Kopabe, we'll talk again.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Thank you, Scott.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Now here's another reason why criminals feel emboldened in our community.
A state senator who generally does a pretty good job
of staying above this. Fray made not only a really
dumb comment here yesterday, but also something that is going
(19:10):
it doesn't lead to anything good, and he knows it.
He in this instance is north Omaha State Senator Terrell McKinney,
and the issue is Saturday night. Two Omaha police officers
conduct a traffic stop in his district, Northeast Omaha thirty
first in Taylor Streets. It's early Saturday evening and they
(19:33):
pull over this car. The twenty two year old driver
gets out of the car and the officers say, we
need you to stay in the car. The officers are
telling this guy, sir, stay in the vehicle, stay in
the vehicle. He decides not to now he takes off.
(19:57):
During the foot pursuit, the guy I tries to pull
out a gun. He pulls out a handgun, according to
the Omaha Police, pulls out a handgun from the front,
whether it's in his tucked in his waistband or in
a hoodie or whatever. As he's climbing over a fence,
and that's when the officer fired his weapon. We don't
(20:19):
know how many shots, but it was enough to kill
twenty two year old Steven Pitts. Police provided a picture
of the gun that this guy was in possession of.
Body cameras captured this, dash camera captured this, and nearby
surveillance video captured this. We have yet to see these things.
(20:43):
State Senator Terrell McKinney has yet to see these things,
but he still decided to tie this in with this
incident from just about a month ago, which, as you
heard on kfab's Morning News last week, Police Chief Tod
Schmater said that whatever happened in this no knock search
(21:04):
warrant here in Omaha that led to the death of
a guy named Cameron Ford, bad guy. They were executing
a no knock search warrant on him. He didn't follow commands,
he got himself shot and killed. But police Chief Schmater,
this is still going through a grand They're still going
through an investigation of grand jury is to determine whether
(21:25):
or not he can be a cop again. But he
faces termination by the chief, which is obviously emboldened people
like Saint Senator Terrell McKinney, who says, quote in this
new instance, he says, quote, seeing that another black male
has been killed by police in this city, it just
further makes it clear that we need some real changes
(21:47):
in law enforcement. Unquote. I've expressed that I understand why
police does the no knock search warrant. You got a
bad guy, you need to have every opportunity for you
not to be killed in this instance, you being the
police officer. But I also understand that some bad guy
(22:09):
has people break into his house and they call, they say, hey,
we're the police. Maybe they are, maybe they're not. According
to this guy, that's the world he lives in. I
don't necessarily blame him for retaliating, and in these instances
often they get shot. It's not great, but this is
(22:29):
the real world the police officers, like swat teams deal with.
This is the real world that gangsters and criminals end
up dealing with. And saying that that situation is the
same as this one police pulled over a guy. Comply
with the officers. You go home, or if you've sitting
(22:50):
there with guns in your lap, open bottles of liquor
and a bunch of fentanyl in the back seat and
a dead body in the trunk, maybe you're not going
home that night, but you're gonna be a lot. You'll
see your day in court. This guy did everything wrong
and he got himself shot because he tried to pull
a gun that he had against law enforcement. They stopped
(23:14):
the threat. And to say that one is anything like
the other is just evidence that you state Senator Terrell McKinney,
you hate cops. You want to defund the police. You
think that the streets are more safe without police officers
in the streets. Saying you need real changes in law enforcement,
you know what you want. You don't want any cops.
You want the criminals to continue to run rough shot
(23:34):
across the streets. You want good people to move out
of the community or cower in fear because they can't move.
To say, another black guy has been killed by police
in the city, that's a racist comment on your part.
It's racist because you're racist against blue people, the boys
in Blue, Omaha's law enforcement. This isn't anything close to
(23:58):
that last one. And you know it. You just revealed
yourself as a cop header. You're emboldening criminals in our
community and you're gonna get more young black guys killed
because they think, according to you, police are in the wrong.
When they pull you over and they say get out
of the car, stay in the car, show me your hands, whatever,
(24:18):
stop running, don't pull a gun, put the gun down.
You think, Ah, I don't need to do any of
this stuff. And that's why we have more criminals in
this community, and that's why occasionally some of them get
shot by police. As far as criminals shooting other criminals,
(24:39):
I know you don't care at all about that. Anytime
someone brings that up, it's always incredibly inconvenient. Scott Voices,
mornings nine to eleven on News Radio eleven ten KFAB
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